and other animals which in vast numbers feed Thus while some savage nations comupon the plains or pursue their prey, are the press the head on the sides, others we prominent objects, which compose the ex-ind compress it on the back and front: tensive prospect presented to the view, and strike the attendon of the beholder. The islands in the Missouri are of various sizes; in general not large, and during water, mostly overflowed. There are Indian paths along the Missouri, and some in other parts of the country. Those along that river do not generally follow its windings, but cut off points of land and pursue a direct course. There are also roads and paths made by the buffaloe and other animal; some of the buffaloe roads are at least ten feet wide. Captain Clarke measured the height of the falls, and found them in a distance of 17 miles to be 362 feet 9 inches. The first great pitch 98 feet, the second 19 feet, the third 47 feet 8 inches, the fourth 26 feet; and a number of small pitches, amounting altogether to 362 feet 9 inches. The party discovered, the ocean by descending the Columbia river, which is described as " very beautiful," but abounding in falls and rapids. It may be said to swarm with salmon, and other fish but salmon, especially, which appears to be the chief food of the natives who reside in the neighbourhood of this stream. They preserve it by pounding and drying. surely, these people deserve the headache! We cannot but think these flatheads deficient in brains. Capt Lewis, myself, and some of the men, says Mr. G. went over to the Teeton Indian cap. Their lodges are about eighty in number, and contain about ten persons each; the greater part wonen and children. The women were employed in dressing buffaloe skins, for clothing for themselves, and for covering their ages. They are the most friendly people I ever saw; but will piller, if they have an opportunity. They are also. very dirty the water they make use of, is carried in the paunches of the animals they kill, just as they are emptied, without being cleaned. The gave us dishes of victuals of various kinds, I had never seen, any thing. like some of these dishes, por could I fell of what ingredients, or how they were, made. the Mahas, of whom they killed 75 ́men, About 15 days ago, they had a battle with and took 25 women prisoners, whom they have now with them. They promised to Capt. Lewis, that they would send the pri soners back, and make peace. About 3 o'clock, we went aboard the boat, accompanied with the old chief and his little son. In the evening, Capt. Clarke and some The manners of the inhabitants of this of the men went over, and the fudians made vast tract differ no doubt, even more than preparations for a dance. At dark it commenced. Capt. Lewis, myself, and some of could be observed by that cursory view of our party went up to see them perform. them, which could be taken by these pas- Their band of music, or orchestra, was com sengers. It should appear, however, that posed of about 12 persons besig on a buffa among these simple sons of nature, the same loe hide, and shaking small bags that made a disposition prevails which some have char-rauling noise. They had a large fire in the ged as criminal on more polished society, that of endeavouring to improve the works of Omniscience by the caprices of fashion. Speaking of a number of Indians that visifed them, Mr. Gass observes, We suppose them to be a band of the Flat-head nation, as all their heads are compressed into the same form; though they do not speak exactly the same language, but there is no great difference, and this may be a dialect of the same.. This singular and. deforming operation is performed in infancy in the following manner. A piece of board is placed against the back of the head, extending from the shoulders some distance above it; another shorter piece extends from the eye-brows to the top of the first, and they are then bound together with thongs or conds, made of skins, so as to press back the forehead, make the head rise at the top, and face it out above the cars, centre of their camp; on one side the women, about 80 in number, formed in a solid column round the fire, with sticks in their hands, and the scalps of the Mahas they had killed tied on them. They kept moving, or jumping round the fire, rising and falling on both feet at once; keeping a continual noise, singing and yelling. In this manner they continued till 1 o'clock at night, when we returned to the beat with two of the chiefs. The lodges of the Rickarees, or Aricaris, are thus described: In a circle of a size suited to the dimensions of the intended lodge, they set up 16 forked. posts five or six feet high, and lay poles from one fork to another. Against these poles they lean other poles, cuting from the ground, and extending about four inches above the cross poles; these are to receive the ends of the upper poles, that support the roof. They next set up four large forks, fifteen feet high, and about ten feet apart, in the middle of the area; and poles or beams between these. The roof poles are then laid on, extending from the lower poles across the beams, which rest on the middle forks, of such a length as to leave a hole at the top for a chimney. The whole is then covered with willow branches, except the chimney, and a hole below to pass through. On the willow branches they lay grass and lastly clay. At the hole below they build a pen about four feet wide and projecting ten feet from the hut; and hang a buffaloe skin, at the entrance of the hut for a door. This Jabour, like every other kind, is chiefly performed by the squaws [women]. They raise corn, beans, and tobacco. Their tobacco is different from any I had before seen; it answers for smoking, but not for chewing, On our return, I crossed from the island to the boat, with two squaws in a buffaloe skin stretched on a frame made of boughs, wore together like a crate or basket for that purpose. The condition of the females, doomed to labour, among these people, is, alone, sufficient to mark this tribe as savage: but the trade in their favours (which is a public profession) is infinitely more disgraceful and disgusting, whether in what affects to be called civilized life, or among the wild roamers on the banks of the Missouri. The kind of boat described in this extract reminds us of the coracles of the antient Britons. In another place our author observes: "The natives of this country ought to have the credit of making the finest cances, perhaps in the world, both as to service and beauty; and are no less expert in working them when made," which agrees with the remarks of Sir Alexander M'Kenzie, who says, "I had imagined that the Canadians who accompanied me, were the most expert canoe-men in the world, but they are very inferior to these people (the natives near the coast), as they themselves acknowledged, in conducting those vessels." Among the snake Indians, says Mr. Gass, While I lay here to-day, one of the natives shewed me their method of producing fire, which is somewhat curious. They have two sticks ready for the operation, the one about 9, and the other 18 inches long: the short stick they lay down flat, and rub the end of the other upon it in a perpendicular direction, for a few minutes; and the friction raises a kind of dust, which in a short time takes Vos. V. [Lit. Pan. Jan. 1809.] fire. These people make willow baskets so close, and to such perfection, as to hold water, for which purpose they make use of them. They make much use of the sunflower and lambs-quarter seed, which, with berries and wild-cherries pounded together, compose the only bread they have any know ledge of, or in use. The fish they take in this river are of excellent kinds, especially the salmon, the roes of which, when dried and pounded, make the best of soup. of several nations were met with, there beOn the banks of the Columbia, natives ing three, or part of three, different tribes settled together: their names unknown. They are almost without clothing, having no covering of any account, except some deer skin robes and a few leggins of the same materials. The women have scarce sufficient to cover their nakedness. The custom prevails among these Indians of burying all the property of the deceased, with the body. Amongst these savages, when any of them die, his baskets, bags, clothing, horses and other property, are all interred: even his canoe is split into pieces and set up round his grave. The paucity of dress of the women, extends to other tribes: The dress of the squaws here is differentTM from that of those up the river; it consists of a long fringe made of soft bark, which they tie round the waist, and which comes down almost to their knees; and of a small robe, made out of small skins cut into thongs, and wove somewhat like carpeting. The Clatsop Indians, the Chin-ook, Cathla-mas, Cal-a-mex, and Chiltz nations, who inhabit the sea coast, all dress in the same manner. The men are wholly naked, except a small robe; the women have only the addition of the short petticoat. Their language also is nearly the same; and they all the remains of the dead, all their property, observe the same ceremony of depositing with or placing it at their graves. I believe I saw as many as an hundred canoes at one burying. place of the Chin-ooks, on the north side of the Columbia, at its entrance into Halley's1 Bay; and there are a great many at the burying-place of every village. All the Indians from the rocky mountains to the falls of Columbia, are an honest, ingenuous, and well disposed people; but from the falls to the sea-coast, and along it, they are a rascally, thieving set. In the evening the men came in with the meat of the two bears; and also our other hunters who had killed three more, all of the grizly kind. We gave some of the meat to the natives at our camp, who cooked it in their own way; which was done in the 2 B following manner. They first collected some stones and heated them, upon which they placed a part of the ineat, and upon the meat some small brush, and so alternately meat and brush, until all the meat was on; when the whole was covered with brush and lastly with earth; so that the heap or inass had something of the appearance of a small coalpit on fire. An hour and a half was necessary to cook it in this way. We saw a great number of the natives on horseback pursuing a deer on the opposite side of the river. They drove it so hard that it was obliged to take the water, when some of our men went down the bank and shot it, and the natives got on a raft and caught it. These Indians are the most active horsemen I ever saw they will gallop their horses over precipices, that I should not think of riding over at all, The frames of their saddles are made of wood nicely jointed, and then covered with raw skins which, when they become dy, bind every part light, and keep the joints in their places. The saddles rise very high before and behind, in the manner of the saddles of the Spaniards,, from whom they no doubt received the form; and also obtained their breed of horses. When the Indians are going to mount, they throw their buffaloe robes over the saddles, and ride on them, as the saddles would otherwise be too hard. We close our extracts by a few of those incidental observations on the animals of these parts, which Mr. Gass has recorded. We killed a very large brown bear, which measured three feet five inches round the head; three feet eleven inches round the neck; round the breast five feet ten inches and a half; the length eight feet seven inches and a half round the middle of the fore leg twenty-three inches; and his talons four inches and three-eighths of an inch. There appears to be a kind of sheep in this country, besides the ibex or mountain sheep, and which have wool on. I saw some of the skins, which the natives had, with wool four inches long, and as fine, white, and soft, as any I had ever seen. I also saw a buffaloe robe with its wool or fur on, as, fine and soft as that of beaver. Captain Lewis procured this, which we considered a curiosity, in exchange for another buffaloe robe. I made a calculation of the number of elk and deer killed by the party from the 1st of December 1805, to the 20th of March 1800, which gave 131 elk, and 20 decr. There were a few smaller quadrupeds killed, such as otter and beaver, and one racoon. The wolves in packs occasionally hunt the goats, which are too swift to be run down and taken by a single wolf. The wolves having fixed upon their intended prey, and taken their stations, a part of the pack commence the chace, and running it in a circle, are at certain intervals relieved by others. In this manner, they are able to run a goat down. At the falls where the wolves are plenty, I had an opportunity of seeing one of these hunts. A whale was driven on shore on the western coast it had, probably, attained its full age. They found the skeleton of the whale, which measured 105 feet in length, and the head 12. The natives had taken all the meat off its bones, by scalding and other means, for the purpose of trade, The New London Family Cook; or Town and Country Housekeeper's Guide. Comprehending Directions for Marketing, with illustrative Plates, on a Principle entirely new; General Observations, and Bills of Fare, for every Week in the Year; prac tical Instructions, &c. A Glossary of the most generally received French and English Terms in the Culinary Art. Alsò a Selection of valuable Family Receipts, in Dyeing, Perfumery, &c. Instructions Tor Brewing, making British Wines, Distilling, managing the Dairy, and Gardening. And an Appendix, containing general Directions for Servants, relative to the Cleaning of Household Furniture, Stoves, Marble Chimney-Pieces, &c. By Duncan Macdonald, Head Cook at the Bedford Tavern and Hotel, Covent Garden. 8vo. pp. 634. 103. 6d. bound. Cundee, 1808. MR. Macdonald's book appears to possess some distinguishing features; and, as it professes to be founded upon English, and not upon French culinary principles," and " on a more economical plan, and more conducive to health than any other," it is entitled to notice. It contains information, on various subjects, which many mistresses of families, as well as servants, may be the better for acquir. ing. The marketing department of this work is more extensive than usual; the bills of fare are more numerous, four being furnished for every month in the year; and the "Cook's Glossary," though we think it might have been enlarged, has novelty and utility. On looking into the preface, we found the author saying: In the subordinatė departments of the work, "such as those relating to British wines, brewing, gardening, managing the dairy, &c. of which I might justly be suspected of not possess ing a very competent knowledge, I beg leave to state, that without presuming_on my own judgement, I have, from different persons concerned in the respective branches alluded to, obtained such information as may be fully depended on." Allowances, must always be made for a publisher's opinion of the wares in which he deals, under this correction we are inclined to agree with Mr. Macdonald's publishers in their assertion, that, there is no family publication extant, which embraces so great a variety of subjects, which contains so great a number of receipts, or that can be found so eminently and universally serviceable to the purcha ser." Modern Medicine; containing a brief of nature, to a number of students drawing from an academy figure, seated all around their object, and beholding it in every variety of light and shade. It may be true, that some are favoured by the attitude and effect which falls to their lot; yet all see various beauties; and talent will make "a good figure," of the worst aspect; while want of talent will spoil the best. The fact is, that systems are contracted views of nature; but each may have, and we believe actually has, a something derived from observation of nature to support it; and when one gives place to another, it is but a young artist, rising from his seat, to admire the "fine forms," that have been produced from Mr. Such-an one's view of the general model. "What happy touches! What handling! I will seat myself in the same place, and take advantage of the same beauties." That seat at the Academy which it has fallen to Dr. U's lot to occupy is respect. able; and his delineation shews that he has studied his subject attentively. If he had produced his performance as a should have been inclined to point out a whole length, and a finished piece, we "want of keeping" in some parts, and not always "correct foreshortening" în others but in a sketch these are not MEDICINE always has had its fashions; properly subjects of criticism: and in a and always will have them. The inves-succinct essay, like that before as, omistigation of nature leads the investigatorsions are hardly censurable. to form opinions, and these opinions, in spite of himself, become after a while, his system. This is the imperfection of humanity. Ars longa, vita brevis, says the proverb; and certain it is, that even the experience of ages has been foiled in attempting to comprehend completely the infinitely varied operations of nature, Does it follow, that the attempt is, or has been, useless? No such thing: the attempt to effect an impossibility, has led to very many beneficial possibilities; and skill, taking advantage of opportunities that only skill could discern, has contributed essentially to the promotion of science, and to the diffusion of correct, as well as general knowledge. The author takes slight though extensive view of ancient medicine: describing the Greeks (erroneously, as we conceive) as the fathers of physic and glancing at the varying theories of modern schools and practitioners. He pays pe culiar attention to the Brunonian principles, and considers the doctrines of that unfortunate writer, as having produced considerable and beneficial effects among the faculty. The same may be said of that system, as of others: " parts of it are good ;" and Dr. U. is aware that it is not on all occasions satisfactory. The Doctor enlarges on the necessity of au acquaintance with chemistry for a physician he is right; this, and much Dr. U. compares the System of phy-nore, a physician ought to be well ac sicians to the Ideal Beauty of artists: this simile is dissimilitudinous :" a more apt comparison had been that of a number of medical mien in their study quainted with. And we the rather express this opinion in decided terms, because, we consider a professor, thus adequately qualified, as a very great blessing to the community, and especially to the neighbourhood where Providence has placed him. But, that same Providence has not conferred this blessing on every party where diseases are commissioned to exist: and we humbly think, therefore. that where no correct medical aid is at hand, an old woman who cures a cold by means of treacle posset, is free from transgression and blame, notwithstanding the unquestionable hazard of a cough proceeding into a consumption. We befieve, that the disposition to avail them. selves of the best professional assistance within their reach prevails, and strongly, too, among the public. Dr. U. himself would not have the physician called in to every ephemeral disorder. Common sense, and the general exercise of discretion and humanity, must be the directors on such occasions. We coincide in his recommendation of medical know ledge to the clergy: it was the practice anciently, and might be generally so, to great public advantage. The devoted to the several branches of study which are regarded as more especially and properly parts of medical education. professor of the healing art ought to be equally liberal in knowledge and in sentiscience, physical or moral, but which, unment; and, in fact, there is no part of der proper regulation, and in a due degree, may be made subservient, nay is actually necessary, to perfection in medicine. On points of doctrine and subjects of speculation, equally avoid the extremes of implicit confidence or captious scepticism. Be careful not to reject facts in the pride and obstinacy of system, but do not on the other of facts to be the sole object of science. As hand consider an unsystematic accumulation little is performed without order, so little is acquired without method; and system, in its proper signification, is only the order of acquisition; so much so, indeed, that all our advances in knowledge are in one sense reducible to mere improvements in our modes of arrangement. Science is the book-keeping-the register of facts. liberal conduct give the lie to those who conWhen you come into practice, let your We had marked several passages as ther encourage a spirit of self-depreciation, ceive the profession to be merely craft. Neiextracts, and for observation : but we nor seek to acquire a surreptitious faine. think there is so much good sense in the Avoid the pedantic peculiarities of the manDoctor's address to those "who may be nerist, but recollect at the same time that about commencing a series of studies in manner may often be made lawfully to act order to qualify themselves for the prac-in aid of medicine. Philosophic and eftice of medicine," that we willingly sacrifice all our preparatives to the pleasure of inserting them. fective practice," it has been rightly said, with the rules of medicinal prescription." "involves more than a mere acquaintance It will be for you often "to read in the You are prepared to engage in a laborious, human heart, as well as to recognize the and, to a man of sensibility, a most painful presence of the febrile state," to pour vocation; in the exercise of which many cir-oil into the wounds of the mind," as well as cumstances of perplexity will present them to prescribe for the maladies of the body; selves, which can only be made known by and let me promise that a conscientious and actual experience. Difficulties and intricacies manly discharge of the important duties of will indeed be pointed out in the courses your calling, will prove an ample reward for which you attend, and described in the all your pains, by bringing with it the purest writings you are directed to peruse; but these, of pleasures the consciousness of doing in comparison to what you will be taught in good. Farewell. the school of experience, are scarcely more than the delineated roads on a geographer's map, to the perils the traveller encounters. Be studious then to anticipats as much as possible, which will be in effect to lessen, the intricacies of actual practice, by making every case that is pointed out to you by the hospital physician, or clinical professor, in a manner your own. Repeatedly put this question to yourself what should I do in this instance, were my individual respon ability concerned were the life of this pa tient entrusted to my cares?, are simil With respect to elementary acquirements I would earnestly recommend that while your attention is principally, it be not exclusively, A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Durham, and to the General Committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, proposing a Plan for improving Dis pensaries, and the medical Treatment of the Poor. By John Herdman, M. D. 4to. pp. 22. price 1s. 6d. Arch, London, 1808. DR. Herdman, influenced by the purest principles of benevolence, we doubt not, proposes to add dietetic donations to medical advice, and redi |