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Penelope were inlaid with it: the palace of Menelaus glistened with gold, silver, electrum and ivory. Although it was certainly accounted costly, yet it must have been turned in considerable quantities for the poet to have been able to figure to himself a gate entirely covered with it, even if his language were allegorical. It cannot be a matter of doubt, by means of which nation Ivory came so early into Greece. But it is in no wise an unimportant question, as far as relates to the history of the commerce of nations, whether the Phoenicians brought the ivory, which they sold in Asia Minor and Greece, from Africa or India. Every probability is in favor of the first. That an ancient trade existed from India to the West, perhaps later above Colchis and the Black Sea, I will not deny: but then it proceeded with difficulty through Persia, and, as we shall shortly see, the Persians were perfectly unacquainted with India properly so called, until the time of Darius Hystaspis. Besides which, we have express evidence, that the ships of King Solomon sailed in partnership with those of the Phoenicians from the Arabian Gulf to the land of Ophir; that they brought from thence, together with other things, costly Ivory in great quantity for his splendid throne, and the building of his Temple; and Ophir, according to the more probable ideas of interpreters, is a part of the Eastern coast of Africa, perhaps Sofala or Mozambique. Lastly, it is evident from the nature of the case, that Africa could always produce more ivory for foreign marts than India.

In Asia, the Elephant is absolutely a native only to the south of the great chain of mountains:-in both the peninsulas of India, and in the islands which lie over against them. Through the numerous population of these territories, their habitations were either confined to the tracts of country which the human settlements had not reached, or where nature opposed insurmountable obstacles to these settlements: to the midst of valleys, and woody lands abounding in water at the foot of a chain of mountains. In Africa, on the contrary, the Elephant is frequent in the southern points (where alone the European settlers have in some degree driven him back), all along the western coast as far as Senegal, all along the eastern coast, as it appears with some few interruptions, as far as Abyssinia; and also in Nigritia, right across the whole of that part of the world. If we only cast a glance upon the map, we shall perceive, how, on the other hand, the Asiatic line of land dwindles away altogether. We know not how far over the interior of unexplored Africa the Elephant may be spread; yet, at

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Od. xix. 55. 56. xxiii. 200. iv. 73.

* Od. xix. 562-565.-αἱ δ ̓ ἐλέφαντι· Τῶν οἳ μὲν κ ̓ ἔλθωσι διὰ πριστοῦ ἐλέφαντος. Robertson's Historical Disquisition concerning Ancient India, §. 1. p. 9.

least, it cannot be denied, that the requisites for the increase of the species are there found united for, although no mouths of great rivers appear on the coast, nevertheless they may possibly exist, disgorging themselves either into lakes, or being lost in the

sand.

Still further, as the very ancient taming of the Elephant in India must have increased the quantity of ivory, so it must have in a greater proportion decreased the trade; for the value of the teeth of the dead beast is not to be compared with that of the living, when carefully broken in for an important purpose. The Elephant-hunt appears always to have been in India a royal prerogative, and to have been conducted with a particular forbearance, not to diminish the propagation of the species.

Hence, the Indians in the age to which our earliest accounts of Asiatic traffic reach, were acquainted with all the conveniences of life, and were aware, that too great an inland consumption would necessarily decrease the export. In the Amara-Kosha,' a book probably written nearly two thousand years ago, ivory is mentioned as a common material, from which they carved dolls for children.

One principal thing here to be observed, is, that the African Elephants are far more richly furnished with ivory than the Indian. In Africa, the long projecting tusks are common to both sexes, but in India, in the female Elephants the length of them only extends to a few inches: yet in Ceylon, which has very generally been famed for its powerful and warlike Elephants, and indeed was so of old, there is a numerous variety of both sexes, which entirely want the tusks. Since the naturalist Cuvier, who first elucidated the characteristic difference of both sorts of Elephants, particularly with respect to the internal construction of the molar teeth, has at least left it doubtful, whether the African

'See Colebrooke's Cosha, p. 245. §. 29, with his remarks.

2 La Ménagerie du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle par Lacerpéde, Cuvier, et Geoffroi. Paris 1805. 12mo. T. i. p. 95.

3 Ælian, de Natura Animal. L. 16. c. 18.

This fact is attested in a very credible MS. paper in Dutch, which was most obligingly communicated to me from the library of the Leopoldinian Academy. "Beschryving van de Olifanten, zoodanig dezelve op het eiland Ceilon bevonden worden, getrokken uit het Relaas van verscheyde olifante bediende." Two sorts of Elephants are in Ceylon, those with tusks, and the Aliassi, the tusks of which are wanting in both sexes. The females are difficult to be distinguished, since only few of the tusked species have tusks of several inches. The tusked males often. keep company with the females of the other species, but, from this intercourse, only Aliassis proceed. They are, in general, beyond all comparison, the most frequent; and where one tusked beast may be found, from five and twenty to thirty Aliassis may be discovered.

Elephants do not, probably, at a stated time' shed their tusks, as well as their molars, that may well be admitted, which the expressly affirming testimony of a Greek writer declares. Ælian says, that the Elephants in Mauritania every ten years drop "the horns," by which, he means the tusks. But, alas! he has not recorded the source from whence he extracted his information (if it possibly be from the writings of King Juba, it would not be without weight); but he mixes, like a compiler without judgment, facts with legends in such bad taste, that they only serve to make doubtful that which is authentic. Yet is it a fact well known, that by no means all the ivory that forms part of the African traffic proceeds from dead Elephants, but that in the woodlands there, Elephants' teeth 3 are frequently found; from which circumstance, the preceding assertion acquires a greater degree of probability. The matter deserves to be investigated by future travellers.

SOME ACCOUNT OF

An Excursion from Rome to Horace's Sabine Farm.

Ir had often been one of the wishes that I was most fond of indulging, to visit the delightful spot in the Sabine mountains which had attractions enough to invite Horace from the luxuries of Rome, and from the splendid villas of Tibur; but I could scarcely believe that I should ever realise the wish. It was too much to suppose that circumstances would even allow me to reach Rome itself, and when arrived there, the further happiness of exploring the secluded corner, the ridens angulus, the few acres embosomed amidsť mountains, where the poet used to seclude himself from the tumult of cities, this was what I really dared not hope. I was aware that the distance from Rome could not be less than from thirty to thirtyfive miles, that the place itself was difficult to find, and that the road had the reputation of being too much infested by banditti to render it safe travelling, except in a strong party. Upon consulting Nibby, the great authority upon these subjects, the only encouragement which he gave was this, "Questo viaggio è incommodo un poco, ma questo incommodo è compensato dal piacere di visitare que' luoghi, de'quali si è udito parlare fin dalla infanzia. La maucanza delle locande è compensata dalla ospitalità degli abi

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Ménagerie, &c. T. i. p. 107. 2 Ælian, de Natura Animal. L. 14. c. 5. 3 General Zoology, by G. Shaw, London, 1800, v. 1. p.i. page 213. 4 The excursion will be attended with some inconvenience, but it will be compensated by the pleasure of visiting those places, of which one

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tanti, che sono simplici e cordiali. Sarà però ancor meglio se il viaggiatore si fornirà di lettere di raccommandazione ai preti de' diversi paesi dove si pensa di soggionare."

I knew not how I could put in any claim to this hospitality, which was to compensate for the want of inns, nor was I acquainted with any person at Rome, who could furnish me with the necessary letters of introductions to the reverend Fathers, whose protection it appeared I should require. The enthusiasm however which was inspired by a reperusal of some of the odes that immortalise Lucretilis and Blandusia, and the flow of spirits which a beautiful April morning, and a cloudless Italian sky excited, were not to be suppressed, and with a youthful and light-hearted companion, who was as much an admirer of the merry bard as myself, I mounted my horse at 9 o'clock on the 2d of April 1823, and rode off in the direction of the Sabine mountains.

Our route lay through the gate of San Lorenzo, anciently the Porta Tiburtina. We took no guide with us, for these fellows are generally great annoyances, and trusted to Stickler's large map, entitled "Plan Topographique de la Campagne de Rome." It is upon an extensive scale, and gives a faithful delineation of the country, and the roads as far as Mandela, which was quite enough for our purpose. We were also provided with "Raccolta di No. 10. Vedute rappresentanti La Villa d'Orazio, ed i siti circonvicini, con una Carta Topographica," published by Agapito Franzetti, which we expected would assist us materially in picking out our path beyond Vico-Vario.

You cannot ride out of Rome in any direction, without finding objects to arrest your attention in rapid succession. The ruins of the Marcian and Julian aqueducts blend their venerable constructions with the ancient walls of the city, on the left hand side of the gate of St. Lorenzo, as you go out of it; and at the distance of about a mile, the Basilica of St. Lorenzo, from which the gate derives its modern name, invites the traveller to inquire, whether any pretended saint in the Popish calendar ever conferred benefits upon Rome, equal to those which the projectors of these noble conduits bestowed. The wealth, however, of the sovereign Pontiffs has often been employed to embellish the tomb of a canonised bishop, while the glorious structures, which would have contributed to the comfort, the cleanliness, and convenience of their subjects, have been suffered to fall into decay.

Not far from the Basilica on the opposite side of the road, is the

has heard speak from one's childhood. The want of inns on the road will be supplied by the hospitality of the inhabitants, who are a simple and kind-hearted people; but it will be as well to be furnished with letters of introduction to the priests of the different places, where you mean to stop.

spot where once reposed the ashes of the traitor Pallas, the ungrateful freed-man of the Emperor Claudius, who conspired the death of his benefactor with Agrippina and Nero, and who was afterwards himself destroyed by the monster, whose elevation he had secured. A conspicuous sepulchre and a porphyry urn were the only rewards of his treason.

After crossing a stream that runs into the Anio, and galloping over a plain, which invited us to put our horses to their utmost speed, (a pace which is slow at the fastest in a modern Roman steed,) we found ourselves on the celebrated spot, which was Hannibal's nearest encampment to the walls of the Eternal City. Had the Carthaginian advanced to those walls? Cadat Quæstio.

We discussed the topic, which has formed the subject of many a school-boy's declamation, and many an historian's argument, without arriving nearer at the truth than our numberless precursors in the debate.

The camp of Hannibal is about four miles from Rome, and was defended on three sides by a curve of the Anio. We crossed the river over the Ponte Mammolo, an old and ruinous bridge approached by an arch, and rendered picturesque not only by this arch, but by its antiquated and dilapidated aspect. A string of mules and muleteers, which happened to be passing the bridge before us, the latter with their bare necks and legs, and wild costume, lent an additional effect to the picture at which we were gazing, and the animate as well as the inanimate objects of our attention, seemed all to belong to the days of the years that are gone. The Anio is an interesting object at this part of its course even now, although it no longer flows through a well cultivated country, nor murmurs through bowers sacred to the Muses, nor laves the walls of villas, where Roman patricians retire from the noise of the Capital. The stream was rapid and noisy, and rendered more so by a line of posts which broke its current in the middle; and the banks were clothed with drooping willows, whose fresh foliage contrasted deliciously with the bleak and barren soil that extended beyond. What Martial says of this region once so favored and delightful, presents a picture to the imagination the very reverse-of what meets the eye from the Ponte Mammolo.

Iter ad Herculei gelidas qua Tiburis arces
Canaque sulphureis Albula fumat aquis:
Rura, nemusque sacrum, dilectaque jugera Musis
Signat vicina quartus ab urbe lapis.

The lines that follow led us to a train of thoughts very different to those in which the poet seems to have indulged. Would it not have been happier for the ill-fated Regulus (if indeed allusion was made to the Regulus of Carthaginian celebrity), if the accident which threatened him near this spot had proved more fatal?

Hic rudis æstivas præstabat porticus umbras
Heu quam pene novum porticus ausa nefas!

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