their vast date plantations are immense, but their toil is amply repaid
by the "lord of the vegetable world." Independent of its picturesque
appearance, grateful shade, luscious fruit, and agreeable beverage, it
supplies them with fuel, and wood for the construction of their houses.
From its leaves they manufacture baskets, ropes, mats, bags, couches,
brushes, brooms, fans, &c. From the branches they make fences, stools,
and cages. The kernels, after being soaked in water for two or three
days, are eagerly eaten by camels.
Every palm-tree shoots forth a number of suckers, which are removed at
the proper season and transplanted. With care, these will produce fruit
in about ten years, whereas those raised from kernels will only yield
dates when they reach to the age of twenty. The tree reaches its vigour
at thirty, and continues so till a hundred years old, when it begins
to decline, and decays about the end of its second century. During its
vigorous years, a good tree will produce between twenty and thirty
clusters, each weighing about thirty pounds.
[Illustration: [++] Naora.]
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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.