describes the readiness of the restless old man to quit. his uneasy bed, since it was much earlier than the usual time of rising. In the East, it was common to all, the young and the healthy, as well as the aged, to rise with the dawn. "In this country, on account of the heat, it is usual to rise with the dawn. About day-break we received from a Greek, with a respectable beard, who acted as consul for the French in that place, a present of fruit, which we had with other things for breakfast." CHANDLER'S Asia Minor, p. 18. ISAIAH, xxi. 11. Watchman, what of the night?] The attendant, who strikes the bell in India, is called the ghuree-alee: the following is the mode used in obtaining the time: "The apparatus with which the hours are measured and announced consists of a shallow bell-metal pan, named from its office ghuree-al, and suspended so as to be easily struck with a wooden mallet by the ghuree-alee, who thus strikes the ghurees as they pass, and which he learns from an empty thin brass cup (kutoree), perforated at the bottom, and placed on the surface of the water in a large vessel, where nothing can disturb it, while the water gradually fills the cup, and sinks it in the space of one ghuree, to which this hourcup, or kutoree, has previously been adjusted astronomically, by an astrolabe, used for such purposes in India." "The first ghuree of the first puhur is so far sacred to the Emperor of Hindustan, that his ghuree-alee alone strikes one for it. The second ghuree is known by two blows on the ghuree-al, and so on: one stroke is added for every ghuree to the highest, which (assuming the equinoctial periods for this statement) is eight, announced by eight distinct blows for the past ghurees; after which, with a slight intermission, the gujur of eight bells is struck, or rung, as noted in the diagram, by the chime figure 8, and then one hollow sound publishes the first puhur, din, or rat. In one ghuree or 24 minutes, after this, the same reiteration takes place; but here stops at the seventh, or meridional ghuree, and is then followed with its gujur, or chime of 15, of which eight are for the first watch, and seven for the second. Thus the hours, and their divisions, are marked through the whole day. Six or eight people are required to attend the establishment of a ghuree, four through the day, and as many at night; so that none but wealthy men, or grandees, can afford to support one as a necessary appendage of their consequence and rank, which is convenient enough for the other inhabitants, who would have nothing of this sort to consult, as (those being excepted which are attached to their armies) I imagine there are no other public clocks in India." Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 88. Something of this kind was anciently practised in Persia, for JOSEPHUS relates (Ant. lib. xi. c. 6.), that the Emperor Artaxerxes inquired the hour of the night of those whose office it was to inform him. It appears, too, that the Romans had youths who were employed to announce the hour. Nero directed this to be done at his table, that the guests might more ardently enjoy what remained of life and good cheer. MARTIAL (lib. viii. Epig.) complains Horas quinque puer nondum tibi nunciat, et tu, "The boy has not given you notice of the fifth hour, yet you come to be my guest." JUVENAL, reckoning up the inconveniences of old age, adds, -clamore opus est ut sentiat auris, Quem dicat venisse puer, quot nunciat Horas. Sat. x. v. 215. "The boy who comes to tell the hours must bawl loudly into his ears, to make him hear.” The military watches among the Romans were announced by sound of trumpet. Et jam quarta canit venturam buccina lucem. PROPERTIUS, lib. iv. El. 4. Pompey, determining to sail away privately, without alarming Cæsar's camp, orders, -ne litora clamor Nauticus exagitet, nec buccina dividat Horas. ISAIAH, XXXviii. 12. I have cut off like a weaver my life.] Mr. HARMER (vol. iv. p. 217.) suggests, whether the simile here used may not refer to the weaving of a carpet filled with flowers and other ingenious devices; and that the meaning may be, that just as a weaver, after having wrought many decorations into a piece of carpeting, suddenly cuts it off, while the figures were rising into view fresh and beautiful, and the spectator expecting he would proceed in his work; so, after a variety of pleasing transactions in the course of life, it suddenly and unexpectedly comes to its end. The Eastern people not only employed themselves in rich embroideries, but in making carpets filled with flowers and other pleasing figures. Dr. SHAW gives us an account of the last. (Travels, p. 224.) Carpets, which are much coarser than those from Turkey, are made here in great numbers, and of all sizes. But the chief branch of their manufactories is, the making of hykes, or blankets, as we should call them. The women 66 alone are employed in this work (as Andromache and Penelope were of old), who do not use the shuttle, but conduct every thread of the woof with their fingers." Sir JOHN CHARDIN says, the Persians have a kind of needle-work very different; the account he gives of it, in short, is as follows. "Their tailors certainly excel ours in their sewing. They make carpets, cushions, veils for doors, and other pieces of furniture of felt, in mosaic work, which represents just what they please. This is done so neatly, that a man might suppose the figures were painted, instead of being a kind of inlaid work. Look as close as you will, the joinings cannot be seen. Voy. tom. ii. p. 85. EZEK. Xxxiii. 2. Watchman.] in several places of Scripture. We read of watchmen Exod. xiv. 24. Psalm cxxvii. 1. cxxx. 6. Sol. Song, iii. 37. In Persia the watch, which is kept very strictly in the night, suffer not any to go in the streets without a lantern. They incessantly walk about the streets, to prevent mischief and robberies, with great vigilance and exactness, being obliged to indemnify those who are robbed. It is reported, that one night Schah Abbas, desirous to make trial of the vigilance of these people, suffered himself to be surprised by them, and had been carried to prison had he not been known by one of the company, who, discovering him to the rest, they all cast themselves at his feet to beg his pardon. But he expressed himself well satisfied with their care, and told them they had done their duty; that he was king in the daytime, but that the keeping of the public peace in the night depended on them. Ambassador's Travels, p. 328. The responsibility of the Persian guards illustrates what is said in ver. 8., that if the watchman did not warn the wicked, his blood should be required at his hand. See HALHED's Gentoo Laws, pp. 212. 230., and a Dissertation by J. G. UNGERI de EvoкTovia ejusque Ritu. Antiquo. Lipsia, 1740. CHAP. XXII. MEDICINE. EXOD. XV. 26. I am the Lord that healeth thee.] "The Mandans are a nation on the banks of the river, and higher up than the Ricaras. They believe in one Great Spirit presiding over their destinies, and associated, in their mind, with the healing art: Great Spirit being synonymous with great medicine, the name which they apply in general to every thing they do not understand. Every individual selects for himself the particular object of his devotion, which is termed his me dicine, and is either some invisible being, or, more com monly, some animal, which becomes his protector and his intercessor with the Great Spirit; and to propitiate him, every endeavour is used, and every consideration sacrificed. 'I was lately owner of seventeen horses,' said a Mandan to us one day, but I have offered them all up to my medicine, and am now poor.' He had in reality taken all his horses into the plain, and turning them loose, had offered them up to his medicine, and abandoned them for ever. This association of an unknown agency with the operation of a medicine, the most sensible example of such agency that had fallen under their observation, is not unnatural, and seems to be general among all the Indian tribes in this part of America. The nations on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, though their language was quite different, and their intercourse with the eastern Indians very slight, made use of the same metaphor." Travels to the Source of the Missouri River, by LEWIS and CLARKE, 4to. 1814. MATT. iv. 24, 25. They brought unto him all sick people, and he healed them.] "The news that a foreign hakeem or doctor was passing through the country very soon was spread abroad; and at every halt our camp was thronged with the sick, not only of the village near to which we were encamped, but of all the surrounding villages. Many came several days' journeys to consult our doctor, and were brought to him in spite of every difficulty and inconvenience; some came on asses, bolstered up with cushions, and supported by their relations; others on camels, whose rough pace must have been torture to any one in sickness. It may be conceived what a misfortune sickness must be in a country where there is no medical relief, nor even a wheeled conveyance to seek relief when it is at hand. The greatest credit is due to the medical gentlemen, who were attached, not only to our embassy, but to all preceding embassies, for the charity and humanity with which they relieved the wants of these poor people: they not only distributed |