1805.] Traces of the Savage State among Polifbed Nations. O7 
an infurmountable obftacle to all improve- 
ment and toail communication. A pea- 
fant of Lower Bretagne, placed all at once 
in the midit of one of the great towns of 
France, weuld be as much aftonifhed and 
embarraffed as a Huron or an Iioquois.— 
A fingular inftance of the truth of ‘this 
affertion occurred a few years ago. A 
young peafant of Lower Bretagne was 
carried off by fome adventurers, eno ex- 
hibited him at Paris as a man of the 
woods. He was treated very ill, and 
made to fait a long time, that he might 
devour raw meat with the more avidity, 
and the better a&t the part of a favage.— 
Some officers from the fame part, of the 
country happened to recognize the unfor- 
tunate youth, reftored him to liberty, and 
procured the punifhment of his unprinci- 
pled keepers. 
I have been informed: that in the vici- 
nity of Hamp, on the fummit of the Vol- 
ges, there exifts in the midf of a forelt 
a {mall fociety, the individuals of which 
are uncommonly handfome, and are the 
genuine defcendants of the Gauls. ‘They 
live perfectly infulated, and fearcely knew, 
a few years fince, that any revolution had 
taken place in France. 
The articles Manners, Marriage, and 
Medicine, in the Statiftical Account of 
the Department of Deux Sevres, by M. 
Dupin, might eafily be taken for chapters 
of travels in diftant regions, in which are 
de(cribed the manners of men fearcely ar- 
rived at the commencement of civiliza- 
tion, 
‘¢ The peafants of the de havenlene of 
Deux Sevres (fays the author juft men+ 
tioned) never fend for a phyfician except- 
ing in defperate cafes. They have faith 
in forcery. A ficknefs is a fpell which 
has been put upon them, and they apply 
to the cunning man for relief. 
‘© External diforders are cured by the 
-touch. Ifa peafant ftrains his ancle, the 
toucher is fent for; he provides himfelf 
with a hatchet, and ftrikes a furious blow 
on the ground between the legs of the pa- 
tient. He has killed the cat, and the 
peafant is cured ; for it was an invifible 
cat which had fattened on the poor fel- 
Jow’s leg, and cauled him fo much pain. 
The peafant has the fame prejudices with 
re{pect to his cattle ; being convinced that 
the illnefs has been oceafioned by witch- 
craft, he applies to a conjuror to counter- 
act its effect : the cunning man pofieffes 
all his confidence, and the veterinary prac- 
titioner is difmiffed.”” 
The marriages ufually take place in 
autumn, and the formalities obferved on 
- church ; 
thefe occafions are very fingular. After 
fome of them have been performed, the 
bride goes to the guetts, and receives 
from each a kifs and a. piece of money.— 
After breakfaft they prepare to go ta 
but before fhe fets off, or by the 
way, the bride drops a few tears of eti-. 
quette. After the conclufon of the ceres 
mony, her young companions prefent her 
with an enormous nofegay, at the fime 
time finging afong, which has undergone 
no variation for three hundred years, "and 
in which all the difaculties fhe will meet 
with in houfe keeping are enumerated.— _ 
The remainder of the day, part of the 
night, and the fucceeding day, are em- 
ployed in pra€tices equally abfurd, and 
which would powerfully attract attention 
if we were to meet with them among fa- 
vage nations. 
According to rae the re cligious ce ce- 
remonies, and efpecially thofe relative to 
marriage, are extremely ancient, and truly 
barbarous, in the wild and mountainous 
parts of Sicily. Thus, when the nuptial 
benediction is pronounced, two of the 
company putinto the mouths of the sew- 
maitied couple two great {poonfuls of ho- 
ney, and then throw over them a handful 
of corn, in allufion to the fweetnefs of the 
conjugal union, and the fecundity of the 
youthful couple. The bride > ane bride- 
groom muft not touch the viétuals prepar~ 
ed for the occafion; but when the repaftis 
almoft finifhed, one of the nearett relations 
of the female prefents a bone to tne huf- 
band, faying, ‘* Gnaw this bone, for you 
have taken one which will be much more 
difficul: to digeft.” ‘They avoid marry- 
ing in the month of May, fuch unions 
being accounted extremely unlucky. 
Cuftoms ftill more extraordinary and 
ftill nore barbarous are found among the 
Englith, who fo proudly boait of their 
high ftate of civilization. Thus, in the 
county of Cardigan, if a young min 
wiflies to marry, be goes to bed to his 
fweetheart, to explain his inten ions,—-— 
They have the lit:le marriage and the 
great one, The former is only by way of 
trial, If it fhould not fucceed, the female. 
returns to her friends, and finds another 
hufband as eafily as if fhe had not been 
married. 
In the Ifland of Portland, girls are ne- 
ver married till they are pregnant, and 
this cuftom has not yet been dettroyed by 
the influence of religion. Ifa young man 
and woman have for fome time maintain- 
ed a barren connection, 1 is fuppoied that 
Providence has not deftined them tor each 
other. The temale preferves her reputa- 
D 2 tion, 
