spear, and shield are essentially the weapons of the Abyssinians,
firearms being only of comparatively recent introduction, and not
generally used. The shields are round, and nearly a yard in diameter;
they are very neatly made of buffalo's hide, and of the form most
calculated to throw off a lance-point; namely, falling back gradually
from the boss or centre (which protrudes) to the edges. At the centre,
in the inside, is fixed a solid leather handle, by which the shield is
held in the hand when fighting, or through which the arm is passed
to the elbow, for convenience of carrying on a journey. The edge is
perforated with a number of holes, through which leather loops are
passed, and by these it is hung up in the houses. The face of the
shield is often ornamented in various ways, according to the wealth
or fancy of the owner. Some have simply a narrow strip of lion's skin
on each side of the boss, but crossing each other above and below
it, the lower ends being allowed to hang at some length; others have
a large broad strip of the mane down the centre of the shield, and
hanging several inches below it. This is, of course, usually made of
two or three pieces stitched together, as it would be difficult to get
a single piece of sufficient length and beauty of fur. Others to this
add a lion's paw or tail, fastened on the left side of the mane, and
often highly adorned with silver. The beautiful long black and white
fur of a sort of monkey, called "goreza," occasionally supplies the
place of that of the nobler yet scarcely so beautiful animal. A shield
almost completely covered with plates and bosses of silver, is usually
the mark of the chief of some district. Those similarly plated in
brass were likewise formerly used only by chiefs, though now they are
carried by every soldier who can afford to buy them. The plated shield
is called "tebbora." Those in brass are not much approved of, as they
usually cover a bad skin; for a man possessed of a good handsome shield
would never think of thus hiding its intrinsic beauties.
In former times a beautiful crooked knife was used in Tigre, the sheath
and handle of which were profusely enriched with silver and gilt.
These, however, are never worn now, the long "shotel" in Tigre, and the
European-shaped sword among the Amhara and most of the soldiers, have
entirely superseded them.
The "shotel" is an awkward-looking weapon. Some, if straight, would be
nearly four feet long: they are two-edged, and curved to a semicircle,
like a reaper's sickle. They are principally used to strike the point
downwards over the guard of an adversary, and for this the long curved
shape is admirably adapted. It is, however, a very clumsy weapon to
manage. The sheath is of red morocco leather, its point being often
ornamented with a hollow silver ball, called "lomita," as large as
a small apple. Many of the swords used are made in Europe, and are
such as would be carried by the light cavalry, though lighter than
ours. Being, however, cheap, showy articles, they are apt to break,
and therefore the Abyssinians are getting tired of them, preferring
those made of soft iron in their own country. These they make also
with the faible considerably broader than the forte, to give force to
the blow. Of course, they bend on the least stress; but, in defence
of this failing, their owners say that, if a sword breaks, who is
to mend it?--while, if it bends, you have only to sit on it, and it
gets straight again. The handles of both this and the "shotel" are
made of the horn of the rhinoceros. They are cut out of the horn at
great loss of material, and hence they fetch a good price. It should
be remembered that the heart of the horn is black, outside of which
there is a coating, not quite an inch thick, of a semi-transparent
white colour. To make a sword-handle, a piece of horn of the requisite
length is first sawn off. This is then re-sawn longitudinally into
three pieces, of which the inner one only is eligible for handles. This
piece is about an inch and a half thick, four or five inches broad at
the broader extremity, and three at the narrower. As it lies sawn flat
before us we can distinctly see the black stripe in the centre, with
the white on each side. Next, a nearly semicircular piece is cut out
at each side, leaving only four points of the white as four corners,
and the grasp black. The handle is then finished, bored for the shank
of the blade, and polished. The shank is usually clinched over a
half-dollar beaten convex; a _fil-et-grain_ boss, called "timbora," is,
however, sometimes substituted. A sword-hilt thus made is obviously a
very clumsy one to handle, as the points are parallel to the edge, and
those farthest from the blade are longest.
GEORGIANS AS TOPERS.
It is as unsurpassable topers, as well as for their military qualities,
which have always been acknowledged, that the Georgians have acquired
notoriety. At their frequent drinking parties it is said they will pass
several days and nights, almost without intermission, in quaffing the
productions of the vineyards of Kakheti, a district in the mountains
east of Tiflis. This wine is by no means of bad quality; it is of a
deep red colour, so deep that one fancies it has been tinged with some
dye to produce so intense a hue. They are said to consume incredible
quantities of wine on these occasions, and in a fashion that would
put to shame the drinking triumphs of Ireland, recorded by Sir Jonah
Barrington, in days of old, when intoxication was the standard of
spirit. The drinking vessel is a cow's horn, of considerable length,
and the point of honour is to drain it at a draught. The brethren and
convivial rivals of the Georgians in the neighbouring provinces of
Imeretia and Mingrelia, instead of a horn, use a delicately-hollowed
globe of walnut tree, with a long narrow tube at the orifice. It holds
fully a pint, and like its companion, the horn, the contents are
consumed at a single gulp. How these globes are hollowed is as great
a marvel as the construction of the ingenious Chinese puzzle of ball
within ball.
STAG-HUNT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
The following vivid picture of a stag-hunt is taken from the page of
an old author, and refers to the days of the unfortunate Mary Queen
of Scots:--"In the year 1567, the Earl of Athol, a prince of the
blood royal, had, with much trouble and vast expense, a hunting-match
for the entertainment of our most illustrious and gracious queen.
Our people called this a royal hunting. I was then a young man, and
present on that occasion. Two thousand Highlanders, or wild Scotch,
as you call them, were employed to drive to the hunting-ground all
the deer from the woods and hills of Athol, Badenoch, Marr, Murray,
and the counties about. As these Highlanders use a light dress, and
are very swift of foot, they went up and down so nimbly, that in less
than two months' time, they brought together two thousand red deer,
besides roes and fallow deer. The queen, the great men, and a number
of others, were in a glen when these deer were brought before them.
Believe me, the whole body moved forward in something like battle
order. The sight delighted the queen very much; but she soon had cause
for fear. Upon the earl--(who had been accustomed from his early days
to such sights)--addressing her thus:--'Do you observe that stag who
is foremost of the herd? There is danger from that stag; for if either
fear or rage should force him from the ridge of that hill, let every
one look to himself, for none of us will be out of the way of harm;
for the rest will follow this one, and having thrown us under foot,
they will open a passage to this hill behind us.' What happened a
moment after confirmed this opinion; for the queen ordered one of the
best dogs to be let loose on one of the deer: this the dog pursues;
the leading stag was frighted; he flies by the same way he had come
there; the rest rush after him, and break out where the thickest body
of Highlanders are; they had nothing for it but to throw themselves
flat on the heath, and allow the deer to pass over them. It was told
the queen that several of the Highlanders had been wounded, and that
two or three had been killed outright; and the whole body had got off,
had not the Highlanders, by their skill in hunting, fallen upon a
stratagem to cut off the rear from the main body. It was of those that
had been separated that the queen's dogs and those of the nobility made
slaughter. There were killed that day three hundred and sixty deer,
besides some roes."
TIME WASTED IN TAKING SNUFF.
A vast quantity of valuable time is wasted by the votaries of tobacco,
especially by the smokers; and that the devotees of snuff are not
greatly behind in this respect, will be shown by the following singular
calculation of Lord Stanhope:--
"Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker," says his
lordship, "at a moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes.
Every pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose
and other incidental circumstances, consumes one minute and a half.
One minute and a half out of every ten, allowing sixteen hours to a
snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours and twenty-four minutes out of
every natural day, or one day out of ten. One day out of every ten,
amounts to thirty-six days and a half in a year. Hence, if we suppose
the practice to be persisted in forty years, two entire years of the
snuff-taker's life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more
to blowing it. The expense of snuff, snuff-boxes, and handkerchiefs,
will be the subject of a second essay, in which it will appear that
this luxury encroaches as much on the income of the snuff-taker as it
does on his time; and that by proper application of the time and money
thus lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the discharge
of the national debt."
VALUE OF A LONG PSALM.
Formerly a psalm was allowed to be sung at the gallows by the culprit,
in case of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to
the famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die, for
attending his master in some of his glorious exploits, and being
upon the ladder, ordered to set out a psalm, he expecting a reprieve,
named the 119th Psalm (with which the officer attending the execution
complied, the Scotch Presbyterians being great psalm-singers): and it
was well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before
the reprieve came: any other psalm would have hanged him.
ANCIENT INCENSE CHARIOT.
[Illustration: [++] Ancient Incense Chariot.]
The implement which we have engraved was found in a tomb at Cervetri
in Etruria, and unquestionably belongs to a very remote date of the
archaic period. It was used in the ritual services of the ancients,
and seems to have been destined for burning incense. The perfume was,
no doubt, placed in the concave part, and the fact of the whole being
mounted upon four wheels proves that it was intended to be moved about,
which, in religious services, may have been a great convenience. The
borders are adorned by a row of flower-shaped ornaments, the graceful
forms of which will be appreciated in the side-view we have given of
it. It must be confessed, indeed, that this monument, which is marked
by the stamp of an antiquity so exceedingly remote, displays within the
limits of its archaic character much elegance, conveying the idea of a
highly refined taste, suitable to a person of dignified position, as
the priest or king may be supposed to have been, to whom the article
belonged.
TOO MUCH PARENTAL AUTHORITY.
All the world over, the current of natural affection flows strongly
downwards to posterity. Love for children, in most nations, seems to
be stronger than the love for parents. But in China, the current of
natural affection is thrown back towards parents with undue strength.
The love of posterity is in danger of being checked and weakened by
their excessive veneration for parents. The father has absolute power,
even the power of life and death, over his children. A few years ago,
a Chinese father said to his wife, "What shall we do with our young
son? He is undutiful and rebellious, and will bring disgrace on our
family name; let us put him to death." Accordingly, having tied a cord
round the boy's neck, the father pulled one end of it, and the mother
the other, and thus they strangled their son. The magistrates took no
notice of the occurrence. A wealthy Chinese gentleman at Ningpo shut
up one of his orphan grandchildren and starved her to death. He could
not be troubled rearing her up. Another man at the same place, having
commanded two of his sons one day to follow him, entered a boat, and
rowed out to the middle of the stream. He then deliberately tied a
stone to the neck of one of his sons, and threw him into the river. The
other lad was compelled to assist his father in the cruel proceeding.
These facts are well known to the missionaries at that place. They
heard the cries of the poor girl, and rescued her sister from a similar
fate, and they saw the youth drowned by his father. But the authorities
never thought of interfering.
POPULAR PASTIMES.
The popular pastimes of the time of James the First are enumerated in
the following lines, in a little work entitled "The Letting of Humour's
Blood in the Head-vaine; with a New Morisco daunced by seven Satyres
upon the bottome of Diogenes' tubbe:" 8vo, Lond. 1611.
"Man, I dare challenge thee to THROW THE SLEDGE,
To jump or LEAPE over ditch or hedge,
To WRASTLE, play at STOOLEBALL, or to RUNNE:
To PITCH THE BARRE, or to SHOOTE OFF A GUNNE:
To play at LOGGETS, NINE HOLES, or TEN PINNES:
To try it out at FOOT-BALL by the shinnes:
At TICKTACKE, IRISH NODDIE, MAW, and RUFFE,
At HOT-COCKLES, LEAP-FROG, or BLINDMAN-BUFFE;
To drinke halfe-pots, or deale at the whole can:
To play at BASE, or PEN-AND-YNKHORNE SIR JUAN;
To daunce the MORRIS, play at BARLEY-BREAKE,
At all exploytes a man can thinke or speake;
At SHOVE-GROATE, VENTER-POYNT, or CROSSE & PILE,
At BESHROW HIM THAT'S LAST AT YONDER STYLE;
At LEAPING O'ER A MIDSOMMER-BON-FIER,
Or at the DRAWING DUN OUT OF THE MYER:
At any of those, or all these presently,
Wagge but your finger, I am for you, I!"
VACILLATING NEWSPAPERS.
The newspapers of Paris, submitted to the censorship of the press, in
1815, announced in the following terms, Bonaparte's departure from the
Isle of Elba, his march across France, and his entry into the French
Capital:--9th March--The Cannibal has escaped from his den. 10th--The
Corsican ogre has just landed at Cape Juan. 11th--The Tiger has arrived
at Gap. 12th--The Monster has passed the night at Grenoble. 13th--The
Tyrant has crossed Lyons. 14th--The Usurper is directing his course
towards Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen in a
body, and they surround him on all sides. 18th--Bonaparte is sixty
leagues from the Capital; he has had skill enough to escape from the
hands of his pursuers. 19th--Bonaparte advances rapidly, but he
will never enter Paris. 20th--To-morrow, Napoleon will be under our
ramparts. 21st--The Emperor is at Fontainebleau. 22nd--His Imperial and
Royal Majesty last evening made his entrance into his Palace of the
Tuileries, amidst the joyous acclamations of an adoring and faithful
people.
PRESSING TO DEATH, AND PRAYING AND FASTING.
In a number of Oliver Cromwell's Newspaper, "The Perfect Account of
the Daily Intelligence," dated April 16th, 1651, we find this horrid
instance of torture:--
"Mond. April 14th.--This session, at the Old Bailey, were four men
pressed to death that were all in one robbery, and, out of obstinacy
and contempt of the court, stood mute and refused to plead; from whence
we may perceive the exceeding great hardness some men are grown unto,
who do not only swerve from instructions, exhortations, and goodnesse,
but become so lewd and insolent that they render themselves the proper
subjects for whom severe laws were first invented and enacted."
The very next paragraph in the paper is to the following effect:--
"Those of the congregate churches, and many other godly people in
London and parts adjacent, have appointed Friday, the 25th instant, as
a day of solemn fasting and prayer, for a blessing upon the armies at
land, the fleet at sea, and negociations abroad."
THE FIRST WATCHES IN ENGLAND.
In 1584 watches began to come from Germany, and the watchmaker soon
became a trader of importance. The watches were often of immense size,
and hung in a rich case from the neck, and by fops wound up with great
gravity and ceremony in Paul's or at the ordinary dinner. Catgut
mainsprings must have been slightly affected by changes of weather, and
sometimes a little out of time in wet Novembers; but, Sessa, let the
world live! An early specimen of the watch that we have seen engraved
was, however, not larger than a walnut, richly chased, and enclosed
in a pear-shaped case. It had no minute hand, but was of beautiful
workmanship. Country people, like Touchstone, sometimes carried pocket
dials, in the shape of brass rings, with a slide and aperture, to be
regulated to the season.
EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE.
Jesse, in his interesting "Gleanings in Natural History," gives
the following remarkable instance of an extraneous substance being
found imbedded in the solid timber of an ash:--"A person on whose
accuracy and veracity I can place every reliance, informed me that
hearing from some of his brother workmen, that in sawing up the butt
of a large ash-tree, they had found a bird's nest in the middle of
it; he immediately went to the spot, and found an ash cut in two
longitudinally on the saw-pit, and the bird's nest nearly in the centre
of the tree. The nest was about two-thirds of a hollow globe, and
composed of moss, hair, and feathers, all seemingly in a fresh state.
There were three eggs in it, nearly white and somewhat speckled. On
examining the tree most minutely with several other workmen, no mark
or protuberance was found to indicate the least injury. The bark was
perfectly smooth and the tree quite sound." In endeavouring to account
for this curious fact, we can only suppose that some accidental hole
was made in the tree before it arrived at any great size, in which a
bird had built its nest, and forsaken it after she had laid three eggs.
As the tree grew larger, the bark would grow over the hole, and in
process of time the nest would become embedded in the tree.
PORT COON CAVE.
[Illustration: [++] Port Coon Cave.]
The above is a sketch of a cave which well deserves a place among our
collection of Wonders. It is called Port Coon Cave, and is in the
line of rocks near the Giants' Causeway. It may be visited either by
sea or by land. Boats may row into it to the distance of a hundred
yards or more, but the swell is sometimes dangerous; and although
the land entrance to the cave is slippery, and a fair proportion of
climbing is necessary to achieve the object, still the magnificence of
the excavation, its length, and the formation of the interior, would
repay greater exertion; the stones of which the roof and sides are
composed, and which are of a rounded form, and embedded, as it were,
in a basaltic paste, are formed of concentric spheres resembling the
coats of an onion; the innermost recess has been compared to the side
aisle of a Gothic cathedral; the walls are most painfully slimy to the
touch; the discharge of a loaded gun reverberates amid the rolling of
the billows, so as to thunder a most awful effect; and the notes of a
bugle, we are told, produced delicious echoes.
ANECDOTE IN PORCELAIN.
[Illustration: [++] Count Bruehl's Tailor and His Wife.]
The finest specimens of Dresden porcelain were undoubtedly made
previously to the Seven Years' War, when no expense was spared, and
when any price might be obtained. Count Bruehl, the profligate minister
of Augustus III., whose splendid palace and terrace is the great
ornament of Dresden, was importuned by his tailor to be allowed to
see the manufactory, admission to which was strictly prohibited. At
length he consented, and the tailor upon his entrance was presented
with the two last new pieces made, which were--one a grotesque figure,
a portrait of himself mounted upon a he-goat, with the shears, and all
his other implements of trade; and the other, his wife upon a she-goat,
with a baby in swaddling clothes. The poor tailor was so annoyed with
these caricatures, that he turned back without desiring to see more.
These pieces, known as Count Bruehl's Tailor and his Wife, are now much
sought after, from their historical interest. They were made in 1760,
by Kaendler.
ANGLO-SAXON FEASTS.
It is a mark of Anglo-Saxon delicacy, that table-cloths were features
at Anglo-Saxon feasts; but, as the long ends were used in place of
napkins, the delicacy would be of a somewhat dirty hue, if the cloth
were made to serve at a second feast. There was a rude sort of display
upon the board; but the order of service was of a quality that would
strike the "Jeameses" of the age of Victoria with inexpressible
disgust. The meat was never "dished," and "covers" were as yet unknown.
The attendants brought the viands into the dining-hall on the spits,
knelt to each guest, presented the spit to his consideration; and,
the guest having helped himself, the attendant went through the same
ceremony with the next guest. Hard drinking followed upon these same
ceremonies; and even the monasteries were not exempt from the sins
of gluttony and drunkenness. Notwithstanding these bad habits, the
Anglo-Saxons were a cleanly people; the warm bath was in general use.
Water, for hands and feet, was brought to every stranger on entering a
house wherein he was about to tarry and feed; and, it is said that one
of the severest penances of the church was the temporary denial of the
bath, and of cutting the hair and nails.
HOUSEHOLD RULES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
From Sir J. Harrington's (the translator of Ariosto) rules for
servants, we obtain a very clear conception of the internal government
of a country gentleman's house in 1566.
A servant who is absent from prayers to be fined. For uttering an oath,
1d.; and the same sum for leaving a door open.
A fine of 2d., from Lady Day to Michaelmas, for all who are in bed
after six, or out after ten.
The same fine, from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed
after seven, or out after nine.
A fine of 1d. for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned
after eight.
A fine of 4d. for any man detected teaching the children obscene words.
A fine of 1d. for any man waiting without a trencher, or who is absent
at a meal.
For any one breaking any of the butler's glass, 12d.
A fine of 2d. for any one who has not laid the table for dinner by
half-past ten, or the supper by six.
A fine of 4d. for any one absent a day without leave.
For any man striking another, a fine of 1d.
For any follower visiting the cook, 1d.
A fine of 1d. for any man appearing in a foul shirt, broken hose,
untied shoes, or torn doublet.
A fine of 1d, for any stranger's room left for four hours after he be
dressed.
A fine of 1d. if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter and seven
in summer.
The porter to be fined 1d. if the court-gate be not shut during meals.
A fine of 3d. if the stairs be not cleaned every Friday after dinner.
All these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly payment
of the men's wages. If these laws were observed, the domestic
discipline must have been almost military in it.
THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.
Belkis, according to the Arabs, was the famous Queen of Sheba or Saba,
who visited, and afterwards married, Solomon, in the twenty-first
year of her reign. Tabari has introduced her story with such gorgeous
embellishments as to resemble a fairy tale rather than episode in
serious narrative. She is said to have been subdued by the Jewish
monarch, who discovered her retreat among the mountains, between Hejaz
and Yemen by means of a lapwing, which he had despatched in search
of water during his progress through Arabia. This princess is called
Nicolaa by some writers. The Abyssinians claim the same distinction for
one of their queens; and have preserved the names of a dynasty alleged
to have been descended from her union with Solomon.
SUPERSTITION IN FRANCE.