FELLENBERG'S AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL AT IN our 23rd Number, we gave some account of the life and labours of Emanuel Fellenberg, and his experimental schools at Hofwyl. The following very interesting account of the agricultural school he established at Meykirch is extracted from a little work which has fallen into our hands, entitled, "What Fellenberg has done for Education," which well deserves the attentive perusal of all to whom the welfare of the rising generation, and the ultimate amelioration of the human species, are dear. "When Fellenberg had proved, experimentally, the truth of his ideas by the success of his agricultural school, he proceeded to prove it still more decidedly by the colony of Meykirch, six miles from Hofwyl. In the year 1816 he purchased fifteen acres of woodland. Thither he sent a master with about twelve children. They were to build themselves a house, to clear and cultivate the land, and to employ their leisure time in learning to read and write, and the elements of knowledge. They were supplied with tools and materials from Hofwyl, and with food till they could raise enough for subsistence. In seven years they repaid all the expenses of their outlay, which was about 150%., and maintained themselves upon their little territory. Fellenberg calculates that fifteen acres of land would support a colony of thirty children upon this plan, which is the greatest number suited to such a system; and that it might be established upon land not available for the general purposes of cultivation. The only difficulty is, to obtain a superintendant properly qualified by temper, character, religious principles, and a complete knowledge of details. man, to excavate a passage into a sandstone rock five feet in height and 280 in length. "On Sundays they attend the service at the chapel of Meykirch, and very frequently at Hofwyl. "An establishment like Meykirch possesses one very great advantage, peculiar to itself, over a large one like that at Hofwyl, which is, that the pupils see the whole fruit of their labours concultivate, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, are all the prostantly under their eyes. The house they live in, the fields they duce of their own hands. It is strictly and properly their own. If any articles are brought from other places, they are bought in exchange for their own productions. But in a large establishment this sense of personal production is lost sight of in the multitude of producers, and the ramifications and changes of the produce. We cannot help thinking that there was a period in European history, when the wants of the peasants were supplied very much by domestic manufacture, and when the state of society resembled a good deal that of Meykirch; the children were brought up under the eye of the parent, and engaged in some kind of domestic labour-spinning, or knitting, &c., till they were old enough to go to field-labour. The contamination of towns had not reached the country, and the manners were more pure. If it ever were so, that state of society has passed away, never to return; and the benefits of it upon the character of the young must now be sought for by more artificial methods-by an enlightened and Christian philanthropy anticipating evil habits by a precautionary system, and applying the best improvements of modern art, science, and moral management, to the judicious formation of habits of intelligent labour-in agricultural schools formed after the successful model of Fellenberg. 4 "Agriculture,' says Fellenberg, seems to be peculiarly fitted by Providence for the education of poor necessitous children. When taught systematically and intelligently, it excites the faculties of observation and reasoning, even among those who learn it only to live by it; but the particular end which an enlightened benevolence proposes to itself will only be fulfilled in proportion as we teach the pupils to delight in assisting and obliging their companions while they are working on their own account. At Meykirch, the pupils are so situated as to perceive that these two objects, the personal and common good, go hand in hand together. If new pupils arrive, their assistance is felt to be useful in completing the common asylum. Their pleasures and enjoyments are in common; industry and Christian feeling are promoted by the same means, and travel together in perfect harmony. Is it going too far to say, that that prayer, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth," is here fulfilled?' Destitute and abandoned children, who would otherwise perish as outcasts, here become Christians, and earn their subsistence contentedly, cheerfully, and gratefully. It is in nature, the grand laboratory of the Creator, which is now put in harmony with the gospel, that we must seek for the means and elements of primary instruction and education. Our utmost wishes may be accomplished by placing the rising generation under the care of well-trained instructors, in the midst of nature, safe from the contamination and corruption of the dense and neglected This colony was compared very naturally to the story of Crusoe upon the desert island. It drew all its supplies at first from Hofwyl, as Crusoe did his from the ship. The children were delighted at the comparison, and worked at their enterprise with the greatest alacrity and zeal, and became naturally strongly attached to the cottage reared by their own hands, and the land converted from a waste to a garden by their own labour. When these little emigrants arrived at the spot which was to be their future home, they found nothing but a shed on the side of a precipitous mountain, under which they slept upon straw covered with sail-cloth. They had to level the ground, and with the earth and rock to form a terrace in front, which soon became a garden. The cottage they built was of one story, with a basement, which became the kitchen and dairy, which occupied together twenty-five feet in front. Above this was one room, about twelve feet wide, for the day-room, behind which was a dormitory of the same size, and behind this a stable of the same length, and about nine feet wide. An open gallery was in front of the day-room. At each end of the building was a shed about fifteen feet wide, and running back upon a level with the stable. So that the whole front of the building was fifty feet, and the depth thirty-three; and it was finished in about two years. The colony subsists upon milk, potatoes, and bread. Three hours a day are devoted to instruction, the rest to labour accompanied by explanations. The same system is pur-population of towns, which cannot grow up otherwise than vicious. sued as at Hofwyl :-reading, writing, drawing, singing, natural history, the history and geography of their country, common arithmetic, mental arithmetic, geometry, land-measuring; a portion of botany, so far as relates to agriculture; the nature of soils and manures, and the rotation of crops; platting, sewing, spinning, weaving; social prayer, night and morning; religious conversations; Bible lessons; the feelings and affections roused into action in the midst of their tasks; the duties of life pointed out, as depending upon their relation to one another, and to their heavenly Father; his universal love to his creatures, and the inexpressible glories of his works. In the prayers which the master and pupils offer up morning and evening, they never omit to refer to the advantages and blessings which they enjoy in this asylum, nor to pray that all orphans and destitute children, in all the world, may everywhere find kind protectors who may establish similar asylums for instructing and educating them, so that they may become good Christians and useful members of society. "When the pupils of Meykirch were made acquainted with the miserable state of Greece, and the multitudes of children which became destitute in consequence, they made a collection of what they could spare for their relief, and petitioned in their prayers that they might meet with the same education and protection which they themselves possessed. "It must not be supposed,' says Fellenberg, 'that education consists in removing difficulties from the path of the pupils; it consists rather in teaching them how to surmount them. They must be taught to conquer both external and internal difficulties: to overcome the first by steady labour, well directed; and to master the second, viz., their own passions, by habitual self-command. No occupation is so fitted for this purpose as agriculture, provided it be followed under a kind, judicious, and religious guide, who may direct and moderate the efforts of the pupils, which are sometimes apt to run into excess, as at others they would sink into idleness and disorder.' "Some years ago, the river Linth overflowed its banks, and converted a considerable tract of country into a useless marsh. An eminent engineer succeeded in draining this by a canal; and it was proposed to establish upon the reclaimed land a colony of "This colony is one of the most affecting sights in the world. To behold the happy results of youthful labour, the intelligence of the children, and their contented and grateful dispositions, living upon a fare which most people would despise, and eating nothing but the produce of their own exertions, having converted a wilder-poor children, upon the plan of Meykirch. The plan happily sucness into a garden, and made the desert to blossom as a rose. "When Meykirch was first established, they wanted water. To attain it they were obliged, under the direction of a skilful work ceeded; and while in progress, the children at Meykirch took a lively interest in it, made a collection for it, and offered up prayers for its prosperity.' A RAMBLE INTO IRELAND. NO. II. THURLES, where I had to remain a few days, is, in many respects, a very remarkable town. It is seated on the river Suir, by which it is divided into two nearly equal parts. It adjoins the most fertile district of the most fertile county (Tipperary) in Ireland; contains many well-built houses; shops for the retail of almost every kind of commodity; a fine open market-square; a large college, built in an admirable style; a cathedral; two female convents; a very handsome lunatic asylum; court-house and prison; a monastery for monks; several castles and ruins; some five or six schools; a market-house, well designed, which stands in the square; and a palace for the Roman Catholic Archbishop, adjacent to which is a garden, laid out with excellent taste. The religious edifices just mentioned all belong to the Catholics, who count above 9800 of the 10,000 of which the population is composed. There is a church for Protestants-a modest building, whose tapering spire, however, comes out in the general picture of the town with good effect. At the back of the cathedral there is a lofty slender steeple, covered by a cupola. It was placed in that awkward position in order to bring it within the precincts of the archbishop's garden, so as to avoid the penalties enacted in former times against any person who would build or frequent a catholic house of worship with a steeple attached to it in the right place-the more especially if it sustained a bell that could be rung. This steeple, by its locality, appertains to the private residence of the archbishop, and thus, in one respect at least, the law was eluded. When the steeple was finished, however, and the bell suspended, to ring it became a dangerous affair, for the pile being too slender for its height, took a fancy to lean a little, after the fashion of the tower at Pisa. So far as the ringing of the bell was concerned, the law therefore would have altogether failed to apply to this particular erection-for a belfry it is not. Thurles, seen from a distance on a fine day, reminds me much of a Spanish town. Its ecclesiastical edifices, its fine college, and other public buildings-all of which present themselves in conspicuous points of view, its domed and spired steeples, and old castles-standing, too, as it does, with a river winding through it, in the midst of a plain devoid of sylvan ornament, and nearly surrounded by isolated hills and chains of mountains-cause it to exhibit a very striking resemblance to more than one of the towns which I have passed through in Arragon and La Mancha. The long lines of wretched habitations by which Thurles is approached on every side but one, make the resemblance still stronger, except that the Spanish dwellings of the poor are better constructed, and not quite so comfortless. Tipperary, one of whose descendants was, in 1535, created Ormonde. Manus The old castle at the foot of the bridge was evidently intended to defend it. The keep, or principal tower, is still nearly perfect. From the summit there is an extensive prospect of the country all round, which is full of picturesque scenery, embracing the celebrated ruins of Holy Cross Abbey; the still more interesting piles which crown the rock of Cashel; several old castles, standing like veteran sentinels in the plain; and hills and mountain ranges (not forgetting the "Devil's Bit") in the distance, which present azure undulating forms of remarkable beauty. The most gracefully moulded eminence I have ever beheld in any country (Greece alone excepted), is one about six miles from Thurles, called Killough Hill. It is characterised by the country people as the garden of Ireland, from its abounding in a variety of herbs which are used by them for medicinal purposes. Here and there, above the ridges of the mountains, peep the conical tops of other mountains farther away, which, by sometimes disappearing in mist, sometimes suddenly presenting themselves as the mist rolls off, give a magical effect to the panorama quite peculiar and enchanting. Thurles was originally called Durlas O'Fogarty, or the "Strong Hold" of the Fogartys. It is a place of great antiquity, and in the tenth century was the scene of a memorable battle between the Danes and the native Irish, in which the former suffered a signal defeat. Soon after the English invasion, the Ostmen of Dublin, on their march to reinforce Strongbow, who was then encamped at Cashel, halted at this place in careless security, when Blame me not, "Gentle Reader," for lingering amidst these O'Brien of Thomond suddenly attacked and defeated them, with scenes to me so full of early and fascinating associations-for it the loss of 400 of their men and their four principal commanders. was in Thurles I was ushered into a life that has since proved so O'Brien soon afterwards encountered the English borderers, who replete with variety-and, I ought to add-with enjoyments not were extending their power in this direction, and, meeting with often obtained by men even more deserving of them than I have them at this place, compelled them to retreat. A castle appears been. I trust that I am not deficient in gratitude to HIM, who gives to have been erected here at an early period, which in 1208 was and takes away-and who when he takes away, often shows his love besieged by Hugh de Lacy, and taken from Geoffry Mac Morris, as much as when he gives most redundantly. Every hill and by whom it was then occupied. In 1300, a monastery for Car-mountain-every cloud even which caps them-every ripple of melites or Whitefriars was founded here, by one of the Butler family, which at the dissolution was granted, with all its dependencies. to Thomas, Earl of Ormonde. A preceptory of Knights Templars is said to have been also founded here; but no authentic record exists of such an establishment. The principal castle was erected by James Butler, the first Lord Palatine of that river, winding by the garden where I first heard the hum of the bee and the song of the thrush, and imbibed the fragrance of the rose, brings me back the feelings and freshness of early days. While travelling in Greece it often occurred to me, and from whatever cause it springs I believe the fact to be, that there are local influences acting on the atmosphere which render it particularly agreeable and salutary in one place, whereas within a very short distance of the same spot where cheerfulness and health prevail, gloom and distemper oppress the mind. I found this particularly the case upon passing the Isthmus into Corinth. As long as I remained on the Attic or Northern border of the Ægean, I may be said to have enjoyed a Paradise. But the moment I entered Corinth, all was malaria and discomfort. I experienced something of this kind in Thurles. It has, as it appears to me, though my judgment may be considered partial, a peculiarly bland climate. From twelve until three or four o'clock, the bridge and its immediate neighbourhood, embracing the gardens of the Ursuline Convent, frequently, even in the depth of winter, exhibit a climate perfectly Neapolitan. During those hours the bridge is the favourite lounge of a very worthy friend of mine, whom, when I was a mere boy, I looked up to as a veteran. I met him lately in his daily haunt, not looking an hour older than he did thirty years ago. This speaks a volume for the salubrity of Thurles. Ireland certainly is blessed very generally with a climate much milder than that of England. The Irish coast is almost completely girded by lofty mountains, which protect the interior from ungenial winds. The atmosphere is undoubtedly very humid in consequence of this circumstance, as the heights arrest the clouds in their passage from the surrounding seas, and condense them into rivers and smaller streams, which diffuse themselves over the plains and valleys within. But, notwithstanding this humidity, the climate is remarkably pure, owing, I should think, to the soil being, where it is not absolutely bog, almost universally spread upon a couch of limestone. I never experienced, even among the deepest bogs of Ireland, anything like the malaria that almost poisoned me while traversing the Campagna of Rome. On the contrary, the very bog climates of Ireland are not uncheerful. Would that I could speak with equal favour of its artificial condition! The numberless gifts showered upon Ireland by nature are to a great extent frustrated by the negligence or impotence of its inhabitants; their general want of system; their habit of thinking of one thing while they are trying to do another; their ignorance of the value of time; and the universal tendency to put off to to-morrow, and to-morrow, what ought to be finished at the moment. When you enter even their best-regulated inns, make up your mind to be obliged to ring the bell (if there be one) at least five times before the waiter will make his appearance. He distinctly hears the first as well as the fifth, and knows that sooner or later attend he must. But he puts off the evil moment to the last. He then appears with all sorts of excuses on the tip of his tongue, receives your orders, which he forthwith forgets, and then he resumes for another while his "strenuous idleness." You are starving for the want of dinner. You are told that a very good dinner is in preparation-and so perhaps it is. An hour after the time you have ordered it, Michael spreads the cloth on the table. In half an hour after that, the usual dinner implements are brought in one by one-now a knife and fork-and then a plate-then the principal dish, mutton or beef, quite hot, and excellent-but before you can get the salt, and the bread, and the potatoes, and the mustard, the beef becomes cold, and the gravy looks like lard. If candles be lighted, the burning blackened wicks are two inches long before a snuffers can be had-and as one pair usually serves the whole house, you are to expect only a momentary loan of that instrument. Off it immediately goes to some other quarter-when you want it again ring six times, and, perhaps, you may get it. I would recommend you always to travel with your own snuffers. It would save you much annoyance. A traveller in Ireland, who wishes to feel comfortable, should also take with him in his portmanteau a hammer, and some hundred or two of small tacks. You smile at this. But you will adopt my suggestion when you hear what happened to me once at Ennis, the capital of the county of Clare. There was a fair going on in the town, and as the rooms below were crowded, in the hotel where I was sojourning, I desired a fire to be lighted in my bed-room, having had some writing to attend to, which admitted of no delay. It rained the whole day" cats and dogs," as they say in Ireland. The turf was wet-the chimney smoked abominably-opening the window made it worse-opening the door did not cure it-I shut them both and called for a pair of bellows. "Immadiately, your honour," said John. In Ireland "immadiately" usually means at the least a quarter of an hour after the time at which it is pronounced. The fire went out. I rang three times. John at last put his head inside the door-he could get no farther, for the carpet, a very good one, by the bye, which was spread over the floor, was not nailed down, and so it happened that every time the door was opened, the edge of the carpet near it was turned up, and this time the door fairly stuck fast, and would not move one way or the other. John, where are the bellows?" "Plaise your honour, I tould Biddy to bring them." "Will you fetch me the bellows yourself, and tell Biddy that the fire is out, and that she must bring fresh fire from the kitchen to light it up again." "Yes, your honour, surely" (running away). "John, I have another favour to ask of you. You see you can't get in. Now if you will get a hammer and two or three small nails, and nail that carpet down just near the door, it will then open and shut easily." "Sure enough, your honour, and so it would-but it's the fair to-day, and the very life is worn out of me,"-(running off again). I shouted after him-" Get me the hammer and the nails, and I'll do it myself." "Sartinly, your honour." I should have before informed the reader that everybody in Ireland who has a tolerably good coat on his back, is uniformly styled by the waiters-" your honour." By giving him that title they expect that where a secondary sort of traveller would give them only a shilling, "his honour" could not think of presenting them with less than half-a-crown. Biddy at last came with a shovel full of fire in one hand, and the bellows in the other. But in her efforts to penetrate my chamber, in consequence of the rumpled carpet, she got jammed midway, the shovel fell out of her hand, the fire was scattered, luckily, on the landing outside-and the bellows soon partook of the general confusion. I kept my temper as well as I could, although my day was wasting away most unprofitably. I pulled the door partly open by main force, and then the difficulty was to shut it. Biddy, by dint of blowing, got up a fire. 66 Biddy," said I, as she was going away-" have you got such a thing as a hammer in the house?" "Will a hatchet do for your honour?" "Anything-bring me a hatchet, and two or three nails." Biddy stared. She could not at all guess what I wanted the the hatchet or the nails for. However, she soon re-appeared with a cleaver, and a nail as thick as one of the prongs of a pitchfork. "Will this nail do for your honour-the divil another in the house?" The case was hopeless. I put on my hat, took my umbrellawith great difficulty, and no small danger, made my way through dense masses of pigs, and horned cattle and horses, to a set of stalls, where I had in the morning seen nails of every kind for sale-bought a pennyworth of tacks-returned to my hotel-by the power of dragging and pushing closed the door-arranged the carpet-used the poker for a hammer-and effected my object. When I had occasion to order dinner, John came after I had rung my usual number of times. He opened the door and pushed violently, fully expecting it to meet the old impediment; it flew quite open, and in he tumbled, right head over heels. I could not forbear from laughing-in which he joined. He received my orders, and promised to be punctual; but as he went out he tried the door, backward and forward, with evident pleasure wondering at the change. It is a curious fact in the history of the blind, that Hanigan can tell with unerring precision, from the sounds of the voices of two men standing together at a little distance from him, which is the taller of the two. I was surprised at this, at first; but upon afterwards making some experiments myself, with my eyes shut, "You see," said I, "the virtue there is in two or three I found it not so difficult as I had imagined. The voices of two nails." persons of different stature, or of two persons, one of whom stands "Ah, then, sure enough, your honour, was it Biddy that upon higher or lower ground than the other, will undoubtedly did it?" reach the ear through different strata of the atmosphere, the "No-I went out and bought the nails, and did the job higher stratum conveying the voice of the taller speaker, the lower myself." of the other. "Oh, then, God bless your honour; now we can open and shut the doore, at any rate!" I would also recommend any traveller in Ireland, who is liable to catch cold from sitting, and especially from sleeping, in a chamber in which the window panes are far from being all perfect, to examine the said windows before he settles on his room. The chances are, in nine cases out of ten, that in several panes little holes are broken, and that one, at the least, is altogether missing, and has been so for more than a year. This is the case even in many private houses, which otherwise wear a somewhat respectable appearance. Traverse any street you like I speak of course of the provincial towns-and you will scarcely pass any house, in the windows of which there is not a pane of glass, either partly or wholly fractured. Pass the same house after a year shall have elapsed, and you find it in precisely the same unreformed condition. It would seem as if the glazier was always non inventus. At least that is the usual apology. The Thurles Hotel is rather a favourable specimen of an Irish inn at the present day. The charges are very moderate. The proprietress, a widow, a most obliging, civil, and conscientious woman. You need not ring for the waiter above five or six times. The carpet of my sitting-room had the usual habit of rumpling up every time the door was opened; but I got tired of complaining about it, and so left it to its fate. I had an opportunity of hearing here Hanigan, one of the best pipers in Ireland. I confess, until I felt the full power of this instrument, as played by him, I always had the strongest prejudice against it. The Scotch bagpipes I cannot tolerate at all. They are, to my ear, a downright nuisance. This may be very bad taste; nevertheless, I am apt to fancy that early associations only could reconcile to its shrill nasal sort of squeak, the ear even of a Highlander. Hanigan has reconciled me to this ancient, and, with many persons, highly favourite bundle of tubes. In fact, under his fingers it is an organ of very considerable power; he certainly does elicit from it more melody than I ever heard from any instrument of any kind before. He treated us to the principal popular airs of Ireland—the most delightful combinations of tones of which any nation can boast. He infused his whole soul into the modulations of the celebrated Irish piece, called the "Fox Hunt." It consists partly of recitative, in which the gathering of the hounds and hunters is described-then the search for the fox-then the first view-the full pursuit-the loss of the fox among the bushes-the search again-the melancholy fears and trepidation of the animal-his fatigue-his schemes for escape-then the discovery of the scent once more-the final chase the death of poor Reynard-and the galloping home of the triumphant hunters. The animation of Hanigan while engaged in this fine composition is quite contagious. He plays as if the whole scene were before him, and he beheld it, although, like most of his tribe, he is so blind that he is scarcely sensible to the presence of the strongest light. Hanigan's great ambition is to be permitted to perform before Her Majesty. He has ordered for this purpose a set of new pipes, which are to be finished about Shrovetide; and as he never plays publicly in Lent, he intends to spend a sort of retreat, in the house of a distinguished amateur, a great patron of his, where he is to make himself complete master of all the resources of his new purchase. It is a great concession to obtain from Hanigan a few dancing tunes. He disdains performances of that description, confining himself principally to the old-established epics and lyrics of the land. However, when he was warmed a little by some of the best whiskey which the cellars of the college could afford, we had him to play for the community. A finer set of youths and young men I have seldom seen assembled anywhere than on this occasion, The boys were remarkably handsome, and two or three of them performed hornpipes in capital style. We were altogether a com, pany of some seventy or eighty persons; and a more healthy, cheerful congregation of vigorous dancers could be produced perhaps in no other country. One of the finest spectacles I have ever beheld, is that which presents itself in the Cathedral of Thurles, during what is called the last Mass on the Sunday. The main aisle holds at least 3000 individuals. It is always densely crowded at this service, with men, the women retiring chiefly to the side aisles. A great many of these men have their prayer-books, especially those of the younger generations; and it is delightful to observe the serious attention which they pay to the duties they assemble to perform. They are, generally speaking, of the same stature, seldom exceeding five feet seven or eight inches; their frames and muscular energies seem capable of sustaining any fatigue, and their strength looks indomitable. Heaven help the legion of Frenchmen, or of any other men, against whom a regiment of these Tipperary boys" should be directed to point the bayonet in a charge! It was my good fortune (for such, indeed, I esteem it) to have been present at the second public meeting held in this town, for the purpose of encouraging what may be truly styled the great moral revolution now going on in Ireland. It is unnecessary for me to observe that the vices most dominant in Ireland have hitherto been distinctly traceable to the immoderate use of ardent spirits. I believe it is no longer a subject of doubt, that the different kinds of atmosphere we inhale, the viands we eat, and the beverages we drink, have each the power of influencing sensation and action in different ways. For instance, the atmosphere of one day will fill the same mind with pleasant thoughts, while the atmosphere of another day will overcome it with gloom to such an extent, as, in some instances, to lead even to suicide. Sir Humphrey Davy composed a gas, the effect of which when drawn into the system was, to produce an inevitable propensity to laughter. Opium is known to awaken varied and curious visions in the mind, and the great virtue of the cigar is to tranquillise the busy thoughts, and bring on a disposition to reverie. In strict analogy with these effects, it cannot be questioned that the inordinate use of whiskey is to urge the muscles and limbs into angry action. Three or four Irishmen shall sit down together in the best possible temper with each other. They are intimate friends-relations if you choose. They drink whiskey, mixed or unmixed, until the cheek and forehead become ruddy. The period of danger then commences. If they go on much further, the slightest word, the momentary recollection even of a long by-gone offence-the smallest difference of opinion-will be sufficient to kindle a contest between these before "most loving friends," and as in Ireland the hard word instantly leads to hard blows-a battle forthwith ensues. When the temporary effect of the whiskey ceases, these same four men shall feel no hesitation in embracing each other as the best friends in the world, and shall wonder what it was that made them yield for the moment to such extraordinary resentment. This is no fiction. I have THE BENUAS-THE SUPPOSED ABORIGINES OF THE myself more than once witnessed scenes of this kind. The malignant action of whiskey on the nerves-its potency in urging its victim to pugnacity-never were displayed to me more decidedly, and at the same time more comically, than on one occasion, when I happened to be present at a public breakfast given on Dinas island, in one of the lakes of Killarney, after a most splendid stag hunt which had taken place in the morning. Many of the peasantry of the neighbourhood had of course assembled to participate in the pleasures of the day. When the chase was over, they found admission to the island, formed themselves into groups, which were abundantly served with whiskey by women who had brought with them little wooden kegs of that liquor, and who went about from group to group disposing of their poison. By and by, while we were at breakfast, at which all the gentry of the district had assembled, a row was announced. In a moment the battle became furious, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the combatants were separated by the magistrates who happened to be present. MALAY PENINSULA. In a work recently published, and to which we shall probably have occasion again to refer *, a detailed account of the present position of British Interest in the Malay Country, containing a mass of highly valuable information, we find the following very curious account of the habits of the Benuas, a savage, or, as Mr. Newbold terms them, a wild tribe, inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, and supposed by him, with great show of probability, to be the original stock from whence the present race of Malays descended. "Wherever scattered," says Mr. Newbold, "they live totally habits and religion; in short, of a much lower grade in the scale apart from the Malays, and differ from them widely in present of civilization. Without affecting to decide the question whether the Benuas are to be considered aboriginal inhabitants of the Malayan peninsula, from whom the Malays are in part descended, I would direct the attention of my readers to the following facts. The Malays themselves sometimes class the various tribes under of the soil. They denominate the four original chiefs of the one general and expressive appellation, that of Orang Benua--men Benuas Nenek,' or our ancestors: many of their own chiefs derive their descent from them, and bear a Benua title. The elders of the Benuas exercise considerable influence over the elections of Malayan Panghúlus. The Panghúlu of Rumbowe is chosen alternately from a Jakun tribe (the Bodoando Jakun) and a Malay tribe-the names of inland places are chiefly Benua feature between the Benua and the Malay, and scarcely less in terms. Mutatis mutandis, there is a striking resemblance in their respective languages. Opinions in favour of the affirmative themselves. But, from what branch of the great family of mankind the Benuas spring, tradition is almost silent. Their general physical appearance, their lineaments, their impatience of control, their nomadic habits, a few similarities in customs, which will be cursorily noticed as we proceed, all point to a Tartar extraction. The whiskey was by this time all consumed, and the very same men who had been so recently fighting against each other, having regained possession of their senses, I saw afterwards congregated here and there, talking to each other as if nothing had happened. I was curious to know the origin of the fight-and the number of broken heads. But the only answer I could get was-"Sure, your honour, it wasn't a fight at all-it was only some villins from another parish that came here to make a disturbance!" No traces of ill-hypothesis are entertained by many of the Benuas and Malays will were to be discerned anywhere: no blood to be seen, except that of a rioter, whose ear one of the Kerry magistrates had cut off with a spade, while exerting himself to quell the war. It was one of the characteristic occurrences of the day, the use of the spade by a magistrate, as an implement for restoring the peace-the cleaving down of the ear from the offender's head seemed quite an ordinary affair. The whole thing passed off like a few flashes of lightning, and the ladies and gentlemen went on with breakfast. There was, however, one fellow so tipsy, that he had fallen insensible on the ground at the commencement of the row, after he had given and received a few blows. He came under my notice just as he was emerging from an uneasy slumber. He had a shilela in his hand, with which, as he arose, he struck the air, and finding that he had no other foe to call forth the remainder of his still unexhausted ire, he flung down his hat on the ground, and literally beat it into fragments. "What is this man at?" I asked of an old woman who was selling apples" Why is he so angry with his hat?" "To cool himself, your honour-he'll be sober enough immadiately." Several persons were on the spot-yet nobody except myself took the least notice of this ludicrous example of the pugnacity produced by alcohol. The days of whiskey in Ireland are, however, I firmly believe, approaching their end. Upon this subject I shall give the reader information of a highly satisfactory nature in a future Number. WINE. Good wine is a cordial, a good cordial, a fine stomachic, and, taken at its proper season, invigorates mind and body, and gives life an additional charm. There can be found no substitute for the fermented liquors that can enable man to sustain the mental and bodily labour which the artificial habits of society so constantly demand. Temperance and moderation are virtues essential to our happiness; but a total abstinence from the enjoyments which the bounteous hand of nature has provided, is as unwise as it is ungrateful. If, on the one hand, disease and sorrow attend the abuses of alcoholic liquors, innocent gaiety, additional strength and power of mind, and increased capability of encountering the ever-varying agitation of life; are amongst the many good results which spring from a well-regulated diet, in which the alcoholic preparations bear their just proportion and adaptation.--Dr. Sigmond. "It is stated by the Benuas, and admitted by the Malays, that before the Malay peninsula had the name of Malacca, it was inhabited by the Benuas. In course of time, the early Arab trading vessels brought over priests from Arabia, who made a number of converts to Islam; those of the Benuas that declined to abjure the religion and customs of their forefathers, in consequence of the persecutions to which they were exposed, fled to the fastnesses of the interior, where they have since continued in a savage state." Of one of these tribes, the Semangs, who did not fall under the personal inspection of Mr. Newbold, but who have been stated to possess the Papuan characteristics, viz. the woolly hair, thick lips, and black skin of the Negro, we have the following particulars : Mr. Anderson states that the Malays possess no tradition of the origin of the Semangs, but he does not appear to have made inquiries on this point from the Semangs themselves. They are numerous in Quedah, and reside generally on or near mountains, such as those of Jerrei and Juru; and are found in Tringanu, Perak, and Salangore. They live in rude huts, easily removed clothing is a scanty covering made of the bark of trees; sometimes from place to place, constructed of leaves and branches. Their a cloth obtained from the Malays. Birds and beasts of the forest, wild roots and yams, constitute their food; they worship the sun. The Malays have an idea, that when a Semang dies, his body is eaten, and nothing but the head interred; a custom which, if it "Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca. By T. I. Newbold, Esq. London: Murray. 1839." |