rooms. It was the favourite place of residence of Charles I., and he made several additions to the buildings. Anne, George I., and George II. resided almost constantly at St. James's. Buckingham House was the town residence of George III., but levees and drawing-rooms were held at St. James's, as they still continue to be. There is indeed no exterior show of the splendour which, on occasions of state ceremony, is displayed within its walls. The soldiers who stand sentinel in the courts and at the entrances are almost the only indications of there being anything royal about the place. No stranger would ever suppose that these brick buildings, without any architectural pretension except the old gate-house with its towers, was the far-famed "Court of St. James's," whose influence and power have been acknowledged in every part of the civilized world. As a record of that court, and as connected with many an interesting historical fact, we should be sorry to see the old gateway-tower pulled down, whatever may become of the rest of the buildings, when, at some future period, the glories of that court may possibly have been transferred to some more favoured palace. The state-apartments, though few, are magnificent. They look towards St. James's Park, with the garden intervening. They are entered by a passage and staircase of great simplicity, which lead to a gallery furnished as an armoury. A small chamber, or anteroom, hung with fine specimens of tapestry, conducts to the three principal state-apartments. The last of these three apartinents is the Presence Chamber, in which the compartments over the arch of the chimneypiece are ornamented with Tudor badges and the iniials H. A. [Henry-Anne] united by a knot, whence it is inferred that this room is a part of the original Manor-House, which was built by Henry when Anne Boleyn was his queen. These three state-rooms are furnished in a style of the utmost richness and splendour. Plate-glass mirrors, "in which he of Gath, Goliath, might have seen his giant bulk, Whole without stooping, towering crest and all;" chandeliers, lustres, and candelabras of the most gorgeous workmanship; hangings of crimson velvet; ottomans, sofas, and stools covered with the same rich material and trimmed with gold lace; windowcurtains of crimson satin; gilt cornices and mouldings; marble slabs and ornamented chimney-pieces-present, when blazing with lights and crowded with the beauties of England in their most superb attire and sparkling with gems, a scene of splendour which imagination would vainly endeavour to picture. The throne in the Presence Chamber is magnificent. There are two or three other apartments belonging to this suite, which are very superbly furnished, and are also used on occasions of state ceremony. THE PRECIOUS METALS IN RUSSIA. RUSSIA is every year becoming more remarkable for the quantity of the precious metals found in the eastern parts of the empire. Whether the day will ever arrive that it will supersede South America in these respects, the future must show; but there are already districts in Siberia in which a considerable degree of prosperity is manifested, by the busy commercial arrangements to which these mineral riches give rise. We will shortly sketch the outlines of the mining system adopted, from the information obtained by Mr. Cottrell, one of the most recent English travellers in Siberia. Most of the silver found in the Russian dominions in the emperor's private property, and is worked under his orders; but the gold is left to individual speculation. The arrangements in respect to gold are curious. Every free man in Russia, except persons in the employ of the government, is allowed to search the sands for gold, and to make or mar his fortunes according to his degree of success. As soon as any one has investigated the district where he purposes to make the search, and has satisfied himself that appearances are favourable (from finding perhaps a few grains of the precious metal), he is obliged to announce the discovery to the nearest public functionary. The next step is to make application to the director of the nearest mining department belonging to the crown, for leave to begin his undertaking. An officer of the mines is upon this sent to measure out the ground, which is limited by law to five square versts (a verst is about two-thirds of an English mile). This spot is assigned to the person in question for as long a time as he chooses to occupy it; during which period he is practically the proprietor, and pays no rent to the government. When all the arrangements are made, the speculator proceeds to erect huts for the workmen, and the machines for washing the sand which is supposed to contain gold. The only condition annexed is, that whatever gold he finds, must be immediately conveyed after the season of work is over (the beginning of October), to a government dépôt at the town of Barnaoul, in Western Siberia, between Tobolsk and Irkoutsk. Here certain arrangements, which we shall describe farther on, are carried into effect; having for their object the assumption of a certain degree of government control over the final disposal of the gold. The workmen whom the speculator employs are chiefly persons who have been banished from Russia, and who receive from the police a stamped permission to reside on the spot for the term of one year; the permission being renewable at the end of that period. As the number of speculators is yearly on the increase, the price paid for labour has risen considerably within the last few years. The workman receives in hard money about eighteen roubles a month, (a rouble is worth about three shillings and threepence English); in addition to which he is lodged, fed, and provided with tobacco and brandy, which are in fact luxuries to him. Some of the establishments are two or three hundred miles from any large town, and far from any high road, so that flour, meat, fish, and other necessaries must be conveyed on horseback; the actual cost of each labourer to the employer is, therefore, very high indeed, and could not be supported without the expectation of large profits. The gold is not found in a mine or combined with masses of rock; the sand of a particular district is collected, and by careful washing it is found to yield grains and small fragments of gold, which are separated from the sand. This auriferous sand is found in many parts of Siberia. For instance, the government of Omsk, which was not previously known for its mineral riches, yielded in 1840 three hundred pounds of the precious metal. This was found on the steppes, or plains, which are inhabited rather by the Kinglas Tartars than by the Siberians or Russians. When a speculator thinks that any particular spot on these plains will yield gold, he hires it from the Kirghis at a fixed yearly rent; and whenever he discontinues his operations, the land reverts to the owner, who finds it in a more cultivable state from being cleared of the sand. When a speculator has accumulated a sufficient quantity of gold from his sand-washings, or when the season for operation is over, the intervention of the government takes place in the following manner :Each proprietor brings his gold in bags to Barnaoul; the dust, the small pieces, and sometimes masses weigh- About twelve years ago a Russian gentleman, M. ing several pounds, being mixed up indiscriminately Astaschef, retired from the service of the government, in the bags. These are weighed in the presence of the having been employed in the office of the finance proprietor and the chief of the establishment, and the minister. He wished to become a gold speculator; quantity registered. Then the gold is melted down but as he could not do so while in the employ of gointo ingots. It is put into large cast-iron pots, pre-vernment, he resigned his situation. Before the year viously brought to a red heat, and the pots with their 1829 very little gold had been found to the east of the contents are exposed to the heat of a furnace for forty Ural Mountains; but in that year a merchant at minutes, by which the gold is brought to a liquid state. Tomsk, named Popof, who was already possessed of a The liquid gold is poured into quadrangular iron re- very considerable fortune, heard accidentally that a cipients, or ingot-moulds, which contain one pud or deserter, concealed in the woods a hundred miles cast pood, if there is this quantity of gold belonging to one of the town, had found gold in the sands. Popof person (a pud is equal to forty Russian pounds, or found means, first, to discover the spot, and then to about thirty-six English avoirdupois pounds). The obtain a grant of it from the government. At first he ingot is weighed, to see what it has lost by passing was not very successful, the produce being only about through the fire; and then the gold is assayed and its half a zolotnik to a hundred puds of sand washed (one value fixed according to the carat. The average loss part of gold in four hundred thousand parts of sand). in the melting is one and a half per cent.; but it is oc- He then changed the theatre of his speculation, and casionally as much as two or three per cent. removed his establishment more than a thousand miles northward of Tobolsk; here he found gold, but not in great quantities; and as the soil there is constantly frozen, the expense was very great, independent of the difficulties attendant on the scarcity of workmen, houses, and provisions. After having spent in all sixty-three thousand roubles, and searched in no fewer than three hundred different spots, he returned to the place first selected, and succeeded in obtaining a better return for his labours. This merchant lent forty thousand roubles to M. Astaschef, to commence his speculations. A third person, who had spent two hundred thousand roubles fruitlessly in search of gold, at length found a small river on whose banks gold was mixed with the sands; and he and M. Astaschef agreed to divide it between them, each taking one bank. The speculation turned much as that which Popof had procured. After this they formed a Company, together with several of the first personages at St. Petersburg; the management resting with Astaschef and Riazanof, while the others provided influence and additional capital. Many of these persons, however, were of the class to whom this kind of speculation was forbidden; and on a hint from the emperor they sold their shares in the Company to M. Astaschef. As in most despotic countries, where the officers of the government are responsible only to the emperor, a system of fees and presents is extensively carried on. The chief of the establishment at Barnaoul is said to enrich himself rapidly; for as it depends greatly on him to fix the value of the gold, the proprietor deems it to be his interest to keep on good terms with this official. Mr. Cottrell remarks-"We have seen the greatest court paid to individuals on whose report so much depends. It is said that there are persons much higher in authority than even he is, who have their share of these largesses; and if the system is so corrupt throughout, the revenue must lose considerably. It stands to reason that large sums cannot be expended every year in presents to governors and others, unless the gold is rated higher than its real worth; for otherwise there would be no object to gain, and it (the pre-out well, the proportion of gold to sand being twice as sent to the chief) would be all dead loss. But where no one is allowed to get rid of his gold but through this channel, the temptation to fraud is great, and snuggling even goes on at Barnaoul. Gold is frequently bought, for something under the price the government allows, by other proprietors who have a quantity to send to head-quarters. The smaller proprietors save by this means the expense of carriage and presents to the different officers, and so it comes to pretty much the same to them; perhaps, too, they have never had legal permission to search for it. Before this can be done, application must be made to government for a grant of the land on which it is proposed to work, and this is attended with some little expense, which he escapes by disposing of the gold surreptitiously to those who have authority to search for it." When the weighing, the melting, the assaying, and the registering are completed at Barnaoul, the government takes upon itself the expense of conveying the gold to St. Petersburg, whither it is sent three times in the year, and lodged in the royal mint. It is then coined, and the government receives out of it a tax of fifteen per cent. for the cost of transport and carriage. The remainder is paid back to the proprietor, who generally finds that the presents which he has had to make, together with the tax, amount to about onefourth of the registered value of the gold. The enterprise of a gold speculator is a very uncertain one. If it is fairly successful, the expense of working is about one-fourth the full value of the gold; and this, added to the fourth just spoken of, leaves to him one-half clear profit. But it is not unfrequent to find a speculator wholly unsuccessful in his search, the sand not containing enough gold to pay the current expenses; in which case the individual is often brought at once to poverty. Mr. Cottrell gives details of a few examples to illustrate the uncertain nature of the speculation, which we may give here in a condensed form. In 1841 M. Astaschef was reputed a millionaire. The place where this fortunate spot was found is in the government of Yenisseik, near the rivers Touba and Kan. He was also one of the owners of another establishment on the frontiers of the two governments of Irkoutsk and Yenisseik. M. Astaschef told Mr. Cottrell that this second establishment yielded sixty-nine puds of gold in 1840. "The immense quantity of sand," says Mr. Cottrell, which must have been washed to produce this golden result is something almost incredible; and what is more, there is no assignable limit to the riches of this individual, who is under fifty years of age; for there is every probability that not only the sands where they now are at work will not be exhausted for fifteen or twenty years, but that many other spots in the neighbourhood may be equally full of treasure." When the gold has been coined at St. Petersburg, and the fiscal deductions made, the proprietor has the option of receiving the remainder either in coin or in assignats. So critical is this gold-seeking occupation, that even M. Astaschef, highly successful as he has ultimately been, narrowly escaped failure at the outset; for of the forty thousand roubles which he borrowed to commence operations, thirty-five thousand were expended before he met with any success. The silver-mining system we must notice in another article. [To be continued.] LOCOMOTION OF ANIMALS.-No. VIII. HAVING given an outline of the mechanism by which the human race perform their movements from place to place by means of their locomotive organs, and having also detailed the leading principles by which these movements are effected, we shall now turn our attention to the means and methods by which the locomotion of animals inferior to man in the scale of organization is performed. It will be convenient to take in succession the lower animals in classes as grouped by zoologists, and begin with those which are most nearly allied to man. It is true that by this arrangement we shall have to pass from bipeds to quadrupeds, and trace our steps back again to bipeds; but these objections will not embarrass our subject, as would the grouping together of animals of widely different classes whose organs of motion are very dissimilar, although they perform movements which involve some of the laws common to each. In following the plan already indicated, we arrive at a group of animals which excite no common degree of interest in the minds of zoologists, namely, the Quadrumana. If we take a glance at the solid bony framework, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, 3, we shall at once see, without being acquainted with anatomy, that the general outline is nearly the same in all the figures, and that there are many parts in common, or having bones of similar figures in each Fig. 3.-Orang-utan. of the three skeletons. Upon closer inspection, however, we shall perceive that some bones are common to the three: some have additional bones, such as an extra pair of ribs; other bones, again, are common between Figs. 1 and 2, 1 and 3, and 2 and 3. On comparing heads in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, we observe that the face and jaws are much more extended anteriorly in the chimpanzee (Fig. 5) than in man (Fig. 4), and that they are still further prolonged in the orang-utan (Fig. 6): the proportion in each may be obtained by taking in each case the length of the lines ry. We see also that the forehead is lower and the head flatter in the orang. and still more so in the chimpanzee. The head of each turns by a hinge-joint on a pivot at y; and in the erect position the distance of xy is least in man, greater in the chimpanzee, and greatest in the orang: and, as the force necessary to support the head in standing erect is proportional to the weight of the parts multiplied by their distance from the axis of motion in the direction of these lines, it follows that the power to support the head is least in man, and greatest in the orang-utan. Again, we see that the proportions between the length of the arms and legs are different in each; the arms are longest in proportion to the height in the orang, shorter in the chimpanzee, and shortest in man. The legs are longest in man, less in the orang, and least in the chimpanzee. In the orang we observe that the arms nearly reach the ground in standing; also that in man the spine has three natural curves, but in the other two there is but one, the consequence of which is, that the head is thrown forwards in front of the vertical line z'x, and the heads of both orang and chimpanzee are supported in the erect position at a mechanical disadvantage, proportional to the line xy (Figs. 2 and 3). But one of the greatest peculiarities existing between man and the other two animals is in the structure of the feet. In man the entire sole of the foot is either in contact with the ground, or, owing to its arched figure, the weight of the whole body is equally distributed over it; but in the chimpanzee and orang the sole is much narrower and turns inwards, and the outer margin of the foot only presses the ground. In man the heel projects a considerable distance behind the axis of motion in the ankle-joint, and acts as a powerful lever in raising the weight of the body on the toes, whereas the bone of the heel is shorter in the chimpanzee, and shortest in the orang; also, in consequence of the inward direction of the soles of the feet in the latter animal, the muscles act on the heel with less effect than in man; added to which the muscles which raise the body on the foot are much smaller and weaker than in man. But the greatest peculiarity in the hinder extremities of the chimpanzee and orangutan is, that the inner toe of the foot is attached in an oblique manner, so as to move, like a thumb, in a direction excentric to that of the other toes; whereby the foot in these animals answers the double purpose of a foot and a hand. In the performance of the latter function, the inversion of the sole of the foot, which obstructs plantigrade movement, tends to perfect the organ as an instrument of prehension, and adapts it for climbing trees. Thus we find these animals are endowed with four hands; and hence their generic name of Quadrumana. The limbs, being thus organized, may be used either as those of bipeds or of quadrupeds during progression. When the legs only are employed in locomotion on the ground, they obey many of the same laws as those of man, and the reader is referred to the account given of them in the preceding numbers on this subject for the general principles; but the mechanical structure of the chimpanzee and orang-utan renders their gait peculiar, and their power of progression on two legs is inferior to that of man. We observe amongst the higher orders of Quadrumana that in walking the long arm of the orang is frequently placed on the ground to prevent the trunk and head of these animals from falling forwards. This is chiefly owing to the single curve of the spine having its concavity anteriorly, the effect of which is to throw the shoulders and head forwards, so that the weight of these organs falls in front of the Fig. 5.-Skull of Chimpanzee. vertical line passing through the joints on which the legs move. The muscles of the legs of the Quadrumana having far less power than in man, they walk more feebly, and their bent figure gives them the attitude which is assumed during decrepit old age in the human race. If we descend further in the scale of species, we find some of the Quadrumana, such as the Cercopithecus, furnished with long tails. The tail in this order of monkeys may be considered as a fifth organ of locomotion, and is of essential service in the act of climbing. The strength of the tail in some species is sufficient to enable the animal to suspend its solid weight to the limbs of trees, leaving the hands nearly free to perform many of the offices necessary in procuring food, and often to enact performances accompanied with grimaces, for which many of the monkeys are remarkable. Few of the monkeys below the orang-utan walk on the lower extremities alone, but they move on their four arms precisely like quadrupeds, as the red howling monkey in Fig. 7. The Fig. 7.-Red Howling Monkey. lemurs, perhaps, never attempt to walk erect, and they are less capable of doing so, by their organization, than the higher orders of Quadrumana. Now, although the monkeys are denied the erect attitude and power of moving as bipeds, like man, still they move with great facility as quadrupeds, thus distributing the weight of the body on four pillars of support, instead of two; besides which, by means of their four hands, they can climb trees with a facility and precision which would cause the most agile school-boy to despair of outstripping them even for an instant. The long arms of the gibbons enable them to pass from tree to tree with wonderful rapidity, so that if they are inferior to man as bipeds, they outstrip him in moving in woods of such density that impediments present themselves at almost every step, and of such a nature as tends to obstruct the progress of the pedestrian. Indeed the conversion of the foot into a hand in these animals, instead of being a shop, for instance;-he slowly stretches forth his hand, sign of degradation, has been asserted by some foreign | perhaps without turning his head, and lays it before naturalists to be no proof of inferiority in a zoological you without a remark. There is no abating his price; point of view; and in support of this opinion it is said if you declare an article to be dear, he calmly replaces that in certain districts (as the Landes of Aquitaine) it in silence. I never witnessed such sullenness, such the peasants, who obtain their livelihood by collect- apathy as in these Moorish salesmen. The Jews, on ing the resin of the pinus maritima, and who are the contrary, display all the eagerness to sell that chatermed resiniers, acquire a power of opposing the racterizes their race; and a few of the Moors whose great toe to the others like a hinder thumb; but on goods are spread on the ground in the centre of the this subject Professor Owen remarks, that "supposing market, losing the dignity which the shelter of a stall the extent of the motion of the great toe to be suffi- seems to confer, catch a little of the same spirit. ciently increased by constant habits of climbing, or in connection with a congenital defect of the upper extremities, still it does not appear that the os calcis (that | is, the bone of the heel), or other bones of the foot, have lost any of the proportions which so unerringly distinguish man from the ape." Indeed, whether we turn our attention to the figure of the head, the length of the arms and legs, the structure and figure of the spine, or more especially to the conformation of the foot or hand in man, compared with those organs in the Quadrumana, we see differences which at once (at least in the eye of the zoologist) distinguish man from the highest of the lower animals; and, if these characters are prominent in the framework, still more conspicuous are the mental qualities which elevate and distinguish man far above all other beings inhabiting this earth. REMINISCENCES OF TANGIER IN 1836. [Continued from page 315.} THE market is surrounded by shops, or rather open stalls, just large enough to contain the seller and his goods. A description of one will serve as a specimen of the majority. Most of the shops in the market-place are similar tə that just described; others are occupied by orangemerchants, butchers, venders of wicker-ware, and straw hats. Some are rich in haiks and turbooshes, silks, sashes, and gay handkerchiefs from Fez, with linen and cloths in variety; others are hung round with Moorish slippers, yellow and red, and shoes of European shape, of every colour. The yellow slippers are always worn by men, the red by women-the converse, I believe, is the fashion in Turkey,-and both sexes wear them on their bare feet in the same slip-shod manner. Near the market is a small bazaar-a court surrounded by stalls of drapers and haberdashers. in some of the neighbouring streets are the work-shops of carpenters, who use their tools with tolerable skiliof blacksmiths and weavers of haiks, who carry on their operations much on the same principles as in Europe. But what seems to indicate the nearest approach to civilization is a café, for such there is in Tangier. Be not misled, reader, by the name. If your imagination recur to the Palais Royal, and picture pier glasses, gilt columns and cornices, and smart dama saloon, magnificently adorned with chandeliers, sel to receive the compliments of the customers, you would be disappointed on visiting the reality. Pushing On a floor raised three feet from the ground sits, cane-lattice screen just within, which conceals the inaside the net-work at the entrance, and passing the like a tailor on his board, the tawny Moorish salesman, terior from the vulgar gaze, you enter a small, low his head covered with a red skull-cap, and his body room, with no other furniture than a mat spread on with a coarse jelab. On the same floor, and ranged the bare earth, and another ranged against the mud around him, are baskets containing rice and cooscosoo, a wall to the height of three or four feet for the conveniwhite grain as small as millet, raisins and almonds, nuts, ence of the visitors, who may be seen squatting around, and walnuts, dates of various kinds, with small tubs of sipping their coffee with becoming gravity, and listenbutter (a white mess which you might take for po-ing, it may be, to the recital of some tale by one of the matum or hog's lard on the point of melting), soft soap almost liquified by the intense heat, salt of the coarsest quality. Ducks, fowls, and pigeons are lying on the edge of the board, on either side of the bare greasy leg which is protruded from between the baskets, and is sometimes hideously swollen and ulcerated. Hanging around the dark wooden walls are bundles of large matches, crockery from Fez, rudely turned and more rudely painted, with something in the shape of Bologna sausages, but into the composition of which you may be sure no pork has entered. Notwithstanding the variety of its contents, the shop is so small that every article is within reach of the salesman as he sits in the midst. He appears generally lost in contemplation of the pair of scales before him, but from time to time he turns over the soft soap with a wooden ladle, raising it high in the air and letting the seedy, glutinous mass descend in long fibrous flakes; or he pats and stirs up the butter, or scares away with a palm-leaf fan the myriads of flies which swarm round his goods. He evinces no desire for custom, but sits in profound silence, with true Mohammedan dignity, never seeking to attract the attention of the passers-by. If they come and buygood; "Allah is most great :"--if not-why, good also; "it is the will of Allah!" Stop and inquire his prices -he mutters a careless reply. Express a wish to examine some article, suspended at the back of his *It is the heart of the wheat, extracted by bruising. party. The kitchen you may observe in one corner of the apartment-the fire in a small, square, portable, earthen stove, before which sits a half-naked man, coaxing the coffee to boil. A coffee-pot and a few loaves are hanging on a peg in the wall. Such is a cups stand on the ground, and a number of ring-shaped café in Barbary. streets adjoining, for in the other parts of the town The shops are confined to the market-place and the nothing is to be seen but low whitewashed walls and ded with iron nails, and furnished with knockers wooden doors. These are thick and heavy, often studThey open into courts shaded by fig-trees, and surrounded by the apartments of the family, all on the ground-floor, for rarely is there an upper story. The roofs are always flat terraces, whitewashed as in Cadiz, and one might with little difficulty, by means of these roofs and their connecting walls, travel from one end other accounts be far from safe, for the house-tops of the town to the other; but such a journey would on are sacred to the fair sex, and no male can ascend them without the risk of being fired at by the first Moslem who perceives him. It is difficult to gain admittance to the houses of the Moors, but those of the Jews, in every respect similar, are easily accessible. Cleanliness and comfort are unknown in Tangier, except in the houses of the consuls, which from their situation on the highest part of the town escape some of the horrible effluvia that pervade the lower streets. |