expected to attain the summit: to this they replied, that they assuredly did so. I therefore held my peace, thinking myself in right good company; and the south-western aspect of the peak being deemed, to all appearance, the most practicable, we began the arduous task of scaling this virgin mountain. The ascent in itself strongly resembled that of the Col de Lauteraar described above; its duration, however, being longer, and the coating of ice and snow being likewise more dense, the steps hewn out with the hatchet required to be enlarged with the feet preparatory to changing our position. In this singular manner we slowly ascended, digging the left hand into the hole above our heads, left by the hatchet of the advancing guide, and gradually drawing up the foot into the next aperture; the body reclining full length on the snow between each succeeding step: in this truly delectable situation, our eyes were, every moment, greeted with the view of the vast precipices of ice stretching above and below; impressing constantly on our mind the idea that one false step might seal the fate of the whole party: connected as we were, one to the other, such in fact might easily have been the case. We had now been three hours on the peak itself, and the guides confidently affirmed that in another hour (if no accident occurred) we should attain the summit: the banner was accordingly prepared, and after a few minutes' repose, taken by turning cautiously round and placing our backs against the snow, we stretched upwards once more, the guides singing national songs, and the utmost gaiety pervading the whole party at the prospect of so successful a result. The brilliant white summit of the peak appeared just above us; and when within thirty or forty feet of its apex, the guide chef, considerately thinking that his employer would naturally wish to be the first to tread this unconquered summit, reversed the ropes, and, placing me first in the line, directed me to take the hatchet, and cautiously cut the few remaining steps necessary. injunctions I obeyed to the best of my abilities, and at one o'clock precisely the red banner fluttered on the summit of the central peak of the Wetterhorn.

These

"We had thus, after three days' continual ascent from the level of the plain, attained a height of 12,154 feet. Up to this period our attention had been too much occupied in surmounting the opposing obstacles which lay in our route, to allow us to contemplate, with attention, the astonishing panorama which gradually unfolded itself. The summit being under our feet, we had ample leisure to examine the relative position of the surrounding peaks, the greater portion of which appeared to lie far beneath us. On all sides of the peak on which we now stood (on the summit of which a dozen persons could scarcely assemble) we beheld vast glittering precipices at the foot of these lie the plains of snow which contribute to the increase of the numerous glaciers, situated still lower; namely, to the left the superior glacier of Grindelwald and that of Lauteraar; to the right the glaciers of Gauli, of Reufen, and of Rosenlaui, out of which rose the peaks of the Wellhorn, the Losenhorn, and Engelhorner.

"Many anxious looks were now cast in this direction; the guides having determined to reach Rosenlaui through this unexplored region. We had remained above twenty minutes on the summit, exposed to a violent wind and intense cold, although in the plain on that day the thermometer of Fahrenheit stood at 93 degrees in the shade. The sudden appearance of a few fleecy clouds far below, caused us some misgivings: we therefore (after firmly securing the flag-staff) commenced our descent on the opposite side of the peak to that by which we had ascended, in order to reach the plains of

snow surmounting the great glacier of Rosenlaui. From the excessive steepness of this slope, and the absence of crevasses, it was deemed advisable to sit and slide down the snow, guiding our course with the poles. In this manner we descended with the greatest rapidity to the plateau. Here again great caution was required, many of the crevasses being covered with a slight coating of fresh snow, incapable of sustaining the weight of the human body............Quitting the rocks, we again found ourselves on slopes of snow so vertical that for a long period of time it was necessary to descend backwards as if on a ladder, the hatchet being in full play. At the foot of one of these slopes, the snow broke suddenly away, leaving a crevasse, apparently about four yards in width, the opposite border of which was fully twenty feet lower than that on which we stood: this at first sight appeared insurmountable, the guides themselves being bewildered, and all giving advice in one breath; we were at the time clinging to this slope of snow, over the very verge of the blue gulf below. Jaun at length volunteered the hazardous experiment of clearing it at a bound: this he accordingly did, arriving safely on the inferior border. The ropes being detached, the remainder of the party mustered resolution, and, desperation giving fresh courage, we all in turn came flying across the crevasse upon the smooth snow below. Our successful triumph over this alarming obstacle having greatly inspirited us, we prepared to cross a narrow slope of ice, on which our leader was diligently hacking a few steps; a sudden rumbling sound, however, arrested our attention: the rear guides drew the rest back with the ropes with violence, and the next moment an avalanche thundered down over the slope we had been preparing to cross, leaving the whole party petrified with horror at the narrowness of their escape. The clouds of fine snow in which we had been enveloped having subsided, we again descended, during three hours, a succession of steep walls of ice and snow; reaching the glacier of Rosenlaui at five o'clock P.M.

All danger was now past, and, the excitement having ceased, the tedious descent over rocks and fallen pines became insufferably fatiguing. The baths of Rosenlaui were still far below at our feet; whilst the sombre hues of the pine-forests, stretching down into the valley, formed a striking contrast to the uninterrupted glare of so many previous hours. Night was now gradually throwing its veil over the surrounding objects; the glimmering of lights soon became visible; and at nine P.M. we all arrived safely at the baths of Rosenlaui, where, for several hours, considerable excitement had prevailed, the flag fluttering on the summit of the peak having been discovered by means of a powerful telescope. Four small black dots had likewise been noticed at an immense height on the otherwise unsullied snow, which dots having been likewise seen to change their position, the inhabitants of the valleys wisely concluded that another of their stupendous mountains was in a fair way of losing its former prestige of invincibility.

"On the following morning I took leave of the two intrepid chamoishunters, to whom, on several occasions during the previous eventful day, I had owed my preservation. I was shortly afterwards informed that these poor fellows (though so hardy) were confined by an illness arising from the severity of their late exploit. For myself, I escaped with the usual consequences of so long an exposure to the snow in these elevated regions, namely, the loss of the skin of the face, together with inflammation of the eyes; and, accompanied by my remaining guide, who was likewise in a very doleful condition, we recrossed the Great Shiedeck, arriving at Interlacken on the 10th of July."

61

THE REV. JOHN WESLEY AND A CHANCERY BILL.

IN Mr. Wesley's Journal, (not his "log-book,") under date "Thursday, December 27th, 1744," we meet with the following entry :-"I called on the Solicitor whom I had employed in the suit lately commenced against me in Chancery; and here I first saw that foul monster, a Chancery Bill! A scroll it was of forty-two pages, in large folio, to tell a story which needed not to have taken up forty lines! And stuffed with such stupid, senseless, improbable lies, (many of them, too, quite foreign to the question,) as, I believe, would have cost the compiler his life in any Heathen court either of Greece or of Rome. And this is equity in a Christian country! This is the English method of redressing grievances." *

"Wednesday, December 19th, 1759," we meet with the following entry: -"I was desired to read over a Chancery bill. The occasion of it was this. A. B. tells C. D. that one who owed him thirty pounds wanted to borrow thirty more; and asked whether he thought the eighth part of such a ship, then at sea, were sufficient security. He said, he thought it was. On this, A.B. lent the money. The ship came home. But, through various accidents, the eighth part yielded only twenty pounds. A.B. on this commenced a suit, to make C.D. pay him the residue of his money. The worthy story is told in no less than an hundred and ten sheets of paper! C.D. answers, he advised to the best of his judgment; not foreseeing those accidents whereby the share which cost two hundred pounds, yielded no more than twenty. This answer brought on fifteen sheets of exceptions, all which a quarter of a sheet might have contained. I desired the plaintiff and defendant to meet me the next day; both were willing to stand to arbitration. And they readily agreed that C.D. should pay half his own costs, and A.B. the rest of the expense."

As illustrative of the justness of Mr. Wesley's remarks, though intrusted to the pages of a "log-book," we give the following racy record, which occurs in Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England. In his biographical sketch of Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, or Lord Keeper Sir Thomas Egerton, he says:—

"We have on record a very striking instance of the vigour with which he strove to correct the prolixity of the written pleadings in his court. In a case of Mylward v. Weldon, there being a complaint of the length of the replication, and the Lord Chancellor being satisfied that whereas it extended to six-score sheets, all the matter thereof which was pertinent might have been well contained in sixteen,' an order was made in these words: It appearing to his Lordship, by the confession of Richard Mylward, the plaintiff's son, that he did devise, draw, and engross the said Replication, and because his Lordship is of opinion that such an abuse is not in any sort to be tolerated; proceeding of a malicious purpose to increase the defendant's charge, and being fraught with much impertinent matter not fit for this court; it is therefore ordered that the Warden of the Fleet shall take the said Richard Mylward into his custody, and shall bring him into Westminster Hall, on Saturday, about ten of the clock in the forenoon, and then and there shall cut a hole in the myddest of the same engrossed Replication, which is delivered unto him for that purpose, and put the said Richard's head through the same hole, and so let the same

* Wesley's Works, vol. i., p. 479. 8vo. edit.

Replication hang about his shoulders with the written side outward, and then, the same so hanging, shall lead the same Richard, bareheaded and barefaced, round about Westminster Hall whilst the courts are sitting, and shall shew him at the bar of every of the three courts within the Hall, and then shall take him back again to the Fleet and keep him prisoner until he shall have paid ten pounds to Her Majesty for a fine, and twenty nobles to the defendant for his costs in respect of the aforesaid abuse, which fine and costs are now adjudged and imposed upon him by this court for the abuse aforesaid. The order should have gone on to require that a print of the unlucky Richard, with his head peeping through the volumes of sheep-skin, should, in terrorem, be hung up in the chambers of every equity draughtsman." SIGMA.

INDIA: ITS PEOPLE.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM ARTHUR.

(Concluded from Vol. III., page 1201.)

As many of the Indian crops do not flourish without artificial irrigation, to provide that has been one of the husbandman's chief cares. They have most skilfully chosen sites for tanks, a word which conveys a very inadequate idea of the noble lakes they often form. In favourable parts of the country, you see these lakes, after the rains, gleaming in every direction, beautiful to look upon, and each more valuable than rivers of wine or oil. When the English Government in the Mysore ordered their engineer to point out sites for new tanks, he found that the natives had already occupied almost every eligible spot. Mr. Mill, determined that, right or wrong, the Hindus shall be not only "rude," (as he says some thousands of times) "but stupid too," observes, "The ingenuity of sinking a hole in the ground to reserve a supply of water, need not be considered great." Had he seen the spacious tank at Coongull, ten miles in circumference, or had he spent a single day in any part of India where tanks exist, he would never have called them "holes in the ground." In a former chapter, details of the process of irrigation were given.

It is hard to say whether grinding corn belongs to the operations of agriculture or of cookery. With us it is separated from both. But in India it falls decidedly under the latter category; for every housewife grinds her own corn in a little mill composed of two stones, the size of Cheshire cheeses. They lie one upon the other. The under one has in its centre a peg, on which the upper one revolves, being turned by means of another peg. A woman sits down with a basket of grain, and leisurely turns the mill till enough for her meal is ground. Very often you see "two women grinding at a mill.”

Ever since the deluge, men in the earliest stage of society have lived chiefly a pastoral life; herds requiring less toil than crops. The keeping of cattle is necessarily combined with all husbandry; and in India is so to a far greater extent than would be expected, where the ox is never used for food. The cowherd ranks high among Ryots, and the licentious gambols of Krishna with members of that caste, serve to give to them in India all the poetic advantages which, in Europe, have been enjoyed by the shep

*Reg. lib. A., 1596, f. 672.

herds from Arcadia to Ettrick. On the other hand, the keepers of sheep are much despised, live generally in detached hamlets on an uncultivated plain, and have no society but their flocks.

After food comes raiment. The Hindu weaver has sent his fame to every land. Four materials feed the loom,-flax, wool, silk, and cotton. In all these the Hindus work. Flax does not yield fabric genial to their climate, nor with silk and cotton is it at all desirable. It is therefore wrought only in the coarsest form, for sacking and such purposes. Wool, again, they need only in small quantities, and in light forms; but in their camlets it is admirably adapted to their necessities; and to their shawls, I believe no rivalry is attempted. Their silk is in every pocket, and their muslin we have tried in vain to equal. The loom is placed in the open air, the warp stretched full length, a hole dug for the treadle, and the weaver sits on the floor. To see him at work you would expect an article of the rudest kind; and how he, with such implements, produces such fabrics, is to us unaccountable. An interesting description of their instruments, with plates, will be found in Hoole's "Madras, Mysore, and South India ;" and also in Baines on the Cotton Manufacture.

Amongst us the weaver would toil in vain, were not his efforts supplemented by those of the tailor. But in India millions of men and women live and die, for whose clothing no instrument beyond the loom has ever plied. The man girds one long cloth round his loins, and adjusts another round his shoulders; the woman girds herself, covering all the lower part of the person, and reserving free a fold for the upper parts. Their attire is then complete, without other aid than the cloth just as it came from the loom. The frock-coat and bodice, however, are growing more general; and for these the tailor is called in. But he and the weaver accomplish between them the clothing of the whole community. Hosiers and hatters, button-makers and pin-makers, with trimming manufactures in all varieties, are perfectly unknown; and a Hindu milliner is yet unborn.

Fed and clothed, man feels the weather, and must build him a shade. As architects, the Hindus have made small progress. For so refined a people, their houses are mean; and their public buildings, when compared with Egyptian, Greek, or Gothic examples, are without grandeur. The only attempt at it is in tall pyramidal towers; and even here we find no variety. They were unacquainted with the arch, till learned from the Mohammedans. Their temples are nearly all on one model, differing only in scale or sculpture. They employ the column in various examples, some graceful, and some grotesque: here you see Egyptian affinities. Many of the structures most lauded by writers are Moorish; and I have read praises of Hindu architecture, founded on buildings near Calcutta, in which, from Europeans, they have copied snatches of Grecian style. The Hindus cut stone well, make bricks well, build admirably, and in plastering are without rivals; but as architects they rank low. The works which display most talent, such as the vast excavated and above-ground tanks, belong to the department of engineering.

A house built, it is natural that articles of convenience and ornament should be demanded for its use. We have already seen that in this department the Hindus have required little of art. With us domestic comfort has done much in multiplying and perfecting handicrafts; but in India cabinet-makers, paper-hangers, glass-blowers, house-painters, glaziers, and upholsterers, are no more heard of than, in England, are hookah-boys and