GALLICIA AND LODOMERIA. 467 



The virtues of a spring in the vicinity of Cracow, which increases 

 and decreases with the moon, are said to be wonderful for the pre- 

 servation of life : and it is reported that the neighbouring inhabitants 

 commonly live to 100, and some of them to 150 years of aee. This 

 spring is inflammable, and, by applying a torch to it, it flames like 

 the subtlest spirit of wine. The flame, however, dances on the sur- 

 face without heating the water : and if neglected to be extinguished, 

 which it may easily be, it communicates itself, by subterraneous con- 

 duits, to the roots of trees in a neighbouring wood, which it con- 

 sumes ; and about seventy years ago the flames are said to have lasted 

 for three years before they could be entirely extinguished. 



Population, national character, manners, and customs. ..The 

 number of inhabitants in Eastern Gallicia is estimated at 3,563,8 16, and 

 in Western Gallicia at 1,281,037, amounting together to 4,844,853. 

 The population of the whole of Poland, before its first dismember- 

 ment in 1772, was estimated at 13,404,000. 



The Poles, in their persons, make a noble appearance ; their com- 

 plexion is fair, and their shapes are well proportioned. They are 

 brave, honest, and hospitable ; and their women sprightly, yet modest, 

 and submissive to their husbands. Their mode of salute is to incline 

 their heads, and to strike their breasts with one of their hands, while 

 they stretch the other towards the ground ; but when a common per- 

 son meets a superior, he bows his head near to the earth, and with 

 his head touches the leg near to the heel of the person to whom he 

 pays obeisance. Their diversions are warlike and manly : vaulting, 

 dancing, and riding the great horse, hunting, skaiting, bull and bear 

 baiting. They usually travel on horseback ; a Polish gentleman will 

 not travel a stone's throw without his horse ; and they are so hardy, 

 that they will sleep upon the ground, without any bed or covering, 

 in frost and snow. The Poles never live above stairs, and their apart- 

 ments are not united : the kitchen is on one side, the stable on another, 

 the dwelling house on the third, and the gate in the front. They 

 content themselves with a few small beds ; and if any lodge at their 

 houses, they must carry their bedding with them. When they sit 

 down to dinner or supper, they have trumpets and other music play- 

 ing, and a number of gentlemen to wait on them at table, all serving 

 with the most profound respect ; for the nobles who are poor, fre- 

 quently find themselves under the necessity of serving those that are 

 rich : but their patron usually treats them with civility, and permits 

 the eldest to eat with him at his table, with his cap off; and everyone 

 of them has his peasant-boy to wait on him, maintained by the master 

 of the family. At an entertainment, the Poles lay neither knives, 

 forks, nor spoons, but every guest brings them with him ; and they 

 no sooner sit down to table, than all the doors are shut, and not 

 opened till the company return home. It is usual for a nobleman to 

 give his servant part of his meat, which he eats as he stands behind 

 him, and to let him drink out of the same cup with himself; but this 

 is the less extraordinary, if it be considered that these servants are 

 esteemed his equals. Bumpers are much in fashion, both here and in 

 Russia ; nor will they easily excuse any person from pledging them. 

 It would exceed the bounds of this work to describe the grandeur 

 and equipages of the Polish nobility ; and the reader must figure to 

 himself an idea of all that is fastidious, ceremonious, expensive, and 

 showy in life, to have any conception of their way of living. They 

 carry the pomp of their attendance, when they appear abroad, even 



