THE HALIFAX GIBBET-LAW.

A SINGULAR power was possessed by the Lord of the manor of Halifax, in Yorkshire, from time immemorial to the year 1650, for the trial and execution of any felon taken within the Forest of Hardwiok. This custon, known by the name of THE GIBBET LAW, took cognizance of all thefts of the value of thirteen-pence halfpenny and upwards'; and the severity with which it was carried into execution at Halifax, and the rigour with which vagrancy was visited at Hull, became notorious, and gave rise to a common, but profanely expressed petition.

Whenever a felon was apprehended, he was committed to the custody of the Lord of the Manor's Bailiff, who kept the gaol, had the keeping of the gibbet-axe, and also officiated at times as the executioner. The bailiff then summoned a jury, which was selected "out of the most wealthy and best reputed men, for honesty and understanding," in four of the many Townships into which the Liberty is

divided.

These jurors, sixteen in number, were not put upon oath, nor do their duties appear to have been difficult, merely consisting of an identification of the goods, that they were of such a value as to bring them within the law, and an ascertainment that the offender had been taken either hand habend, in the act of stealing; back berand, carrying off the stolen property; or confessand, by confession. Before this assembly, the accuser and accused were brought face to face, the thing stolen produced to view, and the prisoner acquitted or condemned according to evidence. If the party accused was acquitted, he was directly set at liberty on paying the fees; if condemned, he was either immediately executed, if it was the principal market-day, or kept till then, in order to strike the greater terror into the neighbourhood. After every execution, the coroners of the county, or some of them, were obliged to repair to the town of Halifax, and there summon a jury of twelve men before them, (and sometimes the same persons who condemned the felon,) and admi

nister an oath to them, to give in a true and perfect verdict relating to the matter of fact for which the said felon was executed, to the intent that a record might be made thereof in the Crown-Office.

When the party accused was condemned, he was to be executed; if his condemnation took place on the Saturday, he was immediately led to the block; if on the Monday, he would be kept three market-days, but upon this point it does not appear that the law is clearly understood. When brought to the gibbet, he was to have his head cut off from his body.

This gibbet stood on an elevated plot of ground, a short distance at that day from the town; the place is still called Gibbet Hill; it is surrounded by a wall, ascended by steps; and an oblong block of stone marks the site of decapitation. On this elevation were placed two upright pieces of timber, five yards in height, joined at the top by a transverse beam; within these was a square block of wood four feet and a half in length, which moved up and down between the uprights, by means of grooves. In the lower end of this sliding block, an iron axe was fastened, which is yet to be seen at the gaol in Halifax, and which certainly ought to be deposited in the increasing Museum of the Philosophical Society of the town. Its weight is 7 pounds 12 ounces, length 10 inches, 7 inches over at the top, and nearly 9 at the bottom; towards the top are two holes, for the purpose of fastening it to the block. The axe, thus fixed, was drawn up to the top by means of a cord and pulley, and at the end of the cord was a pin, which being fixed either to the side of the scaffold or some other part below, kept it suspended, till either by pulling out the pin or cutting the cord, it was suffered to fall, and the criminal's head was instantly severed from his body. It is said, that if the offender was to be executed for stealing an ox, sheep, horse, or any other animal, the end of the rope was fastened to the beast, which being driven away, pulled out the pin. If the execution was not done by a beast, the bailiff or his servant cut the rope.

The bailiff, jurors, and minister chosen by the prisoner, were always on the scaffold with him. The fourth psalm was played round the scaffold on bagpipes, after which the minister prayed with him, till he underwent the fatal stroke.

The origin of this custom is hidden in its antiquity; the power to exercise it was kept up at Halifax for a considerable time after it had expired in every other part of the kingdom, and it is probable it would not then have ceased, had not the bailiff been threatened, after the last execution, A.D. 1650, that if ever he attempted the like again, he should be called to public account for it.

But

The number of executions carefully collected from the Parish Register, from the year 1541 to 1650, was forty-nine,-one almost every two years; certainly very many considering the smallness of the jurisdiction, (not the whole of the present parish,) and the sensitiveness of the population at that period. the manufacturing system was then in its infancy in that neighbourhood, and required strict protection. It may be, perhaps, a question not unworthy the consideration of the casuist, how far the wild and mountainous district of Halifax may be indebted for its present wealth and consequence to the severity of its Gibbet Law.

LONDON:

H.

JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE, AND

Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom,

THE science of Geography is popularly understood as treating of the division of the lands upon the surface of the earth into various empires, kingdoms, and provinces, instituted by man; and this, doubtless, forms that important part of the science which is properly termed political, or moral, geography. But there is another, far more extensive, more important, and more really interesting division, which treats of the natural history of the earth; of its natural divisions by seas, mountain-chains, rivers, and valleys; of the constitution of its outer crust; of the laws which govern the climates of different portions; of its animate productions; this is called Physical Geography, and, as it is now understood, in the true sense of the word, partly comprises the various sciences of Geology, Zoology, Botany, Meteorology, &c.

It may be easily conceived, that there can be few studies more important to man than this of physical geography; every endeavour, therefore, to render some of its facts more intelligible to the general reader, must be a laudable task; nor does it require any profound knowledge or deep study to be able to comprehend many of its leading principles.

When we consider the numberless differences between countries, in regard to their climate, soil, and productions, animal and vegetable, it might seem almost impossible to investigate the causes of the great diversity which really exists: investigation, however, the object of the science in question, is daily extending; and all the peculiarities are found to be mutually dependent on a comparatively few great principles.

VOL. V.

The necessarily intimate connexion between the organic productions of different countries and their climate, renders it important to explain the laws by which this connexion is governed. This is one object of the science of Meteo rology, and in order to illustrate some parts of this paper, we must enter into a brief general notice on this subject.

If the whole surface of the earth were land, without any difference of soil, or any inequalities of level, the average temperature of the climates of different zones would decrease equably from the equator towards the poles, because the rays of the sun, by passing vertically through the atmosphere, would heat the tropical much more than the temperate regions, where the solar beams would lose some of their effect by having to traverse the air more obliquely, or to pass a greater distance through it. Temperate regions also would be much warmer than the polar, where little heat would be obtained at all from the sun, the great source of heat.

The first and most important cause of disturbance of this supposed regularity, arises from the irregular division of the surface into land and water. The ocean is of a more equal temperature throughout the globe than the land; partly because it is less easily heated by the sun's rays, and partly because of the constant mingling of its waters by the currents and the motion of the waves, these being produced by the motion of the earth on its axis, and by the analogous currents, called Winds, in the aerial ocean, or atmosphere. From these two causes, the waters of the ocean, at more than 700 feet in depth, are found to be of the same temperature all over the globe.

133

That the general, or mean, .emperature of any country depends chiefly on the prevailing winds, is well known. It is obvious, that if the wind blows more days in the year from the north, it will cause the place to be colder, generally, than it would naturally be; and the reverse, if the usual wind comes over a heated plain or over the ocean. The prevalent wind in England is from the south-west, and the mild damp climate of our country is greatly attributable to this wind, which comes over the Atlantic Ocean, loaded with moisture and raised in temperature.

A principal cause of the average temperature of the climate of any place, depends on its elevation above the level of the sea; or on its being at a greater or less distance from the centre of the earth. The lower part of the atmosphere is the warmest, and the heat decreases as we ascend in the air, so that in every part of the globe, there is an altitude where water is always frozen. This is called the line of perpetual snow, because the portions of mountains which rise above this height are always snow-clad. It is obvious, that the nearer the place is to the equator, the higher into the air must we ascend, to get into the temperature which is met with nearer the earth, at places situated at a greater distance from it. At the poles, and for a great distance from them, the water at the surface of the earth is always frozent. Hence, a plain raised many thousand feet above the level of the sea, though under the tropics, may be as cold, or colder than England, or other places in the Temperate Zones.

ASIA affords a striking illustration of these facts. The central Table-Land is the highest part of the globe of any extent; and being surrounded with mountains covered with snow, has a temperature far below that of southern Europe on the same parallel; while on passing the southern, or Himalaya chain, the traveller descending into the peninsula of India enters a tropical climate. This partly arises from the nearer position of the country to the equator, but, chiefly, from its lower level; from its being sheltered to the North by the mountains just mentioned; and from the prevailing winds blowing from the south-east or south-west. That the character as well as the temperature of a climate, must depend very much on the quantity of rain which falls, is also obvious, and this and the vegetation of a country mutually act on each other, as cause and effect. This very interesting fact we will explain by an example, which will be more intelligible than scientific speculations. Let us consider an extended plain of sand in any tropical country, as Africa. The sun will heat the surface and the

In all countries there is a summer and a winter, or a difference of seasons; the former being hotter from the greater length of the day, or of the time the sun is above the horizon, and therefore acting

en the land and air: the mean annual temperature is the average of these different temperatures, as found by repeated observations; and is that, nearly, of the spring or autumn of the year in each country. The summer-heat on the continents is greater, and the cold of winter more intense, than on an island; the former are said to have an excessive climate, and the latter an insular climate; yet the mean temerature of a place on the continent, may be the same as one on an and in the same latitude. The reader must bear all these facts n mind, and he will perceive that it is impossible to give any general rule on this subject.

It has been calculated, that the mean temperature of the equator round the globe is about 85°, and that at the poles is -10°, or ten degrees below zero, water freezing at 32° above zero. In the tropics, the line of perpetual snow is at about the height of 16,000 feet above the sea: in latitude 45°, (that of Venice and South Europe,) it is at about 6000 feet.

But if we suppose the same plain to consist, instead of barren sand, of some earth favourable for the growth of grass, or moss, or any verdure, this would screen the earth from the accumulating heat. Little or no upward current would arise, clouds would be condensed in the higher regions, and rain would fall, or at least, the vapours would be condensed by the colder vegetable clothing, and this dew would accelerate the growth of fresh plants, till in time, a forest might cover the former naked expanse. These trees would still further shade the earth, and preserve its moistened surface from evaporation, and would also attract moisture, and consequently keep down the temperature of such a country.

When, however, a sandy plain is surrounded by lofty mountains, a quantity of water is always collected from the atmosphere by their summits, and naturally descending their sides, irrigates the plain by rivers, which counteract the aridity that would otherwise accompany it; or if not abundant enough to form rivers, at least forms springs, as is the case with the Oases of Africa. (See p. 39.) It is very difficult to ascertain or to be aware of the difference of level of adjacent countries, by simple ocular inspection. A valley intersecting a plain, is obvious to every one traversing it, but if a person ascend a chain of hills rising from a plain, on descending on the other side he cannot immediately tell whether he is come down to the same level as the plain, or whether he is above or below it.

We all know that the land, generally, must be highet than the level of the sea, or the sea would overflow it and we know that the land is not equally high, because we see it shelve down to the shore in some parts, or form very steep cliffs in others, while we see valleys and mountains varying it on all sides. Few persons, however, are aware, that the difference in the level of extensive regions is so great, that while the Table-Land of Asia is raised 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, there is a vast extent, of about 18,000 square miles, in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, that is absolutely below the level of the ocean. It is now known, that in the course of many ages, great revolutions in the surface of the globe are brought about by the slow, but constant, wearing down of all the elevated parts, by the action of water, and also through the elevation of new islands and continents from the bottom of the deep by earthquakes. There is conclusive evidence of the greater part of Europe having been raised from the deep, since the existence of other more ancient countries.

Now, if we suppose a large tract of the bed of the ocean to be gradually raised till it forms dry land, it will for many ages present the appearance of a level tract or plain, and such is probably the origin of most of those extensive deserts, steppes, plains, &c., which are found in different parts of the world.

We purpose, in this paper, to give a popular account of some of these, since they are less known from their being comparatively uninhabited, and little visited; and the varieties in their appearance and their productions, with the few common points of resemblance, will afford a useful and entertaining lesson, and enable us to judge of the inexhaustible fund of amusement and of knowledge which Physical Geography presents.

We shall commence with the plains in South America, called

THE LLANOS.

AT the foot of the lofty range of mountains in the province of Caraccas, there lies a vast plain, stretching southwards

This theory 'has been advanced and maintained by Professor Lyell, in his recent work, Principles of Geology, with such power of reasoning and extent of knowledge as will, we are convinced, cause a new epoch in the science of Geology. We may here, once for all, acknowledge our obligations to that work, for many of the principles and facts in any way connected with that science which have appeared in the Supplements of this Magazine,

far beyond the limits of the visible horizon. The contrast presented on leaving the fertile, undulating valleys of that country, and the shores of the lake of Tacaragua, dotted over with islands covered with luxuriant vegetation, is indescribable. The traveller quits a beautiful tract, covered with the palms, sugar-canes, &c., of a tropical land, to enter on a barren desert. No hill, no elevation, disturbs the monotony of the scene, except here and there flat banks, so called by the natives, raised only a few feet above the general level, but, from their slight elevation and their great extent, hardly distinguishable. These are sometimes two hundred square miles in extent, and appear like islands in a waveless sea.

That this plain was once the bottom of an ocean, tnere is conclusive evidence, from those facts which speak more decisively than any historic human records; and at that time the banks formed shoals analogous to those in our present seas. The observant and scientific traveller has his imagination carried back to this primæval period, by an optical illusion presented to his view. When at night the eye ranges over the level tract to the extreme limit of vision, the level line which forms the horizon reminds him of that of a tranquil ocean*, and the stars as they rise or set, are absolutely reflected in the stratum of air that lies on the earth, as if seen in real water. This phenomenon arises from the same causes which produce the mirage of the desert, in day time; that illusion which mocks the thirsty and fainting traveller with the appearance of lakes of water, when journeying over hot sandy plains,.

But the real ocean, with its associations, is a pleasing, though sublime object, while the "Llanos" of South America lie stretched out before the eye, like the naked rocky crust of a worn-out planet. The interest they excite is of a peculiar kind, and arises only from their natural history. Unlike the deserts of Africa, they contain no Oases to recall the mind to earlier races of inhabitants; no carved monuments, no ruins, to suggest the idea of a past age of glory and renown; no fruit-trees run wild, to indicate that the diligence of past generations was exerted to provide food for their population. This portion of our globe seems estranged from all human interest; a wild arena for unfettered animal and vegetable existence.

The Llanos extend from the mountains on the coast of Caraccas to the forests of Guayana; from the snowy mountains of Merida to the great Delta of the Orinoco; in a south-westerly direction, they stretch, like an arm of the sea, from the rivers Meta and Nichada, to the unfrequented sources of the Guaviare, comprising a surface of about sixteen thousand square miles. Though thus close to the equator, yet, from the physical geography of this continent, they do not resemble the Sahara of Africa in constant barrenness, but, during one half of the year, are covered with grass, like the Pampas of Buenos Aires, or the Table-Lands of central Asia.

The causes of the lower temperature and greater moisture of the climate of equinoctial America, compared with that of Africa, are to be found in the peculiar form of this part of the globe. Narrow, and much indented with seas and bays within the northern tropic, it presents but a comparatively small surface to the action of the sun's rays; while the great expanse towards the North Pole; an open ocean, over which the tropical winds come; the flatness of the eastern coast; the stream of cold sea-water which flows from Terra del Fuego along the Peruvian coast; the number of mountain-chains rearing their snow-covered summits far above the clouds; the multitude of enormous

rivers; impenetrable forests, occupying the equatorial regions where the land is most extended; all concur to keep down the heat and aridity of America, compared with the African peninsula, which is diametrically opposed to it in all these characteristics. These peculiarities are sufficient to explain, why Africa and South America present the most opposite character of climates, and the most different features of vegetation.

Though the Llanos are covered with a thin coating of fertile earth, and are periodically flooded by rains, so that they are decorated with luxuriant verdure; yet the neighbouring native tribes have never been enticed to leave the lovely valleys of the Caraccas and the coast, or the shores of the Orinoco, to settle in these wastes. On the first arrival of European and African settlers, these deserts were found nearly destitute of inhabitants. The Llanos are now especially appropriated to rearing cattle, though the management of animals yielding milk fit for human food was unknown to all the aborigines of the new continent.

Two kinds of native cattle pasture in the grass-plains of West Canada as well as in Mexico: the long-horned mouflon, the original stem of the sheep, abounds on the dry, naked, calcareous rocks of California; and the camel like vikunnas, alpacas, and llamas, are peculiar to the southern continent. Except the last, all these useful animals have preserved their natural freedom for thousands of years, the employment of milk and cheese as articles of food, like the culture of farinaceous grasses, being a characteristic distinction of the people of the old world. Since, therefore, as it appears, the shepherd's life, that beneficial middle-state which fixes the wandering hunter tribes to the meadows, and prepares them for the pursuits of agriculture, was unknown to the original inhabitants of America, it is to this circumstance, that the absence of population in the Llanos, on their first discovery by Europeans, must be attributed. Hence appears also a variety of animal forms which have remained in a state of nature, uncontrolled by the presence of man.

Each continent of the globe has animals peculiar to it; many are only different species of genera found elsewhere; but there are many genera of animals peculiar to South America; though these are not so strikingly different from the animals of the old world, as those of New Holland are from the animals of all the rest of the world.

In the Llanos are found, the agouti, of the same order as the guinea-pig, rabbit, porcupine, &c.; it is about the size of a hare, and has many of its habits. The armadillo, a singular animal, having a scaly hard shell, which is

THE ARMADILLO.

food, and burrows in the ground. The chiguire or capybara, another animal of the guinea-pig tribe, and the largest known; lives in herds on the banks of rivers, and feeds on fish and fruits. The chinche, a species of marten, like our European pole-cat, possesses, but in a much greater degree, the power of defending itself, by emitting an odour, so intolerable, as seriously to affect men or animals exposed to it. Another, the mariputa, dwelling on the banks of the Orinoco, is protected from the jaguar, its chief enemy, by the virulence and fœtidness of the effluvia which it emits.

Of the more formidable animals, the puma, or American lion, must be mentioned first; but both this, and the

Jaguar, and other allied species, are well known to Europeans, from being seen in most menageries. These are but a few of the multitude of living creatures that swarm on these plains.

Nearly uninhabitable except to such animals, these plains would never have arrested the steps of those tribes who, Indian-like, prefer vegetable food, were not the Mauritia, or Fan-palm, found scattered over them here and there. The benefits of this important plant are widely known: the stem attains a height of five and twenty feet, in about 120 or 150 years, and they form lovely groups of brilliant green in moist spots, something as our alders do. They preserve by their shade the humidity of the ground, and hence the Indians maintain, that the Mauritia mysteriously attracts water to its roots".

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in the lowest scale of human cultivation, a whole race dependent on a single plant, as certain insects are confined to one part of a flower.

The discovery of the New World by the Europeans, has, of course, altered this scene; and these plains are now become inhabited. Towns are built, here and there, on the banks of the rivers, for the sake of facilitating the intercourse between the coast and Guayana, while others, in the interior, are the abodes of families who rear cattle, as is now every where done on these boundless wastes. These villages, for they deserve no higher denomination, lie sometimes several days' journeys apart, and consist of rude huts, constructed of stakes and reeds woven together, and covered with hides. Horses, mules, and cattle, left to run wild, in innumerable troops, roam over the steppes. The incredible multiplication of these animals, since their introduction from the Old World, is the more astonishing, when the manifold dangers and privations to which they are exposed in that country, are taken into consideration.

When the vertical rays of the ever-cloudless sun have withered up the grass to dust, the hardened earth opens as if shaken by an earthquake. If the surface is then acted on by opposing currents of air, a singular appearance is presented on the plain. Funnel-shaped clouds of sand rise from the ground, in the middle of the vortex, analogous to the water-spouts so formidable to the mariner on the ocean; a troubled straw-coloured light is thrown from the sky, which seems as if it had come down nearer the earth; the horizon appears to approach, and contributes still more to bewilder the traveller, caught in this commotion: the air, filled with sand, augments the usual heat, the east wind comes, heated by contact with the glowing earth, and brings any thing but refreshment . The small pools of water, hitherto protected from evaporation by the shade of the Fan-palm, are at length dried up; as, in the north, animals become torpid from excess of cold, here the contrary cause produces a similar effect, and the crocodile and the boa lie buried deep in the hardened earth. Here, also, the deceitful mirage allures the beguiled wanderer the horses and cattle, tormented with burning thirst, and bewildered by the clouds of sand, run around neighing and bellowing with outstretched necks, snuffing the wind, to detect, by the slightest moisture in the current, some distant pool, which has escaped the effects of the heat. The mules, with more apparent foresight, seek alleviation from the Melon-Cactus, which contains a juicy and refresh

THE FAN-PALM.

This tree alone supports the unsubdued nation of the Guaraunes, who dwell near the mouths of the Orinoco. They suspend mats made of the stalks of the leaves with great skill from stem to stem; and during the rainy season, when the Deltat is overflowed, they reside entirely in the trees by means of these mats, as completely as if they were apes. These hanging huts are partly covered over with clay: the fires for domestic purposes are lighted on the lower story, which is always damp from the subjacent water, and the traveller by night, in sailing along the river, sees the flames in rows, suspended, as it were, in the air.

But besides a secure dwelling, the Mauritia affords them food also; before the blossoms of the male tree burst their delicate spathes, or sheaths, and at that period alone, the pith of the stem contains a sago-like kind of meal, which, like Cassava, is dried in thin cakes. The sap, when fermented, becomes a sweet, intoxicating wine; the fruit, which is reddish, resembles a pine-cone in form, and affords, like the Pisang, and most fruits of the tropics, a varied nourishment in its different stages. Thus we find,

By an analogous fallacy, mistaking cause and effect, they protest against the destroying of snakes; because they say the lagunes dry up when these reptiles are removed. The Mauritia thrives only where moisture collects, and the serpents only frequent the stagnant ponds.

When a river empties itself into the sea by several mouths, these form a triangular figure, and the plain through which they run is called the Delta of the river, from the name of the Greek letter D, which is of a triangular form.

Many Pa.ms are what botanists term diacious; that is, have the male and female flowers distinct from each other, on separate plants.

THE MELON-CACTUS.

ing interior beneath its hard and prickly bark; they strike aside the prickles with their fore-foot, and then with great

It has been computed that 1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 mules, wander at large in the plains north of the Orinoco; horses;-all these sprang from the few individuals carried over by and in the Pampas that there are 12,000,000 cattle and 3,000,000 the Spaniards on their first settling! The horned cattle are principally valuable for their hides and tallow; 800,000 are annually exported from Buenos Aires and Monte Video alone.

These clouds of dust are especially frequent in the Peruvian sandy plains, between Amotape and Coquimbo; they would be very fatal to travellers, if not avoided when seen approaching. arise during a general calm; in this, also, the analogy between the What appears remarkable is, that these partial whirlwinds always ocean of air and the ocean of water is preserved; in the latter, small streams, in which the rippling is distinctly audible, are often observed during a dead calm. Electricity is the primary cause of all these phenomena.