the aca-tree, are used for fishing lines. Their rods are made of a strong elastic wood; but the most ingenious part is the artificial bait, which, in some instances, would do honour to the skill of our most expert fly-fishers. The bait from which the above is copied seems to be made of shell, curiously cut in imitation of a small fish; feathers being fastened around to imitate the fins and tail. Occasionally bone and mother-o'-pearl are the material, and according to Moerenhout, some of these imitative fish are cleverly made to resemble different sorts of baits, for the various kinds of fish they are meant to deceive*. | tached to the "crop" or rod. The women employ these combs for ornament as well as use, and the tops of them are ingeniously adorned with coloured grasses, finely platted or woven to keep the teeth together. The men are not without the little indulgences of life, as may be seen by the oddly-shaped tube through which they smoke tobacco. The weed is thrust into the larger end of the pipe, which has no bowl. A fly-flapper of hair or platted grass enables them to enjoy "the weed" without annoyance from insects. Vase from the Feejee Islands. In the construction of articles for domestic use, the Polynesians seem to have attained some degree of aptitude. The jar or vase of red earthenware from the Feejee Islands is by no means so rude a specimen of pottery as might be expected from the low state of civilization usually ascribed to the Polynesian negroes; while the combs collected from various islands show them to have advanced to one Combs of Western Polynesia. of the most important stages of social culture, cleanliness. But this only applies to the women, by whom these articles are mostly used: the men, especially the chiefs, tie up their hair in innumerable tails, each lock being evenly bound with cords in the same manner as a coachman's whip is at *Tome ii. p. 104. Fly Flappers. The idol represented on the next page naturally suggests considerations of a painful nature in reference to religion : into them, however, it is not our present purpose to enter. The figure is merely introduced to show how rudely the people of Navigators' Islands imitate the human form; it is carved in wood, and rubbed over by way of finish with the plane or smoother, also of wood with dried fish File. skin laid on the upper side, the marks of which are visible all over the idol. The eyes are formed by inlets of the cowrie-shell. Household Idol. SOCIAL ARTS OF SAVAGE LIFE. The native tools and arms are manufactured with strength, and in some cases high finish, especially the axes, of green jade, with wooden handles. The spearheads are composed of iron or hard wood sharply pointed. The weapon is projected by means of a loop, and is thrown with great precision. The bows and arrows are of the most simple construction. The instruments of death, copied at the end of this article, possess a fearful interest: they are brought from Erromanga, where the natives destroyed one of the greatest benefactors of their race, the Rev. John Williams. Most of the articles thus enumerated are of native invention, manufactured without the smallest knowledge of European improvements; they bespeak perseverance, ingenuity, and all those qualities which, if improved upon and properly directed, would lead to a high state of civilization-a result which has indeed actually taken place amongst the Malayan races of Polynesia. But if proof of this were wanting, the bonnet of tortoise-shell, which heads this article, would supply it. If the aborigines are able to work from European models so aptly in a mere article of dress, what may we not expect from the use of appropriate means for their mental and moral elevation? The article referred to, is put together by means of threads passed through holes drilled in pieces of shell, so shaped as to combine into the exact form of the object from which it was copied. Every part of the original has its counterpart in the copy. The "pip 165 ing" is represented by reeds carefully fastened round every edge; and the back is decorated with pieces of printed cotton. The natives of Navigators' Islands appeal to the philanthropist through this simple object in terms that might be interpreted-"Come and teach us; we are willing and able to learn!" We conclude by an extract from Mr. Ellis's "Researches," which shows that such appeals have been successfully answered by missionary enterprize. He relates that when the first missionaries arrived on the island of Tahiti, the natives expressed the greatest delight at the proficiency of their visitors in the mechanical arts. "This was strikingly evinced on several occasions when they beheld them use their carpenters' tools-cut with a saw a number of boards out of a tree, which they had never thought it possible to split into more than two, and make with these chests and articles of furniture;" but the Tahitians were most surprised at the blacksmith's operations. "When the heated iron was hammered on the anvil, and the sparks flew among them, they fancied it was spitting at them and were frightened, as they also were by the hissing occasioned by immersing it in water; yet they were delighted to see the facility with which a bar of iron was thus converted into hatchets, adzes, fish-spears, and fish-hooks, &c. Pomare (or king) entering one day when the blacksmith was employed, after gazing a few minutes at the work, was so transported with what he saw, that he caught up the smith in his arms, and, unmindful of the dirt and perspiration inseparable from his occupation, most cordially embraced him, and saluted him according to the custom of the country by touching noses*." PILGRIMAGE TO THE JORDAN. OWING to the unsubdued state of the Arabs, and their marauding habits, an excursion to Jordan and the Dead Sea involves considerable danger, and can be undertaken only under the protection of a large escort. About Easter the Greek hajees annually make a pilgrimage to the sacred river, when they are accompanied by a body of Turkish cavalry. It is a great advantage to a traveller to attach himself to this caravan, as he thus not only secures his own safety, but at the same time witnesses the most interesting assemblage of persons in the Holy Land. Having obtained permission from the mootesellim, or governor, of Jerusalem to join his party, we mounted our horses an hour before sunrise, and proceeded towards one of the southern gates of the city; but the rush of the people was so violent that we were glad to escape the pressure, and accordingly pursued a circuitous route, making our exit on the opposite side, and rejoined the procession near the gate of St. Stephen. The cavalcade consisted of about three thousand Greek pilgrims from every part of the world where the oriental church has members, together with muleteers, camel-drivers, Turkish soldiers, and half a dozen Frank travellers, who swelled the number to five thousand. On these occasions every beast in Judea is put in requisition, and horses, donkeys, mules, ponies, and camels, flocking in, from all quarters, throng Jerusalem for several days previous. The young and the aged are placed in panniers on either side of a camel: women, who never before mounted a horse, now cross themselves in an orthodox manner (for their safety depends on the exact mode of forming the sign of the cross!) and stride manfully the saddle: boys and girls are seen riding two and two, beguiling the length of the journey with an occasional dispute as to which shall sit on the pad, and which on the less comfortable backbone of the beast, sharpened by a perpetual fast. Hundreds who cannot afford to ride, having already bestowed on the priests the earnings of many years, trudge on foot, at first briskly leading the way, and are then merged in the equestrian cavalcade, till, at length, they are worn out with fatigue, and their pilgrim staves bring up the rear. A singular variety of costumes characterizes the barbarous Russian, the sportive Athenian, the patriotic islander, the Greek priest, the austere Armenian, the poor Copt, and the dark-skinned Syrian; while all these blend picturesquely with the uniform of the Turkish and Arab cavalry, who gallop their well-trained horses up and down among the motley crowd, now urging them to full speed, and now suddenly curbing them with a rapidity that excites as much alarm as admiration. after a march of some hours, and this, too, close to an inn, the very name of which whets a weary traveller's appetite, was more than could fairly be expected of pilgrims who had fasted since the previous evening. The Greeks, at least, were not inclined to do so, and descending from their beasts, they pulled out their little dirty packets of black bread and emptied their greasy pockets of olives, crossing themselves in due form and sharing their provisions with their cattle. In the mean while, the governor and his suite were not idle; they sipped coffee, smoked chibouques, and enjoyed a laugh (for, strange to say, even the Turks smiled!) at the expense of the hajees. The only party not allowed a respite from their arduous duties were the cavalry, who kept a sharp look-out scouring the hills and valleys, and firing their matchlocks as often at the innocent rocks as at the way-laying Bedouins. At length the signal for advance was given; and in ten minutes all were remounted and in motion. The night-scene on the plain of Jericho was one never to be forgotten. Bands of musicians carrying flambeaux paraded the camp, blending their discordant symphonies with the gurgling noise of the camels, the braying of the asses, the neighing of the horses, and the screaming of the children, frightened at sights and sounds consorting so ill with the peaceful slumber of infancy. Here a party of pilgrims were spending the night in revelry, there a group of Turks were making merry over the follies of the giaours, while the hallooing of the guard intimated to the Bedouins that an attack would be repelled by an armed force. Around thousands of every age lay buried in sleep, thousands whose hearts were beating high with exultation in the prospect of attaining on the morrow the object which for years they most had coveted. Among these were Moslems, Greeks, and Protestants; Europeans, Americans, Asiatics, and Africans; travellers, muleteers, musicians, and soldiers. In every quarter of the camp, cauldrons of burning pitch, (terrible emblems of the fate of Sodom!) raised on poles ten feet in height, marked the different stations, while their lurid glare contrasted with the calm and mellow light of the celestial orbs; for our encampment in the vicinity of Jordan was favoured by one of those brilliant nights which are seldom witnessed except under an eastern sky, when not a single cloud intervenes between the eye and the deep azure of the firmament, decked with its myriads of glittering stars. On one side were the ruins of Jericho and Ai; on the other, Sodom and Gomorrah engulfed in a sea of death; above, the eye rested on the glories of the God of nature; below, on the terrors of a God of judgment. Such were the discordant elements which combined to form this memorable scene! A little after midnight the pilgrims put themTo halt for a considerable time without eating, selves in motion in order to reach by sunrise the MISSIONARY SETTLEMENT AMONG THE CAFFERS. 167 banks of the sacred river; but it is no easy matter to start a caravan of five thousand persons; and it was three o'clock A. M. before the cavalcade was in progress. A number of torch-bearers preceded, carrying flambeaux, which threw a wild blaze of light over the plain and the moving host. The Arab cavalry marched next; their spirited horses curvetting while they plunged into the high grass and jungle, to drive out any lurking Bedouins: the governor with the Greek archbishop followed, and lastly, the whole host of pilgrims, hurrying along with anxious expectation to wash in a stream which they vainly suppose to be endowed with a cleansing moral efficacy. In such a multitude, moving without order, subject to no discipline, and wrought up to an unnatural excitement by superstitious zeal, it is not surprising that many accidents should occur. Some of the party are generally left dead, many are wounded, and all are kept in a state of feverish alarm for their personal safety. One thing struck us forcibly-the entire absence of sympathy among these professors of piety. If an aged man, a feeble woman, or a help- MISSIONARY SETTLEMENT AMONG THE less child, fell from his seat, no friendly hand was stretched out to aid, and no fellow-pilgrim halted to inquire the extent of injury received; the groans and cries of the sufferer were responded to by a laugh; and the cavalcade moved on regardless of their brother, who if he net with sympathy and aid, found it at the hand of some good Samaritan united to him by no ties of country or of faith. | for, to make certainty more sure, the hajee, who has preserved the taper once touched by the holy fire, secures likewise a winding-sheet dipped in Jordan, which possesses an equal charm, and is supposed to protect from the power of the devil both the corpse so shrouded and the spirit that shall reanimate it. Sometimes these promiscuous bathings are occasions of great indecorum; but, in the present instance, we saw nothing more than the ghát of every populous town on the Ganges exhibits daily. When, however, the scene is contemplated as a religious ceremony, and when the Turkish governor is observed, with his Moslimn satellites, ridiculing with proud disdain these vain ablutions and this violation of female modesty, the Protestant cannot but lament the errors of those who, like himself, profess the faith of Christ, and the consequent degradation of that sacred name in the eyes of the infidel.-Rev. C. B. Elliot, A.M. The sun rose above the mountains of Moab just as we reached Jordan, after a ride of more than two hours over a tract utterly sterile, deserted even by the samphire and low shrubs which are thinly scattered over other parts of the plain. Instantly a rush was made, and the pilgrims, old and young, rich and poor, sick and sound, men, women, and children, plunged into the stream. Some of the females and children, however, evinced a degree of nervousness; and here and there, the father of a family might be seen gently chiding his spouse, or more roughly handling his young ones-now religiously forcing the head of a little girl under the water, and now struggling with a well-grown urchin whose fears got the better of his love of pilgrimage. Of the men, some jumped boldly in, communicating a rotatory motion to the body as it passed through the air; a few considerately occupied themselves in aiding the weaker sex, lending to a tottering mother or timid sister the support of filial or fraternal strength; others resigned themselves composedly to the priests, who, standing like the Baptist in the river, poured the sacred water three times upon the head of the devotee. All were clad in their winding sheets, or, to speak more correctly, all carried with them, either attached in some convenient way to the body or held loosely in the hand, the piece of cloth with which they wished to be enveloped after death; CAFFERS. MR. COOPER ROSE, in his "Four Years in Southern Africa," gives the following interesting account of a Missionary Settlement among the Caffers : "The station is situated on a gentle hill that rises above the branch of the Chilumni, and the small white-washed cottages, perched on the green slope, have a pleasing air of quiet neatness. The scene we witnessed on our arrival was highly animated, for a number of the neighbouring tribe, hearing of our approach, had assembled; while the chief (Pato), and two of his brothers, Conquar and Kaama, were in full dress to receive us : and, in truth, it was not a little strange to see three figures, one habited as a quarter-master-general, another as a field-officer of artillery, and the third as a lancer, standing amidst the dark and stately forms of their followers, while the comparison proved by no means favourable to military foppery. The situation was to me so new and amusing, that I remained among them the greater part of the day, watching the new-comers that were collecting from the kraals for miles around, as their forms appeared and disappeared among the bright mimosas. It was strange to have got beyond the empire of gold and silver, and to find their power usurped by beads and buttons! and still more strange, to find myself surrounded by men and women, as simple and as easily pleased as laughing happy children. Great was the curiosity of the men with regard to our guns, and their delight at seeing the practice, when an object was placed on a distant ant-hill, and the balls threw up the dust around it; while the women were not behind-hand in their vocation coquetry and admiration of finery. I should greatly like to know whether any people have yet been discovered so rude that the females cannot coquet; if so, they must be many grades below the Caffer, among whom the art, if it is not nature, is by no means in a low state. There are parts of their system which, wishing to leave a favourable impression of my sable friends, I will not mention; but in their use of their black eyes, the most dangerous of weapons, they have little to learn: they are proud, too, of the tattooing on the breast and shoulders, and exhibited this disfigurement very liberally. The manner in which the girls distinguished the incos (chiefs) of our party was singular: they examined the wristbands of the shirt; and if they were fine and white (which last they quickly | ceased to be under their handling), the point was settled. Kaama, the youngest of the brother chiefs, I had seen in the colony, where he was a great favourite, and where, from his polished manners, he was sometimes to be met with at civilized tables, and it was with no slight surprise that I have, on such occasions, observed him conform himself to the small proprieties of society, which he appeared to catch up instinctively. I visited his kraal, entered his hut, and was introduced to Nomguiny, his only wife and not a little proud are the missionaries of his example, though I fear that he is a wavering proselyte to the system which they wish to introduce, as he frequently talks of taking another. Nomguiny was a very good specimen of a Caffer woman; and Kaama owned that he had no excuse for increasing his number, as he believed she was perfectly correct. His mother made her appearance, and I thought I had never seen so hag-like a picture of misery-blear-eyed, wrinkled, with shrivelled lips, and a skin that hung loose on her long form. This wretched decrepitude was in part owing to old age, but more to suffering and to torture that she had undergone when young, and being accused by the rain-makers of witchcraft. When I looked upon the tall and graceful young chief, wrapped in a tiger-skin mantle-for he had quickly thrown off his lancer uniform, and was greatly improved by the exchange, and at his wife, with her three sparkling-eyed children playing around her; and when I heard him say, in speaking of his hut, 'Kaama's house poor,'-I could trace that his thoughts were far away, in the house where we had last met; that he felt humbled that a stranger should compare them; and I doubted the reality of that kindness which could give to the savage a glimpse of refinement and luxuries, and then return him to his bee-hive hut and simple pleasures. We visited the school where the little natives were learning to spell and read in Dutch and Caffer, of which last language the missionaries are forming a written vocabulary-rather a difficult | undertaking, I should think, for many of their words are almost beyond European pronunciation, and may bid defiance to his spelling. Nor is this the only obstacle to their task, for it is no easy matter to explain to the simple natives the English word for which they require a corresponding Caffer expression. In the word hypocrisy, so well understood in civilized countries, this difficulty was found; but at length the Caffer caught the idea, and exclaimed, Ah! to put on your wife's carosse when you work in the garden. I have already said that the labour of the fields is confined to the woman ; and so degrading employment is it considered, that when a man wishes to assist, he disguises himself in the female garment. Ere we have done with them, I fear their knowledge on the subject will be improved and enlarged. We dined with the missionary, and found the three brothers at his table. They conducted themselves with great propriety; and I was entertained with proposing wine to Cobus Conquar-a proposal which they are by no means slow at comprehending-by hearing an uncontrollable laugh burst from a little Caffer-girl, who was waiting behind my chair. It proceeded from Cobus's little daughter Conky, who was greatly amused at seeing the ceremony. On the following morning we were present at the missionary service; and to me there was something highly impressive in hearing the song of praise, set to their native airs, come from those wild dark groups." EDUCATION MUST BE IMPROVED. "I HAVE been the tutor of princes," said the friend of Silvio Pellico; "I am now ambitious to rise to the elevation of a schoolmaster to the poor." If that noble sentiment formed a cordial response in British bosoms, I should say of England, the day of her deliverance draweth nigh. But it does not meet with such response, and it never will, until the moral power which yet slumbers in schools, is, in a far greater degree than heretofore, recognised, developed, and sanotified. The improvement of education will alone lead to its extension. Then, and not till then, will the benevolent anticipations of one of nature's sweetest poets find their happy fulfilment, and mankind witness The coming of that glorious time, When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth WORDSWORTH. H. Dunn, Esq. * Speech of Henry Meyer, Esq., of Rome, at the meeting of the British and Foreign School Society. |