The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-06 00:00:00

A Sketch of the Fernancliam

Coming down from the things of heaven to those of earth,
the Fernandian is aristocratic, an out and out conservative;
no oldest Tory of the old school can pretend to rival him.
But in many points his attachment to ancient ways results
not from prejudice, but from a tr tditien founded upon sound
instinct. He will not live near the eea for fear of being
kidnapped, also because an oversoft air effeminates his
frame, He refuses to build higher up the mountains than
2,000 or 3,000 feet, as his staff of life, the palm and the
plantain, will not flourish in the raw air and rugged ground.
He confines himself therefore to the exact z me in which the
medical geographer of the present age would place him—
above the fatal fever level, and below the line of dysentery
and pneumonia. His farm is at a distance from his cottage,
to prevent domestic animals finding their way into it; his
yam fields, which supply the finest crops, are as pretty and
as neatly kept as vineyards in Burgundy, and he makes the
best topi, or palm toddy, in Western Africa. His habita-
tion is a mere shed without walls ; he is a Spartan in these
matters. Nothing will persuade him to wear, beyond the
absolute requirements of decency, anything warmer than
a thin coat of palm oii. Near the summit of the moun-
tain, 10,000 feet above sea level, I have offered hith a
blanket, and he has preferred the fire, His only re-
markable, somewhat fashionable looking article of dress,
is an extensive wicker hat covered with a monkey skin, but
this is useful to prevent tree snakes falling upon his head.
He insists upon his wife preserving the same toilet, minus
the hat—oh, how wise I if she does not come up to his
beau ideal of fidelity, he cuts off, first her left hand, then her
right, lastly her throat—a very just sequence. He is not a
slave, nor will he keep slaves. He holds them to be a vanity
sud justly, because he can work for himself. He is no idler;
after labouring at his farm, he will toil for days to shoot a
monkey, a " philantonaba" (alters " fritamba") or a flying
squirrel. Besides being a sportsman, he has his manly
games, and I should not advise everyone to tackle him with
quarterataff, his alpenstock is a powerful and well-wielded
weapon. Though so highly conservative, he is not as some
men might imagine, greatly destitute of intelligence, he
pronounced our harsh and difficult English less incorrectly
than any West African tribe, including the Sierra Leonie.
Brightest of all is his moral character. You may safely
deposit rum and tobacco—that is to say, gold and
silver—in his street, and he will pay his debt as surely
as the Bank of England, And what caps his we-ldly
wisdom is his lerfect and perpetual suspiciousness. He
never will tell you his name, he never receives you as a
friend, he never trusts you, even when you bring gifts he
will turn out armed if you enter his village at an unseason-
able hour, and if you are fond of collecting vocabularies.
may the god of speech direct you I The fact is, that
the plunderings and the kidnappings of bygone days are
burned into his memory; he knows that such things have
been, and he knows not when they may again be. So he
confines himself to the society of his native hamlet, and he
makes no other intimacies, even with the fellowmen whose
village smoke he sees curling up from the neighbouring
dell.—Burton's Mission to the _King of Dahomey.

The Minister of Public Instruction has ailaTe7-3sed
a circular to the rectors of provincial academies of the
French University, suggesting the propriety of establish-
ing in the large towns of their respective circumscriptions,
popular lectures, like those given last winter with so much
success at the Sorbonne in Paris. The Minister wishes the
rectors to submit the matter for the consideration of the
professors of faculties, and expresses his conviction that the
latter will be ready to lend their aid to realise a measure
which cannot fail to produce great good by diffusing scien-
tific knowledge among the working classes, who every-
where show great eagerness to benefit by every means of
self-improvement placed within their reach. 91. Duruy
expresses his opinion that funds for remunerating the pro-
fessors may easily be obtained by votes from the municipa-
lities, by subscriptions from the wealthier classes, and even
by contributions from the persons benefited. The circular
concludes with urging the directors to make the necessary
inquiries without delay, and to communicate the result to
him, the Minister.

An interesting full length lithographic: portrait of
the Emperor, size of life, is now to be seen in Paris. The
colossal stone on which the drawing is made was extracted
expressly from the quarries of Vigan, in the Gard, while the
press used in taking the impressions is more than 18 feet in
length. The sheets of paper employed are 8} feet long, and
so much time and care are required in striking off each im-
pression, that not more than one in 20 of the proofs are
good. Those which happen to be successful are, however,
remarkable for their vigour and clearness of outline. A. copy
is exhibited at a printsellor's in Rue Richelieu.

HOLLOWAY'S PlLLS.—Counsel and Comfort.—A dis-
ordered stomach throws the whole system out of gear, and
renders us unfitted both for work or amusement. A few
doses of those strengthening and purifying pills, taken
according to their accompanying directions, will, however,
speedily restore order and re-enable the stomach to digest
its food without difficulty. These excellent pills are suit-
able alike for the peer and the peasant, the soldier and
sailor, and particularly for home and foreign colonists.
Holloway's pills are very useful in checking feverish at-
tacks, bilious complaints, and inflammations. They have
also made the most signal cures in eases of dropsy, and
diseases of the kidneys, heart, and lungs, when the sufLrers
seemed past the roach of medicine.