of the higher ranks, who were punctured over and over to such a degree, that the outlines of each separate figure were scarcely to be distinguished, and the body had an almost negro-like appearance. This is, according to the general idea, the height of perfection in ornament, probably because the cost of it has been very great; and it, therefore, shews a person of superlative wealth. It is singular that the men of distinction should place their gratification in acquiring this dark hue, while the women place theirs in preserving their original fair complexion uninjured. The tattooing of persons in a middling station is performed in houses erected for the purpose by the tattooers, and tabooed by authority. A tattooer, who visited us several times on board the ship, had three of these houses, which could each receive eight or ten persons at a time: they paid for their decorations according to the greater or less quantity of them, and to the trouble the figures required. The poorer islanders, who have not a superabundance of hogs to dispose of in luxuries, but live chiefly upon bread-fruit, are operated upon by novices in the art, who take them, at a very low price, as subjects for practice; but their works are easily distinguishable, even by a stranger, from those of an experienced artist. The lowest class of all, the fishermen principally, (but few of whom we saw.) are often not able to afford even the pay required by a novice, and are, therefore, not tattooed at all. The women of Nuhahiwa are very little tattooed, differing in this respect from the females of the other South Sea islands. The hands are punctured from the ends of the fingers to the wrist, which gives them the appearance of wearing gloves, and our glovers might very well borrow from their patterns, and introduce a new fashion, among the ladies, of gloves worked à la Washington. The feet, which among many are tattooed, are like highly-ornamented half-boots; long stripes are, besides, sometimes to be seen down the arms of the women, and circles round them, which have much the same effect as the bracelets worn by European ladies: some have, also, their ears and lips tattooed. The women are not, like the men, shut up in a tabooed house, while they are going through this operation; it is performed, without any ceremony, in their own houses, or in those of their relations,-in short, wherever they please. Sometimes a rich islander will, either from generosity, ostentation, or love to his wife, make a feast in honour of her, when she has a bracelet tattooed round her arm, or perhaps her ear ornamented. A hog is then killed, and the friends of both sexes are invited to partake of it, the occasion of the feast being made known to them. It is expected that the same courtesy should be returned, in case of the wife of any of the guests being punctured. This is one of the few occasions when women are allowed to eat hogs' flesh. If, in a very dry year, bread-fruit, hogs, roots, and other provisions, become scarce, any one who has still a good stock of them, which commonly happens to the chief, in order to distribute his stores, keeps open table for a certain time, to an appointed number of poor artists, who are bound to give in return some strokes of the tattoo to all who choose to come for it. By virtue of a taboo, all these brethren are engaged to support each other, if in future some happen to be in need, while the others are in affluence. The figures with which the body is tattooed are chosen with great care, and appropriate ornaments are selected for the different parts. They consist partly of animals, partly of other objects which have some reference to the manners and customs of the islands; and every figure has here, as in the Friendly Islands, its particular name. Upon an accurate examination, curved lines, diamonds, and other designs, are often distinguishable between rows of punctures, which resemble very much the ornaments called à la Grecque. The most perfect symmetry is observed over the body. The head of a man is tattooed in every part: the breast is commonly ornamented with a figure resembling a shield; on the arms and thighs are stripes, sometimes broader, sometimes narrower, in such directions that these people might very well be presumed to have studied anatomy, and to be acquainted with the course and dimensions of the muscles. Upon the back is a large cross, which begins at the neck, and ends with the last vertebræ. In the front of the thigh are often figures, which seem intended to represent the human face. On each side of the calf of the leg is an oval figure, which produces a very good effect. The whole, in short, displays much taste and discrimination. Some of the tenderest parts of the body, the eye-lids for example, are the only parts not tattooed. See the plate, copied from Langsdorff's Voyage round the World. CHINESE FEAST OF LANTERNS. On the Feast of Lanterns, every part of the empire is so completely illuminated, that if a person could take a view of it at once, all the country would seem in a blaze; for every person, both in city and country, on the coast and on the rivers, light up painted lanterns of various forms and sizes. Persons of ordinary rank will expend ten or fifteen pounds English on this occasion; and the emperor and his chief mandarins will spend two or three hundred. Even the most indigent families exert themselves on this festival, and, according to the best of their abilities, contribute to the general illumination. The lanterns used on this occasion are generally large, of various shapes, and covered with transparent silk, on which are painted flowers, animals and human figures; they are lighted by lamps or wax candles, and to the corners of each are fixed elegant streamers of silk or satin. Some of the largest lanterns exhibit moving figures, like the Chinese shades that may be seen in London. Persons, who lie concealed, put these figures in motion, by means of imperceptible threads; and the spectators are highly amused with horses gallopping, ships sailing, armies in full march, &c. Some accompany these moving figures with humorous expressions, that seem to procced from the shades on the lantern; while others carry about serpents of an enormous length, illuminated within from the head to the tail, and so contrived that they wreathe about in different forms as if they were alive. To augment the splendour of this festival, the Chinese exhibit a variety of those capital fire-works for which they are universally celebrated. Magailens informs us, that he was greatly surprised at one of these exhibitions, where an arbour of vines with red grapes was represented, and the arbour burnt without being consumed: the colour of the wood, fruit, and foliage, was also represented with astonishing exactness. The excellence of the Chinese artists, however, may be better conceived from a description of a spectacle of this nature which was exhibited by the emperor Chang-hi, for the diversion of his court. The fire-works commenced with six large cylinders planted in the ground, which sent forth so many streams of flame, rising to the height of twelve feet, and falling in beautiful showers. These were followed by a covered box, supported by two pillars, which threw up a shower of fire; several painted lanterns, and sentences written in large characters of burning sulphur; and six elegant branched candlesticks, with different tiers of lights, ranged in circles so brilliant as to disperse the darkness of the night. At last the emperor set fire to one of the works, and it was instantly communicated through an extent of eighty feet; the fire reached several poles and painted figures, whence proceeded a prodigious multitude of rockets; and at the same time a number of painted lanterns and branched candlesticks were lighted in all directions.-SMITH'S Wonders. SHEPHERDS OF THE LANDES, IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. THE Landes, or desert in the South of France, is a tract of country between the mouths of the Adour and the Gironde, along the sea-coast, and, according to tradition, was once the bed of the sea itself, which flowed in as far as Dax. It is a bed of sand, flat, in the strictest sense of the word, and abounding with extensive pine woods. These woods afford turpentine, resin, and charcoal, for trade, as well as a sort of candles, used by the peasantry, made of yarn dipt in the turpentine. The road is through the sand, unaltered by art, except where it is so loose and deep as to require the trunks of the fir trees to be laid across to give it firmness. The villages and hamlets stand on spots of fertile ground, scattered like islands among the sands. The appearance of a corn-field on each side of the road, fenced by green hedges, a clump of trees at a little distance, and the spire of a rustic church taper |