sette, contiguous to Matoonga, greatly resemble in their poverty, goodhumour, and superstition, the Father Macguires of the "first gem of the Say." I once accompanied Mrs. Kenna to mass at one of the tiny chapels scattered over the island. The ceremony was of the rudest kind, and the "discoorse," delivered from a curiously carved pulpit, in a jargon compounded of Latin, Portuguese, and Hindoostanee. His reverence the Padré was a portly gentleman, of sable hue, who appeared to have no reason to complain of the working of the "voluntary principle." Indeed, on the very day of our visit, numbers of the poor naked cultivators, who professed Christianity, and believed in the "priesta's" power of absolution, came in, bearing their offerings of the season-rice, corn, fruits, conserves, &c.—which were duly deposited in an adjoining chamber, that did duty for a vestry-room. All these people, however, were not Portuguese or Goanese; many of them were converted Hindoos, of the lowest caste, who had abjured the worship of Ganesa, the sylvan deity of the Hindoos, for a devotion more consonant to reason and more replete with agreeable promise to the repentant sinner. These poor people had experienced much persecution at the hands of the higher orders of Hindoos, through the forfeiture of caste, and were glad to take refuge from it under the shadow of a more beneficent religion; but they still filled the lowest menial offices, or earned a precarious livelihood by field-labour. Indeed, I do not see how the conversion of this class can at any time cause their employments for livelihood to differ materially from the avocations now suited to their social spheres of life, as the Christian religion not only points out, but enjoins, honest industry for the respectable self-maintenance of its professors in every calling which man's necessities require; only that the converted sweepers and horsekeepers, now degraded to the lowest places in the gradation list of caste, will be at liberty, as Christians, to continue in those employments, without losing the advantages of their adopted creed. Though Christianity is not the religion of the country, all classes are, in religio-political theory and practice at least, tolerated by the British Government, and prevented from interfering with or persecuting one another :—

With the once-conquering Moslem, here,

The Hindoo sits, untouched by fear;
And each sends up the prayer to heaven,
By Shaster or by Koran given ;

Nor dares his neighbour's rites impede,
Nor questions his dissenting creed.

And if our conquest of India had produced no other good to its inhabitants than the slaking of the fiery spirit of religious intolerance, or at least the preventing it from flaming into practice, it might well be regarded as the bestower of the greatest earthly blessing, next to that thorough propagation of the Gospel, without the accompaniment of which, all other blessings must be transient and imperfect.

It would be tedious to the reader, were I to inflict upon him all my

recollections of barrack-life in India. The dull round of guards and parades, diversified only by an occasional public punishment, presented little that deserved to be remembered, and still less that merited grave and minute record. Nevertheless, existence has its charms. The great variety of character which a foreign cantonment presents, and the fun which arises from its collision, is by no means a bad substitute for the change of scene which distinguishes the soldier's life in England, or the excitement of a campaign on the Continent or Peninsula of Europe. The Irishman, gay and insouciant, looking forward to the hour when the dram bugle shall sound, presents a strong contrast to the cautious and wary Scot, with his eye ever upon the chance of promotion. The Englishman, either sullenly discontented, or phlegmatically resigned, seeks employment in tailoring, writing, or following the trade to which he may have been apprenticed, within the barrack circle, happy if the fruits of his labour enable him to purchase an additional shirt, or provide the means for a jollification. In the field, all are pretty much alike-patient, cheerful, resolute. The Irishman piques himself upon the smartness of his movements-"Och, then, it's Paddy Murphy who'll spring up wid life at the word of command!" Sandy is the representative of the vis inertiæ. An officer is quite sure that he will never desert his post, nor yield an inch to the enemy. The Englishman is cleanly, obedient, and intelligent-lacking something of the fire of the Celt-yet acting more from impulse than the canny Scot. In garrison, much of their time is passed in conversation, which turns chiefly upon the exploits and adventures of their past lives at home, or in comparing the comforts they pretend to have resigned with those immediately accessible, or in bantering each other upon their common position. "Och, bad luck to me, why did I list ?" says a hapless child of the West, temporarily discontented with his fate. "Did you come here for want?" asks an Englishman. "Devil's cure to me, if I did," rejoins Tim O'Grady, "for I had plenty of that at home." "I wish I were the sergeant-major's wife's cat," cries Terence O'Rourke, “for then I should have every night in bed." "Ax the colonel to give you the three stripes, and you'll do just as well," says a comrade. be it's himself that will tip me three hundred, if I do," replies Terence. "Three guesses for the man wot wishes he was at home with his mother!" ejaculates Bill Brown. "It's Tom Smith, the skilligolee with eye out," cries another. "You're a witch," rejoins Brown.

his

"May

Wide as is the distance which unhappily separates officers and men, the latter are acute observers, and take the measure of a superior's character with marvellous accuracy. For a just, generous, and highminded officer they entertain the highest respect, take pleasure in obeying and following him, are solicitous to belong to his company or troop, and are cautious not to give ground of offence. On service they forage for him with alacrity, are prompt to assist in pitching his tent and unloading his camels or bullocks, and will fight for his honour, glory, and protection to the death. But towards a harsh, cruel martinet, they enAsiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.IV. No. 19.

E

tertain the most bitter antipathy. Every petty annoyance to which such a tyrant may expose the man, is repaid ten-fold. In vain he confines, flogs, drills, stops the grog, and bars promotion; his detachment, company, or whatever it may be, is always the most irregular, the least cleanly, the most inefficient. To a weak, goodnatured centurion, not over-burthened with sense and shrewdness, the men are forbearant, but they love an occasional joke at his expense. I remember a Scotch officer, named Paterson, of this kind. He was the best-tempered creature in the world, and at the same time one of the dullest. His accent was particularly broad and drawling, and furnished the men with infinite food for mirth. One day, while examining the company at open order, he stopped opposite one Barney O'Driscoll, who had lost the tuft of his cap. Looking up at the cap, and addressing Barney, he said, "Where's your feyther, my mon?" This was too good an opportunity to be lost. "He's in Ireland, your honour," replied the wag, affecting to misinterpret "feyther" for "father," instead of "feather."

Another class of characters, who afforded me much diversion, were the illiterate fellows who pretended to knowledge. There was one who, having the vis comica in a remarkable degree, and displaying some vulgar histrionic talent, was, by virtue of his staff office of quartermaster's sergeant, appointed manager of the small theatre in the barracks. He could not read a line, and was, therefore, taught his parts by his wife, a clever little half-caste woman, who read them to him. One day, an officer visiting the theatre during a rehearsal, for the first time, said to the eccentric manager, "How are you off for echo, here?" "Echo? echo?" repeated the perplexed catechumen—“ eh ?—oh—ho— pretty well for that-pretty well for that-but we shall get a larger supply by the next ship!" On another occasion, the colonel of the regiment desired him to call the sergeant-major, to whom he wished to speak. Away went Dixon (the quarter-master sergeant), and scoured the cantonment, soon returning alone. "Well," said the superior, "have you found him?" "No, Sir, he's non compos mentis!" "What?" inquired Colonel B., extremely surprised, "what say you?" "Non compos mentis, Sir," iterated the confident Dixon. "What the devil do you mean?" "I mean, colonel, that he's not to be found." "And that's your way of announcing the fact, is it? Pray where did you pick up your Latin?" "Oh, at school, Sir, of course.' "Then, Dixon, either you were a dunce, or your schoolmaster an ass." "What, Sir, isn't it right? I know the sentence begins with a non, and I'm sure it ends with an entis or an entus." 66 'Well, Dixon, next time endeavour to remember that non est inventus is the phrase." "Thank you, Sir, I'll not forget. I believe my wits were non est inventus when I made the mistake." The colonel smiled at the new blunder, and left the barracks.

PHYSIC AND PHYSICIANS IN CHINA.

MEDICINE in China is in an extremely low and degraded state; there are no medical schools; anatomy is unknown, and the whole science of medicine, even amongst the regular practitioners, consists in an obscure theory respecting the two principles yin and yang. The fees of physicians are ridiculously small.

Du Halde* has published translations of two medical works from the
Chinese: one on the Pulse, by Wang-shoo-ho, who flourished under the
Tsin dynasty, prior to the Christian era; the other a Pun-tsaou, or
Medical Herbal, containing the remedies usually prescribed. The for-
mer version is by F. Hervieu. Du Halde has given the following account
of the theory of Chinese medicine:

The Chinese recognize two natural principles of life,-vital heat and
radical moisture, of which the animal spirits and the blood are the vehi-
cles. They give the name of yang to the vital heat, and that of yin to
the radical moisture. These two principles of life, they say, are found
in all the chief parts of the body, the limbs and the intestines, their
combination being the source of life and vigour. They divide the body
into right and left, each having an eye, an arm, a hand, a shoulder, a
leg, and a foot. Another division is into three parts,-upper, middle,
and lower; they likewise divide it into members and intestines. The
six principal organs, wherein reside the radical moisture, are the heart,
liver, and one of the reins on the left; and the lungs, spleen, and other
rein, on the right. The intestines, which are six in number, are the
seat of the vital heat. The radical moisture and vital heat pass from
their respective seats into the other parts of the body by means of the
spirits and blood: whence it would appear that the Chinese were ac-
quainted imperfectly with the theory of the circulation of the blood
from the earliest date of their medical science, about 800 years after
the Deluge. They suppose that the human frame, by means of the
nerves, muscles, veins, and arteries, is, as it were, a kind of lute, or
instrument of harmony, the several parts of which render certain
sounds, or rather have a certain species of temperament peculiar to
them, by reason of their shape, situation, and use, and that it is by
means of the different pulses, which communicate the various sounds
and tones of the instruments, that an accurate judgment can be formed
respecting their condition: just as a cord, in greater or less tension,
touched at one place or another, gently or forcibly, gives out different

notes.

Having established these twelve sources of life in the human body, they sought external indications of their internal state, and found them in the head, the seat of all the senses connected with animal operations; the tongue, which is in communication with the heart; the nostrils with the lungs, the mouth with the spleen, the ears with the reins, and the eyes with the liver; and they profess to draw from the colour of

Description de la Chine, t. iii. p. 461.

the face, eyes, nostrils, and ears, the sound of the voice and the taste imparted to the tongue, certain conclusions respecting the temperament of the body, and the life or death of a patient.

In accordance with this theory of the human system, external matter is supposed to act upon it. This external matter consists of the five elements,-earth, metals, water, air, and fire. The human body, they say, was composed of these five elements, and in such a manner that there are parts of it in which one element predominates. Thus, fire rules the heart and first intestines, air the liver and gall-bladder, water the reins, metals the lungs and great intestines, earth the spleen and stomach, &c.

The pulse, as already remarked, is supposed to indicate infallibly all the dispositions of the different parts of the body. The principles are the following :—It is motion, they say, which causes the pulse, and this motion is created by the flux and reflux of the blood and animal spirits, which are conveyed to all parts of the body by twelve channels, and the perfect knowledge of the pulsations discovers the state of the system, the nature of the blood and spirits, their deficiency and excess, which the skilful physician's office is to regulate and restore to their just temperament.

When a physician is called in to a patient, he places the latter's arm upon a pillow, and applies his fingers along the artery, sometimes gently and sometimes forcibly; he considers the action of the pulse for a very considerable time, noticing the slightest difference with great attention; and often, without interrogating the patient, tells him in what part of his body he feels pain, what organ is affected, and when he will

recover.

So far Du Halde, whose account we have much abridged. Its accuracy, on some points at least, is ascertained by a curious report made by F. Amiot, who was himself a patient of a Chinese physician, in a letter from Peking, dated 26th June, 1789.*

"A serious illness," observes M. Amiot, "of the character which the Chinese call Shang-han,† and which indicated its presence by causing me the most acute pains, compelled me to have recourse to a native physician. I described my case to him, telling him that I had for two days experienced such sharp pains under the left breast, that I could not eat, drink, or sleep, and had lost the free exercise of all the animal functions. He felt my pulse on both arms for a long time, and told me that the seat of my disorder was the liver, and that it arose from an excess of the yang, the effects of which would extend to the whole frame, if not prevented, by tempering it by the yin. He added that, as soon as I should have taken two draughts, which he would prescribe for me, my pains would entirely cease, and I should be able to sleep. The result was just as he had predicted: the pains ceased, and I slept part of the night. He then made me take certain gentle medicines for three or four days, after which he ordered one more powerful, to pro

• Mém. concernant les Chinois, t. xv

↑ This is the name given to a malignant fever, very common in China.