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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.
[Illustration: [++] 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.