A bourdon was a long staff with a knob in the middle, | visited the shrine of St. James. The cut represents and without a cross at the top, though in theatrical one of these shells, on which St. Joseph, with a staff of representations one is erroneously affixed. This staff palm in his hand, and carrying the infant Jesus, has was sometimes excavated into a rude piece of music, been worked in bas-relief. the sound from which was an accompaniment to the singing with which pilgrims beguiled the tedium of their journey. In Germany, walking-sticks are made which serve as tubes for pipes, with a compressing pump at one end to obtain fire, or fitted up as telescopes. A walking-stick may be used for such a variety of purposes, that we may easily believe, though it is not quite satisfactorily proved, that the bourdon staff of the pilgrim was formed into a musical instrument. Southey has alluded to the fact in the following lines: "And the staff was holed and bored for those From a dialogue between a disciple of Wicliffe, and Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Henry IV., it would appear that the pilgrims were sometimes accompanied by less simple music than that of a hollowed staff. The Archbishop defends the practice against some insinuations, and states that "pilgrims have with them both singers and also pipers, that when one of them goeth barefoot and striketh his foot against a stone, and maketh him to bleed, it is well done that he or his fellow begin then a song, or else take out of his bosom a bagpipe for to drive away with such mirth the hurt of his fellow: for with such solace the travail and weariness of pilgrims is lightly and merrily brought forth." The palmer's staff was niade of palm and was borne by those who returned from Palestine. We may here state the difference which, according to Mr. Fosbroke, distinguished the palmer from the pilgrim. A pilgrim had a fixed residence, a palmer had none; a pilgrim went to a fixed place, a palmer to none in particular; a pilgrim went at his own expense, a palmer professed voluntary poverty, and frequently ended life as a hermit. The sclavina was a long coarse robe. The scrobula was the robe worn by female pilgrims, and, with the exception of closer sleeves, similar to the sclavina. The rosary was a string of beads which the pilgrim ran over as he repeated his prayers. The hat was broad brimmed, turned up in front, and something like the hats often worn by infants. Sometimes the pilgrim's hat was slung at his back, and a substitute for shooting off the wet was used to supply its place. The pilgrim from Rome, from Jerusalem, or Compostella, was distinguished by variations of costume peculiar to each pilgrimage. The Jerusalem pilgrims wore the signs of Sinai, which were relics brought from thence. Those who had made a pilgrimage to Rome wore a cloak marked with cross-keys and the veronique or vernicle. The scallop-shells which the pilgrims wore in the front of their hats was, properly speaking, peculiar to the Compostella pilgrimage. Fuller therefore is not correct in assigning the use of this shell to pilgrims generally, on the ground that "it was oft cup and dish to them in Palestine." Southey's notes to the 'Pilgrims to Compostella' contain an old monkish legend which gives the origin of scallop-shells being worn by the pilgrims to the shrine of the Spanish saint. Popes Alexander III., Gregory IX., and Clement X. granted a faculty to the Archbishop of Compostella that they might excommunicate those who sold these shells anywhere except in the city of Santiago, and in these documents the reason assigned is, that the scallop-shell is the badge of the Apostle Santiago. In the church of St. Clement at Rome there is a picture of Santiago, apparently more than 500 years old, which is decorated with scallop-shells. The scallop-shell in a coat-of-arms shows that some of the bearer's line have Before setting out on a pilgrimage, confession of sins was made, which being concluded, the future pilgrim prostrated himself before the altar. Certain prayers were then said, after which the scrip and staff were solemnly consecrated; and the pilgrim was clothed in his appropriate costume. In the form of prayers in use before the Reformation, the people were bid to pray "for all true pilgrims and palmers that have taken their way to Rome, to Jerusalem, &c." Mr. Fosbroke says that in Normandy a pilgrim who had received the sanction and blessing of the church was led out of the parish in procession, accompanied by the cross and holy water; and on the return from pilgrimage it was in most countries the custom to go to the church to thank God for their happy success; and in proof of the fulfilment of their vows to proffer palms or branches of that tree to the priest who placed them on the altar, These ceremonies would naturally fall into desuetude when the habit of undertaking pilgrimages became more general. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land, as a general fashion, ceased with us, according to Mr. Fosbroke, about the time of Henry V. The growing activity of commerce supplied a new motive for visiting foreign lands. But pilgrimages had not been without their use in the advancement of civilization. St. Jerome noticed that pilgrims conveyed news. "In one summer (he says) Britain has learned what the Egyptian and Parthian has known in the spring." It is believed that the drama was first introduced into France from Italy by pilgrims. Mr. Fosbroke says,"Pilgrimage was a kind of apprenticeship, served in various places, in order to acquire a stock of novel ecclesiastical customs and knowledge." At a time when commerce employed but a few individuals, there would have been no inducement to visit other countries if men had not been actuated by the religious spirit. But this operated upon the mass of the people, and sent them to gather the various lessons of civilization and improvement which each country respectively furnished. The standard by which the state of one country may be compared with that of another was rendered more enlarged and varied by the habit of visiting distant shrines; and a comparatively rude people were enabled to obtain, by this means, some of the benefits of a superior civilization. Sharon Turner remarks, that "the habit of pilgrimage, and afterwards of the crusades, increased the taste for study It was impossible for so many, from all ranks and nations in Europe, to visit the Grecian and Arab states without some conviction of the benefit of superior knowledge. From the account left by Luitprand of the wonders he saw at Constantinople, and of the horse-laugh with which his astonishment was received by the conceited courtiers, it would seem that the saucy Greeks amused themselves with making the western barbarians stare. The specimens of their mechanical skill to which he alludes may have first interested a rude stranger's notice; but their tasteful architecture, their elegant sculptures,-their fine manuscripts,-their celebrated loquacity, and the fame of the poets and philosophers who once adorned their name, must have powerfully impressed the attention of many, and have created that feeling of deficiency and that desire of emulation which are the certain parents of improvement." He adds, that a visible improvement took place in England after these pilgrimages had become common, increasing as the crusades increased the intercourse with Constantinople and the East. Schools were established, and architecture and the arts advanced. SIAMESE NARRATION OF A SHIPWRECK ON the sixth from their finding a guide, they met two At length, on the thirty-first day of their march, and THE SOUTH COAST OF AFRICA. [Concluded from No. 268.] FOR three or four days they continued to ascend the bank of the river, suffering dreadfully from cold and hunger, and heartily regretting the rock of muscles they had left behind them. They had soon evidences that they were in the track of the Portuguese. Once they found a torn stocking, and on another occasion a fusil, the lock of which they took off to serve as a tinder-box. The next proof was a very melancholy one; it was the body of one of their interpreters, a half-caste who had followed the Portuguese in their progress; they found him with his knees on the ground, and his body huddled up in a heap all together and quite stiff. They were themselves now almost dead with hunger; they had found absolutely nothing eatable, and were reduced to devour their shoes, which were probably made of undressed skin; they had for some time deliberated on returning to the rock, and were at last determined to do so on arriving at a point where they could see no means of getting on, but either climbing over a mountain, which they thought inaccessible, or wading through a deep and dangerous marsh. Here they passed the night, and the next morning they began to retrace their steps, resolving to remain by the rock until all the muscles were eaten, and then to give themselves up as slaves to the Hottentots. They put their resolution in practice with so much eagerness that in three days they returned to the land of abundance, as it appeared to them; but now they found a new enemy in the increasing cold, which affected them to such a degree that, after remaining six days, and burning up all the fuel within their reach, they set out to find the Hottentots, carrying with them all the muscles they could find. Early the next morning they were found by three Hottentots, who were much more civilized than those they had before communicated with, and who were evidently acquainted with Europeans. They were, in fact, servants of the Dutch Government at the Cape, and appeared to be in search of them. The Siamese party consisted of fifteen persons, and seven of those now found themselves completely exhausted. It was therefore resolved that they should be left in the best spot they could find, with as many of the muscles as they could spare, and that the others should follow the Hottentots, who appeared willing to act as guides, until they arrived at the first settlement, when they would send conveyances for those left behind. This was done: the eight who could walk followed their guides, but so slowly that two of the Hottentots left them. They followed the remaining guide through dreadful roads, and along precipices which made them shudder. On one occasion their nimble guide conducted them to a place so difficult to get along, that some of the party imagined they were brought there for no other purpose but to be killed; they actually came to a resolution to knock their guide upon the head, and would have put their unreasonable design into execution, had not the second ambassador commanded them to desist. They lived all this time on their muscles, and on what they picked up on their road. Sometimes they met with a few locusts, and, what they found much more agreeable, some frogs. But the narrator seems to have been most pleased with a sort of beetle. "I have no difficulty in saying," he observes, "that the insect which appeared most agreeable to my taste, was a sort of large fly or beetle, of very dark colour, of which we found many on our road. All the dressing we applied to them before eating, was merely to broil them on the fire, and we found them excellent." Dutchmen, accompanied by the Hottentot guides, who had left them six days before, loaded with provisions. "When we saw that they had brought us fresh bread, dressed meat, and wine, we could not contain our gratitude. Some of us threw ourselves at their feet, and embraced their knees, others named them fathers and deliverers." The narrator gave each of the Dutchmen a large diamond set in a gold ring, which had been presents from the king of Siam to the first ambassador. They Their chief difficulties were now terminated. procured carriages to send for the companions they left behind them; and in a few days more were all carried safely to the Cape of Good Hope, where they were received in a most friendly manner, and where they found the Portuguese, who had arrived eight days before, but in a much more miserable plight than themselves, having lost between fifty and sixty of their party from fatigue and hunger, who dropped one after another, racked with horrid pains, and groaning at the same time from their sufferings, and with the prospect of their friends leaving them to perish miserably. All that we could do," said one of the monks to the narrator, "not to appear cruel and barbarous when we saw any of our body drop, which at last happened several times a day, was to exhort him to recommend his soul to God. Without another word we turned our eyes away, and stopped our ears to avoid the lamentable cries which so often reached us." The most melancholy incident of the whole narrative is the death of the son of the captain of the vessel, a fine youth of ten or twelve years, whom the father had taken with him on his voyage. "His father had carefully carried him to the shore when the vessel struck, and during the journey he made his slaves carry him. But all the negroes dying on the road, the poor child became so weak and swollen three days after the Portuguese left us, that he threw himself down upon a rock from which he could not rise again; he lay there extended, with his limbs so stiffened that he could not even bend them. This sight was a death blow to his father, who raised him and assisted him to walk for some time, but he could no longer help himself. He could only be carried, and those whom his father had begged to render this service to his son, told the captain plainly that they could not do it without perishing themselves with him. The poor man then tried his own powers; he put his boy upon his shoulders, but he was unable to advance a single step, and he fell down with the youth, who seemed more touched with his father's grief than his own sufferings. He begged him to leave him to die, and urged that, although they might carry him on a little further, he could not possibly survive the night; that the affliction of his father, and the tears which he saw him shed, were more painful to him than his own sufferings. The captain was still more affected by his son's words than before, and he resolved to stay and die by his side. The poor boy then addressed the other Portuguese, and earnestly begged them to remove his father, saying that his presence was a cruel addition to his sufferings, and that the sight of him would but hasten his death. "The representations made to the captain of the sinfulness of the real self-murder of which he would be guilty by remaining there, were all in vain; at length he was led off by main force, and compelled to accompany the rest of the party. The separation was so grievous and afflicting for the unfortunate man, that he never recovered the stroke: his grief was so violent that he died a day after he reached the Cape." ATTRACTIONS AND ADVANTAGES OF In almost every of thinking men of whatever sect. (From Dr. Conolly's Lecture at the Leicester Mechanics' Institute.) In every object, it appears to me, some lesson is held out to us; and who shall say we ought not to read the lesson. In the absence of more varied plants, the common quickset, now putting forth its little scarlet points, the future bud, guarded by sharp spears like a polished sword, may worthily occupy our attention. No condition is so humble as to shut our eyes to the beauty of the white thorn through many months of the year; its first delicate greenness in the spring;-then its thick covering of white flowers, like the purest snow; then its fuller foliage, and welcome shade ;then, in the autumn, its farewell hue of pink. No working-man, walking out to breathe the fresh air after his labour, will be a worse man, or a worse work-NORMANDY is, with regard to the production of cider, man, for admiring the green and gold and silver of the the Herefordshire of France; and so highly is the meadows, or the perfume of the bean; and if he knows Norman cider esteemed, that there is not a cabaret the character of the flowers which make up those lovely (public-house), however poor and miserable, throughcolours, or afford that agreeable perfume, I have no doubt he will be a happier man, and I think the chances out Picardy, where cider is also made in large quantities, that has not "Bon Cidre de Normandie " painted are that he will be a better. Vicious excitements will house, most frequently on the shutters. in some conspicuous situation on the outside of the be less necessary to him, and he will be very frequently thinking of things the very beauty of which will lead his thoughts to that unknown world of beauty of which these present, as it were, a faint image and a promise. When the celebrated but unfortunate Mungo Park was once in a desert, far from his friends, uncertain in what direction to proceed, faint with hunger, weary with fatigue, and almost without hope, it chanced that his eye rested on a piece of common moss; and this simple accident perhaps saved his life at that time: for surely, he said to himself, seeing how beautifully that ordinary moss was formed which no man regarded, he who created this with so much care will not abandon me, who have an immortal soul. And with these thoughts he resumed his exertions, and eventually reached a place of safety. * * * See For those who ask us what actual benefits accrue to men from knowledge, an answer is written in language that cannot err, in the whole history of the world. Cast your eyes back to the savage state, and behold man supporting existence with difficulty, the prey of beasts, the sport of the elements, and defenceless. him by degrees improving the earth by culture; improving that culture itself by instruments of metal drawn from the earth; and mark how the beasts of the desert disappear before his industry, and even the worst diseases of the marsh and of the poisoned air become less common and less destructive. Man is seen to be better fed, better lodged, better clothed. If he still devotes himself to war, it may be for the defence of his possessions, or that his knowledge is yet imperfect, and neither he nor his neighbours have yet learned the true end of living. His luxuries, and all their evils, spring in part from the same cause; gorgeous triumphs follow conquest; indolence and rest follow exertion. But flourishing communities and states are formed; laws are agreed upon, often partial and imperfect; arts and sciences slowly advance; ignorance gradually disappears, and the laws gradually improve. More and more man's intellect becomes cultivated, and political rights become more and more generally and equally imparted to all classes, to which more and more comforts have gradually become familiar. This seems to be the point in which we may now survey the most advanced communities. Day by day their political rights are enlarging; if their knowledge stops short, these rights will be but instruments of mischief; with knowledge they will be the means of assuring every blessing. Firmly persuaded of these truths, I rejoice to perceive that they are becoming generally admitted; that their conviction is forcing its way into the minds THE COW-MARTINGALE OF NORMANDY. The vast corn-plains which cover the greater part of Normandy are studded with apple-trees, growing gencrally in rows, or small clusters, but occasionally forming extensive orchards; each tree, however, planted at such a distance from the others, as to allow of the cultivation of some kind of grain beneath them. The main roads are also frequently ornamented with rows on either side for miles together; and care is taken, every year, to replace such of the trees as are decayed, or past hearing. As hedges, or fences of any description, are by no trees, more especially the young ones, would be exposed means common in many parts of Normandy, the appleto considerable injury from the cows, which, at certain herbage wherever it is to be found, were it not for a seasons of the year, are turned out to pick up a little simple sort of cord-martingale, which is thus arranged: her crib when in the stable, is, when she is turned out, -The extremity of the halter that fastens the cow to passed between the fore-legs, and attached to a cord which encircles the body of the cow, the latter cord being kept in its place by another, put on like the breeching of a horse. By a reference to the wood-cut this description will easily be understood. but a few pence, the cow is effectually prevented from Thus, by this very simple contrivance, which costs raising her head to nibble or break the lower branches of the apple-trees, and at the same time suffers no inconvenience when grazing. THE arrival of four giraffes together in Europe forms an | era in the annals of natural history. The honour is due to the Zoological Society of London, in whose archives the record of this event will bear testimony to welldirected zeal in the promotion of scientific knowledge. Nor can we refuse our meed of praise to the individual through whose exertions these rare and extraordinary animals were captured in a distant region of the globe, transported over deserts and arid sands, and, lastly, across the sea in health and safety to our northern shores. The letter of M. Thibaut to the secretary of the Society, which we transcribe from its Scientific Proceedings,' will be read with great interest, and the more so as it communicates much valuable information respecting the habits of these animals in their native country. The letter is dated January 2, 1836 : Having learned, on my arrival at Malta, that you were desirous of information on the subject of the four giraffes which the Society has entrusted to my care, I regard it as a duty to transmit to you a short statement, by which you will become aware of the difficulties that I encountered in obtaining and preserving for the Society these interesting animals, which are now, I hope, altogether out of danger. "Instructed by Colonel Campbell, his majesty's consul-general in the Levant, and desirous of rendering available for the purposes of the Zoological Society the knowledge which I had acquired by twelve years' experience in travelling in the interior of Africa, I quitted Cairo on the 15th of April, 1834. After sailing up the Nile as far as Wadi Halfa (the second cataract), I took camels, and proceeded to Debbat, a province of Dongolah, whence, on the 14th of July, I started for the desert of Kordofan. Being perfectly acquainted with the locality, and on friendly terms with the Arabs of the country, I attached them to me still more by the desire of profit. All were desirous of accompanying me in my pursuit of the giraffes, which, up to that time, they had hunted solely for the sake of the flesh, which they eat, and of the skin, from which they make bucklers and sandals. I availed myself of the emulation which prevailed among the Arabs, and as the season was far advanced and favourable, I proceeded immediately ely to the so south west of Kordofan. tion: an 66 It was on the 15th of August that I saw the first two giraffes. A rapid chase, on horses accustomed to the fatigues of the desert, put us in possession, at the end of three hours, of the largest of the two: the mother of one of those now in my charge. Unable to take her alive, the Arabs killed her with blows of the sabre, and cutting her to pieces, carried the meat to the headquarters which we had established in a wooded situafor ou arrangement necessary our own comforts, and to secure pasturage for the camels of both sexes which we had brought with us in aid of the object of our chase. We deferred until the morrow the pursuit of the young giraffe, which my companions assured me they would have no difficulty in again discovering. The Arabs are very fond of the flesh of this animal. I partook of their repast. The live embers were quickly covered with slices of the meat, which I found to be excellent eating. o'clock in the morning I had the happiness to find myself in possession of the giraffe. A premium was given to the hunter whose horse had first come up with the animal, and this reward is the more merited as the laborious chase is pursued in the midst of brambles and of thorny trees. Possessed of this giraffe, it was necessary to rest for three or four days, in order to render it sufficiently tame. During this period an Arab constantly holds it at the end of a long cord. By degrees it becomes accustomed to the presence of man, and takes a little nourishment. To furnish milk for it, I had brought with me female camels. It became gradually reconciled to its condition, and was soon willing to follow, in short stages, the route of our caravan. "This first giraffe, captured at four days' journey to the south-west of Kordofan, will enable us to form some judgment as to its probable age at present; as I have observed its growth and its mode of life. When it first came into my hands, it was necessary to insert a finger into its mouth, in order to deceive it into a belief that the nipple of its dam was there: then it sucked freely. According to the opinion of the Arabs, and to the length of time that I have had it, this first giraffe cannot, at the utmost, be more than nineteen months old. Since I have had it, its size has fully doubled. "The first run of the giraffe is exceedingly rapid. The swiftest horse; if unaccustomed to the desert, could not come up with it unless with extreme difficulty. The Arabs accustom their coursers to hunger and to fatigue; milk generally serves them for food, and gives them power to continue their exertions during a very long run. If the giraffe reaches a mountain, it passes the heights with rapidity: its feet, which are like those of a goat, endow it with the dexterity of that animal; it bounds over ravines with incredible power; horses cannot, in such situations, compete with it. The "The giraffe is fond of a wooded country. leaves of trees are its principal food. Its conformation allows of its reaching their tops. The one of which I have previously spoken as having been killed by the Arabs, measured twenty-one French feet in height from the ears to the hoofs. Green herbs are also very agreeable to this animal, but its structure does not admit of feeding on them in the same manner as our domestic animals, such as the ox and the horse. It is obliged to straddle widely; its two fore-feet are gradually stretched widely apart from each other, and its neck being then bent into a semicircular form, the animal is thus enabled to collect the grass. But on the instant that any noise interrupts its repast, the animal raises itself with rapidity, and has recourse to immediate flight. "The giraffe eats with great delicacy, and takes its food leaf by leaf, collecting them from the trees by means of long tongue. It rejects the thorns, and in this respect differs from the camel. As the grass on which it is now fed is cut for it, it takes the upper part only, and chews it until it perceives that the stem is too coarse for it. Great care is required for its preservation, and especially great cleanliness. It is extremely fond of society, and is very sensible. I have observed one of them shed tears when it no longer saw its companions, or the persons who were in the habit of attending to it. "I was so fortunate as to collect five individuals at Kordofan; but the cold weather of December, 1834, killed four of them in the desert on the route to Dongolah, my point of departure for Bebbah. Only one was preserved; this was the first specimen that I obtained, and the one of which I have already spoken. After twenty-two days in the desert, I reached DonUn-golah on the 6th of January, 1835. "On the following day, the 16th of August, the Arabs started at daybreak in search of the young one, of which we had lost sight not far from our camp. The sandy nature of the soil of the desert is well adapted to afford indications to a hunter, and in a very short time we were on the track of the animal which was the object of our pursuit. We followed the traces with rapidity and in silence, cautious to avoid alarming the creature while it was yet at a distance from us. wearied myself, and anxious to act in the same manner as the Arabs, I followed them impatiently, and at nine "Unwilling to return to Cairo without being really useful to the Society, and being actually at Dongolah, |