Geographical Collections. l3l 



John, long and still remaining the subject of political discussion between Great 

 Britain and the United States, and which, conveying its water into the Bay of 

 Funday, falls not within the present investigation. — Quebec Star. 



Manners of the Ingouch. — At the present day, when an Ingouch owes any 

 thing to a Tchetclientse, and cannot or will not pay, the Tchetchentse goes to the 

 kounak (host or friend) whom he has among the Ingouch, and says to him, 

 ' Such a person, of such a nation, owes me so much — make him pay me, for I 

 have brought a dog, and I will kill it upon the dead of your family.' This me- 

 nace make the Ingouch tremble, and he immediately employs himself in behalf 

 of the creditor. If the debtor denies the debt, they compel him to take an oath 

 in the following manner : they mix together the bones and excrement of dogs, 

 and put this mixture in front of the lerda, or divine rock ; the two parties go 

 thither, and the debtor says, in a loud voice, ' If I do not tell the truth, I con- 

 sent that the dead of my famUy may carry on their shoulders the dead of the fa- 

 mily of such a person, and that too in this road, when the rain shall have fallen, 

 and the sun shine upon it." This ceremony takes place for thieves and receivers 

 more frequently than for debtors, as the Ingouch oftener rob their neighbours than 

 borrow from them : trade, however, gives rise to some credit. The annexed is 

 more extraordinary: — If an Ingouch loses his son, another who has lost his daugh- 

 ter comes to him, and says, ' Your son may want a wife in the other world, give 

 me so many cows for the kalym^ — and this is never refused. The kalym is among 

 Mussulmans the dowry which the husband gives to the father-in-law. The Tchet- 

 chentses seldom give more than ten cows, but the Ingouch give to the number of 

 thirty ; they have as many as five wives. After the death of the father, his sons 

 marry them aU. The Tchetchentses as often reproach them with this infamous 

 custom ; but the Ingouch reply, ' My father slept with my mother, and I may 

 very fairly sleep with his wife.' The Ingouch are never tired of admiring the 

 act of writing, and regard it as a perpetual miracle, which Christianity and Ma- 

 hometanism operate in favour of their disciples. The following fact proves that 

 the Ingouch are stiU attached to their religion, although some are Mussulmans 

 in secret. Two brothers of this nation having been sold into Turkey, had em- 

 braced the Mussulman faith, had been to Mecca, and having become free, re- 

 turned to their country ; their mother was still living, and tliey had not much 

 trouble in converting her to the Mahometan doctrines. Afterwards, impelled by 

 a holy zeal, they preached publicly against the religion of tlie rocks. But the 

 Ingouch assembled, and said to them, ' You teach us a law which you learnt 

 whilst you were slaves ; we will have nothing to do with it, — go out of our coun- 

 try, and never return.' The two brothers went to establish themselves among 

 the Tchetchentses, where they still remain PotockVs Travels. 



China. — The learned orientalist. Professor Newman of Munich, is about to 

 take his departure for China, where he is going to study the language and the li- 

 terature of the country. The Royal Academy of Berlin has put a considerable 

 sum at the disposition of the professor for the purchase of Chinese works. 



Champollion — The frigate Astrolabe, that carried Mr. d'Urville on his voyage 

 of circumnavigation, has arrived at the Havre laden with the objects of antiquity 

 collected by Mr. Champollion in Egypt. Among these is a sarcophagus that 

 weighs 12,000 lbs. 



Amsterdam and St. Petersburg A regular communication is now established 



between Amsterdam and St. Petersburg. A steam-boat takes the traveller to 

 Hamburg, when a stage coach awaits for Lubeck, from whence another steam- 

 boat carries him to the Russian capital. The distance from Paris is 580 league.^, 

 and the journey is accomplished in ten days. In the beginning of June, equally 

 regular communications will be established between Stockholm and Copenhagen. 



