but as they approached the spot to which their hopes directed them, the illusive shore sunk below the horizon. The object which had deceived them was a fog-bank. On the 14th they reached the latitude 68° 28', and the ice-islands were so numerous as almost to prevent their further progress: no fewer than sixty-six were counted around them. On the 16th their latitude was 70° 26'; the wind moderate; the sea tolerably smooth: ice islands had almost disappeared, and the weather became very pleasant. As they advanced to the southward, the weather still improved: the temperature of the water was not colder than it had been found in summer in latitude 61°. In the evening of the 18th,' says Mr. Weddell, we had many whales about the ship, and the sea was literally covered with birds of the blue peterel kind. Not a particle of ice of any description was to be seen. The evening was mild and serene; and had it not been for the reflection, that probably we should have obstacles to contend with in our passage northward, through the ice, our situation might be envied.'

6

Mr. Weddell had attained by this time the latitude of 72° 24'. On the morning of the 20th, seeing a clouded horizon, and a great number of birds in the S.E., the two vessels stood in that direction. The atmosphere now became very clear, and nothing like land was to be seen. Three ice-islands were in sight from the deck, and one other from the mast-head. Our latitude at this time was 74° 15', and longitude 34° 16′ 45′′. The wind blowing fresh at south, prevented, what I most desired, our making farther progress in that direction.' The lateness of the season, the consideration that they had to pass homewards through 1000 miles of sea, strewed with ice-islands, with long nights, attended probably by fogs, properly enough induced Mr. Weddell to take advantage of this favorable wind for returning. It is perhaps of much more importance that he should have returned to relate his discovery, than that he should have lingered in those dangerous seas, particularly as he was not provided with instruments for examining their phænomena, or supplied with the means of conveniently extending his navigation in that quarter.

The fact, therefore, is ascertained, that an open sea exists beyond the ice-islands, which opposed a barrier to Captain Cook, -a circumstance, which, it may be remarked, is highly favorable to the expectations which are entertained of finding a clear basin at the north; for the two poles most probably resemble each other in many respects.

As to the phænomena which Mr. Weddell had the means of examining, he found that the magnetic energy of the earth upon the needle, was much diminished when far to the south

ward.

ward. He did not observe the Aurora Australis, which Mr. Foster saw in his voyage round the world with Captain Cook in 1773. As the twilight, however, was never out of the sky during the season Mr. Weddell was in those seas, that circumstance might account for this aurora not being visible to him. He observed those distorted appearances which objects and the horizon itself assumed by refraction in high northern latitudes : 'but,' he adds, they occurred here little more than in an ordinary way;' owing, most probably, to this sea being clear of field-ice. Mr. Weddell's observations led him to agree in an opinion, once entertained by Captain Cook, though afterwards altered, that field-ice is formed near, and proceeds from; land. Perhaps the most inexplicable phænomenon of all is that in latitude 74° 15′ Mr. Weddell found a sea perfectly clear of ice, whereas in the latitude 61° 30', about 100 miles from the land, he was beset in heavy packed ice.' Although we may admit the received opinion of navigators, that the southern hemisphere is proportionably colder by 10 degrees of latitude than the northern, yet the South Pole, in truth, seems more attainable than the North, if we may depend on Mr. Weddell's report, which we see no reason whatever to question.

In order to account for the excessive cold of the southern hemisphere, Saint Pierre fancifully supposed it to proceed from a cupola of ice surrounding the South Pole, and stretching far northward. Mr. Weddell thinks he may safely conjecture that the east end of South Shetland, stretches to the W. S.W. beyond the longitude in which Captain Cook penetrated to the latitude of 71° 10′. He further supposes that it is this land that ought to be looked upon as the source from which the extreme cold of these regions proceeds. It is,' he say's, an earthless country, bordered by immense ice-islands, which are continually separating in the summer, and are made, by prevailing westerly winds, almost to girdle the earth, and thus to cause the very low temperature which prevails.' That part of the country which he saw was reared in columns of impenetrable rock, inclosing and producing large masses of ice, even in a low latitude,

'It is certain,' Mr. Weddell observes, that ice-islands are formed only in openings or recesses of land; and field-ice, I think, is not readily formed in a deep sea. On soundings, the water is soon cooled down to the freezing point; hence field-ice is found at the distance of many miles from any shore. These considerations induce me to conclude, that from having but three ice-islands in sight, in latitude 74 degrees, the range of land, of which I have spoken, does not extend more southerly than the 73d degree. If this be true, and

if there be no more land to the southward, the antarctic polar sea may be found less icy than is imagined, and a clear field of discovery, even to the South Pole, may therefore be anticipated.'

We repeat it, that the discovery of this open sea cannot be too highly appreciated, or too speedily taken advantage of by the Admiralty.

On the 20th of February, the two vessels commenced their return northward, and after effecting their passage, though not without being exposed to danger, through the ice-islands, both arrived safe at the island of South Georgia, whence they proceeded to the Falkland Islands, which are now claimed by the state of Buenos Ayres. It is a remarkable fact, that the climate of these islands is said to be much more temperate at present than it was forty years ago, which seems to justify the inference, that great changes must have taken place within that period in the south polar ice. From these islands the two ships sailed to Tierra del Fuego, of the natives of which Mr. Weddell gives many interesting particulars. He touched also on the coast of Patagonia; and ridicules the notion that the inhabitants of that country are such enormous giants as they have been represented by our earlier navigators. From the best accounts that he received, they differed in nothing from the Fuegians, whose stature was of the ordinary height, from five feet five inches to six feet. On the banks of the river Ledger, he discovered the finest trees he ever saw they were of a great height, and more than eight feet in diameter. Four men, joining hand in hand, could not compass them. They would supply the British navy with the finest masts in the world.'

In the course of his narrative, Mr. Weddell introduces a detailed memoir of the South Shetland islands, of which little has been hitherto known. They are wholly without vegetation; they are therefore without terrestrial animals: but they are visited by an abundance of amphibious creatures, the largest of which are the sea-elephants. These were in vast numbers, but the fur-seals, which appear to be found only in the South Seas, were still more plentiful.

It is curious to remark, that the sea-elephant, when lying on the shore, and threatened with death, will often make no effort to escape into the water, but lie still and shed tears, merely raising the head to look at the assailant; and, though very timid, will wait with composure the club or the lance which takes its life. In close contact, every human effort would be of little avail for the destruction of this animal, unwieldy as it is, were it to rush forward, and exert the power of its jaws; for this, indeed, is so enormous, that, in the agony of death, stones are ground to powder between its

teeth.'

A strange

A strange circumstance occurred at Hall Island, which should not be left unnoticed, and which, if it be true, gives great countenance to the popular belief in the existence of mermaids. A sailor had been left on one side of the island, to take care of some produce, while the officers and the rest of the crew were engaged on the other side.

'The sailor had gone to bed, and about 10 o'clock he heard a noise resembling human cries, and as day-light, in these latitudes, never disappears at this season, he rose, and looked around, but on seeing no person, he returned to bed; presently he heard the noise again, and rose a second time, but still saw nothing. Conceiving, however, the possibility of a boat being upset, and that some of the crew might be clinging to some detached rocks, he walked along the beach a few steps, and heard the noise more distinctly, but in a musical strain.

'On searching around he saw an object lying on a rock, a dozen yards from the shore, at which he was somewhat frightened. The face and shoulders appeared of human form, and of a reddish colour; over the shoulders hung long green hair; the tail resembled that of the seal, but the extremities of the arms he could not see distinctly. The creature continued to make a musical noise while he gazed about two minutes, and on perceiving him it disappeared in an instant. Immediately when the man saw his officer, he told this wild tale, the truth of which was, of course, doubted; but to add weight to his testimony, (being a Catholic,) he made a cross on the sand, which he kissed in form of making oath to the truth of his statement.

of

When the story was told me, I ridiculed it; but by way diversion, I sent for the sailor who saw this non-descript into the cabin, and questioned him respecting it. He told me the story as I have related it, and in so clear and positive a manner, making oath as to the truth, that I concluded he must really have seen the animal he described, or that it must have been the effect of a disturbed imagination."

We cannot take leave of Mr. Weddell, without observing that his narrative is uniformly characterized by sound sense, cautious reasoning, and great apparent correctness in his statement of facts. Many of his observations will be found useful in correcting charts; and to nautical men, traversing the South Seas, his information will be invaluable.

ART. XVIII. The Roman Nights at the Tomb of the Scipios ; translated from the Italian of Verri. 2 Vols. Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Hurst and Co. London. 1825.

IT is singular, that until the present volumes made their appearance, we were without a complete English version of the "Notte Romani" of Count Verri. The first volume

(about

(about half) of the original work was published at Rome in the year 1792; and it was not until the fate of this experiment had been decided by a degree of popularity, which had not exhausted itself upon seven editions, that the author was provoked to supply the succeeding portion. The second volume was produced in 1804. In the year 1798 appeared an English translation of the first part, which was then known to France, Spain, Germany, and even Poland, in the respective languages of those countries. A notice of the English version of that part, with copious extracts, will be found in the Appendix to this Review, published in September, 1798.

The Roman Nights' has obtained, almost since the date of its publication, a high and deserved rank among the standard works of European literature. It is the legitimate, produce of patriot enthusiasm, of early and long cherished passion for the wonders of Roman story. Count Verri was a native of that land, which, in its day of fortune, gave birth to the master-spirits of mankind, a compatriot (though generations stood between them,) of the heroes of the elder time. He was a man of genius and refinement, who found, it necessary to vent, in some formal act of commemoration, the excitement which the antient history of his country generated in his mind. The discovery of the tomb of the Scipios, which occurred in the year 1780, seems to have supplied him with a plan. He descended into the ruined monument through a difficult cavern. It was the close of autumn, the season sacred to melancholy thought, when nature begins to sicken at the approach of winter, and puts off the complexion of health and activity. This is the sepulchre of the illustrious men "who cannot die." His mind is intoxicated by the air of such a spot, his senses lose their faculty of perception, and busy fancy conjures around the tomb the shades of the foremost of those who, by mind or by action, made the glory of intellectual and martial Rome. Night after night conferences are renewed, in which the spectres of departed legislators, heroes, orators, or poets, converse freely together on the prominent institutions, the events or characters, that occur in the pages of Roman history. In the article to which we have above alluded, some of those instructive discussions are honorably mentioned.

At the opening of the second volume, which has only been recently translated, we are led by the author to the Palatine Hill in company with some of the most celebrated shades; and there we are met by Romulus, who is recognized by his rude costume, his majestic form, and imperious tone. He inquires about the history of Rome, and attends to its details