MODERN EGYPTIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
Sa'ga't (1), Ta'r (2), and Dar'abook'keh (3).
The durwee'shes, who constitute a sort of religious mendicant order in Egypt, often make use of, in their processions and in begging, a little tubl, or kettle-drum, called ba'z; six or seven inches in diameter; which is held in the left hand, by a little projection in the centre of the back, and beaten by the right hand, with a short leather strap, or a stick. They also use cymbals, which are called ka's, on similar occasions. The ba'z is used by the Moosahh'hhir, to attract attention to his cry in the nights of Rum'ada'n. Castanets of brass, called sa'ga't are used by the public female and male dancers. Each dancer has two pairs of these instruments. They are attached, each by a loop of string, to the thumb and second finger, and have a more pleasing sound than castanets of wood or ivory. There are two instruments which are generally found in the hharee'm of a person of moderate wealth, and which the women often use for their diversion. One of these is a tambourine, called ta'r, of which we insert an engraving. It is eleven inches in diameter. The hoop is overlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, and white bone, or ivory, both without and within, and has ten circular plates of brass attached to it, each two pairs having a wire passing through their centres. The ta'r is held by the left or right hand, and beaten with the fingers of that hand and by the other hand. The fingers of the hand which holds the instrument, striking only near the hoop, produce higher sounds than the other hand, which strikes in the centre. A tambourine of a larger and more simple kind than that here described, without the metal plates, is often used by the lower orders. The other instrument alluded to in the commencement of this paragraph is a kind of drum, called dar'abook'keh. The best kind is made of wood, covered with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, &c. One of this description is here represented with the ta'r. It is fifteen inches in length, covered with a piece of fishes' skin at the larger extremity, and open at the smaller. It is placed under the left arm; generally suspended by a string that passes over the left shoulder; and is beaten with both hands.
REMARKABLE OAKS.
The oaks most remarkable for their horizontal expansion, are, according to Loudon, the following:—"The Three-shire Oak, near Worksop, was so situated, that it covered part of the three counties of York, Nottingham, and Derby, and dripped over seven hundred and seventy-seven square yards. An oak between Newnham Courtney and Clifton shaded a circumference of five hundred and sixty yards of ground, under which two thousand four hundred and twenty men might have commodiously taken shelter. The immense Spread Oak in Worksop Park, near the white gate, gave an extent, between the ends of its opposite branches, of an hundred and eighty feet. It dripped over an area of nearly three thousand square yards, which is above half an acre, and would have afforded shelter to a regiment of nearly a thousand horse. The Oakley Oak, now growing on an estate of the Duke of Bedford, has a head of an hundred and ten feet in diameter. The oak called Robur Britannicum, in the Park, at Rycote, is said to have been extensive enough to cover five thousand men; and at Ellerslie, in Renfrewshire, the native village of the hero Wallace, there is still standing 'the old oak tree,' among the branches of which, it is said, that he and three hundred of his men hid themselves from the English."
CURIOUS ADVERTISEMENT.
A few years ago the following actually appeared in one of the London papers: certainly a most economical speculation for the use of soul and body:—
"Wanted, for a family who have bad health, a sober, steady person, in the capacity of doctor, surgeon, apothecary, and man-midwife. He must occasionally act as butler, and dress hair and wigs. He will be required sometimes to read prayers, and to preach a sermon every Sunday. A good salary will be given."