astonished horse springs on his legs, and endeavours, by a thousand vain efforts, to disencumber himself of his new master, who sits quite composedly on his back, and, by a discipline which never fails, reduces the horse to such complete obedience, that he is soon trained to lend his speed and strength in the capture of his wild companions. "During the recent wars in this country, the lasso was used as a weapon of great power in the hands of the guassos, who make bold and useful troops, and never fail to dismount cavalry, or to throw down the horses of those who come within their reach. There is a well-authenticated story of a party of eight or ten of these men, who had never seen a piece of artillery, till one was fired at them in the streets of Buenos Ayres; they galloped fearlessly up to it, placed their lassos over the cannon, and, by their united strength, fairly overturned it. Another anecdote is related of them, which, though possible enough, does not rest on such good authority. A number of armed boats were sent to effect a landing at a certain point on the coast, guarded solely by these horsemen. The party in the boats, caring little for an enemy unprovided with fire-arms, rowed confidently along the shore. The guassos, meanwhile, were watching their opportunity, and the moment the boats came sufficiently near, dashed into the water, and, throw ing their lassos round the necks of the the officers, fairly dragged every one of them out of their boats. "Before breakfast to-day, we witnessed the South American method of killing cattle, a topic which, at first sight, must appear no very delicate or inviting one; but I trust it will not prove uninteresting, or disagreeable in description. "The cattle, as I before mentioned, had been driven into an inclosure, or corral, whence they were now let out, one by one, and killed; but not in the manner practised in England, where, I believe, they are dragged into a house, and dispatched by blows on the head with a pole-axe. Here the whole took place in the open air, and resembled rather the catastrophe of a grand field sport, than a mere deliberate slaughter. On a level space of ground before the corral were ranged in a line four or five guassos on horseback, with their lassos all ready in their hands; and opposite to them another line of men on foot, furnished also with lassos, šo as to form a wide line, extending from the gate of the corral to the distance of thirty or forty yards. When all was prepared, the leader of the guassos drew out the bars closing the entrance to the corral; and, riding in, separated one from the drove, which he goaded till it escaped at the opening. The reluctance of the cattle to quit the corral was evident, but when, at length, forced to do so, they dashed forwards with the utmost impetuosity. It is said that, in this country, even the wildest animals have an instinctive horror of the lasso; those in a domestic state certainly have, and betray fear whenever they see it. Be this as it may, the moment they pass the gate, they spring forward at full speed, with all the appearance of terror. But were they to go ten times faster, it would avail them nothing against the irresistible lasso, which, in the midst of dust, and a confusion seemingly inextricable, were placed by the guassos with the most perfect correctness over the parts aimed at. There cannot be conceived a more spirited, or a more picturesque scene than was now presented to us; or one which, in the hands of a bold sketcher, would have furnished a fine subject. Let the furious beast be imagined driven almost to madness by thirst, and a variety of irritations, and in the utmost terror at the multitude of lassos whirling all around him; he rushes wildly forward, his eyes flashing fire, his nostrils almost touching the ground, and his breath driving off the dust in his course:---for one short instant he is free, and full of life and strength, defying, as it were, all the world to restrain him in his headlong course; the next moment he is covered with lassos, his horns, his neck, his legs, are all encircled by these inevitable cords, hanging loose, in long festoons from the hands of the horsemen galloping in all directions, but the next instant as tight as bars of iron; and the noble animal lies prostrate on the ground, motionless and helpless. He is immediately dispatched by a man on foot, who stands ready for this purpose with a sharp knife in his hand; and as soon as the body is disentangled from the lassos, it is drawn on one side, and another is driven out of the corral, and caught in the same man ner. "On begging to know why so many lassos were thrown at once on these occasions, we learned that the first rush of the beast, when driven out of the corral, is generally so impetuous, that few sinG2 gle ones are strong enough to bear the jerk without breaking. As an experiment, a cow, in a very furious state, was Iet out, and directions given for only two men to attempt to stop her. The first lasso fell over her head, and drew it round, so that the horns almost touched her back, but the cord snapped without stopping her; the second was intentionally placed round the fore part of the body, but it also broke without materially checking her progress. Away went the cow, scouring over the country, followed by two fresh horsemen standing erect in their stirrups, with their lassos flying round their heads, and their pouchos streaming out behind them; an animating and characteristic sight. The cow galloped, and the horses galloped, and such is the speed which cattle acquire when accustomed to run wild, that at first the horses had but little advantage. The ground being covered with shrubs and young trees, and full of hollow places, and sunk roads, the chace was diversified by many leaps, in which, although the poor cow did well at first, the horses, ere long, gained upon her, and the nearest guasso perceiving that he was just within reach, let fly his lasso. The cow was at such a distance that it required the whole length of the lasso to reach her, and the noose had become so contracted by the knot slipping up, that it was barely large enough to admit the horns; had the cow been one foot more in advance, the circle would have become too small. When the rider saw the noose fixed, he stopped and turned his horse, upon which the poor cow, her head nearly wrung off, was cast to the ground with great violence. The second horseman dashed along, and on passing the cow, instead of throwing his lasso, merely stooped on one side, and laid the noose, which he had contracted to a small circle, over her horns. This done, the guassos turned their horses' heads and trotted back with their unwilling prize, not having been more than four or five minutes absent from the ground. "There is another method of arresting the animal's progress without using the lasso, which is said to require even more skill and presence of mind than that formidable instrument itself. A horseman is stationed a little way from the entrance of the corrol, armed with an instrument called a Luna, which consists of a steel blade about a foot long, and curved, as its name implies, in the form of a crescent, sharpened on the con cave edge, and having a pole ten or twelve feet long screwed into the middle of the blunt or convex side; so that, when held horizontally, the horns of the crescent point forward. The rider carries this luna in his right hand, couched like a lance, the blade being then about two feet from the ground, in advance of the horse, while the staff is kept steady by passing it under the arm. Having allowed the animal to rush past, he puts spurs to his horse, gallops after, and on coming close up, places his weapon in such a situation, that when the animal's right hind leg is thrown backwards, it shall enter the fork or crescent of the luna, and by striking against the edge, which is made as sharp as a razor, divide the tendon. The weapon is then, quickly transferred to the left leg, where, in like manner, the least touch properly applied divides the other tendon. We saw this cruel feat performed by the principal guasso on our host's estate, who was described as being the best rider and the most expert man in that part of the country. The ground was very dry and dusty, so that, by the time he overtook the bullock he was in chase of, there was such a cloud raised by the animal's feet, that we could scarcely see what was doing. The guasso contrived, however, to cut both hamstrings, but his horse becoming cofused, fell over the bullock, and we were in considerable alarm lest the man should be cut in two by his own weapon, or be transfixed by the beast's horas: but he never lost his self-possession, and having first flung the instrument high into the air, raised both himself and horse from the ground, and rode out of the cloud unhurt, and without having ever lost his seat. "While this more serious business was going on, a parcel of mischievous boys had perched themselves on a pile of fire-wood close to the corral, and being each armed in his way, with a lasso made of a small strip of hide, or of whip-cord, had the first chance to noose the animals as they rushed out. They seldom failed to throw successfully, but their slender cords broke like cobwebs. One wicked urchin, however, more bold than the rest, mounted himself on a donkey that happened to be on the spot; and taking the lasso which belonged to it, for no description of animal that is ever mounted is without this essentia equipment, and placing himself so as not to be detected by the men, he threw it gallantly over the first bullock's neck; but as soon as it became tight, away flew the astonished donkey and his rider: the terrified boy soon tumbled off; but poor Neddy was dragged along the ground, till a more efficient force was made to co-operate with his unavailing resistance." THE ASHANTEES. According to Mr. Bowditch, the country is governed by three estates,-the King, the aristocracy, (now reduced to four), and the assembly of captains. The constitution admits an interference of the aristocracy in all foreign politics, as well as a veto on the King's decision; but they watch, rather than share the domestic administration, generally influencing it by their opinion, but never appearing to control it by their authority; and their opinions on civil questions, are submitted with a deference directly in contrast to their bold declarations on subjects of war or tribute, which amount to an injunction. As a proof of the power of the second estate, the following anecdote is related by Mr. Bowditch:-A son of the King's quarreling with the son of Amanquatea's, (one of the four), told him, that in comparison with himself, he was the son of a slave; this being reported to Amanquatea's, he sent a party of his soldiers, who pulled down the houses of the King's son, and seized his person. The King hearing of it, sent to Amanquantea, and learning the particulars, interceded for his son, and redeemed his head for twenty periguins of gold, about £400, The gold buried with members of the Royal Family, and afterwards deposited with their bones in the fetish house, at Bantama, is sacred, and cannot be used, but to redeem the capital from the hands of an enemy, or in extreme national distress; and even then the King must avoid the sight of it, if he would avoid the fatal vengeance of the fetish or deity. Among their laws are some which to us Europeans appear not a little ridiculons; the following is a fair specimen of the principle that governs the whole : 66 A person accidentally killing another at Ashanta, pays five oz. of gold to the family, and defrays the burial customs. In the case of murder, it is 20 oz. of gold, and a slave, or he and his family become the slaves of the family of the deceased."-This is likewise an exquisite piece of jurisprudence. "If a man dashes himself to the fetish on the head of another, the other must redeem him. If a man kills himself on the head of another, the other must kill himself also, or pay 20 oz. of gold to the family of the suicide." Adumissa, an extraordinarily beautiful red skinned woman of Cape Coast, possessed numerous admirers, but rejected them all. One of them in despair shot himself in the head, close to her house. His family demanding satisfaction, to save her relations from a ruinous palaver (suit), she resolved to shoot herself in expiation. She accordingly assembled her friends and relatives from various parts of the country, and sitting richly dressed, killed herself in their presence, with golden bullets. After the body had been exposed in state, it was buried with a profusion of cloths and gold. The beautiful Adumissa is still eulogized, and her favourite patterned cloth bears her name amongst the natives. None but a captain can sell his wife, and he only if her family are unable to redeem her by re-payment of the mar riage fee. Their opinion of the Creation is equally worthy remark. The Negro tradition of the book and calabash, cited by St. Pierre, is fami liar to every native of these parts, and seems the source of their religious opinions. Impressed that the blind avarice of their forefathers, inclined all the favor of the supreme God to white men, they believe themselves to have been committed to the mediating care of subordinate deities, necessarily as inferior to the primary as they are to Europeans. As the Ashantee manner of relating this tradition differs a little from that of the Fautic, I will repeat it on the authority of Oudumata, and other principal men. In the beginning of the world, God created three white and three black men, with the same number of women; he resolved that they might not afterwards complain to give them their choice of good and evil. A large box or calabash, was set upon the ground, with a piece of paper sealed up on one side of it; God gave the black men the first choice who took the box, expecting it contained every thing, but on opening it, there appeared only a piece of gold, a piece of iron, and several other metals, of which they did not know the use. The white men opening the paper, it told them every thing. God left the blacks in the bush, but conducted the whites to the water-side, (for this happened in Africa) communicated with them every night, and taught them to build a small ship, which carried them to another country; when they returned after a long period, with various merchandise, to barter with the blacks, who might have been the superior people. With this imaginary alienation from the God of the universe, not a shade of despondency is associated; they consider that it diminishes their comforts and endowments on earth, but that futurity is a dull and torpid state to the majority of mankind. The kings, caboceers, and the higher class, are believed to dwell with the superior Deity after death, enjoying an eternal renewal of the state and luxury they possessed on earth. It is with this impresssion that they kill a certain number of both sexes at the funeral customs, to accompany the deceased to announce his distinction, or to administer to his pleasures. The spirits of the inferior classes are believed to inhabit the houses of the fetish in a state of torpid indolence, which recompenses them for the drudgery of their lives, and which is truly congenial to the feelings of the Negro. Those of superior wisdom and experience, are said to be endued with foresight after death, and to be appointed to observe the lives, and to advise the good of those mortals who acknowledge the fetish; their state corresponding, in short, with that of the first race of men after death, as described by Hesiod. Those whose enormities nullify the mediation of the funeral custom, or whom neglect or circumstances might have deprived of it, are doomed in the imagination of others, to haunt the gloom of the forest, stealing occasionally to their former abodes in rare but lingering visits. Those who have neglected the custom or funeral rites of their family, are thought to be accursed and troubled by their spirits. The inferior class of fetishmen or priests, pursue their various occupations in society and superstitious ceremonies, and are applied to as fortune-tellers or conjurors are in Europe; especially in cases of theft, when from a secret system of espionage, and a reluctance frequently amounting to a refusal, to discover the culprit, or to do more than replace the property whence it was taken, they are generally successful. The magical ceremony consists in knotting, confusing, and dividing behind the back several strings and shreds of leather. They are also frequently applied to by slippery wives, to work charms to keep their husbands in ignorance of a projected intrigue, which they affect to do.The different states of the water-side revere different animals as fetish; the hyæna is esteemed so at Accau, the alligator at Dix Cove and Aunamaboe, and the vultures universally, and with more apparent reason, as they consume all the offal of the neighbourhood, and thus contribute to its health and cleanliness. A black man killing a hyæna at Accra, would incur a serious penalty. A European is obliged to pay a case of neat rum, and one piece of white baft, in which the head of the animal is wrapped, and afterwards buried by the natives. Almost every resident on the coast can speak to the imitative powers of the hyæna, which Pliny has been ri diculed for reporting. In a fresh water pond at Dix Cove, there is an alligator about twelve feet long, which always appears on the banks at the call of the fetish men. The tale of crocodiles being bred on this coast, as carp in ponds in Europe, related by some modern geographers, Mr. Bowditch considers as a fable. [The increased interest which we feel (we hope in accordance with our readers) in the able work, from which we have extracted the above, induces us to postpone further particulars of these people till our next, when we shall conclude this article.] VERY SINGULAR INSTANCE OF HOSPITALITY. A French refugee, at Brussels, was surprised in that city by the French troops in their victorious entry after the battle of Feuris. Dreading to be made a prisoner, he fled. A young girl, an entire stranger to him, who was sit, ting before a door, observing the horror and distraction of his air and counten ance, seized him by the arm-" Stay!". she cried, you are lost if you go for ward." "And I am lost if I return, he answered, "Then enter here," said the generous girl, "and be saved." The Frenchman accepted her offer. His hostess informed him she was niece to the sexton of the neighbouring church; that it was her uncle's house in which she had received him, who would have been far from suffering her to exercise so dangerous a rite of hospitality had he been at home; and she hastened to conceal him in an outhouse, where she expected to leave him in security. Scarcely was it dark when some French soldiers entered the same place to take up their abode for the night. Terrified at the situation of the French stranger, the girl softly followed them without being perceived, and waiting till she was sure they were asleep, she informed the refugee of his extreme danger, and desired him to follow her. Their movement wakened one of the soldiers, who, stretching out his arm, seized that of the refugee, crying out, "Who goes there!" The girl dexterously placed herself between them, and said, "It is only me, who am come to seek for—-” Fortunately she had no occasion to say a word more: the soldier, deceived by the voice of a woman, let go his captive. She conducted the refugee into the house, and taking down the keys of the church, with a lamp in her hand she led him to the place as the securest asylum she could find. They entered a chapel which the ravages of war had despoiled of its ornaments. Behind the altar was a passage to a vault, the entrance to which was not easy to be discerned. She raised the door, and said, "This narrow staircase leads to a vault, the repository of the ashes of an illustrious family. It is scarcely possible they will suspect any person is being concealed there. Descend, and remain there till an opportunity offers for your escape.] She gave him the lamp; he descended into this melancholy abode, and she closed the door upon him. His feelings may well be imagined, when, examining this dismal place by the light of his lamp, he saw the arms of his own family, which had been originally of this country. He examined the tombs of his ancestors; he viewed them with reverential affection, and rested his head with emotion upon the marble that covered their ashes. The first day passed unpérceived in the midst of these strong impressions: the second brought with it the claims of hunger, even yet more pressing than the desire of liberty; yet his benefactress came not. Every hour in its lingering passage now increased his sufferings, his terror, and despair. Sometimes he imagined the generous girl had fallen a victim to her desire of saving his life; at others he accused her of forgetting him; in either case he saw himself doomed to a death a thousand times more horrible than that from which he had escaped. At length, exhausted with fruitless efforts, with agonizing fears, and the intolerable gnawings of hunger, he sank into insensibility upon one of the graves of his ancestors. The third day was far advanced, when he recovered to a languid sense of his deplorable condition. Shortly after he heard a sound----it was the voice of his benefactress, who called to him from the Chapel. Overwhelmed with joy as with weakness, he had not the power to answer.--She believed him already dead, and with a mournful exclamation let fall the door that covered the entrance of the tomb. At the sound of the falling of the door the unfortunate man felt his powers return, uttered a shriek of despair, and rushed with precipitation up the stairs. Happily the niece of the sexton had not left the spot----she heard the cry, lifted the door, and descended to save him. She had brought him food, and explained the cause of her long delay, asssuring him that she had now taken such precautions, that in future she could not fail to administer to his daily wants. After seeing him refreshed and consoled, she quitted him; but had scarcely proceeded some steps when she heard thie doors unlock and the noise of a number of armed men entering. She flew back to the vault, and motioned the refugee to silence. The persons who now filled the church were a detachment of French soldiers, who had been sent there to search for an emigrant the sexton was suspected of concealing. The sexton himself led them on. Perfectly unconscious of the danger his niece had incarred, and proud of his own innocence, he loudly encouraged their activity, and directed their researches to each remote corner of the chapel, that every step might attest his good faith. What a situation for the two captives! soldiers passed many times over the fatal door, led by their restless and prying conductor, and each footstep sounded to the trembling victims below as the signal of their death. The entrance of the vault, however, remained unobserved, the noise by degrees died away, and when the niece of the sexton ventured from the vault, she found the doors of the church shut, and every one gone. She again assured the refugee of her stedfast protection, and retired. The On the following day, and for many succeeding days, she regularly supplied |