Chapter XXXII: Part 32

Mr. Morier relates an anecdote, which greatly illustrates how highly the date-tree is appreciated by those who are from their infancy taught to value it. An Arab woman who had been in England, and who returned in the suite of the English ambassador to Persia, on her reaching home, told her countrywomen of the riches and beauty of the country she had visited, and described the roads, the carriages, the scenery, the splendour of the cities, and the fertility of the well-cultivated soil. Her audience were full of admiration, and had almost retired in envy, when she happened to mention that there was but one thing wanting to make the whole almost a Paradise. "And what is that?" said they. "Why, it has not a single date-tree. All the time that I was there, I never ceased to look for one, but I looked in vain." The charm was instantly broken; the Arabs turned away in pity for men, who, whatever might be their comforts, or their magnificence, were doomed to live in a country where there are no date-trees.

PRIMITIVE PAIR OF BELLOWS.

Bellows.]

Atmospheric denudation and weathering have produced remarkable effects on the lower part of the Nonkreem valley, in the Khasia mountains, in India, which is blocked up by a pine-crested hill, 200 feet high, entirely formed of round blocks of granite, heaped up so as to resemble an old moraine; but, like the Nunklow boulders, these are not arranged as if by glacial action. The granite is very soft, decomposing into a course reddish sand, that colours the Boga-panee. To procure the iron sand, which is disseminated through it, the natives conduct water over the beds, and as the lighter particles are washed away, the remainder is removed to troughs, where the separation of the ore is completed. The smelting is very rudely carried on in charcoal fires, blown by enormous double-action bellows, worked by two persons, who stand on the machine, raising the flaps with their hands, and expanding them with their feet, as shown in our cut. There is neither furnace nor flux used in the reduction. The fire is kindled on one side of an upright stone (like the head-stone of a grave), with a small arched hole close to the ground: near this hole the bellows are suspended: and a bamboo tube from each of its compartments meets in a larger one, by which the draft is directed under the hole in the stone to the fire. The ore is run into lumps as large as two fists, with a rugged surface: these lumps are afterwards cleft nearly in two to show their purity.

PRESERVATION OF DEAD BODIES.

About a mile distant from Palermo in Sicily, is a celebrated Monastery of Capuchins, in which there is a vault made use of as a receptacle for the dead. It consists of four wide passages, each forty feet in length, into which the light is admitted by windows, placed at the ends. Along the sides of these subterraneous galleries are niches, in which the bodies are placed upright, and clothed in a coarse dress, with their heads, arms, and feet bare. They are prepared for this situation by broiling them six or seven months upon a gridiron, over a slow fire, till all the fat and moisture are consumed. The skin which looks like pale-coloured leather, remains entire, and the character of the countenance is, in some degree preserved.

THE CAGOTS.

In the Department of the Hautes Pyrenees in France is sometimes to be met with a creature about four feet high, with an enormous head, stiff, long hair, a pale countenance, a dead-looking eye, legs that have the appearance of being in the last stage of a dropsy, and an enormous _goitre_ on the neck, which sometimes hangs down below the stomach. This unhappy being begs for charity by extending his hand, smiling vaguely, and by uttering inarticulate sounds or suppressed cries, which his desolate and degraded situation alone interprets. These _Cagots_, for so they are here called, live isolated from the rest of the world; twenty years ago, if any one of these unfortunate beings left his hut, and ventured into the towns or villages, the children would exclaim--_Cagot! Cagot!_ and this cry would bring the smith from his forge, the shopkeeper from his counter, the private individual from his fireside; and, if the poor being did not hasten his flight, and slow was his progress, he not unfrequently lost his life by the stones that were flung after him. There was, however, one day in the week--Sunday, the Lord's day--and one asylum--the church, the Lord's house--that was free to them; yet man there made a distinction between him and his fellow man. A narrow door, through which no one passed but the _Cagots_, a chapel, which no one entered but these unhappy _Cagots_, was reserved for their sole use, where they offered up their imperfect prayers, without seeing or being seen by any one. Even in these days, they are still considered an outcast race; and an alliance of a peasant girl of the plains with a _Cagot_, would excite as much commotion among the inhabitants of the valleys of the Pyrenees, as the famed one between Idamore and Neala, in M. Delavigne's celebrated tragedy of the Paria. Yet it is strange that these deformities do not show themselves until a child has passed the age of six or seven: he is before this period like other healthy children; his complexion is fresh, his eye lively, and his limbs in proportion; but at twelve, his head has increased prodigiously, his complexion has become sallow, his teeth have lost their whiteness, his eye its fire. Three years later his skin is shrivelled, his teeth open with difficulty, and he pronounces all the consonants with a whistling indistinctness, that renders his language unintelligible to strangers. His mind partakes of the deformity and weakness of his body, for he is, at fifteen, little better than an idiot. Such are the _Cagots_ of the _Pyrenees_.

DISCONTINUANCE OF TORTURE.

Torture had been applied, down to the close of Elizabeth, to the investigation of all kinds of crime; but after that time it was chiefly confined to state offences. Its favourite instrument was the dreadful rack, or break, traditionally said to have been introduced under Henry VI. by John, Duke of Exeter, constable of the Tower, whence it was called the Duke of Exeter's daughter. A _milder_ punishment was inflicted by Skevington's gyves, which compressed the victim closely together, whilst the rack distended his whole frame in the most painful manner. In 1588 the manacles were introduced, and soon became the most usual mode of torture, but their precise character is not well understood. A variety of instruments of torture are still shown in the Tower, taken, it is said, out of the Spanish Armada, but at all events admirably suited to the gloomy dungeon wherein they appear, and in which half-starvation, and the horrid cells called Little Ease and Rat's Dungeon (the latter placed below high water mark, and totally dark, so that the rats crowded in as the tide rose,) added to the sufferings of the poor victim when released for a brief space from the fell grasp of the prison-ministers. Torture was not abolished in Scotland till 1708; in France till 1789; in Russia till 1801; in Bavaria and Wurtemberg till 1806; in Hanover till 1822; nor in the Grand Duchy of Baden till 1831.

THE MODERN NAMES OF REGIMENTS.

The modern names of regiments were first given to them in the reign of Charles II., the Coldstreams or Foot Guards being formed in 1660, when two regiments were added to one raised about ten years before by General Monk at Coldstream on the borders of Scotland; to these were added the 1st Royal Scots, brought over from France at the Restoration. The Life Guards were raised in 1661, with the Oxford Blues (so called from the first commander, Aubrey, Earl of Oxford); and also the 2nd or Queen's Foot. The 3rd or Old Buffs were raised in 1665, and the 21st Foot or Scotch Fusileers (from their carrying the fusil, which was lighter than the musket), in 1678. In that year the Grenadiers (so named from their original weapon, the hand grenade) were first brought into our service, and in 1680 the 4th or King's Own were raised. James II. added to the cavalry the 1st or King's Regiment of Dragoon's Guards, and the 2nd or Queen's ditto in 1685; and to the infantry, in the same year, the 5th and 7th, or Royal Fusileers; and in 1688 the 23rd or Welsh Fusileers.

WATCH PRESENTED BY LOUIS THE THIRTEENTH OF FRANCE TO CHARLES THE FIRST OF ENGLAND.

Watch Made for Charles I.]

The annexed engraving represents the watch which was made for Louis XIII. to present to King Charles I. It is of silver, richly gilt, the ornaments covered with transparent enamel in white, red, green, blue, and yellow. The numbers are on a band of deep blue; the wheel-like ornament in the centre on a ruby ground. The back is chased in high relief with a figure of St. George conquering the Dragon; the horse is covered with white enamel; the flesh tints on St. George are also of enamel; his tunic is red, and his scarf blue. On the side of the watch is the motto of the Order of the Garter; the _fleurs-de-lys_ above and below it on a ruby ground. The interior of the case is enriched by a delicately executed arabesque filled with black enamel upon a dotted ground. The entire works take out of the case, being secured thereto by springs, and are all more or less decorated with engraving, the whole interior being chased and gilt. The maker's name is S. Vallin.

A WEDDING A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

On the 7th June, 1750, was married at Rothbury, Mr. William Donkin, a considerable farmer, of Tosson, in the county of Northumberland, to Miss Eleanor Shotten, an agreeable young gentlewoman, of the same place. The entertainments on this occasion were very grand, there being provided no less than one hundred and twenty quarters of lamb, forty quarters of veal, twenty quarters of mutton, a large quantity of beef, twelve hams, with a suitable number of chickens, which was concluded with eight half ankers of brandy made into punch, twelve dozen of cider, and a great many gallons of wine. The company consisted of five hundred ladies and gentlemen, who were diverted with the music of twenty-five fiddlers and pipers; and the evening was spent with the utmost unanimity.

GRACE KNIVES.

There is a curious class of knives, of the sixteenth century, the blade, of which have on one side the musical notes to the benediction of the table, or grace before meat, and on the other the grace after meat. We here engrave a specimen.

Grace Knife.]

The set of these knives usually consisted of four. They were kept in an upright case of stamped leather, and were placed before the singer according to the adaptation of each part to the voice indicated upon them.

GARDEN AT KENILWORTH WHEN IN ITS PRIME.

Gossiping Laneham is very eloquent about the Kenilworth Garden, at which he took a timid and surreptitious peep. It was an acre or more in extent, and lay to the north of the stately castle: a pleasant terrace, ten feet high, and twelve feet broad, even under foot and fresh with trim grass, ran beside it along the castle wall. It was set with a goodly show of obelisks and spheres, and white bears of stone, raised upon goodly bases. At each end was a fine arbour, redolent with sweet trees and flowers. The garden-plot near had fair alleys of turf, and others paved with smooth sand, pleasant to walk on as the sea-shore when the wave has just retired. The enclosure was divided into four even quarters: in the midst of each, upon a base of two feet square, rose a porphyry square pilaster, with a pyramidical pinnacle fifteen feet high, pierced and hollowed, and crowned with an orb. All around was covered with redolent herbs and flowers, varied in form, colour, and quantity, and mixed with fruit trees.

In the midst, opposite the terrace, stood a square aviary, joined to the north wall, in height twenty feet, thirteen long, and fourteen broad; it had four great windows, two in front and two at each end, and each five feet wide. These windows were arched, and separated by flat pilasters, which supported a cornice. The roof was of wire net, of meshes an inch wide; and the cornice was gilded and painted with representations of precious stones. This great aviary had also eaves in the wall, for shelter from sun and heat, and for the purpose of building. Fair holly trees stood at each end, on which the birds might perch and pounce. They had a keeper to attend to their seeds and water, and to clean out their enclosure. The birds were English, French, and Spanish. Some were from America; and Laneham is "deceived" if some were not from the Canary Islands.

In the centre of this miniature Paradise stood a fountain with an octagonal basin rising four feet high; in the midst stood the figures of two Athletes, back to back, their hands upholding a fair marble bowl, from whence sundry pipes distilled continual streams into the reservoir. Carp, tench, bream, perch, and eel disported in the fresh falling water; and on the top of all the ragged staff was displayed; on one side Neptune guided his sea-horses with his trident, on another stood Thetis with her dolphins. Here Triton and his fishes, there Proteus and his herds, Doris and her daughter, and half the Nereids, disported in sea and sand, surrounded by whales, sturgeons, tunnies, and conch shells, all engraven with exquisite device and skill. By the sudden turn of a tap, the spectator could be drenched at the pleasure of any wit.

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.

It appears from a paper recently read in the Academy of Archaeology, at Rome, that Father Secchi has found a new interpretation of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which enables him to declare, that most of them are not mere tombstone inscriptions, as is generally assumed, but poems. He has given several of his readings, which display great ingenuity, and professes to be able to decipher the inscriptions on the Obelisk of Luxor, at Paris.

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.

The cathedral at Bayeux is a gothic building, dedicated to the Virgin. The portal and three belfries, which belong to it, are objects of curiosity. It is in this cathedral that the celebrated tapestry, denominated _of Bayeux_, is kept. Its length is one hundred and thirty-two feet; its breadth, seven and a half. "I had," says Dr. Ducarel, "the satisfaction of seeing that famous piece of furniture, which, with great exactness, though in _barbarous needlework_, represents the history of Harold, King of England; and of William, Duke of Normandy; from the embassy of the former to Duke William, at the command of Edward the Confessor, to his overthrow and death, at the battle fought near Hastings. The ground of this piece of work is a white linen cloth, or canvas. The figures of men, horses, &c. are in their proper colours, worked in the manner of the samplers, in worsted, and of a style not unlike what we see upon the China and Japan ware; those of the men, particularly, being without the least symmetry or proportion. There is a small border, which runs at the top and the bottom of the tapestry; with several figures of men, beasts, flowers, and even fables, which have nothing to do with the history, but are mere ornaments. At the end of every particular scene there is a tree, by way of distinction; and over several of the principal figures there are inscriptions, but many of them obliterated. It is annually hung up on St. John's day, and goes round the nave of the church, where it continues eight days; and at all other times it is carefully kept locked up in a strong wainscot press, in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral, dedicated to Thomas a Becket. By tradition it is called, _Duke William's toilet_, and is said to be the work of Matilda, his queen, and the ladies of her court, after he had obtained the crown of England." Mr. Strutt, in his "Complete View of the Dresses and Habits of the People of England," affirms, that it is the work of half a century later than the time of the Conqueror.

ROMAN STAMP.

This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very earliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any similar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass; the ground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with which antique medals are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions are, about two inches long, by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. As no person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman History, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some Roman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name. A stamp somewhat similar, in the Greek character, is in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

TYRIAN PURPLE.

The shell-fish portrayed on next page is that from which the Tyrian purple dye is obtained. The ancients were very devoid of chemical knowledge; their list of adjective dye-stuffs was therefore restricted, and all the most celebrated dyes of antiquity belonged to the substantive division, of which Tyrian purple was undoubtedly the chief. The purple dye of Tyre, which admits with great propriety of being included amongst the dyes of Greece and Rome, was discovered about fifteen centuries before the Christian era, and the art of using it did not become lost until the eleventh century after Christ. It was obtained from two genera of one species of shell-fish, the smaller of which was denominated _buccinum_, the larger _purpura_, and to both the common name murex was applied. The dye-stuff was procured by puncturing a vessel in the throat of the larger genus, and by pounding the smaller entire. Having been thus extracted, salt was added, also a certain amount of water. The whole was then kept hot about eight or ten days in a vessel of lead or tin, the impurities as they rose being assiduously skimmed off. The dye-stuff was now ready to receive the texture to be dyed (wool, universally), and the operation of dyeing was simple enough; nothing further being required than the immersion of the whole for a sufficient time, when, at the expiration of a certain period, the whole of the colouring matter was found to have been removed, and to have combined with the textile fabric.

The tints capable of being imparted by this material were various--representing numerous shades between purple and crimson. Amongst these a very dark violet shade was much esteemed, but the right imperial tint, we are informed, was that resembling coagulated blood. The discovery of Tyrian purple dye is referred to the fifteenth century before Christ. That it was known to the Egyptians, in the time of Moses, is sufficiently obvious from the testimony of more than one scriptural passage. Ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive policy of the eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only a few individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the twelfth century, when Byzantium was already suffering from attacks without, and dissensions within, the secret of imparting the purple dye of Tyre became lost.

Shell-Fish From Which Tyrian Purple Is Extracted.]

The re-discovery of Tyrian purple as it occurred in England was made by Mr. Cole of Bristol. About the latter end of the year 1683, this gentleman heard from two ladies residing at Minehead, that a person living somewhere on the coast of Ireland, supported himself by marking with a delicate crimson colour the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen sent him for that purpose, which colour was the product of some liquid substance taken out of a shell-fish. This recital at once brought to the recollection of Mr. Cole the tradition of Tyrian purple. He, without delay, went in quest of the shell-fish, and after trying various kinds without success, his efforts were at length successful. He found considerable quantities of the buccinum on the sea-coast of Somersetshire, and the opposite coast of South Wales. The fish being found, the next difficulty was to extract the dye, which in its natural state is not purple, but white, the purple tint being the result of exposure to the air. At length our acute investigator found the dye stuff in a white vein lying transversely in a little furrow or cleft next to the head of the fish.

THE INCARNATIONS OF VISHNU.

There is a part of the mythology of India which seems to be blended with the history of that country. It relates to the different _avatars_ of Vishnu, or his incarnations and appearances on earth.

Incarnation of Vishnu.]

The first of these _avatars_ has reference to that general deluge of which all nations have preserved some traditions. Vishnu, we are told, metamorphosed himself into a fish.

The second incarnation is that of _Kourma_, or the tortoise. The gods and the giants, wishing to obtain immortality by eating _amourdon_, delicious butter, formed in one of the seven seas of the universe, which the Indians call sea of milk, transported, by Vishnu's advice, the mountain of Mandreguivi into that sea: they twisted round it the serpent Adissechen, and alternately pulling, some by his hundred heads, others by the tail, they made the mountain turn round in such a manner, as to agitate the sea and to convert it into butter; but they pulled with such rapidity, that Adissechen, overcome with weakness, could no longer endure it. His body shuddered; his hundred trembling mouths made the universe resound with hisses; a torrent of flames burst from his eyes; his hundred black pendent tongues palpitated, and vomited forth a deadly poison, which immediately spread all around. The gods and giants betook themselves to flight. Vishnu, bolder than the rest, took the poison, and with it rubbed his body, which became quite blue. It is in memory of this event, that this colour is given to his image in almost all the temples.

The gods and the giants, encouraged by Vishnu's example, fell to work again. After they had laboured a thousand years, the mountain was on the point of sinking in the sea, when Vishnu, in the form of a tortoise, quickly placed himself beneath, and supported it. At length they saw the cow Camadenu, the horse with seven heads, and the elephant with three trunks, coming out of the sea of milk; also the tree _calpaga vrutcham_; Lacshmi, goddess of riches, wife of Vishu; Saraswadi, goddess of the sciences and of harmony, married to Brama; Mondevi, goddess of discord and misery, whom nobody would have, and who is represented riding on an ass, and holding in her hand a banner, on which a raven is delineated; and, lastly, Danouvandri, the physician, carrying a vessel full of _amourdon_, which the gods instantly seized, and greedily devoured, without leaving a morsel. The giants, disappointed in their expectations, dispersed over the earth, prevented mankind from paying worship to the gods, and strove to obtain adoration for themselves. Their insolence occasioned the subsequent incarnations of Vishnu, who endeavoured to destroy this race, so inimical to the gods. He is adored in this second metamorphosis, by the name of _Kourma Avatara_. The followers of Vishnu believe that this god, though omnipresent, resides more particularly in the _vaicondom_, his paradise, amidst the sea of milk, reclined, in contemplative slumber, on the serpent Adissechen, which serves him for a throne: in this state he is called _Siranguan_. In all the temples of Vishnu is to be seen the figure of this god; but as the serpent on which he lies cannot be represented with his hundred heads, he is delineated with only five.

There are altogether ten incarnations of Vishnu; nine of these have already been fulfilled, and one is yet to be manifested, it is expected about ninety thousand years hence. The account of many of the transformations is exceedingly extraordinary, but we have room for no more than the one we have given.

ORIGIN OF LONG-TOED SHOES.

Long-toed shoes were invented by Fulk, Count of Anjou, to hide an excrescence on one of his feet. These toes were so long as to be fastened to the knees with gold chains, and carved at the extreme point with the representation of a church window, a bird, or some fantastic device.

THE HOUSE OF HEN'S FEATHERS.

There exists at Pekin a phalanstery which surpasses in eccentricity all that the fertile imagination of Fourier could have conceived. It is called Ki-mao-fan--that is, "House of the Hen's Feathers." By dint of carrying out the laws of progress, the Chinese have found means to furnish to the poorest of the community a warm feather-bed, for the small consideration of one-fifth of a farthing per night. This marvellous establishment is simply composed of one great hall, and the floor of this great hall is covered over its whole extent by one vast thick layer of feathers. Mendicants and vagabonds who have no other domicile come to pass the night in this immense dormitory. Men, women, and children, old and young, all without exception, are admitted. Communism prevails in the full force and rigour of the expression. Every one settles himself and makes his nest as well as he can for the night in this ocean of feathers; when day dawns he must quit the premises, and an officer of the company stands at the door to receive the rent of one sapeck each for the night's lodging. In deference no doubt to the principle of equality, half-places are not allowed, and a child must pay the same as a grown person.

On the first establishment of this eminently philanthropic and moral institution, the managers of it used to furnish each of the guests with a covering, but it was found necessary to modify this regulation, for the communist company got into the habit of carrying off their coverlets to sell them, or to supply an additional garment during the rigorous cold of winter. The shareholders saw that this would never do, and they should be ruined, yet to give no covering at all would have been too cruel, and scarcely decent. It was necessary therefore to find some method of reconciling the interests of the establishment with the comfort of the guests, and the way in which the problem was solved was this. An immense felt coverlet, of such gigantic dimensions as to cover the whole dormitory, was made, and in the day time suspended from the ceiling like a great canopy. When everybody had gone to bed, that is to say, had lain down upon the feathers, the counterpane was let down by pulleys; the precaution having been previously taken to make a number of holes in it for the sleepers to put their heads through, in order to escape the danger of suffocation. As soon as it is daylight, the phalansterian coverlet is hoisted up again, after a signal has been made on the tam-tam to awaken those who are asleep, and invite them to draw their heads back into the feathers, in order not to be caught by the neck and hoisted into the air with the coverlet. This immense swarm of beggars is then seen crawling about in the sea of dirty feathers, and inserting themselves again into their miserable rags, preparatory to gathering into groups, and dispersing about the various quarters of the town to seek by lawful or unlawful means their scanty subsistence.

THE USEFUL AND THE BEAUTIFUL.

The tomb of Moses is unknown; but the traveller slakes his thirst at the well of Jacob. The gorgeous palace of the wisest and wealthiest of monarchs, with cedar, and the gold, and ivory, and even the great Temple of Jerusalem, hallowed by the visible glory of the Deity himself, are gone; but Solomon's reservoirs are as perfect as ever. Of the ancient architecture of the Holy City, not one stone is left upon another, but the Pool of Bethsaida commands the pilgrim's reverence, at the present day. The columns of Persepolis are mouldering into dust; but its cistern and aqueducts remain to challenge our admiration. The golden house of Nero is a mass of ruins, but the Aqua Claudia still pours into Rome its limpid stream. The Temple of the Sun, at Tadmore, in the wilderness, has fallen, but its fountain sparkles in its rays, as when thousands of worshippers thronged its lofty colonnades. It may be that London will share the fate of Babylon, and nothing be left, to mark it, save mounds of crumbling brickwork. The Thames will continue to flow as it does now. And if any work of art should rise over the deep ocean, time, we may well believe, that it will be neither a palace nor a temple, but some vast aqueduct or reservoir; and if any name should flash through the mist or antiquity, it would probably be that of the man, who in his day, sought the happiness of his fellow men, rather than glory, and linked his memory to some great work of national utility or benevolence. This is the true glory which outlives all others, and shines with undying lustre from generation to generation, imparting to works some of its own immortality, and in some degree rescuing them from the ruin which overtakes the ordinary monument of historical tradition or mere magnificence.

CROMWELL'S BRIDGE AT GLENGARIFF.

Cromwell's Bridge at Glengariff.]

The village of Glengariff, near Bantry Bay, consists of but a few houses. The only "antiquity" in the immediate neighbourhood is the old bridge, now a picturesque ruin, which, in ancient times, was on the high road to Berehaven; it is called "Cromwell's Bridge." It is accurately represented in the above engraving. History being silent as to the origin of the name, we must have recourse to tradition. When Oliver was passing through the glen, to "visit" the O'Sullivans, he had so much trouble in getting across the narrow but rushing river, that he told the inhabitants, if they did not build him a bridge by the time he returned, he would hang up a man for every hour's delay he met with. "So the bridge was ready agin he come back," quoth our informant; "for they knew the ould villian to be a man of his word."

THE TURBAN IN ARABIA.

A fashionable Arab will wear fifteen caps one above another, some of which are linen, but the greater part of thick cloth or cotton. That which covers the whole is richly embroidered with gold, and inwrought with texts or passages from the Koran. Over all there is wrapped a sash or large piece of muslin, with the ends hanging down, and ornamented with silk or gold fringes. This useless encumbrance is considered a mark of respect towards superiors. It is also used, as the beard was formerly in Europe, to indicate literary merit; and those who affect to be thought men of learning, discover their pretensions by the size of their turbans. No part of Oriental costume is so variable as this covering for the head. Niebuhr has given illustrations of forty-eight different ways of wearing it.

STONEWARE.

Stoneware was made at a very early period in China, and is much used as a basis on which a paste of porcelain is laid, to save the expenditure of the latter material, as well as to give strength and solidity to the piece. Most of the larger pieces of Oriental production are found to be thus formed. The red Japan ware is a very fine unglazed stoneware, and has raised ornaments, which are sometimes gilt. A curious coffee-pot of this ware, imitating a bundle of bamboo canes, and not unlike the Chinese musical instrument called a mouth-organ, from the collection of the late Mr. Beckford, is here represented.

Stoneware Coffee-Pot.]

Stoneware is supposed to have been made at a very early period in England by Dutch and German workmen; and from this circumstance it is almost impossible to distinguish the earlier fabrics of these respective countries. The discovery, in 1690, of an economical process of glazing this ware by means of common salt, which made it impermeable to liquids, soon brought it into general use, and displaced all the manufactures of the Delft and soft paste fabrics. A mottled-brown stoneware, known to collectors, is stated to be the manufacture of the age of Edward VI., in consequence of some of the specimens having a silver mounting of the make and fashion of the period of Elizabeth's reign. There is also a large flagon in the Museum of Economic Geology, ornamented with the royal arms of Elizabeth in relief, with the date 1594. These specimens cannot, however, be deemed conclusive of so early a manufacture in England. The first-mentioned specimens, though the mounting is English, may have been of German manufacture, as pieces of similar description of ware are to be seen in various collections of German pottery abroad. The latter specimen may either have been made at Cologne for the use of the Queen's household, or if of English manufacture, it must, in the opinion of a very eminent manufacturer, have been made at a much later period than the date upon it. In a letter received, he states "that it is a common practice even now among potters to use moulds of all dates and styles, which have been got up originally for very different kinds of ornamental work, and that he is strongly inclined to think that the mould from which the devices on this vessel have been pressed, was modelled many years before the vessel was made, and that the vessel itself is comparatively modern." Stoneware, ornamented with devices in white clay, was made in the seventeenth century at Fulham, also at Lambeth, and subsequently at Staffordshire; but there is no satisfactory evidence of any earlier manufactory in England.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, some specimens of red Japan ware were imported into Europe. Both Dutch and English manufacturers attempted to imitate them, but failed for want of the proper clay. About this period, two brothers of the name of Elers, from Nuremberg, discovered at Bradwell, only two miles distant from Burslem, a bed of fine compact red clay, which they worked in a small manufactory, established in a retired situation upon the bed itself. They took every precaution to prevent any one seeing their process or learning their secret. They went so far as to employ none but the most ignorant and almost idiot workmen they could find. Astbury, the elder, had the talent to counterfeit the idiot, and, moreover, the courage to persevere in this character for some years during which he continued in their employ. From memory he made notes of the processes, and drawings of the machinery used. In consequence of the secret being thus discovered, numerous establishments arose in competition with that of the Elers, and, owing to the general prejudice against them as foreigners, they were finally compelled, in 1720, to quit their establishment. They retired to the neighbourhood of London, and, it is supposed, contributed by their skill and industry to the establishment of the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory.

GREAT BELL OF ROUEN.

The grand entrance to the cathedral of Rouen is flanked by two towers, the one was erected by St. Romain; the expense for constructing the other, which bears the whimsical name of _Tour-de-beurre_, was raised by the product arising from permissions granted to the more wealthy and epicurean part of the inhabitants of the city, to eat butter in Lent. It was in this tower that the celebrated bell, the largest in the world, was erected; it weighed 40,000 lbs.; it was converted into cannon in the year 1793. The founder of this bell died of joy on seeing its completion. It went by his name, that of George D'Amboise, and round it was the following distich in gothic characters:--

"Je suis nomme George d'Amboise,
Qui bien trente-six-mille poise,
Et celui qui bien me pesera,
Quarante mille trouvera."

VARIATIONS IN THE COINAGE.

Henry VIII. greatly debased both his gold and silver coins, which he alloyed with copper to a great extent. The proportions of the pound, indeed, in 1546, amounted to 8 oz. of alloy to 4 oz. of silver, which constituted, a positively base coin, the old allowance having been but 18 pennyweights of alloy to 11 oz. and 2 pennyweights of silver. His depreciations were equally daring, for out of the pound of silver he now coined 576 pennies or 48s. The gold coins of this monarch were sovereigns, half-sovereigns or rials, half and quarter rials, angels, half and quarter angels, George nobles, and forty-penny pieces. In this reign the immemorial privileges of the sees of Canterbury, York, and Durham, for coining small money, was abandoned, the last Bishop that used it being Wolsey's successor, Edward Lee.

Edward VI. carried both depreciation and debasement still farther; but towards the close of his reign he was obliged to restore the currency to something like the ancient standard. He was the first that issued crowns, half-crowns, and sixpences. Little alterations were made by Mary, beyond striking coins with her husband's head as well as her own; but under Elizabeth the coinage was, at length, completely recovered from its debasement, the old proportion of 18 pennyweights of alloy being restored, which has continued to the present day. The number of shillings struck out of a pound of silver was not lessened, however, for it continued to be sixty, as in the preceding reign, till 1601, when it was increased to sixty-two, at which rate it went on to 1816, when it was raised to sixty-six, at which it now remains. Her gold coins are much the same as before, but are distinguished by having the edges milled for the first time. Shortly before her death she had intended to coin farthings and other small pieces of copper, a metal which had not yet been made use of in this country.

CHAFFINCH CONTEST.

At the town of Armentieres, in France, there is a _fete du pays_, called _hermesse_, or _ducasse d'Armentieres_, in which the chaffinch and its fellows are the chief actors and objects of attraction. Numbers of these birds are trained with the greatest care, and no small share of cruelty, for they are frequently blinded by their owners, that their song may not be interrupted by any external object. The point upon which the amusement, the honour, and the emolument rests, is, the number of times which a bird will repeat his song in a given time. A day being fixed, the amateurs repair to the appointed place, each with his bird in a cage. The prize is then displayed, and the birds are placed in a row. A bird-fancier notes how many times each bird sings, and another verifies his notes. In the year 1812, a chaffinch repeated his song seven hundred times in one hour. Emulated by the songs of each other, they strain their little "plumed throats," as if conscious that honour was to result from their exertions.

EXPENSIVENESS OF DRESS IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.

Dress, indeed, must have swallowed up almost every thing at a time when James and his courtiers set the fashion of appearing in a new garb almost every day. When the Duke of Buckingham was sent to France to bring over Henrietta Maria, he provided, amongst others, one suit of white uncut velvet, and a cloak set all over with diamonds, valued at L80,000; besides a feather made of great diamonds, and sword, girdle, hat-band, and spurs, thick set with the same. Another suit of purple satin, embroidered all over with pearls, was valued at L20,000. At the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Palatine, Lady Wotton wore a gown profusely ornamented with embroidery that cost L50 a yard; and Lord Montague spent L1,500 on the dresses of his two daughters for that occasion. By this account it would seem that the ladies were, at all events, not more expensive in their attire than gentlemen.

INGENUITY OF THE TUNISIANS.

A stranger visiting a city like Tunis, cannot but be struck with the various peculiarities, which present themselves to his view, wherever he turns. In their government, mercantile pursuits, professions and trades, the Tunisians are centuries behind. But, with all their disadvantages, the traveller, in traversing their crowded _sooks_ (market places) and serpentine streets, finds numerous illustrations of the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention." In every workshop some tool, or implement, presents itself, which is as curious in its formation as it is strange to see the peculiar use for which it is intended, and the manner in which it is employed. We may illustrate this by a sketch of a turner.

Ingenuity of a Turner.]

The extraordinary ingenuity here exhibited by the remarkable use which the artisan makes of his feet and toes, as well as of his hands, cannot fail to attract attention; and the display of his lathe and tools is equally curious.

SHANAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Two acts seem essential to the demon worship of the Shanars of Tin-nevelly (a portion of the aborigines of India)--dancing and bloody sacrifices. They have no priest. The person who conducts the ceremony, which is undertaken from choice, is called the rotator of the demon. The head man of the village, or any other person, male or female, may officiate. The dress is grotesque, consisting of a sort of coat of various colours, a cap, and other vestments, arranged so as to strike the spectators with their comic appearance. In this service several musical instruments are used, but the most notable among them is one called a _bow_. It consists of a bow strung and ornamented with bells. This is placed on a brazen vessel of a globular form. The bow is struck with a plectrum, and the bass is produced by the application of an instrument to the brazen pot, another person keeping time by playing a pair of cymbals, as seen in the annexed cut.

Shanar Musical Instrument.]

The jarring, discordant, uproarious and cacophonous character of this musical accompaniment exceeds description, and when the parties are vieing with each other for pre-eminence, it is indeed the most horrid din that can be produced. At first the movements of the dancer may be slow, but as the music waxes louder and takes effect, he becomes gradually more excited, urging himself to phrenzy by striking himself violently, and applying his mouth to the neck of the decapitated sacrificial victim, he drinks its blood, and possibly a potation of ardent spirits. The afflatus thus acquired, its effects become visible in the frantic glare and the convulsive gesticulations of the possessed. This is greeted by the spectators with the loudest acclamations. The dancer is now deified or demonized, and he is consulted by the eager and delighted worshippers who do him homage. Each one puts his questions as his fancy or his needs may dictate. The possessed or demonized dancer, being more like a maniac than aught else, and subject to various contortions of body, utters his oracles with much indistinctness, rendering it necessary that some one initiated into these mysteries should interpret his wild and incoherent utterances. His ambiguous sayings and curious innuendos are so indefinite as to need interpretation.

SINGULAR LOCAL CUSTOMS.

In the department of the Hautes Alpes of France, in the commune of _Guillaume-Perouse_, at the village of _Andrieux_, where the inhabitants are deprived during one hundred days of the bright beams of the sun, there is a fete, called _Le retour du soleil_, on the 10th of February. At the dawn of day, four shepherds announce, to the sound of fifes and trumpets, the commencement of this joyous day. Every cottager having prepared an omelette, the eldest inhabitant of the village, to whom the title of _Venerable_ is given, leads the way to the square; here they form a chain and dance the _ferandola_ round him: after the dance is concluded, he leads the way to a stone bridge at the entrance of the village, the shepherds playing upon their rural instruments the while. Every one having deposited his omelette on the stone coping, they repair to a neighbouring meadow, where the dancing re-commences and continues until the first rays of the sun gleam athwart the velvet turf: the dance then instantly ceases, each one hastens for his pancake, and holding it up, presents it as an offering to the god of day; the _Venerable_ holds his up with both his hands. As soon as the sun shines upon the village the procession returns to the square, where the party separates, and every one repairs to his own home, to eat his pancake with his family. This ceremony cannot fail to recal the heathen mythology to the reader, who must see in it the offerings made to Apollo; or, perhaps, it may be the remains of some Druidical superstition, as the Druids paid particular devotion to the sun; at any rate, it is a curious vestige of some religion long since gone by. In some of the communes of this department the dead are wrapped in a winding-sheet, but are not inclosed in a coffin. In the valleys of _Queyras_ and of _Grave_, the dead are suspended in a barn during five months in the winter, until the earth be softened by the sun's rays, when the corpse is consigned to its native element. All funereal ceremonies are closed by eating and drinking. In some communes the people carry a flagon of wine to the churchyard; and on the return of the guests to the home of the deceased, it becomes a scene of bacchanalian revels, in which the groans and sighs of the mourners mingle with the songs and jests of the inebriated guests. At _Argentiere_, after the burial, the tables are set out round the churchyard; that of the curate and the mourning family over the grave itself. The dinner concluded, the nearest relation takes a glass; his example is followed by the rest, repeating with him, _A la sante du pauvre mort_.

SEVERITY OF RUSSIAN PUNISHMENTS.

The Russians are remarkable for the severity and variety of their punishments, which are both inflicted and endured with a wonderful insensibility. Peter the Great used to suspend the robbers upon the Wolga, and other parts of his dominions by iron hooks fixed to their ribs, on gibbets, where they writhed themselves to death, hundreds, nay thousands, at a time. The single and double knoute were lately inflicted upon ladies, as well as men of quality. Both of them are excruciating, but in the double knoute, the hands are bound behind the prisoner's back; and the cord being fixed to a pulley, lifts him from the ground, with the dislocation of both his shoulders, and then his back is in a manner sacrificed by the executioner, with a hard thong, cut from a wild ass's akin. This punishment has been so often fatal, that a surgeon generally attends the patient to pronounce the moment that it should cease. Another barbarous punishment practised in Russia is, first boring the tongue of the criminal through with an hot iron, and then cutting it out: and even the late Empress Elizabeth, though she prohibited capital punishments, was forced to give way to the necessity of those tortures. From these particulars, many have concluded that the feelings of the Russians are different from those of mankind in general.

FIRST RHINOCEROS IN EUROPE.

The first rhinoceros ever seen in Europe was that of which Pliny speaks as having been presented by Pompey to the Roman people. According to Dion Cassius, Augustus caused another to be killed in the Roman circus, when celebrating his triumph over Cleopatra. Strabo states that he saw one at Alexandria, and he has left a description of it. All these were of the one-horned species. At a later period the two-horned species were introduced, as appears from medals bearing their effigies struck in the reign of Domitian. During the time known as the dark ages, investigations in natural history and every other department of science and learning were utterly neglected, and the rhinoceros was as mythical to Europe as the phoenix or the salamander. On the revival of letters, however, and the extension of maritime discovery, a lively interest was manifested in the productions of foreign countries. In 1513 the king of Portugal presented the Roman Pontiff with a rhinoceros captured in India; but, unfortunately, the ship was wrecked on its way to Italy: the pope lost his present, and the rhinoceros his life. All that was preserved was a rough sketch, engraved by Albert Durer; and down to a very recent date, nearly all our representations were taken from this rough draft.

In 1685 a rhinoceros was captured and brought to England. In 1739 and 1741 two others were exhibited in various parts of Europe. In 1800 a young one was brought from India, intended for a menagerie at Vienna, but died at London on the way, and was dissected by Mr. Thomas, who published the results of his investigations, and thus gave the public a better idea of the animal than they ever had before.

TURKISH CARRIAGE.

The curiously-shaped vehicle which we have engraved on the next page, is a Turkish _araba_, a carriage chiefly used by ladies. An account of one of them is pleasantly introduced by Mr. Albert Smith in his "Month at Constantinople" when describing the visit of the Sultan to one of the mosques:--

"Every Friday the Sultan goes to mosque publicly. It is not known until the very morning which establishment he means to patronise; but your dragoman has secret channels of information, and he always informs you in time to 'assist' at the ceremony.

"The first time I went, Abdul Medjid had selected for his devotions the mosque of Beglerbeg, a village on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, the temple of which stands in the same relation and bearing to St. Sophia--to use a very familiar simile--as Rotherhithe Church does to St. Paul's. It was a perfect English morning--foggy and cold (Oct. 7) with muddy streets and spitting rain. I crossed into Asia--one learns to speak of Asia, at Constantinople, as he would do of the borough--in a two-oared caique, and on landing went up to the mosque, which is close to the shore.

A crowd of people, consisting principally of females, had collected before the mosque, and a square space was kept by the soldiers. Some little courtesy was shown to visitors, as the Franks were permitted to cross this enclosure to a corner close to the door, by which the Sultan was to enter.

Turkish Carriage.]

He was not very punctual to his time, but there was enough to amuse the visitors; more especially in the arrival of the women, who came up as near as they could to the building, in all sorts of odd vehicles. Several were like those I had seen on the bridge at Pera, but one was very fine indeed. It was more like a waggon than a carriage, and painted bright blue, with red wheels and awning. In it were five ladies of the Sultan's harem, very gaily dressed, and laughing loudly as the vehicle shook them about over the rugged road. It was drawn by two buffaloes, and they had a singular arrangement of worsted tufts over their heads, of various bright colours. This was the first waggon of the kind I had seen, but I afterwards found them very common. Other women were on foot, and a number of these had collected upon a hillock under a tree, where they talked and quarrelled incessantly. One very pale and handsome girl arrived alone, in a car, preceded by two or three attendants: and, whilst trying to pass a narrow thoroughfare amongst the other vehicles, the wheel of her own got smashed to pieces. She was then close to the Frank visitors, and, as she appeared likely to be overturned, two or three gentlemen from Misseri's hotel, ran forward to offer their assistance. In a minute they were put back by the attendants, who could not think of allowing their mistress to be touched, even from chance, by a Christian. The carriage was propped up, as well as it could be; and its inmate, who had remained perfectly tranquil during the accident, fixed her large eyes on the enclosure, and never moved them again, to the right or left."

CURIOUS INDIAN COMB.

Indian Comb.]