378 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 234. 



last conveys, at worst, a distorted notion of the 

 end of Gothe's story. To prevent this misappre- 

 hension, I quote from Mr. Boylan's translation all 

 that is told of Charlotte after Werther's suicide : 



" The servant ran for a surgeon, and then went to 

 fetch Albert. Charlotte heard the ringing of the bell ; 

 a cold shudder seized her. She wakened her husband, 

 and they both rose. The servant, bathed in tears, 

 faltered forth the dreadful news. Charlotte fell senseless 

 at Albert's feet. 



" The steward and his sons followed the corpse to 

 the grave. Albert was unable to accompany them. 

 Charlotte's life was despaired of." 



Perhaps " despaired of" is too strong a word 

 for " man furchtete fur Lottens Leben ;" but there 

 is no peg on which to hang the poor joke of the 

 last stanza. H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



"feather in your cap." 

 (Vol. ix., p. 220.) 



In reply to Mr. Gatty's question, I beg to 

 state that the Indian wears an eagle's feather for 

 every enemy he has slain. I have seen a boy of 

 fifteen thus decorated, and was assured that it 

 had been lawfully won. 



The feather is usually stuck into the hinder part 

 of the turban, or head-dress, and either projects 

 straight out, or hangs down the back. This is 

 exactly the fashion in which the Chinese wear the 

 peacock's feather ; and it also is a mark of dis- 

 tinction for warriors, a military institution similar 

 to our knighthood, or, perhaps, what knighthood 

 once was. (See De Guignes and Barrow, &c.) I 

 think M'Kenzie speaks of the eagle's feather, but 

 cannot quote just now. According to Elphin- 

 stone, the "Caufirs of Caubul" (Siah-posh?) stick 

 a long feather in their turbans for every Mussul- 

 man they have slain. 



The similarity of style in wearing their feathers, 

 and, above all, the coincidence of both being the 

 reward of merit, induces a belief that in times 

 long gone by a relationship may have existed be- 

 tween the Chinese and the American; a belief that 

 is strengthened by other and more curious testi- 

 mony than even this. 



The head-dress, or coronet of upright feathers, 

 to which Mr. Gatty seems to allude, I have never 

 heard of, as associated with warlike deeds. The 

 coronet of feathers, moreover, does not appear to 

 have been peculiar to America. In the Athenaeum 

 for 1844 is given the representation of a naval en- 

 gagement, in which one party of the combatants 

 " wear head-dresses of feathers, such as are de- 

 scribed in ancient Hindu records, and such as the 

 Indian Caciques wore when America was disco- 

 vered by Columbus," &c. (p. 172.). Moreover, 



"the Lycians had caps adorned with crests, stuck 

 round with feathers," &c. (Mey rick's Ancient Ar- 

 mour, Sfc, vol. i. p. xviii.) We may suppose this to 

 have resembled the coiffure of the Mexican and 

 other North American tribes. 



Mr. Rankin says the Peruvian Incas wore, as a 

 distinction, two plumes on the front of the head, 

 similar to those represented in the portraits of 

 Tamerlane. (See Conquest by the Mogols, Sfc, 

 p. 175.) I have seen, among the Wyandots of 

 Sandusky, heads which one might suppose had 

 been the originals of the portraits given in his 

 plate : turban made of gaudy-coloured silk, with 

 two short thick feathers stuck upright in front ; 

 the one red, the other white tipped with blue, the 

 great desideratum being to have them of different 

 colours, as strongly contrasted as possible. 



The Kalmucs, when they celebrate any great 

 festival, always wear coloured owls' feathers in 

 their caps, &c. (See Strahlenburg, 4to., p. 434.) 

 The Dacotas also wear owls' feathers. (See Long's 

 Expedition to Rocky Mountains, vol. i. p. 161.) 

 The Usbeck Tartar chiefs wore (perhaps do wear) 

 plumes of herons' feathers in their turbans ; and 

 the herons' plume of the Ottoman sultan is only 

 a remnant of the costume in which their ancestors 

 descended from Central Asia. A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



PERSPECTIVE. 



(Vol. ix., p. 300.) 



Your correspondent Mr. G. T. Hoare is rather 

 bold in describing the case he does as a " very 

 common error ;" and I cannot agree with him 

 that the facade of Sennacherib's Palace (Layard's 

 2nd book on Nineveh) is an instance of the kind. 

 The theory that horizontal lines in the plane of 

 the picture should converge to a point on the 

 horizontal line right and left of the visual ray, is 

 by no means new ; in truth, every line according 

 to this view must form the segment of a circle 

 more or less, according to circumstances. Apply 

 this principle to the vertical lines of a tower or 

 lofty building, and every such structure must be 

 represented diminished at the top, the vertical 

 lines converging to a vanishing point in the sky. 



Some years since, this theory was brought for- 

 ward by Mr. Parsey, and the subject fully dis- 

 cussed at scientific meetings. There was much 

 ingenuity in the arguments employed, but the 

 illustrations were so unsatisfactory that the system 

 has never gained ground. The principles of 

 perspective are most ably exemplified in many 

 well-known works, as they set forth very satisfac- 

 tory modes of delineation. The limits of your 

 periodical prevent a fuller correspondence on this 

 subject, or I think it would not be difficult to 



