varying with the different constitutions of those whom it afflicts. So various are these manifestations, in point of fact, that we should not hesitate to believe that many cases of insanity, even, have had their origin in this disease. greater number of people than it has credit for; and secondly, we believe that both doctors and patients, even when the presence of indigestion is discovered, are apt to rely far too much upon medicine, and far too little, or too one-sidedly, Our work, whether as to extent or character, is of course upon dietetic treatment. Upon this last point we believe unfit for entering into any thing like details of a professional ourselves to be doing very real public service, in directing nature. But we have reverted to this subject because attention to some equally caustic and sound remarks in the firstly, we believe indigestion to be the tyrant of an infinitely" British and Foreign Medical Reviewer." MAN, at his birth the most feeble and helpless of all animals,-man, who would perish in the very day of his birth, but for the exquisite tenderness and skill with which he is tended, is yet enabled to command the very elements; wide waste of waters making, as it would seem, every continent and every island a separate world, has become to him, not merely no longer an impassable gulf, but, in truth, a more convenient highway than terra firma itself. No. 262. the Not contented with having taught the ocean to bear his burthen, he has even found the means, under given circumstances, to go below the waves, there to reclaim the treasures temporarily snatched from him by accident or tempest. The mean by which he accomplishes this feat is the diving-bell, which is a very stout bell-shaped machine, strongly constructed of wood or copper, or of a mixture of both. It is about nine feet in height, and at the 3 F bottom, the larger end, about the same in diameter; round the bell are seats for the divers to rest upon, and weights hung round to ensure its sinking quite perpendicularly. The bell-shape is peculiarly adapted for this machine, inasmuch as the great capacity at the bottom causes much of the upper and narrower part of the machine to remain uninvaded by the water. The machine in this simple form was frequently used for the purpose of recovering property from foundered vessels; but several inconveniences attended. It did not, when fairly immersed in the water, contain above four or five hogsheads of air; and as a man respires, and consequently renders unfit for further respiration, until purified, a gallon of air per minute, a hogshead would last one man scarcely one hour. Now, in order to the performance of the work for which the divers descended, such as breaking up the hulk, or forcing the lockers of a vessel, making fast heaving lines to guns, trunks, casks, &c., fewer than four or five men could not descend to any useful purpose; and thus the working period of each descent was limited to one hour, or something less. The air, moreover, was polluted sooner than it naturally would be, from the circumstance of each respired gallon mixing with the remaining mass; their being, in the original contrivances, no means of getting rid of the foul air. The usefulness of the invention was still farther diminished by the fact, that the deeper the bell descended the more the air became compressed; so that at a certain depth the five hogsheads of air would be reduced to one, and our divers could, consequently, only remain below at that depth ten minutes. Still farther to diminish the usefulness of the diving-bell, it had no other light than the candles carried by the men, and we need scarcely say that a burning candle requires, to support its combustion, as much air per minute as a man does to supply his respiration. Dr. Halley, considering these various defects, set himself to work to endeavour to find a remedy. He fixed a cock in the head of the machine, by which the foul air could be let off as occasion might require. We need scarcely say that there was no danger of losing the pure air, instead of getting rid of the foul; for the better and warmer would be invariably the lighter, and therefore the top stratum. Again, it might seem that the pressure of the water would prevent the egress of the refuse air; but the pressure from beneath prevented the possibility of that. He also contrived a second and smaller bell, which was kept continually rising and sinking, taking down a supply of fresh air at each descent. A strong leathern pipe in its head, secured at the end by a brass cock, allowed the divers to help themselves to fresh air as they found it conve nient. could procure air by simply turning a cock, the other end of the pipe communicating with the bell. Upon these improvements, still further improvements have been made by more modern skill. From various vessels, especially from the Royal George, great amount of treasure has been recovered; and in a variety of works requiring subaqueous exertion, the diving-bell has been found of almost incalculable value, both in diminishing expense, and decreasing the risk of human life. Indeed, the sole difference of being in the diving-bell at the bottom of the sea, and being high and dry, upon terra firma, appears to be, that in the former case the condensation of the air, and the tremendous pressure the body has to sustain, cause very acute pains in the ears, and even these pains cease to trouble the divers after they have been a short time below. One of Dr. Halley's men, thinking to avoid the pains in the ear which had so much annoyed him, stuffed his ears full of wool. So far was he from having bettered his case, that the tremendous pressure actually forced the wool, in a hard and compact mass, so far and so fast into his ears, that it was with very great difficulty that the surgeon at length succeeded in getting it out; which he only did after the poor patient had been put to great pain and inconvenience. CHESS. In our article on Amusements, we promised to say a few words about this, in our opinion, the most rational of all the various sedentary pursuits termed amusements, study being in any thing like strictness of speech not included in the signification of that word. The Chinese claim the credit of having invented this game, and their pretensions have been supported by some European authors; but facts are more potent than asser tions, and facts in the present case are decidedly in favour of the Hindoos. The Chinese admit that they knew nothing about the game until the year 174 B. C and it is quite unquestionable that long before that time it was commonly played among the indoos. but also about how it was invented; some contending There is a dispute not only about who invented chess, that it must have been improved and perfected step by step, while others (among whom is the highly-gifted Sir and perfection go to prove that it was the conception of William Jones), are of opinion that its very simplicity one happy moment of genius. precisely as it is in England, as to principles; but the The game is played in Hindoostan, and also in Persia, names of the pieces are all different, with the excep tion only of the king. As instances, we may mention that what we call the queen, is the ferz, or vizier; our bishop, the fil, bust, or elephant; our knight, the asp or ghora; war house, our castle, the rath, roth, or war-chariot, and sometimes the Perhaps the most important improvement made by the Doctor was his mode of supplying natural instead of artificial light, thus diminishing the expenditure of air. A powerful lens, eight inches in diameter, was fixed with its convex side downwards, in the head of the machine; and, so long as the sea remained calm, the light thus afforded, as the Doctor's own experience enabled him to affirm, was suffici-nanca, or boat. ent for the perusal of the Gazette. The Doctor next turned his attention to the possibility of contriving means to detach a man from the bell to examine the vicinity; a proceeding of which it will be no difficult matter to understand the importance under many circumstances, but especially where the violence of the wreck, or from long submersion, a ship's stores and cargo might be very widely scattered. The Doctor's contrivance for this purpose was a sort of hood, or helmet of lead, having a flexible pipe in the top, through which the detached diver The Indian origin of the game is, we think, conside rably attested by the fact, that our rook is a corruption of the Persian rokh, from the Hindoostannee roth; and the vierge and fol, or fou, of the French corruptions of the ferz and fil of the Persians and Arabs, who unquestionably derive the game from the Hindoos. In a subsequent part of this article we shall endeavour to give our readers so much instruction as may enable them to, at the least, commence this truly rational and interesting amusement. The form of the chess-board is of course too familiar | forego, and does not rectify his error before each party to all our readers to require any description. The has moved four times, the game may as well, on his part, chequers or squares, alternately black and white, are be done with at once; for even should he check-mate his sixty-four in number; and on sitting down to play, it is opponent, the game will only count as a "drawn one.” the established rule so to place the board that each The party who gives odds may give the piece from player has the right hand square of his rear line the which side of his line he chooses, except when he gives white one. Themen," as they are called, are thirty- a pawn; in which case it must be the king's bishop's two in number; half being white, and the other half pawn, viz. that pawn which, in our sketch, would stand red, or black. Of the sixteen men which each player ap- opposite to No. 3. Whatever odds be given, the giver propriates to himself, eight are called pawns, and eight has the right to move first. Great care must be taken pieces; the latter being the king, queen, two bishops, not to touch a man until it is fully determined to move two knights, and two rooks, or castles. We cannot, that one. If this is done without the saving exclamation, without interfering very injuriously with important" J'adoube," the piece must be moved, however fatal matters, wait to procure an engraving of the board, it may be to your game. To this rule there is an but a little attention to the following paragraph will, exception in favour of the king, if he is so situated that especially if the reader compare our rows of figures with he cannot be moved without being placed in check. the lines of squares on a chess-board, answer all the practical purposes. At the onset of the game each party, having sixteen men, ranges them on his two rearmost rows of squares thus-the figure one representing the right-hand rear corner :— Previous to entering upon an explanation of the various movements and power of the different men, it may perhaps not be amiss to give a succinct account of the laws of chess as established and recognised by the best players; for without due knowledge of these laws, and attention to them, the young player will be perpetually liable to fall into errors, and more especially if he has learned to play at draughts, which has laws very widely different from those of chess, though the two games seem to bear so strong a likeness to each other. Though in itself a matter of no sort of consequence, the right-hand rear corner of the board should be invariably the white one. Attention to this rule is very important; for the first, second, or third move of your adversary may be so injudicious as to secure you the game. If the board be placed wrong, and he discover it previous to each party having made four moves, he can demand that its position be rectified, and the game recommenced. Where so much disadvantage may follow neglect, it is well worth while to be attentive. Common attention will prevent any error as to placing the pieces in their proper squares; but should a mistake occur, it may be repaired, if pointed out before each party has made four moves. After they have made that number of moves, the error cannot be rectified. It frequently happens that a good player will give an inferior player odds; i. e. that the superior player will, previous to the commencement of the game, remove some piece or pieces from his lines,-thus at the onset giving the numerical superiority to his adversary. When this is not the case, the parties draw lots for the first move, and for choice of colour of men. The latter once decided remains unaltered during the whole sitting; the first move is enjoyed by each player in the alternate games; but a drawn game conferring no advantage on either party, he who made the first in it is entitled to the first move in the new game. If odds be promised to be given, and the party promising neglects to remove the piece or pieces he was to Having removed your hand from a piece after moving it, the move is completed; previous to doing so, you are at liberty to move it to what square you choose, as far as consists with the direction in which the piece has a right to move. Nothing but very gross inattention can cause a player to move instead of a man of his own one which belongs to his adversary. Such things do, however, sometimes occur, and the penalty of the offence against chess law, is that the offender, at the option of his adversary, shall take the piece if it can be taken, replace it, and move his king, or leave the piece in the square in which he has placed it. We can scarcely imagine a situation of the game in which a skilful player could not derive a tremendous advantage from enforcing one or the other of these penalties. We shall by and by have to show, that the different pieces have very different powers, as to direction of motion. Great care must be taken not merely to know these various powers very familiarly and exactly; for if a player take a piece of his adversary's, by making a move in a direction not legitimately belonging to his own piece, he must either play the piece he has touched, or take his adversary's piece with one that can rightly move in that direction. Here, again, the offender's penalty is left to the option of his opponent, who, of course, will choose that which most benefits his own game. Not merely as to direction, but also as to distance, the moves of the different pieces are very different; and great care must be taken not to give to one piece the move which properly belongs to another. For instance, if a rook is moved as though it were a bishop, the offender, at his antagonist's option, must either replace the piece, and play his king, or leave the piece when played. Impatience, the result of nervousness or forgetfulness, arising from an anxious study of the board, sometimes causes a novice to move twice successively; this the adversary may punish by making the second move stand good. On giving" check," audible notice of the fact should be given. If the word "check" be used by one of the players, and it turn out that there was no check, any move made by the opposite player in consequence of the exclamation may be altered, if the mistake he discovered prior to the next move. All penalties must be demanded before the party demanding them touch one of his pieces. If, at the close of the game, one party have three or four pieces, and the other only one or two, the former must "check-mate" in fifty moves, or the game is to be deemed a drawn one. This is a very useful regulation, to prevent a mere | weather. Most fortunate it is for these stragglers that puerile holding out of the game. In some treatises on chess, we have met with directions as to the stakes that may be played for. Our direction on the subject shall be very brief; to wit, never play for any stake, large or small. The game of chess is a beautiful and an interesting one; a pastime well calculated, too, to improve the higher intellectual powers. If these considerations be not sufficient to keep the attention alive, if chess cannot be played without the admixture of gambling, better not play it at all. (To be continued in our next.) THE ANCIENT SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS. CERTAINLY steam and com nerce do a great deal in the way of increasing the "wealth of nations" and the comfort of individuals, but they are by no means so favourable to what we may call the social picturesque. Men get parallelogrammatised at a prodigious rate; the angularities, pleasing or otherwise, are worn down, and society presents no difference or extent of class: individualities have disappeared, "John nods at Tom; each plodder has his brother, We must not be for a moment understood to quarrel with the advance of civilisation. We are not at all insensible to the vast benefits which society has derived and is daily deriving from the increased and increasing civilisation to which we allude. All that we object to is the impossibility of preserving the picturesque while exalting the social and intellectual. If, however, we cannot with our bodily eyes look upon the social picturesque as it was wont to be looked upon much less than a century ago, we can look upon it through the medium of books; and it is no unpleasing occupation to compare the manners of one age and people with those of another. It makes our minds more cosmopolitan, and, at the same time, sharpens our perception of the good or evil of the manners in daily use among our own actual community. We know not a more interesting people to contemplate than the ancient Scottish Highlanders. Their courage, their undying love of freedom, the romantic country they inhabited, and the singularities of their habits and customs, would make them highly interesting even had not the splendid genius of the late Sir Walter Scott illustrated their character, and thrown a brilliant halo around it. The first and most admirable quality that attracts our attention in the character of the people of whom we are writing, is their hospitality. To such an extent was this carried, that up to a comparatively recent period it was absolutely esteemed criminal on the part of a man of station and substance to have his door shut. Even at the present time this custom so far prevails, that when any one of the wandering poor in the Highlands wants aid, he does not, as beggars in this country do, solicit alms at the door or gate, but walks into the cabin, and seats himself by the fire, quite confident that the host will not fail to supply hini with oatmeal for his food, and with a warm corner, in which, wrapped in his plaid, he may pass the night safe from the inclemency of the their compatriots are thus charitable; were it otherwise, many of them would inevitably perish in so stormy and bitter a climate. Next to their hospitality, we cannot but admire the devotion, mistaken as it sometimes was as to its mode of manifestation, which the clansmen exhi bited to their chief. In war his safety was far dearer to them than their own, and in peace his word was to every man among them a positive law. Unfortunately, both chiefs and clansmen had a terrible drawback from their otherwise fine qualities: this was their fierce military pride, which caused much strife and bloodshed. Every chief being despotic in his authority over his own clan, became proportionally jealous of any chieftain whose clan was more numerous than his own; and from this constant jealousy among so many small states, (for the clans were such, in fact,) it was inevitable that much mischievous misunderstanding would ensue, and lead to feud and fighting. And however much we may be inclined to admire that courage which both Highland and Lowland Scotch have so abundantly displayed in every quarter of the globe, it would be a breach of duty to neglect to state that Highland courage, previous to the commencement of civilisation, was so truculent and eager for exercise as to deserve the name of ferocity. Feuds between the various clans being so common, some inviolable protection of individual travellers became the importance of the manner in which a traveller, on absolutely indispensable. In this necessity originated carried his spear. If he carried it with the point to his entering the territory belonging to a different clan, front, he fairly proclaimed himself to have arrived as a foe, and he of course had to take the consequences of his temerity. If, on the contrary, he kept his spear pointed to his rear, he was not only not molested, but was treated with the most prompt and liberal hospitality. To this generous trait we feel pleasure in adding another. clan, a chieftain no sooner received intelligence of the Fierce as was the enmity between clan and death of a foe than he and his clan mourned for him as though he had been connected with, and not hostile to them. NUBIA comprehends all the countries included between the 11th and 24th degrees of north latitude; bounded by Egypt on the north, the Arabian Gulf on the east, by Abyssinia on the south, and Bornou on the west; an extent of territory about 700 miles in length, and 500 in breadth. The principal districts in the division of eastern Africa are Senaar, Meroe, Dongola, and Nouba, or Nubia Proper; which last is the inhabited part, consisting of narrow strip on the banks of the Nile, 500 miles long, and averaging only half a mile broad The The present Nubians derive their origin from the Bedouin | distinguished is the Temple of Ebsambal, explored by Mr. Arabs, who invaded the country after the promulgation of Belzoni in 1817. It is cut out of a solid rock, and remains the Mahomedan creed, and was occupied for several centuries in complete preservation. There are in one of the recesses by two of these Arab tribes, who were continually at war of the rock four sitting colossal figures, the largest in Egypt with each other. The tribe of el Gharbye, the weaker of except the great Sphynx and the Pyramids. the two, procured from Sultan Selim the Great a body of ABYSSINIA is divided into three distinct and independent soldiers for their protection, who expelled the other tribe. states, called Tigre. Amhara, and Shoa with Efat. The present governors of Nubia are three brothers, descend- first at its most northern extremity lies about 15° 35' north ants of the chief, whom Selim's troops established as ruler of latitude, and at the southernmost point 11° 20'. It comthe country. The revenues of these governors arise from a prises ten chief subdivisions, and many others of minor tax upon every water-wheel employed in watering the land, importance; its general character is that of a range of hill generally at the rate of six sheep, and six measures of forts, intersected by deep ravines and well-cultivated plains. wheat for every wheel. There are about 700 of these wheels | The inhabitants are a fine race of men, tracing their origin to between the first and second cataracts of the Nile; and in the Portuguese soldiers settled in the country. Its chief' good years, the land watered by each wheel will yield about feature is a considerable branch of the Nile called Tacazzè. 1500 bushels of grain. The governors also take two Mr. Bruce observed a phenomenon, in passing this district, clusters of fruit from every date tree, and levy a duty upon not unusual in mountainous countries. On the 17th of the dates exported. They derive, likewise, a considerable November the tops of the mountains were hid in clouds, from income from the administration of justice, which they whence loud thunder was heard to reverberate. " The river liberally sell to the best bidder. It is estimated that each scarcely appeared to run," says the traveller, 64 on our passing of them collects annually about 3000l., of which he does not it, when all on a sudden we heard a noise from the spend 3006. They maintain a few hundred horsemen, and with mountains above, louder than the loudest thunder. Our these constantly move from place to place to collect revenues. guides on this flew to their baggage, and placed it on the top The capital of Nubia, or usual residence of these governors, of a green hill; which was no sooner done than we saw the in Dehr, a village of the larger class, composed of about 200 river coming down in a stream about the height of a man, mud houses, with a brick building of two stories for the and the breadth of the whole bed it used to occupy." An governor. The climate of the country is extremely hot antelope was surprised by the torrent, and driven close to and dry. where the travellers stood. The soil in Tigrè is sandy, and the rocks rise in vertical strata of granite. This district supplies the whole of Abyssinia with salt. After the inundation of the Nile, the natives sow their land with a grain called dhourra, upon which they chiefly depend for subsistence; the dry stalks of which supply their cattle with provender in summer. After the dhourra harvest is ended in December and January, the soil is irrigated by means of the wheels turned by cows, and the fields are then sown for the second time with barley, wheat, beans, and tobacco. The houses of the Nubians are built of loose stones, or merely of mud, and are often so low that a person cannot stand upright in them, in some cases having no roofs at all. The dress of the natives is commonly a linen shirt only, with a small white linen cap, and a few rags twisted round it as a turban. Both sexes besmear their faces with fat, by way of ornament, and protection from the heat of the sun. Boys and girls are almost entirely naked. The men are seldom unarmed; and the first thing the youth procures is a short, crooked knife, which is drawn in every quarrel. Those who can afford it, wear a long, straight sword, procured from Egypt. Some have match-locks; but fire-arms are not common, and ammunition is remarkably scarce. The Nubians are somewhat low of stature, but are muscular and well made, with fine, animated features. In some of the rocky districts where food is scanty, they are thin and meagre figures, almost like walking skeletons. The women are also well formed, and though not handsome, have generally sweet countenances, and pleasing manners; but are broken down by early and continual toil. They are more virtuous than any other females in the eastern parts of Africa. If one Nubian kill another he must pay the debt of blood to the family of the deceased, and a fine to the governor of seven sheep, a cow, and six camels. Every wound inflicted by one person on another has its stated fine, according to the part of the body injured. Among the amusements of these people, chess is common. They play very melodious airs on an instrument like an Egyptian tamboura, and the girls are fond of singing. The whole population is estimated only at 100,000. There are numerous antiquities in Nubia, but the most 66 Of the kingdom of Amhara little is known. It forms a high table land, having on the south-east lofty mountains, connected with those of Lasta. In it is the large lake of Dengla, which abounds with the hippopotamus. The provinces of Shoa and Efat lie south of Tigrè and Amhara, between the ninth and eleventh degrees of latitude, and are intersected by some high land. Efat is one of the best territories of Abyssinia, and famed for a good breed of horses. The inhabitants are dexterous horsemen, and good soldiers. Shoa joins Efat on the west, and is watered by the tributaries of the Nile; it contains fine pastures, large towns, and numerous monasteries. The inhabitants of Abyssinia are described, as somewhat superior to most African nations: they manufacture small carpets, parchment, with iron and brass articles; hides are tanned to great perfection in Tigrè; saddles and horsetrappings are all of a superior workmanship. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, has been often charged with exaggerating his pictures of life in that country; but in the absence of better authority we are constrained to depend upon his for what is to be learnt on the subject. He describes a feast of the higher classes in which a cow is brought to the door, the feet are tied, the skin is stripped from the hind quarters, and the flesh cut from the animal while alive; the prodigious noise made by the unfortunate beast being the signal for the commencement of the feast. The Abyssinian is in general well made, with handsome features, approaching to the Roman standard. In some parts of the country there are still remnants of the Nile worshippers. The high-priest described by Bruce was a venerable patriarch, blessed with a family of eighty-five children! The mountains of Samen are nearly occupied by Jews. HORRORS OF THE LATE SLAVE-TRADE. WE never think of the horrors to which the slavetrade gave rise without feeling proud of, and grateful to, 3 F 3 |