the side of the brook, 'neath the shade of the tree;
In the arms of my Jeannie, for ne'er can it stay,
From those who in life had endeared it away.
_Nov_. 25. 1827. S.P.J.
* * * * *
ON A SQUINTING POETESS.
To no _one_ muse does she her glance confine,
But has an eye at once, to _all the nine!_
* * * * *
MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
No. XVI.
* * * * *
FISHING IN THE RIVER YEOU.
[Illustration: Fisherman]
The fishery of the Yeou, in Bornou, is a very considerable source of
commerce to the inhabitants of its banks; and the manner of fishing (as
represented in the above engraving) is ingenious though simple. The
Bornouese make very good nets of a twine spun from a perennial plant
called _kalimboa_: the implements for fishing are two large gourds
nicely balanced, and fixed on a large stem of bamboo, at the extreme
ends; the fisherman launches this on the river, and places himself
astride between the two gourds, and thus he floats with the stream, and
throws his net. He has also floats of cane, and weights, of small
leathern bags of sand: he beats up against the stream, paddling with his
hands and feet, previous to his drawing the net, which, as it rises from
the water, he lays before him as he sits; and with a sort of mace, which
he carries for the purpose, the fish are stunned by a single blow. His
drag, finished, the fish are taken out, and thrown into the gourds,
which are open at the top, to receive the produce of his labour. These
wells being filled, he steers for the shore, unloads, and again returns
to the sport.--_Denhani's Travels in Africa._
* * * * *
ARABIAN HORSES.
_Sir John Malcolm_, in his Sketches of Persia, gives the following
interesting anecdotes of these noble creatures:--
Hyder, the elchee's master of the chase, was the person who imparted
knowledge to me on all subjects relating to Arabian horses. He would
descant by the hour on the qualities of a colt that was yet untried, but
which, he concluded, must possess all the perfections of its sire and
dam, with whose histories, and that of their progenitors, he was well
acquainted. Hyder had shares in five or six famous brood mares; and he
told me a mare was sometimes divided amongst ten or twelve Arabs, which
accounted for the groups of half-naked fellows whom I saw watchi
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