fortunes of the patriot cause in Chili. The victory was celebrated in Santiago with triumphal pomp, and the whole month was a continued jubilee. From that day may be dated the extinction of the royal cause in that important part of South America.

For the next five years, Chili, under the directorship of O'Higgins, enjoyed with little interruption a state of tranquillity, although the defects in the new constitution, led to evils which at length produced an overthrow of the government. The senate named by the Director, instead of concurring in his enlightened views, formed a junction with the secretaries of the departments, and bade defiance to his too limited power. Heavy duties were laid on foreign merchandize, the proper administration of justice was neglected, and the complaints of the people on these and other grounds, became angry and loud. The exertions made in favour of Peru, and the heavy taxes necessary to make good the expenses, together with the little outlet for Chilian productions, pressed severely on all classes, and made them desirous of some change. The finances were so much reduced, that the pay of the troops, as well as the salaries of the public func tionaries, was many months in arrear. Such was the state of things when General Freire, who held the chief command of the troops in the southern province of Concepcion, was induced, by the distressed state of the army, to grant a license to an English merchant to embark a large cargo of wheat,a measure strictly forbidden by the Government, with a view to harass the Spanish force under La Serna, at that moment greatly suffering in Peru for want of provisions. This transaction excited the greatest indignation at St. Jago, and Freire was accused of assisting the enemy. A warm correspondence ensued, and on the 18th of December 1822, O'Higgins made a feeble show of reducing the general to obedience by putting some troops in march towards the South. Freire, on the other hand, issued a proclamation complaining of the proceedings of the secretaries of state whom he charged with intending to starve the army, and instantly marched to the capital, where the vacant directorship, O'Higgins having in the interim resigned, was placed in his hands as commander in chief. This took place early in February 1823. At first, Freire is represented to have lent himself to a fanatical party, at the head of which was a bishop who had been banished by the former government; but the influence of his prime minister, Benevente, at length prevailed, and led to a surprising revolution in the state of things. Hitherto, the monastic orders bad largely shared, as in Guatemala, in political power. Freire

seized all the property belonging to the monasteries, including some of the richest estates in Chili, and ordered the whole of the monks to be banished. These seizures not only supplied the immediate exigencies of the Exchequer, but invested the State with a permanent revenue; and so adroitly were they managed, that the decrees were sanctioned by the full approbation of the resident Nuncio from the Pope, which silenced all show of opposition. Most of the heads of the convents, it is said, acquiesced in them without a murmur. Promises were indeed made, to convert the despoiled monks into secular clergy, but these will never be performed. Freed from the benumbing influence of an enormously rich and exceedingly numerous priesthood, there is reason to hope that Chili will eventually become a free, enlightened, and happy country.

Art. III. Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan, in the Years 1821 and 1822. Including some Account of the Countries to the North-east of Persia. By James B. Fraser. 4to. pp. 797. (Map.)

1825.

2. Voyage en Turcomanie-Travels in Turcomania and to Khiva, in 1819 and 1820; by M. N. Mouravier. Translated (into French) by M. de Laveau; and revised by, Messrs. Eyriés and Klaproth, 8vo. pp. 400. Paris. 1823.

the enterprise and

with which the business of geographical investigation has been carried on in different directions, the central countries of both the Asiatic and the African portions of the Old World are as yet very imperfectly known, though the barriers which forbid approach seem to be gradually receding. The wild and far-stretching tracts, for instance, which occupy the mid-region of Asia, have for centuries been nearly inaccessible to scientific travellers; and many interesting questions connected with their past history and present condition, still remain for solution. Recently, however, attempts have been made, and with partial success, to gain information on most of these points. Mr. Elphinstone, whose researches in illustration of Oriental geography cannot be too highly rated, gave a new aspect to the map of many interesting sections of these countries. Indefatigable in his inquiries, his sound judgement was eminently displayed in the management of materials which, although the best that could be procured, were frequently at variance in their statements, questionable in their authority, and unsatisfactory in their results. Mr. Moorcroft, after having, in one adventurous journey, ascertained the solution

of several important problems connected with the map of Higher India, is now engaged in an enterprise equally important and yet more daring. He is said to have reached the city of Leh, on that part of the great river Scind, which lies north of the Hindoo Koosh; and his intended course will, if successfully prosecuted, lead him into the heart of some of the least known among the states of central Asia. We are led to expect further information on these points. The kingdom of Ferghauna, known at present by the name of Kokaun, is said to have been visited by one of our restless countrymen; and an account of a Russian embassy to Bockhara is, probably, by this time, published at Paris. We have also been assured, though without specific detail, that a journey has been recently made of a somewhat extraordinary kind: it was described to us as a sort of circuit among the Trans-Oxian regions, taking in, with singular felicity, many of those points on which information is more peculiarly desirable.

Mr. Fraser is advantageously known as the author of an interesting Tour in the Himala Mountains;' and the volume before us will add to the high reputation ensured to him by his former publication, as an intelligent observer and indefatigable inquirer. The objects which he proposed to keep in view, while leaving himself in some respects to the guidance of events, were, first, the examination of the Persian provinces eastward of Tehran, and, secondly, an attempt to penetrate, through Khorasan, as far as Bockhara and Samarcand, with the intention, should circumstances prove favourable, of making still further progress to the east. In his anxiety to make his journey as completely subservient as possible to the promotion of science, he supplied himself with the best instruments that could beprocured in India. It must, indeed, have been at the expense of no little inconvenience, that he contrived to carry with him, an excellent sextant, by Berge, on a gravitating balance-stand; two chronometers; a small surveying compass with sights and a reflecting lens; and a large telescope, with magnifying powers of from 80 to 140 degrees. Of these valuable aids, he made an effective use, and the result has been, a considerable change in the localities of many important points. Tehran, for instance, is placed thirty miles eastward of its former position; Lemnoon and Damghan have undergone a still greater dislocation; Nishapore is moved to a distance, in longitude, of nearly two degrees; and while Mushed has been shifted in the same direction almost three degrees, its latitude was found erroneous to the extent of not less than a degree. The importance of these changes is not confined to the mere points of specific calculation, since they affect the

relative situations of all the uncalculated positions in the same and surrounding regions.

It was on the 14th of May, 1821, that Mr. Fraser sailed from Bombay, for the Persian Gulf. The voyage was not altogether destitute of casualties. An alarm of fire produced some singular exhibitions of character, through all the varieties of passive listlessness, awkward restlessness, and effective activity. There was an old moollah who had been confined to his bed by indisposition, who now managed to leave his berth, and seat himself, gaunt and immoveable like a reanimated corpse,' on a bale of goods in the steerage. He had been the first to perceive the smell of fire, and he had given due notice to several individuals who had passed near him. Unfortunately, the old gentleman's enunciation was so deliberate as to be completely distanced by the movements of his hearers; and it was amusing to hear him, when the fire had been subdued, take credit to himself for his prompt discovery and for his persevering efforts to put the crew on the alert. On another occasion, after rounding Cape Raus ul Hud, (the Rasalgate of sailors,) the trade-wind failing, the vessel was caught in an indraught, and narrowly escaped going on shore. A very striking scene of contrasted energy and helplessness ensued.

Failing equally in our attempts to wear or stay, we drifted shorewards, right down upon an Arab buggalow, becalmed and helpless like ourselves, and at anchor off the entrance of the creek. Our vessel having little way, the collision did no material harm; but it was not till after two anchors were let go, that the best bower brought us up within two ships' length of the rocks: it was fortunately calm; but, as the least breeze would have probably proved our destruction, we sent on board the buggalow to request that they would move into deep water, and send a line to warp us out. Some of the officers were fortunately recognised by the Arabs, who readily promised their assistance; and though some on board had at first thought proper to express their contempt at the vessel and her crew, their opinions were rapidly changed into admiration at the energy and skill with which this aid was afforded: their huge boat was tossed overboard in a moment, as if by magic, without the aid of tackles, and manned by fifteen or twenty stout fellows, who sprang overboard into the water, as the quickest way to reach her. Their two large anchors were spliced together, and, with all the cables they had, stowed in the boat with equal celerity. They next rowed off to sea, dropped the double anchor, and returned to meet our jolly-boat, which carried our tow-lines, to be bent to theirs; then pulling towards us, they sprang up our ship's sides, and without being either asked or ordered, manned the capstan, and began to heave away. We then had time to observe these men, so strong a contrast to our own heartless crew : they were mostly negroes from Mozambique and Zanguebar, belonging to the Arab tribes; athletic fellows, many of them six feet high,

and models for a Hercules; and we could not help reflecting on the miserable chance we should have stood against them, with such puny wretches as ours, had they boarded us with the same vigour, as enemies. In a few minutes, the cables were hove in, and an offing gained; and a gentle air which sprang up from landward, soon placed us in safety. We dismissed our Arab friends with handsome presents, and it was a striking sight to see them as they quitted us, plunging from the ship's side, and diving and swimming about like porpoises in their own element, as fearlessly and at ease, as if they really were amphi bious beings.'

In consequence of a slight misunderstanding with the Persian government, originating in the military operations against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, Dr. Andrew Jukes had been appointed envoy extraordinary to the court of Tehran, and Mr. Fraser was now availing himself of the opportunity so favourably occurring, by attaching himself to that gentleman during mutual convenience. When the ship reached Muscat, the presence of a British ambassador induced the Imaum to shew conspicuous courtesy to the representative of his ally, and to give every assistance to Mr. F. in his attempts to explore the country. The most important object of inquiry was, however, the fatal disease which, after having ravaged India, was extending its fearful devastation both to the east and the west. In the territory of Muscat, it had destroyed ten thousand of the Imaum's subjects; and the question of contagion or spontaneous origin seemed to be settled by the fact, that it first broke out in a village where no communication could be ascertained. Though it has received the same name, it appears to vary considerably from the usual symptoms of the cholera morbus of Europe. Its effects are frequently instantaneous. At Sheerauz,

• Very soon after its appearance, the disease assumed a violent character, and did its work rapidly. Many instances occurred of persons dying in the streets on the spot where they dropped; and these sudden cases of death caused so much dismay, that all feelings of sympathy and pity were lost in anxiety for self-preservation. Here, as in other places, the claims of kindred were insufficient to ensure attention; and victims were left to their fate on the spot where they were attacked, unaided and almost unheeded by their nearest relatives. Whole houses were swept off. In one instance, which came under our knowledge, out of a family consisting of nine males and five females, the whole of the former were attacked nearly at the same time. The females, panic-struck, fled from the house, and, halting only for a short time behind the gardens of the Jehan Numah, (our quarters,) for a few necessaries, took refuge in the mountains: some days after, they took courage, and sent to know the fate of those left behind. The whole nine were found dead in the house, just