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employments as degrading, insulted our superin-known habits of most of the Chinese. The leg from tendent; hostilities took place, and trade was sus- the knee downwards was much wasted; the foot appended. Lord Napier took his departure amidst peared as if broken up at the instep, while the four circumstances of insult and confusion, and died on small toes were bent flat and pressed down under the the 11th of October 1834. The functions of super-foot, the great toe only being allowed to retain its nsintendent devolved on Mr Davis. The Chinese, tural position. By the breaking of the instep a high emboldened by the pacific temperament of our arch is formed between the heel and the toe, enabling government, proceeded at length to the utmost the individual to step with them on an even surface; extent; and not satisfied with imprisoning and in this respect materially differing from the Canton threatening the lives of the whole foreign commu- and Macao ladies; for with them the instep is not nity, laid also violent hands on the British repre- interfered with, but a very high heel is substituted, sentative himself, claiming, as the purchase of his thus bringing the point of the great toe to the ground. freedom, the delivery of the whole of the opium When our Canton compradore was shown a Chasan then in the Chinese waters-property to the amount shoe, the exclamation was, He yaw! how can walkee of upwards of two millions sterling. After a close so fashion?' nor would he be convinced that such was imprisonment of two months' duration, during which the case. The toes, doubled under the foot I have period our countrymen were deprived of many of been describing, could only be moved by the hand the necessaries of life, and exposed repeatedly, as sufficiently to show that they were not actually grown in a pillory, to the gaze and abuse of the mob, no into the foot. I have often been astonished at seeing resource was left but to yield to the bold demands how well the women contrived to walk on their tiny of the Chinese, relying with confidence on their pedestals. Their gait is not unlike the little mincing nation for support and redress: nor did they rely walk of the French ladies; they were constantly to be in vain; for immediately the accounts of the aggres- seen going about without the aid of any stick, and I sion reached London, preparations commenced for have often seen them at Macao contending against a the Chinese expedition.** After two years of irre- fresh breeze with a tolerably good-sized umbrella gular warfare, a treaty of peace and friendship spread. The little children, as they scrambled away between the two empires was signed on board her before us, balanced themselves with their arms exmajesty's ship Cornwallis, on the 29th of August tended, and reminded one much of an old hen between 1842. This expedition gave rise to various publi- walking and flying. All the women I saw about Chucations. LORD JOCELYN wrote a lively and intesan had small feet. It is a general characteristic of resting narrative, entitled Six Months with the true Chinese descent; and there cannot be a greater Chinese Expedition; and Commander J. ELLIOT mistake than to suppose that it is confined to the BINGHAM, R. N. a Narrative of the Expedition to higher orders, though it may be true that they take China. Two Years in China, by D. MACPHERSON, more pains to compress the foot to the smallest possible M.D. relates the events of the campaign from its dimensions than the lower classes do. High and low, formation in April 1840 to the treaty of peace in rich and poor, all more or less follow the custom; and when you see a large or natural-sized foot, you may 1842. Doings in China, by LIEUTENANT ALEXANDER MURRAY, illustrates the social habits of the Chinese. depend upon it the possessor is not of true Chinese The Last Year in China, to the Peace of Nankin, by the tribes that live and have their being on the blood, but is either of Tartar extraction, or belongs to a Field Officer, consists of extracts from letters waters. The Tartar ladies, however, are falling into written to the author's private friends. The Closing this Chinese habit of distortion, as the accompanying Events of the Campaign in China, by CAPTAIN G. G. edict of the emperor proves. For know, good people, LOCH, R. N. is one of the best books which the ex- you must not dress as you like in China. You must pedition called forth. follow the customs and habits of your ancestors, and wear your winter and summer clothing as the empe ror or one of the six boards shall direct. If this were the custom in England, how beneficial it would be to our pockets, and detrimental to the tailors and milliners. Let us now see what the emperor says about little feet, on finding that they were coming into vogue among the undeformed daughters of the Mantchows Not only does he attack the little feet, but the large Chinese sleeves which were creeping into fashion at court. Therefore, to check these misdemeanours, the usual Chinese remedy was resorted to, and a flaming edict launched, denouncing them; threatening the heads of the families with degradation and punish ment if they did not put a stop to such gross illegalities; and his celestial majesty further goes on and tells the fair ones, that by persisting in their vulgar habits, they will debar themselves from the possibility of being selected as ladies of honour for the inner palace at the approaching presentation ! far this had the desired effect I cannot say. When the children begin to grow, they suffer excruciating pain, but as they advance in years, their vanity is played upon by being assured that they would be exceedingly ugly with large feet. Thus they are persuaded to put up with what they consider a necessary evil; but the children are remarkably patient under pain. A poor little child about five years old was brought to our surgeon, having been most dreadfully scalded, part of its dress adhering to the skin. During the painful operation of removing the linen, it only now and then said 'he-yaw, he-yaw.'

[Chinese Ladies' Feet.]

[From Captain Bingham's Narrative.] During our stay we made constant trips to the surrounding islands; in one of which-at Tea Islandwe had a good opportunity of minutely examining the far-famed little female feet. I had been purchasing a pretty little pair of satin shoes for about half a dollar, at one of the Chinese farmers' houses, where we were surrounded by several men, women, and children. By signs we expressed a wish to see the pied mignon of a really good-looking woman of the party. Our signs were quickly understood, but, probably from her being a matron, it was not considered quite comme il faut for her to comply with our desire, as she would not consent to show us her foot; but a very pretty interesting girl of about sixteen was placed on a stool for the purpose of gratifying our curiosity. At first she was very bashful, and appeared not to like exposing her Cinderella-like slipper, but the shine of a new and very bright loopee' soon overcame her delicacy, when she commenced unwinding the upper bandage which passes round the leg, and over a tongue that comes up from the heel. The shoe was then removed, and the second bandage taken off, which did duty for a stocking; the turns round the toes and ankles being very tight, and keeping all in place. On the naked foot being exposed to view, we were agreeably surprised by finding it delicately white and clean; for we fully expected to have found it otherwise, from the

*Macpherson's Two Years in China.'

How

CAPTAIN BASIL HALL.

this, he again repaired to the continent, and visited the Tyrol and Spain. His travels in both countries were published; and one of the volumes-Spain in The embassy of Lord Amherst to China was, as 1830 is the best of all his works. He next produced we have related, comparatively a failure; but the a novel descriptive of Spanish life, entitled The New return voyage was rich both in discovery and in roGil Blas, but it was unsuccessful-probably owing to mantic interest. The voyage was made, not along the very title of the work, which raised expectations, the coast of China, but by Corea and the Loo-Choo or suggested comparisons, unfavourable to the new islands, and accounts of it were published in 1818 aspirant. After conducting a newspaper for some by MR MACLEOD, surgeon of the Alceste, and by CAP-time in Jersey, Mr Inglis published an account of the TAIN BASIL HALL of the Lyra. The work of the Channel Islands, marked by the easy grace and pic latter was entitled An Account of a Voyage of Disco- turesque charm that pervade all his writings. He very to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo- next made a tour through Ireland, and wrote his Choo Island. In the course of this voyage it was valuable work (remarkable for impartiality no less found that a great part of what had been laid down than talent) entitled Ireland in 1834. His last work in the maps as part of Corea consisted of an imwas Travels in the Footsteps of Don Quixote, published mense archipelago of small islands. The number of in parts in the New Monthly Magazine. these was beyond calculation; and during a sail of upwards of one hundred miles, the sea continued closely studded with them. From one lofty point a hundred and twenty appeared in sight, some with waving woods and green verdant valleys. Loo-Choo, however, was the most important, and by far the most interesting of the parts touched upon by the expedition. There the strange spectacle was presented of a people ignorant equally of the use of firearms and the use of money, living in a state of primitive seclusion and happiness such as resembles the dreams of poetry rather than the realities of modern life.

SIR FRANCIS HEAD.

SIR FRANCIS HEAD has written two very lively and interesting books of travels-Rough Notes taken during some Rapid Journeys across the Pampas, 1826; and Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau, 1833. The Pampas described is an immense plain, stretching westerly from Buenos Ayres to the feet of the Andes. The following extract illustrates the graphic style of Sir Francis :

[Description of the Pampas.j

In

Captain Basil Hall has since distinguished himself by the composition of other books of travels, written with delightful ease, spirit, and picturesqueThe great plain, or Pampas, on the east of the Corness. The first of these consists of Extracts from a dillera, is about nine hundred miles in breadth, and Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, the part which I have visited, though under the same being the result of his observations in those countries latitude, is divided into regions of different climate in 1821 and 1822. South America had, previous to and produce. On leaving Buenos Ayres, the first of this, been seldom visited, and its countries were also these regions is covered for one hundred and eighty greater objects of curiosity and interest from their miles with clover and thistles; the second region, political condition, on the point of emancipation from which extends for four hundred and fifty miles, proSpain. The next work of Captain Hall was Travels duces long grass; and the third region, which reaches in North America, in 1827 and 1828, written in a the base of the Cordillera, is a grove of low trees and more ambitious strain than his former publications, shrubs. The second and third of these regions have and containing some excellent descriptions and re-nearly the same appearance throughout the year, for marks, mixed up with political disquisitions. This the trees and shrubs are evergreens, and the immense was followed by Fragments of Voyages and Tra- plain of grass only changes its colour from green to vels, addressed chiefly to young persons, in three brown; but the first region varies with the four seasmall volumes; which were so favourably received sons of the year in a most extraordinary manner. that a second, and afterwards a third series, each in winter the leaves of the thistles are large and luxuthree volumes, were given to the public. A further riant, and the whole surface of the country has the collection of these observations on foreign society, rough appearance of a turnip-field. The clover in this season is extremely rich and strong; and the sight of scenery, and manners, was published by Captain Hall in 1842, also in three volumes, under the title the wild cattle grazing in full liberty on such pasture is very beautiful. In spring the clover has vanished, the leaves of the thistles have extended along the ground, and the country still looks like a rough crop of turnips. In less than a month the change is most extraordinary: the whole region becomes a luxuriant wood of enormous thistles, which have suddenly shot up to a height of ten or eleven feet, and are all in full bloom. The road or path is hemmed in on both sides; the view is completely obstructed; not an animal is to be seen; and the stems of the thistles are so close to each other, and so strong, that, independent of the prickles with which they are armed, they form an impenetrable barrier. The sudden growth of these plants is quite astonishing; and though it would be an unusual misfortune in military history, yet it is really possible that an invading army, unacquainted with this country, might be imprisoned by these thistles before it had time to escape from them. The summer is not over before the scene undergoes another rapid change: the thistles suddenly lose their sap and verdure, their heads droop, the leaves shrink and fade, the stems become black and dead, and they remain rattling with the breeze one against another, until the

of Patchwork.

MR H. D. INGLIS.

One of the most cheerful and unaffected of tourists and travellers, with a strong love of nature and a poetical imagination, was MR HENRY DAVID INGLIS, who died in March 1835, at the early age of forty. Mr Inglis was the son of a Scottish advocate. He was brought up to commercial pursuits, but his passion for literature, and for surveying the grand and beautiful in art and nature, overpowered his business habits, and led him at once to travel and to write. Diffident of success, he assumed the nom de guerre of Derwent Conway, and under this disguise he published The Tales of Ardennes; Solitary Walks through Many Lands; Travels in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, 1829; and Switzerland, the South of France, and the Pyrenees in 1830, 1831. The two latter works were included in Constable's Miscellany, and were deservedly popular. Mr Inglis was then engaged as editor of a newspaper at Chesterfield; but tiring of

violence of the pampero or hurricane levels them with the ground, where they rapidly decompose and disappear-the clover rushes up, and the scene is again verdant.

M. SIMOND.

M. SIMOND, a French author, who, by familiarity with our language and country, wrote in English as well as in his native tongue, published in 1822 a work in two volumes-Switzerland; or a Journal of a Tour and Residence in that Country in the Years 1817, 1818, and 1819. M. Simond had previously written a similar work on Great Britain, and both are far superior to the style of ordinary tourists. We subjoin his account of a

[Swiss Mountain and Avalanche.]

After nearly five hours' toil, we reached a chalet on the top of the mountain (the Wingernalp). This summer habitation of the shepherds was still unoccupied; for the snow having been unusually deep last winter, and the grass, till lately covered, being still very short, the cows have not ventured so high. Here we resolved upon a halt, and having implements for striking fire, a few dry sticks gave us a cheerful blaze in the open air. A pail of cream, or at least of very rich milk, was brought up by the shepherds, with a kettle to make coffee and afterwards boil the milk; very large wooden spoons or ladles answered the purpose of cups. The stock of provisions we had brought was spread upon the very low roof of the chalet, being the best station for our repas champetre, as it afforded dry seats sloping conveniently towards the prospect. We had then before us the Jungfrau, the two Eigers, and some of the highest summits in the Alps, shooting up from an uninterrupted level of glaciers of more than two hundred square miles; and although placed ourselves four thousand five hundred feet above the lake of Thun, and that lake one thousand seven hundred and eighty feet above the sea, the mighty rampart rose still six thousand feet above our head. Between us and the Jungfrau the desert valley of Trumlatenthal formed a deep trench, into which avalanches fell, with scarcely a quarter of an hour's interval between them, followed by a thundering noise continued along the whole range; not, however, a reverberation of sound, for echo is mute under the universal winding-sheet of snow, but a prolongation of sound, in consequence of the successive rents or fissures forming themselves when some large section of the glacier slides down one step.

We sometimes saw a blue line suddenly drawn across a field of pure white; then another above it, and another all parallel, and attended each time with a loud crash like cannon, producing together the effect of long-protracted peals of thunder. At other times some portion of the vast field of snow, or rather snowy ice, gliding gently away, exposed to view a new surface of purer white than the first, and the cast-off drapery gathering in long folds, either fell at once down the precipice, or disappeared behind some intervening ridge, which the sameness of colour rendered invisible, and was again seen soon after in another direction, shooting out of some narrow channel a cataract of white dust, which, observed through a telescope, was, however, found to be composed of broken fragments of ice or compact snow, many of them sufficient to overwhelm a village, if there had been any in the valley where they fell. Seated on the chalet's roof, the ladies forgot they were cold, wet, bruised, and hungry, and the cup of smoking cafe au lait stood still in their hand while waiting in breathless suspense for the next avalanche, wondering equally at the death-like silence intervening between each, and

the thundering crash which followed. I must own, that while we shut our ears, the mere sight might dwindle down to the effect of a fall of snow from the roof of a house; but when the potent sound was heard along the whole range of many miles, when the time of awful suspense between the fall and the crash was measured, the imagination, taking flight, outstripped all bounds at once, and went beyond the mighty reality itself. It would be difficult to say where the creative powers of imagination stop, even the coldest; for our common feelings our grossest sensations-are infinitely indebted to them; and man, without his fancy, would not have the energy of the dullest animal. Yet we feel more pleasure and more pride in the consciousness of another treasure of the breast, which tames the flight of this same imagination, and brings it back to sober reality and plain truth.

When we first approach the Alps, their bulk, their stability, and duration, compared to our own inconsiderable size, fragility, and shortness of days, strikes our imagination with terror; while reason, unappalled, measuring these masses, calculating their |· elevation, analysing their substance, finds in them only a little inert matter, scarcely forming a wrinkle on the face of our earth, that earth an inferior planet in the solar system, and that system one only among myriads, placed at distances whose very incommensurability is in a manner measured. What, again, are those giants of the Alps, and their duration-those revolving worlds-that space-the universe-compared to the intellectual faculty capable of bringing the whole fabric into the compass of a single thought, where it is all curiously and accurately delineated! How superior, again, the exercise of that faculty, when, rising from effects to causes, and judging by analogy of things as yet unknown by those we know, we are taught to look into futurity for a better state of existence, and in the hope itself find new reason to hope!

We were shown an inaccessible shelf of rock on the west side of the Jungfrau, upon which a lammergeyer (the vulture of lambs) once alighted with an infant it had carried away from the village of Murren, situated above the Staubbach: some red scraps, remnants of the child's clothes, were for years observed, says the tradition, on the fatal spot.

MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY-MR JOHN BARROWREV. MR VENABLES.

Since the publication of Dr Clarke's first volume, in which he gave a view of Russia, that vast and in many respects interesting country has been visited by various Englishmen, who have given their observations upon it to the world. Amongst the books thus produced, one of the most amusing is Recollec tions of a Tour in the North of Europe, 1838, by the MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY, whose rank and political character were the means of introducing him to many circles closed to other tourists. MR JOHN BARROW, junior, son of the gentleman already mentioned as author of a work on China, and who has, during the last few years, devoted some portion of his time to travelling, is the author, besides works on Ireland and on Iceland, of Excursions in the North of Europe, through parts of Russia, Finland, &c. 1834. He is invariably found to be a cheerful and intelligent companion, without attempting to be very profound or elaborate on any subject. Domestic Scenes in Russia, by the REV. MR VENABLES, 1839, is an unpretending but highly interesting view of the interior life of the country. Mr Venables was married to a Russian lady, and he went to pass a winter with her relations, when he had an oppor tunity of seeing the daily life and social habits of the people. We give a few descriptive sentences:

[Russian Peasants' Houses.]

of the interior are valuable, for, as he remarks,
'even in the present day, when the passion for
travel has become so universal, and thousands of
miles are thought as little of as hundreds were some
years ago, the number of Englishmen who venture
to the south of Moscow seldom exceeds one or two
every year.' Mr Bremner is a lively scene-painter,
and there is great freshness and vigour about all
his descriptions. The same author has published
Excursions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, two
volumes, 1840. Before parting from Russia, it may
be observed that no English book upon that country
exceeds in interest A Residence on the Shores of the
Baltic, Described in a Series of Letters (1841), being
more particularly an account of the Estonians, whose
simple character and habits afford a charming pic-
ture. This delightful book is understood to be from
the pen of a young lady named Rigby.

These houses are in general extremely warm and substantial; they are built, for the most part, of unsquared logs of deal laid one upon another, and firmly secured at the corners where the ends of the timbers cross, and are hollowed out so as to receive and hold one another; they are also fastened together by wooden pins and uprights in the interior. The four corners are supported upon large stones or roots of trees, so that there is a current of air under the floor to preserve the timber from damp; in the winter, earth is piled up all round to exclude the cold; the interstices between the logs are stuffed with moss and clay, so that no air can enter. The windows are very small, and are frequently cut out of the wooden wall after it is finished. In the centre of the house is a stove called a peech [pechka], which heats the cottage to an almost unbearable degree; the warmth, however, which a Russian peasant loves to enjoying travellers of our age is undoubtedly MR SAMUEL within doors, is proportioned to the cold which he is required to support without; his bed is the top of his peech; and when he enters his house in the winter pierced with cold, he throws off his sheepskin coat, stretches himself on his stove, and is thoroughly

warmed in a few minutes.

[Employments of the People.]

The most observant and reflecting of all the writLAING, a younger brother of the author of the History of Scotland during the seventeenth century. This gentleman did not begin to publish till a mature period of life, his first work being a Residence in Norway, and the second a Tour in Sweden, both of

which abound in valuable statistical facts and welldigested information. Mr Laing resided two years in different parts of Norway, and concluded that The riches of the Russian gentleman lie in the the Norwegians were the happiest people in Europe. labour of his serfs, which it is his study to turn to Their landed property is so extensively diffused in good account; and he is the more urged to this, since small estates, that out of a population of a million the law which compels the peasant to work for him, there are about 41,656 proprietors. There is no requires him to maintain the peasant; if the latter law of primogeniture, yet the estates are not subis found begging, the former is liable to a fine. He divided into minute possessions, but average from is therefore a master who must always keep a certain forty to sixty acres of arable land, with adjoining number of workmen, whether they are useful to him natural wood and pasturage. or not; and as every kind of agricultural and outdoor employment is at a stand-still during the win-Laing, each the proprietor of his own farm, occupy 'The Bonder, or agricultural peasantry,' says MI ter, he naturally turns to the establishment of a manufactory as a means of employing his peasants, and as a source of profit to himself. In some cases the manufactory is at work only during the winter, and the people are employed in the summer in agriculture; though, beyond what is necessary for home consumption, this is but an unprofitable trade in most parts of this empire, from the badness of roads, the paucity and distance of markets, and the consequent difficulty in selling produce.

The alternate employment of the same man in the field and in the factory, which would be attempted in most countries with little success, is here rendered practicable and easy by the versatile genius of the Russian peasant, one of whose leading national characteristics is a general capability of turning his hand to any kind of work which he may be required to undertake. He will plough to-day, weave to-morrow, help to build a house the third day, and the fourth, if his master needs an extra coachman, he

will mount the box and drive four horses abreast as though it were his daily occupation. It is probable that none of these operations, except, perhaps, the last, will be as well performed as in a country where the division of labour is more thoroughly understood. They will all, however, be sufficiently well done to serve the turn-a favourite phrase in Russia. These people are a very ingenious race, but perseverance is wanting; and though they will carry many arts to a high degree of excellence, they will generally stop short of the point of perfection, and it will be long before their manufactures can rival the finish and durability of English goods.

Excursions in the Interior of Russia, by ROBERT BREMNER, Esq. two volumes, 1839, is a very spirited and graphic narrative of a short visit to Russia during the autumn of 1836. The author's sketches

the country from the shore side to the hill foot, and up every valley or glen as far as corn can grow. This class is the kernel of the nation. They are in general fine athletic men, as their properties are not so large as to exempt them from work, but large enough to afford them and their household abundance, and even superfluity, of the best food. They farm not to raise produce for sale, so much as to grow everything they eat, drink, and wear in their families. They build their own houses, make their own chairs, tables, wood-work; in short, except window-glass, cast-iron ploughs, carts, harness, iron-work, basket-work, and ware and pottery, everything about their houses and furniture is of their own fabrication. There is not probably in Europe so great a population in so happy a condition as these Norwegian yeomanry. A body of small proprietors, each with his thirty or forty acres, scarcely exists elsewhere in Europe; or, if it. can be found, it is under the shadow of some nore imposing body of wealthy proprietors or commercial men. Here they are the highest men in the nation. and in our colonies, possess properties of probably The settlers in the newer states of America, about the same extent; but they have roads to make, lands to clear, houses to build, and the work that has been doing here for a thousand years to do, before they can be in the same condition. These Norwegian proprietors are in a happier condition than those in the older states of America, because they are not so much influenced by the spirit of gain. They farm their little estates, and consume the produce, without seeking to barter or sell, except what is necessary for paying their taxes and the few articles of luxury they consume. There is no money-getting spirit among them, and none of extravagance. They enjoy the comforts of excellent houses, as good and large as those of the wealthiest individuals; good furniture,

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bedding, linen, clothing, fuel, victuals, and drink, all in abundance, and of their own providing; good horses, and a houseful of people who have more food than work. Food, furniture, and clothing being all home-made, the difference in these matters between the family and the servants is very small; but there is a perfect distinction kept up. The servants invariably eat, sleep, and sit apart from the family, and have generally a distinct building adjoining to the family house.'

The neighbouring country of Sweden appears to be in a much worse condition, and the people are described as highly immoral and depraved. By the returns from 1830 to 1834, one person in every forty-nine of the inhabitants of the towns, and one in every one hundred and seventy-six of the rural population, had been punished each year for criminal offences. The state of female morals, particularly in the capital of Stockholm, is worse than in any other European state. Yet in Sweden education is widely diffused, and literature is not neglected. The nobility are described by Mr Laing as sunk in debt and poverty; yet the people are vain of idle distinctions, and the order of burgher nobility is as numerous as in some of the German states.

'Every man,' he says, 'belongs to a privileged or licensed class or corporation, of which every member is by law entitled to be secured and protected within his own locality from such competition or interference of others in the same calling as would injure his means of living. It is, consequently, not as with us, upon his industry, ability, character, and moral worth that the employment and daily bread of the tradesman, and the social influence and consideration of the individual, in every rank, even the highest, almost entirely depends; it is here, in the middle and lower classes, upon corporate rights and privileges, or upon license obtained from government; and in the higher, upon birth and court or government favour. Public estimation, gained by character and conduct in the several relations of life, is not a necessary element in the social condition even of the working tradesman. Like soldiers in a regiment, a great proportion of the people under this social system derive their estimation among others, and consequently their own self-esteem, not from their moral worth, but from their professional standing and importance. This evil is inherent in all privileged classes, but is concealed or compensated in the higher, the nobility, military, and clergy, by the sense of honour, of religion, and by education. In the middle and lower walks of life those influences are weaker, while the temptations to immorality are stronger; and the placing a man's livelihood, prosperity, and social consideration in his station upon other grounds than on his own industry and moral worth, is a demoralising evil in the very structure of Swedish society.'

Mr Laing has more recently presented a volume entitled Notes of a Traveller, full of valuable observation and thought.

Travels in Circassia and Krim Tartary, by MR SPENCER, author of a work on Germany and the Germans,' two volumes, 1837, was hailed with peculiar satisfaction, as affording information respecting a brave mountainous tribe who have long warred with Russia to preserve their national independence. They appear to be a simple people, with feudal laws and customs, never intermarrying with any race except their own. Farther information was afforded of the habits of the Circassians by the Journal of a Residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839, by MR J. S. BELL. This gentleman resided in Circassia in the character of agent or envoy from England, which, however, was partly

assumed. He acted also as physician, and seems generally to have been received with kindness and confidence. The population, according to Mr Bell, is divided into fraternities, like the tithings or hundreds in England during the time of the Saxons. Criminal offences are punished by fines levied on the fraternity, that for homicide being 200 oxen. The guerilla warfare which the Circassians have carried on against Russia, marks their indomitable spirit and love of country, but it must, of course, retard civilisation.

A Winter in the Azores, and a Summer at the Baths BULLAR of Lincoln's Inn, two volumes, 1841, furof the Furnas, by JOSEPH BULLAR, M.D. and JOHN nish some light agreeable notices of the islands of the Azores, under the dominion of Portugal, from This which they are distant about 800 miles. Michael's is the largest town, and there is a conarchipelago contains about 250,000 inhabitants. St siderable trade in oranges betwixt it and England. About 120,000 large and small chests of oranges lemons. These particulars will serve to introduce were shipped for England in 1839, and 315 boxes of a passage respecting

[The Cultivation of the Orange, and Gathering
the Fruit.]

March 26.-Accompanied Senhor B to several of his orange gardens in the town. Many of the trees in one garden were a hundred years old, still bearing plentifully a highly-prized thin-skinned orange, full of juice and free from pips. The thinness of the rind of a St Michael's orange, and its freedom from pips, depend on the age of the tree. The young trees, when in full vigour, bear fruit with a thick pulpy rind and an abundance of seeds; but as the vigour of the plant declines, the peel becomes thinner, and the seeds gradually diminish in number, until they disappear altogether. Thus, the oranges that we esteem the most are the produce of barren trees, and those which we consider the least palatable come from plants in full vigour.

Our friend was increasing the number of his trees by layers. These usually take root at the end of two years. They are then cut off from the parent stem, and are vigorous young trees four feet high. The process of raising from seed is seldom if ever adopted in the Azores, on account of the very slow growth of Such plants, however, are far the trees so raised. less liable to the inroads of a worm which attacks the roots of the trees raised from layers, and frequently proves very destructive to them. The seed or 'pip' of the acid orange, which we call Seville, with the sweeter kind grafted upon it, is said to produce fruit of the finest flavour. In one small garden eight trees were pointed out which had borne for two successive years a crop of oranges which was sold for thirty pounds.

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The treatment of orange-trees in Fayal differs from that in St Michael's, where, after they are planted out, they are allowed to grow as they please. In this orange-garden the branches, by means of strings and pegs fixed in the ground, were strained away from the centre into the shape of a cup, or of the ribs of an open umbrella turned upside down. This allows the sun to penetrate, exposes the branches to a free circulation of air, and is said to be of use in ripening the fruit. Certain it is that oranges are exported from Fayal several weeks earlier than they are from St Michael's; and as this cannot be attributed to greater warmth of climate, it may possibly be owing to the plan of spreading the trees to the sun. The same precautions are taken here as in St Michael's t shield them from the winds; high walls are bril round all the gardens, and the trees themselves are

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