Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/419

 us. xii. NOV. 20, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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dignity preserved by the Dons made the Tahitians regard them as superior beings.

The most interesting event in native history recorded here is the pathetic death of Vehiatua, the young arii or chief, which is described by the Padres.

The third voyage of the Aguila was an undis tinguished affair, undertaken for the purpose of supplying the missionaries with further stores and learning how they fared. Don Cayetano de Langara,the commander, was met, however, by an instant request that he would take all he brought out back to El Callao again and the two friars along with it, and he had no choice but to comply.

During the years 1772-1775 the Spaniards made seven discoveries of islands which no Euro- pean had seen before, mostly in the " Low " Archipelago. One belongs to the Austral group, the island of Ra'ivavae, with the discovery of which our Admiralty Sailing Directions credit Lieut. Broughton, who sighted it in 1791, but who is now shown to have been anticipated by Gayangos and Andia,who found it in 1774. Andfa also made an independent find, that of the island of Las Animas,for which he has yet to receive the due credit.

A word must be said in praise of the manner in which the editor has carried out his task. The translations read excellently ; the notes are models of carefully verified and well-judged comment, copious in information ; and there is a correspondence of tone and outlook between the subjoct-matter and the editorial work as a whole which adds zest and pleasure to instruction.

Old London's Spas, Baths, and Wells. By Septimus

Sunderland, M.D. (Bale, Sons & Danielsson,

7.9. Qd.)

THIS is another of the many books given in recent years to the ungrateful student of London history and topography that are neither helpful nor encour- aging. Developed from a presidential address read in November, 1914, to the Balneological Section of the Society of Medicine, it is made into a volume with thirty-six indifferent illustrations, a rather poor bibliography, and a nineteen-page index, some of which is superfluous.

Since the history and lighter interest of these resorts have already been set forth adequately in two works, we should have expected from this writer and from the occasion of the paper which forms the nucleus an authoritative treatise on the medicinal value of these so-called curative springs and wells. There is a tendency to dismiss as exaggerated the claims of their contemporary pamphleteers. Peters, Guidot, Bevis, and others ; any therapeutic merit is obscured by the interests of entertainment. Even the user of the waters was allowed to drink cordials to disguise the unpleasant taste," and thereby mitigate their efficacy, so that, with few exceptions, the medicinal springs were neglected, while their grounds became popular resorts for tea-drinking, concerts, and various amusements, that induced those who frequented them to remain to un- wholesome hours.

The mo.stjvnotable exception to this deteriora- tion in use was St. Chad's Well, Battle Bridge. Its great purpose was always its spring, which, haying powerful cathartic properties, served neighbouring boarding schools as a substitute for the brimstone and treacle dispensed by Mrs.

Squeers. With alternations of prosperity and adversity, it persisted until 1860, when the Metro- politan Railway swept across its site ; but local tradition claims, and one eruption has evidenced, that it still percolates from a new source. Harnp- stead Wells is still represented by the Chalybeate Spring in Well Walk, a relic of a fine local story and wisely administered charity. Dr. Sunderland associates the Upper Flask and its memories of the Kit-Kat Club with the Wells, one of several indications which seem to show that he did not visit all the sites and places he describes.

This is, however, but one example in the way of mistaken inference and inaccurately given fact. For example, the statement (p. 6), " For many years the New River Company was the only one supplying water to London ; later, seven other companies were founded, of which the Chelsea Waterworks was the first, about th& year 1732," clearly indicates ignorance of the York Buildings Waterworks established 1667, and the important works at London Bridge, erected in 1582. St. Michael's Well and Aldgate Pump are identical ; and New Spring Gardens, Vauxhall, claimed no springs or wells, but owed their name- to being exiled pleasures of the Old Spring Gardens, Charing Cross.

The chapter on ' Olden Baths ' is possibly the most meritorious although more research on Floating Baths was desirable, and Culverwell's Baths in Lothbury should have been mentioned.

Of springs that were important sources of water supply, we cannot trace any mention of the- White Conduit, Lamb's Conduit, and the conduits south of the Tyburn Road that ultimately left the City Corporation possessed of the valuable Conduit Mead Estate.

These errors, selected at random, are only of importance if any practical usefulness is claimed for the volume. As an enthusiast's indulgence in printing for the entertainment of his friends, we may readily condone them, merely warning the student that the book cannot challenge comparison with such works as the late Warwick Wroth's ' London Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century,' or Mr. A. Stanley Foord's ' Springs, Streams, and Spas of London.'

Folk-Lore round Horncastte. By James Alpass

Penny. (Horncastle, Morton, Is.) THIS paper-covered booklet contains sixty folk- lore tales. They are modern tales, some of which are popular versions of extraordinary occurrences, others being echoes of older folk traditions. From what we can gather of them they are genuine folk stories, reflecting the mingling of information and popular belief which is the outcome to be expected of, say, fifty years of gossip, unconnected by reference to documents, and assimilated to- remnants of superstition. It was a good idea to collect these tales, and we hope the compiler'* example will be followed, for our own time has a folk-lore of its own to which, in our eagerness over survivals of a remote past, we give some- what too scant attention.

Witches, the " Old Lad," and apparitions figure here to a somewhat surprising extent ; and charms, haunted houses, murders, and people with second sight are frequent. The gruesome predominates. The date of the events supposed to have taken place is usually from forty to sixty years ago. Old types naturally prevail, but here and there one comes across-