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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76874 ***





                           THE PENNY MAGAZINE

                                 OF THE

             Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 15.]                   PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.        [June 30, 1832

------------------------------------------------------------------------


                         THE CAVE OF ELEPHANTA.

 [Illustration: A view of a cave, with large statues and pillars and two
                         people standing inside.]

One of the earliest monuments of India that attracted the notice of
Europeans was the excavation of Elephanta, situated in a beautiful
island of the same name, called by the natives Goripura, or _Mountain
City_. This island is in the bay of Bombay, seven miles from Bombay
castle; it is about six miles in circumference, and composed of two long
hills with a narrow valley between them.

The island has taken its familiar name from a colossal statue of an
elephant, cut out of a detached mass of blackish rock unconnected with
any stratum below. This figure has had another on its back, which the
old travellers call a young elephant, but which, as far as we can judge
from the drawing of what remains of it, has much more probably been a
tiger. The head and neck of this elephant dropped off about 1814, owing
to a large fissure that ran up through its back. The length of this
colossal figure, from the forehead to the root of the tail, was 13 feet
2 inches; and the height at the head 7 feet 4 inches. The remains of
this colossus stand about 250 yards to the right of the usual
landing-place, which is towards the southern part of the island.

After proceeding up the valley till the two mountains unite, we come to
a narrow path, after ascending which there is a beautiful prospect of
the northern part of the island, and the opposite shores of Salsette.
“Advancing forward and keeping to the left along the bend of the hill,
we gradually mount to an open space, and come suddenly on the grand
entrance of a magnificent temple, whose huge massy columns seem to give
support to the whole mountain which rises above it.

“The entrance into this temple, which is entirely hewn out of a stone
resembling porphyry, is by a spacious front supported by two massy
pillars and two pilasters forming three openings, under a thick and
steep rock overhung by brushwood and wild shrubs. The long ranges of
columns that appear closing in perspective on every side; the flat roof
of solid rock that seems to be prevented from falling only by the massy
pillars, whose capitals are pressed down and flattened as if by the
superincumbent weight; the darkness that obscures the interior of the
temple, which is dimly lighted only by the entrances; and the gloomy
appearance of the gigantic stone figures ranged along the wall, and
hewn, like the whole temple, out of the living rock,--joined to the
strange uncertainty that hangs over the history of this place,--carry
the mind back to distant periods, and impress it with that kind of
uncertain and religious awe with which the grander works of ages of
darkness are generally contemplated.

“The whole excavation consists of three principal parts: the great
temple itself, which is in the centre, and two smaller chapels, one on
each side of the great temple. These two chapels do not come forward
into a straight line with the front of the chief temple, are not
perceived on approaching the temple, and are considerably in recess,
being approached by two narrow passes in the hill, one on each side of
the grand entrance, but at some distance from it. After advancing to
some distance up these confined passes, we find each of them conduct to
another front of the grand excavation, exactly like the principal front
which is first seen; all the three fronts being hollowed out of the
solid rock, and each consisting of two huge pillars with two pilasters.
The two side fronts are precisely opposite to each other on the east and
west, the grand entrance facing the north. The two wings of the temple
are at the upper end of these passages, and are close by the grand
excavation, but have no covered passage to connect them with it.[1]”

From the northern entrance to the extremity of this cave is about 130½
feet, and from the eastern to the western side 133. Twenty-six pillars,
of which eight are broken, and sixteen pilasters, support the roof.
Neither the floor nor the roof is in the same plane, and consequently
the height varies, being in some parts 17½, in others 15 feet. Two rows
of pillars run parallel to one another from the northern entrance and at
right angles to it, to the extremity of the cave; and the pilasters, one
of which stands on each side of the two front pillars, are followed by
other pilasters and pillars also, forming on each side of the two rows
already described, another row, running parallel to them up to the
southern extremity of the cave. The pillars on the eastern and western
front, which are like those on the northern side, are also continued
across the temple from east to west. Thus the ranges of pillars form a
number of parallel lines intersecting one another at right angles--the
pillars of the central parts being considered as common to the two sets
of intersecting lines. The pillars vary both in their size and
decorations, though the difference is not sufficient to strike the eye
at first.

All the walls are covered with reliefs (which are yet very little known
for want of complete drawings), but are described as being in good
proportion and producing rather a pleasing effect than the contrary. All
the sculptures refer to the Indian mythology, and the temple seems to
have been the special property of the god Siva, since he appears very
frequently with his usual attributes. In one place we see him as half
man and half woman, with one breast and four hands, in one of which he
holds the snake.

In Mr. Daniell’s Views in India (vol. v. pl. 7) we have a beautiful
drawing of the northern front of the Elephanta cave, with its
overhanging trees and shrubs. His eighth plate is that which we have
above given. “The view is taken near the centre of the temple looking
westward. The space between four of the pillars is formed into a small
temple, sacred to Mahadiva (Siva), and has an entrance on each side,
guarded by colossal figures.” “On the walls are several groups of
figures in basso-relievo, evidently relating to the Hindoo mythology;
many of them are of colossal dimensions and well executed. To the east
and west are small apartments, decorated also in the same manner. This
excavation is considerably elevated above the sea; the floor,
nevertheless, is generally covered with water during the monsoon season;
the rain being then driven in by the wind; a circumstance to which
possibly its present state of decay is chiefly owing.”

Larger excavations of this kind are found in the neighbouring island of
Salsette. But these are far surpassed by the temples of Ellora, which
are in the province of Hyderabad, about twenty miles north-west from
Aurungabad, the capital, and 239 east of Bombay. It may be considered as
near the centre of India. Here we have a granite mountain, which is of
an amphitheatre form, completely chiselled out from top to bottom, and
filled with innumerable temples; the god Siva alone having, it is said,
about twenty appropriated to himself. To describe the numerous galleries
and rows of pillars which support various chambers lying one above
another, the steps, porticos, and bridges of rock over canals, also hewn
out of the solid rock, would be impossible; and we recommend those who
have the opportunity to look at Daniell’s designs, which will serve to
give some idea of this wonderful place.

The rock-cut temples of India are generally supposed to be of higher
antiquity than pagodas[2] or temples, built on the surface of the earth.

  ⁂ Abridged from ‘British Museum--Egyptian Antiquities.’

-----

Footnote 1:

  Mr. W. Erskine, in the Bombay Literary Transactions.

Footnote 2:

  The word pagoda is a corruption of _Bhaga-rati_, “holy house,” one of
  the several names by which the Hindoo temples are known.


                         ---------------------


                          THE WEATHER.--No. 3.

Ben Jonson, in his play of ‘Every Man out of his Humour,’ has a
character of which some examples may still be found, even in our own
day. It is that of a credulous man, who relies implicitly on the
_Weather Prophecies_ of the almanacs of his time;--and, his barns being
full, resolves not to sow his ground, because the almanacs foretel

                 “Rotten weather and unseasoned hours.”

This species of credulity is probably not very often now carried as far
as in the instance of _Sordido_, the dupe of the play;--but still there
are some amongst us who will not cut their grass till they have seen
what “Master Moore” says about the weather. In nine cases out of ten
these superstitious confiders in an almost worn-out imposture, have in
the end to exclaim with the miser of the old dramatist, “Tut, these
star-monger knaves, who would trust ’em? One says, _dark and rainy_,
when ’tis as clear as crystal; another says, _tempestuous blasts and
storms_, and ’twas as calm as a milk-bowl. Here be sweet rascals for a
man to credit his whole fortunes with[3]!”

Now, let us see what the almanac oracle of the present time--“Francis
Moore, Physician”--says about the weather, for June, 1832. He says, in
one of his narrow columns which runs parallel with the calendar of the
present month, “Variable, with thunder showers flying about. Some
showers at intervals, attended with electrical _phenomena_, EVEN TO THE
END.” Be it remembered that this prophecy is for _all parts_ of the
United Kingdom--for England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland;--for the
hilly districts and for the plains,--for the coasts and for the inland
countries. A correspondent, who writes to us about the weather, very
sensibly says, “Does it not often happen that they have many rainy days
successively at Manchester, whilst not a drop falls at Leeds? How then
can any man’s tables about the moon, or general rules for the weather,
or the prophecies of almanacs, answer for both the hilly and level
districts? The Cheshire men say that their rugged-topt hills knock out
the bottoms of the clouds, and leave them as leaky as a sieve while
passing over Manchester.” So much for the _universal_ application of
these astrological predictions of the weather.

But let us further examine this prophecy of Moore’s Almanac for the
present month of June. There are some who impudently defend the
publication of such predictions, as well as the predictions of political
events which the same almanac contains;--and they say that the weather
prophecies are only intended to give the average results of many years
of actual observation, which make more impression upon the farmer’s mind
in this form than if he were to refer himself to meteorological tables
of the barometer, of the thermometer, of the hygrometer, and of the
rain-gauge. Now, here is a prediction calculated to frighten the
credulous agriculturist into a belief that the whole of June, throughout
the country, will be unfavourable to hay-making:--“Showers at intervals,
attended with _electrical phenomena_, EVEN TO THE END.” Electrical
phenomena! This is a phrase as terrific as the obscurities of the
ancient oracles. A phenomenon, as most of our readers know, is an
appearance--anything made manifest to us in any way; and as electricity
is doubtless one of the most important agents in producing particular
states of the weather, rain and sunshine, wind and calm, heat and cold,
may be equally _electrical phenomena_. But “showers at intervals,
attended with electrical phenomena,” is a phrase naturally calculated to
frighten the ignorant into a belief that the weather of June, “even unto
the end,” will be rainy, attended with heavy storms; the most
unfavourable state, because producing the greatest uncertainty and
expense in the work of getting in the hay-harvest. This prediction was
probably manufactured a year ago: it was printed in October last; and so
far from giving a notion of what is the _average_ weather for June--the
only matter upon which the prediction monger could possess the slightest
information--he prophesies directly in the teeth of the best
meteorological records; for it is a well-known fact that in June the
average number of days on which rain falls is under twelve--the lowest
number of any month in the year. June, therefore, is in general the most
favourable month for hay-making, whatever exceptions there may be in
particular years; of which “Francis Moore” could know no more beforehand
than the most ignorant peasant whom he deludes.

But let us look a little further at the prophecies of the
Weather-Almanac. June being lost to the hay-farmer by the fear of “rain
and electrical phenomena,” July is to make him happy “with fair and hot
weather.” The hay-harvest therefore will be, if possible, deferred by
the dupes onward to July. Now in July a continuance of rainy weather
commonly happens about the middle of the month; and this periodical
tendency to rain has given rise to the popular tradition of St. Swithin.
Of course there are exceptions to this tendency; but in this, as in most
cases, the popular error has some little foundation in truth. The
chances, therefore, are that the farmer who, for fear of “electrical
phenomena,” has let June pass over without cutting his grass, will find
a very short interval between the beginning of July and the periodical
rains of the middle of that month; and thus a great deal of national
property may be destroyed, and the credulous individual’s capital
expended in vain, because he has chosen to believe in a musty cheat, of
which even the propagators of the deception are ashamed.

We have endeavoured to show in a former Number (and we shall continue
the subject in a future paper), that by the careful use of good
instruments, some few facts may be established as guides in operations
dependent upon the weather. In the place of these the observations of
shepherds, fishermen, and others who have attended to the _passing_ and
_local_ signs of winds, and clouds, and tints of the sky, and other
omens, are not to be despised. These men are practical philosophers, who
may fairly claim some accurate knowledge of the weather from day to day.
They are much too sensible and honest to pretend to any power of
predicting if it will be fair or foul weather, for a year, or a month,
or even a week beforehand. Such a man has been described by the poet:--

             ⸻“In his shepherd’s calling he was prompt,
             And watchful more than ordinary men.
             Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds,
             Of blasts of every tone; and, oftentimes,
             When others heeded not, he heard the South
             Make subterraneous music, like the noise
             Of bagpipers on distant Highland hills.”

The late Sir Humphrey Davy, one of the most successful modern explorers
of the secrets of nature, was not above attending to, and explaining
the, “weather-omens” which are derived from popular observation. In his
‘Salmonia’ he has the following dialogue between Halieus (a fly-fisher),
Poietes (a poet), Physicus (a man of science), and Ornither (a
sportsman):--


“_Poiet_. I hope we shall have another good day to-morrow, for the
clouds are red in the west.

“_Phys_. I have no doubt of it, for the red has a tint of purple.

“_Hal_. Do you know why this tint portends fine weather?

“_Phys_. The air, when dry, I believe, refracts more red, or heat-making
rays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again
reflected in the horizon. I have generally observed a coppery or yellow
sun-set to foretel rain; but, as an indication of wet weather
approaching, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon, which
is produced by the precipitated water; and the larger the circle, the
nearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall.

“_Hal_. I have often observed that the old proverb is correct--

          ‘A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd’s warning;
           A rainbow at night is the shepherd’s delight.’

Can you explain this omen?

“_Phys_. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing, or
depositing, the rain are opposite the sun,--and in the evening the
rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy
rains, in this climate, are usually brought by the westerly wind, a
rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road, by
the wind, to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in
these clouds is passing from us.

“_Poiet_. I have often observed, that when the swallows fly high fine
weather is to be expected or continued; but when they fly low, and close
to the ground, rain is almost surely approaching. Can you account for
this?

“_Hal_. Swallows follow the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats usually
delight in warm strata of air; and as warm air is lighter, and usually
moister, than cold air, when the warm strata of air are high, there is
less chance of moisture being thrown down from them by the mixture with
cold air; but when the warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is
almost certain that, as the cold air flows down into it, a deposition of
water will take place.

“_Poiet_. I have often seen sea-gulls assemble on the land, and have
almost always observed that very stormy and rainy weather was
approaching. I conclude that these animals, sensible of a current of air
approaching from the ocean, retire to the land to shelter themselves
from the storm.

“_Orn_. No such thing. The storm is their element, and the little petrel
enjoys the heaviest gale; because, living on the smaller sea insects, he
is sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave, and you may see
him flitting above the edge of the highest surge. I believe that the
reason of this migration of sea-gulls, and other sea birds, to the land,
is their security of finding food; and they may be observed, at this
time, feeding greedily on the earth-worms and larvæ, driven out of the
ground by severe floods; and the fish, on which they prey in fine
weather in the sea, leave the surface, and go deeper in storms. The
search after food, as we have agreed on a former occasion, is the
principal cause why animals change their places. The different tribes of
the wading birds always migrate when rain is about to take place; and I
remember once, in Italy, having been long waiting, in the end of March,
for the arrival of the double snipe in the Campagna of Rome, a great
flight appeared on the 3d of April, and the day after heavy rain set in,
which greatly interfered with my sport. The vulture, upon the same
principle, follows armies; and I have no doubt that the augury of the
ancients was a good deal founded upon the observation of the instincts
of birds. There are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same
source. For anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single
magpies,--but _two_ may be always regarded as a favourable omen; and the
reason is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the
nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the
young ones; but when two go out together it is only when the weather is
warm and mild, and favourable for fishing.

“_Poiet_. The singular connections of causes and effects to which you
have just referred, makes superstition less to be wondered at,
particularly amongst the vulgar; and when two facts, naturally
unconnected, have been accidentally coincident, it is not singular that
this coincidence should have been observed and registered, and that
omens of the most absurd kind should be trusted in. In the west of
England, half a century ago, a particular hollow noise on the sea coast
was referred to a spirit or goblin, called Bucca, and was supposed to
foretel a shipwreck; the philosopher knows that sound travels much
faster than currents in the air--and the sound always foretold the
approach of a very heavy storm, which seldom takes place on that wild
and rocky coast without a shipwreck on some part of its extensive
shores, surrounded by the Atlantic.”


We may not improperly conclude this paper with some lines which have
been transmitted to us, as a production of the late Dr. Jenner, the
discoverer of vaccination. We, of course, do not recommend an implicit
reliance upon such _natural_ prophecies of the weather of the coming
day. But, at any rate, whatever connected with this subject tends to
open a man’s own eyes,--whatever excites in him the habit of observation
and comparison,--is a benefit; whilst a reliance, on the contrary, on
the unprincipled quackeries of the more popular almanacs which still
disgrace our country, as well as every other prostration of the
understanding before the shrine of ignorance, is the most deceptive of
all states of the human mind, and the most likely to engender a train of
other delusions which shut up the sources of real knowledge, and degrade
the whole moral as well as intellectual character.


                             SIGNS OF RAIN.

 Addressed by Dr. Jenner, in 1810, to a Lady who asked him if he thought
                         it would rain to-morrow.

                The hollow winds begin to blow,
                The clouds look black, the glass is low:
                The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
                And spiders from their cobwebs creep:
                Last night the sun went pale to bed,
                The moon in halos hid her head:
                The boding shepherd heaves a sigh,
                For see, a rainbow spans the sky;
                The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
                Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel;
                The squalid toads at dusk were seen
                Slowly crawling o’er the green;
                Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry,
                The distant hills are looking nigh;
                Hark, how the chairs and tables crack,
                Old Betty’s joints are on the rack;
                And see yon rooks, how odd their flight,
                They imitate the gliding kite,
                Or seem precipitate to fall
                As if they felt the piercing ball;
                How restless are the snorting swine,
                The busy flies disturb the kine,
                Low o’er the grass the swallow wings,
                The cricket too, how loud she sings,
                Puss on the hearth with velvet paws
                Sits wiping o’er her whisker’d jaws:--
                ’Twill surely rain, I see, with sorrow,
                Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.

-----

Footnote 3:

  Every Man out of his Humour; Act iii. Scene 7.


                         ---------------------


                      THE BRITISH MUSEUM.--No. 4.

                      [Illustration: The Musk-Ox.]

We shall occasionally turn aside from the monuments of Art in the
British Museum to notice some of the specimens in the collection of
Natural History. Stuffed skins and skeletons are, of course, much less
interesting, both to the scientific student of zoology and to the
ordinary observer, than the living animal, retaining his natural habits,
as far as they can be preserved, in a menagerie. But, at the same time,
a stuffed skin affords a much better notion of the animated creature
than the best drawing; and, in some cases, the living specimen cannot be
procured, or kept alive, in this country. In such cases we are compelled
to resort to such preserved specimens as that of the _musk-ox_, on the
great staircase of the Museum.

This specimen is very faithfully represented in the above wood-cut. The
animal, of which this skin was once a part, was shot by some of the
persons accompanying Captain Parry, in one of his expeditions to the
Polar Seas; and was presented to the Museum by the Lords of the
Admiralty. The appearance of the musk-ox, as the visitor will observe,
is strikingly different from that of the common black cattle of Great
Britain. Its limbs are singularly short,--its crooked horns are broad
and flattened,--long thick hair covers the whole of its trunk, hanging
down nearly to the ground,--and its short tail, bending inwards, is
entirely hidden by the long hair of the rump and hind quarters. It will
be noticed that the hair is particularly thick under the throat, looking
something like a horse’s mane inverted. The adaptation of the structure
of this animal to the frozen regions which he inhabits, offers one of
the most striking illustrations of design which the natural world
exhibits. The shortness of the creature’s limbs prevents that exposure
of the trunk to the snow-storms and the cold, which would result from a
greater elevation; whilst he is more effectually protected from the
severity of the seasons by the dense mass of hair with which his whole
body is covered, and which, in winter, becomes a thick woolly coat,
beneath the long straight hair which forms his outer garment. The Author
of the Appendix to Parry’s Second Voyage, in noticing the remarkable
projection of the orbits of the eyes in this species, considers that
their formation is necessary to carry the eye of the animal clear beyond
the large quantity of hair required to preserve the warmth of the head.

Thus protected from the inclemency of winter cold, the musk-ox remains
the contented and happy inhabitant of the most barren and desolate parts
of the earth. Within the Arctic Circle, in those almost inaccessible
regions which lie nearest the North Pole, large herds of these
quadrupeds are found, appearing to derive as much enjoyment from
existence as the cattle who graze on the most luxuriant pastures,
beneath a genial sky. They are not often found at a great distance from
woods; but when they feed upon open grounds they prefer the most
precipitous situations, climbing amidst rocks with all the agility and
precision of the mountain-goat or the chamois. Grass, when they can get
it, moss, twigs of willow, and pine shoots, constitute their food. The
parts of the polar regions inhabited by the musk-ox are thus described
in the Appendix to Parry’s Second Voyage:--


“This species of ox inhabits the North Georgian Islands in the summer
months. They arrived in Melville Island in the middle of May, crossing
the ice from the southward, and quitted it on their return towards the
end of September. The musk-ox may be further stated, on Esquimaux
information, to inhabit the country on the west of Davis’ Strait, and on
the north of Baffin’s Bay; as a head and horns and a drawing of a bull
being shown to the Esquimaux of the west coast of Davis’ Strait who were
communicated with on the 7th of September, were immediately recognized,
and the animal called by the name of Umingmack. This is evidently the
same with the Umimak of the Esquimaux of Wolstenholme Sound, who were
visited by the former expedition, and of which nothing more could be
learnt at the time from their description than that it was a large
horned animal inhabiting the land, and certainly not a rein-deer. It is
probable that the individuals which extend their summer migration to the
north-east of Baffin’s Bay, retire during the winter to the continent of
America, or to its neighbourhood, as the species is unknown in South
Greenland.”


Captain Franklin, in his Journey to the Polar Sea, has given the
following account of the habits of this species:--


“The musk-oxen, like the buffalo, herd together in bands, and generally
frequent barren grounds during the summer months, keeping near the
rivers, but retire to the woods in winter. They seem to be less watchful
than most other wild animals, and when grazing are not difficult to
approach, provided the hunters go against the wind. When two or three
men get so near a herd as to fire at them from different points, these
animals, instead of separating or running away, huddle closer together,
and several are generally killed; but if the wound is not mortal they
become enraged, and dart in the most furious manner at the hunters, who
must be very dexterous to evade them. They can defend themselves by
their powerful horns against wolves and bears, which, as the Indians
say, they not unfrequently kill. The musk-oxen feed on the same
substances with the rein-deer, and the prints of the feet of these two
animals are so much alike, that it requires the eye of an experienced
hunter to distinguish them. The largest killed by us did not exceed in
weight three hundred pounds. The flesh has a musky disagreeable flavour,
particularly when the animal is lean, which unfortunately for us was the
case with all that we now killed,”


The bulls of this species killed during Parry’s second voyage weighed,
upon an average, about 700 lbs., yielding about 400 lbs. of meat; and
they stood about 10½ hands high at the withers.

On the staircase of the Museum are also stuffed specimens of a male and
female Giraffe, or Camelopard, which were presented to the Museum by Mr.
Burchell, the traveller in Africa. The living giraffe which was
presented to George IV. in 1827, by the Pacha of Egypt, died in 1829.
The other giraffe sent to the government of France, in 1827, is still
living in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. It is impossible from a
studied specimen to form an adequate idea of the grace and beauty of
this remarkable animal; nor of the impression produced upon the senses
by a creature of such enormous height lifting up its head to gather the
tender leaves from branches three times as high as a tall man. Till the
living giraffes were brought to England and France there was a general
belief that the descriptions of this animal were partly fabulous. It is
now established that the account which was given of this animal by Le
Vaillant, one of the most amusing of travellers, who saw the animal in
its native woods, is perfectly accurate. We copy the following
description from his Second Voyage, as translated in ‘The Menageries,’
Vol. I.:--


“The giraffe ruminates, as every animal does that possesses, at the same
time, horns and cloven feet. It grazes also in the same way; but not
often, because the country which it inhabits has little pasturage. Its
ordinary food is the leaf of a sort of mimosa, called by the natives
_kanaap_, and by the colonists, _kameeldoorn_. This tree being only
found in the country of the Namaquas, may probably afford a reason why
the giraffe is there fixed, and why he is not seen in those regions of
Southern Africa where the tree does not grow.


                      [Illustration: The Giraffe.]


“Doubtless the most beautiful part of his body is the head. The mouth is
small; the eyes are brilliant and full. Between the eyes, and above the
nose is a swelling, very prominent and well defined. This prominence is
not a fleshy excrescence, but an enlargement of the bony substance; and
it seems to be similar to the two little lumps, or protuberances, with
which the top of his head is armed, and which, being about the size of a
hen’s egg, spring, on each side, at the commencement of the mane. His
tongue is rough, and terminates in a point. The two jaws have, on each
side, six molar teeth; but the lower jaw has, beyond these, eight
incisive teeth, while the upper jaw has none.

“The hoofs, which are cleft, and have no nails, resemble those of the
ox. We may remark, at first sight, that those of the fore feet are
larger than those of the hind. The leg is very slender, but the knees
have a prominence, because the animal kneels when he lies down.

“If I had not myself killed the giraffe, I should have believed, as have
many naturalists, that the fore legs are much longer than the hind. This
is an error; for the legs have, in general, the proportion of those of
other quadrupeds. I say in general, because in this genus there are
varieties, as there are in animals of the same species.... His defence,
as that of the horse and other hoofed animals, consists in kicks; and
his hinder limbs are so light, and his blows so rapid, that the eye
cannot follow them. They are sufficient for his defence against the
lion. He never employs his horns in resisting any attack.... The
giraffes, male and female, resemble each other in their exterior, in
their youth. Their obtuse horns are then terminated by a knot of long
hair: the female preserves this peculiarity some time, but the male
loses it at the age of three years. The hide, which is at first of a
light red, becomes of a deeper colour as the animal advances in age, and
is at length of a yellow brown in the female, and of a brown approaching
to black in the male. By this difference of colour the male may be
distinguished from the female at a distance. The skin varies in both
sexes, as to the distribution and form of the spots. The female is not
so high as the male, and the prominence of the front is not so marked.
She has four teats. According to the account of the natives, she goes
with young about twelve months, and has one at a birth.”


                         ---------------------


                               THE WEEK.

                        [Illustration: Flaxman.]

July 4.--On this day, in the year 1715, was born at Haynichen, near
Freyberg, in Saxony, the German poet, CHRISTIAN FURCHTEGOTT GELLERT.
Gellert was not a man of the highest genius; but appearing at a
favourable time, being animated by the finest spirit of benevolence and
virtuous ambition, and possessing just the talents and character of mind
suited to the task which he undertook, that of awakening the general
body of his countrymen to a taste for literature, he produced as great
and as gratifying an effect by his works as, perhaps, any writer that
ever lived. His father was a clergyman, and he was originally intended
for the same profession; but his first attempt in the pulpit convinced
him that his constitutional timidity would probably prevent him from
ever becoming an effective public speaker. He then resolved to devote
himself to the instruction of his countrymen through the press. At this
time Germany was almost destitute of a national literature. The country
had given birth to many great scholars; and both classical learning and
the abstruse philosophy of the middle ages were cultivated with zeal and
success in its colleges. But scarcely any one had yet arisen to write
for the people. This Gellert and a few of his friends resolved to do.
Discarding all the repulsive technicalities of the schools, they
proceeded to expound and illustrate the great principles of morality,
metaphysics, and criticism, for the use of society at large, in a
natural and popular style, such as was fitted to be intelligible and
interesting to all. In this patriotic enterprise Gellert may be said to
have spent his life. Every successive work which he produced was
received with delight by Germany; but his celebrated ‘Fables’ were read
with rapture by all classes of the population. One day a peasant
appeared at Gellert’s door in Leipsic, with a waggon loaded with
fire-wood. “Is it not here,” asked the man, “that Mr. Gellert lives?” On
being told that it was, he desired to see the master of the house; and
having been brought to him, “Are not you, sir,” he said, “the author of
the ‘Fables?’” “I am,” replied Gellert. “Well then,” said the other,
“here is a load of wood, which I have brought you, to thank you for the
pleasure which your book has given to myself, my wife, and my children.”
By such a heart as Gellert’s this was probably felt to be a more
touching tribute to his powers than the plaudits of crowded theatres
would have been. Another time he was standing in the workshop of a
bookbinder, when a villager came in with a book in his hand. “Here,”
said he, “I want this book strongly bound.” “Where did you pick up this
book?” asked the binder. “I bought it in our town,” replied the
delighted possessor of the treasure; “it has made the steward of the
manor and the schoolmaster laugh till they have almost split their
sides: I have a little boy, who is now a tolerably good reader; he shall
read from this book to me in the evening, while I smoke my pipe, and I
will go no more to the ale-house.” Even the war (commonly called the
_seven years’ war_) which ravaged a great part of Germany from 1756 to
1763, did not extinguish the popular enthusiasm for the writings of
Gellert. When Leipsic was taken by the Prussians in 1758, a lieutenant
of hussars found out the peaceable poet in his house, and not contented
with thanking him warmly for the delightful books to which, he said, he
owed so many pleasant hours, insisted, by way of more substantially
testifying his gratitude, upon making him a present of a pair of
pistols, which he had taken from a Cossack. Nay, the common soldiers
themselves used to come, almost in regiments, to hear a course of
lectures on moral philosophy, which he read in public about this time;
and it is related that one man, having obtained leave of absence, turned
a considerable way out of his road, on his journey homewards, in order
to see, as he expressed it, that _honest fellow_, Mr. Gellert, _whose
books had saved him from becoming a profligate_. The works of Gellert
have been frequently printed in a collected form, and amount, in the
fullest edition, to ten volumes duodecimo. He had been afflicted during
the greater part of his life by bad health; and died on the night of the
13th of December, 1769, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. Having
lingered long in considerable pain, he remarked to the physician, a
short time before his death, that he had not believed it would have been
so difficult to die, and asked when the termination of his sufferings
might be expected. When he was informed that another hour would probably
release him, “God be praised,” he said; “still another hour!” and then
lay in silent resignation, till the expected deliverance came. Germany
lamented, with all the tokens of national grief, the loss of her amiable
instructor; and medals and public monuments testified the admiration and
gratitude of all ranks of his countrymen.

July 6.--The birth-day of JOHN FLAXMAN, the late eminent sculptor, whose
works have done so much to form the English school of design. Flaxman
was born in 1755, in York, from whence he was removed in his infancy to
London, where his father, who was a moulder of figures, subsequently
kept a shop in the Strand for the sale of plaster casts. The father’s
occupation, no doubt, contributed to call forth the genius of the son;
but the boy very early began to give evidence of fondness for those arts
to which his future life was devoted, and of singular taste and skill in
the efforts of his uninstructed pencil. Like many more of the most
distinguished cultivators of literature and art, he was prevented by the
weakness and delicate health of his early years from mixing in the ruder
sports of boys of his own age; and this, of course, gave him more time
for solitary study. His father was not able to afford him the advantages
of a regular education; but he rapidly acquired a great deal of
knowledge by his own unaided efforts. When he was fifteen he was
admitted a student in the Royal Academy. Here he was successful in a
competition for the inferior honour of the silver medal; but on the
contest for the gold one, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the President, awarded
the prize to another. This was, perhaps, upon the whole, not an
unfortunate incident for Flaxman, though he severely felt what he
thought an injustice. His rival, notwithstanding his good fortune on
this occasion, never rose to any distinction; but Flaxman, with the
heroism of true genius, resolved to obliterate this defeat of his youth
by future triumphs, of the glory of which no such decision should be
able to rob him. And this resolution he nobly fulfilled. His first
employment was given him by the Messrs. Wedgewood, the productions of
whose porcelain potteries he embellished with designs that gave at once
a new character to this branch of British manufactures. In 1782 he
married; and five years afterwards proceeded to visit Italy, where he
remained till 1794, studying the celebrated monuments of the fine arts
with which that country abounds, and at the same time exerting his own
pencil in the production of works which soon spread his fame over
Europe. Having then returned to England, he was in 1797 elected an
Associate, and in 1800 a Member, of the Royal Academy. After this he
executed many great works in marble; and, as a lecturer, afforded some
valuable contributions to the literature of his profession. For many
years before his death his name ranked with the highest of the living
artists of England. But we must refer the reader for an account of his
performances to Mr. Allan Cunningham’s interesting life of him, lately
published, or to the abstract of that memoir in the second number of the
Gallery of Portraits. He died at his house in Buckingham-street, on the
7th of December, 1826, in the seventy-second year of his age.


                         ---------------------


                    IMPROVEMENT IN SOCIAL CONDITION.

The history of the United States of North America is, in some respects,
one of the most instructive that we can turn to; because we are
accurately acquainted with the origin of this social community, and are
also enabled to trace its history in all its important facts, from the
first establishment of the several colonies up to the present condition
of the Union. Of all historical records none can be put in comparison
with legislative enactments, as showing the condition of the people at
any given period, and the degree of mental culture diffused among them.
In the American States, even under their former colonial government,
there were few men of any importance in the provinces who did not
participate in some of the functions of government; and we may therefore
consider the laws enacted at that period as indicative of the opinions
held by the most influential classes.

We happen to have before us an old collection of Virginia laws,
entitled, ‘A complete collection of the Laws of Virginia, at a Grand
Assembly held at James City, 23d March, 1662;’ a few extracts from which
may not be uninteresting.

There appears to be in this volume only one law about education, which
prescribes the founding of a college “for the advance of learning,
education of youth, supply of the ministry, and promotion of piety.” The
law states how the money is to be raised; but as to its application
nothing more is said, except that a piece of land is to be got, and,
“with as much speed as may be convenient, housing is to be erected
thereon for entertainment of students and scholars.” The _housing_
department seems to have been the uppermost thing in the legislature’s
thoughts; the providing of good teachers was a secondary consideration.

There are several enactments about “rewards for killing wolves,” which
at that time infested even the lower parts of Virginia. At the present
day, owing to the increase of population, the wolf and other wild
animals, though occasionally heard of, are but rarely seen even in the
mountains, and seldom do any damage. The reward “for every wolf
destroyed by pit, trap, or otherwise, is 200 pounds of tobacco.”

Tobacco was the most common standard of value in Virginia at that time,
as we see from this and numerous other instances, where fines, &c. are
estimated at so many pounds of tobacco. Thus it is stated in enactment
35, that “the court shall not take cognizance of any cause under the
value of 200 pounds of tobacco, or twenty shillings sterling, which a
private justice may and is hereby authorized and empowered to hear and
determine.”

The following recipe for good order is contained in an enactment,
entitled ‘Pillories to be erected at each Court:’--“In every county the
court shall cause to be set up a pillory, a pair of stocks, and a
whipping-post near the court-house, and a ducking-stool;--and the court
not causing the said pillory, whipping-post, stocks, and ducking-stool
to be erected, shall be fined 5000 pounds of tobacco to the use of the
public.”

In those days the following provision was made for extending the
elective franchise, which appears founded on a rational principle:
“Every county that will lay out 100 acres of land, and people it with
100 tytheable (taxable) persons, that place shall enjoy the like
privilege” of sending a burgess. The burgesses, together with their
attendants, were free from arrest, from the time of election till ten
days after dissolution of the assembly; this privilege, however, was
somewhat modified by several clauses. Every burgess was allowed during
the sitting of the assembly “150 lbs. of tobacco and cask per day,
besides the necessary charge of going to the assembly and returning.”
This practice of paying legislators, which, in America, originated under
the Colonial system, is still continued in the United States. It did not
entirely cease in England until the reign of Charles II. Andrew Marvell,
one of the burgesses of Hull, was the last member of the House of
Commons who appears to have accepted the wages which all were entitled
to receive.

Among commercial restrictions we find an enactment prohibiting the
planting of tobacco after the 10th of July, which was done for “the
improvement of our only commodity tobacco, which can no ways be effected
but by lessening the quantity and amending the quality.” That the former
effect might possibly be produced by the enactment, without securing the
latter, seems pretty certain. Another object that the government had in
view was to compel the people to become silk-growers against their will.
“Be it therefore enacted,” says the legislature, “that every proprietor
of land within the colony of Virginia shall, for every hundred acres of
land holden in fee, plant upon the said land ten mulberry-trees at
twelve foot distance from each other, and secure them by weeding and a
sufficient fence from cattle and horses.” Tobacco fines, as usual, were
enacted in case the planting and weeding were not duly performed; and
further, “there shall be allowed in the public levy to any one for every
pound of wound silk he shall make, fifty pounds of tobacco, to be raised
in the public levy, and paid in the county or counties where they dwell
that make it.” This act was passed in 1662, and probably continued in
force for a long time; but Virginia did not therefore become a
silk-growing country, nor has it yet, though many parts are well adapted
to raise this commodity. People, we presume, have hitherto found other
things more profitable than silk.

The following enactment has a most barbarous character about it, not
unmixed with something extremely ludicrous as to the idea of the
legislature trying to prevent women from talking: “Whereas many babbling
women slander and scandalize their neighbours, for which their poor
husbands are often involved in chargeable and vexatious suits, and cast
in great damages:--Be it therefore enacted, that in actions of slander,
occasioned by the wife, after judgment passed for the damages, the woman
shall be punished by ducking; and if the slander be so enormous as to be
adjudged at greater damages than 500 pounds of tobacco, then the woman
to suffer a ducking for each 500 pounds of tobacco adjudged against the
husband, if he refuse to pay the tobacco.”

This old statute book of Virginia is full of enactments such as we have
quoted; some exceedingly mischievous, and others very ludicrous. It
would, however, be unfair to say that there are not also some good
regulations in it. Were a history of our own or any other country to be
written, founded on the legislative enactments and illustrated, whenever
it was possible, by individual cases on record, we should then begin to
have some idea of what history is. Instead of the splendours or the
follies of a few who occupy the attention of the historian, we should be
able to form a more complete picture of the condition of the whole
community, and a more exact estimate of the progress which has been made
in social knowledge.


                         ---------------------


                     THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE.

On the 29th of August, 1782, it was found necessary that the Royal
George, a line-of-battle ship of 108 guns, which had lately arrived at
Spithead from a cruise, should, previously to her going again to sea,
undergo the operation which seamen technically call a _Parliament heel_.
In such cases the ship is inclined in a certain degree on one side,
while the defects below the watermark on the other side are examined and
repaired. This mode of proceeding is, we believe, at the present day,
very commonly adopted where the defects to be repaired are not
extensive, or where (as was the case with the Royal George) it is
desirable to avoid the delay of going into dock. The operation is
usually performed in still weather and smooth water, and is attended
with so little difficulty and danger, that the officers and crew usually
remain on board, and neither the guns nor stores are removed.

The business was commenced on the Royal George early in the morning, a
gang of men from the Portsmouth Dock-yard coming on board to assist the
ship’s carpenters. It is said that, finding it necessary to strip off
more of the sheathing than had been intended, the men in their eagerness
to reach the defect in the ship’s bottom, were induced to _heel_ her too
much, when a sudden squall of wind threw her wholly on her side; and the
gun-ports being open, and the cannon rolling over to the depressed side,
the ship was unable to right herself, instantaneously filled with water,
and went to the bottom.

The fatal accident happened about ten o’clock in the morning; Admiral
Kempenfeldt was writing in his cabin, and the greater part of the people
were between decks. The ship, as is usually the case upon coming into
port, was crowded with people from the shore, particularly women, of
whom it is supposed there were not less than three hundred on board.
Amongst the sufferers were many of the wives and children of the petty
officers and seamen, who, knowing the ship was shortly to sail on a
distant and perilous service, eagerly embraced the opportunity of
visiting their husbands and fathers.

The Admiral, with many brave officers and most of those who were between
decks, perished; the greater number of the guard, and those who happened
to be on the upper deck, were saved by the boats of the fleet. About
seventy others were likewise saved. The exact number of persons on board
at the time could not be ascertained; but it was calculated that from
800 to 1000 were lost. Captain Waghorne, whose gallantry in the North
Sea battle, under Admiral Parker, had procured him the command of this
ship, was saved, though he was severely bruised and battered; but his
son, a lieutenant in the Royal George, perished. Such was the force of
the whirlpool, occasioned by the sudden plunge of so vast a body in the
water, that a victualler which lay alongside the Royal George was
swamped; and several small craft, at a considerable distance, were in
imminent danger.

Admiral Kempenfeldt, who was nearly 70 years of age, was peculiarly and
universally lamented. In point of general science and judgment, he was
one of the first naval officers of his time; and, particularly in the
art of manœuvring a fleet, he was considered by the commanders of that
day as unrivalled. His excellent qualities, as a man, are said to have
equalled his professional merits.

This melancholy occurrence has been recorded by the poet, Cowper, in the
following beautiful lines:--

                  Toll for the brave!
                    The brave, that are no more!
                  All sunk beneath the wave,
                    Fast by their native shore.

                  Eight hundred of the brave,
                    Whose courage well was tried,
                  Had made the vessel heel,
                    And laid her on her side.

                  A land-breeze shook the shrouds,
                    And she was overset;
                  Down went the Royal George,
                    With all her crew complete.

                  Toll for the brave!
                    Brave Kempenfeldt is gone;
                  His last sea-fight is fought;
                    His work of glory done.

                  It was not in the battle;
                    No tempest gave the shock;
                  She sprang no fatal leak;
                    She ran upon no rock.

                  His sword was in its sheath;
                    His fingers held the pen,
                  When Kempenfeldt went down,
                    With twice four hundred men.

                  Weigh the vessel up,
                    Once dreaded by our foes!
                  And mingle with our cup
                    The tear that England owes.

                  Her timbers yet are sound,
                    And she may float again,
                  Full charg’d with England’s thunder,
                    And plough the distant main.

                  But Kempenfeldt is gone,
                    His victories are o’er;
                  And he, and his eight hundred,
                    Shall plough the wave no more.


                         ---------------------


_Strange Mode of curing a vicious Horse._--I have seen 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 a horse feels in biting through the hot meat, causes it, after a
few lessons, to abandon the vicious habit.--_Burckhardt._


                         ---------------------


The Bedouins never allow a horse, at the moment of his birth, to fall
upon the ground; they receive it in their arms, and so cherish it for
several hours, occupied in washing and stretching its tender limbs, and
caressing it as they would a baby. After this they place it on the
ground, and watch its feeble steps with particular attention,
prognosticating from that time the excellences or defects of their
future companion.--_Burckhardt._


                         ---------------------


_Tremendous Earthquakes._--Earthquakes have caused many melancholy
changes in Calabria; and every thing bears testimony to the cruel
ravages occasioned by that of 1783. This frightful catastrophe, which
has altered the aspect of these countries in an inconceivable manner,
was preceded by the most appalling indications. Close, compact, and
immoveable mists seemed to hang heavily over the earth: in some places
the atmosphere appeared red hot, so that people expected it would every
moment burst out into flames: the water of the rivers assumed an ashy
and turbid colour, while a suffocating stench of sulphur diffused itself
around. The violent shocks which were repeated at several intervals from
the 5th of February to the 28th of May, destroyed the greater part of
the buildings of Calabria Ultra. The number of inhabitants who were
crushed under the ruins of their houses, or who perished on the strands
of Scylla, was estimated at about 50,000. Rivers arrested in their
course by the fall of mountains, became so many infected lakes,
corrupting the air in all directions. Houses, trees, and large fields
were hurried down together to the bottom of the deep glens without being
separated by the shock: in short, all the extraordinary calamities and
changes which can be effected by earthquakes were beheld at this
deplorable period, under the various forms which characterize
them.--_Calabria, during a Military Residence._


                         ---------------------


_Age of Sheep_.--The age of a sheep may be known by examining the front
teeth. They are eight in number, and appear during the first year, all
of a small size. In the second year, the two middle ones fall out, and
their place is supplied by two new teeth, which are easily distinguished
by being of a larger size. In the third year two other small teeth, one
from each side, drop out and are replaced by two large ones; so that
there are now four large teeth in the middle, and two pointed ones on
each side. In the fourth year the large teeth are six in number, and
only two small ones remain, one at each end of the range. In the fifth
year the remaining small teeth are lost, and the whole front teeth are
large. In the sixth year the whole begin to be worn, and in the seventh,
sometimes sooner, some fall out or are broken.

  ⁂ From ‘the Mountain Shepherd’s Manual,’ a useful little tract on the
    nature, diseases, and management of sheep, being No. 24 of the
    ‘Farmer’s Series,’ published under the Superintendence of the
    Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.


                         ---------------------


_Anecdote of the late Honourable Henry Cavendish._-- One Sunday evening
he was standing at Sir Joseph Banks’s, in a crowded room, conversing
with Mr. Hatchett, when Dr. Ingenhousz, who had a good deal of pomposity
of manner, came up with an Austrian gentleman in his hand, and
introduced him formally to Mr. Cavendish. He mentioned the titles and
qualifications of his friend at great length, and said that he had been
peculiarly anxious to be introduced to a philosopher so profound and so
universally known and celebrated as Mr. Cavendish. As soon as Dr.
Ingenhousz had finished, the Austrian gentleman began, and assured Mr.
Cavendish, that his principal reason for coming to London was to see and
converse with one of the greatest ornaments of the age, and one of the
most illustrious philosophers that ever existed. To all these high-flown
speeches Mr. Cavendish answered not a word; but stood with his eyes cast
down, quite abashed and confounded. At last, seeing an opening in the
crowd, he darted through it, with all the speed he was master of; nor
did he stop till he reached his carriage, which drove him directly home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




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------------------------------------------------------------------------




                          Transcriber’s Notes


This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover
art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized
changes from the original text:

 • p. 124: Added period after abbreviation “lbs.” in phrase “weighed,
   upon an average, about 700 lbs., yielding about 400 lbs. of meat.”
 • p. 125: Added period after phrase “Doubtless the most beautiful part
   of his body is the head.”
 • p. 126: Supplied missing letters in word “style” in phrase “in a
   natural and popular style.”
 • p. 126: Added period after phrase “the highest of the living artists
   of England.”
 • p. 128: Removed closing double quotation mark after phrase “under the
   various forms which characterize them.”



*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76874 ***