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Leader (1850-1860), 15th December 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1205, Untitled Article

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      class of artists was exalted by the praise of poets , favoured by protective laws , encouraged by accumulations of wealth . After describing the armoury , the ecclesiastical and domestic furniture of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance , M . Labarte devotes a chapter to Oriental decorative art . It is surprising to find , among the Chinese , so much delicacy of taste in carvings , mouldings , and painting . Were it not for the perpetual introduction of whimsical figures , their works in pottery and in the precious metals would rank with some in the best period of Italian art . The vase of pink agalmatolite , exquisitely wrought in imitation of a tulip branch , the cups of chased silver , the lacquered cabinets , and vessels in bronze , represented in M . Labarte ' s illustrations , are proofs of a fine taste and rare artistic manipulation . M . Labarte ' s work is of a standard character , and is , in all respects , a valuable addition to the library of art . Such a book was needed in England , the English language containing none on the subject . It completes the history of Mediaeval and Renaissance Art . ! f \

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      MADAME PFEIFFER ' S SECOND JOURNEY . A . Lady ' s Second Journey Bound the World . By Ida Pfeiffer . 2 vols . Longman and Co . Few things would have more astonished the encyclopaedia mind of Aristotle , than the fact that a woman " unfriended , alone , " had made the tour of the globe . That the world was a globe , would have not been readily admitted by him ; but his scientific mind could be brought to that conclusion long before it could be disposed to receive with any patience the wild fiction of a woman having actually travelled round it . To achieve this feat a second time was of course little . The first step was the difficulty . However , Madame Pfeiffer has taken the first and thcsecond . Twice has she traversed

      the perils and adventures of such a prodigious route ; and she returns to us uneaten ? Nay so little have " the anthropophagi and men , whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders , " been disposed to eat her , " adding the cool malignity of mustard , " as Charles Lamb says , —they have treated her with exemplary kindness . " It is terrible to be weighed out at five pence the pound "—when purchasers are epicures without trovvsers , and pay no churchrates . It is terrible also to be thrown among " uncivilised persons" who have little regard to " proprieties . " Nevertheless Madame Pfeiffer ' s experience does not speak so favourably for the influence of Christianity and civilisation in these matters : — I found the ship in a great bustle , for her freight consisted of a transport of

      troops;—120 soldiers , 46 women , and about a dozen of childreu . Among the soldiers were thirty Europeans , but the remainder , aa well as the women , were all natives of Java , and I ain sorry to have to add , that there was much more to object to in the behaviour of the Europeans than in that of their more uncivilised brethren . I thanked God that I had no daughter or young girl with me , for I should have had to keep her locked up in her cabin . Among the half-naked Dyak savages I never saw anything that need have offended a really innocent and modest woman ; but sorrowfully I must declare , that as far as I have seen the Christians of these countries , whether they call themselves Catholic or Protestant , they are far more immoral in their conduct than the Mahommedaus and heathens .

      Risks must be run , of course ; but danger meets us at every corner ( especially the comer ) of our streets . In Europe there is the risk of being run over—and the certainty of taxes . Both are unknown to the undressed heathen , poor wretch ! . Danger , or no danger , Madame Pfeiffer has once more run all risks , once more scampered round the globe , and here in two volumes tells us the story . She came first to London , from thence passed to the Cape , to Borneo , Java , Sumatra , Ccram , the Moluccas , California , Panama , Peru , and the United States . Enough here for twenty volumes , if the expansive tendency of travellers were allowed full scope , But Madame Pfeiffer does not seem to care much about that mystery of book-making Her narrative is plain , straightforward , not very interesting , not very remarkable in any way , not likely to be remembered after " the season . " Those who devour books of travel will devour this—and never recur to it . She has a clear eye , sees vvlint is before her , is not addicted to exaggeration , abhors fine writing , and never attempts wit or picturesque descriptions . We huve a sort of test of her powers when

      she describes London . We , who never were in Borneo and Sumatra , but know our London , can judge , from her account of what we know , the sort of veracity which maybe found in descriptions of what we do not know . According to this standard she is accurate , though superficial No foreigner s blunders , no foreigner ' s prejudices , distort her descriptions of London . Ji , ven when she criticises , we can ' t say she is wrong . Thus : — This same English comfort , indeed , of which we hear so much , must bo undoratood , it Beems to me , with considerable qualifications , or must depend much on previous habits of life . I , for instance , do not find it comfortable to be almost always shivering when I am at home ; and no where clso have I suffered thin inconvenienoe so frequently as in England . These open fires do indeed , warm the fortunate person who sits immediately next to them , and who has nothing else to do than to warm hinisolf ; but not the uulucky wight who may happen to be engaged writing or sowing on the other side of the room , and pen or neertlo will soon fall from his or her shivering fingers .

      ..... ., . „ „ Now , in a country that has to contend with ool < 3 eight months out ot the twelve , I do not consider this n particularly comfortnlilo arrangement ; but the English are ao immoderately fond of the sight of a fire , that mthor than not hco it they will often patiently onduro tho not fooling it . Again as ovory family , oven in tho most narrow circumstancea , will generally insist on having a houBe to itself , the houses are of very narrow frontage , au < l the occupants of thorn havo to pass a considerable part of thoir lives in going up and down stairs . Again : — It ifl probably on account of thoao difitoultioH and oxpoiiHOfl that you find in English housos so littlo of that pleasant easy sociality to which wo more Houthorn Doonln nvfl Hn anniigtnmod . There aro dinnoro and « vomug parties m abundance ,

      much like to be disturbed by visitors ; but sit down in an arm-chair by the fire , take a newspaper , and now and then , I believe , fall asleep . The Sunday , which in other countries , though , regarded as much as here as a day of prayer and religious worship , ia also considered as a suitable one for innocent recreation , ia in England so very often made dull and wearisome that the liveliest Southlander sinks under its weight . In many of the regular old-fashioned Eng- ' lish families the very children are not allowed to amuse themselves with their balls and playthings ; a cold dinner is taken that the cook may have time to go to church morning and afternoon ; several hours each time are spent in the long English service ; and no book but one on an expressly religious subject must be looked into during the whole day . She is struck by our snobbishness—our servile interest in the Court and its doings—and by our aristocratic spirit in Church . But who denies these charges ? Let us borrow an extract or two from her volumes , without staying to comment . Here is a glimpse of TOLITE SOCIETY IX BORNEO . On the same day I paid a visit to another tribe further on , and fouud little difference from what I had observed among the first , except that I had the pleasure here of seeing a pair of handsome war trophies in two freshly cut off human heads . These trophies had not indeed been wanting among the other trib& , but they had been dried , and made into mere skulls . These , on tho contrary , had only been taken a few days before , and had a horrible appearanuo . They wore blackened by smoke , the flesh only half dried , the skin unconsuniod , Iip 3 and ears shrivelled together , the former standing wide apart , so as to display tho teeth m all their hideousuess . The heads were still covered with hair ; and one had even the eyes open , though drawn fur back into their sockets . The Dyaks took these heads out of the baskets in which they were hanging , in order to exhibit them to me with great complacency . It was a sight that I shall not easily forget 1 As they took these heads in their hands to show them to me , they spat in the dead faces ; and the boys struck them and spat on the ground , while their usually quiet and peaceful physiognomies assumed an extremely savage expression . I shuddered , but could not help asking myself whether , after all , we Europeans are not really just as bad or worse than these de 3 pwed savagea ? Is not every page of our history filled with horrid deeds of treachery and murder ? „ * * * # * * • • « In some boolc 3 of travels I have read that the Dyak . s are in the habit of laying human heads at the feet of the objects of their affections , by way of love token ; but the Dutch traveller , Teinmink , contradicts this , and I believe he is right , for human heads are not always so easy to get . A young gentleman who might wish to pay his lady-love so pretty a compliment , would often be greatly perplexed how to come by one , as a head is what an enemy cannot m general be very readily induced to part with . # . I rather think this unpleasant custom of head-hunting originates m same kind of superstition ; for when , for instance , a rajah fails sick , or goos on a journey , it is common for him to vow a head to his tribo in casa of recovery or ot Bittit return . Should he die , one or two hear t * are usually ofiforud by tho tribe a * a kind of sacrifice ; and in tho same manner , when a treaty of pence- is concluuerl between two tribes , a man is sometime * given up on each aide to bo bo-. ieadecl , though it is rather more customary to in ike a pig au-nvor tho purpose-. ^ When a head has once been vowed , it has to ba procured at any a . wntico , ami the Dyaks then go and lie in wait for an opportunity to get ono . I hey Judo themselves in the jungle grass , which is from three to « ix feet hitfh . ar among trees or leafy branches that have been cut off , and ho watching for their victim ; and then the first human creature that approaches , man , woman or child , is sacrificed . They first shoot a poisoned arrow from their ambush and then spring like timers upon their prey . With a single blow they separate the head from the body cuttiu- it off quite close iui . 1 smooth , with a dexterity that . shows considerablo practicc ; they then carefully conceal the body , nivl put tho html mto a basket kept expressly for this purpose , and decorated with human hair . A »»»« J « of this kind always occasions a war ; for the tribe , a member of wInch 1 an been thus killed , immediately takes tho field , and does not rent until ifc *<» obtan « £ ono or two heads as damages ; and these are then brought home in triumph wit i dances and song * , and solemnly placed among other treasures of the same kind . Tho rejoicings and fenijfcinga that follow last a whole month . The Dyaks aro so very fond of heads that when , as sometimo * happens , they undertake a feud or a piratical expedition , iu company with tho M , t ay * t ^ y ofy stipulate for these fancy articles as their share of tho booty , and willingly toaign all the rest to their more covotous allioM . Verv pleasant people to live with ! The " writer on ' Woman , " in the last Westminster Review , will be glad to hear what Madame Pfeilfer reports of tlie laws in Sumatra : — One remarkable peculiarity of tho Agamer district i « , that tho women Vontom many of what wo are accufltomod to consider tho right * of the stronger box , Z \ e < l , that the men often have to play the Bubordiuate part , winch would Been , odd in any country in the world , but ia more ospocmlly so in n Mahomodan one where they will not allow us poor feminine creatures bo much an a soul . When , for example , a girl has reached a marriageable age her mother ^ bogim to look out for a suitable bridegroom for her , and , when she ha * found one goes and opens the negotiation with the gentleman ' s mother . The pa |> o « hayo no voice whaSver in tho matter , but tho two hull * settle it entirely between the «« dv « u When tho day come * for t .. e wedding , tho mother of the bride goes and fetches S bridegroom , who then tako . s up hi * rvbodo in the house of Ins . w . fc , h parent * , and becomes a member of her family . Tins does not indeed form y ol atuc / o to his marrying another wife , only it mu « t not be in tho name «» ' I "" , J H J man who is the happy possessor of several wives has no Bottled hume at all , livos now in ono oarapan , now in another . . . .. in ,, ,, „„ if ho nloaaos . A man never refuse * to tako tho bride offere-l to him ; but ho o ,., rho i eaaoj Joavo her tho next day , and this to a right tho bn . lo « ^ ' JJ' « ^ J , ™ > only make her objections before marriage , and , even m tht « c , ho » mov 0 * . has been completed , she must purchase her rolejwo witl * « jmn goods , cattlo , poultry , household utensils , or J'W ; t . , „ , withoilt any other A man cau also divorce hi * wifo at any » " •' ; •«* ll , ° rnly < m , , of of ill cause than his good pleasure , but a woman l . m wb « iu niy I treatment . Should the married l *«' rX ' r « .. X . Snti . i Hp £ o of forty wifo an marry a < rai » i » thro e months and ton lays . ___

      but people do not come together in an unconstrained , agrooable manner . 1 Ho life of tho women of tho middle rank seemed to me particularly monotonous . They aro mostly alone all day , and when thoir husbands return in tho evening from their buriinoau , they aro generally too tiracl for conversation , and do not

      Untitled Article

      December 15 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 1205

      Untitled Article

      . _ ; :. _ ¦ ' . " . -- - - ( i , .. c , ; " « inl reunion * nic Hie « H »> c among M * riio « io Iuwh concerning ihuitI «« ok , < Hvoiu . h . wmi tho Mulayn .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 15, 1855, page 1205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2119/page/17/