"/^we thtf^ Six>ks_ , fur the. /ou,ntSaig if ac CW?djpf5^ii<%gg&gr'||| Gift of MISS ]. MABEL LUM 193 1 (^ xc. i /^> ^ > ^: THE UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER : DESIGNED TO INTRODUCE READERS AT HOME TO AN ACaUAINTANCE WITH THE ARTS, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS, OP THE PRINCIPAL MODERN NATIONS ON THE GLOBE : EMBRACING A VIEW OP THEIR PERSONS— OHARiOTER—EMPLOYMENTS— AMUSEMENTS— RELIGION— DRESS, —HABITATIONS— MODES OF WARPARE—FOOD— ARTS— AGRICULTURE— MANUFACTURES-SUPERSTITIONS— GOVERNMENT- LITERATURE, &C. &C. DERIVED FROM TBE RESEARCHES OF RECENT TRAVELLERS OP ACKNOWLEDGGD ENTERPRISE, INTELLIGENCE, AND FIDELITY; AND EMBODYING A GRKAT AMOUNT OF ENTERTAINING AND INSTRTTOTIVE IMFORHATION. BY CHARLES A. GOODRICH. HARTFORD: CANFIELD AND ROBINS. is36. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by CHARLES A. GOODRICH, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. PREFACE. Through the liberality and indulgence of the publishers, the author has been allowed to add more than a hundred pages to the work, as originally promised to its patrons. This increased labor he considered a privilege, being anxious to follow out and complete the plan on the basis upon which it was first formed. In the sequel, however, it was found that the latitude given was still insufficient ; and hence the author felt it due to the publishers to omit a notice altogether of some few countries, and to abridge somewhat more than he could wish, his account of others. In general, however, the countries of which no notice is taken, are either of minor importance, or those of which ample particulars are to be found in works which have been widely circulated through the country. With these deductions, the author flat ters himself that the patrons of the work wili feel that he has redeemed his pledge, and that it may still with some propriety be styled " The Universal Traveller." As to the sources from which the materials of the volume have been derived, the author will only say, that they are by far too numerous to be specified in this place. Credit has been generally given in the body ofthe work to authors whose labors have been used. Through the courtesy of two of the literary societies attached to Yale College, the author has had access, by means of their' libraries, to many valuable works rarely to be met with in this country. These he has used with freedoin, and adopted their language when adapted to his purpose. For the articles on the United States, France, and Italy, he take? pleasure in acknowledging his obligations to a distinguished lit. erary friend — Rev. Royal Robbins. IV PEEFACE. In conclusion, the author may be allowed to say, that whatev- raay be the excellencies or defects of the work, it has cost him not a few hours of toil in the preparation of it ; — but if it shall contribute to the instruction and entertainment of its patrons — if it shall make them more contented with the goodly land in which their lot is cast — if it shall excite in their bosoms grati tude to that God, who has distinguished them from millions in other countries, in respect to the reforming and peace-inspiring truths of the gospel— and finally — if it shall prompt them to aid in sending that gospel to the millions who are unacquainted with it, and with the thousand blessings which spring from it — one object, and that object an important one, will have been at tained. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Proposed mode of travelling explained— Advantages to be expected— Dangers and sufferings incidental to the common modes avoided — Greater amount of infor mation to be obtained — The mind enlarged and enriched — The useful lessen of cq.'i.- tentment the result. AMERICA. Sect. I. NORTH AMERICA. 1. UNITED States. Personal appearance ofthe inhabitants — Their character — Spirit of enterprize — Personal independence — Attachment to liberty, civil and reUgious — Intelligence and education — Basis of our institations — Peculiar form of education — Refined practical humanity — Moral and religious character — Character ofthe people ofNew Eng land— Of the Middle Statrs- Of the Southern — Western — Eaily settlers of tie country — Modes of dress — Dwellings in New England; In the Middle Slates; Southern; Western.— Architecture— Celebrated buildings—Articles of diet ; in New England; Middle Statos: Southern; Western.— Intoxicating drinks— Travelling- Steam cars — Canals — Inns — Festivals — Games and Amusements — Thanksgiving — May-day — Electionday— Fourth of July — Commenceoients— Husking frolics — First of January — Horse racing — Christmas — Barbacue — Cock-fighting — Bass hunting — Language spoken— Literature — Imitative arts — Meclianical arts — Manufactures — Extent of education — Agiicultu re— Mechanical labor— Mercantile and commercial pursuits — Government — Congress — Executive — Judiciary — Suppoi t of religion — Principal religious denominations. 2. Indian Tribes. Tribes — Personal appearance — Food — Dress — Habitations — Superstitions — Gov ernment—Story of an Indian warrior — Instruments of war — Customs^Funeral rites — Indians of the Rocky mountains — Oonalashka — Nootka Sound. 3, Canada. Population — Character — Costumes — American and French settlers — Travelling — Food — Employments — Amusements — French language — Religious state — Upper Canada. 4. Esquimaux. Localities — Persons — Dress — Ornaments — Houses — Articles of food — Drinks — Amusements — Canoes — Character — Sledges — Dogs — Religion — Marriage Ceremo ny — Interment of the dead. 5. Greenlanders. Stature and appearance — Character — Hunting and fislijng — Winter and summer residences — Canoes — Amusements — Religious notions — Marriage — Funerals. 6. Iceland Personal appearance— Character — Customs — Costurae — Language — Schools — Literature — Houses — Diet — Travelling — Seasons — Hay-making — Winter employ ments — Form and ceremonies ofthe Church — Clergy — Mode of Interment — Mount Hecla — Great Geyser. ^ 7. Mexico. Extent — Physical situation — Population — ^aces — Indians — Costumes — Acapul co — Tepic — Food — Drinks — Travelling— Roads — Amusements — Education — Agri culture — Agricultural productions — Cochineal — Religion — Brief notice of Guatemala. 8. West Indies. Inhabitants — Language— Peculiarities ofthe people of Havana — Manner of liv ing—Funeral ceremonies — Education — Coffee— Sugar — Bread fruit tree. Sect. H. SOUTH AMERICA. 1. Colombia. Historical and statistical account — Cumana— Caraccas— Trades [.eople— F^tivals VI CONTENTS- Amusements— Religion— Chocolate tiee— Cow tree — Bogota — Manners— Houses — Productions. 2, Brazil. Aspect of the country — Classes of inhabitants — Character — Costume — Habits and Manners— Royal etiquette— Food— Population — Arts — Amusements— Ox chase — Horses — Gold and diamonds — Diamond Washirig — Indian tribes— Guaycurus — Puries — Botucudoes— Religion. 3. Peru. Classes of inhabitants — Creoles — Ladies of Peiu — Meslizoes^Clmlos — Span iards—Negroes — Mulattoes— Peruvian Indians — Dress — Houses — Agriculture — Commerce — Amusements. 4. Bolivia. Population — Mines of Potosi — Quantity of silver— Process of separating silver from the ore. 5. Buenos Ayhes. Length and breadth of the country ; PersunSj disposition and mannerof the Span ish inhabitants; Ceremonies; Dress; Amuseoients ; Bullfights; Modes of travel ling; Pampas; Indians; Gauchos; Aniaials on the Pampas; Interment ofthe dead. 6. CUILE- Population and extent of the country ; Inhabitants; Peasants; Spaniards; Valpa raiso; Bullfights; Manners-; Chilean dinner ; Chilean dance; Santiago ; Climate : Towns; Mode of travelling ; Passage of the Great Cordillera; Araucanians. 7. Patagonia. Inhabitants; Dress; Stature; Captain Morrell's account of them. EUROPE. 1. England Appearance of the Englis!) ; Character; Generosity; Industry; Love of know ledge ; Tippling; Dress; English dinner; Public buildings; Houses; Shops; Cottages; Diversions; Horse-racing; Neu-market; Boiing ; Gambling; Travel ling; Roads; Agriculture; Manufactures; Religion ; Government; Wales. 2. Scotland. Personalappearance; Character; Drains; Toddy; Dress ofthe Ijowlanders ; Dress of the Highlanders; Food; Style of buildings; Adventure of a traveller; Language; Music; Anecdotes; Gretna Green. 3. Ireland. Character ofthe Irish; Poverty; Hospitalitj'; Peasantry; Superstition; Irish bulls; Religioas establishment ; Literature; Arts; Manufactures; Irish wake. 4. France. Personal appearance of thc French; Language; Education; Writers; Fine Arts; Public buildings ; Louvre ; Exchange; Dress and taste ; Cookery; Parisian dinner; Amusements; Society; Social condition of Women ; Government; Reli gion. 5. Spain. Classes of inhabitants; Character; Nobles and plebeians; Dress; Cookery; Roads; Language; Amusements; Bullfights; Education; Liberal arts. 6. Portugal. Personal appearance; Character; Costume ofthe lower orders; Internal ap pearance of the houses; Language ; Peculiarities; Religiou. 7. Italy. Interesting associations; Dress of the Itahans; Language; Fine arts; Public buildings; Remains of ancient monuments of art; National character; Morals; Manufactures ; Religion ; The Pope ; College of Cardinals ; Other clergy ; Re markable placcs. 8. Greece. Modern Greeks; Character ; Dress ; Diet; Dancing; Music; Rehgion; Rites of the Greek church ; Superstitions ; Marriage ceremony ; Funerals. CONTENTS. Vll 9. European Turkey. Persons of the Turks; Character; Harems; Manners and customs; Houses; Travelling; Amusements; Laws; Punishmenls; Language; Polygamy; Mar riage ; Religion ; Fasts ; Festivals ; Pilgrims ; Funeral ceremonies. 10. Switzerland. Personal appearance; National character; Dress; Food; Travelling; Educa tion. 11. Hungarian States. Persons; Costumes; Peasants; Habitations; Languages; Diet; Gypsies. 12. Austria, Bohemia, &c. Political divisions; Population; Austrian character ; Austrian women; Vienna; Kingdom of Bohemia, &c. ; Tyrol. 13. Germany. Political divisions; Hanoverians; Saxons; Bavarians; Gerraan houses ; Titles; Manners and customs ; Amusements ; Inquisitiveness ; Music ; Means of educa tion; Libraries ; German students ; Mode of travelling. 14. Netherlands. Holland; Belgium; Appearance of the Dutch; Duteh ladies; Manners and customs ; Character of the Belgians ; House in Holland ; Diet ; Diversions. 15. Denmark. Personal appearance ; Classes of inhabitants ; Houses ; Food ; Travelling ; Di versions ; Government ; Religion. 16. Norway. Persons; Character; Dress; Diet; Buildings; Minufdctures; Travelling; Amusements; Religion; Funeral cere monies ; Marriage; Superstitious notions and traditions ; Nipen ; Mountain demon ; Story of Peter the Woodman ; A wedding party. 17. Sweden. Inhabitants; National character; Costurae; Food; Habitations; Roads; Trav elling ; Education ; Diversions ; Agriculture ; Manufactures ; Wedding ceremonies. 16. Lapland. Personal appearance; Dress ofthe Lapps; Huts; Inland Lapps; Maritime Lapps; Diet; Superstitions; Courtship and marriage; Diseases; Sepulchral rites. 19. Finland. General description ; Costume ; Houses ; Dress ; Hot baths ; Peasantry ; Hunt ing ; Travelling ; Matrimonial connexion. 20. Russia. Variety of races ; Personalappearance; Dress; Dress of the ladies; Cossacks; Character of the Russians; Remarkable for their imitation; For their curiosity; Manners and customs; Servants; Meals; Cookery; Clergy; Merchants; Pea sants ; Productions ; Internal navigation ; Travelling ; Batlis ; Amusements ; Pun ishments; Weddings. ASIA. I. ASIATIC TRIBES. 1. Circassians. Personal appearance ; Dress ; Dress of the females ; Houses ; Burial of their dead. 2. Geoegians. Persons ; Dress ; Punishments ; Clergy, &c. 3. Tartabs. Loiialities; Physical and moral character; Wealth; Dress; Diet; Dwellings; 4. Calmucks. Personalappearance; Tents; Food; Classes or ranks ; War dress; Marriages. 5 Kamschatka. Appearance ; Costume ; Manner of living ; Pood, &o. Vlll CONTENTS. Arabia. Classes of Arabs; Bedouins; Physical appearance ; Exterior demeanor ; Hospi tality; Courtesy; Spirit of revenge; Dress; Diet; Places of Amusement ; Hab itations; Form of government ; Mode of travelling; Caravans, 3. Persia. Persons; Costume; Houses; Food; Habits; Female education ; Superstitions; Visiting; Hunting; Horse racing; Travelling; Courtship and Weddings; Inter ment of the dead. " 4. China. Physical appearance ; Natural dispositions ; Character ; Condition of females ; Dress ; Mode of living among the lower orders; Among the wealthy; Entertain ments; Gaming laws ; Punishments; Prisons; Inns; TraveUing; Architecture; Manufactures; Porcelain; Silk; Printing; Marriage; Funeral rites. 5. Japan, Situation and extent ; Personalappearance; Dress; Houses; Diet ; Agriculture ; Arte and Sciences ; Public roads ; Religious sects ; Supeistitions ; Celebration of marriage ; Funeral ceremonies. 6. Burman Empire. Situation; Physiognomy; Costume; Houses; Furniture; Management of house hold affairs ; Matrimonial ceremonies ; Characteristics ; Travelling ; Funeral so lemnities. 7. New Holland. Situation and extent; Aborigines; Refigioua opinions; Characteristics; Canoes; Government. 8. New Zealand. Situation and extent; First intercourse with Europeans; Personal appearance; Dress; Food; Cannibalism; Habitations; Tattooing; Religion; Priests ; Sourcee of wealth ; Funeral obsequies ; Battles ; Canoes ; War instruments ; Amusements. AFRICA. 1. Bareakt States. Moorish Dress; Marriages; Mode of salutation ; Hunting; Funeral rites. 2. Kueia. Situation ; Inhabitants ; Dress ; Habitations : Diet 3. Abyssinia. Situation; Population ; Marriage ; Superstitions; Funeral ceremonies; Peculiar customs. 4. Caffraria. Boundaries; Inhabitants; Costume; Manner of life ; Diet; Houses; Kraals or villages ; The Amaxor tribe. 5. Southern Africa. Situation and extent ; Cape Town ; Dutch boors; Hottentots; Dress ; Character; The Bosjesmans , The Corannas ; The Namaquas. 6. Nigritia or Central Apkica. Situation and extent ; Bornou ; Population of Bornou ; Manner of living ; Game ; Chief towns ; Districts of Begharmi, Mandara, and Loggim ; The Fellatahs'' Sacca- too ; timbuctoo. 7. Western Africa. Situation and extent ; Dahomey ; Ashantee ; General remarks on the social con dition of the Africans. INTRODUCTION. It is the privilege of a few, and but a few, to travel — to visit and observe distant countries and different nations. Although travelling has greatly increased of late years, and, as facilities are multiplied, is likely to increase still more, yet it is chiefly- confined to certain classes, by no means numerically large. The majority of mankind are necessarily cut off from this spe cies of amusement and information. They have neither the requisite leisure, nor sufficient wealth. Many, also, are unfit ted for travelling, by reason of their habits and dispositions. New countries, and new objects, would neither please nor profit them, at a distance from tfaeir homes, and in circumstances un congenial to their feelings. And not a few who do travel, are disqualified for improvement, from the- want of that peculiar tact — that power of observation and discrimination, which is so essential to a just estimate of men and manners. But is there no indemnity for such a privation ? Must they, who cannot literally visit foreign countries, and cannot view with their own eyes the varieties of human character and cus toms, always remain in ignorance ? Shall they be permitted to know nothing beyond theirown state and nation? Happily, this is not the severe condition of their being. It is not neces sary to forego the pleasure and advantages ofa varied and ex tensive knowledge of the world. They may enjoy travelling, as well as others. They may enjoy it at home, and in every season of the year, even amidst the frosts and confinement of winter. They may travel, and yet never quit their firesides or porticoes. If it be necessary to explain to our readers how this can be done, we will begin by supposing that the long evenings of our winters are arrived— the storm rages abroad, and the winda howl around your dwelling ; but you are quietly seated by your comfortable fire, and you wish some amusing, and, at the same time, profitable employment, in which to pass away the hours. We propose to you, then, to make a travelling excursion — a sort of tarry. at-home journey, or voyage around the globe. We 2 X INTRODUCTION will endeavor, by giving a condensed, yet sufficiently extensive account ofthe world, in the manners, customs, ritos, laws, gov ernments, and other particulars respecting its inhabitants, to furnish the means of your making such an excursion. We will hold up a picture by which, in the comfort and security of your homos, you may see whatever is worthj' of inspection, just as the literal traveller would see it, in the varioijs states and king doms ofwhich the globe is constituted. In a faithful and au thentic sketch of men and manners, and the curiosities of nature or art, you will realize nearly the sarae object, that would be answered by foreign travel. The more particular considerations or motives for atteinpting such a tour, we would now take the liberty to suggest. 1. You will avoid the dangers and sufferings which attend those who go abroad amorg different nations. No man, who leaves his home for a distant land, knows what may befal him in his course ; or rather, every such an one knows, that he ex poses himself to numerous perils and difficulties. He can scarce ly hope to escape casualties and disasters, and it is a cliance if his life is not the forfeiture of his curiosity. What has been the fate of travellers, especially the more adventurous of them ? Witness Ledyard, Park, Clapperton, Lander, and hundreds of others. By the mode of travelling here proposed, you will run no such hazards as attended these men, and by which they lost their lives. You will escape perils by land and by sea. You will be exposed to no dangers from pirates who infest the seas, or from robbers or assassins, who waylay the passing land- traveller. • You may visit the rudest, tiie most savage tribes of men, in perfect safety — Indians, Algerines, New-Zealanders, barbarians, cannibals. You need not fear the scorching heats of an African desert, nor the rigors ofa Siberian winter. You may travel thousands of miles, with scarcely the sense of weari ness. You may penetrate the most distant countries, and re main in perfect quiet. You may enjoy, in a sense, all the amusements of the voyager or traveller, and suffer none ofhis inconveniences. 2. You will he able io acquire a greater amount of informa. tion, and that of a more accurate kind, in one winter, than by travelling for years, in the common and literal mode. This will be the case, because you will have passed through more countries, and have observed more of men and manners, than ii ycu had employed the time in personal examination. The amount of information will be increased by all the tirae jou. will have saved. Asto accuracy of inforraation — minute and full acquaintance with the objects met with in travelling, tliis may INTKODUCTION. XI be expected from the method hei-e prope sed, when it could not be attained in any other way. Perhaps you are not fitted to make snch nice observrtioiiS on men and manners, as are found in many books of travel. Perhaps you are not acquainted with the different languages that are necessary to be understood, in order to the acquisition of correct knowledge. You may not be able to phiiosnphizo, or deduce inferences, or make compari sons, as is desirable in order to learn all that might be learned by travi'lHng. For these and otiier reasors, the sort of tarry- at-iiome excursion may furnish you not only with more infor mation, but better information, respecting different countries, than if you were actually to spend the same time in personal inspection of them. 3. The mode if travelling here recommended, will serve to enlarge and enrich the mind. Nothing is better calculated to prodmce this effect, than just delineations of human nature — of human life, and manners, and character — of man in all the va rieties ofhis condition, as an inhabitant ofthe earth. It expands our views, and furnishes the mind with innumerable topics of thought and illustration. Knowledge generally is the best kind of acquisition — better than silver or gold, or any ofthe means of sensual enjoyment. It will be a source of happiness, as you will be able to enjoy yourselves independently of others. Know ledge cannot be taken away, as property and other worldly ac quisitions may be. It is our own prerogative, and the distinction of our intellectual nature, and can be annihilated only with the mind, in which it resides. Besides, it will give you influence and reputation — extend the sphere of your exertions, and in crease the power of doing good. Imparting weight to character, it will entitle you to consideration in all respectable society. The branch or kind of knowledge more especially recommend. ed here, is equal in value to that ofany other, religion excepted. Indeed, it may lead you to Hue religious knowledge. If there is any kind of secular information which has a direct moral use and tendency, it must be this. Through such a mode of trav elling, you will become acquainted with the human chara(?ter ; you will see it as modified by religion or its opposite. You will of course be able to judge of tlie value of the Bible and Chris. tian institutions, as you will perceive their influence upon the state of society. You will find their influence always and uni- formly propitious. Where they are not known, society will be seen to be eminently in a vicious, unhappy, and degraded state. You will be able to judge of the value ofthe Bible and of Chris tian institutions especially in their influence on woman — how they^raise her to her proper rank in the domestic state — expand Xll INTRODUCTION. her mind and refine her character. The false religions and su perstitions on the earth, will be seen in all their polluting, de grading, and distressing influence on the sex. Thus the com parison of the effects of Christianity, and those false religions, which knowledge in this way acquired will enable you to make, cannot but show you the genius of that religion, and its infinite superiority to every other. 4. You will learn from our proposed mode of travelling, the useful lesson of contentment. It will make you more satisfied than ever with your own country — its state of society — moi'als, religion, education, government and privileges — most of those circumstances in which it differs from other countries, and in deed all the circumstances that contribute to national happiness. It may be hoped, that your gratitude to God will be excited in view of the distinguished mercies you enjoy, in common with your countrymen. It must be felt to be an occasion of the most sincere gratitude that he has placed you in so favored and goodly a land, rather than amid the burning sands of Af rica, or the frozen wilds of Northern Asia — and that he bets conferred on us, as a nation, those civil and religious institu tions that are the glory of our land. Now, then, reader, as you are decided to accompany us, we will set forth. But as self-knowledge is the most important — and a knowledge of one's own country is to be preferred to that of all others, we will first take a survey of ourselves ; and when we have done this, if you become weary, you may retreat, and we will endeavor to enlist some one else to accom pany us. It is our purpose, however, to make the circuit so interesting, if within our means, as we believe it is, that instead of leaving us, we expect you will cling the closer, the longer we travel together. Without further preface, we will cora mence our review with America. AMERICA. Sect. I. NORTH AMERICA. 1. UNITED STATES. The inhabitants of the United States having descended or emigrated from almost every nation in Europe, are not so amalgamated that they can well be brought togeth er in one description as to tlieir persons, complexion or form. In general, they resemble, in personal appearance, the inhabitants of those countries whence they originated. There is, however, that change which a different climate, and new modes of life, and other peculiar circumstances must necessari ly produce, according to the time in which the several classes of the people have been separated from the parent stock. They may, therefore, be described in this respect, and perhaps in others, according to their national descent, or which is more convenient, according to the separate great divisions, into which the union is distributed. The English blood greatly predomi. nates. This is especially the case in New-England. The inhabitants of this part of the United States have generally fair complexions, but numbers are as dark as Spaniards or Italians, and they difler from one another, not a little in the cast of their countenance. They are, for the most part, robust, and capable of enduring great hardship and iatigue. They are somewhat taller and more slender in form, both men and women, than the inhabitants of Great Britain. The obesity and broad cliests and shoulders of the latter are sometimes met with here ; but they are not so common a characteristic, as in the country of their early ancestors. Some one has esti mated, with what seriousness we will not pretend to saj^, the weight of seven John Bulls as equal to that of ten Yankees ! The inhabitants of the Middle and Western States have a similar .appearance, so far as they partake of English blood, and that generally prevails, though there is a far greater mix ture of races than takes place in New-England. New-Eng- landers and their descendants are found in large numbers in these 2* 14 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. UNITED STATES. portions of the United States. People of Dutch and German descent, however, constitute no small part ofthe Middle States, particularly of New-York and Pennsylvania. These, in per son, resemble the nations from which they are descended, and vary, of course, from the New-England form and features, though not in any prominent degree. The thicker frame and sandy complexion are discernible, but amalgamation is advan cing by means of intermarriages. There are also numbers of French, Irish, Swiss and Swedes, with their characteristic dif ferences of personal appearance. The citizens of the Southern porlion ofthe counti-y, who ge- nerally are of English descent, shew the effects of a warmer climate, in the sallow complexion by which they are distin guished. Here, as in the other parts of the country, descend ants of different nations are found with the variety in their per sonal appearance, which is to be expected from that cause. Especially is this the case with the negroes, the great mass of whom are slaves, and who constitute nearly an equal portion \>f the population. Their characteristic form, features, hue, &;c., it is more proper to describe, when we come to speak of the natives of Africa. The intermixture ofthe white race and the negro has introduced the mulatto, who partakes in form, features and complexion of both races, so as to make a medium condition in these respects between whites and blacks, and is met with frequently in the southern states. Several Indian tribes also still remain, retaining the peculiarities of that race. as to personal appearance and complexion. In the Western States of the union, the population is of a sin gularly mixed character. Emigrants, probably from every country of Europe, and from all the other states ofthe repub lic, are found in those wide-spread regions, in some places con sisting of separate settlements, in others, dwelling promiscu ously together. Consequently, there is a still greater diversity of personal appearance in the western states than elsewhere in this country. As, however, they are composed mostly of the enterprising classes of other regions, they wear the aspect of vigor and activity, and their manner of life, in many instances, imparts to thera a hardy and rough exterior. They show often the brown visage, and the expanded form, which are acquired by means of toil, exposure, and the exercise of huntincr. Nearly the same may be said respecting the cliaracter of the people of the United States, as was said respecting their personal appearance as a whole. It can scarcely be UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 15 CHARACTER ENTERPRISE. allowed, even up to this time, that we have throughout a na tional character. Certainly this will not be allowed in the sense in which national character is attributed to the French, Germans, Spaniards, Chinese, or, indeed, to most other nations. It is too mixed and various to be contemplated under one ge neral aspect, or to be designated by any peculiarities, as dis- tinct from those which mark large collections of the human race. The circumstances of the American people are new and unex ampled in the history of great natio;, s. They are constituted of portions of every European nation, although the descendants of Englishmen are the most numerous. The country is still filling up with comers from the Old World ; and it is not until the tide of emigration shall cease, and our institutions shall have had time to operate in all parts of the country, that we can have a homogeneous population and an entire national character. There are, however, a few general traits which may be mentioned — traits that are more or less common to us as a nation ; alter which it will be necessary to refer to dif- erent communities ; or to the great natural and civil division* which constitute the United States. In other words, we shall state some sectional peculiarities. A spirit of enterprise may be said to be common to our peo ple, and is a characteristic worthy of notice. The circum. stances of the nation have both produced and developed this feature of American .society. The original settlers of the country were, in many instances, prompted by a spirit of ad- venture. They were a bold and enterprising race ; and it is not strange that their descendants should inherit a pdi-tion of the same spirit. In general, also, the emigrants from foreign countries, who have since made their homes on our shores, have brought with them a sirailar characteristic. Indeed, it is common only for the more active and fearless spirits in any nation to be willing to break up their attachments to kindred and country, and home, and try their fortunes in a different and distant region of the globe. Necessity rather thfen choice has doubtless driven miiny, especially of late years, to this land of abundance, and in the expectation of finding that abundance with out the requisite diligence or skill to procure it ; but this class is not as yet so numerous as to effect any essential change in the enterprising turn of the American population. The circum stances of a new country, like our own, almost unavoidably give a prominence to active and adventurous life. The case is very different here from what it is in the old and full grown countries of the eastern continent. Tn the latter, the institu. 16 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. UMTiSD STATES. tions of society are nearly at a stand, and there is little territo rial room for expansion and enlargement. Consequently, the spirit of enterprise is le.ss known in that portion of the globe. 'I'licre IS less occasion and less scope for it. Here, however, every thing is in a developing and forming state — changes are continually going on — the institutions of society are not fully established, there is no aristocracy, there are no primogenitures to fix tho conditions of rank and of property. The consequence is, that character, fortune, and the comfortsof life eminently de- pend on personal effort and enterprise. The difficulties and trials which often attach to a people situated as are the citizens of the United States, have also had their influence in producing the characteristic distinction of American activity and enter. prise. To say nothing in this place of their early terrible con flicts, both with the Indian and European powers, conflicts in which they were frequently engaged, and the severe perils to which they were exposed from a variety of other causes, the fact alone that they have filled a wild and boundless country with tlie arts and institutions of civilized life, shows an indomitable spirit of exertion and perseverance. "Their great inland waters invited them to an early familiarity with the marine cradles, trained them as in their primary nautical schools, and have regularly drawn many of them on to meet all the changes of the inconstant ocean with a perfect familiarity. The skill and facility acquired by habit, and improved by all the relative arts, have established the most intimate connection between tliem and other parts of the world. Their woods and forests draw many of the United Americans to the bold, the hardy, and the active chase, aimed always against beasts of prey; teaching them at once the use of defensive arms, and to boar privations and fatigue, unknown to the muss of the people of the European states. The vigorous exertions of agriculture extend far beyond the hoe, the plough and the hammer. The American improver is frequently required to rear his own buildings for man and beast. Hc must conquer the sturdy forest and the deep morass, laborious, though gainful prepara tions for productive cultivation. In many of the states, the judicious agriculturist is always an improver. The most an cient families, and those of the first intelligence, fortune and standing, as well as foreign emigrants, of late years, are en gaged in the settlement and improvement of contiguous forests. XVhere, lately, every production of nature flourished in wild ness, there, now, the garden, the meadow, and the harvest UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 17 PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE. smile. Useful and necessary rural iraproveraents offer to all the Americans a prudent and gainful employment for surplus income, producing often an habitual course of moralizing in dustry and economy." To this it may be added, that their triumph over nature, and the obstacles in their way is still further seen in the vast improvement and augmentation of the mechanic arts, in the extensive manufacturing establishments that have sprung up of late years, and in the wonders of steam- navigation. These strikingly exhibit the tone of exertion and enterprize by which the American people are charac terized. We justly also attribute to the people a large share of per sonal independence and resolution. Both natural and moral causes have conspired in producing such a trait of character. Among the natural causes are our proximity to the dangers of the ocean — the original wildness of our domain — the size and number of bays, lakes and rivers, the navigation of which is often an effort, or was such in former days — the extent and rugged features of our soil, and many mountainous tracts which are the native seats of independence — the purity and brightness of our skies — and the invigorating character of our climate. Among the moral causes producing traits of person al independence and resolution, may be mentioned the objects sought in the early settlement of this country — the hardships to which the settlers were subjected — their frequent contests with the natives — the revolutionary war and the consequent attention which was paid to arms and military topics among the people — the predominance of the agricultural interest which is inti mately connected with competence and independence — the fa cility of finding employment and of acquiring property — and the various institations, civil and religious, by which the nation is distinguished. These causes, especially the last named, have combined to produce a noble elevation ofthe public mind. " The manifestos and declarations of the American congress," says a writer, " from the time of its original foundation, display the evils which the people were unwilling to suffer, the increas ing determination to obtain a remedy, a clear developement of rights and interests, a rejection of all authority and institutions which were unjust, illegal or dangerous, and the creation by their own will, of new delegation.? of power, and institutions calculated to secure the principles and execution of free go vernment in the church and in the state. The volume of the public acts, of the disquisitions and constitutional character, issued with all the authority of the nation, from the first pro- 18 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. UNITED STATES. ceedings in 1774, to the time of the completion of our existing national instruraent of union, will be found to contain mora to elevate the spirit of raan, and preserve that spirit erect and vi gorous, than is recorded in the history of any other nation. The true and natural result is, that independent man here knows not any laws, save those which choice and common good or dain — no raaster save preserving Heaven." The people of the United States are distinguished for their enhghtened and cordial attachment to liberty both civil and re ligious. That attachment in respect to civil liberty has been manifested in various forms, and at great expense. It is to be seen in all their struggles with despotic power, and in the blood and treasures which they poured out to obtain their emancipa tion from a foreign yoke. We learn it in their constitutions of government, both that of the Union, and those of the individual states. It is exhibited in the settled opinions of the peojile, as expressed in conversation and writing, in their councils and in their courts of justice. It may be remarked respecting the American constitutions merely, that they are supreme, written laws, sanctioning and adopting, however , the law of nations, and the common law of the original confederated British em pire. They place the legislative, executive and judicial pow ers in a state of separation and mutual independence in a more considerable degree than has been done in any other country. The principles of civil liberty, so well defined, have been sa credly cherished through the whole period of our history. The same has been the case, even perhaps more eminently, in respect to religious liberty. Its principles, in general, have been perfectly understood, and most sacredly guarded. " Re spect for the rights of conscience is in no country so general, so conspicuous, or so well secured by civil institutions, and by the religious discipline, practice and tenets ofthe various churches. We see here the Congregational and the Presbyterian Calvin ists worehipping the Deity in each other's houses So of the German Lutheran, and German Reforraed Calvinists. So of the English, and Swedish, and German Lutheran congrega- tions. Some religious houses are used by all. Marriages are performed by the ministers and magistrates of each^of the various churches for the members of others. Tho members of these societies have officiated at the interment of deceased persons of each other's churches. Families of all religious societies intermarry. Such are common occurrences, and are the religious and charitable habits of the community. The constitution of the United Statos prohibits, in express and per. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 19 PEOPLE INTELLIGENT AND EDUCATED. emptory terms, the requiring of a religious test, in any case, by the statutes of the national legislature. The constitutions of a very large proportion of the several states contain similar or equivalent securities for the rights of conscience. There is here no war among the different churches or societies. None has the sword of the state to raise against a sister church. The peaceful churches aro therefore as free and as strong as the churches which admit defensive resistance." Attachment of the most enlightened and ardent kind to civil and religious li berty has been shown in these various ways, on the part of the American people. It is still manifested among them in all its pristine vigor. They have, moreover, the characteristic distinction of being an intelligent and educated people. The intellectual character of our native citizens, compares favorably with that of the na tion from which we sprung, and consequently with that of other nations. It has, indeed, the same essential traits. The strong English good sense is predominant. The capacity for me chanical inventions and improvements is, perhaps, still greater. For these efforts of genius, there is a wide field in this country, and the spirit of enterprise is highly favorable to their de-' velopement. The rewards of intelligence and ingenuity are well calculated to stimulate the gifted minds of our country. men to exertion. They who are fitted by education and knowledge for situations where these endowments are wanted, and they are wanted for every station, can find full and profita ble employment. It is not here, as in the confined, overgrown countries of Europe ; and, doubtless, will not soon be, con sidering the extent of our domain, that almost every branch of business, intellectual or mechanical, is in a state of surfeit. Here the field for enterprise, directed by intelligence, is almost unlimited. It is true, indeed, that immense estates are not often to be expected from the mere exercise of ingenuity or talent in this land, as they have been realized in some particu lar cases in European countries. Arkwright, for instance, in the beginning of his course, the poorest of poor' boys, died worth nearly two millions of our money. And it has hap pened, that the American man of genius has sometimes failed in respect to his just expectations. But abating these more extraordinary cases, it is true that the most comraon walks in which ingenuity or learning, or both are required among us, hold, invariably, the promise, at least, of corapetence. Every thing here is graduated on a scale of mediocrity and equality in respect to our civil condition, and therefore we are not lo 20 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. UNITED STATES. look for the wealth that supports noblemen and princes. In telligence, high intelligence in this country is, nevertheless, a good investment. The call for its exercise is loud and ur gent. Besides, it is felt that intelligence and education are tlie basis of our institutions — the principal pillar of the Republic and the Church. It is believed that we should fall a prey to incurable evils, unless the minds of our citizens were enlightened by a sound and virtuous education. Extraordinary provision, there fore, has been made for the universal instruction of the people, by means of common schools, in the rudiments of knowledge, while great attention has been paid to the training of many in the higher branches of learning. The general institution of comraon schools in the manner in which the object is effected is, perhaps, a peculiarity of the American nation. These, in most of the States, extend the advantages of education and in telligence throughout the whole mass of the population. This nation sprang into existence, under the auspices of the most en lightened views. Never was the importance, the necessity of knowledge, and of the universal prevalence of education, whether as a means of self-preservation, happiness and virtue to ourselves, or as an instrument of doing good to others, more correctly appreciated than by the foundere of this nation. The origin of the system of education now prevalent in this country, especially in New England, is to be traced to the per sonal character, and to the civil and religious polity of its first settlers. Their first and raost cherished object in eraigrating to these shores, was their religion, the enjoyment of it in peace, and the propagation ofit, as they had opportunity. The next object, and as subsidiary to it, was the education of their chil dren. One reason which determined the Puritan pilgrims upon a removal from Holland, where they had first sought refuge frora tyranny, was, in their own language, that " the place be- ing of great licentiousness and hberty to children, they could not educate thera, nor could they give thera due correction, without reproof or reproach from their neighbors." The peculiar form which education here takes, has been the cause of misrepresentation or raisunderstanding, on the part of foreigners, as to the true state of things. Soraetiraes we have been reproached, as not being a literary people — as having no literature, and that in the face of the iramense provis ion, which we have made for general and thorough education. But the thing is seldom understood abroad. It is the peculiar ity respecting it, which is the cause of its being misunderstood, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 21 LITERATURE. that is to say, where the cause is not prejudice. The peculiar ity is, that the public, the great body ofthe people, are enlight ened. They have acquired more or less stores of information. It is the vast proportional number here that possess knowledge, which renders it so difficult fon foreigners in many cases to judge of the learning of the nation. Their opinion is formed by what they see among themselves, where knowledge is pos sessed by the few, and where, of course, it appears through the contrast considerable. Here, it is possessed by all, or nearly all, and therefore it is undistinguished. This is our want of learning — of literature ! This is our intellectual inferiority ! Enlightened and candid persons, who have visited us from abroad, have found how the fact is, and in some instances have made it known to their countrymen. This has been done of late, in a very satisfactory manner, by Dr. Reid, who, in connec tion with Dr. Mattheson, visited the American churches in 1834, being the Deputation from the Congregational Union of England and Wales. After a detailed account of the sub ject of education in this country, as it was presented to his view, in our collegiate, theological and common schools, in the academy, and female boarding schools, the writer forcibly re marks : " And we are tojd, in the face of all this evidence, with petu- lence and pride, that the Americans have no literature, and are not a literary people. Not literary ! and yet they have done more for letters than any people ever did in similar circumstan- ces. Not literary ! arid yet they have made more extensive grants in favor of universal education than any other country. Not literary ! and yet not only the common school, but the academy and the college are travelling over the breadth ofthe land ; and are sometimes located in the desert, in anticipation of a race that shall be born. Not literary ! and yet in the more settled States, a fourth part of the people are at school, and in the State of New-York alone, apart from all private semina ries, there are 9,600 schools, [now 10,132,] sustained at a yearly expense of 1,126,482 dollars, [since increased to 1,300,000 dollars.] Not literary ! and yet there are in lihis new country _^/i!ee?i universities ; forty-six colleges ; twenty-one medical schools ; and twenty-one theological. Not literary ! and yet they circulate seven hundred and fifty millions of news. papers a year, this is twenty five to our one ; and all our best books commonly run through more and larger editions than they do at home. They have no literature indeed ! The fact is they have all the literature that is possible to their age and 3 •22 UMVERSAL TRAVELLER. UNITED STATES. circumstances ; and as these advance, they will assuredly ad vance in fhe raore abstruse and abstract sciences, till it shall be a bold thing for any to call themselves their peers. Their fidelity for the past is their security for the future. Meantime, are not Newton and Locke, Bacon and Shakespeare, as much theirs, as they are ours 1 Would it be wisdom on their part to repudiate them, even if they had not an equal claim to them ? Would it be wisdom in us to reproach them with tastes which do them honor, and to endeavor to separate them from corarau- nity in our common republic of letters, which more than any thing may raake two great nations that are one in affinity, one in fact? For ray own part, I know of nothing more truly sub lime than to see this people in the very infancy of their nation al existence, put forth such Herculean energy for the diffusion of universal knowledge and universal virtue!" The American people are distinguished by a refined practi cal humanity. This characteristic is expressed in many of our laws and customs, especially where these differ from those of most other nations. The law of primogeniture is unknown here. In England, the oldest son engrosses all the real property. Sisters older than he, and brothers and sisters younger, are un naturally deprived of every building, and of every portion of the father's land, and of every perpetual ground rent. Thus families bred with equal indulgence, and even the tender sex are sacrificed to the pride and inhumanity of what is called pri mogeniture. The States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and probably some others, did away the English common law, be fore the revolution. Since that event, the law of descents has been altered in favor of natural affection, and of the tender love of female children, in all the States. The situation ofthe widow has also been ameliorated in this country, by nieans of law. Not only the feudal system, but every minute fragment of that scheme, which considered women as naughts in the cre ation, is abrogated in America. We have no custom of impressment, as they have in England. The humanity ofthis country revolts against it. In England, it is oflen used to force landsmen away from their connections to encounter a new element. Passengers on the way to their properties or families are exposed to this distressing operation. The young seaman who has tried the stormy ocean, to obtain bread for a widowed mother and orphan family, is cruelly torn from thera at the moraent of his return ; and the married sailor, on whom alone an anxious wife and rising family depend fbr education and subsistence, is only allowed, after a long voyage, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 23 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. to view at a distance their mournful abode. In the United States, such scenes are never witnessed. The penal code of this country is remarkably mild, thus showing also the enhghtened humanity ofthe nation. As the rights of conscience are maintained in all our consthutions of government, and there are no ecclesiastical tests, all that class of agonizing punishments, fines, imprisonments, privations, exile and torture, are unknown, which have been admitted in coun tries, where a religious tyranny has been established. The dreadful severities, too, to which the defence of the state has given rise, have no existence in this country. We read not of the rack, the wheel, fire and faggot, decapitation, emboweUing, &c. among American punishments of treason. We read not of an entail of forfeiture upon the unoffending family, and the malignant corruption of the blood. The power of doing the latter is expressly forbidden to Congress, and that body has the right to reject the punishment of the least painful kind of death, for the most high handed treason. How different this from the codes of most other nations. And then the number of crimes punishable by death in most nations — even in Eng land, whence our principles of jurisprudence are derived, is enormous, considering the value of human life, and the necessi ty of guarding men against wickedness, by not confounding the different degrees of moral turpitude. In this country, only murder of the highest degree, and two or three other crimes, are punishable with death. In respect to their moral and religious cliaracter, the people of the United States present an interesting example to the re spect of mankind, as the effect of their peculiar institutions. As to political morality, we consider the law of nations as the public law of morals. Our judiciary department is bound to adjudicate by that law. Aggrieved and injured in our persons and property by violations of this law beyond example, we have never yet raised our voice for its abrogation. As soon should we think of repealing the acts of honor, of private mo rality or of religion itself. They compose, in truth, one great, and good, and binding law, with a variety of solemn sanctions. They are, indeed, but different names for the same inestimable thing. For there can be no honor, or private morality, or po. litical justice, which is not founded on religion. Yet, we may notice the fact that religion is not supported by public enact. ments of law in the United States. All religions are equally tolerated under our government. The government does not un dertake to decide what form of worship is best, and leaves ev- 24 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. UNITED STATES. ery individual to follow the dictates ofhis conscience and sense of duty, on this subject. Of course, it has no state endowment, but all is left tothe voluntary efforts ofthe people, in sustain ing religious institutions. This peculiarity of our country has attracted much notice abroad, and deserves an extended com ment, but it can only be mentioned here that it is a great felici ty. The evils of an opposite state of things are incalculable. The raisery of an invaded conscience is incalculable. And al most every other nation has inflicted it on its subjects. Ameri- ca has learned wisdom by the past errors of the world, in this particular. Happy results, in respect to morals, order and pie ty, have followed the course which she has adopted. The re ligious corruptions of other countries have been avoided. Mo rally flourishes. Religion flourishes. Order is observed. The institutions of Christianity are honored and attended upon. The preaching of the Gospel, in the main, is well supported. The voluntary principle, in opposition to an Establishment, is found to be both safe and efficient. God has blessed our land w'th multiplied and extended reformations. Benevolent opera tions are sustained and in most instances beyond expectation. This is especially the fact in regard to the temperance reform, which itself has modified and improved the character of the people, in no inconsiderable degree. Such is the character of the people ofthe United States, so far as they can be grouped together for a description. These views would be, in a measure, varied, and extended, by contem plating their traits, in the different large divisions of the coun try. The character of the inhabitants of New-England is not a little marked. Their intelligence is unquestionable. No peo ple, as a body, have enjoyed so many means of mental culture and improvement, or have made so good a use of them. In no country is more money expended for the instruction of the en tire population, or to greater effect. No country is so well fill ed up with schools, academies, and colleges, with so many per sons, who have availed themselves ofthe privileges thus afford ed. All, with scarcely any exceptions, are taught to read and write; and the accomplishment of a knowledge of arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, and politics, is frequently found in the common walks of life. Their inquisitive turn has been frequently noticed by others ; but it is not generally to be un derstood in a light or frivolous sense. They are inquisitive for knowledge, but they seldom indulge the passion, in a man ner which justifies the complaints that have been made concern- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 25 INHABITANTS OF NEW ENGLAND. ing it. They repay the tax which they impose on others, by an equal amount of communications. They are remarkable for shrewdness and calculation, but this spirit is seldora alloyed by the arts of deception. Although properly speaking they are not ardent or sanguine in temperaraent, they are resolute and persevering. " In energy and activity of mind," says Dr. Dwight, " we are behind no people. There is nothing which promises a ben efit at all adequate to the expense of the effort, which a New Englander will not cheerfully undertake. Nor are the inhab itants of any country possessed of more nuraerous or more effi cacious resources, in their own minds to insure success to the undertaking. Whether we are brave or cowardly, I will leave to be decided by the battles of Breed's Hill, Stillwater and Sar atoga ; and by the attack on Stony Point. Their energy is evinced by the spirit with which they have subdued an im measurable wilderness, and with which they have visited eve ry part of the ocean for fishing, and every town on its shore for comraerce. And let me add, that their ingenuity is scarce ly less conspicuous in the unceasing succession of inventions with which they have improved, and are still improving the methods of performing operations in agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, and increasing the various convenien ces of life." " With this active spirit, they unite a general disposition to a quiet, orderly, and obliging deportment, to treat strangers and each other with civility, to submit readily to lawful author ity, and to obey even the recommendations of their rulers. They are also social ; attached to conversation ; accustomed frora early life to take an interest in the concerns of others ; and habitually to feel from childhood that they have, and ought to have, a real interest in these concerns." The character of our intercourse with one another deserves notice. " We are said to be grave. Gravity is merely a comparative term. It is, therefore, impossible toknow precise ly what is meant by it, unless we know also the standard of comparison referred to by him who uses it. That which is grave to the eye of a Frenchman, would be levity in the view of a Spaniard. The New England people appear to discern, with as much readiness, clearness, and certainty, as any peo ple, perhaps, in the world, what is commonly, or indeed justly intended by propriety, and as regularly to estimate things ac- cording to their value. The truth unquestionably is, our so- IVFRSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUIMAUX. during his second voyage, raeasured one who was five feet ten inches. Of twenty individuals of each sex, measured by this latter navigator at Igloolik, the average height of the men was five feet five inches and one third, and that of the women, five feet and half an inch. A difference raay be noticed in the account of the Esquiraaux, which different writers have given of this singular people, doubtless owing to a real difference ex isting araongthe different clans or tribes. We shall direct the attention of our readers to the Esquiraaux of Melville peninsu- la, and the adjoining islands, following the account given us in the "Journal" of Capt. Parry, during his second voyage. In their figure, the Esquimaux, observes Capt. Parry, are rather well forraed than others. Their faces are generally round and full, eyes small and black, nose also small and sunk far in the cheek bones, but not much flattened. Their teeth are short, thick, and close, generally regular, and, in young per. sons, almost always white. In the young of both sexes, the coraplexion is clear and transparent, and the skin sraooth. The color of the latter, when divested of oil and dirt, is scarce. ly a shade darker than that of a deep brunette, so that the blood is plainly perceptible when it raounts into the cheeks. The hair, both of the males and feraales, is black, glossy and straight. The raen usually wear it very long, and allow it to hang about their heads in a loose and slovenly raanner. The women pride themselves on the length and thickness of their hair, and when inclined to be neat, they separate their locks into two equal parts, one of which hangs on each side of their heads, and in front of their shoulders. In this condition it is bound round with a stra[) of leather, and hangs down like a whip or tail. This mode of dressing is considered neat and ornamen. tal. In both sexes it is full of verrain, which they are in the constant habit of picking out and eating. A man and his wife will sit for an hour together, performing for each other that friendly office. When a woman's husband is ill, she wears her hair loose, and cuts it off as a sign of mourning when he dies ; a custora agreeing with that of the Greenlanders. The men wear the hair on the upper lip and chin, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, and some were distinguished by alit. tie tuft between the chin and lower lip. The dresses of both male and female, as observed araongthe Esquimaux by Capt. Parry, were composed alraost entirely of deer skin. Those seen by M'Keevor were made of the skins UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. DRESS. — ORNAMENTS . of rein deer, seal, and birds. The outer garment consists of a jacket, close, but not tight, coming down as low as the hips, and having sleeves reaching to the wrists. In that of the woraen, the tail or flap behind is very broad, and so long as alraost to touch the ground ; whUe a shorter and narrower one before reaches half way down the thigh. The men have also a tail in the hind part of their jacket, but of smaller dimensions ; but before, it is generally straight, or ornaraented by a single scol lop. The hood of the jacket, which forras the only covering for their head, is rauch the largest in that of the women, for the purpose of holding a child. The back of ihe jacket also bulges out in the raiddle to give the child a footing, and a strap or girdle below this, and secured round the waist by two large wooden buttons in front, prevents the infant frora falling Ihrough, when the hood being in use, it is necessary thus to deposit it. The sleeves of the women's jackets are made raore square and loose about the shoulders than those of the men, for the conven ience of more readily depositing a child in thc hood ; and they have a habit of slipping their arms out of them, and keeping thera in contact with their bodies, for the sake of warrath, just as we do with our fingers in our gloves in very cold weather. In winter, every individual, when in the open air, wears two jackets, of which the outer one has the hair outside, and the in. ner one next to the body. On entering the hut, the outer gar. ment is removed. Their legs and feet are so well clothed that no degree of cold can well effect them. When a man goes on a sealing excursion, he first puts on a pair of deer skin boots with the hair inside and reaching to the knee, where they tie. Over these come a pair of shoeS of the same material ; next, a pair of dressed seal skin boots perfectly water tight ; and over all. a corresponding pair of shoes, tying round the instep. The E.squimaux, when thus equipped, raay at all times bid de. fiance to the rigor of this inhospitable climate ; and nothing can exceed the comfortable appearance which they exhibit even in the most inclement weather. The most common ornament consists in strings of teeth, some. times many hundred in nuraber, which are either attached to the lower part of the jacket like fringe, or fastened as a belt round the waist. Most ofthe teeth are of the fox and wolf. Tattooing, or marking the body, is coraraon among them, and considered highly ornamental. No woman is without thera. The parts of the body thus raarked are their faces, arms, hands. 96 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUIMAUX. thighs, and in some few women the breasts, but never the feet, as in Greenland. The operation is expeditiously managed by passing a needle and thread, the latter covered with lamp black and oil, under the epidermis,, according to a pattern, previously marked out upon the skin. Several stitches being thus taken at once, tho thumb is pressed upon the part, while the thread is drawn through, by which raeans the coloring matter is retained, and a permanent dye of a blue tinge imparted to the skin. A woman expert at this business will perform it very quickly and with great regularity, but seldom without drawing blood in many places, and occasioning some inflamraation. The Houses of the Esquimaux vary in the different tribes ; on the shores that have drift wood, the dwellings are of that ma terial. Generally, the summer dwellings are tents of skins, supported by a single pole in the middle. The entrance is made by two flaps that overlap each other. But in winter, the yery monuments of the severity of the climate serve as a de fence from its rigor ; and for many months in the year, the na tives lie under edifices of snow and ice, which are the warmest and firmest, when most required to be warm and firm. Towards spring only, they become subject to dripping, and the inhabitants remove to their tents, before their houses become insecure. The snow huls are of a regular circular form, and are in fact domes, as completely arched as those of the Pan- (heon, or St. Peter. They are erected in a short time ; slabs about six inches in thickness, and two feet in length are cut from the hard compact snow, and laid in a circle of frora eight to fifteen feel in diameter. Upon these is laid another tier in. clining alittle inward, and oth^er layers are successivelv placed, until nothing remains but the key-stone which is artfully adapted. The inner edges of the blocks are smoothed off with a knife. The height of the dome is often ten feet. In constructing it, one man stands wilhin to place the materials, which are supplied by another from without. A little water for cement is sometimes poured upon the joints, and it instantly becoraes solid ice. The door is cut through tiie southern side, and the entrance is by a covered way twenty or thirty feet long. When there are more families than one living together, several snow huts are built round a common dorae, and coraraunicate with it by doors. The light is admitted through a window of clear ice four inches in thickness, and two feet in diameter ; this light is very soft and agreeable, like that which passes through ground glass. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 97 A bank of ice or snow is raised nearly around the whole apartment, and this is the foundation ofthe beds and fire places. For the beds, this bank is covered wilh stones, paddles, blades of whale bone, and twigs ; over these are spread so many skins that the beds are both warm and dry. The only fire used in this severe climate, is that of a lamp to each family. The lamp is a shallow stone vessel with a wick of dry moss disposed round the edge. The length of this is eighteen inch. es, and when it is all lighted, produces a brilliant light, without smoke or scent. It is fed by the drippings of a piece of blub ber suspended over it. Around the lamp is suspended a frame, which is covered with garments to be dried ; for whenever an Esquimaux comes in, he takes off his outward jacket and mittens, brushes off the snow, and hangs thera by the larap. The only vessel for cooking is a stone pot, which is suspended over the lamp ; and the principal dishes for food, are a wooden tray, a cup of the horn of the musk ox, and a vessel raade of skins laced tightly over a frarae.* In enumerating the articles of their food, we raight perhaps give a list of every animal inhabiting these regions, as they certainly will at times eat any one of thera. Their principal dependence, however, is on the rein deer, musk ox, in the parts where this animal is found ; whale, walrus, the large and small seal, and two sorts of salmon. The latier is taken by hooks in fresh water lakes, and the former by spearing in the shoal wa. ter of certain inlets ofthe sea. Of all these animals, they can only procure in the winter the walrus and small seal upon this part of the coasl ; and these, at tiraes, in scarcely sufficient quantity for their subsistence. In general, they prefer eating their meat cooked, and while they have fuel, they usually boil it ; but this is a luxury, and not a necessary to thera. Oily as the nature of their princi. pal food is, yet they commonly take an equal proportion of lean to their fat, and unless very hungry, do not eat it other. wise. Oil, they seldora or never use in any way, as a part of their general diet ; and even our butter, of which they were fond, they would not eat, without a due quantity of bread. They do npt like salt raeat as well as fresh, and never use salt themselves ; but ship's pork, or even red herring did not corae amiss to them. Of pea-soup they would eat as much as the sailors could afford to give them ; and that word was the only one, with the exception of our naraes, which raany of them ev- Goodrich's Universal Geography. 9* 98 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUIMAUX. er learned in English. Araong their own luxuries, must be mentioned a rich soup called kayo, made of blood, gravy, and water, and eaten quite hot. Their only drink is waler ; and of this, when they can pro. cure it, they swallow an inconceivable quantity ; so that one ofthe principal occupations ofthe women, duringthe winter, is the thawing of snow in the ootkooseeks, or stone pots, for this purpose. They cut it mto thin slices, and are careful to have it clean, on which account they will bring it from a distance of fifty yards frora the huts. They have an extrerae dislike to drinking water much above the temperature of 32"- In eat ing their meals, the mistress of the family, having previously cooked the raeat, takes a large lump out of the pot with her fingers, and hands it to her husband, who placing a part ofit between his teeth, cuts it off with a large knife in that position, and then passes the' knife and raeat together to his next neigh. hor. In cutting off a raouthful of meat, the knife passes so close to their lips, that nothing but constant habit could ensure them from the danger of the raost terrible gashes ; and it would make an English mother shudder to see the manner in which children, five or six years old, are at all times freely trusted with a knife to be used in this way. The most common amusement which Capt. Parry noticed, he describes as follows : The females, being collected to the num. her often or twelve, stood in as large a circle as the hut would admit, with Okotook in the centre. He began by a sort of half-howhng, half singing noise, which appeared as if designed to call the attention of the woraen ; the latter soon comraenced a song called the Anna Aya. This they continued without va- riety, reraaining quite still while Okotook walked round within the circle; his body was rather bent forward, his eyes sorae tiraes closed, his' arras constantly moving up and down, and now and then hoarsely vociferating a word or two, as if to in crease the animation of the singers, who, whenever he did this, quitted the chorus and rose into the words ofthe song. At the end of fen minutes, they all left off at once, and aftor one min- ute's interval, comraenced a second act, precisely sirailar and of equal duration, Okotook continuing to invoke their rause as before. A third act, which followed this, varied only in his fre. quently, towards the close, throwing his feet up before and clap. ping his hands together, by which exertion he was thrown in. to a violent perspiration. He then retired, desiring a young man (who as we were informed was the only individual of sev- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 99 AMUSEMENTS. CANOES. eral then present thus qualified) to take his place in the centre, as master of the ceremonies, when the same antics as before were again gone through. After this description, it will scarce ly be necessary to remark, that nothing can be poorer in its way than this tedious singing recreation, which, as well as ev ery thing in which dancing is concerned, they express by the word momek-poke. They seem, however, to take great delight in it ; and even a number ofthe men, as well as all the children, crept into the hut by degrees, to peep al the performance. The Esquimaux women and children often amuse themselves with a game not unlike our "skip rope." This is performed by two woraen holding the ends of a line and whirling it regu larly round and round, while a third jumps over it in the mid dle, according to the following order. She commences by jumping twice on both feel, then alternately wilh the right and left, next four limes with the feet slipped one behind the other, the rope passing once round at each jump. Afler this she per forms a circle on the ground, jumping about half a dozen times in the course of it, which bringing her to her original position, the same thing is repeated as often as it can be done without entangling the line. One or two of the woraen perforraed this with considerable agility and adroitness, considering the clura- siness of their boots and jackets, and seeraed to pride themselves in some degree on the qualification. A second kind of this game consists in women holding a long rope by its ends, and whirling it round in such a manner, over the heads of two others standing close together near the middle ofthe bight, that each of these shall jump over it alternately. The art, therefore, which is indeed considerable, depends more on those whirling the rope than on the jumpers, who are, however, obliged to keep exact tirae in order for the rope passing under their feet. The whole ofthis people, but especially the women, are fond of music, both vocal and instrumental. The voices ofthe wo men are pitched an octave higher than those ofthe men. They have most of them so far good ears, that, in whatever key a song is commenced by one of them, the rest will always join in perfect unison. There is not, however, in any of their songs, much variety, corapass, or melody. Their canoes, observes McKeevor, whose description follows, are deserving of particular altention, as well frora the peculiar ity of their forra, as for their neatness, and even elegance, with which they are constructed. They are in general, about twenty feet long, two feet broad at the widest part, and of an 100 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUI.'MAUX. oblong shape. The frarae- work is made of pieces of wood or whale bone, fastened together by raeans of the sinews of ani mals ; they are covered with seal. skin parchment all over, with the exception of a central aperture, which is left large enough lo admit the body ofa man ; inlo this the Esquimaux thrusts himself up tothe waist, his feet being stretched forward. To the central opening a flat hoop is fitted, rising about a couple of inches ; to this a skin is attached, which he fastens so tight about him as lo exclude all wel ; the rim also serves the purpose of preventing any waler, which raay have lodged on the deck, frora getting into the canoe. The paddle ofthe Es quimaux is about ten feel long ; narrow in the centre ; broad and flat at eiiher extremity : when seated in his canoe, he takes hold of it by the cenlre, dips either end in the water alternately, and thus he moves with incredible celerity ; so great, indeed, that an English boat, with twelve oars, is not able to keep up wilh him. The broad flat part is generally inlaid, in a very tasty and fanciful manner, with portions of sea-horse teeth, cut into a variety of forras. The dexterity with which they manage these canoes is real ly astonishing. No weather can prevent thera frora going out to sea ; they venture out in the midst of terapestuous whirl winds, and driving snows, with as much composure as if it were a perfect calm. Even though the sea should break over them, in an instant they are again seen flying along the ridge of the wave. But what appears still more extraordinary, is the power they possess of completely upsetting themselves in their canoes, so as to hang perpendicularly under the water. I shall relate an instance ofthis. Captain Turner was one day standing on the quarter-deck, while the Indians wore along side trading ; he observed al sorae distance, an Esquiraaux, paddling up and down, as if for amuseraent : having made a sign to him to come over, he told hira he would give hira a knife and a few needles, in case he would capsize hiraself in his canoe. The Indian iraraediately made tight all his running-strings, lapped some skins about his body, and having thus secured himself from the water entering, he looked at Captain Turner with a very sig nificant air; he then inclined his body towards the surface of the water, and instantly dipped down ; here he reraained sus- pended for a few seconds, when he appeared at the opposite side in his forraer upright position. This he did three succes. sive tiines. When he had done, he shook hiraself, laughed UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 101 CHARACTER. very heartily, and, afler getting his knife and needles, paddled off. The value which they set on their canoes is, as we might naturally suppose, very great ; indeed, they will very rarely part wilh them, unless they get in exchange a considerable number of valuable articles, such as a tin-pot, a kettle, a saw, and perhaps a few gimblets. Captain Turner purchased one of the neatest I think t have ever seen : it was quite nevv, and was beautifully ornamented. The workmanship on the ex. tremity of the paddle was exquisite. Before the owner parted with it, he paddled up to an elderly man at some distance, whora the captain told us was his father; which, indeed, we had conjectured, as well frorn his aged appearance, as from the great respect this young man appeared lo pay him. After de liberating for some time, he returned, and told Mr. Turner he should have the canoe, and immediately set about emptying it of its contents. The articles which he took out he put into his father's ; and having given it up to the Captain, he stretched himself quite flat behind his parent, covering his face wiih his hands ; here he lay quite composed, without the smallest rao. tion. The father having received his tin-pot, kettle, hatchet, and a couple of files, rowed off. The day foUowing we heard that this poor fellow had slipped off frora behind his father, while on the way lo the shore, and was drowned. In estimating the character of the Esquimaux whom Capt. Parry saw, he observes, that in their transactions among thera selves, with few exceptions, the strictest honesty prevails, and in the early part of his intercourse wilh them, the irapression derived frora their conduct was a favorable one. Many in stances occurred, where they appeared even scrupulous in re turning articles that did not belong to thera ; and this, too, when detection ofa theft, or at least of the offender, would have been next to impossible. As they grew more familiar, and the- temptations became stronger, they gradually relaxed in their honesty, and petty thefts were from time to lime committed by several individuals, both male and female. Due allowance,. however, he adds, should be made for the temptation to which they were daily exposed, amidst the boundless stores of wealth which our ships appeared to them to furnish. Among the unfavorable traits of their character must be reckoned an extreme disposition lo envy. If we had made any presents in one hut, observes the same writer, the inmates of the next would not fail to tell us of it, accorapanying their re- 103 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUIMAUX. marks with sorae satirical observations, too unequivocally ex pressed to be mistaken, and generally by some stroke of irony directed against the favored person. And il was not uncom mon to see a group of woraen sitting in a hul for hours togelh. er, making some absent person the subject of their joke and ridicule; now and then miraicking the person of whom they spoke to their great satisfaction and amusement. Another equally unfavorable trait is their ingratitude. Even children appear to indulge few sentiraents of kindness towards their parents, and in no case scarcely, on receiving a present frora us, would they condescend to thank us. " Selfishness is in fact alraost without exception their universal characteristic, and the raain spring of all their actions, and that, too, of a kind the most direct and unamiable that can be iraagined. In the few opportunities we had to put their hospitality tothe test, we had every reason to be pleased with thera. Both as to food and accoraraodation, the best they had were always al our service ; and their attention, both in kind and degree, was every thing that hospitality and even good breeding could dic tate. The kindly offices of drying and raending our clothes, cooking our provision, and thawing s.iow for our drink, were performed by the women wilh an obliging cheerfulness, which we shall not easily forget, and which commanded its due share of admi ration and esteera. While thus their guest, I have pass ed an evening not only with corafort, but with extrerae gratifi cation ; for wilh the woraen working and singing, their hus bands quietly mending their lines, the children plaving before the door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp, one might well forget, for the time, that an Esquiraaux hut was the scene of this doraestic corafort and tranquillity ; and I can safely affirm with Cartwright, that, while thus lodged be neath their roof, I know no people whom I would more confi dently trust, as respects eiiher my person or my property, than the Esquimaux. The estimation in which women are held araong these people is, I think, soraewhat greater than is usual in savage life. In their general employments, they are by no means the drudges that the wives of the Greenlanders are said to be; being oc cupied only in those cares which may properly be called do- mestic, and such as are considered the peculiar business ofthe women among the lower classes in civilized society. The wife ofone of these people, for instance, makes and attends the fire, cooks the victuals, looks after the children, and is UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 103 CHAHACTER. sempstress to her whole family ; while her husband is labor ing abroad for their subsistence. The mosl laborious of their tasks occurs perhaps in raaking their various journeys, when all their goods and chattels are to be removed at once, and when each individual raust undoubt edly perforra a full share of the general labor. The women, however, are good walkers, and not easily fatigued ; for we have several times known a young woman of two and twenty, with a child in her hood, walk twelve miles to the ships, and back again the same day, for the sake of a liltle bread dust, and a tin canister. When stationary in the winter, they have really almost a sinecure of it, sitting quietly in their huts, and having little or no employment for the greater part of the day. In short, there are few, if any people, in this slate of so ciety, among whom the women are so well off. They always sit upon the beds with their legs doubled under thera, and are uneasy in the posture usual wilh us. The men sometimes sit as we do, but more generally with their legs crossed before them. The parental affection of this people merits distinguished praise. Nothing indeed can well exceed the kindness with which they treat their children. Corporeal punishment is un- known, and, indeed, there seldom appears any occasion for it — the gentleness and docility of children rendering severity to wards them quite unnecessary. Even frora their earliest in fancy, they possess that quiet disposition, gentleness of demean or, and uncommon evenness of temper, for which in more ma ture age they are for the raost part distinguished. Disobedi ence is scarcely ever known, a word or even a look frora a parent is enough ; and I never saw a single instance of that frowardness and disposition to raischief, which, wilh our youth, so oflen requires the whole attention of a parent to watch over and to correct. They never cry from trifling accidents, and sometimes not even from very severe hurts, at which an Eng lish child would sob for an hour. It is indeed astonishing to see the indifference wilh which even tender infants bear the numerous blows they accidentally receive, when carried at their mother's backs. They are just as fond of play as any other young people, and ofthe same kind ; only that while an English child draws a cart of wood, an Esquimaux ofthe same age has a sledge of whalebone : and for the superb baby-house of the former, the latter builds a miniature hut of snow, and begs a lighted wick from her mother's lamp to iUurainate the little dwelling. Their 104 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUIMAUX. parents raake for thera, as dolls, little figures of men and wo- men, habited in the true Esquiraaux costume, as well asa vari. ety of other toys, many of thera having some reference to their future occupations in life, such as canoes, spears, and bows and arrows. The drum ortamborine mentioned by Crantz is com mon among them, and used not only by the children, but by some ofthe grown-up people at some of their garaes. They soraetiraes serrate the edges of two strips of whalebone and whirl them round their heads, just as boys do in England to make the same peculiar huraraing sound. They will dispose one piece of wood on another, as an axis, in such a manner that the wind turns it round like the arms of a windmill ; and so of many other toys of the sarae simple kind. These are the distinct property of the children, who will sometimes sell them, while their parents look on without interfermg or expect ing to be consulted. When not more than eight years old, the boys are taken by their fathers on their sealing excursions, where they begin to learn their future business ; and even at that early age, they are occasionally entrusted to bring home a sledge and dogs frora a distance of several miles over the ice. At the age of eleven, we see a boy with his water-tight boots and raocasins, a spear in his hand, and a small coil of line at his back, accom panying the men to the fishery, under every circumstance; and from this time his services daily increase in value to the vyhole tribe. The Sledges which are designed for expeditious travelling are about two feet wide, and five feet long. Those, however, which are designed for carrying burdens, are frora six to eleven feet in length. The runners are sometimes made of the right and left jaw bones of a whale, but generally of several pieces of wood, or bone lashed together with the interstices stuffed with moss, and the whole secured by a coating of ice held together by the severity of the climate. Dogs are eraployed in drawing these sledges, which they do often at the rate of twelve miles an hour. Ten dogs make a full team. Three dogs once drew Captain Lyon on a sledge weighing one hundred pounds, a mile in six minutes. On a good surface, six or seven dogs draw nearly a thousand weight, 3ixty miles in a day. When there is no snow, the dogs are made to carry burdens of about twenty-five pounds each in a kind of panniers. These dogs, in the form of their bodies have short pricked ears, thick furry coats, and bushy tails, so nearly resembling the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 105 SLEDGES. wolf of these regions, that when of a light or brindle color, they may easily al a little distance be mistaken for that animal. The color of the dogs varies frora a white, though brindled, to black and while, .or almost entirely black. Some are also ofa reddish or ferruginous color, and others have a brownish red tinge on their legs, the rest of their bodies being of a darker color, and these last were observed to be generally the best dogs. Their hair in the winter is from three lo four inches long ; but besides this, nature furnishes them during this rigorous season, wilh a thick under-coating of close soft wool, which they begin to cast in the spring. While thus provided, they are able to withstand the most inclement weather without suf. fering from the cold, and at whatever temperature the almos. phere may be, they require nothing but a shelter from the wind to make thera comfortable, and even this they do not always obtain. When drawing a sledge, the dogs have a simple harness (annoo,) of deer or seal skin, going round the neck by one bight, and another for each of the fore-legs, with a single thong leading over the back and attached to the sledge as a trace. Though they appear at first sight to be huddled together with out regard to regularity, there is, in fact, considerable attention paid to their arrangement, particularly in the selection of a dog of peculiar spirit and sagacity, who is allowed, by a longer trace, to precede the rest as leader, and to whom, in turning to the right or left, the driver usually addresses himself This choice is made without regard to age or sex, and the rest of the dogs take precedency according to their training or sagacity, the least effective being put nearest the sledge. The leader is usually frora eighteen to twenty feet frora the fore part of the sledge, and the hindraost dog about half that distance, so that when ten or twelve are running together, several are nearly abreast of each other. The driver sits quite low on the fore part of the sledge, with his fore feet hanging on one side, and having in his hand a whip, of which the handle, made either of wood, bone, or whale-bone, is eighteen inches, and the lash mor« than as many feet, in length. When the driver wishes to slop the sledge, he calls out " Wo wod", exactly as our carters do, but the attention paid to this command depends altogether on his ability to enforce it. If the weight is small, and the journey homeward, the dogs are not to be thus delayed ; the driver is therefore obliged to dig his heels into the snow to obstruct their progrcss : and having thus succeeded in stopping thera, he stands up with one leg be/^ 10 106 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ESQUIMAUX. fore the foremost cross-piece ofthe sledge, till, by means of lay- ing the whip gently over each dog's head, he has made them all lie down. He then takes care not to quit his position, so that should the dogs set off, he is thrown upon the sledge, instead of being left behind by them. The Esquimaux in general treat their dogs much as an un feeling master does his slaves ; thatis, they take just as much care of thera as their own interest is supposed to require. Their feeding, which both in summer and winter, principally consists of kaow, or the skin and part of the blubber of the walrus, is during the latter season very precarious, their masters having then but little lo spare. They therefore become extremely thin at that time of the year, and would scarcely be recogniz ed as the sarae animals, as when regularly fed in the summer. No wonder, therefore, that they will eat almost any thing, how- ever tough or filthy, and that neither whipping nor shouting will prevent their turning out ofthe road, even when going at full speed, to pick up whatever they espy. When at the huts, they are constantly creeping in to pilfer what they can, and half the time of the people sitting there is occupied in vociferating their names, and driving them by most unmerciful blows out of the apartments. The dogs have no water to drink during the winter, but lick up some clean snow occasionally as a substitute ; nor indeed if water be offered them, do they care about it, unless it happen to be oily. They take great pleasure in rolling in clear snow, especially after or during a journey, or when they have been confined in a house during the night. Notwithstanding the rough treatment which they receive from their masters, their attachment to them is \ery great, and this they display after a short absence, by jumping up and licking their faces all over with extreme delight. The Esquimaux appear to liave no idea of the existence of one Supreme Being, nor can they be said to entertain any notions on this subject, which may be dignified with the name of religion. Their superstitions are numerous, but aU of them have reference lo the supernatural agency of a number of spir- its, wilh whora, on certain occasions, the AngetJcooks orsorcerevs pretend to hold raysterious intercourse, and who in various and disliiict ways are supposed to preside over the destinies of the Esquimaux. On particular occasions of sickness or want of food, the sorcerers contrive by means of a darkened hut, a pecu liar modulation of voice, and the uttering of a variety of unintelli gible sounds, to persuade their countrymen that they are de- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 107 MARRIAGE. INTERMENT OF THE DEAD. scending to the lower regions, for this purpose,- where they force the spirits to communicate the desired information. The su perstitious reverence in which these wizards are held, and a con siderable degree of ingenuity with which they perform their mummery, prevent the detection of the imposture, and secure implicit confidence in these absurd oracles. The marriage ceremony among the Esquimaux appears to be very simple, consisting only in the husband coming, when de sired, to the hut or tent of the bride's father, and taking her to his own by force. The reluctance of the bride, which in most cases is of course feigned, is expected to be strongly manifest ed, and serves as an occasion of no small sport and amusement. In this connection, it may be added, that the custom of be trothing children in their infancy is commonly practised here. The men seldom take more than two wives ; but there is gene rally a difference of five or six years in their ages. The senior wife takes her station next to the principal fire, which comes di rectly under her management. In some respects, she is con sidered superior to the other, though they usually live together in the utraost harraony. In the interment of Iheir dead, the Esquimaux take very lit tle care, especially in the winter season. This appears to arise from some superstitious notions, and particularly from the belief, that any weight upon the corpse would have an injurious effect upon the deceased, in a future state of existence; for even in sumraer, when it would be an easy matter to secure a body from the depredations of wild animals, the raode of burial is not essentially different. The corpse of a child observed by Lieutenant Palraer, he describes as being laid in a regular, but shallow grave, with his head to the north-east. Il was decent ly dressed in a good deer skin jacket, and a seal skin prepared without the hair was carefully placed as a cover to the whole figure, and tucked in on all sides. The body was covered with flat pieces of lirae stone, which however were so light that a fox raight easily have reraoved thera. Near the grave, were four little separate piles of stones, not more than a foot in height, in one of which we noticed a piece of red cloth, and a black silk handkerchief, in the second a pair of child's boots and railtens, and in each of the others a whale bone pot. The face of the child looked unusually clean and fresh, and a few days only could have elapsed since ils decease. Captain Parry informs us, that he once witnessed the raan- 108 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. GREENLAND. ner in which an Esquimaux proceeded on the occasion of his wife's death. First, he prepared to dress the dead body, by stopping his nose with deer's hair Having done which, he put on his gloves, from an evident wish not to touch the corpse with bis naked hand. Every part of the dress was carefully adjust ed as when she was living. The grave prepared was about one foot in depth, and when the body was placed in it, the hus band cut all the stitches of the hararaock or wrapper; in which the body had been inclosed by the English. The death of a child soon followed that of the mother. This was buried at some distance from 1,'ie mothe.-, the husband assigning as a rea son, that the mother would cry in her grave, if pressed by her infant. To}'s and presents were buried with it. The three following days, the fatlicr and the rest of the family neither walked abroad nor performed any kind of work. Even the ne- cessary ablutions of their hands and faces were neglected. At the expiration of three days, he visited the grave of his wife, whom he addressed in conversation, telling her how the wind blew, looking at the same time in the direction from which it came. He next broke forth in a low monotonous chant, and keeping his eyes fixed on the grave, walked slowly round in the direction of the sun four or five tiniL-s, and at each circuit stopped a few moments at the head. At the expiration of about eight minutes, he stopped, and turning suddenly round to me, exclairaed " Tugwa" (that's enough) and began talking back to the ship. 5. GREENLAND. In stature, the Greenlanders seldom exceed five feet, and from their manner of living are inclined to be fat. Their face is large and broad, the nose not very fiat, but small and short; the nostrils somewhat uide, the check bones high, the cheeks round and plump. The face fiequentlv appears>allen in, quite across between the temples. The forehead is low, the eyes small, black, dull, and drooping, but having the power to distinguish accurately at a great distance. ^The eyelids are drawn towards the temples ; the mouth is generally small, and round ; the teeth regular, and beautifully white ; tiie lips thick, and turned outwards ; the under lip somewhat thicker -than the upper. Their beards and eyebrows are thin, but they have UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 109 CHARACTER. HUNTING AND FISHING. abundance of hair on the head, which is black, long, coarse, and straight. Their necks are short, their legs thin, but their feet and hands are small and well formed ; their heads are un commonly large. The shape . of the women is similar to that of the raen, and they reserable thera so nearly, that one cannot at first distinguish the sexes, the dresses being nearly the sarae. The appearance of the women is by no means feminine ; they have high breasts and broad shoulders, being accustomed, when young, to labor hard, and carry great burdens. The Green landers are of a yellowish grey color, which approaches some what to olive green ; but this may be attributed not only to the chmate, but to their dirty habits, and to the great quantity of smoke and soot which their houses contain ; for their children are born as white as any European child. The Greenlanders are very sociable ; although they do not live in towns or villages, they like to visit and to be visited. A raan or woraan never pays a visit to a person residing at a dis tance, without making some present, either a skin or fowl or some sinew. They are fond of making bargains, and often part with their most useful utensils in exchange for trifles, par ticularly to satisfy the caprice of their wives. No one desires to usurp any authority over another, to make regulations for him, or tocaUhim to account for his actions ; for as they havo no riches, one individual supports another, the helpless finds re fuge in the hOuse of the more fortunate, without being related to him, and each Greenlander has his landed property where he resides. They may therefore change their residences as often as they like. Whatever the sea drives on shore, particularly floating timber, is the properly of hira who has taken it up and brought it on shore. Notwithstanding, however, their hon esty towards each other, they are not scrupulous in stealing from Europeans. The Greenlanders are very dexterous in hunting and fishing, and upon this dexterity they are often dependent for'their food, which consists for the most part of fish, seals, and sea-fowls. In their manner of preparing and eating this food, they are truly disgusting. Train oil is their sauce, and though water is their ordinary beverage, they prefer the blood of the seal to any other liquid. A vessel is seldom washed by them. The color and the odor of the last dish removes that of the former one. They lay their boiled meat in wooden dishes, of fir wood, made by themselves, which are never cleansed ; and first drink the 10* 110 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. GREENLAND. soup, or eat it with spoons made of bones or wood. Their un- dressed meat lies on the bare ground, or on an old seal skin. They have no determined time for dinner, or supper ; but when the' raen of the house return with the garae, which generally happens in the evening, part of the day's spoil is immediately boiled, and all the people who live in the neighborhood are in- vited. The men get their meal first, sitting upon the ground round a large wooden dish, and taking the meat with their fingers. When this is over, the woraen begin in the sarae style, but atthe opposite end of the house. If there be an European guest, or any other stranger present, the woman of the house takes a piece from the kettle, licks it clean from blood and scum, and presents it to him with her own hands. It would be considered a high degree of impoliteness to decline it. In winter they live in houses, and in suraraer in tents. When the sumraer is over, which is generally at the end of August, the women belonging to the family or to the house employ themselves in repairing an old, or in building a new house. This is done in a few days ; and the labor reserables the liveli- ness of an ant-hill. Some carry stones, some bring sod ; sev eral others convey turf, tiraber, shrabs, or earth. The walls are made of water- worn stones, put together with turf or sod, instead of mortar ; and the roof is forraed of a species of float. ing tiraber. It is flat, and is covered with shrubs, turf or sod, with earth. The stones are taken from the shores, as they nev er build a house at a greater distance from the sea than twenty or thirty paces ; the tirabers are picked up from the sea during the suramer. Their bouses are sometimes regular, soraetimes oblong squares ; being from twelve to eighteen feet in length, and from ten to twelve feet in breadth. The height is generally six feet. The walls are at their base two feet, and on the top, one foot thick. The entrance is usually under the earth, two feet high, two feet broad, and frora twelve to fifteen feet long. It is in the centre of the house, and generally faces the south. The house has no door, and one must always creep in on hands and feet. Above the entrance is one, and sometimes two win. dows, which are raade of the intestines of whales, dolphins, or seals, sewed together. The house consists of only one room, at the back of which there is a kind of stage, raised from one foot to one and a half from the ground, and extending the whole length of the house. It is covered with seal skin, and is used as bench, chair, table, and bedstead. Beuig divided in UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. Ill HOUSES CANOES. the front by perpendicular standing timbers, it has the appear ance of low cow sheds, or stables, separated by skins. Each farady occupies such a division. They sit on this bench the whole day, the raen with their legs hanging down, the women generally cross-legged. Each family has at least one burning larap, made by the Greenlanders theraselves, of pot-stone. All round the margin of the vessel oiled moss is placed, which serves instead of a wick ; and the vessel contains about a quart of oil. The lamp serves them as candle, chimney, and cooking fire ; and is attended by the woraen. On the roof of the house, over the lamps, are racks for the purpose of drying clothes, boots, gloves, &c. The extremities of the large bench on both sides of the house are considered to be the best places, be ing most removed frora the entrance, and therefore given to the first women of the house, or to travellers of distinction. A narrow bench runs along on both sides, and under the windows of the house ; and in this place, strangers of less consideration sit and sleep. The houses are very well heated, and the heat is increased by the uncommon evaporation of the natives. The time of removing from their houses to their tents is not exactly fixed. It takes place generally at the end of April, or in the middle of May, as the snow raelts sooner or later ; and it frequently happens that part of the badly supported roof of the house gives way and falls down, an accident which forces them to remove to the sumraer place. The tents are larger and smaller, in proportion to the size of the family and its for tune ; but rarely exceeding the length of twelve feet, and tho breadth of ten feet. A wall one foot high is first made of stones and sods, on which they rest the poles, which fbrm an acute angled triangle with the ground. The poles are then covered with seal skin ; and a curtain is placed before the en- trance, made frora the intestines of the whale, dolphin, or seal. The bed places are similar to those in their houses. The tents are, like the houses, near the shore, as the sea supplies them with all their wants, and the seal provides them with all the ne cessaries of life. * Their canoes are of two different sorts ; the one large and open, the other sraall and covered. The fraraing of both con sists of slender pieces of wood, covered on the outside with skins of seal sewed together. The wooden framing is joined by thongs, cut from seal-skins, or by thinly shaved whalebone. This manner of putting thera together, gives to the canoes so great a degreeof flexibility, or rather elasticity, thatthey very 113 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. GREENLAND. seldom can go to pieces even in the most boisterous sea. The large canoe called umiak, or the canoe for women, is generally twenty-four or thirty feet long, four or five feet wide, and two or three feet deep, terminating acutely at both ends. The hot- tora is flal. It is used in summer to transport the whole fami- ly, and its utensils and tent, from one place to anot'.er; and is in the evening always taken up on land, in order to be dried, repaired, and varnished on the outside with old thick rancid oil, called Minnek, to prevent the water from penetrating the seams. The other small canoe is called kajak, and is only used by the men ; it is sharp at both ends, and its eniire shape and ap pearance is not unlike a weaver's shuttle. It is frora four to five yards in lenglh from one extremity to the other, about a foot and a half wide in the middle, and scarcely one foot in depth. In ils cenlre is a round hole, with a prominent ring of bone or wood, in which the raan seats himself, and fastens the under part-of his frock round that ring, forraing thus one body with his canoe. Under his kajak, he has his instruraents, striking the sea alternately on both sides with a paddle called pautik, four fingers broad at each end. He can row in a very boisterous sea, and if overturned b)' the billows, he is able to raise hiraself again. All their sea game is procured in these sraall boats. The boy is employed by his father, in his earii est age, that is in his sixth or seventh year, to prepare himself to perforra the business of a man. Thefirst seafowl caught by a boy, gives occasion to a great festival, and dinner of the family, for the purpose of doing horaage to the rising raaster of the house. In the north of Greenland, fro.m the 70th degree to the highest norlhern latitude, the inhabitants, during the winter season, make use of sledges which are drawn by six to twelve dogs. These they often drive over the frozen sea, a distance of fifty, and sometimes more miles from the land, to the rifts and clifis of the ice, where they catch dolphins, sea- unicorns, and seals, which corae there in great nurabers to take air. The spoil is carried horae by the assistance ofthe sledg- es. The velocity of the dogs is astonishing; they may be driven one hundred miles in nine or ten hours. Two games of ball are practised by the Greenlanders — one reserabling our football, and the other a contest between two parties for the possession of the ball. They have also sorae feats of strength, particulariy of grappling, or hooking the fin. gers together and pulling in that way. They also strike each UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 113 AMUSEMENTS. RELIGION. Other with the hand alternately on the back, and this is contin. ued wilh much severity, till one party yields. The woraen sometimes dance in a circle to the sound ofa drum, and to sing. ing. The dances of the men are rather matches for grinning and grimaces, in which the one tries to outdo the other in ma. king hideous faces and assuming grotesque attitudes. The great season for rejoicing is on the return of the sun, and the sun feasts are held by all ; al these the viands of the country are furnished in great profusion. An amusement ofa more pastoral kind is a singing match, to which one Greenlander invites or challenges another. The friends on both sides assemble, and the challenger and his an. tagonist endsavor lo render each other ridiculous ; while the friends of each applaud their favorite. This struggle is con. tinued till one party is exhausted, and the victory is supposed to belong lo him who has the last word. They are familiar wilh the use of irony, which they are obliged to use from the poverty ofthe language in reproachful words. These singing matches are said to be raanaged with rauch ability and to abound in satire.* It is very singular, that the heathens inhabiting this country, have no worship. It was believed by sorae navigators, who saw the Greenlanders observing the rising sun in the morning, that they worshipped the sun. They were confirmed in their opinion by the squares of stones, which they saw erected for the purpose of their tents, and supposed they were places of worship ; but they have no religion at all, although they are not without some notion of a Divine Being, and of a future state. They frequently speak of a Supreme Being, called by them Tornarsuk, a compound of bad and good, probably a remnant of the religion ofthe old Norwegians. He is the oracle of the Angekut, or Greenlandish sorcerers, who are alone adraitted to have intercourse with that great spirit. Besides Tornarsuk, they speak of many inferior beings or spirits residing in every corner of their country. Each Greenlander raay become an angekok or sorcerer* if he will submit to certain trials and cer eraonies; but the angekok never enjoys any peculiar venera tion from the Greenlanders. He profits by the superstitious credulity ofhis countrymen, pretending lo cure the sick with magic art, and presenting amulets of seals, reindeers, &c. as a preservative to those in health. The angekut have their pe- * Goodrich's Geography. 114 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. GREENLAND. culiar kind of language, a kirendum or jargon, understood ouly by theraselves. Marriage. The men seldom raarry before the twentieth year of their age ; and the women in their seventeenth or eighteenth year. The bridegroom never concerns himself about marriage dowry ; he is well satisfied, if his bride under. stands housewifery ; that is, all the business which we have already raentioned as belonging to the feraale. The parents never interfere, but they always wish that their son-in-law should be a good hunter; and on the other hand, that the wife should understand housewifery. The girl always raakes great difficulties, runs to the mountains, or cries pro forma, and the bridegroom generally takes her by force frora the house ofher parents, and puts her, supported by some old women, in his umiak, which is lying on shore. He brings her to his house, and they are considered as married. They never marry their relations. Polygamy is not very common among the unconvert- ed, and is strongly prohibited araong the baptized. It occurs, however, though very rarely, that a heathen has three or four wives. The most respected of thera is she who is so fortunate as to have boys. If a wife has no children, she herself often requests the man to take a second wife, it being thought igno minious among thera not to have a family. The second and third wife is always inferior in rank to the first. Their mar riages are not indissoluble ; the raan soraetiraes puts his wife away, and the wife also occasionally elopes, and generally re tires to her parents, if she is not satisfied with the man, or his conduct. Funerals. They bury their dead generally on a smaU hill, in a sitting posture, dressed in their best clothes, and covered with seal-skin. . The land being a mass of rocks, the inhabit- ants are obliged to build graves of stone, which are covered with plates of mica slate, or clay slate, to prevent carniverous animals from destroying the bodies. Their ka]aks (canoes,) in- strumenls and utensils, are placed by the side of the grave. They return frora the burial place to 'the house ofthe deceased, to continue the laraentation, which consists of a dreadful monot onous howling, supported by all the attendants, who sit with their faces turned to the ground. ^Vhen this is over, some re- freshment is taken, and each returns to his own house. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 115 ICELAND. 6. ICELAND. In personal appearance, the Icelanders are rather above the middle size, with a frank open countenance, florid complexion, and yellow, or flaxen hair. The women are shorter in proper. tion than the men, more inclined to corpulency, and generally live to a greater age. In the early part of life, both sexes are weakly, perhaps for want of proper food and exercise ; but when arrived at mature age, they are capable of enduring great hardships. Frora their want of personal cleanliness, both raen and women make a disagreeable appearance ; and frora this circurastance, added to their being frequently obliged to reraain long in their wet woollen clothes, they are subject to cutaneous diseases and pulmonary complaints. Their predominant character is that of unsuspecting frank ness, pious contentment, and a steady liveliness of temperament, combined with a strength of intellect and acuteness of mind sel dom to be met with in other parts of the world. They have also been noted for the alraost unconquerable attachraent which they feel to their native island. With all their privations, and exposed as they are, to numerous dangers from the operation of physical causes, they live under the practical influence of one of their comraon proverbs: "Iceland is the best land on which the sun shines." Among the customs which serve to iUustrate the Icelandic character, the following are related by Dr. Henderson : Both at meeting and parting, an affectionate kiss on the mouth, with out distinction of rank, age, or sex, is the only mode of saluta tion known in Iceland, except someliraes in the imraediate vi cinity of the factories, where the coraraon Icelander salutes a foreigner, whora he regards as his superior, by placing his right hand on his raouth or left breast, and then making a low bow. When you visit a family in Iceland, you must salute them according to their age and rank, beginning with the highest, and descending, according to your best judgment, to the lowest, not even excepting the servants ; but on taking leave, this or der is completely reversed ; the salutation is first tendered to the servants, then to the children, and, last of all, to the mis- tress and raaster of the faraily. On another occasion, while on a visit a t the house of a Mr. Johnson, he writes : " When the hour of rest approached, I was conducted by my kind host and hostess into a back apart- 116 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ICELAND. ment, where was an ancient but excellent bed, on which I had every reason to conclude, more than one ofthe Holum Bishops had reposed. A ceremony now took place, which exhibits, in the strongest light, the hospitality and innocent simplicity of the Icelandic character. Having wished me a good night's rest, they retired, and left their eldest daughter to assist me in pul ling off my pantaloons and stockings, a piece of kindness how. ever, which I would a thousand times rather have dispensed with, as it was so repugnant to those feelings of delicacy to which I had been accustomed. In vain I remonstrated against it as unnecessary. The young woman maintained it was the custom ofthe country, and their duty to help the weary travel ler. When I had got into bed, she brought a long board, which she placed before me to prevent my falling out ; and deposited a bason of new milk ona table close to my head, bade me good night, and retired. Such I afterwards found to be universally the custom in Icelandic houses. Where there are no daughters in the family, the service is performed by the landlady herself, who considers it a great honor to haveii in her power to show this attention to a stranger. The dress of the men resembles that .of the Norwegian and Swedish peasants ; consisting of a sheet of wadmel, (a coarse kind of woollen cloth,) with a blue waistcoat, jacket and trow. sers, of the sarae kind of stuff. The edges of all are bordered with a red stripe. On their feet they have worsted stockings, and Icelandic shoes. When they travel, they put on a long cloak, called hempa, and a very broad-briramed hat ; at home, their heads are covered with caps, very similar to those worn by the women. In the south, dark blue or black clothes are worn ; but in the north, the colour is white. The men, in gen eral, do not wear beards ; but a few families in the north pride themselves so much upon this appendage to the chin, that, about half a century ago, an Icelander gave his brother four rix dollars (a large sura in this country) forthe exclusive priv Uege of wearing a beard ; which right, in their family, had been the sole prerogative of their deceased father. The dress of the women is singular. The under garment is of wadmel, and fastened round the neck by a button, or some times by a silver clasp ; over this they wear a bodice, and two or three blue petticoats, called/a^,- and in front an apron, bor dered with black velvet, and ornamented with silver clasps, or sometimes with lace, and embroidery. The petticoats are fastened, immediately beneath the bodice, by a broad girdle of Icelanders. P. 116. UNIVERSAL TRAV^LTER. 117 COSTUME. — LANGUAGE. black velvet, richly embroidered, and studded with various or- naments. The bodice is also ornamented, and fastened in front with a number of large silver clasps, generally gilt, and ren dered more conspicuous by being fixed upon a broad border of black velvet, which is itself frequently bound round with red. Over the bodice is a jacket, called treja, fitting close to the shape, and made of black wadmel, or, sometimes, of black vel vet. Il has long narrow sleeves, reaching down to the wrists. The openings on each side of the sleeve, are ornamented with chased gill buttons, frequently wilh a plate upon each, contain ing the initials ofthe husband and wife : the latter is a present ofthe bridegroom to his bride just before marriage. At the top ofthe jacket is a small black collar, of velvet or silk, sorae times trimraed with gold cord. Over the whole is thrown the hempa, or cloak, of black cloth, the edges of which are border ed with a kind of black velvet, manufactured by the Icelandic woraen ; and il is fastened in front with a nuraber of silver clasps. The stockings are of dark blue or red worsted ; and the shoes, which are of seal or .sheep skin, are made light to the foot, and fastened about the ankle and instep with leather thongs. Females of the higher class wear elegant silver chains about their necks, on which they suspend medals, or large pieces of silver, bearing figures or inscriptions of a reli gious nature. On their fingers, the women generally have raany rings, of gold, silver, or brass, according to their ability to purchase them. Bul the most singular part of the feraale costume is the head-dress, called a faldur, which is made of while linen stiffened wilh an iraraense nuraber of pins, and from fifteen to twenty inches in height. In suramer, which in this island is very short, the common working-dress of the females consists only of the under garment, wilh petticoats of white wadmel, and a blue cap, the top of which hangs down on one side, and is terminated wilh a tassel. This cap, wilh blue pet^ ticoats and a blue jacket, constitute the doraestic dress of the first feraales ofthe island. The Icelandic is justly regarded as the standard of the grand northern dialect of the Gothic language . The remoteness of the island, and the little intercourse which its inhabitants have maintained with the rest ofthe world, have effectually secured the purity and originality ofthis ancient language ; and it is a curious fact, that while our ablest antiquaries are often puzzled, in endeavoring to decipher certain worrls and phrases in wri tings, which date their origin only a few centuries back, there 11 IIS UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. is not a peasant, nor indeed scarcely a servant girl in Iceland, who is not capable of reading with case the most ancient docu- mcnls extant on the island. The most imporiant Icelandic poems are comprised in the Edda, which consists of two pai ts ; the former, known by the name of Scemund's Edda, contains a collection of thirty-eight ethic, mythological, and historical poems ; and the latter, com. monly called Snorro's Edda, treats of the art of poetry, and ex hibits, by way of iUustration, fragraents of ancienl poetical com- positions. The historical compositions of the Icelanders, known by the name of Sagas, are exceedingly nuraerous, and not less worthy of regard than iheir poems. Like the letter, ihey originated in the peculiar circumstances of the people, at an early period of their history. Aged men who had treasured up in memory a rich fund of traditionary relations, were regarded as under a kind of obligation to repeat thera on special occasions, thatthey might be learned by the young, and thus transmitted to future generations. To these traditions the Icelanders gave the name of iS(7^as. They sometimes blended fiction and truth; but many of them are worthy ofthe fuUest credit. Iceland has but one school, and that is designed for such as are afterwards to fill offices in church and state : yet the edu. cation of children is not neglected. You can scarcely entera hut, where may not be found some individual capable of sus taining a conversation on topics which would be reckoned alto gether above the understanding of people of the same rank in other countries. This general diffusion of knowledge is great. ly promoted by the manner in which the Icelanders pass their long winter evenings. Between three and four o'clock, the lamp is hung up in the principal apartment, which answers for both sitting-room and bed-room, and the members ofthe family take their stations, wilh their work in their hands, on their re spective beds, wbich face each other. The master and mis- tress, with the children, or other relations, occupy the beds at the inner end of the room, and the rest are filled by'the servants. As soon as the work is begun, one of the family takes a seat near the larap, and coraraences the evening reading, which gen. erally consists of some old saga, or such other histories, as can be procured in the island. The lecture is often interrupted, either by the head, or some other intelligent member of the family, who makes remarks on various parts of the story, and proposes questions, with a view to exercise the ingenuity ofthe children and servants. By such means, the Icelanders acquire UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 119 LlTER.iTURE. — HOUSES. an early habit of thinking. And as they are badi}' supplied wilh printed books, they are under the necessity of copying such as they can ohtain the loan of; and thus, most of them write a hand equal in beauty to that ofthe ablest writing-mas. ters in Europe. In some houses, the sagas are repeated by such as h'.ive got them by rote ; and it is not uncommon for itinerant historians to gain a livelihood during the winter, by sojourning al diff^jrenl farms till they have exhausted their stock of literary knowledge. Poetry has always flourished in Ice land, and there are still several scalds, or poets, who cultivate it with success. The natives are very acute observers of the jrrammatical construction of their language ; and the least mis take made by a foreigner, is iramediatefy detected by the low est peasant. In general, the Icelandic houses are all constructed in the same manner. The walls, which raay be about four feet in height by six in thickness, are composed of alternate layers of earth and stone, and incline a liltle inwards, when they are met by a sloping roof or turf, supported by a few beams, which ars crossed by twigs and boughs of birch. The roof always fur- nishes good grass, whieh is cut with the scythe at the usual season. In front, three doors generally present themselves, the tops of which form triangles, and are almost always ornament ed with vanes. The middle door opens into a dark passage, about thirty feet in' lenglh, by five in breadth, from which en trances brauch oft' on either side, and lead to different apart. ments, such as, the stranger's room, whieh is always tho best ia the house, the kitchen, weaving room, &c., and at the inner end of the passage lies the badstofa, or sleeping apartment, which also forms the sitting and common working-room of tho family. In many houses, this room is in the garret, to which the passage communicates by a dark and dangerous staircase. The light is admitted through small windows in the roof, which generally consist ofthe amnion of sheep, though of lale years, glass has got more into use. Such ofthe houses as have win dows in the walls, bear the most slrikitig resemblance to the exterior ofa bastion. The smoke makes its escape through a hole in the roof; but this, it is to be observed, is only from the kitchen, as the Icelanders never have any fire in their sitting- room, even during the severest cold in winte* Their beds ara arranged on each side of the roora, and consist of open bed steads raised about three feet above the ground. They are filled with sia- weed, feathers, or down, according lo the circum stances of the peasant ; over which is thrown a fold or two of 120 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ICELAND. wadmel, and a coverlet of divers colours. Though the beds are extremely narrow, the Icelanders contrive to sleep in them by couples, by lying head to loot. Sometimes the inside ofthe rooms are pannelled with boards, bul generally the walls are bare, and collect much dust, so that il is scarcely possible to keep any thing clean. It is .seldom the floor is laid with boards, bul consists of damp earth, which necessaiily proves vcry un healthy. The ordinary diet of the Icelanders is extremely simple. In the morning, they breakfast on skyr, a dish of coagulated milk, resembling curd, only it is sour ; to which they add plenty of sweet milk or cream, and somelimes give it a peculiar flavor, by mixing v/ith it blue and juniper-berry juice. Their dinner consists of dried fish and butter ; the latter of which is general ly sour, it being a common practice to allow it to acquire a strong degree of rancid iUr, after which il will keep for almost any lenglh of time. For supper, they have cither skyr. a liltle bread and cheese, or porridge made of the Icelandic moss. To a foreigner, this is not only the most healthy, but the most pa latable of all the articles of Icelandic diet. On particular oc casions, such as Sundays, and other holyday.s, ihev eat boiled mutton, rye-porridge, and milk. At Christmas, the first day of suramer, and harvest-home, extra feasts are given to the ser- vanls, consisling of fresh mutton, miik-porridge, and bread — an article which this class of the inhabitjhts seldom taste throughout theyear. Their comraon beverage is blanda; a kind of whey mixed wilh water; fhe whey itself, which tbey call syra; and railk, which tliey, generally drink warm. Travelling in Iceland is attended -ixith much more trouble and difficulty than in any part of Europe. Here there is nei ther coach nor curricle, cart norwagion, for ihe conveyance of one's person and luggage. Every thing is carried on horse. back. ^ The first thing, therefore, that a traveller has to think of, is the procuring of horses, which he may eiiher hire or pur chase ; but the latter raode is preferable, as in that case he haa them more at his command ; and it is also attended with less expense, especially if the journey be of any length. The com. mon horses are, in general, f'rom thirteen to fourteen hands high, strongly maile, lively, persevering, and carry frora 2'2.5 lo 300 pounds weight, the distance of twenty-five "miles a day. In breaking such as they design for the saddle, the natives make it their grand object to inure them to a short, easy am- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 121 TRAVELLING. — SEASONS. ble, at which raany of thera advance with alraost incredible swiftness. As there are no inns on the island, the traveller must also provide himself with a tent, which is the more ne cessary on account of the deserts he has someliraes to traverse ; and even at the farras he will prefer il to the lest accommoda tions that miy be offered him. A good experienced guide is the next requisite, and, iftbe cavalcade be large, a servant tp take care of the horses and baggage is equally necessary. Travelling chests must also be procured, together with provis ions, and small money, with which lo reward any trivial servi ces that raay be shown by the peasants. For those who pen- etrate into the interior, a compass is indispensable, as they are apt to get bewildered in snowy or foggy weather ; and if they do not keep in the proper direction, may easily wander into deserts, where both themselves and their horses raust perish with hunger. Strictly speaking, there are only two seasons in Iceland, — suraraer and winter ; the former of which, short and precarious as it is, the natives must employ wilh assiduity, in order to make provision for the latter. From the third ofFebruary to the twelfth of May, is what the Icelanders call the fishing sea. son ; at which period vast numbers ofthe inhabitants flock to the southern and western shores from the districts in the north and easl, where the fishing is generally impracticable at this time, owing to the bays and necks being filled with polar ice. They provide themselves with a cnmpJete skin-dress, consist ing of the brok, in the shape of small clothes and stockings, all jn one piece ; the stack or large jacket, which falls down, and is tied close over the brok, so as to prevent the water frora get ting in between them; and tight selling shoes ofthe sarae ma terial, below which are worn coarse woollen stockings for great er Warmth. The most of them live almost entirely, during thia period, ou butter and fish. They breakfast about two hours before sun-rise, and taste nothing till they return from sea in the evening, excepting sometimes a littie whey, which they take with tliem for the purpose of quenching their thirst, The boats are generally manned with six or eight hands besides the steersman, and row sometimes to a great distance out to sea. When they return from fishing, and land on the beach, the boat is hauled up, and the fish are thrown out and heaped to- gether in separate parcels, according to the number of men in the boat, with two additional shares, which belong to the boat, and are claimed by the owner for the use ofit, and the fishinig 11* 122 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. lines and hooks, whicli arc provided at his expense. The fish- erraen, being fatigued, repair iraraediately lo their huts, and the splitting and carrying home ofthe fish is comraonly left to the woraen and children. The principal fish they catch in this way, is the cod. They cut off the heads, which thoy also dry, and sail lo the poorer part ofthe population ; the bones are soraotiuies used for feed ing their cattle ; and in sorae parts ofthe island, they use them for fuel. The fish are laid bul on the cliffs, or a large surface of flat stones on the beach, and there dried in thc sun, while the utmost care is taken that they are not exposed to rain or damp. They dry in the course of three weeks, and afterwards are stacked upon the beach, and take no damage whatever frora the rain. Somelimes, the fish are hung up and dried in houses, which are so constructed that the wind has a free passage through thera, while they are sufficiently covered to keep out the rain. Besides supplying the natives with one of their most essen tial articles of food, they are thus provided by the sea with a valuable barter against foreign productions, which they may need ; and the Danish raerchants not only supply, in a great measure, the north of Europe with dried codfish, but send sev. eral cargoes of thera lo Spain, and the markets in the Mediter ranean, where they are purchased for the use of tha Catholics during lent. When the snow leaves the ground, the females spread the manure which had lain on the tun in heaps all winter, and col lect any stones that raay have gathered on il. The raen are eraployed in cutting turf, both for fuel and a covering for their houses, and raaking charcoal for the use ofthe smithy. When tlie young cattle have been turned out on the mountains, the care ofthe cows and sheep is left to the female part of the fam- ily, who railk them twice a day, make curds, butter, cheese, &c., and they repair in companies, about the raiddle of summer, to collect the Lichens Islandicus, in the uninhabited parts of the country. They have, generaUy, a man or two with them : and the few weeks they spend in this employraent in the desert, are regarded as thc happiest ofthe whole year. Thev live in tents, which they reraove from place to place, according to the greater or less abundance of the moss. At this lime the men are either out at the fresh-water fishing, or proceeding in caval cades to the factories, where they barter their hotne produc tions against articles of necessary use for the winter. The most important branch of rural labor in Iceland, is the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 123 HAY-MAKING. — WINTER EMPLOYMENTS. huy-mukivg. About tho middle of July, the peasant begins to cut down ihc grass ofthe tun, which is immediately gathered to a convenient place, in order to dry ; and after having been turned once or twice, is conveyed home on horseback to the yard, where it is raade up into stacks. At thc poorer farms, both men and women handle the scythe; bul, in general, tha women only assist in raaking the hay, after it is cut. In many pails ofthe island, where there is much hay, the peasants hire men from the fishing places^ who are paid for their labor at the rate of thirty pounds of butter per week. They cut by raeas- urcraent ; thc daily task being about thirty square fathoras. Hay harvest being ovcr, the sheep and cattle that had been out all suramer on the mountains arc collected ; the houses are put in a state of repair for the winter; the wood needed for do. mestic purposes is brought home lo each farra ; the turf is also taken in ; and the labors of the season conclude wilh tho rerao val of raanure to different parts ofthe tun. Duringthe winter, the care of tho cattle and sheep devolves entirely on the men ; and consists chiefly in feeding and waler. ing the former, which arc kept in the house, while the latter are turned out in the day time to seek their food through the snow. When the snow happens to be so deep that they cannot scrape it away themselves, the boys do it for them ; and as the suste. nance thus procured is exceedingly scaniy, they generally get a little of the meadow hay, alibis time. The farm hay is giv en to the cows only. All the horses, excepting perhaps a fa vorite riding horse, arc left to provide for theraselves the whole winter, during which they never lie down, bul rest theraselves by standing in some place of shelter. The domestic employments of this season are multiplied and various. The men are occu])ied in fabricating necessary im plements of iron, copper, wood, &c. ; and some of them are exceedingly expert, as silversmiths; their work at times in this branch, being only distinguishable frora that done in Copenha gen by the absence of the stamp. They also prepare hides for shoes ; raake ropes of hair or wool ; and full the woollen stuffs, which is generally effected in the following curious raanner. Both ends being knocked oul of a barrel, it is filled wilh the articlcs to be fulled, when it is laid on the side, and two raen lie down on their backs, one at eiiher end, with their feet in the barrel, and literally walk the cloth, by kicking it- against each other. Sraaller articles they full by placing them between their knees and breast, and then raoving backwards and for. wards with the body, turning them often with their hands tiU 124 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ICELAND. finished. This accounts for the awkward motion which the Icelanders almost always fall into when sitting, and from which many of them cannot refrain even in church. The fishermen full their mittens by dipping them now and then in the salt wa ter, while plying at the oar. In some parts of the country, the men also spin and knit like the women, and some of them weave. Besides preparing the food, the females employ their time in spinning, which is most coramonly done with the spindle and distaff, knitting stockings, mittens, shirts, &c., as also in em broidering bed-covers, saddle-cloths, and cushions, which they execute with much taste, interspersing flowers and figures of various colors. The form and ceremonies of the Icelandic church are strict ly Lutheran. The total number of parishes in Iceland amounts to 184. Tho clergy are all natives ofthe island, and are raaintained partly by cultivating sraall glebes attached to the churches, and partly from certain tithes raised among the peasants. The provision made for their support is exceeding. ly scanty. The richest living on the island does not produce 200 rix-dollars; twenty and thirty rix. doUars are the whole of the stipend annexed to many of the parishes ; and there are some in which it is even as low as five. Small as the pittance is which is thus afforded to the Ice landic clergy, and much as their attention rnust be directed to the manageraent of their farras, they are, nevertheless, in general, very assiduous in the discharge of their public func tions, and particularly attentive to the education of the young. Every clergyman in Iceland keeps what is called a register of souls, which contains an accurate statement ofthe age, situation, conduct, abilities, and proficiency of each individual in his parish. The books in the possession of the family are also en. tered on the list ; and, as this record is made annuallv, to be presented lo the dean at his visitation, a regular view" is thus obtained of ihe raoral and religious state of the parish.* * The sabbath scene at an Icelandic church is one of a most sin-^ular and interestinglund. A httle edifice constructed of wood and turf, is situated, perhaps amid the rugaed ruins of a stream of lava, or beneith mountams covered wuh unmelting snow. Here the Icelanders assem ble to perform the duties of the.r religion. A group of male and lemale peasanls may be seen gathered about the chur.h, waiting the arrival of the.rpaslor; all habited m their best attire after the manner ofthe country; their children wuh them; and the horses wbich brought them from their respecUve liomes grazing quietly around the little assembly UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 125 CLERGY. MOUE OF INTERMENT. In regard lo seiiliment and style of preaching, the Icelandic clergy may be divided inlo two classes ; those of the old, and such as aro of the new school. The former profess lo receive the Bible as aniauthoritalive and obligatory revelation of the will of God, ai.d bow with reverence to its decisions. They are raen who are dead lo the world, and dt-voted in heart and life the service of their Redeemer. Their private walk exhibits the genuine tendency of tho holy doctrines they leach ; and their public discourses are earnest, energetic, animated, point. ed, and faithful. Such of tho clergy as are of the new school, the number of whom is happily not very great, treat divine things in quite a different manner. They are entirely men of the world. The awful realities of an approuchir,g eternity have raade no suitable impression upon their rainds, and leviiy, callousness, and indiffer. ence, mark the whole of their conduct. Nor aretheeffects re sulting from the disst'ininatinn of their tenets, on such as imbibe them, less visible ar.d irjnrious. Their minds becorae imbued wilh skepticism and infidelity; every vestige of religion disap pears, and immorality of one description or another generally occupies its place. // is Ihe custom in Icvland as soon as a person has deceased, to remove tiie corpse to the church, where it is suffered to re main till the day of inteimeiit. When a person happens to die in the vicinity of the church, he is wrapped in wadmel, and placed on a bench beside the altar, till a cofiin can be got ready. Formerly, the coffin was placed on a sledge vvhich was drawn by oxen ; but as this mode of conveyance is entirely out of use al the present day, the Icehinders now carry it on horseback, as the Jews did the body of Amaziah. "And they brought him on horses : and lie was buried at Jerusalera wilh his fa thers in the city of David." 2 Kings, xiv. 20. Ll the winter season, interments are tUtended with considerable difficulty, as il takes three or fijur people a whole day to dig a grave, owing to the depth of ihe frost. In raany parts of the islatid, where the people are at a distance from any church, they preserve the corpse the whole winter iu a cellar, and inter it the following spring.The arrival ofa new comer is welcomed by every one wilh a kiss of salutation. The pastor makes his appearnnce among them as a friend ; he salutes individuiilly each member of his flock, and sloops down lo give his almost parenlal kiss to the litile ones, who are to grow up un der his care. These kind ofiices performed, tliey all go together into the house of prayer. 126 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. Thc funeral service begins with a psalm, which is sung, while the procession advances towards the grave ; thc raen having their heads uncovered, and the females covering their fiices al most entirely wilh their handkerchiefs. Afterthe coffin has been deposited in thegnive, thc priest throws three shovels full of earth upon it, repealing the words : "from dust thou ait tak- en ; to dust thou shalt return ; and from the dust shall thou rise again at the last day." While ihegiave is filling, the com. pany sing a psalra or two, suited to the occasion. One of the servants belonging to the fiirm, whence the corpse has been brought, entered the grave, after a small portion of earth had been thrown in, and continued lo tramp it down with his fe(;t: an action that naturally produced a very abhorrent feeling in my mind, observes Dr. Henderson, and added to the common, bul, periiaps, unjust prejudice that is entertained against those, whose lot it is to perform the last offices of humanity. Thefe- males knelt, in the mean time, on the surrounding graves ; and when all was finished, the fiither of the deceased tiirew himself prostrate on the grave, and continued in that posture for the the space of eight or len minutes ; but whether his prayer regard. ed the soul of ihe departed, or tho important uses to be made of this soleran event by the living, was more than I could determine. We will here take leave of Iceland, a country less inviting than raost others, owing to the perpetual snows which cover ils mountains, and the volcanic fires, which have spread devas tation and sterility over its plains. Were it consistent wilh our plan, we should certainly visit i\lount Hecla, a celebrated vol cano, siluated in the southern part, a few miles frora the coast, and rising about .5000 feet. Il has quietiy slept now for sixty years, gathering powcr probably by its long repose, for corres. ponding eruptions, whenever its "rest shall be disturbed. Could we visit il, we should be glad to have it prolong its nap, till we were out of harm's way — but wo raust forego the ple;isure of the sight, and thus we shall incur no hazard, a point of some iraportance wc suppose, if we are lokeep our fellow travellers in our company. For a sirailar reason, we shall take our leave without a visit to the hot springs of this island, the raost celebrated of which is called the " Great Geysi:r," in tho ncighborhot.d of Mount Hecla. Thc jets thrown up, which occur once in six hours,at first seldom exceed fifteen or tvvcrly feet, but subsequent ones soraetiraes reach eighty feet and upwards. As we have insured our corapanions a safe circumnavigation, we will make our exit « UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 127 MEXICO. from Iceland, without giving thera an opportunity of coiitrast- into-, to their injury, polar coldness wilh boiling water. Ourdes- tinies lead us lo the more sunny clirae, and luxuriant fields of Mexico; yet even there we shall find ourselves in the land of volcanoes," whose summits, if not red with spouting fires, will appear white with virgin snows. 7. MEXICO. Mexico is a large country, extending along the coast of the Pacific, about 2,800 miles, with a breadih of frora 150 (in the southern part) to 1400 miles; and contains more than 1,100,000 square miles. The estimate of Humboldt is still greater. One half of the territory is situated within the tropic, while the rest belongs to the temperate zone. Notwithstanding its distance from the pole, three fifths of Mexico has a cold, or at least tera perate atmosphere. The whole of the country, in fact, con stitutes an immense table land, having an elevation which va ries from 6,562 to 8,202 feet above the level ofthe sea. A range qf mountains passes Ihrough the whole length of this country from S. E. to N. W. called the Cordilleras of Mex ico. We shall briefly notice the principal colossal suramits. The highest is the Citlaltepetl, or ' Star Mountain,' called also Orizaba. This is 17,876 feet above the level of the sea, and is visible from Vera Cruz. The Popoca-tepetl, or ' Mountain of Smoke,' is the next, being 17,735 feet above the level of the sea. It is volcanic, and is covered with perpetual snow. An- other volcano is the Is-iac-cihuatl, or ' White Woraan,' having an attitude of 15,700 feet. The Nevado de Toliecca, twenty- two miles S. W. of Mexico, 15,156 feet. The Nauhcampa- tepetl, or ' Coffer of Perote' is 13,514 feet. Mexico is less disturbed by earthquakes than Quito, Guati- raala, and Curaana, although these destructive coraraotions are by no raeans rare on the western coasts, and in the neighbor. hood of the capital, where, however, they are never so violent, as in other parts of Araerica, The only five active volca noes in Mexico are, Orizaba,. Popoca-tepetl, Tustla, Jorullo, and Colima. The physical situation of Mexico, according to Humboldt, confers inesiimable advantages upon it in a coraraercial point of view. Under careful cultivation it is capable of producing 128 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. all that coramerce brings tOKCther from every part of the globe ; sugar, cochineal, cacao, cotton, coffee, wheat, hemp, flax, sillt, oil, and wine. It furnishes every metal, not even excepting mercury, and is supplied with the finest timber ; but the coasts oppose obstacles which it will be difficult to overcoma. The western shores are indeed furnished with excellent harbors ; but the eastern are almost entirely destitute of thera, the mouths of the rivers there being choked up with sands, which are con. stantly adding to the land. Vera Cruz, the principal port on this side, is raerely an open road. Both coasts, too, are render ed inaccessible for several months by severe tempests, which prevent all navigation. The north winds, los nortes, prevail in the Mexican Gulf frora the autumnal to the vernal equinox. They are very violent in March, though usually raore mode. rate in Septeraber and October. The navigators who have long frequented the port of Vera Cruz are familiar with the symptoms of the coming storm, which is preceded by a great change in the barometer, and a sudden interruption in the recu- lar occurrence of its horary oscillations. At first a gentle land-wind blows from W.N. W., and is succeeded by a breeze rising from the N. E., then frora the S. A suffocating heat succeeds, and the water dissolved in the atraosphere is precipi tated on the walls and pavements. The suraraits of Orizaba, of the Cofre de Perote, and tho mountains of Villa Rica are cloudless, while their bases are concealed by vapors. In this state of the air the tempest commences, usually with great im petuosity, and generally continues three or four days. Occa sionally, even in May, June, July and August, vi"olent hurri- canes are experienced in the Gulf of Mexico. The navifa- tion ofthe western coasts is very dangerous in July and August, when sudden gales burst from the S. W. ; and even in the fine season, from October to May, furious winds soraetiraes blow from the N. E. and N. N. E. In short, all the coasts ofNew Spain, are at certain periods dangerous to navio-ators. The population of Mexico was forraerly greater, Huraboldt conjectures, than it is at present. Formerly the inhtibitants were concentrated in a very sraall space, in the neighborhood of the capital. At the present day it is raore generally distribu. ted than it was before the conquest, and the number of Indians has increased during the last century. According to an imper- feet census raade in 1794, the return was estimated at 5,200,000. The proportion of births to deaths, during the tirae bet'weeii that period and Huraboldt's visit, was found from data furnished by the clergy, to be 170 : 100 ; while that of births to the to. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 1 29 POPULATION. tal amount he considers as one in seventeen, and of the deaths as one in thirty. The annual nuraber of births he esti. mates at nearly' 350,000, and that of deaths at 200,000. It would thus appear that, if this rate of increase were not check. ed from time to time by some extraordinary cause, the popula. tion of New Spain would double every nineteen years. In the United States generally it has doubled, since 1784, every twen- ty or twenty-three years ; and in sorae of thera it doubles in thirteen or fourteen. In France, on the other hand, the number of inhabitants would double in 214 years, were no wars or contagious diseases to interfere. Such is the difference between countries that have long been densely peopled and those whose civilization is of recent date. Humboldt, from various consid- orations, assiimes the population of Mexico in 1803 at 5,800,000 ; and thinks it extremely probable that in 1803 it exceeded 6,500,000. « The causes wliich retard the increase of nurabers in Mexico are the small pox, a disease called by the Indians matlazahuail, and famine. The first of these, which was introduced in 1520, seems to exert fts power at periods of seventeen or eighteen years. In 1763, and in 1779, it coramitted dreadful ravages, having carried off during the latier, in the capital alone, more than 9000 persons. In 1797 it was less destructive, chiefly in consequence ofthe zeal with which inoculation was propagated ; between 50,000 and 60,000 individuals having undergone the operation. The vaccine method was introduced in various parts of Mexico and Soulh America at the comraenceraent of the present century. Huraboldt mentions a curious circum stance, tending to show that the discovery of our celebrated countryman Dr. Jenner had long been known to the country people among the Andes of Peru. A negro slave, who had been inoculated for the sraall pox, showed no syraptora of the disease, and when the practitioners were about to repeat the operation, told thera he was certain that he should never take it ; for when railking cows in the mountains^ he had been affected with cutaneous eruptions, caused, as the herds men said, by the contact of pustules soraetiraes found on the udders. " The frightful distemper called matlazahuatl, which is pecu-, liar to the Indian race, seldom appears raore than once in a cen tury. It bears some resemblance to the yeUow fever or black vomiting, which, however, very seldom attacks the natives. The extent of its ravages is not known with any degree of certainty, and it has not yet been submitted to medical investiga- 12 130 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. lion. Torqucdama asserts that in 1545, it destroyed 800,000, and 2,000,000 in 1 57G ; but these estiraates are considered by Humboldt as greatly exaggerated. " A third obstacle to the progress of population in New Spain isfamine. The American Indians, naturaUy indolent, content ed with the smallest quantity of food on which life can be sup ported, and living in a fine climate, merely cultivate as much maize, potatoes, or wheat as is necessary for their own main tenance, or at most for the additional consumption of the adja cent towns and mines. The inhabilants of Mexico have in creased in a greater ratio than the means of subsistence, and accordingly whenever the crops fall short of the demand, or are damaged by drought or other local causes, famine ensues. With want of food comes disease ; and these visitations, which are not of unfrequent occurrence, are very destructive. " The working qf the mines has also contributed to the depop ulation of America. At the period of the conquest many In dians perished from' excessive tod, and, as they were forced from their homes to distant places, they usually died without leaving progeny. In New Spain, however, such labor has been free for many years. The number employed in it does not exceed 28,000 or 30,000, and the mortality araong them is not much greater than in other classes." The present Mexican population is composed of seven races: 1 . Europeans, vulgarly called Chapetons and Gaehupins ; 2. Cre oles, or native whites of European extraction ; 3. Jlestizoes, the offspring of whites and Indians ; 4. Mulattoes, the offspring of whites and negroes ; 5. Aboriginal Indians, of the pure copper-colored race ; 6. African negroes, and their descendants ; 7. Zamboes or Chinoes, the offspring of negroes and Indians. To these may be added many individuals of Asiatic origin, numbers of the Chinese aud Malays having settled in .Alexico, owing to the frequent communication between Acapulco anti the Philippine Islands ; and natives ofthe Canary Islands, who are generally designated by the name of Islenos (islanders,) and rank as whites. They are for the most part overseers and agents of plantations. The number of copper-colored Indians of the pure race, is supposed to be 2,500,000, forming about two-fifths of the en- tire population. In the intendencies of Guanaxuato, A'allado- lid, Oaxaca, and La Puebla, they araount to three-fifths ; but, in the north of New Spain, and the internal provinces, they are rarely to be met with. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 131 INDIANS. The Indians of Mexico, or New Spain, are described by Humboldt as bearing a general resemblance to those who in habit Canada, Florida, Peru, and BrazU. They have the same swarthy and copper color, flat and smooth hair, small beard, squat body, long eye, with the corner directed upwards towards the temples, prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and an expres sion of gentleness in the mouth, strongly contrasted with a glooray and severe look. There is, however, a considerable diversity - of feature and physiological character araong the different na- tions, which, though not detected by the hasty observation of the European stranger, is not less essential than the difference between the Circassian, the Moor, and the Persian. Thus, tbe Indians of Tlascala differ widely in their form from the Chichi. mecs of the northern provinces. It is remarkable, that the na tives of Mexico have, a raore swarthy coraplexion than the in habitants of the -warraer climates of Soulh America. The Mexicans, particularly those of the Artec and Otoinite race, have more beard than any of the Southern tribes, and almost all the Indians in the neighborhood of the capital, wear small mustachios. To a great degree of rauscular strenglh, the cop. per colored natives add the advantages of being rarely subject to any deformity. In xMexico, they generally attain an advan ced age, especially the women, who frequently reach a hun dred years of age ; and both the Mexican and Peruvian Indi ans preserve their rauscular strength to the last. Humboldt states, that their hair scarcely ever turns grey ; that it is far more rare to find an Indian than a negro with grey hairs ; but this is at variance with the testimony of Ulloa. He adds, that the Indians would undoubtedly attain a very great longevity, were it not for their excessive use of intoxicating liquors. In New Spain, drunkenne.ss is most common among the Indians, who inhabit the valley of Mexico and the environs of Puebla and Tlascala, wherever the maguey (or agave Americana) is cultivated on a large scale. The Mexican Indian is described by Humboldt as grave, melancholic, and silent, so long as he is not under the influence of intoxication. He loves to throw a mysterious air over the most indifferent actions. The raore violent passions are seldom painted in his features ; but there is something terrific in the change, when he passes all al once, from a state of absolute repose lo violent and ungovernable agi tation. The Peruvian Indian displays more gentleness of man ners : the energy of the Mexican is apt to degenerate into fe rocity. This is especiaUy the case with the inhabitants of Tlascala, who are still distinguished by a certain haughtiness. 132 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. which seems to bespeak a remembrance of the independence of their ancestors. No race of raen appear to be more destitute of iraagination. There cannot exist, Huraboldt says, a more marked contrast, than that which is presented by the irapetuous vivacity of the Congo negro, and the apparent phlegra of the Indian. Yet, when the latter attains a certain degree of civili zation, he displays a great facility of apprehension, a judicious mind, a natural logic, and a subtlety in seizing the finest differ ences in the coraparison of objects. The Mexicans display a great aptitude in the arts of iraitation, and a much greater skill in those which are purely raecbanical. Humboldt was aston ished at what they were able to execute in carving, with a bad knife, on the hardest wood. They are fond of pai'iting, but have been servilely imitating, for these three hundred years, the models, which the Europeans imported with them at the conquest. Their music and dancing partake of the want of gaiety which characterizes them. Their songs are terrific and melancholy. The Indian women shew more vivacity than the raen ; bul they lake no share in the dance, their only business on such occasions being to present their lords with pulque, or other fermented liquors. The Mexicans have preserved their fondness for flowers, which was noticed by Cortes. This taste, which indicates a relish for the beautiful, one is astonished to find in a people araong whom a sanguinary worship, and the frequency of human sacrifices, might be thought to have extin guished all sensibUity and kindly sentiment. In the great raarket place of Mexico, the Indian fruiterer appears seated behind an entrenchraent of fresh herbs, and garlands of flowers, and nosegays are suspended round his shop or stall, which are renewed every day. The European, says M. Humboldt, can not fail to be struck with the care and elegance, which the na tives display in distributing the fruits, which thev sell in small baskets of very light wood, ornamented with odoriferous flow ers. The costumes ofthe rarious classes var',- considerably. The dresses ofthe Spaniards, and higher class 'of while natives, snvs Mr. Bullock, differ but little from those worn in Europe. The men and boys often appear in the streets in the long cloak ; and in the house, light jackets of printed calico are generallv worn. They shave less often than we do; and when ona journey, or as long as they are indisposed, that operation is not perforraed. The dress of the ladies, and even of cliildren, in the streets. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 133 COSTUME. is univei'sally black ; the head of the former is generally un covered, or only a slight veil thrown over il. They take great pains with their fine hair, and are particularly neat about the feet, the slocking being usually of fine silk. This is their morning appearance, in which they are seen going to or return- ing frorn church, to the duties of which they are very atten tive. No well regulated faraily oralis hearing mass every morning, mostly before breakfast. On holidays, processions, and other public occasions, the dresses of the ladies are very gay, but not of such expensive materials as ihose worn by our fashionables ; artificial flowers are used in abundance, but ostrich feathers sparingly, ll is generally in their carriages, that the ladies appear in public, and very seldora on horseback. The dress of the country gentlemen, or paysanos, is showy and expensive ; and when mounted on their handsome and spirited little horses, they make an elegant appearance. The lower dress consists of erabroidered breeches, chiefly of colored leather, open at the knees, and ornaraented with numbers of round silver buttons, and broad silver lace ; a worked shirt wilh high collar ; and a short jacket of printed calico, over which is generally thrown an elegant manga, or cloak of vel vet, fine cloth, or fine figured cotton, the manufacture of the country; these are often embroidered, or covered with a pro- fusion of gold lace. On the feel are soft leather shoes or boots, over which is tied a kind of gaiter peculiar to the country ; they are comraonly of cinnamon colored leather wrapped round the leg, and lied with an ornamental garter : these are very expensive articles, the leather being cut in relievo, in a variety of elegant patterns, which is done bythe Indians inthe interior provinces, in a manner that would be difl5cult lo copy in Eu rope. They are sold from eight to forty or fifty dollars the pair, and at that price yield a poor remuneration to the makers. Yet they are an article of great consequence in the filling out of the Mexican beau, who often appears in this kin^ of boot, richly embroidered in gold and silver, which costs upwards of one hundred dollars. The stirrups and spuis correspond in magniflcence and workraanship lo the bootSo The hat is of various colors, large, and the crown very flat and low, bound with broad gold or silver lace, and wilh a large round band and fringe of the same. They are elegant, and well calculated to guard tbe head and shoulders from the sun. The decorations ofthe horse are also .expensive ; the great Spanish saddle with its broad flaps, is richly erabroidered with silk, gold and silver, 12* 134 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. while those of the lower classes are of wood. The bridle is small, wilh a very large and powerful bit, by means of which the riders suddenly slop their fine liltle horses, when at full speed. The dresses ofthe country ladies are showy, but not elegant; worked shifts, wilh a light open jacket, and a richly embroider ed or spangled petticoat, of bright colored soft cloth (often scar let or pink,) seera lo be the unvarying costume. The dress of the poorer classes, and Indians, varies in the dif ferent provinces. In the capital, the dress of the Indian men is described by Mr. Bullock as consisling of a straw hat ; close jacket wilh short sleeves, of dark-colored coarse woollen or leather ; short breeches, open at the knees, also of leather, or soraetiraes of goat's skin, with the hair outwards ; and under this, full calico trowsers reaching to the middle of the leg. Sometimes sandals of leather are worn. The woraen appear in liltle raore than a petticoat and short jacket, with their long raven tresses plaited with red tape. Acapulco. — The appearance ofthe country people at Acapul co, says Capt. Hall, differs from that of the South Araericans. Their features and color partake soraewhat ofthe Malay char acter ; their foreheads are broad and square ; their eves small, and not deep seated ; their cheek bones prorainent ; and their heads covered with black straight hair ; their stature about the raediura standard ; their frarae corapact and well made. These are the country people, who come to market with poul- try, fruit, and vegetables, and are generally seen sealed in the shade under the verandahs of the houses, or in their own ran chas ; which are sheds made of mats loosely pinned together. We took notice of another class, less savage in appearance lhan that just described, and ralher more interesting; they are the laborers and carriers of burdens eraploved about the town : a tall bold-looking, strong race of men ; tiiey wear a hat, the crown of which is raised not raore than three inches above a rim of such unusual width that it serves as an umbrella lo shade the whole. Round their neck is suspended a large flap of stiff yellow leather, reaching below the raiddle, and nearly meeting a pair of greaves of the sarae raaterial, which envelope the thigh ; the calves of the leg are in like raanner wrapped round wilh pieces of leather, tied carelessly on with a thong ; over the foot is drawn a sort of wide unlaced half boot, which is left to float out like a wing from the ankle. These figures are striking, and highly picturesque. Their color is a bright UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 135 ACAPULCO . TEPIC . copper, and they probably have sorae intermixture of Spanish blood in their veins. The negroes form a third class al Acapulco. They were originally imported frora Africa ; but in the course of time, they have become a raixed race with the Aborigines, and thus, also, may possibly partake of a slight dash of Spanish blood. The result, however, is a very fine race of men. They retain the sleek glossy, and dark tint of the negro, and his thick lip ; along with which we now see the smaller form, the higher fore head, prominent cheek-bone, the sraaller eye, and the straight hair ofthe Mexicans ; together wilh raany other raingled traits which a closer observation would be able to discriminate, but which a stranger is merely conscious of seeing, without his be- ing able to define exactly in what the peculiarity consists. It may be reraarked, that, in the Spanish transatlantic posses sions, we find a greater variety of jnterraixtures or crosses of the human species than are met with in Europe, or, perhaps, in any other part of the world. The tribes of Indians, in the first place, are numerous, and distinct frora one another ; the Span. iards themselves differ in depth of color, and in figure, accord ing to their several provinces ; and, lastly, the African differs from that of the whole. Tepic. — This is a beautiful town, next in importance lo, and not far from Guadalaxara, the capital of New Galiaa, on the western coasl of Mexico. It is built in the regular raanner of most ofthe Spanish towns in that country. Captain HaU, who visited this place in 1820, thus describes ils inhabilants : The ladies of Tepic have already learned to dress in the Eu- ropean style, of course sorae years behind the fashion, but still without any thing peculiar to describe. The gentlemen wear low-brimraed brown hats, encircled by a thick gold or silver band, twisted up like a rope. When mounted, every gentle man carries a sword, not belled round him, as with us, but thrust, iu a slanting direction, into a case made for the purpose on the left flap ofthe saddle, so that the sword lies under, not over the thigh, while the hilt rises nearly as high as the pora- mel of the saddle, when it is more readily grasped in case of need, than when left dangling by the side. The saddle rises ab ruptly four or five inches, both before and behind ; in order, as I was told, to give the rider support in going up and coraing down the very steep roads of the country. On each side of the saddle, before the knees, hangs a large skin of sorae shaggy coated aniraal reaching nearly to the ground ; in wet weather 136 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. these are drawn over the rider's legs, whUe what is called the mangas, covers the body. This is a cloak resembling the poncho ofthe South, being of an oblong form, wfth a hole in the middle to receive the head. In Mexico, these cloaks are gene rally raade of fine cloth, richly ornaraented round the neck with gold erabroidery. The stirrups are made of wood ; taken, no doubt, from the' Spanish box stirrup, but they are more neatly made than in Spain, and are lighter, and fit the foot better. Every gentleman rides with a pair of silver spurs of immode rate length, and weight, ar.d instead of a whip, holds in his han a long and curiously twisted set of thongs, which are raerely a tapered continuation of the slender strips of hide of which the bridle is raade, plaited into a round cord. Throughout ihe table-land, maize forms ihe principal nourish. ment both of men and animals. The natives have various methods of preparing it. They are very fond of a gruel made of the flour, and sweetened wilh honey. Bul their raost com raon raethod of cooking it is in cakes, which they eat with beans and chile pepper. The potatoe and yam are cultivated, both on the table-land and in the low country ; and in the latter, they raise a small quantity of rice. But, next to the Indian corn, the banana plant, and the manioc root are the principal articles of food. The banana, Huraboldt reraarks, is, for all the inhabitants of the torrid zone, what wheat, barley, and rj'e, are for westem Asia and Europe, and what the numerous varieties of rice are for the countries beyond the Indus. I doubt, he says, whether there is another plant on the globe, which, on so small a space of ground, can produce so considerable a mass of nutritive sub stance. Eight or nine months after the sucker has been plant ed, the banana comraences developing its clusters ; and the fruit may be collected in the tenth or eleventh. The fruit is often eight inches long, and a cluster has sometimes ISil fruits, weighing 80 pounds. The plant is cultivated wfth little care, and produces in a few months after it is planted ; 1 ,000 feet of land wiU sometimes produce 4,000 lbs. of nutritive substance ; and the root is made inlo sweetraeats. It would be difficult to describe the nuraerous preparations, by which the Americans render the fruit ofthe musa, both before and after its raaturity, a wholesome and agreeable diet, I have frequently seen in ascending rivers, that the natives, after the greatest fiitigue, raake a coraplete dinner on a very sraall portion of manioc and three bananas of the large kind. The ripe fruit of the rausa, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 137 FOOD. when exposed lo the sun, is preserved like our figs. The skin becomes black, and lakes a particular odor, which resembles that of smoked ham. The fruit in this state is called platano passado, and is an article of coraraerce in the intendency of Mechoacan. Meal is extracted frora the rausa, by culling the green fruit in slices, drying it in the sun on a slope, and pound ing it, when it becoraes friable. The flour, less used in Mexico than in the islands, may serve for the same use as flour from rice or maize. The facihty with which the banana is re-pro- duced from its roots, gives it an extraordinary advantage over fruit-trees, and even over the bread fruit-tree, which, for eight months in the year, is loaded with farinaceous fruil. The green fruit of the musa is eaten dressed, like the bread fruil, or the potatoe ; but the flour of the manioc is converted into bread. The proper narae of the plant, the root of which yields the nu tritive flour of the manioc, is jwca. There are two species ; the juca dulee, the root of which may be eaten without danger ; and the juca amarga, which contains an active poison. It is the root of the latter, however, which is generally made into bread, the poisonous juice being carefully pressed out. The inhabitants of the internal provinces, who are chiefly whites or reputed whites, live alraost exclusively on wheaten bread. The Mexican wheal, cultivated in the teraperate re gions, is ofthe very best quality, and raay be corapared, Hura boldt says, with the finest Andalusian grain. America is ex tremely rich in vegetables wilh nutritive roots, among which are the oca, the botate, and the igname. A small black bean is also very extensively cultivated, and the quantities of red pep per raised in all parts of the country, is alraost incredible. The Mexican, says Mr. Robinson, would rather go without bread, than lack chile with his meat. Both in its green and dried stale, the quantity consuraed is incredible. When mashed, and mixed wilh a little water, it is the universal sauce on the tables ofthe great ; while wilh the poor, it forms a coraponent part of their diet. More than one third of the Mexican popu lation live, throughout the year, chiefly on tortillas, or cakes with chUe spread on them, as butler is with us. On days of festivity, they have occasionally a change of diet, by the addi tion of a few eggs or a little broth ; but they never relinquish their favorite chile. A stranger has great difficulty, al first, to bear wilh the food prepared with chile ; but after his palate has become accustomed lo its stimulus, it ceases lo excoriate, and he grows as fond ofit as the Indians and Creoles. One of the most interesting sights to an inquisitive stranger 138 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. in Mexico, says Mr. Bullock, is a ramble early in the raorning to the canal which leads to the Lake of Chalco. There, hun- dreds of Indian canoes, of different forras and sizes, freighted with the greatest variety of the animal and vegetable produc. tions of the neighborhood, are constantly arriving: they are frequently navigated by native women, accompanied by their families. The finest cultivated vegetables, which are produced in European gardens, with the numberless fruits of the torrid zone, of raany of which even the names are not known to us, are piled up in pyraraids, and decorated with the raost gaudy flowers. In the front of the canoes, the Indian women, very slightly clothed, with their long, glossy tresses of jet black hair flowing luxuriously to the waist, and often with an infant fas tened to their backs, push the canoes forward with long slender poles. In the centre, under cover, the reraainder of the family are seated, mostly employed in spinning cotton, or weaving it, in their simple portable looras, into narrow webs df blue anti while cloth, which forms their principal clothing. Other boats are loaded with raeat, fowls, turkeys, and a profusion of wild ducks, which they pluck and prepare on their road lo market ; generally throwing the feathers, which they consider of no value, into the water. Others again are frei'ghted with Indian corn in bulk or straw, the general food for horses, reared like floating pyramids. Milk, butter, fruit, and voung kids, are all in the greatest plenty ; and, what adds to the picturesque ap. pearance of the whole, is, that nearly every canoe has a quan tity of red and white poppies spre"ad on "the top of the other commodities ; and, if there be a raan on board, he is usually eraployed in strumming on a siraple guitar for the arausement of the rest. The whole of this busj^ scene is conducted wilh the greatest harraony and cordiality. These siraple people seldora pass each other without saluting. Buenos dias, Senor, or Senora, is in every raouth, and tl^ey embrace each other with all the appearance of sincerity. They land their cargoes d little" to the south of the palace, near the great market ; and reraove their various commodities on their backs to the placa, where they deposit them for sale. This market is well worth visiting at an earlv hour :— then, thousands of Indians, assembled wfth their various commodities ior sale, many of them from a considerable distance, form one ofthe most aniraated sights that can be witnessed. The meat market is tolerably ^^¦ell supplied with beef, mut ton, and pork, not of the very best quality, but by no means bad ; and there is game in abundance, uild ducks, birds of vari- Universal traveller. 139 ous sorts, venison, hares, rabbits, turkeys, — not to speak of tor toises, frogs, a sort of shrimp, and axolotes, (a species of sala mander resembling a water-newt,) all good eating. The pro fusion and variety of fruits and vegetables arq greater than in any other raarket in Europe or Araerica. The great market, says Mr. Bullock, is larger than Covent Garden, but yet un equal to contain the quantfty daily exposed to sale. The ground is entirely covered with every European kind, and wilh many, the very naraes of which we have scarcely heard. Besides tlie articles furnished for the table, numbers of Indians dispose of wool, cotton, coarse cahco, raanufactured skins, earthen ware, baskets, &c. ; and it is an arausing scene to wit ness thera collected in large parties, wilh their children, seated on the ground, enjoying their, frugal meals of tortillas and chile. But, unfortunately, inthe lanes near the market are foimd num bers of pulque-shops (pulquerias,) where the men are seen en joying their, favorite beverage, and indulging in their propensi ty to gaming ; and in more lhan one instance, I have noticed these generally good-natured creatures, when heated by the pulque or aguardiente, and soured by the ill fortune of the day, venting their disappointment on the persons of their unoffending wives. "Of drinks, there are in Mexico, unfortunately, too many that intoxicate, and their injurious effects are too apparent up on the Indians and poorer population. The most usual drink, not excepting perhaps even waler, is the pulque, a liquor pro. duced from a variety of the agave americana. The taste is agreeably acid, and it is, perhaps, of all intoxicating liquids, the most hurtful. It is the juice of the plant, obtained by cutting off the shoot just befoi'e it is bursting out to flower ; it is so hoi. lowed that the juice fills the cavity left, and so abundant is the sap, that il is dipped out several tiraes in the day. A plant even in a barren soil produces one hundred and fifty bottles of pulque, though it is about 16 years before it will do to make the incision. Humboldt calls the maguey the vine of the Aztecs, and the natives prefer the pulque to all wines, and their'prefer. ence is justifieil by many Europeans. A very intoxicating brandy called mexical, is distilled from the pulque. The pulque has unfortunately the best flavor, when it has the least fra grance, as it has oflen when in its best state, a fetid odor, though as this is not universal, it may, perhaps, when the cultivators have more skill, be remedied. The consumption of pulque in the city is estimated at 44,000,000 of bottles annually." 140 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. There is little travelling in Mexico, and of course the accom modations for travellers are far below excellence. The na- tives seldom wander beyond the precincts of their own neigh. borhood, though there are many inducements to travel. Mex. ico is a country made up of the beautiful and the grand ; yet it is a service of toil and danger to explore even the most fre- quenled parts. It is surrounded by a sickly coast, where the gates of death are always open. The malaria that spares the native is fatal to the stranger ; under a beautiful sky, surround ed by the magnificent vegetation of the tropics, the foreigner inhales the airs of fragrance, that are loaded with death. Yet the foreigner explores Mexico, while the native feels no curios. ity. The roads in Mexico, which under the auspices ofthe moth er country were beginning to be good, have, since the declara. tion of jjidependence, been sadly neglected. The vehicldfe for traveUing usually correspond to the nature ofthe roads ; they have therefore raore strength than elegance in this country ; requiring not unfrequently eight or ten raules to draw tbem. They are not always furnished even with springs. " A traveller who goes frora the coast lo the city of ^Mexico, even over the raost frequented route, must raove like an emi grant in our western states, taking wfth hira his household goods. The inns afford little but shelter, and that of no envia ble kind, and he must carry beds, provisions, and means for de. fence. The haciendas are substantial farm houses, and oflen with a shop and church annexed ; yet they furnish liltle bul provender for horses and mules ; few of the proprietors mil from motives of interest or hospitality muiister much to a trav eller's comfort ; and no intelligent wayfarer expects eiiher neat ness or comfort. A posada is often but a shed open Uke a bird cage at the sides, and whatever passes witliin may be seen with out : beds, there are none, and he is most fortunate m a compa ny of travellers who secures a bench or table to stretch him. self upon. In the haciendas, a single large hall only is given to travellers, and here, as in the inns, there can be no alterca tion for a choice of beds. In the inns, however, there are sev eral sraall rooms for travellers. The usual price for this shel ter is a quarter of a dollar. The Mexicans, however, if of humble pretensions as publicans, are yet excellent travelling servants, faithful, obliging, and of great good nature. To call them honest is but to say that they have the national character : the baggage is often left undefended, under a shed ; though the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 141 TRAVELLING. unquiet state of Mexico has been a school to produce robbers, that now infest the broken parts of the country. " The Mexican horses are also well adapted to travelling ; they are small but spirited. They have a peculiar gait, called paso, and so little is any other in esteem, that to trot is consider ed as a defect in a horse, and reduces his price two thirds, or to fifty dollars. A good horse will go in this gaft six miles an hour, and the motion is so gentle that the rider is hardly moved in his seat. The fore feet are raised high as in a gallop, while the hindraost feel are drawn along the ground. « The mule, however, is preferable where the roads are steep and rough : he is more patient, hardy, and sagacious in picking out his way. In roads impassable for wheels — and in Mexico they are not a few — the mules carry a littzr, which is a sort of palanquin, with two long poles : the poles are passed through the saddle of the mules, like the shafts of a carriage, so that one mule goes before, and the other, behind the litter. The motion ofa litter is very easy. " In Mexico the whole day's journey is comraonly performed at one heat : the rauleteers seldora stop to bait. It is thought to be better for the aniraals to give them a long tirae for rest and food : food they cannot take without water, which it is dan- gerous to give them in the quantities they require, till the labor ofthe day is done. In the raorning il takes nearly two hours to finish the preparations for starting. The raules often escape, when they can be taken only with the lasso, or a long rope with a noose, that all Mexican horseraen use dexterously, and generally have attached to the purarael of the saddle. The moment the mule feels the lasso thrown upon him he stands per fectly StiU, but tUl then will not suffer hiraself to be taken. In steep places, where the carriage raight otherwise lose its bal ance, the outriders attach the lassos to it, and not only preserve the balance, but aid in drawing it. The raules and horses are never littered : they sleep on plank or stone ; a curry-corab is unknown, but the aniraals are frequently washed. " It is to be remarked that although the horses and rnules are generally excellent, yet this description does not always apply to those furnished to traveUers. Mr. Poinsett had occasion thus to describe 'the progress of dulness;' 'We set off ata gallop ; this lasted till we cleared' the gates ; it was then so- berecl into a trot, shortly after into a walk, and at the end of four miles we stood still.' The sarae traveller had afterwards to send back for one ofhis servants, who was found asleep up. on his horse, the horse having favored him with a rest of some 13 142 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. hours. Man and horse were found motionless as the statue of Charles IV. that stood in the great square of Mexico. " The country ladies often ride upon the sarae horse with a gentleraan, though there are no pillions ; the gentleraan rides behind, supporting his companion with one arra. It is also a coramon mark of politeness to put his own wide hat on the la dy's head, and to tie up his own wilh a handkerchief"* The Mexicans, in their amusements, follow, in a great meas. ure, the taste ofthe raother country. BuU-fights are common, but not as sanguinary, as in Spain. The love of garaing per. vades all classes ; ladies, priests, soldiers, laborers, Indians, de vote so much tirae to it, that it deserves to be styled an employ. ment, ralher than an amusement. In the public squares of Mex- ico, gaming parties are almost always to be seen, and with such zeal is it conducted, that the last coin is staked, and if that be lost, the very cloak which covers the shoulder is laid upon the stand. Cock.fighting is the favorfte national pastime. People of all ranks unite in the amusement, and at the cock pit all are on an equal footing. Brokers are present, -with whom the stakes are deposited, and who pay over the money to the winners, receivmg a sraall compensation from each of tbe parties. Cocks are usuaUy arraed with slashes, or knives, which coraraonly, on the one side or the other, does the work of execution in a short tirae. The governnient Ucenses this sport, and receives a revenue from it. Ample legislative provision has been made by the Mexican government to furnish the means of education, but as yet little beyond this has been done ; and since the separation of the country from the dominion of Spain, it is doubtful whether the facihties for obtaining a thorough education are equal to what they were before that event. The University of Mexico has, at present, but few students ; several inferior colleges anil schools exist, under the direction of the clergy. The higher classes are generally educated in private. Few bookstores, and but few private libraries are to be found. The Cathedral has a large library, chiefly confined to works on theology. The inhabftants of the city, ft is said, are generally able to read and write : even men in the garb of poverty, may be seen read ing in the streets the newspapers of the day. The education of females has been greatly neglected ; but with the few ad- * Goodrich's Universal Geography. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 143 AGEICULTUEE. vantages which they have enjoyed, there are to be found ladies of no sraaU information and inteUigence. The agriculture of Mexico is by no means as flourishing as might be expected, from its natural resources ; although con. siderable improveraent has been effected of late yeara. The principal agricultural productions are grapes and nutritive roots, the banana, and the manioc, to which may be added maize, wheat, &c. Rye and barley are cultivated on the higher re. gions, bul only to a sraall extent. Oats do not answer well. Potatoes are abundant. The Mexicans have now all the culi. nary vegetables and fruit trees of Europe. Travellers are surprised to see the tables of the wealthy inhabitants loaded with the vegetable productions of both continents, in the most perfect slate. The fecundity of lands which are well cultivated, is surpri. singly great, especiaUy those which are suitably watered. " In the raost ferlile part of the table-land between Queretaro and Leon, the wheat harvest is 35 and 40 for 1 ; and several farras can even reckon on 50 or 60 for 1. At Cholulo the common return is from 30 to 40, but it frequently exceeds from 70 fo 60 for 1. In the valley of Mexico maize yields 200, and wheat 18 or 20. The raean produce ofthe whole country may be stated at 20 or 25 for 1. M. Abad, a canon of the metropolitan church of Valladolid de Mechoacan, took at ran- dom from a field of wheat forty plants, when he found that each seed had produced forty, sixty, and even seventy stalks. The number of grains which the ears contained frequently ex ceeded 100 or 120, and the average amount appeared to be SO. Some even exhibited 160. A few of the elevated tracts, however, are covered with a kind of clay impenetrable by the roots of herbaceous plants, and others are arid and naked, in which the cactus and other prickly shrubs alone vegetate. " The following table exhibits the mean produce ofthe cere- al plants in different countries of both continents : — . In France, from 5 to 6 grains for 1. In Hungary, Croatia^ and Sclavonia, from 8 to 10 grains. In La Plata, 12 grains. In the northern part of Mexico, ] 7 grains. In equinoctial Mexico, 24 grains. In the province of Pasto in Santa Fe, 25 grains. In the plain of Caxamarca in Peru, 18 to 20 grains. The Mexican wheat is of the very best quality, and equals 144 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. the finest Andalusian. Al Havana il enlers into corapetition with that ofthe United States, which is considered inferior to it; and when greater facilities are afforded for exportation il will become of the highest impjortance to Europe. In Mexico grain can hardly be preserved longer lhan two or three years ; but the causes of this decay havo not been sufficiently investiga ted."* The maguey [Agave Americana") which we have already had occasion to notice, is reared, Humboldt says, as far as the Az. tec language extends. The finest plantations noticed by the above traveller, were in the valley of Tolucca and on the plains of Cholula. " It yields the saccharine juice at the peri od of inflorescence only, the approach ofwhich is anxiously ob served. Near the latter place, and between Tolucca and Ca- canuraacan, a maguey eight years old gives signs of develop ing ils flowers. The bundle of central leaves is now cul, the wound is gradually enlarged and covered with the foliage, which is drawn close and tied at the top. In this wound the vessels seera to deposite the juice that would naturally have gone to expand the blossoms. It continues to run two or three months, and the Indians draw from it three or four times a-dav. A very vigorous plant occasionally jields the quantity of 454 cubic inches a day for four or five months. This is so much the more astonishing, that the plantations are usuaUy in the most arid and steril ground. In a good soil the agave is ready for being cut at the age of five 3 ears ; but in poor land the harvest cannot be expected in less than eighteen. •' This juice or ho-ney has an agreeable acid taste, and easi ly ferraents on account of the sugar and mucilage which abound in it. This process, which is accelerated by adding a little old pulque, ends in three or four days ; and the result is a liquor resembling cider, but with a very unpleasant sraell, like that of putrid raeat. Europeans who can reconcile theraselves to the scent, prefer the pulque to every other liquor, and it is consider- ed as stomachic, invigorating, and nutrftive. A very intoxica ting brandy, called mexical, is also obtained from "it, and in sorae districts is manufactured to a great cxtent- "The leaves ofthe agave also supply the place of hemp and the papyrus of the Egyptians. The paper on which the an cient Mexicans painted their hieroglyphical figures was made of their fibres, raticerated and disposed in layers. The prickles which terminate thera, formerly served as pins and naUs to the * Humboldt's Travels. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 145 PRODUCTIONS, Indians, and the priests pierced their arms and breasts with them in their acts of expiation. " The vine is cultivated in Mexico, b'at in so small a quantity that wine can hardly be considered as a product of that coun. try ; but the mountainous parts of New-Spain, Guatimala, New- Grenada, and Caraccas, are so well adapted for its growth, that al some future period they will probably supply the whole of North Araerica. "Of colonial coraraodfties, or productions whic'.i furnish raw materials for the commerce and manuf:;cluring ind'astry of Eu. rope, New-Spain affords most of those procured from the West Indies. The cultivation of the sugar-cane has of late years been carried to such an extent, that the exportation of sugar from Vera Cruz amounts to more than half a million of arro. bas, or 12,680,000 lb. avoird. ; which, al 3 piastres the arroba, are equal to 5,925,000 francs, or 246,875/. stsrli!:g, Il was conveyed by the Spaniards from the Canar}' Islands into St. Doraingo, from whence it was subsequently carried ir.to Cuba and the province just naraed. Altho'Ligli the mean terapera ture best suitjd to il is 75 ' or 77 , it raay yet be successfully reared in places of which the annual warmth docs not exceed 66° or 68° ; and as on great table-lands the heat is increa.sed by the reverberation ofthe earth, it is cultivated in Mexico to the height of 4921 feel, and in favorable exposures thrives even at an elevation of 6562. The greatest part ofthe sugar pro duced in New-Spain is consumed in tlie courtry, ar.d I'.ic ex portation is very insignificant compared with that of Cuba, Jaraaica, or St. Domingo. "Cotton, flax, and herap, arc not extensively raised, and very little coffee is used in the country. Cocoa, vamlla, jalap, and tobacco are cultivated ; but ofthe latter there is a considerable importation from Havana. Indigo is not produced in suScient quantity for home consumption. Since the raiddle of the sixteenth century, oxen, horses, sliecp, and hogs, introduced by the conquerors, have multiplied sur prisingly in all parts of New. Spain, and more especially in the vast savannas of the provincias interiuu. The exportation of hides is considerable, as is that of horses and mules. " Our common poultry have only of late years begun lo thrive in Mexico ; but there is a great variety of aative galli. naceous birds in that country, such as the turkey, the hocco or curassow {Crax nigra, C. globicera, C. pauxi,) penelopes, and pheasants. The Guinea fowl and common duck are also rear- 13* 146 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. MEXICO. ed ; but the goose is no where to be seen in the Spanish colo. nies. " The cultivation ofthe silkworm has never been extensive ly tried, although many parts of that continent seem favorable to it. An enorraous quantity of wax is consuraed in the festi- vals of the church ; and notwithstanding that a large propor tion is collected in the country, much is imported from Ha- vana."* Mexico produces the Cochineal, the name ofa valuable scar let dye, obtained frora an insect (the Coccus Cocfa' of natural ists) which is found on the prickly pear tree, called Nopal by the Indians. This tree is generally planted by the Indians near their habitations. In holes about half a yard deep, and about two yards distant frora each other, one or two leaves ofthe no pal are placed in a flat position, and then covered with earth. These leaves grow up into a single stera, which divides inlo branches that successively produce fresh leaves. The stem and branches are full of knots, frora which the leaves grow. The plant is usually about three 3-ards in height. The decay. ed branches are carefully reraoved, and the plants kept free of all kinds of weeds. A collection of these trees forras a Nopa- lerie. The feraale cochineal insects are placed about the 15th of October, in a number of small nests among the leaves of the nopal, and they immediately wander over tbe plant in quest of the particular branches to which they attach themselves, and during the tune of breeding, they are preserved with the utmost care, from violent winds, frosts, &c. and from the depredations of particular birds, worms, 6co. After attaining their full growth, they are put into earthen pots ; and when they have been confined for some tirae, they are killed, generally by means of hot water, and after being dried, are put into bags. On the raanner of drying ft, the color which is obtained chiefly depends. The best is that which is dried in the sun. Three gatherings are raade in a year ; but the last gathering is the least valued. The cochineal exported frora Vera Cruz in 1803, was valued at several millions of doUars. The religion of Mexico is altogether Catholic. The clergy possess great influence, though ft is now on the decline ; their nuraber is estimated at about ten thousand ; half of which are regular and wear the cowl. They formerly possessed im. mense estates ; but within a few years these have been redu- ¦• Humboldt's Travels. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 147 ¦WEST INDIES. ced to less than 20 millions. The highesi salary enjoyed by any bishop is 130,000 dollars, and the least is 6000. No protestant, untU converted, may marry a Roraan Catholic. Marriages are celebrated wilh sorae porap ; — for this cereraony the priest receives frora parties, even of low rank, twenty-two dollars, and this in a country where the price of labor is only one quarter ofa doUar a day, and but 175 days allowed by the church, in which a good Roraan Calholic raay work. — Mexi- can funerals are attended with little ceremony. A coffin is eraployed to convey the body to the grave ; but there it is ta ken oul, and consigned lo the earth without it. Immediately south of Mexico, of which we are now to take leave, lies Guatemala, a country of large extent — not less, it is said, than eleven hundred railes in length, and four hundred and eighty in its greatest breadih. Ils inhabilants araount, however, to but little raore than a million and a half, of which only 280,000 are whiles ; the reraainder are Indians, and mixed races. Some of the Indian tribes are represented as savage and ferocious ; hence, we have no disposftion to venture our selves, or the corapanions of our wanderings, araong them. And in respect to the raanners and custoras of the while inhab itants, they bear so strong a reserablance to those of Mexico, that an excursion thither would furnish us little new, or inter esting. We raay reraark, however, that in respect to the cli- mate of Guateraala, its soil and productions, it strongly resem. bles Mexico. The British territory on the bay of Honduras, has long been celebrated for its mahogany and logwood. All sorts of grain and fruits are produced in great abundance, but the two principal productions, best known to coraraerce, are indigo and cochineal. Guateraala indigo is araong the best in the world. The religion is Catholic ; the government nomi. nally republican, the country having declared itself an inde pendent state in 1823. 8. WEST INDIES. East of Mexico, at the entrance of fts well known Gulf, is an extensive cluster of Islands, known by the name of the West Indies. This name was given to them by Columbus, 148 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WEST INDIES. who first discovered them, under the notion that Ihey were con- nected wfth the continent of India. These Islands we shall not attempt to visft, but pausing where we are a few hours longer, I will in brief terms give such an account of them as shall supersede the necessity of a personal visit. In the mean while, we shall gather strength, which will be demanded in a StUl raore southern tour. Navigators distinguish these Islands into the Windward and Leeward Islands ; soraetiraes they are called the Caribbee Isl- ands, the Great and Little Antilles, and the Columbian Archi pelago. Of these islands, Spain clairas Cuba and Porto Rico ; Hayti, better known by the narae of Hispaniola, or St. Domin. go, is independent. The British Islands are Jaraedca, Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Dorainica, !Mont. serrat, Antigua, Nevis, Sl. Christopher's, Tortola, The Baha. mas or Lucayos, and the Bermudas. The French Possessions are Martinique, Gaudaloupe, and Marie Gallante. The Dutch own St. Martin, St. Eustatius, and Curacoa. To Denmark belong St. John, St. Thomas, and Santa Cruz. Sweden has the single island of St. Bartholomew. The inhabitants ofthe West Indies, belonging as they do to '' various nations, are greatly diversified : they consist of Cre oles, Spaniards, French, Gerraans, Danes, &c. The niixed races are numerous, and the negroes the most numerous of all. Slavery exists in these islands, except in those belonging to Great Britain, in. which it has been recently atiolished. The Creoles are generally taller than the Europeans, bul less ro bust. They are quite graceful in their motions. Their eves are deeper set than araong the natives of Europe, but are gene rally briUiant and expressive. Inhabiting a warm chmate, their dress is light and loose. Their buildings, by reason of exposure to earthquakes, are low, and are constructed with reference to comfort and coolness, i-ather than ostentation. The food of the inhabitants is chiefly vegetable, consisting of the bread-fruit, banana plantain, sweet potatoe, i^cc. Salt fish is extensively eaten by the slaves. Several languages are spoken in the \Vest Indies, as the English, French, Spanish, with other European tongues. The diseases to which Europeans are subject, are intermittent, re mittent, or continued fevers — the latter is the true yellow fever. Creoles and negroes are subject to intermittent fever ; Europe. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 149 HAVA^'A. ans, who have resided sorae tirae in the West Indies, are cora. monly attacked with fever in the remittent form ; whilst the healthiest and the strongest of the new comers are subject to the continued or yellow fever. Of lale years, however, yel low fever in ils raost malignant forra, has not been prevalent iu the British West India Islands. Havana, the capital of Cuba, is seldom exempt from yellow fever. This is iraputed by Cap- lain Alexander, to a long marsh of raangroves extending from the side of the harbor into the country to the east. The fol lowing fact is related by him in confirmation of his opinion. His Britannic Majesty's frigate Aurora arrived some time ago at Havana, after having been three years in the West Indies ; she dropped her anchor at a spot where the breeze blowing over the mangrove swarap could reach her. The Pylades, a fresh arrival frora England, also anchored for one night in the harbor, but at the distance of' a few hundred yards from the Aurora ; next morning the two vessels sailed. The Aurora lost eighty men and officers in a few weeks frora yellow fever, and the Pylades, though unaccustomed to the climate, did not lose one hand. It would greatly exceed our limits to notice the peculiarities observable in the inhabitants of the different islands. We will confine ourselves to those of the inhabitants of Havana. The rich inhabitants of this city rise early, take a cup of chocolate, the men light their cigars, and stroll about the balconies till ten o'clock ; the ladies generally attend mass ; then a breakfast of meat and fish, eggs and hara, wine and coffee, is brought in ; afler these are discussed, the cigars are again Ughted at a liltle pan of charcoal placed on the middle of the table, the elderly^ ladies using the cigaritto, or little cigar wrapped in paper. The men then order the volante, or walk out, and the women either pay a visit of ceremony, or sft al home to receive one in their rocking chairs. At three o'clock, dinner is brought in, and the raeal of rich raade dishes lasts an hour ; the charcoal pan again appears, coffee is handed round, and all retire to" take their siesta^. In an hour, the Pasao is visited, where is also the am phitheatre for the coridas de toros (bull fights,) and when these take place, the attraction is so great, that it is extremely diffi cult to procure adraisjion. The Pasao is the Hyde Park of Havana. In describing this public resort. Captain Alexander observes : " At the dis tance of half a mUe from the walls of the cfty, we found a broad road wfth side- walks and rows of trees. Marble fountains dif. 150 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. "WEST INDIES. fused a pleasing coolness, and seats at intervals were occupied by well-dressed raen. The ladies were seated in their volantes, which were highly ornaraented wfth sUver, and the calasero, or postilion, in a richly laced hussar jacket. The volantes fol. lowed one another at a slow pace ; the envious capacite, or blue cloth, was removed frora the front of the volante, and tlie fair Cubannas sat revealed in all their charms to the admiring gaze of the loungers." The donnas were all clothed in virgin white, wore no head dress, except beautifully carved and very large tortoise shell combs, the fashion of which alters every month, entailing a heavy expense on husbands and fathers. Their hair was " dark as the curtain of night overshadowing the burning heart of a lover," and the cool breeze of evening wantoned with their tresses ; their complexions were like Parian marble, and as they passed an acquaintance, their fine eyes beamed forth pleasure, and with a lively shake ofthe fan they lisped, a dios! a dios! The manner of living at an Havana tavern, or boarding house, is thus described by the same author. " The charge for dinner was one dollar, for which abundant fare was provi ded, inclusive of French claret. Soups, solids, and dessert, were placed on the table at ouce ; the dishes were crowded oa one another, and on the ringing ofthe bell, the compan\ hastily took their seats, and made a vigorous onslaught : every one plunged his fork into the dish he liked best, and there was such a scramble, such a clatter of knives and plates, that il remind ed me of Dugald Dalgelty laying in his provent for three days. Such a quantity of oil and grease, to say nothing of garlic, is used in Spanish cookery, that I really could not " play the knife and fork" that my appetite prompted me to do, but con trived to allay the cravings of hunger wilh cofiee and bread at the end of the feast. The company consisted of Spaniards, Germans, Frenchmen, Russians, and English, captains of ships ; it was a strange medley both as to language and manners. ;\Iost of the guests had the air of desperadoes and adventurers, and they seemed very indifferent to coraraon courtesy in thoir behavior to each other ; thus at these houses il is no uncommon thing to see joints of meat and glasses flying across the table, aud violent quarrels ending in blows. Someliraes they coraraence in this way ; a skipper asks for UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 151 FUNERALS. EDUCATION. an omelet opposite to him ; a negro runs round to fetch it ; In conveying ft to the sailor, he is slopped half way by another gentleraan, who coolly seizes the dish, cuts the oraelet in two, takes half himself, and gives the other half to a friend next hira ; the disappointed skipper vents his rage by uttering a hearty curse, and sends his glass al the head of the gentleraan who had taken " the bread out of his mouth." When a respectable person dies in the Havana, a lofty stage is erected in the principal apartraent, covered with black drapery and tinsel ornaraents, and on the top of it the open coffin is placed at an angle so as to expose the dead body, dressed in holiday clothes, to the spectators below. There is also a great display of wax lights in the roora. The volantes ofthe friends of the deceased being assembled, the bier is pla ced across the leading one, which with the calassero and horse, is covered with black cloth, and attended by slaves in red coats, gold-laced cocked hats and canes in their hands. The proces sion moves to the Campo Santo. Arrived there, the coffin is taken frora the volante, the head ofthe corpse being uncovered, and kept in constant motion by the hasty steps of the bearers. It is a ghastly sight. After the service is performed, the body is coraraonly turabled uncereraoniously into a shallow grave, lime and earth thrown over it, whilst the coffin is returned for the next who requires it. When children are buried, the at tendants sing anti play lively airs before them, as Heaven is doubtless their portion. Truly, a funeral at the Havana is conducted in a manner that the most uncivilized nation might be ashamed of: but such has been the custom from time im memorial, and it seems we must always bow to the wisdom of our ancestors. Throughout the West India Islands, the means of education are extremely limited. In Hayti, schools are coraraon, and a coUege was some years founded at Cape Haytien. Many of the young men belonging to the West India Islands are sent either to Europe, or Araerica for education. The religion va ries in different Islands. In Cuba and Hayti, ft is generally Catholic. The Islands generally belonging to European pow ers are under governors sent to them by the parent country. These governors are usually assisted by a council. The gov emment of Cuba is in the hands of a Captain General, appoin- ted by the King of Spain. Hayti is a republic having a Presi. dent chosen by the Senate for life. Jaraaica has a governor, 152 UiSTVERSAL TRAVELLER. WEST INDIES. a council of twelve raembers, and a house of Assembly chosen by the free-bolders. Among the principal productions of the West India Islands, are coffee and sugar. These iraportant articles of consumption deserve a brief notice : " Coffee cannot be cultivated to advantage in climates where the temperature at any tune descends below 55 degrees of Fah renheit's scale. The trees flourish raost in new soils on a gen tle slope, where water will not lodge about the roots. In ex. posed situations it is necessary to raoderate the scorching heat ofthe sun by planting rows of umbrageous trees at certain in. tervals throughout the field. " Coffee.trees are usually raised from seed in nursery grounds, and are afterwards planted out at regular distances, which vary according to the nature of the soil. AVhere this is very dry or gravelly, the trees seldom rise higher than six feet, and may be planted five feet apart ; but in rich soils, where they attain the height of nine or ten feet, or raore, the plants should not be so crowded, and intervals of eight or ten feet should be left between them. " It is well known that coffee ftnported from the West Indies does not equal in its flavor that produced ui Arabia and other parts of the East ; and ft is coraraonly iraagined {hat this infe. riority is principally owing to local causes.and is therefore in- capable of being remedied. There is reason for believing, however, that the superior quality of Turkey and East-India coffee is not in any great degree to be referred to the influen- ces of soil and cliraate, but depends, ui part at least, upon the age to which the seeds are kept before they are brought into consumption. Trees planted in a light soil, and in dry and el. evated spots, produce sraaller berries, which have a 1 etter fla. vor than those grown in rich, flat and racist soils : the weight of produce yielded by the latter is, however, double that ob- tained frora the forraer ; and as the difference in price between the two is by no means adequate to cover this deficiency of weight, the interest of the planter naturally leads him to" the productiou of the largest but least excellent" kind. It is confi dently asserted that this difference of quahty entirely disappears by keeping, and that ' the worst coflee produced in America wUl, in a course of years, not exceeding ten or fourteen, be as good, parch and mix as well, and have as high a flavor as the best we have now frora Turkey.' " The trees begin bearing when they are two years old ; in UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 153 COFFEE. their third year they are in full bearing. The aspect of a cof. fee plantation duririg the period of flowering, which does not last longer than one or two days, is very interesting. In one night the blossoms expand themselves so profusely as to pre sent the sarae appearance which has soraetimes been wftnessed in England when a casual snow-storm at the close of auturan has loaded the trees while still furnished wiiji their full coraple- ment of foliage. The seeds are known to be ripe when the berries assume a dark red color, and if not then gathered will drop frora the trees. The planters in Arabia do not pluck the fruit, but place cloths for its reception beneath the trees which they shake, and the ripened berries drop readily. These are afterwards spread upon mais and exposed to the sun's rays until perfectly dry, when the husk is broken with large heavy rollers made either of wood or of stone. The coffee thus clear. ed of its husk is again dried thoroughly in the sun, that it may not be liable to heat when packed for shipment. " The method eraployed in the West Indies differs from this. Negroes are set to gather such of the berries as are sufficiently ripe, and for this purpose are provided each with a canvas bag having an iron ring or hoop at its raouth to keep it always dis tended, and this bag is slung round the neck so as to leave both hands at liberty. As often as this bag is filled, the con tents are transferred to a large basket placed conveniently for the purpose. When the trees are in full bearing, an industri- ous raan will pick three bushels in a day. If raore are gath ered, proper care can hardly be exercised in selecting only the berries that are ripe. It is the usual calculation, that each bushel of ripe berries wUl yield ten pounds weight of raerchant- able coffee. " In curing coffee it is sometimes usual to expose the berries to the sun's rays in layera, five or six inches deep, on a plat form. By this means the pulp ferments in a few days, and hav ing thus thrown off a strong acidulous moisture, dries graduaUy during about three weeks ; the husks are afterwards separated from the seeds in a mill. Other planters remove the ']pulp from the seeds as soon as the berries are gathered. The pulpmg mUl used for this pui-pose consists of a horizontal fluted roUer, turned by a crank and acting against a moveable breast-board, so placed as to prevent the passage of whole berries between itself and the roller. The pulp is then separated from the seeds by washing them, and the latter are spread out in the sun to dry thera. It is then necessary to remove the merabranous 14 154 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WEST INDIES. skin or parchraent, which is effected by means of heavy roll ers running in a trough wherein the seeds are put. This mill is worked by cattle. The seeds are afterwards winnowed lo separate the chaff, and if any araong them appear to have es, caped the action of the roller, they are again passed through the mUl." " The manufacture of sugar is a somewhat coraplicated pro- cess, requiring f )r its successful performance, not only some degree of chemical knowledge, but likewise a considerable amount of practical experience. We must content ourselves here with giving the merest outline of the operations, referring the reader who is curious in such matters to books wherein the whole details are given. " When the canes are fully ripe, they are cut close to the stole, and being then divided into convenient lengths, are lied up in bundles, and conveyed to the mill. This always con sists of three iron cylinders, soraetiraes standing perpendicu larly in a line with each other, and at other times placed hori zontally, and disposed in the form ofa triangle, and so adjusted that the canes, on being passed twice between the cylinders of eiiher kind of mill, shall have all their juice expressed. This is collected in a cistern, and must be immediately placed under process by heat, to prevent ils becoming acid, an effect which has sometimes coraraenced as early as twenty minutes from the time of its being expressed. A certain quantity of lime in pow der, or of lirae-waler, is added at this tirae to promote the sepa- ration ofthe feculent matters contained in the juice ; and these being as far as possible removed, at a heat just suflicient to cause the irapurfties lo collect together on the surface, the cane liquor is then subjected to a very rapid boiling, in order to evaporate the watery particles, and bring the syrup to such a consistency that ft will granulate on cooling. The quantity of sugar obtainable frora a given measure ofcane-juice varies ac- cording to the season, the soil, the period of the year, and the quality of the canes ; but ft may be calculated, that, taking one state of circurastances with another in these respects, every five gallons, imperial measure, of cane-juice, will yield six pounds of crystallized sugar, and will be obtained from about one hundred and ten well-grown canes. " The fuel used for thus concentrating the juice is furnished by the cane itself, which, after the expressing of that juice, is dried for the purpose by exposure to the sun. "When the sugar is sufiiciently cooled in shallow trays, it is UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 155 SUGAK. BREAD-FRUIT. put into the hogsheads wherein ft is shipped to Europe. These casks have their bottoras pierced wilh holes, and are placed upright over a large cistern into which the molasses — which is the portion of saccharine matter that will not crystallize — drains away, leaving the raw sugar in thg slate wherein we see it in our grocers' shops : the casks are then filled up, headed down, and shipped. " With the planters in our own colonies, the process of sugar making raostly ends with the draining away of the molasses in the manner just mentioned ; but in the French, Spanish, and Portuguese setllements it is usual to submit this raw sugar to the farther process of claying. For this purpose the sugar, as soon as il is cool, is placed in forms or raoulds, similar to those used in the sugar refineries in England, but rauch larger ; and these being placed with their small ends downwards, the top of the sugar is covered with clay raoistened to the consistence of thin paste, the water contained in which gradually soaks ihrough the sugar and washes out a farther quantity of raolasses, with which it escapes through a hole purposely raade at the point of the earthen raould. It is then called clayed sugar : the loaves when reraoved from the forms are frequently divided into three portions, which, being of different colors and qualities, arising frora the greater effect of the waler in cleansing the upper por tion, are pulverised and packed separately for exportation. " The molasses which have drained from the sugar, together with all the scummings of the coppers, are collected, and, being first fermented, are distilled for the production of rum. The proportionate quantfty of this spirit, as compared with the weight of sugar produced, varies considerably with the sea sons and manageraent. In favorable years, when the canes are fully ripened, and the quality ofthe sugar is good, the pro portion of raolasses and scummings is comparatively small, and the manufacture of rura is consequently lessened ; the propor tion usually raade is reckoned to be frora five to six gaUons of proof spirit for every hundred-weight of sugar." Among Ihe fruits which deserve notice is that of the Bread fruit tree, which was originally found in the south-eastern parts of Asia, and the islands of the Pacific. The bread-fruit tree is a beautiful, as weU as a useful tree ; the trunk rises lo the height of about forty feet, and, in a full grown tree, is from a foot to fif teen inches in diameter ; the bark is asb-colored, full of little chinks, and covered by sraall knobs ; the inner bark is fibrous, and used in the manufacture of a sort of cloth ; and the wood l.;S UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WEST INDIES. is smooth, soft, and of yellow color. The branches come out in a horizontal manner, the lowest ones about ten or twelve feet frora the ground ; and they become shorter and shorter as they are nearer the lop ; the leaves are divided into seven or nine lobes, about eighteen inches or two feet long, and are of a lively green. The tree bears raale and female flowers, the males among the upper leaves, and the females at the exlrerafties of the twigs. When full grown, the fruft is about nine inches long, heart- shaped, of a greenish color, and marked wfth hexagonal warts, formed inlo facets. The pulp is white, partly farinaceous and partly fibrous ; but when quite ripe, it becoraes yellow and juicy. The whole tree, v/hen in a green state, abounds wilh a viscid milky juice, of so tenacious a nature as to be drawn out in threads.In the South Sea Islands, this tree continues productive for about eight months in the year. Two or three trees will sufiice for a man's yearly support ; a store being made into a sour paste called rruihe, which is eaten during the unproductive season. When the fruit is roasted lill the out side is charred, the pulp has a consistency not very unlike wheaten bread ; and the taste is intermediate between that of bread and roasted chestnuts. It is said to be very nourishing, and is prepared in various ways. Previously to the year 1793, this tree was not found in the West India Islands. As early as 1757, the king of Great Britain at the request of the planters, and olhers interested in the "West Indies, ordered a vessel called the '• Bounty" to be fitted up for a voyage lo Otaheite, for the purpose of "shippins plants. Lieutenant Bligh was appointed to the command. In November 1787, this vessel put to sea, and after a vovage of ten months, arrived at Otaheite. " No time was lost in putting the instructions into execution. The young shoots that sprung from the lateral roots of the bread-fruft trees were taken up, with balls of earth, where the soil was moist ; and this operation was contiuued tiU they were in possession of one thousand and fifteen live plants, secured in seven hundred and seventy-four pots, thirl v-nine tubs, and twen ty-four boxes. To complete this cargo," look them till the 3d of Apnl, 1789 ; and Bligh sailed ou the 4lh, passing from Otaheite through the group of islands, and bidding adieu to the natives, with whora he and his crew had been on the raost friendly terms during their .stay. " Hitherto there had been no perils to contend with but those of the sea; but when four and twenty days had elapsed, and UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 157 BEEAD-FRUlT TREE. they were of course, far frora any land, a new scene took place, which frustrated for a lirae the bounty of the governraent and the skill of the coraraander. Under the cloak of fidelity, a mu tiny had been forming of a very deterrained and extensive na ture; and so well had the mutineers disguised their intentions, that not one but those who were in the plot had the slightest suspicion of it. "The known bravery of Lieutenant Bligh raade the muti neers afraid to attack hira awake ; and so, on the morning of the 28th of April, he was seized while asleep in his bed, by a band of armed traftors, and hurried upon deck in his shirt ; and, on coming there, he fjund the raaster, the gunner, one of the raaster's raates, and Nelson the botanist, who had been with him under Cook, confined in the fore hatchway, and guarded by sentinels. The launch was hoisted ; and such individuals as the rautineers did not like, were ordered to quit the ship, and forced if they refused or hesitated. Eighteen individuals out of the forty-six reraained true lo the coraraander ; and one of them, Mr. Samuel, the clerk, contrived lo save Mr. Bligh's comraission and journals ; but he failed in atterapting to pro cure Bligh's surveys, drawings, and remarks during fifteen years, which were exceedingly valuable, and the time-keeper. Four of the men, who kept their allegiance, were detained by mutineers contrary to their wishes. The cause of this singu lar rautiny, for which none of the usual raotives could very well account, could not wfth certainty be known ; but it was generally supposed that the instigator was Mr. Christian, one of the master's males. Bligh himself says, in his mosl interest. ing account of this voyage and rautiny, ' it will naturally be asked what could be the cause of this revolt ? In answer, I can only conjecture that the mutineers had flattered themselves with the hope ofa happier life among the Otaheftans than they could possibly enjoy in England.' "Thus, after they had made certain of the successful ter mination of an enterprise which was looked upon with a great deal of interest, both in a scientific and an economical point of view, Bligh was disappointed — and he and his faithful associ ates were sent adrift upon the wide ocean, in an open boat, with only an hundred fifty pounds of bread, a few pieces of pork, a little wine and rum, a quadrant and compass, and a few other implements of navigation. But they were undaunted, and they were skilful ; and though they had hard weather to contendwilh, they reached Tofoa, one of the friendly Islands. But as the people there were as treacherous, though not quite so success- *14 158 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WEST INDIES. ful in their treachery, as their former shipraates, they again put to sea, and stood for New Holland, which they reached in- safety ; rested for a little, and got a supply of provisions. From New Holland they again sailed in the direction of the Eastern Archipelago ; and, after suffering the greatest fafigue, being exposed to the full action and vicissitudes of the elements, and forced for some tirae lo bear famine, they reached the Dutch settlement of Coupang, in the island of Timor, without the loss of one individual by disease ; though ihey had traversed at least five thousand miles of sea. Nay, so ardent was Bligh as a seaman, that, amid all those perils, he was occupied in mak- ing sorae very valuable observations. " The Dutch Governor of Coupang shewed thera every at tention ; and, from the care that was taken of them, twelve were enabled lo return to England. Though the adventure had failed, every body was disposed to bestow all praise on the adventurer ; and he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and appointed lo the comraand of his J\Iajesty's ship Providence, in order to repeat the vo5'age. " The Providence, with the Assistant, a small ship in compa ny, sailed on the 3d of August, 1791. His instructions were to procure the bread-fruit trees for the West Indies, and, on his return, to examine the passage between the north of New Hol land and New Guinea— which, in his former voyage in the Bounty, he had been the first to navigate. " On the 9lh of April, 1792, they reached Otahefte, and, by the 17th of July, they were ready to leave the island, having on board twelve hundred and eighty -one tubs and pots of plants, all in the finest condftion. There was no mutiny on this voy age ; bul the passage between New Holland and New Guinea was dangerous ; and it was the 2d of October before the cap tain reached his old friends at Coupang. He reraained there for a week, replacing wilh plants from that island those that had died on the voyage ; and then he came to the Atlantic by the Cape of Good Hope, which he contrived to pass so closely as never to have a lower temperature than sixty.one degrees of Fahrenheit. " On the 17th of September, he anchored at St. Helena, col- lected there a nuraber of trees, and among others the akee ; and, leavuig twenty-three bread fruits, and some other valuable plants, he sailed, and reached St. Miicent on the 23d of January, 1793 — where he left, with Dr. Anderson, the superintendent of the Botanical gaiben, thr ee hundred and thirty-three bread fruft trees, and two hundred and eleven fruit trees of other UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 159 BREAD-FRUIT TREE. kinds, receiving at the same time nearly five hundred tropical planis for the Botanical Garden at Kew. From St. Vincent, Captain Bligh sailed for Jamaica, where he left three hundred antl forly.,''even bread-fruits, and two hundred and seventy-six others, which were a selection of all the finest fruits of the east. Some of the plants were also left on the island of Grand Ca. man ; and the ships finally came to the Downs on the 2d of August, 1793. " But, afler all the peril, hardship, and expense thus incurred, the bread-fruit tree has not, hitherto, at least, answered the ex pectations that were entertained. The Banana is more easily and cheaply cultivated, comes into bearing much sooner after being planted, bears raore abundantly, and is better relished by the negroes. The raode of propagating the bread-fruit is not, indeed, difficult ; for the planter has only to lay bare one of the roots, and mound it wilh a spade, and in a short space a shoot comes up, which is soon fit for removal. " Europeans are rauch fonder of the bread-fruit lhan negroes. They consider it as a sort of dainty, and use it eiiher as bread or puddings. When roasted in the oven, the taste of il resera. bles that of a potatoe, but it is not so mealy as a good one."* We shall here bid adieu, for the present, to North Araerica, and with it to the land of our birth — not finally, we trust, for in respect to our country — our own country — the land of our sires — the home of our mothers, which of us says not wfth the poet — Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, My heart untraveli'd fondly turns to thee ? Yes, fellow travellers, we have stUl a fearful distance before us; but we wiU again return to the land of our birth, having gathered instruction by what we have seen, and contentment by what we have felt. * Lib. of Entertaining Knowledge. 160 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SOUTH AMEEICA. Sect. II. SOUTH AMERICA. 1. COLOMBIA. On entering South America, the first country which claims our notice is the Republic of Colombia. This Republic is of recent origin. While under the Spanish dominion, it compre hended the States — Vice Royalty of New Grenada, Tlie Cap. tain Generalship qf Caracas and the Presidency qf Quito. The liberation of Colombia was effected in 1813, by the celebra ted Simon Bolivar, who'having raised 1000 men, fought several successful battles with the royalists, and al length, entered as a conqueror, the city of Caracas, on the 4th of August, of the above year. In 1 819, the several territories were created inlo a Republic, and a popular representative governraent was es tablished. Their constitution resembles that of the United States. This Republic is bounded north by the Carribean sea ; east by Guitina and Brazil ; south by Brazil and Peru, and west by the Pacific Ocean ; and contains probably about 1,000,000 of square miles. The population of this vast countrv', which is raore than seven times the extent of the British Isles, is about twenty-seven to a square league, or two miUions seven hundred thousand.* Of these, 400,000 only are whites ; 640,000 are Mestizoes ; 650,000 Indians ; 800,000 mulattoes and free blacks, and 150,000 slaves. The Colombians in their man ners and customs strongly resemble other South American na- tions. They adopt the Spanish fashions, and use the Spanish language. Without atterapting the difficult task of giving gen. eral characteristics, where considerable \'arietv exists, we'will present our fellow travellers wilh an account of the inhabitants of several of the principal towns, chiefly drawn frora the wri tings of the celebrated Blumboldt. We begin with Cumana. — This town is situated in the northern part of Colom- bia, near the mouth of the Gulf of Cariaco, about a raile frora the *Inl800, Humboldt estimated the inhabitants in Mexico at forty-nine to the square league ; in Guatemala, forty-six ; in Peru, thirty three ; in Buenoa Ayres, eight; in all Spanish America, twenty-eight. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 161 Carribbean sea, on an arid sandy plain. According lo Huraboldt, " the inhabftants of Cumana are very polite ; it may be even said that they are exces.sively so. There is not so much luxury among thera as at Caracas ; their houses, however, are lolera. bly well furnished. They are very abstemious. Those din. ners and festivals, which form one of the charms of society in Europe, and which, in the British and French colonies, are re. peated almost every day, from the first of January to the last of December, are unknown to the inhabilants of Curaana, and the other provinces of Venezuela. This town has no public establishraent for the education of youth ; it is, therefore, astonishing to find any knowledge among its inhabitants ; yet, there is some information dissemi nated among raany of the Creoles of Curaana. They are but seldom sent to Europe for their education ; the raost wealthy receive il at Caracas, and the greater nuraber under schoolmas ters, from whom they learn the Spanish grammar, arithmetic, the first elements of geometry, drawing, a Utile latin, and rausic. I have reraarked considerable talent, application and good con duct in their youth, and less vivacity and vanity than araong those of Caracas. Not being so rich as the latier, the Curaa- nese are brought up wilh principles of economy and industry ; there are no idlers araong them ; in general, they are inclined to business. Some apply theraselves to the raecbanical arts ; olhers, to coraraerce. They have also a great partiality for nav igation and trading wfth the neighboring colonies of other nations ; and by their activfty and prudence, they make con siderable profits with sraall capitals. Their articles of exporta tion are cattle, sraoked meat, (tassajo) and salted fish, which coraraodities they have in great abundance. Two pounds of beef are sold al Curaana for two pence half-penny, and twenty- two pounds of salt meat at frora 3s. 4d. to 4s. 2d. Fish is never weighed there : sorae days there is such a quantity caught by the fisherraen, that they give ten, twelve, or fifteen pounds weight, for 5d. The poor go lo the sea-side with raaize, cakes, and eggs, and barter thera for fish. Eggs are the small change in Curaana, Caracas, and other provinces of Venezuela, where copper coin is unknown, the smallest piece in circulation being a medio real, in silver, worth 2id. If one goes inlo a shop to buy something worth less than 2Jd., they give as change two or three eggs ; for a dozen of eggs there, are worth only a medio real. 'I'his is also the price of a raeasure of excellent milk, about a quart. A sheep is sold for a dollar, a fine turkey for 162 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. COLOMBIA. 20d. or 2s., a fowl for 5d., a fat capon 7id. to lOd , a duck the sarae price. Garae and wild fowl are frequently sold cheaper than butchers' raeat ; and all those articles are still cheaper in the sraall towns in the interior. I lived at the best and dearest hotels in Curaana, at a dollar per day, including my son and ser. vant. They gave us for breakfast, cold meals, fish, chocolate, coffee, tea and Spanish wine ; an excellent dinner, wilh Span ish and French wines, coffee, and liqueurs ; in the evening, chocolate. I was well lodged and lighted. I should have expend ed but half that sum, if I had gone to board and lodge in a faraily. In short, there is not a country in the world, where one may live cheaper than in the province of Curaana. An exceUent dinner raay be had there for lOd., not including wine, which does not cost more than 5d. per bottle to those who buy a quantity of it. Poor people drink punch, 'which is at a very low rate, for it does not cost above Id. per quart. The retail trade of Cumana is alraost entirely in the hands of the Catalans, Biscayans, and Canarians. These raen are chiefly saUors, who have begun to open shops wilh a few dol lars, and who in a few years, acquire fortunes by their frugahty and industry. If a raan of that country lands without a far thing, the first Catalan he raeets takes him to his house, gives him work, or recommends hira to some of his countrymen. There are raany countries in which one brother would not do for another, that which a Catalan is always inclined to do for his countryraan. It was the Catalans who taught the inhabit ants to derive advantage from various local productions ; for instance, from cocoa-nuts they make oil, an emulsion which is substituted for that of almonds, and very good orgeat. Thev make excellent cables of the bark of the mahet, and twine and cords of the aloe. All the houses of Cumana are low and slightly built, the fre quent earthquakes to which the town is subject,"compeUingthe inhabitants to sacrifice architectural beautv to personal seciu'ity. The viofent shocks fell in Dec. 1797, threw down almost aU the edifices of stone, and rendered uninhabitable those which were left standing. No steeple or dorae attracts frora afar the eye of the traveUer, but only a few trunks of tamarind, cocoa, and "date- trees rise above the flat roofs of the houses. Caracas. — This city is situated at ihe elevation of neariy 3,000 feet above the sea, at the entrance of the plain of Chacao, about eight miles from the shore. In 1812, the population was 50,000, when the great earthquake took place, which buried UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 163 CARACAS. 12,000 of the inhabftants in its ruins. Subsequent political com motions reduced the number to less lhan 20,000. The houses of Caracas, says a recent traveller, once so rich in the costliness of their furniture and decorations, can now barely boast of the com. monest articles of convenience ; and it is with the utmost diffi culty that a table, chair, or bedstead, can at present be pro cured. That part which is nearest the mountain, presents a con tinued mass of ruins. Forthe full space of a mUe, the streets are overgrown with weeds, and entirely uninhabfted. The cfty has, at length, in a measure recovered frora its for raer ruin, and in the southern part few traces of the calamity are seen. The inhabitants of Caracas generally, are pronounced by Mr. Semple superior in quickness of perception, activity and intelligence, lo the inhabilants of most other towns in the pro vince. Bul, he adds, the great want of a solid education, and the blind subjection to an ignorant priesthood, render all these natural advantages of sraall avail. That high Spanish sense of honor, which reigns in sprae breasts, is, in too raany others, supplanted by a raere blustering appearance, which ends only in falsehood and deceit. Even this hoUowness is not always cov ered by mild manners, or a plausible exterior ; and high exam ples raay be seen of great rudeness, joined to great insincerity. The women this traveller describes, as upon the whole, hand sorae, sprightly, and pleasing. They are uniformly kind and affable in their raanners ; and whatever faults an EngUshraan raay frequently observe in their domestic conduct, these are not more than may be traced in the manners of old Spain. In them, the Spanish character appears, perhaps, with less alter. ation than araong the men. M. Depons paints them in still more vivid colors, styling them mild, tender and seductive ; with jet black hair, alabaster skins, eyes large, and finely shaped, and carnation lips ; they are generally below the middle size. Their attire, he says, is rather elegant. They feel a kind of vanity, on being taken for French, but, whatever resemblance there may be in the dress, there is too Utile in the gait,* the step, and too little grace, to permit the illusion to subsist. Their ed ucation is lirafted to learning a nuraber of prayers, reading bad ly, spelling worse, and playing by rote a few tunes on the guft- ar and piano. forte. Their principal morning occupation is go ing to mass, and a great portion of the rest of the day they pass at their windows. In spite, however, of their defective education, adds the French traveller, the women of Caracas 164 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. COLOMBIA. know how to unite social manners with decent behavior, and the art of coquetry with the modesty of their sex. In this city, as in most others, there is a degraded and abandoned class. More than two hundred unfortunates pass the day covered with rags, in the recesses of ruins, ^d never go out but at night, to draw frora vice the gross subsistence of the morrow. Their dress is a white petticoat and veil, (the dress of slaves) all respectable females wearing black, with a paste-board hat covered wilh silk, to which is attached a tuft of tinsel, and ar tificial flowers. The class of domestic slaves in Caracas, says M. Depons, is considerable. A raan thinks hiraself rich, only in proportion to the nuraber of slaves in his house. It is necessary that he should have about hira four tiraes as many servants as their work requires ; without which a littleness is raanifested, that announces a poverty, which all hide eis well as they can. A white woraan of raotlerate fortune, goes to raass on church days, with two feraale negroes or mulattoes in her suite, though she does not possess in other property an equivalent capital. Those who are notoriously rich are followed by four or five servant women, and there remain as many more for each while ofthe same house who goes to another church. There are families in Caracas with twelve and fifteen feraale servants, exclusive ofthe footraen, in the service of the men. The most effectual raode of lessening the injury, which this species of luxury does to the laborers of the country, would be to impose on each su- perfluous domestic a tax, heavy enough to reduce the number. If vanity should prefer to pay, rather than give up, the product employed in sorae public establishraent would corapensate socie. ty for the loss of their labor. It is probable, that there is not in the whole West Indies, a city where there are so many freed persons, or descendants frora them, in proportion to the other classes, as in Caracas. They there exercise all those handicrafts, that the whites despise. Every one who is a carpenter, joiner, cabuiet.maker, mason, blacksmith, locksmith, tailor, shoemaker, goldsmifti, &c., is, or was, a freeman. They excel in none of these trades, because learning them mechanicaUy, they constantly offend against their principles. Besides, indolence, which is in their nature, extinguishes in them that emulation to which the arts owe all their progress. Yet, the carpenter's and ma. son's work is tolerably regular ; but cabinet-makuig is still in its infancy. All these artisans, depressed by an indifference that seems more peculiar to their race, but generally attaches UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 165 TRADES PEOPLE. to the soft they inhabit, and the nation with which they are as. sociated, work but very little ; and what appears in sorae de gree contradictory, is, that they work rauch cheaper than Eu. ropean artificers. They exist but by means ofthe greatest so briety, and in the raidst of all sorts of privations. In general, overloaded with children, they live heaped together in misera ble shells, where they have for their whole bed nothing but an ox-hide, and for sustenance only the provisions ofthe country. The exceptions are very rare. In this state of poverty, no kind of work can be required, but they instantly demand an advance. The smith never has either iron or coal. The carpenter never has wood — even for a table. They must have money to buy some. All have always the wants of a family, which he who orders their work must satisfy. Thus you begin by tying yourself to the Work man you employ, and making yourself dependent upon him. It is no longer possible to threaten his sloth by applying lo an other, with whom, besides, the very same inconvenience would take place. The only resource, then, is that of pressing and superintending the work ; and, in spile of all these attentions, there are always indispositions, journeys, festivals, which ex haust the patience of the most phlegmatic. One is then very badly, or, assuredly, very slowly served. It is easy to perceive that this torpor in the trades-people arises only from their aversion to labor. In truth, the major part never recollect that they have a trade, till they are press ed by hunger. The reigning passion of this class of raen is, to pass their lives in religious exercises. They fbrm exclu sively corps of the various fraternities. There are few church es which have not one or more, all composed of free people of color. Each has its uniforra, which differs from the others on ly in color. It is a kind of robe, closed like the habit of a monk, the color of which varies according to the brotherhood it belongs to. Some are of blue, some red, or black, &c. The fraternities assist at processions and burials. The mem bers march in order, preceded by their banner. They gain by this nothing but the pleasure of being seen in a habft, they be- lieve coraraanding. They have one, however, on which they lavish peculiar care ; it is that of Atta Gracia. Every free man of color makes a sort of ostentatious display of this dress, and of the neatness and riches of the church of the same name. All the bearers of rosaries, who traverse the streets from night fall tiU after nine o'clock, are composed solely of freed persons. 15 166 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. COLOMBIA. There is no example of any of these persons having thought of cultivating the earth. The festivals of the Roraish calendar are so raultiplied at Ca racas, that there are very few days in the year, in which some saint or virgin does not claira a turn in the devotional celebra. tions of the natives. The most brilliant acts of these festivals are the processions, which always take place in the afternoon. The saint, as large as life, is richly dressed. He is carried on a table, very handsomely decorated, and followed or preceded, by some other saint of Ihe same church, less sumptuously adorned. A number of flags and crosses open the procession. The men walk two abreast. Each of the principal persons has in his hand a wax taper ; then come the music, the clergy, the civil authorities, and lastly the women, surrounded with a barrier of bayonets. The train is always very numerous. The frames of all the windows in the streets, through which the procession moves, are ornaraented with hangings floating in the air, which give to the whole quarter an air of festivity that ex hilarates. The windows themselves are adorned with women, who crowd to them from all parts of the city to enjoy this ex hibition. Fire-works, concerts, and dances, conclude, as else where, these pious solemnities. In fact, in detailing the cus toras and superstitions of the Spanish Araericans, travellei-s continually fall into the error of describing as peculiarities, what are common to both hemispheres, or to all Roman Catholic countries, and of confounding what is exotic in civilization, reli gion, or manners, with what is of indigenous growth. Thus, we find M. Depons particularising the custom ofthe siesta, the laws and phrases of Spanish etiquette, and other forms and cus toms, which are not more characteristic of Caracas than ofthe mother country, or the other Spanish and Portuguese colonies. It is, on the whole, a dark picture which he draws ofthe state of society. The Spaniards, he remarks, are, of all people known, those who do the least to establish a police for public tranquillfty. The sobriety which is natural to them, and still more, their phlegmatic character, render quarrels and tumults very rare. Hence, there is never any noise in the streets of Caracas. Every body there is silent, dull, grave. Three or four thousand persons go out of church without making any more noise than a tortoise walking on sand. So many French, restrained by the silence divine ofiices enjofti, would endeavor, whilst quitting the church, to obtain some corapensation ;— then, woraen and children would raake, by their chattering, a noise UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 167 AMUSME^'TS. RELIGION. that would be heard a long way. Four times as raany Span iards do not make the buzzing of a wasp. The principal public amusements of Caracas, besides the the atre, are, three tennis-courts, a cock pit, and a few billiard-ta bles ; the latter are not much frequented. Gambling, the uni versal passion of the Spaniards, is under some slight check frora the police ; regulations having been made in 1800 for suppressing the practice. But for these three or four j'ears, says M. Depons, it has been only the poor, who have been watched, imprisoned, and fined by the police for garaing. Those above the common rank have a tacit permission to ruin each other at play, without the magistrate's taking offence at it. The Spaniarri loves only the play that ruins, not the play which amuses. — In Europe, remarks M. Humboldt, where na tions decide their quarrels in the plains, we climb the mountains in search of solitude and hberty. In the New World, the Cor diUeras are inhabited to the height of 12,000 feet ; and thither men carry with tbem their political dissensions and their little and hateful passions. Gaming houses are established on the ridge of the Andes, wherever the discovery of raines has led to the foundation of towns ; and in those vast solitudes, almost above the regions of the clouds, in the midst of objects filled to elevate the thoughts, the news of a decoration or a title refused by the court, oflen disturbs the happiness of families. Tlie Roman Catholic religion prevails throughout all the Spanish settlements, in South America, and devout horaage is paid to the coui't of Rome. Hence the great raass of the peo ple are kept in profound ignorance of all other religious sys- teras, and their ignorance and credulity is taken advantage of bv an artful priesthood. In nothing is this raore apparent lhan in the nurabor of bulls, which, under the old system of govern raent, were annually sold, and which, it is believed, continue to be sold al the present day. These bulls were originaUy de signed for those Spaniards who engaged in the 'w&.rs against the infidels. Tirae, however, which alters or perfects every thing, has caused the popes to give lo these bulls virtues which they did not possess. At this tlay, four kinds of bulls are ac knowledged, of which we shall take notice of but one — The bull for the dead. Thisis a species of ticket for admission into Paradise. It enables one to clear the devouring flames of purgatory, and conducts directly to the abodes of the blessed. But one of these bulls serves for a soul. Therefore, the instant a Spaniard S63 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. COLOMBIA. expires, his relations send to the treasury to buy a bull for the dead, on which is written the name of the deceased. When the faraUy ofthe departed is so poor as to be unable to pay for the bull ; that is to say, when they are reduced to the raost ab ject raisery, two or three of its raembers detach themselves and go begging through the streets to obtain the means of raaking the purchase. If their zeal is not crowned with success, they shed tears and utter shrieks of laraentation, expressive less of regret for the death of their relations, than of pain for their ina- bility to furnish his soul with this essential passport.* The vir tue ofthis bull is not confined to dispensing with the obligation of going into purgatory, but extends to extricating the soul, which, like the asbestos, is whitening in if^flaraes. Il has the faculty even to designate the spirit it is wished to liberate. It is enough to write upon the bull the narae of the person ft ani- mated in this lower world, and that very moment the gates of paradise are opened for him. One bull must always be taken for each soul ; they may, however, take as mauy as they please, provided they do but pay. With piety and money, il would be easy to empty purgatory, which indeed would not long re- main unpeopled, because death, whose harvests ne\er cease, would at every instant renew its inhabitauts. The Cacao or Chocolate Tree is cultivated with great care is raany of the settlements of Spanish Araerica, and particularly in Mexico, on account of its furnishing a useful and important * I have more than once, says !\I. Lavaysse, heard the poor in this country lament , and utter the most frightful shrieks, at the death of their relations. The grief for their loss was trifling, in comparisoa with that which they felt from l;nowing that they nere in purgatory for wint of this trifling sum to deliver them. They run about in every di rection, begging alms with tears, in the hoTe of procuring as much mo ney as may enable them to buy bulls, for releasing the souls of their re lations from purgatory. I have more than once had the pleasure of calming their grief, relieving a soul from that state, contributing lo the comforts ofa Spanish priest, and attracting to myself a thousand bene dictions, for a quarter of a dollar. Yet, let it not be supposed that these bulls and indulgences supersede the saving of masses for the dead. In all the churches of this country, there are pictures representing heaven and purgatory. In a corner ofthe picture, is a priest saying mass ; al the side, are people giving money for the celebration of mass, and souls starting out of purgatory, when masses have been said for them. Theyare received by the archangel, St. Michael, who is de picted holding a pair of scales in his hand, one ofwhich is full ofthe money for the masses, and appears to sink, while the red hot souls, like broiled lobsters, throw themselves into the other scale, from which they fly to heaven. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 169 CHOCOLATE. beverage, commonly known by the name of chocolate. Great attention is paid also to the cultivation of this tree near Carac as and other parts of Colombia. The provinces of Venezuela are supposed by Huraboldt to furnish nearly two thirds of the chocolate that is consumed in the southern and western parts of Europe. This writer estimates the total value of the ex ports of cacao at nearly two miUions sterling. " The cacao-tree seldom ristjs above the height of twenty feet; fts leaves are large, oblong, and pointed. The flowers, which are small, and of a pale red colour, spring from the large branches ; they are succeeded by oval pointed pods, that con tain a white pithy substance, which is sweet, but disagreeable, and surrounding nuraerous seeds : these are the cacao of cora merce. These se&ds are oval-formed, and about as large as a moderate-sized almond-kernel, but not so slender ; they are in ternally of a very dark brown colour, approaching to black, and are covered with a thin skin or husk, of a light reddish- brown colour. The nuts are very numerous, but vary in this respect, some pods containing as many as a hundreti, while olhers do not yield raore than twenty, seeds : they are of a very oily nature. " The trees are raised from seed, which is sown under the shade of the coral-tree, or the banana, and they do not corae inlo bearing until six or seven years old. Their cultivation does not call for any great application of labour; and when the trees are once in a productive state, they require but Ifttle at tention beyond that necessary for raerely coUecting the produce. "Cacao is principally used after having been made into cakes, to which the narae of chocolate is given. The method anciently employed by the Indians in making these cakes, was simply to roast the seeds in earthen pots, and after clearing them frora the husks, which by reason of the heat eraployed could be easUy removed, the naked seeds were bruised between two stones, and made up with the hands into cakes. The pro cess at present used by Europeans does not differ greatly from that just described : more care is taken in grinding the seeds afler they are roasted, so as to convert them into a paste which is perfectly smooth, and some flavouring ingredients are added, according to the taste of the people who are' to consume the chocolate. Cloves and cinnamon are rauch used for this pur pose by the Spaniards ; other aromatics, and even perfumes, such as musk and arabergris, have soraetiraes been added ; but the principal flavouring ingredient used wfth cacao is vaniUa, 15* no UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. COLOMBIA. V a short notice of which is subjoined.* The intimate mixture of these substances having been effected, the whole is put, while yet hot, into tin moulds, where it hardens in cooling, and in this form, if preserved frora the air, it will keep good for a conside rable tirae. Chocolate is not very much consumed in Eng. land ; it is fti greater esteem in France ; it forms the ordinary breakfast in Spain ; and in Mexico, according to Humboldt, it is not considered an object of luxury, but rather of prime ne cessity." Cow Tree or Milk Trae. — The provision of Providence for the wants of raan are discoverable in every country on earth, and places are often rendered habitable, by some peculiar pro vision, without which human existence at least would be im possible. Although this is not true to the extent ofthe fore going remark in respect to the provinces of Venezuela, where the mUk tree is founti, yet the remarks of Humboldt respecting its situation and appearance will serve to show by what means and contrivances a beneficent Providence can adrainister to the necessities ofthe creatures ofhis power. On the barren flank of a rock, says Humboldt, grows a tree with dry and leather-like leaves ; its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the stony soil. For several months of the year, not a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried ; yet, wheu the trunk is pierced, there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is al sunrise that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The blacks and the natives are then to be seen hastening from all quarters, furnish ed with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow and thickens at its surface. Some erapty their bowls under the tree, while others carry home the juice for their children. This *" The vanilla is a parasitical plant; its leaves are lanceolate and ribbed, eighteen inches long, and three inches broad. Its flowers are white, intermixed vvith stripes of red and yellow colours ; these are succeeded by long and slender pods, which at first are green, but be come yellow as they ripen, and are then collected for use. The cavity ofthe pod contains, besides its numerous seeds, a substance which is black, oily, and balsamic; when recently gathered this is humid, and its odour is said to induce a kind of temporary intoxication. The pods are harvested^uring the three latter months ofthe year, and are care. fully dried by exposure to the sun'a rays until they are made warm, in which state they are wrapped in woollen cloths, to promote and absorb evaporation. By this process the vaniUa acquires a blaok hue, with a somewhat silvery appearance. Five ofthe pods, thus treated, wiU usu ally weigh one ounce." UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 171 BOfJOTA. fine tree rises like the broad leaved star-apple. Its oblong and pointed leaves, tough and alternate, are marked by lateral ribs ; some of them are ten inches long. We did not see the flower. The fruit is somewhat fleshy, and contains a nut, some. times two. The milk, obtained by incisions made in the trunk, is glutinous, tolerably thick, free from all acrimony, and of an agreeable and balmy smell. It was offered to us in the shell of the tutumo, or calabash-tree. We drank a considerable quantity of it in the evening before we went to bed, and very early in the morning, without experiencing the slightest injuri ous effect. Tho viscosity of this milk alone renders it some what disagreeable. The negroes and free laborers drink it, dipping into it their raaize or cassava-bread. The major doms of the farm (at Barbula) told us that the negroes grow per ceptibly falter during the season when the palo de vaca fur nishes the most railk. This juice, exposed lo the air, presents, on its surface, a raerabranous and strongly aniraalized sub stance, yellowish, stringy, and resembling cheese, which, when separated from the aqueous liquid, is elastic, almost like India rubber, but undergoes, afler sorae time, the same phenomena of putrefaction as gelatine. Bogota. — This is the capital of Colombia, though not the most populous city. It is situated in a spacious and fertile plain on the most easterly edge of the Andes, at an elevation of upwards of 8000 feet above the level ofthe sea. The pop ulation is about 30,000. The costume ofthe people is remark able, particularly that of the feraales. There is no distinction between rich and poor, in the style of walking-dress. The mantilla, black or light blue, made a la mode Espagnole, is worn ; a piece of blue cloth envelops the head, and frequently conceals the whole ofthe features except the eyes : this reach es to the waist, and the whole is surniountetl with a broad. brimraed beaver hat. This is generaUy allowed to be a pre posterous and unbecoming dress ; but as yel, no fashionable lady has had the courage to set a new style, for the example of her country-women. They are sedulously careful to deck their feet in the most becoming manner, and wilh studied co quetry, as they are in general well forraed and extremely sraall. Their stepis very peculiar, all frora hip to ancle, without bending the knee, and with a sideling raotion of the body. How far this adds to the grace of appearance, and ease of deportraent, I will leave abler judges to decide. The lower classes are generally bare-footed, except the peasantry of the plains, who wear alpar- 172 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. COLOMBIA. gates, u. kind of Roman sandal, made of the fibres of a tree. They wear likewise a full, large mantle, caUed roana or ro. quilla, made of the cloth of the country ; the head passes through a hole in the centre, and the roquilla falls loosely and gracefully over the shoulders, completely covering the body, and concealing the arms. The tout ensemble is elegant, as it droops in easy and becoming folds. Some of the females as surae a very peculiar garb ; a petticoat of Spanish brown stuff, with a mantilla of white kerseymere, a black beaver hat, anil round the waist, a broad, black leathern girdle, one end of which hangs down from the hip nearly to the ancle. They are called beates, and attire theraselves in this raanner for many reasons, such as the comraands of a confessor, the sickness of a husband, father, or any other relative ; but, by raany, it is worn merely frora the desire of attracting attention. The Colombians have many repasts during the day. At seven il the raorning, they have chocolate ; at te;i. a meal of soup, eo'gs, &c. ; they dine at two, take chocolate again at five, and sup at an early hour. From about three to half past four, they take their siesta, during which time all the shops are shut, the streets deserted, and the whole city is in profound silence. Bu siness is carried on from nine till half past one, and from half past four to half past five. Every house has sUver goblets, in which the water is handed round to the guests. Napkins are not used, and the table linen is coarse. It is the custora to wash hands after dinner ; then sraoking is introduced. The servants are generally feraales, ver}- sluttish and dirty, of a race between the Indians and Mulattoes. There are very few raale doraestics, as all the able men were taken off for the sup ply ofthe armies. The emancipation of slaves has been very great at Bogota, and bul few remain. Bogota is subjected to a dreadful nuisance ; every Saturday, the poor rush inlo the town as if to take it by assault ; they be siege every door, and, to gain admittance, 'endeavor to excite compassion, by the exposure of the most revolting infirmities. Old men, led by children, form numerous groupes, which, throughout the day, obstruct the streets, and even block up the thresholds of the houses. ¦ In the neighborhood of Bogota are some very acreeable walks, which, although shaded by willows, and " ornaraented with rose-trees and the beautiful cardaraindura, are little fre quented ; the preference beuig given to a few select streets, the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 173 trottoirs of which offer a coraraodious proraenade, as frora them gentlemen on horseback may be seen traversing the town at full gallop. The greater part of these horsemen are bedizen ed wfth gold, and glittering in military uniforms ; some with round hats, ornaraented with plumes of feathers ; olhers wilh cocked ones, and a still greater number wearing shakos, and helmets. Although their own appearance is, upon the whole, striking, that of their horses, which reserable Norman poneys, is so wretched as lo lessen the effect considerably. The general routine of the day at Bogota, coraraences with mass, which is attended by feraales and old raen. The men in general, we are told, do not give theraselves rauch trouble on this score, unless they have sorae particular object in view, raore attractive than devotion. The greater part of the day, the ladies lounge on their sofas. At half past five, they at tend the alameda, whence they return lo receive visfts tftl be tween nine and len o'clock, at which hour they retire. Tertu lias, or evening parties, balls, raasquerades, and the numerous rehgious processions, are the chief arausements. As far as I had an opportunity of judging, says the author of Letters from Colorabia, Bogota is the raost justly celebrated place in the whole republic, for beautiful woraen. The change is the more striking, after the hideous population one meets with in many of the towns and villages, in the great extent of country between the two capitals. It is not from a few in stances one is led to forra such an opinion, the raajority of the feraale sex here being fairly entitled lo this reputation. From the coolness of the climate, their complexions are naturaUy fair and very clear. They inherit, at the same tirae, the fine, ex pressive dark eyes, and regular features of the Spanish women, afthough partaking but in a sUght degree of their elegant fig ures, owing to their careless raanner of dressing and selling off their persons. They have, however, pretty feet, and an easy carriage. Frora the superiority of their personal appearance, there is the raore reason to regret the absence of those endow ments of mind, and that conduct, which alone rAder beauty perraanently attractive. There are, perhaps, few cities, (it is to be hoped so at least,) where the woraen are so generally de praved ; and although there are, no doubt, individuals of un corrupted morals and virtuous conduct, it is too evident that their number is but small. Capt. Cochrane expresses his ap prehension that raorality in Colorabia is at a low ebb. After raarriage, the ladies of Bogota deera theraselves, for the raost part, entitled, especially if their husbands are oul of the way. 174 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. to act exactly as inclination prompts. He adraits that excep. tions exist, and that there are raany highly respectable, virtu ous, and honorable farailies. All ihe houses are low, in consequence of the apprehension of earthquakes : they are built of sun-dried brick, v/hite-washed, and covered with tiles. As to the interior, says M. MoUien, the houses are not better arranged than ours were at the time of the discovery of Araerica. Windows very small, and always barricadoed by large wooden bars, are seen by the side of others of an iraraense size ; the beams are rarely concealed by a ceiling ; the walls have enormous projections ; the doors are of all heights ; the use of locks is scarcely known : at least, those manufactured in the country afford but little security. The use of glazed windows is but of recent introduction ; a less barbarous taste is, however, observable m the construction of many modern habitations, and several improvements begin to appear. Light and convenient balconies have superseded the enormous heavy gaUeries ; the ceUing is no longer disagreea bly intersected by beams ; the windows are without barrica does, the street-doors better painted : a general neatness is, in deed, being introduced through all classes. In general, two gates are to be passed before arriving in the court-yard. The entry which separates from the street, is but too often a recep tacle for the uncleanliness of the passengers. A gallery gen erally runs round the court, if the house consists ouly of a ground floor ; but if of two stories, a covered terrace. The stair-case is generally of stone, and of very rude construction. On the wall ofthe first square is generally painted a giant, car rying in one hand a child, and in the other a ball ; this is St. Christopher, the household god of the country. Round the inner gaUery is a long suite of rooras, which only receive day Ught^ through the door. Every house has at least one saloon, and an eating room ; for it is considered impolite to receive friends, or to entertain them, in a sleeping room. The kitchen is always of an iraraense size, less on account ofthe quantity of provisions cooked, than the number of useless servants assem bled there : there is no chimney, as stoves only are used. No houses are seen without carpets : the aucient straw mats ofthe Indians are no longer used by fashionable people, but ai-e su perseded by carpet? of European manufacture. Both of these are designed, if there be no fire, to warm the apartments, and to conceal the inequalities of the floor, where, unfortunately, the negligence of the servants permits the most loathsome in- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 175 PRODUCTIONS. RELIGION. sects to swarra in iraraense nurabers. Some persons cover the walls of their chambers with dyed paper ; and numbers have garlands of flowers and genu drawn upon thera, in a style alike indicative of the bad taste of the painter and his employer. The furniture is siraple, and usually consists of nothing more than two sofas covered wilh colton, two small tables, a few leathern chairs, after the fashion of the fifteenth century, a looking-glass, and three lamps, suspended frora the ceUing. The bed is tole rably well ornaraented, but feathers are never used ; it is form ed of two wool malresses. Wilh sorae slight difference, all the houses reserable each other ; nothing serves to distinguish those of the ministers, and it would be difficult to recognize the President's, were it not for the guard at the entrance. The shops are crowded together, dirty, and dark ; the only adraission for day-light is by the door. These, however, are places of resort for the idle. Seated upon his counter, smoking incessantly, and giving laconic answers to his customers, the Colombian merchant in many respects resembles those of Smyr na, or Aleppo. Bogota cannot boast of ten merchants, who can command 100,000 piastres, nor of five individuals living upon a revenue of that amount. The most common incomes are from five to 10,000 piastres. Almost every inhabitant (not in the employment of government, in the church, or in the array) is a shopkeeper. The principal agricultural productions of Colorabia are the ca cao, or chocolate tree, indigo, cotton, coffee, sugar, tobacco, maize, potatoes, plaintains, &c. Several of these are raised in great abundance ; but agriculture, skill and enterprize are so gen eraUy lacking, that not a thousandth part of the productions, which exuberant nature would gladly yield, are raised. Pre vious to the year 1825, a miUion of acres were granted to a London company, by the Colombian governraent, which under took to send out emigrants to settle the tract. In the above year 191 persons left Scotland for that object ; but they prov ed unqualified for the undertaking, and by their want of skill and enterprise, added to the habits of intemperance on the part of raany, brought a heavy loss upon the association. " We trust" observes Loudon, " that the success of this wise and be nevolent experiraent is retarded only." The Roman Catholic religion is the established religion of Colom bia, and the system is held in the highest veneration. The num ber of ecclesiastics of all grades is nearly seventeen hundred ; of nuns seven hundred and fifty, with about double the latter num- 176 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. ber of novices in twenty-three convents. The number of sain' days and feast days, including Sundays, amounts to one hun dred and eighty. Many of these days are celebrated with great pomp, but that which takes precedence of all olhers is Corpus Christi. This is announced the preceding evening by artificial fire-works. At each corner of the grand square, through which the procession is to pass, are erected four richly ornamented aftars, while by a singular mixture of the sacred and profane, mats de cocagne, puppet shows, and a great num ber of cages,, full of rare and curious animals, are ranged on all sides. The rejoicing and games cease the moment the bell is heard announcing the approach of the procession. Every one takes off his hat and kneels down in the streets. At the head of the procession are chariots dragged along by men ; in one is king David, with the head of Goliath in his hand ; in another, Esther ; in a third, Mordecai ; Joseph next makes his appearance upon a horse richly caparisoned, and followed by a great nuraber of guards ; these, however, are only mounted on pasteboard chargers. All these personages are the children of the principal inhabitants of the city. To obtain the honor of acting a part in this imposing spectacle, is a great desideratum ; and those who are honored, by having their children nominated, neglect no kind of expense ; rivalling each other in splendor, they lay pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies under contribution, and put their iraaguiation to the rack, in order to render the dresses of the actors more magni ficent. The clergy advance slowly amid the crowd of°the faithful, with which the square is thronged. The mosl beauti ful girls in the city walk between the rows of priests, some car rying the ark, and the shew-bread, others, fticense, or baskets of flowers. To these succeed young Indians , who. to the sound of a flute and tabor, perform wild fantastic dances. The pro cession is closed by a detachment of troops, wfth arms and co lors reversed. BuU-fights, cock-fights, the theatre, and gambling, are the chief amuseraents of the gentlemen. 2. BRAZIL. Brazil, the survey of which we shaft next attempt, lies, ft will be sufficient for our purpose to say, on the south and east UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 177 GENERAL DESCEIPTION. — POPULATION. of Colombia, having the Atlantic in part on the north, and wholly on the east. It has an area of 3,000,000 square miles, and extends over three-fifths of the whole continent of South America. It is the remark of a writer, " that there is scarcely to be found on the globe a finer country than this ; oue blessed wilh a more genial climate, or a raore fertile soil ; more happily di versified with wood and water, or with abundance of naviga ble rivers ; or more faraed for its precious produce of gold and diaraonds. It coraprises within ils liraits almost all the most val uable productions of the earth. Viewed from the sea, the coun try appears rugged and mountainous ; but on a nearer approach, its appearance is highly romantic and picturesque, clothed, as it is, with the most luxuriant vegetation, its hills covered with thick woods, and its vaUeys with a verdure which never fades. Towards the interior, the land rises by gentle gradations to the height of frora 3000 to 6000 feet above the level of the sea ; and in those temperate regions, European fruits and grains are raised in abundance, while the interraediate valleys are extreme ly favorable to the production of sugar, coffee, and all kinds of tropical produce. A large part of the interior, however, is overspread with impenetrable forests ; the trees closely inter woven with brushwood and shrubs, and covered with creep ing plants, adorned with beautiful flowers ; thus giving a peculiar and rich appearance to the scenery." Such is a brief account of the country, whose inhabitants we propose to exaraine, in the several respects of character, man ners, customs, &c. Their nuraber is generaUy put at 4,000,000, of which half a railUon only, or not to exceed 850,000, are whites ; an equal nuraber are raulattoes ; from two millions to two millions and a half, are negro slaves, and the rest are Indians, mixed breeds, and free blacks. A more particular classifica tion would be, 1. Europeans ; 2. white persons born in Brazil, who claim to be distinguished as Brazilians ; 3. mulattoes, that is, the mixed caste, between whites and blacks ; 4. Mamalu coes, the mixed caste, whftes and Indians ; 5. Indians in a do mesticated state, who are generally called cabocloes ; 6. Indi ans in a savage state, who are called Topayas ; 7. free negroes born in BrazU; 8. manuraitted Africans; 9. Mestizoes, the mixed caste, between Indians and negroes. The slave popula tion consists of Africans, Creole negroes, mulattoes, and mesti zoes. In BrazU, unlike the Spanish and English colonies, there is hardly any poUtical division of castes, and very few of those 16 178 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. galling and degrading distinctions, which have been made by all other nations, in the management of their colonies. Mar. riages between white men and woraen of color are by no means rare, and the circumstance is scarcely observed upon, unless the woraan is decidedly of dark color, for even a considerable tinge will pass for whfte. What is remarkable, notwithstanduig the relationship of the mulattoes on one side tothe black race, they consider themselves superior to the mamalucoes, taking pride in being wholly unconnected with the Indians ; even the mesti. zo tries to pass for a mulatto. The mamalucoes, on the other hand, whether from a consciousness of being of free birth on both sides, or from residing for the most part in the interior, where government is more loose, appear to have more independence, and to pay less deference to a white, than the mulattoes. They are handsomer than the mulattoes, srad the woraen of this caste surpass in beauty all others of the country. The ere. ole negroes form, in the northem provinces, a numerous and distinct race ; they have handsome persons, are brave and har dy, obedient to the whites, and willing to please ; but are easily affronted, and the slightest allusion to their color enrages them to a high degree. They wiU sometimes reply : "A negro I am, but always upright." The following sketch of the Brazilian character is from the pen of Dr. Walsh. " I had now traveUed, says he, seven or eight hundred railes, through reraote and little frequented parts of the country, and had been every day, for several weeks, mixing with different people of every class, so as to enable me to form sorae estiraate of the inhabitants. I had been taught to beUeve, that I should find them rough and rude in their manners, and strongly and unreasonably prejudiced against all strangers ; so indolent, that they neglected all the advantages of their fine coun try, and so ignorant that they not only knew nothing of them selves, but were utterly indifferent in searching for any source of information ; of quick and irritable temper, readily disposed to take and resent an offence, even by the assassination of the offender ; of a churUsh and inhospitable disposftion, not uicUn- ed to admit others into their houses, and, though selfishly ready to receive, never known to return an invftation; so mer cenary, that they would take aU they could get, but would give nothing without more than an adequate return; so sensual, that they indulged their propensities in this way with. out rauch restraint from the laws of morality or religion, and every house a famUy brothel i so dishonest, that notiiing was UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 1 79 CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS. safe with a traveUer, and the roads so insecure, and raurders so frequent, that the fatal spots were marked at every hundred yards, where bodies have been found, and numerous olbers were never discovered, till their saddles were seen rising up in judgment on the tops of trees, from the pfts into which they were thrown. Such was the opinion I had been taught to en tertain, before I left England, which ray experieuce of the peo- pie has enabled rae to appreciate. " Though soraetiraes rough and unpolished, they are reraarka bly kind and good natured ; and their forraer prejudice against strangers never renders thera hostile, or even uncivil. On the ¦contrary, stranger, with thera seeras a sacred narae, when he stands in need of their assistance. I was in many places, without introduction or equipage, travel-worn, soiled and neg. lected in ray person, and exceedingly unprepossessing, I iraa- gine, in my appearance. Yet, I was kindly received, as an in mate into the houses of the only persons to whom I applied, and those in every rank in life ; — a titled Dona, a Brazilian gentleman, and the humble keeper ofa poor rancho, the occupier of a small roora, all equally received rae with cordial hospitality, and gave up their own necessary comforts for my accommoda tion. " If they are indolent, it ha shitherto been for want of a prop er stimulant, and the baneful and enervating effects of hav ing all their labor performed, and the wants supplied by slaves. Where a due incentive is applied, there are no people more ac tive. Since the opening of the interior, and a free communica tion with other countries, new roads have been pushed into deserts, where human foot, except that of the savage, never trod ; and plantations of food begun, where nothing but wood nnd bushes had before been since the creation. Indeed, the increasing in tercourse on the roads, and the transportation of produce from place to place, is raore active lhan I have seen il in any country, except England. All the wild raountain passes were covered with troperos, the ranchoes never empty of their raules, and the bustle and activity of Porto d' Eslrella, which continues every day, and all day long, such as I have only seen at crowded fairs or raarkets, which recur periodicaUy in other countries. " If they are ignorant, it is not from any want of a desire for knowledge, or a disposition to learn. When the post arrives at S. Jose, or a sirailar place, the office is crowded wilh people, who come for their newspapers, and others who press forward eager lo know what thej' contain ; and every provincial town has now a newspaper of its own. In the serra of Lenheiros, 180 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. they have established a respectable public library, at S. Joao d' el Rey, with a literary society ; and schools of priraary in struction are opened, wherever there is a collection of houses to supply scholars, who are so eager to learn, that in sorae pla ces, for want of books, they are instructed out of manuscripts; and along the roads, the humblest people were glad to receive, and ready to give, any useful information. " If they are a people ofa quick and irritable temper, ft is the constitutional fault of a tropical climate, and they seldom carry it to a filial excess. Duelling, that flagrant violation of the laws of God and raan, so coraraon araong us, is never heard of in Brazil, and assassinations are more talked of than commhted. It isa vulgar prejudice, that all crosses setup, intiraate murder. Of the hundreds we raet, there were but two, as far as we could learn, that denoted it ; and but one murder attended with rob bery ; the rest were land-marks, road-marks, pious-marks, or marks to indicate sudden death from accidental or naturalcau- ses ; most of thera now very old and rotten, and apparently the most recent of those we saw, was dated in the year 1316, affording a presuraption that no accident ofthe kind it intimates had occurred for twenty years. " If they are not inclined io invite people to tlieir houses, ft is not from a churlish disposition, but because their houses are not fitted up for, or they theraselves in the habit of, such inter course. Their feraales are retiring and domestic ; yet prompt and pleased in shewing a visiter all the courtesy antl civility in their power. A raercenary people, I should suppose, they are not at all. Whenever I paid for any thuig, the deraand was some thing exceedingly fair and moderate ; and on some occasions, when I received my money's worth, no remuneration would be accepted. The proprietor of a topaz mine suffered rae to pick up his geras, and put them in my pocket ; and the proprietor of a gold mine presented rae with a paper of his precious met al, and positively declined any return. ""If they indulge in illicit intercourse, we should recollect that one of the baneful effects of slavery, is to form such connex ions ; that a Brazilian residing by hiraself, insulated in a des ert, and having none of the restraints ^\'hich the opinions of so ciety irapose lo hinder him, readily adopts such a practice, and lives with his feraale slaves, as with persons who are unworthy ofthe rank or station of his wife.* 'When he does forra a le- *The author here quoted, probably does not design to justify the above practice, as he himself denominates it " one of the baneful ef fects of slavery." UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 181 CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS. gitimate connexion, the laws of marriage are as much respect ed as in any country in Europe, and almost any Brazilian has a greater number than usual of lawful children, by women who are remarkable for correctness of conduct, and domestic du ties. Connexions of nearer kindred than are allowed with us are very usual, but they are sanctioned by crowned heads, both in Spain and Portugal ; such as a man raarrying the child of his brother and sister. Even the connexion of still nearer re- latives, I am sorry to saj, takes place ; but it is very rare, and pointed at ; and as far as I could learn, as much stigraatized by public reprobation as in this country. Two persons were shown to rae as living in this way, and with expressions of hor ror, by ray informant. It is true, that I did meet in the woods of the serra of Mantiqueiza, one raixed faraUy of blacks and whiles, who exhibited in their dances painful indications of li centious habfts ; but I believe they were all born in slavery, and displayed rather exaraples of that demoralizing stale, than of the general character of the Brazilians. " But of all charges, that of dishonesty and robbery, seeras most unfounded, and I know no country through which I would now travel, wilh a greater feeling of security. In the vicinity of Rio, a robbery is soraetiraes committed on the hills, by fu gitive slaves, and in the low grounds about the bay, by vagrant sailors ; but when the serra is once passed, there is no further danger. My friend, Mr. Dural, travelled for weeks together through the country, by night and day ; he no where hesitated to enter a wood, or stop at a solitary rancho, and never felt himself, nor heard from others, any cause for the apprehension of danger. Whatever is forgotten at the little ranchos on the road, is found untouched when the passenger returns. Mr. MUward left articles coraing up, which had escaped his memo ry ; they were kept for him as a solemn deposit, and delivered to him when we were going back. The miserable places called quartos, afford little protection against thieves, and the open ranchos still less ; yel, we never lost the sraallest article when together, nor I by myself, when we separated. But there is one experiment of mine, which I cannot help thinking is highly creditable to the native integrity of the people. It was universaUy beheved, and the repojt went every where before me, that I was bringing with me a chest of gold frora the raines, and I was in a state utterly helpless and unprotected, being myself a total stranger, and having no one with me but a poor despised negro for a guide, who was held in no raore estimation than the mule he led. I passed through solitary countries, 16* 182 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. whpre there was nefther police to hunt out a deUnquent, a prison to put him in if he was caught, nor a judge to condemn him if he was guilty. I was carrying an object of- great temptation and cupidity, inviting, as it were, the people to come and carry il off, who were themselves prejudiced and angry at the very act of my taking ft out of the country ; and I met them every day in lonely mountains and wUd woods, where I might disappear with my treasure, and no question or uiquiry be ever made after me again. Yet, I brought my chest of supposed gold perfectly safe through a people who seeraed to think ft was their property, and that I had no right to take it away ; an instance of forbearance in this lawless country, as some are pleased to caU it, which, I doubt, would not happen in England at the present (lay, or in Ireland either, since the days of " rich and rare." In respect to the manners of the better classes of the people, especially of Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, according to Mr. Brack enridge, is the model upon which they are formed ; and ft is probable, that this has not changed since the arrival of the royal famUy. The Portuguese are said to be the only people in Europe who preserve that Moorish jealousy, which has been banished even frora Spain. The feraale part of their famUies are shut up in the strictest raanner, and never venture abroad, unless it be to church ; and then with their faces wrapt up in a black raantle, which passes over the head. Men seldom intro duce their most intiraate friends to their wives or daughters ; and except at the theatre, they are rarely seen in public. Sorae tiraes, indeed, they venture to sit in the evening at their win dows, and frora their actions, strangers unacquainted with the custoras of the country, would be apt to form unfavorable in ferences frora their sraUes and beckonings. The throwing of flowers at persons passing along, is known to be an innocent display of gaiety, to which custom attaches nothing improper. It is also very probable, that this frivoUty is not very comraon araong the better class of people ; and that strangers from ob serving these things in a few instances, of persons of a differ ent cast, have been led to form a mistaken idea of the rest. The accounts given by Frezier and others, who consider the Brazilian women as totally devoid of that delicacy which char- acterizes the sex in other countries, and as continually engaged in the most shameful intrigues, cannot but be exaggerated. At the same time, it is natural to suppose, that when thus immured from society, and deprived of daUy and free intercourse with UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 183 COSTUME. HABITS AJMD MANNERS. the world, those very effects would be produced, against which this cruel jealousy is intended to guard. There is but one day in the year, on which they are permitted to walk freely abroad in the streets ; a kind of saturnalia, almost as insulting to them as their imprisonment. Marriages of inclination, are rarely made ; they ^re usually bargains between the husband and the parents. There is a species of cruelly practised by the rich in the cities, that is really shocking to the mind of an Ameri can. It is not uncomraon for men to compel their daughters to take the veil, merely with a view to preserve greater wealth in the family, as without this unfeeling practice, they would be under the obligation of settling a part of their estates as a mar riage portion, or for their support. In consequence of this state of manners, society is on a wretched footing at Rio Janeiro. Of ihe costume, habits, and, manners of the inhabitants, a most minute account has been furnished by Mr. Luccock, which we give in his own words. It is possible that some changes may have taken place in consequence of the extraor dinary stiraulus given to every kind of improvement by recent poUtical events ; but it forms, no doubt, a correct representa tion of the state of society in Rio, previously to its separation from the mother country. ^ " Of their dress and appearance," says this uitelligent trav eller, "ws strangers were more competent judges than of their minds. The former is of the lightest sort. Among their fa miUar friends, they are seen wilh a shift only, bound about the waist with the strings of a petticoat, and the bosora of it often falling off from one shoulder. They wear no stockings, and seldom either slippers, or the wooden clogs, with brown upper leathers, called tamancas. Their hair is long, and too com- monly uncombed, bound with a ribband close behind the head, the ends turned up to the crown, and there twisted about a sort of bodkin. Sometimes a wreath of artificial flowers is added, ingeniously made by themselves of silk, beads, colored .papers, tinsel, and the wings of some of the brilliant insects of the country ; these are arranged and worn with taste. Their manners are a contrast to every thing graceful, — coarse, bois- terous, and pert ; they talk fluently, but coraraonly in loud and harsh tones ; their general air is sly and coquettish ; and they have no idea that their carriage can possibly excfte disgust, or even that they can faft to be objects of admiration ; they have few opportunfties of conversing with the other sex, and what gopd fortune offei^s, they use with eagerness. 184 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. " Such manners raay be attractive to their countrymen, but their influence can extend no farther. The ornamenls of these females have a pleasing effect, and set off the charms ofa face, the features ofwhich are round and regular, ofa black, lively, inquisitive eye, a smooth and open forehead, a mouth expres sive of simplicity and good temper, furnished wfth a white and even set of teeth ; united wfth a moderately handsome figure, a sprightly laughing air, and a demeanor gay, frank, and un suspicious. Such is the common appearance of a young lady about thirteen or fourteen years of age ; a period when she usually takes upon her the cares of a household, or rather, not withstanding obvious disqualifications, assumes the character of a matron. Indeed, at eighteen, in a Brazilian woman, nature has attained to full maturity ; a few years later, she becomes corpulent, and even unwieldly, acquires a great stoop in her shoulders, and walks with an awkward, waddUng gait ; she be gins to decay, loses the good huraor of her countenance, as- suraes in its place a contracted and scowling brow ; the eye and mouth both indicate that they have been accustomed lo ex. press the violent and vindictive passions, the cheeks are de prived of their plumpness and color, and at twenty -five, or thirty at most, she becomes a perfectly wrinkled old woraan. " Early corpulence appeared to me to arise from their seclu ded and indolent habits. They were seldom seen out of doors, except when going to mass, so early as four o'clock in the morning, on dias santos, or days of sacred obligation ; and even then, the whole form and face were so wrapped up in raantles, or enclosed within the curtains of a cadeira, as to preclude the enjoyment of fresh air, and to conceal every feature, except perhaps a wickedly talkative eye. These cadeiras answer, less coramodiously, the same purpose, as do the palanquins of the East. They consist of an arm-chair wfth a high back, to which is attached a long foot-board and a canopy. Around the latter are suspended curtains of blue cloth, edged with some gaudy color, and kept closed as the machine passes along the streets, in order to conceal the haughty, or the constrained don na from public view. The whole is attached to a long pole, passing over the lady's head, and is suspended between two black raen, who support ft on their shoulders. Such were the only carriages used formerly in Rio by people of fashion ; and like the raodern chaise, to which they have lately given place, they were soraetiraes very splendid, being decorated in such a manner as might best display the taste, the wealth, and the rank of the owner. On the foot-board, which is large enough UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 185 HABITS AND MANNERS. for the purpose, is often seated a little senhora, forraing the sarae idle habits as her raother has done, and laying a founda tion for future unwieldiness of a sirailar kind. " The exercise which these ladies take, is almost wholly con fined to the house. Little exertion is necessary, and that little is opposed by inclination ;,they are surrounded by slaves, and it is their privUege to be waited upon. I have seen this car ried to an extent which would be ridiculous, were it not some thing worse ; and am sorry to add, that such sights are not unusual. A lady was seated on a mat (one morning when I called upon her,) surrounded by a nuraber of slaves, with needle-work in their hands ; a drinking vessel full of water being placed so as that she could conveniently reach it. She interrupted the conversation, by suddenly calling aloud for another slave to corae from a different part of the house. When the negress entered the room, the lady said to her, ' Give me that drinking vessel.' She did so ; her mistress drank, and returned it ; the slave replaced it in ils former sftuation, and retired wfthout seeming to feel that the command was an ex traordinary one, or that she had perforraed aught, which she had not done a thousand times before. Ah ! ladies, thought I, what wonder that you become corpulent, and ruin your consti tution ; these are the natural effects of inanity. " Other causes of the change which has been noticed might be found, I have often thought, in an obstinate adherence to unsuita ble customs. The shrunk and furrowed appearance of the brow seems to me lo arise, in a great measure, from following Europe an fashions under tiie burning sun of the torrid zone, ' where the full tide of day is poured.' Even the white and genteel families of Brazil, wear no covering on the head, — no shade for the eye ; hence the brow and pupil contract themselves as much as pos- .sible, to shield the tender organ frora the superabundance of light. The walls of the houses, too, both wilhin and without, are universally whitened, heightening, by reflection, the mid day glare, and sometimes producing an almost intolerable un easiness in the eyes of persons possessed ofthe strongest sight. Is it wonderful that the forehead and eyes of delicate females should gradually assurae an habitual contraction, which over- clouds raany a fair face with appearances, that soraelimes mis represent the real turn of the raind ? Preraature age is owing partly to cliraate, partly to a constitution enfeebled and ruined by inactivity ; raost of all, to the unnatural and shamefully early age at which feraales are allowed to marry. Their early good humor, or the show of it, soon wears away ; they often 186 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. becorae the very reverse of what they were, and exhibit the alteration too plainly. This change may be attributed princi. paUy to the childish ceremony, and more foolish flattery, wilh ¦which every woman is treated, who ranks above the condition of a slave. They seem to be regarded by the men as dolls, or as spoiled children, whose whims must be gratified, and even anticipated ; and she who has the greatest number obtains the most attention. The generality of ladies treated in this way, become, alraost of course, fretful and peevish, and pour their spleen upon their slaves ; and when these resist or neglect the orders given thera, endeavor to subdue thera by a noisy and boisterous behavior, not always free frora malignity, and by castigation, not the less severe for coraing frora a lady's hand. Here is exercise, and perhaps the most efficacious that they ever take, quickening the circulation, giving some tone to the muscles, and discharging peccant humors ; but at the same time, destroying the temper, iraplanting in the heart the princi ples of a vixen, and stamping on the countenance the plain in. dications of what passes within. " When a gentleraan calls upon another, if he be not inti. mate at the house, he goes thither in full dress, wfth a cocked hat, with buckles in his shoes and at the knees, and with a sword, or dirk by his side. Having reached the bottom ofthe stairs, he claps his hands as a signal to attract attention, and ut ters a sort of sibilant sound between his teeth, and the end of his tongue, as though he pronounced the sylables chee cu. The servant who attends the call, roughly enquires in a nasal tone. Who is it ? and being told, retires to inform the master of the house, what are the wishes ofthe visiter. If he be a friend, or one so well known as to be received without ceremony, the master quickly coraes to him, and ushers him into the Sala, making loud protestations of the pleasure given him bythe vis it, mixing his corapliraentary speeches wfth a great nuraber of bows. Before business is entered upon, if that be the object, repeated apologies are offered for the free mode in which the visiter is received. And, there is often no little occasion for such apologies ; for the gentleman very generally raakes his appearance with a beard of raany days' growth, witll his black hair in the roughest slate, though besmeared wfth grease, and wfth no clothing over his cotton shirt. This garment is, in deed, well made and ornamented with needle-work, especially about the bosora. But, then, it is coraraonly worn in the house, so as to expose the breast, and the sleeves are tucked up to the elbows. Or, if by chance it be secured al the neck and wrists UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 187 MANNERS. — ROYAL ETKJUETTE. by its globular gold buttons, the flaps appear on the outside^ hanging half way down the sides, over a waistband which se cures round the loins a short pair of trowsers ; while the legs are quite bare, and the feet covered with tamancas. All this is not very delicate, more especially as the skins of the Brazil- ians abound with hair, and are much sun-burnt about the breast and legs. " Should the call be a ceremonious one, a servant is sent to conduct the visiter to the sala, frora which, as he enters, he of ten sees the persons who were in the roora, escaping at the oth- er door. Here he waits alone, it may be half an hour, when the gentleman appears in a sort of half-dress. They both bow profoundly at a distance : after a sufficiency of skill in this sei. ence has been displayed, and thus time gained to ascertain each other's rank and pretensions, they approach, if unequal, with corresponding dignity and respect — if supposed to be near ly equals, with famUiarity. The business is then entered upon, and despatched at once. These bows between strangers, and this slow approach, I almost like, as they give men sorae op- portunity to measure and appreciate one another, and prevent a thousand awkward blunders and equally awkward apologies. With my countrymen in general, I participate in an abhorrence ofthe Brazilian embrace. " A ridiculous custora prevails (or did prevaU) in Rio, of obli ging all persons to dismount from a carriage or horse, when any of the royal family are passing along the streets. On such occasions, an extraordinary and whimsical busUe takes place the moment the approach is heralded by the cadets (attendants somewhat superior to a common soldier :) sorae are flying for fear ofbeing ridden over ; others are drawing up their carria ges or raules into a corner ; and he is lucky, who escapes un- hurt : all are bareheaded. Such a ceremony could not but be very repugnant to the feelings of EngUshmen, Araericans, and other foreigners ; but they have generally coraplied with it. But a few years since, during the residence of the court of Lis- bon at Rio, the queen of Portugal, who had the character ofbe ing extreraely particular on this point, was taking her usual ride lo a small cottage and garden, at the bottom of the Orange VaUey, when she met Lord Strangford, who refused to coraply with the accustoraed cereraony. The cadets insulted his lord ship, by using their swords in corapelling him to dismount. The only redress which his lordship obtained, was the impris- onment ofthe guards, for a short time. Some time after, Mr. Sumpter, then the American minister to the court, met the 188 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. queen in the same neighborhood. The guard rode up to him, saying; "Apea-se-Senor." He replied, that he was the Amer. ican minister, and that he would not disraount : on which they did not hesitate to compel him. Mr. Sumpter then said, that he would not require any satisfaction for this gross uisult, but that he should provide hiraself with holsters and pistols, and would shoot the first person, who offered him a similar insult. Very shortly afterwards, he met the queen's guard agaui, who rode up to him, making the same peremptory deraand as be fore. In answer to which, he frankly told them, that the first man, who offered him any violence, he would shoot dead upon the spot. This resolute conduct induced thera to retire. Upon this, the queen ordered thera to proceed a second tirae to dismount Mr. Sumpter ; but they were intunidated by his continued firmness. It is generally believed, that her majesty, highly in- censed at this spirited conduct, requested the minister of state to issue an order for Mr. Surapter's iraprisonraent in the Eha das Cobras. The minister, however, prevailed upon her ma jesty to wait the result of a despatch to the king upon the sub. ject, who was then fifty miles off, at St. Cruz. The conse quence was, that orders were iraraediately issued, that no for eigner should be compelled to pay more courtesy, tban his own sovereign would require from him. Since that time, however, an English merchant, who was driving his lady in a chaise, was beat by the queen's guards till his arm becarae quite black, and his life endangered, notwithstanding he had stopped his horse, stood up in the chaise, and took off his hat. In the month of July, 1819, Commodore Bowles was taking a ride near the Orange Valley, when the Queen's cadets beat him off his horse wilh their swords. The cadets were sent on board the Creole to apologize for their conduct, and the coramodore advised them in future to draw their swords only against an enemy. To the king, who did not require this ridiculous and inconvenient homage, the EugUsh generally were desirous of shewing their respect by dismounting. "The indolence wfth which all classes ofthe inhabitants of Rio are reproached, is undoubtedly to be ascribed, in sorae raeas- ure, to the relaxing cliraate. The merchants, Mr. Luccock says, seldom eraploy theraselves for more than three hours in the day. The shopkeepers are equally idle. All shop.doors are closed or nearly so, at noon. A cloth is then spread on the counter, in the close, darap room, which serves as shop, parlor, and bedroora, if not "kitchen and all ;" and the only regular meal in the day is then hastily taken. The middle classes of UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 189 KIO JANEIRO. FOOD. the citizens of Rio, who have not entirely adopted the manners of Portugal, take a sraall proportion of aniraal food, contenting theraselves with the adrairable fruits, and the cheese iraported frora Merias Geraes, which, with banians, is raet with on every table. The Brazilian eats even wheaten bread but sparingly, preferring toil his farinha. He eats but moderately of his few dishes, drinks chiefly water, and takes every thing with the greatest regularity. In the evening, he very prudently takes scarcely any thing ; at the mos^ a cup of tea, or of cof fee ; and he avoids, especially at night, eating cool fruits. " Only such a regiraen," says Dr. Von Spix, " and conforraing to the nature ofthe cliraate, preserves him from many diseases to which the stranger exposes hiraself through ignorance or in attention." Fish is not so much eaten here as on the north ern coasts. Mandioc and maize flour, and black beans, boiled with bacon and salt beef dried in the sun, are the chief articles of diet among the lower classes. At Rio Janeiro the supply of foed is abundant and constant. Herds of black cattle continually come from the interior, and are driven to the coral, a large open space on the Praya de Luzia, close on the sea shore. Beside this, are erected the maancas, or public slaughter-houses, where they are killed, and then conveyed on negroes' heads to different stalls in the city. " The raost disagreeable spectacle I have ever witnessed," says Dr. Walsh, " is one of these negro butchers with a greasy rag round his waist, and his naked body, covered with blood and gore, perspiring under a raw carcass. This coral is not far from the public gardens, and sftuated on a delightful walk along the sea shore ; but the sight and sraell of every thing about ft are so offensive, that few ventured \o pass it. The beef is someliraes cut into large flakes and dried; and in that state called came secco. When hanging in vendas, it looks like hides of leather. " Mutton is never seen in the markets of Rio. It is a meat to -which the BraziUans seem to have as great a prejudice, as Jews to pork. When sheep were first iraported into South America, ill the teraperate southern regions, they extensively raultiplied, and became wild ; but in Brazil they greatly deteriorated. The wool lost its fleeciness, and becarae stiff and wiry, like the hair of old goats. How far this unnatural change might have affected the people, I cannot say ; but they do not eat the sheep, and will not rear them. Beyond the serra of Martique- ra, are the most extensive and beautiful downs in the world, 17 190 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. covered with pasture like those of Sussex, and in a temperate region ; but there is not to be seen on them a single sheep. Towards the Rio de la Plata, on the spacious plains, where Ihey have greatly increased, I have been inforraed they apply them to an extraordinary use. Fuel is very scarce, and mut. ton very plentiful, so they throw sheep into kilns, as a material to burn bricks. It was formerly not unusual to drive sheep alive into a Urae-kiln ; but an edict was made againsi this cru el practice, which is still in force. I tell you the tale as 'twas told to me, by several people ; and on enquiring inlo the truth ofit, frora a gentleraan who had lately corae from that country, and whose veracity I could not doubt, he informed me that he had actually seen a man at Buenos Ayres throw a shoulder of mutton, as fuel, on the top of the fire. Mutton, however, is soraetiraes purchased at Rio by Europeans, for whose use alone it is killed. It is very bad. It is necessary to bespeak it expressly from a butcher, who charges about Is. 8d. per pound for it, if at all eatable. " Pork, on the contrary, is the great food of the people, and it is plentiful and very good. Il is prepared and eaten in a pe culiar way. When the pig is killed, the butcher dexterously scoops out the bones and rauscular flesh, leaving behind only the covering offal. In this state ft is salted, folded up, and sent in great quantities to Rio, where it is caUed toucinlio. All the stores and vendas are full ofit ; and it is used coraraonly for culinary purposes, and forms an ingredient in every Bra zilian article of cookery. " Fish is in' plenty, but not remarkable. Prawns are very large, reserabling young lobsters. Oysters are raisshapen, long and deep, with a very thick shell. Their quality is dan- gerous, and a very sraall quantity, even a single fish, produces on strangers a violent cathartic effect. Red rauUets are abun- dant and very good. There is a species of gurnet, with enor. mous pectoral fins as long as its body, and larger in proportion than those of a flying fish ; though I do not find as they ever use them as wings. I have frequently seen them taken out of the sea, just before our windows. Dried cod, from Newfound land, is the constant food during Lent. Araong the fish pe- culiar to the harbor, there is one of which I have heard extra. ordinary stories. It is called a mara. When young, ft is eat. en as good food ; but when old, ft attains an enormous size and a fearful voracity ; insomuch that the monks of San Bento formeriy paid a large sura of raoney for every one destroyed. Col. Cunningham inforraed me, that about sixteen years ago, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 191 EIO JANEIRO. FOOD. he remernbered that three persons were devoured by it in dif. ferent parls of the bay ; one was taken iraraediately after de stroying a man, on the shore of Praya Grande, anti was then exhibited at the custom-house. It required ten men, he said, to carry ft ; and ft was covered with scales as large as a dol. lar. I could not learn that ft had been latterly seen by any person ; but the rumor of its existence stUl deters persons frora bathing. The blacks, who are elsewhere araphibious, never venture beyond their knees ; and white raen are very rarely seen in the water. Sharks are not dreaded in the bay. " The people of Rio can raise no trigo, or wheat, theraselves, but are very fond of wheaten bread, and are fastidious as to its quality. They consume from eighty to one hundred ihousand barrels of flour annually, which is alraosl entirely sent from the United Stales ; though till lately it was not much used. It is now a substitute for farinha, or meal of mandioca, the pro. duce ofthe country. The bakers only purchase a few bar. reis from a cargo as a sample, before Ihey venture on a large quantity ; and flour of an inferior qualfty cannot be sold. In consequence ofthis, the wheaten bread at Rio is very excellent ; indeed, I have never in any country raet better, and seldora so good. The consuraption, however, is confined to the belter clas ses — slaves never taste it. " The farinaceous food of the poor is feijao preto, black kid. ney beans, and raandioca meal. The former is ahvays pre pared with toucinho fat ; the latter is a snow-white powder, from the pounded mandioca root, and eaten without any other preparation lhan drying and grinding ; il is put into a calabash, and the prepared beans mixed with it, where they look like black beetles crawling in a heap of lime. Mandioca is also eaten with came secco, and in that stale, rations of it were served out to the Irish. Tne beef was rlry and lough, and the flour hard and gritty ; and an Irishman afterwards complained to me, that " he got nothing lo eat but saw dust and sole leath er." They also use the meal of Indian corn, which they call milho ; but il is raore generally given unground to horses, of whose food it forms a considerable portion. It is often boiled whole with sugar or treacle, and called angu de milho ; it is a good pudding. " They sell in the shops a nut called mindoubi, which grows at the root of a sraall plant. They extract frora it a great quantity of oil, but it is also used for food, and when parched, is very good. Negro woraen are constantly shelling and parch- ing it iu the streets. 192 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL, " The seed of a native shrub, called fedagos, is frequently roasted, and used fbr coffee, and by some, more highly prized. ll grows in great profusion round Rio, adorning the santis with its yellow blossoms. " Fruil is abundant and delicious ; pine-apples are in immense quantities. On the sea shore, near the mouth ofthe harbor, is- a long sandy district, entirely covered with pine-apple plants ; and here I rode one day nearly three miles through a pine ap ple garden. It is indigenous to Brazil, where there are many species growing on its banks ; they are called, and cried about the streets, by the name of ananas. I havo often bought them very fine for a vintem, about three halfpence a piece. " Next in excellence is the manga. This is a plant larger than an apple, always green ; when not ripe, it exudes a clear juice, as strong and pungent as spirits of turpentine, of which it never loses its flavor. When ripe, the pulp is a bright orange, but the stone is covered with long tough fibres, like coarse hair, which penetrate the pulp, and render it difficult lo detach it. I have often regretted that from this cause, I never could eat more than half the fruit. " The quambos, or rose- apple, is a very beautiful fruit, exactly resembUng an apple in size, shape, and color. It is, however, hollow inside, containing two nuts, which rattle when the fruit is shaken. Its flesh is the consistence of an apple, but more ins'pid. " The berries of three kinds of myrtles are used as esculents. The first, called grumixan, is a dark purple fruit, the size of a small plum, exuding a purple juice, ll is highly wholesome and aromatic, and the most grateful of the native fruits ; it makes a delightful conserve. The next called pitangaAs about the same size, but of a bright red color, distinctly ribbed on the surface. It is harsh and austere, but makes an excellent con serve, and a very agreeable ardent spirit is distilled from ft. The third is called cambuim, and covers the sandy shore be tween Bogota Foga and the sugar-loaf, where the people who sell it, come in crowds to gather it from the myrtle bushes. The fruit is dark brown. " The custard apple, is also much esteemed as a native fruil. It has the appearance of a large fir cone ; the pulp is exactly ofthe consistence and taste of custard. A new species, called cherimolea, has been lately introduced from Peru and Chili, which produces an exquisite fruit. " The mamoon, or narrow apple, is nearly as large as a pine apple. It grows in clusters on the sumrait of a tree, wfth a UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 193 RIO JANEIRO. POPULATION. Stem hke a cabbage-stalk, and very large angular leaves. Alraost every yard in Rio has a raaraooneiro planted in ft, and it is one of the characteristic traits of the country. The fruft has a rich, foetid laste, of an aniraal flavor, bearing a strong re serablance to raarrow, frora which it is justly naraed. " The acajon, is a singular fruil. It is a large fleshy append age, the size of a baking-apple, on the top of which a single seed stands, as long as a Windsor bean, and ofthe same shape, attached by the tip ; you would naturally suppose the large fruft enclosed seed, but it contains only a fleshy pulp, very juicy, cool, and refreshuig, but rather austere. The bean when held' to the candle, emits an inflammable vapor, which ignites with an explosion, and causes a little fire work, for the amuse ment of people after dinner. " I should mention, that the banana is still more sacred and universal here than at Maderia. The people also entertain the sarae superstftion of the irapropriety of cutting it across, lest they should sever a .sacred emblem ; and further Ihey believe, as De Tertre says, it was the fruit of Adara in Paradise, who saw in it the future sacred cross. It is the coramon breakfast of the people, who do not cut, bul dip the fruft in farinha meal, and eat it as we do a radish in salt. " The people of Rio are more intemperate in eating than in drinking. Port wine is not much used, because il is loo strong and heating for the climate ; that which they hold in highest esteera— at least use in the greatest quantities, is Catalonian, of which there is considerable iraportation every year. The cora mon people, and particularly the negroes, use caxas or cachaca, an inferior kind of rura, distilled from sorae result of sugar cane. This is so cheap that foreigners, particularly sailors, gel greatly addicted to it. Much of the raisconduct and rais- fortunes of the Gerraans and Irish arose from it, particularly the latter, who, when they got rations of bad food, which they could not eat, exchanged it for caxas, which readily intoxica ted thera. Il is not, however, an unwholsorae or unpalateable liquor, and in the winter and rainy season, is often found a sal utary antidote against the effects of cold and wet. A distiller has lately tried to iraprove it, and by a further process converted it into good rum." Of the four mUUons of inhabitants in Brazil, frora two mil lions to two millions and a half are negro slaves, while the white population are but half a mUlion, or not raore than 850,000 ; so that the forraer exceed the latter in the proportion of three to 17* 194 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. one. The importation of slaves is put al 50,000 per annum, for the last thirty years. The principal marts frora which they are brought, are Angola, Congo, Angico, Gaboon, and Mosambique. Those of Angola are the most highly esteemed, and are in every respect the raost tractable, and next to them the natives of Congo. The Angicos are taU and robust, and their skins jetty black and shining. They are generally dis tinguished by their singular mode of tattooing, which consists of three gashes made in each cheek, and extending in a cftcu- lar form, frora the ear to the angle of the raouth. The Ga boons are also tall and coraely, wilh great rauscular strength ; they are, however, less esteeraed, from their exceeding impa- tience of the state of slavery to which they are reduced. They are greatly addicted to suicide, and take the first oppor tunity of destroying themselves. Instances have occurred, where a lot of eighteen or twenty, purchased together, have made a determination not to Uve ; and in a short lirae they all stabbed themselves, or sunk rapidly under an insupportable feel ing of despondency. The people of Mosambique include gen erally all those of Southern Africa. They are distinguished by their dirainutive stature and feeble limbs, but still raore by the color, incUning to brown, and sorae even as light as mulat toes. It is reraarkable that vigor and muscularity in a negro seem intimately connected with his hue ; the distinctive char acteristic of the race is a black skin, and the more dark the exterior the more perfect seems the person ; and as it recedes from ils own and approaches to our color, it is proportionably imperfect. According to Mr. Breckrenridge, who visited Brazil in 1817- 18, little skill is displayed by the inhabitants in the mechanic arts. Although they have the finest wood in the world for cab inet work, their furniture is very badly constructed, and the de fect is supplied by a profusion of gilding. They excel, how- ever, in making ornaments of gold, such as chains, crosses, &c. ; but precious stones are not well set by them ; and in general, they display bul liltle taste. As to the_^ne arts, they are ex. tremely low. The king's Ubrary, of sixty thousand volumes, has been thrown open for the use ofthe public ; but within this capital ofa great erapire, it will be long before there will be any thing that will deserve the narae of literature. The rich na. tive inhabilanta have generally other tastes ; there is nothing to call forth public discussions from the press ; there is yet in fact, no public. The art of printing itself, which was restrict- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 196 ARTS. AMUSEMENTS. ed in the colonial State, is not yet sufficiently spread to satisfy the deraand, small as it is. There is more printing in any one of our smallest cities, than in all BrazU. Since the above date, the Brazilians are said to have made considerable improvement. In 1824, an Academy of Fine Arts was opened at Rio, under the auspices of the emperor, at whose expense it is chiefly supported. Connected with this academy is the National Museum, which contains the usual objects found in such a collection. Several works of considerable merit by Brazilian authors have been issued from the press within the last few years. In Periodicals, Gazettes and Newspapers, they are considerably advanced. Dr. Walsh states that in 1828, there were 133 periodical papers printed in the whole peninsula, of which twenty-five are published in BrazU ; viz. fifteen at Rio, three at Bahia, and the rest in other places. The same author remarks, that Geography is a science in which the Brazilians seera most deficient. I never saw in any house, says he, a map even of their own country ; much less of any other, andsoraelimesslrangeniistakesarise. Whenil was an nounced, in the Russian carapaign, that the plague was at Bucha rest, a circular was sent round, announcing that all vessels_/ro»j tliat port, were lo perforra a quarantine, before landing passengers or cargo in any part of Brazil. It was explained that Bucharest was not a port, and a second circular was issued, correcting the first, by stating, that any vessel coming from any port in the Mediterranean, must perform quarantine, thereby including Spain, France and Italy ! The Brazilians have few amusements, although they are a cheerful people. They have a taste for music and are fond of dancing- They are much given to sedentary games of chance. At particular seasons, they engage in sports of various kinds, during which they deUver theraselves up to unrestrained enjoy ment. At Lent, observes a writer, " the streets were glowing with green and yellow hues as vivid and general as the purple on the hills. This proceeded frora vast quantities of balls of colored wax, which filled the shops and large baskets before the doors, of the shape and size of eggs, containing pure or scented wa ter. I could not conceive what they were intended for till I learned by experience in a few days. The Brazilians, like all the people of a tropical cliraate and constitution, when the rao ment of enjoyraent coraes, deliver theraselves up to it with un restrained hilarity. This is indulged particularly during the intruso, a jubilee which precedes Lent, and the eggs were the 196 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. principal pastirae. A friend brought me to pay a visit, and the first salutation we received was a shower of green and yellow eggs pelted in our faces, by all the fair feraales of the family. We were then invited to the balconies ofthe windows, and saw all those in the street, filled with girls peeping out and watch. ing the approach of some victim. When any appeared he was assaUed in all directions, and ran off bedewed wfth waler, and his hat and coat covered with green and yellow egg shells. If he stopped for a moment when he saw nobody, and took off his hat lo remove the wet, sorae laughing girl, perched in an upper window, was ready with a basin of water, which carae on him in a sheet : if he ran to the opposite side to avoid it, he received another ; if he took the raiddle of the narrow street he probably received both together. Below, in the shops, and behind haU doors crowds of men stood with large syringes and garaallas, which they ejected in a continued circuit in his face and bosom, so that by the tirae he arrived at the end of the street he was as completely drenched as if he were dragged through the bay. Should hc, like Swift's passenger, ' fly, invoke the gods, then turning slop' to scold, he was saluted by clapping of hands and shouts of laughter, from a thousand merry faces from all the windows round him. Sometimes we saw persons thrown down and drenched with waler and pelled with eggs almost lo suffoca tion, and sometimes whole baskets of flower were discharged on his wet body till he became crusted all over ; blacks and mulattoes look exceedingly grotesque when ornaraented in this way. The Brazilian girls are naturally pensive looking and retiring ; but at this season they change their character, and their gravity and timidity are for three days lost in inextin guishable raerriraent." McLiiccock in his "notes" has given the following account of the Brazilian arausement of an ox chase of which he was wit- ness — a sport not less hazardous and perhaps not much less re- fined than the pleasures of an English stao- hunt. " After a ride of three or four miles on a large open plain, we found about 400 head of cattle. We rode gently round, to bring them into a raore compact body, and raade the animal which was to be chased, distinctly known to every individual of the party. Our settled object was to drive hira" to the house; and lo render the sport as complete as possible, the lasso* was * The lasso is made of narrow thongs, plaited in the same way as the bridles, and is about seven or eight yards long. One end of it is firm ly fixed to the hinder part of the saddle, generally on the right side : at Brazillian Hunters. Throwing the Lasso. P. 197. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 19r ox CHASE. not to be used until there appeared a probability that he would otherwise escape. Sorae of the people then dashed inlo the midst of the herd, attentively observing the selected aniraal. One half of the oxen weie thus driven at once from the spot, and others, which chose to do so, were permitted to follow with out molestation ; but, wherever the victira turned, a horseraan met him, and stopped his career. The work was easy, until the remaining group was reduced to about twenty, which then made violent atterapts to rejoin their corarads, and fiercely attacked the huntsraan, who intercepted thera. In a short time, four of them being hard pressed, plunged into sorae watery ground about two miles frora the house, and araong thera was the object of the chase. When driven from the water, this small number were more harassed than before, and, perceiving their danger, exerted themselves with redoubled violence. Soraetiraes we were obliged to ride hard ; and great coolness and address were necessary to prevent their escape behind us, and into a wood which we were now approaching. In this last respect, our efforts were vain ; they gained this refuge, and we could no longer act in concert. The wood was full of thick bushes of myrtle, and many trees the other side is an iron ring, about two inches in diameter. The horse man, about to use the lasso, forms a sort of running noose, by passing a portion of it through the ring ; this is taken in the right hand, so as that the ring may be at the opposite part of the circle ; the noose is then swung -with care over the head, until the extreme part of it, including the ring, acquires a considerable momentum. The instrument, thus prepared, as the man advances towards his selected victim, is in due time discharged and carries off the remainder of the string before hung loose ly in coils on the fingers of the left hand, and seldom fails to entangle the beast. A well trained horse, though at full speed, when the lasso is thrown, instantly stops, and, turning round, pulls against the animal, which is now attached to him. The balls are three in number, round, and nearly three inches in diameter. The external part of each is a sort of purse, made of hide, rendered pliable by soaking: the purse is filled with sand, and the aperture drawn close. In drying, the leather contracts, and becomes as hard aa a stone. To each ball a string is at tached, three or four feet long, made of plaited thongs, likfc the lasso, and the three strings are united by a knot, at two feet distance from the balls. This may be called the handle of the instrument ; for the person using it takes the kn'ot in his hand, and having given it the neces. sary velocity, by swinging it over his head with all his might, throws it at the legs of the horse or ox, which he wishes to secure. In their progress, the balls to the utmost distance which the strings will allow, and reaching the leg, generally pass round it ; and though perhaps, only slightly entangling the animal, sufiiciently impede its fiight. The custom was derived from the Maraocato, and other Indian tribes, who used the Zasso and balla with great, effect against Mendonca, wheii he landed and founded the city of Buenos Ayres. 193 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. spread their arras horizontally seven or eight feet from the ground. It was a raatter of high gratification, as well as won der, to observe how our huntsraen rounded the bushes, and bent under the branches, so as someliraes to hang oo the sides of their horses. Though unable to follow, I soon encountered our chief, who had raade an unsuccessful cast with his lasso, and was disentangling it frora the branches of a tree. I shall nev er forget the ardor and rapidiiy with which he afterwards darted and wheeled among the trees, nor loose the conviction fixed upon my mind, what execution such men, so trained, must be capable of in a country like this. My rausings were soon in terrupted by reaching the beach, and seeing at a distance our young hero, with the ox securely attached to his horse by the lasso, and leading the captive towards the house. The instru ment had gone round his horns, and was fixed close to the crown of his head. The aniraal thus entangled advanced with the raost raalicious vexation, and raade many ferocious ef forts lo gore the horse, which had before pursued, and now led hira ; but the wary creature, which had often before been yoked to an unnatural and violent raate, kept his eye upon the ox, and pulled at the lasso so as to keep it alwa3's on the stretch, and himself two springs in advance. In his precaution, he was greatly assisted by his rider, who, with equal care, watched the raaddening spirit ofthe beast, and gave signals to the horee. Convinced, at length, that his atterapts to gore his leader were vain, the ox becarae sullen, and was partlj- dragged onward. While he was in thi? raood, the horse passed to the right of a detached bush, and the ox, by a sudden spring, got nearly abreast with him on the left : thus, the lasso was brought over his back, and he was enabled to employ his utmost might lo draw the horse round the bush ; the horse also used all his pow er to counteract this manoeuvre ; and thus the great strenglh of the lasso was proved. By this time, the whole party was again collected, and another lasso applied to assist in conduct ing the captive, which, seemingly conscious that he was com pletely subdued, walked along quietly. A boat had just reach ed the bea(!h ; and the people were still on board, when the treacher lus animal, as soon as he carae near enough, raade an unexpected attack, and caused ihera to tumble, one over anoth er, into the waler, to the great amazement of the spectators. Returning to the hut, after a chase of three hours, milk and fruft were served to us in abundance, whUe the beast was taken from his former bondage, and tied to a post, where I found him bellowiug with raadness, and still furiously striving to release UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 199 HORSES. hiraself A man now came forward with an instruraent, called afacam,* soraewhat reserabling both a large carving-knife and a short sword ; and warning every one to be on his guard, pass ed near the heels of the ox, and endeavored, by a backhanded stroke, to hough him. The allerapt was clurasily raade, and the beast, though wounded, was not disabled. Another took the instrument, and used it with greater effect ; when the ox gave a desperate kick at the operator, and snapping the tender, fell on his hunches. A third then drew a sharp knife across his throat : blood copiously followed ; and with a deep bellow, ex pressive of rage and agony, he yielded up his life. Iraraediately the people set about skinning the beast, and preparing a part of him for dinner. The former operation was perforraed in a workman. like manner ; and the skin, as it was taken off, being carefully stretched upon the ground, preserved the flesh frora blood and dirt. During this process, fires had been kindled, and had burned down to clear embers. Slices of flesh were then cut off from the ribs, as the choicest part, for the raaster and his guests, and roasted at a flre apart ; afterwards the at tendants helped theraselves, as they pleased, and cooked their portion after their own raodes. Horses are trained for the exercises of the field, by fastening a dry hide to the back part of the saddle, and allowing it to traU on the ground. As the horse raoves, the hide rallies, and the noise alarras hira ; he atterapts to fly, when it beats against his heels, and he kicks at it violently ; but soon convin ced that all his alarm and rage are fruitless, he learns to be pa- tient and quiet. In this state, a person mounts and compels him to move forward ; at first gently, afterwards at an increased pace. He begins with trampling upon the hide ; but this in. coraraodes hira, perhaps alraost throws him down backwards; he then sits down his feet raore carefully and safely. The con. trivance induces him also to keep an eye turned on the object behind : while the rider takes hira over rough or boggy ground, obUging him at the sarae tirae to look forward, and raark where he is going. Thus he forras a habit of quickly discerning dan. ger, and avoiding it, from whatever quarter it may corae. So much are the BraziUan horses in general fenced against alarms, that 1 hardly ever met with one of the description which >ve called skittish.^ * Faca is the Portuguese word for knife of any kind. t Luccock's Notes pp. 224-7. 200 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. Funerals are among the most pompous and gaudy displays of the people. Those of the better class are always conducted by night, by the light of large wax tapers, the size of flam beaux. These are borne not only by the friends of the deceased, but by any passing stranger of respectable appearance. For this purpose, one of the conductors generally stands at the door of the house in which the corpse lies, and invites the pas senger to come in and take a taper. Every week, at least, I have been in this way arrested, as I passed by, and as it is deeraed not good manners to refuse, I latterly learned to pass over the other side, to avoid the necessity of either complying or declining. • The coffin is carried before, and the taper bearers follow in a long procession behind, to the church, where the funeral service is read. It is there laid on a catafalk, or pedestal, which stands for that purpose in the middle of every aisle ; priests attend, who chant the funeral service, accompanied by the or. gan ; and when this is concluded, either the flooring of the church is raised and the body deposited beneath, or it is brought to the cloisters, where a small receptacle, lUse an oven, is open. ed to receive it. Before it is so deposited, the lid of the coffin is raised, and a quantity of quick -lirae thrown in ; and when it is decoraposed by this process, the bones are shut in with a lock and key. Notwithstanding their preservation of the bones of the dead, the people are remarkably careless of the reraains of their deceased friends. Their only concern is, that they shall receive the last rftes of their church, which they consider in- dispensable to the welfare of their souls. Few or no relations are present at the interraent ; and there is a great indifference, amounting to levfty, not only araong the acquaintance, who at. tend the funeral, but araong the clergy themselves. On sorae occasions of the funerals of infants, the cofl5n is an elegant erabroidered trunk, in which the child lies enveloped in artificial flowers ; and when placed on the catafalk, ft looks like a work box on a ladies dressing table. The cloisters ¦where they are deposited are remarkakbly dry and neat, kept always fresh with paint and whitewash, and generally in a pret. ty garden erabellished with parterres and aromatic flowering shrubs ; so that the charnel.house is divested of every thing of. fensive or even dismal, and redolent with incense and p&- fumes. The gaiety of this is strongly contrasted with the funerals of negroes. Their naked bodies are met with every day, thrown into an old mat, suspended on a pole between two others UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 201 GOLD AND DIAMONDS. their arms and legs after hanging down and trailing on the ground. They are brought in this way to the large ceraetery attached to the Miserecordia Hospftal, and here they are thrown into a large trench, where I have seen ten or twelve bodies lying in a heap, without any covering of earth yet thrown over thera. When the person is deposited under the flooring ofthe church, a very offensive spectacle is often exhibited. The ground is so crararaed that it is impossible to find roora, and the aperture made is not sufficient to contain it ; so that when the naked corpse is laid down, part of it is often seen rising above the ground. A man then lakes a ramraer, and deliberately pounds the body into a flat raass till il is accoraraodated to its situation ; while all the people look on vvith the most perfect indifference. It is true, that it is divested of all feeling, as a Brazilian sensi bly remarked to rae when I mentioned tfie circumstance, and deserves lo be held in no more estiraation than the clay with which it is about to incorporate. But certainly the spectacle is very revolting, and the odor dangerously offensive ; and many people are compelled to leave the church frora the sense of sickness. In some churches, as I have before mentioned, the toes and foreheads protrude above the ground. The provision of wax tapers for the friends of the deceased is so essential, that frequent advertisements appear in the jour nals apologizing for their not being enough to accomraodate all who carae. In the Journal de Coramercio, of the 15th No veraber, 1828, I saw a notice from a Joao Bernardo Neguero, importing, that being obliged to bury his grandfather. Major An tonia Ramos, he had invited various persons to attend the fu neral, and was greatly concerned to find that tapers had not been provided for thera all. This neglect was to be attributed to the Andador of Santa Rita, who had agreed to furnish them ; and he had no doubt that the sarae Andador had every wish to do so ; but as he had buried a monkey a few days before, by taper light, in consecrated ground, hS had consumed all the wax, and so had disappointed his friends. ,. Brazil has long been celebrated for its mines of gold, and for its diamonds. The gold is generally found in sraall grains, which are raixed with pebbles and gravel. The gravel is tak en up in bowls, and is washed by hand. A fifth part of all the gold procured, belongs to the eraperor. The quantity an nually obtained is estimated at about 5,000,000. The princi pal diamond district is that of Serro de Frio, and the diamond vi'orks near Tejuco, a town containing about 6,000 uihabitants. 18 202 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. The hiring of negroes to the diamond works, is the favorite occupation of all ranks in Tejuco ; rich and poor, endeavor to engage in it, to as great an extent as their property will allow. The pay of the slaves is trifling, corapared wilh the risk, their labor being heavy, their raaintenance ptx)iv and their treatment harsh ; there must, therefore, be some temptation not openly seen, yet as well known as light from darkness. Numbers of persons are thus induced to reside in Tejuco under various pre texts, but wilh no other real view than to get their negroes into the service, and to live idly on their wages, and on what they conceal or pick up. Thus, all fatten upon the pasture, except those in the extreme of indigence, and olhers, who from the neglect of economy, are always poor. There is a numerous class frora the age of seven years to upwards of twenty, who are without any visible means of earning their subsistence, and would reraain idle even if manufactories were established ; for, though they are brought up frora their infancy with negro chil dren, yet in the working departraent they would abandon their former play feUows. The people, in general, are rendered more averse from habits of regular industry, by the Continual hopes which they indulge of becoming opulent by some fortu nate discovery of mines ; these fallacious ideas which they in stil into the minds of their children, strongly prejudice them against labor, though they all exist miserably, and not unfre quently depend upon donations. Their education is extremely limited ; they are, in general, total strangers to the sciences, and are very scantUy informed on any useful subject. The principal establishraent is situated on the river Jijiton- honha, a tributary of the Rio Grande. At Mandanga, the river is frora three to nine feet deep, and about as broad as the river Thames at Windsor. At the tirae Mr. Mawe visited the works, they were working at a curve of the river, frora which the current had been diverted by raeans ofa canal. The deep er parts of the channel were laid dry by means of chain pumps worked by a water-wheel, and the cascalho was then removed by means of machinery ; — a saving of labor rarely thought of in a land where that labor is performed by negroes, and which had only recently been introduced by Dr. Camara. The stra tum of cascallio consists of sirailar materials to that found in the gold district. In many parts, on the margin of the river, are large conglomerate masses of round pebbles ornamented by oxyde of iron, which sometimes envelope gold and diamonds. During the dry season, sufficient cascalho is dug up to occupy UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 208 DIAMOND -WASHING. all the hands employed during the rainy months. The method of washing the cascalho, is thus described : — " A shed is erected in the form of a parallelogram, twenty-five or thirty yards long, and about fifteen wide, consisling of up. right posts, which support a roof thatched wilh long grass. Down the middle of the area of this shed, a current of water is conveyed through a canal covered with strong planks, cn which the cascalho is laid two or three feet thick. On the other side of the area is a flooring of planks, from four to five yards long, embedded in clay, extending the whole length of the shell, and having a slope from the canal, of three or four inches to a yard. This flooring is divided into about twenty corapartraents or troughs, each about three feel wide, by means of planks _ placed on the edge. The upper ends of all these troughs (here called canoes) communicate with the canal, and are so formed, that water is adraitted into thera between two planks that are about an inch separate. Through this open ing the current falls about six inches into the trough, and may be directed into any part of ft, or stopped at pleasure, by means of a smaU quantity of clay. Along the lower ends of the trough, a sraall channel is dug to carry off the water. On the heap of cascalho, at equal distances, are placed three high chairs for the ofiicers or overseers. After they are seated, the negroes enter the troughs, each provided with a rake wilh a short handle, wilh which he rakes into the trough about fifty or eighty pounds of cascalho. The water being then let in upon it, the cascalho is spread abroad, and continually raked up to the head of the trough, so as to be kept in constant rao. lion. This operation is perforraed for the space of a quarter of an hour ; tiU the water begins to run clearer, having wash. ed the earthy particles away. The gravel.like matter is raked up to the end of the trough ; the larger stones are thrown out, and afterwards those of inferior size ; then the whole is examined with great care for diamonds. When a negro finds one, he iraraediately stands upright, and claps his hand, then extends them, holding the gem between his fore finger and thumb. An overseer receives ft from him, and deposits it in a bowl suspended from the centre of the structure half full of water. In this vessel all the diaraonds found in the course of the day are placed, and at the close of the work are taken out, and delivered tothe principal officer, who, after they have been weighed, registers the particulars. "When a negro is so fortunate as to find a diamonii of-the weight of an octava (17 j carats,) much ceremony takes'^place ; 204 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. he is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and carried in proces. sion to the adrainistrator, who gives him his freedom by pay ing his owner for ft. He also receives a present of new clothes, and is permitted to work on his own account. When a stone of eight or ten carats is found, the negro receives two new shirts, a complete new suit, a hat, and a handsome knife. For smaller stones of trivial araount, proportionate premiums are given. " Many precautions are taken to prevent the negroes from embezzling diamonds. Although they work io a bent position, and consequently never know whether the overseers are watch ing thera or not, yel, it is easy for thera to omit gathering any which they see, and to place thera in a corner of the trough, for the purpose of secreting them at leisure hours ; to prevent which, they are frequently changed while the operation is going on. A word of command being given by the overseers, they instantly raove into each other's troughs, so that no opportunity of collusion can lake place. If a negro be suspecteii of hav ing swallowed a diaraond, he is confined in a strong roora until the fact can be ascertained. Forraerly, the punishraent inflict- ed on a negro for smuggling diaraonds, was confiscation of his person to the State ; but it being thought loo hard, that the owner should suffer for the offence of his servant, the penalty has been commuted for personal imprisonment and chastise ment. This is a much lighter punishment than that which theft owners or any white raan would suffer for a sirailar offence." After spending several days at Mandanga, ]Mr. Mawe was conducted lo the diaraond works al Monteiro, two railes up the river, and, at the distance ofa league further, to the gold-mines of Carrapatos. Here, he was shewn a heap of cascalho,- esti raated lo be worth 1 0,000/. In reraoving this heap from the bed of the river, 400 negroes had been employed three months ; and to wash it, would occupj- 100 men for three months more ; the expense of both operations amounting to about 1500Z. While Mr. Mawe was here, six negroes in the course of four hours, obtained from about a ton of cascalho, nearly twenty ounces troy-weight of gold. This was esteemed a very rich place, and such circurastances are of rare occurrence. Several native Indian tribes are scattered over the remote parts of Brazil, and are said to be ferocious and murderous. The most powerful and distinguished of these tribes are the Guaycurus, of whom Henderson has given the following ac- count : " At the present day, they are divided into three bodies ; one of which, without any alliance with other nations, lives UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 205 INDIAN TRIBES — GUAYCURUS. along the western margin of the Paraguay, subdivided into va rious hordes ; the most southern are called Linguas by the neighboring Spaniards, and when they infest the aldeias of the province of St. Cruz de la Sierra, are there known by the name of Xirequanos ; others have the appellation of Cambax. Those who possess the eastern vicinity of the sarae river, con stitute the other two bodies ; the southern are allied wfth the Spaniards ; the northern with the Portuguese. The Guaycurus are of medium stature, well made, healthy, robust, and appear formed to the most painful and laborious un dertakings. Bodily defects are exceedingly rare ; but blind persons soraetiraes are seen. Their teeth are black, from the prodigious quantfty of tobacco which they use. The women always carry a piece between the upper lip and gums. They paint the body wfth the dye ofthe urucu and jenipapo, in which operation much symraetry is preserved. The youth have no certain usage in the disposal of their lank hair ; the aged shave their heads sirailar to the lay-Franciscans. The woraen like wise shave their heads around, and clip the hair, leaving it three inches in length at the top. Their physiognomy is broad, and presents nothing agreeable in consequence ofthe dye which they introduce into the skin with thorns, forraing lines that com- mence at the roots of the hair, and terrainate at the eye-lids or the cheeks, and in some instances at the chin, where they give it the appearance ofa chess-board, an ash color being so indeli bly fixeti, that it continues through life. They are usually wrapped up in a Jarge cotton cloth, frora the neck to the feet, striped with various colors. The more ostentatious ornament themselves with shells, the mother-pearl appearing outwards ; sorae have upon them the figure of their horses, well drawn in black and whfte. Below this dress, they wear a very wide girdle, called an ayulale, wfthout which a girl from^her birth -is never seen. Ornamental strings of silver, in necklaces and bracelets for the arras and legs, and a plate of the same raetal at the breast, are generally displayed ; for the raanufacture of which, a stone anvil and hammer are used. In former times, these ornaraents consisted of wood, such as arp yet seen among sorae of the poor. Early in life, they become meagre ; and their skins, as well as those of the men at an advanced age, are remarkably wrinkled. The men have no other clothing than a narrow girdle of dyed cotton, which they tie round the mid- die of the body ; and after they have had coraraunication with .the Europeans, they cover them with beads of divers colors, 18* 206 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. forming different devices^ They ornaraent the head, arms, and legs, wilh pluraes of feathers of various colors. They have the under lip perforated, in which is introduced a cyhnder of wood, alraost as thick as a writing pen, and three inches long ; the richer class wearing thera of silver ; and in their ears they wear half-raoons of the sarae metal. The men are diligent in hunting, fishing, gathering honey and wild fruits, and in the ma nufacture of arms and canoes. The wom.en spin, manufacture clothes and girdles of cotton, and make cords, mats, &c. They breed all the species of domestic European birds and quadrupeds introduced into the country, and some peculiar to this continent, wilh great attention and care. Agriculture is held in conterapt by them, and meat is their only aliment, which renders their stock of aniraals not over abundant, wilh the exception of horses, which they never eat. Owing to their incessantly riding on horseback, their legs are crooked. They do not use the saddle or stirrups, nor any substitute for them, and their bridles consist of cords. Their war horses are not used for any other purpose, nor do they ever sell thera. The women are mounted on horseback, between bundles of dried grass, upon a cloth, which serves at the same tune for a hous. ing. The Guaycurus are dreaded by the surrounding nations, in consequence of the advantage they have in cavalry in their cruel wars, and the arms which they use, consisting of a club, or staff, of four or five spans in length, and an inch in diame ter ; a lance somewhat thicker, and twelve feet long ; a tras. sado, or large knife ; and the bow and arrow. They are equip ped with all these arms when they proceed upon their war hor ses, in the following manner. They encircle themselves with a cord, between which and the body the club is introduced on the right side, the trassado on the left ; with the left hand they govern the horse, and with the right, wield the lance, which they do not use when they carry the bow and arrow. They also use the lance in their hunting excursions. A year does not elapse without their taking campaigns agauist, and making prisoners of the Guatos, Cayapos, Bororos Xiquitos, Chamoco- cos (the last two are of the province of St. Cruz de la Sierra) Guaxis (who dwell about the heads ofthe Aranhahy,) Coroas, Caiavabas, Guannas, and other tribes. The Guannas are the most nuraerous ; and among them akine, is remarked the culti vation of some hortulans and cotton trees. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 207 INDIAN TRIBES. — GUAYCURTJS. The Guaycurus content themselves with one wife; but the law is free to both parties to effect a separation, and confract a new alliance ; such separations, however, are very rare. They have a general cemetery, which is a large open structure, covered wilh mats, where each family has a part staked off for its use. Above the sepulchres of the men are deposited their bows, arrows, and other arras. Those of distinguished warri. ors are decked with ornaraents. Rich young feraales are dec- orated, as if for the bridal day. They believe in a Creator of all, but to him they pay no kind of homage ; also, in an infe. rior spirit, endowed wilh the knowledge of futurity, whom they denorainate Nanigogigo. They admit the iraraortality of the soul ; but it would appear that they have no idea of future re. compenses proportioned to the conduct of life ; they imagine that the souls of the captains are in a slate of enjoyraent after death, and that those ofthe people wander about the ceraetery. Their diviners acquire raost credit by their pretended famiUar. ity with the Nanigogigo, with which they are supposed to be privileged. It is considered as a beauty araong these people to have no hair upon the eye-brows, being particularly careful to extract it on its appearance. * Their language abounds with words and phrases of soft and easy pronunciation. There is nothing more reraarkable araong the Guaycurus, than the inhuman practice of the mothers in destroying the embryo, until they arrive at the age of thirty, in order to avoid the inconvenience annexed to the birth and rearing of their offspring. The streets of their villages or towns are straight and wide ; the houses are covered with mats of bulrushes. Thay sleep on the ground upon hides, and cover theraselves with the cloths that the women spread over the two bundles of grass between which they ride on horseback. None of their dwelling places are permanent. They are always near some river or lake, and continue while there are game, fish, fruits, and pasturage for the cattle. On experiencing any want, in a moment the town disappears, and the plains previously covered with thou. sands of aniraals, are deserted. On arrivftig at their destined place, another town rises almost in a moment, and the surround. ing carapos, where scarcely a few deer pastured, are, on a sud- den, covered with nuraerous horses, oxen, and flocks of sheep. They manufacture an inebriating drink with honey and water, called chicha. Some express themselves tolerably well in the Portuguese language. 208 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. Another original tribe is the Puries, who, wandering about the great deserts between the sea and the north bank of the Paraiba, extend themselves as far west as the Rio Pomba, in Minas Geraes. In the year 1817 — 18, Prince Maximilian visited a part ofthis tribe, whora he thus describes : " They were all short, not above five feet five inches high ; most of thera, the woraen as well as the men, were broad and strong.limbeii. They were all quite naked, except a few who wore handkerchiefs round their waists, or short breeches, which they had obtained from the Portuguese. Some had their heads entirely shorn ; others had their naturally thick, coal.black hair, cut over their eyes, and hanging down into the neck ; sorae of them had their beards and eye brows cut short. In general, they have but liltle beard ; in most of thera, it forms only a thin circle round the mouth, and hangs down about three inches below the chin. Sorae had painted on their foreheads and cheeks, round red spots with urucu ; on the breast, and arras, on the contrary, they all had dark blue stripes, made of the juice of the genipaba fruit. These are the two colors which are employed by all the Tapuyas. Round the neck, or across the breast and one shoulder, they had rows of hard, black berries strung together, in the middle of which, in front, was a nuraber ofthe eye-teeth of raonkeys, ounces, cats, and wild aniraals. Some of them wore these necklaces without teeth. They have another similar ornament, which appears to be composed of the rind of certain vegetable excrescences, probably the thorns of some shrub. The men carry in theft hands long bows and arrows, which, as well as all their effects, they at our desire bartered for trifles. Two of them had been brought up in their childhood araong the Portuguese, and spoke their language a little. We gave thera knives, rosaries, small looking glasses, and distributed among them some bottles of sugar-brandy, on which they became extremely cheerful and familiar. We informed thera of our intention to visft them in their woods early in the morning, if they would receive us well ; and on our promising also to bring sorae presents with us, they took their leave, highly pleased, and with loud shouts and singing hastened back to their wilds. " The next raorning accordingly, the poor savages, eager for the brandy, were seen early coraing out ofthe woods. They were treated iraraediately with the strong water, and his high ness then accorapanied thera to the forest, where the whole horde had turned out and were lying on the grass. Men, women, and chUdren were huddled together, and contemplated UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 209 INDIAN TRIBES. PURIES. the visiters with curious, but timid looks. They had all adorn ed themselves, we were told, as much as possible. A few of the woraen wore a cloth round the waist or over the breast ; but raost of thein were without any covering. Some of the men had, by way of ornament, a piece ofthe skin ofa monkey, of the kind called mono (ateles,) fastened round their brows ; and we observed also a few who had cut off their hair quite close. The woraen carried their little children partly in ban dages passing over the right shoulder ; others carried thera on their backs, supported by broad bandages , passing over the forehead. This is the manner in which they usuaUy carry their baskets of provisions, wheu they travel. Sorae of the raen and girls were much painted ; they had a red spot on the forehead and cheeks, and some of them red stripes on the face ; others had black stripes lengthwise, and transverse strokes with dots over the hotly ; and many of the little children were marked all over like a leopard, with little black dots. This painting seems to be arbitrary, "and to be regulated by their in dividual taste. Some of the girls wore a certain kind of rib bons round their heads ; and the females in general fasten a bandage of bass or cord lightly round the wrists and ancles, in order, as they say, to make those parts small and elegant. The figure of the men is in general robust, squat, and often very muscular ; the head large and round ; the face broad, with mos'lly high cheek bones; the eyes, black, small, and soraetiraes oblique ; the nose short and broad, and their teeth very white ; but some were distinguished by sharp features, sraall aquiUne noses, and very lively eyes, which in very few of thera have a pleasing look, but in most, a grave, gloomy, and cunning expression, shaded by their projecting foreheads. One ofthe raen was distinguished frora all the rest by his Cal- rauck physiognoray ; he had a large round head, the hair of which was aU cut lo an inch in length, a very muscular, robust body, a short, thick neck, and a broad, flat face ; his eyes, which were placed obliquely, were rather larger tha^ those of the Calmucks usually are, very black, staring, and wild ; the eye-brows were black, bushy, and much arched ; the nose small, but with wide nostrils ; the lips rather thick. This fel low, who, as our attendants said, had never been seen here before, appeared to us all so forraidable, that we unanimously declared we should not like to meet him alone unarmed in a solitary place. " AU the men here carried their weapons, consisting of long bows and arrows in their hands. The bow of the Puries and 210 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. Coroadoes measures six feet and a half, or even more ; ft is smooth, matie of the hard, tough, dark brown wood of the airi palm, and has a string coraposed of fibres of grawatha (brome- lia.) The arrows of the Puries are often above six feel long, made of a firm knotty reed (taquara) which grows in the dry wroods, feathered at the lower extreraity with beautiful blue or red feathers, or with those ofthe peacock — pheasant, or ofthe jacutinga. Those ofthe Coroadoes are made of another reed which has no joints. None of the tribes which I visited on this coast poison their arrows : the ingenuity of these people, who are in the lowest stage of civUization has, happily, uot at tained this art. " When our first curiosity was satisfied, we requested the sav ages to conduct us to their huts. The whole troop preceded, and we followed on horseback. The way led into a valley which crossed the sugar plantations ; it then decreased to a narrow path, till at length, in the thickest of the forest, we came to some huts called cuari, in the language of the Puries. They are certainly some of the most siraple in the world. The sleeping-net, which is made of embira (bass from a kind of ce- cropia,) is suspended between two trunks of trees, to which, higher up, a pole is fastened transversely by means of a rope of bindweed (cipo) against which large palm-leaves are laid obliquely on the windward side, and these are lined below with heliconia or pattioba leaves, and, when near the plantations, with those ofthe banana. Near a small fire ou the ground, lie some vessels ofthe fruit of the cresceniia ciijete, or a few gourd shells, a little wax, various trifles of dress or ornament, reeds for arrows and arrow-heads, sorae feathers and provisions, such as bananas and other fruit. The bows and arrows stand against a tree, and lean dogs rush loudly barking upon the stranger who approaches this solitude. The huts are small, and so ex posed on every side, that when the weather is unfavorable, the brown inraates are seen seeking protection against it by crowding close round the fire, and cowering in the ashes : at other tiraes, the man lies stretched at his ease in his hararaock, while the woraan attends the fire and broils meat, which is stuck on a pointed stick. Fire which the Puries call pote, is a prirae ne cessary of life with all the Brazilian tribes ; they never suffer it to go out, and keep it up the whole night, because they would otherwise, owing to the want of clothing, suffer severely from the cold ; and because it is also attended with the iraportant advantage of scaring all wild beasts from their huls. " As soon as we reached the huts, our exchange of commodi- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 211 INDIAN TRIBES. PURIES. ties was set on foot.' We made the woraen presents of rosa. ries, of which they are particularly fond, though they pulled off the cross, and laughed at this sacred erablera of the catholic church. They have also a strong predilection for red wooUen caps, knives, and red handkerchiefs, and most readUy parted with their bows and arrows in exchange for these articles. The women were very eager after looking-glasses, but they set no value upon scissors. We obtained from thera by bar. ter, a great nuraber of bows and arrows, and several large baskets. The latter are of green palra.leaves interwoven to gether ; below, where they lie against the back, they have a bottora of platted work, and a high border of the sarae on the sides, but are generally open at the top. All the savages fre quently offer for sale large balls of wax, which they coUect when gathering wUd honey. They use this dark brown wax in preparing their bows and arrows, and also for candles, which they sell to the Portuguese. The Tapuyas make these can dles, which burn extremely well, by wrapping a wick of cot ton round a thin stick of wax, then roUing the whole firraly together. They set a high value on their knife, which they fasten to a string round the neck, and let it hang down upon the back ; it frequently consists only of a piece of iron, which they are constantly whetting on stones, and thus keep it very sharp. If you give them a knife, they generally break off the handle, and make another according to their own taste, by put ting the blade between two pieces of wood, which they bind fast together with a string." Rude insensibility, except under the stimulus of physical ap. petite or the passion of revenge, is represented as the most dis tinguishing trait of these savages. One of the horde sold his son to their visiters for a shirt, two knives, a handkerchief, some beads, and some sraall mirrors ; and the boy neither changed countenance at hearing his fate, nor took leave of his friends. They have in general several wives. No idols were seen among thera ; but they recognize in the thunder the voice of a, supreme beuig, whora they call Tupan. Prince Maxirailian says that the Puries would never confess that they eat huraan flesh ; but, that they feast on the bodies of their slaughtered enemies, is at. tested by various witnesses. It certainly is a disgrace to the Brazilian government, that some effectual plan is not adopted to civilize these degraded members of the human race, and to render these fertile and extensive territories subservient to the wants of civilized man. The Puries are the principal tribe 212 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. now remaining in these uncleared regions, and either civiliza tion or their extermination cannot be an event very distant. Botucudoes. There appears to be no doubt that the singular and ferocious tribe to whom the Portuguese gave the name of Botucudoes, are the reraains of the once forraidable Aymores, who, up lo the early part of the eighteenth century, had not ceased to annoy the settlers on this part of the coast. In the year 1758, they suddenly appeared in great strength, and made cruel havoc araong the Portuguese, till driven back by the aid of the Coroado Indians. The very name of Aymores or Bo tucudoes still inspires the colonists with sentiments of horror and apprehension, as these savages have the character, gener. ally, of cannibals. The name Botucudo was given them by the Portuguese on account of the large pieces of wood which they wear inserted in each ear and the under lip. They call themselves, Engerekmoung, and are much displeased at being spoken of by their nickname. The first Botucudoes that Prince Maximilian saw, which was at Vicoza, astonished him, he says, beyond all expression. We had never before seen such strange and singularly ugly beings. The lower lip was made by the botoque to project very much, and the ears of sorae of them hung, like large wings, down to their shoulders. Their brown bodies were covered with dirt. One of their lead ers wore plugs ofthis description four inches in diameter ; and in the skull of a young Botucudo, which his highness was so fortunate as to obtain for Professor Blumenbach, the wood had not only pushed the lower fore teeth out of their places, but etren pressed together and effaced the sockets of the teeth. The women wear the botoque as well as the men, but theirs are generaUy smaUer, and Prince Maxirailian adds, " more elegant." A recent feraale traveller gives the following description ofa party of Botucudoes, who carae to Praya Grande in the bay of Rio, on a visit, during her residence in the capital. " We saw about six men and ten woraen, with some young children. Their faces were rather square, with very high cheek bones, and low contracted foreheads. Some of the young women were really pretty, of a light copper color, which glows all over when they blush ; and two of the young raen were deci dedly handsome, wfth very dark eyes, (the usual color of the eyes is hazel,) and aquiline noses ; the rest were so disfigured by the holes cut in their lower lips and their ears, to receive their barbarous ornaments, that we could scarcely tell what they were like. I had understood that the privilege of thus UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER 213 INDIANS. BOTUCUDOES. beautifying the face was reserved for the men, but the women of this party were actually disfigured. We purchased from one of the raen a raouth-pioce, measuring an inch and a half in diameter. The ornaraents used by these people are pieces of wood perfectly circular, which are inserted into the slit of the lip or ear, like a button, and are extremely frightful, espe. cially when eating. It gives the mouth the appearance of an ape's, and the peculiar mumping it occasions, is so hideously un. natural, that it gives credit to, if it did not originally suggest, the stories of cannibalism. Their mouth is still more ugly with. out the lip.piece, the teeth appearing, and saliva running through. Wilh regard to the horrid mutilation of the countenance by the botoque, it appears to be not peculiar to these Indians, though they seera to excel in the pilch of deforraity to which they have carried it. Prince Maxirailian raade particular inquiry respecting the origin of this custora, and we shall give the sub. stance of his observation. The age at which this operation is performed on the child, va. ries at the pleasure of the parent, but it is in general, when he is seven or eight years old ; soraetimes earlier. For this purpose, the lobes of the ears and the lower lip are stretched ; the holes are then raade with a sharp pointed stick or skewer, and very sraall pieces of wood are at first insert. ed, which afterwards give place to larger and larger lill the de. sired elongation is perfectetl. The wood used is that ofthe bar rigudo, or wool.tree, which is lighter than cork, and, when care. fully dried before the fire, becomes very white. Extremely light, however, as these plugs are, they weigh down the lip in old persons ; in younger ones, they give il a horizontal direc tion, or a little raised, the lip itself appearing only Uke a thin ring encircling the botoque. These plugs may be removed at pleasure ; the lip then falls, and shows the lower teeth through the hole. The constant pressure and friction of the botoque, however, soon displaces the teeth of the under-jaw, and between twenty and thirty, the Botucudo has frequently none to shew. Their national ornaraent is, raoreover, extreraely troublesome at meals, and renders the operation of eating, a spectacle not a little disgusting. The other ornaments of the Botucudoes are, necklaces made of hare berries'or the teeth of animals, which are worn chiefly by the women, and diadems or bunches of feathers, which some- times distinguish their chiefs. They also occasionally paint their bodies black, and their faces red ; it is not stated whether 19 214 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BRAZIL. this is their full dress, or their railitary costume, but it heightens tho farouche effect of their appearance. Round the neck, eve ry Botucudo wears, attached to a strong cord, his raost pre cious jewel, a knife. Unlike the indigenous tribes of Peru and Mexico, they appear to have no notion of any ornamental arts or raanufactures. Indolence is a predominant trait in their character, notwithstanding that they are capable of so extraor dinary a degree of physical exertion ; but their indolencre does not degenerate into torpor, for, adds Prince MaximUian, they are gay, facetious and ready to converse. Their huts and utensils reserable those of the Puries, except that the Botucu- does differ from thera, as well as from the greater part of the South American tribes, in not sleeping in nets or haramocks, but on the ground, the bark of trees supplying thera with a rude bed. They have no canoes, nor any notion of navigation ; but Southey is mistaken in representing that they cannot The religious ideas of such a people must of necessity be of the grossest kind : what they are, is but imperfectly known. They believe in malignant demons great and sraall, who are distinguished as Jantshong Gipakiou and Janichong Coudge. The fear of a great deraon renders them unwilling to pass the night in the forests alone, for which reason they prefer march- ing in companies. They hold the moon in high veneration, at tributing to her influence the chief phenoraena in nature ; in particular, thunder and lightning. Like the greater part of mankind, they have a tradition of a general deluge. When a Botucudo dies, he is interred in his hut, or near it, and the spot is then abandoned. The hands of the corpse are tied, and the body laid out at full lenglh Neither arras nor provisions are interred with it, from which it would seem that they have no distinct idea of a future state such as the Indians of North America conteraplate ; but for sorae time, a fire is kept burning at each corner of the grave, to scare away the evil spirits. The Tupinambas also tied together the hands and feet of theft dead, but they placed the corpse in an erect posture. Wheth- er this precaution was meant to prevent their getting out of the grave, and doing further raischief, does not appear. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 215 PERU. 3. PERU. Peru lies south of Colombia and Brazil, having an area of "230,000 square railes and a population of 1,600,000. These are divided iulo Creoles, or Spanish Araericans, Mestizoes, Eu ropean Spaniards, Negroes, Mulattoes, and native Indians. Tlie Creoles, or Spanish Americans, are divided into two classes ; the first are nobles, who are descended frora the con querors ; the second, are descended from the officers of the governrnent and private adventurers, who have come to the country since the conquest. Among the former are Counts, Marquises, Mayorasgos or Barons, and Knights of different mUitary orders, and these of course hold the first rank in soci ety. They are all possessed of independent fortunes, which they inherit from their ancestors. The education of both class es is generally superior to that of their fathers, but the educa tion of the nobles is very irregular. The oldest sons succeed to the title and estate, and the younger sons are Curas and canons, fiUing the various stations in the army and the church. For these stations more learning is requisite, and they are gen eraUy much better educated than their older brothers. The sons ofthis class ordinarily pursue the profession of their fa thers ; they are lawyers, clergymen, Mineros, or proprietors of mines, and owners of Haciendas, or large plantations and establishments for cultivating Coca (the tobacco ofthe Indians,) and raaking wine, brandy, &c., and on which there are several Indian families attached to the soil, and to the personal service of the landlord. The prof ession ofthe Law is considered the most honorable, and is the most lucrative. The lawyers of Peru amass large fortunes in a few years' practice, and the profession is a step ping stone lo public office. The clergy in this country some- tiraesjpraetice the law, it forraing a part of their education ; and both lawyers and clergyraen are well acquainted with the pro fession. The lawyers display great abUity in drafting memo rials or pleadings, and eloquence in speaking before the judi cial tribunals. The want of printing deprives the world of their speeches, some of which are in no wise inferior to those of the most celebrated lawyers of France. In their writing 416 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PERU. and speaking, they adopt the French manner, as they are Let. ter acquainted with the literature of that country. The Creoles are possessed of an independent spirit ; and they hale and despise the Spaniards : they form by far the most en lightened portion ofthe community. Their master passions are the love of knowledge, and a luxurious and splendid mode of life, and they spare no pains to furnish themselves with books, sumptuous furniture, and articles of luxury. And therefore, there is carried to Peru the most splendid furniture of every kind, frora the first-rate workshops of France, England, Germa. ny, and Italy. Gold and sUver are eraployed profusely in fit ting out the trappings of their horse equipage, and in furnishing their houses ; the vessels in the raost coraraon use, of the kitch en and bed-charaber, being made of sUver. Their houses con tain a drawing-roora and dining-roora, furnished wfth clocks, chandeliers, looking-glasses, &c. ofwhich they are very fond, and a roora for a library. The drawing-rooms of the nobility are covered wfth velvet, erabroidered wilh gold ; they have tables of solid silver, and their window curtains, which are of velvet, are fringed with gold lace. Their tables are covered with a great profusion of dishes, cooked after the French and Spanish mode. They eat abundance of sweetraeats, raade from the fine fruits of the country. At the tables of the nobility, there are always a great number of guests called " commensa les. This mode of Ufe, which is owing to the generous and hospitable character of the Creoles, who are born to indepen dent fortunes, often degenerates into wasteful prodigaUty and dissipation. They are inveterate garablers, winning and losing a raoderate fortune in a single night. In the interior cities, where there are no theatres or public places of arauseraent, lo which the weallhy an 1 idle can resort to kill tirae, they fly to the card table to rid themselves of ennui, that tormenting foe to the children of fortune in the Soulh. Cards are the usual instruraents of this vicious sport, which has always been en couraged by the Spanish government, as they enjoyed the mo nopoly of their sale. The ladies of Peru dress in a very splendid manner, wear ing the most fine cambrics and laces of Flanders, and other rich stuffs of Europe ; their wardrobes are filled with these costly articles. Thoy are profuse in the use of perfumery, which is manufactured in great delicacy and perfection by the nuns. But what principally attracts their attention is jewelry. The European ladies when they arrive here, present a singular con- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 217 MESTIZOES CHOLOS. trast to the ladies ofthe country. The Peruvian ladies cover theraselves wilh jewels ; every lady generally wears two thou sand dollars worth, at least, such as ring,', pearl necklaces, corabs studded with briUianls, finger rings of gold and brilliants, and rosaries of pearls and diaraonds. This renders the differ ence very striking, and the Peruvians call the European ladies " Chapetona latonada," — copper woraen. The Mestizoes are descendants of whites and Indians, and forra the third class in Peru. They are generally possessed of moderate fortunes ; they carry on the internal coraraerce of the country, and are the superintendents ofthe great possessions of the raen of wealth. Their education is generally Umited to reading and writing, although they have a thirst for knowledge, and are anxious to obtain a liberal education. They are dis tinguished for the vivacity of their intellect, and those few who are well educated, are superior to all the other classes. They are more attached to the Creoles lhan to the Europeans, and differ very Uttle from them ; and although their education is ir regular, they supply the deficiency by the quickness of their parts. Their dress is very siraUar to that of the Creoles or Spaniards. The Cholos are the descendants of Mestizoes and the Indians. They have little or no education, and can scarcely speak the Spanish language. Their coraplexion is darker than that of ei ther of the preceding classes, and raore agreeable and expres sive ; with sraall but piercing black eyes,jand sraall beard. Their dress is a short sailor jacket or roundabout ; and breeches without stockings ; and with a square piece of cloth like a shawl, worn o*er the shoulders, crossed on the breast, and one end thrown over the left shoulder. The women dress after the fashion ofthe Creole ladies, in fine colored woollens, instead of silks, without bonnets, covering their heads with shawls. The different ranks of society in this country may always be known by their dress. The Cholo women are the chamber maids and nurses of the wealthy Creoles and Spaniards. The men are generally the raechanics ofthe country, understanding the art of dying, and of making gold and silver leaf, which are articles of great profit and deraand. They are miners and are equally skilful in this as in every other department of industry. The Cholos are very fond of gymnastic exercises, and bull- baiting. They have great strength and agiUty of body, and delight in fighting wMd beasts. They display the same sereni- 19* 218 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PERU, ty and activity in the bull feasts of the country as in war. Bull. bating is a comraon diversion in Peru, as in all the Spanish do. minions, and the Cholos particularly delight in it, taking an ac tive part in the performance. The performances open by a fierce bull appearing in the arena. The first athleter receives the furious beast on horse. back, with a pike of three yards in length, with which he stabs hira in the head and neck to irritate hira to greater fury ; the beast foaming at the raouth, and bellowing in a most frightful manner. Afterwards, seven or eight raen enter on foot, with small sticks loaded with rockets, which are discharged at the bull. A quarter of an hour is thus spent in horrid combat, when a man enters with a large sword to despatch the half deail aniraal. In these sports raen and horses are not unfrequently slain. Someliraes the Cholos raount astride of the bull, and goad hira with spears, at the same time playing upon the guitar; and they will steadily and firraly maintain their posftion as well as if mounted on horseback, notwithstanding the furious and desperate plunges of the tormented aniraal. The European Spaniards corae next in order. In Peru, there are probably between 7000 and 8000, but it is irapossible to tell the precise nuraber, as no census is ever taken. Of these, many corae out as officers under the governraent ; others as private adventurers, who accuraulate large fortunes by a rigid economy, and oflen by intermarriage wilh the daughters ofthe weallhy raerchants and planters of the country. The most stupid and ignorant Spaniard is preferred to the Creoles, who are caUed idlers and garablers. They hold exclusively all the lucrative offices, and enjoy the favor and protection ofthe gov. ernment, and monopolize all the foreign coramerce ; they are continually in contention with the Creoles, and they mutually hate and despise each other. They are warraly and stub. bornly attached to their native country, and in the" late revolu. tion they frequently burst asunder the bonds of natural affec tion and conjugal love ; fathers separating from their sons, and husbands from their wives. All their education consists in reading, writing, and the elements of arithmetic ; and their re. ligion is a blind and bigoted devotion to popery. The Negroes are comparatively an insignificant portion of the population of Peru. They are principally slaves and are owned more for ostentation than use. They follow their masters and mistresses in rich dresses to church, and to pubUc UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 219 MULATTOES INDIANS. arauseraents. They are not so much an article of coraraerce in the interior of Peru, as in Buenos Ayres, Lima, and Moque guea ; but when once introduced into a faraily, they regularly descend from father to son. On the Pacific coast, from Arica to Lima, slaves are nuraerous, and on the sugar plantations, in the breweries and manufactories, they are treated with great severfty ; to send a negro to IMoqueguea is, in his iraagination, to send him to the infernal regions. The Mulattoes are not numerous ; they are generally free, and of bad character. They are much addicted to thieving ; are sycophantic in their manners, and very submissive and ob sequious to the whites. Their occupation is generally in the fields and mines. The prisons of the country are very com monly tenanted by these persons, whUe an Indian is rarely seen in them. Iri Liraa, and on the coast of Peru, the raulat toes differ from those of the interior, being better educated, and possessed of considerable property. The Peruvian Indians are generally of raiddle stature, and well proportioned ; their general coraplexion is a copper color, although in the warmer regions they are as fair as the people ofthe Soulh of Europe. They have long black hair, which they wear loose on their shoulders, when attending upon reU gious exercises ; they have no beards ; they possess great muscular strenglh, which is owing to their temperate mode of life and constant exercise; all the heavy work ofthe country being performed by them without the aid of raachinery. They will carry on their shoulders 150 lbs. weight of every kind of heavy articles, after the fashion of the Israelites. The raag nificent raonuraents of antiquity in Cuzco, which are built of stones, sorae raeasuring from 10 to 15 yards in length, and which were brought from great distances, are the work of the Indians, and proofs of their great muscular strength ; and the grand temples and structures of modern tiraes, which are built of granite, were erected by thera without the use of raachinery. The high roads, causeways, aqueducts, bridges, paintings, sculpture, &c. &c. are the work of their hands. Their food is ofthe raost innocent and simple kind ; it consists of potatoes, milk, maize, quinoa, a fine grain, chunu, or dried potatoes, bar ley, pepper, and vegetables, dressed with salt, which they use in abundance. They eat a little beef They use freely a bit ter herb they call Coca, which they chew, as the people ofthis country do tobacco, and ft seems as indispensable to Iheir com- 220 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. fort. They rise in the morning before the break of day, the year round, and go into the field to their daily work ; sorae to tend cattle, and others to cultivate the ground. They sleep on the floor of their cabins, without beds. They dress in a short woollen frock and short breeches or drawers, which are manu factured in their own families ; they wear sandals similar to those worn by the Romans ; their head dress is a woollen cap, and over it a bonnet, with a broad brim to protect them from the sun. The dress of ihe women is a long woollen frock, frequently extreraely fine, and of every variety of color to gratify female caprice ; this is fastened round the waist with an ornaraented girdle, and over it they wear a square piece of cloth, or shawl, which is fastened on the bosom by a sUver pin, called toupo, from 4 to 5 inches in lenglh, flattened at the head, and sorae tiraes studded with gems. The girls wear their dress higher than the raarried woraen. The catholic rosaries and the cross are always appendages to their dress. They, for the raost part, live out of the great towns, fearing all white raen, who do not speak their language, and who, too often, defraud and op press thera. The Indian is raild and patient in his disposftion, and suffers every vexation without coraplaint ; retired in his cabin, he finds himself happy when at a distance from the Spaniards. Their houses are constructed to suit the climate, of a conic figure, with one door, and without windows ; they are built of unbaked brick. Their beasts of burden are the Llama and the Ass. The Llama is a slow motioned aniraal, well suited to the genius of the Indian. In travelling, the Indian slowly follows the steps of his Llama, raaking his day's journey of about three leagues. The raale and feraale Indians, as they travel along the roads, are constantly eraployed in some work of industry, making cords or sewing. They are never idle. The Indians possess great skill in agriculture, and particu larly in irrigation. In some districts, water is conveyed in aqueducts of stone, with great facUity, for a distance of twenty miles. They are not subject to diseases like the European Spaniards ; an Indian of thirty, is called a boy ; they are never afflicted with the tooth-ache, and never wear spectacles. They possess a peculiar talent at foUowing the track of their own do- mestic animals ; if a llama escapes from its flock, its owner will pursue it, distinguishing its footsteps from those of every other aniraal of the same species, for any distance ; they are very fond of dogs, and keep great numbers — a single Indian UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 221 AGRICULTURE. COMMERCE. AMUSEMENTS. soraetiraes forty. They are remarkable for their fldelity to their masters, and preserve with great care every thing entrust ed to thera ; they never steal, are good husbands and fathers, know no dissolution ofthe raarriage bonds, never forget an act of kindness, and are naturally generous and hospitable.* The principal source of wealth to Peru is ils raines ; these are worked by a very different class of persons frora those of Mexico. In the latter country, raining is carried on by per sons of fortune and distinction, on a great scale ; but in Peru the miner is generally an adventurous speculator, who trades with borrowed funds, and is subject to great disadvantages. The ores are extremely rich, yielding frora five to fifty pounds of sUver, for every hundred weight of ore. The annual raean produce of the gold and silver raines of Peru, Huraboldt esti raated at 6,000,000 of doUars. Peru is the only part of Span ish America which produces quick silver in abundance ; it is found in whftish raasses reserabling ill burnt brick. The fa mous mercury mine of Guancanelica, is situated in the moun tain of Santa Barbara. The bottora ofthis raine is 13,805 feet above the level of the sea ; so that the rainers work in a point 1,640 feet higher than the sumraft ofthe peak of Tenneriffe. Agriculture seldom flourishes in mining countries ; this is pre-erainenlly true of Peru. Ils soil is far frora being fertUe, and the few advantages which it possesses, are sadly neglected. Many of the towns on the western coast, besides Liraa, are obliged to depend on ChiU for their provisions. Tlie commerce of Peru is not extensive. Its exports are gold and silver, wine, brandy, sugtir, Jesuits bark, fine wool of the vicunna, or sheep of the Andes, &c. The iraportations are European goods, live stock, provisions, furniture, tallow, indi- go, &c. Its trade is carried on with Europe, the East Indies, Mexico, Guateraala, Chili, and the provinces of Rio de la Plata. Araong the amusements of the Peruvians are dancing, music, bull-fights, and cock-fighting. The means of education are extremely lirafted. The religion is Roman Catholic. The governraent is republican, and in its form, similar to that of the United Stales. * Letters on the United Provinces of South Ameiica. 222 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BOLIVIA. 4. BOLIVIA. In our progress south from Peru, we meet with Bolivia a Republic comprehending seven Provinces or Departraents, and so called, in honor of the celebrated Simon Bolivar, who wrest ed il from the dominion of the Spaniards in 1824. Its consfi- tution was adopted in 1826. It forraerly belonged to Peru, and was called Upper Peru. Its length frora N. N. E. to S. S. W. is about 1,140 miles. The population of Bolivia is esfimated at 1,300,000 a por tion of whora are Indians, who are represented to be of errant and warlike dispositions, particularly the Chiquitos. The oth er inhabftants so strongly reserable the corresponding classes of Peru, that a particular description of them would be super fluous. The principle objects of interest in Bolivia to travellers Uke ourselves, are the city and raines of Potosi, to a brief view of which we raust lirait our survej'. Potosi is situated in the centre of the Province of the same narae, 1650 railes frora Buenos Ayres, 1215 miles from Liraa, and 300 frora the coasl of the Pacific. It stands at the base of the raountain of Potosi, and yet ils elevation above the level of the sea is estiraated at 1 1,000 feet, nearly twice as high as the White HiUs of New Hampshire. The figure of the mountain is conical, and is covereti wfth green, red, yellow and blue spots, which give it a very curious appearance ; it reserables no other mountain in the world ; it is entirely destitute of trees or shrubs. With its suburbs it was forraerly nearly three leagues in circuraference ; but it is now greatly reduced both as to extent and population. The latier raany years since was estimated variously from 40,000 to 70,000, anil even as high as 100,000 ; but later authorities reduce this nuraber to 12,000 or 15,000. The streets of the city are narrow and irregular. The houses are uniforraly of one story, built of stone and bricks, with bal- conies of wood, and without chiraneys. Each house contains a drawing room, dining roora, bed-rooms &,c. and each servant has his separate apartra:'nt. The climate of Potosi is very cold ; and for the distance of twelve miles around the city, there are no trees or shrubbery of any kind, and nothing vegetates, except a species of green UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 223 moss. The raarkets, however, are abundantly supplied from the country, provisions being brought on llamas, asses and mules, thousands cf which may be seen of a raorning winding their way towards the city with their burdens. This city is rauch frequented by strangers from different parts of the country ; it is a place of great gayety and dissi pation. There are no theatres, and the principal amusements for all classes is gambling ; and faro-banks and bUUard tables are scattered all over the city. The city is immensely rich in gold and silver ; money is wfthin the reach of every body, and very abundant, as raay be supposed, when more than #10,000 are coined every day, the year round. The Azogueros* are extremely profuse in their expendftures, squandering their enor mous wealth with the same liberal hand with which it is poured into their lap. As the source of their wealth is in their inex haustible mines, and if poor to-day, they may be rich to-mor row, their habits become essentially different from those of the merchant or manufacturer, whose profits depend upon calcula tion and economy. The manufactures of this city are in a wretched state, being confined principally to the making of leather, hats, and tools frora imported steel which is sold at an enorraous price. The leather is raade frora goat-skins, which are of superior quaUty and very abundant here. Gold leaf is also manufactured in great quantities. This article is much used in tho churches, and the candles even are gilded before they are lighted ; and in the private houses of the rich, the leaves of the flowers which they have in great abundance in their drawing rooms, are often gilded with gold leaf There are no carriages in this city, and when the ladies take the air, it is on the backs of horses or mules, or in sedan chairs, which are very common. There are persons here whose profession it is to teach the mules and horses to travel with an easy gait, for the ladies. There is another mode of travelling which is curious ; a chair is fixed on poles which are laid across the backs of two mules, and in which two or three persons frequently ride. The C<3untess of Casa Real, a few years ago, attempted to introduce coaches into the city, but the first time her carriage was drove into the street, it was fairly ran away with by the mules, and dashed to pieces against the Church. This city is sftuated on the side of * In Mexico, the jliiog^weros, according to Humboldt, are miners, or those who are employed in the amalgamation of metals. In Peru these persons are called ^enejis/adorei. 224 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BOLIVIA. the lower part of the mountain, in the valley at the foot of it, and is altogether too steep and irregular to adrait of wheel car riages.* The silver mine found in ihe mountain of Potosi has rendered this place celebrated throughout the world. It was discovered in 1545, by a Peruvian Indian, naraed Hualpa, who in pursu ing sorae goats up the mountain laid hold of a bush, whose roots giving away, disclosed a large vein of silver. For a tirae, Hualpa concealed the knowledge of his discovery even from his friends — but his sudden and abounding wealth exciting the suspicions of his Indian friends, they at length induced him to reveal the secret to them. Not long after, upon an occasion of quarrelling with Hualpa, the latier made known the exis- tence of the mine to his master, who was a Spaniard. It was iraraediately registered, and has been wrought from that date to the present time. Such is the coramon story of the manner in which this mine was first discovered : bul Pazos in his letters on South Araerica states that in Potosi, " thepeople say the first discoverer was not Hualpa, but Potocchi, Potosi, or Potocsi, frora whom the mountain takes its name." The quantity of silver which has been obtained from the raines of Potosi can probably never be accurately estiraated It has been iramense, and though the mines are not so productive as formerly, millions are yet annually obtained. The follow ing is the estimate of Bell, of the produce of these mines, to the year 1803. Years. From 1545 to 1556 — 1556 to 1578 — 1578 to 1736 — 1736 to 1789 — 1789 to 1803 Marks. 15,000,000 5,765,827 71,818,686 15,074,044 5,411,764 Years. Marks. Total in 258 years 1 13,070,321 Allowance of the value of the piastre before 1600 26,351,765 Add one-fourth ofthe above total registered produce ibr contraband 34,738,110 Total of registered and imre- eistered produce extracted irom the mines of Potosi, from 1545 to 1803. 174,160,196 Dollars. 127,500,000 49,009,530 610,458,835 128,129,374 46,000,000 Dollars. 961,097,739 220,000,000 295,274,435 Pounds Sterling. 28,687,500 11,027,1445s. 137,353,237 17s. 6d. 28,829,109 10,350,000 Pounds Sterling. 216,246,991 10s. 49,500,000 67,436,649 1,476,372,174 332,183, 749 lis. 8Jd. * Pazos' Letters on South America. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 225 MINES OF POTOSI. " The raost flourishing period of the raines of Potosi, during the period frora 1556 to 1789, was that frora 1585 to 1606. For several successive years, the royal fifth amounted to 1,500,000 dollars, which supposes a produce of 1,490,000 or 882,000 marks, according as we estiraate the piastre at I3ior 8 reals, equivalent to 12,665,000 or 7,497,000 dollars. After 1606, the produce gradually dirainished, especially since 1694. From 1606 to 1688, the annual produce was never below 350,- 000 raarks, or 3,015,000 dollars. During the latier half of the 18th century, il generally supplied frora 300,000 to 400,- 000 raarks, an yearly produce this, loo considerable to allow us to advance, wilh Robertson, that these mines are no longer worth working. They are not, indeed, the first in the known world, but they raay stUl be ranked iraraediately after those of Guanaxuato, in Mexico. That they do not yield so rauch as formerly, is not at all owing to their exhaustion, but to the ignorance of the Spanish miners, by whose unskilful raanage ment most of the pits are allowed to remain full of water. Steam engines, the powers of which are so well understood in this country, are here wholly unknown. In the opinion of Helms, the mines of Potosi might easily be made, wilh raoderate skill and raanageraent, to yield 20,000,000, or even 30,000,000 dol lars annually. In addition to 2,000 Indians eraployed as mi ners, there are 15,000 glaraas, and 15,000 mules, eraployed in carrying the ore from the mountain of Potosi to the amalgama tion works." The process of separating the metals from their ores is thus de scribed by Wilcocke: "The ores are first reduced to a fine powder or flower by hammers ; soraetimes, in order to render them raore friable, they are previously roasted, in an oven or furnace. The powder is sifted through fine iron or copper sieves which are large, and handled by four or five Indians ; the fine powder is taken away for amalgamation, and the coarse is returned to the mill. The ore is sometimes pulverized dry, and soraetiraes with water ; if dry, it is afterwards wet. and well kneaded with the feet for a considerable tirae, which is done by the Indians. The mud is then laid upon a floor in square parcels of a foot thick, each containing about 2500 weight, and these masses are called cuerpos or bodies. On these heaps about 200 pounds of comraon salt are thrown, which is moulded and incorporated witb the metallic mud for two or three days. After this, the proportion of mercury which is judged proper, is added to the mass. The quantfty 20 22ff UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BOLIVIA. of mercury used depends uponthe supposed richness of the ore. They generally allow from four and an half to six pounds of mercury to one pound of silver. The masses are now stirred eight or ten limes a day in order to promote the chemical ac- tion, and to accelerate the amalgamation of the mercury and silver ; and for this purpose, lime is also frequently addeti, and somelimes lead or lin ore. In cold weather this process of amalgaraation goes on slowly, so that they are often obliged to stir the raass, during a raonth or six weeks. When the silver is supposed to be all collected, the raass is carried to the Tinas del Lavadero, or vats, made of stone or wood, and lined with leather, inlo which a current of water is directed, to wash off the earth. There are coramonly three vats through which the mineral is passed, and the same process is performed in each. When the water runs off clear, the amalgam is found al the hot. tora of the vats. This is put in a woollen bag, and hung up for the quicksilver to drain out ; it is then beat with flat pieces of wood, and pressed by a weight laid upon it ; when as much of the quicksilver as can be got out by this mean.?, is expelled,. they put the paste or residuum into a mould of wood, raade in the form ofa pyramid, at the bottora ofwhich is a copper plate full of holes ; after it has become hard, the mould is taken off and the raass with its copper bottora is placed over a vessel of water, and is covered with an earthen ct-p or reversed crucible, on which ignited charcoal is placed in order to evaporate the quicksilver, some part of which is collected by the cap with which the mass is covered, and is saved. After the evapora. tion, there remains a lump of grains of silver, which require to be fused before they become united into one mass ; they are then cast into ingots, which are stamped. The ingots are cast in a pyramidal form when desiined for the mftil ; if intended for'privale use, they are moulded into a variety of fancy figures according to individual taste, and are frequently employed to ornament the houses of the proprietors of the mines. In these tedious and rude processes of amalgamation, it is calculated that one third at least of the silver is lost, and twice the tirae and ex. pense incurred, which would be necessary, in a more enlighten. ed raode, to coraplete the operation. Of the raercury it is im. possible to say how mueh is wasted, but according to Humboldt, Xhe Azogueros of Mexico, by whom metaUurgy is much better understood, lose in general from eleven to fourteen ounces of mercury for every eight ounces of silver. The beneficiadores of Potosi, are by far the most skilful of aU Upper Peru. In the other provinces, instead of triturating wheels, they use UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 227 BUENOS ATRES. grindstones to pulverize the ores, and every other operation is equally rude and slovenly. The mode I have described, is the only one practised in Potosi, in extracting the raetals from their ores, and the chemical principles upon which the various pro cesses depend, are probably not at all understood by those who have practised thera for many years." Our remarks upon Bolivia, few as they have been, raust here be brought lo a close To-raorrow, in resuraing the story of our wanderings, we expect to have passed lo a lalftude still more southern, and to speak of a country far more interesting. 5. BUENOS ATRES. This immense country is bounded north by Bolivia'; east by Paraguay, the river La Plata, and the Atlantic Ocean ; south by the Atlantic and Patagonia, and west by Chili and the Pa cific. Its extreme length is 1660 raUes, and its breadih 1060. A great part ofthe territory consists of vast plains called pam pas. They coramence at 73 miles west from Buenos Ayres, and extend upwards of 1200 miles in lenglh, and 500 in breadth. Hence the population of Buenos Ayres is small in comparison with its territory. It is computed al two millions, consisting of descendants of Spaniards, Indians, Negroes, and Mulattoes. Persons, dispositions and. manners of the native, or Spanish inhabitants of Buenos Ayres. — "It might be supposed," ob- 'serves the author ofa Five Years Residence in Buenos Ayres, " from the latitude in which this city is'sftualed, that the faces and general appearance of ihe natives would partake of a dusky hue; as regards the male sex, this is certainly the case, though here and there the reverse is seen. Of the females, however, many can boast a countenance of roses and lilies equal lo those ofa colder climate. Amongst the muratto cast, there are some pretty girls. I have noticed that some distinc tions are kept up, the word mulatto being often used as a term of reproach ; this is illiberal. One or two families of red haireti children are rather remarkable in a country wll^fe the •darker hue predorainates. I really thought they were of 'Scotch extraction, till I was informed to the contrary." It is rarely we see, in Buenos Ayres, a person marked wilh the small pox, vaccination being generaUy practised ; and there are 228 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUKNOS AYRES. very fe-^ deformed people. Indeed, the generality of thera raay be called handsorae. The young men are well grown, possess good figures, and their manners fender them truly agreeable. Faces may be seen here of female beauty, worthy a pain ter's study ; — the intelligent dark eye, polished forehead, and persons moulded by grace itself England is called the land of beauty, and it deserves its narae ; but beauty is not pecu liar lo England alone. Buenos Ayres contains within its walls as rauch loveliness as imagination can dream of. The stately elegance of walk, for which the Spanish ladies are so remarkable, is in no place more conspicuous than ia Buenos Ayres ; and it is not confined to the upper class — fe males of all descriptions possess il ; one must therefore con clude il not to be an acquired accomplishment. If my fair coun- try women would deign to imitate thera in this respect, and get ri(l of that ungraceful postman-like pace they now have, I should love thera all the better. The inhabitants possess a happy menlum between French vivacity and English reserve. An Englishman feels at horae with them ; for should he be deficient in the language, he need not fear that his blunders will be laughed at. In sickness, they are proverbial for their kind altention, as many of my countryraen have experienced, preparing every little delicacy they think will please. It is only to know these people, to es teera thera. The enthusiasra with which the Spaniards regard the feraale sex, like most other things, has, doubtless, been exaggerated. In Buenos Ayres, if they have not exactly caught this enthusi asra, they have done belter; their attentions are founded on real respect lo the virtues of the sex, aud are therefore raore likely to last. The character given to the Spaniards, of all descriptions, for jealousy of their feraales, must have been either fabulous, or a great change has taken place ; fiir nothing approaching to it can be observed in their descendants here. The gentleraen conduct themselves with the mosl marked politeness towards the females, paying thera the greatest attention and respect. I have heard it asserted, that they make negligent husbands. In every populous city, no doubt, many of this class are to be found ; but those Buenos Ayrean husbands whom I have the pleasure of knowing, seera devotedly attached to their wives, behaving with a tenderness not every day found even in Eng land, that land of domestic felicity. The ladies appear equal in affection ; and are kind and ten- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. m HABITS AND MANNERS. ¦der mothers. It is pleasing to see the care and fondness they bestow on their children. A stranger need not be a day in Buenos Ayres without discovering this ; and such traits speak> voluraes. They do not follow the unraotheriy practice of put ting their infants out to nurse, thinking it no disgrace to suckle •their own offspring. In ray opinion, there is as fair a propor tion of married happiness in this cfty, as can be found in those that bear a narae of being more domesticated. The compliraents of salutation are rauch the same as in Eng land, with the gentleraen, viz. the good old hearty shake of the hand. The French erabrace ofthe males, kissing each other, is not foUowed ; for which I atn belter pleased. Much as I esteem ray friends of Buenos Ayres, I wish no other lhan fe male lips to touch ray cheek. The salutation of the feraales, on bidding adieu for long journeys, or on .returning from one, is kissing and embracing each other ; in this respect, they dif fer bul Ultle from Brftish females — perhaps a little more fer vent I have seen ladies when returned from a voyage to Monte Video, hug their old black servant who has come to meet them on the beach, wilh all the ardor of affection, so dif- .ferent from our notions of propriety. i Should a lady be seized wfth a fit of yawning, she crosses herself with the mosl burlesque sanctity. The style in which they cross themselves, requires a rehearsal to understand it ; ¦they touch the cheeks, chin, and bosom, quick with the thumb, or, as a miUtary raan would denominate it, in double quick time. Sraoking cigars is a general practice. I might alraosl add, wilh men, woraen, and children ; the ladies of the better class, always excepted, though report says, they wiU, in secret, take the luxury of a cigar. Here, boys of eight, nine, and ten years of age, may be seen smoking. The English soon get inlo -the fashion; and most of them are as fond of the cigar as the natives, who are smoking from the time they get up, until they go to bed. If they ride on horseback, a cigar is in their mouths. Should they alight in the streets, it is only to stop the first person they meet ^racking, to obtain one. I have often srailed to see a first rate Creolian dandy lighting his segar from that of some dirty black fellow. Havana segars are the favorites, bul they are dear, and not at all tiraes to be had in perfection. The paper ones, or se gars de Hoja, made from the tobacco leaf, are mostly used, and by many preferred. The manufacture of thera affords em- ployment to a great many people, including females. ¦So refined are their ideas of politeness, that a person smok- 20* 230 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYBES. ing invariably takes the cigar from his niouth when passing another in the street. In another branch of politeness, Buenos Ayres is not out. done, even by Pa'ris itself; viz. the constant custom of taking off the bat when meeting each other in the street. The Eng lish mode of touching the hat is too groom and footman-like to be followed here ; their's is taken entirely from the head ; and, when in corapliraent to ladies, they reraain uncovered untft the objects of their politeness have passed. It is raanaged grace fully — reraoving the hat from behind, sirailar to those who are accustoraed to wear wigs ; il raay be, to save the fronts from dilapidation, which such continual calls on thera would occa. sion. The plant called yerba, the growth of Paraguay and the Brazils, is the tea of Buenos Ayres. They drink it out of a sraall globe, to which a tube is fixed nearly as long as our to. bacco-pipe ; it is called the raatte pot, and the beverage drawn from the yerba, is the malte. These pots are generally of sil. ver ; and they hand thera frora one lo the other in drinking — a practice not the raost cleanly. When I first saw the tubes in the ladies' raouths, I conceived they were sraoking. Malte has not a bad flavor, but nothing equal lo tea. It is reported by some, to be pernicious to the teeth. In visiting-parties, it is always handed round. It carries such an idea of the tobacco pipe, that I do not much admire seeing these matte.pots in the hands of ladies. In general, the time of meals in Buenos Ayrean faraUies, is pretty nearly as follows : — They have matte the first thing, which they often lake in bed ; at eighl or nine, they have what we should call breakfast, beef-steaks, &c. ; dinner at two and three; matte at six and seven, followed after by a supper. The fashionable London hours of breakfasting atone and two inthe afternoon, and dining at eight or nine in the evening, have not travelled to this quarter of the globe yet. They drink wine out of tumbler glasses. The siesta, or afternoon nap, is not so regularly taken as formerly ; they have gol raore into the habits of business, and cannot afford tirae for sleeping in the day ; and ft does away the reraark, that, during siesta lime, nobotiy is lo be seen in the streets but Englishmen and dogs. The siesta has its regular season ; it is supposed to begin with the suraraer season, in October, and end at the close of the suramer, or passion week. The plodding and industrious world cry out against this prac UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 231 HABITS AND MANNERS. tice, as encouraging sloth ; but I think a nap after dinner in warm latitudes, both refreshing and conducive lo health. Houses are not provided with the convenience of bells ; their servants are summoned eitiier by calling, or making a noise upon the tables. At meals, the servants and slaves are in at. tendance al the table. They retire to rest in winter, at ten or eleven ; in suraraer, later, as at this seast)n they enjoy the cool of evening from the azoteas, or from seats near the window.s. A walk in the streets on a fine summer's night is not unin. teresting, from the nuraber of ladies walking, and at the win. dows. Evening is the tirae devoted by ladies to shopping. A night previous lo a holiday or Sunday, the shops are crowded. In families of respectabihty, which have unraarried daugh. ters, weekly tertulias, or public dances, are often held during the winter, which, they say, are for the purpose of shewing the young ladies off, and getting them husbands. These dances are got up at very little expense or prepara. tion. One ofthe ladies presides at the piano ; the refreshraents are cakes, sweetraeats, and liqueurs : a few dollars provides for all. The sumptuous repasts provided on such occasions in England, bespeak so rauch of cereraony as considerably to mar the pleasure. On birth-days, compliraents are sent and received, with pres. ents of sweetmeats, &c., and dinners and tertulias are given. Those days are more observed than wilh us ; but the itinerant musicians about the doors, has a little fallen off lately. Sweetraeats are rauch eaten, and bj' the children in large quantities. In coffee-houses they sprinkle the toast with su gar ; an English chUd would call them " sugar babies." I am not dentist enough to decide whether this is one of the causes of decayed teeth, so often observed in young people, and the prevailing malady of the tooth-ache ; but persons are continu ally seen with their faces tied up for this complaint ; it is indeed a disease of the country. Bad teeth is a sad drawback, as they are both "useful and ornamental ;" and the purchase of new teeth and gums in Buenos Ayres, would be rather diffi cult ; besides all the world must know about it. In London and Paris, such things pass as nothing. When walking in public, the feraale rarely takes the arra of a gentleraan, except il be night. This seems to us an unsocial fashion. At dark, however, the restriction ceases, and ladies will then honor us by accepting our arm ; with married per sons this is more common. The Englishman and his wife, in 232 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. spite of Spanish modes, are seen trotting comfortably along the Alaraeda on Sunday, arra in arra, as if at horae. Nefther is it the fashion for gentleraen to escort the ladies, but to the theatre, or public places ; their visits and shopping are in company only wilh their own sex. If a fair lady should wave this rule, and allow us to proceed by her side for a few streets, it would be the height of vulgarity to offer the arm. In England we have other notions of gentUity. At the ball room, the females sit together, when not engaged in dancing. During this pause, some gentleraan will, with hes itating steps, approach thera, and solicit a lady to waltz, or dance a minuet with hira. The Spaniards pride theraselves upon the delicacy and re spect wilh which they treat the feraales ; and though there are many Spanish customs which I think " more honored in the breach than the observance," this is one, I trust, will last for- In their att're, observes the author, the gentlemen of Buenos Ayres follow the English fashion. Frora the Suraraer's heat, jackets and light trowsers are worn, with straw hats, particu larly those singularly sbajied ones frora Chili. It is not gen. teel to wear jackets at the theatre, or at parties. From No. vember to March, light clothing is very agreeable, except now and then during sorae days of cold. In England, they would smile to see the dress ofthe boys in Buenos Ayres ; they have long coats, capotes, large hats, Wel. lington trowsers, and boots ; and this for children of eight and nine years of age, who look like raen of LUliput. The dress ofthe Buenos Ayrean ladies, includes all that is charming in female attire. White is the prevaUing color. The waist is neither so short as the French, nor so long as the English. • Shawls of all descriptions are worn; sorae of them serve both for veil and shawl, covering the bosora, and hang ing loosely over the back part ofthe head : the face is never concealed. The greatest attenfion is paid to the hair, which is suffered to grow to a considerable length, and is fastened by a comb behind, with ringlets in the front. Caps or bonnets are never worn, even in extreme old age. The elderly lady has her while locks as carefully corabed as when in youth ; and the same peculiar style of managing the veil. They have not re. ?Five Years Residence id Buenos Ayres. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 233 HABITS AND MANNERS. course to powder, or other disguises, to hide the approach of age. In company they are exceedingly free and talkative, and very cheerful. It is a sight not devoid of interest, to see them gliding along, in their black attire, to church, at which they are the most constant visitants — the jaded forms of what was once, perhaps so lovely. The wearing of mourning does not continue so long as with us; neither are young and handsorae widows disfigured by those close and melancholy looking caps that we see in Eng. land. Fans are the ladies' constant companions — in the street, thea tre, ball, and chamber ; and their style of using them is unique, anil graceful. They are expensive : I have heard of sixty to seventy dollars being given for one. The French send a great many, with all the erabellishraents so peculiar to that nation. The dress of the feraale chUdren displays equal taste with that of their elders ; from which, indeed, there is Utile differ. ence — the short-sleeved frock, sUk stockings, curled hair and fan. They walk the streets with immense importance — the miniatures of those of maturer age.* Gaming is a common amusement. Cock fighting also is prac. tised by a particular class of people. A good English game cock commands thirty and even fort)'' doUars. Shooting and fishing are not practiced to a great extent. Fish are general ly taken on horseback. Two horses are attached, one to each end of the net — a man standing on their backs. In this man ner they proceed into the waler, the horses oflen being obliged to swim on account ofthe depth ofthe water. Having made a sufficient circuit, the horses return to the shore dragging their nets. Throwing the lasso is also a favorite arauseraent ofthis country, and is performed by the natives with great dexterity. A raan on horseback, holding the lasso, (a rope looped at the end) rides araongst a herd of cattle, casting the rope towards the one he wishes to entrap; the first attempt almost always succeeds, and the aniraal is fast secured by the leg. They practice this lasso from boyhood : it is a forraidable weapon against a flying eneray. During Carnival, they have a disgusting practice : in place of music, masques, and tiancing, they amuse themselves by throwing buckets and pans of waler from the lops of houses and * Five Years Residence in Buenos Ayrea, 234 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. windows, sousing every passenger that passes, and following each other, frora house to house, in regular water attacks. Egg-shells filled with water are also thrown : these are sold in the streets. The audience, on leaving the theatre the night before carnival, get a plentiful salute of thera. It lasts three ¦ days ; and raany persons go out of town to avoid it, as it is hardly possible to walk the streets without a ducking. The la dies receive no mercy ; neither do they deserve any, for they take a raost active part. Repeatedly, on passing groups of thera, at night, an egg of water has been adroftly put into ray bosom. Those whose occupations lead thera into the street, must expect a wetting. Strangers seem to join in the sport with great glee. An English master of a vessel just arrived, received a bucket of water. Not being aware of the practice, he took up bricks, swearing he would break every window in the house. He could scarcely be pacified. Many persons have been seriously ill from the effects of Carnival playing. The newspapers and poUce have interfered to suppress it, hith erto, witliout effect, though it is somewhat lessened. They follow it as an ancient custom of the country. Bull Fights. — The following graphic descrijition of this most barbarous amusement, is from the pen of H. M. Brack enridge, Esq. " Our arrival at Buenos Ayres, happened lo be during lent; the circus and theatre were closed, and public amuseraents suspended. My curiosity wasa good deal excited to see the bull-fights; the favorite arauseraent in all Spanish countries. As soon as the circus was opened, I took the ear liest opportunity of attending it. It is a circular araphitheatre, cabable of containing between two and three thousand persons. The arena is about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, with an enclosure ofabout sixty feet high, with openings, at inter vals, sufficiently wide lo admft the body ofa man; al one end there is a small covered pen, wfth stalls, in vvhich the bulls were confined, and opening into the arena by a gate. On the opposite side, there was a large gate, at wh'ich the bulls were dragged out, after being killed. I found the place considera bly crowded ; but chiefly by the lower classes of people ; at least the feraales appeared to be such. At one side of the toro, there was a seat appropriated to the cfty authorities; formeriy, the viceroy, and some ofthe principal public functionaries, had, also, their places set apart ; but this is no longer the case, as it is considered even disrespectable for those persons to be seen here. The town-major, who is the chief ofiicer of the police. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 235 BULL FIGHTS. always attends on these occasions, and presides, in order to pre- vent any disorder or disturbance. Immediaiely below his seat, there was a band of music, which played before the commence. raent ofthe bull-fights, and during the intervals between thera. When the spectators had begun to asserable, a guard of sol. diers, about thirty in nuraber, was raarched inlo the arena, and after going through a variety of evolutions, were divided into sraall detachraents, and distributed through the different parls of the toro. The different combatants, who were to dis. play their skill and courage on the occasion, came forward, and made their obeisance to the town raajor, and then retired to their places. The first two were on horseback, called the ^«c. cadores ; one a Chilian, of enormous stature and bodily strength, the other a half-Indian, ofa more delicate frame, and a more sprightly countenance. They had both been convict. ed of criraes, and conderaned to fight bulls for the arausement ofthe public ; their irons were not taken off until iraraediately before entering the toro. There were five or six others, called bandaleros, with different colored flags, for the purpose of pro voking and teasing the bull ; the last were the mattadores ; having in the left hand a flag, and in the right a sword. The piccadores were armed with pikes, about twelve feel in length, with the point so as to wound the aniraal without penetrating deeply ; they posted theraselves on the left side of the place whence the bull was to be let out, and atthe distance of fifteen or twenty paces frora each other. On the signal given, the gate flew open, and a furious aniraal rushed forth. He irarae diately raade at the Chilian, but feeling the point ofthe steel in his shoulder, he suddenly wheeled round and ran towards the raiddle of the arena, when the bandaleros endeavored to pro voke hira wilh their flags. It was the turn of the raestizo to receive him next on his lance ; but it was not until after the bull had chased both several tiraes round the circus, that he could venture to take such a posftion as would justify his enga ging hira ; it was necessary to be near the enclosure, so as to have its support, otherwise, in a furious assault of fhe buU, he might be overturned. The animal attacked the half Inijian with greater fury than the other, but on feeling the steel, with drew in the sarae manner ; after this was repeated several tiraes, the bull seeraed no longer inclined to attack the piccado res. At the tap of the drum, the piccadores withdrew from the contest ; the bandaleros next advanced with crackers, which they dexterously thrust into different parts of the animal's body^ who had now become rather sullen ; but as soon as they explo- 236 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. ded, and scorched him severely, he grew furious, and ran about beUowing with rage and agony ; no one but a savage could witness this scene, for the first time, without being shock ed. The crackers being consumed, the animal stood still, his tongue loUing^out, with panting sides and eyes blind with rage. The mattadore now carae forward ; at first the generous ani mal shewed reluctance lo take notice of him, but on being pro voked, he raade a plunge at the flag held in his hand, whUe fhe mattadore dexterously avoiding hira, thrust his sword between the neck under his shoulder, thus giving hira a mortal wound. The band of music struck up, the gates ofthe toro were thrown open, five or six gauchos rushed in on horseback, threw their lassoes about him, some fastening about his horns, others about his legs and body, and in this raanner, in an instant bore him out of the circus, in the raidst of the .shouts of the multitude. Seven other bulls were let out in succession, and tbe sarae cir cumstances repeated with very Uttle variation. The whole was terminated with a feat, performed by a wild gaucho ; the bull being let out, he was immediately lassoed by the gauchos on horseback, who threw him and held him fast by pulling in opposite directions; he was then tied, and a saddle girt on him by the gaucho, who was bare-legged, and had nothing on but a shirt, and a kind of petticoat, something like a Scotch kilt; the ordinary dress of these people. The animal being proper ly prepared, he was suffered to rise with the gaucho on his back, and ran perfectly wild and furious round the circus, leaping, plunging and beUowing, to the great diversion of the spectators, while the gaucho was continually goading him with an enormous pair of spurs ; and lashing hira with his whip. When the aniraal was sufficiently tortured in this way, the gau cho drew his knife and plunged it in the spinal marrow ; the bull fell as if struck by lightning, rolled upon his back with his feet in the air, which were not even seen to quiver. Such is the barbarous amusement of bull-fighting, formerly the delight of the representatives of the kings of Spain, and their miraic roy- ally ; in a more enlightened and a happier age, confined here to the coarse and vulgar ; and il is to be hoped that, in the pro gress of science, liberty, and civilization, it will disappear forev- Not many carriages or coaches are to be seen at Buenos Ayres; but they increase in number. The calle eoche, or » Brackenridge's voyage to South America, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER 237 MODES OF TEAyELLING. street coach, is much used ; it is drawn by two horses, or mules, with a postillion, and in shape very much resembles our bakers' carts ; the passengers are seated sideways. Sorae English raerchants and Creoles have carriages after the Eng lish raode ; but the nature of the roads and streets does not af ford thera a great opportunity to " show off." The travelling carriages that convey farailies to their estates, hundreds of railes distant, are heavy, curabersorae raachines, in the old Spanish style. A faraily going to the country is no or dinary sight ; the raules and waggons following wfth the bag. gage, and the quantity of out riders, slaves, and servants, in ponchos and little dirty hals, surrounding the carriages con. taining the ladies and female slaves, appear like a banditti es. corting their plunder. There are post.houses on tbe road, and those leading to Chili are very regular. A constant supply of horses, and guides are kept ; but persons mostly go on horseback, for the sake of ex. pedition. The journey is thus made to the Andes in about fourteen days. Crossing the mountains, and getting to Santi. ago, in Chili, will take about three weeks from Buenos Ayres ; but the horse must always be kept at full gallop. Carriages are expensive, and very dUatory, but they save a great deal of fatigue. Horses may be bought frora 3 to 100 dollars, according to their quality ; a very good one may be had for seventeen dol. lars. They average about 12 or 13 hands high, and have the tail mostly long. They will endure much fatigue. Their pace is the gallop, or canter ; trotting, the horse's natural pace, appears qufte unnatural here ; but we raust not include those trained for the carriage or gig. There are some fine horses in Buenos Ayres ; and by those who have not seen the hunters, the dray, and the heavy horse of Europe, they will be ad. mired. They have no convenience like the livery stables of Eng. land. The horses are put under a shed, or left in the open air ; the mild cUmate requiring no other care. T*hose em ployed in drudgery with carts at the custom-house, (Szc, are as hard worked as post and hackney-coach horses. English saddles are in vogue. The ricado, or saddle of the country, keeps fts sway, being so constructed that on journeys it serves for saddle and bed. The Spanish bridle and bit are preferred both by the English and the natives. The Spanish fashion of having the stirrups long is invariably followed, and I think it more graceful than our mode. 21 238 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. SUver stirrups, spurs, &c., are not so much in use as for- merly. Horses, bridles, and saddles, were repeatedly stolen in the streets ; but such events, from the regularity of the po lice, do not often happen now. Every horse has a burnt mark, by which its owner can be traced. The ladies ride on horseback ; bul they neither look so weU in their riding attire, or manage the horse so dexterously, as the British ladies. The lower orders of countrymen ride with one toe in the stirrup, and gallop for miles in that way. They strap the front of the horses' legs to prevent their run ning away in the streets. Galloping is not permftted in the town. The country waggons are roofed with hides, and have large wheels : the creaking of the latter is very disagreeable ; but they will not take the trouble to grease thera. Whole fami lies and parties, going long journeys, live and sleep for weeks or months together in waggons drawn by oxen. Six or eight of them are yoked in pairs, to a log of wood at the back ofthe horns, to which the rope harness is tied, and they are thus made to draw the burthen from the head. They are urged on by poles with a sharp substance at the end ; the drivers have likewise a piece of lead in shape and size like a constable's staff, with which they belabor the poor aniraal about the horns. In crossing the pampas, or extensive plains, two modes of travelling are adopted— in a carriage, or on horseback. The carriages, according to Capt. Head, are without spruigs, efther of wood or iron, but they are very ingeniously slung on hide ropes, which make them qufte easy enough. There are two sorts of carriages, a long vehicle on four wheels, like a van (with a door behind) which is drawn by four or six horses, and which can carry eight people ; and a smaller carriage on two wheels of about half the length, which is usuaUy drawn by three horses. " When I first went across the Pampas, I purchased for my party a large carriage, and also an enormous two wheeled, covered cart, which carried about twenty-five hundred weight of miners' tools, &c. I engaged a capataz (head man,) and he hired for rae a number of persons who were to receive thirty or forty doUars each for driving the vehicles to Mendoza. "The day before we started, the capataz came to me for sorae money to purchase hides, in order to prepare the carriages in the usual way. The hides were soaked, and then cut into long UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 239 stripes about three quarters of an inch broad, and the pole, and almost all the wood work of the carriage, were firmly bound with the wet hide, which, when dry, shrunk into a band almost as hard as iron. The spokes of the wheels, and, very rauch to our astonishment, the fellies or the circumference of the wheels were simUarly bound, so that they actually traveUed on the hide. We all declared it would be cut before it got over the pavement of Buenos Ayres, but it went perfectly sound for seven hundred miles, and was then only cut by sorae sharp granite rocks over which we were obliged to drive.*" Buenos Ayres is noted for its vast plains called parapas. That on the east of the Cordillera, is about 900 miles in breadth, and is divided into regions of different cliraate and produce. On leaving Buenos Ayres, the first of these regions is covered for one hundred and eighty railes with clover and thistles ; the second region, which extends for four hundred and fifty miles, produces long grass ; and the third region, which reaches the base of the Cordillera, is a grove of low trees and shrubs. The second and third Of these regions have nearly the sarae appearance throughout the year, for the trees and shrubs are evergreens, and the immense plain af grass only changes its color from green to brown ; but the first region varies wilh the four seasons of the year in a mosl extraordinary manner. In winter, the leaves ofthe thistle are large and luxuriant, and the whole surface of the country has the rough appearance of a turnip field. The clover in this season is extremely rich and strong; and the sight of the wild cattle grazing in full liberty on such pasture is very beautiful. In spring, the clover has vanished, the leaves of the thistles have extended along the ground, and the country still looks like a rough crop of tur nips. In less than a month the change is most extraordinary ; the whole region becomes a lu.'^uriant wood of enormous this tles, which have suddenly shot up to a height of ten or eleven feet, and are all in full bloora. The road or path is hemmed in on both sides ; the view is completely obstructed ; not an ani mal is to be seen ; and the stems of the thistles are so close to each other, and so strong, that, independent of the prickles with which they are armed, they form an impenetrable barrier. The sudden growth of these plants is quite astonishing ; and though it would be an unusual misfortune in military history, * For an account of the mode in which the Cordillera is passed, the reader is referred to Chili. 940 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. yet it is really possible that an invading army, unacquainted wilh this country, might be iraprisoned by these thistles before they had lirae to escape from thera. The summer is not over before the scene undergoes another rapid change ; the thistles suddenly lose their sap and verdure, their heads droop, the leaves shrink and fade, the steras becorae black and dead, and they reraain rattling with the breeze one agaftist another, until the violence of the parapero or hurricane levels them with the ground, where they rapidly decompose and disappear — the clover rushes up, and the scene is again verdant. The cliraate of the Pampas is subject to a great difference of temperature in winter and suraraer, though the gradual chan ges are very regular. The winter is about as cold as our month of Noveraber, and the ground at sunrise is always cov- ered with white frost, but the ice is seldora raore than one tenth of an inch thick. In sumraer, the sun is very oppressively hot, and its force is acknowledged by every living animal. The wild horses and cattle are evidently exhausted by it, and the siesta seems to be a repose which is natural and necessary lo all. The middle of the day is not a moraent for work, and as the raornings are cool, the latter are evidently best adapted for labor, and the former for repose. The only irregularity in the cliraate is the pampero or south west wind, which, generated by the cold air of the Andes, rushes over these vast plains with a velocity and a violence which il is almost irapossible lo withstand. But this rapid cir culation of the atraosphere has very beneficial effects, and the weather, after one of these tempests, is always particularly healthy and agreeable. The southern part of the pampas is inhabited by Indians who have no fixed abodes, bul wander from place to place as the herbage around thera becoraes consumed by their cattle. They are all horsemen, or ralher pass their lives on horseback. The life they lead is singularly interesting. In spite of the cUmate, which is burning hot in suramer, and freezing in winter, these brave men, who have never yet been subdued, are entirely na ked, and have not even a covering for their head. They live together in trihes, each of which is governed by a Cacique ; bill they have no fixed place of residence. Where the pasture is good, there they are to be found, until ft is con sumed by their horses, and they then instantly raove to a more verdant spot. They have neither bread, frijit nor vegetables, but they subsist entirely on the flesh of their mares, which UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 241 INDIANS. GAUCHOS. they never ride ; and the only luxury in which they indulge, is that of washing their hair in raare's blood. The occupation of their lives is war, which they consider is their noble and most natural eraployraent ; and they declare that the proudest attitude in the human figure is when, bending over his horse, man is riding at his enemy. The principal weapon which they use is a spear eighteen feel long; they man age il with great dexterity, and are able to give ft a tremulous motion, which has often shaken the sword frora the hand of their European adversaries. Frora being constantly on horseback, the Indians can scarce ly walk. This may seem singular, bul frora their infancy, they are unaccustoraed lo it.. Living in a boundless plain, it raay easUy be conceived, that all their occupations and amuse ments must necessarily be on horseback, and from riding so rauch, the legs become weak, which naturaUy gives a disinclina. lion lo an exertion which every day becomes more fatiguing ; besides, the pace at which they can skim over the plains on horseback is so swift in comparison to the rale they could crawl on fool, that the latier raust seem a cheerless exertion. They believe in a future state, to which they conceive they will be transferred as soon as they die. They expect that they wiU then be constantly drunk, and that they will always be hunting ; and as the Indians gallop over their plains at night, they will point with their spears lo constellations in the heavens, which they say are the figures of their ancestors, who, reeling in the firmaraent, are mounte'd upon horses swifter than the wind, and are hunting ostriches. They bury their dead, but at the grave they kill several of their best horses, as they believe that their friend would other wise have nothing to ride. Their marriages are very simple. The couple to be married, as soon as the sun sels, are made to lie on the ground with their heads towards the west. They are then covered wilh the skin of a horse, and as soon as the sun rises at their feet, they are pronounced to be married. The north part of the parapas and the rest of the provinces of the Rio de la Plata are inhabited by sraall groups of people called Gauchos, of whora Captain Head has given the foUowing account. The'situation of Gaucho is naturally independent of the po. litical troubles which engross the attention of the inhabitants of the towns. The population or number of these Gauchos is very small, and at great distances from each other : they are 21* 212 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. scattered here and there over the face of the country. Many of these people are descended from the best farailies in Spain; they possess good raanners, and oflen very noble sentiments : the life tbey lead is very interesting — they generally inhabit the hut in which they were born, and in which their fathers and grandfathers Uved before thera, afthough it appears to a stran ger to possess few of the allureraents of dulce domum. The huts are built in the same simple form ; for although luxury has ten thousand plans and elevations for the frail abode of its more frail tenant, yet the hut in all countries is the same, and there fore there is no difference between that of the South Araerican Gaucho, and the Highlander of Scotland, excepting that the forraer is built of raud, and covered with long yellow grass, while the other is formed with stones, and thatched wfth heather. The raaterials of both are the iraraediate produce of the soil, and both are so blended in color with the face of the country, that it is oflen difficult to distinguish them ; and as the pace at which one gallops in South Araerica is rapid, and the coun try flat, one scarcely discovers the dwelling before one is at the door. The corral is about fifty or one hundred yards frora the hut, and is a circle of about thirty yards fti diaraeter, enclosed by a nuraber of strong rough posts, the ends of which are struck into the ground. Upon these posts are generally a number of idle looking vuftures or hawks, and the ground around the hut and corral is covered with bones and carcasses of horses, bullocks' horns, wool &c. which give it the smell and appearance of an ill kept dog-kennel in England. The hut consists generaUy of one room, in which aU the faraUy live, boys, girls, raen, women, and children, all huddled together. The kitchen is a detached shed a few yards off: there are always holes, both in the walls and in the roof of the hut, which one at first considers as singular marks of the indo. lence ofthe people. In the suraraer this abode is so filled wfth fleas and binchucas, (which are bugs as large as black beetles,) that the whole faraily sleep on the ground in front of their dweUing.* On the Pampas, which afford excellent pasture, innumerable herds of cattle rove unvalued and unowned, their hides and tal. low alone being sought after by the Spanish hunters. From the 30th parallel of latitude south ward,^ great numbers of wild hop- • Heail's Nots's. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 243 ANIMALS ON THE PAMPAS. ses are raet wfth, the progeny of those iraported by the Span iards. They congregate in herds of several thousands ; and one traveller stales, that, being in these plains for three weeks, he was continually surroundjd by them. Someliraes they pass ed by in close troops on full speed, for two or three hours to gether. At other tiraes, the same district has been passed over, and no horses have been seen. They are said to have a trick, on discovering any tarae horses, which they do at a very great distance, of forraing in close coluran, galloping up, and surrounding thera ; or, perhaps, they will run b)' their side, caressing them, gently neighing, and finally enticing them away wilh ihem. They run with incredible heedlessness, and, when pursued, dash theraselves agaftist any object that slands in their way. Astonishing instances of this wildness are seen in. dry years, when water is very scarce to the south of Bue nos Ayres. They will run all together, as if they were raad, in search of some pond or lake ; and on reaching il, plunge into the raud, and the foremost are trarapled lo death by those that follow. Azara relates, that he has raore lhan once seen up wards of a thousand carcasses of wild horses that have perish ed in that manner. All of thera are of a chesnut or dark bay color. The domestic horses are also very numerous, and on that account are mosl barbarously used. In Buenos Ayres, it is no extraordinary circurastance to see literally a beggar on horseback. Wild dogs are also very nuraerous in the Parapas. They are of a large breed, descended, like the wild horses, frora do mestic animals introduced by the first settlers. They are gre- garious, and several will join to attack and pursue a mare or cow, while olhers kUl the foal or calf In this way they raake great havoc. In consequence of their forraidable numbers, the governraent, on one occasion, sent out a party of soldiers to destroy thera, who killed a great nuraber ; but the ridicule cast on the expedftion by the populace, who called the sgldiers ma taperros (dog killers,) prevented the renewal of the atterapt. These open plains are also the haunt of thc erau or Ameri can ostrich. In parls where these birds are not hunted, they will approach the habitations of man, and are not disturbed at the sight of foot passengers ; but, in the country, where they are objects of pursuit for tbe sake of their skins and plumes, they are extremely shy. They frequent especially the marshy grounds, efther in pairs or in troops of thirty or more. They 244 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. run with such swiftness that only good horsemen well mounted can overtake them. When caught by raeans of balls,* the bird is not to be approached without great caution ; for, though it does not strike wilh its bill, it kicks wfth great strength, and is said to be capable of breaking a stone. When running at full speed, their wings are stretched out behind :-in order to turn, they open one wing, and the wind assists thera to wheel about with such rapidiiy as to throw out their pursuer. The ostrich, when young, is easily domesticated, antl wUl become famUiar presently. They go into all the apartments, walk about the streets, and in the country sometimes to the distance of a league, and return to their homes. They are full of curiosity, and stop at the windows and doors of houses, to observe what ia passing within. They are fed with grain, bread and other things ; they likewise swallow pieces of money, bits of metal, and small stones which they pick up. The flesh of the young birds is lender and well flavored, but not that of the old ones. It is believed, that they never drink ; they are, however, excel lent swimraers, and will cross rivers and lagoons even when not pursued. The number of these birds diminishes as the population increases ; for, though it is difficult to kill thera wilh fire arras, or to run thera down on horseback, and impossible to take thera wilh snares, yel every one is eager to search for their eggs, and to destroy their young. The room in which a corpse is deposited is lighted ; large can dles are placed round the coflin ; and the wainscotting. tables, &c. are covered with white furniture, crosses, &c. The win dows are often thrown open, for passengers to view the scene of death, as a warning that " to this coraplexion we must corae at last " I reraember my surprise on first seeing a spectacle of this sort. The corpse of a female about thirty, lay shroud ed in her coffin, the lid of which was taken off, with her hands folded over her breast, and a small cross placed between them. The gaudy coffin, and the lights around il, gave it the appear ance of wax work ; indeed I had an impression that it was so, for some minutes, not being aware of the country's fashion. Deceased persons are interred twenty-four hours after their decease ; a necessary precaution in a warra climate. The hearses are modelled after the French fashion, and are not followed by raourners. The relatives of the deceased at tend the burial-ground to receive the body, and the church ceremonies of mass, (Sec. take place sorae days after. * See page 129. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 245 INTERMENT OF THE DEAD. The death of a friar, or any priest, is announced by a par ticular lolling ofthe beU. The masses for the repose of the soul are perforraed at vari- ous churches, according to the wish of the relatives, who issue printed notices, inviting the friends of the deceased. Any one is at liberty to attend. Those of respectability, who can afford to pay, have several raasses : but it is rather an expensive af fair. The cereraony lasts from one to two hours. An imitation coffin is placed near the altar, surrounded by lights. If it be for a military or public man, the sword and hat are placed on the coffin, and a company of soldiers fire a volley at the church door. Towards the end of the mass, candles are put into the hands ofthe raale part ofthe congregation, and in a few min utes taken from them again and extinguished. At the close, the priests and friars, headed by their superior, lake their sta tion, in two lines, near the door, and receive and return the obeisances of the congregation. The relations and particular friends adjourn to the dweUing-house, (soraetiraes to the refec tory of the church,) where a repast is prepared, of cakes, fruit, wine, liqueurs, beer, &c. the roora being Ughted, and hung wilh black and white decorations. I have heard sorne charming rausic in these raasses, and it is far from being an unimpressive scene : the holding a light at the requiem of those we loved, carries with it a pleasing idea. On the subject of the interment of the dead, Capt. Head re marks : " the house which I had near Buenos Ayres, was not only opposite the English burying-ground, but on the road to the Recolata, which was the great burying-place for the town ; about half a dozen funerals passed my window every day, and during the few days I was at Buenos Ayres, I scarcely ever rode into the town without meeting one. " Of late years, a few of the principal people have been buri ed in coffins, but generally the dead are caUed for by a hack- hearse, in which there is a fixed coffin, into which they are put, when away the man gallops wilh the corpse, arid leaves it in the vestibule of the Recolata. There is a small vehicle for children, whioh I really thought was a mountebank's cart ; it was a light open tray, on wheels painted white, with light blue silk curtains, and driven al a gallop by a lad dressed in scarlet, with an enormous plume of white feathers in his hat. As I was riding home one day, I was overtaken by this cart, (with out its curtains, &c.) in which there was the corpse ofa black boy, nearly naked. I galloped along with it for sorae distance ; 246 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. the boy, from the rapid motion ofthe carriage, was dancing, soraetiraes on his back and sometimes on his face ; occasional ly his arm or leg would get through the bar of the tray, and two or three times I really thought the child would have been out of the tray altogether. The bodies of the rich were gene rally attended by their friends ; but the carriages, wfth four people in each, were seldom able to go as fast as the hearse. " I went one day to the Recolata, and just as I got there, the little hearse drove up to the gate. The man who had charge ofthe burial-place received from the driver a ticket, which he read, and put into his pocket ; the driver then got into the tray, and taking out a dead infant of about eight months old, he gave it to the man, who carried it swinging by one of its arras into the square-walled burial-ground, and I followed him. He went to a spot about ten yards from the corner, and then, with out putting his foot upon the spade, or at all lifting up the ground, he scratched a place not so deep as the furrow of a plough. While he was doing this, the poor little infant was lying before us on the ground on its back ; it had one eye open, and the oth er shut ; its face was unwashed, and a small piece of dirty cloth was tied round its middle : the man, as he was talking to me, placed the child in the little furrow, pushed its arms to fts side with the spade, and covering it so barely wilh earth that part of the cloth was still visible, he walked away and left it. I took the spade, and was going to bury the poor child myself, when I recollected that as a stranger I should probably give of fence, and I therefore walked toward the gate. I met the same man with an assistant, carrying a tray, in which was the body of a very old man, followed by his son, who was about forty ; the party were all quarrelling, and remained disputing for some minutes afler Ihey had brought the body to the eilge of the trench. This trench was about seven feel broad, and had been dug frora one wall of the burial ground to the other : the corps es were buried across it by fours, one above another, and there was a raoveable shutter which went perpendicularh^ across the trench, and was raoved a step forwards as soon, as tiie fourth body was interred. One body had already been interred ; the son jumped down upon it, and while he was thus in the grave, standing upon the body, and leaning against three, the two grave-diggers gave hira his father, who was dressed in a long, coarse, white linen shirt. The grave was so narrow that the man had great difficulty in laying the body in it, but as soon as he had done so, he addressed the lifeless corpse of his father, and embraced it with a great deal of feeling : the situation of UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 247 the father and son, afthough so very unusual, seeraed at the moment any thing but unnatural. In scrarabling out of the grave, the raan very nearly knocked a woman out of the tier of corpses at his back ; and as soon as he was up, the two at. tendants, with their spades, threw earth down upon the face and the white dress of the old man, until both were covered with a very thin layer^of earth : the two men then jumped down withheavy wooden ramraers, and they really rararaed the corpse in that sort of way, that, had the man been alive, he would have been kiUed ; and we then all walked away."* 6. CHILE. This country, the-manners and custoras of whose inhabftants we propose next lo survey, lies to the west of Buenos Ayres, and is separated frora it by the Andes, sorae ofthe sumraits of which have been estimated at upwards of 20,000 feet. We shall have occasion, in a subsequent page, to describe more particularly the manner in which the passage is commonly made from Buenos Ayres to Chile ; it will therefore suflnce in this place to observe, that to ordinary travellers, the Andes are impassable, excepting in the suraraer season, and under the most favorable circumstances, is attended with imminent dan ger. But in our passage, which bf our fellow travellers has thought of danger ? — no spouting volcano has alarraed us — and no raountain torrent has threatened us. We rise with the ease with which the strong pinioned condor lifts herself over the towering crags and suraraitts of these " heaven disturbing raoun tains" — and descend as safely as does the skilful aeronaut on his return from some aerial excursion to the " low-lying lands below." Chile is a large country — in length 1260 milts, and in breadth 300, with an area of 175,000 square miles. Ils pop ulation has been variously estimated. In 1820, Malte Brun put it at 900,000 ; a later writer has stated ft, said to be found ed on a census, at 1,200,000 exclusive of independent Indians. The population of Chile consists principally of Spaniards, or people of Spanish descent, Indians and Mestizoes, with a few * Head's Notes. 248 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHILE. French, English, Irish, Italians, and Negroes. The whole number of these several classes may be from one million to twelve hundred thousand. The wealthier inhabilants are in general fond of splendor and magnificence, which appear in their dress and equipage. The fashions are directed by those of Liraa. Byron, who resided for some time in the country, gives the following description of the manners and customs of St. Jago. " In their asserablies many intrigues are carried on, for they think of nothing else through the year. Their fandan goes are very agreeable. The woraen dance inimitably, raost of them have delightful voices, and all play upon the guftar and harp : on the harp, they excel every other nation. They are extreraely polite ; and when asked either to play, dance, or sing, they do il without a raoraent's hesitation, and that with an exceeding good grace. They have many figure dances ; but what they take raost delight in are more like our hornpipes, than any thing I can compare tbem to, and upon these occa sions, they shew surprising agUity. The women are reraarka bly handsorae, and very extravagant in their dress. Their hair, which is very thick, they wear of great length, without any other ornaraent upon the head than a few flowers. They plait it behind in four plafts, and twist it round a bodkin, at each end ofwhich is a diaraond rose. In winter, they have an upper waistcoat of cloth of gold or silver, and, in suraraer, of the finest linen covered with the finest Flanders lace. When they go abroad, they wear a veil, which is so contrived that one eye only is seen. Their feet are small, and they value theraselves as much upon it as the Chinese do. Their breasts nnd shoulders are alraost naked, and indeed you may eeisily discover the whole shape frora their raanner of dress. They have fine sparkling eyes, ready wit, a great deal of good na ture, and a strong disposition to gallantry. Paraguay tea, which they call matte, is always drunk twice a day. They drink it through the conveyance of a long silver tube, at the end of which is a round strainer to prevent the herb getting through. And here ft is reckoned a piece of politeness in the lady, to suck the tube two or three times first, and then give it to the stranger without wiping it. They eat every thing so highly seasoned with red pepper, that those who are not used to ft upon the first mouthful, would iraagine their throats on fire for an hour afterwards. The ladies sit cross-legged, after the Moorish fashion, upon the estrado, which is a platform raised about five or six inches above the floor, and covered with car- pets and velvet cushions. The common vehicle is a calash or UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 249 PEASANTS SPANIARDS. vis-a-vis, drawn by one mule only. Bull feasts are a coraraon diversion here, and surpass any thing of that kind I ever saw at Lisbon, or any where else. The peasants are a healthy and robust race of men, chiefly consisting of Creoles. They are bold and dexterous horse. men, fond of riding, and almost always on the saddle. They are amazingly expert, also, in the use of the laqui,* which is their principal weapon, employing il on all occasions, both in hunting and in their private quarrels. The Spanish Creoles possess all the estimable and engaging qualfties, which charac terize those of English and French descent. They are brave, active, and enterprising, frank in their manners, and of the strictest honor. Their prejudices are easily eradicated. Their teraper is generous and unsuspecting, but at the. sarae tirae ar dent and irapetuous in the pursuit of pleasure, and too frequent ly transports them beyond the strict bounds of moderation. They are fond of learning, and possess a degree of penetra* tion, sagacity, and correctness of thought that might ensure success in alrnost any study. The Spanish inhabftants, in general, are of a hospftable and generous disposition. As bul few inns have been established in the country, their houses are at all times open to strangers and travellers, whom they entertain with a degree of kindness and Uberality unequalled almost among any other people. We ^may here notice a garment of very general use, both araong Indians and Spaniards, which, though differing in qual ity and ornament, according to the rank of the wearer, retains always its peculiar and distinguishing form. It is called pon- * Thialaqui differs from that used by the Indians, in having a single noose, in place of a ball at each end. Ulloa informs us, that the Span ish peasantry can strike and halter the object of their attack, with al most unerring certainty, at the distance of 30 or 40 paces, but, that a small distance, such as ten or fifteen paces, renders their dexterity, in' some measure, ineffectual. He relates an instance of their address, with regard to an Englishman whom he knew at Conception. This man was in the longboat of a privateer, then lying in Conception Bay, intending to land at Talcaguana, with a view of plundering the neigh boring villages, -when a body of the country militia made to the shore in order to oppose them. Upon this, the English fired upon them with their musketry ; and no sooner had they discharged their pieces, than one of the peasants, though the boat was at a considerable distance, threw his noose, and, notwithstanding all in the boat, threw themselves on their faces, he noosed the above mentioned person, pulling him out of the boat with the greatest rapidity, while the others, instead of en deavoring to save him, thought of nothing in their fright, but how to get out of danger as soon as possible. 22 250 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. cho, and consists of a piece of quilted cloth about three yards in length and two in breadth, having an opening in the middle just large enough to admit the head. It hangs down on aU sides, serving completely the purposes of a cloak, whUe ft leaves the motion of the arms more free and unembarrassed. The negioes are wholly eraployed in domestic services, and treated with a degree of tenderness and humanity that greatly alleviates their state of servitude. They are protected from any extreme cruelty on the part of their masters, should these be so inclined, by a law permittuig the slave, in a case of this nature, to deraand, and obliging the master to grant, a letter qf sale, by which the former is auihorized to seek a purchaser. There exists, also, another regulation in their favor, which has the force of law araong the inhabitants, that, when any one has, by his industry or good conduct, acquired a sum of money suf ficient to purchase a substitute, his master is bound to receive it, and set hira at liberty. Negroes bom in the country, and raulattoes, are preferred to such as have been imported, as more readUy attaching themselves to the families of their own- Valparaiso — This city stands on a fine bay of the Pacftic Ocean, and forras the port of Santiago, the capital of ChUe. Captain Hall, who visited this place in 1820, has given us an extended description of the raanners, &c., of its inhabftants. We select the following : " We were fortunate in having reached Valparaiso at a mo ment when the Christraas festivities were at their height, and multitudes of people had been attracted frora the country to wftness the bulUfights and other shows. On the evenftig of Christraas day, which corresponds nearly wfth our mid.sumraer, every body seeraed to be abroad enjoying the cool air in the moonlight. Groups of merry dancers were to be seen on every hand — and crowds of people listening to singers bawling out their old romances to the sound of a guitar ; gay parties saun. tered along, laughing and talkftig at the full stretch of their voices ; wild-looking horsemen pranced about in all quarters, mixing araongst the people on foot, drinking and talkftig with them, but never dismounting. From one extremity of the town to the other, along the base of the cliffs, and all round the beach of the Alraendral, was one uninterrupted scene of noise and revelry. " The buU.fights, which took place about four o'clock in the day, resembled any thing rather than fights ; but they made UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 25il VALPAEAISO. BULL-FIGHTS. the people laugh, which was the principal object ; and by bringing a crowd together in a merry mood, contributed quite as rauch to the general happiness as if they had been exhibfted in the usual sanguinary manner. " The area in which the bulls were baited, for they were not killed, was a square enclosure, formed by a temporary build ing about fifty yards across, rudely constructed of posts driven into the grountl, wattled with green boughs, and roofed with planks. Over two sides of the square was erected a second story, divided into corapartraents by flags, and left open at top, ¦and in front ; these were crowded with ladies and children, all in their gayest attire, and seated with much forraalfty and de corura to witness the show. The scene in the ground floor, which was divided into booths called Raraadas, was of a very ¦different description — here was dancing, singing, drinking, and all kinds of noise and bustle. Previous lo the commencement of the buU-fight, the area was filled wfth people, some lounging about sraoking their segars, and admiring the ladies' dresses, and some risking their raoney at Rouge et Noir, for which there were many tables brought from the booths into the open air. But the chief interest lay within the Ramadas, in each of which was to be found a band of musicians and dancers hired to attract company. Their instruments were invariably a harp, a guitar, and a sort of drum. The harp is held in a dif ferent manner from ours; for, instead of standing erect, it is kept in a horizontal posftion, the top of the instrument resting on the lap of the player, who sits on a low stool. The drum is made of a piece of wood hollowed out, and covered at one end with raw hide. This stands on the ground, and is patted with the fingers, while the wrist rests upon the rira. At tiraes the end of the harp, or the erapty guitar box, is used as a sub stitute, or any thing, indeed, which gives a clear hollow sound. The players in general are also singers, ahd tfie voice raingles more or less, at all tiraes, with the instrumental rausic. They sing mostly in a high shrill tone, disagreeable at first to a stran ger, but in the course of a Utile time it recommends ftself to his ear, in a raanner which his judgraent scarcely allows lo be just. Occasionally they sing in a lower tone, when the notes are very sweet and pleasing ; but we had reason to suspect, that this was due to the accidental good taste of the singer, rising superior to the general practice of the country. " The buU-fights were very boyish exhibitions, and deserve no particular description. The aniraals, in fact, were never kUled, but raerely teased bj'' horsemen, who goaded them with 252 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. blunt spears, or distracted by men on foot who waved flags in their faces, and, when the bulls were irritated, escaped over the raihngs into the Ramadas. " The chief interest, lo us at least, lay in the people, whose various dresses we were never tired of looking at, while the in terpretation of their strange language gave us ample occupa tion ; for although they all professed to speak Spanish, their dialect was strongly marked with a local idiom and pronuncia tion. But although every thing was new to us, and partook more or less of a characteristic air, it is not easy to describe, chiefly from its want of resemblance to any thing we have be. fore witnessed. " I met at the Pvamadas, one evening, a faraUy to whose at tentions I am much indebted, especially for their assistance in explaining the native customs. We visited together many of the booths, and had an opportunity of seeing mor.:- of the dan. cing than on the first night. One of their favorite figures be. gins in a manner not unlike our minuet, wilh slow and appa rently unpremeditated movements: the parties approaching and receding from each other, occasionaUy joining hands, swinging themselves round, and sometimes stooping so as to pass under each other's arms. These figures admit the dis. play of much ease and grace, but inevitably betray any awk wardness of manner. The slow movements last a minute or two, after which the measure suddenly changes frora a duU monotonous tune to a quick and varied air, loudly accorapanied by the drum and all the voices. At this instant the dancers commence a sort of shuflling step, during which the feet do not slide along the ground, bul make, with great rapidfty. a number of short stampings. At the moment of this change in tirae, the dancers dart forward towards each other, waving their hand. kerchiefs affectedly before thera. They do not actually meet, but, when alraost touching, pass, and continue to revolve round each other, in circles larger or sraaller, according to the space aUowed, accorapanying these rotatory motions by various "es. ticulalions, especially that of waving their handkerchiefs over their partner's head. There was a striking difference between the manner in which these dances were performed by the town's people and by the Guassos or countrymen, the latter having always the advantage both in skill and in elegance. " These arauseraents lasted throughout the night, and, al. though the people are naturally temperate, it was evident, that towards morning the dances were apt to acquire a more sav. age character, and the songs to become licentious. But there UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 253 VALPARAISO. MANNERS. were very few instances of intoxication or riotous behavior. No women, except those professionally attached to the band of music, ever dance ; but as the men of all classes join occasion. ally, the floor is seldom long unoccupied, no more than one couple ever standing up at the same tirae. Each figure lasts about three or four minutes, after which the music stops for a few seconds, and is then resuraed, this being always repeated three tiraes. The fondness ofthe populace for this amuseraent is so reraarkable, that I have often returned to one of the Ra. madas after an interval of several hours, and found the sarae people still looking on at the sarae dance with undiminished pleasure." " The merchants and other principal inhabftants reside in the houses built along the base of the cliffs in Valparaiso, and along the streets ofthe Alraendral. But the poorer people live chiefly in the Quebradas, or ravines. This class of society had been the least affected by tho changes in the poUtical stale of the country, and retained, as we were inforraed, the sarae manners and habits as before ; a circumstance which gave them a higher interest to us, and we frequently roved about in the cool hours of evening, araongst their ranchas, or cottages, and were every where received wilh the utraost frankness, and, as far as the simple raeans of the inhabitants went, wilh hospi. tality. They were chiefly brickraakers, day laborers, and washerworrten, who were always gratified by the interest we took in their affairs, replying readily and cheerfully to our in. quiries. Their first anxiety was that we should be si^ated, in order, to use their phrase, that we raight feel ourselves in our own house ; their next wish was, that we should taste sorae. thing, no matter how little ; sorae offered us spirits, or m.ilk and bread ; others, who could afford nothing else, presented a cup of waler. Yel, however wretched the cottage, or poor the fare, the deficiency was never made more apparent by apologies. With untaught politeness, the best they had was placed before us, graced wfth a hearty welcome. " These ranchas, as well as the houses in the town, are built of large flat bricks dried in, the sun, and thatched wilh broad palm leaves, the ends of which, by overhanging the walls, af ford shade, as weU as shelter frora the rafti. Each cottage is divided into two rooras ; one for the beds, the other as a dining roora, a portion of the mud floor of which is always raised seven or eight inches above the level of the other parts, and 22* 254 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYRES. being covered with raats, serves as a couch for the siesta-sleep- ers afler dinner. " In one cottage we found a young woman grinding corn in a very priraitive raill, consisling of two stones, one a large grooved block placed on the ground, the other a polished piece about twice the size of her hand. The unground corn ap peared to be baked till it would crumble into powder between the finger and thumb, and the coarse flour, when mixed with waler, made an agreeable drink, called Ulpa. " In some of the Quebradas, we occasionally discovered houses of a belter class, generally occupied by elderly ladies of slender incomes, who had relinquished the fashionable and expensive parts of the town, for raore reraote, though not less comfortable dwellings. Nothing could exceed the neatness and regularity which reigned in these houses, where we were often received by the inmates with a politeness of manners, indica. ting that they had known better days. These good ladies ge. nerally entertained us wfth the celebrated Paraguay tea, called matte, a beverage of which the inhabitants are passionately fond. Before infusion, the Yerba, as it is called, has a yellow color, and appears partly ground, and partly chopped ; the fla vor resembles that of fine tea, to which, indeed, many people prefer ft. The matte is made in an oval shaped metal pot, about twice as large as an egg, placed nearly full of water, on the hot erabers of the brazier, which stands at all seasons of the year in the middle of the parlor ; when the water begins to boU, a lump of sugar burnt on the outside is added. The pot is next removed to a filagree silver stand, on which it is hand. ed to the guest, who draws the matte into his mouth through a silver pipe seven or eight inches in length, furnished, at the lower extremity, wfth a bulb pierced with small holes. The natives drink it almost boiling hot, and it costs a stranger manv a tear before he can iraitate thera in this respect. There fs one custora in these raatte drinkings, to which, though not ea sily reconcilable to our habits, a stranger must not venture to object. However nuraerous the corapany may be, or however oflen the matte pot be replenished, the tube is never changed ; and to decline taking matte, because the tube had been previ ously used, would be thought the height of rudeness. A gen tleman of my acquaintance, becoming very fond of this beve rage, bought a tube for himself, and carried it constantly in his pocket ; but this gave so rauch offence that he was eventually obliged to relinquish it. " The people in general, and particularly the peasantry, and UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 255 ACCOUNT OF A CHILEAN DINNER. the lower orders in the outskirts of the town, appeared to us much better bred than the correspondent ranks in other coun tries. In their domestic circles, they were at all times remark ably polite lo one another, the children being respectful and at tentive, and the parents considerate and indulgent. But this was conspicuous only at horae ; for, when abroad, the raen were very negligent of good manners, and, although actual rudeness was contrary lo their nature, they were, in general, careless of the wishes of the women, and never sought oppor tunities of obliging thera, nor seeraed lo lake any pleasure in being useful on trivial occasions. This habitual inattention on the part of the young men rendered the women, in sorae de gree, distrustful of the civility wilh which strangers, as a mat ter of course, treated them ; and, at first, we often observed a look of embarrassment when we paid thera ordinary attention. " The state of education at Valparaiso was very low, and in this respect the raen had the advantage. The refineraent, how ever, was all wilh the other sex ; in knowledge of the world, in sound judgment, and in every thing relative to manners, they were clearly superior to the men." The following is Capt. HaU's account of a Chilean dinner : " We sat down to dinner, a very raerry party, the raaster of the house insisting upon my taking the head of the table ; a custora, he said, that could by no means be dispensed with. The first dish which was placed on the table was bread soup, ex ceedingly good, and cooked either with fish or raeat, a distinction so iraraaterial, we thought, that our surprise was considerable when we observed a gentleman of the party start up, and, with a look as if he had swallowed poison, exclaim, " O Lord, there is fish in the soup !" and while we were wondering at this ex clamation, our friend ran off to the kitchen to interrogate the cook. He returned with a most wo-begone look, and finished his plate of soup as if it had been the last he was ever to taste. A feeling of delicacy prevented our asking questions, although our curiosity was raised to the highest pilch, by observing the gentleman touch nothing else, but literally go without his din ner. It was Friday, and it was in Lent, which might have ac counted for his hor^ at meat ; but it was fish which had shocked hira ; besides, we saw the rest of the corapany eating both without scruple, which puzzled us exceedingly, and the more so as the self-denying individual was a very sensible man, and showed no other symptoras of eccentricfty. We at last discovered that he had, for sorae reason or other, come under a religious engagement not to eat both fish and flesh, though 256 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. the South Americans are permitted to do so, by an express bull in their favor, and it so happened, that he had set his fancy, this day most particularly, on a raeat dish close to him, never drearaing of what had been put into the soup ; fish once tasted, however, his feast was at an end, and he kept his vow in a manner worthy of an anchorite. « We had then the Olla, a dish celebrated in all lands where Spanish is spoken. It consists of boiled beef, piled round with all sorts of vegetables, and well covered with a large yellow pea, called a Garbanza ; and so inseparable is this union, that our " beans and bacon" is not better known fti English, even in a proverbial sense, than " Olla con Garbanza" is in Spanish. Besides these dishes, we had various rich stews, and, last of aU, a dish of roast beef, not in the smallest degree reserabling, how ever, the glorious roast beef of Old England ; but a long thin strip of dry burnt-up meat, without a single bone to give it a shape, and with every bft of fat cut away. MeanwhUe, we finished our dinner, and partook of a capital dessert of cool bursting figs, fresh from the trees within sight of the table ; as were the luscious sweet grapes, the pride of our host's heart ; and, lastly, the enorraous purple water melon, the staff of Ufe amongst the poorer classes in this country : to all which was added a pleasant small wine, raanufactured by the hands of our absent hostess. " The whole scene was characteristic of the country. We sat in the cross draught of two doors and numerous ^vindows, enjoying the balmy air as it passed through the house, whisk ing, in its course, the dried fig and vine leaves along the floor. On one side, we could see along the gravel walks of the gar den, stretching under treUised vines, and shaded by a broad belt of lofty walnut trees, which formed a grateful screen be tween us and the fiery glare of the western sky. On the other hand, our view extended as far as the Andes, fifty or sixty miles off, indistinctly seen through the waving haze, caused by the fierceness of the sun's rays striking through the arid low grounds ; neither bird nor beast was to be seen, nor the least speck of a cloud in the sky — the tyranny of the sun was com plete. There was a soleran tranquillity ji this, which, whUe it disposed the mind to thought, took notnRg from its cheerful ness. But we were soon left to enjoy ft alone, as the company dropped off, one by one, to take their siesta ; the landlord only reraained, but evidently out of civility to his guests ; we, there fore, took an opportunity of slipping off to our rooms also, that he might retire." UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 257 DESCRIPTION OF A CHILEAN DANCE. The same author thus describes a Chilean dance : " It consists of a great variety of coraplicated figures, affording infinfte opportunities for the display of grace, and for show ing elegance of figure lo the greatest advantage. It is danced lo waltz tunes, played in rather slow tirae ; and, instead ofone or two couples dancing at once, the whole of the set, frora end to end, is in raotion. No dance can be more beautifulto look at, or more bewitching to be engaged in ; yet there is no deny ing, that adrairable though it be for those warra regions, it is of a character unsuited to the climate and habits of England. Dancing and walking, for the last is equally looked upon as an accomplishment, are taught with great care, and I do not re member to have seen any lady who did not do both well. Dif ferences in the figure and in the laste of the individual will, of course, make distinctions quite as remarkable as in other coun tries ; but still the universalfty of good dancing, and more par ticularly of graceful, or it may be called elegant walking, is a very remarkable feature, and well deserving of notice. As all the ladies have, more or less, a taste for music, and can play on the piano-forte, there seldora arises, on such occasions as this, a difficulty in finding a player. But I was surprised, and soraewhat disappointed, to see a young lady, one of the gayest and best dancers in Chile, place herself al the instrument. The gentiemen loudly appealed against this proceeding; but she maintained her place resolutely, declaring she would hot dance a single step. I saw there was some raystery in this, and took an opportunity of begging to know what could have induced a person, of so much good sense and cheerfulness, and so fond of dancing, to make so very preposterous a resolution. She laughed on hearing the subject treated wilh such earnestness, and confessed that nothing was farther from her own wishes than her present forbearance, but that she was bound by a promise not to dance for a whole year. I begged an explana tion of this singular engageraent, when she told rae, that, dur ing the recent confineraent of her sister, our host's wife, at a raoment when her Ufe was despaired of, her mothet had raade a vow, that, if she recovered, not one of the unraarried girls should dance for twelve months. Her younger sister, how ever, was dancing ; and I found she had managed to evade the obligation by an ingenious piece of casuistry, arguing that, as the proraise had been made in town, it could never be intended to apply to the country. The good-natured mother, who prob ably repented of her absurd vow, allowed that a good case of conscience had been made out ; and the pretty Rosalita danced 258 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. away with a spirit which was taken up by the whole room, and a more animated ball was never seen." Santiago. — This city is sftuated in an extensive plain, distant from Valparaiso ninety raUes. According to Mr. Miers, it is one of the finest cities in South America, in point of structure, convenience and healthiness ; but not so with regard to its geo graphical situation : it is certainly inferior to Lima and Buenos Ayres in this respect, as well as in the elegance of its public and private buildings ; but it surpasses them in cleanliness and regularity, and possesses at first sight, a more imposing appear. ance than it is found to deserve on a closer examination. Like other Spanish towns, the city is divided in quadras or squares. This town, says Capt. Head, is full of priests — the people are consequently indolent and imraoral ; and certainly I never saw more sad examples of the effects of bad education, or a state of society more deplorable. The streets are crowded with a set of lazy, indolent, bloated monks and priests, with their heads shaved in different ways,* wearing enorraous flat hats, and dressed, sorae in white serge cowls and gowns and others in black. The men all touch their hats to these drones, who are also to be seen in the houses, leaning over the backs of chairs, and talking to women who are evidently of the mosl abandoned class of society. The nuraber of people of this description at Santiago is quite extraordinary. The lower rooras of the raost reputable houses are invariably let to them, and it is really shocking beyond description to see thera sitting at their doors, with a candle in the back part of the room burn ing before sacred pictures and iraages. The power of the priests has dirainished very much since the revolution. They are not respected ; they have alraost all faraUies, and lead most disreputable lives. StiU the hold they have upon society is quite surprisuig. The common peo ple laugh at their imraorality, yet they go to them for iraages * I was one day in a hair.dresser's shop at Santiago, 'nhen a priest came in to have hia head shaved, and I stopped to see the operation. The priest was a sleek fat man of about forty, with a remarkable short nose and sallow complexion. The man lathered him wilh the greatest respect, and then shaved the lower part of the head about an inch above the ears all round, and discovered bumps which a student of Gall and Spurzeheim would have been shocked at. His head was deadly white as young pork ; and while the barber was turning the priest's head in dif ferent directions, I really thought it altogether the most uncivilized op eration I had ever witnessed ; and when it was finished, and the man stood up, he looked so very grotesque that I could scarcely refrain from laughing. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 259 SANTIAGO. — CLIMATE. and pictures, aud they send their wives and daughters to con fess to thera. Three tiraes a day the people in the streets take off their hats, or fall down on their knees. Every quarter of an hour during the night the watchmen of each street sings, as loud as he is able, a prayer of " Ave Maria purissiraa," and then chants the hour, and a description of the night. During the day one constantly meets a calash drawn by twis mules, driven by, a dirty boy in a poncho, and foUowed by a Iftie of inhabilants wfth their hats off, each carrying a lighted candle in a lantern ; every individual in the street kneels, and those who have windows towards the streets (who are gene rally the females I have described) are obUged tb appear with a lighted candle. In the inside of the carriage sits a priest, with his hands uplifted and clasped. In this system of depravity the great sinner pardons the little ones. Sins are put into one scale and money into the other, and intent upon the balance, both parties forget the beauty and sirapUcfty of religion which they norainally profess. The siesta at Santiago is as long as it is at Mendoza. The shops are shut at noon, and reraain closed for four or five hours, during which tirae all business is at end. The climate of Santiago is sirailar to that of all the parts of of ChUe which I visited. The day in summer is burning hot ; the nights delightfully Cool. During the day, the sun, reflected from the mountains which surround the town on every side, and which, of course, obstruct the breeze, has a greater heat than is natural to the latitude. At night the cold air rolls down the snowy sides of the Andes, and fi.lls the Chilean valleys with as cool atraosphere, which is unknown to the great plains on the other side of the CordUlera. The effect of this streara of cold air is veryagreeable, and people, whose occupation screen them from the sun in the day, enjoy their evening's ramble ; and as the sky is very clear, the climate of Chile is often describ ed as being extremely healthy. Yet the least learned, but per haps the raost satisfactory proof of the healthiness of a climate is not the brightness of the stars, or the color ofthe moon, but the appearance of raen's and women's faces ; and certainly the peo ple of Chile in general, and of Santiago in particular, have not a healthy appearance. The EngUsh there, also, look very pale and exhausteti, and although they keep each other in countenance, it appeared to me,that a strong dose of British wind, with snow and rain, and a few of what the Scotch call " sour mornings," would do them a great deal of good. The towns of Chile are built in the finest parta of the coun- 260 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. try, but not always placed so advantageously as tbey might have been, for the purposes of comraerce. The streets are about for- ty feet wide, intersecting each other at right angles, and form. ing so many squares. The houses in general are built of mud or clay hardened in the sun, having but one story, with a gar. den attached to each of them ; raany, however, of more recent construction, are composed of brick or stone, and furnished with upper stories. The inland parls of Chile are the most fertile, and the fer. tiUty increases in proportion to the distance from the sea. The valleys of the Andes are superior to the middle districts, and these to the maritime. In the maritirae districts the soil is brown, inclining to red, brittle and clayed, and contains raari raixed with marine substances. In the interior, and in the valleys of the Andes, it is brittle, and of a yellowish black color. It every where possesses an extraordinary warmth, and brings to perfect maturity those tropical fruits which are natives only of the torrid zone. The inexhaustible sources of fertiUty ui this delightful country renders unnecessary the use of artificial manures, and experience has taught the husbandman of ChUe their superfluity if not injury. The fermentation and putre. faction of manure is supposed to engender or multiply certain worms destructive lo grain in the blade. From these Chile is entirely exempted ; and it is aUeged as a known fact, that the lands of St. Jago, though they have been constantly culti vated for a period of near two centuries and a half, without re ceiving any artificial manure, have suffered no diminution in their araazing produce. The soil of Chile, by a very mode- rale calculation, yields, at an average, sixty-five for one in the middle districts, and forty-five in the maritime. There are in- deed, lands which produce 120, and 160 for one, and accord ing lo some authors, there have been frequent instances of 300 fold ; but this extraordinary increase has not been confirmed by later and more authentic information. The climate is mild, equable, and salubrious, and not inferior to any in the new world. The transition from heat to cold is moderate, and their extremes equaUy unknown. The air is so much cooled in summer by certain winds from the Andes, distinct frora the east winds, that in the shade no one is ever incorarao- ded with perspiration. In the interior where the heat is great est, Reaumur's thermoraeter seldora exceeds 45°, and in winter it very rarely sinks below the freezing point. Chile enjoys a constant succession of fine weather from the begftining of spring Botucudoes — Indians of Brazil, P. 212. \mm 1 />/'*^-¥ /,¦ -: ' K.^'.-v W^ Crossing the Cordillera. P- 261. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 261 MODE OF TRAVELLING. till autumn. The rainy season commences in April, and con tinues till the end of August. The southern provinces have much more of it than those in the centre, while in the northern provinces of Coquimbo and Copiapo, it rains very seldora. In these provinces, however, and throughout the country, the dews faU in such abundance, as in a great measure to supply the want of rain. Snow, except on the Andes, is very uncom mon. On the coast it is entirely unknown, and though it ' soraetimes falls in the middle districts, il is often melted before reaching the ground, and is seldom known to lie for the space of a day. On the Andes, however, frora April to November, it falls in prodigious quantities, and renders the passes for the greater part of the year altogether impracticable. Travelling from Buenos Ayres to Santiago. — In our remarks upon the mode of travelling in Buenos Ayres, we had occasion to allude to the route between Buenos Ayres and Santiago across the Parapas and the great CordUlera. Frora Buenos Ayres to Mendoza, or UspaUata, (the latter of which is about 20 railes frora' Mendoza, and is distinguished for its large and rich silver mine) the lirae occupied is about fourteen days. The whole journey between Buenos Ayres and Santiago, including the passage ofthe great Cordillera, usuaUy occupies three weeks, but the horses, to accomplish the journey in that tirae, must be kept upon the full gallop in all cases where such speed is practi- cable. Capt. Head thus describes the passage of the great Cordillera : As I was looking up at the region of snow, and as my raule was scrambling along the steep side of the rock, the capataz overlook me and asked rae if I chose to corae on, as he was going to look at the "Ladera de las Vaccas," to see if it was passable, before the raules carae to it. He accordingly trotted on, and in a half an hour we arrived at the spot. It is the worst pass in the Cordillera. The raountain above appears almost perpendicular, and in one continued slope down to the rapid torrent, which is raging underneath. The surface is covered with loose earth and stones which have been brought down by the water. The path goes across this slope, and is very bad for about seventy yards, being only a few inches broad ; but the point of danger is the spot where the water which coraes down from the top of the raountain, efther washes the path away, or covers-ft over with loose stones. We rode over ft, and it certainly was very narrow and bad. In some places, the rock alraost touches one's shoulder, while the precipice is 23 262 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. immediatel}'- under the opposite foot, and high above the head are a number of large loose stones, which appear as if the slightest touch would send thera rolling into the torrent be. neath, which is foaraing and rushing vvith great violence. How. ever, the danger to the rider is only imaginary, for the raules are so careful, and seera so well aware of their situation, that there is no chance of their making a false step. As soon as we had crossed the pass, which is only seventy yards long, the capataz told me that il was a very bad place for baggage mules, that four hundred had been lost there, and that we should also very probably lose one ; he said, that he would get down to the water at a place about a hundred yards off, and wait there with his lasso to catch any raule that might fall into the torrent, and he requested me lo lead on his raule. Howev. er, I was resolved to see the turable, if there was to be one, so the capitaz took away my mule and his own, and while I stood on a projecting rock at the end ofthe pass, he scrambled down on fool, till he al last gol to the level ofthe water. The drove of mules now came in sight, one following anoth. er ; a few were carrying no burdens, but the rest were either mounted or heavily laden, and as they wound along ibe crook. ed path, the difference of color in the animals, the different col. ors and shapes of the baggage they were carrying, with the picturesque dress ofthe peons, who were vociferating the wild song by which they drive on the mules, and the sight of the dan. gerous path they had to cross, — forraed altogether a very in. teresting scene. As soon as the leading raule carae to the coramencement of the pass, he slopped, evidently unwilluig to proceed, and of course all the rest stopped also. He was the finest mule we had, and on that account had twice as rauch to carry as any ofthe olhers ; his load had nev. er been relieved, and it consisted of four portraanteaus, two of which belonged to rae, and which contained not only a very heavy bag of doUars, bul also papers, which were of such con. sequence, that I could hardly have continued my joumey with. out thera. The peons now redoubled their cries, and leaning over the sides of their raules, and picking up stones, they threw thera at the leading raule, who now coraraenced his journey over the path. Wilh his nose to the ground, literally sraelling his way, he walked gently on, often changing the position of his feet, if he found the ground would not bear, until he came to the bad part ofthe pass, where he again stopped, and I then certainly began to look with great anxiety at my portmanteaus ; but the puons again threw stones at him, and he contftiued his UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 263 PASSAGE OF THE GREAT CORDILLERA. path, and reached rae in safety ; several others followed. At last a young mule, carrying a porlraanleau, wfth two large sacks of provisions, and raany other things, in passing the bad point, struck his load against the rock, which knocked his two hind legs over the precipice, and the loose stones immediaiely began lo roll away from under thera : however, his fore-legs were still upon the narrow path ; he had no room to put his head there, but he placed his nose on the path on his left, and appeared to hold on by his mouth : his perilous fate was soon decided by a loose mule who came, and in walking along after hira, knocked his comrade's nose off the path, destroyed his balance, and head over heels the poor creature instantly cora raenced a fall which was really quite terrific. Wilh all his baggage firmly lashed lo him, he rolled down the sleep slope, until he carae to the part which was perpendicular, and then he seemed lo bound off, and turning round in the air, fell into the deep torrent on his back, and upon his baggage, and instantly disappeared. I thought of course that he was killed; but up he rose, looking wild and scared, and immediately endeavored to stera the torrent which was foaraing about hira. It was a noble effort; and for a moment he seemed to succeed, but the eddy suddenly caught the great load which was upon his back, and turned hira corapletely over; down went his head wilh all the baggage, and as he was carried down the streara, all I saw were his hind quarters, and his long, thin, wet tail, lashing the water. As suddenly, however, up his head carae again ; but he was now weak, and went down the stream, turned round and round by the eddy, until passing the corner of the rock, I lost sight of him. I saw however, the peons, with their lassos in their hands, run down the side of the torrent for some little distance ; bul they soon stopped, and after looking towards the poor mule for some seconds, their earnest altftude gradually re laxed, and when they walked towards me, I concluded that all was over. I walked up to the peons, and was just going to speak to them, when I saw at a distance, a soUtary pule walk ing towards us ! ¦ We instantly perceived that he was the Phaston whose fall we had just witnessed, and in a few moments he came up to us to join his comrades. Pie was of course dripping wet ; his eye looked dull, and his countenance was dejected: however, none ofhis bones were broken, he was very little cut, and the buUe- tin of his health was altogether incredible. With that surprising anxiety which the mules aU have to join the troop, or ralher the leading raule, which carries the 264 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHILE. bell, he continued his course, and actually walked over the pass without compulsion, although certainly with great caution. We then continued our course for two hours, until we carae to the " Rio de las Vaccas," which is the most dangerous lor. rent of any of those which are to be crossed. We got ihrough it wilh safety, but it was very deep, and so excessively rapid, that large stones were rolled down it wilh the force of the wa ter. The mules are accustomed lo these torrents, bul they are, notwithstanding, much frightened at thera, and it is only long spurs that can force them inlo them.* From this tirae nothing worthy of notice occurred to Capt. Head or his party. They at length reached the summit, and to use his language, it was really a moraent of great triuraph and satisfaction : Hitherto I had always been looking upwards, but now the difficulties were all overcorae, and I was able to look down upon the mountains. Their tops were covered wilh snow ; and as the eye wandered over the different pinnacles, and up the whfte trackless ravines, one could not but confess that the scene, cheerless and inhospitable as it was, was never theless a picture both magnificent and sublime. The descent of the Andes on the Chilean side is upon the whole less difficult and dangerous than that on the Buenos Ayrean side. Greater quantities of snow are found on the for. mer than on the latier, and consequently the path is often ex ceedingly treacherous, and not unfrequently the snowraeftingof a sudden, causes torrents of water to pour down the sides of the mountain with great powcr, oftentimes terrific both to the mules and their riders. Captain Head and his party, however, made the descent without any serious accident. On one occasion, they met with the foUowing interesting incident, which he thus describes : We were riding close to a very high perpendicu lar mountain which was on our right, and were all looking up it, and making remarks upon its singular formation, when we heard a sound like the sudden explosion of a mine, and a large piece ofthe rock was instantly seen falling. The sound was exactiy like that described, but I should think it must have pro- ceedetl from the rock having struck against some part of the cliff; however, one of the partyexclaimed • Oh ! ft is all cora ing I' and off he darted. The other and I stood still, and we were rauch amused witii the appearance of the fugitive, who bending over his mule, as if the raountain had already been on his shoulders, ?Head's Notes, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 265 ARAUCANIANS. was kicking and spurring and beating his mule, and in this at titude actually rode out of our sight, without once turning to look behind him. When we came up to him, ' What I did you not see,' ex clairaed he, ' the whole face ofthe mountain moving, and smoke peeping out of all the crevices?' He added, he had heard that Chile was full of volcanoes, that he considered the whole moun tain was coming upon hira, and that therefore he certainly did ride for his life. Araucania. — This is the name of a great and independent nation in South America, who inhabit that part of Chile, which lies between the rivers Bio-bro and Valdiva. The Araucani- ans are, in general, strong and well proportioned, and have a fine commanding appearance, though they do not exceed the ordinary size of Europeans. Their complexion is ofa reddish brown, their faces rouud, their eyes small and lively, and their nose rather flat, their mouth handsome, their teeth while, their legs muscular and well-formed, and their feet small and flat. They have almost no beard, and the greatest care is taken in removing every hair from the body. The hair upon the head is long, thick, black, and coarse : and, being regarded as a great ornaraent, is winded carefully in tresses round their heads. From the strength of their constftutions, they rarely b^gin to becorae grey till 60 or 70, and they are seldora bald or wrinkled tUl 80. They Uve to a greater age than the Span iards ; and though many are to be found who are more lhan a hundred years old, yet they preserve, unimpaired to the last, their sight, teeth, and raemory. The minds of this people are raarked by an intrepidity of character, a patience of fatigue, an ardor of patriotism, and an enthusiastic love of liberiy, which Ihey will surrender only with their lives. Jealous of their honor, polite, hospitable, and grateful, they are generous and humane to their vanquished en- eraies. If these virtues forraed the leading featiires in the Araucanian character, we might pronounce them to be the hap piest people upon earth ; but, from the want of culture and re fineraent, these qualities are debased by debauchery, drunken ness, presuraption, and an insolent contempt for other nations. The dress of the Araucanians, which is made of wool, con sists of a shirt, a vest, a pair of short close breeches, and a cloak, called poncho, in the forra of a scapulary, with an open ing in the head, and of a sufficient lenglh to cover the hands 23* 260 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. and the knees. The color of the poncho is greenish blue araong the lower orders, but of different colors among the high er classes, and generally striped, and ornamented with flowers and animals. The rest of their clothes is always greenish blue, which is the color ofthe nation. Their heads are cover ed with a bandage of embroidered wool, which they raise a lit tle as a mark of courtesy. They wear round their bodies a woollen sash ; the lower class go barefooted, but people of rank wear woollen boots and leather sandals. The women, who are deUcately forraed, and frequently hand some, are remarkable for the modesty and simplicity of their attire. A tunic, a girdle, and a short cloak, clasped before wfth a sUver buckle, and always ofa greenish blue color, are invariably the articles of their dress. The tunic, which has no sleeves, descends to their feet, and is fastened on their shoul ders wilh silver buckles. Their hair floats in graceful tresses over their shoulders, and a false emerald sparkles in their fore heads. Their square earrings are of silver, their necklaces and bracelets are made ofglass, and a silver ring is worn upon each finger. As ornaments of this kind are used even by the pixirest class, it is computed that a hundred thousand marks of silver are eraployed in feraale ornaments. The food of the Araucanians is chiefly Indian corn and pota toes ; and when they do eat flesh, which is very seldora, it is simply boiled or roasted. Though they have plenty of excel lent fish, they do not use it rauch as food. Their substitute for bread is sraall cakes, or roasted potatoes with salt. Their drinks are various kinds of beer and cider, made from their corn and fruits. They are very fond of wine, which they pur chase from the Spaniards, though their own climate and soil is well adapted for the culture ofthe vine. Their mode of living is, in general, temperate ; but, at the public entertauiments, which are given at raarriages, funerals, and other events of ira- portance, they are extreraely profuse and luxurious. Three hundred people soraetiraes partake of these feasts, which last often for two or three days, and which are open to every person without invitation. When they give feasts onthe occasion of cultivating their fields, threshing their graft], or building a house, no person is allowed to participate, but those who have labored till the work is done. From their fondness for ferraent ed liquors, they consider every entertainraent as wretched, when they have not plenty to drink. These Bacchanalian UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 267 ARAUCANIANS. feasts are accompanied with music and dancing ; but the woraen are generally forced to dance in separate corapanies frora the men.. The Araucanian women are reraarkable for their neatness and cleanUness. Their houses and courts are swept several tiraes every day : and whenever any utensil is used, il is im mediately washed in the running streara. The women comb their heads twice a day ; and wash thera once a week with soap raanufactured frora the bark of the quillai ; and a spot of dirt is never to be seen on their clothes. The raen perforra the same acts of cleanliness. Their houses being placed on the banks of rivers, they bathe three or four times a day in sura raer, and always once in winter ; and hence they have attained a reraarkable expertness in swimming and diving. The Araucanians are celebrated for the number and ingenu ity of their games. The game of chess, which they call comi can, has been in their possession from time imraemorial. Their game of quechu resembles back gamraon ; but in place of dice, they use triangular pieces of bone, raarked with points, which are thrown with a sraall hoop supported by two pegs. The youths arause theraselves in wrestling, running, and playing wfth ball. Their chief garaes, however, are the peuco and the palican, the first of which represents the seige of a fort, and the other a regular baltle. In the peuco, several persons joining hands, form a circle round a little boy. Their eneraies, who equal thera in number, attempt, by stratagem or force, to take possession of the boy, which gives great exercise to the skill and strength of both parlies. The palican is played with a wooden ball, called pali, on a plain, half a raile long, raarked out by branches of trees, and is exactly sirailar to the orpasto of the Greeks, the caicico of the Florentines, and the shinty of the Scotch. The successful players obtain great credit, and are in vited to all the principal parlies in the country. Soraetiraes two provinces challenge each other, and crowds of "spectators asserable to witness the spectacle. As the use of money has not been introduced into the king dom, their commerce is carried on by barter, which is regulated by a kind of conventional tariff. Thus a horse or bridle is one payraent, an ox two, &c. They trade chiefly witii the Span iards, who live in the province of Maule, on the frontiers of Araucania, and who exchange iron ware, bridle bits, cutiery, 268 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. grain, and wine, for their ponchi, or cloaks, horned cattle, hor- ses, ostrich feathers, curiously wrought baskets, and other ar- tides of a more trifling nature. No fewer than 40,000 of these ponchi are exported annually from Araucania. The Spaniards, who engage in this trade, apply, for perraission, to the heads of farailies ; and, afler having received it, they proceed to every house, and distribute their raerchandize to every person who appears. When the sale is over, he notifies his departure ; and aU the purchasers, wilh the raost scrupulous fidelity, hasten to deliver to hira, at the first village he reaches, the coraraodities which they bartered. Araong the Araucanian traditions, is that of a great deluge, from which a few individuals were preserved by repairing to a high mountain, called Theg-theg, the thundering or the spark ling, which had three points, and floated upon the water. Dreading that after an earthquake, the sea will again deluge the world, they fly to mountains, sirailar to Theg-theg ; and iraagine, that in consequence of this reserablance, they must have the property of moving upon the waters. During their superstitious pilgrimages, they carry wilh them a supply of provisions, and wooden plates to protect their heads from the burning sun, lest the mountain Tljeg-theg should be elevated by the waters to the heightof that luminary. The only ceremony which attends their marriages, is that of carrying off the bride by open violence. Her father and her intended husband, accompanied with other friends, conceal themselves near the place where the bride is to pass. When ever she appears, she is seized, and put on horseback behind the bridegroom ; and, notwithstanding her resistance and coun- terfefted shrieks, she is conveyed to the house ofher husband, where her relatives are asserabled to receive the customary presents. The funeral rites of the Araucanians bear a strong resem blance lo those of the ancients. When an Araucanian dies, his body is laid upon the ground, and his weeping relations and friends sit around ft for a considerable tirae. The body, deck ed in the best apparel, which he wore, when alive, is placed on a high bier, and is watched by the mourners during the night, which is generally spent in weeping, or in feasting with those who come to condole with them. After the termination ofthis euricahuin, or black entertainment, as it is called, and an inter- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 269 PATAGONIA. val of one or more days, the corpse is carried in procession to the family burial ground, in a wood, or upon a lull. The cav alcade is preceded by two young men, riding at full speed ; the bier, supported by the relations ofthe deceased, and encir cled by females, who, like the hired raourners, among the Ro mans, bewail the loss which has been sustained ; while another female follows the procession, strewing ashes on the way, to prevent the return of the soul to its earthly abode. When the mourners reach the burying-ground, the corpse is laid upon the earth, and surrounded with his arras, if a raan, but if a wo man, with female implements. A great quantity of provision, and vessels filled with chica and wilh wine, are deposited be- side the corpse, to support it in ils passage to the next world ; and a horse is sometimes killed and interred in the same spot. After covering the body wilh earth and stones, in a pyramidal forra, and pouring upon this tumulus a great quantity of chica, they bid farewell to the corpse, with many tears, wishing it a prosperous journey to the world of spirits.* 7. PATAGONIA. The extensive region of Patagonia Ues south of Buenos Ayres, wilh the Atlantic on the east, and the Pacific on the west. On the south, ft is separated by the Straits of MageUan, from the island of Tierra del Fuego. The coast on the Pacific extends about 770 mUes ; on the Alianlic upwards of 1050. The inhabitants of Patagonia are still iraperfectly known, and some contrariety is observable araong writers who have treated of thera. Respectable authority* divides them into three classes, Cassores, Pampas, and Patagons. The first, a race of comraon men, who live on the Tierra del Fuego side, as low as opposite Cape Horn, and who were probably driven by their enemies to take shelter in this part. Of the second class, seen by Mr. Carteret, Captain WalUs, and M. Bougain ville, &c. , the largest raeasurecl 6 feet 7 inches; while the greatest part of the natives were only 5 feet 10 inches, or 6 feet. The third class consists of those who were seen by Com modore Byron, Mr. Faulkner, &c., and whose size is said in *N'ew Edinburgh Encyclopedia. 270 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PATAGONIA. many instances to have been frora 7 feet 8 inches to 8 feet, and sorae say 9 or ten feet. The comraon height was 6 feet, which was also that of the tallest woraen. Their color, as represented by the above navigators, is that of deep copper; their hair as harsh as hog's bristles, tied back with colton thread, and their hands and feet sraall. The eye lids ofthe young woraen are painted black. Many ofthe raen paint their left eye with a red circle, and others their arras, and different parts of their face. They are expert in the use of the sling, with which they entangle the legs ofthe ostrich and gua naco, so that the animals are easily caught. They are of an agreeable, and frequently handsorae figure ; and have a round flat face, very fiery eyes, with white and rather large teeth. Some of thera wear long, but thin whiskers. Their cloak, of guanacos, or sorillos skins, is tied round the body with a gir dle ; and that part which is designed to cover the shoulders, is suffered to fall back. The flesh of horses, guanacos, and vi- cunnas constituted their chief food. This is generaUy boiled or roasted, but is soraetimes devoured raw. They raake a fer menting liquor called chuclia, which causes inebriation. Their tents are covered with the hides of raares. Their horses are of a diminutive size, bul nimble. They use bridles raade of leather thongs, with a bit forraed from wood, and their saddles reserable our pads. No stirrups are used, and both sexes ride in the sarae raanner, galloping wfth out fear over the raost rugged roads. Tliey worship a good and a bad principle. The first is call ed Toncha, or chief in the land of strong drink, and bv sorae, the lord of the dead ; they consider hira the creator of all things, who never afterwards troubles hiraself about his crea- tures. The evil principles are termed the wanderers without, and the dwellers in the air, who are viewed as the protectors of some, and the injurers of olhers. Heaven thev consider the land of drunkenness, where they will find plenty of chucha, and enjoy hunting the ostrich. Polygamy is aUowed. Wid ows express their mourning by blackening their fiices for a year after the death of their husbands. On the decease of a person, they reraove his flesh from the bones either by burning or cutting, and then form a skeleton of them, which being deck- ed in the best robes, with various weapons, is placed in a sit ting posture in a deep square pit covered wilh turf To the foregoing we subjoin the account given by Admiral UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 271 STATURE DRESS. Don A. De Cordova, as the result of his voyage to the Straits of Magellan, undertaken by order of the King of Spain. The Patagonians, says he, are a collection of wandering say. ages, who occupy all that vast tract of country extending from the Rio de la Plata about S. latitude 37,° to the Strait of Ma. gellan in S. latitude 52° 20,. Their most settied habitations are in the interior of the country ; but, in the hunting season, they approach the slraft, where navigators have mel with them. Their stature, so much disputed, exceeds in general, that of Europeans. Some of them being raeasured accurately, we found that the tallest did not exceed 7 feet If inches, Burgos measure ; and that the coraraon size was frora 6i to 7 feet.* But even this height is not so striking as their corpulence, or rather bulkiness, sorae of thera measuring 4 feet four inches round the breast ; but their feet and hands are not in due pro. porlion to their other parts. They all give evident signs of strenglh of body ; Ihey are full of flesh, but cannot properly be called fat. The size and tension of their muscles evince strength ; and their figure, on the whole, is not disagreeable, although the head is large, even in proportion to the body ; the face broad and flattish, the eyes lively, and the teeth extremely while, but too long. Their complexion, like that of other Americans, is cetrino (pale yellow,) or ralher verging to a copper color. They wear thin black straight hair, tied on the top ofthe head with a piece of thong or ribbon, brought round their forehead, having the head entirely uncovered. We ob. served some wilh beards, but which were neither thick nor long. Their dress adds much to the effect of their size, being com. posed ofa kind of cloak made ofthe skins of lamas or sorillos, arranged with sorae skill, wilh stripes of different colors in the inside. They wear ft fastened round the waist, so that it cov ers thera below the calf of the leg, letting that part coraraonly hang down which is intended for covering the shoulders ; and when the cold, or other cause, induces them to put it over them, ?The vara, or yard of Burgos, the standard of Spain, contains 3306132 inches, or two feet nine inches and one sixteenth, English ; the tallest Patagonlan, therefore, did not exceed six feet six inches and one third, English ; and those of the common size were from five feet eleven inches and two thirds, to six feet five inches and one seventh, English. It is, however, to be remembered, that Spaniards are not in general tall men, and that a seaman is seldom among the tallest of hia countrymen: to them, therefore, the Patagonians might appear giants. 272 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BUENOS AYEES. they hold the upper part of il wfth the hand, and so cover them. selves entirely with this cloak. Sorae also, besides this skin cloak or raantle, wear ponchones, and breeches or drawers, ofthe same shape and sort with those worn by the Creoles of Chile and Buenos Ayres. The poncho is a piece of strong cloth striped with various colors, about three yards long and two broad, having an opening in the mid dle made for the purpose of passing it over the head ; a piece of dress extremely proper for riding on horseback, as it covers and defends the arras, at the sarae tirae leaving them in perfect liberty for any exertion. Some had ponchos made of the stuffs manufactured by our. settlers in Buenos Ayres. The breeches, or drawers, are very much like those worn in Europe ; but their boots are very different, being formed of the skin of the legs of the horse, taken off whole, without cutting them open, and sewed up at one end. There were, however, few Patagonians who enjoyed aU these conveniences. The far greater number were alraost naked, having only their skin cloak, with a sort of leather purse hanging by a thong fixed round the waist, and fastened between the legs with one or two thongs, to the forraer round the waist. ' With a piece of skin or leather fastened round the foot, they raake a kind of shoe, and fix to it behind, two little bits of tira ber forming a sort of fork, which serve thera for a spur ; but they leave off this part of their dress when they have no inten tion to go on horseback, which, however, happens very seldom. It is a very general practice araong them to paint the face wfth white, black, and red, a kind of ornaraent contributing very little indeed to the agreeableness of their appearance. Their equipage, or horse furniture, consists ofa kind of cov ering forraed of several skins of lamas, one over the other and rolled up a little both before and behind, so that at first sight they have sorae resemblance to a saddle ; the whole fastened on wfth strong leather thongs or straps, instead of girths. The stirrup is forraed wilh a piece of wood four inches long, sup- porteti at each end by a small thong, connected with another which is fastened above to the girth. The other parts of their furniture resemble entirely those used by the Indians of Bue nos Ayres, wilh this difference alone, that the bit is made of very hard solid wood. As the Patagonians have neither iron nor cordage, they sup ply their place with solid timber, and straps and thongs of skfti or leather. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 273 STATUEE OF THE INHABITANTS. We saw one among thera having a complete European sad dle and bridle, but could not learn by what raeans he had ac quired them. Although we saw these people in troops of 300 or 400 to- gether, yet we can give no information concerning their wo men, who never came near enough to perrait our examination ; only an officer, who was on shore ih the Bay of Sl. Gregorio, assured us that their stature was somewhat shorter than that of the raen, and that they differed very little from the men in their dress. The children, even in their tender years, show that they are descended frora parents of extraordinary size ; and, by the largeness of their features, indicate to what they will arrive, when nature shall have attained its full vigor, and their mera bers shall be properly developed. As the Patagonians draw no part whatever of their nourish ment from the sea, they have estabUshed their dwellings in the interior of the country, in the valleys near some rivulet or pond of fresh water, and'in the neighborhood of some mountain, to shelter themselves from the fury of the winds ; so that that we could have no opportunity of seeing their manner of lodging and living, having only now and then, on board of the frigate, had a distant view, frora which we were not enabled to remark many particulars. Nevertheless, since we know that they lead a wandering life, like the Arabs, abandoning the tracts that fail spontaneously to furnish them with food, it is natural to suppose that their huts are constructed without design or soUdi ty. As a proof that they lead an unsettled wandering life, we can allege, that during our voyage, we met with the same tribe established in two different parts of the strait.* In his first voyage to the South inl822. Captain Morrell in forras us that having a desire to ascertain for hiraself the truth respecting the stature of the Patagonians, he raade an excursion into the country for that purpose. The following is his account of his adventure : Accorapanied by two men only, Iproceeded into the interior until we arrived at a vaUey where we discover. ed a band of above 200 native Patagonians, all on horse-back attending to a drove of about 3000 guanacoes. Apprehensive for his own safety, and that of his corapanions, MorreU concealed hiraself injome underbrush, where, without • Voyage to the Strait of MageUan by Adrairal Don A. De Cordova. 24 274 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PATAGONIA. being seen, he could observe the raoveraents, and study the ap pearance and costume of this singular people. " Their stature," he observes, " was of the common measure ment, say from five feet ten inches to six feet ; a few might have boasted three or four more inches, but their average height was about six feet. Their complexion is of a deep cop. per.color sirailar to the aborigines of our own country, wilh long, straight, black hair, which did not appear to have any of the properties of ' hogs bristles' as one navigator has represent. ed, but soft and pliable. They were all well raade, robust, and athletic ; but I was not near enough lo observe that remarka. ble dirainutiveness of hands and feet, which has been attributed to the formidable giants of Patagonia. " They were generaUy clothed in skins of the guanaco, or some other aniraal, with the flesh side out. These appeared to be confined to the body by a narrow strip of the sarae materi. al, but by what kind of fastening I could not ascertain. Sorae of thera, however, were evidently clad in cloth of sorae kind or other ; whether of their own manufacture or not, it is difficult to conjecture. The shape and fashion of their cloth garraents, however, must be peculiar to themselves. From the opportu nity I had of inspecting them,T should agree with the description of Capt. Wallace, — that this apparel was a square piece of cloth, raade of the downy hair of the guanaco, through which a hole was cut out for the head, with side slips for the arms, and the rest sustained by the shoulders, hung down in folds to the knees, or was confined to the bt^dy with a girdle. Many of thera had a kind of leggin or buskin, made of skin, extending from the top ofthe calf to the foot. Their horses, which displayed a great deal of spirit, were not ofthe largest size, but handsomely formed, and in exceUent condition. The bridles were similar to our halters, made of a thong of skin ; but whether their bits and spurs were of wood, or of any other material, it was impossible for me to determine. Soraething like a saddle forraed a seat for the rider, who managed his animal with much tact and dexterity, and rode with an ease and grace not easily obtained by art. " That their Ufe is pastoral as well as predatory, I have no doubt ; as they are frequently seen in such companies as I have just described, watching over their flocks or herds of guanacoes, while they are grazing, surrounding thera on horseback, and arresting such as seemed disposed lo desert the fold. Those not actually eraployed in this particular service are grazftig their horses, or refreshing theraselves. In a subsequent voyage, Captain Morrell had a better op. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 275 STATURE OF THE PATAGONIANS. portunity to judge of the stature, &c. of the Patagonians. The following is his account of his interview with a party of these long celebrated aborigines. " Here I again left the vessel in charge of my first officer, and with my former three corapanions made an excursion into the interior of Patagonia, as we all had a longing desire lo have an interview with the natives before we left the strait, having read and heard so much of this gigantic race, as described by Magalhanes, Byron, and others. " Like raost of ray cotemporaries, I have treated these ac counts in a style of light burlesque or grave skepticism : not that I ever doubted that these navigators inight have seen men of six and a half, or even seven feet in height ; for many skel etons of Indians have been found in the western states of North America of a stiU greater lenglh : but I wish to discountenance all exaggerated accounts of foreign parts, which have a ten dency to deter investigation and com.raercial enterprise. Haw- kins, for instance, gravely cautions navigators to beware of the natives on the coasl of Magellan : — They are cruel and treacher ous, says he, and of so lofly a stature that several voyagers have called thera giants. Such gratuitous and unnecessary cautions have been the principal cause that this interesting region has never yet been explored. " Frora all I have seen, heard, and read, on the subject, I have no doubt that the Patagonians were once, (as sorae of them are now,) the tallest race of men in the world. They were seen by Magalhanes and others a long time ago, and their seems to be a natural tendency in all animated nature to degenerate in size. Other countries have at a former period contained inhab ilants of as gigantic a size as that imputed to the Patagonians three centuries ago ; bul their descendants are now degenerated by luxury or refineraent, and interraarriages wilh others of a sraall stature. The Patagonians, separated frora the rest of raankind, have not degenerated by luxury or refinement ; bul there is no doubt thatthey have from oppression. From what ever stock they may have descended, they were doubtless once existing under more favorable circumstances lhan at present. They have been driven from the southern banks of the La Plata, and the pampas of eternal verdure, where they once grazed their flocks and herds, to the extreme southern verge of the continent, where they preferred to starve in freedora and in dependence, rather than becorae slaves to their remorseless and unprincipled invaders. They are now bul the scattered frag ments of a colossal fabric — the ruins of a pastoral nation. 276 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PATAGONIA. Though their minds have scorned lo bend, it is not surprising if their bodies have degenerated in stature. " One thing is certain, and I can assert it from my own ob- servation and actual inspection, — there is just as strong testimo. ny in favor of a former gigantic race in Patagonia as there is in favor of the former existence in our country of a race of an. imals now known by the appellation of mammoth. We have the bones, and even entire skeletons of this huge creature in our rauseuras ; and I have seen in the interior of Patagonia the bones and eniire skeletons of raen who, when living, raust have measured more than seven feet in height. The torabs or sep. ulchres in which I found them were covered with large heaps of stones, probably to prevent them frora being raolested by wild beasts. The position of these was uniforraly the sarae, with the head to the east ; and I sincerely regret that after thus vi. elating the sanctity of their final resting place, I had not sUen. ced skeplicisra by taking possession of one of these gigantic skeletons, and bringing it to the United States. Such an acqui. sition to a rauseura would be a very suitable accorapaniraent to the raaramoth, and such a one shall be exhibited if I ever visft Patagonia again."* * Morrell's 'Voyages to the South Seas. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER 277 ENGLAND. EUROPE . 1. ENGLAND. Having now made the circuft of the Western Continent, we are prepared lo turn our attention towards other and more dis tant lands. It were vain, however, for a tourist like ourselves to launch forth upon such a travelling expedition as we contemplate, with out company. One object of our labors at least — the enter tainment and instruction of others — would, in such an event, be lost. True, our own pleasure raight be promoted, and this lo a selfish or benevolent spirit would be a consideration of val ue — but we have learned from an experience of some years, that selfish pleasure is not half so valuable as that which can be shared by olhers. Hence, we^are solicitous, if from no other consideration, that those who have thus far accompanied us should stUl be our corapanions, and having seen what people are al horae, should become acquainted with those abroad. The world i-s wide. The human family is greatly diversified. Other characteristics belong lo portions of them than those which yet have been noticed. Lessons of importance may be deduced from what has yet to be explored. WUl our traveUing compamons then continue, and wander as we still wander abroad ? Does the distance startle ? Do the dangers of a rolling ocean deter 1 Does imagination, trembliing at approaching tempests, exclaira .j " We perish ! nt^Va hope is left. Death rides on every billow." We are able to calm such fears. The merit attaohes to our raode of traveUing, that we incur no hazard. No lerapests drive us. Neither rocks, nor reefs, nor shores can wreck us. Sitting in our quiet habitation, we raay launch forth, and ima gination will bear us away with greater speed than if driven by wind or waves. We neeti no insurance — no outfit, but the pa ges which lie before us, and on every succeeding evening can lay ourselves down upon a pillow, where none molest, or make us afraid. 24* 278 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. With such inducements — even although we shall impart no higher interest to our travels than we have done, we venture to invite our readers on board wilh the assurance that our anchor is weighed — our canvass floats already in the wind, and " bid ding our native land good night," we already announce to our readers the sight of land, whence we again coramence our trav els ; and beg leave to introduce them to the quondam ac quaintance of our fathers — ^the English. Look abroad, and tell me, are they better looking than our selves ? A late writer has pronounced thera, " the handsom est and best forraed people on the face of the earth." On this point, we have no disposftion lo contend, conscious to ourselves that as a people we are quite well looking enough to foster pride, and if they frora whora we sprung think that we have degenerated, we raay still indulge the hope that nature will ul tiraately restore us to the pristine beauty and comeluiess of the stock whence we were derived. The English are a well looking people — the men of middle stature, well forraed, generally robust, with regular features, and florid complexion ; — yet the Americans generally have one advantage — not in width, not having " the old roast beef" of England, by which to acquire breadth — but an inch in stature, and this, perhaps, as our transatlantic neighbors would say, be cause they are not so well fed. — The feraales are perhaps less better looking. Their forra, features, aud coraplexion, howev er bestow upon thera a degree of grace and beauty, which ri- vals the most elegant foreigners, while the peculiar modesty and meekness which pervade all their actions and habits, con. fer upon them charms which are in vaiu sought for araong the fair of sorae other nations. In reference to personal appear. ance, the following is frora "A Foreigner's Opinion:"' "The raost conspicuous phenoraenon in relation to the exterior ofthe English, is their singular beauty, and universal symmetry of figure, which inclines a stranger to suppose that they consti. tute one individual faraUy, assirailaled by the powerful bonds of consanguinfty. As national, this excellence is referable, not 30 rauch to the happy influence of a benign climate, as to phys. ical education, and a simple and natural raamier of life. The women are soraewhat inferior to the men in beauty and regu. larity of shape. Those pretty dimftiutive feet are wanting, for which the French ladies are remarkable. The features of both sexes are rather of a noble and expressive, than of a rav- ishing or exquisite beauty. A fine open forehead, eyes which UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 279 ENGLISH CHARACTER. do not sparkle wfth uncoraraon vivacity, but beam with gentle lustre ; noses handsomely shaped, and features happily meet ing and mingling together, distinguish both. Those distorted countenances, disgusting faces, and ill-favoured features, so comraon araong other nations, are in England seldom to be found. The complexion ofthe men is the warm glow and ani mated bloom of health. The ladies are very fair; their skin is delicate, transparent, and of a shining whiteness. A single defect, however, often withholds from thera the character of perfection ; their mouth is loo large, and not well proportioned. Although ft frequently displays a beautiful set of ivory teeth, when it is expanded by a sraile, yet those bewitching charms are wanting which animate the far less handsome countenan ces of the Parisian fair." In the narrow limits to which we raust confine our investi- gations, it were vain to atterapt a full analysis of the national character of ihe English. We shall therefore glance at a few of their more prorainent traits, leaving our readers to forra their ulliraate estiraation of the character of this interesting peo ple, frora the several topics which will be the subject of re mark. And as bleraishes in a portrait, especially if they be consid erable, are more apt lo be noticed than excellencies, it will be mentioned as a charge frequently, and we think justly made against the English, that they are distinguished for their na- tional -pride. It is adraissible to think well of one's own gov ernment, laws, religion, institutions, and country ; in other words, there is a patriotic feeling, which, if not excessive, no one should censure, but when that feeling leads the subject of it to decry all other lands, and all other institutions, it raerits conderanation. As a nation, England has, indeed, many things of which she may well boast — of which she may well be proud, if pride be ever just. In a variety of particulars, England holds a superiority over raost other countries. Her erapire is a great one. She is the raistress of the ocean. « In a sense, she controls the coramerce of the world. Her wealth is bound less — her institutions have becorae consolidated by the lapse of tirae — her sway extends over portions of the globe upon which the sun never sets. And then, again, in respect to warriors, what country has produced those of greater renown ? — Or if naval heroes be mentioned, who compares with Nelson ? — Or if we speak of intellectual greatness, where are greater than Newton, and Bacon, and Locke 1 280 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. We have no controversy with the English, when they boast of superiority ; but it is when their pride grows intolerant, and they pass the sentence of conderanation and enstarap wfth meanness and insipidity every other people, all other countries, institutions, customs, and laws. It is one thing to think highly of our country, and all that pertains to it, and quite another fo underrate anti revile all others. " In truth," to use the lan. guage of a recent writer, " it is the unreasonable national pride and vanity of the English, that raake them so intolerant to a spark of the sarae flarae in others : were they not raore proud, they would not be raoved by the harraless pride of olhers. This spirit is seldom allayed in an EngUshraan by a visit to the United States, or by a favorable description ofthis RepubUc. If he but hear a farraer in New England express his content ment in living under a governraent of equal rights, he looks back to his own country, and because he was not oppressed there by poverty or the laws, reflects not that others were ; or he is stung by the honest yankee's remarks, because he remera. bers that there are in England, taxes, game laws, and a code of two hundred capftal crimes. An Englishman in our country, nothing can satisfy ; he loses both his sense of justice, and his desire to be just ; his judgraent raay be convinced, but not his will. The more he is courted, the more he is intreated, the higher does the spirit of rebuke and sarcasm rise within hira. Yet one of the raost intolerant of British travellers has remark. ed that though he " often tiraes provoked the national pride, and soraetiraes sought to wound, he never saw an Araerican out of teraper." In short, to use the words of Bulwer, "In his own mind, the EngUshraan is the pivot of all things — the centre of the solar system. Like Virtue herself, he " Stands as the sun. And all that rolls around him Drinks light, and life, and glory from his aspect." But let US do the English justice. Wfth aft their national prejudices — their cold and reserved manner — their haughty demeanor towards strangers, unless they be men of rank or have letters of introduction, they are nevertiieless possessed of trafts which would do honor to any nation. They are a brave people, as all the world well knows, and more than brave, they are honorable, honest, and generous. " Honor," remarks the writer last quoted — " honor is their creed. In our relations wfth foreign states, we have been rarely wise, but invariably UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 231 ENGLISH CHARACTER. honorable ; and we have sustained our national character by paying, wfth rigid punctuality, the national loss." The English are also an eminently generous people — not raerely generous in respect to pecuniary relief, when that is de manded, but generous in all their sympathies ; they feel for the persecuted, and their love is for the fallen. " But it is mainly the people (properly speaking,) the mass, the majority, that generosity characterizes ; nor is this virtue to be traced to the aristocratic influences ; araong the aristoc racy, it is not coramonly found. As little, perhaps, is it to be traced lo the influences of trade ; it is rather connected with our history and our writers, and may be considered a remnant ofthe chivalric spirit which departetl from the nobles ere it de creased among the people. It is the multitude who preserve longest the spirit of antiquity — the aristocracy preserve only the forms. " Let us recall for a moraent the trial of Queen Caroline ; in my own raind, and in the rainds of the public, she was guilty of the crirae iraputed to her. Be it so ; but the people sympa- thized not wilh the crime, but the persecution. They saw a man pampered in every species of indulgence, and repudiating his wife in the first instance without assignable cause ; allow. ing her full license for conduct if she consented to remain abroad, and forebore to cross the line of his imperial Sybari- tisra of existence ; but arming againsi her all the humiliations and all the terrors of law, the instant she appeared in England and interfered with the jealous monopoly of royal solemnities. They saw at once that this was a course of conduct natural rather to a man of passion than of honor ; to a raan of honor, disgrace to his name would have seeraed equally pun ishable whether perpetrated in Italy or in England. The queen ceased to be the defendant in a court of law, and seeraed to the public the victim of a systera of oppression. The zeal with which the lower orders supported her, was the zeal of chival ry ; the spirit which Burke invoked in vain frora a ^debased no bihty, leaped at once into Ufe araong a generous people. Com pare the subservient and smothered disgust of the aristocracy with the loud indignation of the people ; — which was the more indicative of the nobler eraotions, or which preserved in the higher shape our national characteristic of generosity 1 Who are they that feel the most deeply for the negro slave — the people or the nobles ? The people. Who attend the meetings in behalf of Poland 1 the aristocracy 1 — some two or three of 282 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. thera, indeed, for the vanity of uttering orations ; but it is the people who fill the asserably. The people may be right, or they raay be wrong, in their zeal for either cause ; but it is at least the zeal of generosfty."* Another national characteristic of the English is their spirit of industry. " This," says Bulwer, " has been the saving principle of the nation, counteracting the errors of our laws, and the iraperfections of our constitutions. We have been a great people, because we have always been active ; and a raor al people, because we have not left ourselves tirae to be vicious. Industry is, in a word, the distinguishing quality of our nation, the pervading genius of our riches, our grandeur, and our pow. er." Another writer remarking upon the industrious habfts of the English, observes : " An Englishman, wtiUe he eats and drinks no more than another man, labors three limes as raany hours in the course of the year. His life is three coramon lives. People of other countries have some leisure hours ; an Eng lishman none. You may know him from all the rest of the world by his head going before his feet, and by pushuig along as if he were going for a wager." The same writer also adds that an American gentleraan on his first arrival in London, ob served that " all the people in the street seemed as if they were going on an errand, and had been charged to make haste back." This incessant propensity to activity is not confined to any par ticular class ; it is equally displayed in the garden of the la borer, the field ofthe farraer, the workshop of the artisan, the counting-house of the raerchant, and the amusements of the gentleraan." In respect to a desire for knowledge, a regard for raorality, religion, and a disposition for public benevolence, there is much to adraire araong the EngUsh. The public benevolent institu tions of England are, perhaps, not equalled in any other coun- try. We raight raention their hospitals — their Bible and Mis. sionary Societies, &c. &c., all going to show the spirit of hu. manity and of religious kindness, which pervade the English character. But notwithstanding the raoral influence which is exerted, the religious principle which prevails, the restraints which frora a thousand sources are iraposed upon the lower or. ders, there is a very large class of the population of England * England and the EngUah by Bulwer. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 283 BEEE DEINKING. who are as low and degraded as is to be found in any country on the globe. In respect to the vice of tippling, a late writer thinks it more generally prevalent than in the United Slates. He observes : « Frora the peculiar compounds of the beer, of which a great quantity must be swallowed to produce inebriating effects, the habit of frequenting ale-houses, is attended with pernicious ef fects upon health and morals. During the time spent in raid night revels wilh dissolute companions at the pot-house, the sleeping wife and helpless chUdren are left neglected. In the United States, a man is considered as lost to all sense of_shame, and his sociely is abandoned by all his considerate acquain tance, whenever he continues to resort openly to the tavern, and to pass his tirae there in drinking lo excess. Although the Araerican toper raay drink an equal quantity of intoxica ting alcohol with the professed beer drinker of an English ale house, yet taking it as he does in the state of distilled spirits, he swallows a hasty draught. He coraraonly slftiks mto some dram shop where, behind a screen, or in an obscure corner, usually prepared for secrecy and expedition, he takes his glass as privately as possible. This done, he carefully wipes his mouth, perhaps with his sleeve, and sallies forth, emboldened to court observation in the broad day light. The beer drink er, on the contrary, usually requires half a day to get drunk upon his more diluted potation, and then his sharaeless condi tion is veiled by the approaching darkness. In sorae manu facturing districts, the laborer actuaUy leaves the workshop to go to the ale-house at 4 o'clock " for drink," as it is terraed, and the woraen get tea, or rather drink, at the same tirae. " Although beer drinkiiig is so generally prevalent through out England, that 130,000 persons, as is stated, are engaged in the raanufacture and vending of it, yet the vice of gin drinking has also becorae common. The following account, extracted from the Manchester Guardian, will enable the reader to form an iraperfect estiraate of the prevalence of this vice ^.Iso. " At a public raeeting holden in Manchester, an individual stated that on eight successive Saturday evenings, he had count ed the nuraber of persons who entered one dram shop between the hours of 7 and 10 o'clock, and made the average 412 per hour. He estimated that the total number of persons who en tered that one dram shop every Saturday afternoon and eve ning to exceed 2500 !"* * Practical Tourist by Z. AUen. 284 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. The higher classes cf the English observe, it is said, more simplicity of dress, except on public occasions, than the trades. men, the linen drapers, mercers, &c. The latter are the finest dressed people in and about London. The fashion of the court dress has experienced no change for seventy years. The coats are wfthout collars, and have wide sleeves and broad skirts. The ladies have hooped skirts and high head-dresses. Young people in the metropolis and large towns are fond of showy ap parel, which the iraproved state of the manufactures enables them to indulge in at an easy rate ; hence, on Sundays and hol idays, there is among apprentices and servants a show of fash ion and finery. The better sort of people are distinguished, however, for dressing with a view to corafort and neatness. Their garraents generally, are by no raeans so scanty nor so mean and strangely absurd as are to be raet with on the conti nent ; still less as the Due de Levis reraarks, are the worn out clothes, which, preserving the traces of a luxury unsuitable to the condition of those who wear them, appear to be the Uvery of wretchedness ; on the contrary, all the apparel here seems at first sight, fresh from the manufactory, and the sarae tailor appears to have cut out the coats of the whole nation ; and we are terapted to ask if the English do not export their old clothes ? The truth is, they wear thera as long as we do, but preserve them belter. The dress ofthe woraen is, Uke that of the raen, alraost uniform ; although fashions change in Eng land oftener than in any other country. Cotton and woollen stuffs, of which the texture, fineness, and patterns, are almost in finitely varied, constitute the basis of it. This advantageous practice, among a coraraercial people, who possess rich colo nies, raaintains a raultitude of raanufacturers, whose useful and charming productions are sought afler and iraftated throughout Europe. Large scarlet cloaks, with bonnets of straw or black sUk, which preserve and heighten the fairness of their com plexion, distinguish the country woraen which corae to market. And the working farmer preserves his clothes by a covering in the shape of a shirt, of whfte, brown, or blue dowlass. When a class, so inferior, is so well dressed, we cannot doubt of the prosperity and comfort of the nation to which it belongs. The English pride themselves much upon iheir roast beef, and in comparison with that which is found on the continent it is de cidedly superior, but not superior to the best beef in the United States. In general the people of England Uve far less UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 285 AN ENGLISH DINNER. luxuriously than the people of the United States. The Amer ican laborer often consumes in a single day as much animal food as the sarae description of persons in England does in a week. In the latter country, however, raore animal food is used than in France. According to a late French writer, who may be supposed, however, to speak somewhat in favor of his own country, " It is a French axiom of good sense and good cora pany to enjoy one's self al table. In England, on the contrary to eat to live, seeras to be the sole object ; here the refinements of cookery are unknown. It is not, in a word, a science ; nei ther does the succession in which dishes should be served up ap pear to be studied. To cover a table with iraraense pieces, boiled or roasted, and to deraolish thera, in the confusion in which chance has placed thera, appears to be the whole gas tronomic science of the country." The meat is either boiled or roasted. Fish is always boiled and served invariably with melted butter. Eggs are excluded frora English dinner tables, and when produced at other meals are served in the shell. English fowls are of an indifferent quaUty, and game is subjected to a process of roasting, which deprives il of rauch of its flavor. The confectionary is badly made, and without much variety. The following, according to the Baron D'Haussez, is the or der in which an English dinner is served. " The first course comprises two soups of different kinds ; one highly peppered, in which float morsels of meat ; the other a soup a. la Francaise, They are placed at either extremity of the table, and helped by the master and raistress of the house. They are succeeded by a dish of fish, and by roast beef, of which the toughest part is served round. Where there is no platau, a salad occupies the raiddle of the table. This course being reraoved, regular entrf.es are brought in, and the servants hand round dishes wilh divisions, containing vegetables. The course which follows is equivalent to the second course in France ; but, prepared with out taste, it is served confusedly. Each guest attacks (with out offering to his neighbor) the dish before hira. " The creams have often disappeared before the roast is thought of ; which, Ul carved, always comes cold to hira who is to partake of it. The English carve on the dinner table, and as before proceeding to this operation, each person is ask. ed whether he wishes to taste of the dish or not, a considerable tirae is lost in fetching the plate ofthe person who accepts. A dinner never lasts less than two hours and a half or three hour* 25 286 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. wfthout including the time the gentleraen sit at table after the departure of the ladies. The salad appears again before the dessert, flanked by some plates of cheese. After the cloth is reraoved, dried and green fruit with biscuit are placed on the ta. ble. These compose the not very briUiant dessert. The serving up of the dinner, however, is the part about which the English give theraselves the least trouble. Their table only presents an agreeable " coup d' ceil" before dinner. Il is then covered wilh the whitest linen, and a service of plate of greater variety, richer, and raore resplendent than is to be seen in any other country, " The dessert served, conversation comraences. The gentle. men lean their elbows on the table to converse more farail. iarly with their neighbors. The ladies draw on their gloves, and in order notlo soU thera, eat their dessert with their forks. Now drinking coraraences to sorae purpose. Up to this peri. od, the guests have only, as it were slaked their thirst with a few glasses of wine; taken with each other. It is a civility in England for one to take a glass of wine with you. On this occasion you are begged to name what wine you choose. This proposition, which is not to be declined, imposes on you the necessity of drinking, when others are thirsty. It is often re newed, without much real inconvenience, however, for those who do not wish to drink ; for custom allows you merely to sip a little from the glass, which you seem to fill on each fresh chal lenge. Sometimes, between these frequent libations, bul not coramonly, a glass of beer is swallowed. This is not won derful, for the strength of the English wuies is more calculated to excite than allay thirst. The sarae want of regularity and system which is observable in the .service ofthe dinner, "exists in the distribution of the wine. The different species of wine succeed each other without regard to their respective qualities. To erapty bottles, and wine-season (aviner) the conversation, appears lo be the only object of the guests. " Al a signal given by the house, the company rises, but only the ladies retire. The master of the house takes his plate and his glass, and places himself near the person he wishes to honor. The other guests d raw near each other, and then commences without interruption the circulation of four glass decanters, which each man, after helping himself, passes to his neighbor. Soraetiraes idle conversation springs up on this occasion ; sorae tiraes interesting political discussions, which frora the warrath of raanner and the force of arguraent exhibited, are not unlike those parliaraentary discussions, of which they may be often UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 287 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. considered as the rehearsals. Local interests are sometimes talked of, and above all hunting and coursing, which are in Eng land imporiant affairs. Presentiy the conversation becomes more animated, is carried on across the table, and grows con fused and noisy. After three quarters of an hour or an hour, they are interrupted by the announceraent of coffee ; but in stantly after this announceraent, the conversation is resuraed ; nor does it cease till all the subjects under discussion are ex- hausled. At length the gentlemen quit the dinner table and go to join the ladies, who are found round the tea-table, or occupi ed in turning over a coUection of caricatures. Coffee, which has been poured out since the raoment of ils announcement, and consequently cold, awaits the guests, who in general take but a little, preferring two or three cups of very strong tea. The part)' is prolonged till twelve or one o'clock. " There are many exceptions to the stale of things I have de scribed. In many houses there are French cooks ; but the dinners which they send up are neither appreciated nor remarked. In order that the arts may spring up in a country, something more than artists is necessary : it is essential also to have connoisseurs ; and if England, in cookery, as in music, borrows her professors frora foreign lands, she will never obtain either a national cuisine or a national music. "In respect to drink, the great national beverage is beer or porter. The consumption of this is enormous. A good deal of perry is consuraed and in raany places cider forras the common drink. Wines are expensive. Those of Portugal are in greatest request. Mixtures in imitation of wine are sold in vast quantities. Ardent spirits are not as much used as in the Uni ted Slates, owing chiefly to the high duly imposed on them. But drunkenness is produced from a poisonous compound called gin, and frora beer, which has threatened to break down the pil lars of society and destroy morality and order in all the land. Temperance societies are however at work in England, and are putting in check an evil which for a lime bid fair to ruin the nation"* •• The buildings in England, especially those which are de signed for public purposes and those which belong to the no bUity and men of wealth, are often costly and magnificent. Seldom does a traveUer visit England, and not see St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, York Minster or the * Baron D'Haussez. 288 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. Castles of Windsor, Warwick, Kennilworth, and other splen did monuments of British wealth. It is not our intention to go into a particular description of these magnificent edifices, as a full account of a single one would detain us a longer time than we can devote to the subject of buildings. We have no such structures in the United Stales ; take for example York Min- ster. This Cathedral is 524 feet long and 222 feet wide. This buUding would enclose within its walls 30 churches 70 feel long, and 55 feet wide. "Warwick Castle," a brief account of which we give as a specimen of what castles are in England, using the language of a late traveUer, (Dr. Humphrey,) "is kept in fine repair, stands on the north bank of the Avon, eight miles above Stratford, the birth place of Shakspeare. You ring a small bell at the outer gate, and an aged porter opens the wicket, ready to receive your shilling, or reluctantly lo take your sixpence, and show you in one corner of his lodge, a prodigious suit of armor, which he tells you was worn by Guy, Earl of Warwick, who, we know, was one of the raost powerful chieftains, and terrible warriors of the tiraes in which he lived. A giant, indeed, he must have been, if he could wield that sword, and bear that ponderous helmet, and fill that enorraous breast-plate. From the outer gate way, you wind round three or four hundred feet, in a wild and beautiful carriage road, which is cut through the soUd rock, to the depth often or fifteen feet. The moment J'OU emerge from this defile, Guy's Tower bursts upon your view, on the right, rising a hundred and twentj'-eight feet from the cliff on which it has stood eversince the days of Edward Sec ond, and yet il bears no marks of decaj-. On the left, is Cxsars Tower, which is about seven hundred years old, one hundred and forty-seven feet high, and in nearly as good a state of preservation as the other. After looking at these fora moment, you pass over the draw-bridge, and through an iramense, deep, arched gate way, where you find yourself entering the great quadrangle of the castle. On your left, rises a noble Gothic pile, three hundred feet in lenglh, the princely abode ofthe he reditary possessor and his faraily. When thev are there, you cannot gain admittance to the interior. At the tirae I visited ft, they happened to be absent, and I was permitted for a mode- rate fee, lo gratify my curiosily so far as I wished. Standing near the great eastern gate way when you enter the quadran. gle, on the right you see two unfinished towers, and in front, considerably beyond the opposite side ofthe square, is a very steep eminence, on which the keep, a kind of fort, is situated. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 289 HOUSES SHOPS. and which, seen through the thick foliage of trees and ivy, has a very roraantic appearance. In going through what may be called the more public apartraents ofthe family mansion, you first enter the great hall 62 feet long, 36 wide and 32 high, and a most superb hall it is. Next comes the great dining roora then the ante room — then the cedar drawing room — next the stale bed room — and after that, the state dre-ssing room. Be sides these, they show you the British armory, the chapel, and some other less interesling apartments. A great many paint ings arrest your attention as you pass along, and not a few of them are by distinguished masters. There, in a very conspic uous station is Charles First, and in a dark passage, almost be hind the door, is Oliver Cromwell. Time was, when a single gun, pointed at the republican army, frora the battlements of this castle, would have brought light enough into this and every dark corner, ^long with the cannon balls with which Cromwell woukl have visited it. " The pleasure grounds and park, consisling of about 800 acres, are most tastefully laid out, amid shrubbery, and flowers, and lofly trees ; as you traverse the gravelled avenues and ser pentine walks, ever and anon you catch sorae enchanting glimpses of lawns and summer houses, and ofthe quiet Avon winding its way throngh this terrestrial paradise, and lingering as if to admire the majestic shadows, which fall upon its sur face."* The same writer remarks respecting the larger towns, as foUows : " You look in vain in Liverpool, or Birmingham, or London, for those clean, airy, and painted dweUings, and shops, and ware-houses, which you ,have been accustoraed lo see and adraire in Baltiraore, Philadelphia, New York, or Boston. Ex cept in the outskirts of foreign cities, every thing bears the marks of age, and in sorae of thera, as Chester, for exaraple, of deep decay, under the wasting hand of tirae. The style of building is rather heavy, solid and enduring, than showy. The private dweUings, warehouses, and factories, are higher and more uniform than with us. The materials afe stone and brick. Three or four centuries ago, the former greatly pre dominated ; but now bricks are chiefly used ; and so much care is taken to guard against the comraunication and spread of fire, that a single block is rarely burnt ; and you alraost never hear of any thing like those wide spreading conflagrations which so often ravage our cfties. ? Dr. Humphrey. 25* 290 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. " In point of neatness, beauty and life," the villages of Eng. land are said to be altogether inferior to ours. " Instead of having sprung up in a night, they are, for the most part, the growth of other centuries. They are built of heavy stone, wfth small windows, and steep, thatched or tiled roofs ; the eaves and gable ends projecting a good deal over the walls. Some of them have a very antique appearance, which arrests the allention of a traveUer, who, like myself, has never seen any thing ofthe kind before. The thatch is wheat straw, laid on eight or ten inches thick, and quite as impervious to rain, I believe, as any other roof It is said to last, when well put on, fifteen or twenty years. Even the blacksmith's shops are thatched, and why they do not oftener take fire, seeras strange to one who has been accustoraed to the use of wood and char- coal." " The scattered/arTTj hoiises are substantial, and for the raost part, respectable looking dwellings ; built not for forty or fifty years, then to be replaced by others, equally transitory ; but to last for ages. , Every thing within, as well as the outer walls, is solid and enduring. The floors, tfie partftions, the heavy oak doors and ceilings, the furniture, aft proraise to go down several generations. The barns are sraall, corapared wilhilhe quantities of hay and grain which a New England or Penn sylvania farraer would think raust be put under cover. Most of the hay is put up in large stacks, near the barn, and the same is the case, more or less extensively, wfth the wheat, barley, oats, beans, &c. " The English cottages of the better sort are exceedingly neat and attractive. Every thing around them, observes Mr. Stewart in his Sketches, as well as the white-washed walls, looks cleanly and carefully kept ; while honey suckles and jessamines, clustering roses, and graceful laburnums, wfth their thickly pendant blossoms of bright yellow, overhangftig and festooning the doors and windows wfth sweet drapery, add a charra seldora seen in the abodes of the poor in our own coun. try, and to ray raind, give assurance of soraething beyond mere animal existence within. However rude and uncultivated the mind, I would trust much to the hearts of those whose dwel. lings are marked with such evidences of taste and purity."* The favorite diversions ofthe English, consist of huntftig, coursing, and lioise.racing ; rowing and saiUng are amuse. * Stewart's Sketches. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 291 HORSE.RACING NEW-MARKET. ments peculiar to them, and in perfect unison with their insular situation and maritirae character. The ringing of bells is also much practised, and has been brought to great perfection in this country. A more refined and inteUectual entertainraent is sought in the charras of rausic, which is cultivated with great success ; and many of the large towns, as well as the metrop. oils, have their rausic meetings and oratorios, together wfth as. serablies and theatrical enterlainraents. The athletic diversion of cricket is still kept up in the southern and western counties ; and is soraetiraes practised by persons of the highesi rank. Cock-fighting, to the disgrace of the nation, is a favorite pastime among the great, as well as the vulgar ; and pugilistic contests, though sometimes fatal to one of the combatants, are patronized by what is termed " the sporting world," for the sake of betting upon the dexterity and strenglh of the brutal corapetitors. Bull, bear, and badger baiting, are chiefly confined to the lower or. ders ; as are also cudgelling and wrestiing. Many other di versions are comraon in England, as trap ball, tennis, fives, bowls, skitties, nine pins, quofts, prison-base, billiards, cards, swiraraing, angling, &c., to which raay be added foot and don- key racing, dancing, puppet-shows, and May-garaes. The English are fond of skating, but not very expert at it, on ac count of the short periods of frost in their climate ; yet are they adventurous in il, frequently to the loss of their lives. Of all the arausements to which the English are addicted, horse-racing has, perhaps, the preference. To the indulgence of this sport the richest classes devote the superfluity of their wealth. An enorraous expenditure is apparently made for the pleasure of seeing horses run, which are unfit for any other kind of labor. An improveraent of the breed of horses raay be the result of these sports of the turf; but the benefit which grows out of the practice, by no raeans corapensates for the destruction which it causes to good order and good morals. New Market is one of the raost renowned race-courses in England. There are observed three racing seasons, or periods in every year, each containuig six weeks with an interraission of every other week. At such seasons, an iraraense raultitude from the hurablest plebeian, to the haughtiest nobleraan, throng the village of New-Market. The London papers give weekly details of all the particulars of the proceedings of New-Market, stating the names of the horses and of the owners of them, and the stakes or purses for which the horses are run. Pugilism, or boxing, is also a favorite amusement, and when. 292 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. ever a match takes place, attracts immense crowds. These contests would better befit the savage beasts ofthe desert ; yet they take place araong human beings, and huraan beings are not backward in urging on the miserable combatants till nature is spent, or death ends the conflict. The following is a de scription ofa battle between two pugilists called " deaf Davis," and a feather-bed maker, named " English," as reported for an English paper : Round 1. The deaf one had hardly put himself into alti tude, when he went to work like a hammer raan, and floored EngUsh like a shot flat upon his back. 2. The feather-bed hero before he could look round him again, received three facers in succession, and was again floor ed. 3. English came up gamely to the scratch, when Davis punished hira in all directions, and put in such a blow over one ofhis peepers that he was positively electrified. He put up his arra to feel if he had not lost his head, turned his back and weis stopped only by the ropes. Here Davis caught his adversary, and once more leveUed him. ' Take him away,' rang from all parts of the ring, he will be kUled. 4. Contrary to all expectation, the feather-bed maker was not such a flat as he seemed ; he met Davis Uke a trump, and after a terrific rally, Davis was hit down almost senseless. 5. English put a new face, or rather one of another color, on Davis ; he raUled hira from one end ofthe ring to the other, and by a flooring hit, levelled the deaf one in his native dust. 6. Davis again took the lead, and nobbed the feather hero to a stand still ; when English in turn gave him a hit that was almost a finisher, on the knowledge box. 7. This round was fighting with a vengeance. The claret ran in strearas frora both their raugs. Davis was floored, and on being called, said to his second 'he could not stand.' It was over in twelve minutes. Gambling also is carried to a great extent in the neighbor- hix>d of St. James's, and other fashionable parts of London. Large and expensive establishments appropriately denominated hells, are fitted up for the purpose, which are the resort, it is said, of nearly half of the young men of rank and fortune fti London. Not being under the protection of government, like similar gambling establishments in Paris, Milan, &c., a certain degree of secrecy is necessary in conducting them. They are usually opened by sorae needy adventurer, who is associated UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 293 GAMBLING. TRAVELLING. with sharpers and other notorious characters. The society is of the most mixed description ; the peer and the black leg sft famUiarly at the same table. Gambling levels all descriptions ; and the proudest and raost aristocratic nobleman is not ashamed to pass night after night in the company ofthe lowest and most infamous characters. No sooner has a young man of fortune set foot in London, than the merabers of the hells fix their eye upon him as a fit subject for fleecing, and unless he has suffi cient good sense to be warned by the experience of others, it is seldora that he can avoid the snare. But a gambler who has lost his fortune, too often has a pleasure in reducing all others to the sarae condition. A young man is induced lo visit these gaming houses frora curiosity, and a love of novelty. He plays at first with caution, and it is seldora that the corapany do not contrive that he shall win for the first few nights. Ex- citement soon follows; loss after loss at, length renders him desperate ; and he soon finds himself upon a level with those whose very names he would have scorned to pronounce but a few months before. The light of the sun is excluded from these asylums. The shutters are closed, and night succeeds day, and day follows night, and yet the gamblers continue in fierce and desperate contest. Hazard and ecartS are the prin. cipal garaes. The lights, cards and dice, are supplied by the master ofthe establishraent, with a casual refreshment to those who find it necessary. If the young raan who has been in. veigled into these haunts, can by an effort of courage, shake himself free before it is too late, the experience he has gained may be of service to him ; otherwise he is plunged into irre. trievable ruin, both of fortune and principles.* The facilities for travelling in England, and the comiorts which one may find in every part of it — the roads, the inns — the carriages, the coachmen, the servants — all unite in giving to England a great superiority over all other countries on the globe for travelling. But then the cost of travelUng is in pro portion. No kind of traveUing is more agreeable than that of posting. The post-chaise resembles a comraon coach, except ing that it contains but two seats, and is shaped like half the body of a common coach. The usual rate of travelling is about ten miles an hour. Relays of post horses are lo be found at that distance, and whenever the traveller desires a post chaise, the inn-keeper is obliged to furnish it. * Goodrich's Universal Geography. 294 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. The mail coaches, destined for the transport of letters, are carriages with four inside and six outside places. Behind the coach a guard is seated with a blunderbuss, and a pair of pis tols before hira. These coaches travel at the rate of ten railes an hour. Stage coaches are very elegant carriages ; when filled, they carry frora fifteen fo twenty travellers, besides a large weight in packages. The inside of the coach contains only four places. The seat of the coachman, and another seat placed iraraediately behind it, adrait of six persons, and two seats facing each other at the hind wheels, afford places for six or eight raore. These seats are fixed over boots or boxes for stowing away the luggage. Such parcels as these cannot contain, are placed on the imperial. Travellers gene rally, however, give a preference to outside places, unless in bad weather, and the place raost in request — the place of hon- or, and one which even lords do not disdain, is the left hand ofthe coachman. The coachmen themselves are generally a respectable class, always well dressed — with hats broad-brim- ed, drabbed colored, and Quaker-like sraall clothes — their boots topped with whfte — thus dressed, and with white gloves, a nose gay in their button hole, and their chins enveloped in an enor- mous cravat, they mount their " well cushioned throne," and there they have a right to stay, if they please, frora Manches ter to London. On reaching a hotel, where the horses are to be exchanged, the latter stand ready harnessed in the raiddle of the street — and his coachraanship looks down upon his subjects, the grooras, wfth a coraplacent sraile, for the raoment which it requires to take off and hitch on, when the sharp crack ofhis whip announces that the measure of the next ten miles is be gun. When these co-ordinate sovereigns raeet, as they needs often must, they exchange salutations, ver}' significantly, by raising the elbow at a sharp angle, and turning it out towards each other. The oraission of this august etiquette, would be regarded as affording sufficient cause for a coraplete non-inter- course, if not for absolute reprisals. In passing one another, upon the road, all kinds of vehicles in Great Brftain turn to the left, and not to the right, as in the United Slates. This mode of passing brings both the coachmen on that side where the danger of collision lies, and enables them belter to avoid it. Each coachman drives from 40 to 60 railes, when he resigns his seat to another. Upon this, he advances in turn to each passenger, and touches his hat with the tip of his finger — a po lite mode of asking of each one a shilling. If you give hira less, he comes to a dead stand — which is as much as to say. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 295 TRAVELLING ROADS. that won't do sir, and you rummage your purse for a few more coppers. Dr. Huraphrey, lo whom we are indebted for the foregoing account, relates the following humorous adventure in his lale lour to England : " In going from Warwick to Lon don," he says, " it was quite dark before we reached the city. After jolting half an hour over the paveraenls, the coach turn- ed into a narrow, gloomy alley, and our baggage was taken off. A porler was al hand, and had shouldered my trunks to carry thera to a boarding house in Falcon Square, when I put, what I supposed to be the customary tribute, into the hand of the guard. It smote hira like the shock of a galvanic battery. ' Put down that luggage,' exclairaed he, in a pereraptory tone to the porler. 'What's the raatter,' quoth I, ' hav'nt I given you enough V ' Enough, do you call that enough V ' Well how much more do you ask V • Ask ! I ask nothing. Gentlemen always give what they please ; but that won't do.' My spirit, I confess, was a little stirred within me. A man of the world, and at home in London, would probably have called a police man, and taken his guardship lo Bow-Street. But there I was, a perfect stranger, in the night, and in the heart of that great city, which I had never seen before, and not choosing to get in. to a quarrel, just then and there, for sixpence, I gave the fel low another metallic shock, about as hard as the first, and' strange to tell, instead of faUing into convulsions, he walked deUberately away, saying, 'that will do alittle better.'" The excellent stale ofthe roads in England at all seasons of the year conduces greatly to the pleasure of travelling in that country. Their roads are not as numerous as in many parts ofthe Unfted Slates, but they are kept in a far better condition, and are greatly superior to the roads in France. The most of the great roads have within a few years been M'Adamized and are kept in repair al what we should deem an enorraous ex pense, being, it is said, at an annual cost of 1601 slerling per mile for roads of the first class, and 40/ sterling per mile for roads of the second class. English roads are in general level, and almost flal. A slight convexity is given thera, ' sufficient to turn the waters off which are received on either side of the road by a species of gutter paved in broken stones with flood gales. The general repair of the roads is confided to road makers, whose employment consists in picking up the surface in order to spread the stones ; in causing the water to run off, and in scraping the mud from either side, whence it is immedi ately removed, unless intended for the purpose of making foot paths. The bridges in England are efther of brick or stone, 296 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. and are constructed with reference to corafort, safety, and du- rability. The direction of the English roads is carefully indi cated by tiie aid of finger posts placed wherever there are branch or cross communications. Other finger posts, placed at the boundaries of villages, enable the traveller to ascertain their respective names. The distances are marked by mile stones, ^ilhin ten miles of London, the roads are watered during the summer at the expense of corapanies to whom the undertaking belongs. This inconvenient practice is pushed to such extreraes as to produce a liquid raud in the streets of Lon don, even in the hottest weather. The object is less the cora fort of the traveller, lhan the preservation of the road. Ma- cadamization has been very generally substituted in the streets of London, and in those of most towns, fti lieu of the old pave ment. The result has been a remarkable economy, a belter adaptation for travelUng, a great reduction in the repairs of carriages, and an increase in the duration of the labor of hor ses. Among the wonders of English civilization, the inns should be mentioned. In many of the large towns they are raagnifi cent, and they are good and well supplied in the smaUest. In the greater part of them, the servants are iu livery, and in all, their attendance is prompt and respectful. On their arrival, travellers are received by the master of the house, whose de cent dress ftidicates a respectful feeling towards strangers. In troduced into a well-heated, well-furnished room, they have never to wait for a meal, the simplicity ofwhich, in the way of cookery, is atoned for by the elegance, often the richness of the plate and ware, and the superior quality of the raeat. A sleeping roora, as corafortable as this kind of apartment (so neglected in England,) can be, completes the agreement of your sojourn. Your discontent does not commence tUl the ex orbitant bUl proves that such attentions, far from being disin terested, are dearly charged for. Seldom do you separate from your host with a reciprocation of politeness. Yet, not- wfthstanding the coldness with which his attentions are receiv ed, the landlord does not cease to reraain by the side of the traveller till his carriage is in motion.* Previously to the eighteenth century, agriculture in England was a neglected concern ; but during that century and since, great improvements have been made, which, notwithstanduig the in. ? Baron D'Haussoz. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 297 AGRICULTURE. feriority of the soil, has made England comparatively a gar den. Some of these iraproveraents raay be here enumerated : The gradual introduction of a better system of rotation since the publication of TuU's Horse-hoeing Husbandry, and other agricultural works, from 1700 to 1750 ; the iraproveraents of live slock by Bakewell, about 1760 ; the raised drill system of growing turnips, the use of lime in agriculture, and the con vertible husbandry, by Pringle, and more especially by Daw son, about 1765 ; the improved swing plough, by Small, about 1790 ; and the improved threshing machine, by Meikle about 1795. As improvements of comparatively limited application raight be mentioned, the art of tapping springs, or what has been called Elkington's raode of draining, which seeras to have been discovered by Dr. Anderson, from principle, and Mr. El- kinton, by accident, about 1760, or later, and the revival of the art of irrigation, by Boswell, about 1780. The field cul ture of the potatoe, shortly afler 1750 ; the introduction ofthe Swedish turnip, about 1790 ; and of mangold wurtzel more re cently, have, with the introduction of other field plants, and improved breeds of aniraals, contributed to increase the pro. ducts of agriculture ; as the enclositjg of comraon field lands and wastes, and the iraproveraents of mosses and marshes, have contributed to increase the produce and salubrity of the gene. ral surface of the country.* In nothing, perhaps, is EngUsh agriculture more worthy of no. tice than in the adoption of a system of a rotation of crops, de. pendent upon the now well established principle "that one kind of vegetable will grow and flourish well in a soil from which another kind of vegetable has just been gathered, whUe an attempt to raise another crop of the first vegetable, or a crop of a third vegetable, iraraediately after the first, in the same soft, would be attended with Uttie or no success, "f More has been accomplished both in England, and the United States, within the last thirty years, from an observance of this principle, than in a century before. The system is still but partially adopted, more in England than the United States, but its advocates in both countries are yearly increasing, and corresponding agri cultural income is the result. English agriculture is also worthy of notice in its endeavors to improve the breed of cattle. BakeweU has the honor of lead ing the way, and Matthew and George CuUey of extending the * Loudon. + This is as stated by M. Maeaire of Geneva. 26 298 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. iraproveraents of the forraer. Horses, cows, and sheep, have been brought to great perfection Ln England, and are the basis of agricultural speculations and profits. Each county has its peculiar breed. Horses are bred in meadows, in the middle of which they find shelter in open stables„ Cows and oxen pass the summer in the fields, and the winter in inclosed court- yards, in which they are fed wfth hay and turnips. Sheep are turned, the whole year round, into fields sown with turnips and trefoU. They are prevented frora straying away, by wickets and moveable paling or hurdles. The custom of irrigation does not prevaU, indeed it is not properly understood in English agricufture. There are few countries in which this useful practice is followed, though the abundance of water should make it obtain every where. In general, the English are either indifferent to, or they misdirect the labor that should be bestowed on natural meadows. In this branch of agriculture, one sees nothing in England, which bears a comparison with the practice that obtains in France. Oxen are rarely used, and always iU-empIoyed in agricuftur- al labor. Six are yoked to a plough, which could be easily drawn by two. These animals are almost bred to do no service. At four years old, they are fattened, and delivered over to the knife of the butcher. The rarity of land carriage may be ranged among the num ber, and indeed as one of the main causes, of English agricul. tural prosperfty. Neither the raen, nor the animals, in cultiva. ting the earth, participate in this branch of industry. It is not so in France. Whatever prejudice may be the result to hus. bandry, the hope of a profit suffices to induce the farmer to postpone the cultivation which the land requires. Hence arise delays, inconveniences, and what is worse, the loss of agricul tural habits. In England, on the contrary, the husbr.nd- raan is never turned from the business in hand, and the sedentary life which he leads, fosters the taste for the species of labor which agriculture requires. The appearance of the rural habitations is the same as in France ; though the number and extent of the dependent build ings be much less in England, when compared with those of the former country, stUl there is a greater intelligence displayed in the orderly disposal and arrangement of each object, and a more obvious cleanliness than on the other side of the straits. Farm houses are often buUt of planks, painted white, or pitch ed and tarred over ; sometimes in brick or stone, with roofs UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 299 MANUFACTURES. thatched, tiled, or slated. Compact earth, prepared as it is in France, is little used in England. Owing to the agricultural habits of England, many build ings are not required. With the exception of horses, all ani mals are kept in the open air, in summer as well as in winter. The harvests of whatever nature, are slacked. The corn is not carried into the barn till the operation of threshing is to be commenced. If this mode of preserving it saves the expense of the necessary outlay for the building and repair of barns, it nevertheless superinduces a much greater annual expense lhan the interest of the money required for such a buUding fund, when the cost of hand labor, which the slacking and unslack- ing of the corn, the loss and destruction of the grain, and the facUity afforded to incendiaries, are taken into account. Farming offices are generally built round a square court in which the cattle are enclosed for the very short time during which they are prevented from grazing. In raany counties the house is in the centre of the farm — a location which must obviously save much labor. In the United States the farra house is often at one corner of the farm, from which circum. stance the transport of the manure and the crop is slow and expensive.* Upon the whole, agriculture in England is far in advance of that of many other countries ; still it is not better perhaps than that of Brabant, of Flanders, or of the provinces of Artois and Norraandy, or perhaps of some parls of France and Belgiura. It presents here and there beautiful raasses of cultivation, ow ing to the consolidation of fortunes, the pecuUar taste of cer tain proprietors, and the union of large capitals, all of which advantages are incidental to England in a greater degree than in France. But a well cultivated field is pretty much the same in both countries. In manufacturing skill, enterprise, and accomplishment, Eng land surpasses all other nations, whether ancient or modern. A large proportion of her population are employed in manu facturing establishments ; yet by means of machinery, labor is perforraed which more lhan one hundred times that population would not be able to accomplish. It is staled upon respectable authority, that in some manufacturing estabhshments, by means of labor-saving machinery, one man is able to do the work of one hundred and fifty ; and that fifty millions of men, half a * Baron D'Haussez. 300 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. century since, would not have accoraplished in the cotton raan ufactures, what is done at the present tirae. Cotton goods are chiefly manufactured in Manchester and its neighborhood ; woollen goods principaUy in the West Riding of Yorkshire, at Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford, Halifax and Hud- dersfield ; cutlery and plated goods at Sheffield ; hardware at Birmingham ; ribbands at Coventr}' ; carpeting at Kiddermin ster ; flannels at Salisbury ; silk, iron, and china ware in the midland counties ; and in the southern counties cotton, paper, and blankets, &c. &c. The yearly manufactures of colton are valued at £20,000,000 ; those of woollen at £18,000,000 ; of silk at £10,000,000 ; and the linen exported at £2,000,000. The iron weighed in Great Brftain in 1827, was 690,000 tons. The value of hard ware in cutlery exported in 1824, was £1,- 090,880, and of tin plates £254,514. We designed to notice the process of manufacturing several articles ; but our limits allow us to describe but one, viz. pins, the quantfty of which made in England has exceeded in value f 4,000,000 annually. '• This siraple article, which occupies so iraportant a station on Ihe toilet of a lady, in the course of its manufacture, passes in detaU Ihrough nearly as many hands as the compUcated me chanism of the watch. One person is employed to polish the wire ; a second to cut it in suitable pieces, each of the length of two pins ; a third person lakes several of the pieces between his thumb and fore finger, and applies them to a circular steel grinding-wheel or rasp. The pieces of wire for a dozen or more pins, are thus sharpened at once by the operator, who dexterous ly causes all of thera to turn siraullaneously between his thurab and finger ; whereby the points are rendered round and acute. A fourth person divides each of these pieces in the middle to form two pins, and slips on the heads (which are forraed by a fifth person) over the shank of the wire. A sixth person now takes the rudely forraed pins, rivets the heads, and passes them to a seventh workman, who whitens them by means of a com position of melted tin. The scouring, or brightening, or polish ing, occupies another hand, and the ninth in the series is busily engaged in sticking the pius inlo papers for packing."* The -protestant religion, according to the Episcopal form, is the established religion of England. The king, whether an ? Practical Tourist. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 301 RELIGION. atheist or a believer, stands at the head of the church. Next to hira ranks the archbishop of Canterbury, who is called the Primate of all England, and next to him is the archbishop of York, called the Primate of England. Under these are 24 bishops, all of whom, except the Bishop of Sodor and Man, are peers of the realm, and hold seals in the Plouse of Lords. The bench of bishops numbers individuals as distinguished by their talents, as by their raorals, but their interference in the political concerns ofthe nation has been a stain upon their char- acter, and under the late spirit of reforra a loud deraand has been raade to exclude them from their seal in parUament The revenues ofthe bishops are princely — by far too great for their spiritual good, and the good of the establishment. It was sta ted in 1830 ill tho House of Commons, that the income of the Bishop of London would soon amount to 100,000/ a year, and that ofthe Bishop of Winchester to 50,000/. Araong the established clergy ofthe English church, there are those who are decidedly pious, "and devoted to their spiritual calling ; but there are those, who, as a writer remarks, are oftener seen at Epsom, Doncaster, and New Market, at the sporting parties of Norfolk and Yorkshire, than in the pulpit. The clerical costume interferes in England with none of the enjoyraents of the world ; those who wear it do not hesitate to appear at balls and routs, or in opera stalls ; and they have no scruples at being seen in a box al the Adelphi, or the Olyrapie. The secret of this lax state of morals and manners of the English clergy lies in the right of presentation to churches, which are held not by the people, who have no choice in the election of their ministers, but in the king and bishops, in the lord chancellor, in cathedral and collegiate establishments, and in the aristocracy and gentry. For example, the king's pat ronage is the bishopricks — the deaneries — thirty prebends — twenty-three canonries and 1048 livings. The lord chancellor presents to all livings under the value of 20/ in the king's book, which are 780, besides 21 prebendal stalls. The bishops have in their hands 1600 places of church preferment ; the two Uni versities 600 ; the colleges of Eton and Winchester 57 ; one thousand are in the gift of cathedrals and collegiate establish ments ; the remainder are in the gift ofthe aristocracy and the gentry. In 1814, there were 6311 church Uvings held by non- residents. Of these, 1523 employed curates, leaving 4788 en- tirely neglected. Under such an arrangement of ecclesiastical affairs, is it strange that men should be preferred who are ut. terly destitute of piety ? And is it strange that true religion 26* 302 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. should suffer as a consequence ? Yet there are connected with the establishment, not a few clergymen of evangelical princi ples ; who preach the gospel in ils purity, and who are the means of training up a spiritual generation of holy and devoted friends of the Redeemer. Disconnected wfth the establishment are numerous religious denominations. Mr. Southey enuraerates more than forty-two, of which, under the name of dissenters, the Congregationalists, or Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Quakers, are the mosl respectable. The people of England are, in general, strict observers ofthe Sabbath, and raost ofthe churches have, on that day, a nuraer ous and allentive congregation. It is a high encomium which a French writer passes upon England, " that the Sabbath pro duces there an absolute suspension of business, labor and pleas ure." He adds, although in terms which would seem to indi cate a sort of regret that it is so, — yet stales the fact, that " un less at those hours when the monotonous and prolonged jing ling of bells call the faithful to prayer, all is sad, motionless, si lent. It rarely happens that the rolling ofa carriage comes to interrupt the medftalions of those who pray, or to distract the ennui of those whom custora confines at horae. The approach of carriages to church is forbidden during the progress of Di vine service. All places of public arausement are closed — the most innocent domestic recreations are banished for the day. If the sounds of a piano are heard, it is in the accompaniment to psalras. In many houses, the inmates dine on cold raeats, prepared the day before, so that the servants raay be relieved frora all labor. The reading of a sermon is the only recrea tion allowed. Will it then be said that a religious spirit does not exist in England ?" " On certain serious occasions, when the country is menaced or struck with sorae great calamity, the parliaraent originates, and the king ordains a fast. No one orafts to abstain on this day, or ventures lo turn the raeasure into ridicule. What would the liberal and unbelievers of France have said, if, in consequence of an epidemic, Charles X. had ordered his sub jects to abstain from dinner ? There would have resounded cries of Jesuitism, the dorainion of priests, superstition, &c. The journals could not have found space enough in the limits of their colurans, nor caricaturists ridicule enough lo shower down on the head of the king and his governraent. Williara IV. orders a fast to allay the cholera, and every one actually UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 303 GOVERNMENT. fasts, goes lo church, and gives abundant alms. Is it from obe dience to the laws, from respect for power ? Yes, but it is also from a spirit of religion. " There are few, even among those raost indifferent to reli gion, who would dispense wilh the hearing of a serraon, though it dwell upon the raost unpalatable truths, which can be render ed neither less repugnant, nor more attractive by the talenls of the preacher, or with being present at the service that imme diately follows, if some friend proposed it to them. The rea son of this is to be found in the dread of raaking a parade of irreligion. Every one appears collected during the serraon — pious during the service. People listen, keep their eyes on their book, join in the hyran, kneel with the congregation, put their head in their hands, and appear qufte absorbed in pious thoughts; no one complains, on leaving church, of the length ofthe service. For the profane, nevertheless, there is no com pensation to be found in the commonplace eloquence of the preacher, nor in the harmony of a choir of children of twelve years of age, mingled with the sharp voices of men of fifty, the whole accorapanied by the favorite instruraent of England — an organ. The EngUsh behave themselves decorously in church ; they demean themselves as they ought in the house of God. They may be either ennuye or irapatient while there ; that is very possible ; but at least they do not show that they are so. Would it be thus, if the religious principle were not deeply rooted in the national raind ?" * The government of England is a constitutional hereditary raonarcby, in which the power of the sovereign is controlled by the influence of the aristocracy in the House of Peers, and by that of the democracy in the House of Commons. The execu tive authority is vested in the king ; the legislative, in the king and Parliam.ent. The king has the power of appointing all the great officers of state, and aU the executive acts of the govern ment are performed in his name ; but the ministers only are responsible for them ; for the king hiraself can dtj no wrong. The principal council of the sovereign is his privy council, the members of which are chosen by hira. They are styled Right Honorable, and are sworn lo preserve secrecy. The Cabinet or Cabinet Council, consists of those rainisters of State who hold the highest rank in England. The number of members varies generally from 10 to 14 ; consisting of the * Baron D'Haussez 304 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ENGLAND. Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Council, the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the three principal Secretaries of Stale, the First Lord ofthe Adrairalty, and coramonly some olhers ofthe prin cipal officers of governraent. The First Lord of the Treasu- ry is considered as the Preraier, or Prirae Minister ofthe coun. try. The Parliament of Great Britain is the great council of the nation, constituting the legislature, which is suraraoned by the king's authority, to consult on public affairs, and enact and re peal laws. It consists of Lords Spiritual and Teraporal, called the Peers, or Upper House ; and Knights, Citizens, or Burges- ses, who are coraprehended under the narae of the Coraraons or Lower House. The House of Lords is coraposed of all the five orders of nobUity of England, dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and ba rons, who have attained the age of 21 years, and labor under no disqualification ; of 16 representative peers from Scotland ; 28 representative peers from Ireland ; 2 English archbishops and 24 bishops ; and 4 representative Irish bishops. In 1830, the total number ofthe House of Peers was 401. The House of Commons consists of 658 merabers, of whora 513 are frora England and Wales ; 45 frora Scotiand, and 100 frora Ireland. They are chosen by counlies, cities, boroughs, and the two universities.* The House of Lords, Uke the Senate ofthe United States, is a far raore grave and dignified body than the House of Cora- mons. The latter corresponds with the popular branch ofthe national legislature ofthe United States. The raembers ofthe House of Coraraons present a motley group. They are dress ed in the " most careless fashion, in frock coats, in boots, wfth their hals on, or wilh an umbrella under the arra. They lis ten to few of the speeches. They but repeat the cry of ' hear, hear,' with intonations which give to the words, alternately, a meaning of approbation or disapprobation, as they perceive their friends who have heard the speaker, cheering ironically or Ul earnest. They talk, move about, cross the room, with out attention to him who speaks or those who listen. It is the custom not to leave the house without turning towards the speaker, and bowing to him with becoming respect. English orators speak extempore, many of them frora notes. Wfth sorae exceptions, speakers of the house are not charac terized for much grace. A majority of those who speak in * American Almanac, 1835. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 305 our American Congress speak as well, if not better, than the qr- ators of St. Stephen's. American speeches are, in general, much longer than those heard in the House of Commons. In the latter, the most important projects are discussed and deci ded at a single silling ; in the Plouse of Representatives, a de bate, on perhaps some question of minor importance, is continu ed for weeks. The expenses of the English government are far beyond those of any other on the globe, amounting for the year 1830, to 240,000,000 doUars. The salary of the Prime minister, is £5,000 ; that of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, £23,153. The salaries of officers, pensions, sinecures, &c., exceed £9000,000 annually. Pensions are granted for all sorts of service from £4,000 downward. The list of pensioners is said to be 1500. Of sinecures there is a large nuraber, exceeding in araount nearly a raUlion and a half of dollars. The family of the Duke of WeUington has received, ft is said, £62,000, or nearly half a million of dollars for services in a single year. These immense expenses are met by taxes upon every luxury, and upon almost every article of corafort and convenience, and even necessity, throughout the kingdora. We shall conclude our account of England, with a brief no tice ofthe inhabitants of Wales, which lies on the western side of the island. The Welsh are descendants of the ancient Britons, who, though they have long lived under the EngUsh governraent, still remain an unmixed race, and adhere to the custoras of their forefathers. Their language is a dialect ofthe Celtic ; but in the towns, the English is generally spoken. Wales was a seat of learning at a very early period, and fur- nished the Anglo-Saxons wilh an alphabet. In more recent times, it has produced some eminent literary characters. In their persons, the Welsh are generally short and stout. lirabed. The women, for the most part, have pretty round fa ces, clear complexions, with dark expressive eyes-, and good teeth. The higher class dress like the English ; but in the more humble ranks, the national costume is preserved, which, for both men and woraen, is composed of home-made woollen cloth. The coal, breeches, and stockings, ofthe men are al ways blue, and their waistcoats red. Their shirts are of blue or red flannel, except in sorae parts of the norlhern counties, where they are striped. The common dress of the feraales in South Wales consists of a jacket, made tight to the shape, and 806 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WALES. a petticoat of dark brown or striped linsey-woolsey, bound with different colours. Young women wear raob-caps, pinned un- der the chin, and sraall round felt or beaver hats, like the men. The elderly woraen coramonly wrap up their heads in two or three coloured handkerchiefs, over which they put a large felt hat. Both young and old throw a scarlet whittle across their shoulders, which corapletes their dress. In North Wales, the costume is sirailar, except that the whittle is superseded by a large blue cloak, descending nearly' to the feet, which is worn at all seasons, even in the hottest weather. Linen is rarely used ; flannel being substituted in its place. Nor are shoes or stockings worn, except some tiraes in fine weather ; and these are carried in the hand, if the owner be going any distance, and put on only at, or near the place of destination, the feet be ing first washed in a brook. The women of the higher class are generally weU informed, and possess great volubility of speech, with a considerable por tion of satirical wit. The raen, who pay much less attention to mental attainments, are great sportsmen, and hospitable, but often addicted to excessive drinking ; and so irritable, that tri fling provocations have engendered quarrels that have not sub sided through many generations. They are very litigious ; and there are few countries in which lawyers are so numerous, or so rauch eraployed. The women of the lower order are sober and industrious : they assist in tilling the ground, and raanufacture clothing for theraselves and famiUes ; for to thera belongs the whole pro cess of spinning the wool, and knitting the yarn into stockings, or of dyeing and weaving it into cloth, flannel, or blankets. They are very tender mothers, and carry their children tied upon their shoulders wherever they go. The men are less in dustrious than the women, and do not work so raany hours, nor wilh so much energy, as Englishmen. The Welsh are religious observers of the sabbath ; and the poorest cottager and his family, however nunierous, are always clean and decent on that day. They still retain many of their ancient superstitions, prejudices, and customs ; and are extreme ly credulous on many points, which persons of more enlighten- ed understandings regard as raere illusions.* * Aspen's Cosmorama UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 307 SCOTLAND. 2. SCOTLAND. Scotiand occupies the norlhern portion of the island of Great Britain, and was formerly an independent kingdom, between which and England many sanguinary wars were waged. And though they are now united under one constitution, Scotland still retains her peculiar forms of ecclesiastical and common law, and her Presbyterian form of church government. Her population somewhat exceeds two milUons. The Scotch, as a people, are more spare than the English, and generally have high cheek bones. Their countenances have a staid, hardy, and somewhat weather.beaten, appearance. In national character, they hold a high rank. They are a grave, sober, sincere and religious people, and attached to their superiors, whether that superiority is derived from rank, wealth, official dignity, talents or virtue. Out of their own country, they are peculiarly noted for their industry and enterprise, and few of them return, till they have earned a competency to sup. port them in their old age. Like the English they are distin. guished by their courage, by their love of doraestic life, and by a conterapt for every thing like show, or theatrical effect. By their eneraies, the Scotch have been considered as displaying a pliancy or servility of character ; but if this remark is the re sult of observation and not of malignity, it raust be drawn from the stud)' of that part of the population which have but recent ly escaped from the influence of feudal habits, or must have been witnessed in those districts, where the power or the kindness ofthe chieftain still calls forth the humility or the affection ofhis vassals. In the lowlands of Scotland, the people have the same independence of character as the English, and we should be disposed to say, that the Scottish peasantry even surpass their neighbors in that respect, in so far as they surpass them in ed ucation and general knowledge, which are the sure foundation, and the best tests of independence of character. There is nothing more characteristic cf the Scottish peasantry than their respect forthe Sabbath. In place of spending the Sabbath day in idleness and gaiety, the Scottish peasant accompanies his faraUy to the House of prayer ; and however sraall raay be his means, he appears in clean and decent attire. When the ser vice is over, he instructs his chUdren in the duties of religion, reads with thera the holy scriptures, and perhaps accompanies 308 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SCOTLAND. them, when these duties are discharged, to some roraantic and sequestered scenes, to conteraplate the beauties of the raaterial world. This observance of the Sabbath is no doubt the prfti- cipal cause of the superior information, and the sober and moral habits of the people. In addition to the foregoing, the following remarks upon the condition and manners of the Scotch, from the travels of Profes sor SUliman, will be found interesting. " The lower class of peo ple in Scotland, so far as I have seen thera, appear less corafort able than in England. Evennow, in winter, some of the female servants in Edinburgh,walk about the streets over ice-cold pave ments, or through mud and snow, without shoes or stockings ; in London I never saw girls in service, so destitute. But it is not surprising that in Edinburgh they should not be able to obtain necessary clothing, for their wages are only three guineas a year, and in some of the lodging houses, they are obliged to give an account of all the money which is given them, by the lodgers, that it may be deducted from their wages. We have no exaraples of such poverty in America ; even a southern ne gro is better provided for : stUl, these poor girls can read and write, and cast accounts, and they are the most civil and attentive of servants. " The steps, doors, and common passages of the houses in Edinburgh, excepting the houses of the gentry, are extremely dirty. This, however, arises principally from the fact that the most of the houses are occupied by a number of families al once ; they live in different stories, or, as they call them,_^ete, of the same house, and go out and come in through a com mon door, which is always open ; it thus happens very fre quentiy that families live fti the third or fourth story ; the kitch en and all their apartments are at this height, and, of course, there is a great deal of labor in carrying articles up and down so many stairs ; the stairs, as well as the houses themselves are of stone. Families that live under the same roof, and use constantly the same passage, have, often, no connection with each other. " The height of the houses in Edinburgh is proverbial, and the use of so raany stories is very evident. On this subject there is some exaggeration. It is true that some houses rise to the astonishing height of fourteen stories, and I have repeated ly seen them of nine and ten ; but these very lofty houses are always (as far as I have seen thera) erected on the steep de clivities of hills, where on one side, that near the summit of the hftl, there will not be more than three or four stories, while on UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 309 DRAMS TODDY. the Other, there raay be raore than twice that number. The average height through the whole town, is probably not more than five or six stories ; for, in the new town, and in the most genteel parts of the old, the houses are not generaUy more than three or four stories high. " There is a custora in Scotland which would appear some what singular lo American ladies. Immediately after the cloth is removed, rura, gin, whiskey, or other ardent spirits, are placed upon the table, and the lady who presides offers each guest a dram ; the thing is not veUed under any polite peri phrasis, for the question is put in palpable terms ; will you drink a drara 1 The answer is commonly in the affirmative, and a glass of raw spirits is poured oul, without water, and passed frora one lo another, each individual drinking success ively from the sarae glass, which is replenished as fast as it is emptied. This practice is general, and nearly as comraon araong the ladies as gentlemen, but the dram is always drunk with moderation, and seems to be merely an interlude, before the regular round of wine drinking comraences. Healths are drunk wilh wine during dinner, as with us, and this is comraon in England also. Both dinners and suppers, when they are meant to be hospitable, are here concluded by the drinking of hot toddy. A pitcher of hot water is placed upon the table, and each guest is furnished wilh a large foot-glass, holding near ly a pint, in which he mixes his water, spirits and sugar, in such proportions as he pleases ; whiskey is preferred on these occa sions, but that of the highlands, which is the best, is so expen sive, in consequence of the excise, that it is not universally used. " Each foot-glass has a small wooden ladle, which is eraploy ed to dip the hot toddy out into wine glasses, frora which it is drunk. " The ladies are not supplied wilh foot-glasses, but the gen tleraen occasionally lade out sorae of their own hot loddy into the wine glasses of the ladies, who thus partake of fhis bever age, although with much moderation. " You will perhaps infer that such habits must lead to intem perance ; it cannot be doubted that they have a bad tendency, and although I have never seen a single instance of excess in this way, it may well be presumed that the fumes of such a hot inebriating mixture must occasionally turn the brains of par ties not restrained by considerations of decorura or of reli gion. " And indeed, among the most sober people, it is easy to per- 27 310 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SCOTLAND. ceive some exhilaration produced by the hot toddy, as they sit and sip frora hour to hour, and it sorae times happens that a cft- cle, before mute, becoraes suddenly garrulous and brilliant. " The manners ofthe Scotch are full of affection and cordiali ty ; on parting, afler their little social interviews, they all shake hands wilh each other, and with the strangers who may be present ; the ladies do it as well as the gentlemen, nor is it a mere formality, but the frank and warm expression of gener ous feelings ; one hearty Scotch good night is worth a thou sand bows of ceremony. " The food which is seen at genteel Scotch tables is very simUar to that used in England, and with us, but they stUl re tain sorae of their own national dishes."* The dress of the Lowlanders is the same as that ofthe Eng lish. In the highlands, the ancient costume has fallen greatly into disuse, and a highland chief, in the full dress of his coun try, is only seen on extraordinary occasions. It is, however, StiU retained by many of the peasantry, and is composed of a checked woollen stuff, called tartan, woven in stripes of vari ous colors, crossing each other at right angles. Above the shirts, the Highlander wears a waistcoat, with sleeves of this stuff; and over his shoulders he throws his plaid, which is also of tartan, and commonly about twelve yards in width. This is sometimes fastened round the raiddle wilh a leathern beft, and, hanging down before and behind, supplies the place of breeches. This dress the Highlanders call aphelig, but the Low landers call it a kilt. A kind of short petticoat, of the sarae variegated stuff, is also frequently worn, and is denominated a phelibeg ; this reaches nearly to the knee, and with short tar tan stockings, tied below the knee wilh garters, formed into tassels, completes the dress. The lower classes cover their feet with brogues of untanned leather, and their heads with a flat blue cap, or bonnet, as they call it, made of a particular kind of thick wooUen cloth. A large leathern purse, richly adorn ed wilh silver, hanging in front, was always an appendage to the dress of a Highland chief, who also vvore in the belt of his phelibeg, his knife, dirk, and iron pistol ; the last, sometimes of fine workmanship, and curiously inlaid with silver. The dress ofthe Highland women consists ofa petticoat and jerkin, with close sleeves, over which they wear a plaid, fasten ed under the chin, and faUing in graceful folds to the feet. ? Silliman's Journal. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 311 STYLE OF BUILDING. Round the head they fold a kerchief, or a piece of fine linen, in various forms ; though the young women have rarely more than a ribband for this purpose. Shoes and stockings are lit tle worn by the Highland females, except among the higher classes. In bad weather, the plaid is raised from the shoulders, and thrown over the head. In the Lowlands of Scotland, ihe food of the people does not differ essentially from that of the English peasantry. Animal food is certainly less used than in England, and spirituous li quors are much more comraon. The Lowland Scotch are now better lodged, their houses are kept wilh a greater degree of cleanliness, and if they do not in these respects rival their Eng lish neighbors, they are advancing towards thera with accelera ted steps. In the Highlands of Scotland, we regret to say, that the cottages are, generally speaking, of the worst descrip tion, and are as uncomfortable within as they are squalid with out. The diet of the Highlanders is principally oatmeal, pota toes and mUk ; fish being much used on the coast. The style of buildings in Scotland is less tasteful, expensive, and commodious than in England. In the older towns, the hou ses are generaUy .of stone with the ends to the street. The entrance is frequently by a pair of stairs ascending to the second story on the exterior of the building, while the descent to the ground floor is by stairs from within. The modern part of Edinburgh, called the New Town, contains numerous edifi ces, which are highly splendid and magnificent. The habita tions of the Highlanders are generally buUl in glens, or val leys, by the side of a lake, or near a river or stream, wilh a little arable land adjoining. The walls are of turf or stones, raised about six feet high, on the top of which is a roof, con structed with the branches of trees, and covered wilh turf, on which the grass continues lo grow, so that a traveUer, at a little distance, distinguishes, with difficulty, a hut from a green hiUock. The interior is divided into three compartments,*yiz. the butt, or kitchen, the benn, or inner room, and the byar, or cattle stall. The partition between these apartments is frequently no more than an old blanket, or piece of sail cloth. In the kitchen, and sometimes in the inner room, are cupboard-beds for the family : but more frequently when the fire on the ground is extinguish ed, they lay their bed of heath and blankets on the spot, on ac count of the earth being dry. The following interesling account of an adventure in the 312 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SCOTLAND. Highlands, is given by the author of the Practical Tourist. " Feeling a curiosity to see the interior of some of the poor hovels, built of loose stones and covered wilh thatch, I entered one of them for the purpose, and asked'for a draught of wa ter. The thin blue peat smoke was issuuig from the front door as I approached it, and from every crevice of the roof. Im mediately on entering, I found rayself at the heels of a cow, the front door of the hovel opening into her apartraent, which served at the sarae time for the principal entrance to the only furnished room of the house. This room seeraed to be at once the parlor, kitchen, and bed room. An old lady was busUy eraployed over a peat fire in preparing sorae wool for combing, for making worsted for plaids. The sraoke ascended in eddies to the roof, and partially escaped through a hole in the thatch ; for in order to prevent the drops of rain falling perpendicularly, and extinguishing the fire, the hole in the thatch is not raade directly above the hearth. The old lady suspended her em ployraent as I entered, and raising herself, viewed rae attentive ly to ascertain my wishes. The color of her countenance was sallow, or rather of a saffron shade, frora the effect of the con stant sraoke, or peat reek, as it is here called. Her small grey eyes appeared sunk in their sockets, as if they had retreated there from the smoke that raust perpetually offend thera. She was truly hospitable, offering me some butter-milk instead of water. The sharp acid of the liquor, together v.'ith the smoke of the roora, caused tears to start from my eyes, while the mug was at ray lips. " Having bestowed a sraall gratuity and thanked her for her hospitality, I took a hasty glance al the furniture of her apart raent. A sort of bunk, built of boards, served for a bedstead in one corner, and a few earthen dishes, tubs, and pots, with a rudely made case of drawers, seeraed to constitute all the worldly gear belonging to the hovel. The floor was of earth or mud, hardened by frequent tread. The inmate, however, ap peared cheerful and quite contented wilh her humble cot. The opposite door of the room led into the sheep fold, where the flock is kept in winter. Most ofthe hovels we passed are built upon the same plan, having a stable at one end, and the dweU ing room opening into il. Healtln' little children appeared sealed at the doors, eating their bannocks or parrich, made of oatmeal. The former somelimes resembles what is called in New England, an Indian journey cake, or Johnny cake, and A Highland Chief. P. 210. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 313 LANGUAGES. the latter, hasty pudding or raush. Oals, in truth, seera to form the principal constituent of the bread."* The inhabitants of Scotland speak three different languages, the English, the Scotch, and the GaeUc. The English lan guage IS spoken by all well educated persons in every part of the kingdom. Il is used in all written deeds, and in all works in prose. The Scotch language, which is used by all the low er class in the Lowlands, and even by many old persons of the higher ranks, is still employed in their national poetry. The Gaelic language is spoken in every part of the Highlands ; but almost all the Highlanders are acquainted with English, which is taught in all their schools. The Scotch language, or that which is spoken in the Low lands of Scotland, has generally been regarded as a corrupt di- alect of the English, or of the Anglo Saxon ; and those who have maintained this opinion, have not scrupled to fix upon some era, at which it was imported from the South. Their eminent antiquarian. Dr. Jamieson, however, who at first en tertained this opinion, was led to investigate the subject wilh much attention, and the result of his investigation was, that the language of the Lowlands of Scotland is as much a separate i language as the English, and that its basis, Uke that of the Enghsh, is Teutonic, with a strong mixture of Gaelic and French. Various causes have combined lo sink the estimation ofthe Scottish tongue. It is no longer the language ofthe noble, the opulent, and fashionable, nor are the transactions of public and private business conducted in it. It is but seldom partiaUy employed in conversation by the more enlightened and accom plished. It is heard chiefl}' frora the raouths of the low, illiterate and unpolished. It abounds, however, in terms and phrases con nected with doraestic and social life, with rural scenery, senti ments and occupations ; and hence is peculiarly fitted for pasto ral poetry, and the lighter odes. It surpasses in humorous rep resentations, and is far from being unsuited lo the pfaintive and tender. The poeras, and especially the songs of Burns, Ulus trate and confirm these observations. In the sublimer kinds of poetry, it is deficient in majesty and compass. The GaeUc language is still the universal language of the Highlands. It is a dialect of the Celtic, dialects of which are also spoken in Ireland, Wales, and the Spanish provftice of Biscay. * Practical Tourist. 27* 314 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SCOTLAND. Of Scottish literature, we cannot adequately speak in this place. In general, however, we may remark that there is scarcely a department in the wide field of learning and research, in which the Scotch have not been highly distinguished. In mathematical and physical science, the names of James and David Gregory, of JIaclaurin, Simpson, Black, Plutton, P»,obin- son, Playfair, and Ivory, will be long remembered. In the practical arts of civil engineering, the labors of Watts, Jlur- dock, Rennie, and Telford, will bear testiraony to the reraotest tiraes, of their pre-erainent talents. In history, Fordun, Bu chanan, Robertson, and Smollett, have shone forth wilh the highest lustre. Among their ethical writers raay be enumera ted Reid, Smith, Beattie, Oswald, Carapbell, Lord Kames, Lord Monboddo, and Stewart ; among novellists, SmoUett, ^Moore, Mackenzie, and Sir Walter Scott ; among their anatomists and physicians, the Gregories and the Monroes ; among critics, Blair and Kames ; among antiquaries, Lord Hailes, Geddes, Pinkerton, Geo. Chalmers and Dr. Jaraieson ; among divines, Macknight, Blair, Logan, Moncreiff, and Alison ; araong pain ters, Runciman, Jamieson, Raeburn, Thomson, and Wilkie ; and araong poets, Lermont, Barbour, Douglas, Ramsa}", Thorapson, Mallet, Armstrong, Arbuthnot, .Mickle, SmoUel, Beattie, Ferguson, Burns, Mackenzie, Baillie, .Soott, anJ By, ron.* Scotland is celebrated for its music;- butlhesl\-le which pre vails in the north, or highland country, is entirely different frora that which is most reUshed in the southern provinces. The songs of the latter. Dr. Beattie remarks, are " all sweetly and powerfully expressive of love and tenderness, and other emotions suited to the tranquillity of pastoral life." On the contrary, the musical compositions of the highlands " ixhibit the wildest irregularity ; the expression is warlike and melan- choUy, and approaches even to the terrible." Of musical in struments, the Highland pipe is peculiar to Scotiand, and will excite a Scotchraan in the sarae way that the sound of the trurapet gives animation to the war horse, or a fandango will excite a Spaniard. In the following beautiful language a Scotch writerf speaks ofthe bagpipe. "In halls of joy, and in scenes of mourning, it has prevailed ; it has animated her warriors in battie, and welcomed thera back after their toils, to the horaes * New Edinburgh Encyclopedia. t MacDonald, in his Ancient Martial Music of Caledonia. '^^-cj-C^^""-^ A Highland Bagpiper, P. 315. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 315 MUSIC. ,of their love andthe hills of their nativity. Its strains were the first sounded on the ears of infancy, and they are the last to be forgotten in the wanderings of age. Even Highlanders will allow that it is not the gentlest of instruraents ; but when far from their mountain homes, what sounds, however melodi ous, could thrill round their heart like one burst of their own wild native pipe ? The feelings which other instruments awak en are general and undefined, because they talk alike to Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans, and Highlanders, for they are comraon to all ; but the bagpipe is sacred to Scotland, and speaks a language which Scotsmen only feel. It talks to them of horae and all the past, and brings before thera, on the burn ing shores of India, the wild hills and ofl frequented streams of Caledonia, the friends that arc thinking of thera, and the sweet hearts and wives that are weeping for them there ! and need it be told here, to how raany fields of danger and viclory its proud strains have led I There is not a battle that is honorable to Britain, in which its war blast has not sounded. When every other instrument has been hushed by the confusion and carnage ofthe scene, it has been borne into the thick of battle, and, far in the advance, its bleeding but devoted bearer, sinking ori the earth, has sounded at once encouragement to bis countrymen and his own coronach." Numerous anecdotes are related ofthe effects of this instru ment on the hardy sons of Caledonia. " In the 'war in India, a piper in Lord Mc Leod's regiment, seeing the British army giving way before superior nurabers, played, in his best style, the well known Cogadh na Sith, which filled the Highlanders with such spirit, that, iraraediately rallying, they cut through their enemies. For this fortunate circumstance. Sir Eyre Coote, filled with admiration, and appreciating the value of such music, presented the regiraent with fifty pounds, to buy a stand of pipes. At the battle of Quebec, in 1760, the troops were re treating in disorder, and the general coraplained to a field offi cer in Fraser's regiment, ofthe bad conduct of his corps, " Sir," said the officer, with a degree of warmth, "you did* very wrong in forbidding the pipers lo play ; nothing inspirits the Highland ers so much ; even now they would be of some use." " Let them blow, in God's name, then,'' said the general ; and the or der being given, the pipers with alacrity sounded the Gruin neachadh, on which the Gael formed in the rear, and bravely returned to the charge. George Clark, now piper to the High land Socriely of London, was piper to the 71st regiment at the battie of Vimiera, where he was wounded in the leg by a mus. 316 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SCOTLAND. ket ball as he boldly advanced. Finding himself disabled, he sat down on the ground, and putting his pipes in order, called oul, " Weel, lads, I am sorry I can ga na farther wi you, bft deel ha ray saul if ye sail want rausic ;" and struck up a favor ite warUke air, with the utraost unconcern for any thing, but the unspeakable deUght of sending his comrades to battle with the animating sound of the piobrachd. " At all rural occupations in the Highlands it has been ob- served that labor is accompanied by singing. Where music can be had, il is preferred. A piper is often regularly enga. ged in harvest to animate the reapers, and he generally keeps behind the slowest worker."* The Scotch were formerly exceedingly superstitious, especially the Highlanders; but as they become more enlightened, their ¦ superstitious tendencies are diminished. Marriage is usually performed by the clergy ; justices are allowed to perform the cerernony, and even a declaration by the parties, before compe. tent witnesses, that they take each other " for belter, for worse," is deeraed a Valid marriage. In the south of Scotland is a sraall village known by the narae of Gretna Green, wluch for more than a hundred years has been the resort of fugitive lovers, whom their parents and friends forbid, but who were determined to be no longer "twain but one flesh." At Gretna Green, there forraerly lived an old blacksraith, who was alwaj-s ready to undertake the welding process. It is said that between sixty and seventy such hymeneal jobs are yearly executed at this noted spot, although the master of the forge of Vulcan has giv en place lo the minister of religion. Funerals araong the Scotch are conducted much after the manner of similar sol emn services in New England. In the Highlands, the Gaelic manner is sometimes observed with feasting and festivity, ac companied with the coronach or funeral dirge, and the shrieking of women. Long processions are common, as in most parts of Scotland, all the relatives ofthe deceased being expected to at tend. The funeral cereraony is perforraed in silence, and the corpse is carried to the grave and uiterred, without a word be ing spoken. * Logan's Scottish Gael. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 317 IRELAND. 3. IRELAND. Before passing to the Continent, Ireland will claira our alten tion. Bidding adieu, therefore, to Scotland, let us direct our course thither. We raight indeed adopt the usual course, and taking a steara-boat at Glasgow, proceed to Belfast, touching at Greenock, about twenty-five railes below the latter place. But this would be at a charge of five dollars for the passage, besides other charges for board, &c. Were it pleasant weather, we might make the passage on deck at about one dollar. But preferring, as I doubt not you will, an aerial passage, subject to no charge, and devoid of the dangers of an Irish sea, we wUl launch forth, and here, in a trice, we find ourselves in the land of " Swate Ireland." As our principal business is with the population of the coun try, I would inform you that at the last census, which was made in 1821, it araounted to nearly 7,000,000. They are chiefly of English descent in the eastern part, Celtic in the west, and Scotch in the north. You will observe great national pecu liarity of features, which serves to distinguish thera frora raost other people on the globe. Among the lower classes, there is liltle personal beauty. This is attributed to the inferior mode of living. In England, the meanest cottager is better fed, clothed, and lodged, than the most opulent Irish farraer, whO; unaccustomed to the comforts of life, has recourse to deep po tations of ardent spirits, which stunts the growth of the race. In the superior classes, where these impediments do not pre. vail, the men acquire the standard height of Englishmen, and the females have a prepossessing appearance. Dauntless valor, ardor of affection, incorruptible fidelity in keeping secrets, impatience of injury, implacability in resent ment, unbounded hospftality, strong local attachment, parental and filial tenderness, insatiable inquisitiveness, eniJless loquaci ty, acuteness and shrewdness raixed wilh blundering, precipi tancy, mark the genuine Irishraan, wilh whom every thing is in extremes. He entertains a high idea of himself, and the ad vantages of his country ; is greedy of praise, irritated by cen sure, and easily offended. Tjiough somelimes parsimonious, he is more generaUy improvident, enjoying the present raoment without thought of the future. The comraon people are in a raiserable stale of poverty. In 318 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. IRELAND. the country they live in mean huts, or cabins, built of clay and straw, partitioned in the middle by a wall of the same materi als. One of these apartments accommodates the family, who live and sleep promiscuously, having their turf fire in the midst of the floor, with an opening through the roof for the escape of the sraoke : the other is occupied by a cow, or such articles of luraber as are not in immediate use. Potatoes, with coarse bread, eggs, mUk, and occasionally fish, constitute their food ; for, however plentifully the surrounding fields raay be stocked with cattle, these poor natives are so oppressed and squeezed by their imperious landlords and lease-holders, that they rarely taste butcher's meat. In no part of Ireland are the extremes of wealth and pover ty raore conspicuous than in Dublin. In his " Practical Tour ist," Mr. Allen thus notices the contrast. " As a contrast to the splendor of the public buildings of Dublin, the appearance of extrerae poverty in some of the obscure streets is very sur prising. In passing through several of these streets on Sun day, the clusters of persons collected in them reserabled, in dress, crowds of beggars, instead of being clothed in the clean linen and decent attire, so comraonly observed on this day in every town and hamlet in England. ^lost of the groups of persons, however, appeared merry and free from care, indul ging occasionally in peals of vociferous laughter and mirth that seemed to raake araends for their want of most of those exter nal objects of enjoyment, in the full possession of which an Englishman or an Araerican will usually appear grave. Al though the day was excessively warra, I noticed a tall, robust man with a florid face, wrapped up carefuUy in a great coat. Whilst I stood observing the singularity of his appearance, clothed in so heavy a garraent on a warra day, a slight breeze blew aside the skirt, unveiling his brawny lirabs invested only in a shirt, the color of which seeraed to indicate that it had never been parted from the wearer during a teraporary immer sion in a wash tub. A lad also passed me, whose pantaloons were so much rent as to hang loosely suspended frora his waist in front, like a sort of apron, or curtain, his bare knees pro truding at every step from beneath the floating screen. One might here almost credit the assertion of an Irish traveller, who states that there are very raany ragged people that sleep in their clothes, because if they pulled off their loosely stitched rags, they would never succeed in getting them on again. They have a sufficient supply of potatoes, and vegetate in rags and wretchedness." It is stated by Mr. Young, that " in England half the life. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 319 HOSPITALITY. and the vigor of youth of a hian and woraan, are passed be fore they can accuraulate a sraall sum for purchasing furniture and building a cottage ; and when they have got them, so bur thensome are the poor to a parish that it is tweniy to one, if they get perraission to erect their cottage. But in Ireland, the cabin is not an object of a raoraent's consideration, being an hovel erected with two day's labor ; and hence the want of a habitation is no bar to early raarriages." The inhabilants of some of the provinces live throughout the year almost entirely on potatoes ; oat raeal being consider ed as a luxury rather than a regular article of diet. The food of the inhabftants, even in tiraes of plenty, is the poorest kind which huraan beings can subsist upon. Notwithstanding the general poverty which prevails, the hospitality of the Irish, when their circumstances are not too wretched to display it, is remarkably great. The neighbor or the stranger, observes " The Stranger in Ireland," finds every man's door open, and to walk in without ceremony at meal tirae, and to partake of his bowl of potatoes is always sure to give pleasure to every one of the house, and the pig is turned out to make room for the gentleraan. If the visfter can relate a lively tale, or play upon any instruraent, all the faraily are in smiles, and the young will begin a merry dance, whilst the old will smoke after one another out of the same pipe, and enter. tain each other with stories. A gentleman of an. erratic turn was pointed out to me, who, wilh his flute in his hand, a clean pair of stockings, and a shirt in his pocket, wandered through the country every suramer ; wherever he stopped the face of a stranger made him welcome, and the sight of his instruraent doubly so ; — the best seat, if they had any, the best potatoes and new milk, were allotted for his dinner ; and clean straw, and soraetiraes a pair of sheets, formed his bed ; which, al though frequently, not a bed of roses, was always rendered wel- corae by fatigue, and the peculiar bias of his raind. Curran, in one of his celebrated speeches, thus beautifully described the native hospitality of his country : " The hospi tality of other countries is a matter of necessfty, or convention ; in savage nations of the first, in polished of the latter ; but the hospitality of an Irishraan is not the running account of posted and ledgered courtesies, as in other countries ; ft springs, like other qualities, his faufts, his virtues, directly frora the heart. The heart of an Irishraan is by nature bold, and he confides ; ft is tender, and he loves ; it is generous, and he gives ; ft is social, and he is hospitable." 320 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. IRELAND. Their native urbanity to each other is very pleasing ; I have frequently seen two boors take off their hats and salute each other wilh great civility. The expressions of these fellows upon meeting one another, are full of cordiaUty. One of them in Dublin met a cararogue, in plain English, a boy after his own heart, who, in the sincerity of his soul, exclairaed, " Paddy, myself's glad to see you, for in truth I wish you well." "By my shoul, I knows it well," said the other, " but you have but the half of ft ;" that is, the pleasure is divided. If you ask a comraon fellow in the streets of Dublin which is the way to a place, he will take off his hat, and if he does not know it, he will take care not to tell you so (for nothing is more painful lo an Irishraan than to be thought ignorant ;) he wUl either direct you by an appeal to his imagination, which is ever read}', or he wUl say, " I shall find it out for your honor iraraediately ;" and away he flies into some shop for information, which he is happy to be the bearer of, without any hope of reward. The instruction of the common people is in the lowest state of degradation. In the suraraer, a wretched uncharactered itine rant derives a scanty and precarious existence by wandering from parish to parish, and opening a school in some ditch cov ered with heath and furze, to which the inhabitants send their children to be instructed by the raiserable breadless being, who is nearly as ignorant as theraselves ; and in the winter, these pedagogue pedlars go frora door to door offering their services, and pick up just sufficient to prevent theraselves from perishing by faraine. What proportion of morals and learning can flow from such a source into the mind of the ragged j'oung pupil, can easily be imagined, but cannot be reflected on witiiout se rious concern. A gentleman of undoubted veracity, stated, not long since, before the Dublin association for distributing Bibles and Testaments amongst the poor, that whole parishes were without a Bible. The peasantry are uncommonly attached to their ancient mel odies, sorae of which are exquisitely beautiful. In some parts of Ireland, the harp is yet in use ; but the Irish bag-pipe is the favorite instruraent. The stock of national rausic has not been much increased of late years. The Irish of all classes are fond of rausic. Dancing, also, is a favorite and national arause ment. Scarcely ever is there an assemblage of comraon peo ple without a dance. Even on the Sabbath day, after the hours of devotion, the spirft of gaiety bursts forth among the peas antry, the bag.pipe is heard, and every foot is in motion. In UJNIVEKSAL TKAVELLER. 321 SUPERSTITION. BULLS. the neighborhood of sorae ale-house, the peasantry of the vi- cinfty collect, purchase a huge cake, vi'hich is paid for by sub scription, and which being placed upon a distaff, they contend for it as a prize, either in a dance or some athletic exercise. The piper, who is considered an essential personage on such occasions, is seated on the ground with a hole dug before him to receive such presents as may be offered for his services The " Irish fair" also is frequently an occasion of tumultuous joy. Originally, these fairs were instftuted for the meeting of traders and farmers for the transaction of business, bul at pres ent they serve mostly as an occasion for holiday recreations. " Nuraerous large booths of boards are erected in various parts of the open fields, where the mullftudes are assembled. Theatrical performances, shows, and all sorts of amusements, are exhibited at the cheapest rates, and coarse toys, and arti cles of Ifttle value are offered for sale upon benches. In the afternoon, the prevailing arausement amongst the rabble, is of a pugilistic kind, half a dozen, or more, participating at once in this sort of diversion, dealing out blows with their big fists, as if they were " trifles Ught as air." As raight be expected from their ignorance, the Irish are remarkably superstitious. In the last century, according to the author of the "Stranger in Ireland," even distinguished fami Ues had a banshee ; a fairy in the shape of a Utile frightful old woraan, who used to warble a raelancholy ditty under the windows of great houses to warn the faraily that some of them were about lo die. In several parls of Ireland are elf-stones ; these are triangular flints with which the peasantry suppose the fairies, when angry with them, destroy their cows. When these aniraals die unexpectedly ofany natural disease, they say they are elf-shot. The rustics require a great deal of encourage ment before they can be brought to level an ant-hUl, from a beUef that it is a fairy mount. Few things are more characteristic of the Irish than a strange confusion of speech, or a sort of intermixture of words, which has received the name of a bull. Hence a writer somewhere remarks that " an Irishman and a bull forra a twin thought in an Englishraan's raind." The Irish, however, bear a greater share of honor in this respect than they deserve. The lower classes in all other countries fall into similar humorous mistakes. It may happen that the lower Irishraen make more, on account of the uncommon quickngss of their thoughts, 28 322 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. IRELAND. and the volubility of their speech. A common Irishman sel dora gives hiraself lirae for reflection; and before a question is half delivered, the whole of his answer is discharged, and an other ready lo follow ; and raoreover, if he knows nothing of the subject on which he is asked, he is sure lo give sorae, and generally an instantaneous reply. The foUowing circumstance which is said lo have occurred in London, is a tolerable in stance of a low Irishraan speaking with that sort of precipita tion. An Irish laboring brick layer laid a wager wilh his com panion and fellow laborer, that he could not carry him on his hod (a frame with a handle, which brick layers use for carry ing raortar upon their shoulders) up a ladder to a high house, and bring hira down again safely ; the bet was taken, and won. As Pat who rode upon the hod alighted, he said, " Och ! my honey, you tripped once as we were coming down, and I was in hopes I should have won ray wager." A sirailar want of re flection induced the following whimsical observation. During a severe gale of wind, an Irishraan who was going to England to work in the harvest there, told the Captain of the packet who appeared to be much fatigued with his attention to the vessel, " Now, do go below, my hone}', and take a nap ; and, if we strike, never fear but I'll tell you of it." The established church in Ireland is that of England, the members of which, including Presbyterians and other denomi nations called dissenters, amount to about 1,000,000; tbe re mainder of her population, about 6,000,000, are Catholics. Religion among all classes is greatly depressed. The Catho lics especially, are oppressed, being obliged not only, poor as they are, to support their own clergy, but also to contribute for the support of the estabUshed Church. In general, the Catho lics willingly pay their own clergy, but they regard the money which goes to the English clergy as cruel extortion. This ex'- action of tithes has been the cause of much contention, strife, and even bloodshed in Ireland. At a county meeting at Wex ford, in the month of July, 1831, a gentleman, araong other things, remarked — " I have taken the laborious trouble to search accurately the files of some Irish journals, and I have found that no less than six and twenty thousand persons have been butchered, in twenlys, and tens, during the last thirty years, in Ireland, in the enforcement of this system." Without having any national literature, which she may prop erly call her own ; without any marked superiorfty in science, or in arts, Ireland has contributed, nevertheless, her full quota UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 323 LITERATURE. ARTS. to the general stock, which illustrates the annals of Great Bri tain, by the number and talents of those distinguished men lo whora she has given birth. ¦ Bishop Jebb and Magee, and Dean Kirwan, have acquired a just renown by their pulpit eloquence. Science is deeply in debted to Young, Donavon, and Westley. Literature raay justly be proud of such men as Usher, Goldsraith, Sheridan, Swift, Stone, and Moore ; and of Burke, Castiereagh, Gratian, Curran, Plunket, Ponsonby, Canning, and O'Connel, as orators and statesmen ; and whatever opinion individuals may enter tain regarding the direction in which he exerts his talenls, of the Duke of Wellington, whose mUitary glory is, however so transcendent, as lo eclipse the renown to which he may lay claim as a statesman : — all these slaud deservedly high in pub lic opinion. Ireland, then, should be ranked araong those nations which have produced, and stUl give proraise of producing, raen distin guished in the walks of literature and science, and above all, in politics. It is, therefore, only just lo conclude, that the vices and imperfections of her sons arise from an absence of, or an iraperfect, education, rather lhan from any inherent or natural vice. Neither the -useful nor ornamental arts are in a flourishing condition in Ireland, chiefly from the want of that encourage ment, which would be given to them by a residence of the rich proprietors in the country. The Unen raanufacture has long been the staple manufacture of Ireland. Flax-seed was ori. ginally brought from HoUand by the Earl of Strafford, in the reign of Charles I. The spinners and manufacturers were in troduced from France and the Netherlands. In 1810, about one hundred thousand acres were cultivated with Flax, which yielded ofthe raw raaterial to the value of one million and a half pounds sterling. Till the beginning of the present centu ry, flax was entirely spun by hand ; it is stUl so spun, to sorae extent, at the present time. Coar.se thread only 'can be spun by raachinery. The finest thread linens are still spun by the Irish women. Machinery wUl produce thread ofthe fineness of three hanks lo the pound, whereas women, when the flax is good, will spin ft from twelve to twenty hanks. In his lale tourto Europe, Dr. Griscora visited the Unen hall al Belfast. " Nothing," says he, " can exceed the neatness and beauty wfth which the packages of linen are folded, and arranged in the various rooras of this extensive building. 324 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. Great attention is paid to the external decoration of the pieces, such as tying them up in handsorae strings or ribbands, slarap- ing them wfth beautiful devices, and attaching the maker or vender'.s name, engraved, and surrounded with an elegant vig. neile. These ornamental doings, I was told arc very expen sive, but quite indispensable in the goods desiined for the Amer ican market. Unless they look well, and have a beautiful gloss, they meet with a dull sale; the quality of the cloth having much less to do with the deraand, than the superficial appear. ance. In England, the merchants and consumers have leam. ed better ; and no such expensive putting up is practised with the goods sent lo the neighboring markets. It is a fact which ought lo be well understood by the consumers of linen, that the gloss or glazing is produced by a violent mechanical friction and stamping upon the surface of the stuff, while it is firmly stretched over a hard unyielding substance. This is done by wooden beams, armed wilh smooth flint stones, and for no oth er purpose than to give it a beautiful appearance. It is never theless injurious to the cloth, abradir.g the surface, aud weak- ening fts texture. Il will not be long, I hope, before the cor rected taste of American purchasers will enable the Irish man ufacturers to dispense with this useless and injurious process, for how perfect soever the glazing of linen may be, it all disap pears in the first washing and shrinking, before the goods are made up into garments."* Six miles from Belfast, at Lisburn, is an establishment, the most celebrated in Ireland, for weaving Damask Table Cloths. " One hundred and eighty persons are eraployed in the various processes of weaving. Each loora is raanaged by a man and boy. The former operates the loora to beat up the cloth, and the latier stands by the side of it to draw the strings, to raise the threads that must be skipped by the shuttle, to form the emboss ed figures. In this, as in ihe shawl weaving in Paisley, the art of the process consists in arranging the web previously to cora raencing the operation of weaving. The designs to be -wrought are sketched in red and white colors upon a paper, and thear- tist, by referring to it, is enabled to calculate where to leave the delicate erabossed figures ofthe sarae white color with the ground work ofthe cloth. Some ofthe table cloths are woven 3^ yards in width, and of any desirable length. The loam upon which the cloths for the royal tables were woven, was pointed out. The coats of arras of several nobleraen are intro- * Griscom's Europe. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 325 LINEN. THE WAKE. duced into the cenlre of a few of the fabrics in the looms, for which an extra prictS is paid. Upon the napkins prepared for mUitary officers, the names of the battles by which the regi- ments have been distinguished, are erabossed in raised work in large characters, and the half spread wings ofthe American Eagle appeared in sorae instances to be forming by the swift shuttle of the weaver. "Most ofthe linen is bleached upon the grass, and large fields of several acres are clothed with while linens, appearing at a distance to be covered with snow drifts. In winter, chem ical bleaching is sometimes practised. " The poor famUies scattered over the adjacent country, spin the thread, and weave ft into cloth al their hovels. It is pur chased of theni in the brown state by the capftalisls, who carry on the bleacheries and the processes for finishing the cloth for raarket. " The glazing is performed in some instances by rubbing polished flint stones upon the surface of the linen. The vio. lent friction of the stamping and polishing process upon the cloth must be very injurious to the texture, although only a false and useless gloss is produced by the operation. Much pains and expense are bestowed upon the external appearance of the goods, in pressing, folding and preparing thera with cov ers of blue and gilded papers fbr the English market, and for exportation."* " In Ireland," observes the author whom we have just quoted, " the grim tyrant is noticed with eccentric honors. Upon the death of an Irish raan or woman, the straw upon wliich the de ceased reposed is burned before the cabin door, and as the flames arise, the family set up the death howl. At night, the body, with the face exposed, and the rest covered wilh a white sheel, placed upon some boards, or an unhinged door, support ed by stools, is waked, when all the relatives, friends, and neigh bors of the deceased, assemble together, candles ^nd candle sticks, borrowed from the neighborhood, are stuck round the deceased, according to the circumstances of the family, the company is regaled with whiskey, ale, cake, pipes and tobacco. A sprightly tourist, whose name does not appear in his book, observes that ' walking out one morning, ralher early, I heard dreadful groans and shrieks in a house. Attracted by curiosi ty I entered, and saw in a room about fifty women weeping ?Practical Tourist. 28* 326 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. over a poor old man, who died a couple of days before. Four of them in particular, made more noise than the rest, tore their hair, and often embraced the deceased. I remarked that in about a quarter of an hour they were tired, went in lo another room, and were replaced by four olhers, who continued their shrieks until the others were recovered ; these, after swallow ing a large glass of whiskey, to enable thera to raake more noise, resumed their places, and the others went to refresh themselves." 4. FRANCE. We must leave the British Isles, wilh not a little that is in teresting lo the traveller, remaining unvisited and unexplored. Our route now lies across the English Channel from Dover to Calais, a distance of twenty-one miles, occupying wilh a pros perous passage by steam-boat only a few hours, and by imagi nation, the easier raode which we have adopted, only a mo ment, and we find ourselves in an equally interesting country — France. This is a rauch larger country than England, and differs from it both in respect lo climate and population in more par ticulars than would be anticipated from the narrow sheet of water that separates the two countries. The French are a well formed people, in general more slen der in frame than the English, raore quick and lively in their raoveraents. Their countenances are expressive of intelligence and uprightness ; their eyes are brUliant and restie.ss, and raany instances occur of great beauty of features and expression. In coraplexion, they are not so Ught as the English, nor so dark as the Italians. There is sorae difference as to personal ap pearance in the different portions of the kingdora, though in gen eral, they are a horaogeneous people in that respect. France was the Gallia of the Roraans, and a part of its pres ent inhabitants are descendants ofthe Gauls, who ancientiy in habited ft. A part also are descended from the Romans thera selves. But the larger portion of the present race of the French people are derived from the Franks. These were supposed to be of German origin, and to inhabit the country between the Rhine and the Wesser, which now forms a part of UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 327 LANGUAGE. EDUCATION. Holland and Westphalia. Clovis, their king, at an early pe riod, obtained, by degrees, possession of the country. From this people, ancienl Gaul obtained the name of France. Within the boundaries of France are the Bretons, the Walloons, the Basques, Jews, Gipseys, and Savoyards, wilh their peculiar characteristics. The distinction in the classes of the people, is not so great as ft was formerly. The French government has abolished he reditary peerage. Princes, dukes, raarquises, counts, viscounts, barons, and chevaliers, constftute the litles of nobility. The noble farailies are nuraerous, although coraparalively few of them are ancient. Sorae of the raost distinguished orders are those of St. Michael, the Holy Ghost, St. Louis, and under the consulate, the Legion d'Honneur. The members of this last order were both mihtary and civU. It was re-organized at the Restoration. The original language of France, the Celtic, gave place to the Latin, during the empire ofthe Roraans in that country, at least among the higher classes of raen. When the Franks set tled in the country under Clovis, they introduced the Gothic, and the French became a mixture of Celtic, Latin, and Gothic, but it was called Romance from the predominance of Roman words ; and the first fictitious narratives being written in that language, the narae Romance has been transferred from the language to that kind of writings. The present French is es teeraed for its adaptedness to the coramon business of life, and for light and farailiar subjects, but it wants force, dignity, and sublimity. It is, however, more widely diffused in foreign countries than any living language.* The French are not a generally educated people, like those of the United States. No system of general education for all classes has ever obtained in France, nor indeed in any Euro pean nation. In certain respects, however, and ainong several classes, education is extensively promoted in establishments, public and private, of every degree. Colleges and schools of an excellent kind, are established for instructing youth in every branch of useful knowledge. Twenty-three universities, and a still larger number of Uterary societies adorned France pre viously to the Revolution. Since that era, a National Institute has been established with professorships in all branches of sci- * Webster's Elements of Useful Knowledge. 328 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. FRANCE. ence and arts. This institution, which was brought into exist ence, or received a comraon narae by unfting the several acad- eraies of Paris into one, is divided into four academies — viz : the Academie Francaise, composed of forty members ; that of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, also of forty ; the Royal Acad emy of Sciences, with sixty-three ; and that of the Fine Arts with forty. Napoleon's Imperial University has been retain ed with some modifications. It includes twenty-six academies. "There is no circumstance in the appearance ofthe National Institute raore striking and interesting " says Lady Morgan," than the vast proportion of young raen, who have forced thera selves, by superior talent, within its walls. The law of con- scription, and still raore the personal influence which Napoleon exerted over the higher ranks, by inducing or forcing their sons at an early age into the army, rauch interrupted the course of education, and checked the progress of elegant acquireraent. But in all ages, and under all reigns, the array was the hered itary profession of the young French nobility ; and the elder sons were as invariably guidons and colonels, as the cadets were prelates and abbes. I can, however, on my own experi ence, attest the ardor with which the young raen of the high est rank, civil and mUitary, return to their studies, from which they have been forcibly estranged. I have known the young heirs lo the most distinguished naraes in modern celebrity, to the raost illustrious titles in historic record, not less regular and assiduous attendants on the daily lectures of Cuvier, St. Fond, Fourcroy, Hany, lhan those who have to subsist by the exer cise of their acquired talents." Education is now receiving the attention ofthe government, and schools upon the system of mutual instruction, have been extensively established. In the primary schools, reading, wri ting, and arithmetic, are taught ; and these which consist of lyceums and high schools, are preparatory to the colleges. StUl, with all the attempts that have been made to increase the araount of education, there are nearly four millions of children in France destitute of the means of instruction. It is only in Paris that there is any thing like au universal diffusion of knowledge. During the dark ages, France produced some respectable writers: and learning revived there before it did in England. Araong the French authors of those tiraes, we find the naraes of Abelard and Aquinas, whose industry and talents «ere ex hausted in laborious searches after unmeaning subtleties. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 329 FINE AETS. Froissart, an ingenious chronicler, Amyot and Marot who cora posed, the first in prose, the other in poetry, with a sweetness and simplicfty unknown before, and Rabelais, renowned for his briUiancy, indecency and wit. Following these was a succes sion of writers of sorae note, particularly Descartes, in philoso phy. It is supposed, however, by raany, that learning and fine writing reached its greatest height in the reign of Louis XIV. Among the accomplished authors of that period, are Corneille, Pascal, Moliere, Racine, La Fontaine, Bourdaloue, MassiUon, Bossuet, Borleau, Rollin, and Fenelon. Since the age of Louis, many celebrated authors have arisen, among whom are Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alerabert, Diderot, Raynal, Condorcet, and Chateaubriand. The French have attained to an enviable distinction in sci ence. Their scientific works are numerous, especiaUy in zoology, botany, chemistry, and malheraatics. The foUowing among oth- ers are distinguished names in tbese sciences, viz. Buffon, Cu vier, Lalande, La Place, Lacepede, Jussieu, Lavoisser, Four croy, Geoffrey. Many able works on morals and law are found in the French tongue, particularly those of Fenelon and Montesquieu. The ornamental arts flourish in France, and Paris, particu larly, is filled with painting and sculpture. The most splendid collections of speciraens in both of these arts, is the king's mu seum in the Louvre. It occupies four contiguous apartraents, approached by a grand stair-case, which is ornaraented with tweniy- two marble columns of the Doric order, and the whole richly embellished wilh sculpture. The first saloon contains a collection of the earliest productions of the French and Italian schools, which are no otherwise interesling, than as furnishing illustrations of the progress of the art. The next saloon is al most exclusively devoted to the batlle pieces of La Brun. These rooms are of moderate dimensions, forming the mere vestibule lo the temple. On passing the latter, the long visla of the great gallery opens on the eye of the spectator, for the whole extent of fourteen hundred feet, and cannot faU to strike hira with surprise and adrairation. By the natural effect of perspective, the farther extremity is contracted to narrow lim its ; and throngs of ladies and gentlemen in full dresses mov ing along the varnished floor, and reduced to a dirainutive size in the distance, together with columns at suftable intervals, splendid mirrors, busts, altars, antique vases, and other embel Ushraents of the hall, present a scene more like enchantment than reality. The gallery is lighted by double rows of win- 330 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. FRANCE. dows, which sorae times throw a disadvantageous glare across each other, and the walls from top to bottom are lined wilh pic tures, which challenge attention and distract the mind of the beholder. The hall is partially and ralher nominally, divided, by arches erected along the sides into nine compartments, three of which are appropriated to the French, three to the Flemish, Gerraan and Dutch, and the reraaining three to the Italian schools. Araong the great raasters whose pencils have con tributed to enrich the gcdlery, are, Corregio, Guido, Raphael, Salvator Rosa, Titian, Paul Veronese, and Rubens. The marked difference in the leading characteristics, and particularly in the coloring of the several schools, wUl strike the most su perficial observer. In analoraical exactness, and in boldness of perspective, the French, perhaps, surpass any other artists ; but in sorae instances their gaudy and glaring colors appear to be laid on with a trowel, and are wanting in that harmony, soft ness and delicacy which characterizes the schools of Italy. They also generally fail in expression, particularly in the milder expressions ofthe huraan face, " overstepping the modesty ofna- ture," and throwing soraething showy or fantastic upon the can vas, as if to chaUenge adrairation. Among the raost celebrated pictures in the collection, are reckoned the Holy Trinity, by Raphael — the Entombraent of the Saviour, by Titian — Jupiter and Antiope, by Corregio — the Witch of Endor, raising the Ghost of Samuel, by Salvator Rosa — the marriage of Cana, by Paul of Veronese — jEneas bearing on the shoulders his fa ther Anchises, and accompanied by the boy Ascanius, by Dom enichino — a portrait of Charles I. by Vandycke — Diogenes looking for an honest man, by Rubens — St. Ambrose, by Philip de Champagne — The Ports of France, at sunrise, sun set, and in a tempest, by Vernet — the Judgment of Solomon, the Institution of the Eucharist, and the Deluge, by Poussin — and several landscapes, by Claude Florraine.* The haUs appropriated to sculpture are twenty in number, designated by classical names — gods, goddesses, and heroes from Hercules down to the Duke d'Angouleme. Although they have been robbed of their mosl interesting nnd valuable antiques, they are still quite numerous. The catalogues ofthe Royal museum coraprise three voluraes, containing raerely an exposition of the curiosities to be seen. In this part of it there are about fifteen hundred articles embracing specimens of ev ery sculptor from Phidias, and Praxiteles, to the scarcely less * Letters from Europe, by N. H. Carter, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 331 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. celebrated Canova. Several exquisite relics of the two forraer, are araong the antiques ; and two beautiful groups of while marble from the chisel of the latter, adorn the modern hall, bearing the narae of the Duke d'Angoulerae. Both of them represent Cupid and Psyche. The proportions, finish, and ex pression of one of them are inimitably fine. In the other the god of love is in the attitude of rescuing Psyche while sleeping, and ready to fall from the brink of a precipice. The design is not more beautiful than the execution. Of the antiques which have acquired the most celebrity, are the groups of a Gladiator combatting wilh an enemy on horseback, ascribed to Agasias of Ephesus — a statue of Pallas — Silenus and the in- fant Bacchus, said lo be found in the garden of SaUust — and a colossal figure of Melpomene, Nosaies, and various specimens of ancient marbles are extremely rich and interesting. Addi tions are daily raaking to this extensive collection, to supply the places of those which have been removed.* Concerning the French sculptors of the present times it is said that they " have more science than feeling, or invention. Their works display the correct proportion and syrametry ofthe Grecian statues, but are totally wanting in the divine expression and sentiment which animated those works." There are grand specimens of architectural skill and taste in France. The French kings before the revolution indulged their passion for display very much in rearing splendid public edifices, and Napoleon afterwards added greatly to these monu ments of the arts. The streets of Paris in particular, are well paved and lighted, and the buildings are in a style of superior elegance and beauty. Many of the public edifices present the noblest forms of architecture. Among these is the palace of of the Louvre, the Exchange, the Palais Royal, the palace of Luxembourg, Notre Dame, and a hundred others. " The palace of the Louvre, says Mr. Carter, surrounds a square four hundred feet in diameter. It is two stories high, and built of light colored stone, which preserves'its complex ion notwithstanding its great age. Three of the sides present ing exterior walls between five and six faundred feet in extent, are of the Corinthian order of architecture, and the remaining one of the composite. That which faces the Seine, including the gallery connecting the Louvre and the Tuilleries, present a noble front, stretching for about a quarter of a mUe along the * Letters from Europe. 332 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. FRANCE. right bank of the river, from which it is separated bythe street, and without any objects lo intercept the view frora the oppo site shore, or frora the bridges for a long distance above and below. The eastern facade is reckoned the most splendid monument of the reign of Louis XIV. ; but owing to the ob- structions of the adjacent buildings, no view of it can be obtained, equal to the one just raentioned. It is celebrated for the raagnificence of fts arcades and the richness of its orna ments, araong which is the bust of the monarch under whose auspices it was erected, and dedicated lo hiraself. Il is the most ancient of the numerous palaces al Paris, and once had a tower commensurate in its proportions with the rest of the edifice, in which the feudal chiefs of France were compelled to asserable at stated periods and do horaage to the king. Those who were refractory were confined to a glooray dungeons be neath, the horrors of which gave rise to frightful tales, and eventuaUy caused the tower to be demolished." Ofthe Exchange, or Palais de la Bourse, the same traveUer reraarks, it " is one of the raost raagnificent structures I have ever seen, and is perhaps unequalled by any thing of the kind in Europe. Its location however is very bad, being inthe cen tre of the old part of the city, surrounded by a swarap of buUd ings ; and although particular pains have been taken to elevate it from the low, circumscribed area which it occupies, no dis tant glirapse of it can be obtained. Were it siluated upon some of the open squares upon the banks of the Seine, the grandeur and classical siraplicly of the edifice could not fail to strike the raind with adrairation. It is surrounded with sixty- four colurans of the Corinthian order, rising to the second story, and forraing a raost splendid colonade. In front is a porch, with fourteen additional pillars, the ascent to which is by a lofly flight of sixteen steps. The principal hall is 116 feet long, and 75 wide, being sufficiently spacious to accoramodate two Ihousand persons. The inside is as rich and beautiful as the ex terior. Notwithstanding the boasted architecture of Italy, it is, taken as a whole, the most chaste and perfect building I have ever examined. The raaterial is substantial, the designs clas sical, and the workmanship finished. A flight of raarble steps, worthy of the taste of Braraante, leads to the second story. Splendid corridors open from the galleries into the principal roora." It is different in France frora what it is in England in regard to commodious and elegant country houses, there being com paratively few of these in France. The men of wealth Uve UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 333 DRESS. COOKERY. mostly in the towns. The ancient chateaux occasionally ap pear, but they are uninviting structures. There are, however, many neat and corafortable cottages. The French are celebrated for their attention to matters of dress and taste. Frora the highest to the lowest individual, dress is considered an iraportant concern in France. Every station in life has fts peculiar costume. Paris sels the fashions of all Europe ; and an imraense trade in articles of dress and new patterns is carried on by tailors, dress-makers, and millin ers. Every week has its new female fashions, and every month its new cut for the male attire ; so that it would be im possible to describe any particular dress as a standard. But notwithstanding this fickleness of fashion inthe metropolis, and other large cities of the kingdom, the mass of the provincials, especially the peasants, remain faithful to the ancient costurae of an enorraously large hat, loose breeches, and wooden shoes, for the men ; and the jerkin and short petticoat, with a high cap, for the woraen. Cookery in France has reached a perfection which is unrival led elsewhere. It is surprising to see the variety and delicacy of their dishes. Art and science are both concerned in the preparation of articles for the table. The quantity of vegeta bles, fruits and eggs to be seen on a raarket day, surprises an Englishman or an American ; but his wonder ceases, when he has learned that these light articles wilh bread, diversified as they may be, constitute the greatest part of a Frenchraan's diet. He is equally surprised at never seeing a joint of meat brought to the table, and seems to make little account of the numerous dishes of chops, fish, chickens, vegetables, fruit, which rapidly succeed each other, for no more lhan one dish is laid on the table at a tirae. Neither is he rauch pleased with the small blunt knife that is put before him ; forgetful that there is neither leg of mutton, nor round of beef to be carved ; and as for the poultry, it is so young, and so thoroughly cooked, that it may be separated wfth the greatest facility. The temperate mode of life pursued by the French doubtless contributes to their general healthfulness. This fact is exem plified, as well in the happy constitution of the people, as in the advanced age to which they live. " He was only fifty-six or sixty," is a common formula of French biography. Men of seventy, or eighty have usually as much life and playfulness, in France, as their grand children. 29 334 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. FRANCE. We give the etiquette of a Parisian dinner in the words of a tourist. " The hour of dining is about 6 o'clock. All the guests enter "the drawing roora wearing their hats and gloves. At the door of the apartraent, the name of each person is an nounced by the servant, and he receives no other introduction to any of the corapany. In going to the table, there is no for mal allotraent of places — no sit thou here, and sft thou there — but each one raust look out for hiraself, and for the lady of his charge. The French, although fond of good living, make a business instead of a pleasure of eating, and the great object is to get through as soon as possible. An hour and a half is tbe longest time occupied in a fashionable dinner, during which the guest tastes, perhaps, of thirty different kinds of food, and as many varieties of wine. A succession of dishes is constantly circulated by a train of waiters, and each person, even the ladies help themselves lo what is presented carved at their side. An other train of servants bear around all varieties of wine, nara ing thera as they pass. There is no drinking of healths — no loud talk across the table — and none of that noisy feslivfty ob servable at an English or Araerican dinner. Each guest con verses in a low tone of voice with the persons who happen to sit next lo hira. A Parisian would think it extremely rude to attract the attention of the table, or to disturb the alraost whis. pered colloquies of others. Ladies and gentlemen retire from the table to the drawing roora al the sarae tirae, where coffee is served up, and in the course of the evening a dish of tea some times follows. No refreshments are subsequently sent round ; and I have passed five or six hours in fashionable French cir cles without either eating or drinking." The same writer re- marks again concerning the French manner of Uving ; •' So. cial pleasures in France possess the peculiar merit of costing little or nothing, save tirae. Ladies and gentlemen can never visit for the sake of the luxuries of the side-board and table. Their enjoyments must be purely mental ; for in the course of the longest evening, no kinds of refreshments are introduced, not even a dish of coffee or a glass of wine. This custom is not less conducive to temperate habits, than to a diminution of the expenses, and of course to an extension of the sphere of fashionable Ufe." The temperance of the French people has been mentioned. France, it is well known, is a country abounding fti wines. Many of these are excellent, and the brandies which are made in France are esteeraed the best in Europe. It is seldom, how ever, that excessive drinking is indulged among the people. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 335 AMUSEMENTS. — SOCIETY. In the beginning of the last century, France exported, upon an average of five years, from the year 1720, to 1725, annually to the araount of raore than tweniy raillions of Uvres ; in 1778, the exportation araounted to more than twenty-four mUlions; and in 1738 to more lhan thirty.three millions. The revolution nearly annihilated the foreign trade in French wines. Cider is raade in raost of those provinces the cUraate of which is not favorable to the grape. The French as a nation are greatly given to amusement, and every variety of garaes and pastiraes is found in France. The natural vivacity of the people, and their love of amusement, seera even to be regarded as an equivalent for worldly comforts ; and it has been supposed that the shafts of adverse fortune fall innocuous at the feet of a nation, whose buoyancy of spirits en ables them lo float upon a sea of trouble, and to rise with un impaired vigor, when ils billows subside. That the French possess these dispositions in a very remarkable degree, no one can doubt, who has seen and known thera. Their love of arause ment, and willingness to be araused, are highly characteristic of the whole nation. There is scarcely a town ofany note or even a populous viUage, from Dieppe to Marseilles, that has not its Salle a Comldie, its Cafft^'s, and promenades, where variety spreads its never-ending charras for the young and the old. The Sabbath is generally a holiday of enjoyraent, and besides these, their fi^les occur very frequently, and furnish extra ordinary occasions for festivity and mirth.* On this sacred day, all the theatres and places of amuseraent are open, and raore frequented than on any other day of the week. In the evening every viUage has its rural ball ; for dancing is the rage of all classes ; and from its great preva lence private persons are met wilh in society, whose talenls ri val those of the professors. The society of Paris, taken as a whole, and including all par ties and factions, is infinitely superior in point of laste, ac quireraent, and courtesy, to that of the capital of any other na tion. Paris, the elysiura of raen of letters, has always been the resort of foreigners of literary, scientific, and political era inence ; and princes and potentates, who have influenced the destinies of nations, are seen raingling in her circles with the more valuable characters of Europe, whose works and naraes are desiined to reach posterity, when titles of higher sound * A year in Europe, by Prof. Griscom. 336 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. FRANCE. shall be forgotten, and the Humboldts, the Playfairs, the Da vys, the Castis, the Canovas, &c. succeeded in the Parisian sa loons, lo the Sterns, the Humes, and Walpoles, and Algarottis of forraer times. The talent for conversation so conspicuous in France among all classes, originating, perhaps, in the rapidfty of perception and facility of combination of the people, was early perfected by institutes, which, prohibiting an interference in matters of government, deterrained the powers of national in tellect to subjects of social discussion and tasteful analysis. The circles of fashion in Paris are characterised by a forraal ity in their arrangement, to which their sdentary propensities in all ranks greatly contribute. Nobody is locomotive frora a love of motion ; there are no professed loungers, nor habitu al walkers. Every body sits or recUnes, when, where, and as often as he can ; and chairs are provided not only for those who resort to the public gardens, but also in the streets, along the most fashionable Boulevards, and before all the cafes and estaminets, which are farmed out at a raoderate price. The proraenade of persons of fashion, is merely a seat in the air. They drive to the gardens of the Tuilleries, alight from their carriages, and immediaiely take their seat under the shade of the noblest groves of chestnuts, or in the perfuraed atraosphere of roses and orange trees. The great attraction and ceraent of society in France, is conversation ; and, generaUy speaking, all forras and arrange ments tend towards its promotion. No rival splendors, no os tentatious display, no indiscriminate multitude, make a part of the scherae. The talents which lend their charra to social coraraunion, are estimaled far beyond the rank that might dig nify, or the raagnificence that might adorn il. In the saloon, " Virgil might take his place with Augustus, and Voltaire with Conde." The youth of both sexes marry now, as forraerly, much ear- lier than in England ; and without pausing lo consider the ef. feels of such premature unions, upon moral and political life, ft is very obvious that the pleasures of private society gain ma. terially by the change. No manoeuvering mothers, nor candi. date daughters, appear upon the scene, bent exclusively on canvassing for a matrimonial election, herisson'ees, wilh raaternal amour-propre, or agitated by fears of rivalry, or hopes of con. quest. No cautious heir, suspicious of undije influence, wraps hiraself up in the safely of silence, and in the affectation of neg. lect, whispering his nothings into the ear of his equally cautious companion, and violating every form of good breeding by a UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 337 SOCIAL CONDITION OF WOMAN. Strict observance of the rules of prudent reserve. Young un married women, indeed, seldora appear in society, except in the doraestic circle, or at the bals-pares, whichare sufficiently nuraerous in the gay season of Paris, to afford araple sources of pleasure and dissipation, and which beginning and ending early, and being devoted lo their elegant and graceful dances, are infinftely raore calculated for youthful recreation, than the late hours and unwholesorae crowds of London asserablies. Marriages are still pretty generally arranged by the prudence and foresight of the parents ; but daughters are no longer shut up in convents, tUl the day of their nuptials ; nor are they con. deraned to behold for the first tirae their husband and their lover, alraost at the sarae moraent. Educated chiefly al home, they mingle with the custoraary guests of the raaternal circle, frora which the corapanion of their future life is not unfrequent. ly chosen ; and since inclination is never violated, nor repug. nance resisted, it must often happen among the young, the pleasing, and the susceptible, that duly and preference may go together. There is perhaps no country in the world where the social position of woraan is so delectable, as in France. The darling of sociely, indulged, not spoiled, presiding over its pleasures, preserving its refineraents, taking nothing frora its strenglh, ad. ding ranch to its brilliancy, perraitted the full exercise of all her faculties, retaining the full endowraent of all he^ graces, she pursues tbe round of her honored existence, liraited only in her course by her feebleness and her taste, by her want of pow. er and absence of inclination to " overstep the raodesty of na. ture," or to infringe upon privileges, exclusively the attribute of the stronger sex. " To paint the character of woraan," says Diderot, "you raust use the feather ofa butterfly's wing." He raust have raeant the character of a French woraan, who unites to her more solid quaUties raany of the peculiar altri. butes of that lively insect. Light, brilliant, and volatile, she seems to flutter on the surface of life, wilh endless adaptations to its forras ; but quick, shrewd, and rapid in her perceptions, she appears to reach by intuition, what intellect vainly toils to obtain by inference and corabination. More susceptible than sensible, raore awakened through her iraagination lhan excited through her heart, love is to her alraost a jeu d' enfant. The distrust she inspires in her lover, acts favorably for her inter ests on the natural inconstancy of man, and she secures the durabiUty ofher chain, by the carelessness with which she im poses ft. Sharing largely in the national deference for ties of 29* 338 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. blood, she is peculiarly adapted lo the influence of habitual at tachments ; and in whatever other countries friendship may raise her altars, it is in France, and by the French women, that she will find thera best served.* The French women are extremely clever in the transaction of business ; and possessing perhaps an innate fondness for su preraacy, increased by education and habit, they exercise a con trolling influence in all the departraents of life. They are the undisputed raistresses of nearly all the shops in Paris, and manage them with great financial skill. It is surprising to find araong them so much industry, patient drudgery, and la borious attention to business. They are up early and late, absorbed in the cares of their families, whose support depends chiefly on their efforts, while their husbands are lounging at the theatre, coffee-house, or garabling table. This responsi bility is voluntarily assumed, and arises frora a propensity to rule in every thing. f The government of France is a constitutional monarchy, in some respects resembling that of Great Britain, but differing frora it in many essential points. The succession of the crown is liraited lo raales, which is not the case with the English mon archy. The French monarchy is also more restricted in its powers than the latter, or indeed any other monarchy in Eu rope. "Ehe legislative power is confided to the King, the Charaber of Peers, and the Chamber ofthe Deputies; and their three-fold sanction is necessary in order lo give validity to every law of the country ; but in other respects their functions are distinct and determinate. The executive power is vested in the King. Participating with the other branches the right of proposing laws, he alone is authorized to promulgate them. He is the supreme chief of the slate, commands the forces both of land and sea, declares war, makes treaties of peace, alliance, and comraerce, appoints to all offices of government, and makes the rules and ordinan ces necessary for executing ffie laws without having power ei ther to suspend the laws theraselves, or dispense with their exe cution. The person of the kftig is inviolable and sacred ; but his rainisters are responsible. The rights of the Peers were forraeriy hereditary ; but in 1831, their heredftary rights were abolished, and they are now ¦• France, by Lady Morgan. ^ Letters from Europe. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 3S3 GOVERNMENT. RELIGION. nominated for life by the king, who can select thera only from among those men, who have held for a certain tirae, high pub Uc offices, such as those of ministers, generals, counsellors of stale, prefects, raayors of cities of 30,000 inhabitants or raore, presidents of royal courts, raembers of the Institute, &c. The Chamber of Peers is convoked at the same time as the Cham ber of Deputies, and it can hold no session, at any time when the Chamber of Deputies is not also in session, except when it sits as a court of justice. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of persons elected ev ery five years, by 459 colleges, distributed araong the depart ments in proportion to their population ; and to these colleges, all Frenchmen who perform certain conditions specified by one of the fundamental laws, are sumraoned. In order to be eligi ble as a deputy, a Frenchman raust be 30 years of age, and pay a direct tax of 500 francs ; and in order to be an elector, he must pay a direct tax of 200 francs. To the king pertains the right of convoking the Charaber of Deputies ; he raay also prorogue or dissolve it ; but in this last case, he raust convoke a new one within three months. The prevailing religion of France is that of the Papal Church. The constitutional Charter declares that every one may profess his religion with equal Uberty, and shall obtain for his religious worship the same protection. The ministers ofthe Catholic ApostoUc and Roman religion, professed by a majorit'y of the French people, and those of other Christian worship, receive stipends from the public treasury. Infidelity, or a rejection of Christianity altogether, is become, however, very fashionable in France. The raoral aspects ofthe country are not a little dis heartening. The number of the Roman Catholic clergy of all orders and degrees, is 40,712, viz. 14 archbishops, 60 bishops, 174 vicars-general, 660 canons, 767 rectors ofthe first class, 2,534 rectors ofthe second class, 26,766 curates, 6184 vicars, 71 chapters of St. Denis, 16 choristers, 3700 seminarists. The number of Reforraed or Calvinist ministers is 360, and of Lu theran 225. The clergy cost the country 33,918,000 francs, exclusive of fees, gifts, and other allowances from parishes, comraunes, and departraents.* * American Almanac for 1834. 340 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. 5. SPAIN. Tlie people who now inhabit Spain, have derived their origin frora a variety of stocks, its soil having been occupied in suc cession by the Carthaginians, Roraans, Goths, Arabs, and French. The original natives were in course of tirae confound ed wilh their conquerors who introduced, in some degree, their own laws, manners and customs ; and hence has resulted that diversity of appearance and character, which is so observable among its present inhabitants. As the physical constitution of a people is generally influenced by the nature of the climate under which they live, and as every province of Spain differs materially in this respect, this circumstance may Ukewise, in a great raeasure, account for this variety. " The Castilians," says Laborde, " appear delicate, but they are strong. The Ga licians are large,. nervous, robust, and able to endure fatigue. The inhabitants of Estraraadura are strong, stout and well made, but more swarthy than any other Spaniards. The An- delusians are light, slender, and perfectly well proportioned. The Murcians are glooray, indolent and heavy ; their complex ion is pale, and almost lead colored. The Valencians are del. icate, slight, and effeminate, but intelligent and active in labor. The CataUans are nervous, strong, active, intelligent, indefatiga ble, and above the middling stature. The Arragonese are tall and well made, and as robust as, but less active than, the Cata Uans. The Biscayans are strong, vigorous, agile, and gay ; their coraplexion is fine, their expression quick, aniraated, cheer ful, and open. In general, the Spaniards may be described as rather below than above the middle stature, well proportioned, and of a swarthy complexion, wilh an intelUgent countenance, regular features, and eyes quick and animated. The females are naturally beautiful ,and the greater part are brunettes, of a slender and deUcate shape, with a fine oval face, and black or rich brown hair. They have large and open eyes, usually black or dark hazel, delicate and regular features, a peculiar suppleness, and a charming natural grace in their motions, with a pleasing and expressive gesture. Their countenances are open, and full of truth and intelUgence ; the look is gentle, an- ftnated, expressive ; their smUe agreeable ; they are natural ly pale, but this paleness seeras to vanish under the brilliancy and expressive lustre of their eyes. They are full of grace, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 341 CHARRCTER OF THE PEOPLE. which appears in their discourse, in their looks, their gestures, motions and actions."* The dispositions and character of this people are even more diversified than their outward appearance ; and there are not two provinces in which they are exactly alike. The old Cas tilians, says the author already quoted, are silent, gloomy, and indolent ; they are the most severely grave of all the Spaniards, but they possess a steady prudence, an admirable constancy under adversity, an elevation of soul, and an unalterable probity and uprightness ; they are faithful, friendly, confiding, unaffect edly kind ; in short a corajiletely worthy people. Sorae dis tricts have peculiar shades of character. The Pariegos are active and clever in trade, and are the pedlars of a great part of Spain. The inhabitants of the val ley of Mena are robust, courageous, and eraployed in agricul ture ; they believe theraselves descended frora the ancient Cantabri. The Maragatos are lean, dry, frank, but the raost taciturn of the old Castilians ; there are some araong them, who were never seen to laugh ; they particularly addict them- selves to the business of carriers. The character of the natives of New Castile is nearly the same, but raore open and less grave and taciturn ; it is also somewhat raodified in the districts bordering on other provin ces. The qualities usuaUy acquired by residing in or near a capital raay be observed in them. The inhabftants of Alcarria ought to be distinguished from the rest, as simple, amiable, and industrious. The inhabitants of La Mancha greatly resemble those of the New Castile, but are more serious and gloomy ; they are a good kind of people. IndocUity and conceit make part of the character of the people of Navarre ; they are distinguished by lightness and adroitness. The Biscayans, are proud, conceited, impetuous, and irrita ble ; they have something abrupt in discourse and in action, and an air of haughtiness and independence ; they are less sober than most other Spaniards ; but are industrious, diligent, faith ful, hospitable, and sociable. They- have an open counlenace, and a quick, aniraated, and laughing expression. The woraen are equally haughty and courageous. They labor in fields and at other works, where strength is required, like the men. * Laborde's view of Spain. 342 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. The idea of soraL;thing noble attached to being a native of Biscay, influences the character of the inhabitants of this pro vince in a singular manner ; ft keeps up among them a feel ing of dignfty, which gives a haughtiness to their carriage, and an elevation to their sentiments, even in the lowest stations of Ufe. The Galicians are gloomy, and live very Ifttle in sociely ; but they are bold, laborious, sober, and distinguished for their fidelity. The Asturians participate in the character both of the Galicians and Biscayans, but they are less industrious than the former, less civilized, less sociable, less amiable, and more haughty than the latter. Their haughtiness is also more marked, more repulsive, and less softened by their tem per and manners. The people of Estremadura are proud, haughty, vain, seri ous, indolent, and still more sober than the Galicians. They seldom go out of their own province, are afraid of strangers, and shun their company ; but they are true, honorable, and courageous. The Murcians are lazy, listless, plotting and suspicious ; they scarcely go out of their own country, and neither addict them selves to science, to the arts, to coraraerce, navigation, nor a military life ; they only cultivate their lands frora necessity, and make but litle advantage of a rich and fertile soil, a facU ity of irrigation, and the most happy climate. The comraon people are soraetiraes dangerous ; they too frequently make use of the knife and the dagger ; people of a superior condi tion, lead a raelancholy and raonotonous life. The Valencians are light, inconstant, and without decision of character; gay, fond of pleasure, little attached to one anoth er, and still less to strangers ; but they are affable, gentle, and agreeable in the intercourse of society, and able by tbeir dUigence, to unite the love of pleasure wilh industrious occupa tion. They are accused of being vftidiclive, and hiding under a mild exterior their wishes and schemes of vengeance, tUl an opportunity offers of executing them in a safe and secret raan ner ; but the hired assassins, formerly common in Valencia, have disappeared, and the people are daily becoming more civ iUzed by the operation of wealth and prosperit}-. The Catalans are proud, haughty, violent ui their passions ; rude in discourse and in action, turbulent, untractable, and pas sionately fond of independence ; they are not particularly lib eral, but active, industrious, and indefatigable ; they are saU ors, husbandmen, and builders, and run to all corners of the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 343 NATIONAL CHARAOTER. world to seek their fortunes. They are brave, intrepid, some times rash, obstinate in adhering to their schemes, and often successful in vanquishing, by their steady perseverance, obsta cles which would appear insurraountable to olhers. The Arragonese are haughty, intrepid, arabitious, tenacious of their opinions, and corapletely prejudiced in favor of their country, their custoras, and themselves ; but prudent, judicious, able to appreciate foreign merit, good politicians, good soldiers, and zealous for their lavys and privileges. The Andalusians are boastful and arrogant ; their discourse is always full of hyperbole ; their expressions, their gestures, their raanners, their tone of voice, their carriage, all bear the stamp of this prevailing disposition ; in short, they are the Gas cons of Spain. Of this country are the Majos, or bullying coxcombs, whose favorite weapon is the dagger, and they han dle it with skill. There are, however, sorae traits of character which may be called national, and which are alraost universal. Alraost all Spaniards possess a natural dignfty of sentiraent, and have the highest opinion of their nation and theraselves, which they en- ergelically express by their gestures, words, and actions. They are very reserved, especially to strangers. Their address is serious, cold, and sometimes even repulsive ; but under this ap parent gravity they possess an inward gaiety, which sometimes bursts out, and though usually noisy, is genuine, frank, and natural. The sum of their virtues is thus summed up : They are sober, discreet, adroit, frank, patient in adversity, slow in decision, but wise in deliberation, ardent in enterprise, and con stant in pursuit. They are attached to their religion ; faithful to their king ; hospitable, charitable, noble in their dealings ; generous, liberal, magnificent ; good friends, and full of honor. They are grave in carriage, serious in discourse, but gentle and agreeable in conversation, and enemies to falsehood and evil speaking. They are of quick and lively parts ; intelli gent, ingenious, fit for the sciences, literature, and the arts. The Spaniards, indeed, possess many of these virtues in an em- ftient degree ; but the defects of their character are equally conspicuous ; and superstition and a bad government have de graded thera far below the average ofthe other nations of Eu rope. One of the raost prevailing defects in this people, is their invincible indolence, and hatred of labor, which has, at aU times, paralysed the governraent of their best princes, and ira peded the success of their most briUiant enterprises. In every 344 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. undertaking, even the raost trifling, the Spaniard deliberates when he ought to act, and seeras to be continually influenced by the spirit of one of the coraraon proverbs of his country. This listlessness of disposition, however, is not so general but that there are sorae exceptions ; and the inhabitants of sorae of the districts on the sea-coast are conspicuous for their activity and industry. But this defect in the Spaniards is a virtue when corapared with that depravity of morals which pervades every class of society in this country.* The marriage ceremony is the prelude to the most ruinous gallantry. While it would be considered indecorous in an un married female to be seen alone out of doors, or sitting tete-a- tite with a gentleman, the married lady goes where she pleases, receives what company she likes ; and even when indisposed in bed, she does not scruple to see every one of her male visit ers. Many gentleraen are introduced to ladies of the first fash ion, and visft thera on the raost farailiar footing without the least acquaintance, or even personal knowledge of their hus bands. Iraraediately after marriage, tbe lady must have, as a matter of course, a cortejo, or lover, who has in general a very strong hold upon her affections, and compared with whom the husband is a person of very secondary consideration. He at- tends her upon all occasions, in private and in public, in health and in sickness. When she sits at horae, he is at her side ; when she walks out, his arra supports her ; and when she joins in the dance, he raust be her partner. So general is this sys tera, that there is scarcely a lady of respectability, who has not her cortejo. Mr. Townsend mentions the circumstance of a gentleraan in Carthagena saying one raorning to a friend, ' Be fore I go to rest this night the whole city will be thrown into confusion.' This he hiraself occasioned by going home an hour before his usual time, to the no small vexation of his wife and her cortejo, whose precipitate retreat and unexpected arri val in his house, occasioned the like confusion there ; and thus by successive and sirailar operations, was literally fulfilled the prediction of the morning. Though it would appear from this extract that married men do not hesftate to hold ' the situation of a cortejo, yet in this disgraceful connection the clergy in general hold the principal places ; in the great cities, the can nons ofthe cathedrals ; and in country villages, the monks.f * New Edinburgh Encyclopedia. t Townsend's Travels in Spain. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 345 RANK. COSTUME The Spaniards may, in general, be divided into two classes — nobles, or Hidalgos, and plebeians. The forraer includes all those whose families, either by immemorial prescription, or by the king's patent, are entitied to particular privileges. This honor branches out through every male whose father enjoys that privilege, and thus Spain is overrun with gentry, many of whora earn their Uving in the meanest eraployraents. The grandees hold the first rank, and are divided inlo three classes, which, however, differ frora each other only in the form of the ceremonial to be observed by them when introduced at court. A grandee of the highest rank, when presented to the king, covers hiraself before he replies to the salutation of his majes ty ; one of the second remauis uncovered till he has paid his corapliraenls, but one of the third rank is not allowed lo cover hiraself lill he has paid his corapliraenls, made his bow, and mingled wilh the crowd of courtiers. The privileges of this body are very imporiant. They alone are adraissible into the four railitary orders ; they are exerapt frora certain iraposts, from service in the militia, and from the bUletting of troops. They are not liable to iraprisonraent for debt, except for ar rears of taxes payable to the king ; they cannot be confined in the coramon prisons, nor can their house, their horse, their mule, or their arras, be taken in execution. The dress of the inhabitants of the different provinces varies in several particulars, although in others there is a striking re semblance. We shall notice the costurae of several provinces. That ofthe city of Barcelona in the province of Catalonia, is the usual Spanish dress. The ladies of every condition wear the basquina (skirt,) saya (body or spencer,) andman'illa (veil,) together with silk stockings, and shoes erabroidered either with silk, or with gold and silver fringe, spangles, or pearls. Their feet are for the most part small and well shaped, and the bas- quina adraits of the display of this important part ofthe dress and figure of a Spanish belle. The veil is the only covering worn on the head ; . and by the raaterial of which this is made, the higher classes are distinguished. A Spanish lady's full dress is generally black, with the veil either white or black, more commonly the latter ; her undress is of any color. They are fond of adorning their hair, neck, arras and fingers with jewels. The fan is a most indispensable article ; and to wield this sceptre of the fair with grace, and to make it perform all its telegraphic purposes, is a prirae accomplishraent. The ga- 30 346 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. la dress ofthe nobleraen is as superb as gold and silver era broidery can raake it. The coramon dress of a Catalonian saUor or muleteer, Mr. Swinburne says, is brown ; and the distinctive mark by which they are known in Spain, is a red woollen cap, falling forwards, like that of the ancient Phrygians. The middling sort of peo ple and artificers wear hats and dark clothes, with a half wide coat carelessly tossed over the shoulders. The dress of the woraen is a black silk shirt over a Uttie hoop, shoes without heels, bare shoulders, and a black veil stiffened out with wire, so as to arch out on each side of the head, somewhat resem bling the hooded serpent. The use of slouched hals, whfte shoes, and large brown cloaks by the Catalonians, had been forbidden by govemment. In Murcia, the women dress as in other parts of Spain ; but, instead of the elegant satin or velvet basquinas and rich man tillas which are seen elsewhere, the basquina is of yellow, red, green, or black serge, wide-spreading and short, shewing, in place of the handsome shoe and stocking of a Spanish beUe, red or yellow woollen hose half way up to the knee. The mantilla, worn here, is heavy and dismal ; and, instead ofthe usual Spanish head-dress, the Murcian ladies have their sleek, shining, black hair combed backwards tight and flat ; while the graceful fan is superseded by a huge chaplet of large beads, reaching nearly to the ground, which they carry alraost al ways about with them, even when not going to church. The military, the merchants, and the official persons, dress in the French fashion. The common people in towns, wear a round hat over a black net, a black waistcoat, and a large brown or black mantle. The Murcian peasant wears, instead of a cloak, apiece of coarse striped woollen, half an ell wide and two ells long, thrown over the right shoulder, a white jacket, short white trowsers, not covering the knee, a red woollen girtlle, shoes of hemp or bass, and either a round or slouched hat, or a leatii- ern cap called a montera. From his general appearance and sun-burnt complexion, he might be taken for a Moor. The dress ofthe Granadians consists ofthe most costly Per sian or Turkish robes, of either fine woollen, Unen, silk, or cotton. In winter, they wear the albornos or African cloak ; in suraraer a loose whfte wrapper. The soldiers of Spanish extraction use in war a short coat of raail, a light helmet, Ara bian horse-furniture, a leathern buckler, and a slender spear. Those born in Africa bear very long staves, called amras. The women are handsome, but ofa stature rather below the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 347 COSTUME. middle size, so that it is rare lo meet with a tall one among tiiem. They are very delicate, and proud of encouraging a prodigious length of hair ; their teeth are white as the driven snow, and their whole person is kept perfectly sweet by the abundant use of the raost exquisfte perfumes ; they are light and airy in their gait, of a sprightly, acute wit, and smart in conversation. In this age, the vanity of the sex has carried the art of dressing themselves out wilh elegance, profusion, and raagnificence, lo such an excess, that it can no longer be simply caUed a luxury, but is become absolute madness.* The following graphic description of a great diversity of dress noticed in the frontier city of Badajoz, the capital of the province of Estremadura, is from the pen of a British officer : " The market place of Badajoz, which, at the lime I saw it, was crowded with strangers, had all the appearance of a pic- teresque and well-arranged masquerade. The different modes of dress, ancient, and not liable to daily changes, are, no doubt, the same they were four centuries ago. "The Estremaduran hiraself has a brown jacket, without a collar, and with sleeves which lace at the shoulder, so that they are removed at pleasure. The red sash is universally worn, and a cloak is generaUy carried on the left arm. A jacket and waistcoat profusely orna.nented wilh silk lace, and buttons of silver filigree, the hair clubbed and tied with broad black ribbon, and a neat cap of cloth, or velvet, mark the Andalu sian. The ass-driver of Cordova is clothed in a coraplete dress of the tawny brown leather of his native province. The lemonade-seller of Valencia has a linen shirt open at the neck, a fancy waistcoat without sleeves, a kilt of white cotton, white stockings rising lo the calf, and sandals. Muleteers, with their broad body -belts and the old Spanish gun, were mingled in these groupes. Here, too, were many officers and soldiers of the patriot arraies, which, raised in haste, were not regularly or uni formly clothed, ifi except some of the old standing force. Of these you might see the royal carabineer, with the cocked hat, blue coat faced wilh red, and instead of boots, the ancient greaves, of thick, hard, black leather, laced at the sides ; the dragoon, in a uniform of yellow, black bells, and a helmet wilh a cone of brass ; the royal or Walloon guards, in iheir neat dress of blue and red, with 'whfte lace ; the comraon soldier in brown. Mingled with these was the light-horseraan, in a hus sar jacket of brown, and over-alls, caped, lined, and vandyked * New Edinburgh Encyclopedia. S48 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. at the bottom wilh tan leather ; here, again, a peasant with the cap and coat of a soldier ; there, a soldier from Navarre or Aragon, with the bare foot and the light hempen sandal of his country." In Biscay, lying on the Bay of Biscay and bordering on France, the country people wear brogues, not unUke those of the Highlands of Scotland, tied up wilh great neatness, being the most useful for a slippery and mountainous country. When they are not busy in tho fields, they walk wfth a staff taller lhan themselves, which serves thera to vault over gulleys, and is an exceUent weapon in case of assault, with which they will baf fle the raost dexterous swordsraan. They wear cloaks in the winter. The pipe is constantly in the mouth, as well for pleas ure, as from a notion that tobacco preserves them against the dampness of the air. All this, joined to their natural sprightli ness and vigor, gives them an appearance seeming to border on ferocity, were it not the reverse of their raanners, which are gentle and easy, when no motive is given to choler, which the least spark kindles into violence. The inhabitants of mountains are usually strongly attached to their country, which probably arises from the division of lands in which, generaUy speakuig, all have an interest. In this, the Biscayans exceed all other nations, looking with fond ness on their hills as the most delightful scenes in the world, and their people as the mosl respectable, descended from the aborigines of Spain. This prepossession excites them to the mosl extraordinary labors, and to execute things far beyond what could be expected in so sraall and rugged a country, where they have few branches of commerce. The manners ofthe Biscayans and ofthe ancient Irish are so sirailar, on raany occasions, as lo favor the notion of the Irish being descended from them. Both men and women are extremely fond of pilgrimages, repairing from great distances to the churches of their patrons or tutelary saints, singing and dancing till they almost drop down from fafigue. The Irish do the same al their patrons. The poor of Ireland eat out of one dish with their fingers, and sil in their smoky chimneys as well as the Biscayars. The brogue is also the shoe of Biscay. The Irish women lie a kerchief round their heads, wear red skirts, go barefooted, in all which they reserable the Biscayans, and with thera have an equally good opinion of their ancient de scent. The poor Biscayans, though haughtv, are laborious and active, an exaraple worthy to be imitated by the Irish. So UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 849 COOKERY. many concurring circumstances support the idea of their hav ing been originally one people. The universal and regular dish for all classes is the poteheiro, a stew of raeal wilh an excellent species of large pea, which grows in the utmost perfection near San Ildefonso. Wilh by far the greater part ofthe population, this forms the whole din ner, and is truly a national dish, being regularly served every day at the king's table, as well as at that of the poorest mechan ic. Another favorite dish is called gazpacho, consisting of bread, oil, vinegar, onions, salt, and red-pepper, raixed together in water. Wilh such a mess, a Spaniard of the lower class appeases his hunger for the whole day. To these national dishes may be added, the sopa de galo, or soup-meagre, raade of bread, oU, salt, garlick, and waler; and mz^as, crumbs of bread, fried with oil, salt, and pepper. On the latier, or on rice wilh a sausage, or a bit of pork-lard boiled in it, the Spanish troops subsisted for months, during the first Peninsular war, without a murmur. In almost all the dishes, except the poteheiro, oil is greatly used, and that not of the best quality. Two other chief ingredients in Spanish cookery are, the tomata or love-apple, and the green pepper pod : the former slewed, and the latier boiled and eaten with bread, form, in their sea sons, very material articles of food among the lower classes. The markets of Madrid are scantily supplied wilh meat, — beef and veal from Aragon, mutton from Toledo and Leon, pork from Estremadura, garae from Old Castile and other districts, and fish frora Valencia, — but plentifully with vegetables and fruit from Valencia and Aragon, flour from Old Castile, and wine from La Mancha. The grapes, melons, peaches and cherries, are delicious. During dinner, the Castilians drink plentifully of wine dUu ted with waler, and a few bottles of French wine terminate the repast ; coffee is then served up, after which the company re tire to take their siesta. Fresh parties are formed in the eve ning, either for the prado, the theatre, or tertuiius'^ " In the use of wine," says Mr. Scrapie, " they are certainly temperate ; and a drunken Spaniard, even of the lowest class, is scarcely ever seen in the streets of Madrid. To atone for this, they sraoke iraraoderately, and at all hours, from their first rising to their hour of going to bed. They do not use pipes, but smoke the tobacco leaf ftself rolled up, or cut small and wrapped in a slight covering such as paper, or the thin leaves of maize. Great quantities of tobacco thus prepared are imported from 30* 350 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. the Havana, under the name of cigars, in slight cedar or mahogany boxes, containing a thousand each. Those wrapped in the leaf of maize are called pachillos, or Utile straws, and are chiefly sraoked by the women, for whose use also olhers are formed of while paper, ornamented with a kind of gold wire, I have seen women of some rank, playing at cards, and smok ing these pachillos. The great duchess of Alva, one of the raost sensible and noble-spirited woraen that Spain has produ ced for many years, was fond of using thera." It is the remark of a writer, that there are but twelve good roads in Spain ; these are M'Adaraized. The principal of these roads are from Madrid to Bayonne, to Barcelona, and to SeviUe. Between Madrid and Toledo, the latier of which is a large city, and an iraportant place 100 railes distant, there has been no road made, and the roule lies ihrough fields, woods, and rocks. The necessary effect of this want of internal commu nication is to repress the spirit of industry and improvement. Agriculture suffers in an especial degree. The little travel which is accomplished, is eiiher on horseback, on raules, in dU igences, or in a long covered wagon, called galera or galley. The dUigences are drawn by seven or eight mules, and travel at the rale of seven railes an hour. The chief rauleteer is call ed Mayoral, and the postillion Lagal. Travelling in Spain, it is well known, is attended with danger, from nuraerous bands of robbers, who infest the country. jMurders, perhaps, do not often take place, but the traveUer is sure to have a sound beat. ing unless his pocket or portmanteau furnishes some booty to the plunderer. Guards are frequently sent with the diligences, but the traveller has no securfty frora these, as they frequently have an understanding wilh the robbers and divide with thera the spoil, which has been taken from the very persons whom they have been sent to guard. In some places, the traveller is warned of danger by crosses which are erected, and on which are inscribed notices of tragical events which happened in those spots ; for example, " Here John was killed," &c. Tlie Spanish language is a compound ofthe Latin and Teu- tonic, wilh a small admixture of Arabic, ^^'hen the country was divided into a variety of independent sovereignties, each kingdom had a dialect of its own. But since the union of the crowns, the dialect of Castile has become the general language of the whole monarchy, and is still called the Castilian lan guage. It is spoken in its purest stale in New Castile, espe cially in the ancient kingdom of Toledo, and is one ofthe finest UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 351 AMUSEMENTS. of the European languages. It is dignified, harmonious, ener getic, and expressive ; and abounds in grand and sonorous ex pressions, which unfte into raeasured periods, whose cadence is very agreeable lo the ear. It is a language well adapted to poetry, bul it also inclines to exaggeration, and its vehemence easily degenerates into borabast. Though naturally grave, it easily adraits of pleasantry. In the raouth of well educated men, it is noble and expressive ; lively and pointed in that of the common people ; sweet, seductive, and persuasive, when ut tered by a feraale. Amongst the orators, it is touching and imposing, though rather diffuse ; at the bar, and in the schools, it is barbarous ; and is spoken by those about the court in a concise and agreeable manner. In the other provinces, its pu rity has suffered considerably from the introduction of foreign words and idioras. It is mixed wilh French in Navarre, Cata lonia, and Valencia ; with Portuguese in Galicia ; and with Arabic in Murcia and Andalusia. The Basque, which is still spoken in Biscay, is supposed to be the ancient language of that country before the invasion of the Roraans, and is mention ed by Strabo and Seneca. It has no analogy with any known tongue ; and is preserved without alteration or corruption in the raountainous parts of Biscay. Though it appears harsh and coarse to those who do not understand it, yet it is said to be destitute neither of elegance or expression.* Dancing is a favorite amusement of the whole nation ; young and old, equaUy engage in it with enthusiasra. Besides the dances coraraon to other countries, the Spaniards have three that are purely national, naraely, the fandango, the bolero, and the sequidilla. Mr. Townsend gives a lively idea of their pas sion for these dances, by saying : " If a person were to come suddenly into a church, or a court of justice, playing the fan. dango or the bolero, priests, judges, lawyers, criminals, audi ence, one and all, grave and gay, young and old, would quft their functions, forget all their distinctions, and comraence dan cing. Nocturnal serenades of vocal or instrumental music are given by the young men under the windows of their mistresses. Romaries, or pilgriraages, to celebrate chapels, or herraitages, on the eve ofthe festival of the patron saint, are very fashiona ble.^ The devotees, and those who accorapany them from cu riosity, or worse motives,, pass the night either in the porch of the church or chapel, or in the neighboring fields, or under ?Modem Traveller. 352 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. tents : men, woraen, and children, are huddled together ; they eat, drink, laugh, sing, Ue down and sleep ; while darkness throws a veil over a scene altogether incorapatible with acts of devotion. In the same spirit, when the church bells, at sunset, give the signal of repealing the prayer to the Virgin, the per formers at the theatres, as well as the audience, fall upon their knees, and so remain for several minutes : the busy multitude in the streets are also hushed on the same occasion, and arrest ed in their pursuits, as if by magic, and all carriages stop ; the women cover their faces with their fans, the men take off their hats, and all breathe, or are supposed to breathe, a short prayer to the protecting power which has brought thera to the close of another day. After a short pause, the woraen uncover their faces, the carriages drive on, and the whole crowd is again in raotion as before."* The great national spectacle of Spain, however, is the Bull fight. It is now falling inlo disuse ; but was once the favorite arausement of all classes. The following is an account of one of these exhibitions as related by Jlr. Jacob, which, in 1809, was given in honor of Lord Wellington : " The Plaza de Toros, is a large araphitheatre, capable of holding 14,000 persons. On this occasion it was not full, and I suppose that not more than 10,000 people were present. The appearance of the assembly was striking, and a degree of in terest was excited in every countenance, which I should pre viously have thought a much raore important contest would scarcely have called forth. I entered the place at the moment when the first bull was killed, and horses gaily decorated were dragging him frora the circle, amid the sounds of music and the applauding shouts of the people. Preparations were made for a fresh conflict. Three men were posted behind each other, about ten yards asunder, mounted on small but active horses, and armed with each a spear about fifteen feet long ; and five or six men on foot, dressed in scarlet cloaks, were placed in other parls of the arena. The gates were thrown open, and the bull rushed in. He raade towards the first horseman, who received hira on the point of his spear, and wounded him be tween the shoulders. This turned him, and he attacked the second horseman with great fury ; bul, from the want either of dexterity in the rider, or of agility in the animal, the horse was dreadfuUy gored in the body, and his bowels fell to the ground. * Townsend's Travels in Spain. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 353 BULL-FIGHTS. The combatants were soon disentangled, and the bull attacked the third horseraan, who received him like the first, and wound ed him severely. He now became furious, and gaUoped round the circle ; bul eiiher from the loss of blood, or the pain he en dured, he was fearful of facing the horseraen. The men on foot then began to irritate him, by sticking small darts in his body ; and, whenever he raade a push al thera, threw the cloak over his eyes, and with great dexterity, avoided his thrust. This irritation was continued some time, till the animal, stream ing wilh blood, became exhausted. The matador, or principal actor, then made his appearance, provided with a small sword and cloak ; he advanced towards the bull, which ran and push ed at him, but the man received the thrust on his cloak, and stepping nimbly aside, withheld his blow because the animal did not present hiraself in the exact allilude which the raatador required for despatching hira wilh grace. He then made a sec ond advance towards the animal, and, while he was in the act of pushing at hira, plunged the sword up to the hill between his shoulders. The bull ran a few paces, staggered, and drop ped dead. The trumpets sounded a flourish ; horses galloped in, and being fastened to the carcase, dragged it away amid the applauding shouts of the spectators. Six or seven other bulls were then despatched in a similar manner, with only such variations as were occasioned by the different degrees of cour age which the an.'.nals possesacd. When the last bull was fighting, tfee iriStador so contrived it, that he gave him the coup de grace immediately under the box in which Lord Wellington and the English party were seated. Before this operation, he addressed himself to his lordship, and said with rauch dignity, that he should kill that bull to the health of King George the Third, which was quickly performed. His lordship threw hira sorae money, and the entertainraent closed. " This buU-fight was represented to me as a very inferior exhibftion, owing lo the coolness of the weather ; the bulls hav- ftig much more courage during the intense heat of sumraer, than at the present season, (Noveraber.) It is certainly an amusement attended with great cruelty both to the bulls and the horses, though not involving much danger to the men. From this they were partly secured by their own agility, and by the dexterous applications of their cloaks when the animal charged them, and partiy by the barriers placed round the cir- cle behind which they retired when pressed by the buU. How repugnant soever this diversion raay appear to every delicate and feeling mind, ft is more frequented and admired by the la- 354 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SPAIN. dies than by the gentleraen. They attend these exhibitions in their gayest dresses, applaud the address of the inhuman cora- batants, and feel the greatest solicitude at the different critical turns ofthe fight. Many ofthe young country gentleraen may trace their ruin to these spectacles, as decidedly as Englishmen of the sarae class raay trace theirs to New Market. In fact, it is the great object which engages the attention of that de scription of men distinguished by the term of majos."* Education in Spain is extremely low. There were former ly twenty-four universities, but they are at present reduced to fifteen, and of these, only six deserve the name — Salaraanca, Toledo, Saragossa, Valencia, Alcala, and Cervera. That of Salamanca is the most ancient, and was at one time the most celebrated in Europe. Besides the universities, miUtary and naval schools exist, and the means of elementary instruction are found in all parts of the country ; but being under the di rection of a bigoted priesthood, tbey have little other effect than to propagate error, and such error as wUl advance the in terest of the papal power. The liberal arts in Spain were once cultivated with great success. Their architecture of the sixteenth century has been compared to that of the Romans, and the bridges of Badajos and Toledo, with some ofthe public buildings ofthe latter city, and of Madrid, deserve the careful altention of tfco efeilful ob- server. Spain can boast also of some distinguished sculptors : " but of aU the liberal arts," says Laborde, " paintuig is that which has been most cultivated in Spain, and in which ils natives have best succeeded. The Spanish school holds a middle place be tween the Italian and Flemish schools, being more natural than the first, more noble than the second, and participating in the beauties of both." Among distinguished painters raay be men tioned Ribera, better known by the name of Spagnolet, distiu guished for his skill in representing suffering and sorrow — Ve lasquez excellent in portraits — Murillo, noted for the finish and warmth of his coloring. Music is cultivated, and many ofthe national airs of Spain are beautiful. The former is not as pa thetic as the Italian, but has greater energy and approximates more to the romantic. " It speaks," says'a writer, " of a more mountainous country, of a raore high-souled and chivalrous * Jacob's Travels. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 355 PORTUGAL. people. The Italian airs breathe of little but love. The songs of Spain are mingled with romance, devotion, and glory, as well as wilh tenderness. Music is not cultivated as in Italy ; but it is the amuseraent of all ranks and conditions in Spain. The muleteer sings to beguile the long hours as he speeds on his way, and his rude carol is mingled with the wild jingling of the bells. The peasants sing as they dance the sequidilla, to the sounds of the Castanet and guitar. The cavalier joins his voice lo the music of his guitar, when he serenades his high born beauty beneath her latticed window. " The guitar is universally played by the Spaniards ; and suits well wilh the wild romantic melody of Spanish airs. The Moorish ballads which remain, are raournful and tender, breath ing the very spirit of gallantry and impassioned devotion. The conquest of Grenada called forth all the musical strains of her minstrels, whether in lamentations over the fallen city, or in re proaches to the conquerors, and the ballad entitled ' The Siege and Conquest of Alhama' had such an effect, that it was for bidden to be sung by the Moors on pain of death within the yvalls of Grenada."* 6. PORTUGAL. The Portuguese resemble the Spaniards, but in general they are not so tall, nor so well raade. They have swarthy com plexions, black hair, and dark eyes, and are said to be irasci ble and revengeful in their tempers, and eager in their gestures on trivial occasions. The woraen are sraall, with brown com plexions, but regular features and dark expressive eyes. The round face and plump form are more esteemed' in this country, than the long tapering visage and thin delicate frarae of the Spanish ladies. In an interesting volurae publishe4 by Mrs, BaUe, who resided in Portugal for about two years and a half, we have the following account of females in Portugal : " Some few youthful faces, which I have seen, appear pretty enough ; the great charra being produced by the dark and brilliant eye and depth of eye-lash, to which I have already alluded ; and although the complexion is generally sallow, and, alraost with- * Goodrich's Umversal Geography. 356 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PORTUGAL. out exception, brown, I have once or twice remarked a very rich and beautiful glow, like the bloom of a crimson carnation upon the cheek. The old women appear lo me, from the spe- ciraens I have hitherto seen, to be invariably hideous. We are given to understand, that the higher the rank of the people in this country, the plainer in feature they generaUy becorae, and that, with sorae few exceptions, it is among the peasantry alone that true beauty exists." " Strip a Spaniard of his virtues, and you make a Portu. guese of him," says the Spanish proverb. " I have heard it more truly said," says Dr. Southey : " add hypocrisy to a Spaniard's vices, and you have the Portuguese character." The Portuguese are characterized by different features in the different parts of the kingdom. In Lisbon, they are pre-emi nently remarkable for corruption, for insincerity, and luxury ; in the southern provinces, they are simple and unsophisticated, poUte, but extremely indolent ; whUe fti the northern districts, they are open, candid, industrious, enterprising, and arabftious. The general features, however, of the peasantry, and the in- habftanls of the rainor towns, are prirailiveness and simplicity, such as raay be expected to obtain araong a people that have enjoyed little intercourse with strangers — inactivity, want of enterprise, silence, retirement, dislike to social pleasures, at tachraent to the higher orders, blind reverence to their priests, and loyally to their sovereign. Treachery, ingratitude, vin dictiveness, have also been uniformly laid to their charge. Notwithstanding their fondness for seclusion, they are hospita ble to strangers, particularly if they belong to the Popish church, which is the national religion. The nobility are proud, ostentatious, and tyrannical, displaying that feudal illiberality and despotism, which is so baneful to the progress of liberal knowledge, and to independence of spirit, and which has now nearly disappeared in all the raore civilized countries of Eu rope. The peasantry are, consequently, in a state of cemplete vassalage to the hidalgos, or gentlemen, though, in opposftion to this, it may be mentioned as a favorable indication of char- acter, that the utmost kindness and affability are, in generil, shown to doraestic servants, no small number of whom spend their days in the sarae faraily. That indolence for which the nation, with the exception of the inhabitants of the northern provinces, are so reraarkable, raay probably be accounted for from the endless holidays ofthe Catholic Church, and the gen. eral debasftig effects of that superstitious creed which it so as. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 357 COSTUME. siduously inculcates. In Lisbon, and the provincial towns, there is a total disregard of cleanliness, a thing so reraarkable in the capital, that there is not probably another city in the world in which there is so rauch filthiness and inelegance. This grossness is least perceptible in Oporto. The Portuguese of every rank are temperate, or ralher abstemious, both in eating and drinking. The only luxury of the common people is to bacco ; and if any of them can reach the height of a dried Newfoundland codfish, he regards himself as at the sumraft of earthly felicfty. The female character in Portugal is extreraely retired, do mestic, araiable, and chaste. Their bland and siraple manners are not corrupted, nor their attachments dissipated by an ex tensive comraunication with the world. " As to their persons in general," says Mr. Murphy, "they are rather below than above the middle sjature, but graceful and beautiful. No fe males are less studious of enhancing their attractions by arti ficial means, or counterfefting by paltry arts, the charms which nature has withheld. To the most regular features, they add a sprightly disposftion and captivating carriage. ' *¦*^ The costume ofthe lower orders of Lisbon, Mrs. BaiUe says, would not be unbecoming " if they had a more thorough notion of personal cleanliness : when they walk out, it invariably consists (in summer or in winter,) of a long ample cloth cloak, gen^-ally of a brown, black, or scarlet color, wilh a deep, fall ing cape, called a capote, which forras a graceful drapery, both to men and women. The latter wear a white muslin handker chief doubled cornerwise, carelessly thrown over the dark braided locks, and fastened beneath by the chin. When they go to mass on festivals or Sundays, they carry a fan in the hand, and frequently assume an air of gravity and iraportance bordering upon the supercilious ; this, however, exists chiefly among the old women ; the younger ones have a gay, cheer ful expression of countenance, and quick glancing eyies, as bril Uant and as dark as jet. AU wear pink, green, or yellow sUk shoes, or even while satin, and worked stockings, (the latter knitted very ingeniously by the peasants,) even in the midst of the most disgusting dirt and raud : the trade ofthe shoe-maker must be a profitable one in this country ! The class one step higher in the scale of society, indulge in lawdry, Ul-chosen fine ry, in sorry iraitation ofthe French and EngUsh fashions ; but at mass, they exchange this gaudy attire for a black silk gown, and a deep transparent veil, of the same sombre hue, which 31 358 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PORTUGAL. — -t ^ — latter they throw over their heads without any other covering, even in the colde.st day of winter. Their religion induces this chastity of taste in decoration, and I wish it produced an equally beneficial result in other respects." Among the peasantry who come inlo Lisbon frora the coun try, especiaUy on Sundays, it is easy, Mr. Scrapie says, to ob serve a nuraber of particulars in dress and manners, which must be referred to a Celtic origin. Instead of hats, they fre quently wear caps or bonnets. The ancienl plaid, too warm to be carried in this climate as a cloak, is converted into a parti colored sash, which they wear round the middle, and in which they uniformly carry a dirk or long knife ; and their favorite instruraent of music is the bag-pipe, adorned wilh ribbons, ex actly sirailar to that used in the Highlands of Scotland. To the sound of this very instrument, two or three of them together dance a kind of reel ; or, if the tune be slow and soleran, the piper walks backward and forward amidst a silent and allen tive crowd. In their lively dances, they raise their hands above their heads, and keep lime wilh their castanets. The Scotch Highlanders observe exactly the same practice : and there can be no doubt that their strong snapping of fingers is in imitation of the sound of the castanet. In consequence of Ihe beauty of ihe climate, they spend most of their lirae in the open air ; and their houses, therefore, in stead of being as in I3rilain, an object of erabeUishraent and care, are plain, or are neglected to a degree inconceivable to a stranger ; and the furniture even ofthe most elegant edifices is indicative of poverty, or a total disregard of taste. The houses of even the most opulent and erainent Portuguese, have not yet been distinguished by paintings, or any work of art or genius. Billiards, backgaramon, cards, and dice, have been long known and practiced ; but their chief arausements are bull-fights in the amphitheatre, a practice common both in Spaui and Portu gal, and incompatible wilh great delicacy or refinement of feel ing. Beggars are a forraidable class in this country : they infest every place, not entreating, but demanding alms. If they meet a well dressed person on the road, he must offer them money, the araount of which is not always left to his discretion. He must give first for the sake of St. Anthony, then for the sake of St. Francis ; after which he is called upon to give for the honor of the Virgin Mary ; and ultimately, he is robbed for the love of God ! UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 359 LANGUAGE. RELIGION. The Portuguese language, like the Spanish, is derived from the Latin, which, indeed, at one period, was the language of the whole Peninsula, but it is also composed of many Greek and Arabic words ; and in the southern provinces, traces may be found ofthe ancient dialect ofthe Moors. As the royal line of Portugal was of French origin, there is, as may be supposed, an admixture of various terms of the language of France. It is a grave, solemn, and melodious speech ; the use of vowels is predominant, and it is possessed of no guttural sounds ; but when a tongue, Uke the Portuguese, is composed of a variety of dialects introduced at different periods, and bearing little or no resemblance lo each other, a wide difference of style may be expected to obtain between the writers of the different ages. This is the case in a reraarkable degree, and constitutes one of the greatest difficulties in obtaining a knowledge of the lan guage ; philology is little studied, and no cultivated nation of Europe has produced fewer, or raore defective lexicons, than Portugal. Among the peculiarities of the Portuguese, the following are very conspicuous. Corn, instead ofbeing threshed, is trodden from the husk by oxen. Women, when they ride, sft wfth the left side towards the horse's head ; and a postillion rides on the left horse. Footmen play at cards whilst wailing for their mas ters. Tailors sit at work like shoe-makers. Hair dressers appear on Sundays with a sword, a cockade, and two watches, or at least two watch chains. A tavern is known by a vine- bush ; a house to be let, by a piece of blank paper ; and a Jew by his extra cathoUc devotion. Fishworaen are seen with trinkets of gold and silver ^bout the neck and wrists ; and the custora of wearing boots and black conical caps is peculiar to fruit-woraen. In visiting any one above the rank of a tradesman, il is ne cessary lo wear a sword and chapeau ; if the family be in raourning, the visiter raust also wear black. If he ,come not in a coach, the servant wUl not consider hira a gentleman : and were he to visit in boots, he would coramft an unpardonable of fence, unless he Ukewise wore spurs. The master of the house foUows the visitant when he comes in ; and precedes him when he goes away. The Roman Catholic religion is established in Portugal, and is maintained with a great degree of rigor and superstition. As 360 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ITALY. a body, the clergy are ignorant and unenlightened, and their example is far from being safe to follow. At the head of the establishment is a patriarch, who is subordinate to the pope. There are two archbishops, and len bishops; 4,262 parishes, 418 convents, and 150 nunneries. The secular clergy amount to 22,000 ; the monks to 14,000 ; and the nuns lo 10,000. The whole number of the clergy is 200,000, or one to every fifteen of the people. ITALY. Italy, as the country of the ancient Romans, can never be con templated without a deep and lively interest. This is the case in regard to national scenery, and the monuraental remains, by which it is ennobled and adorned. In respect also to its inhab itants, il is natural lo feel a sirailar interest, and to wish to know what they are, as compared with their ancestors. The people who now dwell in this country, are ralher successors of the Romans than descendants. Originally many of the inhabit ants of Italy came frora Greece and the east ; while a portion of them, it is believed, must corae frora the Celtic or Goraerian tribes of the north, who entered Italy from that quarter. The early Roman stock was constituted of these mingled races. The present Italians are descended from different nations which overran Italy at various periods, though they are now amalgamated and form but one people. Traces of the Roman, in the appearance of this people, jre probably nearly effaced ; but they have their peculiarity as the closely blended race of various ancestors. They are nearly all Italians. A few Greeks live on the coast of the Adriatic — there are some Ger mans in Lombardy, Venice, &c. ; and Jews live scattered over the country, as they do in other countries. Butthe whole ofthe latter classes or races, do not exceed a few hundred thou sand inhabitants. " In all the states of Italy there are the usual grades of Eu ropean nobility ; and the individuals are more numerous, than those of the sarae class in any other country. In sorae of the states of Italy, all the sons of the nobility and their sons, bear the original title. Of course numbeis are indigent ; and raany of thera are known to solicit charity." "The Italians are distinguished for their anftnated and ex- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 3fil pressive countenances, and they have very brilliant eyes. They are generaUy of dark complexions, well fornaed and ac tive. The woraen have black or auburn hair, and raost ofthe requisites for beauty. Among the inhabilants are many cripples and deformed : for the poor in Italy suffer many hardships and privations ; but araong the lowest class, and especially at Na ples, the huraan forra is seen in its greatest perfection, and the half clad lazzaroni are the best models for a sculptor. The higher classes wear the common European dress. At Genoa, however, females of all ranks, wear very gracefully the mazzaro, a kind of shawl, thrown over the head and shoul ders, and folded round the arms. Lady Morgan testifies re specting the Genoese ladies, as she saw them in the streets, in the church,orthe circle,lhatthey appear gr They can generaUy set before the traveUer, at least, fresh and curdled milk, salt herrings, or alit- ^ Peasant of Finland. p. 458. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 459 DRESS HOT BA-THS PEASANTRY. tie salt meat ; and they are rich in all that they consider as constituting the enjoyments of life. Ifat any tirae they have any more money than their iraraediate wants require, they ei ther lay il up for future emergencies, or convert it into sorae domestic utensil ; and it is not uncommon in a sraall wooden dwelling, lo see the water presented in a silver vessel of the value of fifty or sixty rix dollars. The women are warraly clothed, and above their other garments wear a large linen shift, which gives them the appearance of being in an un dress. In the house, the raen generally throw off their coat, and even in that manner perform their ordinary labors in the open air ; but when they go out to a greater distance in the winter season, they wear a kind of short coat, raade of calf skin, or a woollen surtout, fastened round the raiddle wilh a gir dle ; and pull over their boots coarse woollen stockings, both for warrath and for safer walking on the ice. Most of the peasanls have a sraall house for the purpose of taking a warm bath, which is done in the following raanner. A nuraber of stones, in the innerratast part of the charaber, are heated by fire tiU they becorae red ; and water being thrown upon thera in this state, the bathers are involved in a cloud of thick hot vapor air ; they remain naked for the space of half an hour, or even a whole hour, rubbing their bodies, or lashing them with bunches of twigs ; and frequently go out without any covering to the open air, or even roll themselves in the snow, thus raaking an instantaneous transftion of perhaps 100 degrees, which is al raost equivalent to a pas.sage frora boiling to freezing waler. This practice, they affirm, has a most invigorating effect upon their frimes, and recruits their strenglh as much as rest or sleep. Tke Finnish peasantry are, at all seasons, busily emplayed in active labor; and even in the depth of winter, find abundance of eraployraent both in the house and abroad. Wilhin, they are engaged in making nets, constructing cart wheels, forming faggots for fuel, or threshing their corn ; and out^fidoors, they cut down timber, and easily drag over the ice or snow such enormous trunks, as they are scarcely able to raove in sura mer. Fishing and hunting raay be considered as their neces sary avocations, ralher than voluntary arauseraents. In fish ing wilh hooks, they scour over the ice in long wooden pattens, pushing themselves with incredible velocity, by means of a pole which they hold in their hands ; and when they have reached the place where they intend to fish, they spread a tri- 463 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. angular sail to shelter thera frora the wind, perforate the ice wfth a chisel, plunge their line into the sea to the depth ofabout 30 feet, and are sometimes obliged to continue stirring the sur face of the water to prevent its freezing. In fishing with nets, they raake two openings in the ice, and by means of ropes and long poles, pass the nels from the one to the other, which they afterwards draw out with great labor. In autumn, when the frost begins to set in, and the ice is raost transparent, the fish- erraan courses along the rivers with a wooden club or raallet in his hand ; and when he observes a fish under the ice in shallow water, he strikes a violent blow perpendicularly above it, which at once breaks the ice and stuns the fish, so that he easily seizes it with an instruraent raade for the purpose. In hunting the seals, they take post in the neighborhood of their haunts, behind a mass of ice, and wait tUl one of thera comes out ofthe water. Il frequently happens that the hole in the ice by which he ascends, is frozen over alraost instantaneously ; and the hun ters then fall upon him before he has time to raake a new aper, ture with his breath, or at least before he can reach the open ing, should it still be passable. In these extremities, the ani mal makes a desperate defence, seizing the clubs with his teeth, and attempting to reach the assailant ; bul the slowness of his motions renders his efforts unavailing, and he is soon despatch ed, without much risk. The Finlanders' mode of hunting the bear requires a greater degree of intrepidity and presence of mind. Instead of a very uncertain weapon, the bunter uses an iron lance fixed at the end of a pole, and having a cross bar about a foot distant from the point. When the bear has been irritated to rush from his den, and is rearing hiraself on his hind legs to seize his daring antagonist, the peasant drawing back the iron lance cltase to his breast, so as to conceal the length of his weapon, and render the aniraal less watchful against its stroke, advances boldly within arra's length of the bear, and plunges the point into his heart. The cross bar pre vents the lance frora passing through the body, keeps the ani mal from reaching the hunter with his paws, and serves to throw him on his back, while the wounded bear hastens his own death by holding the weapon fast, and pressing it raore deeply into the wound. A stUI more hazardous enterprize is the seal hunting in the spring, after the frozen sea breaks up, and the ice floats in shoals upon the furface. Four or five per sons set sail in an open boat wilh one small mast ; and expose ithennselves during the space of a month or more, and in tije UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 461 HUNTING TRAVELLING ^MATRIMONY. most unfavorable circumstances, to all the dangers ofthe ocean. In this pursuft, their Uttie bark is continuaUy placed between masses of ice, which threaten lo crush it lo pieces ; and in or der lo reach the seals, they must creep along the floating shoals, killing thera as they repose upon the ice. During the same season they hunt the squirrel, which they kill with a blunt wooden arrow, shot frora a cross bow, that they raay not injure the skin. The bow used in this sport is of a very an cient construction, extremely heavy, and requiring great strength to bend it, even with the assistance of a thong. The peasantry are remarkably dexterous both in the use of this bow and of the fowling piece, loading the latter always wilh ball, and rarely missing the smallest bird. They employ for this purpose, a kind of rifle gun with a narrow bore, which re quires but a very sraall charge, and yet carries lo a considera ble distance. The winter also is the principal season of traffic ; and all the great fairs are held in Finland and Sweden in that tirae of the year, in consequence of the facility of carrying goods over the ice, and travelling in sledges on the snow. The peasanls on these occasions frequently undertake journeys of three or four hundred English miles, carrying along with thera whatever articles they have for sale. In Finland, the sledges are very narrow, containing only one person, and drawn by a single horse ; and the roads are deep ruts formed by the successive passage of these vehicles, thus adraitting none of a larger size than what are generally used in the country. The circurastance of being overturned is rarely productive of any serious consequences ; and the dangers attending the trav eller arise chiefly frora those parts of the rivers or lakes where the ice is insufficient to support the weight. Excepting the bear, which rarely comes frora his den to attack the inhabit ants, until he is first provoked, the only other savage creatures in the country, are Wolves ; and those, even when starving, wUl not venture singly to assail the passenger. When assem bled, however, in herds, and impelled by famine, they sorae tiraes rush upon the horses in the sledges ; and shoqjd the trav eller be overturned and lefl upon the road, he raust fall a prey to their ferocfty.* When about to form a matrimonial connexion, a Finlander commissions some old woman lo make known his proposals to * New EtJinburgh Encyclopetlia. 462 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. the object of his affections, and at the same time sending a present of a handkerchief, ribband, or piece of money. The messenger waits upon the young woman while undressing at night, and after dwelling on the praise of the lover, slips his gift inlo the fair one's bosom. If the present is retained, the young people consider theraselves as rautually engaged, and nothing but the marriage cereraony is wanting. But if the present be returned, this indicates a refusal, which may never theless yield to a second proposal, unless the young woman, in stead of returning the gift with her hands, suffers il to drop to the ground, which is counted a positive token of decided rejec tion. At the marriage, one of the friends or neighbors, with the orator or speaker, does the honor of the feast, who generally also recites verses, or makes thera exterapore, suitable lo the oc casion ; and, on the day following, afler addressing some advices to the married couple, he strikes the woraan repeatedly round the body wilh the husband's breeches, commanding her to be fruit ful, and to furnish him with heirs of his own body. 20. RUSSIA. Perhaps, in no population of equal number in any oth- er part of the earth, is there so great a variety of races of people, as inthe 50,000,000 which the Russian erapire com prehends. They may be thus distinguished and divided : 1. Those of Sclavonic origin ; the Russians (properly so called) and the Poles are of this race, and Ukewise the inhabitants of Lithuania, Courland, &c. ; they fbrm the majority ofthe popu lation, amounting to about 34,000,000. 2. Germans : all the noblesse and burghers of Finland, Livonia, Estbonia, and Cour land, are Germans, as well as most of the colonists in the inte- rior and south of the empire : with these, as of the same Gothic race, raay be enumerated the Swedes, who inhabit Finland, and the Danes, who inhabft two of the Baltic isles belonging to Rus sia. 3. The Fins : these are subdivided into thirteen trihes, the principal of which are the Fins proper in Finland ; the Es thonians and Livonians, in the governments of Riga and Revel ; the Laplanders ; the Perraians, and the Ostians, of the Ob. 4. People of the Tartar race ; of these there are numerous varieties ; the chief are, the Tartars generally so called, who inhabit the Crimea, the southern districts of the Volffa, (fee. A Russian Nobleman. P. 463. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 463 PERSONAL APPEARANCE DRESS. 5. Georgians, Caucasians, and Circassians. 6. People ofthe Mon gol race : these are subdivided into the' Mongols proper, who habft the southern part of Siberia, the Calraucks, and the Bour iats. 7. The Saraoyeds ; nomadic tribes on the borders of the Frozen Ocean. 8. The Manshures, Yunguses and Lamutes. 9. The noraade tribes in the north and east of Siberia. 10. Turks and Armenians, in Moldavia and Bessarabia. The liraits of the present work, we need scarcely add, will not admit of even a general description of the various distinct classes and tribes which are coraprehended in this iraraense em. pire. We shall therefore direct the attention of our readers to those classes only which possess the greatest points of inter est. The Russians are in general middle-sized, robust, and vigor. ous, differing liltle in complexion frora the inhabitants of Great Britain. Towards the north,- they are of dirainutive stature ; but in the south, tall and graceful. With mouth and lips small, white teeth, nose usually sraall and turned up- wards, low forehead, thick and busby beard, and the hair va rying in color from dark brown to red ; the general expression of the Russian countenance is that of gravity rather than of sprightUness, yel indicative of good nature. The females have a delicate skin and fine coraplexion, which they often destroy ; by the use of paint. Their personal charras decay preraaturely, and their intellect and accoraplishraents are rarely sufficient to preserve the empire which their early beauty had acquired. The dress of the different classes of Russia exhibits consid. erable variety. In sumraer the peasants go with naked feet, and seldom any covering on their heads ; the men literally wear nothing more than a shirt, and trowsers of striped linen. The shirt is closed at the neck with a buckle or clasp. The woraen wear a blue dress of dyed linen, closed down to the point with buttons, and fastened on the shoulders wfth clasps. It is called a serrafan. Their heads are sometimes bound with handkerchiefs of various colors. The winter dress of a nobleman consists of a turban-forraed cap of sable for the head, a large cloak called a shoob, with arms lined throughout with bear, Liberian fox, racoon, or oth er skins, covering the whole body, caped and cuffed wfth fur. His shoes, which are caUed kangees, are made of elk or calf skin. The wives of the native merchants are dressed in all the 464 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. FINLAND. riches their husbands can afford, in a fashion, hot, stiff, and most discordant with their figures. Their petticoat is of a brocade silk, gaudily flowered, and slung on their shoulders by a kind of gallowses, thick with embroidery ; the body is cover ed with a jacket, either of velvet or stuff, bound with gold lace and colors. Their linen sleeves reach to the elbow. Their neck and arras are bare, hung with beads, neclijaces, ear and finger rings innuraerable. Sorae wear diadems of gold set wilh colored stones and pearls ; others, a large square handkerchief richly shot with silver and various hues, and thrown down their backs, one corner being ingeniously wound round their heads, making a simple and pretty coeffure. They also wear boots, made of leather or velvet, according to the pecuniary ability of the purchaser ; indeed this invention for the comfort of the leg is so respected here, that the smallest infants, just able to crawl, are encurabered sooner with boots tban with shirts. The mUitary dress of the Cqssack consists of a close dark blue jacket, and very large full trowsers, under which they wear drawers and boots. Their head is covered with a high black cap of sheep-skin ; a red bag hangs from its top, ornamented with a chain of white worsted lace and tassels ; a red stripe, rather broad, runs along the outside of the trowsers, as well as a cord of the same color round the cap and sleeves. A single row of buttons closes the jacket at the breast. A broad leather belt, containing cartridges, and to which is suspended a Ught sabre, confines their waist. Their principal weapons are a pike, about eight feet long, and a pair of pistols. A black belt crosses their left shoulder, to which is attached a sort of tin cartouch box, holding araraunition, and surraounted with a ramrod. An uncouth saddle is bound on the horse, somewhat like a double pillow, under which is a square pieceof oil cloth, painted in various colors. There areothers, but a great simi larity prevails, the only difference being in the color of the dress, which is pink, and having the addftion of a musket.* The following summary of the character ofthe Russians, is from the pen of Dr. Lyall. " The Russians," says he, « are insinuating and cunning, deceitful and perfidious, sensual and immoral, given to levity, fond of novelty, and iraprovident ; with the command of littie money they are avaricious and mean ; when cash abounds, they are generous, ostentatious, and prodigal ; they are cheerful, good humored, and social ; they ?Costumes of Russia. A Cossack. P-464. A Russian Soldier. P. 464. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 465 NATIONAL CHARACTER. are luxurious, hospitable, and charitable ; they love light occu pations' and amuseraents, as plays, operas, masquerades, exhibi tions, dancing, singing, and instruraental music, chess, draughts and billiards ; but above all, playing at cards, to which whole days, and weeks, and months, and years, are devoted. They have a great curiosity to pry into the affairs of others ; they have quick apprehensions ; their talent for imitation is univer j sally allowed ; they are fluent in languages ; a few are endowed with good parts and ingenuity, and are men of literature ; the generaUty are moderately well informed and accoraplished, as to wliat regards ihe exterior of life ; few are distinguished for their proficiency in the sciences ; they are accustomed to good living, but are generally moderate in their cups ; they are dis posed to indolence, to a sedentary mode of Ufe, and to much sleep. They are too little in the habit of taking bodily exer cise ; and yet when urged by affairs or necessity, they are ex cessively active, and withstand extraordinary hardships and fatigue. The manners of the higher and travelled nobiUty are easy, elegant, and iraposing ; and the natives of no country can make theraselves raore agreeable to foreigners. The manners of the lower nobility are affected, consequential, overbearing, and soraetiraes rude ; though sorae few of them are endowed with amiable and generous passions. Frora a certain complai sance and politeness of manner, the Russians make the fairest promises, and the most flattering assurances, when nothing more is intended. Being uttered without meaning or sincerity, you can have no reliance upon them. Having gained the ob ject of the moment, which, perhaps, was lo raake a favorable impression, they think no more of the matter, and laugh at you for having been so easily duped." * The Russians, according to Dr. Clarke, possess a reraarkable talent for imitation. " Imitation," says he, " is the acme of Russian intellect, the principle of all their operations. They have nothing of their own ; but it is not their fault if they have not every thing which others invent. Their surprising powers of imitation exceed all that has been hitherSo known." To the accuracy of this quotation. Dr. Lyall remarks, general assent must be yielded ; but he adds, ft must not be forgotten, that Russia has produced ingenious historians, and meritorious poets, who, whUe they have borrowed much from the other nations of Europe, have also now and then exhibited original ideas and talents ; and a few of them have written well in French. *LyalI's Character of the Russians, &c. 40 466 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. Another characteristic of the Russians is a curiosity to pry into the affairs of others. This trait pertains to all ranks. With the greatest ease, the nobles ask the most impertinent questions with respect to a person's connections and family ; his property and revenues, and his secret affairs and private opin ions. Evasive answers, so far from silencing them, only prompt farther their curiosity, and they continue to tease Jiim with their demands in all forms, either till he lose patience, and show syraptoras of displeasure, or till they extract sorae intelU gence frora him. Nay, so singular are they, that they evident ly show hurt feelings at his rel'usal to gratify their inquisitive ness, especially if he be in the smallest degree dependent upon thera. They are not contented wfth raakftig inquiries raerely of himself; they apply lo his servant women, orbis servant men, to his lackey, or his coachman, or to any body who may be able to give thera inforraation. If he is Uving in one of their families, the master or raistress generally, is acquainted with every thing he does, through inquiries made of his ser vants. Vermin are abundant in Russia, especially among the peas antry. Many ofthe nobles are also surcharged with them, and even some of the ladies are not free from corporeal and cranial insects, and of course require to use the close-teethed comb. At the sarae time, ft must be admitted, that a few are cleanly in their persons. The warmth of the Russian houses, fti con sequence of the universal use of stoves, and of coverings of different kinds of fur, even within doors, partly account forthe abundance of a variety of vermin, while their filthy manners must explain the origin and propagation of the rest. It was forraerly a general practice for individuals of all ranks, and at the first tables, to retain the same knives and forks during dinner, at the conclusion of each dish, cleaning thera upon a piece of bread, or soraetiraes without this cereraony, laying thera down upon the table cloth. The sarae indecorous custora still prevaUs, except in the houses of the more polished nobles, where the knives and forks, when put down upon the plate, are taken away and replaced by olhers ; but araong the lower classes, when left upon the plate, they are taken away, wiped and returned, so that the sarae knives and forks are used for a variety of dishes ; for fish, flesh, and foul. At a Russian table every one pleases himself, so that ft not unfrequently hap pens, that one half of a party have their knives and forks changed, whfte the other half retain theirs from the commence- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 467 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. ment to the conclusion of the repast. In sorae houses, little low sUver stands are placed upon the table, one for each guest, on purpose lo lay the knives and forks upon when not iraraedi- , ately requisite. Il is not very uncoramon, Dr. Clarke says, for the Russian. servants, before your eyes, to spft upon the plates, and wipe thera wilh a dirty napkin, or a raore filthy towel. Another abominable usage is coramon in the houses of all the princes and all the nobles of the erapire. The servant raen are so numerous, that very often there is one fijr each guest, be sides those who serve up the dishes : so that not unfrequently we see tens, and even twenties of them arranged in rows behind the chairs ofthe company, each wilh a plate under his lefl arm, or ralher in his arm-pit, which is by this means warmed and perfumed by the time the guest he wails upon is ready to re ceive it. There are but few beds in the whole Russian empire, which an EngUshraan, aware of their condition, would venture to ap. proach. Il is astonishing that the Russians should not pay more attention lo fine bed-rooms and elegant beds, for daily convenience, and not for mere exhibftion, especially as most of the articles requisite for the purpose are low-priced in their country. Few rooras altogether fitted up and furnished like bed-rooras, as in Britain, are to be found in the northern era pire. They forra a luxury which the Russian knows nothing of, except what he has learned in foreign countries, heard of frora travellers, or read of in books. The Russians assuredly have plenty of spalvi, or bed-rooms as they call thera, which are open to the whole house, and often form one of a suite of rooms in small houses. In the palaces and raansions of the nobles, there are elegant rooras, containing state beds, in which no person reposes. Th?y are generally left open, and as Ihey make part of a suite of chambers, may be reckoned part of a nobleman's parade or show rooms. The Russian nobility, when they attend the festivals of their neighbors, generally carry their beds with them- Hence on the day before a fete, numerous carriages, fiUediwith nobles, arrive from time to time, some of them wfth large bags filled with beds and pUlows. After supper, and the conclusion of the amusement ofthe day, cards, &c., a scene of bustie and confusion follows, which seems extreraely curious and ridicu lous. The dining-roora, the drawing-roora, the hall and the whole suite of apartraents, in which the evening has been pass ed, are converted into bed-rooms. Dozens of small painted and unpainted bedsteds, each for a single person, and of the 468 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. value of five roubles, are speedUy transported into the cham- bers, and arranged along the sides ofthe rooras, which soon reserable a bariack, or the wards of an hospital. Scores of servants belonging lo the host, and to the visiters, are seen run ning backwards and forwards, wilh beds and maltrasses, pil lows and linen, shoobs and baggage. Many of these beds have no inviting appearance. Others of the guests, who have been less provident than their neighbors, are accoraraodated with beds frora the raaster of the house, and when a scarcity occurs, the beds ofhis servants are put in requisition. It also happens frequently that the nuraber of bedsteads is insufficient, but this is of little raoraent. In this case, the beds are arranged upon the floor, upon chairs, and upon the flat parts of some of the stoves. Besides, all the sofas and divans are at once converted inlo places of repose for the night. Dr. Lyall has drawn a descripticMi of such a scene at a grand fete given by a noble man. He made a visit to one of the houses adjoining to the proprietor's mansion, in which a nuraber of his acquaint ances were lodged. He found the hall and the drawing-room literally a barrack. Sofas, divans, and chairs put together, covered with beds, and their fatigued or lazy tenants formed the scenery of the first apartraent : inthe latter was arranged a sleeping place upon the first floor, for half a dozen noblemen, with beds, pillows, shoobs, &c. The possessors of this den, wrapped up in splendid silk night-gowns, sorae lying down, some sitting up in bed, some drinking coffee and tea, and smok ing tobacco, amidst mephitic air, and surrounded by chamber utensils, and other disagreeable trumpery, formed a curious motley association. Another and a curious night scene takts place in the pala ces of the nobles of Petersburgh and Moscow, as well as in those in the interior of the erapire. The enorraous nuraber of servants, often 400 or 500 attached to the establishment ofthe grandees, has excited the surprise of all European travellers ; but few of Ihem, perhaps, inquired, or had au opportunity of knowing how these servants are disposed of when the evening parlies break up. Many of thera retire tothe wings andthe other numerous edifices, which are always the concomitants of a princely fortune in this country ; and those who are inmates ofthe raaster's dwelling occupy the lower story and the back rooms, and there they sleep ; the rest make their beds upon the floors of the ante-charabers, and even at tiraes, within the rooms. Thus the whole range of the back apartraents of a UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 469 MEALS COOKERY. large house or palace is every night covered with beds laid upon the floor, and a crowd of human beings huddled together, under sheep-skins, shoobs, great coats, bed-covers, or whatever comes most readily to hand ; so that while the walls of the elegant sufte of apartments in the front are covered with paint ings, the floors in that of the back are covered with human be ings like so raany dogs. The bad air and the filth of such a den, on the following raorning, are indescribable ; and the nu merous kinds of vermin which have reveUed the whole night, can only bear allusion. In the morning, all hands are called to work, to remove the beds and other accoutrements, and clear the floor for a few hours, when the same scene is repeated. The Russian nobles do not drink ardent spirits, vodki, in the raorning, as has been represented by some. The custom in Russia is to take tea and coffee at a pretty early hour, and gen erally without either bread or sweet cake. The Russian zav trak, or breakfast, foUows, at ten, eleven, or twelve o'clock. It commences with a dram, (schall,) pickled herrings, &c. ; steaks, cutiets, a frickasee, fowls, pickles, boiled eggs, roasted potatoes, pastry, wine, and porler, all or in part, gene rally follow ; but a ceremonious zavtrak is in fact a neat and elegant dinner. The Russian dinners and suppers generaUy consist of a nuraber of good dishes, in which a mixture of Ger man and French cookery prevaUs, besides sorae others, which are almost peculiar to Russia, as stchi or sour cabbage-soup ; salted cucumbers, klukva and kvass, two agreeable drinks, the first raade frora the cranberry, and the latter by ferraenting rye. The attention paid to eating and drinking and cookery, is raade a very serious affair of in Russia, as well as in some other countries. Alraosl all the higher nobility, either have had for eigners to teach their slaves the art of cookery, or stiU retain them, in order to satisfy their delicate and fastidious palates. Others have sent their vassals to the imperial kitchen, or to the tuition of some distinguished cook in the capitals, in order to be taught so important an art. In some of the Jarger es tablishraents ofthe nobles at Moscow, four, six, eight, and even ten raen-cooks are employed, besides half a dozen, a dozen, or a score of assistants in tne kitchen ; and it is rare that even the poorest and the raeanest noble is without a man-cook, even when living retired in the country. The cause of this is evi dent : a slave being once taught, costs his master liltle or no expense besides his maintenance and his clothes. In Russia, 40* 470 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. woraen-cooks only get eraployraent among the merchants, the clergy, and free people, and in foreign famiUes. The Russians certainly indulge themselves in eating too fre quently and too abundantly ; and the fair ladies no doubt de stroy the beauty of the female form, by a want of discre tion on this score. After partaking of a Russian zavtrak be fore or at mid. day, a Briton is truly astonished at seeing the natives, even fair ladies, sitting down to dinner at three or four o'clock, wfth as voracious appetites as if they had been keep ing Lent, — if one raay judge by the number of dishes which they share, and by the quantity of each wilh which they provide themselves. No wonder that raost of the fair sex ofthe north reraind us ofthe state of "those who love their lords." Such daily breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, besides tea and coffee, &c., combined wilh inactive lives, and assisted by the powers of Morpheus, all tend to destroy the symmetry of nature, to impair health, and to engender disease. The Russian nobles, if they do not merit the appellation of gluttons, may be said with mueh propriety to be great eaters. The clergy form a second class qf the R-ussian population. Those of the higher order, who are all monks, are generaUy men of considerable information. A few of thera are distin guished for their learning in theology, their abilities as teachers, and their zeal in the cause of religion ; sorae of them are exera plary in their Uves, and mix now and then in polite society. The lower orders of the clergy, by far the most numerous — including the popes, or parish priests — with a few exceptions, know little beyond the perforraance of the duties of their call ing. Few of them are worthy raen ; most of thera are disso lute and irregular in their lives, and freely indulge in pota tions of spirits. The higher clergy are not perraitted to marry ; no parish priest on the contrary, can be ordained be fore he is married. Mr. Coxe reraarks, (and the remark is still applicable,) that persons of the sacred profession are sel dora seen at the tables of the nobility or gentry. During the five years that he passed at St. Petersburgh, though in alraost constant intercourse wilh thera, he never saw at their table an ecclesiastic. " It raust be allowed," he adds, " that the pa rish-priests are, for the raost part, too low and ignorant to be qualified for adraission into genteel society, while the dignita- ries, being a separate order, and restrained by several strict regulations, reside chiefly in their palaces, withm their monas teries. All the clergy wear long beards and long hair, fallftig over their shoulders, a square bonnet and a long robe. Russian Peasants. P. 471. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 471 MERCHANTS. — PEASANTRY. Merchants compose the third class of society. As a class, they are singularly devoted to their affairs, and the accuraula tion and hoarding of money. Very few of them posses any knowledge beyond what is necessary for these objects and the cereraonies of their religion. Dr. Lyall has portrayed at length the degraded character ofthe Russian merchants, and explain ed the peculiarities of their nefarious system of coramerce, from long and busy observations made in the theatre of their actions, bargaining shops, at Moscow. In succession he speaks of their deceit, in demanding three, four, six, or even ten tiraes the value of an article, or more than they accept of; in the adulteration of their goods and wares ; and in the use of false weights and false measures : and then concludes his picture in these strong words : — " The Russian raerchants, shopkeepers, and dealers, cheat in the quantity, in the quality, and in the price. If they raiss their aira in the quantity, they succeed in the quality ; and if they faU in both, it will be ten lo one that they are successful in the price. The wary even are cheated in one or two of these ways, and the stranger is oflen duped by stratagem, in aU the three." Beyond all question, the Rus sian merchants have adopted the following maxim as the guide of their actions : The proper " value of a thing Is just as much as it will bring." The Russians are trained up to villany frora their youth ; and the expertness of boys of eight and ten years of age in the arts of their raasters, is incredible ; they are children in almost every thing, but raen in deception. And so widely diffused is the systera of imposition, that even the peasant,' who knows little beyond his field, his yard, his horse, and histelega, (a sraall cart,) is a perfect knave when he coraes to raarket. 'Un fortunately, also, the same system prevails wherever the Rus sians have conquered, or treacherously acquired new domin ions. The Tartars in the Criraea, and the Georgians at Tef lis, have completely adopted the Russian mode ofgomraerce, with aU fts detestable detaUs. The fourth and last class qf the subjects of Russia, is compos. ed ofthe peasants. These, with few exceptions, are all slaves. They forra two classes — peasants of the crown, and peasants belonging to individuals. The late emperor Alexander, did much to lessen the evUs of the former, and to render their manumission, as well as that of the latter class, more easily 472 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. practicable. Yet the condition of both, is still degrading and deplorable. It is calculated that about a sixth part of the peasantry belong to the crown ; these are immediately under the jurisdiction of imperial officers: many have been enfran chised, and have becorae burghers. Peasants belonging to in dividuals, are their private property, as much as the cattle on their estates. The rent paid by the crown peasanls is fixed ; that paid by private peasants is regulated by their means of getting raoney, or in other words, is a tax on their industry. There is no law to restrain the deraands of the raaster ; their time and their labor are absolutely at his coraraand. Sorae of the nobility send their slaves to St. Petersburgh or Moscow, to be instructed in various trades ; and then, either eraploy thera on their own estates, let thera for hire, sell to thera per- mission to exercise their trade, or dispose of them at an ad vance price. Some of the Russian nobles have 70,000 or 100,000 peasants; frora this it may well be supposed that their wealth is iraraense, in whatever manner the labor of these slaves is employed. Women and chUdren, as well as raen, must labor for their master, for such pay as his caprice or his wants raay dispose or enable him to give. Tithes are besides demanded of whatever raay reraain in their hands. As soon as the child reaches the age of ten, its labor is required ; and when he reaches fifteen, each raale slave is obliged by law, to labor three days in each week for his master. If the proprie tor chooses to employ him the other days, he may ; as for ex ample, in a manufactory : in this case, however, he finds him in food and clothing. In general, the master, instead of exact ing the labor of his slave for the stated portion of the week, agrees to receive a rent, and he is bound to furnish hira with a house and a certain portion of land ; the aged and infirm are provided with food, raiment and lodging at his expense. The master has the power of correcting his slaves by blows, or confinement ; but the law — which, however, is easily eva ded — forbids the exercise of any great cruelty. No slave can quit his village, or, if he be a domestic slave, his master's fami ly, wfthout a passport. Iraprisonraent with hard labor is the punishraent for runaway slaves. A raaster may send his slave to the public work house, or into the army ; in the latter case he sends one man less the next levy. No slave can be sold out of Russia, nor in it, except to a noble ; but this law is frequent- ly eluded. A slave may obtain his liberty by manumission, (this is frequently granted to favorite doraestic slaves, on the death of their raaster,) by purchase, or by serving in the array or navy. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 473 PEASANTRY. The poUtical state of the Russian peasantry, degrading and injurious as it is to the highest energies and best feelings of our nature, is not, however, much aggravated by their condition in other respects. If any thing could atone for personal and political slavery, it might be justly maintained, that a large classofthe peasantry of Ireland, frora the total absence of do. mestic corafort araong thera, are in a raore miserable state than the slaves of Russia. Their houses, formed of whole trees, and usuaUy constructed solely with the assistance of the hatch. et, are in tolerable repair, and well adapted to their habits. They someliraes, bul not often, consist of two stories : the lower forras a store-room ; in the upper one they dwell. A kind of ladder on the outside serves as a staircase. There is gene rally but one room in the habitable part. Their furniture sel dom coraprises more than a wooden table, and benches fastened to the sides of the roora, wooden platters, bowls and spoons, and perhaps a large earthen pan to cook their victuals fti. Their diet is substantial ; black rye-bread, eggs, salt fish, raushrooras, and bacon : a hotch-potch of salt or fresh meat, groats, and rye-flour, seasoned wilh onions and garlic, constitutes their favorite dish. Of this kind of food, they obtain plenty at a cheap rale. Their clothing, however, is dear. To clothe a Russian peasant or soldier, costs nearly three tiraes as much as in England ; but their clothing is strong, and being raade loose and wide, lasts longer. It is rare to see a Russian in rags. In general, tbe Russian peasants are a large, coarse, hardy race, of great bodUy strengh, rarely below the middle stature, strong lirabed, coraraonly lean, but well built. Their mouth and eyes are sraall, their lips thin, teeth even and beau tiful ; their hair brown, reddish, or flaxen ; their beard strong and bushy. Their organs of taste, smell, sight, and hearing, are acute, especially the latter two. They are brisk and ac tive, and by no raeans wanting in industry when they have an interest in exertion. The complexion of the feraale peas antry is brunette; theft skin in general delicate. Some of them, as well as of the other classes, are extremely hand some. Females of all ranks soon attain maturity, but fall' off and look old at a very early period of Ufe. The frequent use ofthe hot bath is supposed to occasion this premature decay among all classes ; while araongthe higher ranks, the odious practice of painting the face, and araong the peasantry, hard work, their peculiar food, and inattention to their persons, con tribute to the same effect.* * New Etlinburgh Encyclopetlia, 474 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. The Sclavonic is the foundation of the Russian language ; ft differs essentially frora the Celtic, the Gothic, and the Latin, the origin and the raaterials of all the other languages of Eu rope : there are thirty-five characters in the alphabet, many of which express sounds extremely difficult, frora the corabination of consonants, to be pronounced by a foreigner. The Russian language is little known lo the rest of Europe ; nor has ft till lately been rauch cultivated in Russia itself, in consequence of the Gerraan prevailing so generally araong the higher and lit erary classes. Latterly, however, Russian literature has be gun to flourish, and it has exhibfted proofs of richness and sub- liraityin its poetry. It would be uninteresting and almost end less to enumerate the languages of the nuraerous tribes scatter ed through the Russian erapire : of the three great and distinct barbaric nations in Asiatic Russia, the Tartars, Mongols, and Tunguses, the languages are radically different. The nature of the soil in the vicinity of St. Petersburgh is so very poor and unproductive, that this circurastance, joined lo the severity of the climate, must always render this capital de pendent, for its supply of provisions of all descriptions, on distant parts of the empire, to a greater degree than any other capital of Europe ; the regular demand,however, hereas every where else, is found to create and secure a regular supply. The countries bordering on the Volga chiefly furnish wheat and rye. The poorer classes eat a species of rye-bread called black bread, made from the meal unbolted. The disorder which so fre quently occurs in France from eating bread raade of damaged rye, seeras not to be known in Russia. Barley-raeal is also used for bread. Of wheat, rye, and barley, upwards of 4,800,000 poods are annually consumed. In order lo afford the poorer clcisses flour at a raoderate price, Catherine II. erect ed a large flour magazine, frora which tiiey are supplied in a time of scarcity. St. Petersburgh is «'ell supplied wilh water, from the Neva and the canals ; but pipes for conducting ft be ing unknown, il is brought to the houses in casks fixed on carts. It is calculated, that (except during the fast of the Greek Church) raore meat is consumed in tl'.is city than in any city of Europe. The supplies are brought frora a great distance, prin cipally from the Ukraine ; but the largest and best flavored veal coraes frora the vicuiity of Archangel. All kinds of meat, poultry, &c. are brought frozen in wiuter; and the qual ity, as well ns the quantity and price is regulated bythe weath er and the hardness or softness of the sledge roads. The UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 475 INTERNAL NAVIGATION. market held upon the Neva is thus described by Mr. Coxe. " At the conclusion of the long fast, which closes on the 14th of December (0. S.) tiie Russians lay in their provisions for the reraaining part of the winter. For this purpose, an annual market, which lasts three days, is held upon the river, near the fortress. A long street, above a raile in length, was lined on each side with an iramense store of provisions, sufficient for the supply of this capftal for the three following months. Many thousand raw carcasses of oxen, sheep, hogs, pigs, together with geese, fowls, and every species of frozen food were ex posed to sale. The larger quadrupeds were grouped in vari ous circles, upright, their hind legs fixed in the snow, with their heads and forelegs turned to each other ; these towered above the rest, and occupied the hindermost row. Next to them suc ceeded a regular series of aniraals, descending gradually to the smallest, intermixed with poultry and game, hanging in fes. toons, and garnished with heaps of butter, fish, and eggs. I soon perceived, from the profusion of partridges, pheasants, moor. fowls, and cocks of the wood, that there were no laws in this country wbich prohibited the selling of game. I observed al so, the truth of which has been frequentiy asserted, that ma ny of the birds, as well as several aniraals, in these northern regions, becorae white in winter, raany hundred black cocks being changed to that color ; and sorae which had been taken before tbey had corapleted their raetaraorphosis, exhibited a raixture of black and whfte pluraage. The most distant quar ters contributed to supply this vast store of provisions ; and the finest veal had been sent by land carriage as far as from Arch angel, which is situated at the distance of 830 railes from St. Petersburg ; yet every species of food is surprisingly cheap. In order to render this frozen food fit for dressing, it is first thawed in cold water. Frozen meat, however, certainly looses much of its flavor, and accordingly, the tables of persons of condftion, and those of the English merchants, are supplied with fresh kUled raeat."* Russia is celebrated for its internal navigation. Of this, the grandest branch is that which brings St. Petersburgh the pro duee of the southern provinces, by raeans of the canals of La doga and Vyshnei Voloshok, which unite the Baltic and the Caspian : goods are thus conveyed to the capftal through a tract of 1434 mUes, without once landing thera. This naviga- * Coxe's Travels in Poland, Russia, &c. 476 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. tion begins at St. Petersburgh, by the Neva, which issues from lake Ladoga. By a canal uniting the Volchof, which falls into the Volga, the comraunication between the Baltic and the Cas pian is effected. The canals of Ladoga and Vyshnei Voloshok likewise enable St. Petersburgh to receive the produce of China and Siberia almost entirely by inland navigation. The dis. tance from St. Petersburgh to the frontiers of China, is from 1600 to 1700 leagues ; and ft requires three years to accom plish il, the rivers beftig navigable only during a short period of the year. The route by the Volga to the capital, has been al- ready described. This river is descended as far as the Kama, which is ascended to the raouth of one of the strearas that flow from the Uralian mountains. At the foot of these, the merchandise is unloaded and transported over land, to be embarked on one of the streams that flow from tbe eastern side of the raountains, and coraraunicate with the Tobol. At Tobolsk, the Irtish is entered, by means of which, the Oby, some other streams, and a short portage, the Lake Baikal is reached ; and finally, the Selinga and MongoUa, which communicate with China. The comraunication between St. Petersburg and Siberia is, of course carried on by the sarae route. The chief articles for the Chi nese market are furs : the returns are teas, sUks, &c. From Siberia, St. Petersburgh receives large quantities of iron and hard ware ; in return for which she sends principally English goods and colonial produce. The trade of the interior would be much more extensive and flourishing than it actually is, were it not by law secured to the natives ; but this restriction is be ginning to be relaxed. In the winter season ihe snow in most parts of Russia admits of a pleasant and expeditious raode of traveUing by means of sledges. But in other parts of the year several other vehicles are used. One is the droski, which is a carriage, the body of which is scarcely two feet from the ground. In his journey between Petersburgh and Moscow, Dr. Clarke made use of a Gerraan batarde, which ho regards as best adapted for a jour ney, in which the traveller passes from one clunate to another, where of course sledges cannot be used. It is in reality an English chariot, with a dormeuse behind ; instead of a wftidow, there is a large larap. " Thus provided" observes Dr. Clarke, « a person raay travel night and day, fearless of want of ac- commodation, or of houses of repose. His carriage is his home, which accompanies him every where ; and if he choose to halt, or accidents oblige him to stop in the midst of a forest or a des- A Droski. P. 476. Winter Amusement. P. 478. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 477 TRAVELLING. BATHS. ert, he may sleep, read, write, eat, drink, or arause hiraself with any portable musical instruraent, careless of the frost of the north, or the dews, the rausquitoes, and vermin of the soulh. Over snowy regions, he places his house upon a sledge, and, when the snow melts, upon its wheels ; being always careful, where wheels are used for long journeys through hot countries, to soak thera in water whenever he stops for the night."* A raore characteristic and national vehicle is the kibitka described by Sir Robert Ker Porter as " nothing more than a large wood en cradle." Mr. Coxe says that il is the old Scythian waggon. It holds two persons abreast ; the driver sits at the further end, near the horse's tail ; the hinder part is covered with a lilt, open in front, made of laths, and covered with birch, or other bark. The whole machine does not contain asingle pieceof iron, and there are no springs : the body of the carriage is fastened to the wheels by wooden pins, ropes, and sticks. In order to pre vent the inconvenience that would arise from the jolting in such roads as those of Russia, a feather bed is usually placed at the bottora. With this precaution, a kibitka is a snug and comfort able vehicle. In some parts of Tartary, the top is taken off at night, and serves as a tent ; hence the Russians call the tents of the Calmucks kibitka. An English traveller who had visited the raost remote and desolate parls of the Scotch Highlands, even half a century ago, would be Ul prepared to encounter the inconveniences, dis- coraforts, and privations to which he would be exposed in jour neying from one capital of Russia to the other, if he did not carry along with hira the raeans of preventing or reraedying thera. The representations of Dr. Clark wilh regard lo the condition of Russia, must be taken wilh rauch caution and qual ification ; yet, he speaks but the language of all other travel lers in this country, when he advises that nothing should be ex pected frora inns or houses of entertainraent, not even clean straw for a bed. He enuraerates the following articles as forraing an indispensable portion of the traveller's baggage : — a pewter tea-pot ; a kettie ; a sauce-pan, the top of which may be used as a dish ; tea, sugar, and a large cheese ; loaves of bread made into rusks ; if in the winter, frozen meat ; wine in the cold districts, vinegar in the hot. Thus prepared, he may safely encounter this long journey. The Russians use the bath as a means of preserving cleanli. * Clarke's Travels. 41 478 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ness and health, as a luxury, and as an amusement. Baths are to be found in any part of the empire, and are among the places of resort for the lower orders. The following account of their vapor-baths was communicated to Mr. Coxe by an English gen tleman at St. Petersburgh, who was ordered to bathe for his health. " The bathing room was small and low, and contained a heap of large stones piled over a fire, and two broad benches, one near the ground, and the other near the ceUing. Small buckets of water being occasionaUy thrown upon the heated stones, filled the room witb a hot and suffocating vapor, which frora ils tend^cy to ascend, rendered the upper part much hot. fer than the lower. Having taken off my clothes, I laid my self down upon the highesi bench, while the bathing woman was preparing tubs of hot and cold waler, and continued to increase the vapor in the manner above mentioned. Having dipped a branch of twigs into the hot water, she repeatedly sprinkled, and then rubbed wilh it my whole body. In about half an hour, I removed to the lower bench, which I found much cooler, where the bathing woman lathered me from head to foot with soap, scrubbed me with flannel for the space of ten minutes, and throw. ing several buckets of warra water over me, till the soap was en tirely washed off, she then dried me with napkins. As I put on my clothes in a room without a fire, I had an opportunity of remark- ing, that the cold air had liltle effect on my body, though in so heated a state : for while 1 was dressing, I felt a glow of warrath, which continued during the whole night. This circumstance convinced me, that, when the natives rush frora the vapor-baths into the river, or even roll in the snow, their sensations are in no respect disagreeable, nor the effects in any degree unwhole- some. * The other most characteristic and favorite amusements in St. Petersburgh, are, singing, dancing, swinging, and descending the ice hills. AU the Russians are fond of music, and they possess raany airs of exquisite siraplicity and pathos ; not infe rior in these respects to the old national aire of Scotland or Ireland, though peculiar, and wilh a very raarked character. In every town and village, these popular ditties are sung by the lower classes : and the higher ranks in St. Petersburgh make it a customary recreation, to take with them in their water par- ties, a band of expert singers, and often have them at their ta bles at home, to sing the popular Russian baUads. The old popular ballads are also sometimes sung to the Golubetz, a fa- * Coxe's Travels. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLEli. 479 AMUSEMENTS. vorite national dance. This, like all dances of rude people, is pantorairaic : the raodest solicitations of the lover, and the af fected coyness of the fair one, are exhibited by a variety of gestures and raoveraents. The swing is the amusement of all ranks and conditions, and Easter witnesses it in its greatest per fection, swings being then set up in all the public squares. An other kmd of holyday diversion, is the ice hills. A scaffold about thirty feet high is erected on the Neva : on one side of ft are steps, or a ladder, to ascend to the platform on the top ; on the opposite side, a sleep incUned plane, about four yards broad, and thirty long, descends to the river ; this i^ supported by strong poles, and ils sides are protected by a parapet of flanks. Large square blocks of ice, about four inches thick, are laid up on the inclined plane, close lo one another, and smoothed with the axe ; they are then consoUdated by water thrown over them. The snow is cleared away at the bottom of tho plane for the length of two hundred yards and the breadih of four ; and the sides of this course, as well as those of the scaffolding, are ornamented and protected with firs and pines. Each per son, provided with a little low sledge, something like a butcher's tray, mounts the ladder, and glides wilh inconceivable rapidiiy down the inclined plane, poising his sledge as he goes down. The moraenlura thus acquired carries him to a second hill, at the foot of which he alights, raounts again, and in the same manner glides down the other inclined plane of ice. The boyS' also arause theraselves in skating down these hiUs. Suraraer- hills, constructed in iraitation of the ice-hiUs also afford a fa vorite amusement to the inhabftants of St. Petersburg, espe cially during their carnivals. These consist of a scaffold be- tween thirty or forty feet high. With an inclined plane in front, flowers and boughs of trees sheltering the person in his descent, a small, narrow cart on four wheels is used instead of the sledge; below, there is a level stage of some hundred feet in length, along which he is carried by the impulse of his descent. The winter is the season when the raost characteristic amuse ments ofthe Russians may be witnessed, especially on the Neva. "Scarcely a day passed," says Mr, Coxe, "that I did not take ray' raorning walk, or drive in a sledge on that river. Ma ny carriages and sledges, and numberless foot passengers per petually crossing it, afford a constant succession of moving ob jects, and the ice is also covered with different groups of people, dispersed or gathered together, and variously employed as their fancy leads them. In one part, there are several long areas railed off for the purpose of skating ; a littie further is 480 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. an enclosure, wherein a nobleraan is training his horses, and teaching them the various evolutions ofthe minage. In anoth er part, the crowd are spectators of what is called a sledge race. The course is an oblong space about the length of a raile, and sufficientiy broad to turn the carriage. It can hardly be denominated a race, for there is only a single sledge, drawn by two horses ; and the whole art of the driver consists in mak ing the shaft horse trot as fast as he can, whUe the other is pushed into a gallop. There are ^ree instruments for whipping in use in Russia ; two ofwhich resemble a cat-o'nine tails, and the knout. The lat ter besides being applied lo petty offenders, is the first and prepar atory punishment of felons. " One mornftig," says Mr. Coxe, " as I was casually strolling through the streets of St. Peters burgh, near the raarket-place, I observed a large crowd of people flocking to one particular spot. Upon inquiring of ray Russian servant the cause of this concourse, he inforraed me, that the multitude was assembled in order to see a felon, who had been convicted of murder, receive the knout. Although I naturally shuddered at the very idea of being a spectator of the agonies of a fellow creature, yet my curiosity overcame my feelings. With the assistance of my servant, I peuetrated through the crowd, and ascended the roof ofa wooden house ofone story, from whence I had a distinct view of the dreadful operation, which was already begun. The executioner held in his hand the knout. This instrument is a thong about the thickness ofa crown piece, and about three-fourths of an inch broad, and ren dered extreraely hard by a peculiar kind of preparation ; it is tied to a thick plaited whip, which is connected by raeans of an iron ring with a sraall piece of leather, that acts like a spring, and is fastened to a short wooden handle. The executioner, be fore every stroke, receded a few paces, and at the sarae time • drew back the hand which held the knout ; then, bounding for ward, he applied the flat end of the thong wilh considerable force to the naked back of the criminal, in a perpendicular line reach ing six or seven inches from the collar towards the waist. He began by hitting the right shoulder, and continued his strokes parallel to each other quite to the left shoulder ; nor ceased till he had inflicted 333 lashes, the nuraber prescribed by the sen tence. At the conclusion of this terrible operation, the nostrils of the crirainal were torn with pincers, his face raarked with a hol iron, and he was transported to the mines of Nershinsk in Siberia." Mr. Coxe adiis, that he has been thus particular UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 431 WEDDINGS.— FUNERALS. in ascribing the punishraent of the knout, because several au thors have exaggerated it ; but surely, it is scarcely possible 'to present a more frightful picture of its nature and effects than wbat he has himself given ; especially when, in addition to the account in the text, we advert to a note on this passage, in which he informs us, that a skilful executioner, on receiving a private order, can dispatch the crirainal by striking two or three blows upon the ribs. Another punishraent is banishraent to Siberia. Often in the depth of a polar winter, the raan who has happened to offend the eraperor or his informers, is sudden ly torn from friends and famUy, and all the endearraenls of life, and by an order which cannot be resisted, is hurried to Siberia, where he is compelled to change his name, lo hunt in the arctic forests, or delve in mines with every species of malefactors. No tidings of him can reach horae, and no foundation exists to hope for a change. In the capital, weddings and funerals are conducted in vari ous ways, there being no prescribed etiquette or cereraony. In the provinces, among the lower orders it is different. When a man has fixed upon a young woman whom he wishes to raarry, fee repairs to her dwelling, and, addressing himself to her moth- erj or nearest female relative, uses an ungaUant expression to the foUowing effect : " Bring forth your raerchandise ; we have money to exchange for it !" The young woman is then intro. duced, and the terms are settled. More comraonly however, the match is raade up by the parents, or friends, before the par ties have seen each other. The bride is afterwards carefuUy exarained by a nuraber of feraales ; and if they pronounce her to be free from personal defects, and of a good disposition, pre» parations are raade for the wedding. On the day appointed, she is crowned with a garland of worrawood ; and when the priest has concluded the ceremony, the clerk, or sexton, throws a handful of hops upon her head, wishing she raay prove as fruitful as that plant. She is then led horae wfth abundance of coarse cereraonies ; one of which consists in the bride presenting her husband wfth a whip of her own malfing, in to ken of subraission, and he fails not to employ it as the instru ment of his authority. But the barbarous treatment of wives by their husbands, which formerly extended to the right of put- ting thera to the torture, or even to death, is now guarded against, efther by the laws of the country or by particular stipulations in the marriage contract. 41* 482 UN1VERS.\L TRAVELLER. RUSSIA. The funeral ceremonies, especially in the distant provuices, embrace some peculiar customs. Soon after a person expires, the body is dressed fti his usual clothes, and laid in a coffin, with a luncheon of bread, a pair of shoes, and a few pieces of mon. ey ; and a priest is hired to pray for the soul, to purify the body wilh incense, and to sprinkle it occasionally with holy water, till the time of interment. When it is carried to the grave, the priest produces a ticket, signed by tbe bishop and another clergyraan, and directed to St. Nicholas: this is considered as the passport to heaven, and is placed between the fingers ofthe deceased. The body is then lowered into the grave, and the attendants return to tbe house whence the funeral priaceeded, to drown their sorrow in intoxicating draughts. The funeral fes- tivities are continued, with very little interruption, for the space of forty days ; during which a prayer is daily recited over tbe grave by the priest : for although the doctrine of purgatory is not received by the Russians, they suppose that such prayers may assist their departed friend in his long journey to his place of final destination. An annual feast is Ukewise held for the dead at the commencement of the new year ; when every one attends the graves of his departed relations, and places some victuals upon thera, which becorae the perquisite of the priests who celebrate raass upon the occasion. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 483 ASIA. ASIA. The continent of Asia now lies before us^-a territory which stretches from the Dardanelles lo Bhering's Strait, about 7,583 British miles ; this is fts length. In breadth, it extends from the southern cape of the peninsula of Malacca to the most north. ern parts of Siberia, about 5,250 raUes. In coraparison with Europe, therefore, it is at least six tiraes larger. Its inhabftants are more than double, as are also the various languages, or dialects which are spoken. Asialic Russia alone contains raore than one hundred tribes, differing in languages, raanners, and religion. Asia, on ' many accounts,' is an interesting portion of the globe, especially frora the circurastances, that both sacred and profane history have here placed the primeval seat of the hu man race, and concur in pointing out this as the quarter whence population has gradually extended over the rest of the earth. Great as the population of Asia is in the aggregate, numerical ly it is far less than raight be expected in regions so early peo- pled, and abounding in every production which can contribute to the subsistence, or comfort of raankind. One cause for this comparatively liraited population, and perhaps the raost opera. tive, is the feeble and despotic character of the governments which prevail. Such governments are unfriendly to virtue, industry, and enterprise, and consequently to population. StUl, the four or five hundred milUons found on Asiatic territory, are one ofthe best proofs of the kindness of nature, and the luxuri ance of the soil. Of this large proportion of the huraan race, scattered over the extensive regions of Asia, few enjoy the blessings of free. dom and civUization. Despotisra stretches its iron hand, with little interruption, frora one extreraity of this vast continent to the other ; and arrested by its benumbing influence, the knowl edge and arts of civUized life have not expanded into that fuU perfection to whieh they have attained in regions cheered by the raore genial rays of freedora. On the condition of so ciety in Asia, its religions, too, have shed the most baneful influ. ence. Tip these, perhaps, more than to any other causes, are to be attributed the retardation of improvement, and the de. basement of the human character, in this quarter of the globe. Frora that same source, alas ! from which we draw our highest ihopes, has often likewise flowed the deepest degradation of our 484 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ASIA. race. During the last century, and more especially of late years, various attempts have been made, in different parts of this continent, to withdraw the inhabitants from the prevailing superstitions, by acquainting them wfth the purer doctrines and institutions of Christianfty. Missionaries from Europe and America have been for years, and are still attempting to spread the light ofthe gospel over different parts of Asia. A few spots of this vast region have been rescued from the cruel des potism of Satan, and sorae feeble rays of gospel light sent through its spiritual darkness. Comparatively Uttle success has crowned the eflbrts of the pious and benevolent. This, however, has not operated even to cool the ardor by which the friends of mankind are actuated. Nor should it. For we know that a period is fixed in the counsels of heaven, when " the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover tbe sea." Whether this period be near, or whether ft be distant, is not for us to determine. But when it shall come, we may liDok forward to it as the era of a happy revolution in the condition of Asiatic society ; as the era whence the stagnating current of its civilization shall again begin to flow, and its fet tered energies be set free from their confinement. For the experience of its effects in other regions perraits us not to doubt, that, along with the religion of Jesus, in this quarter of the world also shall be sown the seeds of civil liberty, and be laid the foundations of progressive iraproveraent. Having occupied so large a space in the record of our obser. vations in relation to Araerica and Europe, we feel obliged in our survey ofthe inhabitants ofthis portion ofthe globe, to pro ceed upon the principle of selection, and to turn our attention to those nations and tribes only, an acquaintance wfth whose manners and custcans may be supposed to be most valuable and interesting. ASIATIC TRIBES, 1. CIRCASSIANS. The Circassians consist of numerous tribes, who occupy the mountainous districts between the Black Sea and the Caspian. They have long been celebrated for the beauty of their features, and the symmetry of their form ; and not wfthout reason. Their UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 485 CIRCASSIANS. noses are acquiline, their eyebrows arched and regular, raouths sraall, teeth remarkably white, and their ears neither so large nor so prorainent, as araong the Tartars, their neighbors. Their hair is brown, of various shades, generally dark, and sometimes approaching lo black. They are ofthe middle size, rarely exceeding five feet eight or nine inches in height ; and they are finely shaped and very active. They bear in their countenance a mosl striking expression of ferocious valor, cun ning, suspicion, and distrust. The women are finely shaped, have very delicate features, sraooth, clear coraplexions, beau tiful black eyes, and a fascinating perfection of countenance. Their feet are reraarkably sraall, an effect of their forcing thera, when very young, into very tight slippers ; and their slender waists, which are considered as the grand essential of beauty, are produced by tight lacing in leathern belts, put on from the hour of their birth, and worn tUl they are married. This preposterous custom renders the shoulders disproportion ably broad. Many of the Turkish and Persian harems are supplied with these feraales, who are carried off by the petty princes in their plundering expeditions, and sold ; or if this method fail, they sell their own daughters, or those of their vassals. These people, in their common attire, have the legs, feet, and arras, wilh a considerable porlion of the body, naked. They wear no shirt, and only a pair of coarse ragged drawers, reach ing a littie below the knee. Over their shoulders they carry, even in the raidst of suraraer, a heavy thick cloak of felt, or the hide of a goat with the hair outwards, reaching below the waist. Under this covering appear the sabre, musket, bow, quiver, and other weapons. Their heads are shorn, and covered with an embroidered cap, quilted with cotton, in the forra of a melon ; this, araong the weallhy, is ornaraented with gold and silver laces. In sorae nations, the dress of superior persons is more elegant. The under garment is made of a light stuff, over which is worn a short rich waistcoat ; and this is surmounted with a cloak of cloth, or other strong woven stuff, soraewhat shorter than the under garraent, with the sleeves slit open, and bordered wfth furs, and furnished with two sraall erabroidered breast pockets, for containing cartridges. The breeches are made with knee straps, and the seams are bound wilh sraall lace, or embroidery, which the women very skilfully manufac ture of gold and silver threads. The Circassians are exceUent equestrians ; their horses are 486 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CIRCASSIANS. high bred Arabians, and extreraely fleet ; and they so much excel the Cossacks in horsemanship, that the latter acknow ledge their inability to overtake them in pursuit. When a prince, or usden pays a visit in full dress, he arrays himself with all his accoutreraents and coat of arras, over Which he occasionally has an additional jacket of raail. When people of the lower class do not carry a sabre with their other arms, they have a strong staff, about four feet and a half in length, with a large iron head, at one end, and a sharp iron pike, about eighteen inches long, at the other, which they throw like a dart, with great accuracy. Persons of wealth and rank never leave their dwellings without a sabre ; nor do they ven- ture beyond the limits of the village otherwise than corapletely arrayed, with their breast pockets well supplied with ball car. tridges : for every one plunders his neighbor. The inhabilants of the plains go corapletely arraed to the labors of the field ; the crops are guarded by arraed raen ; and the implements of husbandry are not raore essential to the harvest, than the car. bine, the pistol, and the sabre. The dress of the females consists ofa tight jacket over the under garraent, and an open petticoat, which reaches to the an kles. The head is covered with a cap, soraewhat resembUng that of the other sex, but drawn up at top in forra of a crown. Under this, the hair is turned up in a thick queue, which is also covered wfth a piece of fine linen. Married woraen wear wide trowsers ; and after the birth of their first child, they begin to cover the head with a while kerchief, drawn close over the forehead, and fastened under the chin. When feraales go abroad, they wear high wooden clogs, to keep their feet clear, and draw mittens over their delicate hands. Giris are permft ted to dye the finger nails with the flowers of balsamina, called kna in their dialect ; but painting the face is considered as a meretricious artifice. The houses, or huts, of these people are made of platted osiers, plastered within and without, and covered with straw. Forty or fifty of them placed in a circle, constitute a vUlage. The utraost cleanliness prevails in these dweUings, as well as in the persons, dress, and cookery, of the inhabitants. Each family has two of these huts ; one appropriated to the use of the hus- band and the reception of strangers ; the other to the wife and family. At raeals, the whole faraily is asserabled together ; their food is extreraely simple, consisting only of a littie meat, sorae millet paste, and a ferraented beer, made of the same UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 487 GEORGIANS. grain. In their excursions, their saddle serves for a pillow, their piece of felt for a bed, and their large cloak for a cover ing. In bad weather, they construct a small tent with the felt, which is supported by branches of trees. The Mahommedan Circassians bury their dead with their face towards Mecca ; and the mooUah, or priest, reads sorae pas- sages from the koran at the funeral, for which he is usuaUy rewarded with the best horse of the deceased. The most val- uable effects were formerly buried wfth the body ; but his coraraon clothes only are buried. Black is worn for a twelve month, except for such as are slain in battle with the Russians, whose spirits are believed to pass iraraediately into paradise ; so great is the raerft deemed of opposftion to that nation, which they utterly abhor. When the head of a faraUy dies, the sur viving widow expresses her affliction, by scratching her face and bosora tUl the blood issues ; and the men strike their faces with a whip, tUl they produce black spots, which they exhibit for a considerable time afterwards.* 2. GEORGIANS. These people xiccupy a great part of the southern declivity ofthe Caucasus ; and are in many respects simUar to the Cir cassians in their customs and manners. The Georgians are in general tall, well proportioned, and elegant in shape ; but their minds, unrestrained by education and virtuous habits, are depraved and vicious. The females, whose grace and beauty are proverbial throughout the east, rival the Circassians ; and being favorites in all the eastern harems, are sold by their parents to slave-dealers, who carry thera about to the best markets. The dress of the Georgians nearly resemble that of the Cos sacks ; though men of rank frequently appear in the Persian costurae. They usually dye their hair, beard, and nails, ofa red color ; and the woraen do the sarae to the palms of their hands. The latter have on their heads a cap, or fillet, under *View ofthe Manners anti Customs of all Nations. 488 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. TARTARS. which, in front, their black hair falls upon the forehead, and behind, it is braided into tresses. They paint their eye brows black, so as to give thera the appearance of one entire line ; their faces are coaled with red and white ; and their air and manner are voluptuous in the extrerae. As they are generally educated in convents, the woraen can all read and write ; qual ifications quite unusual araong the men, even of the highest rank. Girls are betrothed so early as three or four years of age. In the streets, woraen of rank always appear veiled ; and there it is deeraed indecorous in any man to accost them. It is, likewise, reckoned uncivil in conversation to inquire after the wives of any of the company. Punishments in crirainal cases are in this country of the most cruel and terrific nature ; fortunately, however, they are not frequent, as well because delinquents can easily ab scond inlo neighboring districts, as because the princes are more enriched by confiscations of property, than by the tor- tures of the accused. Judicial corabats are the privilege of the nobiUty, and take place under the denomination of an ap peal to the judgment qf God, when the cause at issue is of an intricate nature, or when the power and interest of the adverse parties are so equal that neither can force a decision of the tri bunal in his favor. The clergy are paid liberally, not by the Uving, but by the dead. At the death of a Georgian, the bishop requires one hundred crowns, for perforraing the funeral rites ; and this ex travagant demand raust be satisfied, though the widow and chUdren of the deceased be ruined by it, which is frequentiy the case. When the sum is paid, the bishop, or priest, lays a letter on the breast of the corpse, requiring St. Peter to admft his soul into the mansions of the blessed. 3. TARTARS. These people are divided into numerous clans, or hordes ; each of which has some peculiar manners ; but our limits will allow littie more than a general view of them. The country ' named after them has Persia, Tibet, and China, on the south, from whence they are diffused as far as the Northern Ocean. They have in all ages been a wandering people, renowned for their invincible courage and surprising conquests. China, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 489 Hindostan, Persia, and part of Europe, have all witnessed their prowess, and been subjugated by their arms. They, never theless, disdain the confineraent ofa sedentary life, and on eve ry return of the spring, they recommence their peregrinations. "When they find a fertile spot, they pilch their tents, and when all the produce is consumed, reraove in quest of a fresh supply. Spread over a vast extent of country, where they are sub jected to great diversities of cliraate and local circurastances, the different tribes of Tartars exhibit considerable variety in iheir physical and moral characters, though always retaining distinctive raarks of the original stock. The genuine Tartar is of the raiddle size, and though thin, strong and robust. His head is oral, his face flat, his forehead wrinkled ; his eyes are sraall, but expressive, and generally black ; his eyebrows are heavy, his cheek-bones high ; his nose is short and thick ; his mouth small, teeth white and even ; his chin long, his hair dark brown or black ; his complexion, though dark, is ruddy and lively ; his countenance is open and friefidly, his body well proportioned, wfth an easy, respectful deportraent. He is fierce, warlike, and fond of hunting ; despising fatigue, at tached to independence ; and frequently inhumanly savage. The bloora of health and syrametry of shape cause the feraales to rival in personal charras the women of most European coun tries. Teraperance and cleanUness are characteristics in both sexes. The wealth of the Tartars consists in their flocks and herds, which they exchange with the Russians and other traders for clothes for theraselves and farailies. Their dress consists prin cipally of large calico shirts and drawers. Those in the norlh ern parts are lined wilh sheep skins ; while in the southern dis tricts, they seldora wear shirts in the suraraer, and use a kind of doublet, without sleeves, made of sheep skin, with wool out side. In winter, the skin is worn with the wool inside. A large sheep skin robe, fastened about the waist with straps, of- ten covers the whole. Capacious boots, and small round caps of leather, edged with fur, complete their costume. The dress ofthe females differs littie from that ofthe men : in the warmer parls, their calico garraent alone is worn in suramer ; but in winter they add a large sheep skin gown, or robe, and a cap, or bonnet, sirailar to that of the men. Red is the color high est in esteera with the Tartars : their chiefs, though otherwise meanly attired, seldom fail to have a scarlet robe for slate oc casions ; and a woman of qualfty would not think herself well dressed, were she without a garment of this hue. These 42 490 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. robes are often raade of silk, or stuff, over which a sheep skin coal is worn. In tirae of war, they cover their heads and bodies with iron network, the links of which are close enough to be proof against any weapons, except fire-arms, of which they stand in great awe. As the Tartars in general neither sow nor reap, nor make hay for their cattle, vegetables scarcely form any part'of their diet : a littie millet is the only grain they use, and this but sparingly. They Uve upon horse flesh, mutton, fish, wild-fowl, and venison ; but are not fond of beef or veal. They have plenty of milk, butter, and cheese ; but mare's milk is always preferred ; and from this they make a very strong spirit, of which they are very fond. The ordinary dwellings of the Tartars consist of sraall tents, of an oral form, covered with a kind of felt, in which both sex- es are promiscuously lodged : the small aperture which serves for a door, always faces the south. Even the houses, or pal. aces, of the great, are no more than wooden huts, that may be conveniently fixed on large wagons, and drawn by a team of tweniy or thirty oxen. All the Tartars are excellent riders, and constant practice has given thera so firra a seat, that they have been supposed to perforra the ordinary duties of civil Ufe, to eat, to drink, and even to sleep, wfthout disraounting. They excel in the raan ageraent of the lance : the long Tartar bow is drawn with a nervous arm, and the arrow is directed to ifs object with almost unerring aira and irresistible force. The general hunting- matches, the pride and delight ofthe Tartar princes, constitute instructive exercises for their nuraerous cavalry ; and the arausements of the chase serve as a prelude to the conquest of an empro. The Tartars have few mechanics araong thera, except such as make arms and female ornamenls, and dressers of skins. Hospitality is their grand characteristic, particularly towards strangers, who confidently put tiiemselves under their protec- tion. They are of an easy, cheerful temper, seldom depressed by care or melancholy, and so much delighted with their own country, that they conceive il impossible for a foreigner to trav. erse their plains, wfthout envying them their possession.* * Aspin's Cosmorama. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 491 THE CALMUCKS. 4. THE CALMUCKS. These people, though commonly considered as Tartars, are in reality a tribe ofthe Mongols, or Moguls, who have thera selves been also iraproperly confounded with the Tartars. The Calmucks are extensive wanderers, and lo be found in nearly the whole of Asia, north of India and China; and even in the southern parls of European Russia, lo the banks ofthe Dnieper. They are distinguished by peculiarity of features! and manners, from the surrounding Tartar tribes. Their per sonal appearance is athletic and revolting ; their skin nearly bldck ; their hair coarse, and their language extreraely harsh. The raen, who are frequently of gigantic stature, have no other clothing than a piece of cloth about the waist. The women, who are uncommonly hardy, have broad, high cheek bones, very small eyes, set at a great distance apart ; scarcely any eyebrows, broad flat noses, and enormous ears. The black hciir of the married women hangs in thick braids on each side of the face, and over the shoulders, the ends being fastened with pieces of lead or tin: the unmarried have only one braid behind. Their ears are adorned with shells, or large irregular pearls. Children of both sexes go entirely naked, till they are twelve or fourteen years of age. The Calmuck woraen are fond of tobacco, which they smoke in short pipes ; and they are renowned riders, often outstripping their male companions in the chase. These people d'lvell in conical tents, called khabitka, con- structed with cane, covered with a thick camel's hair felt, and placed oc wagons, for convenience of removal, without taking thera down. A hole in the top serves the two fold purpose of chiraney and window. Interiorly, these tents are corarao dious, and supplied with raany necessaries of life; for the Calraucks are farther advanced in the arts of life than many of the* Asialic erratics. Several arts, generally considered to be peculiar to civilized nations, are here to be met with ; and frora tirae iraraeraorial theyhave possessed that of making gun powder. They are nevertheless so averse to dwelling in towns, that they deem the confined air of a room insupporta ble, Tlieir favorite food is horse flesh, which they often eat raw ; and generally large pieces of it are placed on upright sticks 482 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. THE CALMUCKS. near their tents, to be dried by the sun. On a journey, they place ft under their saddles, to be ready when wanted. The limbs of dogs, cats, rats, marmots, and other aniraals, are also seen suspended about the tents, and are often quite black. Ve getables, bread, and fruits, constitute no part of their diet. The drink of these reraarkable people is sour or ferraented mare's milk, which they call konmiss ; and frora which they also pro duce brandy by distillation. The Calraucks are as cheerful as they are robust ; seldom dejected by sorrow, never subdued by despair. Being less in dolent than raost other Asiatics, they are highly esteeraed as servants in all parts of the Russian erapire ; but Cossacks only will intermarry with them. They generally attain an advanced age, and are even then able to bear the fatigues of horseman ship. Old age is much honored araong them. These people are divided inlo three ranks, namely, the white bones, or nobiUty ; the black bones, or bond men ; and the cler gy. The ladies are called white flesh ; and feraales of the low- er order, black flesh. When fully equipped for war, the Calrauck wears a steel hel met, with a gilt crest, frora which a net work of iron hangs over part of his face, neck, and shoulders. He has also a jack et of sirailar work, which adapts itself to all positions of the body ; or, in lieu of this, he puts on a coat of mail, coraposed of sraall tin plates. His weapons are a lance, a bow and ar rows, a poniard, and a sabre. Fire-arras, being considered a mark of distinction, are borne only by the richest. The marriages of these people are celebrated on horseback. On the appointed day for the nuptials, the bride, mounted on a fleet horse, rides off at full speed. Her lover pursues ; and if he overtakes her, she becoraes his wife without further cereraony. But if the woraan be disinclined towards her pursuer, she wUl not suffer him to overtake her, and continues her flight till his horse is knocked up. When a Calrauck possesses an idol, he places it near the head of his bed, and sets before it several sraall consecrated cups, filled with milk or other food. On festivals, the idol is decoratard, and perfumes are burned before it. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 493 THE K.4MTSCHATDALES. THE KAMTSCHATDALES. These people occupy a peninsula near the eastern extreraily of Asiatic Russia. They are few in number, wild in ther man ners, and, though baptized inlo the Christian religion, in com pliance with the will of the Russians, they are still idolaters. The Karatschatdales are a diminutive race. They have a large head, with a long flat face, small eyes, thin lips, scanty hair, and tawny complexion. The females are often fair, and handsoraer than the Saraoiede women. Their character is raild, and their disposftion hospitable. Hunting and fishing constitute their chief employment, in both which they are dexterous and persevering ; frequently pursuing tlieir game over rocks and precipices, where few others would venture. Their dress consists ofa cotton shirt, with a loose frock ; and trowsers of reindeer skins, stripped of the hair and made plia ble, are comraou. The co.slume is the same for both sexes, ex cept that the women have an under garment, which tliey com monly wear at home, consisting of wide breeches, and a waist coat sewed together. On holidays, the woraen frequently put on a silk gown, afterthe old Russian raanner, wilh party-color ed kerchiefs about their heads. The women do all their work in mittens ; and use white and red paint profusely. These people formerly lived in hovels excavated in the ground, .some of which are now existing, tiiough in most instances they have been exchanged for the log-huts of the Russians. In the south, these huts are raised on posts to the height of twelve or fifteen feet. The inland Kamtschaldales build their vUlages in thick woods, and other naturally strong places, al a distance from the sea, but have summer habitations near the mouths of rivers. Those who live on the coast, build tlieir vil lages very near the shore. To kindle fire, they rub a small round stick in a hole perforated through a dry board tiUil ttikes fire ; and instead of tinder, they use dried grass beaten soft. The diet of these people consists chiefly of fish, prepared in various waya ; and they are particularly fond of caviar made of the roes of fish. Tliey never go on a journey without some dry caviar, with a pound of which a Kamtschatdale can sub sist for a great whUe, every birch or alder tree supplying him with bark to eat wilh ft, instead of bread. They also very much esteem a dish which Ihey call huigul ; consisling of fish that has been laid in a pft tUl ft becoraes sour, or rather putrid ; and 42* 494 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ARABIA. though the smell is intolerable to all others, to a Karalschatdale the odor is an exquisite perfurae, and the article itself an abso lute luxury. The flesh of land and large sea aniraals they boU with different herbs and roots ; the broth they drink out of la. dies and bowls, and they take out the meat upon boards, and eat it in their hands. The fal of the whale and walrus they also boil with roots : and a principal dish at all their feasts, which they call selaga, is raade by pounding roots and berries of different kinds, wiih caviar, and raixing up the whole with whale or seal fal. In forraer tiraes, their ordinary beverage was water ; and when they raade raerry, they drank such as had raushrooras steeped in it. They now swallow spirits as freely as the Russians. After dinner, however, they still drink water ; and, on goftig lo bed, set a vessel of water by them with the addition of snow or ice to keep it cold : this is always consuraed before the raorn ing. As reindeer have becorae scarce in Karatschatka, and horses cannot easily be supported, the natives trafti their dogs to draw their sledges, on which they travel with surprising velocfty over the snow. The dogs are peculiar to the country, and can bear any degree of cold ralher than heat. They are fed on fish, raw, dressed, dried, fresh, frozen, or putrid, as suits the conven ience of their owners. Six of thera generally forra a team ; and they will draw six or seven hundred weight, at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour. Each dog has a particular name, which is of great use in driving thera, as they are managed by the voice, and the jingling of rings or shells fastened to a stick, neither reins nor whip being used by the rider.* 6. ARABIA. The modern inhabitants of Arabia are divided into two class- es ; the genuine and adulterated Arabs. The firet class are the Bedouins ofthe desert, who have preserved, fti the greatest purfty, the eharacter and manners of their ancestors : Attach ed to a pastoral life, and acknowledging no superior but the chief of their tribe, they pitch their tents where caprice or ne cessfty dictates, and have raaintained in the desert, that free- * View of the Costumes antl DecnlinrlM'sa r,( >ii ».•:.%»= UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 495 THE BEDOUINS. dom and independence which no subject can enjoy. Their chief occupation is the breeding of sheep and camels, which are their only treasures. They disdain husbandry as an em ployment by which they would be degraded, and look upon those who inhabit cities, as having forfeited, by their inter course with strangers, and their indolent manner of life, all title to the dignified appellation of a descendant of Ishmael. Rob bers by profession, " their hands are against every man ;" but right, not necessfty, is the plea by which the Bedouins stop and pillage the traveller in the desert. For as Ishmael receiv ed no share of his father's patrimony, but was driven inlo the wilderness to shift for himself, they consider themselves at lib erty to regafti, by force, that inheritance of which he was so unjustly deprived. Their robberies, however, are not attend ed with murder or ill treatment, unless opposition is made to what they deem a lawful and reasonable deraand. " Undress thyself," cries the robber, " thy aunt (my wife) is without a garment ;" submission ensures safety ; but resistance raust be atoned for by the blood of the offender. The life of the Bedouins is a life of danger and distress. CorapeUed to wander in search of a hard-earned subsistence, and knowing the wants and inconveniences of these desolate sohtudes, their hearts are ever open to the calls of huraanity. The sufferings and misfortunes of the stranger entitle him to their compassion ; and he who confides in their honor is sure of their hospitality and protection. They inhabit a solitary desert, which affords them few of the coraforts, and none of the luxuries, of life. Their poverty, however, is volunta- tary ; they prefer liberty to wealth, and pastoral siraplicity to to a life of labor and constraint. If, at any lirae, by piUage or exchange, they may appropriate to themselves the fruits of in- ¦ dustry, yet they can be of little advantage lo them who know not their value. Articles of food and trappings for their hors es are the only riches they require ; so that the most precious coraraodities of a plundered caravan are often scattered in the desert as useless and insignificant. The Bedouins are early trained to the exercise of arras and horseraanship, which the continual jarrings of the independent tribes render necessary for their protection and defence. The care of the fiocks is abandoned to the woraen of the tribe, while the youth are ever on horseback and in the field, practising the use of the bow, the javelin, and the sword. It was an usual saying araongst them, that God had bestowed upon the Arabs turbans instead 496 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. of diadems, swords instead of entrenchments, tents instead of houses, and poems instead of wrftten laws. The inhabilants of the cities are more indolent and effemi nate, and may be said lo have lost, by their intermixture with other nations, somewhat of their national character and man ners. They are chiefly eraployed in merchandise, and in cul tivating the land ; and are kept in constant poverty by the ex orbitant taxes, levied to support the pomp and raajesty ofa des- potic monarchy. They have acquired a spirit of duplicity which is observable in all their intercourse wfth strangers ; and they take every 'opportunity of cheating the Christians, and then drawing them into expense and trouble ; and these effeminate citizens, by their living under an arbitrary govern. raent, seem to have lost, in a great measure, that generosit}'' and probity for which their brethren in the desert are so high. ly distinguished. The Arab is not robust, but he is rather tall, well foiTned, and active, fearless of danger, and insensible to fatigue : his mind is quick, and his character raarked by the extreraes of credulity and enthusiasm. His head is oval, his brow high and arched, his nose aquiline, and his eyes are large. His dark coraplexion is rendered still deeper by exposure to the sun, bul he has an uncommonly gentle look. The women are taller in proportion than the raen, and have a dignified deport ment ; but their elegant forms are degraded by their ragged clothing and squaUd looks ; and the regularity of their fea tures loses its attraction by the influence of their copper teint. To be admired, they must be seen at a distance, and the be holder must conflne himself to general appearance. The Arabs, in their exterior demeanor, are dignified and re served, seldora provoked to laughter. Sparing of words, they are offended at a repetition of questions ; their speech is slow, weighty, and articulate ; their apprehension quick, with a spirit of independence appearing in the countenance of the lowest of thera. Their virtues and their vices are in a degree peculiar to theraselves. They are the firraesl friends, and the raost implacable eneraies. Their hearts are open and sincere ; but they have a natural disposition to war, bloodshed, and rapine. Hospitality seems to be the characteristic of the nation. Throughout the territories of Yeraen, (Arabia Felix) every accommodation is provided for the corafort and convenience of traveUers. Reservoirs of fresh water are built by the side of UJMVJl,±taAij 1 Kiv v X'^ijjjrL,n,. 497 HOSPITALITV URBANIT'y. the high way, and sraall vaulted houses to shelter the traveller from the scorching heat of the sun, or when surprised by a sudden storra. Caravanseras are also established by wealthy individuals, where strangers are lodged and entertained free of any expense. Generosity and valor are the favorite themes of the Arabian poet ; and their bitterest reproach against any tribe is, " that the men have not a heart lo give, nor the wo raen to deny." This spirit of generosity is not confined to the highest ranks, but is pecuUar to every individual of the nation. The poorest Bedouin, as well as the proudest Erair, will distribute with pleasure and satisfaction his liltle store of bread and dates to all around him. All are invited, without respect either to rank or religion ; and to eat with a Bedouin is the firmest pledge of his protection. Their bounty and kindness are exten ded out even to the animals, who grow old in their service ; they are exempted from every species of labor, and allowed to graze upon the richest pastures. Among the Arabs an oath is held most sacred ; and he who violates his engageraents is doomed to grow old in ignominy. Their aUiances are signed wilh blood, in order to impress upon them a more sacred char- acter. The rights of friendship are deeraed inviolable ; and the respect and affection which subsist between parents and chid ren in this country have beena therae of praise to historians of every age. In courtesy and urbanity of raanners, the Arabians raay vie with the most enlightened and civilized nations in Europe. In Yeraen they use many corapliraenls ; " people of rank," says Neibuhr, " erabrace their equals, and all treat one another with a degree of politeness that surprises strangers. The Salam Aleikum, " peace be with you," is the coraraon salutation in Arabia ; in pronouncing which, they lay the right hand upon the heart. When two Bedouins raeet in the desert, they ex press their kindness and respect by frequently kissing and shaking hands, repeating, at every shake, the question, " how art thou ?" Their visits are conducted with that parade and ceremony coraraon to eastern nations ; and they kiss the hand ofa superior in token of respect. Notwithstanding the araiable dispositions of generosity and kindness, so striking in the Arab character, we cannot but be shocked and disgusted at their thirst for revenge, which knows no satiety. Grave and manly in his outward deportraent, the Arab piques hiraself upon the coolness of his temper and the control of his passions ; but, when once provoked, he is impla- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. cable and unrelenting. An affront, once received, is laid up and cherished in his breast ; and no circumstance, nor time can efface it from his raind, untU he has obtained full repara tion. The Arab has no idea of forgiveness ; his whole soul seeras absorbed in the injury ; and the raost abject submission cannot screen the culprft frora his rage. An insulting expres sion can only be wiped away by the blood of the offender ; and a raurder raust be expiated by the .slaughter of a family. The raost irritable and implacable are the martial Bedouins, who are "jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel." An indecent action, or a conteraptuous word, will raise him to madness ; and such is the vindictive spirit, that he will pa tiently wait raonths and years for an opportunity of revenge. Farailies, and soraetiraes tribes, are thus involved in endless hostilities, by an inadvertent expression, or the carelessness of one of its raerabers ; and the individuals of eiiher lead a life of incessant malice and suspicion. No reconciUation can take place until the reproach has been washed out with blood. Ev ery new offence is added to the bloody debt, and half a centu- ry will sometimes elapse before the account of vengeance is finaUy settled. The dress of the Arabians is suitable to the general fashion of the east, except that they have more variety than the neigh boring nations. Arabians of distinction, in Yemen, have wide drawers of cotton cloth, over which they wear a shirt ; and a vest with strait sleeves is covered with a flowing gown. A girdle of erabroidery encircles the loins, at which is suspended a kind of crooked cutlass, called a jambea. They wear, by way of ornament, a piece of fine Unen cloth hanging over their shoulders. They use no stockings, and have only a sort of half, boots or slippers upon their feet. Their head dress con sists of frora 10 to 15 bonnets of linen or cotton, the outraost richly embroidered wilh gold, round which is wrapt a sort of muslin, with silk or golden fringes flowing loose upon the shoulders. This cumbersorae covering is to secure their heads frora what is called the strokes of the sun ; and in those hot countries, laborers will .strip theraselves naked, and place their clothes upon their head. Sorae have drawers and a shirt, but the greatest number have only a piece of linen about the loins, a large girdle with the jambea, and a piece of cloth about the shoulders. Large drawers, a flowing shirt, and a veil, is the general dress of the feraales. Their faces are disfigured with black spots, by way of beauty, impressed inlo the skin. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 499 DRESS. DIET. Their eye-brows are artificially blackened ; their feet and hands stained brown, and their nails red. They wear a great profusi )n of rings, with bracelets and necklaces of falso pearls. The subjects of the Imara of Sana shave their heads ; but in the other districts the hair is preserved and knotted up behind in a handkerchief Their mustachoes are, in general, kept ve ry short, but all wear the beard its natural lenglh. Confbrra- able with their dress, is their manner of sitting. They squat theraselves upon the ground, with the legs crossed under the body, a posture very convenient and refreshing to those who wear loose garraents. In the presence of a superior, an Arab sfts wilh his knees close together, and the weight of his body resting upon the heels. In this posture they usually place theraselves al the table, as it .occupies least room ; but it is very uneasy to those who are not accustomed to it. Instead of chairs, which are unknown in the east, the rooras of the higher classes are laid round with cushions, and their floors with rich carpets. The Arabs are in general abstemious and temperate. Ani raal food is thought very unwholesorae in hot cliraates; and except araong the Bedouins in the desert, very little is used in Arabia. Their principal food consists of rice, pulse, and milk ; the coraraon people live chiefly upon durra made into cakes, with carael's railk or butter. Their raanner of eating, howev er, is raost repulsive to Europeans. They have nefther knives nor forks, bul raake a dexterous use of their flngers, and eat with araazing quickness. No sooner is a dish set upon the ta ble, than all hands are thrust into it, and it is instantly eraptied of its contents. Another iraraediately supplies its place, which is as quickly despatched ; and the service is repeated until the whole company are satisfied. Before they sit down to table they repeat a short prayer, " in the name of the mosl raerciful God ;" and every one, when done, rises without waiting for the rest, and pronounces, " God be praised." Their favorite drink is kischer, which is prepared frora the husks of coffee beans, slightly roasted and pounded. Il tastes like tea, and is thougnt very refreshing. Though the use of intoxicating li quors is prohibited in the Koran, yet sorae of them indulge in private, bul never appear drunk in corapany or in the streets. The rich substitute tobacco in their place, smoking it raixed wilh a kind of odoriferous wood, which coraraunicates to it a ve ry agreeable taste ; the lower people sraoke haschech, the dri- 500 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. ARABIA. ed leaves of a sort of hemp, which exalts their courage, and raises their spirits to a slate of intoxication. Their chief places of amusement are the public coffee-hous es, which are very rauch frequented. There they are served with pipes and coffee, and entertained with rausic, songs, and orations. The orators are generally poor scholars, who fre quent these places to earn a scanty subsistence. They recite tales and fables of their own invention, or repeat passages from sorae favorite authors. As all garaes of chance are forbidden by the Koran, their principal sedentary arauseraents are chess and draughts, of which they are so fond, that they will some- tiraes sit a whole day without interruption. Strangers to ihe luxuries of the table, the Arabians are equally unacquainted with the coraforts of a good habitation. Their buUdings display no exterior raagnificence, nor their apartraents splendor or elegance. The comraon people are miserably lodged. Houses raade of raud, thatched with grass, without windows, and with a straw mat for the door, forms many ofthe streets in the chief cities of Arabia. The houses ofthe rich, however, are soraetiraes built of stone or burnt brick, wilh terrace roofs ; but few of thera have glass windows. As ft is considered very unpolite to salute a woraan in Arabia, the woraen generally occupy separate apartraents, which are in the back part of the house, where strangers are never uatroduced. Those who have no such apartraents, are careful when they carry a stranger to the house, to enter first, and cry, tarick, " retire," upon which the woraen instantly disappear, and are invisible to their best friends. The Patriarchal form qf Government has prevaUed araong the wandering Arabs from the remotest antiquity. The au thority of a Schieck is that of a father over his faraily, whose obedience is founded upon natural affection and the benevolence ofthe ruler. All the Schiecks, however, who belong to the same tribe, enter into an association for their coraraon defence and security. They acknowledge a coraraon chief, who may guide and direct thera in their predatory warfare; and in maintaining the honor and independence of their tribe against the attack of their neighbors. This chief is dignified with the titie of Schieck of Schiecks, and is elected from a certain faraUy in which this dignity is hereditary, by the inferior Schiecks, wfthout any re gard to seniority, lineal succession, or any other consideration, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 501 MODE OF TRAVELLING. CARAVANS. except superiority of abilities. He considers hiraself as absolute lord of his whole territories, and accordingly exacts the sarae duties upon merchandise passing through his dominions as are levied by other princes. He is obliged to treat the inferior Schiecks as associates ralher than subjects, and to share with thera the sovereign authority. If dissatisfied with his govern raent, they depose him, or depart wilh their flocks, and leave hira at the raercy of a rival or raore powerful tribe. The lower classes are bound to their chiefs by the same tenure ; they can quit his service at pleasure ; their steps are unconfined, the desert is open, and the spirit of Uberty, which animates the whole nation, renders them incapable of continued subjection. Thus the Bedouin, nursed in independence, and raaster of his actions, soon acquires a high sense of his own iraportance. This renders hira proud, easily provoked, and irapatient of control. Ignorant of submission, he cannot brook the language of au thority, and his services are the effects of inclination ralher than of constraint. " The only safe way of traveUing in Arabia, as in other coun tries of Asia and Africa, is in caravans. A caravan is a large Eissociation of merchants or pilgriras, who unite for mu tual aid and protection to theraselves, and their caraels, and goods. The transportation of goods in these countries, though slow, is cheap, corapared with European prices. The average weight which caraels are raade to carry is 600 lbs. The Egyptian caravans travel wilh a wide front, raany others travel in a line. The halt of the pilgrira caravans to Mecca, is by day, and they travel only by nigjit. There are many of these, even frora Persia and Morocco. The dangers of the desert are such, that in raany places the route is indicated by the bones of dead caraels. The caravans are under the direction ofa chief, though from their discordant materials they are, when attacked, in a stale of confusion, each individual acting for hiraself, and protecting his own property. The predatory tribes on the route sometimes plunder the whole caravan, and at others cut off parts of it. At the halts there is miich social intercourse and amusement, the merchants or others visiting and entertaining each other. Caravans, however, since the extension of navigation, and the decline of the Mahomedan spirit, have been much curtailed both in magnitude and show. The pace of the camel when travelling is three miles an hour ; this is so exact that distances are computed by time ; a march of six hours being equivalent to 18 miles." 43 502 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. Marriage is reckoned so honorable among the Arabs, that a woraan will rather raarry a poor man, or become a second wife to one already raarried, than incur the obloquy attached to the single life ; and the raen are equally disposed to take thera, be- ' cause their wives, instead of being expensive, are rather profit able. They seldora, however, marry more than two wives ; and many are content with one. The Arab women enjoy raore liberty than in other Mahommedan nations, and have great power in their families. If ill used by their husbands, they have a right lo demand a divorce. Separations, however, are uncomraon, and mostly confined to cases where the husband, frora inabiUty to raaintain his wives, sends thera back to their friends ; after which they are at liberty to raarry again.* PERSIA. The modern Persians are descendants of those tribes, who, at various tiraes, have overrun the country, improved by the introduction of beautiful females from Georgia, Circassia, and Mingrelia. They are in general a fine-lookftig race — the fore head high, the nose aquiline, the cheeks full, the chin large, the countenance generally oval, and the complexion varying from a dark olive lo a slight tinge of yellow. They are ofa middling stature, robust, and active ; brave, hospftable, patient in adver- sfty, affable to strangers, and highly polished fti their manners ; but they possess strong passions, and are capable of acts of great cruelty when under the influence of anger. Activity and indolence are singularly combined in the Persian charac ter. Passionately fond of smoking, these people will indulge fti it from morning to night ; and in the absence of powerful in ducements to action, Ihey seera to resign themselves to idle ness ; sitting in one posture upon their heels, with their legs bent under them, for hours together, and frequently sleeping. When, however, they are roused from this lethargic stale by urgent necessity, they will mount their horses and ride day and night without intermission. They are excellent equestri- ans, being taught to ride from their infancy ; and hunting and hawking are their favorite amusements. * New Edinburgh Encyclopetlia. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 503 COSTUME. The Persian dress consists, for the men, of a shirt of silk, or calico, striped with blue, which is seldom changed till worn out ; a vest fitting tight lo the body as far as the hips, whence it descends like a petticoat as low as the ancles ; under this they have drawers, woollen stockings, and boots ; or a pair of very wide trowsers of red silk, or blue cotton ; and, over all, a long robe reaching nearly to the feet. The latter is some times trimmed witii fur, and sometimes made of gold cloth, or brocade, richly ornaraented wfth gold lace. By way of sash, a piece of chintz, or flowered rauslin, about eight yards long, is worn round the body, and in the folds, which serve for pock ets, are carried a knife, a purse, pens, and ink. The dagger is also deposited in this sash, ornamented according lo the abili ty of the possessor ; and no Persian considers himself dressed without a sword. The court dress is distinguished from the ordinary costume by green slippers wilh high heels, and red cloth stockings. The dress of the coraraonalty consists gene rally of two or three light garments reaching only to the knee. In raany parts of the country, they wear a sheep's skin wilh the wool inwards. Persians of all degrees keep their heads reraarkably warm ; wearing, even in sumraer, black fuf caps faced with lamb's skin, so fashioned as to rise into four corners at the top, which is frequently ten or twelve inches high. The king and his sons are distinguished by having a shawl wrapped round this black cap ; a raark of honor which is also extended to sorae ofthe nobUity, and ministers of state. The Persians shave the whole of the head, except a tuft of hair which they leave on the crown, and a lock behind each ear. But they suffer their beards to grow to their full extent ; and generally dye them quite black, by an unplesant and tedi ous operation, which must be repeated once a fortnight. The costurae of the females, in the suraraer season, consists ofa silk or muslin under-garment, a pair of loose velvet trow sers, and a vest. The head is covered with a large black tur ban, over which a cashraere shawl is gracefully thrown, to an- swer the purpose of a veil. In cold weather, a close-bodied velvet robe, reaching to the knees, fastened in front wilh large gold buttons, and soraetiraes ornaraented with jewels, is worn over the vest. Necklaces are in general use, with small gold scent-boxes appended lo thera low in the bosom. Araong other ornaments used by the ladies, is a gold plate, wilh an Arabic prayer engraven upon il, and suspended on the right cheek, just below the ear. As thick and dark eyebrows are esteemed essential to beauty in Persia, the ladies dye them 504 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PERSIA. black, if they are notso naturally. They also rub their feet and hands wilh pomatum of an orange teint; and injure their natural coraplexions with paint and varnishes. They are ex ceedingly neat in their garments and houses ; indeed the fre quent ablutions enjoined by their religion, and rendered agree able by the heat of their cliraate, prevents them from being otherwise than cleanly. The Persian houses, which are low and flat-roofed, are built of mud or unburned bricks, and stand, each in a court encom passed by a high wall. They have no windows towards the street ; and the windows which front the court are entirely open on that side, but have a large curtain to be let down when not in use. The palaces of the nobility are generally divided into several courts, the centre of which is laid out in parterres, most commonly ornamented with fountains. The Persians seldom have fires in their apartments; but in cold weather put on an additional robe, or pelisse. They do not recline on cushions, as do the Turks, nor .sft like them, cross-legged ; but they sit on their heels, with their legs bent under them, like a camel, on a thick felt, a carpet or a mat. In this posture, uneasy in the extrerae to those who are not ac customed to it, they will sit for hours together. These people adrait but littie variety in their food : they rise wfth the sun, and, having taken a cup of coffee, some fruit, or other Ught refreshraent, they enter on the business of the day, smoke, or converse, tiU ten or eleven o'clock, when they take a slight repast of sweetmeats, fruits and dishes composed mostly of railk. They then retire to the harem till about three, when they renew their business or smoking. In the evening, they take their principal meal, which consists of aniraal food mix ed wilh rice, and boiled down to rags, so as to render knives and forks unnecessary. With the same hand that has just torn a fowl or lamb to pieces, or grasped an oraelet swimraing in oil, a raelon is scooped out, and, as a mark of especial favor, presented by a superior to his guest. The sofra, or table cloth, is spread upon the floor, and the company, seated as usual upon their heels around it, bend themselves" down, and scoop the victuals into their mouths with their fingers and the thumb ofthe right hand. When they have eaten enough (and their raeals are very soon over) they sit upright, with the right hand placed in a certain position over the left arm. till water is brought in, and every one washes his hand and his U--' '% ^i^gb. ^^K, ^^% ^ ^WW-H ^S^^^^^^i XfiW ^ '<'''''' J^plp'^fr^^^ ^""t' ¦ y^j^i=^^y,i==^.^^k^ Persian qf high rank. P. 503. Persian Smoking. P. 505.. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 505 SMOKING. — FEMALE EDUCATION. mouth. The sofra consists of a fine chintz cloth ; but frora a superstitious notion that changing ft brings ill luck, itis gene rally covered wfth the fragments of former meals, and emits a scent very ungrateful to the olfactory powers of English.men, who consider a clean table-cloth among the necessary comforts of life.* Of all the habits of a Persian, the most common is that of sraoking. Whether he is wilh his woraen, or in the corapany of his friends, whether he is going abroad or to court, he is never wfthout his pipe. The Persian pipe, which is called kal lioun, is totally different frora ours. It is shaped like a bottle terminated by the neck, at the lop of which is a bowl for re ceiving the tobacco. The tube is attached lo the bottom of this bowl, and frequently raakes several windings in the bottle. The latter^ which is of blown glass, has a curious appearance to a stranger ; it is osM^nented in the inside wfth the repre sentation of trees, fiowers, &c. A handsome kallioun costs, we are told, nearly fifty guineas. To use this pipe, the bottle is filled with water, and the tobacco lighted. The smoke, afler thus passing through the bottle, arrives at the mouth, cool and disengaged frora the coarse vapors. The women of Persia, like those of all Mahoraetan countries, receive no moral education whatever. When they have learn ed reading, writing, and embroidery, their education is finish ed ; and those things they are taught eiiher by feraales hired for the purpose, or at the schools, which they frequent tftl they have attained such an age as not to-be permitted to go abroad without a veil. Neither dancing, music, and other accomplishraents, nor reading and study, ever develope or heighten their natural graces, or enrich their rainds. Living shut up in a liarem, visiting and being visited by none but fe males, society never forras their raanners ; the power of huraan respect opposes no barrier to their passions, to the vices of their hearts, and to the extrav'jigancies of their dispositions : the in tercourse with women perverts rather tiian purifies their mor als. The mother exclusively superintends the education of her daughter, and fafthfully transmits to her, defects which were not corrected when she was herself young : virtue and modesty are terms which she never utters in her hearing, for they are terms as unmeaning to the one as to the other. She familiari zes her with but one idea— that she is one day to belong to an ?Aspin's Cosmorama. 43* 506 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PERSIA. absolute raaster, whose love she must strive to acquire, not by practising the virtues of her sex and condition, but by the arts of reflned coquetry, which, though they raay excite passion, are an antidote to true conjugal tenderness, which is founded on rautual esteera and regard. She does not teach her how to become a good wife and mother, or inculcate that modesty and that chaste reserve in all her motions, language, and ac tions, which adorn beauty and embellish plainness ; but she enjoins her not to go abroad without mufflng up her face and her whole person ; not to look at a raan, nor engage in any intrigues ; if, however, she does not instruct her in the art which she has herself learned by experience, of bringing them to a fortunate conclusion. Thus the feraales of Persia receive no other than a physi cal education, the care of their raorals being left to nature, till the moment when example corrupts them. Hence we need not be surprised at the unfavorable character given of them by travellers. The Persians are perhaps the most superstitious nation in Asia. Among them, the remnants of ancient superstftions are not confined to the vulgar, as they are with us : even the pres ent king will not leave his capital, undertake any expedition, or receive an ambassador, tUl he has had intimation frora his astrologer of the fortunate hour for the act. Before all minor transactions, the people in general take what they call a bal; naraely, in the old fashion of dipping into Virgil, opening the Bible, the Koran, or any venerated author, and governing their actions by the first passage on which their eyes chance to fall. They put great faith in the virtue of charras, which they buy of those learned in the stars, and bindnot merely about their own persons, but those of their horses: sorae are composed of prayers, sewed up in morsels of linen, in various shapes, such as lozenges, circles, and triangles. The more costlv amulets are certain sentences from the Koran, exquisitely engraved on cornelian, and which are usually worn by persons of rank, round the neck or arms. The lower orders have talismans lo avert the influence of evil eyes, curses and the like ; in short, they neither look, move nor speak, wfthout allention to some occult fatality or other. The Persians are too much addicted to etiquette and ceremony, not to be fond of visiting. The dependant would not on any account allow a day to pass without paying his respects to his patron, the courtier without presenting himself before the sove- reign, and friends without mutually visiting one another. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 507 VISITING. HUNTING . The cereraonies and compliments differ with the rank of the visiter. If an inferior is honored with a visit from his superior, he does not sit down till the latier is seated, nor rise till he has risen. The raaster of the house coramonly oc cupies the upper end of the cushion or carpet ; but if he wishes to do honor to the stranger, he gives up his place to him, or makes him take a seat by his side. A visit between persons of distinction and of equal rank con sists of three acts. In the first the visiter is furnished with a kallioun or pipe, the sraoke of which is cooled by water, and a cup of very strong coffee without sugar. In the second, another kallioun is given with sweet coffee, so called because it is com- poseid of rose water and sugar. A fresh kallioun, sweetmeats and sherbet, raake up the third act. These sweetraeats are generally brought on silver, plated or japanned trays, adorned wfth painted flowers or other orna. raents : They usually consist of sugar-alraonds and pistachio- nuts, or sraall orange-flower cakes. The Persians are pas sionately fond of sweetmeats, and excel in the art of raaking thera. They are also fond of the chase ; it is an exercise to which they are addicted frora their youth, and in which they excel. All the people of distinction keep falcons, sparrow-hawks, and other birds of prey, for sporting. In Chardin's time, the hunt ing establishment of the sovereign contained eight-hundred of those birds. Upon the whole, the Persians raake but little use of dogs in hunting, considering thera as the raost irapure of ani mals ; hence they eraploy birds in their stead. They have brought their hawks to a great degree of docility, particularly one class which they call the churkh, and which is trained to catch antelopes. Il is hunted with in this raanner : — When a herd of deer is discovered, one is separated, frora the rest by the dogs, and the bird, being let loose, alraost iraraedi ately pounces upon it, flapping its wings over the eyes of the antelope. The aniraal endeavors to rid itself of the churkh, by beating its head against the ground ; but as the bird is perched on the upper part of the head, this atterapt is of no av&il. As the antelope stops the instant the churkh pounces on it, the dogs soon corae up to secure their prey. One of these birds will kill two, soraetiraes three antelopes in a day. This raanner of catching deer affords rauch arauseraent. The wild ass is soraetiraes hunted, though rarely, on account of fts very great speed. Whenever it is, horses are stationed in places where it is most likely to run ; and by continually 508 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. PERSIA. changing horses, the hunter sometimes overtakes this surpris. ingly fleet aniraal. The Persians delight in keeping fighting rams. A more bloody or cruel conflict can scarcely be witnessed, than two of these furious animals engaging each other. On these occasions, the passions ofthe Persians are worked up to the highest pitch ; and it often happens that a quarrel among the men succeeds a battle between the beasts. The horse races of the Persians are very different frora ours. The horses start at the distance of perhaps fifteen railes, amd pursue a direct course to the post. No care is taken to level the ground ; and as it often happens that more than twenty horses start together, there are frequent accidents. Purses of gold are given to the first, second and third horses. They take great pains in training their horses, which they do for a rauch longer tirae than is practised in Europe. As to the manner of travelling in the east it is widely differ ent frora our own. In Persia, it is dangerous to travel even a sraall distance without attendants, or an escort. In longer journeys it is comraon to join a corapany of travellers who are going to the sarae place. Such a corapany is called a caravan. The beasts of burden are caraels, horses, and raules. The car avan is coraraanded by a chief, who undertakes to furnish servants, horses and other beasts of burden during the journey at such a rate as raay be agreed on. The caravan marches in the closest order possible. When there are no caravanseras in the country through which it is traveUing, as soon as it reaches its resting place, the chief points out to each individual the spot where he is to deposit his baggage and raerchandise, that there raay be no confusion. The bag gage forms a seraicircle, the cenlre of which is occupied by the provisions and beds. This place, as well as the encarapineut of each traveller, is encompassed with a hair rope. The beasts of burden are all stationed facing their respective loads, and are merely tied by hair ropes. The chief is stirring with his people before light, to superin. tend the loading of the goods, so that the caravan raay start with the dawn, that is, between three and four in the raorning. A beU gives the signal for departure. The mode of matrimonial courtships in Persia does not allow the eyes of tiie parties to direct their choice, till they are mutu. ally pledged to each other. The proposal is generally made by the relations of the youth, through an elderly feraale, and if accepted by the relations of the lady, the heads of the fam. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER^ 509 CHINA. ilies raeet, and the necessary contracts are drawn up. On the morning of the day fixed for the wedding, the lover sends a train of mules laden with the promised gifts for his bride, to the house of her parents ; the whole being attended by numerous servants, and preceded by music and drums. Besides the presents for the lady, the procession carries all sorts of costly viands on large silver trays, ready prepared to be immediately spread before the inraates of the house. The whole of the day is spent in feasting and jollity ; towards evening, the damsel raakes her appearance enveloped in a long veil of scarlet or crirason silk, and being placed on a horse or raule splendidly caparisoned, is conducted to the habitation ofher affianced hus. band by all her relations, raarching in regular order to the sound of the sarae claraorous band which had escorted the presents. When alighted at the bridegroora's door, the lady is led to her future apartments within the house, accompanied by her female relations and wafting maids. Feasting and rejoicing now comraence, and a supper feast concludes the entertainment.* The Persians inter their dead with the sarae cereraonies which are practiced by other Mahoraetan nations. Mourning lasts forty days. Garments of a brown or pale color are worn during that season. CHINA. T7(s natural color of the Chinese is that interraediate hue, between a fair and dark coraplexion, called brunette; and those who are exposed to the influence of the cliraate, espe cially fhe woraen who labor in the fields, have a deeper color and coarser features. There is said to be scarcely any appa rent physical difference betwixt the Chinese and the Tartars, except that the forraer are ralher taller in stature, and raore slender in form than the latier, who are in general short, thick, and robust. The Tartar is also more active, hardy, and able to endure fatigue, possessed of greater firmness of character, and displaying greater fortitude under pain. In the counte. nance of both, the small eye, elliptical at the end nearest to the nose, is a predominant feature ; and both, also, have high * New Etlinburgh Encyclopedia. 510 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. cheek bones, and pointed chins, which, wilh the mode of shav ing their hair, gives to'the head the appearance of an inverted cone. They have small flat noses, and extreraely large ears. Their figure is generally large and square ; and nothing is conceived more becoraing and reputable than a corpulent habft of body. Among the women, there are few that can be called beauties ; and the universal features are a short rounded nose, generally a little flattened, lips rather thick, a small and dark brown eye, with jet black hair. They are by no raeans a cleanly people, either in their person or dress. They sei. dora change their under garments for the purpose of wash- ing thera ; never eraploy the bath, either cold or warra ; make no use of soap, and scarcely ever wash their bodies ; and even the interior wrappers of the ladies' feet are allowed to remain, as long as they will hold together. They carry no pocket handkerchiefs. They sleep at night huddled up under a cov erlid, nearly in the same clothes which they wear through the day ; a circurastance, which, together wfth their general filthi ness, is often productive of verrain. In iheir natural disposition the Chinese are a mild, cheerful, contented, and obliging people. In their exterior deportment, they are uncommonly decent, and in their manners extremely prepossessing. They seldora use abusive language ; and if at any time they quarrel, it seldom proceeds farther than the tear. ing of each other's clothes, or the plucking out of each other's hair. They are the most tiraid people on earth, entirely de. void of personal courage and presence of raind in cases of dan ger, and capable of being terrified alraost into convulsions by the drawing of swords, or the presenting of a pistol. In pomt of moral character, they are extremely debased. In their conversation, they manifest great apparent siraplicity and open ness ; yel these are attended with a degree of art and cunning, of which an European has no conception. There is always a studied complacence bordering upon servUity, a ready acqui escence upon every proposal, and an artful evasion of incon venient promises, by the raost sly pretences and plausible ob jections. They have no regard for truth ; bul will assert or deny without hesitation whatever chances to suft the present purpose. The practice of lying and cheating is perhaps more prevalent in China, than in any other country on the globe. There is no principle of honor, or feeling of self-respect in Chi na ; and the fear of detection, or rather of the pain of pun. ishment consequent upon detection, is the great restraining UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 511 CONDITION OF FEMALES. principle and impeUing raotive both of high and low. A Chi nese prince, or powerful mandarin, will commit extortion or ' oppression, whenever he can do it with impunity, and alraost regard it as a matter of right attached to his station. A Chi nese trader, or dealer of any description, will cheat and de fraud whenever it is in his power, and even pique himself upon his skill in over-reaching, as a proof of his address, and a part of his profession. A Chinese peasant will pilfer and steal whatever is within his reach, whenever he can hope to escape detection ; and the whole nation may be affirmed to have alraost nothing in view, but their own self interest and security. They are said to be extreraely deficient in comraon huraanity and fellow feelftig. Of the indifference with which they can look upon huraan beings in situations of sufferings and danger, with out making the smallest attempt to afford relief, Mr.'i Barrow relates the following specimen, which occurred during the pro gress of the British embassy down the Great Canal : " Seve ral persons, who had crowded to the brink of the canal, had posted themselves upon the high projecting stern of an old ves sel, which broke down wilh their weight, and precipitated the whole group into the water, at the moment when the yachts of the embassy were passing. Though nurabers of boats were saUing about the place, not one was observed to go to the assist ance of the drowning creatures ; but seeraed even not to know that such an accident had happened, nor to pay theUeast atten tion to the shrieks of the boys, who were floating around up on pieces ofthe wreck." The condition of the female sex in China is said to be more degraded lhan among the Greeks in ancient times, or the Eu ropean nations during the dark ages. Women are perraitted wfthout incurring the charge of impropriety to visit the teraples on certain occasions, but ladies of distinction are seldom seen in public streets, unless conveyed in a close chair, and those who are unable to command such a vehicle are contented to be moved about in a covered wheelbarrow. The lowest class es go abroad with greater freedom. These are often seen with an infant at their back, toiling at the hardest tasks, whUe their husbands are sftting at their ease, or pursuing some arausement. They even perform the office of beasts of bur den, and are at tiraes employed in dragging the plough or the harrow, which their lazy help-mate holds wfth one hand, while he casts the seed into the ground with the other. Even in their state of domestic iraproveraent, they possess no privUeges 512 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. or indulgencies, and are not permftted to sft at the sarae table, or in the sarae apartraent with their husbands. The wives of tradesraen and mechanics generally employ themselves in weaving and erabroidering sUks, or in paftiting upon their gauze the figures of insects, birds and flowers. But, in tbe higher ranks, it is accounted a degrading office to handle the needle or the pencU ; and the amount of their education consists in a Ut tle music and dancing. Utterly unqualified, therefore, to pur- sue any mental or improving occupation, they employ much of their time in listening to jugglers or fortune tellers, and general ly have recourse to the tobacco-pipe as the chief expedient for beguiling their tedious hours. The most reraarkable circum stance respecting the woraen of China, is the custora of com pressing their feet frora their infancy, pushing forward the heel tUl it be entirely obliterated, and confining the toes with ban dages beneath the sole, till they actuaUy grow into the foot, of which they becorae as it were a part. The large toe is left free, and preserves its natural size ; but still the foot raakes scarcely any addftion to its growth, except a kuid of swelluig above the instep near to the ankle bone ; and the whole is gen. erally so very dirainutive, as to enter into a shoe of four inches in length, and an inch and a half in breadth. This practice prevails araong all classes in China ; and the sraallness of the foot is reckoned the raost essential point in female beauty, with out which, indeed, they would be looked upon as utterly despi. cable. "The origin of this strange and unnatural custom is wholly unknown ; and is conjectured to have been only adopted during the lapse of a few centuries, as it is not noticed in the reports ofthe earliest travellers into China. It has been attributed to the jealousy of the men, as a raethod of keeping the feraales raore at horae ; and is conceived to have been af terwards continued by the ladies theraselves as a raark of su perior station. The quality and color of tlie Chinese dress is fixed by law, according to the rank and siluation in life of the wearer. The royal faraily alone are allowed to wear yellow ; on days of ceremony, certain mandarins are perraitted to appear in red satin, but at other tiraes black, blue, or violet, are the colors prescribed for thera. The coraraon people are allowed to wear only blue or black cotton. White is the distinguishing color for mourning ; which a son has no right *to wear whilst his father and mother are living ; but he can wear no other for three years after their death ; and ever after his clothes must UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 513 COSTUME. MODE OF LIVING. be of one color. The men's caps are shaped like bells ; and the higher classes ornaraent thera with jewels. The rest of the attire consists of a shirl,jjnder which a silk net is worn, to prevent its adhesion to the skin ; over the shirt is a vest, with sleeves very wide towards the shoulders, but narrowing as they approach the waist, where they terrainate in a horse shoe, and cover the hands, leaving only the ends of the fingers visible. Frora a large silken sash, which is worn about the waist, is sus pended a sheath, with a kind of knife, and two sraall slicks, which serve as forks at meal-time. Under the vest, the Chi nese wear loose drawers or trowsers, suited to the season ; in suramer they are made of linen ; in winter, of satin, lined with fur. Over all, they wear a kind of surtout wfth wide sleeves. In warm weather they go with their necks bare ; but in winter, they have a collar joined to the vest, of silk, sable or fox skin. Clumsy boots of satin, silk, or collon, are universally worn abroad ; but at home they are exchanged for slippers. The female costume, for the higher orders, consists of a sUk waistcoat and drawers, which in winter tirae are lined wilh fur ; over these is a long robe of satin, very close at top, and grace fully gathered around the waist by a sash. The several parts of the dress are of different colors, but a change of fashion is unknown. The head dress consists in an arrangeraent of the curls, which are interspersed with small tufts of flowers, or gold and silver ornaments. Young ladies also wear a kind of bonnet, covered with stuff or silk, and adorned with pearls, dia monds, and other costly decorations. The mode of living among the lower orders in China is miserable in the extrerae. Two or three jars, a few basons of coarse earth en ware, a large iron pot, a frying pan, and a portable stove, are the chief articles of furniture in their possession. They neither use tables nor chairs, but at meals all the faraily sft upon their heels round the large pot, with a bason in every one's hand. They take the rice frora the pot wilh a spoon, and put it into the bason, which they hold in their left hand close to their mouths ; and then, with two slender sticks, or porcupine quftl's, between the two first fingers of the right hand, they throw the food with great expedftion into their mouths. Their food consists chiefly of boiled rice, mUlet, or some other grains, with the addition of onions, or garlic, or sorae other vegetable, especially the Pe-tsai a kind of insipid cabbage or beet, fried in oil, which is raost es- teemed when in a rancid state ; and sometimes they season their food with a wretched kind of ragout raade of shrftnps pickled 44 514 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. in brine. They have little milk, no butter, cheese, or bread ; and, unless in those places where fish abounds, a morsel of pork is the only aniraal food which the poor can afford to taste as a relish to their rice. They are a little scrupulous, however, as to the articles of their diet ; and rats, frogs, worras, and dogs, are all exceUent food to a Chinese. Rice however is their great staff of life, and its name, fan, occurs in almost every expres sion which relates to food. A meal is named tche-fan, to eat rice ; breakfast is called tsao-fan, or morning rice ; and supper ouan-fan, or evening rice. The diet of the weallhy in China is as plentiful and sumptu- ous as that of the lower classes is poor and meagre. The sub. stantial articles of their ordinary meals are rice, pulse, pork, mutton, poultry, and fish. They seldom use beef, which is said howeyer, to be excellent at Wampoo ; and mutton also is good, but abounds only in the northern provinces. Ducks and garae are in daily use ; but the flesh of young pigs, which is said to be extremely light and wholesorae in Chftia, is the most com. mon species of aniraal food at the tables of the higher orders. The Tartars make regular use of ass- flesh, aswell eis of horse. flesh, which is said to Tdc sold at a higher rate in Canton than young pork. The flesh of hare and of the stag is much used in Pekin ; and the most esteemed part of the latter animal is the tail, which is reserved for the table of the emperor, and which sometimes sells for thirty or forty taels. It is said to have the taste of rancid tallow. The wealthy Chinese seek after the most nourishing and invigorating diet with great avidity, and at whatever price. The greatest delicacies are tbe most gelatinous substances, the paws of the bear, the fins ofthe shark, the sinewy parts of the stag and other aniraals, the nests of a particular species of swallow, brought chiefly from Cambodia, and a kftid of fucus, or sea-plant. Of this last, they make a very nourish ing and refreshing jelly, which is mixed with sugar and orange juice. Their bread is raade without yeast into sraall cakes, and is very light and whfte, but seldom sufficiently baked. They use a variety of vegetable substances in the forra of pickles, particularly pe-tsai, already raentioned, onions, ginger, and the young shoots of bam.boo. They have a nuraber of fruits also preserved by sugar, especially a preparation from the flour of beans, which is usetl soraetiraes in a Uquid, and soraetiraes in a solid forra, and which is represented as remarkably insipid. They are very fond of eating their fruil after it has been cooled upon ice ; and this luxury is so abundantiy collected in the city of Pekin, that even the poorer classes are able to procure ft. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 515 ENTERTAINMENTS. Their cookery is said to be sufficientiy good, their soups and verraicelli particularly exceUent, and their pastry, raade frora the flour of buckwheat, unusually Ught, and as white as snow. Their dishes are chiefly in the form of stews of fish, fowls, and meat, sometimes separately, and sometimes promiscuously, mixed with various vegetables and sauces ; and iheir drink at table is either tea, or an ardent spirit distilled from mUlel or rice, which they always drink in a hot stale, and which is said to reserable burnt brandy. They eat very plentifuUy, and ralher voraciously, at raeals ; and throughout the day are con stantly eating pastry and fruits, sipping spiritous liquors, sraok ing tobacco, or chewing betel, and arreca nut. The Chinese have few social meetings among themselves ; and even the young people never asserable together for the purpose of athletic exercises, or exhilarating amuseraents. To play at games of chance is the chief object of an occasional company; and a kettle of rice, a cup of tea, ora pipe of tobac co, forms the only entertainment among the great body of the people. The higher classes give feasts and entertainments on particular occasions ; but, in these, nothing approaching to conviviality or cheerfulness appears ; and almost every action, motion, or look, is regulated by the coldest forms of ceremony. The guests do not assemble around the same table and par take of the same dishes ; but a nuraber of small tables are ar ranged in a line, each of which oflen accomodates only one person, generally two, and rarely more than three. This di vision of the company into small parlies, does not produce any greater freedom in eating, drinking, or conversing ; but every one raust wait for a particular signal or cereraony, at every drop or raorsel which he puts into his raouth. All eyes are constantly directed to the master of the feast, to observe his motions, and to eat or drink after his example. The repast begins with drinking to the health of the host ; and the polite , manner of paying this compliment is to lift the cup ' in both hands as high as the forehead, after lowering it again fo carry it to the mouth, and after drinking deliberately to turnthe cup downwards, as a token of its being emptied. Every one's por tion of the different dishes is measured out according to his rank, and placed on the table before hira ; and whatever reraains af ter he has eaten, as well as the portion of any one who has been prevented frora attending, is sent in procession lo his house. Several changes of plates and dishes take place, and two or three cups of wine or tea are drunk during the repast ; and all 516 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. the guests rise for a Uttie, before the dessert is served up, when each resumes his place. In this manner, four or five hours are comraonly eraployed, during which period a play or a dance is someliraes exhibited for the arauseraent ofthe corapany. Upon leaving tiie house, every one makes a sraall present in raoney to the doraestics, and next day sends a nole of thanks to the per son who gave the entertainment. The Chinese of all ranks are passionately fond of gaming, and whenever they come together, whatever be the occasion, they seldora separate without a trial of their good fortune. For such opportunities a Chinese is always provided with a pack of cards, or a pair of dice in his pockets. They play also at domino, and a species of draughts, in which there are 360 squares, with a nuraber of raen on each side ; and in which the game consists in shutting up the adversary, by occupying the greater part of the spaces. Contrary to the assertion of the French raissionaries, the spirit of gaming, especially at games of chance, is so prevalent, that alraost ever}- bye-corner in the streets is occupied by a group of garablers ; who often continue whole days at play, and somelimes carry their infatu ation to such a height, as lo stake their wives and children upon a throw of the dice. The higher classes are passionately ad- dieted to the barbarous amusement of cock-fighting, or rather quail fighting ; and have even emploj'ed for their sport in a similar manner, a species of locusts, which fight with such fero city, as seldom to quit their hold of each other without brmg- ing away a lirab in their gripe. These little insects are fed with great care, each in a separate baraboo cage ; and il is said, that, during the suramer months, scarcely a boy is lo be seen without his cage and grasshoppers. Dancing is rather a spectacle or pantomirae in China, than an exercise of individ uals for their own arausement ; and consists merely in a set of marches and evolutions, sufficiently whimsical and wearisome. They have frequentiy plays represented, even at their private entertainments ; and a stage is prepared in an instant, with merely a table aud a few chairs placed in front of a large hanging, in which are two openings for the passage ofthe actors. The mandarines have generally rooras for the purpose ; and the people often fit up parts of the pagods as theatres, or erect them across the streets, frora oue corner house lo the other, where the muftitude spend whole days in wftnessing the exhi- bitions. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 517 LAWS. PUNISHMENTS. The laws of China are particularly severe with respect to all offences committed against the sovereign ; and his life and authority are guarded by the most riiinuie and cautious regu lations. Persons convicted of treasonable practices, are to be put to death by slow and jiainful tortures ; aU their male rela tions, in the first degree, indiscriminately beheaded, their fernale relations sold into slavery, and all their connections, residing within their household, relentlessly put lo death. To intrude even into the line of the imperial retinue, while the emperor is travelUng, or to enter any ofthe apartments in the palace, actu ally occupied by himself or his family, is punishable wilh death. Nay, to walk or ride upon the road and bridges along which the emperor is to pass, exposes the offender lo severe punish. ment. AU the workmen eraployed about the grounds and buUdings in the palace, have their naraes inserted in a- list, as they go in and corae out ; are provided with passports as they enter the gates, which they raust deliver back at their return ; and regularly counted, as they pass and repass; and, if any one reraains behind, he is subject to a capital punishraent. If the emperor's physician corapound any raedicine for the use of the sovereign, in a manner which is not sanctioned by estab. lished usage, he is subject to the punishment of 100 blows. If any dirt is found in his raajesty's food, the cook is conderaned to receive 80 blows; if he sends up any dish, which he has not previously tasted, he receives 50 blows ; if he has nriixed any unusual ingredient in the food, he is liable to 100 blows, and is corapeUed to swallow the article hiraself The life of man is held peculiarly sacred ; and, except in the case of ex. posing infants, murder is never overlooked. Murder by design is punished by beheading. Administering poison is a capital crime, though the dose should not occasion death. Killing in an affray is also punished with death. Homicide, or even wounding by accident, is stUl punishable with death ; but the offender may in this case redeem himself from the capital part ofthe sentence, by paying a fine to the relations ofthe sufferer, to defray the expense of his funeral. The mere atterapt or design to commit parricide is punished by beheading ; and the actual perpetration of this crime, by death wfth torture. A practitioner in medicine, performing any operation, or adrainis. tering any medicines, in a raanner contrary to the established rules and practice, and thereby occasioning the death of his patient, is .considered as guifty of horaicide ; but if, upon exara- ination, ft appears to have been simply an error, he may redeem his Ufe by a fine, upon the condftion that he quit his professiou 44* 618 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. forever. To strike a father, mother, grandfather, or grand mother, is punishable by beheading ; and should a wife strike her husband's relations in any of these degrees, she is punished by three degrees more severely than for a comraon assault ; if she maim hira, she is put to death ; and if he die in consequence, she is executed by torture. The punishments inflicted by law in China are various, ac cording to the nature of the offence. We shall notice but two. 1. The bastinade, which is inflicted by the pam-tse, or bamboo. This instrument is a lath of bamboo, about five or six feet fti length, and four inches in breadth at the end, which is applied to the offender, rounded at the sides, and polished at the extrem- ity which is held in the hand of the executioner. It is gene. rally applied fti a severe and cruel manner, and it is seldom that a delinquent survives after receiving fifty blows. This instrument is in constant application, and is inflicted for the smaUest offence. The more ordinary chastisements are not attended with disgrace, and are considered merely as a slight paternal correction. It is said to be frequently infUcted in this view, by the eraperor hiraself, upon his courtiers and prime ministers, without their forfeiting his favor, or losing their re. spectability wilh the nation ; and one officer may apply it to another of an inferior order, in a very summary manner, upon his failing in any duty, or even neglecting to salute his superi. or with proper respect. When il is inflicted in a court of jus. tice, the presiding mandarin takes a small stick, about six inch. es in length, and one in breadih, out of a bag placed before him, and throws it upon the ground. The culprft is instantly seized by the attendants, and stretched upon his face on the earth, his clothes pulled down to his heels, and five smart blows applied to his posteriors ; and, for every stick the raan. darin throws frora his bag, five additional blows are inflicted. The offender raust then throw himself upon his knees before the judge, incline his body to the ground, and give him thanks for the care which he takes of his morals. This is affirmed to be done even by the higher officers to their superiors. When woraen are subjected to this punishraent, they are per mitted to wear an upper and under garment, except in cases of adultery, when they are allowed only the under garment. It is said, that a Chinese, when undergoing tiie baraboo, cries out in a most piteous manner, and makes his acknowledgments afterwards with the utraost hurailiation ; but that a Tartar generally suffers in silence, grumbles against the executioner, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 519 PUNISHMENTS. and al length sullenly retires. In the case of raandarins, cor poreal chastiseraent raay, in ordinary cases, be commuted for fine or degradation, or entire dismissal from the service of gov ernment. The near relation, also, of a convicted offender, may put himself in the place of his friend, and undergo the legal punishment, provided that ft be slight. It is affirraed, even, that there are persons who make a trade of offering themselves as substitutes on these cases, and who are freely admitted by the judges. These persons contrive to escape without much injury, by sharing their pay with the executioner, as the actu- al offender also raay do, when he submits in person, in the fol lowing manner : When the delinquent or substitute is stretch ed upon the earth, and the executioner ready to strike, he rais es his fingers, in 'what number he thinks proper, each of them expressing a certain nuraber of the sraaUer coins. The sol dier understands the signal, appears to strike wilh all his force, but takes care to make the end of the bamboo touch the ground ; and thus the sufferer, though he does not fail to utter loud cries to keep up the deception, returns without having sustained much injury. Death by strangling or beheading. — The former punish ment is not inflicted by suspension, as in Europe, but a running noose is put round the neck of the crirainal, and two attend ants pull the cords in different directions, wilh all their might, suddenly quit their hold for a moraent, then give a second pull, which generally completes the business ; or, the criminal is tied upright to a cross, a rope passed about his neck, and twisted strongly behind by means of a stick, or bow, in the hand of the executioner. The latter punishment, that of be heading, is accounted the most infamous ; and as the Chinese consider the loss of any meraber, wilh which they have been born, as one of the greatest misfortunes, they have a peculiar horror ofsuffering decapitation, and of thus dying in a mutUated state, deprived of the noblest part of the body. Soraetiraes the head of the crimina], especially of an assasin, is exposed in a cage suspended frora a post erected at the side of the high-way. Persons guifty of high treason are put to death by a slow and painful execution ; and, though it is sometimes spe cified, that this shall be done by opening the belly of the crim inal, and then culling his body into several pieces, yet it is per mftted to the executioner, in general, to aggravate and pro long the sufferings of the condemned, by any species of cruel ty which he may choose to inflict. In cases of capital punish ment, the sentence cannot be executed till the emperor has ex. 520 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. arained and confirmed the process. When the orftne is of an atrocious nature, the execution is ordered to take place with. out delay; but, in general, it is postponed tUl the season of au turan, when all the sentences o f death are inflicted throughout thc erapire. Before any offender is put to death, a meal is set before him ; and he may be conveyed to tbe fatal spot by a chair, or carriage, if he has raeans to procure it. His mouth is gagged, and the judges are present at tbe execution. In some rare cases, tbe sentence of death may be redeemed by a sura of money, from £400 to £4000 according to the rank and ability of the offender. Persons below ten, and above eighty years of age, when guifty of a capital offence, are re coraraended to the eraperor's clemency ; and no one below seven, or above ninety, is made to suffer death for any crime except high treason. There are prisons in every city qf consequence, which are «aid to be large, coraraodious, and in excellent order. They are surrounded with high walls, in which are lodgings for the soldiers ; and have large courts, where the prisoners are al lowed to walk during the day. As their allowance of rice from the government is smali, they are permftted to work for their support, and hence the prisons are provided with work shops, and the necessary articles for the different professions. In the larger prisons, merchants, tailors, butchers, and cook- shops are to be found for the use of the persons conflned ; and, if the prisoners possess raoney, and have been guilty of slight faults, they can procure separate ceUs and kind treatment. Their relatives are allowed to visit thera in prison, and are even encouraged to afford them every assistance in their pow er. The debtors and felons are always kept in separate apartraents ; and the latter are neither allowed to go out, nor to speak to any person. They bear a piece of wixid upon their neck, upon whieh is written their name, crime, and sen tence. They may be allowed lo work, and to enjoy some little ease during the day : but are strictly treated during night, lest they should effect their escape, for which the soldiers would be held strictly responsible. "They are then stretched upon planks of wood : tied down by large chains on their feet, hands, and body, slowed close lo each other, so that they can scarce ly stir ; and are even covered above wilh large pieces of tim ber. The woraen, also, are separated frora the raen, and can be seen and spoken to only through a grate, or the turning-box foy which their food is conveyed. A raandarin is appointed UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 521 to inspect frequently these places of confinement j and is bound to see that the sick be properly treated, provided with medi cines, and attended by a physician, at the expense of the era peror. Upon the death of a prisoner, the eraperor raust be im mediately informed, and he soraetiraes coraraissions a higher raandarin to inquire how far the inspecting officer has done his duty. The body of a deceased prisoner is not carried out by the ordinary gale, but by a hole in the wall, made for the pur pose, which is accounted one ofthe raost infaraous occurrences in the life of a Chinese ; and one of their heaviest imprecations upon another, is lo wish that he may be carried through the hole. Hence, when a person, possessed of any property or station, falls sick in prison, his relations use all means to pro cure his dismissal till cured, that, in case of his dying, he may thus avoid the fate of being carried through the wall. There are no inns in any part of the empire, that is, inhab ited houses where the traveller may procure rest and refresh. ment ; and this want is not compensated by the hospftalfty of the natives, who are ralher inclined to shut their doors against strangers, than to welcome them with the offer of rest or shel ter. There are indeed, what are called inns, or rather resting places, consisting of bare walls, where the traveller may pur chase permission to pass the night, and perhaps procure a cup of tea. Of these there are a sufficient number, some of which are established by government, for the convenience of those who travel in the service of the emperor ; but the officers of the state very generally make use of the temples and convents as plaoes of lodging, when they travel by land ; and the infre- quency of land-travelling in China, is such as scarcely to af ford support to houses of proper accoraraodation for passen- gers. It is seartiely possible to procure horses upon the roads, especially in the southern provinces, but there is no difficulty in finding abundance of palanquins, carts, hand-barrows, and especially excellent porters, who are chiefly employed jn trans porting baggage from one town or stage to another. They are united in bodies in every town under a coraraon chief, who regulates their engagements, fixes the price of their labors, receives their hire, and is responsible for their fidehty. These offices are all regulated by government, and maintain a cor respondence with each other. The traveller carries to one of them, before his departure, a list of the articles which he wishes to have conveyed, and which is immediately entered into a 522 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. book. Every thing is weighed before the eyes of the chief; the fare is generally paid in advance, at the rate of five-pence per cwt., for one day's carriage ; and the traveller, on his ar- rival at the next city, finds every thing safely lodged at the corresponding office. There are post-houses established upon the great roads, but solely for the service of government ; and no one but the couriers of the state are allowed to use the horses, which are found at these stations. These posts or relays, are by no raeans very numerous, and are frequently at great distance frora each other. The couriers carry the despatches in a roll or long bag, covered with yellow silk, and laid across their back ; and either the horse has a belt attached to its neck, or the rider strikes upon a copper drura to announce his arrival, that a fresh horse raay be ready without delay. Though the horses, which belong to government, are sraall, ill fed, and carelessly treated, these couriers travel at a considerable rate, generally 100, and soraetiraes 150, raUes in the 24 hours; and they have been known to pass between Canton and Pekin in the space of 11 days. There are also cavalry soldiers at every city, who are intended to carry the orders and despatches of the raanda rins ; but who voluntarily take charge of the letters of individ uals, which they carry in a leather bag attached to their sad dle. Guard houses are placed along the roads for tbe protection of travellers, at intervals of half a league, a league, two leagues, or even more ; and the space between thera is com monly raarked upon a wooden door in their front. They are provided with a guard of five soldiers, and consist generally of a lodging-house, and a stable ; soraetimes accompanied by a square tower about 20 or 25 feet in height, adorned with para pets, and a small apartment on the top ; or a small wooden cabin, supported by four very tall posts, to which they ascend by a ladder ; or a square building of two stories, or a rising ground with a small open room on its suramit. These towers, cabins, and heights, are used by the soldiers as places from which they occasionaUy keep a look-out, and raake signals to the neighboring guard stations, by kindling a heap of straw in a brick furnace. The soldiers, however, who ought to do duly at these watch-houses, are frequently absent, and their doors shut. It is only when a raandarin is expected to pass, that they are sure to be at their post, and on such occasions the guard is drawn out, their kettle-drum sounded, and three rounds fired. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 5& ARCHITECTURE. The Chinese architecture bears no resemblance to that of Europe ; and is not easily described in the usual terras of art. Their houses in general have nothing reraarkable in their ex ternal appearance, and even their public edifices are distin guished rather by their extent than their magnificence. Their whole style of building is represented by intelligent observers, as extremely slight and Ul-proportiuned, inelegant in this de sign, and clumsy in the execution. All their dwellings are supposed to have been originally constructed after the model of a tent, with a carved roof, and wooden pillars round the brick waU in iraftation of the poles which support the sides of the tent. The external form and aspect of all the houses are extreraely sirailar ; and the habitation of a grandee in the capi- tal, is distinguished from that of a tradesraan, chiefly by being surrounded by a high wall, and by occupying a greater space of ground. The dwellings of the peasantry, indeed, are in general extremely wretched, and littie better than huts, con sisting of low brick or earthen walls, covered by a slender roof of straw or reeds. The habftations ofthe ordinary inhab ftants in cfties are confined within narrow liraits ; and a sraall court, with two or three low-roofed apartments, forms the lodguig of a whole faraily. The walls are generally of wood, occasionally of brick, but raiely of stone ; and are neither so lidly constructed, nor properly founded. The roof is common ly composed of tiles, formed in the shape of a canal, and those which are placed at the extremfty are for the most part curi ously wrought and differentiy shaped. The lower stories are raised a Uttie above the surface of the ground to avoid the moisture, and are paved with bricks or square tiles. The sec ond flats are chiefly employed as store-rooms, and the stairs, in constructing which the Chinese architects are extremely un- skUful, are Uttle better tiian upright ladders. The houses of the raore wealthy are distinguished by their large courts, galleries of communication, and various gates. The ground plot of 300 or 400 feet is laid out into ten or twelve courts paved with tUes. In some of these courts are three or four tent-shaped houses, standing upon stone terraces, which are about three feet above the level of the pavement ; and from each of these apartments and courts are galleries of com munication, consisting of colonnades of red wooden pUlars rest- ing on stone, leading to the adjoining parts of the habitation, so that every part of it may be visfted without being exposed to the sun or air. The floors of the apartraents are paved with bricks or clay ; the ceUing is forraed of bamboo laths 542 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. covered wfth plaster, or is left altogether open, without any thing to conceal the rafters. The windows are without glass, but are furmshed with oil paper, horn, silk gauze or pearl shell, as a subslftute. The walls are generally whitened with lime raade from shells, or covered with white paper ; and sorae of the rooras have holes in the corners, by way of fire places, from which the heat is conveyed through flues in the walls, or under the floor. The apartments of the ladies have frequently two stories, the uppermost ofwhich have often no light, and are sei- dom so good as the common garret in England. The furni ture consists of a table, a few clurasy chairs of varnished wood, which on days of cereraony are covered wilh red cloth, some porcelain dishes filled with leraon trees or other shrubs, copper vessels for burning perfumes, and lanterns of various forms, made of paper, silk, ivory, or horn, and soraetimes ornamented in a very expensive manner. Looking-glasses are rarely found in Chinese apartments, and Utile altention appears to be paid to internal decorations. Few of ihe manufacturing arts have attained any high degree of excellence in China ; and almost the only one, in which they excel, is fti the art of pottery. Even the superior quality, however, of their porcelain, is more owing to the excellence of the raaterials which tbey possess, and the care with which they select and purify thera, than to any ingenuity or skill displayed in the process. Their taste in shaping and ornamenting their porcelain vessels is generally acknowledged to be most wretch ed ; and they can neither finish nor paint their ware in a man ner equal to that of European manufacture. The two principal substances which enter into the coraposi tion of their porcelain, and upon the due preparation and pro portioning of which its quality depends, are called Koo-lin EUid Pe-tun-tse : the forraer is a fine soft clay, or soap stone, raixed with a few grains of mica ; and the latter a kind of granfte composed chiefly of quartz, with a sraall quantity of mica ; the whitest of each, and that which has a greenish hue, is always preferred and carefully purified. The Pe-tun-tse, after being broken by an iron club, is pounded in mortars by raeans of levers, headed with stone and bound with iron, which are sorae tiraes worked wfth water Uke the hammers of paper mills. The powder is then thrown inlo a large vessel full of water, stirred with an iron shovel, and left lo settie. A kind of cream, about four inches thick, then rises to the top, which is repeat edly scumraed off as it collects, and poured into another vessel UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 525 PORCELAIN. filled wfth waler. The dregs, which remain behind, are then pounded anew, and submitted lo the same process. The cream, thus collected, is allowed to remain in a vessel of water, till ft forras a crust at the bottora, and the water aboye becoraes perfectly clean, which is then gently poured off, anti the paste thrown into large raoulds lo bc dried ; bul, before becoraing entirely hard, ft is cut into small square cakes like bricks, which are sold by the hundred. The kao-lin is found in large mines, under a stratum of red earth ; and though almost sufficientiy prepared in its natural state, is raade to pass through the sarae process, and formed inlo bricks like the pe tun-tse. These two substances are then mixed together, the kao-Un acting as a cement to unite the particles of the pe-tun-tse. For the fine porcelain, equal parts of each are employed ; for that of a secondary quality, four parts ofthe kao-lin are added to six of the pe-tun-tse ; and for that of the lowest kind, one part of kao-lin to three of pe-tun-tse. Instead of kao-lin, the niEinufacturers somelimes employ a kind of greasy chalk-stone, named hao-tche, which is pounded, pu rified, and formed into cakes, in the same raanner as the other substances. The porcelain raade of this material is finer, whiter, and lighter, but at the same time, more brfttle and expensive, than what is made with kao-lin ; and hence, the workmen gen erally content themselves with dipping the formed paste into a thick tincture of hao-tche, for the purpose of giving il a greater degree of whfteness. Another kind of substance ofthe nature of gypsum, called she-kao, is also occa.sionally used, but it wants the solidity of the kao-lin. When the substances are mixed, vessels are formed frora them, passing through a variety of hands, perhaps lo the nuraber of twenty, before they are ready for the furnace. They are then baked, but it often happens that frora too strong a heat the whole are corapletely spoiled, being converted into a shapeless mass as hard as flint. The Chinese narae for porcelain is tse-kee ; and the best is made in the village of Kiang-te-ching, in the province of Kiang-see. The finest is reserved for the emperor ; and it has been questioned, whether any of the lar- gest and raost beautiful pieces have ever been brought to Eu rope. The porcelain pieces are painted of various colors ; but the prevailing color is white, with blue flowers ; and the greater part of what is transported to Europe is ofthis color. An infe rior kind, entirely white, is also brought to Canton, in order to be painted there, according to the orders of the European raer chants. It is said, that one of the most esteemed and expensive 45 526 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. kinds is of a red color, which is .soraetiraes uniforra throughout, and somelimes merely sprinkled in the form of sraall spots; which is done by dipping the end of a pipe covered with gauze into the coloring raatter, and then blowing ft upon the porcelain. There is also a black or lead-colored porcelain, soraetiraes inter spersed with gilding, which is in great request; and this gold color is prepared by rubbing with the palra of the hand, in a plate of the porcelain, gold dust mixed with water and sugar. It is then applied wfth a pencil dipped in clear gura-water; and when the vessel has passed through the furnace, the gold is polished wfth a fine wet sand. The use of silk has unquestionably been known in China frona a verv reraote period ; and raention is made of a kind of brocade in the annals of Tcheoo, about 780 years before Christ. There are strong grounds, however, for the belief, that the culture ofthe silk-worm was first introdueed into the Chinese empire by a colony of Jews, after the expedftion of Alexander to India had opened a communication wfth these countries ; and it is at least certain, that they are the best manufacturers of that article in China, and abound chiefly in the silk provinces. But, in what ever way, and at whatever period, the manufactureof sUk was introduced, it has been cultivated to such an amazing extent, that, besides the immense quantities annually exported, it forms the principal clothing of the greater part of the inhabitants. The best is produced in the province of Tche-kiang and is dis tinguished by fts superior fineness of texture, softness to the touch, and whiteness of color. The greater quantity of sUk stuffs are manufactured in the province of Kiang-nan, and its capital Nankeen, from which is procured all that is intended for the use ofthe empire. The Chinese manufacture this sub stance inlo a great variety of stuffs, plain, striped, flowered, napped, clouded, gauzes, velvets, and brockades, ' of every dif ferent color, especially violet, red, yellow and black ; and a multftude of other kinds, whose naraes even are unknown in other countries. They make several kinds similar to those of Europe, but very inferior in point of workraanship. Neither are the silk buttons, ribbons, and stockings, which they raanu facture in Canton after foreign patterns, equal to those of France and England. Their velvets are bad; their Nankin and Pekin saiins are very unequal, and liable to cut. Their gold brockades, though extremely brilliant, when fresh from the hand ofthe workman, are easily tarnished by air and moisture, as the gold which they employ is only a kind of gilt paper. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 527 PRINTING. They excel chiefly in the manuficture of gauzes, both plain and flowered, of great variety and beauty. The stulf so well known by the narae of Nankeen is made of cotton from the province of Kiang-nan, which naturally possesses the peculiar yellow hue, whicli distinguishes the cloth in question ; but ft is said to lose this color, when cultivated in the more southern provinces, tiiough it has beeu raised iu great perfection, both as to size and color of the pods, at the Cape of Good Plope. The art of printing was invented in China about 950 years after the birth of Christ ; but is more like the engraving on copper-plates than the moveable types of an European press. The characters are first wrftten out by a fair and skilful writer, on sheets of thin transparent paper. These are then glued upon boards of hard wood, generally of the apple or pear-tree, when the engraver, foUowing the traces of the writing, carves the characters upon the plank, afterwards hollowing out the inter mediate parts of the wood. Each of these boards generally contains two pages, which are printed on one side only of a sheel of paper, ofthe sarae size ofthe engraved plank, general ly royal octavo, and afterwards folded together. The printer places the board in a level position, lays on the ink, which is more fluid than that which is used in wrfting, with a hard brush ; applies the sheet of paper ; presses it down with anoth er softer kind of brush, with greater or less force, according to the quantity of ink on the plank ; and thus throws off four or five sheets, without having occasion to renew the ink. In this way, they can throw off copies as in stereotype printing, according to the deraand ; but, as all their works must be exe cuted in the same style, it becoraes a very inconvenient matter to preserve the engraved planks, as one chamber is scarcely sufficient to contain those which compose one work, and as they are apt to be injured by the worms. They have also a few raoveable types, of those characters whic'n occur raost fre quently, and which they employ in printing the Gazette, and other smaller publications. In cases of great urgency, such as an edict of government, which raay require to be printed in the course ofa day or night, the characters are traced and en graved on a block or board, covered with yellosv wax, frora which the impressions are then taken in the usual way. A Chinese author must print at his own expense, unless he be a mandarin, in which case he presents his work to the emperor, and, if approved by the imperial coUege, it is printed al the ex pense of government. There are nuraerous printing offices in 528 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. China, especially in the city of Soo-lcheoo-foo, in the province of Kiang-nan, where a considerable trade is carried on in books, whitjh are chiefly, however, collections of poet.cal pieces. The women are invariably sold at marriage, and are not per- milled to exercise any choice of their own. The bridegroom bargains with the parents or other relations ; and the highest bidder is commonly preferred. At the same time, he is not al lowed to see his intended wife, till she arrives in procession at his gate, shut up in a close chair, of which he then receives the key ; and, should it happen, upon his opening the door of the vehicle, that he is not pleased wfth his bargain, he is at liberty to return her to her ft lends, upon condition of forfeiting the pur chase money. But 4he lady has no remedy or option, and must puss to the highest purchaser, or to the .person whora her parents choose to prefer. Mutual affection, therefore, between the sexes, raay be considered as in a raanner unknown in Chi na ; but every one hastens to procure a wife, because such is the law and custora of his country. He sels out to purchase his future partner, as he would look out for some necessary ar ticle of household furniture ; and she continues on her side, to act nearly as inanimate and motionless a part as if she were nothing else. She neither considers it any indignity, nor expres ses any feeling of jealousy, though a second or third wife should be brought intotbe house ; but is contented with presiding as the first female in the family, and wilh being called mother by all the children. Upon tiie death of the husband, the widow, if a person of rank, is honored by preserving her state of widow hood ; and il is very rarely the case that she enters the second time into the marriage life. But, in the lower classe.«, the re- lations cf the deceased generally dispose of the widow to another husband, that they may gain something by pocketing the price which she brings. The marriage ceremonv is suffi cientiy simple, and consists in littie else than the procession of the bride lo the gale of the bridegroom, and his reception of her into his house. The bargain, as has been mentioned, is concluded between the relations on each side ; and the accep tance of the raarriage presents is^accounled a sufficient evi. dence and ratification of the contract. On the day appointed, the bride is conveyed in a close palanquin to her future resi. dence, escorted by domestic and female slaves, bearing pres ents from her faraily lo her intended husband, preceded by mu sicians of different descriptions, and foUowed by her friends and UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER^ 529 FUNERAL rItES. relations. One of her nearest kindred carries the key of the palanquin, and comraits it to the bridegroom upon reaching his house, who conducts his spouse to the presence of his parei^its, before whom th«y both prostrate themselves, in token of duti ful submission. Afterwards, the two parties partake together of food, and drink wine out ofthe same cup. The male atten dants are entertained in one apartment, and the females in another; and on these occasions the Chinese are often ex tremely extravagant, so as frequently lo impoverish themselves duringthe rest of their lives, by the expenses attending the mar- riages of their children. The wives continue their former re tired life, seeing onl} their husbands or near relations, occupy ing themselves wilh the internal economy of their households, and devoting the greatest attention to the care of their children. The funeral rites are attended wfth enormous, expanse in China; and the most showy articles to be found for sale in the large cities, are coffins for the dead. They are matie of planks, from three to six inches in thickness, very closely join ed ; raised like a trunk on the top, and generally convex, also, at the two ends. They are soraetiraes raade of the more pre cious kinds of wood, very richly ornamented, and cost frora 300, to 600 dollars ; while that of a person in ordinary wealthy circurastances is seldora procured for less than frora 10 to 15 or 20 doUars. . It is a common practice for individuals to purchase their coffins during their lives; and ft is frequentiy the son who presents one to his father, which is always the more high ly valued, and shown with greater coraplacency to every vis- iter in proportion to its raagnificence. When brought forth for use, a layer of Ume is put into the bottom; the body de posited in full dress, with a cushion under the head ; the va- cant places corapletely filled wfth lime and cotton ; and the lid then fastened down with the utmost exactness. "The whole coffin is generally pitched wilhin and wfthout, somelimes cov ered with varnish, and whitened externally. In this state they oflen reraain in the houses a considerable tirae, w!|lioiit the smallest odor being perceived ; and, while the body of a pa rent is thus kept uninterred during the period of mourning, his children go every day to weep at the side ofthe coffin. In or dinary cases the corpse is laid in a roora hung with wh te cloth, with a covering of the sarae color thrown over the coffin, and a table placed before ft, wfth candles of perfumed materials. In this siluation it remains several days in the house previous to interment ; and aU who corae to show their respect to the 45* 530 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CHINA. memory of the deceased, are entertained by sorae of the rela tives wfth tea and other refreshments. On the day of the funeral, after the relations and friends are asserabled, the pro- cession is opened by rausicians, who are followed by several persons carrying the figures of various aniraals, the insignia of the rank of the deceased, sraall pagodas, para.sols, white and blue flags, with vessels of perfumes. Next walk a party of Bonzes, iraraediately before the coffin which is carried by 4, 8, or even 20 raen, upon a litter, which is sometimes sur. raounted by a canopy. Behind the body are the children and near relatives, with robes of coarse linen over their clothes, and caps of the same stuff. The eldest son walks with his body bent forwards, leaning upon a staff, and is generaUy supported by two fiiends, one on each side, who prevent his repeated at- tempts to tear his hair and his face. These are followed by the friends and domestics ; and last of all, at a Ifttle distance behind, appear the women, on fool, or in palanquins, with dis hevelled hair and broad white fillets round their temples, dress ed also in the sarae coarse linen as the men, and bursting at intervals, as wfth one consent, into laraentations and tears. When the coffin is entirely covered with earth, libations are ¦poured out; perfumed candles and paper flags placed around and upon the torab ; and the figures of raen, clothes, and hor ses, all of cut paper, are burned upon the spot, in the firra per. suasion, that the objects thereby represented, will attend the deceased inlo the other world. After the ceremonies aro fin. ished, the company rest themselves fti tents erected at a liule distance frora the grave, where they pronounce the eulogium ofthe deceased, and partake ofthe meats offered to his memo. ry : and then returning to the grave, prostrate themselves be. fore rt, and exchange salutations with the chief raourner, in pro. found silence. JAPAN. The islands of Japan consist of three large, and numerous other sraaller island.s, lying on the eastern side of Asia, in the Soulh Pacific Ocean. The largest and by far the most iraport. ant island is called by the Japanese Niphon — but by the Chi nese Sipon and Jepuen. This island is 700 miles in length, and from 75 to 80 broad. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 531 NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. DRESS. The original population of Japan has been little illustrated. Tbe present Japanese seera to be a kindred race with the Chi. nese, having at the same time, according to Kampfer, a lan. guage radically distinct. Perhaps in the eariier stages of so ciety, as is observed by Pinkerton, the Japanese may have era- igrated frora China, and their coraplete insular separation raay have given birth to a language rendered peculiar by the prog ress of a distinct civilization. The people of this nation are described by Thunberg to be well raade, active, free and easy in their raotions, and stout limbed, though yielding in strength to the northern inhabitants of Europe. The raen are raiddle sized, and ui general not corpulent, all over of a yellowish color ; in some, brown, in others white predominates. The lower classes, from exposure to the sun, are brown, but ladies of distinction, who seldom go abroad uncovered, are perfectly while. The discriminating mark of the, Japanese, as of the Chinese, is the eye. This orgtin wants its characteristic ro tundity, being oblong, small, and sunk deep in the head, whence these Jieople have the appearance of being pink-eyed. The color of their eyes, however, is dark brown, or rather black; and the eyelid forming a deep furrow, makes the .lapanese look sharp-sighted. Their heads are in general large, their necks short, and their hair black, thick, and shining from the use of oils. They are said to be an intelligent and provident people, in- quistive and ingenious, frugal and sober, friendly and courte ous, frank and good huraored, upright and honest, brave and unyielding, capable of concealing and controUing their feelings in an extraordinary degree, but distrustful, proud, unforgiving, and revengefuL ' The usual dress of the Japanese is a short upper garraent with wide sleeves, and a complete gown underneath, fastened round the neck, and reaching quite down to the feet, the dress much reserabling that of European feraales, except in being raore confined frora the hips downwards, which produces great embarrassments in walking. But this exercise is seldom re sorted to by a Japanese, except frora corapulsion. The rich are clothed in silks, the poor in close woollen stuffs. The up per garment is generally black, the under dress is of mixed colors. Every one has his family arms, about the size of a half dollar, wrought into his clothes, in different places, a practice common to both sexes. Thus persons of a particular family may be easily recognized. A young lady wears her fa. 632 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. JAPAN. ther's arms till after marriage, when she assumes those of her husband. The greatest honor a prince or governor can confer, is to prcsiMil a cloak with his arms upon it; andthe person who is thus honored puts his own arms upon some under part of his dress. In winter they wear five or six dresses over each other ; but though the weather is bad in January and February, they use neither cloth nor furs in their apparel. In stead of shoes they have soles merely of straw, fastened to the great toe by a loop, and these are taken off when they enter a roora. Although they have their heads half shorn, they are regardless of a burning sun, or piercing cold. They do not use parasols in sunshine nor umbrellas in rainy weather ; but in travelling, conical caps, fans, umbrellas, and cloaks of oiled paper, are very comraonly used. The toUets of the Japanese must occupy a eonsiderable share of attention, as they are very particular in anointing and dressing their hair, which is collect ed in a tuft on the crown of the head. Sraall pincers are em ployed to pluck out the hairs on their chin, and these with a «raall metal looking mirror, are found in the possession of eve ry Japanese. They cannot be denied, Krusentern observes, to study great cleanliness of person, although they make no use of linen ; and this appears a governing propensity of the Ja. panose of every rank. The Japan houses are of wood, never exceeding two stories, the upper one consisting chiefly of garrets and luraber rooms. Though the house is coraraodious, it consists in general ofone room, capable, by moveable partftions and screens, of being divided into apartments. Neither tables nor chairs are used, the people sitting sqat on straw raats, in which position they eat their food. The diM ofthe Japanese is composed ofa greater variety of articles than that ofany other people in the world. Not con- tented wilh the numerous kinds of wholesorae and nutritive food supplied by the produce of their lands and waters, they contrive by their raodes of preparing their victuals, to render the less valuable, and even the poisonous parts of animal and vegetable substances useful, or at least harmless articles of subsistence. Their meals are cut into small pieces, thorough ly stewed or boiled, and always highly seasoned with strong spices and sauces. At tbeir meals, the corapany are sealed on the floor-raats wilh a sraall square table before each person, whose portion is served up in neat vessels of porcelain, or of UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 533 DIET. AGRICULTURE. japanned wood, which are tolerably large basins, always fur nished with lids. The guests salute each other with a low bow before they begin to eat ; and, like the Chinese, lake up the food by raeans of two sraall pieces of wood, heltl between the fingers of the right hand, and used with great dexterfty, so as to pick up the smallest grain of rice. Between each dish they drink warm sacki, or rice beer, oul of shaUow saucers, and al tiie same time occasionally take a bit ofa hard boiled egg. Sorae ofthe most common dishes are fish boiled with onions and a kind of small beans, or dressed wilh oil ; fowls slewed and prepared in numerous modes; and boiled rice, which suppUes the place of bread for all their provisions. Oils, mushrooms, carrots, and various bulbous roots, are used in making up their dishes. Tea and rice beer are the only liquors used by the Japanese ; and it is with difficulty that they can be persuaded to laste wine or spirits. The sacki or rice beer, heats and inebriates when taken to any extent, but the intoxication which it produces passes off speedily. Tea, which is always ready, is the usual beverage for quenching thirst. It is customary to eat three tiraes a day ; at eight o'clock in the morning, two in the afternoon, and eight in the evening. The woraen eat by theraselves, apart frora the raen. The practice of sraoking tobacco, which is supposed to have been introduced into Japan by the Portuguese, is very common with both sexes. Their pipes are very short, seldora raore than six inches in length, and scarcely contain half a thirable full of to bacco. The stera is made of lackered bamboo, and the mouth piece and bowl of copper. They are smoked out by a very few whiffs, and require to be repeatedly filled. Tne appara tus used by persons of distinction consists of an oblong box, about eighteen inches in lenglh and a foot in breadth, ofa brown or black color, which contains, besides pipes and tobac co, three cups; one, which is lined with brass, for holding a Uve coal lo light the pipe, another to receive the ashes ofthe tobacco, and the third to serve as a spit-box. At visits this apparatus is the first thing that is placed before the guests, and is sometimes carried by a servant to places where tobacco is not expected to be presented. The poorer classes have their tobacco pouch and pipe slung lo their girdle by a silken cord. Agriculture being in high estimation in Japan, it meets with the greatest encourageraent frora the governrnent. The chief produce is rice, barley and wheat being little used. A kind of potatoe is common, and several sorts of beans and peas, 534 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. JAPAN. turnips and cabbage, abound. The rice is sown in April, and gathered in November. The sides of the hills present a singular spectacle to the stranger, from the raode of culliva tion which is adopted. Stone walls support level platforms sown wfth rice or roots ; and thousands of these are scattered over the raountains, affording a favorable picture of the inge- nuity, and industry of the inhabitants. Though the space should not exceed two square feet, a stone wall is raised at the bottom, the inclosure filled with earth, and carefully sown with rice, or planted vvith esculent roots. As may be easily supposed from this state of general cultivation, few forests are suffered to grow ; these are confined to the sides of such mountains, probably, as can be subdued by neither agricultural labor or skill. There are no fences used in divifling the cultivated grounds in this country ; and the fields often resemble kitchen gardens ¦divided inlo narrow beds, which are separated from each other by a deep trench, nearly as broad as the divisions which are under the crop. After a certain interval, the trenches are fil led up with earth, so as to be converted in their turn into beds, and give the soil a rest from constant bearing. In these beds the corn is sown soraetiraes lengthwise, bul raore coramonly across ; and after the crop is cut down, another kind of grain is sown in the sarae season, between the stubble of the oii crop, so as to raake the same field produce twice in one year. The greatest care is bestowed upon manuring and cleaning ground. Every kind of substance which can be converted into raanure is carefully collected ; and together with urine and foul water frora the kitchen, is mixed up in a liquid state. It is then car ried in large pails to the fields, and, by raeans of a ladle, it is poured upon the plant after it is six inches in height. Irriga tion is also much practised, wherever water can be procured in the vicinity of the fields. The weeds are so completely cleared away, that "the raost quick-sighted botanist," says Thunberg, " would scarcely be able to discover a single plant of another species among the corn." The grain is frequentiy separated from the straw merely by beating the sheaves against a post or barrel ; but it is commonly threshed on straw mats in the open air by means of flails with three swingKs. There are no pasture grounds among the cultivated tracts ; andthe few cattle used in the country are all fed in the farm yards. Thunberg aftirras, that the soil throughout Japan is naturally barren, and has been rendered so remarkably productive only by the labor and skill of the husbandman. The Japanese have been celebrated for their proficiency in UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 535 ARTS AND SCIENCES. the arts aid sciences. Perhaps the safest standard of corapar ison, in this respect, will be'their neighbors, the Chinese. They excel in manufactures of silk and cotton. Their swords are of curious workraanship. Their varnish is well known as inirai table, but for this they are chiefly indebted to the vegetable frora which ft is raade. The Japanese cultivate music, painting, drawing, geography, astronomy and history. Their art of printing is confined to the use of blocks with which they impress only one side of the paper. Schools generally abound, and corporal punishment, it is said, is not introduced into their sys tem of education. They have some knowledge of engraving ; and are tolerably versed in the practical part of surveying, so as to possess pretty accurate maps of their own country and its towns. Their artificers work very skilfully in iron and cop per, and in a mixture of gold and copper, called souas, which they have the art of staining black or blue by means of their ink. They excel in the fabrication of the steel instru ments, and their swords are of incomparable proof They are acquainted with the art of raaking glass, and grinding it for telescopes ; wilh the conslruction of watches, which they learn ed from their European visitors ; and wilh the raanufacture of paper frora the bark of tbe mulberry tree. Their silk and cotton stuffs are equal, and oflen superior to similar produc tions of other eastern countries ; and their laquering or varnish ing in wood surpasses all the allempls which have ever been made in that departraent by any other people in the worliL The public roads are constructed and kept with great care. They are raade very broad, with a ditch on each side to carry off the water; and are frequentiy bordered wilh hedges, which soraetiraes are forraed of the tea-shrub. Posts are regularly erected to indicate the miles, which are all measured from the capftal, and also to direct the traveller at every cross road. At the tirae when the princes of the country raake their annual journey to the court, the roads are freed frora every kind of dirt, sprinkled with water in hot weather, and soraetiraes even swept wilh brooras. In travelling on these roads, it is the rule for all who are going towards the capital to keep to the left, and for those who raove in an opposite direction to take the right ; or rather for each passenger lo keep always to the side on his left hand. The roads are raore easUy preserved in so good a state, as no wheel-carriages are used in the country for travel ling, except a few carls near the capital, which are confined to one side of the highway ; and the horses are generally provid ed with straw covers to their feet instead of iron shoes. The 536 UNIVERSAL TR.WELLER. JAPAN. poorer class travel on foot, and others efther on horseback, or in palanquins. Several persons, and soraetiraes a whole fami ly are mounted on one horse. In such cases, the man sits on the saddle wilh his legs extended forwards on each side of the horse's neck, and the rest of the party are carried in baskets on each side, while a person walks before to lead the annimal. The palanquins, or kangoes and norimons, as they are called in Japan, are of various sizes ; but the better kind are so large, that the traveller may lie down, or sit at his ease, on stuffed maltrasses and cushions. There are windows in the sides, and various conveniences within these vehicles. The pole by which they are carried passes along the roof, and is born on the shoul ders of the bearers, who generally keep time by a song, and travel at the rate of a league an hour, or ten leagues in the day. When any one of the grandees is going to tbe court through the streets of the capital, il is the fashion for his bear ers to carry the pole aloft ou their hands, and to raove at the utraost speed in their power. The most prevalent religious sects are those of Sinto and Budsdo. The professors ofthe forraer acknowledge a Supreme Being, who inhabits the highest heavens, and who is far too great to require their worship ; but they adrait a multftude of in- ferior divinities, who exercise dorainion over the earth, water,air, iScc. and have great power in promoting the happiness or raisery of the huraan race. Their practical precepts are directed to inculcate a virtuous life, and obedience to the laws of the sovereign. They ab stain frora animal food, and are reluctant to shed blood, or even to touch a dead body. Their churches contain no visible idols, nor any representations ofthe Supreme Being, but some times a small iraage is kept in a box, to represent sorae inferi or divinity, to whora the temple is consecrated. The Budsdo doc trine was brought originally from the coast of Malabar, and is considered the sarae with that of Budah in Hindostan. Pass ing frora China, into Japan, it becarae blended wfth that of Sin to, and gave birth to a monstrous mixture of superstitions. Its peculiar traits .are, that the souls of men and of beasts are equally iraraortal, and that the souls of the wicked are con deraned to undergo punishraent and purification, by passing af ter death into the bodies of the lower aniraals. There are many other sects, very opposite in their tenets and observan ces ; bul they are said to live together in great harmony, or rather to share in all their mutual superstitions. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 537 SUPERSTITIONS MARRIAGE. The Japanese put great fafth in amulets : hence, a mon strous picture of a human figure, covered with hair, and with a sword in each hand, or a dragon's head, wilh a wide mouth, large teeth, and fiery eyes, is placed over the door of almost every house, lo keep all misfortunes from the inmates. In some cases, the branch ofa tree, or long [strips of paper, inscribed with necromantic characters, are employed for the same pur pose. On the high road, every mountain, hill, and cliff, is consecrated to some divinity ; and at all these places travellers have to repeat prayers, frequently several times over. But, as the performance of this duty would detain pious travellers too long, certain praying machines are resorted to. These ma chines consist of a post, set upright in the ground, with a long vertical cut in it, about three feet and a half above the earth,; and in this opening a flat round jron plate turns, like a sheave in a block. The prayer is engraved upon the plate, and to turn it round is equivalent to repeating the prayer, which is supposed to be as many times as the plate turns. In this man ner, the traveller is able, without stopping, and merely by turning the plate with his finger, to send up to the presiding divinfty even more prayers than he is enjoined to do : a notable kind of supererogation !* Marriage is celebrated among the Japanese with many ri diculous cereraonies, and oflen with great porap. The princes receive their brides frora the hands of the sovereign ; and the marriages ofthe vassals are regulated by their lords. Araong the middle classes, in the cities, the business is arranged by the parents. The wives bring no portions, but are purchased of their parents and relations to whora handsome daughters, or wards, are often a great source of wealth. The bridegroom most coraraonly sees his bride, for the first time, upon her be ing brought to his house frora the teraple, where the nuptial ceremony has been performed, and where she is closely veiled from head to foot. On the wedding-day, the bride's teeth are blackened wfth a corrosive liquid, and they ever after remain so : in some parts of the erapire, her eyebrows are also shav ed off. Afler marriage, the wives of the rich are mostly con fined to their own apartraents, those of the other classes visit their relations, and appear in public, but are distinguished by great reserve and modesty- *New Etlinburgh Encyclopetlia. 46 538 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BIRMAN EMPIRE. Little difference exists between the funeral ceremonies of the Japanese and those of other orientals. When a prince, or great raan dies, ten, tweniy, or more youths of his household, and such as were his greatest favorites, put themselves to a vol untary death, at the place of interment or burning. The fu- neral pile consists of odoriferous woods, guras, spices, oUs, and other combustibles ; as soon as it is lighted, the relations and friends of the deceased throw their offerings of clothes, arms, food, money, herbs, and flowers, inlo the flames, iraagining they will be of use lo hira in the other world. The mausolea, in which the ashes of the great are deposited, are generaUy very magnificent, and situaied at some distance from the towns. The middle and lower orders of the people bury their dead wfth no other ceremony than that of burning sorae odo riferous wood and gums. Periodical visits are paid to the tombs, and festivals are held in honor of the dead.* BIRMAN EMPIRE. This empire, which lies to the south and southwest of China, extends over what is usually called India beyond the Ganges, and embraces various distinct nations or tribes, differing widely in dialect, physiognomy, and custoras. Malte Brun estiraates the empire at about 1 050 geographical miles in length, and 600 in breadih, containing, he thinks, 194,000 square miles. The population has been variously estiraated from four to seventeen millions. In their physiognomy, the Birmans bear a nearer resemblance to the Chinese, lhan lo the natives of Hindostan. The women are fairer than the Hindoo feraales, but not so delicately formed ; they are, however, well made, and in general inclined to cor pulence ; their hair is black, coarse, and long. The men are not tall, but active and athletic, and have a very youthful ap pearance, frora the custom of plucking their beards. In their teraperaraent, which is Uvely, choleric, and restless, they pre sent a striking contrast lo the languid inactivity of the Hindoos. Dr. Buchanan describes thera as of a short, squat, robust, fleshy make, with a face somewhat in shape of a lozenge, the fore- • Views of the Costumes ami Peculiarities of aU nations. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 539 COSTUME, HOUSES. head and chin being sharpened, while at the cheek bones il is very broad. The eye-brows project very little ; the eyes are very narrow, and placed obliquely, the external angles being the highest ; the nose is small, bul has not the flattened appear ance of that feature in the negro ; the nostrils, circular and divergent ; the mouth in general well shaped ; the hair harsh, lank, and black. Those who reside in the warmest cliraate do not acquire the deep hue of the negro or Hindoo ; nor do such as live in the coldest countries ever acquire the clear bloora ofthe European.* On public days, days, of worship, and when visiting, it is an object wfth them to put on the appearance of neatness in their persons and apparel. The women are usuaUy dressed in long, loose, white cotton gowns, with petticoats of colton, colton and silk, or silk, of vari-colored stripes. The men vifear gowns a little sirailar to those of the women, with colton or silk plaid cloth decentiy wrapped around their loins, and hanging in front below the knees. The women wear their hair coUected into a. knot on the back part of the head, while the raen twist theirs" into a spiral form upon the lop, encircling the head either wfth a chequered or a white muslin kerchief folded to a narrow width. The men comraonly tattoo theraselves wfth various figures upon the thighs, the abdomen, and the loins. The shoes of both sexes protect only the sole of the foot, having two loops, into which the great toe and the other four are in serted : they are raanufactured of wood, or hides. The woraen, to render themselves more attractive, rub their faces with a fine powder, raade of the bark ofa species of sandal highly odoriferous, and soraetiraes color, with a beautiful red, the nails of their fingers and toes. In the conslruction of tlieir dwelling houses, baraboo, of which there are several species, and in great abundance, is the prin cipal, a'ld in raany instances, the only raaterial, used. Holes, two or three feet deep in the earth, receive the posts, which are more or fewer according to the size of the houses. Mats, made of split bamboos, form the outside covering,* inside par titions, and sometimes the floor. But comraonly the latter is made by splitting the raaterial into quarters, laying them down in a series, and tying thera to the transverse poles with split rattans. Leaves ofthe Nipah tree, called here dance, corapose the roof; and a house not posftively uncomfortable, and suflS- * Aaiatic Researches. 540 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BIRMAN EMPIRE. ciently capacious for a small family, is constructed at the raod erate expense of thirty or forty rupees. Men of high rank and araple means build their houses in the same form with posts of teak : the sides, partitiorls, and floors are boards of the same wood, and the roof is made eiiher of leaves or of flat tiles. These tiles- are burnt like bricks, each about eight inches long, five broad, and nearly one thick, jutting over atthe head abont an inch, by which they retain their positions upon the rafters. They are laid double, the lower edges of one series projecting over and lying upon the heads of the next lower series ; thus forming a defence from wind and rain, and presenting a good degree of security from exterior fires. The monasteries are built in the same raanner, having tw-o or three rtxifs elevated one above another, and in many instances, their cornices, angles, and eaves ornamented with carved work of flowers, figures- of elephants, of priests, and of other forms which have no exist ence but in the superstition of the people. The posts of the houses and monasteries, being inserted from two to four or five feet in the ground, are subject to the depredations of white ants, and to rapid decay.' The old palace at Amarapoora is built of teak : the roofs pUed upon each other to a great height, and diminishing in size as they ascend, present the appearance ofa lofty spire- The exterior and interior posts are covered wilh gold leaf, and the whole exhibits a resplendent object to the beholder. His present majesty, who ascended the throne ©f his grandfather about June 1819, has since buift a new pal ace at Ava, a few miles below the former capital, of which he took possession about March, 1824. The pagodas are solid raasses of masonry, varying in height, ofa conical forra, cov ered with plaster, coraposed of sand and lime, and many of thera wilh gold leaf The large pagoda sftuated about a mile and a half to the N. W. of Rangoon, and called Shua-dagon Parah, is a splendid and magnificent raonument of heathen superstftion and idolatry. According to its history the foun. dation was laid soon after the supposed annihilation of Gautama. tf this be true, ft raust have existed for a period of about 2,300 years. Since its erection, its size has been increased by suc cessive additions. From the ahove description of their dwelling houses, the transii. tion is easy to a correct inference relative to the furniture which they contain. A few raats answer the purpose of bedSy couches, chairs, and tables ; and two or three wooden plates, of Birraan manufacture, or of coarse earthen-ware imported. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 541 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. form the breakfast and dinner service. A small box or two, or as many baskets, contain the wardrobe ofthe family. Those, however, who have the means, indulge theraselves in the use ofa bedstead. Although, in their houses and persons, the ap pearance of cleanliness is not very striking, yet, in this respect, they are on a par with their westcrm neighbors. But this is not saying rauch in their favor, they- certainly do not exhibit, particularly in their houses, any special regard lo neatness ; nor, on the other hand, can they be considered as inattentive to personal appearance. Both sexes enjoy the comfort of frequent bathing. They are much addicted to the practice of chewing belel ; and in the disposition of the saliva, they are not partic ularly nice. The raore respectable class accomraodate Ihem. selves with pig-dannies and betel boxes, the bearers of which are in constant attendance. These materials are of gold, silver, or less valuable meta^, according to the rank or circurastances of those who use them. They universally anoint llie head wfth oil ; and as the hair is perraitted to grow to ils natural length and density, without the frequent application of a comb, a convenient situation is afforded for the accoraraodation of verrain ; and as the Birman religion prohibits the destruction of Ufe, their propagation is seldom interrupted, except by cas ualties. In the management of internal household affairs, the wife takes the principal share. She goes herself to the market, or directs purchases to be made, and superintends the cooking, or does it with her own hands. As opportunity presents, she brings. in her contribution to the domestic establishraent, by spin ning, weaving, trafficking in bazar artiGles> or by keeping a shop and vending raerchandize. In conducting the general femUy concerns, she is by no means excluded ; her judgraent is consulted, given with perfect freedora, and seldora entirely disregarded. The feraale branches of the' faraily are not re cluses hero, nefther are they reserved or shy in their raanners ; they forra a constituent part of doraestic and puWic sociely. They esteem it happy to becorae mothers, but consider the birth of a son as a more fortunate event than that of a daughter. They in general nurse their children till they arrive at the age of three or four. As they are seldora blessed with a nuraerous progeny, the increase of population is slow. The wife of a judge or governor is often seen .at his side, assisting in the decis ion of causes ; and the wives of viceroys and other high oflicers are often permftted to hold their own courts, and decide uide. 46* 542 UNIVERSAL. TRAVELLER. BIRMAN EMPIRE. pendently on petitions presented to thera. Woraen of all ranks enjoy a high degree of freedora, appear abroad unveiled when ever they choose, ornaraented according to the taste and fash ion of the country, and add zest to public scenes of amusement by their presence and gaiety. In ihe formation of their matrimonial connexions, there is gen erally an appropriate preface of personal acquaintance and plighted love. In the ceremony of marriage, httle expense is incurred either of time or money. A feast of goixi things, ac cording to the abUity of the bridegroom, is prepared, in which the assembled faraily connexions participate. The raarried pair taste a mixture of the tea-leaf steeped in oil, (which is the form of sealing all contracts,) eat together frora the same plate, and, exchanging their reciprocal promises, they twain are made one flesh. Unfortunately, however, for the perpetuity of con jugal felicity, in no country, perhaps is the marriage contract regarded with so littie respect, or maintained with so Uttle pro priety as in Birraah. No disgrace is attached lo a divorced husband or wife. SUght occasions originate verbal abuse, and these quarrels are often protracted till both parties seek that reraedy whieh is lo be found, in their country, in any common court of justice. Polygamy is not only allowed, but abounda in this country. Money is not offered to obtain a female as a wife, but for the purchase of bond-raaids as concubines. If a concubine of this sort wishes to be released, the terms of her departure are rnade easy. A high sense of female chastity not being prevalent, the consequences are obvious. The male ses conceive theraselves by nature, both pbysieally and raentally, the superior ; hence are seen lordships in the one sex, and sub jection in the other. A brother exercises over a sister, and a husband over a wife, control at pleasure, and apphes, if need require, the shoe, the rod, the foot, the palm of the hand, or even the point of the elbow, to correct the forwardness or ob stinacy of the weaker vessel. Among the higher and raore polite circles, however, this right is not so much exercised as acknowledged. Generosity and hospitality are qot among the practical vir tues of the Birmans , on the contrary, they are cold hearted, unfeeling, and suspicious, contemplating raisery and suffering, in whatever form, with apathy. No public institutions of be nevolence appear to proclaim a general interest in the comfort or convenience of the less happy. Avarice and selfishness, the two ruling passions of the Birmans, preclude the exercise UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 543 CHARVCTER TRAVELLING. ef right feelings towards others. To the existence of such a state of feeling ft is probable the nature ofthe governraent con tributes. The petty acts of tyranny practised by the subor dinate civil officers, are a terror to the public, and create be tween raan and raan that jealousy and suspicion which destroy confidence and annihilate the best feeUngs of huraanity. The writer* of this article, beheld in the eastern road leading from the town of Rangoon to the great pagoda, a Birman lying on the ground under the suspension of his faculties by a fit. He fell while walking with a corapanion, which was no sooner disr covered by the latter, than he departed with all possible speed. No individual approached the raiserable sufferer. The writerj. not aware of any evil consequence, went towards hira, when several voices frora individuals at a distance urged hira to re tire. On inquiring their reasons, they replied : " you will raeet with difficulty frora government ; theman raay report that he has been deprived of something, and you may be called upon to answer as a thief" This was an effectual check to any of-' fer of assistance. In such a state of things there can be found Uttle benevolence, kindness, or hospitaUty in exercise, particu larly towards strangers. Travelling by boats, which affords the greatest personal com fort, presents the danger of bands of robbers, who often attack with knives and muskets, and raake a ' clear sweep' of what ever portable effects can be seized, to the jeopardy, and fre quently to the destruction of the lives of their possesors. It is but just to add, however, tbat the view which these reraarks would otherwise present, should in some respects be qualified. There are recognised among the Birmans, friendly relations and ties of consanguinity, which, in private life, are seen so to operate as to soften in sorae degree the sterner features of their public character. Araong relatives and friends, between whom there is a mutual and thorough acquaintance, feelings which originate generous actions, the duties of hospitality, kind de portraent and sympathy, prevail over these views of mere per sonal consideration, which govern the general course of their Uves in their civil connexion with one another. They are cer tainly not incapable of strong attachraents ; and could their public character be forraed in a different mould frora that in whieh their system of government has already cast it, they * Rev, G. H. Hough, author af " Tho Frientl in India." 544 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW HOLLAND. would be by no means destitute of those eleraentary principles which corabine to form the happiness of civilized society. Their funeral solemnities are conducted wfth decency. The raanner of disposing of the dead is either by incineration or burial : the forraer is esteeraed the raost honorable. The corpse is inclosed in a coffin, ornaraented with gold leaf or otherwise, according to the raeans of the friends of the deceased, and fol lowed by the raourners dressed in white, is borne to the public place of interraent, (which is without the city or town,) the pro cession being usually preceded by the music of wind instru- menls and druras, and the presents intended for the priests who may be invited on the occasion. These presents usually consist of pieces of cottton cloth, sugar cane,- and fruits of various kinds. On tbeir arrival at the place of incineration, fuel is placed under the coffin, the raoveable ornaments being first tak- en away ; and the corpse is consuraed, after which the bones are interred. Infants and crirainals are buried, as also the poorest part of the coraraunity. All funeral processions raust pass oul of the city by a particular gate, called the funeral gate ; and no corpse must be carried towards a city or town where the governors usually reside. The banks of the Irra waddy are not selected for the perforraance of funeral obsequies, like the banks of the Ganges : neither are its waters regarded as possessing any sacred qualities, nor are they in the least dc gree the object of superstitious reverence.* NEW HOLLAND. This is the largest island on the globe, and on account of its great extent, has by sorae geographers been styled a continent. It is situated in the south Pacific ocean, Lal 11 to 49, Lon. 110 to 153 E. The eastern side, which belongs to Great Bri tain, is called New South Wales. In this district the EngUsh have a valuable and thriving colony, formed, in the first in stance, by the exUed felons ; but of late years, the seltleraent has beeu increased and iraproved by a nuraber of voluntary eraigrants from the parent state. ?Motlern Traveller. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 545 ABORIGINES. The aborigines of this country, who dwell in the vicinity of the European settlements, are still in a state of nature ; and, although forty years have elapsed since their first intercourse with tiie British colonists, they are so far frora having been benefitted by the acquaintance, that men and woraen are to be seen in the streets of the colonial towns, in a complete state of nudity. This is the more surprising, as they are very ingen- nious, and are possessed of accurate observation, and a quick perception. In their persons, they are more diminutive and slighter made than Europeans; in general, they cannot be said to be well shaped, yet instances of absolute deforraity are very rare araong them. Their color is not in all cases the sarae ; sorae are nearly as black as the African negro ; oth ers are of the copper, or Malay hue. Their hair is generally black, but soraetiraes of a reddish cast. A high forehead, with prorainent overhanging eyebrows, gives them an air of resolute dignity, whieh recoraraends thera, in spite of their ne-. gro nose, thick Ups, and wide raouth. Their hands and feet are sraall ; their eyes full, black and piercing ; the tone of their voice is loud but not harsh. The woraen are proportion. ably Smaller than the raen ; and that ferainine delicacy which is found among white people raay be traced upon their sable cheeks. Incoraraon with all other nations,these people endeavor to height en their personal attractions by adventitious embellishments. They cannot, indeed, do this by the finery of clothing, for they are naked ; but they thrust a stick, or a bone, through the septum of the nose, decorate their hair with shark's teeth, and scarify their bodies ; the charras of which are supposed to in crease in proportion to the nuraber and magnitude of the seams by which they are distinguished. Both sexes besmear their bodies with different colors ; but red and while are most in use. The rauscular force of these people is not great ; but the pliancy of their lirabs renders them active. Those who live on the sea coasl depend on fish for their subsistence ; if a dead whale be cast on shore, they flock to it in great num. bers, and feast sumptuously tiU the bones are well picked. Their substitute for bread is a species of forn, which, being roasted, and pounded between two stones, is mixed with fish, and constitutes the chief part of their food. Those who dwell in the woods, maintain a half-famished life by the chase, or by ensnaring the beasts of the forests. Their habitations are of the rudest construction. The hut of the woodman is mafte of the bark of a single tree, bent in the middle, and placed on ita two ends upon the ground, affording shelter only to one misera- 546 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW HOLLAND. ble tenant. On the sea coast, the huts are larger, and formed of pieces of bark frora several trees, put together in the forra of an oven, large enough to contain six or seven people. At the entrance of this hut, rather within than without, the fire is made ; so that the interior is always sraoke dried and filthy. The New Hollanders are supposed to acknowledge the ex istence of a Supreme Power; and their dread of spirits indicates their belief in a future state. If asked where their deceased friends are, they always point to the sky. They believe that particular aspects ^of the heavenly bodies indicate good or evU consequences to themselves or friends. And when they see the lightning glare, and hear the thunder roll, they rush oul and deprecate destruction, but do not attempt to flee. They have a dance and s.ong appropriated to such awful occasions, con- sisting of wild and uncouth noises and gestures. Nearly all the natives have a peculiar talent for rairaickry : the singularities of the colonists are represented by thera with great correctness. They are also great proficients in the vui. gar languiige of the convicts ; and in case of any quarrel, are by no means unequal to them in the exchange of abuse. But this is thc sum total of their acquisitions from European inter course. They are still as unprotected as ever against the in. cleraency of the weather, and equaUy unprovided for the vicissi tudes of plenty and famine. The fact is, they hate labor, and place their happiness in listless inaction : hence the arts of civ ilized life, which require application and industry, have no charms for the indolent New Hollander. Intrepidity is a marked feature in their character : but they are also volatile, fickle, and passionate. They are sudden in quarrel, yet not implacable in their desire of revenge. When a person is slain, either in a pitched battle, or in one of those hasty quarrels, which frequently arise among them, the survi vor is obliged lo stand in his own defence, for a certain num ber of spiais lo be thrown at him by the friends or relativas of the deceased : if he escape alive, the matter ends ; but should he be killed, his antagonist must undergo a similar ordeal. Their honesty, when tempted by novefty, is not unimpeacha ble ; but among themselves there is good reason to believe that few breaches of this virtue occur. They pay no regard to truth, when their interest seems to lead them to dissimulate. Like mosl other savages, their sight and hearing are so acute, that they can distinguish objects which would totally escape an European. In their conflicts wfth each other, they use spears and shieltls ; the former are raade of the bulrush, and pointed wfth hard wood ; the latter are only of bark ; and the spears UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 547 ABORIGINES. are thrown with sucb force as frequently to pierce thera. Dex terity in throwing and parrying the spear is considered as the highest acquireraent ; children of both sexes practice it from the tirae they are able to throw a rush ; and they become such sure raarksraen, that they will bring down a bird, not larger than a pigeon, at the distance of thirty yards. If a spear drop from thera when engaged in a contest, they do not stop to pick ft up, but hook ft between their toes, and Uft it till it meet the hand ; thus the eye is never diverted frora the foe. Their canoes, coraposed of the bark of trees, tied together in sraall splinters, are miserable vehicles, usually half filled vvith waler ; and nothing but the natural buoyancy of the materials could prevent thera frora sinking. In this crazy kind of craft, a whole faraily raay frequentiy be seen fishing : a fire of em bers is usually kept in the middle of the canoe, and the fish they catch, after being warmed sufficiently for the scales to be rubbed off, is devoured as soon as taken. No forra of governraent exists among these people, nor have they any person whom they acknowledge as a chief. The on ly superiority araong thera arises frora personal strength and courage. A man, in general, has but one wife, who is con- deraned to the raost servile labor, and treated with the utmost brutality. If her husband be angry wfth her, he eiiher spears her, or knocks her down by a blow on the head with a hatch. et, club, or any other weapon that may chance lo be in his hand. They eiiher bury or burn their dead ; and commit the arms and utensils of the deceased to the grave, or the pile ; af ter which his name is never raentioned. Such is the general character of the native inhabitants, found in the vicinity of the British settleraents. They seem to be of various origins, for they differ in color, as well as lan guage ; and there can be little doubt but that the immense tracts of land in the interior are occupied by nuraerous races, differing from these, as well as from each other. Indeed, in the late survey of the country westward of the settlementa, a people were found, who spake a different language from those with whom the colonists had been previously acquainted, and were clothed in kangaroo skins, neatiy sewed together with the si news ofthe emu. The fur was worn inwards, and the outside was ingeniously marked with various devices, among which the cross was the most prominent. Their subsistence was chiefly derived frora the aniraals of the forests and the fish of the rivers ; and they seemed to manifest less of the savage disposition that distinguishes the natives near the eastern shore. 548 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand coraprises two Islands to the south east of New Holland, which together contain 95,000 English railes square, and are separated by a narrow straii. They were first.dis- covered in 1642, by a distinguished Dutch navigator by the name of Tasman. No record exists of any vessel visiting New Zealand for more than a century following Tasman's dis covery. In 1769, the Islands were' seen and visited by Capt. Cook on his return from the Society Isles, in the course of hia circumnavigation of the globe. Since Cook's time, the New Zealanders have attracted a large portion of public attention. They are in several respects a remarkable people, presenting a striking contrast to the luxurious Otaheitans, ami the misera ble outcasts of AustraUa. Their first intercourse with Euro peans was marked by independence and resistance. They gave blow for blow. They did not stand still to be slaugh- tered like the Peruvians, by the Spaniards, but they tried the strength ofthe club against the flash of the musket. The fol lowing incident, which occurred the second dav after Cook's first arrival at the Island, will serv€ to show their bold and daring spirit. Being in want of f^rcsh water, Cook had set out with their boats well manned to make the circuit ofa bay in search for sorae. On their way they met a fishing canoe com ing in frora the sea, having seven people on board, four men and three boys. As soon as the New Zealanders perceived the boats, which they did not do, till they were almost in the midst of them, they took to their paddles, and plied thera so briskly that they would actually have effected their escape, had not Cook ordered a rausket to be fired over their heads, thinking this would probably make them surrender. But un fortunately it had not that effect ; for although, on the discharge of the piece, they iraraediately ceased paddling, and began to strip, ft was only that, unequal as was the contest, they might meet and fight their assailants. They theraselves, indeed, as soon as the boat carae up, coraraenced the attack with their paddles, and what other weapons, they had with them ; and so obstinate was the resistance they made, that the scuffle did not end till the four raen were killed, a circumstance which Cook afterwards greatiy regretted. On this, the boys, the eldest of whora was about nineteen, and the youngest about eleven, instantly leaped into the water ; but even here, they continued Group of New Zealanders. P. 549. New Zealand Hut. P. 554 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 549 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. DRESS. their resistance by every means in their power, until they were at last taken up and placed in the boat. The New Zealanders are in general a tall race of men, many ofthe individuals belonging to the upper classes being six feet high and upwards. They are also described as strong, active, and almost uniforraly weU shaped. Their hair is commonly straight, but soraetimes curly. Crozet says he saw a few of them with red hair. Cook describes the females as far frora attractive ; but other observers give a raore flattering account of thera. Mr. Savage, for example, assures us that their fea tures are regular and pleasing ; and he seems to have been much struck by their long black hair, and dark penetrating eyes, as well as their well-forraed figure, the interesting cast of the countenance, and the sweet tone of their voice. Captain Cruise's testiraony is almost equally favorable. They are distinguished frora each other by a very considerable diversity in the shades of what raay be called the coraraon hue. Crozet divides thera into three classes, " Whftes, browns, and blacks." The whites he considers the original inhabitants of the country ; the browns and blacks, to be foreign admixtures, received from the neighboring continent of New Holland. Whether Crozet be correct or not, il is certain that in some parts ofNew Zealand, the natives are much fairer than in others. Cook remarks, in the account of his first voyage, that the people about the Bay of Islands seeraed darker than those he had seen farther to the south ; and their color generally is afterwards described as varying frora a pretty deep black to a yeUowish or olive tinge. The dress ofthe two sexes is exactly the same, and consists of an inner mat or tunic, fastened by a girdle round their waists,and an upper cloak, which is made of yery coarse raaterials for ordinary wear ; but is of a much finer fabric, and often, indeed, elaborately ornamented, when intended for occasions of dis play. Both these articles of attire are always raade of the na tive flax. The New Zealanders wear no coveMug either for the head or feet, the feathers wilh which both sexes ornament the head being excepted. The chieftain decorates his head with plumes, and is doubtiess proud ofthe graceful distinction, both as a token ofhis rank, and adding elegance and raajesty lo his figure. His dress mantle is also elaborately embroider ed ; and both sexes often wear curiously carved corabs in their hair, and clusters of ornaments suspended from their ears, and round their necks. The men, indeed, as well as women, are 47 550 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. fond of dress; and show all the vanity of chUdren, when they are more gaily arrayed than usual. To a chief, Mr. Nicholas relates, who came on b'lard the Active, while she was passing the North Cape, on her way lo the Bay of Islands, Mr. Marsden presented a piece of India print, which quite transported him with delight; he gazed on the figures with the most vivid amazement, and throwing it over his .shoulders, strutted about the deck wfth his whole soul absorbed in his splendid bedizen ment. On a sulpsequent occasion, Mr. Nicholas being on shore, and engaged in raaking sorae purchases frora the na tives, was assaUed by an old man, who offered him a large raat for his coat. The proposed exchange having been agreed to, was iraraediately raade, and our author having wrapped himself up in the New Zealand garment, the other put on the coal. No sooner had he got it adjusted on his person, than the whole being ofthe savage seemed to have undergone a change ; instead ofa figure bent with age, and a grave and circuraspect demeanor, he now exhibited the erect port of a man in the spring of life, and al the same tirae a sprightUness and af fected ease and frivolity of manner, which were meant to be quite captivating, and were certainly indescribably ludicrous. His countryraen were at first so much amazed at his sudden metamorphosis, that they seeraed to doubt his identfty ; bul they soon felt the full absurdity ofthe spectacle he exhibited, and greeted hira with peals of laughter. The food upon which the New Zealanders principally live, is the root of the fern plant which grows all over the country.* This root, soraetimes swallowed entirely-, and sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has been ex tracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even occasionaUy for a meal by itself When fish are used, they do not appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then laid between heated stones to bake. But Ifttle of any other aniraal food is consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being produced on days of special festivity. The first pigs were left in New * The fern roots are first roasted, anil afterwards being laid upon a stone, are beat with a piece of wood, until they become soft lilte dough. ¦When cold again, however, it becomes hard, and snaps like hard gin gerbread. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 551 FOOD. Zealand by Caplain Cook, who made many attempts to stock the country, both with this and other useful animals, most of whom, however, were so rauch neglected that they soon disap. peared. Cook likewise, as has already been mentioned, intro duced the potatoe into New Zealand, and that valuable root ap pears to be now pretty generally cultivated throughout the norlhern island. The only agricultural implements, how ever, which the natives possess, are of the rudest descrip. tion ; that with which they dig their potatoes being merely a wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material fixed to it, about three feet from the ground. Mr. Mars den saw the wives of several of the chiefs, toiling hard in the fields wfth no belter spade than this ; araong olh ers, the head wife of the great Shunghie, who, afthough qufte blind, appeared to dig the ground, he says, as fast as those who had their sight, and as \yell, first puUing up the weeds as she went along with her hands, then setting her fee upon thera that she might know where they were ; and, finally after she had broken the soil, throwing the raould over the weeds with her hands. The New Zealanders raake only two meals in a day, one in the morning, and another at sunset ; but their voracity, when they do eat, is often very great. In consequence of this habft of consuraing an extraordinary quantity of food, a New Zea lander, wfth all his powers of endurance in other respects, suf fers dreadfully when he has not his usual means of satisfying his hunger. One ofthe strongest prejudices of the New Zea landers, is an aversion to be where any article of food is sus pended over their heads ; and on this account they never per mit anything eatable to be brought within their huts, but lake all their meals oul of doors, in an open space adjoining lo the house, which has been called by some writers the kitchen, it being there that the meal is cooked as well as eaten. Crozet says, that every one of these kitchens has in il a cooking hole, dug in the ground, of about two feet in diameter, and between one and two deep. Even when the natives are confined to their beds by sickness, and it may be, at tbe point of death, they must receive whatever food they take in this outer room, which, however, is sometimes provided with a shed, supportecl upon posts, although in no case does it appear to be inclosed by walls. It is here, accordingly, that those who are in so weak a state frora illness, as not to be able to bear removal from one place to another, usually have their couches spread ; as, were they lo choose to recline inside the house, it would be necessary to leave thera to die of want. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. The charge of cannibalism has been alleged against the New Zelanders, and though, by some il has been denied, il is now certain that the charge is true. Captain Cook was the first who observed the fact. Having one day gone ashore here, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and other persons belonging to the ship, they found a family of the natives employed in dressing sorae provision. The body of a dog, says Cook, was al this time buried in their oven, and raany provi sion baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes carelessly into one of these, as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty cleanly picked, which did not seera to be the bones of a dog, and which, upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At this sight we were struck with horror, though il was only a confirmation of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we could have no doubt but the bones were huraan, neither could we have any doubt that the flesh, which covered thera had been eaten. They were found in a provision basket ; the flesh that reraained appeared raanifeslly to have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end, were the marks of the teeth, which had gnawed them. To put an end, however, to conjec ture founded upon circumstances and appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were ; and the Indians, without the least hesitation, answered the bones ofa raan. They were then asked, what was become of the flesh, and they replied that they had eaten it ; but, said Tupia, why did you not eat the body of the woman, which we saw floating upon the water ! The woman, said they, died of disease ; beside^, she was our relation, and we eat only the bodies of our enemies. «'ho are killed in battle. Upon inquiry who the man was, 'whose bones we had found, they told us that, about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies carae into the bay, wilh many per sons on board, and that this man was one of seven persons whora they had killed. Capt. Cruise bears sirailar testimony to thc cannibalism ofthe New Zealanders. His voyage was made as late as the year 1820. The New Zealanders, he says, never denied cannibalism to be one of their customs ; but on the contrary, often express ed their predilection for human flesh. He states also, in anoth er place, that while the Dromedary lay in the Bny of Islands, two slaves were killed by one ofthe neighboring chiefs for some alleged crime, and that one of them, after having lain a day buried, was taken up and devoured. Some of the officers hap pened to pass through the village, while the natives i\'ere enga- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 553 CANNIBALISN. ged at this feast, observed thera to throw their raats over sorae object around which they were sitting, when they saw the stran gers approach. Although the gentleman walked on without appearing to notice what they had seen, a comraon sailor who afterwards carae up, was not only an eye-witness of their eating the body, but was invited to partake ofthe repast. Mr. Mars- den, in like raanner assures us, in the journal of his first visft to the country, that the natives did not appear lo have any idea that cannibalisra was an unnatural crirae ; and when he express ed to thera his abhorrence of the practice, they merely reraark ed that ft had always been the custora with them to eat their enemies. To the sarae effect is the testiraony of John Ruther ford, an Englishman, who after ten years detention among the inhabftants of New Zealand returned to England in the early part of 1828. In the course of his journey into the interior, he was taken to the house of a chief whose name was Aimy. Here, he observes, a pig was killed, from which we supped ; and, afterwards seating ourselves around the fire, we amused ourselves by listening lo several of the women singing. In the mean tirae, a slave girl was killed, and put into a hole in the earth to roast, in order to furnish the feast the following day, in honor ofthe chief's return horae. We slept that night in the chief's house ; but the nex;t raorning a number of the natives were set lo work to build us one for ourselves, of the same form with that in which the chief lived, and nearly the same size. In the course of this day, many other chiefs arrived at the vUlage, accompanied by their families and slaves, to wel. corae Airay horae, which they did in their usual raanner. Some of them brought wfth them a quantity of water-melons, which they gave to me and my comrade. At last they all sealed themselves upon the ground to have their feast ; — several large pigs, together with some scores of baskets of potatoes, tava, and water-melons, having first been brought forward by Aimy's people. The pigs, after being drowned in the river and dress ed, had been laid to roast beside the potatoes. When these were eaten, the fire that had been made the night before was opened, and the body of the slave girl taken out of it, which they next proceded to feast upon in the eagerest manner. We were not asked to partake of il, for Airay knew that we had refused to eat huraan fiesh before. After the feast was over, the fragraents were collected, and carried home by the slaves of the different chiefs, according to the custom, which is always observed on such occasions in New Zealand^ 47* 554 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. The habitations, or rather the huts of the common people, are described as very wretched, and little better lhan sheds. But Mr. Nicholas mentions, that those which he saw in the norlh ern part of the country had uniformi)' well cultivated Utile gar dens attached to thera, which are stocked with turnips, and sweet and coramon potatoes. Crozet tells us, that the only ar ticles of furniture the French ever found in these huls, were fishing-hooks, nets and lines, calabashes containing water, a few tools raade of stone, and several cloaks and other garraents suspended frora the walls. Araongst the tools, one reserabling our adze is in the raost comraon use, and it is reraarkable that the handles of these implements are often composed of human bones. In the museum of the Church ^Missionary Society in England, there are adzes, the handle of one of which is form ed of the bone of a human arm, and another of that of the leg. The bread pounder, forraed of a large fish-bone, is also in gen eral use ; in the plates to Cook's voyage, is also given a repre sentation of a carving-knife or saw. The comraon people generally sleep in the open air, in a sft ting posture, and covered by their upper raats, all but the head ; which has been described as giving thera the appearance of so many hay cocks or bee-hives. The house of the chief is generaUy the largest in the village ; but every vUlage has, in addftion lo the dwelling houses ofwhich it consists, a public store-house, or repository of the common stock of sweet potatoes, which is a still larger structure than the habitation ofthe chief. One which Captain Cruise describes was erected upon several posts driven in the ground,which were floor ed over wilh deals at the height ofabout four feet, as a foundation. Both the sides and the roof were conipactiy formed of stakes intertwisted with grass ; and a sliding door way, scarcely large enough to adrait a man, forraed the entrance. The roof pro- jeiiled over this, and was ornamented with pieces of plank paint ed red, and having a variety of grotesque figures carved on them. The whole building was about twenty feet long, eight feel wide, and five feet high. The residence's ofthe chiefs are buift upon the ground, and have generally the floor, and a small place in front, neatly paved ; but they are so low, that a man can stand upright in very few of them.' The huts, as weU as the store houses, are adorned with carving over the door. Rutherford says, each of them have an image stuck upon the ridge-pole lo intiraate that no slave may enter tbe house during the absence ofthe owner, the punishment for violating their reg ulation being instant death. Tattooing Instruments in New Zealand. P. 555. Musicians of New Zealand. P. 56.5. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 555 TATTOOING. The custom of marking the skin, called tattooing, exists in New Zealand, and is there a more sanguinary and distressing operation than in any other of the islands of the Soulh Sea. Rutherford, upon whom the operation was perforraed, while a captive in New Zealand, thus describes the operation. " The whole of the natives having seated themselves on the ground in a ring, we were brought inlo the raiddle, and being stripped of our clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or six raen, while two others comraenced the operation of tattooing us. Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rub bed it upon a stone wfth a little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel, and shaped in the fashion of a garden hoe, and immediately applied lo the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This made it cul into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caus ed a good deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off wilh the side ofthe hand lo see iftbe impression was suflacienl- ly clear. When it was not, they appUed the bone the second time to the same place. They employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation ; one which they soraetimes used being raade of a shark's tooth, and another having teeth like a saw. They had thera also of different si zes, to suit the different parts of the work. While I was un dergoing this operation, although the pain was raost acute, I never even moved or uttered a sound ; but my comrades cacan- ed dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was four hours under their hands ; and during the operation Aimy's eldest daughter several limes wiped the blood from ray face with some dressed flax. After it was over, she led me to the river, that I might wash myself, (for it had made rae completely blind,) and then conducted me to a great fire. They now returned us all our clothes, wfth the exception of our shirts, which the women kept for theraselves, wearing thera as we observed with the fronts behind. We were now not only tattooed, but what they called tabooed, the raeaning of which is, made sacred, or forbidden to touch any provisions of any kind wilh our hands. This slate of things lasted for three days, during which tune we were fed by the daughters of the chiefs, wfth the sarae victuals, and out of the same basket, as the chiefs themselves, and the persons who had tattooed us. In three days, the swelling which had been pro duced by the operation had greatiy subsided ; and I began to recover my sight ; but ft was six weeks before I was complete. 556 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. ly well. I had no raedical assistance of any kind during ray illness ; but Airay's two daughters were very attentive lo me, and would frequently sit beside me, and talk to rne in their language, of which as yet, however, I did not understand much." Rutherford states that in the part of the country where he was, the raen were coraraonly tattooed on their face, hips and body, and sorae as low as the heel. None were allowed to be tattooed on the forehead, chin and upper lip, except the very greatest araong the chiefs. The priests have only a small square patch of tattooing over the right eye. Their stains, al. though their brilliancy raay perhaps decay with tirae, being thus fixed in the flesh, are of course indellible just as rauch as the marks of a sirailar nature which sailors frequently make on their arras and breasts by introducing gunpowder under the skin. The New Zealanders, like raany other savages, are also in the habit of anointing theraselves with a raixture of grease and red ochre. This sort of rouge is very rauch used by the wo- men, and " being generally," says Cook, " fresh and rich upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute thera ; and that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of several of our people strongly testified." The faces of men, he adds, were not so generaUy painted ; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and even his garraents, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the decoration in one part or anotii er, where he supposed it was become deficient. The New Zealanders have no morais or temples among them, yet they are not without some notions of reUgion ; and in many particulars they are remarkably superstitious. For instance, they think that if they were to allow a fire to be lighted under a shed, where there are provisions, their god would kill them. They have many superstitions, also, with regard to cutting their hair. Cook, in the account of his third voyage, speaks of a young raan ; he had been taken on board the ship, and who, having one day perforraed this cere. mony, could not be prevailed upon to eat a morsel tUl night, insisting that the " Atua would raost certainly kill lum, if he did." Cook adds that the hair thus cut is collected, and fre- quentiy tied to the branches of the trees near the vUlages. Ac. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 557 RELIGION. cording lo one of the missionaries, it is soraetiraes buried in a secret place. Mr. Marsden, on asking a New Zealander what he con ceived Atua to be, was answered, '-an immortal shadow." Although possessed of the attributes of immortality, omnipre sence, invisibiUty, and supreme power, he is universally believ ed lo be in disposition merely a vindictive demon. When one of the missionaries had one day been telling a number of them ofthe infinite goodness of God, they asked him if he was not joking wfth them. They beUeve, that whenever any person is sick, his illness is occasioned by the Atua, in the shape of a lizard, preying upon his entrails ; and, accordingly, in such ca ses, they often address the raost horrid iraprecations and cur ses lo the invisible cannibal, in the hope of thereby frightening hira away. They iraagine that at other tiraes he amuses him self in entangling their nets, and oversetting their canoes. The white man's God they believe to be altogether a differ. ent being from their own Atua. Mr. Marsden, in one ofhis letters, relates a conversation he had upon this subject with some of the chief's sons, who resided wilh hira in New South Wales. When he told them that there was but one God, and that our God was also theirs,Ilhey asked him if our God had given thera any sweet potatoes ; and could wilh difficulty be raade to see how one God should give these lo the New Zealander, and not equally lo the white raan ; or, on the other hand, how he should have acted so partially as to give lo the white raan only, such possessions as cattie, sheep, and horses, which the New Zea lander as rauch required. The arguraent, however, upon which they seera raost to have rested, was — "But we are of a different color from you ; and if one God made us both, he would not have committed such a raisfake, as to raake use of different colors." Even one of the chiefs, who had been a great deal with Mr. Mirsden, and was disposed to acknowl edge the absurdity both of the taboo, and of raany of his other native superstitions, could not be brought lo adraft that the same God who raade the white raen had also made the New Zealanders. ^ Besides the Atua, or chief god, the New Zealanders have numerous other subordinate divinities, to whom they are in the habft of praying, in all their emergencies. They daily adore the sun, moon, and stars. When addressing the moon, they employ, Mr. Savage tells us, a mournful song, and seem as full of apprehension as of devotion : whereas, when paying theft adoration to the rising sun, the arms are spread, and the 558 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. head bowed, with the appearance of much joy in their counte nances, accorapanied with a degree of elegant and reverential solemnfty, and the song used upon the occasion is cheerful. The priests, or Tohungas, as they are called, are persons of great importance and authority in New Zealand, being esteem ed almost the keepers and rulers of the gods theraselves. Many of the greatest of the chiefs are also priests. It is the priest who attends at tbe bedside ofthe dying chief, and regu lates every part of the treatment of the patient. When the body of a chief who has been killed in baltle, is to be eaten, ft is the priest who first gives the coramand for its being roasted. The first mouthfuls of the flesh, also, being regarded as the dues of the gods, are always eaten by the priest, whose aid is invoked to obtain relief from heaven. The New Zealanders also consider all their priests as a spe cies of sorcerers, and believe that they have the power to take the lives of whomsoever they choose, by incantation. The most noted priest of New Zealand some few years since, was Taraanhena, who was believed to have absolute coraraand over the winds and waves. He often acted as a pilot, as well as a priest, and on one occasion he accorapanied Mr. Marsden in a canoe to exaraine the entrance of a river. It was blowing quite fresh, at the tirae, but Taraanhena assured him that he would soon make both the winds and waves fall. For this purpose, he began lo speak in an angry and comraanding lone to the gods, the winds, and the waves, but like Baal af old, they heed ed not the voice of the vociferating priest. Captain Cruise, during his visft to New Zealand, hiraself saw Tamanhena, and has given us so.rae particulars of his conduct, which detract in no sraall degree frora his character for sanctity. He had act ed as a pilot of the ship. During his stay on board, says Capt. Cruise, he was by far the wildest of his corapanions ; and un fortunately, on the raorning fixed for his departure, a soldier having raissed his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of the pilot's honest}'', that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberiy of Ufting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and discovered the stolen property under it. The jacket \\'as of course taken frora hira, and the only excuse he had to offer for his raisconduct was, that he had lost a shirt that had been given to hira, and that he considered himself authorized to get remuneration in any woy he could ; he was dismissed without those presents, which were gi\'en to the olhers. We were glad to see thai his countrvmen seeraed to notice his conduct in the Iv, -- 'W^ New-Zealand Priest. P. 538. UJNIVKKSAL TRAVELLER. 559 FISH. FUNERALS. Strongest terras of disapprobation ; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they seeraed so determined to put him to death, that they were requested not to do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his offence. It is very reraarkable, that whenever a child is born in New Zealand, it is the invariable practice to take it to the toliunga, or priest, who sprinkles it on the face with water, from a leaf, which he holds in his hand. It is believed that the neglect of this cereraony would be attended with the raost baneful conse. quences to the child. One ofthe chief sources of natural wealth, which New Zealand posesses, consists in rthe abundance and variety of the fish which frequent its coasts. Wherever he went, in his different visfts to the two islands. Captain Cook was araply supplied with this description of food, ofwhich he says, that six or eight men, wfth hooks and lines, would in some places catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's corapany. Among the different spe. cies which are described as being found, we may mention mackerel, lobsters, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors cole- fish, which Cook says was both larger and fairer than ariy he had seen before, and was in the opinion of most on board the highest luxury the sea afforded them ; the herring, the floun der, and a fish resembling the salraon. To these may be ad ded, besides many other species of shell-fish, mussels, cockles, and oysters. The seas in the neighborhood of New Zealand, also, we ought not to forget to add, are much frequented by whales, which, besides the value of their blubber, are greatly prized by the natives for the sake of their flesh, which they consider a first-rate delicacy. The new Zealanders are ex tremely expert in fishing. They are also adrairable divers, and Rutherford states that they will bring up Uve fish from the deepest waters with the greatest certainty. The hooks, and other implements for fishing, which they make of bone, are of various forras. Rutherford, whom we have had frequent occasion to quote, gives the following account of the sickness, death, and funeral obsequies of the mother of Aimy, the chief whose two daugh ters he afterwards married. " Airay and his family having gone lo a feast at another village, a few railes distant frora ours, my comrade and myself were left at horae, with nobody but a few slaves, and the chief's mother, an old woman, who was sick, 560 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. and attended by a physician. A physician in this country re mains wfth his patients constantly, both day and night, never leaving them till they recover or die, in which latter case he is brought before a court of inquiry, composed of all the chiefs for many miles round. During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to lend his knife to a slave for hira to cut sorae rushes with, in order to repair a house ; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon after, he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into sraall pieces and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes, which we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the presence of the doctor, and she ate thera. Next morning she died, when the chief and the rest of his famUy immediately returned home. The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the centre ofthe village, and there placed with a mat under ft, in a silting posi tion against a post, beftig covered with another mat up to the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several white feathers,— the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any other. They then constructed, around the corpse, an inclosure of twigs, somethmg like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs, and chUdren from it ; and these operations being over, muskets continued to be occasionally fired durftig the remainder of the day to the memipry of the old woman. MeanwhUe, the chiefs and their famUies from miles round were making theft appearance in our village, bringing with thera their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death, they all, to the number of sorae hundred, knelt down around the corpse, and having thrown off their raats, proceeded to cry and cut theraselves fti the same manner as we had seen done on occasion of tiie differ ent chiefs of the viUages through which we passed being wel comed home. After some time spent in this ceremony^ they all sat down together to a great feast, made of their own pro- vision, which they had brought with them. The following morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body, armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys ; and the doctor appeared, walking backwards and forwards'in the rftig. By this time, my corapanion and I had learned a good deal of their language ; and as we stood Ustening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the particulars of the old woman's Ulness and death : after which, the chiefe began to inquire very UNIVERSAL TKAVELLER. 561 FUNERAL RITES. closely into what she had eaten for the three days before she ex pired. At last, the doctor having retired frora the ring, an old chief stepped forward, with three or four while feathers stuck in his hair ; and, having walked several tiraes up and down in the ring, addressed the meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woraan's death had been occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been pealed with a while raan's knife after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a house ; on which account, he thought that the white raan to whom the knife belonged should be killed, which would be a great honor conferred upon the raeraory of the dead woman. To this pro- posal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and it seeraed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, ray corapanion stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward myself into the ring, and told thera, that if the white man had done wrong in lending his knife lo the slave, he had done so ignorantly, frora not knowing the custom ofthe country. I ventured at the same tirae to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him to spare my shipmate's life ; but he continued to keep his seat on the ground, mourning the loss of his mother, without answering rae, or seeraing to take any no. tice of what I said ; and while I was yet speaking lo hira, the chief with the white feathers went and struck ray corarade on the head wfth a raery, and kUled hira. Airay, however, would not allow him to be eaten, though for what reason I could nev. learn. The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred after my directions. As for the corpse of the old • woman, it was now wrapt up in several mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed to fol. low them. I learned, however, that tbey took her into a neighboring wood and there buried her. Afler this the, strangers all left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three months, the body of the woraan was again taken up, and carried to the river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then enclosed in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose. The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place where the body first lay in state ; and a space of about thirty feet in circuraference being rafted in around it, a wooden iraage was erected, to signi. fy that the ground was tattooed, or sacred, and as a warning that no one should enter the enclosure. This is the regular manner of interment in New Zealand for any one belonging to a chief's family. When a slave dies, a hole is dug, and the body is thrown into ft without any ceremony ; nor is ft ever 48 562 UNIVERSAL TRVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. disinterred again, or any further notice taken of it. They never eat any person who dies of disease, or in the course of nature." Rutherford has given us tlie following account of a New Zea- land battle. " Early the next morning the enemy retreated to the distance ofabout two railes frora the river ; upon observing which our parly iraraediately threw off their mats, and got under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thou sand muskets among them, chiefly purchased from the English and Araerican South Sea ships, which touch at the Island. We now crossed the river ; and, having arrived on the oppo- sfte side, I took ray station on a rising ground, about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I had a full view of the engagement. I was not myself required to fight, bul I loaded my double barreUed gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave girls having seated ihemselves at ray feet. The coraraander-in-chief of each party now stepped forward a few yards, and, placing hiraself in front of his troops coraraenced the war-song. When this was ended, both parties danced a war-dance, singing at the sarae time as loud as they could, and brandishing their weapons in the air. Having finished their dance, each party forraed into a line two deep, the woraen and boys stationing theraselves about ten yards to the rear. The two parties then advanced lo within about a hundred yards cf each other, when they fired off their muskets. Few of them put the musket to the shoulder while firing it, but m.erely held it at the charge. They only fired once, and then threw their muskets behind them, when they were picked up by tbe woraen and boys, drew their merys and toraahawks out of their bells, when, the war- song being screaraed by the whole of thera togetiier in a man ner most dismal lo be heard, the two parties rushed into close corabat. They now took hold ofthe hair of each others heads wilh their left hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meantirae the woraen and boys followed close behind them, uttering the most shocking cries I ever heard. These last received the heads of the slain flora those engaged in the batlle, as soon as they were cut off, after which the men went in araong the enemy for the dead bodies; but many of thera received bodies that did not belong to the heads they had cut off. The engagement had not lasted many minutes, when the enemy began to retreat, and were pursued ty our party through the woods. Some of them in their flight, UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 533 crossed the hill on which I stood ; and one threw a short jagged spear at me, as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my left thigh. Il was afterwards cutout by two women with an oyster shell. The operation left a wound as large as a common sized tea-cup ; and after it had been perforraed, I was carried across the river on a woman's back to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which immediately stopped the bleeding, and also raade the pain rauch less severe. In a short tirae, our party returned victorious, bringing along with them many prisoners. Persons taken in battie, whether chiefs or not, become slaves to those who lake them. One of our chiefs had been shot, and the body was brought back and laid upon some mats before the huts. Twenty heads, also, were placed upon long spears, which were stuck up around our huts ; and nealy twice as many bodies were put to tho fires, lo be cooked in the accustomed way. Our party con tinued dancing and singing all night ; and the next morning they had a grand feast on the dead bodies and fern roots, in honor of the viclory they had gained. The name of the chief, whose body lay in front of our huts, was Evvanna. His body was now cut into several pieces, which being packed into baskets, covered wilh black mats, were put into one ofthe ca noes, to be taken along wfth us down the river." The canoes ofthe New Zealanders, according to Rutherford, are made of the largest sized pine trees, which generally run frora forty lo fifty feet long, and are hollowed out, and length. ened about eight feet at each end, and raised about two feet on each side. They are built wfth a figure-head ; the stern post extending about ten feel above the stern of the canoe, which is handsomely carved, as well as the figure-head, and the whole body of the canoe. The sides are ornamented wilh pearl shell, which is let into the carved work, and above that is a row of feathers. On both sides, forehand aft, they have seats in the inside, so that two men can sit abreast. They pull about fifty paddles on each side, and many of thera will carry two hundred people. When paddling, the chief standi up and cheers them wfth a song, to which they all join in chorus. These canoes roll heavy, and go al the rate of seven knots an hour. Their saUs are made of straw raats in the shape of a lateen sail. They cook in their canoes, but always go on shore to eat. They are frequently known to go three or four hundred miles along the coasl. 564 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. NEW ZEALAND. The principal native war instrument of the New Zealanders, is a short thick club. This weapon they all constantly wear, efther fastened in their girdle, or held in the right hand, and attached by a string to the wri.st. It is in shape soraewhat like a battledore, varying frora len to eighteen inches in lenglh, (in cluding a short handle,) and generally about four or five broad, thick in the raiddle, but worked down to a very sharp edge on both sides. Il is raost comraonly forraed of a species of green talc, which appears to be found only in the southern Island, and wilh regard lo which the New Zealanders have raany su perstitious notions. Sorae of them are made ofa dark colored stone, susceptible ofa high polish ; sorae of whale bone; and Mr. Nicholas mentions one, which he saw of iron, and also highly polished. It had been fabricated by the chief hiraself, wilh tools of the most imperfect description ; and yet was, in Mr. Nicholas' opinion, as well-finished a piece of workmanship as could have been produced by any of our best raechanics. This instrument is eraployed in close combat, the head being generaUy the part airaed al ; and one well directed hlow is quite enough to split the hardest skull. The name usuaUy given to il, in the eariier accounts of New Zealand, is patoc- patoo. Mr. Anderson, in his general remarks on the people of Queen Charlotte's Sound, says it is also called emeeta. But its correct and distinctive name seems to be that by which Rutherford always designates it, the mery, or mairy. Their only missile weapons, (except stones, which they merely throw frora the hand,) are short spears, made of hard wood, or whale-bone, and pointed at one extreraity. These they are very dexterous in using, both in darting at a mark, and in receiving or turning aside with the blades of their battle-axes, which are the only shields they use, except the folds of their thick and flowing mats, which tiiey raise on the left arra, and which are lough enough to impede the passEige of a spear. They have other spears, however, varvuig from thirteen or fourteen to thirty feet in length, which they use as lances or bayonets. These, or rather the shorter sort, are also sometimes called by English writers patoos, or patoo-patoos. Lastly, they often carry an instrument somewhat like a ser geant's halbert, curiously carved, and adorned with bunches of parrots' feathers tied round tho top of il. This they call a kennee. The musket has now, however, in a great measure superseded these primitive weapons, although the New Zea landers are as yel far frora being expert in the use ofit. The ships that touch at the country always find it the readiest way UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 565 VOCAL MUSIC. of obtaining the supplies they want from the natives, to pur chase them wilh arms or araraunition ; and the raissionaries, who have declined to traflic in these articles, have often scarce ly been able to procure a single pig by the most tempting price they could offer in another shape. Vocal music is one of the favorite amusements of the New Zealanders. Destitute as they are of the art of writing, they have, nevertheless, their song poetry, part of which is tradition ary, and part the produce of such passing events as strongly excite their feelings, and prompt their fancy to this only work of composition of which they have any knowledge. Certain individuals among thera are distinguished for their success in these effusions ; but the people inhabiting the vicinity of the east cape seem generally to enjoy the highest reputation for this species of talent. Their wind instruraents are sirailar to our fifes or flutes. One which is frequently to be raet with at the Bay Islands consists, according to Mr. Savage, of a tube six or seven inches long, open at both extremities, and having three holes on one side, and one on the other. Another is formed of two pieces of wood bound together so as to raake a tube inflated at the raiddle, at which place there is a single hole. It is blown into at one extremity, while the other is stopped and opened, to produce different modifications of the sound. The New Zealanders have a variety of national dances ; but none of them have been rainutely described. Some of them are said to display much grace of raoveraent ; others are chiefly reraarkable for the extreme violence wfth which they are performed. 48* 566 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. AFRICA. AFRICA. The record of our travels already embraces more pages than we originally conteraplated, and still, Africa, besides a mul titude of Islands inthe Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans, re- mains to be explored. For the latter, however, we have no space ; and, in respect to the former, by far fewer pages to de vote, than the magnitude and diversified population of this por tion ofthe globe seemingly deraand. Like Asia, Africa is a continent, or ralher a peninsula of vast extent — 5,000 miles in length, and about 4,600 fti its greatest breadth, with an area of nearly 13,430,000 square miles, and a population, according to Malte Brun, of 70,000,000. For more than three hundred years, the ships of Europe have been circuranavigating the coasts of Africa ; but until the last half century, ils interior recesses have presented, and, indeed, at the present day, to a great extent, they present '• a blank in Geography — a physical and not less a raoral pro- blera — a dark and bewildering mystery." " The spirit of en terprise," a writer eloquently remarks, " has opened the way for civilization ihrough the priraeval forests of the Araerican continent, has traversed the boundless steppes ofthe South, and planted cities in the heart of the Andes. But the rivers of Af rica have hitherto afforded no inlet to its central regions ; and the fiery deserts which extend frora Egypt to the Atlantic, have proved a barrier against the raarch of conquest or of civilization, more irapassable than the frozen wilds of Siberia, or the Hima laya itself!"* The year 1788 constituted a new era in the annals of Afri can discovery. Before this, motives of interest had alone gui ded such enterprises as had been undertaken, in making re searches in Africa ; but an association was now forraed consist- ing of raen of rank and wealth, the object of which was the ad vanceraent of geographical knowledge. Under this associa. tion, Ledyard, Lucas, Houghton, Park, Horneraan, and Burck- liardt, prosecuted their discoveries. At a still later date, be sides others, Denham, Clapperton, Laing, MacGill, Tuckey, and last, the Landers, Richard and John, have greatly added * Modern Traveller. ^ UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 567 POPULATION. to our knowledge of the geography of Africa, and also of its population. To the Landers, it raay be mentioned in this place, belongs the honor of resolving the problera respecting the Ni ger, or Quorra, which for years had occupied the altention of the whole civilized world. By means of this river, the com munication wfth the interior of Africa may, at no distant day, be both easy and safe, and our knowledge of its " interior re cesses, be even more perfect, than it now is of its raaritime tribes. The population qf Africa, with which we are now chiefly concerned, naturally divides itself into two great portions, north and south ofthe mountains of Kong and the Jabel alKomr, which give rise to the waters of the Senegal, the Niger, and the Nile. To the north ofthis line, Africa is ruled, and partiaUy occupi ed, by foreign races, who hive taken possession of all the fer tUe districts, and driven the aboriginal population into the mountains and deserts of the interior. Here, the Mohamme dan creed maintains fts ascendancy. South of this line, we find Africa entirely peopled with the negro race, who alone seera capable of sustaining the fiery cliraate, by means of a re dundant physical energy scarcely corapatible with the full de velopraent of the intellectual powers of raan. This is Central Africa, — a region, as has been eloquently reraarked, " distin guished from all others by its productions and climate ; by the siraplicity, and yet barbarian magnificence of its states ; by the mUdness and yet the diabolical ferocity of its inhabitants ; and pecuUarly by the darker nature of fts superstftions, — the raagical rftes, which have struck wfth awe strangers in all ages, and which present something inexplicable and even appalling to en lightened Europeans. The Evil Principle here seeras to reign wfth less of liraitation, and, in recesses inaccessible lo white men, still to enchant and delude the nations. The coraraon and characteristic raark of their superstition is, the systera of Fetiches, by which an individual appropriates to hiraself sorae casual object as divine, and which, with respect to bioi, by this process becomes deified, and exerts a peculiar fataUty over his fortune. The barharisra of Africa may be attributed, in part, to fts great fertUity, which enables its inhabitants to live wfth out care, but chiefly to its imperviousness. Every petty slate is so surrounded with natural barriers, that it is isolated from the rest ; and though it may be overrun and wasted, and part of its inhabftants carried into captivfty, it has never been made to form a constituent part of one large consolidated erapire ; and 568 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BARBARY STATES. thus, smaller states becorae dependent without being incorpo. rated. The whole region is still more inaccessible on a grand scale, than the petty stales are in miniature ; and while the rest of the earth has becorae trite from tho frequency of visiters, it still retains part of the mystery which hung over the priraftive and untrodden world."* With these general remarks, we proceed to some brief noti ces ofthe principal countries of Africa. 1. BARBARY STATES. The countries included under the general description of Bar bary, occupy the northern extreraily of Africa, and forra a nar row strip of terriiory along the south side ofthe Mediterranean, According to some authorities, the length frora east to west is 2,600 miles ; others estimate it at 2,000. The width varies from 140 to 550 miles. The principal States included in this territory are Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers and Morocco. The inhabilants are a very mixed race ; and may be dis tributed into different classes ; such as Turks, Moors, Arabs, Berebbers, Shelluhs, Negroes, and Jews. Of these, tbe least nuraerous, are the Turks; but they are nevertheless to be considered as the sovereigns of North and East Barbary. They are in general a very abandoned race, the refuse of Turkey, chiefly coraposed of pirates and other banditti, who have either enUsted in the service of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, or who have fled from their country to escape the puuishment of their criraes. The Moors, who raay be considered as the descendants of those who were driven out of Spain, reside chiefly in the towns and villages. They have a sallow complexion, an aquiline nose, good teeth, black eyes, manly features, but frequently a very ferocious expression of countenance. Their limbs are clumsily shaped ; their stature is coraraonly above the middle size ; and their whole figure has rather a commanding appear- ance. They are naturally of a grave and pensive disposftion, indolent to an extreme, and roused only by such violent pas sions as avarice and haired. They have Ultle curiosity or * Douglas' Hints on Missions. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 569 INHj^BITANTS. ambition after knowledge ; and no spirit of enterprise, industry or improvement. The Arabs of Barbary are partly the descendants of those who at first overrun the countiy, under their Mohammedan leaders, and who have still kept themselvea distinct from the other inhabitants ; and partly emigrants from Sahara, who ad vance inlo the more northern districts, whenever the depopula tions of the plague, or other calamfties, afford admission to a new colony. They are divided inlo a large number of Iribes, which never mingle by intermarriages, and which are often al war with each other. They live in tents; and generally form their encarapments at a considerable distance frora any town or viUage. Their occupation consists in taking care of their flocks and herds, and in raising a little wheat or barley. When the land around their residence has become less productive, and their cattle have consuraed all the pasture, they strike their tents, and remove to a more ferlile spot. The Brebes, or Brebbers, inhabft the raountains of North Atias ; and are supposed to be the offspring of the original in habitants of Barbary, who retired thither upon the conquest of their country, and who have stUl in a great raeasure preserved their independence, They are ofa fairer coraplexion than the Arabs, of an active and industrious disposition, of a robust and athletic frarae of body. In the higher grounds, they dwell in caves ; but, in the vaUeys, they occupy tents, or huts of earth. They seldora change their place of residence ; and employ themselves in cultivating the soil, tending cattle, rearing bees, and pursuing wild beasts. They are very intrepid hunters, de.xtrous raarksraen, and capable of enduring the greatest fa tigue. The Shelluhs inhabft the mountains of South Atlas, and are oflen confounded with the Berebbers ; but Ihey are ascertained to be a distinct race, and to speak a different language. They live generally in towns and villages, are chiefly employed in husbandry, and are very simple and peaceful in their manners. They are a very meagre people, and remarkably abstemious in their diet ; subsisting almost entirely upon barley bread and honey. Negroes are very numerous in Barbary, especially in the empire of Morocco, where about 30,000 of them were embodi ed as troops, in the year 1780, by the eraperor Muley Ishmael. Thy are to be found also in every part of the country, and al most in every family, in the state of slaves. Their condition, however, in this respect, is very different from that of their 570 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BARBARY STATES. countrymen, who are transported to the West India Islands ; and they experience a treatment much more humane than the general character of their Moorish raasters would warrant us to expect. The Jews of Barbary, whose ancestors were expelled fi'om Portugal and Spain, are diffu.sed over the whole country ; and are found even in the mountains of Atlas, exercising mechani cal trades among the Berebbers. They are subjected to every conceivable species of oppression, and are frequently treated even more harshly than the beasts of burden. They are not permitted to possess lands, lo wear a sword, to ride a horse, or lo leave the country without special permission. The}' are obliged to wear such a habft as may distinguish thera at first sight ; to address every Mussulman by the tftle of seedy or signor ; and to pull off their sandals, whenever they approach any religious structure or consecrated spot. The few Christians who reside in Barbary, are teraporary visfters, for purposes of trade, the consuls of European states, the slaves of Moorish corsairs, the inhabitants of the Spanish settleraents, and deserters from the Spanish garrisons. From a regard lo their respective rations, they may sometimes expe rience the protection of the constituted authorities ; but, by the Moors in general, they are held in as great contempt as the Jews ; and are exposed lo every species of insult that bigotry and brutality can devise. In all tho stales of Barbary, the government is ofthe most de spotic description ; and the inhabitants are subject to the most degrading oppressions. The suprerae power is entirely with out control ; and the lives and property of the natives are wholly at the disposal of their rulers. Every kind of cruelty and injustice is systeraatically practised ; and it is even said to be a maxim of government in this unhappv countrv that, in or der to rule the people effectually, there shoul.l alwavs be a "stream of blood flowing from the throne." The religion of Barbary is the Mahoraraedan, ofwhich it is unnecessary to give a detaUed account ; but which, it raay be observed, the Moors have greatly relaxed with respect to ma ny of ils precepts, and which, on the other hanti, thiy have burdened wfth many additional superstitions. Thev secretly drink wine wfthout scruple, and often to great excess ; and ea- sily satisfy their consciences by prot'essing to lake it as a medi cine. In like manner, they render any prohibited food per- fectly lawful, by raerely ascribing to it some medicinal quality. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 571 EDUCATION. ARTS. HOUSES. The state of knowledge in Barbary is low in the extrerae ; and the raodern Moors have not the sraallest portion of the literary spirft *of their ancestors. They are not deficient in natural genius and abilities ; but their minds are degraded by xheir oppressive government, and cramped by their limited ed ucation. In the state of childhood, they display an uncoraraon share of acuteness and vivacity ; and are remarkable, while at school, for their memory and application, bul after having been taught lo repeat a few select passages frora the koran, and per haps also to read and write, their progress in learning is terrai nated, and they are allowed to grow up without any farther discipline or instruction. The mechanic arts, likewise, are in a very rude slate araong the Moors ; and seem to have undergone no improveraent what ever for raany ages past. Their tools are very few and sira ple : their iraplements of husbandry, &c., especially their ploughs, raiUs, looms, forges, are aU in miniature, and at the sarae tirae, most clumsily constructed. A goldsmith, for instance, will corae to work for his employer in the corner of a court, where he stx)n fixes his stall. His anvil, hamraer, bellows, files, and raelling ladles, are all brought along with him in a bag : His bellows are made of a goat skin, into which he inserts a reed ; and holding this with one hand, he presses the bag with the other, and thus kindles and blows his fire. Other trades are carried on with the same rude simplicity ; and yet, so in genious are the workraen, that they can accomplish coraparative ly great things, by the raost inadequate means. The Moorish houses are very dark and gloomy ; as the win dows are extreraely sraall, and all look into the court, except perhaps one lattice or balcony, above the gateway towards the atreet, which, however is very seldom opened, unless on festival days. The stairs are efther in the porch, or in the corners of the court. The roofs are flat, covered witb plaister, and sur rounded with a parapet : there the female part of the family are accustoraed to walk and amuse themselves in the cool of the evening. To the habitations of the more wealthy, an ad ditional building is frequently attached, called the Alee or Oleah ; the apartments of which are used as wardrobes, as places of greater retirement, or as lodging for strangers. The houses are generally whitened on the outside ; and appear, at a distance, like vaulted torabs in a church yard. The villages are always in the neighborhood of the towns ; and are coraposed of huts of stone, earth, and reeds surrounded with thick and high hedges. The inhabitants of Barbary are remarkably abstemious in 572 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BARBARY STATES. their diet; and can subsist upon a very sraall quantity of the siraplest nourishment. The lower classes, especially araong the Arabs, live chiefly upon the roots of vegetables, wild fruits, and a mixture of meal and water ; a few balls of which, or a few dates, and a draught of camels' milk, will often support them on a journey for a whole day. The principal dish araong all ranks, frora the prince to the peasant, is cuscasoe, a kind of granulated paste, raade of flour very coarsely ground, heap ed up in a vessel full of sraall holes, placed above the pot, in which the vegetables, or flesh raeat is boiled, and in this raan ner stewed by the rising vapor; it is then mixed with soup, mUk, butler, honey, spices, pot-herbs, or animal food. The raore opulent persons have various preparations of almonds, dates, sweet-meats, milk, honey, and other delicacies ; and all ranks in Barbary use a great proportion of bread, of which they often make a meal, with the addition of a little oil, vinegar or milk. The Moors, agreeably to the Jewish custom, cut the throats of all the aniraals which they use for food, at the sarae tirae turning their heads towards Mecca in adoration of their prophet ; and after suffering thera to bleed freely, they care fully wash away the reraaining blood, and divide the meal into small pieces about two lbs. in weight. The natives of Barba ry are very regular wfth respect to the hours of eating. They breakfast soon afler day-break ; take a slight repast about noon ; and raake their principal raeal at sunset. At these sea sons, a large, flat earthen dish, full ofthe prepared food, is pla ced upon a low, round tray, or merely set upon the floor. Around this the family seat theraselves cross-legged, upon raats ; and, having previously washed their hands, they tear the raeat with their fingers, and forra it along with the cuscasoe into Ifttle balls, which they throw with a dexterous jerk into their raouths. They raake no use of knives and forks, and very rarely even of spoons. The raale part of the faraily eat in one corapany ; the feraales in another ; and the children, with the servants, in the third. But araong the Arabs and Berebbers tiie master of the tent generally eats alone ; the dish then passes to the chil dren ; next, to the wives ; and, lastly, to the domestics. Af ter eating they again wash their hands, mouth and beard ; but sometimes content theraselves with wiping their fingers on their clothes, or on the woolly heads of their negro slaves. It must be observed also, that, before beginning a repast, and even before entering upon any kind of work, they reverently utter the word BismiUah, tiiat is, " in the name of God ;" and upon UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 573 MOORISH DRESS MARRIAGE. concluding their meals, or completing any undertaking, they say, in Uke manner, Alhandillah, that is, " God be praised." The Moorish dress consists of a shirt and drawers, the for mer worn over the latter, and reaching to the knee. Over this is a caftan, or coat, buttoned down the front, and confined to the body 'by a sash. The head is covered with a red cap and turban, and the feet with yellow slippers, or sandals. The legs and arms are bare. When they go out, they throw carelessly over the head a piece of white cotton, or silk, called a hayk, five or six yards inlength, and nearly as raany in breadth. In presence of a superior, the hayk is suffered to fall upon the shoulders ; but the turban is never taken off nor moved. The feraale dress resembles that of the men, except in the adjust ment of the hayk, the preference of the most gaudy colors, and the slippers being red. They also wear rings, bracelets, and other ornaments, fti profusion. The natives of Barbary marry at a very early age ; and generally without having had much opportunity to establish an attachment of affection. In forming matriraonial connections, the parents of the parties may be said to be the only agents ; and it frequently happens, that the bride and bridegroom do not see each other till the cereraony is performed. During several days before marriage, the bride reraains at home to receive the congratulations of her friends, to be instructed by the taeb or priest, in tbe duties of the married state, and to undergo the pro cess of a fresh painting. During this period, the bridegroom receives the visits of his friends in the raornings ; and in the evenings is paraded through the streets on horseback, attended by a musical band of hautboys, druras, triangles, &c. ; and surrounded by his male relations and acquaintances, who testi fy their joy on these occasions, by dancing and jumping, and twirling theirmuskets in the air, by exhibiting their horseman ship, and by firing in the face and at the feet ofthe bridegroom. On the day of the marriage, the bride is placed in a square ve hicle, about twelve feet in circuraference, covered with white linen, or variegated silk, and fixed on the back ofa mule. In this litter, she is carried through the town, in the midst of her relatives and companions, accompanied with the light of torches the sound of musical instruraents, and the frequent vollies of musketry. In this manner she is conducted to the house of her intended husband, who returns about the sarae tirae, frora a simi lar exhibition ; and great care is taken, that she do not touch the threshold of the door as she enters. She then sfts down with her hand over her eyes, and the company retires ; the bride^ 49 574 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BARBARY STATES. groom IS introduced to her alone, perhaps for the first time ; takes off her veil, and receives her eis his wife, without any farther ceremony. The usual mode of salutation in Barbary is, to put the right hand on the breast, to make a gentle inclination of the head, and in this posture to give the salem aliok, or the wish of peace. If the parties are intimately acquainted, they shake hands with a very quick motion ; or merely make the extreraities of their fingers meet, and then each puts his own to his lips ; or rautual ly erabrace, kissing the forehead, shoulders or beard. They then inquire afler the health of the relatives in due order ; and among the Arabs, on these occasions, the mare, flock, and even the tent are not forgotten ; but while putting these questions they seldom wait for a reply, and are often far beyond each other's hearing, before they have finished their several interrog atories. When they accost a superior, they make the hayk, which is usually thrown loosely over the head, fall back upon the shoulders ; generally pull of their slippers as they approach, and respectfully kiss his hand, or merely that part of his hayk which covers his arra, or soraetiraes even his feet. The supe. rior in these cases, presents the back of his hand for salutation ; and it is accounted an indication of great favor, when he offers the palra. The corapliraent due to a sovereign, and to emy of his family, is to uncover the head, and then to prostrate, or rather bend the body to the ground. It is common in Barbary to address a peculiar salutation to a person who is eating, drink ing, smoking, sneezing, or belching ; naraely, saha, " may it do you good." Among the amusements of the Moors, may be mentioned the sports of the field, such as hawking, which is much practiced in Tunis, where there is a great variety of falcons ; and fowl ing, in which the sportsman njakes no use of dogs, but conceals himself under an oblong frarae of canvass, painted like a leop ard, in which are two or three holes, that he may perceive what passes, and may push out his musket, when he is suffi ciently near to the birds. They often take partridges by tun nelling, or enclosing them in a net by means ofa decoy bird in a cage ; and sometimes by springing the coveys repeatedly, till the birds become fatigued, when they take them with dogs, or knock them down wfth sticks. A whole district is often as- sembled to hunt the lion and leopard. The company encom pass a space of three or four miles in circumference, gradually contracting their circle as they proceed ; the footmen with dogs and spears advancing in the front, while the horsemen are a UNIVERS.\L TRAVELLER. 575 HUNTING FUNERALS. little behind, ready to charge upon the first sally of the wild beasts. Sometimes ihey form traps for the animals by digging holes in the ground, formed like ap inverted cone, and slighllv covered wfth earth. At other limes, the Shelluhs and Bereb bers lake their stations, near tho resort of these destructive aniraals, soraetiraes on the top ofa tree, and soraelimes in small round towers built for the purpose, with a hole or two in the wall for a musket ; and will patientiy remain in these places for whole days, living on barley raeal and water. Their raan ner of hunting the hyaena is also very singular and deserves to be particularly mentioned. Ten or twelve persons repair to the cave, which the animal is understood to frequent, and in which he always remains through the day. Oae of these strips hiraself naked, seizes a dagger in one hand, and taking the end of a rope with a noose in the other, he advances graduaUy into the cave, speaking gently, with an insinuating tone of voice, as if with a view lo fascinate the hycena. When he has reached the aniraal he strokes his back in order to soothe him, dexter. ously slips the noose round his neck, throws a piece of cloth over his face, pulls the rope al the same instant to indicate to his companions that it is fixed ; ahd then retiring behind, urges the animal forward, while the dogs attack him in front, as he is dragged along. In the pursuit of thc ostrich, the Arabs make use of the desert horse, and set out in a parly of twenty or more, riding gently against the wind, one after the other, at the distance of about half a mile asunder, tUl they discover the footmarks of the bird. When they come in sight of their garae, they rush forward al full speed, always observing the sarae relative distance. The ostrich finding her wings an impedi- raent to her progress when thus moving against the wind, turns towards her pursuers, endeavoring to pass thera ; and though she raay escape the first or second, she is generally brought down by the musket or bludgeon of those that follow. When any one dies, a number of woraen are hired for the purpose of laraentation ; and they perforra their duty, by making the raost frightful howling^, by beating ifteir heads and breasts, and tearing their faces wfth the nails of their fingers. They are so expert in the expressions of grief, that they seldom fail by their mournful sounds and afflicted gestures, to impress the funeral asserably wilh the deepest thoughtfulness and sor row. The dead are interred a few hours afler their decease ; and the greatest iraportance is attached to the rftes of burial. 57tf UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. BARBARY STATES. It is an opinion among the Moors, as it was araong the ancient heathen, that the souls of those, who have not received proper interraent, are excluded frora the abodes of the blessed ; and hence, it is accounted the raost dreadful of all punishraents to be cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs. As soon as the dying person has breathed his last, the body is carefully washed, and sewed up in a winding sheel of while cloth : For this purpose cloth that has been brought from Mecca, and blessed by the Iraara of that city, is most highly valued. The corpse is next placed on a bier, and carried on horseback, or men's shoulders, to the burying ground, which is always on the outside of the town, and of which every family has a portion walled in for their own use. All devout persons account it a highly raeritorious duty to assist in those rites : and to accompany, at least, a part ofthe way, every dead body which they may happen to raeet. The attendants walk two abreast, go very quick, and sing hyrans adapted to the occasion. The grave is rnade wide at the bot tom and narrow at the top ; and the body is deposited on its side, wfth the face towards the east, and the right hand under the head, pointing towards Mecca, while one of the priests gen erally puts into the hand a letter of recommendation to Moham med. An arch is, in most cases, fornied over the body with branches of trees to keep off the earth ; different kinds of vessels and utensils, are frequentiy interred along with the corpse ; large stones are placed upon the grave to resist the atterapts of wild beasts ; and a flag is finally erected over the spot. It is custoraary for the female relatives to weep at the tombs of their deceased friends for several days afler the fu neral ; and all, who pass by a burying ground, offer up prayers for the dead. When a wife loses her husband by death, she mourns four raonths and eight days, during which period she wears no silver or gold ; and, if she happens to be pregnant, she raust continue mourning lUl her delivery, while the relations of her late husband are bound, in the mean tirae, to provide for her subsistence. The men usuaUy express their grief by ab- staining from shaving their head, from trimming their beard, and from paring their nails.* * New Edinburgh Encyclopedia. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 577- NUBIA. 2. NUBIA. South of Egypt is Nubia, the inhabitants of which derive their origin frora the Bedouin Arabs, who invaded the country after the invasion of Mahomelism. The men are soraewhat below the Egyptians in stature, bul generally well made, strong, and rauscular, with fine features. The women, the most virtuous of the East, possess good figures, with pleasing though not handsorae countenances, and engaging manners. They are, however, worn down by continual 1 ,bor from their earliest years ; the whole business of the household being left to them, while the men attend only to the culture ofthe soil. North of Dehr, the metropolis of the country, the usual dress ofthe men is only a linen shirt, the usual color of which, among the weallhy, is blue. The cloak worn by the Egyp tian peasant is also in use. The bead-dress is a small linen cap, with sometimes a fevv rags twisted round it by way of a turban. Boys and girls go quite naked. The woraen wrap themselyes in black linen gowns, and wear ear rings and glass bracelets : sueh as cannot afford to purchase the latter, raake bracelets of straw. Their hair hangs in ringlets, and is orna mented behind wilh pieces of glass, or stones, which are con sidered as amulets. South of Dehr, a small apron, or a piece of cloth about the waist, is all that is worn. The Nubians seldora go unarraed : as soon as a boy grows up, his first care is to purchase a short crooked knife, which he ties over his left elbow, under his shirt, and is always ready to draw it upon the slightest quarrel. When he goes from one vU lage to another, the Nubian carries a heavy stick loaded with iron at one end ; besides which he is armed with a lance and shield. Some have swords also ; but fire-arms and ammuni tion are scarce. The habitations of the people are constructed either with mud or loose stones. The latter sort generally stand on the declivity of the hills, and consist of two separate and circular buUdings, one for the males, the other for the feraales. The mud dwellings are coramonly so low, that a person can scarce ly stand upright in them. They are covered with the stalks of the dhourra, which are soon eaten up by the cattle, and then their place is supplied by palm leaves. The houses of the richer inhabitants frequently surround an area, or enclosed 49* 578 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. space, with the raen's apartraents separated frora those of the woraen. Their principal utensils consist ofabout half a dozen coarse earthen jars, in which the provisions are kept, a few earth. en plates, a hand-raill, a hatchet, and sorae round sticks, over which the loora is laid. Nubia possesses but few groups of houses deserving the narae of towns ; and the villages are for the most part widely separated. Araong the chief articles of Nubian diet, are coarse cakes made of dhourra ; which is ground by the women every mor ning, and kneaded and baked in a few minutes. Palm.wine is to be had in most of the villages ; and a liquor resembling beer, called bouza, is raade from both dhourra and barley. The Nubians purchase their wives, and are extremely jealous of their honor. Upon the slightest suspicion, the husband drags his unfortunate wife by night to the banks of the river, and after cutting open her bosom with his knife, throws her in- to the water, " to be food for the crocodiles." Otherwise they are kind in disposftion, hospitable to strangers, fond of singing, and so extremely honest, that pilfering is scarcely known among them. Curiosity is one of their most prominent char acteristics ; and they ask their guest a thousand questions about the place he carae from, and the business that brought hira into their country. 3. ABYSSINIA. South of Nubia lies Abyssinia, which is generaUy descri bed as forraing an extensive table land, gently inclining to the north west. The population ofthis country is uncertain. Thoy consist of many tribes of various colors ; some black ; some fair, though not exactly white ; and some of copper hue ; the prevailing qolor is olive. They are tall, graceful, and well fea tured. The principal part of their dress consists of a long piece of cotton cloth, wrapped Uke a mantle about the body to which are added short drawers, and a girdle of cloth. The costume of woraen of rank is composed of the richest silks, fre quentiy ornaraented with jewels, trinkets, and images. Their chief food is the different species of grain produced in the coun try, particularly teff, with honey, and the flesh of sheep and oxen, wbich they generally eat raw. As no man of conse quence in Abyssinia ever feeds himself, or touches his victuals. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 579 MA RRIAGE SUPERSTITIONS. a feraale sits on each side of him, who cuts the raw flesh, still warra in the blood, into sraall pieces, which they roll up in pie ces ofthe teff cake, and alternately thrust thera into his raouth. When he is satisfied, they regale theraselves with what re mains ; and the repast is concluded wfth copious draughts of bouza, or maize wine. In Abyssftiia, feraales are allowed to appear in public, and converse freely with the raen. Those of the higher classes are unguarded in their conduct ; but women of the lower or ders are oflen exemplary, and engage in the most laborious offi ces of domestic life. One of their chief eraployraents is to grind corn for the family by hand raills. Marriage in this country is generally a simple contract, over which the priest has no control. When a man is desirous of marriage, he applies to the parents or nearest relatives of the feraale of his choice, and their consent ends the business : the girl being rarely consulted on the occasion. The settling of the dower which she is to bring, is of much more irapor tance, and soraetiraes attended wfth serious difficulties- When, however, this is adjusted, the friends of both parties asserable, the marriage is declared, and after a day spent in festivfty, the bride is carried to the house of her husband, efther upon his own shoulders, or those of his friends. The wife does not change her name ; and her dower is kept apart from her hus band's property, to be returned, should his ill treatraent force her to abandon him. The Abyssinians are extremely superstitious. Among oth er strange fancies, they believe that all workers in iron have the power of transforraing themselves into hysenas, that they may glut theraselves with human flesh ; and all bodily injuries which they raay chance to sustain during their disguise, are supposed to leave a corresponding wound in their proper fraraes ! When setting out on a journey, they pay particular attention to a singular species of falcon, of a deep brown color, with a white breast. If it sit still, with the breast towards thera, while they pass, ft is a good sign, and the business they are going upon is expected to prosper : if its back be turned to wards thera, it is thought unpropitious, though not sufficiently so as to create alarm ; but should it fly away on their approach, they return home and wait for a more favorable opportunity. When a person is seized with the fever, called Tigre Ter, 'a disease peculiar to the country, the relations expose to his sight all the fine clothes and ornaments of gold and silver they can collect, or borrow, making at tbe same time as much noise as 580 UNIVERSAL .TRAVELLER. ABYSSINIA. possible with druras, trumpets, and vociferous outcries, in order to drive out of the patient the devil, by whom they believe him to be possessed. As soon, however, as the sick person approaches the raoraent of death, the drums and trumpets cease, and a raournful howl is set up. When the death is an nounced, the friends tear their hair, scratch the skin frora their teraples, and throw themselves on the ground, sobbing and screaming in all the agony of despair ; and in this they are joined hy all the neighbors and acquaintance of the deceased, with their several dependants. Soon after death, the body, having been carefully washed and fumigated with incense, is sewed up in one of the cloths which the deceased wore in his Ufe tirae, and carried to the . grave by the relations ; and while it is being deposited in the earth, the priests recite an appointed form of prayer. On the following day, or as soon afterwards as the friends of the party " can be asserabled, a feast is held in honor of the deceased, which commences with a procession to the grave, attended by hired female raourners, who rend the air with their outcries ; and concludes with eating to excess, and drinking till the whole asserably is intoxicated. This strange kind of commeraoration is repeated several times in the course of the year, every new relation striving to outdo the rest in the splendor of his enter tainraent. An attendance at these raeetings is considered the highest honor that can be conferred upon the faraily. Among the customs peculiar to Abyssinia we select the fol lowing. When a building has been left uninhabited, it is usual to kUl a cow or a sheep, and distribute the carcass within the walls ; an offering which it is presumed satisfies the ghost of the place, who iraraediately leaves it in peace. But when such houses are abandoned or neglected, the offending demon haunts the mouldering remains, and kills those whom it finds taking up even a temporary residence among thera, without ap peasing its wrath by the custoraary obligation. Another custom is in courts of law, whether held by the gov- ernor of the province or by a subordinate magistrate, for the plaintiff and the defendant to stand up wilh their dress tied round their middle, leaving the upper part of the body naked; a custom which is observed even in the severest weather. The turverkas, or lawyers, stand on either side of them plead ing in a loud tone of voice their several causes; during which process wagers of mules, cows, sheep, and gold, are continu ally laid by these orators that they will prove such and such charges contained in the libel ; and in all cases the forfeft be- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 581 CAFFRARIA . coraes the perquisite of the presiding judge. They also bind theraselves in a sirailar way not lo speak until their antagonist shall have finished his address ; but, as it often happens, the falsehoods related by the one incense the other to such a degree that, although he holds his mouth with his hands, he forgets hiraself and exclaims, "a lie I" He is instantly addressed by the governor's servant, whose office it is to watch for such slips, and is obliged either to give bond for the payraent of his bet, or to submit to personal restraint.* 4. CAFFRARIA. Caffraria, as exhibfted in many of our old maps, constitutes one of the largest divisions of the vast continent of Africa, being bounded on the north by Nigrftia and Abyssinia ; on the west by part of Guinea and Congo ; on the eastern side by the Indian Ocean ; and southward by the Cape of Good Hope. But the part now occupied by the nuraerous natives generally desig nated Caffre is rauch raore limited, lying altogether on the south side of the equator, and stretching along the coast in a north- east direction from the colony of the Cape. Barrow pronounced the Caffres to be " ihe finest race qf men he ever beheld." Ray, in his " Researches," speaks less highly of their personal appearance, but admits that there are "raany remarkably fine and well made men araong thera." Many of thera, this latter writer adds, are tall, robust and very rauscular : their habits of life induce a firraness of carriage, and an open, raanly demeanor, which is altogether free from that apparent consciousness of fear and suspicion which gener ally characterizes uncivilized nations. In stature, they vary from five to six feet ten inches ; and a cripple or deforraed person is seldom seen among them. Though black, or nearly so, they have not one line of the African negro in their shape or persons. The women, however, are not as well formed as the men. They are raostly of low stature ; very strong lirabed ; and particularly muscular in the leg, — more especially when advanced in years. They have no traces whatever of the thick lip, which forms such a prominent trait in the features of * Nubia and Abyssinia by Rev. IVI. Russel 582 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CAFFRARIA. the African negro ; and as widely do they differ both in per son and character frora the Hotlenlol race, in whose borders they have so long been resident. They are remarkably good- humored, cheerful and animated, excepting when enfeebled by sickness or age. There is a national sprightliness, activity, and vivacity about them, which greatly distinguishes them from the women of raost nations that are but Uttie advanced in civUization, and who are generally reserved in their disposi tion towards strangers. Their apparel, like that ofthe ancient Britons, in the days of Julius Csesar, consists wholly of beast's skins, curried and pre pared in such a raanner, as to render them perfectly soft and pliable. The inner side is then colored witb a kind of dark ochre, or charcoal. These leathern garments, which are gen erally long enough to reach to the feet, are raerely suspended frora the shoulders, like a soldier's cloak, and hang entirely loose, excepting when the cold renders it necessary to wrap themselves up more closely. But, leaving out of the question a small and indecent covering that hides the part whence the foreskin was cut in circumcision, a state of nudfty is that in which the men are raost frequently seen ; and in which they appear to pride themselves. Hence arises the fillhy practice of rubbing their bodies, frora head to foot, with the lat of animals, or some other unctuous raatter, lo prevent the skin frora being parched by the sun's rays. The head is quite exposed in the hot test as well as in the coldest weather unless sickness obhge them to cover it. They frequently, indeed, deprive themselves of the slight covering with which nature has furnished thera by shav ing the head altogether. But this is doubtiess done, in most cases at least, for the purpose of ridding themselves of verrain, which is not a Uttle increased by the raode adoptcd, and the ma terials used, in dressing their hair. The}' seldom put any thing on the feet, except when travelling, and about taking a consid erable journey ; and then they only wear soles, or a rude de scription of sandals, consisting of stiff pieces of hide roughly shaped to the foot, and fixed by raeans of two or three short thongs, that pass over the instep. The dress ofthe women consists of the sarae rude raaterials as that of the men : it only diflbrs in shape. Their ingubo, or upper garment, has a narrow loose flap appended to the collar behind : this extends to the bottora ofthe skirts, and sometimes lower, forming a sort of train. It is usually ornamented wfth three rows of buttons, placed in parallel lines from the top to UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 583 COSTUME. the bottom ofthe mantle, each being set as thickly as possible. Without these, (which all are not wealthy enough to procure,) the cloak is considered incomplete. Short leathern petticoats, also, are worn ; and, when engaged in any kind of labor, such as gardening, &c., constitute tlieir only habiliments : the ingubo is then laid aside, being too cumbersome. By many, however, among the higher class especially, nothing more than a small apron, decorated with various colored beads, is used under the cloak. This is but three or four inches broad, and might seem to be used more as an ornament than as a matter of decorum. Excepting cases of age, childhood, and mothers who nurse, it is accounted exceedingly unbecoraing for a female to go about with her breasts uncovered. Over these, therefore, she wears the imleka, which is also ornamented wilh beads. Great taste is frequently displayed in their caps, or head-dresses, which are generally the most expensive part of their costurae. They are made frora the skin of a peculiar species of antelope, indi- genous to the forest, and called by the natives iputi. This being cut to the shape required, a large quantity of variegated beads are stitched on wfth great regularity ; and as white and light blue generally forra the principal shades in this Kaffer turban, their contrast wfth the sable countenance ofthe wearer, is far fVom being disagreeable. Wheu coraplete, the weight is of course considerable ; and the shape altogether too masculine to accord with European ideas of female delicacy. It is rare, indeed, to see a woman with any thing on her fe^, even when travelling : she almost invariably goes barefoot, under all cir cumstances, and in all kinds of weather. The chief woraen, even to the queen herself, are not at all distinguished by dress frora the most coramon orders : like all the rest, they are wholly destitute of change either for days or seasons, each carries her entire wardrobe about her person daily, and has no other bedclothes at night. Their leathern raantles are usually renewed once a year ; and choice cattle are then slaughtered for this purpose expressly. Black cows or oxen are generally selected, a decided preference being given to that color. The only visible difference between the most exalted and poorest feraales of the land, consists in the quantity of ornaments they possess. Of these, bracelets, necklaces, and ear-drops, forra the principal. Some have as many as fiftj'', and others raore than three times that number of beadstrings around the neck ; on the arms are rings of copper or iron ; and when beads were less plentiful in the country, festoons of small cyprcea shell were appended to their caps, and 584 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CAFFRARIA. soraetimes worn as necklaces. Suspended frora the neck, or frora sorae part of the cloak, many carry the shell of a small land-tortoise, containing a quantity of red pulverized ochre, together with a thin piece of leather, which, with this Kaffer rouge, is occasionally rubbed upon the cheeks. A button, shell, or sraall string of beads, usually serves as a succedaneura for ear-rings. The men's ornaments are much the same as those of the women. Their arras, above the elbows, are often adorned with broad ivory rings, cut out ofthe solid part of an elephant's tusk well polished. From the wrist upwards there are fre quently as many as thirty bracelets, made of iron or brass ; and metal rings are also worn on the legs, just above the ankles. In addition to great quantities of beads, various other things are suspended from the neck, such as sraall pieces of cedar wood, the bones and teeth of certain animals, &c. These, however, are regarded as a kind of charm rather than orna ments. Round the heads ofthe chiefs are sometimes seen nar- row straps, thickly studded with different colored beads singu larly and tEistefuUy arranged ; and on going to war, the com plete wings of the blue crane, fastened on each side of the head, constitute their national plumes. Many decorate their legs with the hairy extremity of a favorite cow's tail, or with that of some wild beast that has fallen under their spear in the chase. This is attached to the knee, and hangs down the shin. The ears of all, with comparatively few exceptions, are bored ; and among some of the tribes this practice is carried to an extrava gant extent, distending the lobes to the very uttermost, and leaving holes of enormous size. Their manner of life is truly patriarchal, and general diet extremely siraple. This ordinarily consists of milk, which, like the Arabs and Foulah nation of Western Africa, they in variably use in a sour curdled state. It is called amaaz, and rendered thus thick and acidulous by being kept in leathern sacks or botties, the appearance of which is filthy in the ex treme, and, to the eye of a stranger, exceedingly disgusting. These vessels are replenished with fresh milk from the cow, morning and evening ; this is generally found in an hour or two before they draw off that designed for family use. It is soraetimes kept in calabashes (gourd shells ;) but in these it of ten contracts a pecuUar and disagreeable taste. New milk is seldom used, excepting by children ; nor does it ever undergo any other preparation than tiiat already mentioned. This Caffre Man. P- 581- Caffre Woman. P. 583. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 5£5 DIET HUTS. forras the Kaffer's standing dish ; and next to this, a bowl of boiled corn. The grain raost coramonly cultivated by the tribes of Southern Africa is a species of millet or guinea corn, cslled amazimba by the Kaffer, and mabali by the Boochuana. It is used in different ways ; but most comraonly in a boiled slate. When thus prepared, il is served up in sraall baskets, out of which each helps himself, raaking his hands serve as a succedaneum for spoons. Seasoning of any kind is seldom used : excepting when mixed with a little milk, the bare grain constitutes the sole ingredient of the raess. It is someliraes pounded between two stones with the hand (corn mills being altogether unknown in Caffraria,) and made into a kind of pot- tage ; and at other times formed into thick cakes, which are always on the hearth, amid hot erabers, after the manner ofthe ancients. Indian corn also is cuftivated, but not so extensive ly ; purapkins likewise, together with a few other esculent plants. But of the latter they seldora lay up any store ; con sequently they are only useful while the season lasts ; and this is in a great measure the case with maize also ; for while it continues in season both young and old are seen parching and eating ft at all hours ofthe day. A species of sugar cane caU ed itfe, is grown in great abundance ; of this the natives are reraarkably fond, on account of its sweet and succulent quali ty. A decoction of ft, as Ukewise of the Indian cornstalk, is soraetiraes made for the purpose of sweetning their raess of mil let. Add to the above an occasional feast of animal food, and we have the diet complete of a strong and able bodied people. They seldom sit down to more than one good raeal a day ; and that is in the evening, about an hour before bed time : an occasional draught of milk is generally aU they take besides. Few indeed are the wants of nature, while the appetite remains unenthralled by the vitiating influence of luxury. The spon taneous productions of the vegetable kingdom constftute their chief dependence as ft regards subsistence, in all cases of eraergency. The Kaffer inhlu, house, or hut, is of the most simple de scription, and far inferior in every respect to that of the Boo- chuana. The slight and fragUe materials of which it is com posed render the building but a temporary one at best. A circular frarae is.first set up, consisting of long straight bran ches, the upper extreraities of which are bent and bound to gether with umxeba, or wooden fibres. The thatch which is on the housesiof the South Sea islands, extenduig from the 50 586 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CAFFRARIA. ground to the top is then bound on wilh the same sort of cor dage, or otherwise with intsontelo, a small rope made of rush es, after which the inside is lined with utyabeka, a strong plas ter of clay and cow dung. When complete, the form is ex actly that of a beehive ; and the door way is shaped in the same manner as the entra of those little insect dwellings. There being neither window nor chimney, this aperture neces sarUy serves for the ingress of light, as well as for the egress of sraoke. The diaraeter of the roora varies frora six to twelve, or fifteen feet ; its floor is slightly elevated, and an umseli, gut ter or drain, is generally raade around the foundation to carry off the water in rainy weather- Excepting a few thorn bran ches, which are soraelimes thrown carelessly around the hut, to prevent the cattle tearing off fts grassy roof, it seldom has the benefit offence ofany description whatever. Between the houses of the nobles and those of the most indigent, there is no material difference, excepting that the former class are perhaps a Ultle neater at first, but not at all more substantial, nor yet more convenient. The chiefs have indeed more huts at their command tban the comraon people, owing to their having a greater number of wives, each of whom is required to make her own. Frora this work the king's wife herself is not exempt ; she may have, indeed she generally has, more assistance than the wife of a plebeian, having more servants at her beck ; but she alone slands responsible for the completion ofthe work. As fragil habftations require but comparatively little labor and less cost, their destruction, or the necessity of leaving them, is seldom the cause of rauch uneasiness to the occupants, to whose pastoral and raigratory habits this unsubstantial mode of build ing, in all probability owes its origin. Being utter stangers to the comforts and conveniences of civilized life, they of course see no necessity for a larger and more commodious kind of dweUing. The cliraate is so fine and warm in general that the day is usually spent in the open air ; it is only the night-shade, bad weather, or sickness that will induce them to remain much within doors ; and when the latter of these causes operates as the occasion of their confinement, the scene is melancholy in deed ! A Kaffer umze, viUage, commonly called " kraal," consists simply of six, ten, or a dozen of these huts, and a cattle fold or two. The latter usuaUy constitute by far the most prominent objects in the view ; whatever may be the state of the houses, the folds have at all times paramount claims upon the attention UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 587 KRALLS THE AMAXOS. of the owners, and are almost always kept in rauch better re pair. The question whether or not, a proposed spot is suitable for the rebuhlanti often determines the site of a village ; which, on this account, is invariably buUt so asto ensure the sun's gen ial influence at an early hour in the raorning. ThesO encloses are generally erected in the midst of the houses, under the own- er's eye, and wfthin reach of instant protection, in all cases of eraergency. Gardens or corn-lands are scarcely ever attach ed to their haralels with the view of enriching the prospect, profit alone being the incentive by which the narive horticulturist is actuated. No flower-beds, therefore, are to be found in a Kaffer garden ; the rose and the violet, &c. never yet occupi ed a place there ; nor do they ever seem to have thought of planting trees of any description whatever. So entirely devoid are they of that taste, which induces an admiration of natural scenery, that they unhesitatingly cut down the finest trees for tha most trifling purposes. The rural and the romantic are alike destftute of charras in the eye ofa Kaffer, when selecting his dweUing-place ; hence the traveller need not be surprised to find even chiefs, who havj the land before thera, burying theraselves in barren nooks, where they cannot see to the dis tance of half a raile in any direction. In some things the Amaxos a tribe of Kaffers, are extreme ly particular ; but in others their habits are disgusting beyond raeasure. When sitting down to raeal, for instance, if the hands are considered unclean, a quantity of fresh cow dung is invaria bly used as the substitute for soap and water. When engaged in the act of slaughtering, the beast is no sooner opened than a scrarable takes place for the gall, the bitter contents of which are eagerly drunk by the individual, who first gels hold of il. Nor is this all that is calculated to sicken one on such occa sions. When cul up, pieces of the raeat are purposely rolled on the floor of the cattle fold, previously to being used ; and certain parts even of the entrails are bul just thrown on the fire before the savage butchers voraciously devour thera whUe Ut eraUy covered wilh filth. The sraall baskets in which their food is usually served up are made from a species of cyperus, a strong reedy grass that is frequentiy found growing about fountains. They are ofa circular shape, neatiy wrought ; and the texture is so close as to render them capable of containing any kind of liquid. One traveller tells us that it is into these vessels that milk is thrown for the purpose of coagulation ; while another, Vaillant, with still less accuracy, asserts that they wash them wfth urine, to make the milk coagulate more 588 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SOUTHERN AFRICA. speedily. But although nefther one nor the other of these gen tieraen is correct, the state in which these bowls are kept is in describably dirty. Whenever eraptied of their contents, they are immediately placed on the ground for the dogs to lick ; and this constftules almost tho only purification they ever ob- tain.* 5. SOUTHERN AFRICA. Southern Africa coraprehends Cape Colony, or the Dutch settleraents near the Cape of Good Hope, and the regions north occupied by various tribes of Hottentots. The Cape was originaUy discovered by the Portuguese, and afterwards colonized by the Dutch. Cape Town, the capital, was founded in 1652, and is built with great regularity and a considerable degree of elegance. The streets, which are wide, intersect each other at right angles. The houses probably ex ceed 2000 in nuraber, and for the raost part are of stone, ce mented with a glutinous kind of earth, and are generally white washed on the outside. Their height is seldom more thau two floors, frequent storras rendering a greater elevation dan gerous. The population of Cape Town is now probably more than 20,000. The population of thirteen divisions of the east and west Provinces into which the colony is divided was in 1827 about 120,000. Although the colony has passed into the pos session of Great Britain, a great proportion of the inhabftants are descendants of the first settlers. Notwithstanding their European descent, these people, usu ally denominated boors or farmers, are destitute of even the rudiments of a good education, and their notions of religion and morals are extremely relaxed. Smoking and sleep occu py a great part of their time ; and indolence has become so habftual to them, as to prove too powerful even for their nation al characteristic of self interest. They have oxen in abund ance, but seldom use any for food. Their lands overflow with milk and butter which they scarcely ever taste. Wine is produc ed by many, and easily produced by all ; yet this they rarely drink. Mutton, bad bread, and vegetables stewed in sheep's fat, constftute their fare. Every thing about them manifests ¦" Kay's Caffraria. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 589 DUTCH BOORS HOTTENTOTS. the Utmost wretchedness, where comfort might be easily enjoy ed, had they bul industry to make theraselves happy. This indolence is occasioned by the facility with which Hot tentot slaves are obtained ;\and a boor has generally twenty or thirty of these poor creatures running about him, though he has not employraent for more than four or five, except in har vest time. The consequence is, that his sons and daughters have no occasion to put their hands lo any work ; and being destitute of intellectual attainments, they lounge about, or sleep, during the greater part of the day. Thus their years roll on in raiserable listlessness. The boors treat their Hottentots with gre .t severity ; and there is scarcely an act of cruelty in the history of West India slavery, that has not its parallel in their conduct. Culling wilh the cliambos, a kind of whip made from the hide of the rhinoceros, which is pliable and almost as heavy as lead, is con sidered a slight chastiseraent ; firing sraall shot inlo their legs has been used as a punishraent for trifling offences ; and life it self has not unfrequently been sacrificed by these brutal mas- ters. Such is the general character of the Dutch boors ; hap pily, it does not apply to every individual ; sorae few are to be raet with, in whom a spirft of industry and economy are com bined with unbounded hospftality, a firm adherence to truth, and a great respect for religion. The Hottentots consist of several tribes, as the Colonial Hot tentots, or such as live within the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope ; the Bosjesmans or Wild Hottentots, who occupy part of the mountains on the north ofthe Colony ; the Corrannas or Cor rans, who dwell north of the Bosjesmans ; and the Namacquas, who dwell partly in the north. west district of the colony, and spread beyond it. The Colonial Hottentots, or Quaigua, as they call themselves, are descendants of the aboriginees of the country. In their persons, these Hottentots are tolerably well proportioned, and erect. Their heads, feet, and joints are smal^ and their bodies are delicately forraed ; but their general appearance is ferai nine. Their countenance, however, is any thing but handsorae ; the head very flat ; cheek-bones prorainent and high ; chin pointed ; eyes of a deep chesnut color, long, narrow, and dis tant from each other ; eyeUds rounded like those of the Chi nese ; and the coraplexion, where not concealed by a thick coat of grease and dirt, ofa yellowish brown, reserabling that of an European in one ofthe last stages of jaundice : such are the char- 50^ 59 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SOUTHERN AFRICA. acteristics of the genuine Hottentot. The hair, which is black and frizzled like a Negro's, grows in small tufts, and is either cut short, so as to have the appearance of a brush, or hangs in twisted tassals like a fringe. Of the women, suffice it to say, that they are unexceptionaUy the mosl ill formed and iil propor tioned of the huraan race. The dress of these people consists chiefly of a thick coat of of fat, raixed wfth a little soot, and sraeared all over the body ; this is never wiped off, lut continually augraented by dust and filth. A thong of skin about the waist, from which are suspend ed a piece of jackals' skin behind, reaching to about the mid dle of the thigh, constitutes the whole ofthe raale attire. The females wear the same, and have in addition, a smaU apron, a few inches in. breadih, scarcely reaching to the knee in front, and behind, a piece of dried sheep's skin, hanging down to the the middle of the leg. They are very fond of glass beads, and other showy ornaments, with which, and rings of leather, iron, copper, or brass, they load their necks, and arms, and legs ; and they decorate their little aprons with beads, shell and other articles, that raake both show and noise. Brass buttons and plates which they fix in their hair, with small pieces of looking glass, are as highly esteemed among the Hottentots as dia monds by Europeans. Indolence has been the bane of these people, while sensuaUty and filth, ils usual concoraitants, are evils that have been strengthened by the conterapt and oppression ofthe Dutch settiers. They have not, indeed, the same inducement to labor as more civilized tribes. If a Hottentot can obtain barely enough to support nature, he is satisfied ; and wrapped in his sheep's skin, can sleep contentedly under any bush. They would rather fast and sleep the whole day, than hunt, or perform any kind of la bor, to procure food ; although, when they do obtain it, they are extremely voracK)us When they get possession of any an iraal, they takeoff a large slice of flesh, and after cutting ft in to a long spiral string, lay it on the fire ; but their impatience sel dom lets it be raore than warra, when they seize it with both hands, and applying one end to the mouth, soon arrive at the other : thus they proceed till the whole animal is consumed. Notwithstanding this savage mode of living, the Hottentots are kind and affectionate towards each other ; and ready to share their last morsel with their companions. They are harm- less, honest, faithful ; but extremely phlegmatic ; hence they never give themselves up to that Uvely joy and unrestrained pleasure, which are observable among all other black or tawny UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 591 THE BOSJESMANS. nations. They have liltle of the art and cunning that savages generally possess : if accused of criraes, of which they know themselves guilty, they generally divulge the truth ; and they rarely quarrel among theraselves, or use provoking language. Though naturally of a quiet and timid disposition, they will run inlo the face of danger, if led on by their superiors ; and endure pain with great fortitude. Whoever travels among thera, raay be sure of finding food and lodging, such as they have to bestow, and though they wUl receive presents, they ask for nothing. Of their willingness to receive instruction, and their aptitude to learn, ample testimony is given by the Christian missionaries, who, since the comraenceraent of the present cen tury have been settled among them by British benevolence ; and whose labors have met wfth most promising results. The Bosjesmans, or Bushmen, are among the lowest ranks of human beings ; their rugged haunts and their valor have pre served their independence, and the raost confirmed hatred has long subsisted between them and the colonists ; upon whom they often raake inroads, carry off their sheep and cattie, and kill the boors, who go out for the express purpose, as the English gentry go out to shoot wild fowls or hares. The name of these people has been derived ftom two sources ; first, their practice of attacking their enemies and their prey from behind a bush ; secondly, frora their habit of nestling in bushes. The stature of the Bosjesman's is considerably below of that the other Hottentots ; few attaining four feet and six in ches. Their physiognomy has the same characteristic features with the colonial tribe ; but their eyes are vastly more wild and aniraated ; and their whole countenance is raore expressive, ex hibiting strong syraptoras pf suspicion and apprehension. They are in general so miserably lean, that their skin hangs in folds ; and their women are, if possible, more ugly than those of the colony. Sloth seeras to be inherent in these people ; but if once this propensity be so far subdued that they coramence an undertaking, they pursue it with boldness, with cunning, and with pertinacfty, tUl it is accomplished. They are great cowards ; and never stop to meet an adversary in the open field j a single musket-shot will put a hundred of them to flight ; and whoever rushes upon them wfth a good stick in his hand, has no reason to fear any resistance from ever so large a number. To aira their poisoned arrows at an unarmed person from some secure hiding place is the only mode of making war. Among themselves, strength alone is the arbiter of their differences ; 592 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SOUTHERN AFRICA. and even the faraily corapact is not binding. The stronger someliraes takes both the wife and the weapons of the weaker, who is then left without redress. The sight of the Bosjesraans is very quick, frora constant exercise in discovering the objects of food at a distance ; but their taste, sraell, and feeling, are highly defective ; no disgust is evinced by them at the most nau seous kinds of food ; and they appear to be little sensible of the changes of teraperature. With their envenoraed arrows, they can strike with great precision those wild beasts whose strength and swiftness would otherwise be an overraatch for them. The effect of the poison is so rapid, that they are sure to find the animal dead or dying within a quarter of an hour af ter it has been touched. To cut out the poisoned part, and to begin to devour tbe prey, are acts which follow each other with the utmost rapidfty ; nor is the spot quitted till the last bone is picked. The Bosjesman has no settled habitations ; his whole life is spent in wandering from place to place, rarely passing two suc cessive nights on the sarae spot. He is fond of taking up his abode in caverns among the raountains, or in clefts of the rocks : if in the plain, he gets into the raiddle of a bush, and, bending the boughs around him, makes them serve as a defence against enemies or wild beasts, or he digs a hole in the ground, a few in ches deep, and of an oval shape, and, wrapped in a sheep's skin, buries himself wfthin it. In the hot season of the year, he stretches hiraself in the bed of a river, under the shade of the mimosas, the branches of which he draws around him as a skreen from the sun and wind. As these people live by destruction,all their uigenuitv is employ ed in preparing weapons by wihch ft raay be effected. Their bows and arrows, and the poison wilh which the latter are arraed display considerable art. Their whole stock of other utensUs consislso nly of a few tortoise shells, ostrich eggs, and gourds. They usually eat their flesh raw ; or, if they cook it, they on ly warra it, and apply their teeth to it the moraent ft is taken off the erabers. Their beverage is waler, which they always drink frora the running streara. They are however, not rauch ac customed to drink, and will reraain whole days without any li quid passing their lips ; as a substitute, they chew the few succu lent plants, with which their barren soil suppUes thera ; and their food is eaten without salt. Although the Bosjesraan's are so ex tremely voracious, that half a dozen of them will devour a fat sheep in an hour, they can endure surprising fasts, of several days continuance. Mere sloth is sometimes the motive of this UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 593 THE CORANNAS. abstinence, and they would ralher resist the cravings of the storaach, and endeavor to sleep thera away, than raake any bodi ly exertions to satisfy them. Several atterapts lo civilize these people have been made by the raissionaries, but hitherto without success. The Corannas, or Corans, who dwell north of the Bosjes mans, and are perpetuaUy at war with thera, are represented as a raild and well disposed race, descended frora the oldest in habftants of this part of Africa. They live in small villages, called kraals, coraposed of huts of hemispherical form. They much resemble the Colonial Hottentots, but their cheek-bones are less prominent, and their faces raore oval. They are also more voluptuous, deficient in bodily strength, given to idleness, little interested for others, and not renowned for raartial courage. Their clothing consists of a raantle of prepared skin, either bullock's or antelope's, and it often has figures of various kinds scraped upon the hairy side. They decorate their ears, necks, and arras, wfth ornaraents, which they purchase from the neighboring tribe of Beetjuans. They are much celebrated for training oxen, both for riding and draught ; and the Beetjuans purchase the former of them. These animals trot or gallop excellently well, and clear a space of ground, without urging, in a short tirae. On disraounting, the rider always has the ani raal led about for a few rainutes, that he raay cool gradually. The bridle is fastened to a piece of wood, passed through the cartilage of the nose, and a sheep's or goat's skin serves for a saddle. The Corannas apply themselves but littie to agricul ture. Some skins and mats, on which they sleep, leathern knapsacks, and vessels resembling cans, cut out of a solid piece of wood, with calabashes and baraboo canes, corapose the whole of their furniture. Most of thera carry a Beetjuan knife in a case slung round their necks, wilh a sraall leather bag, or the shell of a tortoise, for a pipe, tobacco, and flint. Of tobacco and ardent spirits they are extreraely fond, and raay be won to any purpose by thera. They also find great ipleasure in danc ing. They often shift their residence, always carrying with thera the sticks and mats of which their cabins are buUt. These, with their few household goods, being expeditiously packed in a small compass on the backs of their oxen, a whole village is struck and in raarch in a few minutes. The richest raan in the kraal is leader of the party, and spokesraan on all occasions ; but he possesses no judicial right over the rest. The efforts 594 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. SOUTHERN AFRICA. ofthe raissionaries have been equally unavaiUng here, as aniong the Bosjesmans. The Namaquas inhabit both banks of the Orange River, near its junction with the sea, and are pertinacious adherents to the customs of their forefathers. They differ little from other Hottentots, except that they are generally taller and more ac tive, as well as rnore advanced in the arts of life, such as the construction of huts, the rearing of cattle, and other simple labors. Some of the females, while young, have elegant figures, but an old Naraaqua woraan is altogether disgusting. Cattle are their chief wealth ; and in the wars and dissensions, which are frequent araong thera, the great object is to seize each oth er's herds. Hunting is pursued in the usual African method : the whole kraal turns out, and having surrounded the garae, they contract the circle, till they bring all within a sraall space, and can kill thera with their spears. The houses of the Nam acquas are hemispheres, about ten or twelve feet in diameter, composed of a frarae-work of slicks, and covered with sedge malting. The latier is manufactured by the women, who also build the houses, milk the cows, and dig up wild roots for food. Their principal drink is milk, and the only fermented liquor they have, is made from honey. When a raan wishes to mar ry, he purchases his bride of ber parents, for cattle, and sorae are also slaughtered for a feast. AVhen a youth has grown up to raanhood, his neck and head are enveloped with the fat of an aniraal slaughtered for the occasion, which he raust wear till il graduaUy drops off. Several incisions are also made on his breast with a sharp instrument ; and a feast of milk concludes this first day's ceremony. The young man continues eight days under the shed in which this inftialion has been performed, taking nothing but railk for his sustenance ; a dance then takes place, and the entrails of the animal slain at the coraraence ment ofthe cereraony, having been dried and reduced to pow der, are raixed with water, and he is rubbed all over with them, and declared lo be a raan in the presence of the whole kraal. All who do not submft to tiiis rite are despised, and allowed to eat only with woraen. When a man first kills an elephant, a sea-cow, or a rhinoceros, he receives peculiar honors : and rings made of the animals entrails are put upon his arms, and constantly worn afterwards. A strong aflection appears to exist here between parents and their children. Old age is com- mon among thera. When a father dies, his eldest .son inherits the whole property ; if the other sons get any thing, it is only UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 595 CENTRAL AFRICA. by fighting for it ; and in all cases the widow is left destitute ofany share. Soraething like witchcraft is in use among these people ; they practice many superstitions over their sick, and bury their dead in round holes. Within the last twelve or fourteen years, sorae missionary stations have been established araong these people, with more success than could have been expected. At most of these places, the population has become stationary, the ground is cultivated, substantial houses, as well as places of worship, have been built ; the latter are attended with decorum, and the Christian Sabbath is respected.* 6. CENTRAL AFRICA. Central Africa, soraetiraes called Nigritia, or Negroland, occupies a wide extent of country, and erabraces numerous states or kingdoms, the principal of which are, Bornou, Beg harmi, Mandara, Loggun, the FeUatah kingdom, Timbuctoo, Borgoo, Youriba, Barabarra, &c. Of these, Bornou appears to be the most important sovereign ty, and the best known. It lies west of the lake Tchad and east of Houssa, between 10° and 15° N. lat. It forms an ex- tensive plain, stretching 200 miles along the western shore of the iraraense lake already raentioned, and nearly the same distance inland. The population of Bornou, estimated by Major Denham, at 5,000,000 souls, is composed of a great diversity of races and tribes ; and no fewer than ten different dialects are spoken in the empire. The Bornouese, or Kanowry, as they call them selves, are characterized by a large unmeaning face with the negro nose, wide mouth, good teeth and high forehead. " They are peaceable, quiet, and civil ; they salute each other with courteousness and warmth ; and there is a remarkably good- natured heaviness about them. They are' no warriors, but revengeful ; and the best of them are given to petty larcenies on every opportunity that offers. They are extreraely timid. " The women are particularly cleanly, but not good-looking : they have large mouths, very thick lips, and high foreheads. The manner of dressing their hair is also very unbecoming. * Aspin's Cosmorama. 596 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CENTRAL AFRICA. It is brought over the top of the head in three thick rolls, joining in front in a point, and thickly plastered with indigo and bees' wax. Behind the point, it is wiry, very finely plaited, and turn ed up like a drake's tail. The tattoos, coramon to all negro nations in these latitudes, and by which their country is instantly known, a're here particularly unbecoming. The Bornouese have twenty cuts or lines on each side of the face, drawn from the corners of the mouth towards the angles of the lower jaw and cheek-bone. They have also one cut in the centre of the forehead, six on each arm, six on each leg and thigh, four on each breast, and nine on each side, just above the hips." " It is quite distressing," says Major Denham, " to witness the tor ture the poor little children undergo, who are thus marked ; enduring not only the heat, but the attacks of milUons of flies." They are the raost hurable of females, never approaching their husbands except on their knees, or speaking to any of the male sex, otherwise than with the head and face covered, and kneeling. In their manner qf living, the Bornouese are simple in the extreme. Flour made into a paste, sweetened with honey, and with fat poured over it, is a dish for a sultan. The use of bread is not known ; little wheat, therefore, is grown. Indeed, it is found only in the houses of the great. Barley is also scarce : a little is sown between the wheat, and is used, when bruised, to take off the brackish taste of the water. The grain most in use araong the people of all classes, and upon which also aniraals are fed, is gussob, a species of millet. The poor people will eat it raw or parched in the sun, and be satisfied without any other nourishment for several days together. Bruised and steeped in water, it forms the traveUing stock of all pilgrims and soldiers. The rice of Bornou is of an inferior quality : what is used is brought from Soudan. Indian corn, cotton, and indigo, are the most valuable productions of the soil : the latter grow wild, close to the Tchad, and in the inundated grounds. The senna- plant is also found wild, and in abundance. There is probably no spot of land between the tropics, not absolutely desert, so des tftute of either fruft or vegetables, as the kingdom of Bornou. The people have nothing beyond the bare necessaries of life, and are rich only in slaves, herds, and horses. Their dogs, sheep, goats, cows, and oxen, are beyond calculation. The Shouaas on the shores of the Tchad, have probably 20,000 near their different villages ; while the banks of the river Shary could furnish double that number. The domestic fowl is com- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 597 GAME. CHIEF TOWNS. mon, and is the cheapest aniraal food that can be procured ; but they are sraall and ill-flavored. Garae of all kinds is abun dant. Besides gazelles, antelopes, and hares, there is an ani raal called koorigum about the size of a red deer, with annula- ted horns ; there are very largo partridges, sraall grouse, guinea-fowl, and water fowl of all kinds. The flesh ofthe ostrich also is rauch esteemed. That of the buffalo, which has a high garae flavor, is a deUcacy. The elephant is hunted and killed for the sake of his flesh as well as his tusks ; and the giraffe is met wfth and killed by the buffalo hunters, in the woods and marshy grounds near the Tchad. The crocodile and the hippopotaraus are also found in Bornou, and the flesh of both is eaten. That of the crocodile is pronounced by Major Denham extremely fine : " it has a green fat resembling the turtle, and the caUipee has the color, firmness, and flavor of the finest veal. — The bees are so numerous as in some places to obstruct the passage of travellers. The locust is a frequent visfter, and the natives eat them wilh avidity, either roasted or boiled, or formed into balls as a paste." The towns are in general large and well built, surrounded with walls from 35 to 40 feet in height, and 20 feet thick. The principal ones, besides Kouka, are Birnie, (a word an. swering to the Arabic Medina, cfty,) the residence of the Sul- ¦ tan ; Old Birnie, the ancient capftal ; and Angornon, the largest and most populous town in Bornou, where the Sheikh resided previously to his buUding Kouka. New Birnie is a walled town of huts, ofthe same description as those in Kouka, and is supposed to contain 10,000 inhabitants. The Sultan resides in a mud edifice. When Major Denham was presented to hira, he received the party in an open space before the palace, seated within a sort of cage of cane or wood, on an elevated cushion which appeared to be covered with satin. His courtiers, to the number of nearly three hundred, after prostrating themselves before his sable majesty, took their seats on the ground fti front, but wfth their backs to the throne, and, facing the visiters, who were kept at a con siderable distance, while the sultan looked through the lattice work of his pavilion, on the assembly before hira. Nothing could be more grotesque than the figures who composed the groupe. Old Birnie is nearly 100 mUes from Kouka. It formerly covered a space of five or six mUes square, and is said to have had a population of 200,000 souls. " The ruins of this city," says Major Denham, " certainly tended more strongly to con- 51 598 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CENTRAL AFRICA. vince us ofthe power of its forraer sultans than any ofthe tales we had heard of their magnificence." Begharmi is a large and fertile region north of Bornou. Of its inhabftants little is known, excepting tbat they are inferior, both in nuraber and civilization, to their southern neighbors. Wfth the latter they carry on a continual warfare, the chief object of which is to procure slaves which they send into Egypt and Fezzan. Major Denhara says that the Begharmi cavalry are individually strong and fierce, and that both riders and horses are still more thoroughly cased in maU than those of Bornou ; but their courage, when brought to the proof, is rarely on a level. Mandara lies south of Bornou. Its capital is Mora, 180 miles frora Kouka. The people differ in appearance frora the Bornouese, and the difference is all in their favor. The men are intelligent and lively, wfth high, though flat foreheads, large sparkling eyes, nose inclined to aquiline, and features altogether less flattened than in the Bornouese, with wiry, curled hair. The women are proverbial for their " good looks," their Hot tentot protuberance of form, and delightfully small hands and feet ; and as these are all esteemed a recommendation in the eye of a Turk, Mandara slaves obtain an advanced price. Of the iron found in all the Mandara hills, the natives make hinges, sraall bars, and a sort of hoe used to weed the corn, which they send for sale to the towns of Bornou. Loggun lies east of Mandara, upon the Shary, or river which flows into the river Tchad. It is a rich country, abounding in grain and cattle, and diversified with forests of lofty acacias, and with raany beautiful shrubs. Its capital is Kermuck, which, according to Major Denhara, contaftis at least 15,000 inhabi tants. They speak a language "nearly Begharmi." They are a much handsomer race than the Bornouese, and far more intelligent ; the women particularly so. In their carriage and mariner, they struck Major Denham as superior to any negro nation he had seen. Modesty, however, is not among their vir tues : they are most expert thieves ; and they are pl-onounced altogether the cleverest, and the most immoral race that the above travisller bad raet with in the Black country. Both sexes are industrious, and labor at the loora more regularly than fti any part of the sheikh's dominions. Almost every house has its rude machinery for weaving, and the finer and closer Unen UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 599 FELLATAHS. is here produced : the width, however, is invariably the sarae as the Bornouese gubka, not exceeding six or seven inches. The free people usuaUy perform this labor, while the female slaves prepare the cotton, and give it the deep blue dye so much esteeraed, by their incomparable indigo. They have a metal currency here of a singular description : it consists oi thin plates of iron, " something in the shape of the tip with which they shoe race horses ; these are made into parcels of ten or twelve, according to the weight, and thirty of these parcels are equal to ten rottola,or a dollar." The Fellatah kingdom or territory lies west of Bornou, and coraprises Houssa, Zegzeg, Kano, Cashna, &c. Houssa is itself an extensive region, comprehending several minor slates. The inhabitants are negroes, bul not quite black, very intelligent, and distinguished by their skill and industry. They manufacture large quantities of cotton, and can dye all colors but scariet. The government is despotic, and the police well maintained. The revenue of the state arises from an impost on land and merchandise ; from which last, foreign merchants are exempt, as an encouragement for them lo resort thither : an evident proof that these people are aware of what constftules the true riches and strength of a nation. The Hous sans are distinguished from other negroes by raore interesting countenances. Their nose is small, but not flat. Their char acter is mild, and their raanners are courteous. They are extreraely fond of dancing, singing, and all kinds of amuse ments, in which the females excel. They accompany their singing with a small instruraent, raade of a gourd, with a skin stretched over ft like a drura. The army contains from seventy thousand to eighty ihousand cavalry, and one hundred thousand infantry, arraed with raatchlocks and bows. A few miles east of Houssa, the capital of the country, gold is obtained, and sought for in the night. For this purpose, they cover the legs of their cam.els, to protect them from snakes; and, taking a bag of sand, mark with it the places ¦ on the surface of the ground which glitter ; they afterwards collect the soil, and carry it to the refiner, who separates the precious metal, and soraetiraes extracts an ounce of gold frora a hundred weight oi earth. Kano is a highly cultivated, populous district or province. The capital of the sarae name is sftuated in lat. 12° N. and is now, as ft was six hundred years ago, the chief commercial city of Houssa, and of all Central Africa. During his first 600 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER^ CENTRAL AFRICA. journey, Capt. Clapperton visited this city, the population of which he estimated to be between 30,000 and 40,000. Its raarket he represents as the greatest scene of commercial trans actions in Africa. But the busiest scene is the slave market, composed of two long ranges of sheds, one for males and an other for females. These poor creatures are seated in rows, decked out for exhibition ; the buyer scrutinizes them as nicely as a purchaser wfth us does a horse, inspecting the tongue, teeth, eyes, and limbs, making thera cough and perform various movements, to ascertain if there be any thing unsound ; and in case of a blemish appearing, or even without assigning a rea son, he may return them wfthin three days. As soon as the slaves are sold, the exposer gets back their finery, to be em ployed in ornamenting others. Most of the captives purchased at Kano are conveyed across the desert, during which their masters endeavor to keep up their spirits by an assurance that, on passing its boundary, they will be set free, and be dressed in red, which they account the gayest of colors. Supplies, however, often fail in this dreary journey, — a want felt firat by the slaves, many of whora perish with hunger and fatigue. Mr. Clapperton heard the doleful tale of a mother who had seen her child dashed to the ground, whUe she herself was compelled by the lash to drag on an exhausted frame. Yet, when al all tolerably treated, they are very gay, — an observa tion generaUy made in regard lo slaves ; but this gaiety, aris ing only frora the absence of thought, probably conceals much secret wretchedness. Boxing in Houssa, like wrestling in Bornou, forras a favorite exercise, and the grand national spectacle. Mr. Clapperton, having heard rauch of the fancy of Kano, intiraated his willing ness to pay for a perforraance, which was forthwfth arranged. The whole body of butchers attended, and acted as roasters of the ceremonies ; while, as soon as the tidings spread, girls left their pitchers at the wells, the market people threw down their baskets, and an immense crowd ivas assembled. The ring being formed, and drums beat, the performers first carae for- ward singly, plying their muscles like a musician tuning his in- strument, and each calling out to the byestanders, " I am a hyena ; I ara a lion ; I can kill all that oppose me." After about twenty had shown off in this manner, they came forward in pairs, wearing only a leathern girdle, and with their hands mufiled up in numerous folds of country clcth. It was first ascertained that they were not mutual friends; after which, they closed with the utmost fury, aiming their blows at the UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 601 SOOCATOO. most mortal parts, as the pit of the stomach, beneath the ribs, or under the ear ; they even endeavor to scoop out the eyes ; so that in spite of every precaution, the match often terminates in the death of one of the combatants. Whenever Mr. Clap perton saw the affair verging to such an issue, he gave orders to stop ; and, afler seeing six pairs exhibit, paid the hire and broke up the meeting. The most populous city seen by Clapperton in the interior of Africa is Soccatoo, the capital of the Fellatah dominions, which stands on a river dividing Cashna from Kano. The houses in this city stand more closely together than in most other towns of Houssa, and are regularly well built streets. It is surround ed by a wall twenty or thirty feet high, with twelve gates, which are punctually shut at sunset. The dwellings of the principal inhabftants are clusters of cottages and flat roofed houses, in the Moorish style, enclosed by high walls. There are two mosques, one of which, then in progress of build ing, was 800 feet long, adorned with nuraerous pillars of wood plastered with clay, and highly ornamented. It was in this city, during his second journey, that the enter prising and intelligent Clapperton paid the debt of nature. Richard Lander, who with his brother afterwards solved the great problera respecting the terraination of the Niger, was at this time the attendant of Clapperton, and to him we are indebt ed for an account ofthe closing moraent ofthis adventurous trav eller. Overcorae with heat and fatigue during a hunting excursion, Clapperton injudiciously laid down on a darap spot in the open air, soon afler which he was seized with dysentery, whioh soon brought hira to his grave. When no longer able to rise, he called Lander to|his bed side and said, — " Richard, I shall short ly be no raore, I feel myself dying." Alraost choked with grief. Lander replied, " God forbid, ray dear raaster, — you will live raany years yet." But the other replied, "don't be so much affected, my dear boy, I entreat you ; ft is the will ofthe Almighty, ft cannot be helped." He then gave particular direc tions as to the disposal of his papers, and of all that remained of his property ; to which strict attention was promised. " He then," says Lander, " took my hand within, his, and looking me full in the face, while a tear stood glistening in his eye, said in a low but deeply affected tone, ' my dear Richard, if you had not been with me, I should have died long ago ; I can only thank you with my latest breath for your kindness and attach ment to me ; and if I could have lived to return wfth you, you should "have been placed beyond the reach of want ; but God 51* 602 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. CENTRAL AFRICA. will reward you." He stUl survived some days, and appeared even to rally a littie ; but, one morning. Lander was alarmed by a pecuUar rattiing sound in his throat, and, hastening to the bedside, found him sitting up, and slaring wildly around ; he laid his head gently on the dying man's shoulder ; some indis tinct words quivered on his lips ; he strove, but ineffectually, to give them utterance, and expired without a struggle or a sigh. We must terminate our account of Central Africa with a brief notice of Timbuctoo, a kingdom lying to the west of Hous sa, on the Niger, and which has long been an object of curiosity to Europeans, on account of the coramerce carried on by the inhabitants of ils capital. This capital was first visited during the present century by Adams, an American sailor, who was shipwrecked on the coast of Africa in 1810 — by Laing, an EngUshman, who reached the city in his travels in 1826, but was murdered on his return; and, lastiy, by Caillie, a French man, who visited it in 1S27, and on his return to France pub lished a narrative of his travels. According to this traveller, the city is distant frora the Niger about eight miles, forraing a sort of triangle, in circumference about three miles. The houses are large but not high, and are buift of round bricks baked in the sun. T'he streets he represents as clean and suffi ciently wide for three horseraen to pass abreast. The popula tion he estiraates at only 10,000, or 12,000, which not hieing in proportion to a town three railes in circumference is probably underrated. It is a place of great commerce, especially in salt. The population consists in Moors and Negroes. They are rep resented as much attached to their native country, and possess great ease and suavity of raanners. They are in general a stout, heallhy race, and grease theraselves to make their skins sraooth and shiny. The females are represented as very hand some. Both sexes make incisions in their faces, and stain them blue. The usual dress is a blue nankeen frock, or shirt, reach ing a little below the knees." The people are dirsy, but very fond of ornaraents, wearing brass rings on their fingers and in their ears ; and dancing is their favorite arauseraent. They measure time by days, weeks, and lunar months ; yet few of them can tell their own age. Every three months they hold a festival of two or tiiree days' continuance ; but observe no sabbath ; nei ther have they temples, churches, mosques, or religious ceremo nies, nor even obsequies for the dead.* * Discovery and Adventures in Africa. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 603 WESTERN AFRICA. 7. WESTERN AFRICA. Western Africa includes a great extent of country, and un. der the general divisions of Senegambia, Guinea, Congo, An gola and Benguela, comprehends many subdivisions and indepen dent slates. To minutely survey even a moiety of these, after the wide range we have taken, would lax the time and patience of our fellow travellers beyond civUity. Like ourselves, we are wUUng to fancy thera, if not actually weary, at least wiUing to rest, and indulging an increasing desire to look once more up on our native land. We will, therefore, relieve our friends, having briefly turned their attention to two or three kingdoms which have attracted the attention of traveUers more than others, on account of great- er ftnprovements noticed among them, than in any other portion of Western Africa. The first of these is the kingdora of Dahomey, lying north of the gulf of Guinea, and east of Ashantee. The capital is Abo mey about 180 railes in the interior. Mr. Norris sorae years since visfted this country to observe the character and position ofthis reraarkable people, and to raake arrangements for the ben efit of the English trade. He arrived at the capital at an appal ling season, that of the annual customs, when the great men assembled from every quarter of the kingdora ; and he was truly astonished to see those fierce and warlike chieftains, whose very narae spreads terror throughout Africa, prostrating them selves before the monarch, flat on the ground, and piling dust on their heads in token of the most abject submission. This homage is yielded, not frora fear, but frera a blind and idolatrous veneration, which makes thera regard their king in the light of a superior being. In his narae they rush to batlle, and encoun ter their foes 'vvith Spartan intrepidity. One of them said to Mr. Norris, "I think of ray king, a,nd thenl dare engage five ofthe eneray rayself." He added, " my head belongs to the king, and not to rayself; if he please to send for it, I am ready to re sign it ; or if it be shot through in a battie, I am satisfied, since it is in his service." The raain object conteraplated in this na. tional anniversary is, that the king may water the graves of his ancestors with the blood of human viciiras. These are numer. ous, consisting of prisoners taken in war, of conderaned crim inals, and of many seized by lawless violence. The captives 604 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WESTERN AFRIOA. are brought out in succession, with their arras pinioned ; and a fetisheer, laying his hand upon the devoted head, utters a few raagic words, while another frora behind, with a large sciraetar, severs it frora the body, when shouts of applause as cend frora the surrounding multftude. At any time when the king has a message to convey to his deceased relations, he de livers it to one ofhis subjects, then strikes off his head, that he raay carry it to another world ; and if any thing further occurs to him after he has perforraed this ceremony, he delivers it to an other messenger, whom he despatches in the same manner. Another grand object of this periodical festival is the market for wives. All the unmarried females throughout ihe kingdom are esteeraed the property of the sovereign, and are brought to the annual custoras, to be placed at his disposal. He selects for hiraself such as appear raost beautiful and engaging, and re tails the olhers at enormous prices to his chiefs and nobles. No choice on this occasion is allowed to the purchaser ; fti re turn for his twenty thousand cowries, a wife is handed out, and even if she be old and ugly, he must rest contented ; nay, some, it is said, have in mockery been presented with their own mothers. The king usually keeps his wives up to the nuniber of three thousand, who serve him in various capacities, — being partiy trained to act as body-guard, regularly regimented, and equipped with druras, flags, bows and arrows, while a few car ry rauskets. The)' all reside in the palace, which consists mere ly of an iramense assemblage of cane and mud tents, enclosed by a high wall. The skulls and jaw-bones of enemies slain in battle forra the favorite ornaraent of palace and temples. The king's apartment is paved, and the walls and roof stuck over wfth these horrid trophies ; and if a farther supply appears de sirable, he announces to his general that " his house wants thatch," when a war for that purpose is iraraediately under taken. The most powerful kingdora, however, in all western Africa, is that of Ashantee. It is 800 miles in length, and 350 in breadih, lying west of Dahoraey. Its population is estimated at 100,000 without reckoning the tributary nations, which are twenty-two in nuraber. The capital is Coomassie. This was visfted by Comraissioners of the Brftish Governraent in 1817, to adjust sorae dissensions whioh had arisen. Great was the surprise of these Commissioners at tbe unex pected splendor of the capital. The houses, though low, and constructed only of wood, were profusely covered with orna- ments and sculpture. The array ofthe caboceers, great war- UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 605 ASHANTEES. chiefs, was at once briUiant, dazzling, and wild. They were loaded wilh flne clothes, in which variously colored threads of the richest foreign silks were curiously interwoven ; and both themselves and their horses were covered with decorations of gold beads, moorish charms, or araulets, purchased at a high price, and the whole intermingled with strings of huraan teeth and bones. Leopards' skins, sea shells, elephants' tails, eagle and ostrich feathers, and brass bells, were araong the favorite ornaments. On being introduced to the king, the English found all these erabellishraents crowded and concentrated on his own person and that of his attendants, who were literally oppressed with large masses of solid gold. Even the most common utensils were coraposed of that metal. At the same tirae, tbe executioner wilh a hatchet on his breast, and the exe. cution stool clotted with blood, gave a thoroughly savage char acter to all this porap. The manners of the king, however, were marked by a dignified courtesy ; he received the stran gers cordially, and desired thera to come and speak their palaver in the raarket place. During their stay at Coosraassie, the coramissioners wftnessed dreadful scenes, which seem to sink the Ashantee character even below the ordinary level of savage life. The customs, or huraan sacrifices, are practised on a scale stUl raore tremen dous than at Dahoraey. The king had lately sacrificed on the grave of his raother 3000 viciiras, 2000 of whora were Fantee prisoners ; and at the death of the late sovereign the sacrifice was continued weekly for three months, consisting each tirae of two hundred slaves. The absurd belief here entertained that the rank of the deceased in the future world is decitled by the train which he carries along wilh hira, makes filial piety inter ested in promoting by this means the exaltation of a departed parent. On these occasions, the caboceers and princes, in order to court royal favor, oflen rush out, seize the first person they meet, and drag him in for sacrifice. WhUe the customs last, therefore, it is with trembling steps that any one crosses his threshold ; and when compelled to do so, he rushes along with the utraost speed, dreading every instant the murderous grasp which would consign hira to death. The men of Ashantee are very well made, though less mus cular thau their neighbors, the Fantees ; and their counte nances are frequently aquiline. The woraen are generally handsorae ; and araong those of the higher order, who are ex empt frora labor and hardship, the finest figures, wilh regular Grecian features and brilliant eyes, set rather obliquely in the 606 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. WESTERN AFRICA. head are to be found. Both raen and woraen are peculiarly clean in their persons, the latter washing themselves, and the forraer being washed by thera, daily, frora head to fool, with warm water and Portuguese soap, after which the vegetable butter is used as a cosmetic. Their clothes are always scru pulously clean. Occasionally, small delicate patterns, in green and while paint, are traced on their cheeks and temples. The houses of these people, who afford a specimen of the greatest civiUzation to be found on the Guinea coast, are con structed with double rows of stakes or wattles, for the walls, the intervals being filled up with gravelly clay raixed with wa ter, wilh which the outside service of the frarae, or stake-work, is also so thickly plastered, as to give it the appearance of an entire thick raud wall. The houses have all gable ends ; and the covering consists of a thatch of palra-leaves. The clay walls, while still wet, are ornaraented wilh moulds made of split cane and grass. Many of the superior houses are supported by pillars in front, consisting of thick posts covered with the same kind of clay. Arcades and piazzas are comraon. The doors are entire pieces of cotton wood, cut with great labor out ofthe stera of the tree. The windows are open wood-work, carved in various fanciful patterns, and generally painted red. Sorae of the richest people have their window fraraes cased with gold. Interiorly, the Ashantee houses are kept with great neatness. When a person of consequence dies, one or two slaves are immediaiely sacrificed at the door of the house ; and others are afterwards imraolated at the funeral. The death is an nounced by the firing of rauskelry ; and large quantfties of powder are subsequently spent in the same wav. It is also usual to " wet the grave" with the blood of a free man of respec tability. Several are unexpectedly and hastily called upon to assist in placing the body in its final depository, and, while so engaged, one of them is struck on the back of the neck and thrown in upon the body ; and the grave is iraraediately filled up. On the death of the king, all the funeral riles that have taken place during his reign raust be simultaneously repeated by the farailies ofthe deceased, not excepting the human sacri fices, to amplify that of the deceased monarch, which is also solemnized with all possible extravagance and barbarfty. The brothers, sons, and nephews, of the deceased monarch, affect ing teraporary insanity, burst forth amoug the crowd, and their muskets promiscuously ; if they meet even a raan of rank. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 607 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. he becoraes their victira. The scene of carnage is truly hor rible.* We shall here conclude our notices of Africa, and bring our travels to a close, with a few brief and general reraarks upon the social condition of the inhabftants of this portion of the globe. The inhabftants of Africa may be separated into two general classes. Foreign races from Arabia and other Asiatic coun tries, and native inhabitants. Our reraarks respect the latter only. The native tribes are chiefly barbarian; yet they are above the savage state, inasrauch as they are clairaing and subjecting the lower aniraals, which few, if any, savages, attempt, and by resort to agriculture for support. They have generally native seats or localities to which they cling with strong feelings of local attachraent. Even the tenants of the desert, who occa sionally roara in quest of coraraerce and plunder, have their little watered valleys or circuit of hills, in which they make their perraanent abode. Agriculture is extreraely imperfect. Private property in land has not been established. The neighborhood of every cfty or vUlage is common to all. All the processes of prepar ing the ground, sowing and reaping, are slight and siraple. The plough is not known beyond the Barbary States. The prevailing grains are of an inferior character. The dhourra is the raost coramon, extending over all Eastern Africa ; while millet in the west, and teff in Abysinia, are productions nearly similar. In the latter country and Houssa, both wheat and rice are raised, but only in favorable sftuations, and for the tables of the more opulent. Perhaps the greatest exertion of agricultural industry, is that bestowed upon the culture of the manioc, which forras the main article of food in Congo, and some of the insular territories. Consideraljle care is required in rearing it, and cleaning the ground round the plants ; after the root, which is the valuable part, has been dug up, ft must be ground in a species of mill, and dried in small furnaces, be fore it can be used as fiour. * Discovery and adventures in Africa. 608 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. AFRICA. Manufactures have made but little progress. There are, however, certain fine fabrics peculiar to Central Africa; of which the most general is cotton cloth, produced in several districts, of a very beautiful texture, dyed blue with indigo, and receiving frora the processes eraployed a very brilliant gloss. Leather in Houssa is dried and dyed in the same rich and soft style as in Morocco ; and probably, in both cases, tbe manufac ture is native. Mats, used both for sitting and sleeping on, are the staple manufacture in many parts of Western Africa. Gold and silver ornaraents are made with some taste ; and iron is generally fabricated, though with a varying and iraperfect degree of skill. Maritime enterprise is scarcely known. Almost all the com merce of Africa is carried on by land. Caravans, kafilas or coffles, cover all the routes, and connect the most distant extreraities of the continent. These are formed by a union of travellers, an arrangement strictly necessary for mutual aid amid the difficulties and perUs by which alraost every track is beset. The native traders do not employ camels, which have been introduced by a foreign race from Arabia into the north ern deserts, for which they are perfectly adapted. The wagon, and indeed every species of draught, is nearly unknown, and would be ill suited to the African roads, the best of which are narrow paths cut through thick and entangled forests. In the hilly and central districts, either the back of eisses, or tbe head of slaves and women, serve as the ordinary vehicle. The houses ofthe native tribes are of very simple construc tion. The materials of the very best of them are merely stakes of wood plastered wfth earth, built in a conical form, like beehives, and reserabling the first rude shelter, which man framed against the eleraents. Many of them are no more than sheds. The greater efforts indeed are made to form a com modious State room or public hall or palaver house ; yet this, too, consists merely of a large apartraent raised on posts fixed in the ground and roofed with sloping planks, which leave the interior open to the air on every side. In intellectual cultivation the native tribes have made Uttle progress. Among them there is not a tincture of letters, or of wrfting to be found — not a hieroglyphic or symbol correspond ing to the painted stories of Mexico, or the knotted quipos of Peru. UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. 609 SOCIAL CONDITION. Yet the Africans are not sunk in entire raental apathy. In their great public meetings and palavers, true eloquence is someliraes heard. The passion for poetry is universal. As soon as the evening breeze begins to blow, the song resounds throughout all Africa, — it cheers the despondency of the wan. derer through the desert ; — ft enlivens the social raeeting — it inspires the dance, — and even the laraentations of the raourner are poured forth in raeasured accents. Their poetry, does not consist in studied and regular pieces, such as, after previous study, are recited in our schools and theatres ; they are extem- porary and spontaneous effusions, in which the speaker gives utterance to his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows. In their religion the negroes are left fo the dim Ught of na ture. They have objects of worship called fetiches, which seem to reserable the obi of the West Indies, and the taboo of the South Sea Islands. Charms, and amulets are in great use as a defence from danger. Huraan sacrifices among some tribes are not uncomraon, and on one occasion as related by Mr. Boubich, the king of Ashantee sacrificed on the grave of his mother 3000 victims. What raust be the state of a people where such spiritual ignorance reigns, and such horrid barbari ties are practiced as a part of religion. But these are not the only evils which press upon Africa. Violence and wrong have here their widest field, and cause the most dreadful calamities to this part of the huraan race. Afri ca has been, and still is the storehouse of slavery for no sraall portion of the globe. Park has somewhere expressed the opinion that one third of the population in Africa are held in bondage by the other two thirds, and nearly thousands and tens of thousands of ill-fated beings are torn from horae and country to toil for others, and to suffer all the privations of a life of bondage. The procuring of slaves for foreign purchasers en gages the attention of a great number of the petty rulers, and even the greatest sovereigns do not hesitate to erabark in the same nefarious work. Often in the dead of pight, their troops are ordered to surround a town, where they watch till the first dawn, when the gates are opened ; — they then rush in, set fire to it, and while the victims, with shrieks and cries, are seeking to escape, bind and carry them off into slavery. Yet we are happy to believe that better days and better things are in reserve by Providence for this long oppressed and de graded people. The day of regeneration wiU come. The voice of liberty and joy wUl be heard along its rivers and its 52 610 UNIVERSAL TRAVELLER. AFRICA. lakes — disenthralled, and enlightened by the word of God, Af rica, we believe, in its habitations of cruelty will furnish as beautiful dwelling-places of righteousness as are to be found on the globe. The Bosjesman will one day comprehend the ma jesty of redeeming love, and the proud and warUke Ashantee become a huriible disciple of Jesus. The waters of the Niger wUl yet bear upon its bosom vessels containing the heralds of the croas, coming to publish good tidftigs of great joy — liberty to the captive, and especially release to those that have been bound in the chains of Satan. Nor are these glorious things written respecting Africa alone — other portions of the globe, over which we have wandered, are as entirely under the despotic influence of Satan as the sable sons of Ham. But the day of universal Uberation wUI come. The prophecies and the promises of revelation cannot faU. That day will dawn, when the last column erected in the temple of apostacy will fall — the long series of sacrifices and idolatrous offerings will terminate, and the regenerated world will shine forth in all the moral beauty and glory, eis when God, on the morning of the creation pronounced it good, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. When that day will corae, has not transpired from the coun sels of God. Much, doubtless, anterior to it, remains to be done by the people of God, in all those lands, where he has recorded his name, and in our own land especially, for which more than for most, God has done liberaUy. Our own land I — we wish to detain neither ourselves nor our fellow travellers longer frora a spot endeared to us by a thou sand delightful associations. Weighing our anchor, then, for the la§t tirae, let us direct our course thither, taught by what we haye seen, the important lessons of gratitude and content ment, YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 ' •w^.