Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

3876. [Sol. Song iv. 5.] I have seen, says Sir W. JONES, the Zabi of the Hebrews; it is a kind of antelope, exquisitely beautiful, with eyes uncommonly black and large. It is the same sort of roe, to which Solomon here alludes in this delicate simile.

Works, vol. iv. p. 546.

3877.9. With one of thy eyes] The African women were so disguised by their dress, that as they walked on the tops of the houses, they looked more like apparitions and ghosts, than objects of love and pleasure, nothing being to be seen but one eye: their bodies were covered by a white woollen mantle, and their faces with a linen cloth.

BRAITHWAITE'S Journey to Morocco, p. 55.

3878. [14.] Among the Persians, if a person stain his clothes with saffron before he go to battle, it indicates that he is resolved to conquer or die.

KHOJEH ABDULKURREEM, p. 211.

of the chocolate nut (Theobroma Cacao), prepared in the form of chocolate, is highly nutricious. Sir JOHN SINCLAIR'S Code of Health, vol. i. pp. 387, 338.

3883. [Sol. Song vi. 11.] The coffee-tree, which is a species of fern, was formerly unknown to all countries, but that of Yemen in Arabia. Its trunk there, will rise sometimes full forty feet in height, though its thickness seldom exeeeds five inches. It is always loaded with flowers and fruit. Its leaves bear a near similitude to those of the common laurel. Its flowers resemble the Jessamine; and its berries are like hard cherries. The fleshy substance of its fruit coats two interior shells, in each of which is contained a seed; but of these, in general, one only is duly nourished. Drank after meals, as in France, it corroborates the stomach.

Nat. Delin. vol. ii. p. 283.

The plain of Gaukarna in the north of Cauara, is well cultivated in rice-fields intermixed with cocoa-nut gardens. BUCHANAN, in Pinkerton's Coll. vol. viii. p. 756.

3879. [Sol. Song v. 4.] The doors of the Antients were hollow, with bolts in the inside. See chap, viii. 9.

3880. [16.] He is altogether lovely - altogether desiresor, by a Hebraism, most desirable.

BOYLE.

3881. [Sol. Song vi. 11.] At Mount Kennedy, in Ireland, there is (in 1776) an immense arbutus tree, the greatest natural curiosity in the kingdom, says A. YOUNG Esq.: one branch, which parts from the body near the ground, and afterwards into many large branches, is six feet two inches in circumference.

Pinkerton's Coll. part. xiii. p. 820. The real Indian palm is the cocoa-nut tree; which the Indians name tenga, aud make much use of for planting neat gardens.

3582.

BARTOLOMEO, by Johnston.

Pistachia nuts, on the whole, are the most wholesome of the almond tribe. - The farinaceous part

[blocks in formation]

3885.

Nuts] There are three species of the cotton-tree: One creeps along the ground, like a vine; the second is a shrub with a thick bushy head; and the third is as tall as an oak: Each, after it has produced its beautiful flowers, is loaded with a fruit as large as a walnut, the coat or surface of which is perfectly black. This fruit, when ripe, blows, and discovers an extremely white down or cotton. That gathered in Asia, is manufactured there in a more beautiful manner than in any part of Europe.

Nature Delin. vol. i. p. 277.

3886. [Sol. Song vii. 7.] Whilst we anchored at the mouth of the river Manzanares, says HUMBOLDT, our eyes were fixed on the groups of cocoa-trees that border the river: the trunks of which, more than sixty-feet high, towered over the beauteous landscape; and the pinnated leaves of the palms were conspicuous on the azure of a sky, the clearness of which was unsullied by any trace of vapors.

See his Trav. in S. America. The areca, or betel-nut tree, here alluded to, says FORBES, is one of the most beautiful of the palmyra tribe; it grows

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

3887. [Sol. Song viii. 2.] The word rendered by our translators juice, is properly new wine, or must; and the new wine of pomegranates is either new wine acidulated with the juice of pomegranates, which the Turks about Aleppo still mix with their dishes for this purpose; or rather wine made of the juice of pomegranates, of which Sir J. CHARDIN says, they still make considerable quantities in the East.

Harmer, vol. i. p. 377. Spiced wine] That is, wine inspissated by boiling it down to two thirds, or one half of the quantity, with honey, myrrh, mandragora, and other strong spices.

[blocks in formation]

that the old Romans had their necks and arms bare, and as much exposed to the weather as our hands and faces are at present. ADDISON, on Medals, p. 95.

3891. [Sol. Song viii. 7.] In concluding a peace the last and principal ceremony observed by Indians, is that of burying the hatchet; which, as if eternally to drown therewith all hatred and contention, is sometimes thrown into the deepest

waters.

WELD's Trav. in N. America, vol. ii. p. 215. Experience however evinces, that animosity cannot any more than love be so easily extinguished from amongst meu.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

3898. [Isai. i. 8.] The desolation of Judea, so feelingly deplored in this verse, is clearly illustrated, says FORBES, by a practice common among the peasants of Hindostan : At the commencement of the rainy season they plant abundance of melons, cucumbers, and gourds, which are then the principal food of the inhabitants. They are not sown in garden-beds, as in Europe, but in open fields, and extensive plains, liable to depredation by men and beasts. In the centre of the field is an artificial mount, with a hut on the top, sufficiently large to shelter a single person from the inclemency of the weather. There, amidst heavy rain and tempestuous winds, a poor solitary being is stationed day and night, to protect the crop from thieves of various descriptions, but especially from the monkeys, which assemble in large bodies to commit depredations. From thence the centinel gives an alarm to the nearest village, and the peasants come out and drive them off. Few situations can be more unpleasant than a hovel of this kind, exposed for three or four months to thunder, lightning, and rain.

Oriental Customs, vol. ii. p. 450.

3899. [22] In the Levant, they never mingle water with their wine to drink, but drink by itself what water they think proper for abating the strength of the wine. THEVENOT.

3897.

In Lithuania and Muscovy, as soon as the sun is risen, the herdsman daily winds his horn: on the well-known signal, the stalls being instantly opened, the horses, mules, asses, goats, heifers and bulls, obey the summons without reluctance. As soon as they are assembled in a body, he marches at the head of them, whilst they obsequiously follow their leader into such meadows as he sees most convenient for them. By a second signal they are led to water, and by a third reconducted home again; where each repairs to his own proper stall, without the least disorder or confusion.

Nature Delineated, vol. iii. p. 25.

3900. In the hot countries of Greece and the Levant, the natives have an antient custom of mixing water with wine, in order to cool it. This they have reduced to a regular system with all the most refined rules of curious

science.

BARRY, on the Wines of the Antients

The water of the young palm fruit (nectar) is neither so copious, nor so transparent and refreshing, in Bengal, as in the isle of Hinzuan, where the natives take extreme care of the trees. Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. ii. p. 118

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

The ornaments which the Indian bride puts on are very numerous, and consist of the following articles: 1. A bracelet, which is fastened on above the elbow. 2. A golden bracelet worn below the elbow. 3. A small golden froutlet.— Both these may be seen on the antient Egyptian monuments. (See Solomon's Song.) 4. A golden pin round which, the hair is twisted up in such a manner that it lies quite flat. 5. A golden rose fastened into the apertures of her ears, which are generally very long and wide. 6. Golden earrings, which are often set with jewels. 7. A golden chain which is put around the neck, and hangs down to the middle. 8. A gold-ring, which the bride wears on her finger. 9. A silver hoop, or ring, which the Indian women fasten round their naked ancles, because they use neither shoes nor stockings. 10. A second golden bracelet, which surrounds the wrist. 11. A necklace of artificial flowers. 12. A garland of sweet basil, for which the Indians have a particular foudness. BARTOLOMEO, by Johnston, p. 277.

[blocks in formation]

3906.

CARVER'S Trav. in N. America, p. 146

In the East Indies, the Gentile women wear gold or silver rings, according to their ability, one in their nose, and several small ones in holes bored round the rim of the ear, with one large and heavy in each lappet. They wear also rings on their toes, and metallic shingles on their legs made hollow and intermixed with loose glass beads, that cause, when they move the leg, a noise like that of a rattle-snake.

Captain HAMILTON, in Pinkerton's Coll. part xxxii. p. 322.

3908.[21.] It is the Custom in almost all the East for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold, and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between, placed in the ring. I never saw, says Chardin, a girl or young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia, who did not wear a ring after this manner in her nostril.

See Bp. LowтH in loco.

3909. [1823.] We have here an account of the finery of the daughters of Babylon, which no modern extravagance has hitherto equalled.

Dr. W. ALEXANDER's Hist. of Women, vol. ii. p. 96.

3910. [24.] To the costliness of the materials of their garments, the Babylonish women frequently added the expense of the most precious perfumes, with which they perfurned not only their apparel, but also their bodies. Ibid. p. 100.

3911. [— 26.] On several coins of Vespasian and Titus we find Judea sitting on the ground, in a posture that denotes sorrow and captivity. Seneca also, in allusion pro

[blocks in formation]

men were not to die, what would become of their posterity? Long before now there would not have been room for them on the face of the earth. Death, therefore, is a benefit. Men complain of the necessity of labouring but unless they laboured, how could they pass their time? The reputedly happy of the age, those who have nothing to do, are at a loss how to employ it. Labour, therefore, is a benefit. Men envy the beasts the instinct which guides them but if, from their birth, they knew, like them, all they are ever to know, what should they do in the world? They would saunter through it without interest, without curiosity. Ignorance, therefore, is a benefit. Ibid. p. 30.

See Addison on

3916. [Isai. v. 27.] The shoes of the Israelites, like those of the neighbouring nations, were only pieces of skin fastened with thongs to the soles of their feet. So slightly defended, they never could travel on foot, nor hardly stir abroad, without having their feet much defiled; it was therefore always necessary to wash them when they got home; a ceremony often mentioned in scripture, which the servant generally performed to his master, and the master often to his visitors and guests. Dr. W. ALEXANDER's Hist. of Women, vol. ii. p. 91.

[blocks in formation]
« VorigeDoorgaan »