2°d S. No 100., Nov. 28. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



431 



South Africa, as described by Dr. Livingstone, 

 are very curious in themselves : — 



" The different tribes," he says (p. 13.), " are named 

 after certain animals : thus, Ba-katla means ' they of the 

 mo7ikey ; ' Ba-kuena, ' they of the alligator ; ' and Ba-tlapi, 

 *they of the fish;' each tribe having a superstitious dread 

 of the animal after which it is called; and a tribe never 

 cats the animal which is its namesake." 



Again, amongst the same people : — 



"The parents take the name of the child; for ex- 

 ample, our eldest boy being named Eobert, Mrs. Living- 

 stone was always addressed as Ma-Robert, ^mother of 

 Robert,'' instead of her christian name Mary." — P. 126. 



But the surprise at such local peculiarities, 

 when unaccompanied by any sufficiently sugges- 

 tive motive, is greatly increased when we find 

 precisely the same customs prevailing in distant 

 regions, where intercommunication seems all but 

 impossible. Under the influence of this feeling 

 one reads with double interest the following pas- 

 sages from an account of the tribes which inhabit 

 the Khasia Hills to the north-east of Bengal, pub- 

 lished in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society 

 in 1844: — 



" Some families have a superstitious objection to differ- 

 ent kinds of food, and will not allow certain animals to 

 be brought into their houses: and generally they ad- 

 dress each other by the names of their children, as Pa- 

 hohon, father of Bobon ; Pa-haimon, _/a<Aer of Haimon.'" — 

 vol. xiii. pp. 620. 623. 



J. Emekson Tennent. 



Balloons : Montgolfier, Charles, Lumisden. — 

 I lately fell in with a copy of the Rapport fait a 

 V Academic des Sciences, sur la Machine Aeros- 

 tatique, Inventee par MM. de Montgolfier, Paris, 

 1784, small 4to. It appears to have been a pre- 

 sentation one, " To Alexander Keith, Esq., from 

 his sincere friend and most obedient humble ser- 

 vant, Andrew Lumisden." Upon the fly-leaf 

 there is in the same handwriting what may be 

 considered as highly curious and interesting — 

 perhaps never before made public, and therefore 

 worthy of a place in "N. & Q." : — 



" An Epigram addressed to M. Charles, on reading in 

 the Jotirnal de Paris the vain and bombastic discourse 

 which he pronounced, at opening his course of experi- 

 mental philosophy, and in which he ascribed to himself 

 the whole honour of the invention of the aerostatique bal- 

 lons, without naming the Messrs. De Montgolfier." 



" A^ M. Charles. 

 " Toi qui sembles rougir de partager le sort 



Des vils mortels attaches h la terre : 

 Toi qui dans un ballon pris si gaiement I'essor 



Pour t'elever, sublime temeraire. 

 Loin des brouillards apais de notre homble atmosphere : 



Toi qui planas avec transport 



Sur les regions du tonnerre, 

 Charles, ha ! que tu dois b6iir, remercier 



Ce bon Monsieur de Montgolfier ! " 



Alexander Keith (of Ravelston and Dunottar 

 Castle) was the founder of the prize or Keith 

 Medal (value twenty sovereigns), granted to the 



" Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Edinburgh, for 

 the most important invention, discovery, or im- 

 provement in the useful Arts." 



Andrew Lumisden was private secretary to 

 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and author of 

 Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome, 1797 ; and 

 also brother-in-law to the celebrated engraver Sir 

 Robert Strange. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Curious Remedy for Hydrophobia. — In the 

 Complete Horseman, by Solleysell, rewritten by 

 Sir William Hope, published by Gillyflower, Lon- 

 don, 1696, the following remedy is given : — 



" Calcine the ' bottom ' shells of oysters, and fry them in 

 olive oil, when they are reduced to powder; then mix 

 them with four eggs and a little flour and water, and 

 make an omelette or pancake. To be taken for nine 

 mornings fasting, abstaining from food for six hours 

 afterwards. (The same directions with regard to Dogs, 

 Horses, &c.) — Note. The virtue or charm must be in the 

 testaceous powder of the oyster shells! Formerly such 

 powders were in much repute in this countrj', as absorb- 

 ent powdti-s in indigestion, acidity of the stomach, and 

 flatulency, &c. I am inclined to recommend immediate 

 bleeding and Transfusion at the commencement, and if 

 the fit comes on ! " 



J. Bruce Neil. 



Curious Custom in Burmah. — 



" On the 12th of April, the last day of the Birman 

 year, we were invited by the May woon (i. e. Viceroy of 

 Pegu) to bear a part ourselves in a sport that is univer- 

 sally practised throughout the Birman dominions on the 

 concluding day of their annual cycle, to wash away the 

 impurities of the past, and commence the new year free 

 from stain ; women on this day are accustomed to throw 

 water on every man they meet, which the men have the 

 privilege of retorting. This licence gives rise to a great 

 deal of harmless merriment, particularly amongst the 

 young women, who, armed with large syringes and flag- 

 ons, endeavour to wet every man that goes along the 

 street, and in their turn receive a wetting with perfect 

 good humour. Nor is the smallest indecency ever mani- 

 fested in this or any other of their sports. Dirty water 

 is never cast." — Symes's Embassy to Ava, vol. ii. p. 210. ; 

 Constable's Miscellany. 



If I mistake not, the brothers Robertson men- 

 tion the occurrence of a similar custom at Buenos 

 Ayres. E. H. A. 



Burning Ruts alive. — A curious, but cruel cus- 

 tom is occasionally practised in the vaults of the 

 warehouses and on board the vessels in the har- 

 bour of this town ; it is as follows : — 



A rat having been caught alive in a wire trap, 

 is dipped into strong spirit, and a lighted match 

 having been applied, the burning animal is turned 

 loose near one of its haunts ; it is supposed that 

 the rats have places of rendezvous, where they 

 congregate when danger is threatened, and that 

 the shrieking, half-roasted wretch seeks one of 

 these places, and so terrifies its fellows by its cries 

 and appearance, that they ever afterwards refrain 

 from visiting the vault or vessel. Some years 



