concluded before daybreak. Food is invariably offered, and this mode of worship is a combination of astrology with the worship of the malignant planetary spirits. The word Bali is used to express sacrifices offered to planets, malignant spirits, and deceased ancestors. Balia is an image of clay, which is intended to represent the planet, under which the person who makes the image was born; and this image is made and worshipped by an individual, who may be suffering from misfortune of any kind. The worship and offerings are made under the belief that the malignant spirit will be propitiated thereby, and will, therefore, remove from the worshipper the cause of sorrow. Before commencing the worship of planets, the Kandian calls in an astrologer or wise man, who examines his Hand-a-hana, or astrological document, which contains his horoscope; after which, the astrologer states what he conceives the best course to be pursued to allay the anger of the malignant spirit, and either directs in person, or gives instructions relative to the offerings which are to be made, and the various ceremonies that are to be observed. There is a bird in Ceylon, which the natives call ulama, or the demon bird, which utters most loud and earpiercing screams, strongly resembling the shrieks of a human being in severe bodily agony. This bird's cries, they say, invariably prelude misfortune, sickness, or death, and are regarded by them as a certain token of coming evil. The superstitious natives believe that they can avert the evil which this bird predicts, by uttering certain words of defiance to the effect, that neither they nor any one of their household will heed the summons of the bird, or the demon who sent it. Although the wailings of the ulama are frequently heard in the interior, the natives assert that it has never been distinctly seen, or captured, and they firmly believe that it is one of the evil spirits which haunt their island. From the cry, we presume this bird to be a species of owl, as there are many varieties of the tribe in Ceylon. Some of these birds are exceedingly large, and we heard from a man of undoubted veracity, that he had shot an owl in the interior, which measured across the expanded wings five feet two-and-a-half inches. SONG OF TRIUMPH AFTER THE VICTORY OF HERRMAN, THE DELIVERER OF GERMANY, FROM THE ROMANS. FROM KLOPSTOCK'S "HERRMAN UND DIE FURSTEN." THE battle lasted three days in the Teutsburger Wald, the present territory of Lippe Detmold, not far from the Ems, and terminated with the total route of the Roman general Varus, and the loss of nearly three legions. It made so deep an impression on Augustus, that he was heard long after to exclaim, “Give me back my legions, Varus!" The following is supposed by a chorus of bards : A CHORUS. Sister of Cannæ !* Winfeld's† fight! The battle of Cannæ, B.C. 216-Hannibal's victory over the Romans. Herrman outspake-"Now Victory, or Death!" And onward rushed their eagles with the cry- 66 Victory, or Death!" began Then, first, the Roman chief-and Herrman spake Not, but home-struck :-the eagles fluttered-brake- TWO CHORUSES. And the third came. . .. the 66 . no! graves! Twas their last day." TWO BARDS. Yet spared they messengers :-they came to Rome- High in his hall the imperator sate— They filled up wine-cups, wine-cups filled they up The flutes of Lydia hushed before their voice, By the dread words, striking his brow, and thrice And now the world-wide conquerors shrunk and feared, The lance to raise, and 'mongst those false to Rome, The victor goddess," cried those cowards-(for aye Is done"-and still he mourned, And cried aloud in anguish-" Varus! Varus! M. S. J. Augustus was, during his lifetime, honoured as a god, and had temples and priests throughout the whole Roman empire. † Household gods. After this defeat, the Romans refused to take part in the service against the Germans. Augustus, to compel them, enforced the conscription by death decided by lot. SA statue of victory, which looked to the north, or towards Germany, Dio Cassius relates, was perceived to have turned suddenly to the south, or towards Italy. OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.-NO. LIV. FATHER MATHEW. In a history of Ireland since the Union, one of the most interesting chapters would be that recording the revolution in the drinking habits of the lower classes, chiefly brought about by the agency of the estimable character whose portrait on the opposite page siniles with life-like benignity upon the reader. For if any one had been told twenty years since that the time would come when masses of Irishmen would renounce whiskey, and discard spirituous beverages—if he had been informed that dram-drinking would by thousands be abandoned, and that the vicious excitement of the public-house would be forsworn for the exhilara tion of musical parties, and the perusal of popular literature-he might have called the prophet an impostor, and the prophecy a vision! And if further he had been told that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should one day alter his budget in consequence of the decrease of drinking ardent spirits in Ireland—that the revenue of the country would be affected to the extent of thirty-two per cent. being knocked off the Irish spirit duty by teetotalism-that parliamentary returns would show that in 1838 twelve millions and a quarter of gallons of whiskey would be consumed, and that in three years afterwards only six millions and a half would be taken-that the same returns would exhibit half a million decrease in the spirit duty within two years; and if he had been further informed that the most venerable magistrates on our highest bench of justice would attribute publicly the decrease of crime in the calendars of the country to the temperance revolution brought about, under God, by the agency of an humble, pious Roman Catholic clergyman, who avoided politics, and who applied himself to spiritual things alone verily, indeed, his utter incredulity in the probability of such a change might have been excused. And yet within our time, and before our eyes, these changes were brought about. Sir Robert Ferguson moved for and obtained the returns which prove the facts we have stated. The speeches of the Chancellor of the Exchequer were read by every man who had a newspaper. The charges of all the judges gave testimony to the good work done by teetotalism. At the Down assizes, in 1842, Judge Burton declared "Gentlemen of the grand jury, it is gratifying to me, as, indeed, it must be to you all, that we owe the peaceful state of the country to temperance!" At the Meath assizes, in the same year, Baron Pennefather congratulated the grand jury on the absence of crime," which was evidently the effect of temperance." And the other judges, in their various charges, frequently corroborated the ob servations of the two learned and distinguished legal celebrities just cited. At the autumn assizes in the city of Cork, in 1844, only one prisoner was in confinement for trial, and at the spring assizes in the following year, after the long in terval of nearly eight months, only one prisoner was on the calendar! The facts were utterly unparalleled. At Waterford assizes for 1838, there were one hundred and fifty-nine prisoners for trial, and in the succeeding twelvemonth (being the first year of teetotalism), there were only five prisoners on the calendar. The prisons in Dublin presented facts of a similar kind. Up to November 9th, 1839, there were committed to Richmond Bridewell, three thousand two hundred and two persons. In 1840, the number had decreased to two thousand one hundred and eight; and in 1841, to one thousand six hundred and four. Could any facts more strikingly exhibit the extraordinary effects producel by the change in the habits of the people? There are a few more which we offer to the attention of the thinking reader. In 1841 the whiskey-shops declined in Dublin by the number of two hundred and thirty-seven, and (this fact is preg nant with significance) the increase in the savings bank for that year over the The portrait on the opposite page is from a drawing by Mr. J. D. Harding of Cork. |