POPULAR LEGENDS AND FICTIONS. VIII. SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SHETLANDERS. MANY of the superstitions of the Shetlanders may be supposed to have descended from their Scandinavian forefathers, and to be parts of that system which prevailed when the heathen worship of Odin, and the belief of Valhalla, prevailed over all the North. But there are other parts of these superstitions which probably had their origin in the peculiar local situation of the Shetlanders, as a people inhabiting a wild and solitary country, and exposed to all the danger and uncertainties of a seafaring life. We accordingly find that the sea-monster called the Kraken, said to appear like a floating island, is still believed to exist; and that mermen and mermaids are said to be seen upon the shores, and around the remote and solitary isles. Seals, and some other animals, are regarded as beings of an intelligent nature, who have come up from a beautiful and splendid world, far below the depth of the ocean; and many curious stories are current of wonderful adventures which certain individuals have had with these incarnate spirits. Some of these stories are exceedingly amusing, and the reader will find a few such in a work published some years ago by Dr. Hibbert, relative to the Orkney and Shetland Isles. We cannot, however, omit noticing that the Shelty, or Shetland pony, is, as he ought to be, a most important personage in the system of superstition. It is in this shape that they suppose that the god, or spirit, who presides over the waters makes himself visible; and he is also believed to have the power of seeing the ghosts of those who have recently departed: When a medical gentleman, (says Dr. Hibbert,) of the last century, was returning home from visiting a female, whom he had left at least alive, the Shelty on which he rode suddenly began to snort and gallop; and, on looking behind him, to see the cause of the alarm, he saw the spectred form of the patient he had visited, and soon afterwards heard of her death, which occurred at the exact time when she took it into her head to frighten the Shelty and his rider. It was usual with the Shetland sorcerers, like the ancient Scandinavian magicians, to use incantations. I know a song, (said Odin,) of such virtue, that, were I caught in a storm, I could hush the winds, and render the air perfectly calm. But the warlocks and witches of Thule used, by the same means, to raise tempests, the lay being accompanied by some simple process that denoted the advancement made towards the attainment of the malevolent object. About thirty years ago, a woman of the parish of Dunrossness, known to have a deadly enmity against a boat's crew that had set off for the Haaf, took a wooden basin called a cap, and allowed it to float on the surface of a tub of water; then, to avoid exciting suspicion, went on with her usual domestic labours, and, as if to lighten the burden of them, sang an old Norse ditty. After a verse or two had been recited, she sent a child to the tub, and bade him tell her if the cap was whummilled. The little messenger soon returned with the news that there was a strange swell in the water, which caused the bowl to be sadly tossed about. The witch then sang still more loudly, and, for the third time, sent the child to the tub to report the state of the basin, who hastened back with the information that the water was frightfully troubled, and that the cap was whummilled. The enchantress, on hearing the fate of the cap, with an air of malignant satisfaction, ceased her song, and said, "The turn is done!" On the same day, news came that a fishing yawl had been lost in the Roust, and that the whole of the crew had been drowned. A similar story is told of some women in the island of Fetlar, who, when a boat's crew had perished in the bay of Femzie, were detected sitting round a well, muttering mysterious words over a wooden bowl that was supernaturally agitated. The accompaniment of an incantation by some process indicative of the progress of the magical purpose that is meditated, may be found in many of the wild superstitions of Scandinavia, of which the following is a specimen. While the Nornies, or destinies, of Pagan times, were within the recesses of a gloomy cave, dooming, in a wild song, the fate of the warriors who were to fall with the Earl of Orkney in an engagement on the Irish coast, they were employed in a strange loom, where human entrails formed the materials for the warp, foemen's heads for treadles, and swords dipped in gore for shuttles. When the incantation was ended, the women each tore a portion of the cloth, and, mounting their horses, six rode away towards the north, and six to the south. There is also in Scandinavia an ancient rhyme called the Quern Song, wherein two female slaves of a gigantic form sing a strange ditty, while they are employed in labouring in a quern of immense magnitude, in which they grind riches to a sea-king; but being dissatisfied with the oppression of their master, in making them work throughout the whole of the night, they grind against the same warrior a destructive army. The ceremony practised by Norna of the Fitful Head, for restoring the heart of Minna, as described in the Pirate by Sir Walter Scott, by melting lead and dropping it into water, is still in use; as is also that of dropping pieces of money into the chapel of Our Lady. In the island of Foula, Dr. Hibbert's guide endeavoured to point out to him the situation of the brilliant carbuncle, which throws out its native light even amidst the gloom of the darkest night,—a superstitious belief of which the author of the Pirate has also made a beautiful application. In some of the northern islands, the Norwegian, called also the Norse, language, is still spoken. They also retain the ancient usages of the Celts, as described by the oldest and best authors, but with a strong tincture of the feudal constitution. Their shanachies, or story-tellers, supply the place of the ancient bards, so famous in history, and are the historians, or rather genealogists, as well as poets, of the nation and family. ON DIET. DR. ARNOTT gives the following amusing summary of the powers of the steam-engine, and of the objects upon which they have been employed. In its present perfect state, the steam-engine appears a thing almost endowed with intelligence. It regulates with perfect accuracy and uniformity the number of its strokes in a given time, and counts and records them moreover, to tell how much work it has done, as a clock records the beats mitted to work, the briskness of the fire, the supply of of its pendulum; it regulates the quantity of steam adwater to the boiler, the supply of coals to the fire; it opens and shuts its valves with absolute precision as to time and manner; it oils its joints; it takes out any air that may accidentally enter any part that should be vacuous: and when anything goes wrong, which it cannot of itself rectify, it warns its attendants by ringing a bell;-yet, with all these talents, and even when possessing the power of a hundred horses, it is obedient to the hand of a child:-it never tires, and wants no sleep; it is not subject to malady, when originally well made; and only refuses to work, when 1837.1 THE SATURDAY MAGAZINE, worn out with age; it is equally active in all climates, and In order, however, that the steam-engine may The machinery of the animal frame works under the same conditions. In order that it may energize, it must have food, and that it may not sensibly be deteriorated by use, it must undergo constant repairs. In the But there is this difference in the two cases. animal frame, the source both of its energies and of Its its structural restoration is one and the same. food furnishes both. The blood, which is formed from our food, flowing to the brain, and the muscles, and the stomach, not merely maintains their power, but in addition carries to the same parts, and to all the rest, the materials of their growth and renovation. The supply of food to the steam-engine, has one purpose only to effect. It is, again, administered with absolute precision as to time and quantity; for it is meted out by those who understand the construction and working of the machinery, who know its wants exactly, and have no bias from prejudice or inclination to supply them otherwise than with rigorous exactness. The food of human beings, more complicated in its objects, is meted out under much less favourable circumstances. The party who apportions it, for the most part, does not understand the action or the wants of the machine which he undertakes to supply; and what is more, for a long period is not only incurious on the subject, but often disposed to repel any information which may fall in his way. His motive for conveying aliment into his inside is of a totally different complexion to a calculated forethought of the needs of his economy: his exclusive object is to please two senses, and to gratify two appetites;-perhaps he besides takes delight in the whirl into which the machinery is thrown by excess, that fills him with giddy transport, while it endangers and undermines his existence. Well, indeed, may Dr. Beaumont say, "In the present state of civilized society, with the provocatives of the culinary art, and the incentives of highly-seasoned food, brandy, and wines, the temptations to excess in the indulgence of the table are rather too strong to be resisted by poor human nature." Every one who has reached the middle of life must have had occasion to observe how much his comfort and his powers of exertion depend upon the state of his stomach, and will have lost some of his Such rules original indifference to rules of diet. must especially interest those, who have the care of [Abridged from Mayo's Philosophy of Living.] MARY GRAY'S SONG. I WALKED by mysel' ower the sweet braes o' Yarrow, Round ilka house cauld as a last Simmer's nest. I looked through the lift o' the blue smiling morning, On its way up to heaven, the cottage adorning, I passed by the pool where the lasses at daw'ing And Heaven in beauty came down on the earth. I looked ower the quiet o' Death's empty dwelling, The cradle stood still at the mitherless bed; And birds should be glinting ower forest and lea, And laughs back to heaven with gratitude bright, WILSON. VERILY, old servants are the vouchers of worthy house- MISUNDERSTANDING and inattention create more uneasiness in the world than deception and artifice, or, at least, their consequences are more universal.-GOETHE. THE MOUNTAIN OF SALT AT CARDONA, THE City of Cardona, in Catalonia, is famous for the celebrated Salt Mine represented in the Engraving, which is situated close to the river Cardoner, which flows through the valley at its foot. The mountain itself is a mass of salt, four or five hundred feet in height above the level of the river, and extends for a great distance from East to West; on the riverfront its sides are nearly perpendicular. That part from which the salt is quarried is about three-quarters of a mile from the town, in a little valley, one side of which faces that part of the mountain which is overlooked by the Castle of Cardona, while the opposite side is surmounted by a circular portion of the same mountain, named the Bosch del sal, or "Wood of Salt," because formerly this portion was covered with a wood of fir-trees: at present it is covered with vines, which succeed well in about one foot in depth of vegetable earth, with which the salt is covered. The salt is of various colours in the lump, but when bruised, it is of a beautiful white. Nothing is comparable to the appearance of the Mountain of Cardona at the rising of the sun, for, in addition to its beautiful outline, it seems to rise from the river like a mountain of precious stones, or an immense group of the brilliant prismatic colours, produced by the rays of the sun when passed through a prism.. I have often regretted (says La Borde,) my inability to convey, by means of the graver, any idea of the brilliant tint which time has impressed on these ancient ruins; what power can represent the play of the rays of the sun on the reflecting surfaces of this chain of crystal, the dazzling effect of which the eye itself can scarcely support? My visit to this place recalled to my mind what I experienced on visiting the salt-mines of Wieliska, in Poland. I had just left school, and full of the reading of Virgil and Homer, I fancied myself transported to the abode of Tethys, or the Palace of Glass of the Nereids; there I [MAY 13, 1837. traversed long galleries, supported by crystal columns, and filled with cabinets of topazes and emeralds; the noise which was made over-head appeared to me to be the sound I passed through, the melancholy light of the lamps which of the waves of the sea. But the numerous small chapels illuminated the statues of St. Nepomucene and St. Florian, the complaints of the poor Polish peasants who worked in these mines, and the noise of hammers and pickaxes, soon undeceived me. But here, in the environs of Cardona, where I could contemplate at a distance that beautiful blue sky of Spain, I could fancy that I was gazing on a spectacle of the mountain, as it reared its head in the clear rainbow fallen to the earth. This mountain of salt includes the ground on which the town is built, and extends to about three miles round it; one division is called the "Mountain of Red Salt," because the red tint predominates, although in reality the colours vary according to the height of the sun, or the less or greater quantity of rain that has fallen. At the foot of this mountain a fountain of water gushes from a large cavity, which discharges itself into the river, which, after heavy extends from the summit to the base; this fountain rains, becomes so salt as to destroy the fish, but freshness. The whole of the hills are full of crethree leagues lower down, the water again recovers its vices, caverns, and even spacious grottoes, filled with salt stalactites, in the form of bunches of grapes of crystallizations. The inhabitants have an idea, that different colours, and with other singularly-formed pieces of this salt are good for the rheumatism, and accordingly employ it for that purpose. Numerous works of art are made by the turner from the more saints, &c. solid pieces, such as crosses, chandeliers, statues of These salt-works have been worked for a grca: length of time; they are mentioned in a charter o Bernard Amat, Viscount of Cardona, in the fortythird year of the reign of Philip the First of France, that is, in the year 1103. SALT MOUNTAIN AT CARDONA. LONDON: Published by JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND; and sold by all Booksellers. EAST INDIA STATIONS. No. X. DELHI. PART 2. THE city of Delhi, or Shahjehanabad, affords to intellectual minds almost endless gratification in the vast number of interesting objects which greet the eye of the spectator on every side. It is difficult to limit the time which might be spent in rambling over the ruins of old Delhi, and contemplating the various architectural remains with which they abound. Next to the Imperial Palace, of which an account was given in a former paper, the most striking building of Shahjehanabad is the Jumna Musjeed, which is indeed a magnificent edifice. This mosque is erected on the summit of a rock of considerable height. Three handsome gateways, which are reached by three fine flights of steps, here lead into a quadrangle of the noblest dimensions. The whole is paved with granite inlaid with marble, and surrounded on three sides by an open cloister. In the centre of this splendid area is a large marble reservoir of water, with some small fountains, supplied by machinery from the canal. On its western side, and reached by another flight of steps, is the mosque itself, which is a splendid hall, entered by three lofty arches, surmounted by three domes of white marble. It has at each end a very tall minaret. The ornaments (observes Bishop Heber) are less florid, and the building less picturesque, than the splendid group of the Imambara, and its accompaniments at Lucknow; but the situation is far more commanding, and the size, the solidity, and rich materials of this building, impressed me more than anything of the kind which I have seen in India. From its fine square is obtained a striking view of the whole city. The Jumna Musjeed was the work of Arungzebe, who, like many other usurpers, endeavoured to gain a reputation for piety; and the better to impose upon a credulous multitude, who might have attributed his desire to gain the throne by the imprisonment of his father, and the murder of his brothers, to ambitious motives, clothed himself in the rags of a faqueer, and in this humble guise sought the shrine of the Jumna Musjeed, to pray for the success of his rebellious army. This mosque is kept in good repair by a grant of the English Government. It is much frequented by worshippers, of whom many hundreds may be seen at one time, prostrate on the pavement. It is also the resort of numerous beggars, and the poorer classes of travellers, who find all the shelter which the climate renders necessary, in the nooks and recesses of the building. The Kala Musjeed, another mosque, is small, and has nothing worthy of notice about it, but its plainness, solidity, and great antiquity; being a work of the first Patan conquerors, and belonging to the times of primitive Mussulman simplicity. It is exactly on the plan of the original Arabian mosques ;—a square court, surrounded by a cloister, and roofed with many small domes of the plainest and most solid construction, like the rudest specimens of what is called the early Norman architecture. It has no minaret: the crier stands on the roof to proclaim the hour of prayer. L the wretched fragments of a magnificence such as London itself cannot boast. The ruins really extended as far as the eye could reach, and our track, all along, wound amongst them. In our way, one mass of ruins, larger than the rest, was pointed out to us as the old Patan palace. It has been a large and solid fortress, in a plain and unornamented style of architecture, and would have been picturesque, had it been in a country where trees grow, and ivy was green, but is here only ugly and melancholy. It is chiefly remarkable for a high, black pillar of cast metal, called Firoze's Walking-stick. This was originally a Hindoo work; the emblem, I apprehend, of Siva, which stood in a temple in the same spot, and concerning which there was a tradition, like that attached to the coronation-stone of the Scots, that whilst it stood, the children of Brahma were to rule in Indraput. On the conquest of the country by the Mussulmans, the vanity of the prediction was shown, and Firoze enclosed it within the court of his palace, as a trophy of the victory of Islam over idolatry. It is covered with inscriptions, mostly Persian and Arabic, but that which is evidently the original, and probably contains the prophecy, is in a character now obsolete and unknown, though apparently akin to the Nagree. About a mile and a half further, still through ruins, is Humaiöon's tomb, a noble building of granite, inlaid with marble, and in a very chaste and simple style of Gothic architecture. It is surrounded by a large garden with terraces and fountains, all now gone to decay, excepting one of the latter, which enables the poor people who live in the out-buildings of the tomb, to cultivate a little wheat. The garden itself is surrounded by an embattled wall, with towers, four gateways, and a cloister within all round. In the centre of the square is a platform of about twenty feet high, and I should apprehend 200 feet square, supported also by cloisters, and ascended by four great flights of graníte steps. Above rises the tomb, also a square, with a great dome of white marble in its centre. The apartments within are a circular room, about as large as the Radcliffe Library (at Oxford), in the centre of which lies, under a small raised slab, the unfortunate prince to whose memory this fine building was erected. In the angles are smaller apartments, wherein other branches of his family lie interred. From the top of the building, I was surprised to see that we had still ruins on every side; and that more particularly to the westward, and where old Indraput stood, the desolation apparently extended to a range of barren hills, seven or eight miles off. On coming down, we were conducted about a mile westward to a burying-ground, or collection of tombs and small mosques, some of them very beautiful, amongst which the most remarkable was a little chapel in honour of a celeshrine, most of the deceased members of the present imbrated Mussulman saint, Nizam-ud-deen. Round his perial family lie buried, each in his own little enclosure, surrounded by very elegant lattice-work of white marble. Workmen were employed at this time in completing the tomb of the late prince Jehanguir, the third and darling son of the emperor, who died lately at Allahabad, whither he had been banished by the British Government, for his eldest brother. The few remaining resources of the house violent character, and his culpable intrigues against his of Timour, are drawn on to do honour to his remains, and the tomb, though small, will certainly be very elegant. The flowers, &c., into which the marble is carved, are as delicate, and in as good taste and execution as any of the Another tomb, ordinary Italian artists could produce. daughter of Shahjehan. It has no size or importance, but which interested me very much, was that of Jehanara, she was one of the few amiable characters which the family of Timour can show. In the prime of youth and beauty, when her father was dethroned, imprisoned, and I believe, We can scarcely give a better idea of the general blinded, by his wicked son, Arungzebe, she applied for character of the present state of old Delhi than by leave to share his captivity, and continued to wait on him transcribing Bishop Heber's account of his visit towards, she was a bountiful benefactress to the poor, and to as a nurse and servant till the day of his death. Afterthe tomb of the Emperor Humaidon, which is distant religious men. six miles from the modern city. In one part of these ruins is a very deep tank, surroundFrom the Agra gate to Humaioon's tomb is a most awfuled by buildings, sixty or seventy feet above the surface of scene of desolation, ruins after ruins, tombs after tombs, the water, from the top of which several boys and young men fragments of brickwork, freestone, granite, and marble, jumped down and swam to the steps, in order to obtain a scattered everywhere over a soil naturally rocky and barren, triffing bukshish. It was a formidable sight to a stranger, without cultivation, except in one or two small spots, and but they seemed to feel no inconvenience, except from cold, without a single tree. I was reminded of Caffa in the and were very thankful for a couple of rupees, to be divided Crimea, but this was Caffa on the scale of London, with amongst their number. |