[5] An interesting article, by Mr. Whymper, with frontispiece, showing a “Fragment of the Jakobshaven Ice Stream,” appeared in the “Alpine Journal” of May, 1870. Another article, the result of recent exploration, entitled “Some Notes on Greenland and the Greenlanders,” with a frontispiece, from Mr. Whymper’s pen, appeared in the “Alpine Journal” of this month.
[6] Although we prefer our gipsy tent for convenience and comfort, it cannot be compared to Mr. Whymper’s Alpine tent for security of shelter when pitched on a camp ground of sterile rocks amongst high mountain peaks, exposed to strong gales of wind.
[7] The pannikins hold about a pint and a half, and each weighs 6 oz. They have a small loop handle on each side, which folds down, and is covered with leather, so that the pannikin can be carried when filled with hot tea. This kind of pannikin, first suggested to us by Mr. Whymper, whose plan it is, we prefer to any other we have seen for weight, size, and convenience.
[8] We have recently purchased a new and ingeniously contrived “cooking canteen,” designed by Lieutenant Lecky, H.M.S. Asia. This canteen may be inspected, and is for sale at 79, Mark Lane, City. It weighs 22 lbs., and its cost is two guineas. We however think it more adapted for a military encampment than for an expedition like our own. One large light fish-kettle, frying pan, and tin boiling kettle, were amply sufficient for all requirements; and after the wear and tear of our wanderings in Norway, they are still serviceable and fit for another expedition.
[9] “The ass is an excellent and sober little beast, far too much despised by us. He is not only the most enduring, but one of the quickest walkers among cattle, being usually promoted to the leadership of a caravan. He is nearly equal to the camel in enduring thirst, and thrives on the poorest pasture, suffers from few diseases, and is unscathed by African distemper. The long desert roads and pilgrim tracts of North Africa are largely travelled over by means of asses.”—The Art of Travel, by Francis Galton, F.R.G.S., p. 195.
[10] Monsieur Bataillard, in his interesting work “Nouvelles Recherches sur l’Apparition et la Dispersion des Bohémiens en Europe,” says that the earliest mention of Taters in Norway is found in a law of 1589. His opinion is that they did not enter Norway by way of Denmark and South Sweden, but through North Sweden and the Duchy of Finland, that is to say by the north of Russia. This opinion appears to have been supported by Presten Eilert Sundt. M. Bataillard, therefore, considers that the Norwegian gipsies were not part of the numerous hordes who entered the south of Europe subsequently to the year 1417. M. Bataillard is the author of a work entitled “De l’Apparition et de la dispersion des Bohémiens en Europe,” published in 1844, and now out of print. The same author has recently published another interesting and valuable contribution, entitled “Les Derniers travaux relatifs aux Bohémiens dans l’Europe Orientale,” published 1872. In this work Monsieur Bataillard gives a most able review of the works of various authors who have written upon the gipsy people wandering in Eastern Europe.
[11] Jean Batiste Schwilgué was born at Strasbourg, 18th Dec., 1776, and completed the celebrated clock in the Strasbourg Cathedral.
[12] It may be that the noble descendant of the Penningtons owed his almost miraculous escape, to his possession of the curiously-wrought enamelled glass cup, given by King Henry the VIth after the battle of Hexham, 1463, to his ancestor, Sir John de Pennington, knt., with a prayer that the family should ever prosper, and never want a male heir, as long as the cup remained unbroken. The cup is called the “Luck of Muncaster,” and Muncaster Castle, and its long broad winding terrace, commanding magnificent views over the valley of Eskdale, is one of those enchanted spots which we meet with in the picturesque county of Cumberland. It is singular that another family in Cumberland also possess a similar talisman, to which is attached a rare value, “The Luck of Edenhall,” belonging to the ancient family of Musgrave. It is an old enamelled drinking glass, said to have been seized in olden time by a Butler of Eden Hall from some fairies he surprised dancing near St. Cuthbert’s well in the Park. The glass had been left by the fairies near the brink of the well, and the fairies, failing to recover it, vanished with the words—
“If that glass either break or fall,
Farewell the Luck of Edenhall.”
An interesting account is given of the “Luck of Edenhall” in Roby’s interesting “Tales and Traditions of Lancashire.”