1820.] Llanfey Palace, Pembrokeshire. -Feejee Islands. Mr. URBAN, THE March 27. HE annexed Plate represents a North-west view of the remains of Llanfey or Llamphey Palace, Pembrokeshire, antiently the residence of the Bishops of St. David's (see Plate I.) Besides the magnificent mouldering pile contiguous to the Cathedral in old Menevia, and that now under consideration, there formerly belonged to this See the Castle of Swansea, Llandygwy in Cardiganshire, Llanddew, and the small manor of Brann, near the junction of the rivers Brann and Usk in Brecknockshire, with the Granges of Castram Ponte, or Punch Castle, as it is now called, in Pembrokeshire. The three first mentioned of these buildings were raised by Bishop Gower, and are remarkable for their magnificence, as well as distinguished for their open-arched parapets, surmounted by battlements, which served for ornament, as also for a cover to the leaden or tiled roof. All the architectural works of this excellent Prelate are characterized for peculiar grandeur and richness of ornament. He lived in the reign of Edward III. a period distinguished for the magnificence of its Ecclesiastical buildings and his Cathedral shared his bounty and munificence; and received, among other embellishments, the superb stone screen and rood-loft at the entrance to the Choir. But returning to the subject of the accompanying plate:the ruins of Llanfey Palace are situated a short distance out of the road (on the North side) between Pembroke and Tenby. They occupy an extensive plot of ground; and though literally speaking are ruins, and every part uninhabitable, yet large, and comparatively perfect portions of the principal buildings are left standing, the plain substantial walls of which are covered with thick masses of luxuriant ivy. The Great Hall towards the South is plain both within and without, and appears never to have been richly or namented, but the arches of its windows and doors have well-carved mouldings, and the arched parapet before remarked extended round the building. The original entrance gateway which forms the principal object in the subjoined plate, is entire, excepting its roof. The lower part has a modern enclosure, and is used for the GENT. MAG. April, 1820. 297 purposes of a shed. But the most ornamental portion of these ruins is the Chapel, a short distance from the North-east angle of the hall, which still retains its East window with the tracery uninjured. Towards the East end of the hall is the kitchen, with a large circular chimney, strongly maintaining its erect position above the ruins of surrounding walls. There are numerous other offices and buildings distributed over a large uneven area of ruins, but none are ornamented more, and few of them so much as those described: from which it appears that this noble palace, when perfect, had but little architectural decoration to enrich its spacious walls, and was greatly inferior to the residence in the city-though perhaps superior to any other of the Episcopal Palaces. B. History of some curious Customs used by the Natives of the FEEJEE ISLANDS. By J. A. (Continued from p. 213.) HEN I saw the bodies together, vain to save the widow, I was excessively agitated, and, in the first impulse of my disappointment, went to the corpse of the widow and kissed it. The Caloo was standing near it; he was a man that could contain his passions; 1 knew of his hostility towards me; I upbraided him with the strongest, expressions I could think of; but, smothering every mark of passion, he merely answered coolly, it is the law. Since that time I have been present at several ceremonies of the same kind, but all of them are nearly the same in their performance; it would not be worth while therefore to speak more on the subject. The people of these Islands are cannibals. They inhabit a great many Islands which have no appropriate names on the charts, but all of them have their peculiar native designations. The largest of these Islands are divided into several districts, and there is often war among the people of the neighbouring places. I had bought a bolt of canvass of the master of a vessel that was there, and he demanded a very large piece of sandel wood for it, ten times as much as it was worth. I was how ever ever obliged to consent, and took him on shore to a place where I knew a piece large enough was lying; for I was well known on the Island, and had some authority: but he was a stranger; and it was very dangerous for perfect strangers, ignorant of their language and customs, to trust themselves far from the shore. We had arrived at the log, and, having measured it, and found it not quite so large as was agreed upon, were talking about our bargain, when an old woman, well known to me, appeared with a large basket upon her shoulders. She came up to us, and, without addressing me as was usual, exclaimed in a dismal tone, War, war, war. I immediately knew that something was wrong, and that all was not safe. The man that was with me would have fled to the boat; but I advised him to stay by me, who was known, and could speak the language; whereas, if he were seen by himself running to his boat, there was a probability of his being killed. He remained therefore with me, and when we had waited some time, a native acquaintance came up. I enquired of him the meaning of the old woman's expression; when be informed that they had been at war; that they had killed the Chief of Hyparcar; that they had had the good fortune to seize upon his body, and that they would feast upon it to-morrow; inviting me to be of the party. me To enable me to have so intimate an intercourse with these people, I had to encounter inany dangers, and to conform to many of their disgusting customs. This horrible custom, however, of eating human flesh I had hitherto been able to avoid; but it was necessary that I should seem to acquiesce even in this, and, as the natives did, take a delight in it. To the native's invitation, therefore, I gave a ready assent, seemed to rejoice at the circumstance, and explained to him that, as I had just arrived from a cruise, and had not tasted of fresh food for some time, it would be particularly welcome to me. I then went about my other concerns; and in an hour or two the native that had accosted me in the morning came up to me, and, as if by accident, led me to the log of sandel wood we had been bargaining for. The body of the captive had been laid beside it. It was that of a man above six feet high; there was a large wound across the forehead, and another at the top of the head, as if from the blows of a club. I started back at the sight, and the native exclaimed with emphasis; Are you afraid? Sanga, sanga, said I (no, no); I hope to feast on him to morrow. The people of these Islands always eat human flesh cold: they roast it one day, and eat it the next; and before the body is cut to pieces, the caloo performs a long ceremony. I went with my native friend to the priest's house; he was then about to perform the usual incantation. He had a long staff in his hands; and having placed one end of it on the ground, he exercised himself violently in reeling to and fro with it, till, overcome with the exercise, he fell down, and the attendants carried him into his house. He then said something in the manner of an oracle, which, as it was explained to me, meant that they would succeed in what they were about to undertake, referring to a battle that was intended. The The multitude then went down to their dead enemy, and with pieces of wood or bambo, made very sharp, cut off his hands at the wrists, his feet at the ankles, his legs at the knees, and his thighs near the middle, dividing the bone with an axe, which they had purchased from one of the vessels that had been at the Island. head was cut off very low toward the breast, and they placed it on some hot ashes that had previously been prepared in a hole dug for the purpose; and when it had remained there a sufficient time, they rubbed off the hair with shells, and replaced it with the other parts of the body in the hole, surrounding it on all sides with stones that had been made very hot. They then covered it up till it was completely roasted. I told the natives that I expected they would allow me my share of it; that I was then going on board, but that I should not fail to come on shore on the morrow; but that, if I should be prevented, I desired they would send my share on board the brig. The men of Hylai (for that was the name of the place) promised that I should not be disappointed, and I then left them. On my going on board, I told my mate what was going forward, and desired 1820.] Customs of the Feejee Islands. desired that, when the human flesh should be brought on-board for me, he should say, I was gone on shore; and that when they should tell him what they had brought, he should seem disgusted, and refuse to receive it on board; that he should say, that although the Captain was fond of it, yet that he hated it, and that they might carry it on-shore again, for he would not receive it. On the following day it was done as I desired; they brought the roasted buman flesh along-side, and the mate refused to admit it on board, at the same time exclaiming violently against the custom. They at length went on shore with it, very much disappointed, and threatening that, if they met with him, they would kill him. Two days after this I went among them again. I thought I might turn the circumstance of the human flesh to my advantage. I pretended to be very angry with them, said that they had deceived me; that they had not sent me my share of the human flesh. They persisted in affirming that they had sent it along-side, and that the mate would not receive it. I enquired, I told them, when I went on board, and that no one had seen or heard of it, and, added I, I have been greatly disappointed. Finding it therefore in vain to persuade me that they had sent it to me; they railed against the mate, and repeated that if they met him on shore they would kill him. 299 sels who had any authority among them, and was permitted to live on shore. One of the most extraordinary cir cumstances among them is, the excessive value they set upon large teeth, such as those of the whale or sea elephant. So that persons going to procure sandel wood from them generally take with them as many of these teeth as they can procure. The principal things they barter for are axes, knives, or razors; but they will give as much wood for one large tooth, as for five or six axes. This regard they put upon large teeth is the more extraordinary, as they do not seem to make any use of them, except as ornaments. When a native, by purchase or any other means, becomes possessed of a large tooth, he hangs it up in his house, and for the first few days scarcely ceases looking upon it and admiring it. He frequently takes it down, and rubs it with a particular kind of leaf, and polishes it; some of them almost for a month continue to labour upon it. The vessels from Port Jackson usually carried the teeth of the whale or sea elephant; but some vessels from India carried elephants' teeth, which they cut into pieces, and made in the shape of other teeth. These, being very large, were considered of the greatest value, and procured vast quantities of sandel wood. So great an account was set upon them, that some chiefs actually came from islands more than an hundred miles distant to see them. They set no value on money. A ship called the Eliza, with several thousand dollars on board, was wrecked on a reef near one of these islands. The master of her put about four thousand of them in the jolly-boat, and made for the island that was most frequented, where he found a vessel from Port Jackson, and got on board of her. The jolly-boat was left towing a-stern, and some hours had pass ed before the master of the shipwrecked vessel mentioned the dollars being left in the boat. It happened that this was done in the presence of the mate, who reported it to one of the sailors, and they removed them by stealth. Some of them they concealed in their cabins, and others the accomplice took on shore, and buried. Some of the natives, however, saw him covering something up, and when he went away they dug up the dollars. On the following morning they were widely distributed among the natives, who parted with them for the merest trifles, such as nails, pins, or small pieces of iron. A man called Savage, who had been some time among the natives at Tongataboo, about this time came to the Island, and hearing where the wreck was, went to the place, and found the dollars lying in heaps upon the beach. Such is the account given me by Mr. Siddons; I cannot vouch for the truth of it, but am inclined to believe that it is mostly true. To many it may appear to be too much allied to the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, but I would not disbelieve it on that account. From many persons I have heard similar accounts, but very few have had the opportunity of seeing so much of these people as Siddons. There is a possibility also of some of the circumstances that I have mentioned in this account having been published before, especially in the Missionary Voyage; which being the case, one account may be set against the other; and may either confirm the truth of it, or render it doubtful. Siddons lived on the Island, I believe, several years, and had house and lands; perhaps wives. If he be not the Missionary himself mentioned in Pinkerton's Geography, as having forsaken the original purpose of his visiting the Islands, namely, that of propagating the Gospel, for the more sensual gratifications of life; at least it is probable that the one may have been known by the other, and may be mentioned accordingly. This account I heard from Siddons himself, and I thought it worth while to commit it to paper. Torre's Straits, Aug. 5, 1815. Arms (taken from their Seals) with the one in your Correspondent's possession, I am inclined to think they are descendants of the same Sir Francis South; and shall be much obliged to your Correspondent for his opinion thereon, and any further elucidation upon the subject. The three brothers are men of respectability; the eldest lives upon his fortune, the second holds a situation in one of the Public Offices under the Lord Chancellor, and the youngest is an Officer in the Army; and I have frequently heard them mention that their father was born at a place near Brigg (Glanford Bridge) in Lincolnshire. The eldest brother imagines they are descendants of the celebrated Dr. South; and jocosely observes, when any piece of wit flows from them, that it is a remnant of the "old Doctor;" but I caunot think they belong to his family, as their arms do not correspond, and from a little publication which came under your Review (and which I sent him) it appeared the Doctor was not born in Lincolnshire; but there is much greater probability of their being related to Sir Francis South, who, it appears, belonged to that county. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, A MENTOR. March 3. MONG the different schemes for bettering the condition of the poor, it does not appear, according to the knowledge of the present writer, to have entered into the calculation, what method the poor themselves take to amelioriate their situation. What they do to injure themselves is well-known, and therefore nothing shall be said upon that head; but where evils are only to be corrected by education, there was something impolitic in making the question so prominent. It has largely. contributed to the support of Radicalism, a folly indeed but to be expected, among the poor in a luxurious nation, where ambition, not of honour, fame, or character, but of indulgence and idleness falls in, by the course of events where a drunken It was, if I recollect right, the Beauties of Dr. South and another Reverend Divine. manu 1820.] On ameliorating the manufacturer or a foppish footman wishes to ape the manners of superiors. The poor, in the Western parts of England, where there are no manufactures, know nothing whatever of politicks. Their wages are commonly 18. per day, with their food. The methods which they take to supply deficiency of income are application to the Overseers, and surreptitious enclosures of wastes. As to the first, much of that evil is alleviated by amending the parish apprentice system as follows. Instead of taking the children off their hands, and thus enuring them to luxury, and disqualifying them for outdoor agricultural employments, a weekly allowance of 2s. or 2s. 6d. is given to the child, who is employed by the master, but he boards and sleeps at home. The stipend goes into hotch-potch; and the larger the family the more the amount in aid of the weekly income of the parents. As to the second, every cottage should have a garden at least large enough to produce vegetables, sufficient to pay the rent. It is quite dubious, in many cases, whether more than the fee-simple of a purchased estate is not, by taking in wastes, consumed in loss of time; for the following aecount is well authenticated. A man purchased a quantum of waste land for thirty-five pounds. He was seen perpetually labouring upon it. A neighbouring gentlemau made a particular enquiry, concerning the expenditure of labour which he had bestowed upon the ground, and the amount of the proceeds. These, as the ground was barren woodland, amounted only to very scanty crops of potatoes. The value of the labour expended was equal to 60%.—This, added to the purchase, 357. made 957. an acre, given for land, not worth 78. an acre rent per ann. or at thirty years purchase ten guineas.-Arable land without stock (which the poor have not), cannot be kept in a high state of production; but the poor waste their time in assorting and cleaning it, to their great loss; and how unjustly they are subject to envy, for gaining a loss (as the honest Hibernian said) must be well known to those who have made large sacrifices under bills of inclosure. The subsistence of the poor manu Condition of the Poor. 301 facturers in the Western counties consists of dumplings of barley-flour, potatoes, red herrings, and once a week perhaps a joint of meat. The wiser sort substitute an excellent twice-aweek dinner of grey peas. The agriculturists in the same counties have a better plan. They keep a pig, which they kill in the winter time for bacon for the year, after fattening it to the amount of fourteen or fifteen score. The net profit of such a pig is often not less than six or seven pounds. They rear also a large quantity of potatoes, and some poultry for sale. Their costume is the old Anglo-Saxon, the smockfrock; the best for husbandry purposes, as it does not heat like woollen, leaves the arms at liberty, does not rend like cloth, and can be washed. The Sunday clothing is as various as a rag-fair exhibition; but is preserved like a heir-loom. In all countries, the poor get drunk whenever they are able; but the wiser part, only when they are treated. From the preceding statements, therefore, it appears that, taking the conduct of the poor themselves as a basis, the remedies of want are among themselves. 1. A large garden, or potatoe ground.-2. Grey peas.-3. A pig. It is evident that a dinner of potatoes, with a rasher of fat bacon, is much cheaper than one of bread and cheese: and in the Royal Navy, peas boiled in the broth were, I believe, doled to the men twice a week, as a vegetable diet, to controul the effects of the scurvy from salted viands. It requires very few peas indeed to furnish a sufficient meal. Gentlemen, therefore, disposed to have their peasantry healthy and well fed, would do well to encourage the annexation of large gardens to cottages, a certain growth of peas in their parishes, and the custom of keeping pigs. In Herefordshire it is universal, so far as regards villages. Every housekeeper has one, if not more pigs; and it is considered an act of folly not to have one. A pigclub would be just as beneficial, as one for watches, leather-breeches, &c.; and philanthropic gentlemen, where the population has been small, have been known to present their poor with money for buying pigs. Yours, &c. R. E. |