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    the ancient haunts of the brute creation . Such a etorm aa this is described by Mr . Aardersson himself : — One aftenioon , heavy and threatening clouds suddenly gathered in tlie eastern iorizon the thunder rolled ominously in the distance , and the sky was rent by -vivid lightnings . Knowing , from long experience , its imports , we instantly set about placing everything under shelter that could be injured by the wet . This was hardly accomtafehea when large , heavy drops of rain began to descend , and in a few seconds the sluice-gates of heaven appeared to have opened . The storm did not last above half an hour ; but this sliort time was sufficient to convert the whole country into one sheet of water . The noise , moreover , caused by the river , and a number of minor mountain-streams , as they rolled down their dark , muddy torrents in waves rising often a 3 high as ten feet , was perfectly deafening . Gigantic trees recently uprooted , and others in a state of decay , were carried away with irresistible fury , and tossed about on the foaming billows like so many straws . Every vestige of many gardens was swept awav ; and some of the native huts , which had been imprudently erected too close to the river , shared a similar fate . Indeed it must have been a miniature

    ifce is an instance of the foresig ht with which the world ' s machinery was originally wound up and set a-going : — One morning , to our surprise , we found the whole ground about our encampment covered with larvae of a . dark green colour . Whence , or how , they came there , was to us quite a mystery . We at length conjectured that at some previous period a swarm of locusts , in passing the place , had deposited their ova in the sand and now that the green grass began to spring up ( which provided them with suitable food ) their progeny emerged in the shape of worms . At the same time many thousand storks appeared , and evidently much relished the rich and abundant repast . The larva ? appear to be almost as destructive as the full grown insect . They are called by the Boers " voet-gangers , " or foot-goers , to distinguish them from their winged development : —

    In some places they might be seen packed in layers several inches m thickness , and myriads were crushed and maimed by our waggon and cattle . Towards nightfall they crawled on to the bushes and the shrubs , many of which , owing to their weight and numbers , were either bowed down to the ground or broken short off . They were of a reddish colour , with dark markings ; and , as they hung thus suspended , they looked like clusters of rich fruit . As they hopped along the path and among the grass , their appearance was no less curious and striking . These " voet-gangers" are justly dreaded by the colonists , as no obstacle seems capable of staying their progress . They are said to cross stagnant pools—ay , even the Orange river—by the leading multitudes throwing themselves heedlessly into the water , where they are drowned , thus affording the survivors a temporary bridge . Fires , which are lighted in their path in the hope of staying their course , are extinguished by their myriads . " All human endeavours to diminish their numbers , " says a recent author , " would appear like attempting to drain the ocean by a pump . "

    It would be impossible to follow Mr . Andersson in his wanderings , or even to notice his many startling adventures and hair-breadth escapes ; and tins sort of reading , however full of pleasurable excitement at the moment , is not particularly instructive , or suggestive of practical results . Much more to the purpose is the author ' s description of some of the native tribes with whom he became familiarly acquainted . The least barbarous appear to have been the Ovambos , an agricultural people dwelling in the rich plains of Ondonga . The landscape now presented an apparently boundless field of yellow corn , dotted with numerous peaceful homesteads , and bathed in the soft light of a declining tropical sun . Here and there , moreover , arose gigantic , wide-spreading , and dark-foliaged timber and froit-trees , whilst innumerable fan-like palms , either singly orin groups , completed the picture .

    The inhabitants of this charming country are of a gentle and peaceable disposition , though formidable enemies when fighting in self-defence ^ They have no towns or villages , but live in separate homesteads , in patriarchal fashion . The population is estimated at a hundred persons to the square mile , a very considerable number for the interior of Africa . Unlike other tribes , they owe allegiance to only one chief , who is distinguished by his weight , excessive corpulence being considered a royal attribute . The Ovambos resemble all agricultural people in a liberal hospitality . They are also remai-kably honest , and scorn to pilfer the smallest thing . A . man detcoted in theft would be speared to death in front of the royal residence . Pauperism is unknown in this happy land , even the aged ami inGrm being amply provided for , though in other parts of Africa their death would be cattle

    accelerated by violent means . Matrimony is regarded as a question of . The number of an Ovambo ' s wives is solely regulated by his bovine possessions . In humble circumstances a bride will fetch two oxen and a cow ; but in the upper circles of society a daughter would not be parted withforless than two cows and three oxen . The obesity of the king raises him above all such base considerations , llis Majesty could boast of one hundred and six charming consorts , who had never cost him so much as a calf . It is deemed approaching to hig h treason to speak of the king ' s death or to allude to his heir apparent—the thought being so frequently the offspring of the desire . The Ovambos are not only agriculturists , they have also mucli wealth in herds of cattle and swine , in Hocks of sheep , and in poultry . " Their chief article of export is ivory , which they procure from elephants caught in pitfiiils . "

    Among certain tribes circumcision is practised , but without . reference : to any particular age . The ceremony is performed at any period between infancy and manhood , but the children of an uncircumcised father cannot inherit the regal dignity . " lium-makcra" arc usually found in every tribe , though they seldom , or never , die a natural death . " There is not one tribe , " writes Mr . Mofliit , " whose people have not imbrued thoir hands in the blood of these impostors , whom they first adore , then curse , and lastly destroy . " The Bechuanas believe that they originally emerged from a cave , while the Damaras assert that their allocators sprung from a tree . The world was then enveloped in darkness until a Damara . struck a light , npon which the wild animals Hod from the presenco of man , but the ox , "the shoop , and the dog gathered fearlessly round the biasing brand . The Namaquas would seem , from the following legend , to have aomo faiut glimmering of the doctrine" of immortality : —

    Onco upon u time , the moon culled the hare , and commanded him to convey to man tho following message : " Ah I die and am born ugain , ho you ahull dio and be again alive . " Tho Iwiro hastened to obey ; but instead of saying , "As I die and uin born again , " he said , " Aa I die und am not born again . " On his return the moon

    inquired what words he had conveyed to mankind ; and on being informed , the luminarj exclaimed , " What ! have yon said to man , ' As I die and am not born again , so yot « ball die and not be again alive ! ' " And with this he hurled a stick at the hare , witt such force as to split open his lips , which is the cause of the peculiar formation of thij animal ' s mouth . The hare quickly betook himself to flight , and is said to be flying to the . present day . The old Namaquas used to say : " We are still enraged witl the hare , because he has brought such a bad message , and we mil not eat him . " It is curious to observe the old Breton superstition touching the Bisclavaret 3 or Were-Wolf , still extant among the JSTamaquas , merely substituting

    the lion for the wolf . Those who are conversant with the ancient Fabliaux will remember that in the Lai du Bisclavaret , by Marie de France , the treacherous wife carries off the garments of her unfortunate lord , and thereby prevents him from resuming the human form . In like manner great stress is laid in the Namaqua legend on the careful putting aside of the skin petticoat , for it is only the Bashwomen who are supposed to possess this faculty of transformation . As the hair and claws begin to develop themselves , she retires to one side and throws off her petticoat ; and as the mane and tail gradually disappear , the lion goes up to the bush , and , putting on the garment , becomes once more a woman .

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    SUB ALPINE PICTURES . The Subalpine Kingdom : Experiences and / Studies in / Savoy , Piedmont , and Genoa . By Bayle St . John . 2 Vols . Chapman and Hall . We have said that this is a book of pictures . The touring season is now commencing , and many are the steps that will be bent towards the capital of Piedmont , which may for the first time become a place of pilgrimage from the West . Whoever designs to cross the Guier , at the Pont Beauvoisin , and to traverse Savoy on the way to Turin , may be glad to anticipate a glance at landscapes , men , and manners by the way . This is an evening scenenear the valley of the Isere : —

    , On arriving at a little hamlet I took counsel of a blacksmith , who said that there was a practicable but rather intricate path to the White Chapel . It proved to be steep , narrow , winding , and slimy ; and had been worn in the rock between high hedges and trees . Water oozes into it , and trickles down on all hands . 'Tis almost as much a stream as a path . Some cows , with chins on the ground and hind-quarters high tit ) in the air , were sliding doMTi , urged by the shrill cry of a boy , whose head looked ^ like a porcupine . A blear-eyed youth , with a woollen night-cap a foot and a half high , and a girl -who seemed all waist and heel , were standing very fondly together in a break that led into a field . Near the summit , amid trees , beneath which shadows were rapidly thickening , very fantastic forms flitted . They seemed occupied ; and were probably giving the last touch to the agricultural labours of the day . I thought of sailors , seeing that all was right and tight between sunset and dark . A who softl ! la ! la !

    tall thin man , with laTge hands and feet , ran y by , crying " La ' was no doubt engaged on a matter of business ; but pantomime that does not explain itself very clearly produces the impression of insanity . All manner of odd thoughts came to my mind . The last remnants of day were visible through a grove of chesnuts , beyond which the ground sloped rapidly . The dark trunks of the trees formed , as it were , a huge grating of black bars against a background of the colour of clouted cream . The roofs of one or two huts , rising above the horizon , seemed cut out of black paper . Overhead were clouds not very far off . There was a little light around , just sufficient to distinguish general forms ; but neither grass nor leaves . The people that passed appeared to have very dark shadows where there faces ought to have shown . I had not been out alone so far from cities in the hills for many years . Night sounds , such as filled the air in that high place , had become unfamiliar to me . There were some sharp cries , but whether of birds or beasts I knew not ; and gentle gusts of wind , that passed along

    like sighs , brought inexplicable murmurs from amidst the trees . Imagination works strangely under such circumstances . The path seemed so long , that I thought I must have lost my way . I came to a hamlet , and looking into a hut where a very old woman was nursing a baby , and doing some work by a light which would have tried the youngest eyes , asked for the Chapelle Blanche . This was like asking for St . Paul ' s in London . Straight ahead , of course . It was quite dark when , I fell into the high road again . And this is a glimpse of Morning among the Alps : — On leaving La Rochette early in tho morning , I began to nscend , moving due north , a low range of hills covered with fields , alternating with chesnut groves , through the browning leaves of which the sun shone bright and warm .

    There is nothing so lovely as an autumnal warm morning amid tho mountainswhen golden - light gleams on some broad slopes whilst others are still cold and gloomy j when dew ia still trickling from leaf to leaf on its way to the grass , already covered with dump as with a white bloom ; > vhen all seoms moist , from tho blue of tho sky fretted with white clouds to the green of the fields ppeckled with white pigeons , from the steep roofs of the houses fertilo in moss to the bark of tho trees , to the plank on which you cross the stream , tha railing on which you put your hand , tho dust that will not move as you trudge over tho path , to tho coats of tho cattle that stand drooping their dank tails hero and there ; even to tho eye of the large lair girl who looks nsknnco at you from under her milk-pail , and the lip of the mother who drops her kerchief and kisses her infant us a stranger passes by : all dehciously moist , but ol a lass neat

    moisture that you know us about to ovnporato liko breath from a pane of g ; ana honest labour will dry il all presently . Meanwhile ana would as soon think of Koineo holding up nn umbrella lest Julict ' n tears might wet him from her balcony , as of avoiding to stcutf one ' s feet , one ' s hands , one ' s face in that refreshing bath . I brushed through tho hiiHhcs purposely , whilst the dew-drops sparkled to the ground , and swarms ot birds with hurried wins mado aemlcircuits on cither hand to find a rent ing-place in tho branches again . How transparent wore tho shadows under the trees ! how misty the sunny expands ! Tho rivulets that sometimes < lim > creud ovor th « path , Homctimea KiirBlud rnnidst rootB anil pebble ., sometimes oozed along nmidHl iii . w . s , cat g t here ami there tho rays that Hlnnt « d In , and glittered like li ; i «« f ^ »» thu h S ^ of a fiirnncn . Nature wore n drcsH embroidered with green and gold .

    Since Roussenu w « s at the Hospital of Catechumens , in lunn , the place has not been describe ! , except by Mr . Bavlc bl . John : — The O » pi ,. iois Hituated in a mmdl court , from which you nBccud by a dismal private staircase to a great oukon door . Jluforu wo were admitted , Homebody looked ??» p ? do T y at us tunt . « h tho wicket . Tl . cn wo were shown into the sombre ro = bv tho inaiferW ulitllo / durk , ooutoi . iptuous -looknig woman , faho took us hrst to hor own tadroom where , there was a poor negre . ss from Soudan undergoing the operat ion of conversion 1 tried to roinoiubor my Arabic to apeak to her , and uskoc her how « h « Rot there . She replied in a singing , dreary tone , that she had conic by way ot Alexandria . Shu smiled a little , but was agitated-said many limes she was . ftoni Soudun , loaning on tho word , pronouncing it in fact with lovo , a . i tfho knitted and

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    August 2 , 1856 . ] THE LIE A . D ET 3 ,. 739

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 739, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2152/page/19/