204 Great yVater-Full — Progress of the Pheasant in Britain. [April 1, 



And, in fact, wliere this unanimity has 

 not yet taken place, the people liave 

 been betrayed and imposed upon by 

 the evil influence of aristocracy ; and 

 the hydra of counter-revolution puts 

 forth its monstrous head to poison with 

 its deadly breath our hopes of consoli- 

 dating public happiness. Of this Spain 

 and Sicily have given us recent ex- 

 amples ; but whatever the arimani of 

 constitutional governments around us 

 may suppose, we still preserve a happy 

 concord of all ranks from the remotest 

 parts of Calabria, to the Abruzzi, and 

 are prepared to maintain it with our 

 constitutional laws, and to fight for 

 them bravely. Since, then, our former 

 nobility possess only the name, and 

 arc distinguished only by their rank, 

 from other citizens, (being the same 

 in the eye of the constitution and the 

 laws,) is it not au unjust maxim which 

 \v(^ have lately sanctioned, that they 

 are to be virdially excluded from all 

 participation in the national represen- 

 tation? And would it not likewise be 

 most unjust that our former nobles 

 should retain a privilege of nominating 

 a certain number among them to the 

 council of state?' 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 

 SIR, 



IN your Magazine for April, I have 

 just seen a slight notice of one of 

 the most sui-jirising and beautiful 

 Water-Falls in the world ; but short as 

 the notice is, it contains two or three 

 mistakes, which you mayijerhaps think 

 worth correcting. 1 visited the fall in 

 question, passing through a most inte- 

 resting country,seldom (perhaps never) 

 ■visited by Englishmen. The name of 

 the fall is Rog soss, the o is pronounced 

 like French u, very long, the definite 

 article e?i is always added to the sub- 

 stantive, thus. Rug soss en or Rug 



smoke waterfall the 

 en soss, for it called either way, is lite- 

 rally the waterfall of smoke, and to 

 nothing else can it be so aptly compared, 

 as from having fallen over three pretty 

 considerable falls before it reaches its 

 last jump, it is broken into white foam 

 so exceedingly light as to appear as if 

 it could not reach the bottom of Black 

 Basin, into which it is precipitated. 

 It is, I believe, the highest known fall, 

 unbroken in its whole descent; the 

 ouc mentioned by your correspondent, 

 in the Pyrenees, is (if I am not mis- 



. » Further details relative to Naples and 

 Italy will be most acceptable. 



taken) divided into two jumps or falls. 

 Its perpendicular height, as measured 

 by Professor Esraark, is 432 ells (norsk) 

 each ell near 25 English inches, i.e. 

 895 English feet. The river wliich 

 flows out of the Mios vnndis called the 



water 

 Maane, or according to your correspon- 

 dent Maanelven, i.e. Maan elv en. 



river the C 



On the PROGREfcS of the pheasant in 

 BRITAIN, by a Landed Gentleman of 

 Scotland. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IT is known to most of your readers 

 that the pheasant is a bird which 

 was familiar to the Greeks and Romans 

 at a very early period. The former 

 brought it from the banks of the river 

 Phasis,in the Black Sea, and hence the 

 Roman name,Phnsiana. By theRomans 

 il was imported into Gaul, and most 

 probably at the time that so many of 

 tile Roman nobility sheltered them- 

 selves from the tyranny of the Neroes 

 and Caligulas, in the l)eautiful and fa- 

 vourite jProi'jnc(«! Narbonensis ; which 

 comprehended the district of country 

 in France, extending from Lyons down 

 the Rhone, on each side, to the shores 

 of the Mediterranean. 



I know not if we can ascertain at 

 what period the pheasant was intro- 

 duced into Britain ; I have not at hand 

 the early accounts offcasts and cookery 

 in the reign of Edward II. or III. pub- 

 lished by some of the members of the 

 antiquarian society ; but probably this 

 bird was for a long time kept in a do- 

 mestic state, like common poultry. For 

 a long period it was supposed to be a 

 delicate bird, that would not bear a 

 very northern climate, or even a very 

 inliiud situation. 



It has been most abundant in the 

 maritime corn counties, but of late it 

 has been proved that there is no part 

 of Britain where this bird will not 

 thrive well, if there be shelter of wood- 

 lands and food in the winter season. 

 About fifty years ago the pheasant was 

 introduced into the south-east county 

 of Scotland, which, for climate, shelter 

 and food, is perhaps the best; but, 

 within the last twenty years, several 

 gentlemen have attempted to naturalise 

 it in the counties of Fife and Forfar, 

 north of the great estuary, the Forth. 

 The experiment has succeeded com- 

 pletely, for few estates are better stock- 

 ed than those of Raith, Wemyss Castle, 

 and Dunnikier, in Fife, nor Rossie 

 Priory 



