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That bids the rose inferior flowers command, Though tulips glow in spendour at her side,

Has she, with curious skill, thy branches crown'd

With flowers inscribed with many a symbol dear,

The hallow'd cross, the thorny wreath around,

The cruel nails,-the sacrilegious spear?

In the pale beauty o'er thy petals spread, Where azure veins adorn the pallid white, We trace the bloodless hue that marks the dead,

In the sad moment of the spirit's flight.

While gayer flowers delight the eye of youth,

And cheer the sense, and scatter odour round,

Be thou a silent monitor of truth,

She, though wither'd in her bloom,
Still survives in soft perfume,
Like incense sweet on Virtue's tomb.

THE EPHEMERA, A FABLE.

A FERVENT votary of the Muses
Can see and hear whate'er he chooses:
No barrier can confine a mind
That leaves reality behind,
And, borne by Fancy, flies to spheres
Beyond the reach of eyes and ears-
Pray, therefore, wonder not that I
Should write the history of a Fly.

One evening as I ranged the vale,
Inhaling health from every gale,-
Waked by the genial breath of spring,
Ten thousand flies were on the wing;
They buzz'd around in busy mood,
And, as their words I understood,
I'll use my privilege, of course,
So listen to a sage discourse.

And wake in grateful bosoms thought pro- On the tall summit of a nettle

found.

The Primrose.

WHEN the soft and genial west,
From the islands of the blest,
Comes to set all nature free,

And welcome spring and welcome thee:
When thy fragrant cup appears,
Richly charged with dewy tears;
Or thy groupes of modest flowers,
Clustering thick on birchen bowers,
Or, on rough and heathery braes,
Smiling in the sunny rays;
Or, transferred to gardens green,
Wondering at the novel scene :-
Swains that whistle o'er the dale,
Maids that singing bear the pail,
Nymphs that nature's beauty spy,
With finer sense and quicker eye,-
Youths that thoughtful love to trace
Each opening charm in nature's face,
All, and each, in their degree,
With welcome hail the spring and thee.

The Violet.

SHELTER'D from the piercing North,
Pure and meek, like modest worth,
See the Violet peeping forth.

See her ope her dark-blue eye,
Like a midnight frosty sky,
Changeless hue of constancy.
Oft in shades sequestered found,
Dwelling lowly on the ground,
Scattering sweetest odours round.
Sweeter still when softly prest
To the maiden's spotless breast,
Near her gentle heart to rest.

Other flowers with her may vie,
To cheer the sense and charm the eye,"
Then fade and unregretted die.

I saw an old Ephemera settle,
Who, looking wise and mighty proud,
In words like these addressed the crowd:
"While I in this great world have been,
What wond'rous changes have I seen!
The sun did once the sky illume,
Now sunk in darkness and in gloom;
The trees then wore a verdant hue,
Though now they're whiten'd o'er with
dew;

The lovely rose has veil'd her head;
The tulip, too, her leaves has shed;
All Nature now is dark and dead!-
But ah! 'tis folly to lament
The evils we can not prevent;
Yet still, my friends, excuse my grief,
For age in talking finds relief.
Nor are my heart's warm feelings cold,
Though I am nearly four hours old-
A mighty age; for few we see
Of us Ephemeras live to three.
But, though so short a time we live,
How much to folly do we give!
How many minutes run to waste,
In seeking joys we ne'er can taste!
How many spend a lengthen'd life
In envy, bickerings, and strife,
And can't enjoy the honeyed dew
That hangs upon the violet blue,
Because they see another sip
Ambrosia from the lily's lip!
O! listen friends; let me advise,
Whom long experience has made wise.
In future let us not destroy
That happiness we might enjoy,
But, wiser grown, our moments spend
In living to some better end,
Than seeking vain" But here the sage
Sank on a leaf, and died of age!

In this remonstrance of the Fly
Much may to haughty Man apply-
He, too, invents a thousand ways
Of losing more than half his days.

How much does fickle fashion get!
How much we waste ourselves to fret,
And fight, and squabble, sigh, and pant,
To gain those things we do not want!
Then let us now improve each hour,
While yet it lies within our power,
Nor, like the fly, procrastinate,
Till all amendment is too late.
Let anger, hatred, envy, cease,
And every heart be tun'd to peace.
Let's be content with what we've got,
Nor murmur at another's lot;

Nor waste our time, like senseless elves,
In plaguing others and ourselves.——
But, since I talk of wasting time,
I too should end this idle rhyme.

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Who from the cheerless gloom of Gentile

night

Brought life and immortality to light?

10 ye of little faith!

'Twas He who, great in mercy as in might, The barriers burst of Death.

In that great day when He again shall

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"

VERSES COMPOSED IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH.

(By a Clergyman labouring under a dangerous and lingering Illness.) "Now Spring returns; but not to me returns The vernal joy my better years have known; Dim in my breast the dying taper burns, And all the joys of life with health are flown." BRUCE.

THRICE has returning Spring, with ze phyrs bland, Breath'd health and fragrance o'er a smil. ing land,

Thrice wak'd the vocal groves; Yet pine I under His paternal hand, Who chast'neth whom He loves.

Yet why despond, my fainting soul?
Revere the hand that rules the whole,
Nor doubt a Father's love;
Though languid years in sorrow roll,
He chastens but to prove.
Celestial mansions, soon or late,
And crowns of glory, those await
Who on His love rely;
But, to attain this blissful state,
We first to sin must die.

That all is vanity below,
Too late unthinking mortals know;
But, in the day of dole,
Find Folly's cup, like that of Wo,
Is bitter to the soul.

Happy are they who, timely brought
To sober views and serious thought
By the corrective rod,
In penitence have mercy sought,

And made their peace with God!

When sublunary joys delight no more,
They gain with Him whom heav'nly hosts

adore

A heritage above,

ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS OF
THE CENTRAL DISTRICTS OF THE
ISLAND OF CEYLON.

(Extracted from a Letter to Dr So-
merville by G. Finlayson, Esq. Sur-
geon to the Army.)

MY DEAR SIR, I SHALL endeavour to give you some account of a race of human beings, whose situation had till lately placed them beyond the reach of that spirit of inquiry which marks the age we live in, and whose very name was scarcely known in Europe the Veddahs, who inhabit the central and mountainous parts of the Island of Ceylon. While the island was under the rule of the tyrants who lately governed it, all communication with the interior was effectually precluded by their jealous policy, which doomed many to end their days without daring to pass the limits of their native village; and long endurance of restraint has rendered it so familiar to the Kandyans, that they have not yet begun to alter their habits, although the restrictions have been removed by the British Government. Curiosity, and, indeed, every other motive or feeling, seems to be obliterated, except those which have for their object the preservation or advantage of the individual.

The Kandyan is polite in his deportment; but his politeness is the result of art rather than of native frankness or affability; and, his whole mind being turned to himself, renders him grave, haughty, and reserved. Even when he is most communicative, his conversation is a tissue of subtleties and evasions, intended to

And He their mould'ring relics will re- disguise his real sentiments and de

store

Why doubt his power and love?

signs. Servility is the concomitant of tyranny, and the Kandyan is the ab

ject slave of his superiors, while he is a haughty and cruel despot to all below him. So uncultivated are the Kandyans, that many of the most powerful chiefs cannot read or write; and even the priests, who are very numerous, have generally acquired but a scanty knowledge of the books containing the doctrines of their divinity, Budha. Some, indeed, but very few, have attempted to calculate eclipses. All ranks place implicit faith in judicial astrology; and the emoluments of the astrologer are sufficiently great to tempt many to exercise this knavish vocation. They are possessed of some translations, from the Sanscrit, of books on medicine, from which they have learned the powers of opium and arsenic; but they know little of the treatment of disease, and nothing of surgery, owing their recovery in either case to their temperate habits at all times, and their abstinence when ill. Accident has taught them the medicinal virtues of some of the plants which abound in Ceylon. This knowledge, however, is confined to the lowest orders of the people by the jealousy of Government, which prevent ed the higher ranks from exercising an art which might have given them an influence in the state. The King maintained a body of physicians at his own expence, who were accessible to all. Suspicion and selfishness are characteristic of the Kandyan of every rank, and under every circumstance. If we follow him into the retirement of private life, we find him building his hut in a spot selected, because it is remote from the habitations of others; and, when common safety compels several families to live closer together, the huts of the straggling village are so wide asunder, that little intercourse takes place amongst their inhabitants. The Kandyan, in all situations a tyrant, eats his meal in solitude, and permits not his wife, his friend, or his neighbour, to share his repast. These observations may serve to give you some idea of the Kandyans, who have long existed as an in dependent nation; but my object is to give an account of a people unlike them in their manners and customs, and in every respect, excepting those of their ferocity and barbarity, a nation without a king or chief of any description, without government or laws, among whom the fear of revenge

is the only restraint to the exercise of passion.

The Veddahs have existed in the interior of Ceylon from a period so remote, that I have not been able to find any trace of their origin,—perhaps we should not err in supposing them to be the earliest inhabitants of the island. Hemmed in by invaders from the coast, they now occupy the inaccessible forests and fastnesses, which place them beyond the reach of their enemies. Of their habits and manners little was known, and the tales picked up by those who had approached the confines of their country were marvellous and improbable. The present rebellion first broke out in these remote districts; and the Veddah country has been visited several times in the military movements that have taken place. I shall give you the result of my own observations made on these occasions, and of many conversations with some of the most intelligent inhabitants of the Veddah country, and their Kandyan neighbours. I have learned much from the Kangolle Moodianee, a man highly distinguished among the Kandyans by his talents and learning, and acknowledged by all to be intimately acquainted with the Veddahs, from whom he is descended. information I received from him has been confirmed by the Hety Hame of Weyogamme and others. The Veddahs inhabit a range of thick and almost impenetrable forests, extending in a south-easterly direction from Kandy to the sea, and from the village of Bintenne to Baticoloa on the east coast, a distance of nearly 50 miles, throughout the whole of which there is no trace of cultivation to be seen. There are many magnificent trees in these forests, adorned with an endless variety of creeping and parasitic plants, pendant in elegant festoons from their lofty summit, in all the luxuriance of vegetation of a tropical climate. Elephants, buffaloes, bears, jackals, panthers, monkeys, and many other animals, and the Veddahs, scarcely less ferocious than they are, have retreated to these haunts from the encroachments of man. The Veddahs on the margin of this country are somewhat less barbarous than the wild or Jungle Veddahs, the former having learned, from their intercourse with the Kandyans, to cultivate Indian corn and

The

coracan, (Cynosurus coracanus,) and some vegetables. The river Maha Vella Granga, a broad and rapid stream, flows through Bintanne, the country of the Jungle Veddahs. The natives here exhibit a picture of savage life that would shake the faith of those who dream of the virtue and happiness of man in a savage state. They are smaller in stature than the Kandyans, and their bodies are uniformly remarkable for symmetry, a fact often remarked amongst savages, which only proves that those who are deformed or feeble in infancy do not arrive at maturity. Nothing can be conceived more squallid or filthy than the Veddah; his black hair hangs matted about his ears-his beard is unshaven-his only clothing is an apron, about four inches broad, descending to the middle of the thigh. The apron worn by the women is of rather larger dimensions, otherwise there is no difference; and some of both sexes are to be seen destitute of this scanty covering. They have no hut or permanent abode, but roam from place to place as the supply of food is exhausted. When that is unusually great, they construct huts of bark, boughs of trees, and grass. On a march, they are often obliged to pass the night on trees. They suffer much from the cold of the nights, in which the thermometer sometimes sinks to 55°, a degree of cold not to be endured with impunity by people devoid of clothing, of feeble frame of body, and exposed to the ardent heat of a tropical sun by day. Their furniture consists of one or two earthen pots, a cabebash, a basket lined with leaves in which they keep honey. They are armed with a bow, five or six arrows, a small hatchet, and a knife.

They subsist chiefly by hunting, depending upon the spontaneous produce of the soil for such vegetables as they use, and, as is usual among savages, they devolve upon the women the labour of gathering esculent roots, or fruits. They have in abundance the Arum macrorhizon, Arum tribulatum, Arum dracontium, Dioscorea bulbifera, triphylla and alata, Nelumbo Indica. Of the palms we find only the Cycas circinalis, or Sago palm, but they are unacquainted with the art of drawing a rich store of nourishment from the stem of the plant, they use only the kernel of the seeds,

which are produced by the female plant in considerable plenty; they dry the seed, which is about the size of a plum, in the sun, and then form the bruised kernel into cakes. The men devote the greater part of their time to the chace, and use the bow and arrow, their only weapon, with dexterity, and these they never part with on any occasion. The bow is from six to seven feet long, of great elasticity and strength. Those held in highest estimation are made of the Kabbar wood, or Rhois Africana of the Flora Zeylanica; the string is made of twisted thongs, or plaited bark. Every Veddah is provided with a bow and six arrows, arms with which he dares to attack the most formidable animals of the forest, combining his knowledge of the habits of those he destines for his prey, with such address and courage, that the elephant is sometimes brought down by a single shaft. Of this I have been assured by so many people worthy of belief, who have witnessed the fact, that I cannot doubt its truth. Their warfare with the elephant, however, is generally in self defence, as they come upon him, when they are in quest of other animals; sometimes they do attack him for the sake of his tusks, of which they paid a certain number in tribute to the King of Kandy.

Their only domestic animals are dogs and buffaloes: the former they esteem much for their sagacity, and take great pains in breaking them in ; they are less swift than the deer, but make up for want of speed by cunning. A Veddah is always followed by two or three dogs, and he uses his buffaloes only as a decoy in hunting, to enable him to approach near to the animals he pursues; he never eats his flesh; beside the deer's, he eats the flesh of the elk, wild hog, monkey, gudnah, and several species of rats. Honey is an important article of their food. They preserve meat in a way used in South America, by cutting it into slender thongs, which are dried in the sun, and eaten raw after being soaked in honey. Recent meat is broiled on the embers, or boiled in earthen pots. They are extremely fond of salt, but have not always the means of procuring it; they use as a substitute an alkaline salt, obtained by burning the leaves of certain plants. The inhabitants of Walassy,

in the Kandyan country, burn the leaves of the cocoa tree for this pur pose. Like all rude people, the Veddahs find their supreme delight in sleep; and it requires the imperious call of hunger, or the alarm of approaching danger, to rouse them from their slumbers. When the chace has been productive, days and nights are devoted to the alternate joys of gorging and sleeping. Surrounded with animals and vegetables, the greatest exertion of skill, enterprise, and perseverance, are necessary to collect an adequate supply of food for the Veddah;-his life is spent in wandering through the dense and often pestilential jungles, exposed to great vicissitudes of heat, cold, and hunger. Sometimes they have been compelled to mingle the powder of decayed wood with the remnant of their honey, by which they could only remove the painful sensation of inanition by distending the stomach. Yet they despise the luscious fruits, the copious diet, and comfortable dwellings of their less barbarous neighbours, preferring the life of freedom they lead in roaming uncontrolled through their forests, which neither kindness nor promises allure them to abandon. When a Veddah purchases arrow blades from a Cinglese smith, the process of barter is very summary; he stipulates for the price, describes the form, pays the deer's flesh, wax, or honey, and returns to his fastnesses. Some are so timid that they never come in contact with the smith, but deposit, at some distance from his house, their articles of exchange, and after a reasonable time find their arrow blades in the same spot; and no one would hazard the certainty of incurring the Veddah's vengeance by defrauding him. They are passionate ly fond of tobacco and betel, but cultivate neither; and as a substitute for the latter they chew the bark of various trees and leaves of aromatic herbs, and use the bark of the Gmelina Asiatica, and varieties of Cassia, instead of the Areca nut; they use also the leaf of a Melochia, and make the chunam or lime of shells from the river. They are totally unacquainted with fermented or intoxicating liquors, and use water for their only beverage.

A stranger is received with hospitality and kindness, but he must take special care to approach without arms.

The Kandyans, who fly to the Veddahs for refuge from the tyranny of their chiefs, or the oppression of their laws, are received with open arms. If a stranger comes near the hut of a Veddah in the husband's absence, the wife admonishes him to remain at a proper distance, about an hundred yards, till her master returns, but the husband immediately invites the stranger to partake of the fare of his family, and a refusal would be an unpardonable insult; and he on his taking leave presents betel to his host, who distributes it in portions to his family; should he unwarily hand the betel to the wife, his temerity would be fatal to him. Although a Veddah has but one wife generally, polygamy is not prohibited, and some have two or three wives. It is not customary here, as among the Kandyans, for several brothers to marry one wife in common. The form of courtship is very summary; the Veddah asks a daughter in marriage from her father, without imparting his wish to her, or even supposing her consent necessary; and where no distinction of rank exists, the first who asks is pretty sure of success. The father's answer is, "Take her, on my hills are plenty of deer, in my woods abundance of honey; be active, and you will be happy;" and in this consists the nuptial ceremony. Here a man may marry any woman he chooses, except his mother or sister, many marry their own daughters. A wife follows her husband to the chace even when pregnant; and if a child is born, its fate is soon decided; when it is their intention to rear it, they wrap it up in the smoother bark of a tree, and continue their expedition in a few hours, but a different fate too often awaits the infant, which is left a prey to wild beasts, or to perish of hunger. Those accustomed only to the depravities of human nature, in civilized nations, may pause before they give their belief to such an act of atrocity, but it is beyond all doubt that it is very frequent among the Veddahs and other inhabitants of the interior of the island.

It will readily be believed, from what has been said, that the wife and children are here the slaves of a merciless tyrant, who puts them to death at his own caprice, where there is no control or restraint, moral or legal.

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