things into consideration), intelligent in commerce, inclined to boasting, friendly to each other, sober in every way, and very industrious." What is particularly striking is the tenacity with which the Tartars here, as elsewhere throughout the empire, have retained their national characteristics, customs and manners, although nearly three centuries have elapsed since this race was subdued by the Russians.

The dress of the Tartars of Kazan of the better class is so different from that of every other nation, that it deserves a description. They wear a shirt (koulmiack) made of calico, sometimes white, sometimes red; their drawers (schtann) are worn very wide, and are made likewise of calico, or occasionally of silk; their stockings, called youk, are of cotton or linen. A species of leather-stockings, generally of Morocco leather, called itchigi, red or yellow, are worn over the stockings, or sometimes are substituted for them. Their slippers, called kalout, are made of black or green leather. Over the shirt they wear two garments, somewhat in the shape of a European frockcoat without a collar; the under one, having no sleeves, is made of silk; the upper, with sleeves like wise of silk, is called kasaki. Over these they wear a long wide robe, generally of blue cloth, called tchekmen, which is attached to the body by a scarf (poda). In the pocket of this garment they keep their pocket-handkerchief, called tchaoulok. Their heads, which are shaven to the skin, are covered with a species of skullcap, called takia; this is covered, when they go out, with a hat (bourick) made of velvet or cloth, and ornamented with fur; the rich Tartars use for this purpose beaver-skins of great value.

The Tartars get their heads shaved every fortnight, and trim their beards once a week; once a week they go to the bath. A very singular predilection exists among the lower classes-that of finding pleasure in being bled. This luxury they enjoy at least once a year; the spring is generally chosen for the enjoyment. A barber of Kazan (for it is the barbers who bleed there, as they did formerly in England and other parts of Europe) assured Turnerelli that he had let blood for upward of five hundred Tartars in one day, each of whom had paid him from fifty copecks to a rouble for the operation. He had in this manner earned upward of one hundred dollars for blood-letting alone! This was indeed profiting by the bloodshed of his fellow

creatures.

The costume of the Tartar women of the higher classes is very rich and elegant. They wear a species of robe of rich thick silk or satin, the sleeves being very large and long, sometimes even falling as low as the ground; the upper part of these robes is embroidered in front with gold. Over this they wear a kind of capote, very wide, and generally made of gold brocade or some similar stuff gorgeously embroidered. They wear on their head a silk cap bordered with fur, which hangs down on one side and ends in a point having a golden tassel attached to it; this cap is also sometimes adorned with precious stones, and ancient gold and silver coins. Their hair falls behind in long tresses, the ends of which are tied up with bows of ribbons. Sometimes these tresses are covered with long bands, to which are attached various coins and ornaments. The Tartar women wear, moreover, a profusion of pearls, necklaces, gold and silver bracelets, fingerrings, earrings, chains, etc. The dress of one lady of rank, including her jewelry, sometimes costs no less than two thousand dollars!

The Tartar women, as in all Mohammedan countries, are kept secluded in the houses and harems of their husbands and parents. They are allowed to remove their thick veils in their bedrooms alone; not their husbands' brothers, nor even their own uncles and cousins, are permitted to behold their features. They perform no labor of any sort, the concerns of the household being confided to old women and male attendants; the younger females have nothing to do but to dress, eat, drink, sleep, and please their husbands. They marry very early, sometimes in their twelfth year! A rich Tartar woman has hardly left her bed, when she begins her daily task of painting her face red and white; then she clothes herself in her gaudy vestments of gold and silver texture, and puts on her various ornaments; and then throws herself on the soft Turkish sofa, on which she lies almost buried. The somovar (tea-urn) is then brought her. She makes the tea herself, and drinks cup after cup of it until the perspiration flows down her face, washing away at the same time all the paint with which she had adorned her face; this necessarily requires two more hours at the toilet, when she is ready for her breakfast, which consists of a variety of greasy dishes. This over, she again throws herself on the sofa, and remains there, half sleeping half waking, till a female friend probably drops in to see

her, upon which the somovar again makes its appearance, and our fair Tartar drinks again as much tea as she did in the morning-to say the least, not less than seven or eight cups. The harmony of her face is again destroyed by the copious flow of perspiration that ensues, and she is forced to paint her face afresh, in order to appear at dinner in all her charms in the presence of her husband. After dinner, tea is once more presented; indeed, this beverage seems indispensable to the Tartars; they affirm that it is absolutely necessary to drink it, in order to facilitate digestion after their meals, and Dr. Fouks states that they eat three times as much as the Russians. Having partaken a third time of tea to her heart's content, our Tartar lady then enjoys a nap. On awaking, she sometimes takes it into her head to go and pay a visit to some female friend; for this purpose she changes the dress she wore in the morning for a still more expensive one; she then gets into a square prison-like twohorse carriage, and arrives at the house of her acquaintance, where, completely buried in the thick veils which cover her head and face, she makes her way to the apartment of her friends, scarcely daring to show the point of her nose as she passes along. The Tartar women of the richer class do not even enjoy the privilege of breathing the fresh air. They dare not go into their small gardens without covering themselves from head to foot, lest they should meet one of their male relations living in the same house! They hardly dare to look from their windows into the street, st they should be seen by some passer-by.

Such is the life of the higher class of Tartar women. Monotonous and tedious as it is, they do not, however complain, nor even find it painful; on the contrary, they look upon the mode of living among European women as sinful in the extreme. They believe that a European female will never go to heaven, and give thanks to God that he created them Mohammedans!

In addition to the usual branches of manufacture, Kazan has some which are peculiar to itself. One is the preparation and staining of Russia-leather, a business in which the Tartars are particularly expert; and another, the making of a particular kind of soap, called muclo, which, cut into small pieces, and packed in boxes, is sent all over Russia. The town is well situated for a transit trade, carrying the manufactures of Europe north and east into Asia, and bartering them for the peculiar productions of those regions. In this way, particularly by the trade in furs and tea, many of its merchants are said to have accumulated great wealth.

Kazan annually undergoes an extraordinary change, about the last of April, owing to the inundation of the Volga, which, swollen by the vast quantity of melted snow pouring into its channel, overflows its banks, discharging its waters in every direction over the level plains in its vicinity. The inundation in the neighborhood of the city often covers a space of from twenty to thirty miles. Although travellers suffer no small degree of inconvenience from this flood, the inhabitants of the banks of the Volga derive from it considerable advantages.

and in the night yield a pale phosporescent light. When taken out of the water the tints rapidly change, and its sail is lowered, or its inflation ceases, and nothing is left of the showy little craft, but a mass of tentacles and a mere lump of what was the body. The bag or sail is fringed around the edges, and is of beautiful light blue color, with occasional streaks of sea green tinged with crimson. When out of water it should not be touched with the hand, as it has power of numbing or stinging, in a manner to cause great pain. This power appears to reside in its tentacles, of which a large bunch hangs from the under surface, some of them several feet in length,

second and third finger. The sensation at first was similar to that produced by the nettle, and before a few minutes had elapsed, a violent aching pain succeeded, affecting most seriously the joints of the fingers. On cold water being applied, it was found rather to increase than diminish the effect. In half an hour the forearm and elbow were extremely pained, and the result gradually extending itself to the shoulder and chest impeded the breathing. These symptoms continued for about half an hour, when they gradually abated, but the arm was benumbed until the next day."

Science places the Portuguese man-of-war among the jelly-fishes, the most beautiful and

interesting of all the tribes of ocean. All dwellers of the water that are not vertebrates are called jelly-fish. The well-known phosphorescence of the ocean, already alluded to, is in a great measure due to the light emitted by jelly-fishes, shining like globes of fire, sparkling like stars, or diffusing a pale luminousness. This is most remarkable where the water is agitated by a vessel's keel, and on the coast line or amid breakers, where these creatures often serve to mark the course of the mariner. The Portuguese man-of-war, however, is a bold deep-sea wanderer, and he has immunity from attack by the fishes, that know too well its power to inflict injury.

As Mark Twain said about the Calaveras frog, there are no points about this old chair that we don't see in any old chair; indeed, we may any day see knocked off at sales of old furniture many chairs a good deal better than this, and yet this old rickety affair is priceless in value. The same spirit that inspired the young poet to write

"I threw myself down on the consecrate sod, And kissed the loved spot where my Angeline trod,"

fixes the value of, and inspires interest in this old chair. This unites the present with the past, and restores the beginning of things. The insensate wood is eloquent with reminiscences of the long-ago, and if we have a ready fancy, we weave incidents and scenes out of the stuff that dreams are made of, and restore the adventure, the privation and the devotion of the Pilgrims. Elder Brewster's chair-in the light that streams from Plymouth Rock, the luminous proprieties of which, however, must not be taken literally-is replete with interest, and with the spirit inspired by the reverence that is inherent with almost everybody, the one who sits himself in it feels in the embrace of its arms as though the arms of the venerable elder himself were about him, and is awestruck.

William Brewster, the ruling elder of the minority of Robinson's church that came in the Mayflower, was a man of much character, a stanch Puritan, and one well calculated to lead an expedition like the one in which the Pilgrims embarked. He bore everything with patience and fortitude, giving his coun

clams, and yet, with this scanty fare, he, with his family, would give thanks that they could "suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand."

Elder Brewster was a graduate of Cambridge, England, and though firm as rock in principle, he was a timid man by nature. Though elder of the Pilgrim church, he would not be their pastor, though qualified to do so. He would simply give them his counsel. He was discriminating and pathetic in his discourse, and in the government of the church, as ruling elder, he was resolute yet conciliatory. Honorable Francis Baylies says of Elder Brewster, "With the most submissive patience he bore the novel and trying hard

ships to which his old age was subjected, lived abstemiously, and, after having been in his youth the companion of ministers of state, the representative of his sovereign, familiar with the magnificence of courts, and the possessor of a fortune sufficient not only for the comforts but the elegances of life, this humble Puritan labored steadily with his own hands in the field for daily subsistence. Yet he possessed that happy elasticity of mind which could accommodate itself to all circumstances."

The relic of such a man, from association, thus becomes invaluable; and to sit in this old chair were a privilege grander than it would be to sit upon a throne.