Page images
PDF
EPUB

seems probable that he only feeds on them. He may be taught, with ease, to fetch a piece of paper, or any small thing that his master points out to him. It is an attested fact, that if a ring be dropped into a deep well, and a signal given to him, he will fly down with amazing celerity, catch the ring before it touches the water, and bring it up to his master with apparent exultation; and it is confidently asserted, that if a house or any other place be shown him once or twice, he will carry a note thither immediately on a proper signal being made. One instance of his docility I can myself mention with confidence,' says the relater. 'The young women at Benares, and in other places, wear very thin plates of gold, called ticas, slightly fixed, by way of ornament, between their eye-brows; and when they pass through the streets, it is not uncommon for their admirers to give the bayas a sign which they understand, and send them to pluck the pieces of gold from the foreheads of the ladies, which they bring in triumph to the gentlemen.' The baya feeds, naturally, on grasshoppers, and other insects, but will subsist, when tame, on pulse macerated in water. The female lays many beautiful eggs, resembling large pearls; the white of them, when boiled, is transparent, and the flavour is exquisitely delicate. When many bayas are assembled on a high tree, they make a lively din, but it is rather chirping than singing. Their want of musical talents is, however, amply compensated by their wonderful sagacity, in which they are not excelled by any feathered inhabitants of the forest.

Meteorological Calendar of the Mauritius.

January. Rainy and warm. Storms, which are sometimes accompanied with thunder, though by no means violent; and, as the tempestuous season approaches, all navigation is suspended till the month of April; when the fields become green, and the whole landscape assumes a more cheerful appear

ance.

February. Violent gales of wind, and hurricanes with thunder. These hurricanes, which, till the year 1789, were constant in this month, have since that time entirely ceased.

March. The rains are less frequent, the winds always in the south-east, and the heat moderate.

April. The season is fine, and the grass begins to wither on the mountains.

May.-Westerly and north-west winds; the season dry, but in the low grounds, and the interior parts of the island, the air possesses an agreeable freshness.

June. The winds are stationary at the south-east, from which point they very seldom vary. The rain falls in small drops.

July.-Wind in the south-east; strong breezes during the day, which subside at night, when it becomes calm. The rain falls in slight dropping showers; and the air is so cool as to require warm clothing. In short, it is now winter, if such an expression may be used in speaking of a country where the trees never lose their leaves.

August. It rains almost every day. The summits of the mountains are clad in cloudy vapours, which descend into the vallies, accompanied with gales of wind.

September. The same weather and the same wind. It is now the time of harvest.

October. The temperature of the air is somewhat warmer; though it is still fresh in the interior parts of the island. At the end of this month the corn is sown, and in four months it is reaped. It is sown again in May, and is ripe in September; so that there are two harvests in the course of the year.

November. The heat is now very sensibly felt; the winds are variable, and are sometimes in the north-west. The rains are accompanied with storms.

December. The heats increase. The sun is vertical, but the heat of the air is moderated by the rains, which destroy the rats, grasshoppers, ants, &c. In short, the winds and rains produce the same beneficial effect which other climates receive from the cold and frosts of the winter season. - Visc. de Vaux's History of the Mauritius.

FEBRUARY.

FEBRUARY received its name from the word Februa, because the expiatory sacrifices so called took place in this month. The sign for February is Pisces.

Remarkable Days

In FEBRUARY, 1829.

2.-PURIFICATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY,

Or, Candlemas Day: see our former volumes, The blessing of the candles at Rome is thus described by the intelligent author of a 'Narrative of Three Years' Residence in Italy.' This ceremony took place in the pope's chapel at the Quirinal. The pope, in his pontifical robes, was seated on a throne beside the high altar, cardinals, bishops, and the senator, being all present, in vestments splendidly embroidered. A long procession, formed of the orders of monks from all the different convents and monasteries, entered the chapel singing, each holding in his hand a large wax candle, which was laid aside until after the celebration of mass, when each monk resumed his candle, and presented it kneeling at the foot of the throne, while the pope blessed it. The number of candles was very great, and each being separately blessed, the pope was nearly exhausted with the frequent repetition of the same words, when he was placed in his fine chair, and carried out of the chapel, followed by the cardinals, bishops, and senator, attended by his pages, and a long train of priests, monks, and friars, walking in grand procession round the Sala Regia, and returning, through the chapel, again to the throne, singing as they went. The pope, on this occasion, as on all others when he appears in public, is surrounded by the Guardia Nobile, which always immediately attends his person, and is composed entirely of persons chosen from among the most ancient nobility of Rome. When he drives out, they ride close to his carriage, on horses richly caparisoned at their own expense; and when carried in state, they are nearest his chair. Most of them have the rank of princes; their dress on state occasions is magnificent.

3.-SAINT BLASE,

Bishop of Sebasta, in Cappadocia, was beheaded in the year 289. -The septennial festival held in honour of Bishop Blase, and in commemoration of the invention of wool-combing, was celebrated at Bradford, in Yorkshire, in 1825, with extraordinary pomp and festivity. The martyrdom of the Bishop is duly commemorated every seventh year, by the followers of the useful art of which he is the reputed inventor; and, on this occasion, the festival was far more splendid than usual. The men connected with the different branches of the woollen trade assembled at an early hour, and formed in procession, dressed in an appropriate manner, with flags and music. The celebrated legend of the Golden Fleece is interwoven with the commemoration of Bishop Blase; and among the characters in the procession were Jason and Medea. The line of procession extended nearly a mile. A hundred gentlemen connected with the woollen manufactures dined together in the evening, and on the following night a ball was given in the court house.

We have now before us a handbill, containing a poetical oration, and an order of the procession on one of these occasions, without any date of either place or year; but we conjecture it to have been held at NORWICH, and on the peace with America, in 1783. We give it as a curiosity, for the gratification of our readers. At the top of the first page is a beautiful medallion, about the size of a crown-piece, of Bishop Blase in his robes, with his mitre on his head, a book in his right hand, and a wool-comb in his left, and a flock of sheep in the back-ground.

AN ORATION,

Spoken by the Woolcombers on the Return of PEACE, and in
Commemoration of BISHOP BLASE.

AT length serener PEACE, with orient rays,
Her gladd'ning lustre to the world displays;
Long had she left our sea-encircled plain,
And war, despotic, triumphed o'er the main:
With dauntless pow'r did foreign marts pervade,
And stemmed the placid currency of TRADE.
But now the clouds of dark despair are flown,
And COMMERCE re-assumes her former throne.
Now cease the wretched orphans to impart
The pangs of horror to the feeling heart;
The widow's tears again shall cease to flow,
And happiness succeed the source of woe:
Cheered by her mild benignity and grace
Aspiring joy shall former grief efface!
Mount on the wings of extasy, and soar
To heights of rapture seldom known before!
Tell Gallia's sons, and proud Iberia's state,
We've caught the laurels from propitious fate:
Waft the glad tidings to the distant shore*,
Where the Atlantic waves in rolling surges roar;
There equal joy shall greet the welcome news,
And FRIENDSHIP shall her lenient balms diffuse :
But here, supported by returning peace,
JASON again presents the GOLDEN FLEECE.
See there the victor†!-There the Grecian prize‡!
Bright as the starry grandeur of the skies!

* America. + To Jason. To the Fleece.

« PreviousContinue »