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'that she is a woman of great understanding; but her husband, in my opinion, plays a very foolish part. She does not let him meddle with anything. She has had magnificent gardens laid out for him, with fruit-trees, and all kinds of flowers; and there he is always shut up, and spends his life in walking about. . . . They say there are other countries in Europe where women govern-is it true? Are their husbands also shut up in gardens? Is that, too, the custom in France?-No; in France the women are in the gardens, and the men direct public affairs.' 'That's right-any other plan produces disorder.' .

Ki-Chan then inquired after Palmerston, and asked if he were still intrusted with foreign affairs? 'And Ilu,* what has become of him-do you know?

He has been recalled; your fall caused his.'-'I am sorry for it. He had an excellent heart, but he knew not how to take a resolution. Has he been put to death, or exiled?-Neither; in Europe we do not make such short work of these things as at Pekin.'-'True, true; your Mandarins are much better off than we

are.

Your government is much better than ours: our Emperor cannot know everything, and yet he judges everything, and no one may find fault with his acts. Our Emperor says to us, This is white. ... We fall down and answer, Yes, this is white. He then shows us the same object, and says, This is black.... We fall down and answer, Yes, this is black.'

But, after all, suppose you were to say that the same thing could not be black and white?''The Emperor would, perLaps, say to any one courageous enough to do it, Thou art right; but at the same time, he would have him strangled or beheaded.' . . . He then added, that for his own part he was convinced that the Chinese could never cope with Europeans, unless they altered their arms, and changed their old habits; but that he would take good care never to say so, seeing that the counsel, besides being useless, would probably cost him his life.

At other times, the whole court would assist at some exhibition of European wonders :—

One day, when we were speaking of observatories and astronomical instruments, the Regent asked us if we would allow him to examine the curious, strangelooking machine that we kept in a box. He meant the microscope. One of

...

us ran home, and returned with the wonderful instrument. While we were putting

A

it together, we attempted to give, as well as we could, some notion of optics to our auditory; but as we perceived that the theory excited but little interest, we proceeded at once to experiments. We asked if any person in the company would favour us with a louse. The thing was far easier to obtain than a butterfly. noble Lama, who was secretary to his Excellency the first Kalon, had only to slip his hand beneath his silk robe to produce a fully developed specimen. We seized it immediately with our tweezers; seeing which, the Lama objected to the experiment, alleging that we were going to cause the death of a living being. Never fear,' we said, 'we have only got hold of him by his skin; and, besides, he seems sufficiently sturdy to get over the trial.' The Regent, whose creed, as we before said, was more spiritualized than that of the vulgar, told the Lama to hold his tongue, and let us alone. We therefore proceeded with the experiment, and fixed into the objectglass the little animal, who was strug gling in our tweezers. We then requested the Regent to apply his eye to the glass at the top of the machine. 'TsongKaba!' said he; the louse is as big as Having viewed it for an instant, he hid his face in his hands, saying, that it was a horrible sight. He tried to prevent the others from looking, but his expostulations were unavailing. Everybody in turn bent over the microscope, and started back with cries of horror. The Secretary-Lama perceiving that his little animal scarcely moved, put in a word in its behalf. We raised the tweezers, and restored the louse to its owner. Alas! the unfortunate victim was lifeless. The Regent said, laughingly to his secretary, 'I fear your louse is unwell; go, and see if you can physic him, or he'll never recover.'

a rat.'

All this pleasantness and good fellowship was not to last long, and little more than a month elapsed before the blow came. The suspicions of Ki-Chan had been lullednot dispelled. It was contrary to the invariable policy of the Chinese to brook the presence of strangers, and especially of preachers of Christianity, at Lha-Ssa; and the very favour shown them by the native government was an additional motive for desiring their expulsion. One day, the two Frenchmen were summoned to the presence of Ki-Chan, who, with the usual forms of Chinese

* Ilu, the Chinese way of pronouncing the name of Elliott.

politeness, informed them that Thibet was too poor and miserable a country to suit them, and that they had best think of returning to France. In vain did they, after thanking him for his friendly interest, assure him with firmness, that, notwithstanding his advice, they intended to remain; in vain did the poor Regent promise his support, and affirm that he it was who governed the country;' there was no combating the all-powerful influence of the Chinese ambassador. At last, finding all opposition fruitless, they determined to quit Lha-Ssa, but not before the good-natured Regent had fought hard in the cause of tolerance. We cannot refrain from quoting some of the arguments of this poor, benighted Buddhist, and commending them to the attention of some of the Lamas of the Western world:

The Regent could not be made to share the apprehensions which Ki Chan sought to instil into his mind. He maintained that our presence at Lha-Ssa could in no manner endanger the safety of the state. 'If,' said he, 'the doctrine that these men teach be false, the people of Thibet will not embrace it; if, on the contrary, it be true, what have we to fear? How can truth be hurtful to mankind? These two Lamas from the kingdom of France,' he added, have done no harm; their intentions towards us are most friendly. Can we, without reason, deprive them of that liberty and protection which we grant here to all men, and especially to men of prayer? Are we justified in rendering ourselves guilty of present and positive injustice, from the imaginary dread of evils to come?"

The two missionaries had made up their minds to leave Thibet; but they had fancied that the manner of doing so would be left to their option, and that they would be allowed to take the route towards British India. Great, therefore, was their surprise when they discovered that they were to be conducted, under escort, to the frontiers of China-a journey of nearly eight months' duration. Expostulation was useless; and with a heavy heart they were

obliged to leave Lha-Ssa, in company of fifteen Chinese soldiers, under the command of the Mandarin LyKouo-Ngan-alias, Ly, the Pacifier of kingdoms! His Excellency Ly was an admirable specimen of a Chinese sceptic, scoffing alike at Bonzes and Lamas; but having, like many other esprits forts, a pet superstition for his private use, and professing an ardent devotion to the Great Bear! For the details of this homeward journey, we must, however, refer our readers to the book itself: we will merely say, that its dangers and fatigues were so great, that the travellers must, more than once, have suspected the treacherous Ki-Chan of having plotted their destruction.

M. Huc, in the first moment of indignation, seems to have hoped that his government would have remonstrated, but we have not heard that such has been the case, and Thibet is likely to remain, for some time to come, forbidden ground to European settlers. We have already given our opinion respecting the probability of missionaries of any Christian sect succeeding in the main object of the undertaking in which our heroes (they deserve the name) failed; and M. Huc himself seems to insinuate, towards the close of his work, that those who in future may seek to Christianize Thibet, would do well to try the potency of physical benefits. We have always thought, and experience has proved beyond dispute, that a certain degree of material civilization should precede, or at least accompany, the introduction of Christianity. The starving Singhalese of low caste, keenly alive to the comforts of rice and social equality, proclaims himself of the religion of the East India Company; the knowledge-loving Buddhist of Thibet may one day adopt the religion of railways, microscopes, and electric telegraphs; and it is just possible, as M. Huc observes, that the missionary who should introduce vaccination at Lha-Ssa, would at one stroke extirpate small-pox and Buddhism.

THE VALLEY STREAM.

BY W. ALLINGHAM.

STREAM, flowing swiftly, what music is thine!
The breezy rock-pass, and the storm-shaken pine
Have taught thee their murmurs,

Their wild mountain murmurs;
Subdued in thy liquid response to a sound
Which aids the repose of this pastoral ground,
Where our valley yet mingles an awe with the love
It smiles to the sheltering bastions above,—
Thy cloud-haunted birthplace,

O Stream, flowing swiftly!

Encircle our meadows with bounty and grace;
Then move on thy journey with tranquiller pace,
To find the great waters,

The great ocean-waters,

Blue, wonderful, boundless to vision or thought,-
Thence, thence, might thy musical tidings be brought!
One waft of the tones of the infinite sea!

Our gain is but songs of the mountain from thee:
Thy primitive issue,

Thou Stream of our valley.

And have we divined what is thunder'd and hiss'd,
When the awful ledge glimmers through screens of grey mist,
And raves forth its secrets,

The heart of its secrets?

Or learn'd what is hid in thy whispering note,
Mysteriously gather'd from fountains remote,
When the solitudes spread in the upper sunshine?
O Stream, flowing swiftly, what music is thine?
Far-wafted, prophetic?

Thou Stream of our valley!

GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL.*

WORD-PAINTING requires the

hand of a master, and Mr. Knox, favourably known as the author of the right pleasant Ornithological Rambles, is no mean proficient in the art.

It was a saying of glorious John, whom the gods named the Emperor, and men called Murray, that every man had a book in him. Never was judge's dictum more true: but what sort of a book it may be is another

matter.

Some of the herd, blessed or cursed with the stimulus that drives them to the desk, without giving them courage to own their literary offspring, inform the public in the title-page of a bad book that it is by the author of a worse; and this is a custom very much to be commended, for in such cases the would-be reader has fair warning; and the experienced amateur, well knowing that such abortive productions fall, utterly devoid of vitality, from the groaning press, avoids them accordingly. But nothing is absolutely lost in this best of all possible worlds, and though, with a few brilliant exceptions, the books from which writers withhold their names remain books shut as far as readers are concerned what would the trunk-maker and chandler do without them?

Refreshing it is, after wading through the literary slough of despond spread around us, and plodding through the heavy clod-like masses of printed paper that encumber our table, to come upon such a book as we are about to open for the delight of those of our readers who are not already familiar with it. No lover of sport, whether in that golden time when he is plying the rod and the gun in full vigour, or in the decline of his days, when age taketh the pleasure from him,' as it did from worthy Thomas

Barker,t-no lover of Nature will take up this book without laying it down with regret, if he once get fairly into its amusing and instructive pages.

To few is a knowledge of the habits of animals of more consequence than to the sportsman. The success of the hunter, the hawker, the deer-stalker, the general shooter, and the angler, depends in great measure on this knowledge: and when an observer takes to any of these recreations, especially if, like Mr. Knox, he should be a sound zoologist, possessing the power of embodying his observations, and bringing them before the mind's eye of the reader, the result is sure to be satisfactory. All nature is so full, and there is still so much to be unveiled, that there is no fear of want of novelty or interest. It is impossible for one who knows how to use his eyes, to take a short rest from his sporting labours on a flowery bank, by a woodside, by a lake, by a river, by a brook,— on a thymy down, or among the heather, without finding some natural object to arrest his attention. Plants, insects, the smaller birds and quadrupeds-all rural sights and sounds have charms for him; and he will seldom rise without some addition to his stock of ideas from a spot which would have presented a blank to the unobserving and ungifted spectator.

The book opens with a plea for the partridge as the farmer's friend, and a much more substantial one the bird is than many of the plumeless bipeds who assume the name. When the Rev. G. Wilkins, who has so successfully turned his attention to agriculture in Essex, said to a neighbouring farmer who consulted him- If you have a nest of partridges, encourage them; all the summer they live upon insects,

Game Birds and Wild Fowl: their Friends and their Foes. By A. E. Knox, M.A., F.L.S., author of Ornithological Rambles in Sussex. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster-row, 1850.

The Art of Angling. Wherein are discovered many rare secrets, very necessary to be known by all that delight in that Recreation. Written by Thomas Barker, an ancient Practitioner in the said Art. London: printed by R. H., and are to be sold by Oliver Fletcher, neer the Seven-Stars, at the West-end of St. Pauls. Anno Dom. 1651.

VOL. XLV. NO. CCLXV.

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wireworms, &c.; consider how many millions a single covey will destroy in a single summer;' he understated his case; for he might have added, as Mr. Knox observes-' and in the winter and spring.' The contents of a partridge's crop, in those seasons, prove what an entomological scourge the bird is, and how it protects the crops. The small quantity of grain that it consumes is as nothing to the good that it does.

Unlike the capercailzie, the ptarmigan, the black-cock, and the grouse, the partridge thrives best where the plough and the harrow are most sedulously plied, and may be said, like the sparrow, to follow in the steps of civilized man. Its enemies, furred, feathered, and unfeathered, are very numerous, and among them the fox and the human night poacher stand pre-eminent. Some of the worthies of the latter description have lately, it seems, hit upon a new dodge, to which all who would preserve their birds should be wide awake.

One of

Two or three poachers, disguised in respectable attire, travel about the country in a gig or dog-cart, accompanied by a single pointer or setter. the party alights at the outskirts of a village or country town, and proceeding to the public room of the nearest tavern, soon falls into conversation with some of the unsuspecting inhabitants; and passing himself off as an intelligent traveller,' or keen sportsman, about to pay a visit to the neighbouring Squire, soon obtains sufficient local information for his purpose. The other 'gentlemen' have in the mean time put up their horse and gig at an inn in a different quarter, and while discussing their brandy-and-water at the bar,

have

'pumped' the landlord of all the news likely to prove useful to the fraternity. At a certain hour in the evening the trio meet by appointment at some prearranged spot outside the village, and commence operations. After comparing notes, the most promising ground is selected. A dark night and rough weather are all in their favour. The steady old pointer, with a lantern round his neck, is turned into a stubble field, and a net of fine texture, but tough materials, is produced from a bag in which it has hitherto been closely packed. The light passes quickly across the field

now

here, now there, like a 'Will-o'-theWisp'-as the sagacious dog quarters the ground rapidly, yet with as much care and precision as if he were working

for a legitimate sportsman in open day. Suddenly it ceases to move, then advances slowly, stops, moves once more, and at last becomes stationary. Two of the men then take the net, and making a circuit until they arrive in front of the dog, shake out the meshes and place it in a proper position on the ground. Then standing opposite to each other, and holding either end of the string, they draw it slowly and noiselessly over their quadruped ally-whose exact position is indicated by the lantern-frequently capturing at the same time an unsuspecting covey huddled together within a few inches of his nose. When

this operation is carried on by experienced hands, an entire manor may be effectually stripped of partridges in an incredibly short space of time.

But the importation of the redlegged partridge (perdix rubra), better known to sportsmen as the Guernsey partridge, and the French partridge, has, in those counties where it has been successfully introduced, especially in Norfolk, considerably checked the increase of the indigenous species. The red and the black man disappear before him of the white face wherever he invades their territory, unless he makes them slaves, and will so disappear, let amiable Aborigines' Protection Societies do what they may. The old English black rat (mus rattus) has almost vanished before the invasion of the Hanover breed,' as Squire Western irreverently denominated the voracious grey rat (mus decumanus); and the modest brown partridge yields to the flaunting, gaily-feathered French denizen. Mr. Knox also notices the two species, or rather varieties, of the common pheasant, originally introduced into this country, the Colchican from Asia Minor, the ringnecked from China. The latter, he remarks, was the least robust of the two, and, besides other differences of plumage, was characterized by the white ring round the neck:

In process of time the Colchican increased and multiplied, while the Chinaman diminished in an equal ratio. It is said, however, that they breed freely together, and that the former, being the more powerful, gradually absorbed the other, while the white collar, that still adorns the necks of many of our modern pheasants, is all that remains of the plumage of their remote ancestors.

Neither the sportsman nor the

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