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disliking to undergo the usual surgical operation for that complaint, his ingenuity suggested to him a method of reducing the stone, so curious in itself, and so difficult in its execution, that we should have doubted the fact, were it not attested by the most positive evidence of several gentlemen of the first respectability. He took a very fine stout wire of about a foot long, one end of which he cut in the manner of a file. The wire thus prepared he introduced by a catheter, through the urethra, into the bottom of the bladder, where the stone was seated. When he found the wire struck the stone, he gently worked the wire up and down, so as to give it the effect of a file; and this he continued to do for four or five minutes at a time, until the pain which the operation of the wire produced, was so excruciating, that it obliged him to withdraw it. But finding small particles of the stone discharged along with the urine after the operation, he repeated it in the same manner from time to time, till, in the course of twelve months, he succeeded in completely reducing the stone.

This circumstance exhibits a curious and remarkable trait of the eccentricity of his character. The contrivance was in itself ingenious, but his patience and perseverance in carrying it into effect, are so very extraordinary, that we apprehend there are few men, who, in a similar situation, would not rather endure the complaint than have recourse to the remedy.

Some years after the operation, gravelly concretions began again

to form in his bladder; and as he did not choose to try the wire a second time, these continued to increase until the end of the year 1800, when they occasioned his death.

Though he lived so long among the English, he acquired but an imperfect knowledge of our language; notwithstanding this he chose to write his will in English, which is altogether a very singular production. It is too long for insertion, but the following are its principal bequests.— The amount of his fortune was thirty-three lacs of rupees, or 330,000l. sterling. To his relations at Lyons, he bequeathed 25,000l. as we have already noticed; and he left the same sum to the municipality of that city, for the purpose of appropriating it to the benefit of the poor within their jurisdiction, in whatever manner they should think fit. For the same purpose he bequeathed 25,000l. to the city of Calcutta, and the like sum to Lucknow. To the church at Chandernagore, in Bengal, he bequeathed 15,000l. as a fund, the interest of which is to be appropriated to the support of the establishment; and the like sum to be laid out in the same manner, for the benefit of the Romish Chapel at Calcutta. He also left 15,000l. to endow an alms-house for poor children at Lucknow. The remainder of his fortune (nearly one half) he left in legacies to the women of his zenanah, and his principal servants. The will concludes with a curious exposition of the principles by which he regulated his conduct through

life. He avows that self-interest was his sole motive of action, and that the sins of which he had been guilty were very great and manifold; and he concludes by praying forgiveness of God, which

he hopes this sincere confession of his wickedness will avail to obtain.

Such are the anecdotes which are related of this extraordinary character.

MANNERS,

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and as that fish disappears on the approach of autumn, they are

(From Lewis and Clark's Travels.) obliged to seek subsistence else

HE Shoshone s are a small tribe of the nation called Snake Indians, a vague denomination, which embraces at once the inhabitants of the southern par's of the rocky mountains and of the plains on each side. The Shoshonees with whom we now are, amount to about one hundred warriors, and three times that number of women and children. Within their own recollection they forme ly lived in the plains, but they have been driven into the mountains by the Pawkees, or the roving Indians of the Sascatchawain, and are now obliged to visit occasionally, and by stealth, the country of their ancestors. Their lives are indeed mig atory. From the middle of May to the beginning of September, they reside on the waters of the Columbia, where they con-ider themselves perfectly secure from the Pawkees, who have never yet found their way to that retreat. During this time they subsist chiefly on salmon;

where. They then cross the ridge to the wa ers of the Missouri, down which they proceed slowly and cautiously, till they are joined near the three forks by other bands, either of their own nation or of the Flatheads, with whom they associate against the common enemy. Being now strong in numbers, they venture to hunt buffaloe in the plains eastward of the mountains, near which they spend the winter, till the return of the salmon invites them to the Columbia. But such is their terror of the Pawkees, that as long as they can obtain the scantiest subsistence, they do not leave the interior of the mountains; and as soon as they collect a large stock of dried meat, they again retreat, thus alternately obtaining their food at the hazard of their lives, ad hiding themselves to consume it. In this loose and wandering existence they suffer the extremes of want: for twothirds of the year they are forced to live in the mountains, passing

whole

whole weeks without meat, and with nothing to eat but a few fish and roots. Nor can any thing be imagined more wretched than their condition at the present time, when the salmon is fast retiring, when roots are becoming scarce, and they have not yet acquired strength to hazard an encounter with their enemies. So insensible are they, however, to these calamities, that the Shoshonees are not only cheerful, but even gay; and their character, which is more interesting than that of any Indians we have seen, has in it much of the dignity of misfortune. In their intercourse with strangers they are frank and communicative, in their dealings perfectly fair; nor have we had during our stay with them, any reason to suspect that the display of all our new and valuable wealth has tempted them into a single act of dishonesty. While they have generally shared with us the little they possess, they have always abstained from begging any thing from us. With their liveliness of temper, they are fond of gaudy dresses, and of all sorts of amusements, particularly of games of hazard; and, like most Indians, fond of boasting of their own warlike exploits, whether real or fic titious. In their conduct towards ourselves, they were kind and obliging, and though on one oceasion they seemed willing to neglect us, yet we scarcely knew how to blame the treatment by which we suffered, when we recollected how few civilized chiefs would have hazarded the comforts or the subsistence of their people for the sake of a few strangers. This manliness of character may

cause, or it may be formed by, the nature of their government, which is perfectly free from any restraint. Each individual is his own master, and the only control to which his conduct is subjected, is the advice of a chief, supported by his influence over the opinions of the rest of the tribe. The chief himself is in fact no more than the most confidential person among the warriors, a rank neither distinguished by any external honour, nor invested by any ceremony, but gradually acquired from the good wishes of his companions, and by superior merit. Such an officer has therefore strictly no power; he may recommend or advise or influence, but his commands have no effect on those who incline to disobey, and who may at any time withdraw from their voluntary allegiance. His shadowy authority, which cannot survive the confidence which supports it, often decays with the personal vigour of the chief, or is transferred to some more fortunate or favourite hero.

In their domestic economy, the man is equally sovereign. The man is the sole proprietor of his wives and daughters, and can barter them away, or dispose of them in any manner he may think proper. The children are seldom corrected; the boys, particularly, soon become their own masters; they are never whipped, for they say that it breaks their spirit, and that after being flogged they never recover their independence of mind, even when they grow to manhood. A plurality of wives is very common; but these are not generally sisters, as among the Minnetarees and Mandans,

but

but are purchased of different fathers. The infant daughters are often betrothed by their father to men who are grown, either for themselves or for their sons, for whom they are desirous of providing wives. The compensation to the father is usually made in horses or mules; and the girl remains with her parents till the age of puberty, which is thirteen or fourteen, when she is surrendered to her husband. At the same time the father often makes a present to the husband equal to what he had formerly received as the price of his daughter, though this return is optional with her parent. Sacajawea had been contracted in this way before she was taken prisoner, and when we brought her back, her betrothed was still living. Although he was double the age of Sacajawea, and had two other wives, he claimed her, but on finding that she had a child by her new husband, Chaboneau, he relinquished his pretensions, and said he did not want her.

The chastity of the women does not appear to be held in much estimation. The husband will for a trifling present lend his wife for a night to a stranger, and the loan may be protracted by increasing the value of the present. Yet, strange as it may seem, notwithstanding this facility, any connexion of this kind not authorized by the husband, is considered highly offensive and quite as disgraceful to his character as the same licentiousness in civilized societies. The Shoshonees are not so importunate in volunteering the services of their wives as we found the Sioux were; and in

deed we observed among them some women who appeared to be held in more respect than those of any nation we had seen. But the mass of the females are condemned, as among all savage nations, to the lowest and most laborious drudgery. When the tribe is stationary, they collect the roots, and cook; they build the huts, dress the skins and make clothing; collect the wood, and assist in taking care of the horses on the route; they load the horses, and have the charge of all the baggage. The only business of the man is to fight; he therefore takes on himself the care of his horse, the companion of his warfare; but he will descend to no other labour than to hunt and to fish. He would consider himself degraded by being compelled to walk any distance; and were he so poor as to possess only two horses, he would ride the best of them, and leave the other for his wives and children and their baggage; and if he has too many wives or too much baggage for the horse, the wives have no alternative but to follow him on foot; they are not however often reduced to those extremities, for their stock of horses is very ample. Notwithstanding their losses this spring they still have at least seven hundred, among which are about forty colts, and half that number of mules. There are no horses here which can be considered as wild; we have seen two only on this side of the Muscleshell river which were without owners, and even those, although shy, showed every mark of having been once in the possession of man. The original stock was procured

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