390 Scientific Intelligence. — Anthropology. 



Their lot is a hard one ; and, Hke the sex every where, better 

 fitted for adversity than prosperity, they bear it with cheerful- 

 ness. They take a larger share in domestic toils than they 

 ought to be allowed to do ; yet they possess some advantages. 

 They are neither literary nor sentimental ; and, if they have no 

 voluptuousness to learn in galleries of half naked pictures by 

 the best masters, they are probably not the worst for it. If not 

 gorgeously clad, they are modest and retiring, without any of 

 that masculine confidence of manner which women who are 

 ravich inured to society usually possess. In the great world, 

 given up to vanity, they are here devoted to piety and affection. 

 Nor does that benevolence which relieved Park in the heart of 

 Africa, desert them here. The apathy of the men is apt to be 

 confounded with want of spirit ; but when they do feel, they 

 feel deeply. The Norwegians, with all their poverty, are a for- 

 tunate people, in having obtained, without bloodshed, a degree 

 of freedom enjoyed by no other country in the world, but Ame- 

 rica *. — Everesis Travels in Norway. 



29. Natives of New Guinea are Cannibals. — A notice of the 

 natives of NeAv Guinea, by Mr Marsden, was read at the Royal 

 Asiatic Society. The notice principally has reference to the 

 question of the existence of cannabalism among the natives of 

 New Guinea ; and the information it contains was derived by 

 Mr Marsden about the year 1785, through the medium of the 

 Malayan language, from two Lascar sailors, belonging to the 

 Northumberland East-Indiamen, who were of a party sent on 

 shore from that ship while at anchor in the bay, on the north- 

 west coast of the island, in March 1783, for the purpose of pro- 

 curing wood and water. This party was cut off by the natives, 

 several of them being killed, and the rest made prisoners. The 

 latter had their hair cut ofF, and their hands bound ; but they 

 were afterwards allowed to move about freely in day-time, and 

 were tolerably well used. The dead bodies of those who had 



• In the " Four Norwegians,'''' a series of novels by our friend and former 

 fellow-student, the celebrated Professor H. Steffens (which by-the-by ought 

 to be translated into our language), there are admirable delineations of Nor- 

 wegian character and -icenery. The mountain scenery of Scotland, which so 

 much resembles that of Norway, has been powerfully described by Sir Tho- 

 mas Dick Lauder, in the " Wolf of Badenock.^* 



