142 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 278. 



" Leurs tentes [savoir, les tentes des Tdtars nomades] 

 sont des espfeces de huttes portatives en forme circulaire 

 et de huit pieds de diamfetre, composees d'un treillagc ou 

 dale de baguettes ^paisses et larges d'un pouce, formant 

 une espbce de mur d'appui d'environ quatre pieds de haul, 

 sur lequel se pose un dome ou comble de meme structure : 

 le tout est reconvert de nattes de joncs et d'un fentre 

 brun que le vent et la pluie ne peuvent penStrer. An 

 haut du comble est un trou de deux pieds de diamfetre 

 qui sert de passage au jour et h la fumee : la porte recou- 

 verte d'une natte est la plus e'troite possible. Trois ou 

 quatre coussins rembourr^s de crin, une petite table basse 

 en bois, deux marmites de fer, deux ou trois plats de bois, 

 et une natte de joncs, composent tout I'ameublement." — 

 Thounmann, cite par M. de Reuilly, 1806. 



^Translation.^ 



" Their tents [sc. the tents of the nomadic Tartars of 

 the Crimea] are a sort of portable huts of a circular form, 

 and eight feet in diameter, composed of lattice- work or 

 hurdle-work of thick sticks about an inch in width, form- 

 ing a sort of dwarf- wall of about four feet high, on which 

 is placed a dome or roof of the same construction ; the 

 whole is covered with rush matting and with brown felt 

 which neither wind nor rain can penetrate. At the top of 

 the roof there is a hole, two feet in diameter, which serves 

 to admit light, and for the escape of smoke : the door, 

 covered with matting, is as narrow as possible. Three or 

 four cushions stuffed with horse-hair, a small low wooden 

 table, two iron pots, two or three wooden platters, and a 

 rush mat, compose all the furniture." — Thounmann, 

 quoted by M. de Reuilly. 



I should state how the idea of this proposition 

 arose. It is four months since I gave a brief 

 analysis of the Voyage en Crimee of M. de Reuilly. 

 On a re-examination of the volume, I resolved to 

 call attention to the waterproof tents therein 

 described. But I wished to treat the subject in 

 connexion with the wooden huts, on which I 

 could procure no reliable information, and the 

 extract from M. de Reuilly has therefore remained 

 in type about six weeks. 



Having travelled beyond my customary bounds 

 in order to bring this project to light, I venture 

 to recommend that a trial of it should be made at 

 Aldershot. A guard may be required there be- 

 fore the time of the approaching encampment, and 

 the trial might be made on a small scale. In the 

 event of bad weather, I am sure it would con- 

 tribute to the health and comfort of the troops. 



It should always be borne in mind, and I lament 

 the necessity of repeating such truisms, that man 

 in a state of health is the prime motive power — 

 that the best devised enterprise must inevitably 

 fail without his active agency — and that such 

 agency can never be secured without a sufficiency 

 of food, of clothing, and of shelter. To provide 

 such requirements for the champions of our na- 

 tional fame and prosperity is a debt of policy — a 

 debt of gratitude — a debt of Christianity. 



Bolton Cormet. 



FOLK LOBE. 



A Shropshire Superstition. — A remarkable case 

 of a superstition yet lingering in this county having 

 come under my notice, I have made farther in- 

 quiries, and find it by no means uncommon. At 

 certain places the devil is supposed to exert a 

 stronger influence than at others, and this is most 

 perceptible in narrow and difficult ways. A 

 village stile is a favourite resort of the adversary, 

 and when, under such circumstances, an unfor- 

 tunate wight attempts the surmounting, he finds 

 his efforts fruitless, till he has turned some article 

 of clothing inside out. So strongly is this super- 

 stition implanted, that I have heard of women 

 deliberately turning their gowns before crossing 

 the stile. The germ of this is doubtless from the 

 fact of the devil impeding the progress of those who 

 travel along the " narrow way," but the ceremony 

 used by the annoyed is evidently a propitiation. 



R. C. Warde. 



Kidderminster. 



Fishermen's Superstition. — The following scrap 

 is worthy of a nook in your curiosity shop : 



" The herring fishing being very backward, some of 

 the fishermen of Buckie, on Wednesday last, dressed a 

 cooper in a flannel shirt, with burs stuck all over it, and 

 in this condition he was carried in procession through the 

 town in a hand-barrow. This was done to ' bring better 

 luck ' to the fishing. It happened, too, in a village where 

 there are no fewer than nine churches and chapels of 

 various kinds, and thirteen schools." — Banff Journal. 



A. Challsteth. 



Salt-spilling. — The probable origin of the 

 common superstition as to salt-spilling ; did it 

 come from the East ? As appears from a passage 

 in Cervantes, it was at one time in Spain confined 

 to members of a single noble family, the Men- 

 dozas. (Don Quixote, vol. vi. ch. lviii. p. 154., 

 ed. Paris, 1814.) Abhba. 



THE "kABELJAAUWEn" AND THE " HOEKS." 



" We must not omit to notice the existence of two fac- 

 tions, which, for near two centuries, divided and agitated 

 the whole population of Holland and Zealand. One bore 

 the title of Hoeks (fishing-hooks) ; the other was called 

 Kaabeljauws (cod-fish). The origin of these burlesque 

 denominations was a dispute between two parties at a 

 feast, as to whetlier the cod-fish took the hook, or the 

 hook the cod-fish? This apparently frivolous dispute 

 was made the pretext for a serious quarrel ; and the par- 

 tisans of the nobles, and those of the towns, ranged them- 

 selves at either side, and assumed different badges of 

 distinction. The Hoeks, partisans of the towns, wore red 

 caps ; the Kaabeljauws wore grey ones. In Jacqueline's 

 quarrel with Philip of Burgundy, she was supported by 

 the former; and it was not till' the year 1492 that the 

 extinction of that popular and turbulent faction struck a 

 final blow to the dissensions of both."— Grattan's History 

 of the Netherlands, p. 49. 



