is elected, the report of the proceedings of several of the large marble flags of the the previous year is read, and any question pavement have likewise been replaced. concerning the administration and application of the funds determined. The excavations already made have been very successful, and reflect great credit on the committee of management.

*

These excavations have not been made on the principle adopted by Klenze, the celebrated Bavarian architect, who visited Greece in 1834, in order to propose a plan for the restoration of the Parthenon, and The entrance to the Acropolis has been choose a site for the palace of King Otho. cleared, and all the ruins and rubbish which He seems to have been equally unfortunate encumbered the centre of the propylæum in his opinions on both subjects, though have been removed. All the modern build- his hurried visit may afford some apology, ings have been taken down which blocked if his orders were not to exceed the time up the northern wing, and the pinakotheke he devoted to the subject. In this work, is now completely laid open. A consider- published after his return, he expresses able portion of the cella of the Erechtheium some alarm lest the actual palace should has been re-constructed, by replacing the be flooded by the llyssus, and with regard ancient blocks which had fallen, and a sixth to the restoration of the Parthenon, he caryatide has been found, so that the little considered it sufficient to take any drum portico might be restored, except for the of any column at hand, the diameter of one in the British Museum. which nearly corresponded with the spot But the most important labor of the So- it was to occupy, and replace it on the ciety is the clearing the basement of the column to be restored. In this way he reParthenon, and the restoration of those placed one of the drums of a column on the parts of the building which were uninjured, northern side of the temple, where it still to the original places. The northern side remains, as a specimen of the unsightly fighas been completely cleared from the earth ure which the Parthenon would have been and rubbish which covered the fragments rendered had his plan been adopted. I canof the temple, which now remain exposed not, myself, understand how a learned to view in ruined majesty. A well preserv- scholar and an architect of the classic ed metope, three more pieces of the frieze, school, like Klenze, could have entertained and several fragments of sculpture from the idea of defacing a work of the purest different parts of the temple have been architectural taste in this manner. It is found-amongst the rest a colossal owl, well known that no two columns of the about whose position the Athenian anti- Parthenon correspond exactly. The axis quaries have expressed a multitude of opin- of no column being exactly through its cenions. The old mosque in the centre of the tre, every column has likewise an inclinaParthenon has disappeared, but it was not tion towards the centre of the building, and removed until the fall of its portico warned the basement on which they stand, and the the conservator of antiquities to remove all architrave which they support rises in the the fragments of sculpture it contained, and middle of the side. Since the time of Verres destroy it, lest it should destroy something nothing so unclassical has been done in the valuable, by the fall of its heavy dome. way of restoration, and one would almost The centre of the Parthenon would have fancy Mr. Klenze appreciated so little the presented a very meagre appearance after true principles of Hellenic art, that he conthe removal of the mosque, and even the sidered it sufficient to make a column pergeneral appearance of the Acropolis would pendicular. Cicero seems to have held that have lost something of its picturesque a man must have been an utter barbarian beauty, had nothing been done to enable who could so utterly fail to admire one of the eye to connect the two masses of build. the most distinctive beauties of the Greing which formed the eastern and western cian peristyle, and we subjoin the whole fronts, and which were left almost entirely passage as possessing especial interest, for unconnected by the explosion of the Turk-it has not yet been sufficiently attended to ish powder magazine, during the last siege in illustrating this peculiarity of Doric arof Athens by the Venetians. Several columns chitecture.t in this interval have been almost rostored from the fragments found merely overturned by the explosion; 34 drums of columns on the northern side have been replaced their original positions, and 12 on the south side. Part of the wall of the cella, and VOL. III. No. II. 18

Aphoristische Bemerkungen.

† Venit ipse in ædein Castoris: considerat templum: videt undique tectum pulcherrime laqueaintum. præterea cælera nova atque integra: versat e, quærit quid agat. Dicit ei quidem ex illis caniTu Verres hic quod moliare nihil habes, nisi forte bus, quos iste Ligari dixerat esse circa se multos. vis ad perpendiculum columnas exigere. Homo

The Society adopted a very differentological zeal and judgment of the central principle, as they considered the plan of government. For some years no one was Mr. Klenze implied a re-making, not a re- allowed to build, nay, the houses half built, storation, of the Parthenon. No piece of were ordered to be left unfinished, within marble has been replaced, unless in the po- a certain limit, and government determined sition it occupied before the explosion re. to purchase all the ground for excavation. moved it. The Athenian antiquaries con- Many individuals remained ill-lodged, with sider that it will be time enough to discuss half-finished houses, and paying enormous the question, how far restoration ought to rents for upwards of eighteen months. Sudbe carried, when all the fragments in the denly the government plans were changed, Acropolis still prostrate have been reinstated and orders were given to build a large barin their original positions. rack within the sacred inclosure; and in order to remove any respect to Hellenic ruins, part of the building was erected on one of the existing walls of the gymnasium of Hadrian, near the old Turkish bazaar, while the rest of the area was filled up with a layer of rubbish seven feet deep.

Numerous interesting discoveries have likewise been made, but they appertain too exclusively to the domain of the antiquary and topographer to be interesting to general readers. Part of a sculptured frieze of black Eleusinian marble belonging to the Erechtheium was found near that building. An excavation behind the propylæum has exposed to view a beautiful specimen of a building destroyed to make way for the magnificent gateway to the Acropolis, built by Pericles. Many of the sites of temples and monuments mentioned by Pausanias, have been ascertained, and the inscription on the Trojan horse has been found on a vase in the position he mentions that he read it. Much, it is to be hoped, will be found, when it is in the power of the Society to clear out the southern side of the Parthenon, as they have done the northern. Only about half of the metopes of this side are in the British Muesum, and one is in the Museum of the Louvre, so that there seems every probability that many may be found covered with the rubbish, which, from the lowness of the level of the soil on this side, has accumulated in a greater degree than on the north.

The services which the Archaiological Society of Athens has rendered to Europe, may be appreciated from this fact. It could not, however, have accomplished as much as it has already executed, had it not received several donations from Western Europe; and its labors would have been interrupted last year if his Majesty the King of the Netherlands had not sent a donation of 300 drachmas. A request was lately transmitted to Mr. Bracebridge, who has been a liberal promoter of the cause of education in Greece, to attempt the formation of a society, or the establishment of a branch of the Athenian Archaiological Society in London; but from no official authority to act having been forwarded by the committee of management, this was found to be difficult. The state of the Athenian Society was, however, communicated to Colonel Leake, who, with his usual promptness and liberality in aiding the cause of In the town, a considerable space has Greece, immediately sent the Society a subbeen cleared out round the tower of An- scription of 500 drachmas, (£18.) As it is dronicus Kyrrhestes, or the Temple of the probable that many admirers of ancient Art Winds, as it was formerly called. In com- may be inclined to support this useful instimon conversation it is now called the Tem-tution, I have ventured to send you this long ple of Eolus, and forms an appropriate termination to one of the new streets, of course Eolus Street. An excavation was also made by the Society in the Theatre of Bacchus, and near it a curious statue of Silenus, with a young Bacchus sitting on his shoulder, and holding a mask in his hand, was found.

As a contrast to the labors of the Society, I shall now mention a proof of the archai

omnium imperitus, quærit quid sit ad perpendiculum. Dicunt ei, fere nullam esse columnam, quæ ad perpendiculum esse possit. Jam, mehercule, inquit, sic agamus: columnæ ad perpendiculum exigantur. -In Verr. 1. 'De Sartis Tectis exigendi,' pars ultima.

statement of its affairs and proceedings.

It must be observed that the archaiological commission, charged with the publication of the Ephemeris Archæologiké, in which the ancient inscriptions are printed, is not a part of this Society. It consists of persons employed by government, though several members of the commission have been elected also members of the committee of management of the Society, from possessing the requisite qualification for the office in the highest degree. All members of the Archaiological Society are, however, entitled to receive the journal of the commission at a moderate price.

I shall now recapitulate the most re

THE CHINESE FOOT TORTURE.

markable discoveries which have been made in the Greek provinces. An excavation made by the late General Gordon at the Heræum, near Argos, at which I was present, brought to light two interesting fragments-a portion of a marble peacock and a large fragment of a præfix of terra cotta, painted as a peacock's tail. Several trifles in terra cotta and bronzes were likewise found, and an extended excavation at this place would probably yield important results. At Delphi several fragments of the great temple, which it was supposed had entirely disappeared, were accidentally discovered; a small temple was also found, and the late Professor Miller made an excavation into the ancient treasury under the cella of the great temple.

A considerable collection of ancient statues from all parts of Greece has been assembled in the Temple of Theseus, several of them belonging to the first school of art, and rendering this little museum of great interest to antiquaries, and worthy of a visit from all admirers of classic sculpture.

One of the most curious monuments in the collection is the figure of a warrior in low relief, rather above the natural size, and executed with a degree of stiffness, which shows far more affinity to the style of the Egina marbles than to the Attic school of Phidias. Its antiquity, and the visible traces of the painting with which it was adorned, give it great value. This curious piece of sculpture was found at a place called Velanideza, on the coast of Attica, two or three miles south of Araphen, (Rafina), between Hale and Prasiæ, in the year 1839. An ancient demos existed in this plain, and near it there were forty or fifty anopened tumuli, which had excited the attention of several antiquaries. It is said that a society of excavators received permission to open these tumuli, but I have never been able to obtain any exact information on the subject, though I have applied directly to Mr. Pittakis; and Professor Ross was also as unsuccessful as I was.

275

of these excavations has appeared in the
Annals of the Archaiological Institute at
Rome; and the only knowledge the world
possesses of them, is the singular work of
Aristocles, which we have noticed; this,
however, is the best preserved monument
of the most ancient style of Greek art when
it began to rise towards perfection.

tion of some one in England to this subject,
I hope that this letter will call the atten-
capable of rendering it more effectual ser-
vice than lies in my power.
GEORGE FINLAY.

to effect the alteration of the women's feet in China THE CHINESE FOOT-TORTURE-The means taken are decidedly prejudicial to the health, and frequently attended with fatal consequences. This fact was ascertained by a clever young naval surIt happened that during an excursion into the geon who was for some time stationed at Chusan. country, he one day entered a house where he found a child about eight years old very ill, and suffering under severe hectic fever; on examination, he discovered that her feet were undergoing had been a year under this treatment. Moved by the process of distortion; he was informed that she pity for the little sufferer, he proceeded to remove the bindings, and fomented the feet, which were covered with ulcers and inflammation. The change of the toes. in shape had already commenced by the depression evidently grateful for, his treatment. The child was much relieved by, and his leave, he warned the mother that she would On taking certainly lose her child if the bands were replaced; ever he returned (and this happened frequently), he always found them on again, the woman urging as an excuse that her daughter had better die than remain unmarried, and that without improved feet might be expected, the child grew worse and worse. such a calamity would be her inevitable lot. As After a longer interval than usual, he once again revisited the house, but found it untenanted, and a little coffin lying at the door, in which he discover ed the body of his poor young patient.-Loch's will feel the monstrous character of this madness of Closing Events of the Campaign in China. [AI the Chinese females; but is the waist-constriction of our own any better? The extravagance is not equally bad in kind, and there can be no doubt that with us, perhaps, so very great in degree, but it is it also causes coffins to be laid down at doors for 'young patients." We fear it is an extravagance

but his remonstrances were of no avail. When

not in the way of being diminished. There has

been introduced of late years an atrocious piece of

Much mystery attended the whole proceedings, for the Greek government has gene-enginery called the French stay, for casing up the rally been extremely averse to all private frames of young ladies in an artificial and unyieldexcavations, and General Gordon was requested to discontinue his at the Heræum; 1 suppose that many of the vases offered to travellers for sale, in 1839, were from Velanideza. Mr. Pittakis has published no of raising their arms above their heads. What they room to breathe, and entirely takes away the power account of these excavations, and the Ar- might deem its worst peculiarity, if they could judge chatological Society took no notice of them, of it at all, it makes one half of them round-shoulas it is dangerous for a body wishing to live dered, and thus adds a real deformity where it only in peace with all men to attempt penetrat-short, remembering that this is the subject on which creates an imaginary elegance. But we must cut ing where there is mystery. No account it is of no use to speak.-Chambers's Edinburgh Jour

ing shape, in which they believe the ideal of form to be realized. Specimens of it may be seen glasscased in windows in London, and it has also travelled into the provinces. It leaves its victims hardly

DISCOVERIES ON THE NORTH COAST OF discovery at an enormous expense, and

AMERICA.

Fom the Athenæum.

Narrative of the Discoveries on the North
Coast of America; effected by the Officers
of the Hudson's Bay Company during the
Years 1836-39. By Thomas Simpson,
Esq. Bentley.

THIS modest, unpretending volume contains the lively history of one of the most remarkable expeditions, or rather series of expeditions, on record;-remarkable, as filling up and giving continuity to our knowledge of the northern circumpolar coasts of America, through seventy-four degrees of longitude, or, following the windings of the shore, above 2,000 miles, all explored by British enterprise; remark. able as an example of bold and compre. hensive plans, carried into execution with a rare union of consummate prudence and indomitable courage, and completely successful, without a serious accident or mishap, during three trying campaigns. With out accident or mishap, we say; but alas! in the train of so signal a triumph there followed at no great distance a sad disaster, to which we shall return in the sequel. Owing to the untimely fate of the author of this narrative, the task of vindicating his share in the expedition has devolved on his brother, who says,

"Although Mr. Simpson's name appears only as second or junior officer of the expedition, the senior being Mr. Peter Warren Dease, an old and experienced officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, who co-operated with Sir John Franklin on his last expedition,-yet a glance at the narrative in the following pages will prove that Mr. Simpson was really the main-spring of the expedition. He alone was at all conversant with science and the most arduous parts of the service performed by the expedition-the completion of the survey between Mackenzie River and Point Barrow; the exploration of the country between Great Slave Lake and the Coppermine River-essential to the transport across that rugged and sterile country (well called the Barren Grounds) of the boats and provisions of the expedition; and the pedestrian journey along the coast, of the summer of 1838, which opened the prospect of a clear sea to the eastward, securing the success of the expedition in summer 1839, were performed by him alone."

On the failure of Sir G. Back's attempt to reach the Polar Sea by Wager Inlet, or Repulse Bay, the Hudson's Bay Company determined to lend its aid in completing the geography of that nearly inaccessible region. It had often smiled at the expeditions fitted out by Government for Arctic

composed of individuals having plenty of zeal, but who, possessing very little experience of the polar climate, necessarily found difficulty and danger in journeys which, to the practised fur-trader, would have been safe and easy. In July 1836, Messrs. Dease and Simpson received the commands of the Company to conduct an expedition northwards in the following year, and, in the first place, descending Mackenzie River, and proceeding westwards to Return Reef, the furthest point reached by Sir J. Franklin in 1826, to explore the coast onwards from that point to Point Barrow, which had been reached by Mr. Elson in Beechy's voyage. Returning from this western exploration, the expedi tion was to winter at the north-eastern angle of the Great Bear Lake; thence to descend, in the following summer, the Coppermine River, and to follow the coast eastwards, as far as the mouth of the Great Fish River, discovered by Back in 1834. This eastern survey eventually proved to be the work of two summers.

Mr. Simpson started to join the expedi tion at its first winter quarters, near Lake Athabasca, from the Red River settlement, which is situate in the heart of the North American Continent, about 300 miles W.

N. W. from the remotest borders of Canada, above Lake Superior. This colony lies so far from the ordinary track of tourists, and is in itself of so interesting a character, that we cannot refuse to glean from our author's pages some information respecting it:

"Situated under the 50th degree of north latitude, and 97th of west longitude, at an elevation of eight or nine hundred feet above the sea, and stretching for upwards of fifty miles along the wooded borders of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, which flow through a level country of vast extent, it possesses a salubrious climate and a fertile soil; but summer frosts, generated by undrained marshes, sometimes blast the hopes of the husbandman, and the extremes of abundance and want are experienced by an improvident people. Horses, horned cattle, hogs, and poultry, are exceedingly numerous. Sheep have been brought by the Company, at great expense, from England and the Un ted States, and are reared with success. Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, turnips, and most of the ordinary culinary vegetables, thrive well. Pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers come to maturity in the open air in favorable seasons. Maize, pease, and beans, have not been extensively cultivated; hops grow luxuriantly; flax and hemp are poor The banks of the rivers are cultivated to the and stunted; orchards are as yet unknown. width of from a quarter to half a mile. All the back level country remains in its original state-

a vast natural pasture, covered for the greater on the region of oak terminated; but fine part of the year with cattle, and also furnishing woods of elm are found much further the inhabitants with a sufficiency of coarse hay northward, when these in turn give way to for the support of their herds during the winter. The length of this severe season exceeds five pine, poplar, and willow. Much of the months, the rivers usually freezing in Novem- country now lying desert on the western ber and opening in April, when there is a fine side of the Manitobah and Winipegoos sturgeon fishery; but Lake Winipeg, the grand lakes, is capable of producing wheat and receptacle of the river waters, does not break other grains. The cold now became inup till the close of May. The most common tense. On the 23rd, a strong westerly sorts of wood are oak, elm, poplar, and maple; wind, at a temperature of at least 40° bepines are likewise found towards Lake Winipeg. The generality of the settlers dwell in frame low zero, seriously threatened the safety or loghouses, roofed with wooden slabs, bark, or of the party, and notwithstanding every shingles, and, for the most part, whitewashed or precaution, two men were injured by the painted externally. Not a man, however mean cold. After two months' toil, our author or idle, but possesses a horse; and they vie in arrived at Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athagay carioles, harness, saddles, and fine clothes. basca, and concludes this part of his narA great abundance of English goods is import-rative with the following observation :ed, both by the Company and by individuals, in the Company's annual ships to York Factory, and disposed of in the colony at moderate prices. Labor is dear, and produce of all kinds sells at a higher rate than could be expected in such a secluded place."

"Thus happily terminated a winter journey of 1277 statute miles. In the wilderness time and space seem equally a blank, and for the same reason-the paucity of objects to mark or diversify their passage; but. in my opinion, the real secret of the little account which is made

of distance in these North American wilds is, that there is nothing to pay. Every assistance is promptly rendered to the traveller without fee or reward, while health and high spirits smile at the fatigues of the way."

The land at the Red River colony is, in general, given gratuitously to the Hudson's Bay Company's retired servants. These traders, scattered over the country in their early years, and far removed from civilized society, usually marry Indian women, and The forts or trading establishments of consequently, the population of the Red the Company, constitute so many fixed River settlement, which now amounts to points of Indian resort. The Indian finds five thousand souls, consists, in a great in them a market for the produce of the degree, of half-breeds. The restless, tur. chase, a refuge in case of war, and at all bulent passions of this race, have gradually times relief and instruction. It requires driven from the Red River the original all the eloquence and personal influence of Scotch settlers, who have, for the most the trader to persuade the Indian to spare part, migrated to the United States; and the young of the beaver, and other valua. there now remain, in the vicinity of Lake ble fur animals. So obstinate are the red Winipeg, less persevering industry, and men in their improvident habits, so deeply more wild recklessness, than might be ex- seated their destructive propensities, that pected in a British colony of thirty years our author does not hesitate to pronounce standing. At the same time, the Red them irreclaimable. He gives the followRiver colonists are elevated far above saving curious illustration of their innate love age life, and as the fur-traders now take of slaughtering game: their wives from that settlement, rather than from the hut of the wild Indian, a steady improvement in the character of the half-breed population, may be looked forward to as a certain result.

On the 1st of December our author started on his journey northward. There was not yet any snow on the ground. The dogs were allowed, therefore, to draw empty sledges, while the travellers amused themselves with a wolf-hunt, a favorite pastime in the plains around the colony, where the horses are trained to the pursuit of the buffalo and wolf, and to stand fire at full speed. On the ice of the Lake of Manitobah, or the Evil Spirit, the labor of the dogs commenced. A little further

"Near York Factory, in 1831, this propensity, contrary to all the remonstrances of the gentlemen of that place, led to the indiscriminate destruction of a countless herd of reindeer, while crossing the broad stream of Haye's River, in of the meat for present use, but thousands of The natives took some the height of summer. carcases were abandoned to the current, and infected the river banks, or floated out into Hudson's Bay, there to feed the sea fowl and the Polar bear. As if it were a judgment for this barbarous slaughter, in which women and even visited that part of the country in similar numchildren participated, the deer have never since bers."

On the shore of Athabasca lake, were built two sea boats, each twenty-four feet long, so much alike, and, in the eyes of the