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Page 1
[Illustration]
Their appearance is altogether of a warlike character, the horses being
well caparisoned, and the riders well clothed for personal defence; and
though their equestrian evolutions be somewhat wild, the lance or spear
is doubtless a formidable weapon in their hands. The savage splendour of
their dress, together with the pawing and snorting of their fiery
steeds, render them appropriate auxiliaries to royalty, in countries
where such attributes of power are requisite to impress the people with
the importance of their rulers, and where the milder aids of
civilization and refinement are wanting to protect the sovereign from
violence.
The second engraving, copied from the same authentic source as that
preceding it, is a somewhat grotesque portraiture of one of the _Lancers
of the Sultan of Begharmi_, described, in an historical and geographical
account by a native prince, as an extensive country, containing woods
and rivers, and fields fit for cultivation; but now desolated, as the
inhabitants say, by the "misconduct of the king, who, having increased
in levity and licentiousness to such a frightful degree, as even to
marry his own daughter, God Almighty caused Saboon, the prince of
Wa-da-i, to march against him, and destroy him, laying waste, at the
same time, all his country, and leaving the houses uninhabited, as a
signal chastisement for his impiety."
Major Denham having applied for the covering of the above warrior and
his horse, in his journal thus describes their arrival:--"Aug. 11. Soon
after daylight, Karouash, with Hadgi, Mustapha, the chief of the
Shouaas, and the Sheikh's two nephews, Hassein and Kanemy, came to our
huts. They were attended by more than a dozen slaves, bearing presents
for us, for King George, and the consul at Tripoli. I had applied for a
_lebida_, (horse-covering,) after seeing those taken from the Begharmis;
the sheikh now sent a man, clothed in a yellow wadded jacket, with a
scarlet cap, and mounted on the horse taken from the Begharmis, on which
the sultan's eldest son rode. He was one of the finest horses I had
seen, and covered with a scarlet cloth, also wadded. 'Every thing,'
Hadgi Mustapha said, 'except the man, is to be taken to your great
king.'"
The Begharmis, it will be seen, were conquered by the people of Kanem;
and Major Denham has translated, and given in the appendix to his
_Travels_, a song of thanksgiving on the triumphant return of the
governor, full of the characteristic beauty and simplicity of savage
life. In these struggles it would appear the law of nations is severe on
the weakest; for the son of the late sultan of the Begharmis is
described as "now a slave of the sheikh of Bornou." So wags the world!
LIVING AT TOULOUSE.
Part of a house, sufficient for a small family, unfurnished, may be had
for 14 l. a year; and the most elegant in the city, in the best
situation, for 60 l., including coach-house, stable, cellar, &c. A horse
may be kept well for 14 l. a year. The wages of a coachman are 8 l., a
housemaid 8 l., a noted cook 16 l., and a lady's-maid 10 l. The price of
a chicken is 7-1/2 d.; a partridge 1 s.; a hare 2 s. 6 d.; a duck 1 s.;
a turkey 2 s. 6 d.; the best bread 1-1/2 d. per lb.; common ditto 1 d.;
a bottle of wine 3 d.; brandy is sold by the lb. of 16 oz. and costs 6
d.; grapes 1/2 d. per lb.; meat 3 d.; butter 4 d.; cheese 6d; 50 lbs.
carrots 10 d.; other vegetables at the same rate. A dozen very fine
peaches now cost a halfpenny; pears 3 d. a dozen; labourers, who work
from sunrise to sunset, are fed by the proprietor, and have 6 d. per
day, which, in this part of the country, will go further than three
times the sum in England. The horses and oxen used about the farms are
fed chiefly on straw, and do not consume more than 3 d. a day. The
labouring people make a very nourishing diet from maize flour, which is
fried with grease; and this, with beans, forms the principal part of
their food. They neither use nor wish for meat; but at this season they
have figs and grapes almost for nothing--_Original Letter_.
MOHAMMEDAN SUPERSTITION.
The eastern, and all Mohammedan people, considering Alexander the Great
as the only monarch who conquered the globe from east to west, give him
the title of "the two horned," in allusion to his said conquests. They
likewise believe that Gog and Magog were two great nations, but that, in
consequence of their wicked and mischievous disposition, Alexander
gathered and immured them within two immensely high mountains, in the
darkest and northernmost parts of Europe, by a most surprising and
insuperable wall, made of iron and copper, of great thickness and
height; and that to the present time they are confined there; that,
notwithstanding they are a dwarfish race,--viz. from two to three feet
in height only--they will one day come out and desolate the world. As
Lord Mayor's Day is just approaching, perhaps some of the visiters of
Gog and Magog on that occasion may decide this matter. It is almost akin
to our nursery quibble of the giants hearing the clock strike, &c. &c.
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