ANECDOTE OF THE KING OF DENMARK, pretence whatever. In this dilemma, the

THE GLEANER'S PORTE-FOLIO;

CONSISTING OF INTERESTING ARTICLES FROM RECENT PUBLICATIONS, PUBLIC JOURNALS, &c. &c.

LOO CHOO ISLAND.

not respected in society; are neither allowed meat nor marriage; seem to be employed only in menial offices about the temples, the walks, and hedges, and not in religious ceremonies (of which, by the way, the only example seen by the voyagers was a funeral, where Jeeroo, one of the chiefs, officiated, and the poor bodzes had no other occupation than to stand humbly behind); the very children turn them into ridicule, and at the Prince's entertainment our countrymen were laughed at for offer

THIS island is sixty miles long: about one-third of its southern extent is highly cultivated, and almost entirely covered with villages; and round Port Melville, nearer the other extremity, there are also populous villages; but the north, north-east, and eastern parts are but thinly peopled, and not much cultivated. It is not easy to ascertain exactly what are the religious opinions of the natives; though it appears that the faith of Fo was introduced a thousand years ago by the bodzes; and we haveing to treat them with attention. no example of any country where the priesthood was or is held in such a state of degradation. Near a well, offerings of rice and slow matches were seen in little excavations on the top of three or four rudely carved stones, called kawroo. These are generally erected in groves on the hills: they are about two feet long by one wide, and one high. Inscriptions are cut on the sides in a variety of characters, denoting the rank of the person who makes the offering, the date and object of his petition. Two of the inscriptions were translated, and were prayers for protection during voyage to China, and for success in a literary undertaking. Another religious rite is mentioned:-" Two narrow strips of paper with characters inscribed on them, which, by consent of the natives, were taken from a pillar in the temple, and which have been since translated, prove to be invocations, one to the Supreme Deity, and the other to the Evil Spirit. The first is on a slip of paper, two feet long by two inches wide, and containing a supplication for pardon. The latter invocation begins by seven rows of the character symbolical of the devil. In the upper line there are seven, and in the last one; so that a triangular page is formed of twenty-eight characters, each signifying the devil; and the prayer itself is written in a narrow perpendicular line underneath; the whole inscription resembling in form a kite with a long tail attached to it."

Connected with religion are the tombs of a people. Those of Loo Choo are either caves excavated in rocks, or built in the horse-shoe form of the Chinese. The corpses (of the upper classes, we suppose) are allowed to decay in coffins for seven years; the bones are then collected and preserved with veneration in elegantly shaped vases, placed in the temples, and hung round with offerings of funereal flowers. The caverns are probably for the lower orders, as the bones of the dead are found therein lying amongst the sand.

We have remarked upon the degradation of the priests, or bodzes. They are No. 113.-Vol. XVIII.

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Among the productions of the island we may enumerate of animals, the small horse and bullock, pigs, goats, and fowls; of fish, an endless variety of all sorts and colours; of vegetables, potatoes, rice, maize, squashes, oranges, onions, radishes, celery, garlick, pumpkins, &c. &c.; tea, tobacco, and cotton, are also among the most valuable products; of edible manufactures, vermicelli, samchew (an ardent spirit), sackee (a light wine), sugar, gingerbread, &c. are meutioned, and the food is formed chiefly of these materials, with eggs, cooked in many ways, not at all disagreeable to European palates.

The natives are fond of riding, though their saddles are made of wood, and so uneven as to be very unpleasant. The scenery is of the most beautiful kind, with Indian features. The bamboo is conspicuous among the trees which overshadow the detached cottages and villages: arbours of cane, covered with various pretty creepers, add to the sylvan graces of these reH

treats. The houses are simple and neat, and in some rude pictures and carved woodwork figures were hanging on the walls, together with inscriptions in the Chinese character.

Several visits and entertainments were interchanged between the British ships and the shore: the most affectionate intercourse prevailed, and except in keeping the women aloof, and observing much mystery about their King, there was nothing which the kind Loo Chooans did not do to satisfy the curiosity of their visi tors. The Lyra circumnavigated the island, and touching at several points, visited places where they were unexpected. At one they saw a complete farm yard, at another a blacksmith's forge and anvil; but the principal object of attraction was the excellent harbour, which has been named Port Melville, in honour of the first Lord of the Admiralty.

The Prince of Loo Choo informed the voyagers that they knew nothing of the English or French, or of any nations but the Chinese, Coreans, and Japanese. Polygamy is not allowed as in China, and the King only is allowed concubines: his Majesty had twelve, and one wife. He had seven children. The women in general are not so well treated as we could expect; the upper classes being a good deal confined to their houses, and the lower orders devoted to the drudgery of husbandry work. No punishment beyond the tap of a fan, or an angry look, was ever seen in this isle, where respect and confidence on the one hand, and consideration and kind feeling on the other, seemed to unite rulers and people. Not one instance of theft or wrong occurred during the whole time the expedition was at Napakiang, though the stores, &c. were much exposed. The gentle and friendly manners of the natives produced so good an effect, that even the roughest of our tars seemed to have been metamorphosed into polite gentlemen by them; and we question that so kind and really affectionate intercourse was ever before carried on under like circumstances, and without break or interruption, in the annals of the human race. Among the Loo Chooans the character of Madera is peculiarly attractive. This young chief, as he afterwards turned out to be, came first

on board in the disguise of a private person, and gradually rose from an intimacy with the sailors to a friendship with the officers, till at length, when the Prince visited them, his real rank and consequence transpired. He was amiable, observant, acute, lively and intelligent; and his transactions with our countrymen possess the interest of a romance of the most pleasing kind.

We cannot conclude our remarks without extracting an account of a coral island, which conveys all the information that can be desired concerning that natural phenomenon, the formation of a country by the labours of an insect.

"The examination of a coral reef during the different stages of one tide, is peculiarly interesting. When the tide has left it for some time it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and ragged; but as the tide rises, and the waves begin to wash over it, the coral worms protrude themselves from holes which were before invisible. These animals are of a great variety of shapes and sizes, and in such prodigious numbers, that in a short time the whole surface of the rock appears in motion. The most common worm is in the form of a star, with arms from four to six inches long, which are moved about with a rapid motion in all directions, probably to catch food. When the coral is broken, about high water mark, it is a solid hard stone, but if any part of it be detached at a spot where the tide reaches every day, it is found to be full of worms, of different lengths and colours, some being as fine as a thread, and several feet long, of a bright yellow, and sometimes of a blue colour.The growth of coral appears to cease when the worm is no longer exposed to the wash. ing of the sea. Thus a reef rises in the form of a cauliflower, till its top has gained the level of the highest tides, above which the worm has no power to advance, and the reef, of course, no longer extends itself upwards."-Lord Amherst's Embassy to China.

WOMEN.

DIDEROT says, that "when writing on women, we should dip our pen in the rain. bow, and throw over each line, instead of sand, the powder of the butterfly's wing."

This counsel is not easy to follow; for it

is not given to every one to dip their pen in the rainbow; but those writers who have not the genius of Diderot, must be content to throw over each line the dust on the butterfly's wing, which certainly ought to be sufficient to empower us to speak very agreeably of women.

Montaigne speaks sweetly of women where he says,

"Women are more willingly, as well as more gloriously chaste, when they are beautiful.”

In the last century, as well as in the present, people have been declaiming contitinually against prejudice, and, in particular, against that attached to birth; which, excluding the middling and lower classes from every post of consequence, deprived the state of a considerable store of useful talents. But no one has ever yet taken upon himself to examine if it is true, that women, in the full prime of life, whatever may be their merit or information, ought, for the good of their country, to confine themselves merely to the conducting their household affairs? Would it not be difficult to prove that it is vexatious for a superior talent to be buried in the son of a cobbler, and that it is not equally lost in a woman? The wife of every private individual is declared incapable of occupying the most trifling public employment, and, notwithstanding, in every kingdom of the world, except in France, when they are of royal race, they are judged capable of governing kingdoms; and these kingdoms go on like the rest-sometimes wrong, sometimes right.

ed? Why this malediction ou one half of the human race? Every woman of an age to please and to persuade, ought to carry this question to the sittings of the Chambers; as, heretofore, the Roman dames, conducted by the daughter of Hortensius, carried to the senate their eloquent representations. Our best orators might be puzzled to answer these.

We find in the letters of Balzac, an author now almost forgotten, a remarkable passage on women, which ought to be read by every young person. I cannot termiuate this article better than by quoting it: "There are women, who, provided they are but chaste, think they are privileged to do harm; and believe that, if exempt from one vice, they have every virtue. I confess, that the loss of honour is the worst misfortune that can happen to a woman; but it does not follow because she has preserved it that she has done an heroic action; and I see nothing to admire because she did not choose to live unhappy and disgraced. I never heard it said that a person deserved praise for not having fallen into the fire, or for avoiding a dangerous precipice. We condemn the memory of a suicide; but there is no recompence given to those who do not kill themselves. And thus a woman who glories in being chaste, glories in not being dead, and for having a quality, without which she would have no rank in the world, and where she would only remain to assist in the punishment of her name, and to see the infamy of her memory. An honest woman ought not so much to consider vice as evil, but as impossible; nor so much to hate it, as not to understand it. And if she is really vir

griffius and centaurs, than licentious females; and will rather believe that people are slanderers, and common fame a liar, than that her neighbour is not true to her husband. She will pity those who are abused by others; and when she is told of a woman committing a crime, she will satisfy herself with calting her unfortunate.” -1rans/ated from Madame de Genlis's Dictionnaire Des Etiquettes, &c. &c.

As, in general, women are not gifted with large hands and broad shoulders, it is evident they were never intended for war; and we regret, on their account, the melan-tuous, she will sooner believe that there are choly empire of the Amazons. But their gentleness, the charms of their behaviour, their conciliating spirit-do not they render them particularly suitable to some employments? For example, in negotiations! Since the time of the Marechale de Guébriant, several have been entrusted with secret missious, and have acquitted themselves with success. We have lately witnessed one (universally regretted) who, of her own accord, happily employed her active mind in this kind of way, with as much success as glory. Why, then, this formal exclusion, so obstinately maintain

PRIDE.

PRIDE is the most detestable of all vices, when it is carried to excess. When, with

DISGUISE AND NO DISGUISE; A TALE. (Concluded from Page 21.)

WHILST the Chevalier remained absorbed in thought, and in silent extacy at the prospect that opened before him, Mathilda, far from manifesting the least resentment, exulted at the ingenuity of her sister's conception; and it being a settled point between them that it now rested with Adolphus alone to bring his affairs to a happy conclusion, they earnestly commenced a course of lectures on the countenance and behaviour he was to assume, the better to be mistaken for a female.