FOOTMARKS . 29
masters of art . ' We reached Italy , but here his illness soon took a decided turn , he died , after a decline of eleven months , in a residence in the Piazza Barberini : and , as if the prophetic dream of his father was to be fulfilled to the letter , his whole effects , according to the invariable custom in Rome , ( for in Italy consumption is regarded as peculiarly infectious , ) were , on the same day on which he died and was buried , committed to the flames , with the furniture of his apartment , and even his carpet ; every thing , in short , ex- cept his papers . Nay , a friend who at that time resided with us in Rome , and subsequently re- turned , told me that two years afterwards the apartments inhabited by Emanuel still remained unoccupied as he left them .
“ I cared little , as you may imagine , during these shifting scenes , about financial concerns , and when I revisited this country , it was to find that I had returned to it only not absolutely a beggar , and destined , I fear , to make all my friends melancholy around me .
" Thus has a numerous family been effaced from the earth , though not from my heart , leav- ing behind them nothing but this portrait , which seems daily to hold forth the lesson , how vain is beauty , how fleeting is life ! "
Lceased , and the silence continued , while the portrait circulated once more among the now deeply affected and sympathizing assembly . The evening which had begun with loud revelry , had gradually glided into the deep stillness of night . The friends rose , and even the younger of them , who had proposed the health of their mistresses with such proud confidence and frolic vanity , separated in silence , after pressing the hand of the narrator , as if in token that he had become to all of them an object of esteem , of sympathy , and affection .
FOOTMARKS .
VOLTAIRE , in Zadig , has attributed to his hero a sagacity in tracing footsteps , which , no doubt , has often been considered an idle invention . Such a power , however , appears to be possessed by the Arabs to a degree which deprives even Zadig of the marvellous . " The Arab , " says Burckhardt , " Who has applied himself diligently to the study of footsteps , can generally ascertain , from inspecting the impression , to what indivi- dual of his own , or of some neighbouring tribe , the footstep belongs , and therefore is able to judge whether it was a stranger who passed or a friend . He likewise knows , from the slightness or depth of the impression , whether the man who made it carried a load or not . From a certain regularity of intervals between the steps , a Be- douin can judge whether that man , whose feet left the impression was fatigued or not , as the pace becomes more irregular and the intervals unequal ; hence he can calculate the chance of overtaking the man . Besides all this , every Arab knows the printed footsteps of his own
camels , and of those belonging to his immediate neighbours . He knows by the depth or slight- ness of the impression whether a camel was pasturing , and therefore not carrying any load , or mounted by one person only , or heavily load- ed . If the marks of the two fore feet appear to be deeper in the sand , he concludes that the camel had a weak breast , and this serves him as a clue to ascertain the owner . In fact , a Be- douin , from the impression of a camel's or of his driver's footsteps , draws so many conclusions , that he always learns something concerning the beast or its owner ; and in some cases this mode of acquiring knowledge appears almost super- natural . The Bedouin sagacity in this respect is wonderful , and becomes particularly useful in the pursuit of fugitives , or in searching after cattle . I have seen a man discover and trace the footsteps of his camel in a sandy valley , where a thousand of other footsteps crossed the road in every direction ; and this person could tell the name of every one who had passed there in the course of that morning . I myself found it often useful to know the impressions made by the feet of my own companions and camels ; as from circumstances which inevitably occur in the desert , travellers sometimes are separated from their friends . In passing through danger- ous districts , the Bedouin guides will seldom permit a townsman or stranger to walk by the side of his camel . If he wears shoes , every Bedouin who passes will know by the impression that some townsman has travelled that way ; and , if he walk barefooted , the mark of his step , less full than that of a Bedouin , immediately betrays the foot of a townsman , little accustomed to walk . It is therefore to be apprehended that the Be- douins , who regard every townsman as a rich man , might suppose him loaded with valuable property , and accordingly set out in pursuit of him . A keen Bedouin guide is constantly and exclusively occupied during his march in exa- mining footsteps , and frequently alights from his camel to acquire certainty respecting their na- ture . I have known instances of camels being traced by their masters during a distance of six days ' journey , to the dwelling of the man who had stolen them . Many secret transactions are brought to light by this knowledge of the athr , or footsteps ; and a Bedouin can scarcely hope to escape detection in any clandestine proceeding , as his passage is recorded upon the road in cha- racters that every one of his Arabian neighbours can read . " - Notes on the Bedouins and Waha- bys , by Burckhardt .
GENIUS is invoked in vain ; it obeys no sum- mons , heeds no invitation , lies not in the path of the persevering , follows not the traces of the in- dustrious : disdaining the hand of culture , it throws forth its blossoms in all the sportive lux- uriance of nature . Upon genius , every other mental plant may be engrafted ; but it must itself be of spontaneous growth -- an ever welcome , but always an unbidden guest .
