Sn* S. N« 107., Jan. 16. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



55 



tree, or beast, or a fruit. The Samoides do the 

 same, only they take the name from the first 

 creature, man or beast, which enters their teftt, 

 or the first tree they behold. 



The women of the Gold Coast suffer the nails of 

 their fingers to grow long, and thereby command 

 respect. The literati and doctors of China do the 

 same, in order to show that they are not obliged 

 to labour with their hands. 



Scalping is the famous custom of the North 

 American Indians : Herodotus describes the iden- 

 tical practice as common among the Scythians. 



Many tribes of the American savages, especially 

 the Brazilians, used a certain peculiar method of 

 infibulation -. strange to say, according to Cook, 

 the New Zealanders had the identical custom ! 



The words of every language are so many 

 peculiar customs of the nation. Now, the Othomi 

 dialect of ancient Mexico reproduces words and 

 constructions of the ancient Egyptian, Greek, and 

 especially Chinese ! The people resemble the 

 Chinese in general appearance ; and, of course, 

 hypothesis has busied itself about " inter-commu- 

 nication." 



In the midst of the innumerable absurd and 

 ridiculous customs of civilisation — the result of 

 our circumstances, or still more the absurd con- 

 trivances of man's dominant caprice — we find it 

 diflicult to sympathise with the absurd or pecu- 

 liar customs of the savage. It is like swimming 

 through an ocean and hesitating to wade through 

 a duck-pond ; whilst the labours of the inter- 

 communication theorists seem like raising a vol- 

 cano merely to boil an egg for breakfast. 



Andrew Steinmjetz. 



HOW FAR MAY A BEACON-FIRE BE SEEN I* 



(2"'i S. iv. 475—6.) 



Notwithstanding the statement of the Malvern 

 Committee, I very much doubt the fact of their 

 bonfire having been seen at such great distances ; 

 and I am strongly inclined to believe that those 

 far-watchers at Snowdon, Alnwick, &c., must have 

 been the victims of some optical delusion, and 

 (according to the adage) have easily credited 

 what they wished to come to pass. I was present 

 at the lighting of the beacon, and sketched a near 

 and distant view of it for the Illustrated London 

 News, to which paper I also furnished an account 

 of the event. (See Illustrated London News for 

 January 19, 1856.) The beacon, it is supposed, 

 was very unskilfully constructed, and to this its 

 failure may be partially attributed; added to 

 which, a fierce wind was raging, which, instead of 

 allowing the flames to mount perpendicularly, 

 drove them out horizontally, with all the fury of 

 a blast furnace, In the direction of Herefordshire. 

 The flames never reached to the top of the beacon, 



and dark masses of velvety smoke generally hid 

 them from view. From many places in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of Malvern the bonfire was al- 

 together invisible ! Thus, at Worcester, says one 

 of the local papers, — 



" The Bath road was crowded with curious spectators, 

 who from six p. m. till ten resolutely bent their regards 

 on Malvern ; but no beacon glare rewarded their perse- 

 verance. There were a number of carriages on the spot, 

 whose freight were destined to suffer the like disappoint- 

 ment; and, gradually, the disgusted crowd drew off, 

 some of them vehemently declaring the whole thing was 

 a hoax." 



At nine o'clock on that evening I joined some 

 friends who had posted themselves on an eligible 

 situation only three miles from Malvern, and who 

 had not been favoured with a glimpse of the 

 beacon : nor was it visible from another point, 

 distant five miles from Malvern, where some other 

 friends of mine watched for two hours, and saw 

 nothing more than the flight of fifty rockets that 

 signalled (at seven o'clock precisely) the lighting 

 of the beacon. When I exhibited my sketch, 

 therefore, I could scarcely be surprised at my 

 friends accepting it as a work of high imagina- 

 tion ; nor could I very much wonder at an un- 

 friendly critic in The Worcestershire Chronicle 

 seizing the opportunity to devote a special para- 

 graph to its notice, holding it up to ridicule for 

 its unfaithfulness, and ita flights — not of rockets, 

 but — of fancy. Notwithstanding which the hun- 

 dreds who climbed the Worcestershire beacon, 

 and were present at the lighting of the bonfire, 

 could testify to the conscientious accuracy of my 

 sketch. I presume that mists had risen in certain 

 spots, and thus obscured the beacon's light from 

 the gaze of those at Worcester, and other nearer 

 places ; but, though the bonfire may have been 

 seen at a distance, I should Imagine that at the 

 distance (seventy-five miles) mentioned by your 

 correspondent, it must, from the causes I have 

 stated, have been altogether invisible, and that 

 he (together with the gentlemen on Snowdon and 

 elsewhere) must have accepted some other lu- 

 minous appearance for that of the fire in ques- 

 tion. It may be interesting to him to know that, 

 at the meeting of the British Meteorological So- 

 ciety on January 21, 1856, the Rev. J. B. Reade 

 stated that — 



" The Malvern light on the 10th inst. was distinctly 

 seen from the beacon-hill, in the range of the Chilterns, 

 at Chequers Court, near Aylesbury, — being about 700 

 feet above the sea-level, and nearly seventy miles from 

 Malvern. The fire had the appearance of a comet lying 

 on the horizon, and having a tolerably bright centre, sur- 

 rounded by a nebulous haze." 



I can fancy I hear my incredulous Worcester- 

 shire Chronicle critic murmuring the name of 

 " Walker ! " Cuthbebt Bede. 



