Μωμενη, μαλα δ' εισιν υπερφιαλοι κατα δήμον and appears from the epithet κερτομέοντες, applied to them, in 8 Od. 154; which boasting or mocking it was, or perhaps their other known habit of lying, (,) that made Ulysses angry, and provoked him to challenge them, in 8 Od. 206, Δευς αγε πειρηθήτω επει μ' εχολώσατε λιην It is certain, however, that they have some talents, in which they are not to be surpassed by any nation in the world: their skill in different exercises of the body, for instance, is very great, and noticed accordingly with applause and wonder in many places in the Odyssey; and their superiority in such as depend on strength, dexterity, or suppleness of limbs, and particularly their remarkable agility of foot, is dwelt upon in the following lines, 8 Od. 263, which, as well as the quotation next succeeding, I particularly wish to be compared with the accounts of the agility of the Chinese, which are given in modern books: αμφι δε κοροι Προθήβαι ιςαντο δαίμονες ορχηθμοιο Πεπληγον δε χορον θείον ποσιν, αυταρ Οδυσσευς Μαρμαρυγας θηειτο ποδων θηειτο δε θυμω. Their skill in tumbling is further more particularly remarked, in 8 Od. 370, where the emperor Αλκινοος orders two persons, μοναξ ορχησασθαι Οι δ' έπει εν σφαιραν καλην μετα χερσιν έλοντο Πορφυρέην την σφιν Πολυβος ποιησε δαίφρων Την ετερος ριπτασκεν ποτι νέφεα σκιόεντα Ιδιωθεις οπισω οδ' απο χθονος υψος αερθεις Ρηιδίως μεθέλεσκε παρος ποσιν εδας ικεσθαι Αυτάρ επειδη σφαιραν αν' ιθυν πειρήσαντο Ωρχεισθην δ' ηπειτα ποτι χθονι πελοβοτείρη Ταρφέ αμειβομένω κόροι δ' επέληκεον αλλοι Εςαότες κατ' αγωνα πολυς δ' υπο κομπος ορωρεί and their performances were so extraordinary, that Ulysses exclaimed, σεβας μ' εχει εισορόωντα. Their skill in music is not thought to be great by the Europeans, but their love of it, such as they have it, is well known to be considerable, and the Odyssey takes frequent notice of it in treating of the Phæacians: their fondness for poetry is not less remarkable, and that appears from the repeated introduction of Demodocus and his tales; and this gives me occasion to say a word of the blindness of that poet, as mentioned in 8 Od. 63, -εγγύθεν ήλθεν αγων ερίηρον αοιδον Τον περι Μεσ' εφιλησε διδε δ' αγαθοντε κακοντε Οφθαλμων μεν αμερσε διδε δ' ηδειαν αοιδαν. This blindness I should account for, in the same manner as that of Oauupis (the Thames) mentioned in the first chapter; namely from the shallowness which extends to a vast distance at sea at the mouths of the Pi-ho and Whang-ho, the White and Yellow rivers of China, so that it may be said the eyes of those rivers are put out; and the name Anμodoxos, (who may be considered as representing the Pi-ho river) I account for from the immense concourse of people constantly assembled on that river (connected as it is with the Whang-ho, or Yellow-river, by the famous canal), so that it should appear in a manner quite covered, and that the people should be seen rather than the water (duos and donew). But almost all the favourite pursuits and characteristic qualities of this most extraordinary people are summarily comprised in the following speech of the emperor Aλxwooç himself, s Od. 319, Αιει ημιν δαις τε φιλη κιθαρις τε χοροι τε Είματα τ' εξημοιβα λοετρα σε θερμα και είναι —οσσον περιγινομεθ' αλλων Ναυτιλία και ποσι και ορχήσει και αοιδή their banquetings, and the music accompanying them; their dancing (or perhaps their choral dramas,) under the words tagite, xogate; their love of women, (or perhaps their practice of polygamy, under the plural eva); their constant habit of navigating their rivers and coasts; their agility in bodily exercises, and particularly with their feet; and, finally, their habitual practice of drinking tea, (for that beverage do I understand to be alluded to by λοετρατε θερμα,) are all successively introduced. There are many other allusions to the practice of drinking tea, in the parts of Homer that treat of the Phæacians, or Chinese one of which will be particularly noticed presently; and as a collateral proof that it was a practice common in ancient times, it is for the reader to determine whether the plant full of leaves held in the hands of fig. 1, pl. 3, as copied from Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, may not have been intended to represent the tea plant. From the slight remembrance I have of it, from seeing it casually in green houses, it seems to me to resemble that plant in shape; and besides, that it may be inferred from the peacock's heads and peacock's feathers, with which the head-dress of the bearer of it is surmounted, that it is a Chinese plant, as the tea is known to be, (for the peacock's feather is in particular request with the Chinese, and is worn as a high mark of distinc |