to speak of navigation), may turn their eyes on Holland. A great portion of the most valuable and populous tract of this country lies much below the level of the sea, and is only preserved from inundation by the maintenance of embankments. Though these suffice to keep out the abrupt influx of the ocean, they cannot oppose.that law of nature, by which fluids, in seeking their level, insinuate themselves through the pores and subterraneons channels of a loose sandy soil, and keep the country in a constant state of infiltration from below upwards. To counteract this tendency, as well as to get rid of the rain water, which has no natural outlet, pumps worked by windmills are established in great numbers, on the dams and embankments, which pour out the water as from a leaky ship, and in effect preserve the country from submersion, by taking advantage of every wind that blows. To drain the Haarlem lake would seem a hopeless project to any speculators but those who had the steam-engine at their command, or had learnt in Holland what might be accomplished by the constant agency of the desultory but unwearied powers of wind. But the Dutch engineer measures his surface, calculates the number of his pumps, and, trusting to time, and his experience of the operation of the winds for the success of his undertaking, boldly forms his plans to lay dry the bed of an inland sea, of which those who stand on one shore cannot see the other.-Herschel's Natural Philosophy.

Powers of Fuel.-The annual consumption of coal in London is estimated at one million five hundred thousand chaldrons, The effort of this quantity would suffice to raise a cubical block of marble, two thousand two hundred feet in the side, through a space equal to its own height, or to pile one such mountain upon another. The Monte Nuovo, near Pozzuoli (which was erupted in a single night by volcanic fire), might have been raised by such an effort from a depth of forty thousand feet, or about eight miles. It will be observed, that, in the above statement, the inherent power of fuel is, of necessity, greatly under-rated. It is not pretended by engineers that the economy of fuel is yet pushed to its utmost limit, or that the whole effective power is obtained in any application of fire yet devised; so that were we to say one hundred millions instead of seventy, we should probably be nearer the truth.-Ibid.

Dexterity of the Ukranian Peasants with the Axe.-Not only do the Ukranian peasants employ the axe in the construction of their houses, their boats, their carriages, and their household furniture, but also iu

carving a variety of small things, such as little boxes, spoons, and other kitchen utensils. I purchased a very handsome snuff-box from one of them, which had been cut with a hatchet commonly used for felling timber. In the province of Masovia they are still better exercised in. the art of rendering the axe universally available. I have been assured by several persons whose testimony I could not doubt, that they have themselves seen peasants, who wore their hair long, go and place themselves against the trunks of trees, raising their hair as much above their heads as it would reach, while others would take aim at a certain distance, and fling their hatchets with so much dexterity as to cut the hair in two parts, aud be driven deep into the trunk of the tree!Journal of a Nobleman.

Comparative nutritive Property of differ ent Kinds of Food.-The following is the quantity of nutritious matter contained in one hundred pounds of each of the substances named: bread, eighty pounds; butcher's meat, thirty-five pounds; broad beans, eighty-nine pounds; lentils, ninetyfour pounds; greens and turnips, eight pounds; carrots, fourteen pounds; and potatoes, twenty-five pounds.―Scientific

Gazette.

Unrholesome Butler.-The writer of a paper, contained in the transactions of the Bath and West of England Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, &c. for 1795, notices,-That many eminent physicians have observed that butter is very unwholesome, and that others equally celebrated have considered it not only as innocent, but as a good asssistant to digestion.-May not this have been founded upon observations of its purity, or accidental or mischievous contaminations collected from vessels used in the process of making it? In almost all the great dairies it is notorious, that the milk is suffered to stand in lead, copper, or brass ves-els, to throw up the cream. In these vessels, a larger quantity of cream is thrown up than in either wooden or earthen pans, both of which are occasionally made use of. Milk, it is well known, is liable to oxidise, aud then to dissolve these metals, and so must, undoubtedly, communicate pernicious qualities to the butter which is made from it. As the dairyman obtains additional profit in proportion to the quantity of cream which is thrown up, so it is to his interest to keep it in these vessels as long as he can, until the whole of the cream be thrown up. By this additional standing it often gets sour, and will consequently dissolve the metal with the greater facility.—Ibid.

started with respect to the Brahmins, and the inferior castes of Hindoos; but the Bedouin Sheikhs, whom no one has ever suspected to be of any other race than that of Ismael, differ no less in stature and appearance from the common Arabs, than the Brahmins from the ordinary Hindoos, or the chiefs of Otaheite from the people. But the differences observable may very rationally be accounted for by the difference in their food, and their greater or less exposure to the sun. Be this as it may, the men of Otaheite are said to be handsome almost without ex ception, with limbs robust but well formed, tall of stature, their countenance expressive of mildness and good nature, their hair black and coarse, their skin peculiarly smooth and soft to the touch. Whether owing to some peculiarity in their diet or not, their skin emits, however, a powerful odour, which even their daily practice of bathing fails to remove. All nations which consume much animal food possesses more or less of this offensive odour, as the Patagonians of South America, who surpass pole-cats in stink; while the rice-eating Hindoo, accustomed moreover to con tinual ablutions, smells like a nosegay, Both men and women wear the hair of the head short; but neither sex practises depilation, though the men are in the babit of plucking out their beard' by the roots, leaving only a small mustachio on the upper lip. Owing, perhaps, to the indolence of their character, which equally disinclines them to manly exercises and to labour, their gait is tottering and unsteady, and whatever force or energy they exhibit is of short duration. From this general imputation must be excepted that portion of the youth, who are actuated by a passion for swimming, and who float and sport about for hours untired, in those sparkling waters which flow among the coral reefs that surround and protect the coasts of the island. These barbarians possess the senses of sight and heating in extraordinary perfection, and discover a bird concealed in the foliage of a distant tree, or a small lizard rustling under a stone, when no European could see or hear either the one or the other. But this superior perfection in the organs of sense they possess in common with all other nations in similar stages of civilization. It is a circumstance perfectly unaccountable that, contrary to what is found to be the case among all other uncivilized people, there should be found a greater number of hump-backed persons among the Tahitians, who, like the Thersiteses of all other countries, are re markable for their gay, witty, and satirical humour.

The sole business of man in this life

being, according to some philosophers, to eat, dress, and amuse himself, it is highly important, in examining the pretensions of any people to civilization and refine ment, to observe the mode in which they cook their dinners, and, if we may borrow a word from the Shandean vocabulary, manufacture and make their breeches. M. Lesson himself appears to belong to that sect of philosophers vulgarly termed gourmands, for, like Homer, he is never so well pleased as when enlarging upon the savoury viands and delicious potations with which his heroes regale themselves; and remarks, that of all the arts to which civilization gives birth, that of cooking is the most important. Not wishing to controvert M. Lesson's opinion, we shall leave our friends without their bonnets and breeches, and attend for a moment to their dinners.

Among all the intertropical islanders of the South Sea, the same domestic practices prevail. They all, without exception, make use of subterranean ovens, in which, by the aid of hot stones, they bake their meat deliciously; employ the leaves of trees for various domestic uses; convert the bread-fruit and the cocoa-nut into soup or pottage; and extract from the juice of a species of pepper-tree a liquor, denominated kɛra, which enables them to enjoy the sweet oblivion produced by iutoxication. The natives of Otaheite make but three regular meals in the day; but having no new novels or poems, and but few balls or parties, to aid them in killing time, they devote their numerons leisure hours to eating. It is, in fact, a rare thing to meet with one of these assiduous disciples of Comus, without a fresh cocoa-nut or a piece of bread-fruit in his hand, which, like Lord Peter, in the Tale of a Tub, they appear to imagine contains the quintessence of beef, mutton, veal, pluni-pudding, and custard. Their system of cookery, however, is not, as yet, very recondite, nor are the materials extremely numerous or far-fetched. For seven or eight months in the year loaves, ready for the oven, drop upon their heads from the mayore-tree; when these fail, the cocoa or the taru, scarcely inferior in nutritiveness, supply their place; and, in addition to these, they have the iguama, or root of the tacca pinnatifida. For the sake of variety, and to provide, as the old proverb has it, against a rainy day," they prepare a beautiful flour, known among the Gods by the name of arrow-root, but the name by which it is distinguished among mortals we forget; besides which they manufacture a species of pudding from bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, and a sort of dish, which, says M. Lesson, is incontest

ably the king of all dishes, composed of bread-fruit and mountain or wild bananas baked together.

66

Since the arrival of Christian mission aries among them, or rather, since those missionaries have acquired power over their minds, they have, we know not why, contracted the habit of putting their sub terranean oven in operation only once in seven days, (on Saturday) when, rigid Methodists, they cook victuals enough not merely for the Sunday, but for the whole week. Even when the provisions thus prepared run short, they seldom, except on the eve of some festival or holiday, have recourse to their ovens ; but kindling a few charcoals before the doors of their houses, roast a few roots, or a little breadfruit, and, like Death in Paradise Lost," snuff the savour of Sunday across the abyss of half a week. To those who are deeply read in South Sea voyages, the subterranean ovens to which we have alluded, and, indeed, whatever else we have to mention, must of course be familiar; but for the interests of authorship, there are still in the world some dozen or two of people, who do not know every thing, and it is for these that we would be supposed to write. Besides, as the French Government thought it worth while to send the Coquille round the world expressly to obtain an exact account of these curious instruments of cookery, and similar things, in order, perhaps, that when driven out of France, Charles X. and his ministers might know where to find the next best Elysium of gluttons; the least thing we can do is to pause a moment in admiration of this chef d'oeuvre of barbar ism, from which M. Lesson tears himself a way with regret, and not without casting many "a longing, lingering look behind." This method, sa our author, is so admirably adapted for giving an exquisite flavour to meat, and at the same time so extraordinarily simple, that it is impossible to pass it over without describing it, at least briefly. This is most true. At a little distance from their dwellings, the Oceanians dig a large round shallow pit, the bottom of which they cover with stones. They then kindle a large fire in it, and, in order to prevent the heat from escaping, cover over the whole with a layer of earth. When the heat is supposed to be sufficiently intense, the oven is opened, a layer of banana leaves is spread upon the hot stones, and a whole pig, the belly of which is also filled with hot stones, is placed upon the leaves, and covered with another layer of similar stones, upon which a new fire is kindled with the dry bark of the cocoa-tree. The smoke ascends in thick

Being by no means Jewish in their tastes, they prefer pork to all other kinds of meat; but as they appear to take no care of the breeding and fattening of hogs, the mass of the population are but seldom enabled to taste this luxury. Formerly the flesh of dogs was esteemed a dainty; but this, somehow or other, has latterly fallen into discredit. According to our author, they are guilty of the absurdity of rearing poultry, and gathering eggs in the thickets, and yet make no use of them; but we imagine there must be some mistake in this. Even savages are generally gifted with too much wit to labour for any length of time in vain. They are particularly fond of fish; but, contrary to the practice of all other ichthyophagi, ancient aud modern, we believe, these barbarian Apicii devour their dolphin and porpoise raw, as we do oysters.

The real bases of the food of the Oceanians, however, are the bread-fruit and the cocoa-nut. The stream of population, indeed, is said to follow religiously in the track of the latter over the vast archipelagoes of the Pacific, where, as soon as the cocoa springs up and yields fruit upon a new island, man instantly appears, and takes possession of the soil. Surrounded by groves of these useful trees, man may sit down at his ease, and bid defiance to famine; and if high intellec tual cultivation and poetical feeling were compatible with idleness and inactivity, the fables of the Golden Age might be realized upon these fertile and beautiful islands. The rima, or bread-fruit, is not eaten raw; but for eight months in the year, the tree produces plentifully, and the fruit is gathered as it is wanted. During the months of November, December, January, and February, when this splendid tree ceases to be covered

with bread, the natives eat a kind of paste, formed from its pulp, of a slightly acid taste, together with bananas dried in the sun, and squeezed by powerful ligatures. Our sailors greatly admire this latter preparation, which they take as an excellent anti-scorbutic. A very agreeable and refreshing drink is made by steeping the pith of the bread-fruit tree in water.

The cocoa-nut tree is to these islanders what the date-tree is to the Arabs, or wheat to us; they could not subsist without it. While fresh, its nuts are their favourite meat and drink. The kernel is eaten as it is gathered, and they sip with 'delight the rich milk contained in its centre. The tender young fruit, or rather the buds yet unformed in the husk, are regarded as a great delicacy; and when ripe and dry, the kernel is reduced to a kind of paste, which is made up into balls to be eaten like bread, or used in the cooking of other articles of food.

Among the principal fruits of these countries, must be enumerated the vy, or fruit of the spondias dulcis, which, if ́eaten with the skin, is at first unpleasant, on account of a sort of resinous taste which this part of the fruit possesses; but when peeled like an orange, is truly exquisite. When ripe, it melts upon the Tips; but, as it cannot be preserved in this state, it is gathered while green, in order to be shipped in that state, and allowed to ripen on board.

The ordinary drink of the Otalieitans, is pure water. Before the arrival of the missionaries, however, an intoxicating liquor was obtained from the root of the piper methysticum, which at first produced profound sleep, then violent perspiration, and lastly, the most furious paroxysms of drunkenness, This tremendous spirit is now chiefly used as medicine; and so far, whatever M. Lesson may say to the contrary, the Missionaries have been useful, whether they be exartisans or not. That branch of the Oceanian race which inhabits New Zealand, and has been compelled, by the rigours of the climate, and other circumstances, to adopt a system of manners almost diametrically opposite to that prevailing among the Tahitians, has ventured to eke out its scanty list of edible materials with human flesh. Attacked by intense cold, and buffetted by furious winds, these savages have gradually assimilated their character to that of their climate, and become rude, fierce, boisterous, and unpitying. Their country producing little or Lothing during the winter months, they are forced, during summer, when fish is abundant, and easily caught upon their coasts, to smoke and dry vast quantities,

which are laid up against inclement wea ther, as well as to provide against the chances of being besieged in their abodes by inimical tribes. Nature not producing spontaneously a great variety of alimentary substances, and the natives being by no means inclined to supply, by the efforts of industry, the niggardly contributions of nature, the food of the New Zealanders is extremely simple, consisting chiefly of the root of a species of fern, which grows in profusion on the plains, of potatoes introduced into the country by Europeans, radishes, shell-fish, and the flesh of pigs and dogs.

Though acknowledging that they devour with extraordinary pleasure the flesh of the enemies they kill in battle, M. Lesson attributes their cannibal habits, not to hunger but to superstition. Superstition, however, has enough to answer for, with out being saddled with the horrors to which hunger alone has prompted, as our anthor might, without any extraordinary degree of sagacity, have inferred from the circumstance that, in proportion as other food becomes more plentiful and accessible, savages lose the habit of preying upon their fellow-creatures. Their anthropophagy, says M. Lesson, the effect of their religious prejudices, has disappeared from various islands in which food is abundant, though the practice remains in full force wherever the rigour of the climate, and the poverty of the soil cause the necessity of substantial nourishment to be felt. Here, without the aid of “religious prejudices,” we have the whole theory of cannibalism, Men, tortured by insufferable hunger, cast "wolfish eyes" upon each other, and by degrees, conquering the strong repugnance which all animals feel to prey upon their own species, learn to kill and devour their fellows, exactly from the cause which impelled the African hyenas, mentioned, by Bruce, to eat their com, panions, or the Cape Spider, imprisoned by Le Vaillant, to sup upon his own legs. There is no nation, however, so openly and disgustingly addicted to anthropophagy as the New Zealanders.

same

In consequence of these abominable customs, says M. Lesson, these people have acquired a decided preference for human flesh, and reckon among the

white days" of their lives those solemn festivals, in which they can eat their fill of this favourite food. A chief of the village of Kaouri, on the island of Oumotou-arohin, confessed to the French officers that he experienced extraordinary gratification in devouring a corpse, and informed them that the brain was the most delicare bit, though the haunches were the most substantial. Observing