rofity; for having fent for me, he addreffed me thus: French cook, I efteem you; you have given me proofs of frankiefs and courage, and you make excellent ragouts: but you render us intempera e; and it is my duty to bring up my children in temperance. Depart, then, loaded with my favours. His measure was not sparing of the purfes of gold; and I fet off. My first intention was to return to Delhi to confole my good mafter; for I knew he was unfortunate. But my return to my native country with my purfes of gold had fuch charms for me, that I could not refid it. I was following a caravan on its way to Syria, whither I was going to take fhipping; when, in the plains of Diarbek, beyond the Tigris, the caravan was attacked by the Arabs, and the good Muffelmans and myself were all of us rilled. Nothing was more common: thefe Arabs were thieves, as I was a cook; and after having feen the Mogul fripped of millions, you must needs think that I was not much furprited to fee my little fortune confifcated: it was the cullom of the country. I made my elcape to Aleppo with a few fequins that I had luckily contrived to conceal from my plunderers. Aleppo is a commercial city in the Levant; and there I hoped foon to find fome means of getting a paffage to Europe. I was not deceived. But what I found there, that I did not expect, was my wife. The poor girl was a flave, and, with a crowd of others, was expofed to fale in the market of Aleppo, rather fcantily clad, and with a veil over her eyes. In her fellows in misfortune I perceived neither emotion, nor fhame, nor fadncfs; but every time that her veil was lifted up, I faw the tears ftream down her bofom: they had wetted even the veil. I alfo faw her fmooth cheeks covered with the blufh of decent frame. It touched me to the foul; and in paffing near her, I could not help faying, in the language of my country, Pcor girl!' These words of French ftruck her ear; and though I had affumed the Armenian habit, fhe was in hopes the should not find me a foreigner. Who then are you, faid the, in a low voice, who fpeak my language, and feem to commiferate my wretched fituation? At thefe words I felt my heart palpitate. Never in my life had I experienced the like emotion; and I believe that from that moment I loved her as much as I love her now. If you be a Frenchman, if you be a Chriftian, faid the, buy me, and fave me from thefe infidels. Ah! the curfed Arabs! Why did they rob me of my gold? With what joy would I have laid it out in the redemption of the fair flave! I counted the few fequins that remained; and addressing myself to the Syrian who had expofed her to fale, asked him her price. The value he fet upon her far exceeded my means: however, I did not frem at firft inclined to renounce the bargain: and the merchant, to give me a greater defire of concluding it, letting me examine her at my leifure, I had time enough to tell her that I was grieved at not being rich enough to pay for her; that I was a Frenchman; that I was going to devise the means of procuring her ranfom in my own country; that my name was Andrew Verbois; that I fhould live in the village of Befons, near Paris; that I begged her, if poffible, to let me know what might become of her; that I would never forget her; and entreated her never to forget me. She promised fhe would not; and told me her name was Bathilda Lorizan. She added, that in all probability her father was a flave, like her; and that her greateft grief was the being feparated from him, without any hope of ever seeing him again. In a moment an old rogue of a Cypriot came to tell her that the belonged to him; and I faw her carried away. Ah! the curfed Arabs! Why did they rob me of my gold? From Aleppo to Smyrna, where I embarked, and from Smyrna to Mar feilles, feilles, and from Marseilles hither, I felt but one regret, and entertained but one thought. The fine eyes ftreaming with tears; the fuppliant look of mildnefs and fenfibility; the voice, the found of which had pierced me to the heart; alfo haunted my mind, that I inceffantly fancied heard and faw her. But when, on my arrival at Befons, I found this cottage abandoned; and learned that my father, in the breaking up of the ice the preceding winter, had perished in his attempt to fave fome drowning men, this forrow made me forget the other, and at firit quite deprefled my ipirits. But I recovered them; and the recollection of Bathilda returned more strongly than ever. I had entertained hopes of interefting my old uncle Lucas in her faveur. Every wedding-dinner, and every feaft given at his house, will contribute, faid I, to the ranfom of this amiable girl; for wine and joy make good people ftill better, and heighten their fenfibility. My uncle himself is fo kind! he will add to the heap! and I, by my labour, will endeavour to complete it: I thall at laft receive fome accounts from Bathilda; and will fet off as foon as I fhall know where to find her. But Lucas was no longer the fame: he had grown rich, and was become avaricious. He had given up his public-houfe; was now a village gentleman; and when I went to fee him, gave me a cool reception. He told me, that if I had been guided by him, I fhould have fucceeded him in his profeffion; but that I liked better to lead a roving life; and he had only one piece of advice to give me, which was, to lead a roving life ftill, or to return to my oar. I was quite as proud as he. I answered, that I was young; that I had a strong arm, and a good heart; that I afked him for nothing but his good-will in return for mine; and that this was a bargain by which he would not be ruined. *An order of monks. I return then to labour, and my labour was unremitting. In the port, on board barges; at the ferry when there was a crowd of pallengers; fometimes fifherman, and fometimes waterman; day and night I was every where at once; and this in hopes that my accumulated gains might one day or other redeem the unfortunate Bathilda. But where was I to go in fearch of her? That was the greatest of my cares. Luckily I heard at laft that there was going to be a proceffion at Paris of captives lately delivered from flavery. Ah! faid I, fome of them my perhaps tell me what is become of Bathilda. Some of them may have met with her at Tripoli, Tunis, or Algiers. I went to the Mathurins * to wait for the captives; and queftioned them one after another; aíking each, if he had never heard any mention of a flave of the name of Bathilda Lorizan, a Frenchwoman by birth, whole father was also a captive in the Levant. You may judge of his furprife when it was to himself that I fpoke. Ah! good young man! faid he, what makes you intereft yourself in favour of that family? I am her unfortunate father; and would to heaven it were poffible for me to know where my daughter is detained. But tell me what generous motive gives you a concern in our fate? I related to him my adventure; and the fituation in which I had left his darling child made him fhed a torrent of tears. Come, faid I; heaven will perhaps hear our prayers; for heaven is a friend to good people. You see it has already brought two of us together; and why may it not with equal eafe make our number three? He eagerly afked if I had not been obliged to deny my faith in India or Perfia. No, by St. Nicholas + ! faid I. They knew that I was a Frenchman; I ferved them like a freeman; and they faid no more to me about the Credo than about the The patron of watermen. Koran. Koran. The good father, on hearing this, lifted up his hands to heaven; and I faw that he was thinking of his daughter. As to me, from that moment he determined to treat me like a friend, and intruited me with the fecret of his diftrefs. At fifty years of age, alone, for lorn, without fortune, without a trade, and only poffeffed of knowledge, of which nobody flood in need, what was to become of him? What is to become of you? faid I: is that what makes you uneafy? Why, I know a bunels which you will learn in four days, and by which a man may earn a livelihood. Come, and be a fifher- A Defcription of the land of CARNICOBAR, and the CUSTOMS and MANNERS of its INHABITANTS; by Mr. G. HAMILTON. [From the Afiatic Refearches, Vol. II. ] THE ifland of Carnicobar is the northernmost of that clufter in the Bay of Bengal, which goes by the name of the Nicobars. It is low, of a round figure, about forty miles in circumference, and appears, at a diftance, as if entirely covered with trees: however, there are several well cleared and delightful fpots upon it. The foil is a black kind of clay, and marthy. It produces in great abundance and with little care, moft of the tropical fruits, as pine-apples, plantains, papayas, cocoa-nuts, and arecanuts; alfo excellent yams, and a root called cachu. The only four-footed animals upon this ifland are hogs, dogs, large rats, and an animal of the lizard kind, but large, called by the natives tolonqui: thefe frequently carry off fowls and chickens. The only kind of poultry are hens, and thofe not in great plenty. There are abundance of fnakes of many different kinds; and the inhabitants frequently die of their bites. The timber is of many forts, in great plenty, and fome of it remarkably large, affording excellent materials for building fhips. The natives are low in ftature, but very well made, and furp ifi.gly active and ftrong; they are copper-co loured, and their features have a caft of the Malay; quite the reveife of elegant. The women, in particular, are extremely ugly. The men cut their hair fhot; and the women have their heads thaved quite bare, and wear no covering but a fhort petticoat, made of a fort of rush or dry grafs, which reaches half way down the thigh. This grafs is not interwoven, but hangs round the perfon fomething like the thatching of a houfe. Such of them as have received prefents of cloth petticoats from the hips, commonly tie them immediately under the arms. The men wear nothing but a narrow ftrip. of cloth about the middle. The ears of both fexes are pierced when young; and, by fqueezing into the holes large plugs of wood, or hanging heavy weights of fhells, they contrive to render them wide, and disagreeable to look at. They are naturally dif pofed to be gcod-humoured and gay, and are very fond of fitting at table with Europeans, where they eat every thing that is fet before them; and they eat most enormously. They do not care much for wine; but will drink bumpers of arrack as long as they can fee. A great part of their What they know of phyfic is fmall and fimple. I had once occafion to fe: an operation in furgery performed on the toe of a girl, who had been flung by a fcorpion or centipee. The wound was attended with a confiderable fwelling, and the little patient feemed in great pain. One of the natives produced the under jaw of a fmail fith, which was long, and planted with two rows of teeth as fharp as needles; taking this in one hand, and a fall ftick by way of hammer in the other, he tuck the teeth three or four times into the fwelling, and made it bleed freely: the toe was then bound up with certain leaves, and next day the child was running about perfectly well. time is fpent in feafting and dancing. harmonioufly, and generally accomWhen a feaft is held at any village, panies it with the voice. every one, that choofes, goes uninvited, for they are utter ftrangers to ceremony. At thofe feafts they eat quantities of pork, which is their favourite food. Their hogs are remarkably fat, being fed upon the cocoa-, nut kernel and fea-water: indeed all their domeftic animals, fowls, dogs, &c. are fed upon the fame. They have likewife plenty of fmall fea fih which they ftrike very dexterouíly with lances, wading into the fea about knee deep. They are fure of killing a very small fish at ten or twelve yards diftance. They eat the pork almoft raw, giving it only a hafty grill over a quick fire. They roaft a fowl, by running a piece of wood through it, by way of fit, and holding it over a brifk fire, until the feathers are burnt off, when it is ready for eating, in their tafte. They never drink water; only cocoa-nut milk and a liquor caled foura, which oozes from the cocoa-nut tree after cutting off the young sprouts or flowers. This they fuffer to ferment before it is ufed, and then it is intoxicating; to which quality they add much by their method of drinking it, by fucking it flowly through a small straw. After eating, the young men and women, who are \fancifully dreft with leaves, go to dancing, and the old people furround them fmoaking tobacco and drinking foura. The dancers, while performing, fing fome of their tunes, which are far from wanting harmony, and to which they keep exact time. Of mufical inftruments they have only one kind, and that the fimpleft. It is a hollow bamboo about two feet and a half long and three inches in diameter, along the outfide of which there is ftretched from end to end a fingle ftring made of the threads of a split cane, and the place under the fring is hollowed a little to prevent it from touching, This inft: ument is played upon in the fame manner as a guitar. It is capable of producing but few notes; the performer however makes it fpeak Their houfes are generally built upon the beach in villages of fifteen or twenty houfes each; and each houte contains a family of twenty perfons and upward. Thefe habitations are raifed upon wooden pillars about ten feet from the ground; they are round, and having no windows, look like bee-hives, covered with thatch. The entry is through a trap door below, where the family mount by a ladder, which is drawn up at night. This manner of building is intended to fecure the houfes from being infefted with fnakes, and rats, and for that purpose the pillars are bound round with a fmooth kind of leaf, which prevents animals from being able to mount; befide which each pillar has a broad flat piece of wood near the top of it, the projecting of which effectually prevents the further progrefs of fuch vermin as may have paffed the leaf. The flooring is made with thin ftrips of bamboos laid at fuch diftances from one another, as to leave free admiffion for light and air, and the infide is neatly finished and decorated with fishing lances, nets, &c. The art of making cloth is quite unknown to the inhabitants: what they have is got from the thips that come to trade in cocoa-nuts. In ex change change for their nuts (which are reckoned the fineft in this part of India) they will accept of but few articles: what they chiefly wifh for is cloth of different colours, hatchets, and hanger blades, which they use in cutting down the nuts. Tobacco and arrack they are very fond of, but expect these in prefents. They have no money of their own, nor will they allow any value to the corn of other countries, further than as they happen to fancy them for ornaments; the young women fometimes hanging ftrings of dollars about their necks. However they are good judges of gold and filver, and it is no eafy matter to impole bafer metals upon them, as fuch. They purchase a much larger quantity of cloth, than is confumed upon their own ifland. This is intended for the Choury market. Choury is a finall island to the fouthward of theirs, to which a large fleet of their boats fails every year about November, to exchange cloth for cances; for they cannot make thefe themfelves. This voyage they perform by the help of the fun and ftars; for they know nothing of the compass. In their difpofition there are two remarkable qualities. One is their entire neglect of compliment and ceremony, and the other, their averfion to difhonefty. A Carnicobarian travelling to a diftant village upon bufinefs or amufement, paffes through many towns in his way without perhaps fpeaking to any one: if he is hungry or tired, he goes up into the nearest house, and helps himself to what he wants, and fits till he is refted, without taking the fmalleft notice of any of the family, unless he has business or news to communicate. Theft or robbery is fo very rare among them, that a man going cut of his house, never takes away his ladder, or fhuts his door, but leaves it open for any body to enter that pleafes, without the leaft apprehenfion of having any thing ftolen. Their intercourle with ftrangers is fo frequent, that they have acquired, in general, the barbarous Portuguefe, fo common over India. Their own language has a found quite different from most others, their words being pronounced with a kind of ftop, or catch in the throat, at every fyllable. They have no notion of a God, but they believe firmly in the devil, and worship him from fear. In every village there is a high pole erected with long ftrings of ground-rattans hanging from it, which, it is faid, has the virtue to keep him at a distance. When they fee any figns of an approaching ftorm, they imagine that the devil intends them a vifit, upon which many fuperftitious ceremonies are performed. The people of every village march round their own boundaries, and fix up at different dilances fmall flicks fplit at the top, into which fplit they put a piece of cocoa-nut, a wip of tobacco, and the leaf of a certain plant: whether this is meant as a peace offering to the devil, or a fcarecrow to frighten him away, does not appear. When a man dies, all his live ftock, cloth, hatchets, fishing lances, and all his moveables are buried with him, and his death is mourned by the whole village. In one view this is an excellent cuftom, feeing it prevents all difputes about the property of the deceafed among his relations. His wife muft conform to custom by having a joint cut off from one of her fingers; and, if the refufes this, the must fubmit to have a deep notch cut in one of the pillars of her house. I was once prefent at the funeral of an old woman. When we went into the house, which had belonged to the deceased, we found it full of her female relations; fome of them were employed in wrapping up the corpfe in leaves and cloth, and others tearing to pieces all the cloth which had belonged to her. In another house hard by, the men of the village, with a great many others from the neighbouring towns, were fitting drinking foura and fmoaking tobacco. In the |