Part 57
"The fishermen are, almost without exception, Bulgarians--a population at once maritime and agricultural, very closely resembling, in race and costume, the Bretons of France--and they enjoy a monopoly of all the fisheries in the Bosphorus and the adjacent parts of the Black Sea. Their elegant barks appeared on stated days and hours, shooting along with extraordinary rapidity through the waters of the Gulf of Buyuk Dereh, which appears to be their head-quarters, and sustaining the test of comparison even with the famous caiques of Constantinople. The most important object of their fishery is a delicious kind of small thunny, called palamede. They are Bulgarians, also, who own the singular fisheries which form such admirable subjects for the artist's sketch-book. They are found throughout the Bosphorus, from Bechiktusch and Scutari to the lighthouses of Europe and Asia. They might be called dog-kennels, but rickety and worm-eaten with antiquity, and are suspended by means of cords, pegs, and tatters to the top of an indescribable framework of props. There on high, petrified in motionless and uninterrupted silence, in company with some old pots of mignionette (where will not the love of flowers find a home!), a man, with the appearance of a wild beast or savage, leans over the sea, at the bottom of which he watches the passage of its smallest inhabitants, and the capricious variations of the current. At a certain distance is arranged, in the form of a square, a system of nets, which, at the least signal from the watcher, fall on the entire shoal of fish. A contrivance yet more primitive than these airy cells, if not so picturesque, was that of simple posts, which we encountered some time before in the channel of the Bosphorus, rising about fifteen feet above the surface of the water. Half-way up is perched, crouching (one cannot see how), something having the human form, and which is found to be a Bulgarian. For a long time I watched them without being able to make them out, either pole or its tenant; and often have I seen them in the morning, and observed them again in the evening, not having undergone the least change of posture.
"On returning to our encampment, the commandant of the fort, to whom we paid a visit, gave us a very different report of the fishermen of the morning, whom he described as an assemblage of all the vagabonds of the neighbourhood. Convinced even that the fact of their having fallen in with us must have inspired them with the project of coming to prowl by night round our camp, he wished us to accept some of the men in his garrison as a guard."
HORSES OF THE ARABS.
Arabs make intimate friends of their horses, and so docile are these creatures that they are ridden without a bit, and never struck or spurred. They share their owner's diet, and are as well cared for as a child. They divide their horses, however, into two kinds: The one they call kadischi, that is, horses of an unknown birth; the other, they call kochlani, that is, horses whose genealogy is known for thousands of years. They are direct descendants, so they say, of the stud of Solomon. The pedigree of an Arabian horse is hung round his neck soon after his birth, which is always properly witnessed and attested.
The following is the pedigree of a horse purchased by a French officer in Arabia:--"In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate, and of Saed Mahomed, agent of the high God, and of the companions of Mahommed, and of Jerusalem. Praised be the Lord, the Omnipotent Creator. This is a high-bred horse, and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about his neck, with his pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as no infidel can refuse to believe. He is the son of Rabbamy, out of the dam Labadah, and equal in power to his sire of the tribe of Zazhalah; he is finely moulded, and made for running like an ostrich. In the honours of relationship, he reckons Zuluah, sire of Mahat, sire of Kallac, and the unique Alket sire of Manasseh, sire of Alsheh, father of the race down to the famous horse, the sire of Lahalala; and to him be ever abundance of green meat, and corn, and water of life, as a reward from the tribe of Zazhalah; and may a thousand branches shade his carcass from the hyaena of the tomb, from the howling wolf of the desert; and let the tribe of Zazhalah present him with a festival within an enclosure of walls; and let thousands assemble at the rising of the sun in troops hastily, where the tribe holds up under a canopy of celestial signs within the walls, the saddle with the name and family of the possessor. Then let them strike the bands with a loud noise incessantly, and pray to God for immunity for the tribe of Zoab, the inspired tribe."
DILEMMA.
Protagoras, an Athenian rhetorician, had agreed to instruct Evalthus in rhetoric, on condition that the latter should pay him a certain sum of money if he gained his first cause. Evalthus when instructed in all the precepts of the art, refused to pay Protagoras, who consequently brought him before the Areopagus, and said to the Judges--"Any verdict that you may give is in my favour: if it is on my side, it carries the condemnation of Evalthus; if against me, he must pay me, because he gains his first cause." "I confess," replied Evalthus, "that the verdict will be pronounced either for or against me; in either case I shall be equally acquitted: if the Judges pronounce in my favour, you are condemned; if they pronounce for you, according to our agreement, I owe you nothing, for I lose my first cause." The Judges being unable to reconcile the pleaders, ordered them to reappear before the Court a hundred years afterwards.
ORIENTAL EXTRAVAGANCE.
Mr. Forbes has given a curious picture of the kind of magnificence affected by Asuf ul Dowlah, who succeeded his father on the throne of Oude. This nabob was fond of lavishing his treasures on gardens, palaces, horses, elephants, European guns, lustres, and mirrors. He expended annually about L200,000 in English manufactures. He had more than one hundred gardens, twenty palaces, one thousand two hundred elephants, three thousand fine saddle horses, one thousand five hundred double-barrel guns, seventeen hundred superb lustres, thirty thousand shades of various forms and colours; seven hundred large mirrors, girandoles and clocks. Some of the latter were very curious, richly set with jewels, having figures in continual movement, and playing tunes every hour; two of these clocks only, cost him thirty thousand pounds. Without taste or judgment, he was extremely solicitous to possess all that was elegant and rare; he had instruments and machines of every art and science, but he knew none; and his museum was so ridiculously arranged that a wooden cuckoo-clock was placed close to a superb timepiece which cost the price of a diadem; and a valuable landscape of Claude Lorraine suspended near a board painted with ducks and drakes. He sometimes gave a dinner to ten or twelve persons, sitting at their ease in a carriage drawn by elephants. His jewels amounted to about eight millions sterling. Amidst this precious treasure, he might be seen for several hours every day handling them as a child does his toys.
ANCIENT SCOTTISH CHIEFTAIN.
Annexed is a Scottish costume of the eighth or ninth century, after a drawing on parchment, extracted from an old book, which, according to the characters on the back, appears to have been written in Gaelic or Erse. According to the assertion of the possessor, this Caledonian document was brought to Germany in the year 1596, during the devastating Reformation in Scotland, when all cloisters and religious endowments were destroyed, and a perfect victory obtained over the episcopacy, so that many persons took refuge with their treasures, on the Continent, where the Scottish monks possessed many religious houses; some being at Nuremberg. Our figure represents a Highland chief, whose dress is picturesque and extremely beautiful. The Scottish tunic or blouse, checkered or striped in light and dark green, with violet intermixed, and bordered with violet stripes, is covered with a steel breastplate, accompanied by a back-piece, judging from the iron brassarts--positively a bequest of the Romans, by whom the Scots were once subjugated; this, indeed, is also attested by the offensive weapon the javelin; the sword, however, must be excepted, for it is national and like that of the present time. The strong shield may also have descended from the Romans, as well as the helmet, which is decorated with an eagle's wing; these, together with the hunting-horn, give to the figure a very imposing appearance. The national plaid is wanting, this was borne by attendants or squires. We are involuntarily reminded of the heroes of Fingal and Ossian, and we might almost think that this figure belonged to the time of the Scottish king, Kenneth the Second, grandson of King Achaias, and the sister of the Pictish king, Hang.
GREEK VASES.
Vases of various shapes have been found in the sepulchres of Greece, such as the _oenochoe_, or jug; the _askos_, or wine-skin; the _phiale omphalotos_, or saucer having a boss in the centre; _rhyta_, or jugs, imitated from the _keras_, or horn, as well as some moulded in the shape of the human bust. Vases of this class, however, occur more frequently in Italy than in Greece. Some are of remarkable shape. One in the Durand collection has its interior receded, and in the centre a medallion of the Gorgon's head; at the edge is the head of a dog or fox, and to it is attached a long handle terminating in the head of an animal. Similar handles are often found. Another vase from Sicily, also in the same collection, with a conical cover, is ornamented externally with moulded subjects of wreaths, heads of Medusa, &c., painted and gilded.
Many of the vases intended for ornamental purposes are covered with a white coating, and painted with colours of the same kind as those used on the figures before described, but with few and simple ornaments, plain bands, maeanders, chequered bands and wreaths. A vase found at Melos affords a curious example. We here annex a sketch of it. It consists of a number of small vases united together and arranged in a double circle round a central stand. This kind of vase is supposed to be the _kernos_, used in the mystic ceremonies to hold small quantities of viands. By some persons, however, it is thought to have been intended for eggs or flowers. It is covered with a white coating of clay, and the zigzag stripes are of a maroon colour. Such vases might have been used for flower-pots, and have formed small temporary gardens like those of Adonis, or have been employed as lamps.
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S DRESSES.
The list of the Queen's wardrobe, in 1600, shows us that she had then only 99 robes, 126 kirtles, 269 gowns (round, loose, and French), 136 foreparts, 125 petticoats, and 27 fans, not to mention 96 cloaks, 83 save guards, 85 doublets, and 18 lap mantles.
Her gowns were of the richest materials--purple, gold tissue, crimson satin, cloth of gold, cloth of silver, white velvet, munsy cloth, tawney satin, horse-flesh coloured satin, Isabella coloured satin dove coloured velvet, lady blush satin, drake coloured satin, and [...] coloured satin.
The cloaks are of perfumed leather, black taffety; the petticoats of blue satin; the jupes of orange coloured satin; the doublets of straw coloured satin; the mantles of white blush, striped with red swan's down.
The most characteristic dresses are the following:--
A frock of cloth of silver, checquered with red silk, like bird's eyes, with demi sleeves, a cut of crimson velvet twisted on with silver, lined with crimson velvet.
A mantle of white lawn, cut and turned in, embroidered all over with works of silver, like pomegranates, roses, honeysuckles, and acorns.
One French kirtle of white satin, cut all over, embroidered with loops, flowers, and clouds of Venice gold, silver, and silk.
One round kirtle of white satin, embroidered all over with the work like flames, peascods, and pillars, with a border likewise embroidered with roses.
The stomacher (fore part) of white satin, embroidered very fair with borders of the sun, moon, and other signs and planets of Venice gold, silver, and silk of sundry colours, with a border of beasts beneath, likewise embroidered.
Other gowns we find adorned with bees, spiders, flies, worms, trunks of trees, pansies, oak leaves, and mulberries; so that "Bess" must have looked like an illustrated edition of _AEsop's Fables_.
In one case she shines in rainbows, clouds, flames of fire, and suns; in another, with fountains and trees, snakes, and grasshoppers; the buttons themselves, in one instance, assume the shape of butterflies, in another of birds of Paradise.
The fans were of white and coloured feathers, with gold handles set with precious stones, or of crystal and heliotrope; one of them contained a looking-glass, another Leicester's badge of the bear and ragged staff. Her swords had gilt handles and blood-stone studs; her poniards were gold and ivory, ornamented with tassels of blue silk; her slippers of cloth of silver, and of orange-coloured velvet, embroidered with seed pearls; her parasol was of crimson velvet damask, striped with Venetian gold and silver lace, the handle mother-of-pearl.
Her jewels were both numerous and curious: the head ornaments resembling a white lion with a fly on his side, a golden fern-branch with a lizard, ladybird, and a snail upon it, an Irish dart of gold set with diamonds, a golden rose with a fly and spider upon it, a golden frog set with jewels, a golden daisy, and emerald buttons, gown studs of rubies and pearls, and a chain of golden scallop shells, with chains of agate and jet. A sumptuous magnificence was the characteristic of the costume of this reign. When Elizabeth visited the Earl of Hertford, at Elvetham, that nobleman met her with 3,000 followers, with black and yellow feathers in their hats, and most of them wearing gold chains. When she visited Suffolk, 200 bachelors in white velvet, with as many burghers in black velvet coats and gold chains, and 1800 serving-men received on horseback. For the French ambassador's amusement, in 1559, 1400 men-at-arms, clad in velvet, with chains of gold, mustered in arms in Greenwich Park; and on another occasion there was a tournament on Midsummer (Sunday) Night at the palace of Westminster, between ten knights in white, led by the Earl of Essex, and ten knights in blue, led by the Earl of Rutland.
CARE OF THE BEARD.
The Mahometans are very superstitious touching the beard. They bury the hairs which come off in combing it, and break them first, because they believe that angels have charge of every hair, and that they gain them their dismissal by breaking it. Selim I. was the first Sultan who shaved his beard, contrary to the law of the Koran. "I do it," said he apologetically to the scandalized and orthodox mufti, "to prevent my vizier leading me by it." He cared less for it than some of our ancestors, two centuries ago, did for their own. They used to wear pasteboard covers over them in the night, lest they should turn upon them and rumple them in their sleep!
The famous Raskolniki schismatics had a similar superstition to the Mahometan one mentioned above. They considered the divine image in man to reside in the beard.
DOLE IN CONSEQUENCE OF A DREAM.
At Newark-upon-Trent, a curious custom, founded upon the preservation of Alderman Clay and his family by a dream has prevailed since the days of Cromwell. On 11th March every year, penny-loaves are given away to every one who chooses to appear at the Town Hall and apply for them, in commemoration of the Alderman's deliverance, during the siege of Newark by the Parliamentary forces. This gentleman, by will, dated 11th December, 1694, gave to the Mayor and Aldermen, one hundred pounds, the interest of which was to be given to the Vicar yearly, on condition of his preaching an annual sermon. Another hundred pounds were also appropriated for the behoof of the poor, in the way above-mentioned. The origin of this bequest is singular. During the bombardment of Newark by Oliver Cromwell's forces, the Alderman dreamed three nights successively that his house had taken fire, which produced such a vivid impression upon his mind, that he and his family left it, and in a few days the circumstances of his vision actually took place, by the house being burned down by the besiegers.
GLOVE MONEY.
Gloves were popular new-year's gifts, or sometimes "glove-money" in place of them; occasionally, these gloves carried gold pieces in them. When Sir Thomas More was Chancellor, he decided a case in favour of Mrs. Croaker against Lord Arundel; the former, on the following new-year's day, gratefully presented the judge with a pair of gloves with forty angels in them. "It would be against good manners," said the Chancellor, "to forsake a gentlewoman's new-year's gift, and I accept the gloves. The _lining_ you will elsewhere bestow."
GLAIVES.
The glaive was derived from the Celtic custom of placing a sword with a hollow handle at the end of a pole, called by the natives of Wales "llavnawr"--_the blade weapon_, and takes its name from the Cleddyv, or Gleddyv, of the Welsh. In an abstract of the grants of the 1st of Richard III., among the Harleian MSS., No. 443, is a warrant to Nicholas Spicer, authorising him to impress smiths for making 2,000 Welsh glaives; and 20s. 6d. are charged for 30 glaives, with their staves, made at Abergavenny and Llanllolved. In the romaunt of Guy, Earl of Warwick, by Walter of Exeter, written in the time of Edward II., also in the Harleian Library of the British Museum, they are called gleves; thus--
"Grant coupes de gleves trenchant Les escurs ne lur vailut gans."
"Such powerful strokes from cutting gleves, That the shields were not worth a glove."
They were also in frequent use on the Continent, and the "Chronicle of Flanders" mentions an instance of the cavalry having armed themselves with glaives, which they ornamented with pennoncels. The specimen which we have here engraved is one which was made for the Doge of Venice, during the time that the Emperor Charles V. had the command there, in compliment to whom the centre ornament is the Austrian eagle. Upon this the arms of the succeeding Doge, Francisco Veneri, who held the office from 1554 to 1556, have been deeply incised, no doubt to commemorate the expulsion of the Germans. The pole, at the top of which the weapon was fixed, is omitted in our engraving.
CRUELTY OF FRANCIS CARRARA.
Francis Carrara, the last Lord of Padua, was famous for his cruelties. They shew (at Venice) a little box for a toilette, in which are six little guns, which are so ordered with springs, and adjusted in such a manner, that upon the opening of the trunk, the guns fired and killed the lady to whom Carrara sent it for a present. They show also with this, some little pocket cross-bows and arrows of steel, with which he took pleasure to kill those he met, so secretly, that they could hardly either perceive the blow, or him that gave it.
IRISH PIPES.
The accompanying figures represent the Irish bagpipes in their primitive and improved forms. We have here the earliest pipes, originally the same as the Scotch, as appears from a drawing made in the sixteenth century, and given in Mr. Bunting's work; but they now differ, in having the mouthpiece supplied by the bellows A, which, being filled by the motion of the piper's arm, to which it is fastened, fills the bag B; whence, by the pressure of the other arm, the wind is is conveyed into the chanter C, which is played on with the fingers, much like a common pipe. By means of a tube, the wind is conveyed into drones _a_, _a_, _a_, which, tuned at octaves to each other, produce a kind of cronan, or bass, to the chanter. The second cut represents the improved, or union pipes, the drones of which, tuned at thirds and fifths by the regulator, have keys attached to them, which not only produce the most delightful accords, but enable the player to perform parts of tunes, and sometimes whole tunes, without using the chanter at all. Both drones and chanter can be rendered quiescent by means of stops.
The pipers were at one period the "great originals" of Ireland. The race is gradually departing, or at least "sobering" down into the ranks of ordinary mortals; but there was a time when the pipers stood out very prominently upon any canvas that pictured Irish life. Anecdotes of their eccentricities might be recorded that would fill volumes. For many years past their power has been on the wane; temperance committed sad havoc on their prospects; and at length the introduction of "brass bands" effectually destroyed the small balance that remained to them of hope.
NOVEL WAY OF CURING VICIOUS HORSES.
Burckhardt tells us of a strange mode of curing a vicious horse. He has seen, he says, vicious horses in Egypt cured of the habit of biting by presenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton just taken from the fire. The pain which the horse feels in biting through the hot meat causes it to abandon the practice.
GROUND ICE.
Every one who has watched the freezing of a lake or pond, or any other collection of still water, must be well aware that the ice begins to form on the surface in thin plates or layers, which on the continuance of the frost gradually become thicker and more solid, until the water is affected in a downward direction, and becomes, perhaps, a solid mass of ice. This is universally the case in stagnant water, but it has been repeatedly proved that in rapid and rugged streams the process of freezing is often very different. In direct opposition, as it would seem, to the laws of the propagation of heat, the ice in running water frequently begins to form at the bottom of the stream instead of the top; and this fact, while it is received with doubt by some, even among the scientific, is frequently attested by those whose business leads them to observe the phenomenon connected with rivers. Millers, fishermen, and watermen find that the masses of ice with which many rivers are crowded in the winter season rise from the bottom or bed of the stream. They say that they have seen them come up to the surface, and have also borne them up with their hooks. The under part of these masses of ice they have found covered with mud or encrusted with gravel, thus bearing plain marks of the ground on which the ice had rested. The testimony of people of this class in our country agrees with that of a similar class in Germany, where there is a peculiar term made use of to designate floating ice, i. e. _grundeis_ (ground-ice).