Part 72

Atmospheric denudation and weathering have produced remarkable effects on the lower part of the Nonkreem valley, in the Khasia mountains, in India, which is blocked up by a pine-crested hill, 200 feet high, entirely formed of round blocks of granite, heaped up so as to resemble an old moraine; but, like the Nunklow boulders, these are not arranged as if by glacial action. The granite is very soft, decomposing into a course reddish sand, that colours the Boga-panee. To procure the iron sand, which is disseminated through it, the natives conduct water over the beds, and as the lighter particles are washed away, the remainder is removed to troughs, where the separation of the ore is completed. The smelting is very rudely carried on in charcoal fires, blown by enormous double-action bellows, worked by two persons, who stand on the machine, raising the flaps with their hands, and expanding them with their feet, as shown in our cut. There is neither furnace nor flux used in the reduction. The fire is kindled on one side of an upright stone (like the head-stone of a grave), with a small arched hole close to the ground: near this hole the bellows are suspended: and a bamboo tube from each of its compartments meets in a larger one, by which the draft is directed under the hole in the stone to the fire. The ore is run into lumps as large as two fists, with a rugged surface: these lumps are afterwards cleft nearly in two to show their purity.

PRESERVATION OF DEAD BODIES.

About a mile distant from Palermo in Sicily, is a celebrated Monastery of Capuchins, in which there is a vault made use of as a receptacle for the dead. It consists of four wide passages, each forty feet in length, into which the light is admitted by windows, placed at the ends. Along the sides of these subterraneous galleries are niches, in which the bodies are placed upright, and clothed in a coarse dress, with their heads, arms, and feet bare. They are prepared for this situation by broiling them six or seven months upon a gridiron, over a slow fire, till all the fat and moisture are consumed. The skin which looks like pale-coloured leather, remains entire, and the character of the countenance is, in some degree preserved.

THE CAGOTS.

In the Department of the Hautes Pyrenees in France is sometimes to be met with a creature about four feet high, with an enormous head, stiff, long hair, a pale countenance, a dead-looking eye, legs that have the appearance of being in the last stage of a dropsy, and an enormous _goitre_ on the neck, which sometimes hangs down below the stomach. This unhappy being begs for charity by extending his hand, smiling vaguely, and by uttering inarticulate sounds or suppressed cries, which his desolate and degraded situation alone interprets. These _Cagots_, for so they are here called, live isolated from the rest of the world; twenty years ago, if any one of these unfortunate beings left his hut, and ventured into the towns or villages, the children would exclaim--_Cagot! Cagot!_ and this cry would bring the smith from his forge, the shopkeeper from his counter, the private individual from his fireside; and, if the poor being did not hasten his flight, and slow was his progress, he not unfrequently lost his life by the stones that were flung after him. There was, however, one day in the week--Sunday, the Lord's day--and one asylum--the church, the Lord's house--that was free to them; yet man there made a distinction between him and his fellow man. A narrow door, through which no one passed but the _Cagots_, a chapel, which no one entered but these unhappy _Cagots_, was reserved for their sole use, where they offered up their imperfect prayers, without seeing or being seen by any one. Even in these days, they are still considered an outcast race; and an alliance of a peasant girl of the plains with a _Cagot_, would excite as much commotion among the inhabitants of the valleys of the Pyrenees, as the famed one between Idamore and Neala, in M. Delavigne's celebrated tragedy of the Paria. Yet it is strange that these deformities do not show themselves until a child has passed the age of six or seven: he is before this period like other healthy children; his complexion is fresh, his eye lively, and his limbs in proportion; but at twelve, his head has increased prodigiously, his complexion has become sallow, his teeth have lost their whiteness, his eye its fire. Three years later his skin is shrivelled, his teeth open with difficulty, and he pronounces all the consonants with a whistling indistinctness, that renders his language unintelligible to strangers. His mind partakes of the deformity and weakness of his body, for he is, at fifteen, little better than an idiot. Such are the _Cagots_ of the _Pyrenees_.

DISCONTINUANCE OF TORTURE.

Torture had been applied, down to the close of Elizabeth, to the investigation of all kinds of crime; but after that time it was chiefly confined to state offences. Its favourite instrument was the dreadful rack, or break, traditionally said to have been introduced under Henry VI. by John, Duke of Exeter, constable of the Tower, whence it was called the Duke of Exeter's daughter. A _milder_ punishment was inflicted by Skevington's gyves, which compressed the victim closely together, whilst the rack distended his whole frame in the most painful manner. In 1588 the manacles were introduced, and soon became the most usual mode of torture, but their precise character is not well understood. A variety of instruments of torture are still shown in the Tower, taken, it is said, out of the Spanish Armada, but at all events admirably suited to the gloomy dungeon wherein they appear, and in which half-starvation, and the horrid cells called Little Ease and Rat's Dungeon (the latter placed below high water mark, and totally dark, so that the rats crowded in as the tide rose,) added to the sufferings of the poor victim when released for a brief space from the fell grasp of the prison-ministers. Torture was not abolished in Scotland till 1708; in France till 1789; in Russia till 1801; in Bavaria and Wurtemberg till 1806; in Hanover till 1822; nor in the Grand Duchy of Baden till 1831.

THE MODERN NAMES OF REGIMENTS.

The modern names of regiments were first given to them in the reign of Charles II., the Coldstreams or Foot Guards being formed in 1660, when two regiments were added to one raised about ten years before by General Monk at Coldstream on the borders of Scotland; to these were added the 1st Royal Scots, brought over from France at the Restoration. The Life Guards were raised in 1661, with the Oxford Blues (so called from the first commander, Aubrey, Earl of Oxford); and also the 2nd or Queen's Foot. The 3rd or Old Buffs were raised in 1665, and the 21st Foot or Scotch Fusileers (from their carrying the fusil, which was lighter than the musket), in 1678. In that year the Grenadiers (so named from their original weapon, the hand grenade) were first brought into our service, and in 1680 the 4th or King's Own were raised. James II. added to the cavalry the 1st or King's Regiment of Dragoon's Guards, and the 2nd or Queen's ditto in 1685; and to the infantry, in the same year, the 5th and 7th, or Royal Fusileers; and in 1688 the 23rd or Welsh Fusileers.

WATCH PRESENTED BY LOUIS THE THIRTEENTH OF FRANCE TO CHARLES THE FIRST OF ENGLAND.

The annexed engraving represents the watch which was made for Louis XIII. to present to King Charles I. It is of silver, richly gilt, the ornaments covered with transparent enamel in white, red, green, blue, and yellow. The numbers are on a band of deep blue; the wheel-like ornament in the centre on a ruby ground. The back is chased in high relief with a figure of St. George conquering the Dragon; the horse is covered with white enamel; the flesh tints on St. George are also of enamel; his tunic is red, and his scarf blue. On the side of the watch is the motto of the Order of the Garter; the _fleurs-de-lys_ above and below it on a ruby ground. The interior of the case is enriched by a delicately executed arabesque filled with black enamel upon a dotted ground. The entire works take out of the case, being secured thereto by springs, and are all more or less decorated with engraving, the whole interior being chased and gilt. The maker's name is S. Vallin.

A WEDDING A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

On the 7th June, 1750, was married at Rothbury, Mr. William Donkin, a considerable farmer, of Tosson, in the county of Northumberland, to Miss Eleanor Shotten, an agreeable young gentlewoman, of the same place. The entertainments on this occasion were very grand, there being provided no less than one hundred and twenty quarters of lamb, forty quarters of veal, twenty quarters of mutton, a large quantity of beef, twelve hams, with a suitable number of chickens, which was concluded with eight half ankers of brandy made into punch, twelve dozen of cider, and a great many gallons of wine. The company consisted of five hundred ladies and gentlemen, who were diverted with the music of twenty-five fiddlers and pipers; and the evening was spent with the utmost unanimity.

GRACE KNIVES.

There is a curious class of knives, of the sixteenth century, the blade, of which have on one side the musical notes to the benediction of the table, or grace before meat, and on the other the grace after meat. We here engrave a specimen.

The set of these knives usually consisted of four. They were kept in an upright case of stamped leather, and were placed before the singer according to the adaptation of each part to the voice indicated upon them.

GARDEN AT KENILWORTH WHEN IN ITS PRIME.

Gossiping Laneham is very eloquent about the Kenilworth Garden, at which he took a timid and surreptitious peep. It was an acre or more in extent, and lay to the north of the stately castle: a pleasant terrace, ten feet high, and twelve feet broad, even under foot and fresh with trim grass, ran beside it along the castle wall. It was set with a goodly show of obelisks and spheres, and white bears of stone, raised upon goodly bases. At each end was a fine arbour, redolent with sweet trees and flowers. The garden-plot near had fair alleys of turf, and others paved with smooth sand, pleasant to walk on as the sea-shore when the wave has just retired. The enclosure was divided into four even quarters: in the midst of each, upon a base of two feet square, rose a porphyry square pilaster, with a pyramidical pinnacle fifteen feet high, pierced and hollowed, and crowned with an orb. All around was covered with redolent herbs and flowers, varied in form, colour, and quantity, and mixed with fruit trees.

In the midst, opposite the terrace, stood a square aviary, joined to the north wall, in height twenty feet, thirteen long, and fourteen broad; it had four great windows, two in front and two at each end, and each five feet wide. These windows were arched, and separated by flat pilasters, which supported a cornice. The roof was of wire net, of meshes an inch wide; and the cornice was gilded and painted with representations of precious stones. This great aviary had also eaves in the wall, for shelter from sun and heat, and for the purpose of building. Fair holly trees stood at each end, on which the birds might perch and pounce. They had a keeper to attend to their seeds and water, and to clean out their enclosure. The birds were English, French, and Spanish. Some were from America; and Laneham is "deceived" if some were not from the Canary Islands.

In the centre of this miniature Paradise stood a fountain with an octagonal basin rising four feet high; in the midst stood the figures of two Athletes, back to back, their hands upholding a fair marble bowl, from whence sundry pipes distilled continual streams into the reservoir. Carp, tench, bream, perch, and eel disported in the fresh falling water; and on the top of all the ragged staff was displayed; on one side Neptune guided his sea-horses with his trident, on another stood Thetis with her dolphins. Here Triton and his fishes, there Proteus and his herds, Doris and her daughter, and half the Nereids, disported in sea and sand, surrounded by whales, sturgeons, tunnies, and conch shells, all engraven with exquisite device and skill. By the sudden turn of a tap, the spectator could be drenched at the pleasure of any wit.

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.

It appears from a paper recently read in the Academy of Archaeology, at Rome, that Father Secchi has found a new interpretation of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which enables him to declare, that most of them are not mere tombstone inscriptions, as is generally assumed, but poems. He has given several of his readings, which display great ingenuity, and professes to be able to decipher the inscriptions on the Obelisk of Luxor, at Paris.

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.

The cathedral at Bayeux is a gothic building, dedicated to the Virgin. The portal and three belfries, which belong to it, are objects of curiosity. It is in this cathedral that the celebrated tapestry, denominated _of Bayeux_, is kept. Its length is one hundred and thirty-two feet; its breadth, seven and a half. "I had," says Dr. Ducarel, "the satisfaction of seeing that famous piece of furniture, which, with great exactness, though in _barbarous needlework_, represents the history of Harold, King of England; and of William, Duke of Normandy; from the embassy of the former to Duke William, at the command of Edward the Confessor, to his overthrow and death, at the battle fought near Hastings. The ground of this piece of work is a white linen cloth, or canvas. The figures of men, horses, &c. are in their proper colours, worked in the manner of the samplers, in worsted, and of a style not unlike what we see upon the China and Japan ware; those of the men, particularly, being without the least symmetry or proportion. There is a small border, which runs at the top and the bottom of the tapestry; with several figures of men, beasts, flowers, and even fables, which have nothing to do with the history, but are mere ornaments. At the end of every particular scene there is a tree, by way of distinction; and over several of the principal figures there are inscriptions, but many of them obliterated. It is annually hung up on St. John's day, and goes round the nave of the church, where it continues eight days; and at all other times it is carefully kept locked up in a strong wainscot press, in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral, dedicated to Thomas a Becket. By tradition it is called, _Duke William's toilet_, and is said to be the work of Matilda, his queen, and the ladies of her court, after he had obtained the crown of England." Mr. Strutt, in his "Complete View of the Dresses and Habits of the People of England," affirms, that it is the work of half a century later than the time of the Conqueror.

ROMAN STAMP.

This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very earliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any similar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass; the ground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with which antique medals are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions are, about two inches long, by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. As no person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman History, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some Roman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name. A stamp somewhat similar, in the Greek character, is in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

TYRIAN PURPLE.

The shell-fish portrayed on next page is that from which the Tyrian purple dye is obtained. The ancients were very devoid of chemical knowledge; their list of adjective dye-stuffs was therefore restricted, and all the most celebrated dyes of antiquity belonged to the substantive division, of which Tyrian purple was undoubtedly the chief. The purple dye of Tyre, which admits with great propriety of being included amongst the dyes of Greece and Rome, was discovered about fifteen centuries before the Christian era, and the art of using it did not become lost until the eleventh century after Christ. It was obtained from two genera of one species of shell-fish, the smaller of which was denominated _buccinum_, the larger _purpura_, and to both the common name murex was applied. The dye-stuff was procured by puncturing a vessel in the throat of the larger genus, and by pounding the smaller entire. Having been thus extracted, salt was added, also a certain amount of water. The whole was then kept hot about eight or ten days in a vessel of lead or tin, the impurities as they rose being assiduously skimmed off. The dye-stuff was now ready to receive the texture to be dyed (wool, universally), and the operation of dyeing was simple enough; nothing further being required than the immersion of the whole for a sufficient time, when, at the expiration of a certain period, the whole of the colouring matter was found to have been removed, and to have combined with the textile fabric.

The tints capable of being imparted by this material were various--representing numerous shades between purple and crimson. Amongst these a very dark violet shade was much esteemed, but the right imperial tint, we are informed, was that resembling coagulated blood. The discovery of Tyrian purple dye is referred to the fifteenth century before Christ. That it was known to the Egyptians, in the time of Moses, is sufficiently obvious from the testimony of more than one scriptural passage. Ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive policy of the eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only a few individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the twelfth century, when Byzantium was already suffering from attacks without, and dissensions within, the secret of imparting the purple dye of Tyre became lost.

The re-discovery of Tyrian purple as it occurred in England was made by Mr. Cole of Bristol. About the latter end of the year 1683, this gentleman heard from two ladies residing at Minehead, that a person living somewhere on the coast of Ireland, supported himself by marking with a delicate crimson colour the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen sent him for that purpose, which colour was the product of some liquid substance taken out of a shell-fish. This recital at once brought to the recollection of Mr. Cole the tradition of Tyrian purple. He, without delay, went in quest of the shell-fish, and after trying various kinds without success, his efforts were at length successful. He found considerable quantities of the buccinum on the sea-coast of Somersetshire, and the opposite coast of South Wales. The fish being found, the next difficulty was to extract the dye, which in its natural state is not purple, but white, the purple tint being the result of exposure to the air. At length our acute investigator found the dye stuff in a white vein lying transversely in a little furrow or cleft next to the head of the fish.

THE INCARNATIONS OF VISHNU.

There is a part of the mythology of India which seems to be blended with the history of that country. It relates to the different _avatars_ of Vishnu, or his incarnations and appearances on earth.

The first of these _avatars_ has reference to that general deluge of which all nations have preserved some traditions. Vishnu, we are told, metamorphosed himself into a fish.

The second incarnation is that of _Kourma_, or the tortoise. The gods and the giants, wishing to obtain immortality by eating _amourdon_, delicious butter, formed in one of the seven seas of the universe, which the Indians call sea of milk, transported, by Vishnu's advice, the mountain of Mandreguivi into that sea: they twisted round it the serpent Adissechen, and alternately pulling, some by his hundred heads, others by the tail, they made the mountain turn round in such a manner, as to agitate the sea and to convert it into butter; but they pulled with such rapidity, that Adissechen, overcome with weakness, could no longer endure it. His body shuddered; his hundred trembling mouths made the universe resound with hisses; a torrent of flames burst from his eyes; his hundred black pendent tongues palpitated, and vomited forth a deadly poison, which immediately spread all around. The gods and giants betook themselves to flight. Vishnu, bolder than the rest, took the poison, and with it rubbed his body, which became quite blue. It is in memory of this event, that this colour is given to his image in almost all the temples.

The gods and the giants, encouraged by Vishnu's example, fell to work again. After they had laboured a thousand years, the mountain was on the point of sinking in the sea, when Vishnu, in the form of a tortoise, quickly placed himself beneath, and supported it. At length they saw the cow Camadenu, the horse with seven heads, and the elephant with three trunks, coming out of the sea of milk; also the tree _calpaga vrutcham_; Lacshmi, goddess of riches, wife of Vishu; Saraswadi, goddess of the sciences and of harmony, married to Brama; Mondevi, goddess of discord and misery, whom nobody would have, and who is represented riding on an ass, and holding in her hand a banner, on which a raven is delineated; and, lastly, Danouvandri, the physician, carrying a vessel full of _amourdon_, which the gods instantly seized, and greedily devoured, without leaving a morsel. The giants, disappointed in their expectations, dispersed over the earth, prevented mankind from paying worship to the gods, and strove to obtain adoration for themselves. Their insolence occasioned the subsequent incarnations of Vishnu, who endeavoured to destroy this race, so inimical to the gods. He is adored in this second metamorphosis, by the name of _Kourma Avatara_. The followers of Vishnu believe that this god, though omnipresent, resides more particularly in the _vaicondom_, his paradise, amidst the sea of milk, reclined, in contemplative slumber, on the serpent Adissechen, which serves him for a throne: in this state he is called _Siranguan_. In all the temples of Vishnu is to be seen the figure of this god; but as the serpent on which he lies cannot be represented with his hundred heads, he is delineated with only five.

There are altogether ten incarnations of Vishnu; nine of these have already been fulfilled, and one is yet to be manifested, it is expected about ninety thousand years hence. The account of many of the transformations is exceedingly extraordinary, but we have room for no more than the one we have given.

ORIGIN OF LONG-TOED SHOES.

Long-toed shoes were invented by Fulk, Count of Anjou, to hide an excrescence on one of his feet. These toes were so long as to be fastened to the knees with gold chains, and carved at the extreme point with the representation of a church window, a bird, or some fantastic device.

THE HOUSE OF HEN'S FEATHERS.