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evidence of the existence of airy 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 being favourable , all the known routes between the Pacific and the Mississippi 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 soil are concerned , it may be regarded as quite certain that the Bactrian camel can sustain any exposwe to which , he would be subjected in our trans-Mississippian territory ; and there is no reason to doubt that the rnezquitacacia , and other shrubs , and the saline plants , known to exist in many of tliose regions , would furnish him an appropriate and acceptable nutiiment .
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 even 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 ( Kalmia ) is unknown , to those where it abounds , often feed upon its foliage and aie 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 equal 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 ; tliey have been used by the French in Egypt and Algeria , by Mohammed Ali in Syria . In Algeria , military men resisted their introduction from an antipathy to their uncouth forms and eccentric motions ; but , observes Mr . JMarsh , -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 tbe trained dromedary ; and this sight , with tie ability of the animal toclirnb 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 the Comanches , Lipans , 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 x ^ aised 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 clioiceof saddles and bridles , the horses " ftould have met with accidents , or contracted ailments from our want of experience and ignorance of farriery ; in the first engagements , our mounted men -would nave been thrown or ru . iv away with , they would have been clumsy in managing their arms on horseback , and probably been roughly handled by the superior skill of the Arab horsemen . A party would have 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 we 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 . IN " o temperature appears too high for the one-humped species , which attains a remarkable periection
in Southern Africa , and seems 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 tlie Lower Volga , the shores of Lake Baikal , among the Siberian pines , on the plains of the Irtysch , across the Chinese borders at Maimachen , 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 P < jru , but successfully into Venezuela ; they have been bred in Tuscany for two hundred years , and , suggests Mr . Marsh , with many of his scientilic countrymen , why not in the United States of America ?
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THE MODERN GllEEKS . Modern Greece : a Narrative of Residence atid Travels in that Cowitri / , < $ c 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 of the Parthenon , the Crysclephantine sculpture of Phidias , the Garian statues , or the three Grecian orders . Nor can Mr . Baird allege a single " new wa y of looking : at it" to justify his long gossip on Maruthon , Cheronsea , Phyle , or Platoea . The result is Platitude . The statements are as common as the sentences in a Dialectic , the reflections well the first line
these subjects he discourses 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 tx > 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 beld 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 liid himself for three days in the grove of the Cephissus , to conceal his chagrin at the birth of a girl , " maybe somewhat exaggerated . " Heading his paragraphs on this subject we might almost mistake him for M . Hue , writing of China : —¦
This remarkable preference of the male sex is somewhat accounted for by 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 , ate but little taken into account . Nor is it considered an objection of any moment that the parties to the contract be totally unacquainted with eacli other's characters and tastes . Since the lady ' s consent is altogether unessential , ler preferences are not necessarily consulted . The father's great concern is to many off his daughter at as small a loss as possible ; that of the suitor , 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 a-buse 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 women , 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 ni . ake an impression on the mind of an . American wi'iter . That the university of Otho at Athens should contain at least as many students , and 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 Mr . Baii'd , always take their meals at eating-houses , their fare being simple and wholesome . 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 cafe ' s to eat ' Turkish sweetmeats . Either the Athenian students are veritable
innocents , or Mr . i 3 aird 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 igiaorance 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 tlie richer classes assimilatCj in a great degree , to the ordinary FrankisU 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 vuvrologia—generally 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 arc 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 ; only maidens are employed in the preparation of the cakes , which arc wade to contain certain coins , thrown in while traditional and unintelligible ditties are sung . Singing , indeed , goes on during the wliole 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 oi wine as there arc loaves . Following these gifts comes a complete suit of clothes for the bride , and then upon Sunday morning , at dawn of day , the wedding party assembles . The crown is placed upon the heud 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 lie has ' improved' into a discourse upon the political affairs of Greece . The Government , ho remarks , is theoretically , perhaps , the most liberal in Europe . All citizens arc equal in the eye of the law ; the creation of titles of nobility is strictly prohibited ; there is no room , for an hereditary aristocracy ; every known religion is tolerated ; the press is nominally free . Bat the elections are in the hands of the kind ' s agents , and practically the liberality of the constitution is completely set aside : — An instance of the determination of the ministry to carry its plans at any cost was seen in tho paasugo of a certain law in the summer of 18 . 51 . Its object was the creation of a large number otejihori , or oflicera for the collection of tlio revenue . Its
iuas - -worn as 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 tlie Tnyx , of the Choragic monument of Lysicrates , and of tho Thcseum , we desire to hear no more , unless irom a critic who can throw lluskin colours upon those pale remains . iiy the rapid touxist they have been overdone . They have been described , sketched , measured , apostrophized to satiety . Wo cannot , six or seven times cacli season , debcend into Smith ' s ecstusy concerning the heroism of Ahrasybulus , the Acropolitan marbles , or the Demosthenic orations . Those chapters , then , which Mr . Baird obviously values as the noble parts of his wu ' ? re Jt n excrescences , since they treat of trite topics in a trite way . What is really acceptable is his sketchy account of modern Greek manners , vrlucb . assists us to appreciate the social condition of tho little state . On
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October 25 , 1856 . ] [ THE LEADER . 1027
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 25, 1856, page 1027, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2164/page/19/
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