NOTES OF TRAVEL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3633, 26 September 1873, Page 6 (Supplement)

NOTES OF TRAVEL.

THE LAPPS,

The Lapps have a name for being a sober people, as they undoubtedly are, owing to the almost impossibility of obtaining the means of intoxication ; but when they visit towns, and have the means oi obtaining the villainous Swedish brannvin, they will drink as lustily as any I man in creation, never rising sober from a merrymaking, unless, indeed, they lie on the floor until the effect of the spirit has worn off. Owing to their low cast of physiognomy, their high cheek-bones, pug noses, and small, swinish eyes, they have a decidedly unprepossessing appearance ; and, owing to their poverty, they are incorrigible beggars ; but they have their good point, which is strict honesty. It is said that they build their cupboards on tree-stumps in any part of the forests, there leaving their treasures without any thought or fear of having them stolen, or even touched.—" Up in the North," by Thomas Sliairp.

FANS AND FEET OF SPANISH LADIES,

On tbe promenade [at Seville] ladies often wear low dresses, and their hair dressed with flowers, while even at a large evening party high dress is the rule. Every possible form and size of fan is to be seen—often with a handle, and so large that it is used as a parasol. There are fans for every season, and for every occasion. A friend of ours asked a Spanish lady how niany she had. "Only thirty dozen," she said, and thought it very few. In church, where there are no chairs or seats of any kind, and where all the ladies sit picturesquely upon the floor, the flapping of fans in the hot weather is prodigious. Many writers have dilated upon the beautiful feet of the Spanish ladies, but their dresses are worn so very long that it is difficult to imagine how this knowledge can have been arrived at. Nor is this hiding of feet merely the result of modern fashion; the feet'of Spanish ladies have always been concealed. Mediaeval artists were always forbiddeu to paint the feet of tbe Virgin,

and to mention them was as sacrilegious as it was disloyal to allude to the possibility of the queens of Spain having legs. —" Waiiclerings in Spain," by AxujustusJ. G. Hare. ' ' ;

BUDDHISTIC GREEK SCULPTURES IN INDIA.

It is long since scholars perplexed the teamed world by the discovery of unmisfcakeably Greek faces and profiles in indent Buddhist sculptures. Such sculptures enrich almost all the larger muieums in India, and their labels briefly lescribe them as " Buddhist or Greek." The purest specimens have been found in ohePanjab, where the lonians settled in greatest force. Inthe Lahor collection I saw, among many beautiful pieces, an exquisite little figure of .an old blind man feeling his way with a a staff, which might have been dug up near the'Sette Sale along with the Lacoon. Its subdued pathos, its fidalily to nature, and its living movement dramatically held for the moment in sculptured suspense, are Greek, and nothing but Gfeek. As we proceed eastward from the Panjdb, the Greek type begins to fade. Purity of outline gives place to bsciousness of form. In the female i'gures, the artists trust more and more to swelling breasts and towering chignons, and load the neck with constantly accumulating jewels. Nevertheless, the Grecian type of countenance long survived in Indian art. It is perfectly unlike the present coarse conventional idea of sculptured beauty, and may even be traced in the exquisite profiles of. the Sun Temple, built in the twelfth century, a.d., on the remote Orissa shore.—" Orissa," by W. W. Hunter.

THE DEAD AT MUNICH.

While wandering among the tombs and along the monumental cloisters, we were attracted by a crowd pressing round a glass door of a room opening from the back of the cloisters. Being curious to see what was drawing the people to this point, we made up to the glass door, and there a strange spectacle met our eyes. On inclined boards raised t .vo or three feet from the ground were six or seven coffins without lids, and in them corpses Jof various ages, dressed and decorated according to the means of their relatives. There was a lad pf twelve or thirteen, and two or three babies, looking like beautiful wax figures, with a profusion of costly flowers scattered about them, and each with a crucifix between their clasped hands. In their case death was robbed of its terrors ; but an old gentleman ih evening costume, and an elderly lady in all the glories of a black silk dress, and cap with streamers of lace and ribbon and artificial flowers, having evidently suffered from wasting diseases, were decidedly ghastly and unpleasing to look upon. On inquiry, our guide told us that it was the law in Munich that all dead bodies, without distinction of rank, should be brought to this house within five or six hours after death, and be exposed here for fortyeight hours before interment; this practice being intended to prevent the spread of disease, and also as a safeguard against premature burial. I may add that the bodies were all numbered, and lists of names with-corresponding numbers were hung up outside, The room was decorated with flowering shrubs, giving it more the appearance of a conservatory than of a deadhouse j and ifc was evident that everything was done to render this ordeal as little unpleasant to relatives and spectators as possible.— Correspondent of the Sydney Morning fiHerald.

SAILING ALONG A CORAL REEF,

As we glided along with scarce percepiible motion, ihe bottom varied in depth from.3ft. to five and six fathoms, but in the deepest parts so clear was the water it was as plainly to be seen as it would had it been within reach of our fingers, and how beautiful! It was one mass of coral. We were gliding over fields, or rather, I should say, forests of coral. It took every variety of shape and. form. Seen through the magnifying medium of the water, it reared itself as a gigantic tree in one place, and as a moss-covered castle in another, the seaweed doing the part of the moss. Then would appear a beautiful natural grotto, and next a range of snowy white mountains in miniature, with their verdure of seaweed. All this beneath you as your boat moves on, scarcely raising a ripple upon the calm surface of the water, attracts your deepest attention, and leads your thoughts away from the " vanities. and vexation" of the world. But 1 had almost forgotten the little fishes, which _ accompanied our journey. They were in countless numbers, and of all sizes and colours, and swam in all depths of water. In the shallow parts, if we could have been nimble enough, we could have caught them with our hands, but as they were quicker in their movements than we were, our labour was in vain. Some sAvam round and round the boat, as if taunting us with the slowness of our progress, while others kept pace with us at our side as if acting as an escort, while others again, of a high spirited nature, amused themselves by leaping out of the water to the height of 10ft. and 12ft., and trying to frighten us by jumping over the boat. Amidst all this varied scene of marine loveliness and grandeur, there were two kinds of fish which particularly took my fancy. One was of a brilliant yellow colour, and the other a splendid Prussian blue. Both were about the size of a smelt, and were most attractive to the eye as they gracefully moved through the branches of coral below us.— Fiji Correspondent of the Melbourne Daily Telegraph.

CAPE TOWN.

Cape Town is on the sea side, and is, therefore, necessarily low : and, as in all seaside places, the air is always more or less damp. In summer time the streets are very hot, and the air oppressive ; and owing to the guasi'-fashionable tone of the place, and the mimicry by a certain portion of the inhabitants of European manners and dress, it is difficult to adopt a light and cool costume without, at the same time, making oneself the object of remark. In the winter time Cape Town is very wet and rainy. In summer time, too, Cape Town is rendered very ' unpleasant by. the constant occurrence of " south-casters." These winds are excellent for the general sanitary health of the town, and are popularly known as the "Cape Town doctor." They cleanse the town of bad smells, and prevent cholera and fever, but they are very bad for consumptive subjects, and would certainly confine patients of this description, to the house for days together. No one who has not experienced them can have any idea of ihe force of these winds. It is often as mpch as a strong man can do to keep- his feet, and the inhabitants are forced to take refuge in cabs from the fury of the gales. Sometimes these winds last for days at a time, and then they become an intolerable nuisance, even to a perfectly healthy person. After a day or two all the loose dust in the place is blown away, and then the wind catches all the small pebbles, and blows them into the faces of all who venture out-of-doors, in a . way that is really most painful. There is another point connected with Cape Town which for invalids must not be overlooked

The drainage of the town is most defective. Owing to these south-east winds, up to the present time there has been a wonderful immunity from epidemics, choleraic or otherwise; but this cannot last for ever, and unless measures are taken by the authorities, disease must sooner or later make its appearance. Another point is that, in building many of the houses, leaden cisterns have been used. The water of the town is remarkably soft, and so contracts much of the poisonous qualities inherent in lead, and many cases of lead-poisoning " have occurred. Against both these evils the late Dr Abercrombie protested to the utmost of hi 3 power, but I regret to say that though much has been done in the latter, instance by private persons, very little has been done by the public authorities to remedy the former evil.—Correspondent of the Lancet,