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QCTOBEB _ 25 ^ 1856.] THE LEADEB. 1O27 _
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THE MODERN GREEKS. Modern Greece : a Nar...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Camel In" Peace And War. The Camel: ...
evidence of the existence of any American desert where water cannot be obtained as often as the-animal economy of the camel requires it . None of the passes of the Kocky Mountains are more rugged or precipitous than those of Arabia or Tartary , and it is to be believed that , other circumstances beino-favourable , all the known routes between the Pacific and the Missisfiippf would prove entirely practicable for the transport of military or commercial stores "by camel trains- On alluvial and other soft soils , the caravans would , no doubt , be compelled during rains to halt and wait for the drying up of the ground ; but this is an interruption to which , even the emigrant waggon drivers are accustomed . So far , then , as climate and sail are concerned , it may toe regarded as quite certain that the Bactrian camel can sustain any exposure to ivhich le would be subjected in our trans-Mississippian territory ; and there is no reason to doubt tliat the mezquitacacia , and other shrubs , and the saline plants , known to exist in many of those remons , would furnish him an appropriate and acceptable nutriment .
It is not impossible that some of our desert plants attractive to the palate of the camel may prove injurious to him ; but in this event , that mysterious law of nature , whereby eyen animal instincts accommodate themselves , to new conditions , will soon teach him to avoid them . It is observed in the sheep-growing states of New England , that sheep , brought from localities where the laurel ( Kalinin ) is unknown , to those where it abounds , often feed upon its foliage and are poisoned by it , while those which . are bred in pastures half-covered by this shrub very seldom touch it . ; Of the Arabian camel , Mr . Marsh does not write with ecj ^ al confidence . He leaves them , in their high-bred perfection , to deserts , in which they are at home , and turns to the uses to which the less delicate Bactrian may be applied . In Persia , Bokhara , and Tartary , camels are employed for the conveyance of light artillery ; they frequently stand while guns are fired from their backs ; they have been used by the French in Egypt arid Algeria , by Mohammed AH in Syria . In Algeria , military men resisted their introduction from an antipathy to their uncouth forms' and eccentric motions ; but , observes Mr . Marsh , with a hint at an American military object : —>
-There are few more imposing spectacles than a body of armed men , advancing under the quick pace of the trained dromedary ; and this sight , with the ability of the animal to climb ascents impracticable to horses , and thus to transport mountain howitzers , light artillery , stores , and other military material into the heart of the mountains , would strike with a salutary terror tie Comanehes , Llpans , and other savage tribes upon our borders ; A proper appendix to this argument may be supplied from General Marey Monge ' s mock objections to the use of cavalry in war , very similar in their purport to the difficulties raised concerning the employment of the camel . ¦ ¦ " ¦ If , " says General Marey Monge , " cavalry had been , unknown in France , and we , seeing the great advantages derived from it by the ; Arabs , had now for the first time attempted to introduce it into our military service , we should have had a thousand difficulties to overcome . Objections would
have been made on : the score of kicks and bites , errors would have been committed in the choice of saddles arid bridles , the horses would have met with accidents , or contracted ailments from our want of experience and ignorance of farriery ; in the first engagements , our mounted men would have been thrown or run away with , they would have been clumsy in managing their amis on horseback , and probably been roughly handled by the superior skill of the Arab horsemen . . A party would ha-ve been formed against the innovators , who would themselves have become disgusted , and the attempt to introduce mounted corps would perhaps have been abandoned ; but if , in spite of accidents , mistakes and losses , we had persevered , we should have ended by forming what w . e have now , an efficient and excellent cavalry . " The camel , indeed , exists and thrives through a wide range of climates , and under a great variety of conditions . No temperature appeai-s too high for the one-humped species , which attains a remarkable perfection
in Southern Africa , and seerns ^ never to seek the shade in preference to the most scorching sun . In the Libyan desert he sleeps often with the temperature below freezing point , when water-skins are frozen , and the pools are covered with ice . Beyond Nubia , on the Nile , caravans have been detained three days by the intensity of the cold ; in the basin of the Caspian and the Sea of Azof ; on the Lower Volga , the shores of Lake Baikal , among the Siberian pines , on the plains of the Irtyscb , across the Cbinese borders at Mairnachen , between the Ural Mountains and the peninsula of Kamtschatka , on the desert of Gobi , among the Tartar wildernesses , and even in the North near the zone inhabited by the reindeer , they thrive and assist the labours of men . They were once introduced unsuccessfully into Peru , but successfully into Venezuela ; the y have been bred in Tuscany for two hundred years , and , suggests Mr . Marsh , with many of his scientific countrymen , why not ui the United States of America ?
Qctobeb _ 25 ^ 1856.] The Leadeb. 1o27 _
QCTOBEB _ 25 ^ 1856 . ] THE LEADEB . 1 O 27
The Modern Greeks. Modern Greece : A Nar...
THE MODERN GREEKS . Modern Greece : a Narrative of Residence and Travels in that Country , tic . By Henry M . Baird , M . A . Low and Co > No one will gain an idea from the body of critical remarks bestowed by the writer of this volume on the frieze cf the Parthenon , the Crysclcphantine sculpture of Phidias , the Carian statues , or the three Grecian orders . Nor can Mr . Baird allege a single " new way of looking at it" to justify his long gossip on Marathon , Cheroncea , Phyle , or Platen . The result is Platitude . The statements are as common as the sentences in a Dialectus , the reflections well the
as -worn as first line of the " Iliad . " " When a traveller studies to fit himself for travel , he is under no obligation to force his reader through a similar preparatory course . Of the Pnyx , of the CUora « -ie monument of Lysicrates , and of the Theseum , we desire to hoar no more , unless trom a . critic who can throw Buskin colours upon those pale remains . Jiy the rapid tourist they have been overdone . They have been described , sketched , measured , apostrophized to satiety . We cannot , six or seven times each season , descend into Smith ' s ecstasy concerning the heroism of Ihrasybulus , the Acropolitan m arbles , or the Demosthenic orations . Those chanters , then , -which Mr . Baird obviously values as the noble parts of his uoofc , aro its excrescences , since they treat of trite topics in a trite way . What is really acceptable is his sketchy account of modern Greek manners , which assists us to appreciate the social condition of the littlo state . On
these subjects he discburses lightly , without formality or assumption , but at times with a perceptible tendency to optimism . It is always more tolerable , however , to flatter than to disparage , and as there are abundant facilities for checking Mr . Baird , we are content with his enthusiastic report upon " the unexampled progress of the Greek race in civilization and intelligence . " He has been provoked to this display by that which he justly describes as the unfair neglect into which Greece has fallen , most persons considering themselves privileged to satirize the aspirations of that unfortunate people , and to slander them as hereditary brigands or embezzlers . It is impossible to stroll an hour in Athens without recognizing the presence of considerable culture , or to examine the capital more closely without acknowledging that
learning is prized , and that free political institutions are still held in reverence by the youth of Greece . Certain Orientalisms have crept in , to degrade the relations of women with men , but these do not operate universally :. We are surprised to find Mr . Baird , whose portrait of an Athenian student is almost ideal , drawing a picture of marriage among the modern Greeks which is almost sarcastic . It is true that , among certain classes , the birth of a daughter is reckoned a disappointing event—that feeling not being confined to imperial palaces— -but Mr . Baird does well to say that the story about a man who hid Hmself for three days in the grove of the Cepbissus , to conceal his chagrin at the birth of a girl , " be somewhat exaggerated . " Reading his paragraphs on this subject we might almost mistake him for M . Hue , writing of China : — .- ••' .,
This remarlufble preference of the male sex is somewhat accounted for fay the prevalence of the custom of giving a large dowry with a daughter at marriage . In Maina alone the reverse is true : the husband purchases his bride at a heavy cost . Elsewhere a portion of the family estate must be sacrificed at the marriage of each daughter ; and he who is able or willing to give most , is generally sure of seeing his daughters first established in life . Such is the mercenary light in which the marriage relation is regarded . Qualities of mind are but little taken into account . Nor is it considered an objection of any moment that the parties to the contract be totally unacquainted witlx each otlier ' s characters and tastes . Since the lady ' s consent is altogether unessential , her preferences are not necessarily consulted . The father ' s great concern is to marry off his daughter at as small a loss as possible ; that of the Buitor , to obtain the most advantageous match . Money being the chief object on either side , the unfortunate maiden is apt to fare badly between the two . Hence the frequency of ill-sorted marriages—a fruitful source of domestic misery- The wife who has been forced into so unfortunate a union , is not free even from abuse and corporal chastisement ; of the prevalence of which we need no stronger proof than is afforded by the frequent allusions to it in the proverbs most current among the people .
This is an ill-considered passage . Were the light allusions to marriage , current in certain classes of English society , to be taken as indicative of the moral status of English wonienj the Japanese might esteem us barbaric . We have hinted however at Mr . Baird ' s tendency to optimism . This is strongly developed in his chapter on student life in Athens . No doubt there were circumstances connected with the collegiate system of modern Greece well calculated to make an impression on the mind of an . American writer . That the university of Otho at Athens should contain at least as many students , arid twice as large a corps of professors , as the most important college in the United States , is indeed surprising . But the professors are extremely illpaid , and the students in general very poor . These young men , according to \ lx . Baird , ahva } r s take their meals at eating-houses , their fare being simple and wliolesbme . Unless at Easter , which is a season of universal festivity , their only recreations consist in visits to friends , or quiet walks on the public promenade . After the promenade , they invariably go to the cafes to eat Turkish sweetmeats . Either the Athenian students are veritable
innocents , or Mr . Ban-d is one . We suspect that his " invariable" admits of a good many exceptions . We are willing to accept his report upon the primary schools of Greece , in which upwards of forty thousand children receive a competent education , in addition to the ten thousand attached to the demotic schools and gymnasia . Considering the ignorance that prevailed thirty years ago , the advance made by Greece in this respect is indeed surprising . - There is an interesting chapter on marriage customs . Those of the richer classes assimilate , in a great degree , to the ordinary Frankish ritual , but in the secluded districts , many a pagan form survives . In Maina , whoever should marry a young girl , without having previously obtained the consent of her relations , would draw upon himself a mortal feud . One of the local nueroloffia—ganGvaWy the ballad record of a real incident—alludes to a man who , forty years after such a marriage , and when surrounded by grown-up
sons and daughters , was discovered by his wife ' s family , and put to death . In other respects , ancient customs are practised . The young men invited to the wedding bring wood for fuel , the young women bring flour for bread . Some cleanse , some grind the corn j only maidens are employed in the preparation of the cakes , which are made to contain certain coins , thrown in while traditional and unintelligible ditties are sung . Singing , indeed , goes on during the whole time of festivity . Meanwhile , the bridegroom sends not less than three rams or sheep to the house of the bride , with as many loaves of bread as there are sheep , and three times as many measures of wine as there are loaves . Following these gifts comes a complete suit of clothes for the bride , and then upon Sunday morning , at dawn of < hiy , the wedding party assembles . The crown is placed upon the head of the bride and bridegroom ; the benediction is bestowed ; and the lady is carried to her new home amid triumph and rejoicing , and sallies of repartee and laughter .
At Athens , Mr . Baird was introduced at court—an opportunity which he has ' improved' into a discourse upon the political affairs of Greece . The Government , he remarks , is theoretically , perhaps , the most liberal in Europe . All citizens are equal in the eye of the la-w ; the creation of titles of nobility ia strictly prohibited ; there is no room for an hereditary aristocracy ; every known religion is tolerated ; the press ia nominally free . Bui the elections are in the hands of the king ' s agents , and practically the liberality of the constitution is completely set aside : — An hi 8 tanco of the determination of the ministry to carry its plans at any cost was seen in the paaaago of a certain law in the summer of 1851 . Ita object was the creation of a large- number of cphovi , or officers for the collection of the revenue . Ita ia-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 25, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25101856/page/19/
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