Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-11-12
NO. 1850

else besides, and at night my dreams
: were constantly Of drowning men, and
: vessels !-ating upon rocks; so great is
the effect of desnetude even in painful
rsubjectS, and SO appalling is death,
when'he comes in form in which we
are unaccustomed to contemplate him.
OF slaughtered men have, Of course,
: beheH myltitudessas we'll when life
had just departed from them, as when
coryuption had set its seal upon their
forms; but such sights never affected
me, no not even at the commencement
of my military career, as was affected
| by the loss of that, ship, though she
went to pieces at too great distance
from the beach to permit more than a
very indlstinct view of her perishing
inmates. Yet there is nothing, in re-.
atty, more terrible in drowning than IN
any other kind Of death; and sailor
will look upon it, ! dare say, with pre-
clsely the same degree Of indifference
which soldier experiences, when pc
contemplates the prospect OF his own
dissolution by fire or steel.
In the course of my narrative, have
not made any regular attempt to con-
vey to the mind of the reader distinct
notionsof the peculiar costume and lam
guage which distinguish the natives
of this country.-Two motives have
guided me in this, in the first place, it
is, now-a-day, known to all who are
likely TO peruse what ! write, that the
inhabitants of those provinces, which
lie at the immediate base Of the Py.
rennees, are a race totally distinct, and
essentially different in almost all re-
spects, fromeither the Spaniards or the
French. They speak language OF.
their own, namely Basques, which IS
said by those who profess to be ac-
quainted with it to resemble the Cei'
tic more than any other known tongue.
The dress of the men consists usually
of a blue, or brown jacket, of coarse
woollen cloth; ofbreeches or trowsers
of the same, with waistcoat trequent'
" of scarlet; grey ~orsted stockings,
and wooden shoes. On their heads
they wear large fiat bonnet, precisely
similar to the Lowland bonnet, or
~ ,a'', "s.r ,"rr'; anu tney presenfneral-
| gether an appearance as uncouth as
need be fancied. The women, again,
equip themselves in many respects as
the fsh-women Of the good town Of
Ncw-Haven are equipped with this
difference, but they seldom cover their
heads at all, and, like men, wear wood
en- clogs. They are singular tribe,
and appear to take pride in those pc.
culiarities, which keep them from Goa
lescing with either Of the nations a.
mong whom they dwell. Blu, all this,
as said before, is too generally known,
TO render it imperative upon me MI
nutely to repeat ii. My second motive
for keeping, in great degree, silent
on the head of manners and customs,
is one, the efficiency o. which the rea-
der will not, dare say call in question;
namely, the want Of opportunity to
make myself sufficiently master Of the
subject, to enter, con amore, upon 1t.
No man who journeys through coun-
try, in the train Of an invading army,
ought to pretend to an intimate ac-
quaintance with the manners and cus1<
toms of its inhabitants. Wherever
foreign troops swarm, the aborigines
necessarily appear in false colours. The
greater part of them, indeed, abandon
their homes, whilst such OF them as
remain are servile and submissive
through terror; nor do they ever dis
play their real characters, at least In
the presence Of stranger. Hence 1t
is, that nine-,enths of my brethren IN
arms, who write at all, commit the
most egregious plumbers in those very
portions of their books which they par
ticuIarly aim at cnlightening the rea-
ding public; and that the most matter
of.fact tour, spun out by the most mat
ter-of-fact man or woman, who has
visited the seat Of the late war, since
the cessation of hostililies, contains,
and must contain, more certain lnfor'
nation touching the hre-side occupa'
tons of the people, than all the "Jour.
nails" or "Letlers to Friends at Home,'
which this age of book making has
produced. Frankly confessing, there.
fore, that any account which could
give Of the manners and habits oil the
Basques would deserve as little respect
as the accounts already given by other
military tourists, / am content 10 keep
my readers attention rivetled-if, in
deed, that be practicable-upon my
own little personal adventures, rather
than amuse him with details, which
might be true, as far as know to the
contrary, but which, in all probability,
would be false.
A dandy observed that he had put
plate of brass on mis- boots, to keep him
upright swell balanced, BY ging,"
said q Dutshpan, "brass Rt 10th enat.n.