Popular Technology Volume I Part 13

5. On account of the occasional acts of violence committed by both the guest, and the master of the house, it became necessary to take some precautions for their mutual safety. When, therefore, a stranger applied for lodgings, it was customary among the Greeks for both to swear by Jupiter, that they would do each other no harm. This ceremony took place, while each party stood with his foot placed on his own side of the threshold; and a violation of this oath by either party, excited against the offender the greatest horror.

6. The Greeks and Romans, in common with the people of many other nations, were in the habit of making arrangements with persons at a distance from their homes, for mutual accommodation, when either party might be in the vicinity of the other. In these agreements, the contracting parties included their posterity, and delivered to each other tokens, which might be afterwards exhibited in proof of ancient ties of hospitality between the families. They swore fidelity to each other by the name of Jupiter, who was surnamed the Hospitable; because he was supposed to be the protector of strangers, and the avenger of their wrongs.

7. This relation was considered a very intimate one, especially by the Romans; and, in their language, it was called _hospitium_, or _jus hospitii_; hence, the guest and entertainer were both called _hostes_, a word from which _host_ is derived, which is employed to designate both the landlord and the guest. The Roman n.o.bility used to build, for the reception of strangers, apartments called _hospitalia_, on the right and left of the main building of their residence.

8. During the middle ages, also, hospitality was very commonly practised; and the virtue was not considered one of those which might be observed or neglected at pleasure; the practice of it was even enjoined by statute, in many countries, as a positive duty, which could not be neglected with impunity. In some cases, the moveable goods of the inhospitable person were confiscated, and his house burned. If an individual had not the means of entertaining his guest, he was permitted to steal, in order to obtain the requisite supply.

9. The n.o.bles of Europe, during this period, were generally distinguished for their cordial entertainment of strangers, and their immediate adherents. Their extraordinary liberality arose, in part, from the general customs of the age, and partly from a desire to attach to their interests as great a number of retainers as possible, with a view to maintain or increase their political importance.

Strangers were also entertained at the monasteries, which were numerous in almost every kingdom of Europe. Several of these inst.i.tutions were established in solitary places, with the express purpose of relieving travellers in distress.

10. It is evident, that the arrangements for mutual accommodation, and the hospitable character of the ancients, were unfavorable to the business of keeping tavern; but the free intercourse between different nations, which arose from the Crusades, and the revival of commerce, contributed greatly to the habit of regularly entertaining strangers for a compensation, and led to the general establishment of inns.

11. These inns, however, were not, at first, well supported; inasmuch as travellers had been long accustomed to seek for lodgings in private houses. In Scotland, inns were established by law, A.D. 1424; and, to compel travellers to resort to them, they were forbidden, under a penalty of forty shillings, to use private accommodations, where these public houses were to be found.

12. How far legislative enactments have been employed for the establishment of inns in other countries, we have not been able to learn, as the authorities to which we have referred for information on this point are silent with regard to it. We know, however, that laws have been made in almost every part of Europe, as well as in the United States, with the view of compelling the landlord to preserve proper order, and to accommodate his customers at reasonable charges.

13. In the United States, and in all other commercial countries, this business has become one of great importance, not only to the individuals who have engaged in it, but also to the community in general. Within the present century, the amount of travelling has greatly increased, and the excellence of the public houses has advanced in the same ratio. Some of these establishments in the cities and large towns, are among the most extensive and splendid edifices of the country; and, in every place through which there is much travelling, they are usually equal or superior to the private dwellings of the neighborhood.

14. The business of keeping tavern, however, is not always confined to the proper object of entertaining travellers, or persons at some distance from home. A public house is frequently the resort of the people who live in the immediate vicinity, and is often the means of doing much injury, by increasing dissipation.

15. In all cases in which ardent spirits are proposed to be sold, a license must be obtained from the public authorities, for which must be paid the sum stipulated by law; but any person is permitted to lodge travellers, and to supply them with every necessary means of cheer and comfort for a compensation, without the formality of a legal permission; yet, a license to sell liquors is called a tavern-license; because most tavern-keepers regard the profits on the sale of ardent spirits as one of their chief objects.

16. A public house in which no strong drink is sold, is called a temperance tavern; and such establishments are becoming common; but they are not, at present, so well supported as those in which the popular appet.i.te is more thoroughly complied with. The time, however, may not be far distant, when the public sentiment will undergo such a salutary change, that the tavern-keepers generally will find it their best policy to relinquish the sale of this poisonous article.

17. As travellers often apply to the bar for "something to drink,"

merely to remunerate the landlord for the use of his fire, or some little attention, the friends of temperance would essentially promote their cause, by encouraging the practice of paying for a gla.s.s of water, or some trifle of this kind. This would increase the number of temperance taverns, and, perhaps, be the means of preventing many generous people from forming those dissipated habits, which are so often attended with ruinous results.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The HUNTER.]

THE HUNTER.

1. Hunting and fishing are usually considered the primary occupations of man; not because they were the first employments in which he engaged, but because they are the chief means of human sustenance among savage nations.

2. The great and rapid increase of the inferior animals, and, probably, the diminished fertility of the soil after the deluge, caused many branches of the family of Noah to forsake the arts of civilized life, especially after the dispersion caused by the confusion of tongues.

3. Many of these families, or tribes, continued in this barbarous state for several ages, or until their increase of numbers, and the diminished quant.i.ty of wild game, rendered a supply of food from the objects of the chase extremely precarious. Necessity then compelled them to resort to the domestication of certain animals, and to the cultivation of the soil. But the practice of hunting wild animals is not confined to the savage state; as it is an amus.e.m.e.nt prompted by a propensity inherent in human nature.

4. The earliest historical notice of this sport is found in the tenth chapter of Genesis, in which Nimrod is styled, "a mighty hunter before the Lord." So great was his prowess in this absorbing pursuit, that he was proverbially celebrated on this account even in the time of Moses.

Nimrod is the first king of whom we read in history; and it is by no means improbable, that his skill and intrepidity in subduing the wild beasts of the forest, contributed largely towards elevating him to the regal station.

5. Although the spoils of the chase are of little consequence to men, after they have united in regular communities, in which the arts of civilized life are cultivated; yet the propensity to hunt wild animals continues, and displays itself more or less among all cla.s.ses of men.

6. The reader of English history will recollect, that William the Conqueror, who began his reign in the year 1066, signalized his pa.s.sion for this amus.e.m.e.nt, by laying waste, and converting, into one vast hunting-ground, the entire county of Hampshire, containing, at that time, no less than twenty-two populous parishes. Severe laws were also enacted, prohibiting the destruction of certain kinds of game, except by a few persons having specified qualifications. With some modifications, these laws are still in force in Great Britain.

7. In other countries of Europe, also, large tracts have been appropriated by the kings and n.o.bles to the same object. This tyrannical monopoly is attempted to be justified by the unreasonable pretension, that all wild animals belong, of right, to the monarch of the country, where they roam.

8. The quadrupeds most hunted in Europe, are the stag, the hare, the fox, the wolf, and the wild boar. These beasts are pursued either on account of their intrinsic value, or for sport, or to rid the country of their depredations. In some instances, all three of these objects may be united. The method of capturing or killing the animals is various, according to the character and objects of the persons engaged in it.

9. In Asia, the wolf is sometimes hunted with the eagle; but, in Europe, the strongest greyhounds are employed to run him down. This task, however, is one of extreme difficulty, as he can easily run twenty miles upon a stretch, and is besides very cunning in the means of eluding his pursuers. Chasing the fox on horseback, with a pack of hounds, is considered an animating and manly sport, both in Europe and in North America.

10. The most prominent victim of the hunter, in Africa, is the lion.

He is usually sought in small parties on horseback with dogs; but sometimes, when one of these formidable animals has been discovered, the people of the neighborhood a.s.semble, and encircle him in a ring, three or four miles in circ.u.mference. The circle is gradually contracted, until the hunters have approached sufficiently near to the beast, when they dispatch him, usually with a musket-ball.

11. In the southern parts of Asia, tiger-hunting is a favorite amus.e.m.e.nt. Seated upon an elephant, trained especially for the purpose, the hunter is in comparative safety, while he pursues and fires upon the tiger, until his destruction is effected.

12. The white bear and the grisly bear are the most formidable animals in North America; yet they are industriously hunted by both Indians and white men, on account of the value of their flesh and skins.

Bisons, or, as they are erroneously called, buffaloes, are found in great numbers in the vast prairies which occur between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. They are commonly met with in droves, which sometimes amount to several thousands.

13. When the Indian hunters propose to destroy these animals, they ride into the midst of a herd, and dispatch them with repeated wounds; or, they get a drove between themselves and a precipice, and, by shouting and yelling, cause the animals to crowd each other off upon the rocks below. In this manner, great numbers are disabled and taken at once. The hunters, at other times, drive the bisons into inclosures, and then shoot them down at their leisure. The hide of this animal is dressed with the hair adhering to it; and skins, in this state, are used by the savages for beds, and by the white people, in wagons, sleighs, and stages.

14. North America, and the northern parts of Asia, have been, and, in some parts, still are, well stocked with fur-clad animals; and these are the princ.i.p.al objects of pursuit, with those who make hunting their regular business. Some of these animals were common in every part of North America, when this portion of the western continent was first visited by Europeans; and a trade in peltries, more or less extensive, has been carried on with the natives, ever since the first settlement of the country.

15. For the purpose of conducting this trade with advantage, a company was formed in England, in 1670, by Prince Rupert and others, to whom a charter was granted, securing to them the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians about Hudson's Bay. Another company was formed in 1783-4, called the North-West Fur Company. Between these companies, there soon arose dissensions and hostilities, and many injuries were mutually inflicted by the adherents of the parties. Both a.s.sociations, however, were at length united, under the t.i.tle of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company. The Indian trade, on the great lakes and the Upper Mississippi, has long been in possession of the North American Fur Company. Most of the directors of this company reside in the city of New-York.

16. The companies just mentioned supply the Indians with coa.r.s.e blue, red, and fine scarlet cloths, coa.r.s.e cottons, blankets, ribands, beads, kettles, firearms, hatchets, knives, ammunition, and other articles adapted to the wants of the hunters, receiving, in return, the skins of the muskrat, beaver, otter, martin, bear, deer, lynx, fox, &c.

17. The intercourse with the Indians is managed by agents, called clerks, who receive from the company a salary, ranging from three to eight hundred dollars per annum. The merchandise is conveyed to the place of trade, in the autumn, by the aid of Canadian boatmen and half-Indians. The most considerable portion of the goods are sold to the Indians on a credit, with the understanding of their making payment in the following spring; but, as many neglect this duty, a high price is affixed to the articles thus intrusted to savage honesty. The clerk furnishes the debtor with a trap, having his own name stamped upon it, to show that the hunter has pledged every thing which may be caught in it.

18. Each clerk is supplied with four laborers and an interpreter. The latter attends to the store in the absence of the clerk, or watches the debtors in the Indian camp, lest they again sell the produce of their winter's labors. The peltries, when obtained by the clerk, are sent to the general agent of the company.

19. The fur trade is also prosecuted, to some extent, by a cla.s.s of men in Missouri, who proceed from the city of St. Louis, in bodies comprising from fifty to two hundred individuals. After having ascended the Missouri river, or some of its branches, and, perhaps, after having pa.s.sed the Rocky Mountains, they separate, and pursue the different animals on their own individual account, either alone or in small parties. The Indians regard these men as intruders on their territories; and, when a favorable opportunity is presented, they frequently surprise and murder the wandering hunters, and retain possession of their property.

20. In consequence of the unremitted warfare which has, for a long time, been carried on against the wild animals of North America, their number has been greatly diminished; and, in many parts, almost every species of the larger quadrupeds, and the fur-clad animals, has been exterminated. Even on the Mississippi, and the great lakes, the latter description of animals has been so much reduced in number, that the trade in peltries, in those parts, has become of little value. Another half century will, probably, nearly terminate the trade in every part of North America.

21. The fur trade was prosecuted with considerable success, during the latter part of the last century, princ.i.p.ally by the English, on the north-west coast of America, and the adjacent islands. The peltries obtained by these enterprising traders, were carried directly to China. The trade was interrupted for a while by the Spaniards, who laid claim to those regions, and seized the British traders engaged there, together with the property in their possession. This affair, however, was afterwards amicably adjusted by the Spanish and English governments; and the whole trade, from California north and to China, was opened to the latter.

22. The fur trade, in those parts, is now chiefly in the hands of the Russian Company in America, which has a capital of a million of dollars invested in the business. Most of the persons owning the stock, are merchants, residing at Irkutsk, a town of Siberia, which is the centre of the fur trade of that country. The skins obtained in Russian America are chiefly procured from the sea-otter, and several species of seal, together with those from foxes, of a blue, black, and gray color, which are brought from the interior. Parties of Russian hunters have already pa.s.sed the Rocky Mountains, and interfered with the trade of the Hudson's Bay Company. The fur trade of Siberia is chiefly carried on with China.

23. The chief objects of the hunters in Siberia, are the black fox, the sable, the ermine, the squirrel, the beaver, and the lynx. In the region near the Frozen Ocean, are also caught blue and white foxes.

Siberia is the place of banishment for the Russian empire; and the exiles were formerly required to pay to the government an annual tribute of a certain number of sable-skins. The conquered tribes in Siberia, were also compelled to pay their taxes in the skins of the fox and sable; but now, those of less value, or money, are frequently subst.i.tuted.

24. Although the skins of beasts were the first means employed to clothe the human body, yet it does not appear that the Greeks and Romans, and the other refined nations of antiquity, ever made use of furs for this purpose. The custom of wearing them, originated in those regions, where the fur-clad animals were numerous, and where the severity of the climate required this species of clothing. The use of furs was introduced into the southern parts of Europe by the Goths, Vandals, Huns, and other barbarous nations, which overran the Roman empire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHALER.]

THE FISHERMAN.

1. Although permission was given by the Deity, immediately after the flood, to employ for human sustenance "every moving thing that liveth," yet it is not probable, that fishes were used as food, to any considerable extent, for several centuries afterwards. It is stated by Plutarch, that the Syrians and Greeks, in very ancient times, abstained from fish. Menelaus, one of Homer's heroes, complains, on a certain occasion, that his companions had been reduced by hunger to the necessity of eating fish; and there is no mention in Homer, that the Grecians, at any time, used this food at the siege of Troy, although, for the ten years during which that contest was carried on, their camp was on the sea-sh.o.r.e.

2. Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, is very explicit in designating the land animals which might be used by the Israelites as food; and he was equally so with regard to the animals which inhabit the waters. We learn, from the twelfth chapter of Numbers, that the children of Israel, while journeying to the land of Canaan, "remembered the fish which they did eat," in Egypt.