T RAV

,308 TRAVELS IN AF'RICA.l110st cases throughoutthe'world!Here, certainly, very refractory andcontumacious pupils would present themselves for instruction. Gravity;however, seems' to have been ever a national. characteristÏc; for Cervantes,a tolerabledefiner of mankind, speaks of it. The private lifeof a Moor is insipid, as maybe supposed of people who have no pur..suits, and whose beads, from theirlimited education and observation,cannot be over-stocked with ideas. Theil' amusements are cavaltading(a remnant of old Arabie chivalry),. seeing the performances ofjugglers,or sitting in groups and taciturnity underthesliade of a lofty wall,looking at thepassengers in thestreets. :In, the house, one ehtertainstherestby telling a story. Ofcourse.itmaybe supposed that the epithetof amatter-of-fact man, which satisfiesus in Europe, would not beesteemed a :very gratifying compliment hene.Probability must bein..deed the least interesting feature of thecoHoquy, and ·this tao musthaye astron~ moral effect.rrhey have also professed story-tellers, whoare.paid.. They;play at what we calI Polish drafts.Prayershowever, theMohommedan ritual,occupy the principal part of the daily attention.They;smo~eJitt1e,butarefond of snuff and of opium ; and the commonalty,toget l'id of the tœdium vitœ, tbat mental incub~s, use theplant they caH ashisha, a species of hemp, the bang of India: It hasthegeneral effects of what issought for thepurpose, being aphrodisiacand narcotic.They dry the leaves over fire, reduce them to powder,swallow. this, (it brings to mind the Scythian customs describedbyHerodotus '*,) and thence, by the tension the nerves receive, derive adèlirium producing not delight and gaiety, but raving and Frequenthorror. They soliloquize. and tremble, they sec1ude themselves; fearand despair, the physiognomi~l horror, seize them, and are strongly ùepicted.Yet they will recul' to this situation, with aU their experiénce• The 8cythians dried the herb they used for the purpose on a brass plate or pan, .and tambacoÎI5 the word·in mPtlern Scythie for this utel1sil. Ta.b-aceo is not a word ofgenuine American root.