February, 1842. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



29 



bliii!,' tlie bine bottles sometimes seen in iijjothe- 

 cary shops. By following these directions; women 

 can pnt on the coloring as smoothly and as well, 

 generally, as men. 



Mahomet. — Carlyle thus interestingly speaks 

 of the great oriental : — " From an early age he 

 had been remarked as a thoughtful man. His 

 companions named him ' .4( .<?mm— The Faith- 

 ful.' A man of truth and fidelity; true in what 

 he did, in what he spake and thought. They 

 noted that fe always meant something. A man 

 rather taciturn in speech : silent when there wa.? 

 nothing to be said, but pertinent, wise and sincere 

 when he did speak — always tin-owing light on the 

 matter. This is the only sort of speech u'orth 

 speaking ! Through life we find him to have been 

 regarded as an altogether solid, brotherly, genu- 

 ine man. A serious, sincare character ; yet amia- 

 ble, cordial, companionable, jocose, even — a good 

 laugh in him withal ; there are men whose laugh 

 is as untrue as any thing about them — vvho can- 

 not laugh. One hears of iVIahoniet's beauty — his 

 fine, sagacious, honest face, brown florid com- 

 l>lexion, beaming black eyes — ] somehow, too, 

 like that vein on the brow, which swelled up 

 black when he was in anger; like the 'horse- 

 shoe vein' in Scott's Redgauntlet. It was a kind 

 of feature in the Hasheni family, this black, swell- 

 ing vein in the brow; Mahomet had it prominent, 

 as would appear. A spontaneous, passionate, yet 

 jiist true meaning man! Full of wild faculty, 

 fire and light; of wild worth, all uncultured; 

 working out his life-task in the depths of the de- 

 sert there. 



Lunar Phenomenon ! — Sandusky, Jan. d9. — 

 On the night of Tuesday, the 2.5th inst., our at- 

 tention was called to the extraordinary ai)pear- 

 ance of the moon. Ii was truly a singular, but 

 most beautiful sight. The moon was at the full, 

 or within a few hours of it. At the time, there 

 was a thin haze in the atmosphere, and there 

 were seven distinct circles around the moon, dis- 

 playing all the colors of the rainbow, with near- 

 ly, if not quite, ecjual brillianoy. It is not easy to 

 designate the different colors "of the circles with 

 exactness, but we made the following note at the 

 time: " VVithin the inner ciiclL-s, a luiijlit white 

 (or rather a dead white,) then a bjown (circle) then 

 a green, then a faint blue." The last was dis- 

 cernible. This appearance lasted ten or fifteen 

 minutes after we first saw it, and it is said that a 

 similar appearance was presented about half an 

 hour afterward. — Clarion. 



Westward Ho! — We were struck yesterday 

 afternoon with the queer appearance of an emi- 

 giant's " outfit," which went by oin- office on its 

 westward way. U|)on the running part of an or- 

 dinary waggon, with rather a long rcac-ii, was 

 constructed a cabin, svell roofed and clap-board- 

 ed, with curtained windows — while a stove pipe 

 protruding through the roof betokened that ap- 

 pliances and means for warmth and cookery were 

 not lacking — the apparent comfort and snugness 

 of the whole arrangement forming an agreeable 

 contrast with the hardships usually eneountered 

 by the venturous pioneer to western wilds. 



This non-descript d^velling was drawn by three 

 horses, driven very conveuiently from within, and 

 thus sheltered from the iuelement elements, the 

 enterprising euiiurant, while sitting by his own 

 fire, with all bis household goods around him, was 

 pushing onward to the new home he had chosen, 

 with scarcely a deprivation, while in transitu, of 

 the comforts of the one he had left behind him. — 

 Buffalo Com. Mv. 



Wild Geese at Fault. — During several of 

 the warm days last week, the wild geese were 

 seen flying in flocks of all sorts, sizes and num- 

 bers, over om- city to the north. But on Sunday 

 last it snowed a little, on Monday it grew cold, 

 and yesterday yet^older, oven as cokf as Spitz- 

 horgen or Nova Zembla ; and since Monday our 

 birds of passage have been seen and heard 

 making the best of their way back to "the balmy 

 regions of the South," just as fast as before they 

 bad retreated therefrom. We had before been 

 induced to beUeve tlrat the passage of the wild 

 geese to the north was a sign of the break up of 

 winter ; but in future we will believe that the bird 

 knows no more of the weather to come than the 

 almanac makers themselves know.— S/. Louis 

 Rc.v..9th inst. 



From Blackwood's Magazine for January. 

 Galley Slaves— Leghorn. 

 " Nempe in Lucanos vel TuscA ergastula mittas." 

 * * * Went this morning to see the galley 

 slaves in the interior. The nest of these hornets 

 is sadly picturesque. Unaware of the place, we 

 came upon it somewhat mioxpectedly, from the 

 summit of a steep sliort mound, like the Monte 

 Testacio at Rome, raised out of broken earthen- 

 ware and rubbish. We looked right dow n on 

 the stagnant ditch of the fort vvithin which they 

 are confined, and saw a mass of beings, the clank 

 of whose chains miglit be heard for several min- 

 utes before they could be discovered. As they 

 came up, two by tw o, through a narrow covered 

 I)assage, frotn tlie recesses of the fort, upon a 

 platform, where they drew up in ranks, we saw 

 about thirty marked men, with their fijces towards 

 us, of whom the law tells frightful tales behind 

 their backs, while their physiognomy, air, and de- 

 portment, too readily sustain sotiie damning word 

 on the reverse of the medal. There they stood, 

 and so vivid was the impression made by thirty 

 picked scoundrels, that they seem even now to 

 stand, some utterly reckless and sullen; others, 

 like mountebanks at a fair, glad to court the 

 astonishment of those who contemplate them in 

 security across the moat. Our attention is at first 

 called to the distinction of two uniforms, yellow 

 and red, of which you will not be two days iu 

 Leghorn without learning the interpretation. 

 The faded yellow is to last for life ; the " red," al- 

 though you read on it, " onjicidio iu rissa," '• furto 

 violento con mano armata," house-breaking, in- 

 cest, or other appalling felonies, is but for a defi- 

 nite, though always tor a long ])eriod. These 

 ruffians are coupled like hyenas together, and, 

 like them, live only as the useful scavengers of 

 this foul town. Soldiers with loaded guns stand 

 by, but stand aloof, as if even they dreaded com- 

 ing in coutact with them ; and there are eight or 

 ten policemen for ordinary disiipline, who ex- 

 ceed our hardest ligatured turnkeys. This |)arty 

 were waiting for the boat, which was to convey 

 thejn across the moat into the town. Another 

 had already landed, and was reeeiiing, out of a 

 ueiuhhoring shed, the .shovel and the rake, with 

 which tliey are to ciillect anil fjius into4beir cart 

 the feculeuce of the drains. Two old men, of 

 very unequal stature, but both grey-headed, in 

 whom the fire of the eye had been quenched, but 

 not its sedate, satanic glare, led the van ; one of 

 them, the murderer of a sister, stands the full 

 glance of the timid visitor in silence ; his com- 

 panion, with a face, of wliich, ii)i- ferocity, we 

 never saw the equal, wdiincs for alms, and coolly 

 refers you to the himip on his back, where the 

 half-oblite'ated word 'grassazione," makes you 

 look again. The house-breaker and the cattle- 

 stealer, " abigeato," clank their fetters rythmically, 

 unless they happen ;o fight fur the end of n cigar 

 whieh has been thrown away, and discourse on 

 the mysteries of their particular line, or change 

 permitted jokes with their keeper, as they draw 

 the empty hand-cart towards the next embank- 

 ment of dirt. The other detachment is now on 

 boaid, and is neariiig our side of the moat. A 

 crew of braiKled slaves passing the fosse of Leg- 

 horn, and ferried over by one of themselves, 

 chained to his post to work the old rude craft, is 

 a picture ready for the artist! At six in the 

 morning the ferryman is jiadlockcd to bis boat : 

 having carried over these unblest spirits to their 

 vile lalwrs, be goes for more, and takes the differ- 

 ent relief gangs, consigning the last of them to 

 their quarters at sun-set. As we, too, had to go 

 over, we pressed our way through the set just 

 landing — between rape and murder, and all other 

 revolting enormities— who seem surprised at our 

 surprise, and dis|)0se(l to say. What do yon stare 

 at ? Did you never see a bloody hand before .' 

 We commit ourselves, however, to the slave 

 ■er, and would no doubt 

 sixpence ; a horrible of- 

 fence is stamped on his jacket for life, an offence 

 which none convicted of it in England can ex|>i- 

 ate with less than life itself. We spring out im- 

 patiently before the boat has well touched the 

 opposite shore, and are directed to a covered 

 archway which leads ns to the slave-yard. After 

 passing the guard-house, we descend a narrow 

 stair into a sort of impulvium or court, with a 

 shed round it; some of the criminals were saw- 

 ing, some breaking wood, and some trundling a 

 wheel-barrow fiill of filth, to a place from which 



turn 



jn, vvho tugs us ( 

 verboar 



it is to he precipitated into the water of the calm 

 sea sleeping at their feet. How calm I how beau- 

 tiful ! does the sea look to-day with the Gorgona, 

 Elba, Corsica, in the distant view, and the ship- 

 ping and the boats in the harbor ! How cheering, 

 after such sights as we are leaving, and glad to 

 leave, is the oar's light stroke, and the plash of 

 the sporting bather, and the voices of the distant 

 market, and the cry of the itinerant fisherman or 

 bennseller ! How invitingly tlie boats glide about, 

 in and out through the bar; how sparkle those 

 broad spread nets from their sterns, with the sil- 

 very scales of fish they are conveying to the 

 steamer ! How finely colored is yonder distant 

 ridge of the Carara quarries, and how animating 

 the grou])S of the lookers on — the soldiers, with 

 their women and children ; the idlers sitting on 

 the wall, and gazing like ourselves ; and the priest 

 or the monk taking the morning's walk along the 

 lampart. * * * * ^Ve are now 

 in the parlor of the head of the " Busea ;" he sees 

 we are strangers and Englishmen. He hands us 

 over to a tali jovial fellow, who expects a reward 

 for showing his menagerie, else would he treat 

 our curiosity and interest with derision. He first 

 takes ns to the dormitories — filthy rooms they are 

 not ; but dingy, crowded, incommodious, and rare 

 places for the spread of any contagious disease ; 

 they are four rooms, two over two, with sixty and 

 forty beds in each, disposed in tiers, for the econ- 

 omy of space, like sailors' hammocks. Each bed 

 has a straw mattrass and a bolster, and the con- 

 vict's cloak or coverlet, similar in color to his 

 jacket of the day, lies on it. Inside the cloak, the 

 name of the critninal ; outside, the crime. At 

 sundown they all return to tlie fort, get their 

 irons unclinched, walk about half an hour un- 

 chained, take off their jackets, and lie down un- 

 der their cloaks. " Silence is now rigorously ex- 

 acted, and blows from the custode fall on such as 

 are refractory. A few whose fi lends enable them 

 to eat a second meal in the evening, are allowed 

 to do so, and they take this coveted addition to 

 their common allowance by themselves. The 

 dormilories, the dining-room, the kitchen and 

 parlor, have one miserable table in the midst, on 

 which, at ten o'clock, twenty-four ounces of 

 bread and six ounces of beans are given to each. 

 They thrive on this spare diet; besides vvhicli 

 they get, every now and then, something extra. 

 They have four quattrina, (about five futhings 

 English) for doing particularly dirty work ; for 

 work iu which there is particular danger, half a 

 paul is given them in consideration of the added 

 risk ; and they must go to mass once a week, and 

 confess ! Confess! ! " The forced confessions of 

 branded galley slaves must be strange indeed ! 

 But the Church is here in more ways than one, 

 and in some more promising. By every convict's 

 bed hangs a little lead riucifix, Vvith holy water; 

 coarse prints of sacred subjects, placed here with 

 the best intentions, graced the begrimmed walls; 

 devotional verses are printed upon each ; and a 

 colored print of the Madonna, behind a small, 

 ever-burning lamp, is placed at the bead of each 

 room, to which the guard, making the convicts 

 imilato his example, touches his hat as he passes. 

 Over every bed, the convict's shoes, stockingg, 

 and civil costume, are bung up, to remain there 

 during his legal death, like dead men's garments 

 at the morgue at Paris ; and here they often re- 

 main for many years ! You see the shoes, by 

 whose nails the house-breaker may have been 

 tracked ; the hat that he wore in the murderous 

 scuffle ; the linen still stained with his own or 

 his neighbor's blood ; the coat rent in the affray. 

 We asked for a little glossariannformation. " La- 

 trocinio's" jacket turned up, aiid the convict him- 

 self had no objection to tell us. " Mine is only 

 highway robbery; but if I rob you with violence 

 at the corner of a street, 1 wear a yellow jacket, 

 and am marked ' Grassazione' — grazia ! If I slay 

 you off-band, it is only red homicide for a few 

 years; but if I bear the badge of 'omicidia pro- 

 meditata' on my yellow jacket, it is for thirty 

 years" — Jpiic' We saw a group of " galerien" 

 collected roimd the miserable table. One was 

 seated, the rest were standing in their chains, and 

 dictating to him who was writing. " What is 

 this ?" " They are getting the secretary to put 

 down what they want to have iiurchascd, and he 

 is calculating it all u\>, before be sends it to the 

 ' custode.' " One poor wretch, seated in a corner 

 by himself, much arrested our attention. His age 

 aijout the "mezzo cammin' dclla nostra vita," but 



