1826.] 
~The existence of this barbarous and savage prac 
tice, £0, revolting to the.ideas of civilized man, has 
long been doubted ; and. is.only, partially credited 
even to this day, notwithstanding the multiplied 
and convincing proofs of its prevalence to a great 
éxtent, as particularly “described by Mr, Marsden. 
Being} Lown, rather sceptical on this point, I deter- 
mined Ishould ‘omit no'opportunity of arriving at 
the truth. ) Lam fully justified then, not only from 
what I witnessed, (and the*proofs now in’ my pos- 
sessions, but from the concurring testimony of the 
most respectable, and.intelligent natives whom I 
met, in asserting that ,cannibalism prevails even toa 
greater extent on. the east side, of Sumatra, than, 
according to the accounts received, it does, on the 
west. A reference to my journal will shew many 
proofs of itsexistence, For the sake of humanity, 
however, ‘be it: mentioned, “that it is rapidly de- 
creasing, ‘as 'eivilization’ ‘and commerce are advanc- 
ing» It is/mot forthe sake of food that the natives 
devour human flesh, but to gratify their malignant 
and demon-like; feelings of animosity against their 
enemies...Some.few there are, however, of such 
brutal and deprayed,habits, as to be unable from 
‘custom to relish any other food. The Rajah of 
Tanah Jawa, one of the most powerful and inde- 
pendent Batta chiefs, if he does not eat human 
flesh every day, is afflicted with a pain in his 
stomideh, and ‘will eat nothing else. He orders one 
of his slaves (when no’ enemies can be procured, 
nor criminals for execution) to’ go out to a distance, 
and_ kill a man now ‘and then, which’ serves him for 
some time, the, meat being cut into slices, put into 
joints of bamboo, and deposited in the earth for se- 
veral days, whichysoftens it, , The parts usually pre- 
ferred, howeyer, by epicures, are the feet, hands, 
ears, navel, lips, tongue, and eyes. This monster in 
the shape of a man, is not,content with even this 
‘fare, but takes’other and more brutal methods for 
gratifying his’ @épraved appetite. A Batta, when 
he goes toowar, is always provided with salt and 
lime-juice,” which he carries in a’small mat bag on 
this left side.) He who jis the-fitst'to lay his hands 
upon an enemy,,at/a generabsassault of a fort, ob- 
tains particular distinction, by seizing a certain part 
of the body ,with his; teeth, The, head is .imme- 
diately cut off, If the victim, is warm, the blood is 
greedily drank by these sayages, holding the head 
‘by the Hair above their mouths, 
Travels. of . Polycletes, in Letters from 
Rome, A, U..C. 668-672, abridged from 
the original work of the Baron de Theis ; 
1826.—The travels of Polycletes is a book 
as well known, we believe, in France, and 
as highly esteemed, as the Travels of Ana- 
charsis. In this country it is little known ; 
it has never been translated; and though 
profes ing,.,.as, every body, does, to read 
‘ rey e, truth is, comparatively very 
ew French works, particularly, modern 
ones, get read or received, here., ‘The pub- 
lication, before us,is the translation of an 
abridgment, of the, Baron: de Theis's very 
Hearne and very able work, made by a M. 
‘de Rouillon. It, is altogether respectably 
¢ ecuted, judiciously compressed, and dis- 
‘tine! y, translated, It may be safely reeom- 
‘Mended, to, any, body, except, children, — 
those. for whose service, it. is professedly 
lestined,, There is enough for information, 
id not, cnough,to weary those who are 
Domestic and Foreign. 
541 
capable: of interesting themselves in such 
matters. 
The awkward effect’ of ‘this particular 
course—that of conveying information on 
matters of fact, ancient or modern, through 
the medium of a story, or ‘ personal nar- 
tative,’ is, that the real object, by the very 
machinery the writer employs, is virtually 
withdrawn from the reader’s attention ; he 
loses sight of the instruction, in pursuing 
the feelings or the adyentures of the 
person intended to be merely the pas- 
sive medium of communication. For our 
own parts, we have no doubt, in the case 
before us, the boy who shall be persuaded 
to take up the book, because it has an air 
of reality, and gives the promise of action, 
instead of dwelling on the contents of each 
chapter, and sedulously getting up the con- 
tents, will be for pushing forward from chap- 
ter to chapter, in search of the adventures 
of Polycletes ; and as these will be quickly 
exhausted, he will as quickly throw aside 
the book, wearied, disappointed, uninter- 
ested, and what is worse, as defeating the 
very purpose of the reading, uninstructed. 
He will get the essential sooner from 
Adams ; he will read Adams with less re- 
luctance; for the information he wants 
comes direct, and unencumbered with the 
parade of sentiment, and dry though it be, 
it is quickly obtained—he will neither cheat 
nor be cheated. 
Tilustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, by 
John Josias Conybeare, M.A., late Profes- 
sor of Anglo-Saxon and of Poetry in the 
University of Oxford ; 1826.—To any body 
who wishes to know any thing about Saxon 
poetry, this may be recommended as a very 
useful and competent volume, — as containing 
not only all it professes to furnish, but all 
that the general reader—for whom alone we 
cater—can possibly care about. The quan- 
tity extant of Saxon poetry is not very 
bulky,—thirty pieces, iong and short, are 
all that have survived the wear and tear of 
ages ; and these, by conjecture, Were all 
of them written between 670 and 1065. 
The language of what are deemed the 
earlier specimens, differs by no assignable 
distinctions from what the critics determine 
to be the latest: no means, therefore, 
have we of tracing the progress of Saxon 
poetry, or indeed, what is of more impor- 
tance, of ascertaining any degree of culti- 
vation. 
Our antiquaries have long been at dag- 
gers-drawing on the reality of the poetry, — 
we mean of the metre. Hickes, pedant- 
like, insisted not only upon the existence of 
rythmical measures, but upon the actual 
correspondence of those measures with the 
Latin; and Tyrwhitt, at least as good a 
judge of the Latin, though probably not of 
the Saxon, protested, that not only had the 
Saxon poetry, as it was termed, no relation 
to Latin metres, but no metre at all. Mr. 
Conybeare yery gravely and impartially 
