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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



proves a cooling and very agreeable drink in those 

 sultry climates, wherein the traveller, continually 

 exposed to the exhausting effects of arid sands 

 and parching winds, becomes irresistibly im- 

 patient of thirst. In the East Indian Archipelago, 

 where the cocoa palm grows to an almost unlimited 

 extent, and where the fruit obtains to an unusu- 

 ally large size, the native inhabitants scattered 

 throughout its seas, avail themselves of the best 

 means of converting the above nut into divers use- 

 ful purposes. They abscind the nuts from the 

 trees (and even this latter feat is performed in a 

 somewhat scientific manner). The stem of the 

 cocoa palm runs from 40 to 80 feet in height, 

 being nude and branchless throughout, but tufted 

 at the top with a group of long, gracefully 

 drooping, and striated leaves, of a dark green hue. 

 at the bases of which are enclustered the nuts. 

 The bark of the tree is furnished with a succession 

 of annular indentations or rings, by which means 

 it is comparatively easily ascended. The climber 

 ties a strong cord to his feet, by attaching the 

 extremities of the string to each of his great toes, 

 admitting of a foot or rather more of the cord to 

 intervene between them ; equipped at the same 

 time with an instrument resembling a woodman's 

 bill-hook, which he sustains in a girdle em- 

 bracing his waist. By manoeuvring the cord with 

 his feet, he contrives to insinuate it into the 

 grooves or furrows, progressively raising himself 

 up by the joint operations of his hands and feet, 

 until he arrives at the lowest branch of the tree, 

 on which he takes the precaution to maintain a 

 firm seat. He then chops off as many of the nuts 

 as he may require for his use, which he suffers to 

 fall below. On descending he collects them to- 

 gether, and after abstracting the nuts from the 

 husks, he introduces the latter into water-pits, 

 dug adjacent to the sea-shore, where they are ex- 

 posed to solar heat for the space of a week or ten 

 days. As soon as the fibrous matter is sufficiently 

 macerated, the threads are carefully picked and 

 separated from the refuse. The same is after- 

 wards dried in the sun, and hence proceeds a 

 strong textile, tawny hemp, called by the natives 

 of India, kiar, which, when twisted, is stranded 

 into ships' hawsers, ropes door-mats, and other 

 useful purposes. This material is used very gene- 

 rally throughout the country, and has of recent 

 years found its way into our English markets, 

 where it has met with a large share of encourage- 

 ment. — A. W. 



Spirit Rapping; Another Victim. — How many 

 hundred people have gone mad, from following this 

 last silly delusion, we know not ; but Mrs. Crowe 

 (author of the " Night Side of Nature," and 

 alluded to in our opening article) is the last recorded 

 victim. She was told by a Medium, that if she 

 walked out at night, in the public streets, in a 

 suit of primitive nankeen, she need not fear being 

 seen, — for she would become " invisible ! " She 

 did walk out in natural array ; but she was not 

 rendered invisible. The strange sight collected a 

 huge mob. * * * The Editor of the Zoist 

 tells us, she is now in a madhouse. — W. K. 



English Women and English Landscapes. — 

 Thomas Miller is quite one of your sort, my dear 

 sir. His pictures of women are of his own mental 



creation, like yours, I fear. Our modern women 

 can hardly, I imagine, be called specimens of our 

 "fairest flowers!" If so, Flora would indeed 

 hide her lovely head for ever. Well; it is 

 delightful to " create" a fancy, and then worship 

 it. So let us take a peep at the basket-maker's 

 vision : There wants but an English lady to give 

 perfection to the landscape ; for unless she is there 

 to adorn it, it seems like the Garden of Eden with- 

 out Eve, for she is the " fairest flower." Beautiful 

 she looks, whether breaking the green of the 

 scenery in a dress of spotless white, or of shot-silk, 

 in which are blended all the indescribable tints of 

 the dove's neck : in whatever color it may be, she 

 gives a charm to the scenery, and from her pre- 

 sence the landscape gathers a new beauty. It 

 was a dream of the old poets that flowers arose 

 from the remains of beautiful women; that she 

 lived again in the bells and blossoms which almost 

 overpower us by their imposing sweetness ; that 

 although she knows it not, her love for flowers 

 arises through her being akin to the spirits from 

 whence they spring. Men have not truly the 

 taste for arranging flowers that women have. 

 What chasteness a lady displays in arranging the 

 commonest wildflowers, making the hedge-rose 

 harmonise with the woodbine, and throwing a soft 

 sunlight over both by the graceful sprays of the 

 golden-broom, which hang like pendants above 

 the rosy pearl of the centuary, or the pale pink of 

 the perfumed convolvulus, the latter of which 

 must not to be sought for until Summer has 

 advanced ; then it will be found at the foot of corn, 

 or nestling among the clover. What a change of 

 light and burst of beauty breaks over the face of 

 a lady when she sees some new flower ! She 

 herself seems to change while admiring it — to 

 " become a bud again," as she catches up and 

 gives back the hue of the flower, as a rose reflects 

 the crimson sunset that falls on its fragrant 

 petals ; or when she holds up the queen of flowers 

 to inhale its sweetness, as it rests upon her lips, 

 one can scarcely distinguish the rose from the lip, 

 or the rosy and pouting lip from the swelling 

 sweetness of the rose. Pity ! that, like it, she 

 should die when she attains perfection, and that 

 earth should lose its only angels. — A Dreamer. 



[Our correspondent dreams pleasantly, and sets 

 us dreaming also. We entirely agree with him 

 in sentiment : yet do we know some few English 

 women worthy of the richest English landscapes. 

 We wish we could honestly accord the honor to 

 more of the sex ; but alas ! they put it of our 

 power.] 



Introduction of Silkivorms from Assam, into 

 Malta and Italy. — Col. Sir William Beid, Gover- 

 nor of Malta, has forwarded to the.Society of Arts, 

 through the Colonial- Office, a communication in 

 which he states that, after many failures, through 

 the very laudable and persevering efforts of Mr. 

 Piddington, of Calcutta, with the aid of the direc- 

 tors of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Packet 

 Company, he has received some sound eggs of 

 the Indian silkworm — the Bombyx Cynthia — 

 called by the natives of Assam Eria, and which 

 feeds on the leaves of the castor-oil plant. Of the 

 eggs received, about five hundred have hatched ; 

 and the worms, after having undergone two mu- 

 tations, still appear to be in a very healthy state, 



