haiks, and seen in the dubious light of the lanterns, looked unearthly enough; and with the flashing and report of their muskets, the diabolical music, the yells, and mad, frenzied gestures, they seemed to be representing a dance of demons. It was the usual procession of a Moorish marriage; the bridegroom was walking in the midst of the lantern-bearers, and the peaked mass upon the mule's back was a wicker cage containing the bride, who, amid sounds ominous of connubial discord, was being conveyed to the abode of her husband. It was long, however, before she reached it, for the procession seemed to perambulate the whole town, as the screeching of the instruments grated on my ear for the next hour or two, and, with the oft-repeated shouts of the police, proved as good an anti-soporific as the They are built in the European, or rather Andalucian | These figures being wrapt from head to foot in white style, several stories high, with courts in the centre. In the vestibule at the entrance, on a stone bench spread with coloured matting, which also covers the wall above to the height of three or four feet, sits the Moorish porter, who is generally a soldier, and has his long musket hung overhead ready for any emergency. I have said that the filth of Tangier is execrable. In a walk through the streets every description of animal and vegetable matter in a state of decomposition meets the eye, myriads of flies rise before you at every step, and the combination of disgusting effluvia drawn forth by an almost tropical sun is not to be conceived by one who has not experienced it. The odours of Lisbon are sweet in comparison. The filth is not to be escaped in any part of the town; many nuisances also lie without the walls, and on the beach I observed carcasses of asses and other animals impregnating the air with fetid exhalations. It is surprising that the inhabitants are so healthy in the midst of so much corruption. The dryness of the climate seems their chief preservative. But epidemics are said to prevail, and that scourge of the East, the plague, sometimes visits Tangier; the marvel is that it ever quits it. One of the things that will most forcibly strike the stranger in a Mohammedan country is the cry of the mueddin from the tower or minaret of the mosque, which he ascends five times a day at the stated hours, hoists a white swallow-tailed flag, and then from each of the four corners of the tower, where his body may be seen between the battlements, with a loud and sonorous voice summons the Faithful to their devotions. This done, he lowers the flag and descends the tower. Never does this cry sound so strange as at sunset or in the dusk of the evening when it breaks from aloft upon the deep silence and startles the stranger with its loud unearthly tones. Who that has heard this prayer-call can ever forget it? Who, whatever be his creed, has not felt his soul elevated, and his devotion quickened by the solemn sounds? Impressive as is the Sabbathbell of England; impressive as are the vesper-bells of Spain or Italy breaking the silence of the soft twilight hour, when the glorious hues of heaven are sinking into the heart, and lighting it up with sentiments of devotion; far more solemn, far more prayer-stirring, far more sublime is the cry of the mueddin, "God is most great! There is no God but God! Come to prayer! Come to security! God is most great! No God but God !" 66 mali culices, ranæque palustres” which had so often broken my rest within the precincts of the Alhambra. The Alcazaba, or fortress which crowns the height to the north of Tangier, completely bounds the town on that side, its walls stretching down the slope to the water's edge. It adds to the picturesque appearance of the place, rather than to its real strength, for its fortifications, as far as I could learn, are much neglected, and though they might resist well enough the culverins and demi-cannon of the olden time, would prove of little avail against the mortars and heavy ordnance of modern days. Owing to Moorish jealousy and distrust of Europeans, the traveller is not allowed to examine the state of the defences; but under the guidance of a soldier, who is responsible for the good behaviour of his charge, is permitted to visit the ancient palace within the walls of the fortress. A steep and winding pathway leads from the town up to the walls of the Alcazaba. Before entering the horseshoe gateway, I turned to enjoy the magnificent scene. At my feet lay the town, enclosed within long lines of wall, and, with its low, flat-roofed buildings, resembling anything but human habitations, their dazzling whiteness contrasting with the dark foliage in the courts, it bore the appearance of a vast grave-yard -a city of tombs-the tower of the mosque rising in the midst. At the foot of the bare slope on which I stood, were a few wretched thatched hovels amid a thick grove of gigantic reeds-the Arundo Donax; to the right, without the walls, were seen sunny hills patched with orchards and gardens, and sprinkled with white buildings; to the left lay the bay, whose broad On the evening of my arrival in Tangier I had been expanse of glittering blue was unbroken save by the listening to these unwonted sounds with deep emotion, two French ships at anchor in the distance. Passing when, presently, harsher cries broke on my ear, spread-over the wavy semicircle of glowing sand-hills which ing on every side, till the remotest part of the town resounded with them. It was the watchword of the police, which is thus circulated at short intervals throughout the night. I was still sitting at the window of the inn, long after sunset, when I heard the report of fire-arms in a neighbouring street, and immediately there arose a beating of drums and harsh whining tones resembling those of a small shrill bagpipe. Other reports followed, the sounds began to approach, and at last entered the street in which I was; and a long train of figures passed beneath my window. It was headed by a dozen men on foot, armed with long-barrelled guns, which they discharged from time to time in the air, staggering about the while as though mad or drunk. Next marched a number of others carrying lanterns, by whose light the whole procession was made dimly visible; then followed a mule bearing a large burden, of which in the uncertain light I could distinguish no more than a peaked top; and the musicians with their car-distracting instruments brought up the rear. bounds the bay, the eye rested on the mighty chain of the Atlas, looming in the south-eastern horizon, and sought relief in its cool grey masses, and snow-capt peaks, from the dazzling brilliancy of nearer objects. The palace of the Basha, or Governor of Tangier, is just within the gateway. I heard it was not difficult to obtain an introduction to his excellency, but not deeming it worth the present expected on such occasions, I contented myself with a view of the singular vestibule, full of columns, which fronts his residence. Adjoining, is the ancient palace of the Emperors of Morocco, now in ruins, and presenting little more to the curiosity of the traveller than a large square court surrounded by a horseshoe arcade, and bounded on two sides by narrow chambers, rich in colour, gilding, and arabesque tracery. Though this ruin may interest those who have not seen the Saracenic palaces of Spain, it can bear no comparison with the glories of Seville and Granada. I left the castle by a gateway in its western wall. On the crumbling ramparts were several storks' nests, A Battle between two Hares.-On Easter Sunday, in the af composed of boughs and twigs, from which the young | woods by the mountains' sides, that you can scarcely believe that ones were stretching up their long bills to their parents, any insect could possibly send forth such a tone. It gave one who stood over them arranging their grey and white more the idea of the sound which a bird might utter, such, for plumage, quite unalarmed by our proximity: they instance, as that of the bell-bird, or the whip-bird, or the laughacquire this confidence in man through the respecting jackass (vernacularly called) met with in New South Wales. paid them by the Moors, who view them as sacred -Voyages of the Nemesis. and never molest them; or rather, do they not ensure respect by the confidence they first repose in man? They seem to carry about with them everywhere a passport for respectful treatment, which is attended to by the enlightened Prussian and Dutchman, as well as by the superstitious Turk, Moor, and Arab. These birds do not remain at Tangier throughout the year, but arrive in the beginning of May, and migrate southward in the autumn to seek a warmer climate than this coast, which is far colder in winter than the opposite shores of Europe. Descending the slope from the castle, with the town-walls on the left, and thick groves on the other hand, we reached the western gate of Tangier. On the slope of the hill just above is the garden of the Swedish consul, a pretty spot planted with fruit-trees and shrubs peculiar to the climate; and high above all a fine specimen of the dragon's-blood tree, the famed palm of Teneriffe, rears its spreading crest of fans. An elevated terrace in this garden commands a beautiful view over the town, with its long circuit of turreted wall, its white house-tops within mingling with the fig-trees; the towers of the mosques and the noble houses of the consuls bristling with flagstaffs, and standing out in bright relief from the deep blue of the bay, which contrasts in its turn with the line of hot sandy coast beyond, terminating in the low towercapped headland of Malabat. To the left the view is bounded by the Alcazaba, which, with its long lines of battlemented wall and the mosque-towers within, frowns proudly upon the town at its feet; while stretching from behind it far into the middle of the scene, and bounding the broad lake-like Straits, are the distant mountains of Andalucia, waving away eastward towards Gibraltar. The rock itself, being only thirty miles distant, is visible in this clear atmosphere, except during an easterly wind, which always shrouds it in a mist. Such was now the case; but the deep blue horizon of the Mediterranean was clearly defined against the azure sky, and the expanse beneath me was studded with vessels, all hastening to exchange the sunny waters of the inland sea for the wide waste of the Atlantic. Adjoining this garden is the Christian burial-ground, where natives of every country in Europe are united in death, the distinctions of nation and creed dissolved, they sleep side by side in a common sepulchre. The cemetery of the Moors is on the hill above the garden of the Swedish consul: it has no enclosure, and the tombs, which are but slightly raised and have a small wooden tablet at one end, lie mingled with an underwood of dwarf fan-palms. On the same hill, more to the south, is the sepulchre of a Moslem saint, the patron saint of Tangier, marked by a little white flag streaming from a staff above it. Externally it resembles a small house, but my guide would not allow me to approach it for fear of insult. Still farther on the same ridge are the house and grounds of the Dutch cousul, which command a magnificent view of the town and Straits. [To be continued.] The Trumpet-Beetle of Penang.-There is one curiosity in natural history very common on this island, which I had never seen elsewhere, namely, the trumpet-beetle. Although not large in itself, it has a long trumpet-shaped proboscis, or kind of feeler, from which it emits so loud and long a sound, among the ternoon, as I was proceeding with my brother-in-law, Mr. Carr, to look at a wild-duck's nest in an adjacent wood, we saw two hares fighting with inconceivable fury on the open ground, about a hundred and fifty yards distant from us. They stood on their hinder legs like two bull-dogs resolutely bent on destruction. Having watched them for about a quarter of an hour, we then entered the wood,-1 observing to Mr. Carr that we should find them engaged on our return. We stayed in the wood some ten minutes, and on leaving it we saw the hares still in desperate battle. They had moved along the hill side, and the grass was strongly marked with their down for a space of twenty yards. At last one of the sylvan warriors fell on its side, and never got upon its legs again. Its antagonist then retreated for a yard or so, stood still for a minute as if in contemplation, and then rushed vengefully on the fallen foe. This retreat and advance was performed many times; the conqueror striking its prostrate adversary with its fore feet, and clearing off great quantities of down with them. In the meantime the vanquished hare rolled over and over again, but could not recover the use of its legs, although it made several attempts to do so. Its movements put you in mind of a drunken mau trying to get up from the floor after a hard night in the alehouse. It now lay still on the ground it with the fury of a little demon. Seeing that the fight was effectually subdued, while the other continued its attacks upon over, we approached the scene of action-the conqueror hare retiring as we drew near. I took up the fallen combatant just as it was breathing its last. Both its sides had been completely bared of fur, and large patches of down had been torn from its back and belly. It was a well-conditioned buck-hare, weighing, I should suppose, from seven to eight pounds.—Waterton's Essays on Natural History. The Sleeping Fish of the River Gambia.-Specimens of this fessor Owen, have been sent to England by James Warren Bunvery interesting animal, "the Lepidosiren annectans" of Proter, Esq, and are now in the museum of the Bristol Institution. They were accompanied by the following description :-" This extraordinary fish sleeps nine months out of the twelve. It propagates in August and September, feeds principally on vegetables until the middle or end of November, then, according as the rains are early or late, while the ground is soft, it makes a hole about a foot below the surface, into which it enters; it then doubles itself up, and in this position remains, with the double part down and the head and tail towards the surface, preserving two small holes upwards through the ground to admit air. Nathis skin is very complete, and between the fish and the skin ture forms a skin or soft shell between the fish and the earth; of its confinement, and there it continues until the middle of there is a glutinous liquor that keeps the fish moist all the time July, when the ground that it inhabits is again inundated and it then bursts from its imprisonment." On the 25th instant a box arrived at the Institution, containing two large lumps of indurated mud, as hard as bricks, containing two of these animals, presented by the gentleman before named. On making a section of one of these masses for the purpose of exhibiting the animal in its reposing-place, we were much surprised to find it still alive, but apparently torpid; it was enveloped in a pelicle or skin as before described, which not only invested the whole brane, thus leaving apertures for respiration, which at this time animal, but entered the mouth, terminating in the mucous memis small and distant. It was then placed in tepid water (80° Fahr.), and after a short time a strong expiration of air took place, and water was observed to pass through the gill-covers. In about fifteen minutes, and by means of some violent struggling, it released itself from its earthly tomb and became a larger than itself, and baked by the heat of a tropical sun nearly free amphibious animal, after a sojourn in a cavity scarcely as hard as stone, for more than nine months. "Meanwhile th' approach'd the place where Bruin Was now engag'd to mortal ruin." HUDIBRAS.-No. VI. THE third Canto of the first Part contains the continuance and final result of the adventure of the Bear and Fiddle,' and this result is indicated in the introduction to the Canto, which, though expressed with such playful familiarity as to force us to smile, contains a philosophy verified by the experience of ages:"Ah me! what perils do environ The man that meddles with cold iron! The rabble had recovered from their fright, and their first thoughts were given to the recovery of their Bear, and to revenge themselves on the cause of its loss. The poor flying animal had been pursued by the dogs, until No. 796. "Attack'd by th' enemy i' the rear, H' had got th' advantage of the ground; VOL. XIII.-2 U That he resolv'd, rather than yield, Yet much he did, indeed too much To be believ'd, where th' odds were such; Is more than mortal can make good; For while one party he oppos'd For now the mastives, charging home, As he had done, and stav'd it out, Trulla and Cerdon were the first who arrived to his rescue; "And joining forces, laid about So fiercely, that th' amazed rout Turu'd tail again, and straight begun Meanwhile th' approach'd th' place.where Bruin The conquering foe they soon assail'd, The foes of the bear being repelled, the He wore in 's nose, convey'd a string, His tugg'd ears suffer'd; with a strain From the Elizabeth era to Butler's own time there had been a fashion, imitated from the ancients, among whom Ovid may be quoted, of writing verses wherein Echo is made to give the answer. Shakspere, in his Venus and Adonis,' affords an advantageous specimen of its use: 6 "She says, 'tis so; they [the echoes] answer all 'tiз so ;' And would say after her, if she said no.' But other authors carried it to a ridiculous excess, and in the lament of Orsin for his bear, Butler ridicules the abuse by the most laughable exaggeration. He has been the progenitor, probably of the Irish echo, which, "He beat his breast, and tore his hair, For loss of his dear crony Bear: That Echo, from the hollow ground, Than in small poets splay-foot rhimes, To answer to int'rogatories, And most unconscionably depose I thought th hadst scorn'd to budge a step Then what has quail'd thy stubborn heart? So often in thy quarrel bled? Nor did I ever wince or grudge it, For thy dear sake. (Quoth she) Mum budget. Or if thou hast no thought of me, To keep thee thus from turning tail: For who would grutch to spend his blood in Orsin at length meets with his companions, and the whole resolve, in order to revenge their discomfiture, to go in search of Hudibras and Ralpho, and to punish them for their interference. In the meantime the hero had retired "Unto a neighbouring castle by, To rest his body, and apply Fit med'cines to cach glorious bruise He got in fight, reds, blacks, and blues;" which being done, he takes a sudden resolve, inspirited by his recent success, to visit his mistress; for "he'd got a but O' the inside, of a deadlier sort, By Cupid made, who took his stand This widow, who occupies a prominent place in the remainder of the poem, is described with great humour:- "She had a thousand jadish tricks, Worse than a mule that flings and kicks; 'Mong which one cross-grain'd freak she had, As insolent as strange and mad; She could love none but only such As scorn'd and hated her as much." pursuit, but now, as he remarks to himself, The Knight had resolved in despair to abandon the "who knows But this brave conquest o'er my foes And virtue envious ways can prove, Then, Hudibras, why should'st thou fear On quitting the postern-door to make the purposed "Courageously he fac'd about, And drew his other pistol out; And now had half-way bent the cock, The knight his sword had only left, But as a bark, that in foul weather, And here we shall leave the Knight in his first success for the present, with the following representation of his short-lived triumph. season always decorated with a bunch of flowers. These comely The Waier-carrying Girls of Venice.-Another description of | In winter the hats are beaver, and in summer straw, and in every persons of the same class in life as the gondoliers are very con spicuous and picturesque in Venice, the water-women, none of whom are natives of the place. A Venetian woman would not be so unmindful of her dignity as to carry about pails of water from the Pozzi, or wells, which are locked and let out on hire. From the mountains in the neighbourhood of Cenida and Longerone, bordering on the Tyrol, young, blythe-looking, active girls come to Venice for the like purpose that "Jamie went to sea, to make his crown a pound." They enter on the arduous business of carrying fresh water from the reservoirs, which occupation they commence at an early hour of the day; there never is a chance of mistaking them for any of the ordinary inhabitants, for besides the striking elasticity of their movements and animated air, they wear a uniform dress, short gown, and petticoats of bright colour, a round hat (such as our Welsh peasantry exhibit) put on in a peculiarly smart way over plaits of hair which protrude luxuriantly beneath it at the back of the head. they escape hence when their object is attained, as a bird from a cage, who joyfully regaius freedom, and soars into a congenial world far from its prison abode, only endured and never loved. -Mrs. Ashton Yates's Winter in Italy. |