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extravagance in dress made her, perhaps, a less desirable wife in the eyes of her countrymen; for the immoderate quantity of grease, red ochre, buku, and shining powder with which her air was clotted, would ruin any but a very rich husband: herself and every part of her dress, were so well greased, that she must have been, in her nation, a girl of good family; and the number of leathern rings with which her arms and legs were adorned, proclaimed her to be evidently a person of property: round her ancles she carried about a dozen thick rings of this kind, which, added to a pair of sandals, gave her the appearance of wearing

buskins.

But the most remarkable piece of affectation with which she adorned herself, was, three small bits of ivory, of the size and shape of sparrows' eggs, loosely pendant from her hair; one in front, as low as the point of the nose, and one on the outerside of each cheek, all hanginig in the same length. These dangled from side to side as she moved her head, and, doubtlessly, made full amends for their inconvenience, by the piquancy they were thought to add to the wearer's beauty. The upper part of her head was covered with a small leathern cap, fitted closely, but quite unornamented, and I should have had pleasure in gratifying her with a present of a string of beads, to render this part of her dress more smart, if I had not been fearful that, by doing this, I should excite in her countrymen, an inclinatin to beg and importune for what I meant to reserve only for the nations in the interior. Her vanity and affectation, great as it was, did not, as one may sometimes observe in both sexes, in other countries, seem to choke her, or produce any alteration in the tone of her voice, for the astonishing quantity of meat which she swallowed down, and the readiness with which she called out to her attendants for more, plainly showed her to be resolved that no squeamishness should interfere on this occasion. With the rest of her female companions, the season of beauty had long passed by, and, if that season with other nations may justly be called short-lived, it may among Bush-women, with more than equal justice, be termed momentary. In five or six years after their arrival to womanhood, the plumpness of youth gives way to the wrinkles of age; and, unless we viewed them with the eye of commiseration and philanthropy, we should be inclined to pronounce them the most disgusting of human beings. Their early, and it may be said, premature symptoms of age may, perhaps, with great probability, be ascribed to a hard life, an uncertain and irregular supply of food, exposure to every inclemency of weather, and a want of cleanliness which increases with years. These, rather than the nature of the climate, are the causes of that quick fading, and decay of the bloom and apppearance of youth.

Mr. Burchell was among a tribe of Bushmen, and he writes as

follows:-Curious to know what degree of intellect these beings possessed, I endeavoured, by means of an interpreter, to question them on a few moral points; but he declared they were so stupid that it was not in his power to make them comprehend at all. The principal question, and to which I was most desirous of having their answer, was, one would think, so intelligible, that their not understanding it must have been either pretended stupidity, or a wilful misrepresentation by the interpreter: I asked what they considered to be good actions, and what, bad; but to this they made no reply, nor could they at all conceive its meaning. I showed them a looking-glass; at this they laughed, and stared with vacant surprize and wonder, to see their own faces; but expressed not the least curiosity about it ; nor do I believe it excited in their minds one single idea; and I may not, perhaps, be doing them an injustice by asserting that whether capable of reflection or not, the individuals never exerted it. When asked what were their thoughts respecting the glass; what were their notions respecting white men; their senseless looks seemed to say, they made an effort to think, but found themselves utterly unable; their only answer was, I don't know. They related to us, without the least emotion, and with apparent indifference, a horrid occurrence which lately had taken place in their kraal. An old man had three sons, one of whom had been married several years to a woman by whom he had two children. One of the brothers had conceived a liking for the woman, and she on her part was not averse to change her husband; it was therefore agreed between them, that he should be put out of their way. This (I shudder in relating it) was accomplished by the atrocious demon beating out his brother's brains as he lay asleep. This inhuman act appears to have excited no feelings of horror in the horde: the pair were at this time living together contented, and seemingly undismayed by their own reflections on the nefarious deed they had committed. Conscience herself seemed to have neglected her duty, and bestial ignorance to have ursuped her place. Instead of chasing him for ever out of their kraal, the father and the remaining brother allowed him to continue in their society in the same terms as if nothing had happened. I saw the murderer: he was a youth of apparently seventeen or eighteen years of age, and not an unpleasing countenance. They all exhibited, but the old man more remarkably, a poof of the good effects of our hospitality; and gave me the opportunity of witnessing how wonderfully and rapidly their appearance is improved by a plentiful supply of food. I should, without such proof, have thought it incredible, that so great an alteration could possibly take place in four days. On their first visit to us, the skin of their bodies hung in large wrinkles; and the meagre emaciated state in which we found them, excited our greatest commisseration: but now the old man's wrinkles had

quite disappeared; his body was smooth and ridiculously plump ; his skin now seemed to have a flow of blood beneath it, and his sleek, well-anointed limbs, seemed to have grown larger, I found that I had been mistaken, at least ten years, in his age; and when we parted, he was but a middle-aged man.

THE DEVIL'S SONATA.

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Most of our readers have probably heard of "The Devil's Sonata," Monsieur de la Lande informs us, that he had from Tartini's own mouth the following singular anecdote, which shews to what a degree his imagination was inflamed by the genius of composition. He dreamed one night, that he had made contract with the devil, who promised to be at his service on all occasions; and during this vision, every thing succeeded to his mind; his wishes were prevented, and his desires surpassed by the assistance of his new servant. In short he imagined that he presented to the devil his violin, in order to discover what kind of a musician he was; when to his great astonishment, he heard him play a solo so singularly beautiful, which he executed with such superior taste and precision, that it surpassed all the music which he had ever heard or conceived in his life. So great was his surprise, and so exquisite his delight, upon this occasion, that it deprived him of the power of breathing. He awoke with the violence of his sensations, and instantly seized his fiddle, in hopes of expressing what he had just heard, but in vain. He, however, then composed a piece, which is, perhaps, the best of all his works, and called it the Devil's Sonata; but it was so inferior to what his sleep had produced, that he declared he would have broken his instrument, and abandoned music for ever, if he could have subsisted by any other means.

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Miscellanies.

66

ANECDOTE. A man of high fashion, who deals largely in a certain combustible material, had long been attracted by the peculiar fine form of a widow bewitched, then under protection of a gentleman of great wealth. He had frequently said that he would give fifty pounds solely to be seen walking by her side in Bond-street. His wish was accidentally one day gratified thus:"At the moment of a slight shower, the object continually uppermost in his thoughts appeared in the very scene. The gentleman tendered his umbrella; it was accepted. Under the awning of a jeweller's shop they stopped, and chatted about the weather the lady's eye being occasionally directed to the glittering toys in the window. They are very pretty," she said. "Very pretty, indeed! suppose you go in and look at them," was the rejoinder. The lady acceeded. "That is vastly beautiful! is it not?" speaking of a necklace "It is! but how well it will look round your neck?" "Try." He did try; when the lady, droping a curtsey, added, with the utmost sang froid, "Thank you! The rain is over we will now, if you please, walk.” In an instant she was in the street, leaving the gentleman behind. The latter looked at the shopkeeper, and then at the door, and then on the jeweller again; lastly at his pockets. This awkward adventure, for the lady was gone, ended, by his giving the tradesman his card; it was deemed satisfactory. In three days the bill was sent in; the item consisted of a necklace of brilliants valued at six hundred and fifty guineas. When a certain witty Dowager heard of this she said, "Well! I hope this will teach married men to be more cautious in future, and particularly when they touch gunponder!"

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BEAR CHASE.-YORK (UPPER CANADA), SEPT. 23.—The week before last two boys, the one ten the other eleven years of age, sons of Mr. Wm. Johnson of Campenfield Bay, Lake Simpcoe, observed an old bear and three young ones swimming across the

bay; they put after them with a bark canoe, and by the use of their fire-arms soon dispatched the young ones, and took them on board their canoe. They made several shots at the head of the old one, with little or no effect; at length coming in contact with her, one of them fired and broke her shoulder, the savage ferociousness of the animal was now raised to desperation; she endeavoured to upset the canoe. A sister on shore, seeing the hazardous situation of her little brothers, took another boat, and put out to their assistance.-The bear saw her coming, left the boys, and made towards her; upon which the young Nimrods cried out "Don't fear, Sally, thump her on the nose, and keep her back; we have broken one of her shoulders, keep her back till we can load again, and we will break the other." The boys were as good as their word, they did so; and having both legs disabled, they pushed her head under water with their paddles and drowned her. They with some difficulty got her into the boat, and took the four in triumph to land. The names of these lads are James and William Johnson.

A fop called at a boot-maker's shop the other day, and begged to look at some half-boots; accordingly some were shewn him, when he exclaimed, "These will not suit me, fashionable halfboots should quite cover the calf." "Then you must have them just five feet eight long," said the son of Crispin, taking out bis rule and measuring his foppish customer's height.

The Mayor of Norwich and a party of friends, somewhat "flushed with the juice of the Tuscan grape," having gone to the Theatre a few years ago, to witness the performance of the tragedy of Richard the Third, they entered the house just as Richard exclaimed "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" when one of the gentlemen facetiously replied, "I have not a horse, but (clapping his hand upon the shoulder of the Chief Magistrate) here is a May'r, if that will do for you." It is almost superfluous to add that the response had a powerful effect on the risible faculties of the audience.

The Mareschal de Faber, at a siege, was pointing out a place with his finger. As he spoke, a musket-ball carried off the finger. Instantly stretching another, he continued his discourse, "gentlemen as I was saying.' This was true sang froid.

The police of Amsterdam discovered a gang of thieves in a very singular manner. A stranger brought a piece of fur to a furrier to make twelve caps of it, all of the same shape. The latter contrived to make thirteen caps instead of twelve, and kept the thirteenth for himself. Some days afterwards he was standing with this cap on at a stall, looking attentively at the goods, and, as was his custom, holding his hands behind him, when he felt something put in his hand, and on looking found a gold watch with chain and seals. He looked round in vain for the person who had thus surprised him, but he could see no one.

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