[The Sayo, or Coat of Cotton.] "THE sayo or coat of cotton which was found the best armour against arrows, served also as a good bed, and kept the wearer from feeling the dampness of the ground. Machuca recommends that it be stuffed lightly, and says five pounds of cotton are sufficient, but if the coat is to come as low as the knees, then it should have eight. If this were wetted, the cotton became close and in lumps, and was easily pierced."—Ibid. ff. 43.

years. If, however, it is kept in large quantities, it is disposed to ferment in the spring, when it must be exposed to the air, or it will soon decay. The fat is melted down and mixed when boiling, with the pounded meat in equal proportions, then put in baskets or bags for travelling, and eaten without further preparation. It is a nutritious food. A superior kind is made with the addition of marrow and dried berries.”— MACKENZIE, p. 121.

[No Evergreen Creepers in America.] "WE have no creeping plants in North America which preserve their verdure in winter," says M. SIMON, "and the effect of the profusion of ivy in England is very striking."

[Use of the Faca in killing the Cobra-Vendos, or, Boa Constrictor.]

RENNEFORT accounts in a ridiculous manner for the universal use of the faca. "The inhabitants of this country, even the children, never go abroad in the country without carrying large naked knives, edged on both sides, to cut the snakes called CobraVendos (the Boa Constrictor) who leap upon them from the trees, twist round, and would stifle them, if they did not quickly cut them in half. One sees many persons with scars upon their bodies, from the wounds which they have given themselves in thus cutting the snake!"-Pt. 2, ch. 5, p. 293.

[Use of Ducks in Turnip Fields.]

MR. COKE cleared a crop of turnips from the black canker by turning ducks in. They cleared a field of thirty-five acres completely in five days, marching at last through it on the hunt, and eyeing the leaves on both sides with great care, to devour every one they could see.—Annals of Agriculture.

[The Turkish Booza.]

THE Turks make a liquor from barley which is called Booza, and which although fermented is not prohibited like wine, "because," says EVLIA, "it gives heat and strength to the body of Moslem warriors, and goes for hunger. Excess in drinking it brings on gout and dropsy; and the proverb says that dogs are no friends to Booza drinkers; the reason of which is that Booza drinkers being liable to these diseases, always carry a stick in the hand, which is no means of recommending themselves to the favour of dogs. The Booza makers are a very necessary corporation in a camp: they are for the most part Tatar Gipsies."

[Sweet Booza of the Turks.] THE Turks have also a sweet Booza, which is much less in request,-there being only forty shops in Constantinople where it was sold, and 300 of the other. I am not certain whether the sweet kind be what EVLIA immediately describes as "a kind of white Booka made of the growing millet (probably the grain before it is ripe) which resembles a jelly. They put it sometimes for a trial into a handkerchief without a drop of it going through. Women who are with child take it, that the child may become sound and stout, and when delivered, they take it to increase the milk. The surface of it is covered with a kind of cream which gives new vigour and life, without intoxicating, or producing colic, because they compose it of must of Zenedro, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and Indian nuts. They sell it in great tubs which could contain a man's body. I who spent so much time in coffee houses, Booza houses, and wine houses, can call God to witness that I never drank

any thing during all my travels but this sweet Booza of Constantinople preserved in boxes, that of Egypt made of rice-water, and that of Crimea called Makssama."

[The Sultan's Lion Keepers.]

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THE keepers who lead the lions in procession before the Grand Seignior, are described by EVLIA as carrying in their hands conserves of Gazelles' meat, seasoned with opium and other spices, holding large cudgels, and leading each lion in four iron chains plated with gold or silver. If one of these lions enraged is going to assail the spectators, the lion-keepers hold under his nose the confiture of Gazelles' meat with opium, which renders the beast tame and quiet, and in that way they keep and rule it."

[Owl, or, Eagle Pellets.]

"UPON a rock on the side of a hill, I found a large nest, very similar to those seen in King George's Sound. There were in it several masses resembling those which contain the hair and bones of mice, and are disgorged by the owls in England after the flesh is digested. These masses were larger, and consisted of the hair of seals and of land animals, of the scaly feathers of pinguins, and the bones of birds and small quadrupeds. Possibly the constructor of the nest might be an enormous owl; and if so, the cause of the bird being never seen, whilst the nests were not scarce, would be from its not going out until dark; but from the very open and exposed situations in which the nests were found, I should rather judge it to be of the eagle kind; and that its powers are such as to render it heedless of any attempts from natives upon its young."-FLINDERS, vol. 1, p. 81.

[Balsamic Oil of Kentucky and Tenessee.]

"MR. REYNEY, in relating his travels in Kentucky and Tenessee, described to us a remarkable rock, which continually yields a balsamic oil. The oil, of which he shewed us a specimen, is exactly like balsam of sulphur, both to the sight and smell. It rises

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from the bottom of a fountain, and covers the surface of the water, from whence the inhabitants skim it off. They say it cures the tooth ache immediately, and is an excellent remedy for rheumatic pains."-DR. COKE's Journal. Methodist Mag. vol. 21, p. 450.

[A She-Bear with Young never killed in

America.]

Ir is said in THOMAS RANKIN'S Memoirs, (a Methodist Preacher) that no person in America, "either white man or Indian, ever killed a she-bear with young. They are supposed to hide themselves in the most secret places till they have brought forth their young."

[Cure for Foot-soreness.]

WHEN NICHOLAS FERRAR was walking through Spain" one night his hostess where he lodged, seeing he was a young foot traveller, and that he suffered greatly from the torment of his feet, prescribed to him to bathe and steep his feet for a considerable time in a bowl of sack, which she brought for that purpose. This gave him immediate ease, and enabled him to proceed comfortably on his journey the next morning, and by future applications prevented all future inconveniences of that sort."

[Bishop's Advice to Pope Julius III.] "SPAIN does most religiously observe all your laws and constitutions, does not change or innovate in any thing. And as for that nation you need not be solicitous, for you can find but few amongst the Spaniards who have not an abhorrence for the doctrine of Luther. But if there are any heretics among them, they are such as rather deny that the Messiah is yet come, or that men's souls are immortal, than question the power

of your Holiness. But without doubt this heresy of theirs seems to us more sufferable than that of Luther; and the reason is plain; for these Marani, though they believe nothing of Christ, or a future state, are yet wont to hold their tongues, or at most laugh amongst themselves, and in the meantime are not at all wanting in their duty to the Roman church.” — Advice given by some Bishops assembled at Bononia to Pope Julius III. The tract is ironical, but this part nevertheless is seriously meant.

[The Shard-borne Beetle with his drowsy Hum.—MACBETH.]

"THE Scarabe flies over many a sweet flower, and lights in a cowshard." (STEPHEN Gosson's Schoole of Abuse. SCOTT's Somers' Tracts, vol. 3, p. 552.)—Here is the explanation of Shakespere's epithet, Shardborn.'

[Interchange of → and Z.]

THE reading of Oapa for Zapa in some manuscripts of St. Matthew's Gospel, shows that in other countries besides Spain, the sound of the theta has been given to the Z.

[Magnetic Influence.]

"OUR Own Countrymen among their magneticall experiments tell us, that a rod or bar of iron having stood long in a window, or elsewhere, being thence taken and by the help of a cork, or the like thing, being balanced in water, or in any other liquid substance, where it may have a free mobility, will bewray a kind of unquietude and discontentment till it attain the former position."-SIR H. WOTTON'S Remains, p. 79.

1 NARES says in his Glossary" Cowsheards арpear to mean only the hard scales of dried cowdung."- In v. SHARD. J. W. W.

[Leaves of the Vine a Substitute for Tea :and the Prunings good for making Vinegar or Wine.]

"THE leaves of the vine on being dried, which should be done in the shade, make an excellent and extremely wholesome tea, though somewhat different, both in taste and flavour, from that commonly used, besides being admirably calculated for making vinegar. The prunings of the vine, on being bruised and put into a vat, or mashing-tub, and boiling water poured on them, the same way as done with malt, produce a liquor of a fine vinous quality; which being fermented, forms an excellent substitute for beer; and which, on being distilled, produces a very fine spirit of the nature of brandy."-Quare?

[Story from the Talmud.]

"THE Talmud relates a trick which a Rabbin put upon God and the devil; for he entreated the devil to carry him to heaven gate, that having seen the happiness of the saints he might die with more tranquillity. The devil granted the Rabbin's request, who seeing the gate of heaven open, threw himself headlong in, swearing by the great God that he would never come out again.-God who would not suffer him to be guilty of a perjury, was obliged to leave him there, while the devil being tricked slunk away in great confusion."- BASNAGE, book 3, ch. 6.

but the former seems to be a genuine word, derived from Porreau, a leek. Leek-porrage is therefore a pleonage which obtained as the meaning of the French word was forgotten.

[Turkish Drink of Mint and Pimento.]

"THE Turks are exceedingly fond of a beverage made with mint and pimento intasted anything more powerful. It is like fused in cold water, I must say that I never swallowing an alcohol the most concentrated."-POUQUEVILLE, p. 186.

[Jougourth.-What?]

"Jougourth is a sort of curdled milk, turned by heating the milk over the fire with some of the old jougourth in it, or for want of that the flower of an artichoke. Thus the original fermentation proceeds from this plant, and this the Greeks know perfectly well, resorting to it whenever their stock of curd is entirely exhausted."Ibid. p. 185.

[The Sycamore Tree-a Harbour for Flies.]

IN DEFOE'S Tour through Great Britain, an avenue of trees near Dorchester is praised for its beauty, "though," the writer adds, "being common sycamores, they are inconvenient by harbouring flies."-Vol. 1, p.

321.

[Huge Nests.]

"NEAR Point Possession were found two nests of extraordinary magnitude. They were built upon the ground, from which they rose above two feet; and were of vast circumference and great interior capacity, the branches of trees and other matter of which each nest was composed being enough to fill a small cart. If the magnitude of the constructor be proportionate to the size of