some. The eunuchs, who have the entire charge of the women, and who, in fact, live always among them, are the childreu of negro-slaves. They are generally either very short and fat, or else very tall, deformed, and lame. Their voices have that peculiar tone which is observable in youths just arriving at manhood; and their persons altogether afford a distinct image of weakness and effeminacy. It is curious to observe the simple and childish notions of persons excluded from the world. All the ladies of the harem expected that our author should instantly discover their complaints upon feeling their pulse, and that he could cure every one instantly. He found them proud and vain of their persons, and extremely ignorant. Among other ridiculous questions, they asked M. Lempriere's interpreter, If M. Lempriere could read and write; being answered in the affirmative, they were extremely surprised at the learning of the Christians. It is melancholy to reflect on the con-dition of these unfortunate women. Being considered as the mere instruments of pleasure, no attention is paid to the improvement of their minds. They have no employment to occupy their time. Their needle-work is chiefly done by Jewesses; their food is dressed, and their chambers taken care of by slaves and domestics. They have no amusement but a rude and melancholy kind of music, without melody, variety, or taste; and conversation with one another, which must indeed be very confined, uniform, and inanimate, as they never see a new object. Excluded from the enjoyment of fresh air and exercise, so necessary for the support of health and life; deprived of all society but that of their fellow-sufferers, a society to which most of them would prefer even solitude itself; they can only be considered as the most abject of slaves. ALGIERS.-Among the inferior Algerines, when a young man is inclined to marry, he drives a number of cattle to the tent where the lady resides. The girl and her parents generally consent on viewing the stock. All the young women of the horde are then invited to the feast. The bride is placed on a horse belonging to the bridegroom, and led home amidst the acclamations of all pre sent. On arriving at the bridegroom's door, a stick is given her, which she thrusts into the ground, and repeats the following lines: As this stick is fasten'd in the ground, So nought but death shall force me from his love. She then alights, and to show her willingness to do any duty her husband may assign her, she drives his flocks to water and back again. These MADAGASCAR. The natives of this Island practice circumcision. Wives are purchased here, and their licentiousness before and after marriage is described to be very great. Adultery is commuted for a small fine. The children of a wife brought to bed after divorcement are the husband's property, if she do not return him the purchase-money advanced on the day of marriage, The barbarous practice of exposure of infants takes place here, and the more inhuman one of burying the new-born infant with its mother, when she dies in child-bed.-Mr. Milne, however, mis sionary to the Chinese empire, has omitted to mention these acts of barbarity, and observes that considerable happiness is enjoyed in the married state. Though plurality of wives is allowed among the chiefs, one only is legally betrothed.— Aged persons, he says, are treated with respect, and not exposed, as in some pagan countries; he admits that at the birth of children soothsayers are consulted, and, if their decisions are unfavorable, the infants are exposed to the wild beasts in the woods. A woman who is repudiated by her husband, is not at liberty to marry again till she has paid her late husband the sum he gave for her previous to their marriage. MADEIRA.-Viscount Valencia, on landing on the beach at Madeira, was struck with the ap pearance of the fishermen rowing their boats in a perfect state of nudity, and the women regarding them with the greatest indifference: the practice, however displeasing to an English eye, is not uncommon among the inferior classes of hot climates. The island of LANZEROTA, one in the Canaries, bore formerly the name of Titeroigatra. On the arrival of the Spaniards, its inhabitants were distinguished from the other Canarians by marks of greater civilization. Their houses were built with free stone, while the Guanches of Teneriffe, like real troglodytes, dwelt in caverns. At Lanzerota, a very singular custom prevailed at that time, of which we find no example except among the people of Thibet. A woman had several husbands, who alternately enjoyed the perogatives due to the head of a family. A husband was considered as such only during a lunar revolution, and, whilst his rights were exercised by others, he remained classed among the household domestics. be regretted that the missionaries who accompanied Jean de Béthencourt, and who sketched the history of the conquest of the Canaries, have given us no ampler details of the manners of a people who had such singular customs. It must BEFORE entering into the marriage customs of this vast part of the universe, it will not be improper to make some remarks upon the general condition of the native American women,-for a distinction must be drawn between them and the state of female society in the governments peopled by European descent or emigration. Though man has but one mode of coming into the world, his birth is accompanied with a number of ceremonies, connected with the influence of priestcraft and superstition. The custom of wrapping the new-born infant in swaddling clothes is not followed in the savage state, but, as in Brazil, the men who perform the office of midwives, having received the infant from the mother, fairly tear the naval-string asunder, wash the infant, paint it red and black, and then carry it to the hammock. The lying-inwoman receives no better treatment. After relieving she washes herself, sets about her work, and experiences none of those apprehensions which attend the accouchement of an English lady.— Lewis and Clarke, in their recent travels, as well as other authors, confirm this happy facility, the |