Childhood Of The Barbarian.

auspices , for frequently the human heart speaks out as bravely , if not as elegantly , in the uncivilised as in the educated parent . There are few more touching instances of maternal devotion than one which is mentioned by

Mr . G . F . Angas . Whilst travelling in Australia , his party one day encountered a miserable AVomaiTJ scantily clad , Avith feeble limbs and Avasted frame , wandering in search of roots to keep herself alive . On her back she bore a strange burden . It was the body of her dead infant , Avith which she could

not bring herself to part . Night and day for three Aveeks she had carried the decaying load , and still cherished the putrid clay as if it Avere yet gloAving with the bloom and beauty of childhood . She , a savage born , a savage bred , one utterly

unschooled in the refinements of affection , showed in her simplicity that a mother ' s love can at once be exquisite in its tenderness and yet ghastly in its very grandeur . Quite as romantic , perhaps , Avas the attachment displayed by Joanna of Castile for the corpse of her husband , Avhich she carried about with her

wherever she went , and even brought back from the tomb after it had been interred ; but then there can be little doubt that the Spanish Queen was irrecoverably crazed . In some quarters , indeed , the children of

barbarians are regarded Avith a commercial eye . Boys when moderately groAvn can help their parents in hunting , fishing , canoeing , and other pursuits , and ure therefore valuable , pretty much as a AVICIOAV with a large family of sons is considered a prize by

a thrifty operative ; whilst girls can be bargained for and sold to husbands , or in Africa at least , consigned into slavery for a handsome sum . But if a child happens to be a cripple or diseased , to what use can it be applied ? None , in the opinion of a

stern parent . Let ifc be off to the shades as soon as practicable , and to the shades accordingly it is summarily sent . Assuming , however , that the young savage is permitted to live , the first business of his relatives may be literall y to crush his skull . In Sarnon the

infant is placed on its back , and the sides and top of its head are walled in with smooth stones , so that . you might fancy it had been caught in a trap , such as boys make of brickbats for the purpose of snaring vermin . Theobjecfc is to flattenthe cranium , for the Samoan does not of the shape

, approve nature has assigned to this organ , and endeavours , like many other laAVgivers in the world of fashion , to correct her errors by devices of his own . Amongst the Chinooks the child is strapped to = a board , at the top of which is an inclined piece of

Childhood Of The Barbarian.

wood , pressing upon the upper part ofthe head , and the strain upon this is gradually increased by cords , which are tightened from time to time until the requisite distortion is produced . The pi'ocess lasts for six or eight months , and during this interval the little patient is never removed , being kept in

such a position that it can neither see nor freely move a limb . Other tribes of Indians study to give the cranium a conical shape , and this is effected by winding a bandage round the brow and contracting ifc by degreesso as to compel the plaistic bones

, to bulge upwards . Such are the vagaries of savage taste that , according to Mr . Paul Kane , a flat head is the fashionable form of skull in the south of Vancouver Island , and a round head in the north . There are also Indians in the neighbourhood of the Columbia River who thrust a bit of bone or

wood , which is periodically enlarged , into the under lip of a female infant , in order that this feature may be made to protrude to a delightful , that is to say , to a disgusting- extent . But it Avould require whole pages to enumerate the various modes of disfigurement Avhich human

ingenuity has contrived , under the belief that it was enhancing the beauty of the species . —The British Quarterly Review . ¦

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

CANCELLING THE FUNDS OF BENEVOLENCE . "When the present Tavern and Ball was built , the funds of the Charity Board were borrowed in order to complete the building . These were guaranteed to be repaid with interest , but upon two occasions the Grand Lodge decided that the instalment of £ 1 , 000

due should be cancelled—expunged—wiped out as never owing or due—thereby defrauding the poor of £ 2 , 000 . Is there any clause , or understanding , in the present borrowing powers , for a similar purpose , and from the some source , that the infamous precedent of robbing the poor shall not be repeated ?—A

MEJIBEE OE & BASD LODGE . HEEDER OS THE ORIGIN OE EBEEMASOITBY . In Knight's " London , " vol . ii ., is a paper by the late "W . Weir on the building of St . Paul's , in which the author says : —

" There is a curious question connected with the building of St . Paul ' s , regarding the origin of Freemasonry . Herder in one of his fugitive pieces asserts ( but without stating his authority ) that Freemasonry ( meaning thereby modern European Freemasonrythe Freemasonry of St . John , as it is called ) had its

origin during the erection of the cathedral , in a prolonged jest of Wren and some of his familiar associates . Herder's story is thafc , on the stated days on which "Wren was accustomed to inspect the progress of the building , he and his friends were accustomed to dine at a house in the neighbourhood ; that a club was thus formed , which by degrees introduced a formula of initiation , and rules for the conduct of the members expressed in symbolical language , derived