THE

SPECTATOR.

NUMBER L*.

FRIDAY, APRIL, 27, 1711.

Nunquam aliud natura, aliud sapientia dixit.

Juv. Sat. xiv, 321.

Good sense and nature always speak the same.

WHEN the four Indian kings were in this country about a twelvemonth ago, I often mixed with the rabble, and followed them a whole day together, being wonderfully struck with the sight of every thing that is new or uncommon. I have, since their departure, employed a friend to make many inquiries of their landlord the upholsterer, relating to their manners and conversation, as also concerning the re

* "The Spectator is written by Steele, with Addison's help; it is " often very pretty. Yesterday it was made of a noble hint I gave "him long ago for his Tatlers, about an Indian supposed to write "his Travels into England. I repent he ever had it. I intended "to have written a book on that subject. I believe he has spent "it all in one paper; and all the under hints there are mine too: " but I never see him or Addison." Journal to Stella, April 28, 1741.

marks

marks which they made in this country: for, next to forming a right notion of such strangers, I should be desirous of learning what ideas they have conceived of us

The upholsterer, finding my friend very inquisitive about these his lodgers, brought him some time since a little bundle of papers, which he assured him were written by king Sa Ga Yean Qua Rash Tow, and as he supposes, left behind by some mistake. These papers are now translated, and contain abundance of very odd observations, which, I find this little fraternity of kings made during their stay in the isle of Great Britain. I shall present my reader with a short specimen of them in this paper, and may perhaps communicate more to him hereafter. In the article of London are the following words, which without doubt are meant of the church of St. Paul :

"On the most rising part of the town there "stands a huge house, big enough to contain the "whole nation of which I am king. Our good "brother E Tow O Koam, king of the Rivers, "is of opinion it was made by the hands of that great God to whom it is consecrated. The kings " of Granajah and of the Six Nations believe that it was created with the earth, and produced on the same day with the sun and moon. But for my own part, by the best information that I could get of this matter, I am apt to think that this "prodigious pile was fashioned into the shape it now bears by several tools and instruments, of "which they have a wonderful variety in this country. It was probably at first a huge misshapen rock that grew upon the top of the hill,

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" which the natives of the country (after having

cut it into a kind of regular figure) bored and "hollowed with incredible pains and industry, till "they had wrought it into all those beautiful vaults "and caverns into which it is divided at this day. "As soon as this rock was thus curiously scooped to "their liking, a prodigious number of hands must "have been employed in chipping the outside of "it, which is now as smooth as the surface of a "pebble; and is in several places hewn out into pillars, that stand like the trunks of so many trees "bound about the top with garlands of leaves. It "is probable that when this great work was be66 gun, which must have been many hundred years 66 ago, there was some religion among this people; "for they gave it the name of a temple, and have "a tradition that it was designed for men to pay "their devotion in. And indeed there are several "reasons which make us think that the natives of "this country had formerly among them some sort "of worship; for they set apart every seventh day

as sacred: but, upon my going into one of these

holy houses on that day, I could not observe any " circumstance of devotion in their behaviour. "There was indeed a man in black, who was "mounted above the rest, and seemed to utter "something with a great deal of vehemence; but

as for those underneath him, instead of paying their "worship to the deity of the place, they were most "of them bowing and courtseying to one another, "and a considerable number of them fast asleep.

"The queen of the country appointed two men "to attend us, that had enough of our language to "make themselves understood in some few parti❝culars.

"culars. But we soon perceived these two were

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great enemies to one another, and did not al

ways agree in the same story. We could make "shift to gather out of one of them, that this "island was very much infested with a monstrous "kind of animals, in the shape of men, called whigs; and he often told us, that he hoped we "should meet with none of them in our way, for “ that, if we did, they would be apt to knock : us "down, for being kings.

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“ Our other interpeter used to talk very much "of a kind of animal called a tory, that was as

great a monster as the whig, and would treat us ، ill for being foreigners. These two creatures, it

seems, are born with a secret antipathy to one "another, and engage when they meet as naturally "as the elephant and the rhinoceros. But, as we "saw none of either of these species, we are apt to "think that our guides deceived us with misrepre"sentations and fictions, and amused us with an "account of such monsters as are not really in their

country. These particulars we made a shift to

pick out from the discourse of our interpreters; "which we put together as well as we could, being "able to understand but here and there a word of "what they said, and afterward making up the "meaning of it among ourselves. The men of "the country are very cunning and ingenious in "handicraft works, but withal so very idle, that "we often saw young lusty rawboned fellows car"ried up and down the streets in little covered

rooms by a couple of porters, who are hired for "that service. Their dress is likewise very bar"barous; for they almost strangle themselves about

"the

"the neck, and bind their bodies with many liga"tures, that we are apt to think are the occasion of "several distempers among them, which our coun

try is entirely free from. Instead of those beau"tiful feathers with which we adorn our heads, they "often buy up a monstrous bush of hair, which "covers their heads, and falls down in a large fleece "below the middle of their backs: with which

they walk up and down the streets, and are as "proud of it as if it was of their own growth.

"We were invited to one of their publick diver«sions, where we hoped to have seen the great men "of their country running down a stag, or pitching "a bar, that we might have discovered who were "the persons of the greatest abilities among them "but instead of that, they conveyed us into a huge room lighted up with abundance of candles, "where this lazy people sat still above three hours, "to see several feats of ingenuity performed by "others, who it seems were paid for it.

"As for the women of the country, not being able "to talk with them, we could only make our remarks upon them at a distance. They let the hair of "their heads grow to a great length; but as the

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men make a great show with heads of hair that are "none of their own, the women, who they say have 照 very fine heads of hair, tie it up in a knot and "cover it from being seen. The women look like "angels; and would be more beautiful than the sun,

"were it not for little black spots that are apt to "break out in their faces, and sometimes rise in very "odd figures. I have observed that those little "blemishes wear off very soon; but when they disappear in one part of the face, they are very apt to

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"break