The World's Fair Part 3

Barbadoes is an exceedingly warm country, and is unfortunately liable to dreadful hurricanes, which sometimes overthrow whole towns and villages. The products are sugar, cotton, ginger, and rum. The tall sugar-canes, which grow as high as five or six feet, are set in plantations and tended by negroes; and the cotton plants are also taken care of by the negroes, who are almost the only persons who can work in the open air, on account of the heat. The houses of the planters are numerous all over the country; and, with the green hills, and the luxuriance of the vegetation, make an extremely picturesque scene.

Since slavery has been abolished in our West India islands, schools for the children, and chapels for religious worship, have been erected at the expense of the negroes; numbers of whom have also become small landowners.

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What a number of specimens have been despatched to the Exhibition from Algeria, Tunis, and the Cape of Good Hope: one, a model of a winged head, moulded in fine yellow clay, is really pretty; and the preserved fruits have quite a tempting look. And here are some boxes, made of most brilliant fancy woods; a few knives, soaps, cigars, herbs, and specimens of various woods, in blocks and in polished pieces. Here is also opium, paper made from the palm-tree, articles manufactured from native woods, with essences, perfumes, and splendid veils, slippers, caps, guns, and swords.

Algeria now belongs to France; it was formerly one of the Barbary States, in the north of Africa, and many very useful plants and trees flourish there; oranges, melons, cuc.u.mbers, cabbages, lettuces, and artichokes, grow in great luxuriance. The sugar-cane is cultivated with success; and everywhere may be seen quant.i.ties of white roses, from which a sweet essence is extracted. The stems of the vines, which the people tend, are sometimes so thick, that a man can hardly put his arms round them; and the bunches of grapes are a foot and a-half long.

Only think of bunches of grapes half a yard long! they must be something like those which we read of in the Bible, that were brought to Joshua, to show him what a fertile country was the land of Canaan.

Acacia and cork trees grow in the woods of Algeria; the natives obtain gum from the acacia. There are many mines, but the Algerines make no use of them. The people themselves are strong in body, and of a tawny complexion.

Tunis is another of the Barbary States, and contains a great number of people,--Moors, Turks, Arabs, Jews, and Christians, merchants and slaves. All these carry on a large trade in Morocco leather, linens, gold-dust, oil, woollen cloth, lead, ostrich feathers, horses, and soap. There are the same variety of vegetable productions that there are in Algeria.

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The Cape of Good Hope is in the south of Africa; it produces fine fruits and flowers, grapes, lemons, oranges, and figs, but no nuts.

The aloe and myrtle grow to a great size, and the almond and wild chestnut are very plentiful. There are scarcely any manufactures, but the farmers keep immense flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle; and there is a vast quant.i.ty of fine wool sent every year to England; and ships provisions, such as beef, pork, and b.u.t.ter, are supplied to the vessels sailing to India, Australia, and many other parts of the world; their other chief export is Cape wine.

In some parts of this country are large herds of zebras, antelopes, and giraffes, which are usually preyed upon by lions, obliging the shepherds to watch their flocks, and the farmers to ride about with loaded guns. A strange mode, my little readers will think, of being shepherds.

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There have been no scarcity of French contributions; rich silks, velvets, satins, linens, fruits, woods, herbs, statues, machinery, furniture, iron-work, gla.s.s, plate, and a heap more of industrial products; and such splendid carpets. In the "Arabian Nights'

Entertainments" we read about the Palaces of Fairies and Genii, with the floors covered with the richest carpets, and divans and cushions or gorgeous tapestry, and we long to see these carpets in reality; and so we shall at the Exhibition, for there are some so magnificent, that I do not think the Princess Badroulboudour, or the Fairy Queen Pari Banou, ever sat on finer. And charming little models of ships; and such beautiful fans. Do you know how many persons it takes to make a fan? Fifteen; and although those fans at the Exhibition are each worth several guineas, yet, in France, tens of thousands are sold at not more than a halfpenny a-piece. The French fan-makers get two shillings and six-pence a-day each, for their labour. The people of France are our next-door neighbours, almost; and from being our bitterest enemies they have now become our most intimate friends, and exchange visits constantly with us; steam vessels and railways having made the journey one of only a few hours.

Paris is the capital of France, and it is the gayest city in the world; there are theatres, b.a.l.l.s, processions, feast-days, fairs, and more amus.e.m.e.nts than I can remember. But there are also numbers of very poor people, who almost live in the streets, and get food and clothing as they best can. Some, who are called cheffoniers, go about with a fork and a basket, to pick up pieces of iron, rags, bones, or any stray valuables, if they can find them, from holes and corners in the streets, and from the dust heaps; others look for the ends of cigars, and sell them to be made into pieces of tobacco for the common people; and a number, I am very sorry to say, either beg or steal.

Among the peasantry there is a great deal of industry displayed. As they are all desirous of having a cottage and some land of their own, lads of fifteen or sixteen years of age, hire themselves as labourers to the farmers, and receive wages, out of which, and their mode of living, they save enough money in a few years, to buy a piece of land. If the land is fit for it, they plant it with vines; for the vineyards of France yield an abundant harvest, and well repay the labour bestowed on them. The French wines are among the finest and most expensive in the world.

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The cottages of the peasantry are not remarkable for comfort, being very rude buildings, frequently having merely a hole in the roof for a chimney. They are mostly, however, extremely picturesque, completely covered with vines. The wines, called Bourdeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne come from France. From the fruit of the olive-trees, which grow in vast quant.i.ties, a fine clear oil is obtained, and this forms a large part of the commerce of the country. The rearing of poultry is carried on to a great extent; and most of the eggs sold in London, which are used by us at breakfast, for sauces, and for puddings, come from France. Most of the cottagers keep one or two small hardy cows, which their boys or girls, or old people, are usually leading about by a halter, to eat the rank gra.s.s in paths or road-ways between the fields. Their milk and b.u.t.ter form a good part of the people's food.

In Tours and Lyons, there are numerous manufactories for the most superb silks and damasks; some years ago, there were fifteen hundred pairs of silk stockings finished each day at Lyons.

The plate-gla.s.s of Paris is now much better than that of Venice, which was formerly the finest in the world, the plates being of an immense size and extraordinary clearness. Their tapestry is beautiful; the tapestry of the Gobelin in particular, for it is just like splendid painting. Indeed, some of the designs, copied from pictures, surpa.s.s the originals, in point of beauty and brilliancy. There are many specimens of this tapestry at the Exhibition, both in draperies, and fitted to pieces of furniture.

The porcelain made at Sevres is exquisitely beautiful, and is used for numerous ornamental purposes; vases, tea services, chimney ornaments, figures, and other articles. The painted papers, which represent various ornaments in painting, sculpture, and architecture, serve to employ a great number of people. Watches, cutlery, shoes, dresses, bonnets, and jewellery, are also a good source of employment among numerous families. All these beautiful things we shall see at the Exhibition.

The forests, in France, are very extensive; and as wood is the general fuel used, great attention is paid to the growth of the trees. Cattle and domestic animals are rather scarce, and the sheep are ill-managed; in winter, they are fed on straw and hay, instead of green food, so that the French meat is not so good as the English; but they have a nice way of dressing it. The country people are very simple in their habits and manners, and very frugal in their way of living; they live for the most part on black bread, garlic, fruit, and milk. The costumes of some of the peasants are exceedingly pretty.

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What a many thousand contributions have come from foreign countries, yet even a greater number have been sent in from all parts of our own dear islands, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Here is a silver tea-kettle, manufactured from a fourpenny-piece, by a working man. I think that would grace the diminitive tea-table of the Emperor of the Lilliputians. And a pair of boat-sculls, made of white ash, and only the size of writing-pens, which I dare say, the oars of the King of Blefuscan's barge resembled; these, with a magnificent oar, thirty-six feet long, are intended as presents for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

Here is a scarf, containing twelve miles and a-half of thread, three millions four hundred and seventy-five st.i.tches, is nine feet ten inches long, three feet wide, and weighs only five ounces and a-quarter;--that came from Ireland. Look, too, at that beautifully embroidered dress; it came from Ireland, and is worth seventy-five guineas.

There are many little models of different buildings; and there is a colossal horse and dog; and two gigantic statues; and there is a nicely carved oak chair, made by an English ship-carpenter; and here are cotton stockings, manufactured so fine, that they look exactly like silk. There are also models of carriages, ships and machinery; a magnificient epergne of gla.s.s, with some large pearls, from Ireland.

A beautiful piece of sculpture, representing the Scottish games, is the most remarkable contribution which has come from Scotland.

The English people are celebrated for their industry and perseverence; they manufacture numerous things, and carry on a alrge commerce with other countries. The industry of the peasants have made the soil produce wheat, barley, rye, oats, beans, potatoes, turnips, hops, hemp and flax. Nearly every variety, of vegetables, and a great number of fruits, are also grown. There is abundance of timber, which is used for many purposes; the oak tree is chiefly employed for building ships. The ships of war are called the "wooden walls of England."

The domestic animals are taken great care of; sheep and hogs, when killed, are made into mutton, pork, bacon, and ham. The English cheese and b.u.t.ter is superior to any other. There are abundance of mineral treasures found in various parts of the kingdom; indeed, the English people are greatly indebted to the well-worked mines for their wealth.

At the Exhibition, are several specimens of ores.

In addition to the rich mines, and the vegetable productions, the English are celebrated for their superior manufactures, which fame they are enabled to enjoy by means of the most ingenious machinery, rail roads, and ca.n.a.ls, by which they can easily and rapidly send their goods, and travel from one part of the country to another.

Cottons, woollens, linens, silks, iron, jewellery, leather, gla.s.s, earthenware, paper, and hats, are manufactured in great quant.i.ties.

I dare say you would be much amused by a visit to Manchester, in Lancashire, where the art of spinning cotton is carried to a high perfection. There are more than a hundred and forty cotton factories in that city, where men, women, and children, are continually at work, minding the machines, which are about twenty thousand in number. When you first go into one of these factories, you hear a terrible noise of whirling and whizzing, and see an immense number of wheels flying round and round.

Halifax and Leeds, in Yorkshire, are the chief places for woollen cloth, the manufacture of which employs the greater part of the inhabitants. A weekly market is held in Halifax for the sale of woollens, in a s.p.a.cious building called the Piece Hall; but in Leeds, the markets are held two days in the week, in the two Cloth Halls.

Staffordshire is famous for earthenware; the reason of this is, that there is such an enormous quant.i.ty of yellow clay suitable for that manufacture, found there. Indeed, there are several towns and villages formed into a district called "The Potteries;" and in consequence of the innumerable furnaces, which are always blazing, the place looks at night as if was on fire. Gloves, lace, and stockings, are mostly made in Nottingham, where there are several thousand machines for the manufacture of these things.

From Kidderminster, in Worcester, we have very fine carpets; from Gloucester, we have cheese and pins; Northampton is celebrated for leather; Shrewsbury, for flannel. The great mines are in c.u.mberland, Cornwall, Northumberland, Durham, and Derbyshire. However, if I were to tell you of all the places in England, that are famed for different manufactures, I am afraid I should both exceed our s.p.a.ce, and wear out your patience, which I should be sorry to do. So I will now tell you something about London.

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London, which you know is the capital of our own dear native land, is the greatest commercial city in the world; it has been reckoned that the value of the property shipped and unshipped on the river Thames, every year, is more than one hundred million pounds. An enormous quant.i.ty of property is laid in the London Docks, at Wapping; indeed, the warehouse for tobacco alone covers a s.p.a.ce of nearly five acres, while the vaults underneath the ground are more than eighteen acres in extent.

More coaches, omnibusses, waggons, vans, and other conveyances, crowd the streets of London than any other city in the world. You will, perhaps, be a little surprised when I tell you that in one princ.i.p.al street, seven thousand vehicles pa.s.s to and fro every day. Almost every kind of manufacture is carried on in London; silk goods, jewellery, clocks, watches, ear-rings, hats, furniture, instruments of every kind, porter and ale, with many more that I cannot now remember.

However, you must not think, from all this, there are no poor people in London; for, unfortunately, there are thousands. Some beg, others steal, and those who are honest and able to labour, work. But those who cannot obtain work are very badly off; and persons die from starvation.

The industrial manufactures of Scotland are like those of England; the exports are linens, muslins, woollen stuffs, cottons, iron, lead, gla.s.s, earthenware, leather, and other articles. The chief manufacture is linen: but manufactures of stoves, and grates, and many other things, from their immense iron works, particularly from those of Carron, are also a princ.i.p.al part of the industrial products.

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The Scotch people are remarkable for their thrift and prudence; the lower orders are in general well-educated, and it is the height of ambition in a Scottish mechanic, to appear with his family in neat, clean dresses, on Sundays and other holidays.

The costume of the Highlanders is very picturesque; the plaid is made of woollen stuff, of various colours, with a jacket, and a short petticoat called a kilt, which leaves the knees bare; the stockings are also a plaid, generally red and white, and do not reach up to the knees, but are tied round the legs with scarlet garters. The head-dress is a flat blue bonnet, as it is called, ornamented round with scarlet and white plaid, and frequently adorned with eagle's feathers. The Highland women go without shoes or stockings, and wear short petticoats, a plaid jacket, and a plaid scarf.

Most of the Scotch people are intelligent, and so far advanced in education, that even the miners in the south have a library, where they read, and improve their minds; and yet these poor miners were little better than in a state of slavery two hundred years since. The favourite musical instrument, with the Scotch, is the bag-pipe; which does not, however, sound quite so well to our English ears, as it does to theirs. Their national dances are the Highland reel, and fling, which they perform with great agility and grace. The sheep and cattle are rather small, but give exceedingly good meat; and the sheep, in particular, are valued for their fleece, which is almost as fine as the best Spanish wool.

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is, in the new parts of it, a fine clean city; the houses in the old town are excessively high, and the streets inconvenient; but the streets of the new town are very broad, and almost all in straight lines; some of them are a mile long.

Most of the houses are built of white stone, which sparkles as if it was inlaid with diamonds when the sun shines on it.

The manufactures carried on in the city, are mostly cabinet-work, furniture, carriages, musical instruments, linens, shawls, silks, gla.s.s, marble, bra.s.s, and iron work. There are also many breweries, for Edinburgh has long been celebrated for its ale, large quant.i.ties of which are sent to London, and other parts of the kingdom, Glasgow, which is the princ.i.p.al manufacturing and trading town, contains extensive cotton factories.

In many parts of the Highlands, the natives are employed in feeding sheep and cattle, for the markets; and in the valleys, and other sheltered places, hemp, barley, flax, and potatoes, are cultivated, though unfortunately most of the barley is made into whiskey. In the more northernly parts the general employment is fishing.

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Ireland is a much warmer and more fertile island; it is celebrated, in point of industry, for its wool, b.u.t.ter, beef, hides, tallow, cows, horses, pigs, sheep, potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, and linen. Linen is the chief manufacture. There are numerous mines, from which are obtained gold, silver, iron, copper, and lead; all very useful metals, I think.

There are also quarries of marble, slate, and freestone; and in various parts are found coal and turf. In Ireland, turf is the princ.i.p.al fuel used. The brewing of stout, and a strong bittered beer, for exportation; and the distilling of whiskey, another strong but spirituous drink, are other branches of Irish industry.

Fishing is an important occupation with those peasants who live on the sea-sh.o.r.e, and near the rivers or lakes. The making of roads, draining bogs, and improving the land, now employ thousands of poor labourers, who formerly used to be without any occupation.