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this performance there is no deception: the fact is incontestibly proved, and has been seen by almost every Englishman who has visited India. The instrument has no other handle but a piece of its own solid substance, tapering to a point. Its shape is thus particularly mentioned, because, from its having been called a sword, the circumstance is not generally credited.

"Among these feats, those of a female of forty years of age ought to be mentioned. The instrument on which she displayed her agility was a pole forty feet high, erected like the mast of a ship, with a crossyard near to the top of it, from one end of which a wooden anchor was suspended. This woman, in the character of a sailor, sprang up to the yard on a single rope by means of her hands and toes. There she lay carelessly down in a sleeping posture. She then ascended to the top of the mast, laid her stomach on it, and personified a weathercock, turning round horizontally. She descended to the anchor, and suspended herself from it alternately by her chin, her toes, and her heels, keeping her hands entirely disengaged. She, lastly, hung by the feet on the yard, dropped down, and lighted in the same position on the stock of the anchor."

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About the end of October, in the year preceding a pearl fishery, an examination of the banks takes place. If the produce of one thousand oysters be worth three pounds sterling, a good fishery may be expected. An oyster of a year old is no longer than the nail of a man's thumb ; one of seven year's old, or at its maturity, is nearly as large as the palm of the hand. At the age of from four to five years the tool, or small seed pearls are only found in the oyster; after that period they rapidly increase in size, until the oyster arrives at maturity, in which state it remains but a short time, and then sickens and dies.

The banks or beds of oysters, are scattered over a space in the bottom of the gulph of Manaar, extending about thirty miles from north to south, and twenty-four from the east to west. There are fourteen beds; largest is ten miles in length and two in Supplement.-Vol. III.

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breadth. The best fishing is found from six to eight fathoms.

The fishery should commence about the end of February; the boats with their crews, come from various parts of the coast of Coromandel. They are open boats of one ton burden, about forty-five feet in length, eight in breadth, three deep, one mast, and one sail, and draw eight or ten inches water. The crew generally consists of twenty-three persons, ten of whom are divers, ten haul up these divers, the stones, and the baskets; one pilot, one steersman, one boy to bale out water, and a man to take care of the boat.

In the first place, a small sloop is anchored in the centre of the banks, and remains there during the fishery, as a guide to the boats, and a guard to the buoys. The pearl banks are about fifteen miles from

the shore.

The fishery for the season of the year 1804, was let by Government to a native of Jaffnapatam. For thirty days fishing, with one hundred and fifty boats, he was to pay one hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling. He sold the right of fishing to some of the best equipped boats for twelve hundred pounds each, and that of others. for a thousand pounds, but kept by for the greater part of them on his own account. If, owing to the weather only seventy-five boats went out, their fishing was counted as half a day; and when three hundred fished, it stood for two days.

The boat-people are awakened from their slumbers by the noise of horns, drums, and the firing of a field-piece. The uproar and confusion of collecting and embarking upwards of six thousand persons in the darkness of night, may be easily conceived.

"The manner of diving strikes a spectator as extremely simple and perfect. There is no reason to believe that any addition has been made to the system of Europeans; nor, indeed, does there appear the smallest room for improvement.

"I observed with attention the length of time that many of the divers remained under water, in the depth of seven fathoms. Some of them performed the dip within the space of one minute, others came up in one minute Some gentlemen who and twenty seconds. have frequently superintended the fisheries, and accompanied the divers to the banks, conC

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sider one minute and a half as the longest period that any diver remains under water; other gentlemen, who are willing to allow the greatest latitude, say that they certainly never knew a diver exceed two minutes.

"The period allotted to diving continues five or six hours. When three hundred boats || are anchored on the banks, fifteen hundred divers may be supposed to descend every minute. The noise of their going down prevails without interruption, and resembles the dashing of a cataract.

"The pearl-oysters are not esteemed good to eat, being of a much fatter and more glutinous substance than the common oyster.

"At the fishery all the kinds of pearls are generally sold mixed together at £. 80 sterling per pound.

"A necklace of the value of £. 1200 sterling could not be procured at this fishery. A handsome necklace of pearls smaller than a

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large pea, costs from £. 170 to £.300 sterling; but a very pretty necklace of pearls, about the size of a pepper-corn, may be procured for £.15. The former pearls sell at one guinea each, and the latter at eighteen pence.

"The tools, which are the most diminutive pearls, without any intermixture of other classes, do not sell for more than two guineas and a half, or three guineas per pound; these arc bought by the Chinese, by whom they are eaten when pounded into powder, and sometimes are scattered like spangles on their. clothes."

We have now concluded our account of this valuable work; if it should undergo another edition, we shall hope to see some account of the instrumental music of Ceylon, with the notes of some of the songs, and dancing tunes.

A TOUR THROUGH HOLLAND.

ART. II-A Tour through Holland, along the Banks of the Rhine, to the South of Germany, in 1806. By Sir John Carr. 4to. Pp. 468. With Twenty Engravings in Mezzotinto, being Views of Towns, and a Map of part of the Rhine. R. Phillips.

1807.

Of a book like this, which professes to The Duke of Alva, with more whimsicadescribe countries and manners which are lity and less bitterness, observed, "That well known to a great number of its readers, the Dutch were the nearest neighbours to many of whom may probably he natives of hell of any people on the carth, for they those countries, we imagine the most satis-dweit the lowest." We were sorry to find factory way of giving an account is by ex-such a quotation as this last here. If the tracts in the author's words, and occasional epithet applied to Butler be tolerated, we observations on them. Before our author may say Paradisiacal Milton. In the same sets a foot on land, he says, page we read :

"A low slimy shore surmounted by green flags, and a few scanty osiers, announced our voyage to be at its close; and we entered the river of a country which our Hudibrastic Butler peevishly describes."

Here follow sixteen lines in verse, of which the following half dozen may be sufficient:

"A country that draws fifty feet of water,
"In which men live as in the hold of nature;
“That always ply the pump, and never think
"They can be safe, but at the rate they stink;
"That feed like canibals on other fishes,
"And serve their cousin-germans up in dishes."

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"The signification of the word Briel in Dutch, is Spectacle, which is supposed to have given its name to this place, on account of the extensive view which its buildings command of the surrounding country."

In the first place, Briel does not mean spectacle, nor any thing else, being the mere name of the town, properly the Briel. With regard to the extensive views, as the country is flat, just as extensive views may be seen from every steeple.

After describing the bronze statue of Erasmus at Rotterdam, we are told that, "Various attempts have at different times

been made to convert the sage into a turn-coat: before the revolution which expelled the Stadholder, Prince of Orange, and his family, every concavity in his dress was crammed on certain holidays with oranges; during the hey-day of the republican form of government, amidst the celebration of its festivities he was covered with ribbons, when the juice of the orange was never suffered to pass the lips of a true patriot. Even the marigold was expelled from the gardens of the new republicans. And so were earrots too, merely on account of their colour. An occurrence at Dort, relative to a widow and her family, is related as follows

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"This woman, who was very industrious, was left by her husband, an eminent carpenter, a comfortable house with some land, and two boats for carrying merchandise and passengers on the canals. She was also supposed to be worth about ten thousand guilders (£.900) in ready money, which she employed in the hempen and sail-cloth manufacture, for the purpose of increasing her fortune, and instructing her children, (a son and two daughters) in useful branches of business.

"One night about nine o'clock, when the workmen were gone home, a person dressed in uniform, with a musket and broad-sword, came to her house, and requested a lodging: 'I let no lodgings, friend,' said the widow, and besides, I have no spare bed, unless you sleep with my son, which I think very improper, on account of your being a perfect stranger to us all.' The soldier then showed a discharge from Diesbach's regiment (signed by the Major, who gave him an excellent character) and a passport from Count Maillebors, governor of Breda. The widow, believing the stranger to be an honest man, cailed her son, and asked him if he would accommodate a veteran, who had served the republic thirty years with reputation, with part of his bed. The young man consented; the soldier was accordingly hospitably entertained; and at a seasonable hour withdrew to rest.

"Some hours afterwards, a loud knocking was heard at the street-door, which roused the soldier, who moved softly down stairs, and listened at the hall door, when the blows were repeated, and the door almost broken through by a sledge, or some heavy instrument. By

this time the widow and her daughters were much alarmed by this violent attack, and ran almost frantic through different parts of the house, exclaiming, murder! murder! The son having joined the soldier with a case of loaded pistols, and the latter screwing on his

bayonet and fresh priming his piece, requested the women to keep themselves in a back room out of the way of danger. Soon after, the door was burst in, two ruffians entered, and were instantly shot by the son, who discharged both his pistols at once. Two other associates of the dead men, immediately returned the fire, but without effect, when the intrepid and veteran stranger, taking inmediate advantage of the discharge of their arms, rushed on them like a lion, ran one through the body with his bayonet, and whilst the other was running away, lodged the contents of the piece between his shoulders, and he dropped dead on the spot. The son and the stranger then closed the door as well as they could, reloaded their arins, made a good fire, and watched till daylight, when the weavers and spinners of the manufacture came to resume their employment, and were struck with horror and surprise at seeing four dead men on the dunghill adjoining the house, where the soldier had dragged them before he closed the door.

"The burgermaster and his syndic attended, and took the depositions of the family relative to this affair. The bodies were buried in a cross-road, and a stone erected over the grave. with an inscription recounting the story, with the soldier's name, saying he was a native of Middelburg, and upwards of seventy years old. And the date 20th November, 1795.

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"The widow presented the soldier with a hundred guineas, and the city settled a handsome pension on him for the rest of his life.

"Even an English merchant would be astonished to see the wonderful arithmetical attain ment of stripling clerks in any of the Dutch counting-houses, and the quantity of compli cated business which they discharge in the course of the day; the order of their books, the rapidity and certainty of their calculation, according to the commercial habits and exchange of different countries, and the variety of languages which they speak; to which may be added the great regularity and length of their attendance, and the decency and proprie ty of their deportment."

The account of the Speel houses, is correct with regard to the descriptive part, but the lamentations and moral reflections are not more applicable to these places than to those of a similar sort in London, Paris,

and every other capital. We shall give in a note some extracts on the subject written by Mandeville (who was himself a Dutchman) which will place the matter in a dif. ferent light. So true it is that without a knowledge of the language of the country

which a traveller visits it is impossible to obtain a knowledge of the manners of that country*.

No particular notice is taken, in our author's account of these houses, of the music. Many excellent performers on the dulcimer are always to be found in the principal Speel-houses at Amsterdam, remarkable for the astonishing rapidity and precision of their execution. The staccato, the shakes, and their method of damping, or suddenly stopping the vibration of the strings (brass and iron wires) with the under edge of their hands, immediately after having struck them, cannot be equalled on any other instrument. The piano is effected by striking the wires with the under extremity of the sticks, on which a piece of felt is glued. These men, who are in general ignorant of written music, and

* "Parties directly opposite

"Assist each other, as 'twere for spite;
"And temp'rance with sobriety
"Serve drunkenness and gluttony."

FABLE OF THE BEES.

"It often happens in Amsterdam, that six or seven thousand sailors arrive from the Indies at once, that have seen none but their own sex for many months together.-For which reason the wise rulers of that well ordered city always tolerate an uncertain number of houses, in which women are hired as publicly as horses at a livery-stable; and there being in this toleration a great deal of prudence and economy to be seen, a short account of it will be no tiresome digression.

"In the first place, these houses are allowed to be no where but in the most slovenly and unpolished part of the town, where seamen and strangers of no repute chiefly lodge and resort. The street in which most of them stand is accounted scandalous, and the infamy is extended to all the neighbourhood. In the second, they are only places to meet and bargain in, to make appointments, in order to promote interviews of greater secrecy, and no manner of lewdness is ever suffered to be transacted in them; which order is so strictly observed, that, bar the ill manners and noise of the company that frequent them, you will meet no more indecency there than may be seen in the lobby of a play-house. Thirdly, the female traders that come to these evening exchanges, are always the scum of the people, and generally such as in the day time carry fruit and other vegetables about in wheelbarrows. The habits indeed they appear in

only play by ear, notwithstanding there is no feel to guide the hands, play unconcernedly for hours together without looking at the strings, and all the while smoking a short pipe.

Pipe-heads are mentioned made of a clay found in Natolia. In the Philosophical Magazine for March 1799, is a paper on the subject. We do not know why it is universally known in Europe by the name of Meer-schaum, or sea-froth (lithomarga). In the above-mentioned paper it is said :"When these bowls have been sufficiently burnt, they acquire a dark brown colour, which however changes into a beautiful red as soon as they have been well rubbed with a piece of leather sprinkled over with fine pulverised blood-stone (hematites). Owing to this simple process we obtain

at night are very different from their ordinary ones; yet they are commonly so ridiculously gay, that they look more like the Roman dresses of strolling actresses than gentle, women's clothes; if to this you add the awkwardness, the hard hands, and coarse breeding of the damsels that wear them, there is no great reason to fear that many of the better sort of people will be tempted by them.

"Yet, notwithstanding the good rules and strict discipline that are observed in these markets of love, the officers of the police are always vexing, auleting, and upon the least complaint removing the miserable keepers of them. First, it gives an opportunity to a large parcel of officers the magistrates make use of on many occasions, and which they could not be without, to squeeze a living out of the immoderate gains accruing from the worst of employments, and at the same time punish those necessary profligates, the bawds and panders, which, though they abominate, they desire yet not wholly to destroy. Secondly, as it might be dangerous, on several accounts, to let the multitude into the secret, that those houses, and the trade that is drove in them, are connived at, so by this means appearing unblamable, the wary magistrates preserve themselves in the good opinion of the weaker sort of people, who imagine that the govern ment is always endeavouring, though unable, to suppress what it actually tolerates; whereas, if they had a mind to root them out, their power in the administration of justice is so sovereign and extensive, and they so well know how to have it executed, that one week, nay, one night, might send them all a packing.”

from the East those red pipe-bowls, so much and so generally esteemed, at a very low price, as five of them are generally sold for a para (about three farthings. When they are ornamented, however, with a gilt border, painted with golden flowers enamelled, or set with precious stones, one of them will cost sometimes two, three, or even four piastres, or half-crowns." Our author says that the value of eight, or even ten guineas, is frequently paid for one of these articles of luxury; undoubtedly they are ornamented with diamonds.

"I had not been two days in Holland without witnessing the abominable custom of introducing a spitting-pot upon the table after dinner, into which, like the kava bowl used amongst the natives of the south-sea islands, each person who smokes, and that generally comprehends all who are present, discharges his saliva, which delicate depository is handed round as regularly as the bottle. This custom is comparable, in point of delicacy, with that of washing the mouth and cleaning the teeth with a napkin after dinner, as in England, or picking the latter with a fork, as in France."

Many other as disgusting customs in the two last countries, might be enumerated. In decent Dutch companies spitting boxes, or pans, filled with dry sand, are placed between the feet of every smoker. A spuuw potje is likewise called quispedoor, corrupted from the Spanish escupidera; it is also used in Italy under the name of sputacchiera, and in France is called crachoir, by those who are in the habit of smoking segars.

The account of the Klokken-spel, bellplay, or carrillons, at Amsterdam, is correct.

"The British army was equally surprized and gratified at hearing upon the chimes of the principal church at Alkmaar, the air of God save the King,' played in a masterly manner when they entered the town."

After four pages containing an account of the "Public opinion of the King," by which we suppose is meant the opinion which the public have of his Majesty, which is greatly in his favour, as well as in favour of her Majesty the Queen, the author concludes his eulogy thus:

"I abhor fuming a sovereign with adulation, more especially the rulers of a country at war with my own; but it is what I owe to my own country to relate the fact."

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We have ourselves heard much in praise of these sovereigns from an eminent Dutch merchant very lately, and he assured us that their subjects were much attached to their new rulers.

Our traveller mentions the storks which he saw at the Hague, stalking about the fish-market; a stork proper, on a field Or, is the arms of the Hague; and in consequence many of those birds are maintained at the town's expense, and are quite tame. They certainly "seem to have no objection to be enrolled amongst the subjects of the new king." Storks are as numerous in Spain as they are in Holland; in summer they go as far north as Russia and Sweden, and in winter as far south as Egypt, and are found at the proper seasons in many of the intermediate countries, but seldom in Britain.

"It is said that they assemble at certain periods and hold consultations. Certain it is that the crows in England frequently meet, with all the appearance of a deliberate body. A vast number of crows were once observed to assemble in a field, and after making a great deal of noise, one of them moved slowly into the middle of the meeting, soon after which the rest fell upon it and pecked it to death."

Before the storks depart from their northlarge flocks, and seem to confer on the plan ern summer residence, they assemble in of their intended route. Though they are usually silent, on this occasion they make and all scems bustle and consultation. The a singular clattering noise with their bills, first north wind is said to be the signal for their departure, when the whole body become silent, and take flight at once, genenerally in the night.

"The Dutch mention with great exultation the name of De Cotts, who, like our Prior, united the characters of poet and statesman,"

This poet's name was Jacob Cats, he was born in the province of Zealand in 1577, and died at the age of 83. He was sent ambassador to Cromwell; his works, which consist chiefly of moral poems, were collected and published in two very large and thick volumes in folio, ornamented with many hundred copper-plates in 1726.

"As I was one day moving about Leyden, I was struck with the appearance of a small

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