BELLS AND BELL-TURRETS.

II.

BELL-TURRET OF THE RUINED CHURCH OF ST. PETER'S, BIDDESTONE,

WILTS.

THE VILLAGE CHURCH.

Dear is the ancient village church, which rears
By the lone yew, or lime, or elm-girt mound,
Its modest fabric: dear 'mid pleasant sound
Of bells, the gray embattled tower, that wears,
Of changeful hue, the marks of by-gone years;

Buttress and porch, and arch with mazy round
Of curious fret, or shapes fantastic crowned;
Tall pinnacles and mingled window-tiers,
Norman, or mis-named Gothic. Fairer spot
Thou givest not, England, to the tasteful eye,
Nor to the heart more soothing. Blest their lot,

Knew they their bliss, who own their dwelling nigh, Such resting place; there, by the world forgot,

In life to worship, and, when dead, to lie!-BISHOP MANT.

In a former article the practice (still continued in some of the continental churches), of ringing the church bells during a thunder storm, was briefly alluded to. On turning to the volume of the Annuaire, for 1838, we find that M. Arago has gravely discussed the reasons for this usage, in order to ascertain whether they are founded on any philosophical basis. In the previous pages he had noticed the opinion entertained by many persons, though, it appears, on insufficient grounds, that a discharge of artillery will frequently dissipate gathering clouds, and thus disperse a thunder storm. It is just possible that the ringing of bells might have been likewise adopted, under the idea that the vibrations thus caused in the atmosphere might have some effect in dispersing a rising storm; but, as M. Arago observes, it is very probable that this custom of ringing bells on such occasions may be traced to an earlier period than the invention of powder, and if so, it could not have been derived from the belief in the efficacy of artillery. No doubt we approach more nearly to the truth in supposing this singular custom to be derived from religious considerations. The extracts given by M. Arago from

the prayers offered up, according to the ritual of Paris on the baptism of bells, sufficiently prove that virtue = supposed to be imparted to the bells themselves, by which the spirit of the storm is brought into subjuga tion. Prayers are offered for the blessing of God the bell, so that every time it sounds, it may dissipa the malign influence of evil spirits, drive away thunder storms and hurricanes, and preserve the people from the calamities occasioned thereby. Some of the blessing solemnly implored on behalf of the bell, are too repagnant to Protestant feelings to allow of our transcribing them, but there is repeated mention of the power, which, when thus consecrated, the church bell is apected to possess, of causing storms of wind, hail, e thunder to lose their violence, and of putting to fligh the evil spirits of the air, supposed to be concerned i the stirring up of tempests.

But it is the opinion of M. Arago, that another cane may have powerfully co-operated with religious feelings to introduce this custom of ringing in a storm. H directs attention to the fact, that when men are in any kind of dread or alarm, they often seek to allay such feelings by mere noise. A fearful person passing through a dark place, often affects to sing; if civil war ravages a town, the tocsin or alarm bell is rung for a much longer time than is really necessary to call the people to arms; savages, likewise, on the appearance of an eclipse, utter the most deafening cries, in the hope of driving away that which terrifies them.

Having said thus much, it would be out of place to follow our learned authority in his reasoning as to whether the ringing of bells be not dangerous, rather than otherwise, during a thunder storm; we may, how ever, notice, that he strongly recommends, for the sake of the ringers, that the practice should be everywhere discontinued.

We now return to the subject of the bell-towers, already alluded to, as forming so pleasing a feature in several village churches in retired districts.

The church of St. Nicholas at Biddestone, Wilts, affords an interesting example of a form of bell-turret, still met with in various parts of the country, and evidently of great antiquity. Not long since, another beautiful example of a similar kind was furnished by the same village, in the ruined church of St. Peter's, which stood as a venerable memento of past ages, though long since deserted, and not applied to any ecclesiastical purposes. From the windows of the manor house, in the immediate vicinity of the ruin, the fine old bell-turret, in the dilapidated condition indicated by the faint lines in our engraving, has often been contemplated by the writer of this notice with feelings of interest and curiosity, and with a desire to penetrate into the history of the period when from thence the simple summons was given to call the inhabitants of the village, and the members of the monastic institution, of which it probably formed a part, to their devotions.

Thus desirous of obtaining information on this head, we have sought and found the following particulars in Walker's Examples of Gothic Architecture, which we now present, in a slightly modified form, to those who may find an interest in these relics of a former period.

The churches of St. Peter and St. Nicholas, remarkable for their picturesque bell-turrets, seem to be of great antiquity. St. Nicholas is, in point of style, much older than St. Peter's, which latter comes under the denomination of Perpendicular English; while the former, from the string-course under the spire downwards, is decidedly Norman. The presentations to the living, however, always mention the church of St. Peter before the vicarage of St. Nicholas, and we may therefore safely presume that there must have been a building called St. Peter's, long anterior to that which has since been known by that name. Of these two bell-towers, the one seems to have been copied from the other, and

Brazil in 1555, described this plant under the name of nanas. The art of preserving the fruit with sugar was then known.

John de Lery, who went to Brazil in 1557 as chaplain to a Hugonot colony, in the account of his voyage, first used the word ananas, which probably arose from the nanas of Thevet.

In the middle of the sixteenth century Franc Hernandas, a naturalist, undertook an expensive and almost useless voyage to Mexico. It cost Philip the Second, king of Spain, sixty thousand ducats, and the observations collected, (for which, at the time Acosta was in America, twelve hundred figures were ready,) were never completely printed; and in what are printed, says Beckmann, we can scarcely distinguish those of the original author from the additions of strangers. He has, however, given a somewhat better figure of the ananas, which he calls matyatli or pinea Indica.

Christopher Acosta, in his treatise on the drugs and medicines of the East Indies, printed in 1578, calls this plant the ananas. He says it was brought from Santa Cruz to the West Indies, and afterwards transplanted to the East Indies and China, where it was at that time

common.

As at the commencement of the seventeenth century it was reckoned among the marks of royal magnificence to have orange trees in costly hot-houses, so it was hoped that the ananas could be brought to maturity also in the artificial climate of those buildings. These attempts, however, were everywhere unsuccessful: no fruit was produced, or, if produced, it did not ripen ; probably because this favourite exotic was treated with too much care. It is not known with certainty who in Europe first had the pleasure of seeing ananas ripen in his garden; but it appears that several had that satisfaction in the early part of the eighteenth century.

In Germany the ananas was brought to maturity in the garden of Baron de Munchausen, near Hameln. In the beginning of the eighteenth century this garden belonged to Otto de Munchausen, who, according to Beckmann, was the first person who erected large buildings for the express purpose of raising that fruit, and had the satisfaction of making known their advantageous construction. With this view he sent a description and plan of his pine-apple houses to Christopher Volkamer, a merchant of Nuremberg, who inserted them in his continuation of the New Hesperides, printed in 1714, and thus the culture of the fruit became com

mon.

In Holland the first ripe pine-apples were procured from the garden of De la Cour, in the neighbourhood of Leyden. Beckmann says that "as a great many plants were sold out of this garden to foreigners, and as the English had theirs first from it, many are of opinion that Europe is indebted for the first possession of this fruit to De la Cour."

Before the Dutch began to cultivate the pine-apple they had for some time used tanner's bark for making forcing beds. The English learned this plan from them, and the first beds were made at Blackheath in 1688, for rearing orange trees. In 1690, according to the Sloanean MSS. in the British Museum, the pine-apple was introduced into England by the Earl of Portland. Horace Walpole had in his possession a painting, in which Charles the Second is represented as being presented with the first pine-apple, by Rose, his gardener; but it may fairly be doubted whether that fruit was grown in England, or obtained from Holland. Indeed there are many circumstances which serve to show that the pine-apple was not grown in England in the early part of the eighteenth century; for, at this period, Thoresby the antiquarian kept a leaf of the plant in his museum as a curiosity; and Lady Wortley Montague, of a letter to the Countess of Mar, dated Blankenburg, October 17 (O.S.), 1716, writes as follows:-"I was

very sorry that the ill weather did not permit me to see Hernhausen in all its beauty; but in spite of the snow, I thought the gardens very fine. I was particularly surprised have ever seen in England, though this climate is certainly at the vast number of orange trees, much larger than any I colder. But I had more reason to wonder that night at the king's table, to see a present from a gentleman of this country, of two large baskets full of ripe oranges and lemons of different sorts, many of which were quite new to me; and what I thought worth all the rest, two ripe ananas, which, to my taste, are a fruit perfectly delicious. You know they are naturally the growth of Brazil, and I could not imagine how they came here, but by enchantment. Upon inquiry, I learnt that they have brought their stoves to such perfection, they lenghen their summer as long as they please, giving to every plant the degree of heat it would receive from the sun in its native soil. The effect is very nearly the same: I am surprised we do not practise in England so useful an invention."

A few years after the date of this letter, we find that Henry Telende, gardener to Sir Matthew Decker, at Richmond, had forty pine-apples, which were ripened by means of the artificial heat arising from the fermentation of tanner's bark; and by the year 1730, pine-stoves of various kinds were established in all the principal English gardens. Since that period, the cultivation of the pine-apple has been an object of great attention in Britain, but the results have often been very disproportionate to the expense incurred. Within the last twenty or thirty years, however, success has been more general, and it is now one of the greatest triumphs of the gardener's art to be able to produce this fruit in Britain in as high perfection as in a tropical climate. Our gardeners have produced specimens weighing thirteen pounds and fourteen pounds avoirdupois, and from seven pounds to eight pounds is not uncommon for a single pine-apple. The rich flavour and noble appearance of the well-grown fruit render its cultivation a great object of horticultural enterprise and skill.

There are a great many varieties of the pine-apple, such as the queen pine, the brown sugar loaf, the striped sugar loaf, the Montserrat, the king pine, the green pine, the black Antigua, the black Jamaica. The Moscow, the common queen, the black Jamaica, and the Antigua queen are said to be the best for summer use; the Enville, the Trinidad, and the black Jamaica, the best for winter use.

The pine-apple has so much improved in some parts of Asia, that the Burmese pines are said to be the finest in the world. With this exception, the most delicious specimens of the fruit are produced in England.

The fructification of the pine-apple is thus described: -The fruit is a mass of flowers, the calyces and bractes of which are fleshy, and grow firmly together into a single head. It is the points of these parts that together form what gardeners call the pips,-that is to say, the rhomboidal into which the surface is divided. When wild, pinespaces apples bear seeds, like other plants, but in a state of cultivation, generally, owing to the succulence of all the parts, no seeds are produced; and consequently the plants can only be multiplied by suckers, or by thin branches, which gardeners call the gills and crowns.

In its wild state the pine-apple (as also most of the species of the same family) is found near the sea shore, growing in the flats of accumulated sand. In the sandy plains of Praya Velha and Praya Grande, places formed by the receding of the sea, and where no other plant thrives, the pine-apple grows best. Here at the level of the sea, near the equator, the variation in temperature throughout the year is but small. In the artificial cultivation of the pine-apple, these circumstances must form the chief guide. The atmosphere of the pinery should have a mean temperature of about 80°, i. e., not lower than 70° during winter, nor higher than 90° during summer; except in the later season, when the natural heat of the sun may be sometimes allowed to elevate the temperature to 100°.

The bottom heat of the pinery should also be regu

lated so as to imitate the heat of tropical soils. The mean temperature of the earth is generally supposed to be a little higher than the mean temperature of the air. In New Granada, during summer, it is stated at 85° a foot below the surface, and this heat has been found to agree very well with the roots of the plant. Bottom heat must therefore be kept up to 75° during winter, and not be allowed to exceed 90° in summer.

This plant requires a rich soil. A fresh yellow loam, strong, but not of a binding quality, mixed with a quantity of cow-dung, is recommended. The pots, in which the plants are grown, must have free drainage. When they are plunged in tan, the holes are liable to be stopped from various causes: this may be prevented by plunging an empty pot with its mouth downwards, and placing upon it the pot containing the plant, and then closing the tan round both pots in the usual way.

In summer the air of the pinery must be kept moist by frequent syringing; the temperature of the water must be at least equal to 75° or 80°. When the fruit is ripening, moisture must be withheld; as also in winter during damp cloudy weather; but, generally speaking, moisture will not be injurious if the temperature be regulated judiciously, and the plants are allowed a proper share of light. The best mode of heating the pinery is by means of hot water pipes; arrangements should also be made for letting the steam from the boiler into the pinery whenever it is wanted.

Such are a few of the general principles which ought to regulate the culture of this favourite plant. For further and more practical details we refer to the Domestic Gardener's Manual, by Mr. Towers, who says that "A little experience will qualify any attentive gardener to become a good pine-grower: a qualification which, if found united with that of a skilful cultivator of the vine, will place him in the highest grade of his profession."

RECENT INTELLIGENCE RESPECTING THE

ABORIGINES OF KING GEORGE'S SOUND, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

II.

THE natives of King Georges Sound subsist chiefly upon roots. The plant most abundant, and which forms the principal article of food throughout the year, is called mynd. It resembles the common rush in the leaf, but has a bulbous root. The bulb is of a fine orange red colour, inclining to lake, about the size of a small short onion. The leaves, although resembling the rush, are rounder and finer in texture; the flowering vessels grow up in a single stalk, three or four feet high, which is covered near the top with twenty or thirty flowers of a deep pinky-brown, almost approaching to black, unlike any plant known in Europe. The mynd, however, is mostly eaten by the women and children, or very old men,—the young men disdaining it if other food can possibly be procured. Their mode of cooking this bulb is curious, and chiefly performed by the women. It is first well roasted, and then pounded between two stones, together with some earth of a reddish colour, nearly free from sand, which even in this sandy district can be procured in almost every sheltered place. This earth is understood to be the production of the white ant, whose hillocks or nests are very common. One lately measured by Mr. Gilbert the naturalist, was nearly four feet high, and of considerable girth. The women never travel without a supply of this earth, as in the ironstone country the co-kut, or ants' nests, cease to appear. The extraordinary fact of their mixing the earth with the mynd root, arises from the extremely acrid properties of the latter; and it appears that notwithstanding the counteraction of this earth, the natives suffer much from excoriated tongues; which appear perfectly purple when they are obliged to live upon this root for any length of

time. It is a common practice of the natives to exhibit the tongue to the settlers when soliciting the charity of a little flour or rice. The women living principally upon this root, are evidently injured by it; they appear almost a distinct race from the males, having a miserably shrivelled appearance, and are seldom long-lived. This may arise from both causes-namely, the bad effects of the sharp particles of sand lacerating the stomach and intestines, and the acrid and deleterious qualities of the mynd. The children, however, suffer less, both from distending their stomachs with enormous quantities of water, and from the greater quantity of mucus which naturally lines the coatings of their stomach and bowels.

The next important bulb is the Tieubuck, chiefly found in sheltered places in spring: when roasted, it bears some resemblance to the potato, but is more mucilaginous, and has less flavour. There is rarely more than one bulb to each root, and this seldom exceeds a large marble in size. About the month of October it is procured in considerable quantity, and like the mynd thrives best in a light sandy soil. The natives procure it by means of a long pointed stick, which is the only instrument used by the women in obtaining every kind of food from the earth. When the Tieubuck is in season, it is difficult for a European to distinguish its leaf from the surrounding grass; but when in full flower, its beauty and fragrance render it everywhere conspicuous; the scent resembles the Tonquin bean or May grass. Like the mynd it also shoots up a single stem, about a foot high, covered near the top with abundance of flowers. The men eat this root greedily, and send their women out to procure it, but rarely seek it themselves. When the plant is in full flower the bulb is absorbed. A number of other roots are occasionally used as food in their season; the native names of some our informant has collected in the following list :

1. Quenine, the Zamia palm. The nut is poisonous, but the rind, which is of a fine red colour, after being buried for a month, forms a chief article of food in the autumn; to me it was disgusting, the taste being rancid, and resembling train oil.

2. Yoke, Yike, or Yooke. This is a very curious plant and is found in the interior. 3. Nornup or Noornop. Some pronounce it Nornoop. This also is very curious, and occurs in the interior. 4. Warran. Is found far in the interior to the north-east of King George's Sound, but it is more common about Swan River. 5. Tieubuck. Is plentiful about King George's Sound. 6. Carr. 7. Werringan. 8. 9. Toondong and Quording; quording resembles mynd. 10. Kg-Noowill. 11. Mike. 12. Cole-bar. 13. Chettagong. 14. Knongan. 15. 16. Tyac-Kut, and Mōolůl. 17. Mynd; the most important. In very dry parts of the country many other kinds of roots are eaten by the natives, but as far as can be ascertained, they are otherwise despised, unless under cases of extreme necessity.

During nearly the whole of the year the women obtain a small species of cray-fish, or rather craw-fish, (chulgie, or crow-kul,) in the swamps, much resembling the fresh water lobsters found in many parts of Europe. When procured in October, November, or December, these insects are in high season, and are by no means a contemptible dish. In the beginning of winter, when the frogs leave the fens, they are dug out of their holes and eaten with great relish both by the men and women. They also find a small species of land-crab, occurring chiefly near samphire beaches on the sea-coast; this forms but indifferent food, and is mostly resorted to in cases of necessity. Snakes of almost every variety, from the harmless to the most deadly, are eaten with avidity, as well as lizards of every description, excepting those that are aquatic, or belong to their cobougs, or friends. The natives on this subject are full of superstition.