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memory the picturesque and beautiful appearance of our gardens and plantations at home.

The inhabitants consist exclusively of the caste called Vellalers, and by their account emigrated about 600 years ago from Conjeveram. Their manners and mode of life are extremely simple, and their dispositions appear to be of the best kind, civil and obliging, manifesting a strong desire to gain the good-will of strangers. Their life is entirely of a pastoral description, and crimes of a heinous nature are seldom or never committed amongst them. Their disputes are in general settled by the head-man of each Naud; but when the matter in dispute is of importance, the three chiefs meet together, and having heard both parties, pass their decision, which is always final, and received with perfect submission and respect they have never yet applied to our courts for justice. Their females seem to be much secluded, at least it is very rarely they are seen; but, from the number of children which appear, they must either be very numerous or very prolific. By their own account they are a very healthy race, which is corroborated by their appearance; the only disease they dread is the small-pox, which some years ago nearly depopulated the hills. No case of the spasmodic cholera has ever ccurred amongst them; a lame or deformed person has not been seen, and many appear to have attained an extreme old age.

The domestic animals are black cattle and buffaloes; the former are very numerous, and much superior to those on the plains; the wild animals are elk, hog, bear, and bison; tigers have lately found their way to the encampment, as also have hyenas and jackals; but none of these

animals are said to breed on the table

land. Jungle fowl, partridges, and quails of all kinds are numerous; the bison is by far the largest animal known in this part of India, the elephant excepted, and when hard pressed, shows a considerable degree of bravery.-Asiatic Journal.

Scientific Amusements,

No. III.

To produce Coloured Flames, which, in the dark, are very curiously reflected by the faces of the spectators. To do this, certain substances are mixed with burning alcohol. A beautiful rosecoloured flame, is produced by intiaming four parts of alcohol poured over one part

of muriate of strontia, in a small iron ladle.-An orange-coloured flame is produced by burning spirits of wine on muriate of lime deprived of its water of crystallization. A flame having a fine green tinge, is produced by burning alcohol on boracic acid, or nitrate of copper.-A yellow flame is produced by burning alcohol on muriate of soda, or nitrate of potass.-Note. It should be observed, that the ladle ought previously to be warmed, and ought to be kept heated while the alcohol is burning. The salts remaining behind, after being dried, may be used for the same purpose again.

A Metal which bursts into flame when thrown upon Cold Water.

PLACE a piece of potassium, of about two grains weight, upon cold water in a basin, when it inflames and exhibits a beautiful light of a violet red colour.

Spoons which Melt in Hot Water. FUSE together, in a crucible, eight parts of bismuth, five of lead, and three of tin: these metals will combine, and form an alloy, (of which spoons may be made possessed of the remarkable property of melting in boiling water).

To Melt a piece of Metal in a Nutshell. TAKE three parts of nitre, (freed from water of crystallization by exposure to heat), one part of sulphur, and one of very fine dry saw-dust-mingle the whole intimately together. This is called the powder of fusion, and is a kind of chemical flux. Let a quantity of this be well pressed into a walnut-shell, with a thin piece of copper coiled up in the midst of it, and then set on fire: it will burn rapidly, and the metal will be fused into a round globule, while the shell is only blackened.-A combination takes place between the metal and sulphur, (which is aided by the potass), and the result is the formation of a sulphuret.

To make Cinders, or little Wicker-baskets, appear as if they were Crystallized. SATURATE water, kept boiling, with allum; then set the solution in a cool

place, suspending in it, by a hair, or fine silk thread, a cinder, a sprig of a plant, or any other trifle; as the solution cools, a beautiful crystallization of the salt takes place upon the cinder, &c. which resemble specimens of mineralogical spars. Chemical Recreations.

ANTIPATHY.

(For the Mirror.)

VARIOUS, and often unaccountable, are the propensities and antipathies of men. The following relation gives an instance of an antipathy not only of a very singular nature, but which had like to have brought on the individual subject to it, a most dire misfortune.

A certain topographical author had a violent antipathy to wigs. It happened that he was one day dining in a company opposite to some military officers, the head of one of whom was unluckily adorned with a peruke. Our author, although intent on the repast, could not abstract his thoughts, nor divert his eyes from the hateful object. Again and again he directed his view towards it, the disgusting sight disturbed his peace, and spoiled his meal. His eyes darted fire, his countenance became distorted, his whole frame was convulsed, when at length his brain being frenzied, and his feelings overwhelmed, he suddenly rose from his seat, made a spring across the table, seized with unmanly eagerness the obnoxious appendage to the head, and, with an air of indignation and triumph, hurled it with his utmost force on the floor. The company was alarmed, the officer drew the weapon of death, and, our topographer made his escape from instant annihilation, not so much to a good pair of heels (which, it is said, he fortunately possessed) as to the thorough knowledge of the turnings and windings in the town of S-, of which he had previously written the history, and through which a considerable part of the offended party pursued him with all their might.

T. A. C.

hat of a gourd or calabash, being freed from its pulp, which in time of scarcity may be made into a nourishing pap, serves for vessels of various kinds, and gives to water, preserved in it, a pleasant aromatic taste. The small leaves are eaten in time of scarcity, and the large ones serve to cover houses, or being burned, to make good soap. The Botanical name of this tree is Aliconda.

THE AMERICAN CONSTI

TUTION.

MR. EDITOR,-The following is part of Mr. Wilson's speech delivered, December 3, 1787, during the Debates of the Convention of the State of Pensylvania, on the Constitution proposed for the Government of the United States. Thus, "Take detached parts of any system whatsoever, in the manner these gentlemen have hitherto taken this Constitution, and you will make it absurd and inconsistent with itself. I do not confine this observation to human performances alone; it will apply to divine writings. An anecdote, which I have heard, exemplifies this observation: When Sternhold and Hopkins's version of the Psalms was usually sung in churches, a line was first read by the clerk, and then sung by the congregation. A sailor had stepped in and heard the clerk read this line: The Lord will come, and he will not.' The sailor stared; and when the clerk read the next line, Keep silence, but speak out,' the sailor left the church thinking the people were not in their senses. This story (said Wilson) may convey an idea of the treatment of the plan before you, for although it contains sound sense, when connected, yet

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WONDERFUL UTILITY OF AN by the detached manner of considering it,

AFRICAN TREE.

(For the Mirror.)

IN the kingdom of Congo, there grows naturally a tree of such bulk, that ten men cannot fathom it round. The natives call it bondo, and as the wood early rots, they do not build their huts near it, lest as fall should crush them to death, or its fruit, which is of the size of a large gourd, and easily broken from the tree, should knock them down. The bark of this tree, well beaten and macerated, yields a coarse thread, of which they make their ropes, and which macerated and dried, and beaten with bars of iron or wood, becomes like a large piece of cloth; with this the natives cover their middle from the girdle to the knees. The shell, or rind of the fruit, which is hard like

it appears highly absurd."-See Wilson's speech taken in short-hand, by Thomas Lloyd of Philadelphia.

PALM SUNDAY AND EASTER MONDAY.

ON Palm Sunday, boys and girls (youths and maidens have now-a-days got above so childish a practice,) may be met early in the morning, in blithe, but breakfastless companies, sallying forth towards the pretty outlets about Hampstead and Highgate, on the one side the water, and Camberwell and Clapham on the other all of which they innocently imagine to be "the country"-there to sport away the pleasant hours till dinner-time, and then return home with joy in their hearts, endless appetites in their stomachs, and

bunches of the sallow willow with its silken bloom-buds in their hands, as trophies of their travels.

for one.

Now, at last, the Easter week is arrived, and the poor have for once in the year the best of it setting all things, but their own sovereign will, at a wise defiance. The journeyman who works on Easter Monday, even though he were a tailor itself, should lose his caste, and be sent to the Coventry of mechanics-wherever that may be. In fact, it cannot happen. On Easter Monday ranks change placesJobson is as good as Sir John-the "rude mechanical" is "monarch of all he surveys" from the summit of Greenwichhill-and when he thinks fit to say "It is our royal pleasure to be drunk!"-who shall dispute the proposition? Not I, When our English mechanics accuse their betters of oppressing them, the said betters should reverse the old appeal, and refer from Philip sober to Philip drunk; and then nothing more could be said. But Now, they have no betters, even in their own notion of the matter. And, in the name of all that is transitory, envy them not their brief supremacy! It will be over before the end of the week, and they will be as eager to return to their labour as they now are to escape from it for the only thing that an Englishman, whether high or low, cannot endure patiently for a week together, is, unmingled amusement. At this time, however, he is determined to try. Accordingly, on Easter Monday all the narrow lanes and blind alleys of our metropolis pour forth their dingy denizens into the suburban fields and villages, in search of the said amusement-which is plentifully provided for them by another class, even less enviable than the one on whose patronage they depend :-for of all callings, the most melancholy is that of purveyor of pleasure to the poor. During the Monday our determined holidaymaker, as in duty bound, contrives, by the aid of a little or not a little artificial stimulus, to be happy in a tolerably exemplary manner. On the Tuesday, he fancies himself happy to-day, because he felt himself so yesterday. On the Wednesday he cannot tell what has come to him but every ten minutes he wishes himself at home where he never goes but to sleep. On Thursday he finds out the secret that he is heartily sick of doing nothing, but is ashamed to confess it: and then what is the use of going to work before his money is spent? On Friday he swears that he is a fool for throwing away the greater part of his quarter's savings without having any thing to show for it--and gets gloriously drunk with

the rest, to prove his words: passing the pleasantest night of all the week in a watch-house. And on Saturday, after thanking "his worship" for his good advice, of which he does not remember a word, he comes to the wise determination that, after all, there is nothing like working all day long in silence, and at night spending his earnings and his breath in beer and politics! So much for the Easter week of a London holiday-maker.

But there is a sport belonging to Easter Monday, which is not confined to the lower classes, and which, fun forbid that I should pass over silently. If the reader has not, during his boyhood, performed the exploit of riding to the turn-out of the stag on Epping Forest ;-following the hounds all day long,—at a respectful distance ;-returning home in the evening with the loss of nothing but his hat, his hunting whip, and his horse-not to mention a portion of his nether person; -and finishing the day by joining the Lady Mayoress's ball at the Mansionhouse ;-if the reader has not done all this when a boy, I will not tantalize him by expatiating on the superiority of those who have. And if he has done it, I need not tell him that he has no cause to envy his friend who escaped with a flesh-wound from the fight of Waterloo-for there is not a pin to choose between them!

MAUNDY THURSDAY.

THIS day, which is always the Thursday before Easter, is called, in Latin, dies Mandati, the day of the command, being the day on which our Lord washed the feet of his disciples, as recorded in the second lesson. This practice was long kept up in the monasteries. After the ceremony, liberal donations were made to the poor, of clothing and of silver money; and refreshment was given them to mitigate the severity of the fast. A relic of this custom is still preserved in the donations dispensed at St. James's on this day. The following description of the ceremony as practised five or six years since, will be interesting to our provincial readers. The numbers partaking of the king's bounty this time amounted to eighty. The distribution, as usual, took place at Whitehall Chapel; but on account of an extra staircase being built from the anti-chapel to the royal closet for the Duchess of York to ascend, the morning proceedings did not take place there, but a temporary_building was erected on the outside in Privy Gardens, where accommodation was provided for

eighty men and eighty women, and about fifty spectators. Two cods, two salmons, eighteen red herrings, eighteen pickled herrings, with four loaves, were given to each person in a wooden bowl. After the fish and bread had been distributed, three pounds and a half of beef and one loaf were given to each person. The sub-almoner, and the lord high almoner's secretary, attended to inspect the distribution; and after all the poor persons had received their provisions, the sub-almoner proposed the health of the king, which was drunk in ale, in wooden cups. In the afternoon the ceremonies and additional royal bounties were resumed in the Chapel. The gentlemen of the Chapel Royal attended to perform the service. Soon after three o'clock the ceremonies commenced by a procession entering the Chapel, of eight yeomen of the guard and a yeoman usher, one of the yeomen carrying on his head a large gold dish, in which were 160 red kid bags, which ought to have contained 10s. in gold, but had a one pound bank note instead; and also white kid bags, tied to the others with white leather strings, about two feet long, in which were Id. 2d. 3d. and 4d. silver pieces, amounting to 6s. 8d., being as many pence as the king was years old. The dish containing these bags was placed on a table, which was covered with a white cloth, in front of the altar. The remainder of the procession consisted of the sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, the sub-almoner, the lord high almoner's secretary, the groom of the almonry, two boys and two girls, selected from St. Margaret's National School, for their good behaviour, by the sub-almoner; these, with the gentlemen, were decorated with cambric muslin, scarfs and sashes, carrying bouquets of flowers, and were preceded by a gentleman verger of the Chapel Royal.

After the first lesson, the gentlemen who formed the procession ascended into the gallery, and distributed to the eighty men, shoes and stockings by the hands of the sub-almoner. The gentlemen of the choir then sung an appropriate piece. After this, cloth for a coat, and linen for a shirt, were distributed in a similar manner. Additional music succeeded, and the red bags, containing the one pound notes and the small silver coinage, were then distributed to the men, and afterwards, in a similar manner, to eighty women. An anthem was then sung, an appropriate thanksgiving and a prayer read, and the king's health was drunk in claret, out of wooden cups, by the gentlemen who performed the service and composed the procession, and the numerous

assemblage of those who had partaken of the royal bounty.

ON PASTE, OR EASTER EGGS. THE Persians, before their conversion to Mohammedanism, reckoned the beginning of the year from the day in which the sun enters into Aries, which is in March. According to one of the ancient cosmogonies, all things were produced from an egg, hence called the Mundane egg. This cosmogony was received in Persia, and on this account, there obtained, among the people of that country, a custom of presenting each other with an egg, the symbol of a new beginning of time, on every new-year's day, that is, on the day when the sun enters Aries. The doctrine of the Mundane egg was not confined to the limits of Persia, but was spread, together with the consequent practice of presenting new-year eggs, through various other countries. But the new-year was not every where kept on the day on which the sun enters Aries, or, at least, it ceased in process of time, to be so kept. In Persia itself, the introduction of the Mohammedan faith brought with it a removal of new-year's day. Among the Jews, the season of the ancient new-year became that of the passover, and, among the Christians, the season of the passover has become that of Easter. Now, amid all these changes, the custom of giving eggs at the sun's entrance into Aries has continued. The egg has also continued to be held as a symbol, and the sole alteration is in the prototype. At first, it was said to be the symbol of the beginning of time, and now it is called the symbol of the resurrection. We see, hence, what was the real origin of the Easter egg of the Greek and Roman churches. The Roman church brought it into England.

In Persia, the celebration of the newyear at its ancient season has been revived, and with this, the practice of giving eggs. We are told by Sir John Chardin, that the Mohammedans of this country would not observe the first day of the solar year, out of opposition to those who persisted in their old country worship of fire, considering it as consecrated by them to the sun, which they thought was idolatrous, and therefore abhored all public rejoicing on that day. But, at length, the lucky circumstance of one of their princes happening to succeed to the crown that day, revived the observation, and it is now celebrated with great splendour : the exact time of the entering of the sun into this sign of the zodiac being observed by their astronomers with great care. And with the greatest joy an old custom is

revived, of presenting one another with painted and gilded eggs, some of them being so curiously done as to cost three ducats a piece. Seven or eight and twenty shillings.

In Newcastle, and other places in the North of England, eggs, of which the shells are either coloured or gilt, are given to children at Easter. The shells are coloured with dying drugs, put into the water in which the eggs are boiled. The children at Easter, ask for their paste-eggs, as they would for a fairing. Paste, or pace,' and Pasche,' are words derived from Pascha,' Easter.

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In Cole's Latin Dictionary, Pasche,' or Easter Egg,' is rendered by Ovum paschale, croceum, seu luteum;' a description which refers to the dying, or staining; but Ainsworth, who was probably unacquainted with what really characterizes the Paschal egg, calls it only Ovum paschale.' 6

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From a book, entitled, An Extract from the Ritual of Pope Paul the Vth, made for the use of England, Ireland, and Scotland, it appears, that the Paschal egg is held by the Roman church to be an emblem of the resurrection, and that it is made a holy egg by the regular benediction of the priest. The following is the form of benediction :

'Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, with thee, and the Holy Spirit, &c."

This custom prevails in the Greek church. Dr. Chandler, in his travels in Asia Minor, gives us the following account of the manner of celebrating Easter among the modern Greeks: the Greeks now celebrated Easter: a small bier, prettily decked with orange and citron buds, jessamine flowers, and boughs, was placed in the church, with a Christ crucified rudely painted on board, for the body: we saw it in the evening, and before day-break were suddenly awakened by the blaze and crackling of a large bonfire, with singing and shouting, in honour of the resurrection. They made us presents of coloured eggs, and cakes of Easter bread.

Easter day, says the Abbé d'Auteroche, in his Journey to Siberia, is set apart, in Russia, for visiting.-A Russian came into my room, offered me his hand, and gave me at the same time an egg. Another succeeded, he embraced me, and also gave me an egg. I gave nim in return the egg I had just received. The men go to each other's houses in the morning, and introduce themselves into

the houses, by saying, "Jesus Christ is risen." The answer is, "Yes, he is risen." The people then embrace, give each other eggs, and drink a great deal of brandy.

This corresponds pretty much with the subsequent account, of far older date, which is transcribed from Hakluyt's voyages, 1589, black letter.

"They (the Russians) have an order at Easter, which they always observe, and that is this;-Every year, against Easter, to dye, or, colour red with brazzel (Brazil wood), a great number of eggs, of which every man and woman giveth_one unto the priest of the parish, upon Easter day, in the morning. And, moreover, the common people use to carry in their hands one of these red eggs, not only upon Easter day, but also three or four days after, and gentlemen and gentlewomen have eggs gilded, which they carry in like manner. They use it as they say, for a great love, and in token of the resurrection, whereof they rejoice. For, when two friends meet during the Easter holy-days, they come and take one another by the hand; the one of them saith, the Lord, or Christ, is risen.' The other answereth,' It is so of a truth.' Then they kiss, and exchange their eggs, both men and women continuing in kissing four days together."

Our ancient voyage-writer means no more, it should seem, than that the ceremony was kept for four days.

Ray has preserved an old English proverb on this subject :—

"I'll warrant you for an egg at Easter."

AN Irish travelling merchant, alias, a pedlar, asked an itinerant poulterer, the price of a pair of fowls, "Six shillings, Sir." "In my dear country, my darling, you might buy them for sixpence a pace." "Why don't you remain in your own dear country then ?" "Case we have no sixpences, my jewel," said Pat.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Rubber will see that his article has been anticipated.

China and Crockery are too stale.

tion:---F. W ---e, Peter Tomkins, Solo, E. B.,

The following articles are intended for inser

S. H., Vivyan, Francis G., Liolett, Lector Speculi.

Lines to Young Ladies must be good indeed to tempt us to accept them.

All inquiries respecting MR. LIMBIRD'S NOvels and Classics must be addressed to himself.

The beautiful apostrophe on The Crucifixion in our last is by Montgomery, whose name was unintentionally omitted.

Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

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