exports of China together do not as yet | such a severe task on his strength and amount to more than about two shillings nerves. The habits of a successful stu per head of its four hundred and fifty millions of population.

From Land and Water. MOUNTAINEERING IN THE ALPS.

dent, fresh from the honors of his alma mater, are not a fit training for a conqueror of Alpine mountains. Many weeks of careful preparation are necessary to strengthen the muscles and give tone to the system. The hand and eye and foot must be educated for the task, and not the least quality that is needed is the A CALAMITY of unusually tragic inter-power-in most cases an acquired giftest has signalized the commencement of of looking down from a dangerous dethe holiday season in Switzerland, and clivity or height without giddiness or that has opened up the old discussion on sinking of the heart that oppresses many mountaineering in the Alps. In this in- an otherwise strong and stalwart climber. stance the tragedy is doubly accentuated. Without these qualities the perils of A career full of the richest promise has Alpine mountaineering-in themselves been closed, and by a death at once sud-sufficiently great- -are enormously in den and terrible. The exact cause of the creased; and it cannot be too strongly catastrophe will probably remain among urged on the young and adventurous that the gloomy secrets of the mountains. In attempts made without such preparation so perilous an undertaking, the slightest are exceedingly dangerous, and that the accident- a movement of the foot, a sud- courage displayed in making them is den giddiness, a miscalculation of dis- scarcely distinguishable from foolhardi. tances may be fatal. The memorableness. When a tragic incident draws at tragedy of 1865, in which Lord F. Gordon tention to the dangers of Alpine mounand four others lost their lives, after the taineering it is customary to hear the first ascent of the Matterhorn, was occa-practice condemned, and the lovers of the sioned by one of the members of the ex- pastime held up to ridicule and censure. pedition failing in nerve at a very critical In our opinion such censure is unfair, and moment, and accidents from this cause altogether lacking in that wide sympathy alone are numerous in Alpine records. A with the inclinations of others which touching tribute has been paid to the per- should be the basis of all criticism on sonal and intellectual character of Mr. matters lying outside the region of pure Balfour from the pen of one who knew morals. The pleasures of mountaineering him in the intimacy of college rivalry, and to those who indulge in them are of the than whom none is more fitted to speak of keenest kind; and the dangers by which the great achievements of the deceased they are undoubtedly attended are very and of the brightness of the life so swiftly much exaggerated by the critics who know and mysteriously extinguished. It is in-nothing of them by actual experience, and finitely saddening that a career of such to whom it seems, necessarily, a species high possibilities should have been termi- of madness to tempt the knife-like edges nated by what seems an almost reckless of a snow-ridge where a single slip would adventure. Little as is made of it by be fatal. Without disputing the assertion Alpine tourists of the present time, the of the knight of Snowdoun, scaling of the monarch of European mountains still remains a feat that should not be idly attempted. It is attended with many dangers at all periods of the year, it is a well-authenticated fact that the risk and from whatever side it is essayed. to life and limb in Alpine adventure is From the meagre telegram announcing not greater than the same risks in the Mr. Balfour's fate it would seem that he, English hunting-field, or in the exercises accompanied by one guide only, was as of boating and swimming. In all these cending the Italian side of the mountain pastimes accidents are in the vast majorwith, no doubt, the intention of making ity of cases due to inexperience or reckthe descent into the valley of the Arve, in lessness. It is seldom that a good hunter the Swiss canton. Such an attempt un-is fatally thrown, or that a swimmer of der any circumstances was attended with strength and experience is drowned. grave danger, aggravated by the fact that And the cases of fatal accidents that have the traveller had started without the requi- occurred in mountaineering to climbers of site assistance. To these are to be added judgment and experience may be counted, the unpreparedness of Mr. Balfour for during the last decade, on the fingers of

If the pass be dangerous known,
The danger self is lure alone,

one hand. Men who choose to wander | taineering, if precautions are taken, it is
without guides among snow-clad moun- even possible to avoid all risks without
tains and over glaciers with which they losing any of the charms of adventure.
are unacquainted, take their lives in their To enjoy to the fullest the fascination of
hands. If they suddenly plunge into a the Alps, and to feel the inspiration of its
crevasse or lose their footing on a slippery atmosphere, it is altogether unnecessary
declivity of snow, such chances should for the climber to essay any of the dan-
be discounted. To win the perilous gerous Alpine peaks, such as the Weiss-
heights of the Pointe des Ecrins, as was horn, the Matterhorn, or the steep crags
done without guides some years ago by of the Rothhorn. Mountains of surpass-
two American youths, was a daring feat. ing grandeur and glacier passes of all
But it was not mountaineering. It was in kinds may be conquered almost without
fact opposed to some of the first princi- danger, if the climber possesses a fair
ples on which mountaineers work, and to stock of health and has had a fair amount
which are attached the highest impor- of training, united to a sturdy heart. One
tance. We are at liberty, if so minded, to who has these can enjoy all the delights
admire the strong-hearted youths who so of the mountains. Only those who have
strangely dared death in many of its most realized it can fully appreciate the keen
terrible forms; but mountaineers are care- sense of pleasure that the traveller feels
ful to guard against the assumption that when he stands on the crest of some snow-
such foolhardy feats have the sanction of crowned peak when the dawn begins to
authority. When any considerable ascent redden the east, shimmering down slowly
is attempted by a novice, the preparations over a world of snow and ice, with a hun-
should be made with the utmost precau- dred white peaks reflecting the rays in
tion, and the leading guide empowered golden splendor; when the rugged form
with full authority to act as emergencies of the aiguilles and peaks begin to sharp-
may demand.
All the climber's move- en in the growing light, and when the last
ments, even his speech, should be regu- star disappears in the deep azure of a
lated by the leader, to whom the direction southern sky. It is the memory of such
of every crevasse is known, and whose hours as these that makes the climber en-
instinct is usually unerring in the pres-thusiastic in defence of his favorite pas-
ence of an impending avalanche. The time, and gives him a keen anticipation of
verdict of the Alpine Club in this matter the future holidays among the mountains.
is conclusive. It may be stated briefly There is no doubt that some mountaineers
thus: Never dispense with the services
of a guide unless you are skilled enough
to take his place. With some ambitious
mountaineers there is a prejudice against
the employment of guides. They imagine
that it reduces them to the position of lay
figures in a procession. But such self-
effacement is altogether unnecessary.
The guide is to the climber what the
teacher is to the pupil, and may be fol-
lowed with the same intelligence. An
apprenticeship is as necessary to sport as
to business, and to the rejection of this
truism many of the appalling disasters of
mountaineering are to be ascribed. To
understand the secret of the delights of
mountaineering is only a degree more
difficult than to understand the secrets of
the pleasures of the chase. Both are en-
gaged in with an implied acceptance of
the danger-conditions. The chase is,
however, a national pastime with which
all are familiar, and he is a poor sports-
man whom the risks would deter from
following the hounds. But in mountain- to grant it.
eering, and particularly in Swiss moun-

have a pleasure in ascending peaks and perilous passes for the mere love of climbing. This feeling it would be difficult to explain, but that it exists there can be little doubt, from the experiences that have been given to the world. But all who are familiar with Alpine literature are aware that the Almers of the mountains are men whose sense of the sublime is strong; and who are not insensible to its beauties. It is not, however, to the individual mountaineer only that Alpine exploits are rich in results. To science they have contributed much that is interesting and important. Through them the wonders of the kingdom of frost and snow have been displayed, the manifold beauties of the imprisoned glacier ice exhumed, and the long-hidden mysteries of their noiseless movement explained and classified. These alone are valuable contributions to the thought of the age, and entitle mountaineering to a higher place in the records of the time than it is the fashion

From The Leeds Mercury.
HINDOO MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

THE Hindoos have a saying amounting to a proverb, that a marriage cannot be effected amongst them without a lakh of words. They might also say with equal truth that the event involves as great an expenditure in the matter of rupees. For, from first to last, Hindoo weddings are as costly as they are curious. It is well known that they take place very early in the life of the couple immediately concerned; but probably few persons, save those who have studied East Indian manners and customs, are aware that the marriage proper, coming as it does, at that period of life when the Hindoo bride has only entered upon her teens, and the bridegroom is still in his boyhood, has been preceded years before with a betrothal ceremony which has practically sealed the fate of both. On each occasion, and in the interval between, numerous rites and festivities are indulged in, to the profit of certain parties whose business it is to effect marriages, to the delight of numerous invited guests, to the misery of the couple themselves, and to the cost of the parents on either side. There is no love-making in the matter. It is purely a business arrangement, the negotiations being carried out by self-appointed delegates. Even if the couple were of an age to admit of a mutual attachment springing up, the rules of the Hindoo household are such that the boy and the girl know nothing of each other until they meet to give effect to the decree of betrothal. Both are then the merest children, the girl but little removed from infancy, and there is of course a great change in their appearance and manner when the time comes for the performance of that later ceremony pronouncing them finally wedded man and wife. In the interval, however, the little girl is cruelly weaned from the delights of her baby hood and subjected to a superstitious novitiate for her duties as a girl-wife. The boy has greater freedom. The growth of his individuality is in no way warped. It is otherwise with the girl, and indeed Hindoo female life from the cradle to the grave is so sad a round of existence that one cannot wonder at the mothers amongst them looking on the girl-baby as a symbol of misfortune. Being the work of professional delegates, the negotiations for a Hindoo marriage are conducted with a due regard to the fitness of the parties in a pecuniary and social sense. These

match-makers are known as ghatucks, if men, and ghatkees if women. The latter have an immense advantage over the former in the privilege of their sex, which permits them to have access to the inner rooms of a household. It is the duty of the ghatucks and ghatkees to unmake as well as to make engagements, and according to their skill in the task are their emoluments great or small. They do not wait to be hired. As a rule they anticipate the work required at their hands. They know the marriageable children. They rely mainly on two arguments in bringing about a match-on personal appearance in the case of the girl, on intelligence as regards the boy. The boy must be well trained, and the more advanced his scholarship the higher will be the price they will seek for him in the matrimonial market. If the girl be goodlooking and her parents rich, her mind may be a blank so far as scholastic instruction goes in fact, the more ignorant she is, the better is she fit for the foolish and degrading service reserved for her. Her only hope is in the Zenana mission, and fortunately that is a work which slowly but surely is preparing the Hindoo woman for the birthright from which she is shut out. The matchmakers, in going through their work, indulge in the most extravagant phrases. Their words are likely to be the more flowery if the subject of them should happen to be anything but worthy of their meed of praise. Their goddess of for tune has the suggestive name Luckee; and they never fail to commend the girl to the boy's parents in words signifying that her speech is that of this goddess. She will bring fortune, they say, to any family with whom she may become a member; and as to her person, they can compare it in brilliancy and beauty to nothing but the full moon. The rarest plants and the gayest birds are frequently employed to give an idea of her personal charms. They describe to the girl's parents the qualities of the boy in the same exagger ated language, speaking of him as the envy of every other household where there is a marriageable daughter, as the most promising scholar in the neighborhood, as a student who pores over his books by night and day, and, in short, as a boy who is likely to stand amongst the great and mighty men of his country. But with all this exuberance of Oriental talk, the essential points of caste and respectability are never overlooked; and if these are found satisfactory, and there

re

ment for the girl. The boy's welfare is
considered to be pretty well assured, but
his mother and her female friends strive
their hardest by retaliatory rites to over-
come the machinations resorted to on be-
half of the girl, their fear being that
unless this is done the boy's love for his
mother and his home is not likely to with-
stand the attempts of the other party to
capture his whole affections. When at
length the day for the marriage arrives,
the professional match-makers are
placed by professional genealogists, and
long ancestral lists are read, showing the
antiquity and doughty deeds of the fam-
ilies interested in the ceremony.
bride and bridegroom are gaily dressed,
their ornaments and drapery having a
symbolic meaning as well as being in-
tended for show. The ceremony itself is
also rich in symbolism. Thus the hands
of the bridegroom are tied by a piece of
thread as long as his body, and the moth-

The

should appear no reason why the task the
ghatucks have taken in hand should not
be allowed to go on to its consummation,
a demand for preliminary presents is
made by the boy's parents upon the par-
ents of the girl. The demand is some-
times so heavy as to lead to disputes; and
here the ghatucks play a part, succeeding
usually in obtaining a reduction of the
claim. It is thought time enough when
these preliminaries are settled to wait
upon the children. The girl is seen first.
The ghatucks and the father or brother
of the boy visit her. She is, say, eight,
or at the most ten, years of age, and as
she is asked to sit down by herself on the
floor that she may be questioned by the
strangers, the meeting is naturally a great
trial to the girl-no less a trial because
she can have but a crude notion of the
meaning of the situation. She answers
as best she can the questions put to her
as to her name, age, parentage, and the
like. All the while the professional match-er-in-law passes a weaver's shuttle through
makers keep up a running commentary in the thread to signify that he is bound
praise of her appearance and of the re- durably into a new relationship. She also
semblance she presents to the mythical touches his mouth with a padlock, and
Luckee. This is done by them, of course, makes pretence of sewing his lips to-
to influence the father or brother of the gether, the idea being that after this rite
boy in coming to a favorable decision, he will never scold the girl; and that he
which, if reached, is manifested by some may continue to treat his child-wife as a
gift of more or less value being given to "sweet" darling, spices, sugar, and honey
the girl as a sign of approval, and also by are sprinkled or smeared over him. Many
a distribution of money among the ser- other religious and domestic rites, lasting
vants. This stage in the negotiations through the night, are indulged in, and
having been brought to a satisfactory before the tedious ceremony is at end
conclusion, the boy is visited by the father bride and bridegroom are inwardly sick of
of the girl, and is subjected in the pres- the whole affair, and anxious only for the
ence of a university graduate to a very opportunity to return single again to the
strict scholastic examination. If both home of their youth. Their separate de-
sides are pleased with the result of these parture is also celebrated in extravagant
interviews, a marriage contract is drawn fashion, and for several days presents are
up by a Brahmin and duly attested, the interchanged between the families. The
usual signatures being ratified not simply second or real marriage takes place when
by witnesses, but by the production of a the girl arrives at her twelfth or thirteenth
variety of articles considered to have an year. If the ceremonies on the first oc-
influence on the welfare of the betrothed casion were unpleasant to the girl, they
couple. Entertainments and ceremonies are still less attractive to her now, for al-
of various kinds follow, and there is much though she has by this time become con-
jubilation in anticipation of the first mar-scious of the nature of her new life, and
riage or binding ceremony. In the ar- is prepared cheerfully enough to discharge
rangements for the union the Hindoo its obligations, the preliminaries appear
females, the widows excepted, take a to have been devised with the sole aim of
lively interest. Widows are excluded from subjecting the bride to indignities and
any active share in the preliminaries, lest penance. However "all's well that ends
their help and presence might becloud well" with Hindoo customs as with other
the future of the young bride, and this is things, and it is satisfactory to know that
perhaps the least objectionable of the the peculiar courtship and marriage cere-
superstitious notions in which the sex in-monials referred to in this sketch, are, as
dulge to secure, as they believe, a long a general rule, the prelude to a contented
life of happiness and undivided attach- married life.

OWLS.

From Time.

the moon, like a nightingale with the whooping-cough-owl broth, as they beTHE name of owls is legion-the snowy lieve in Yorkshire, being a certain cure owl, the harfang or "hare-killer" of the for that disease. The barn owl, on the Swedes; the coquimbo or burrowing owl, other hand, never hoots, but, says Gilbert that " goes into diggings" with the prai- White, "it does, indeed, snore and hiss rie-dog and the rattlesnake, an under-in a tremendous manner, and these menground triumvirate, whose symmetry is aces well answer the purpose of intimidagenerally destroyed by the owl eating the tion, for I have known a whole village up snake; the Indian owls that confer a bene- in arms on such an occasion, imagining fit on mankind by garotting green parrots the churchyard to be full of goblins and at night; the small house owls, whose spectres." But, notwithstanding all these person a good Buddhist must reverence, personal and economic distinctions, the for "the gods come ofttimes thus;" the barn owl and the brown owl find themgreat Virginian owl that spends the night selves, to this day, nailed up, side by side, in circumventing the 'cute Yankee turkey, as vermin, by farmers, and scheduled towho, "on the approach of his enemy, gether as "protected" birds, by act of ducks his head and spreads his tail over Parliament. Nor is it any real excuse to his back, so that his assailant, impinging say that the barn owl occasionally picks upon the inclined plane of slippery feath- up a young chicken by mistake for a ers, glides off harmlessly;" and the sheep-mouse, or that the brown owl has been slaying eagle owl. But of British owls, known to kill a rat in the dark instead of the snowy owl, the horned owls, and the a rabbit; for the best of us err sometimes. scops-eared owl are not common enough But as a rule owls are consistent in their to be of legislative, importance, and for diet, and ought not to be mistaken for practical purposes the owl list is limited each other. But the owl in his old age to two the brown or tawny owl, and the and every owl, even as he first peeps out barn or white or screech owl. But these of the egg-shell upon an ungrateful world, two are as different as such near relations bears upon his wizened face the imprint can be; and it is only on the analogy of of untold centuries-ought to be used to previous errors that we can understand misconception. The ancients made him how the "farmer's friends" in the lower the bird of wisdom; but an owl has been House omitted their best friend, the barn known to sit for thirteen hours under a owl; or how the game-preservers in "an- leaking water-tap, with the water dripping other place" acquiesced in the protection on to his head at the rate of twenty drops of the brown owl, one of their greatest a minute; and would any fowl that was enemies. But after all it is only carrying not a brainless idiot do the like? Rustic into a higher court the action of the farm-legends again speak with bated breath of er who nails the dead body of a screech"the ill-fac'd owle, death's dreadful mesowl on his own barn-door to encourage senger," of the solemn spectral owls which other birds to come there and catch mice; "premonish the noble family of Arundel and of the gamekeeper who carefully of Wardour of approaching mortality," for preserves the game-eating brown owl. when Under a single nest of the barn owl were found several bushels of pellets of skins and bones of field mice; and the contents of one brown owl's larder, as reported in the Field, were "five leverets, four young rabbits, three thrushes, and a fine trout weighing half a pound." Ubi res adsunt quid opus est verbis-let the dead mice and the dead rabbits speak for themselves. As if, moreover, nature intended to make it impossible for our legislators to mistake their friends from their enemies, she has made one a white bird that " screeches," and the other a brown bird that hoots, or, as the poets say, complains pensively to

Screech owls croak upon the chimney-tops, It's certain that you of a corse shall hear. And, because one of these birds strayed into the Capitol, that great republic, Rome, underwent a public illustration,

The round-fac'd prodigy t' avert

From doing the town and country hurt. But now, as if in mockery of these high pretensions, no sooner does an owl venture out into the daylight, than crowds of sparrows and all kinds of feathered riffraff assemble to jeer and jostle the unhappy bird till it blunders back into the dark again.