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quitoes began to be very troublesome, and the atmosphere was exceedingly oppressive, Fahrenheit's thermometer being from 80° to 84° in the shade. Towards evening the inhabitants repaired in great numbers to the Diesna, where they sought for a temporary relief beneath the cooling stream-men, women, and children plunging into it indiscriminately in a state of complete nudity.'-p. 172.

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Dr. Henderson's account of the catacombs of Kief is curious enough, but too detailed to admit of our making any intelligible extract. In one of the little chambers of these subterranean labyrinths, was pointed out to our travellers, through a small aperture, either the mummy or the effigy of a rigorous ascetic, of the name of John. This John, says the legend, constructed his own dormitory, and after building himself in by a wall, with this single small aperture, he interred himself up to the waist, and in this posture performed his devotions, till death found and left him in possession of his grave. Kief is full of holy places;' it is to the Russians what Jerusalem was to the Israelites; on which account pilgrims are said to resort to it annually, to the amount of about fifty thousand, many of them even from Kamstchatka, and other distant regions of Siberia. Its fixed population is supposed to be about twenty-five thousand. Another object which claims the attention of the traveller at Kief, is a fine monument, raised, by order of his late Imperial Majesty Alexander, over the fountain in which the children of Vladimir the Great, when he became a Christian, were baptized in the year 989.

It was near this spot that the general baptism of the Russians took place, the same year. On the preceding day, the idols had been either broken in pieces or burnt, and Perun, the chief of the gods, a huge monstrous piece of wood, with a head of massive silver, and a beard of gold, had been tied to the tail of a horse, and drawn to one of the highest precipices, whence it was thrown into the Dnieper. Whatever violence was thus offered to the objects of idolatrous worship, it does not appear that any coercive measures were employed to induce the people to submit to baptism. They flocked in crowds to the margin of the Dnieper, to which Vladimir and the Greek priests repaired in solemn procession, and, on a sign being given, the whole multitude plunged into the river, the adults standing up to the breast and neck in the water, while such as had infants supported them above it in their arms.'-Henderson, p.191.

Jitomir in Volhinia is stated to contain about twelve thousand inhabitants, of whom nearly ten thousand are the descendants of Abraham, who, notwithstanding, were eager to receive copies of the Hebrew New Testament, and appeared to read the gospels with avidity. Even the Rabbis called for Testaments, and entered with apparent interest into an argument on the sufferings of the Messiah. In another town of this province, Bereditchef,

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it is said there are upwards of ten thousand Jews, many of whom have contributed to the funds of its Auxiliary Bible Society by their voluntary subscriptions, and evinced an equal anxiety to obtain copies of the New Testament. The town of Dabno is chiefly inhabited by Jews, the number of whom is estimated at more than ten thousand, and many of them appeared to be in affluent circumstances. The Hebrew population subject to the Russian sceptre is stated by Dr. Henderson as being little short of two millions; Dr. Lyall, in his Military Colonies of Russia,' makes the number amount only to five hundred thousand. Whether either of them, or which, is right, we pretend not to determine. It is certain, however, that the Jews swarm in every part of Poland; where, by their activity and industry, they have nearly gained a monopoly of everything: they rent the estates of the nobility and gentry; farm the public taxes; manage the distilleries; keep the inns and brandy-shops; and almost the whole of the wholesale and retail trade is in their hands. In short Poland may be considered, and, indeed, is called, the Paradise of Jews. The following is a striking picture of these Polish Israelites. Dr. Henderson's pen bears the strongest testimony to the truth of some performances of Mr. Allan's pencil, the excellence of which as works of art attracted much notice a few years ago at Somerset House.

The Polish Jew is generally of a pale and sallow complexion, the features small, and the hair, which is mostly black, is suffered to hang in ringlets over the shoulders; a fine beard, covering the chin, finishes the oriental character of the Jewish physiognomy. But few of the Jews enjoy a robust and healthy constitution; an evil resulting from a combination of physical and moral causes, such as early marriage, innutritious food, the filthiness of their domestic habits, and the perpetual mental anxiety, which is so strikingly depicted in their countenance, and forms the most onerous part of the curse of the Almighty to which they are subject in their dispersion. Their breath is absolutely intolerable; and the offensive odour of their apartments is such, that I have been more than once obliged to break off interesting discussions with their Rabbins, in order to obtain a fresh supply of rarefied air.

Their dress commonly consists of a linen shirt and drawers, over which is thrown a long black robe, fastened in front by silver clasps, and hanging loose about the legs. They wear no handkerchief about their neck, and cover the head with a fur cap, and sometimes with a round broad-brimmed hat. In their walk, the Jews discover great eagerness, and are continually hurrying towards some object of gain, with their arms thrown back, and dangling as if loose at the shoulder.

They generally marry at thirteen and fourteen years of age, and the females still younger. I have heard of a Rabbi who was disposing

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of his household, preparatory to his departure for Palestine, that gave one of his daughters in marriage, who had but just completed her ninth year. As a necessary consequence of this early marriage, it often happens that the young couple are unable to provide for themselves, and, indeed, altogether incapable, from youth and inexperience, of managing the common concerns of domestic economy. They are, therefore, often obliged to take up their abode at first in the house of the husband's father, except he be in reduced circumstances, and the father of the bride be better able to support them. The young husband pursues the study of the Talmud, or endeavours to make his way in the world by the varied arts of petty traffic, for which this people are so notorious. It is asserted to be no uncommon thing among the Jews for a father to choose for his son's wife some young girl who may happen to be agreeable to himself, and with whom he may live on terms of incestuous familiarity during the period of his son's minority.

• Comparatively few of the Jews learn any trade, and most of those attempts which have been made to accustom them to agricultural habits have proved abortive. Some of those who are in circumstances of affluence, possess houses and other immoveable property; but the great mass of the people seem destined to sit loose from every local tie, and are waiting with anxious expectation for the arrival of the period, when, in pursuance of the Divine promise, they shall be restored to, what they still consider, their own land. Their attachment, indeed, to Palestine is unconquerable; and it forms an article of their popular belief, that, die where they may, their bodies will all be raised there at the end of the world. They believe, however, that such as die in foreign parts are doomed to perform the Gilgul Mehiloth (mna buba), or trundling passage through subterraneous caverns, till they reach the place of "their fathers' sepulchres;" on which account, numbers sell all their effects, and proceed thither in their lifetime, or remove to some of the adjacent countries, that they may either spare themselves this toil, or, at least, reduce the awkward and troublesome passage within the shortest possible limits. Instances have been known of their embalming the bodies of their dead, and sending them to Palestine by sea; and in such veneration do they hold the earth that was trodden by their ancient patriarchs, that many of the rich Jews procure a quantity of it, which they employ in consecrating the ground in which the bodies of their deceased relatives are interred.'-Henderson, p. 222-225.

He adds The love of money, which is the root of all evil, is the predominating vice of the posterity of Abraham. Everything is estimated by this standard. If you point out to a Jew an exquisite piece of workmanship, he instantly discovers the ruling bias of his mind, by asking -not, who was the artificer, or how it was executed; but, what did it cost? If he sees a statue, instead of his attention being called forth in admiration of its beauty, it is exclusively confined to the golden inscription-calculating how many ducats it would bring him, if placed at his disposal, instead of being fixed to the stone, where, in his opinion, its place might have been equally well supplied by iron.

Their habits of illicit and unrighteous trade are proverbial. No means are regarded as sinful, that promise to secure the acquirement of money: cheating, lying, stealing, and even murder, if the persons on whom they are practised be not Jews, are hallowed by the sanctions of the rabbins. They make a point of stealing from a Christian, whenever they have the smallest prospect of escaping with impunity. Nor is this pilfering disposition confined to the more abject and wretched part of the community; the well-dressed Jew is not unfrequently a thief in disguise-flattering himself with the hope, that his superior appearance will make him pass without suspicion.'-p. 229.

The Jews have imported with them into the western world many of the superstitions of the east. One of their sects, named the Chasidim, or Pietists,' are not only the bitterest and most bigoted enemies of the Christian religion, but are also at enmity with all other Jews. To their rabbins, whom they honour with the name of Zadiks, or "Righteous," they pay almost divine homage. The extravagance of their gestures during their public service, entitles them to the appellation of the "Jewish Jumpers," Working themselves up into ecstasies, they break out into fits of laughter, clap their hands, jump up and down the synagogue in the most frantic manner, and, turning their faces towards heaven, they clench their fists, and, as it were, dare the Almighty to withhold from them the objects of their requests. This sect has so increased of late years, that in Russian Poland, and European Turkey, it is reported to exceed in number that of the Rabbinists in these parts.'-Henderson, pp. 235, 236.

Within a few hours' ride of the town of Jassy, a scene of a novel and motley description was presented to the view of our travellers. 'Wallachians, Moldavians, Servians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, and Gipsies, to the number of twenty thousand, of every rank and condition in life, were in the act of emigrating from the principality of Moldavia, in order to escape the vengeance of the Turks,' in consequence of the late insurrection. This crowd was collected together at the quarantine of Skulani, on the left bank of the Prut, and occupied a space of several miles, which was surrounded by a cordon of soldiers. Within the circle were tents and carriages of all descriptions, with men, women, children, horses, cows, sheep, goats, dogs, swine, cats, and, in short, says Dr. Henderson, everything the poor emigrants could take along with them from their natal country.' On the opposite bank were many thousands more, striving who should first get into the ferry-boats. At Kishenef the travellers saw large numbers of gipsies, who inhabit a particular part of the town: these people, it is pleasant and also surprising to hear, reside in decent houses; they observe cleanliness, and their females are adorned with a profusion of trinkets; to this place, also, numbers of a poorer description had just fled from Turkish vengeance.-Among the emigrants on the Prut was Daniel, the Metropolitan

Metropolitan of Adrianople, a man who is described as of very short stature, and of a lively, active, and pious turn of mind. On learning the execution by the Turks of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch Gregory, Daniel conceived his turn might be the next; but so closely were the Greeks of that city watched, that the only mode left for him to effect his escape, was to suffer himself to be headed up in an empty cask, which was put into a cart, amidst hogsheads of wine destined to the coast of the Euxine; and in this style the little bishop was jolted about for three days, before he could be safely shipped to Russia.

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Having passed through Bender and Tiraspol, our travellers entered the extensive steppe between the Dniester and the Bog, where the only objects that relieved the dreariness of the scenery were a number of sculptured monuments, erected as way-marks, at irregular distances on both sides of the road. They consist of large male and female images, hewn in stone, whose physiognomy, shape, and costume, evidently prove them to be designed to represent a people of Mongolian origin. They are executed with considerable taste, the features, limbs and ornaments being all distinctly marked. Some of them are erect, and others in a sitting posture. They hold with both hands, in front of their body, a small box or pot, and are generally raised to some height above the stone forming the pedestal by which they are supported. They were found on the tumali, which are scattered all over the steppe, and are, in every respect, the same with those described by Pallas, of which we had afterwards numerous specimens in our progress through ancient Scythia. The fact that these regions were inundated in the thirteenth century by the Mongolian hordes, under Dchingis Khan, might naturally suggest the idea that these monuments are to be ascribed to that period; but this hypothesis is overthrown by the mention made of their existence by Ammianus Marcellinus, a writer of the fourth century, whose observation, that the features they exhibited were of the same cast with those of the Huns (Xovo), forces upon us the conclusion that they were erected by the Mongolian tribes distinguished by that name, which were driven over the Volga by the Sien-pi, in the year 374, and spread alarm through all the nations inhabiting the eastern frontiers of the Roman empire.'-Henderson, pp. 267, 268.

Odessa is too well known to require any particular description here. Under the fostering hand of the Duke of Richelieu, it has grown, in the space of thirty years, from a miserable Tartar village to a splendid town, containing, among meaner houses, at least two thousand stone edifices, and forty thousand inhabitants. The streets are mostly paved; but the squares and market-places in wet weather, by the trampling of the numerous oxen which bring down the grain of Poland, become a complete mire. It was truly amusing to see,' says Dr. Henderson, in the centre of a town, exhibiting such

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