XIV. Table showing the VALUE OF AN ANNUITY on the Joint Continuance of Two Lives, when the The Northampton Table (No. 7.), by under-rating the duration of life, was a very advantageous guide for the insurance offices to go by in insuring lives; but to whatever extent it might be beneficial to them in this respect, it became equally injurious when they adopted it as a guide in selling annuities. And yet, singular as it may seem, some of the insurance offices granted annuities on the same terms that they insured lives; not perceiving that, if they gained by the latter transaction, they must obviously lose by the former. Government also continued for a lengthened period to sell annuities according to the Northampton Tables, and without making any distinction between male and female lives! A glance at the Tables of M. Deparcieux ought to have satisfied them that they were proceeding on entirely false principles. But, in despite even of the admonitions of some of the most skilful mathematicians, this system was persevered in until within these few years! We understand that the loss thence arising to the public may be moderately estimated at 2,000,000l. sterling. Nor will this appear a large sum to those who recollect that, supposing interest to be 4 per cent., there is a difference of no less than 911. 18. in the value of an annuity of 501. for life, to a person aged 45, between the Northampton and Carlisle Tables. INVOICE, an account of goods or merchandise sent by merchants to their correspondents at home or abroad, in which the peculiar marks of each package, with other particulars, are set forth. (See example, vol. i. p. 207.) IONIAN ISLANDS, the name given to the islands of Corfu, Paxo, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cephalonia, Zante, Cerigo, and their dependent islets. With the exception of Cerigo, which lies opposite to the south-eastern extremity of the Morea, the rest lie pretty contiguous, along the western coasts of Epirus and Greece; the most northerly point of Corfu being in lat. 39° 48′ 15′′ N., and the most southerly point of Zante (Cape Kieri, on which there is a light-house) being in lat. 37° 38′ 35′′ N. Kapsali, the port of Cerigo, is in lat. 36° 7′ 30′′ N., lon. 23° E. The area and present population of the different islands may be estimated as follows:- Soil and Climate.-These are very various-Zante is the most fruitful. It consists principally of an extensive plain, occupied by plantations of currants, and having an air of luxuriant fertility and richness. Its climate is comparatively equal and fine, but it is very subject to earthquakes. Corfu and Cephalonia are more rugged and less fruitful than Zante; and the former from its vicinity to the snowy mountains of Epirus, and the latter from the Black Mountain (the Mount nos of antiquity) in its interior, are exposed in winter to great and sudden variations of temperature. In January, 1833, the cold was more rigorous than usual, the frost damaging to a great extent the oranges and vines of these islands and those of Santa Maura. The latter is, in the hot season, exceedingly unhealthy,-a consequence of the vapours arising from the marshes, and the shallow seas to the N. E. Cerigo is rocky and sterile; it is subject to continued gales, and the currents seldom permit its waters to remain unruffled. History, Government, &c.-These islands have undergone many vicissitudes. Corfu, the ancient Corcyra, was famous in antiquity for its naval power, and for the contest between it and its mother state Corinth, which eventually terminated in the Peloponnesian war. Ithaca, the kingdom of Ulysses; Cephalonia, sometimes called Dulichium, from the name of one of its cities; Zante, or Zacynthus; Santa Maura, known to the ancients by the names of Leucas or Leucadia, celebrated for its promontory, surmounted by a temple of Apollo, whence Sappho precipitated herself into the ocean; and Cerigo, or Cythera, the birth-place of Helen, and sacred to Venus;-have all acquired an immortality of renown. But, on comparing their present with their former state, we may well exclaim, Heu quantum hæc Niobe, Niobe distabat ab illâ !— After innumerable revolutions, they fell, about 350 years ago, under the dominion of Venice. Since the downfall of that republic, they have had several protectors, or rather masters, being successively under the dominion of the Russians, the French, and the English. By the treaty of Paris, in 1815, they were formed into a sort of semi-independent state. They enjoy an internal government of their own, under the protection of Great Britain; a Lord High Commissioner, appointed by the king of England, having charge of the foreign relations, and of the internal, maritime, and sanitary police. His Majesty's commander-in-chief has the custody of the fortresses, and the disposal of the forces. It is stipulated in the treaty of Paris, that the islands may be called upon for the pay and subsistence of 3,000 men, as well as for the repair of their fortresses occupied by the British troops. The executive government is vested in a president nominated by the commissioner, and a senate of 5 members (1 for each of the larger islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, and Santa Maura, and 1 representing collectively the smaller ones of Ithaca, Cerigo, and Paxo, by each of which he is elected in rotation). The senators are elected at the commencement of every quinquennial parliament (subject to a negative from the commissioner) from a legislative chamber of 40 members, themselves elected by the constituencies of the different islands, for 5 years. The senate and legislative assembly, together with the commissioner, are thus the supreme authority: they are, when united, termed the Parliament, and, as such, pass, amend, and repeal laws, in the mode prescribed by the constitution of 1817. Besides the general government, there is in each island a local administration, composed of a regent, named by the senate, and from 2 to 5 municipal officers elected by their fellow citizens. The State of Society, in these islands, is far from being good, and was formerly the most depraved imaginable. The people, when they were placed under the ægis of England, were at once lazy, ignorant, superstitious, cowardly, and bloodthirsty. Their vice may, we believe, be, in a great degree, ascribed to the government and religion established amongst them. The latter consisted of little more than a series of fasts and puerile observances; while the former was both weak and corrupt. The Venetians appointed to situations of power and emolument belonged mostly to noble but decayed families, and looked upon their offices merely as means by which they might repair their shattered fortunes. Hence the grossest corruption pervaded every department. There was no crime for which impunity might not be purchased. Justice, in fact, was openly bought and sold; and suits were decided, not according to the principles of law or equity, but by the irresistible influence of faction or of gold. In consequence, the islands became a prey to all the vices that afflict and degrade a corrupt and semi-barbarous society. Sandys, one of the best English travellers who ever visited the Levant, having touched at Zante in 1610, expresses himself with respect to the inhabitants as follows:- In habite they imitate the Italians, but transcend them in their revenges, and infinitely less civil. They will threaten to kill a merchant that will not buy their commodities; and make more conscience to breake a fast than to commit a murther. He is weary of his life that hath a difference with any of them, and will walke abroad after daylight. But cowardice is joined with their crueltie, who dare doe nothing but sodainly upon advantage; and are ever privately armed. They are encouraged to villainies by the remissnesse of their laws. The labourers do go into the fields with swords and par *This is equal to 1001 3 English square miles of 69.15 to the degree. IONIAN ISLANDS. 113 tizans, as if in an enemie's countrey; bringing home their oils and wines in hogskins, the inside turned out."-(p. 7. ed. 1637.) If the Zantiotes did not deteriorate during the next 2 centuries, which, indeed, was hardly possible, they certainly did not improve. Dr. Holland, by whom they were visited in 1812, tells us that he heard, on sure authority, that the number of assassinations in Zante has been more than 1 for each day of the year, though the population was only 40,000!"-(Travels in the Ionian Isles, &c. 4to ed. p. 23.) Matters were, if not quite so bad, very little better in the other islands. In Cephalonia, the inhabitants were divided into factions, entertaining the most implacable animosities, and waging a war of extermination against each other. A little vigour on the part of their rulers would have served to suppress their murderous contests. But this was not an object they wished to attain: on the contrary, their seinsh and crooked policy made them seek to strengthen their own power by fomenting the dis sensions that prevailed amongst their subjects.-(Bellin, Description du Golfe de Venise, p. 165.) Considering the state of society at home, we need not wonder that the Cephalonians, who were distinguished among the islanders for activity and enterprise, were much addicted to emigration. The Venetians attempted to check its prevalence; but, as they neglected the only means by which it could be prevented,-the establishment of security and good order at home,-their efforts were wholly unsuccessful. The islanders did not, however, satisfy themselves with attempting to stab and prey upon each other. They were much addicted to piracy, particularly the inhabitants of Santa Maura and Cerigo; and it has been alleged that the Venetian government participated in the profits of this public robbery, which, at all events they took little pains to suppress. A long series of years will be required to eradicate vices so deeply rooted, and to effect that thorough change in the habits and morals of the people that is so indispensable. The power and influence of the British government has already, however, had a very decided effect: assassination has become comparatively unknown; piracy has been suppressed; and a spirit of industry, sincerity, and fair dealing is beginning to manifest itself. The present generation of nobles possess a superior degree of informination, and a knowledge of the true interests of their country, which, if not all that could be wished, was, at least, unknown to their fathers. It is not easy to exaggerate the difficulties with which Sir Thomas Maitland had to struggle during the first years of the British government. He was opposed by every means that feudal rancour, corruption, and duplicity could throw in his way. Those accustomed to the treachery, shuffling, and jobbing of the Venetian and RussoTurkish governments, and the intrigues of the French, could neither appreciate nor understand the plain, straightforward course natural to British officers. These difficulties have, however, materially diminished; and it is to be hoped that the influence of our example, and of that education now pretty generally diffused, will gradually accomplish the regeneration of the islanders. Manufactures, &c.-These islands possess few manufactures properly so termed. The wives of the villani, or peasants, spin and weave a coarse kind of woollen cloth, sufficient in great part for the use of their families. A little soap is made at Corfu and Zante. The latter manufactures a considerable quantity of silk gros-de-Naples and handkerchiefs; the art of dyeing is, however, too little studied, and the establishments are on too small a scale. The peasantry, in general, are lazy, vain, delighting in display, and very superstitious. Those of Zante and Cephalonia are more industrious than the Corfiotes; in the first particular, their superior condition is probably to be ascribed, in part at least, to the nobles residing more on their estates in the country, and contributing, by their example, to stimulate industry. In Corfu, the taste for the city life, which prevailed in the time of the Venetian government, still operates to a great degree. The Corfiote proprietor resides but little in his villa; his land is neglected, while he continues in the practice of his forefathers, who preferred watching opportunities at the seat of a corrupt government, to improving their fortunes by the more legitimate means of honourable exertion and attention to their patrimony. In this respect, however, a material change for the better has taken place during the last 20 years. Imports of Grain, &c.-Great part of the land is held under short tenures, on the metayer system, the tenant paying half the produce to the landlord. Owing to the nature of the soil, and the superior attention given to the culture of olives and currants, the staple products of the islands, most part of the grain and cattle required for their consumption is imported. The hard wheat of Odessa is preferred, and about 800,000 dollars may be annually sent to the Black Sea in payment. The imports of wheat in 1826 were 178,288 moggi, or about 891,440 bushels. The parliament, in March, 1833, repealed the duties on the introduction of corn; and the grain monopoly of Corfu, which had been established in favour of government, in order to provide against the possibility of a general or partial scarcity, was then also suffered to expire. These 2 sources of revenue, while they existed, did not probably produce less than 20,000l. annually. Cattle. They are similarly dependent upon Greece and Turkey for supplies of butcher's meat; a small number only of sheep and goats being bred in the islands. Oxen, whether for agriculture or the slaughterhouse, are brought from Turkey, to the annual amount of more than 90,000 dollars. The beef eaten by the troops is 6 weeks or 2 months walking down from the Danube, and the provinces that skirt it, to the shores of Epirus, where they remain in pasture until fit for the table. Exports.-The staple exports from these islands are oil, currants, valonia, wine, soap, and salt. The first is produced in great abundance in Corfu and Paxo, and in a less quantity in Zante, Santa Maura, and Cephalonia. Corfu has, in fact, the appearance of a continuous olive wood; a consequence, partly, of the extraordinary encouragement formerly given to the culture of the plant by the Venetians. Although there is a harvest every year, the great crop is properly biennial; the tree generally reposing for a year after its effort. (In France and Piedmont the period of inactivity is of 2 and 3 years.) During 5 or 6 months, from October till April, the country, particularly in Corfu, presents an animated appearance, persons of all ages being busily employed in picking up the fruit. It is calculated that tire islands produce, one year with another, about 95,000 barrels, of 18 gallons each, and that of this quantity 80,000 are exported, principally to Trieste. The average price may be about 17. 11s. per barrel. Under the old Venetian system, the oil could only be carried to Trieste. An ad valorem duty of 191 per cent., payable on the export, produces upon an average 28,000l. annually. The quality might be much improved by a little more care in the manufacture, the trees being generally finer than in any other country. Currants, originally introduced from the Morea, are grown in the isles of Zante, Cephalonia, and Ithaca, but principally in the first. The plant is a vine of small size and delicate nature, the cultivation of which requires much care. Six or 7 years elapse after a plantation has been made, before it yields a crop. In the beginning of October, the earth about the roots of the plant is loosened, and gathered up in small heaps, away from the vine, which is pruned in March; after which the ground is again laid down smooth around the plant, which grows low, and is supported by sticks. The crops are liable to injury in spring from the blight called the "brina," and rainy weather at the harvest season produces great mischief. The currants are gathered towards September, and, after being carefully picked are thrown singly upon a stone floor, exposed to the sun in the open air. The drying process may occupy a fortnight or longer, if the weather be not favourable. A heavy shower or thunderstorm (no unfrequent occurrence at that season) not only interrupts it, but sometimes causes fermentation. The fruit is then only fit to be given to animals. Should it escape these risks, it is 1 deposited in magazines called "seraglie," until a purchaser casts up. The "seragliente," or warehouse keeper, delivers to the depositor a paper acknowledging the receipt of the quantity delivered, which passes currently in exchange from hand to hand till the time of export. Under the old Venetian government, the liberty of traffic in this produce was exceedingly restricted. In Zante, 5 persons chosen out of the council of nobles assembled in presence of the proveditore, regulated what should be the price; and those who wished to purchase were under the necessity of declaring to the government the quantity they desired. This system was called the "collegetto."* The export duties consisted of an original duty of 9 per cent. ad valorem; a duzio fisso, or fixed duty of about 4s. 4d. per cw.; and afterwards of a novissimo, or most recent duty, of 28. 2d. per cwt. This latter was remitted in favour of vessels bringing salt fish, &c. from the northern ports (chiefly English, Danes, and Dutch); it was afterwards relaxed in favour of Russian vessels from Odessa, and abandoned altogether as vexatious and unproductive. The proceditore received in addition 2 per cent., and each of his 2 Venetian councillors 1 per cent.; so that the fruit, the original cost of which was about 9s. the cwt., stood the exporter in little less than 18s. or 19s. Even under British protection, the fruit, which some years before had fetched as much as 30s. and 32s. the cwt., but had declined in 1832 to 8s. the cwt. was burdened with the dazio fisso of 48. 4d., and a duty of 6 per cent, ad valorem, being equivalent together, at that price, to an ad valorem duty of nearly 60 per cent. In the mean time the British parliament had, in 1829, raised the import duties payable in England to the enormous amount of 44s. 4d. the cwt., which, at the same low price, made an ad valorem duty of 500 per cent.! The consequence was rapidly visible; a decline took place in the culture of the plant, as well as in the circumstances and in the affections of the proprietors, whose staple export and means of existence were almost annihilated. As the prices fell, and the distress became greater, the necessitous grower was obliged to borrow money at ruinous interest from foreign merchants, or from the Jews, who were, consequently, able to dictate the price at which they would take his produce. A legislative enactment, on a scale commensurate with the difficulties which it had to grapple with, was, after much deliberation, matured and adopted by the 4th parliament in its session of 1833. By it the whole of the duties upon currants were commuted for an ad valorem tax of 19 per cent., being the same as that laid upon oil. The same act increased, in a small degree, the duties previously paid on the importation of coffee, tea, and sugar, and upon foreign wines, silks, and gloves,-articles which, being chiefly consumed by the affluent, were more appropriately subjected to an increase of duty, to supply in part the serious defalcation of revenue naturally consequent to the reduction of the currant duty. The duties thus increased upon objects of luxury may now amount to from 20 to 25 per cent., which is far from exorbitant. The good effects of this enactment were manifested by an almost instantaneous rise in the price of the fruit which had remained on hand of the crop of 1832. It is calculated that the average quantity of currants produced during the 4 years ending with 1832, has been 19,686,800 lbs. a year; the export has been 17,885,300 lbs. It appears from the accounts laid before the finance committee, that, in 1826, there were exported from the islands 176,974 lbs. of valonia; 32,063 casks of wine; and 723,646 lbs. of soap. Tonnage Duty-The late act of parliament abolished the tonnage duty of 1s. 1d. per ton payable by every ship sailing under Ionian colours, which, together with the heavy fees demanded by the British consuls in the Levant, had driven most of the Cephalonite vessels to seek for protection under the flag of Russia. Loan Banks.-Another act, intended to alleviate the distress experienced by the growers who had been the victims of usury in consequence of their pecuniary difficulties, provided for the establishment of loan banks with capitals (in the larger isles of 20,0001. each, and in the smaller ones in proportion), for lending money at 6 per cent. to the agricultural interest, on agricultural security, and thus employing the surplus which might otherwise lie idle in the treasury. These measures, it is presumed, will go far towards bettering the condition of the islands; and the anticipated reduction of the oppressive import duty upon currants in this country will do more.-(See CURRANTS.) Salt may be obtained in considerable quantities in Corfu, Zante, and Santa Maura, for exportation: the latter island alone produced it until the late act of parliament, which provided that government should let the salt pans in all the islands to those bidders who should offer, by sealed tenders, to supply it at the lowest rate to the consumer, paying at the same time the highest price to government. No export duty is charged upon it. It is apparent from these statements, that heavy duties are levied upon the exportation of the staple products of the islands,-an objectionable system, and one which, if it is to be excused at all, can only be so by the peculiar circumstances under which they are placed. There is no land tax or impost on property in the Ionian Islands, such as exists in many other rude countries; and, supposing it were desirable to introduce such a tax, the complicated state of property in them, the feudal tenures under which it is held, and the variety of usages with respect to it, oppose all but invincible obstacles to its imposition on fair and equal principles. At the same time, too, a large amount of revenue is required to meet the expenses of the general and local governments, to maintain an efficient police, and to prevent smuggling and piracy. However, we cannot help thinking that some very material retrenchments might be made from the expenditure; and it is to this source, more, perhaps, than to any other, that the inhabitants must look for any real or effectual relief from their burdens. Revenue and expenditure.—In 1830, the revenue and expenditure were as follows: A bill for reviving this institution, brought in by a Zantiote member, passed the legislative assem oly in May, 1833; but the senate threw it out, trusting that the enactments mentioned in this article would suthce to relieve the grower from the usurious oppression of the currant speculator. IPECACUANHA. 115 The Ionian republic affords, perhaps, the only example of a state expending nearly a fourth part of its revenue on public works and fortresses. Without, however, questioning the importance of the objects for which so heavy an expense has been incurred, we are inclined to think that the industry and prosperity of the islands would be far more likely to be advanced by the effectual reduction of the duties on the exportation of oil and currants than by any, even the most judicious outlay of the revenue derived from them. IPECACUANHA (Fr. Ipecacuanha; Ger. Amerikanische brechwurzel; It. Ipecoacanna; Port. Cipo de camaras, Ipecacuanha; Sp. Ipecacuana, Raiz de ora), the root of a perennial plant (Cephaëlis ipecacuanha) growing in Brazil and other parts of South America. It is, from its colour, usually denominated white, grey, or ash-coloured, and The grey and brown varieties are brown. Little of the first variety is found in the shops. brought to this country in bales from Rio Janeiro. Both are in short, wrinkled, variously bent and contorted pieces, which break with a resinous fracture. The grey is about the thickness of a small quill, full of knots and deep circular fissures, that nearly reach down to a white, woody, vascular cord that runs through the heart of each piece; the external part is compact, brittle, and looks smooth; the brown is smaller, more wrinkled, of a blackish brown colour on the outside, and whitish within: the white is woody, and has no wrinkles. The entire root is inodorous: but the powder has a faint, disagreeable odour, The taste is bitter, sub-acrid, and extremely nauseous. In choosing ipecacuanha, the larger roots, which are compact and break with a resinous fracture, having a whitish grey, somewhat semi-transparent, appearance in the outside of the cortical part, with a pale straw. coloured medullary fibre, are to be preferred. When pounded, ipecacuanha forms the mildest and safest emetic in the whole materia medica. Though probably employed in America from time immemorial, it was not introduced into Europe till the time of Louis XIV., when one Grenier, a French merchant, brought 150 lbs. of it from Spain, with which trials were |