said to be more difficult to procure a wife, than a husband. The peasantry are bold, and have a spirit of independence and enterprize; while no little pride of ancestry and chivalry distinguishes the higher orders but many of their customs are barbarous in the highest degree. Thus, they eat the blood and the flesh of animals raw; and one of their favourite dishes consists of the heart and liver of a deer, cut into pieces, and mixed raw with the warm blood. In respect to their ferocity, it may be sufficient to instance, that it has several times occurred, that, after they have slain an enemy, they have cut out the heart, and eaten it' while it was warm.' The slave trade, too, exists in its most odious form; one of the chief sources of the Rajah's revenue consisting in the sale of his subjects. "Let us represent to ourselves," says an official report, "our town of Macassar filled with prisons, the one more dismal than the other, which are stuffed up with hundreds of wretches, the victims of avarice and tyranny; who, chained in fetters, look forward with despair towards their future destiny: and, taken from their wives, children, parents, friends, and comforts, languish in slavery, helpless and miserable. If we would lift up another corner of the curtain, a scene no less afflicting presents itself. Here we discover wives, lamenting the loss of their husbands; children missing their parents; parents missing their children; who, with hearts filled with rage and revenge, run

1 Raffles' Hist. Java, Appendix E., vol. ii. p. clxxix.

2 Report of a Commission to inquire into the Abuses of the Slave Trade in Celebes, dated Macassar, Sept. 21, 1799.

frantic through the streets, to do all, that love of children for their parents, the tenderness of parents for their children, can inspire; in order, if possible, to discover where their dearest relatives are concealed. And often, after all their labour and anxiety, they are obliged to return, hopeless and comfortless, to their afflicted friends and relatives."

VII.

The Corean Archipelago affords the most picturesque views in the world. For a hundred miles ships sail among islands, which lie, in immense clusters, in every direction, varying in size, from a few hundred yards to five or six miles in circumference. The sea is generally smooth; the air temperate; and the natives are frequently observed, sitting in groupes, watching ships as they pass. The valleys are cultivated, and objects perpetually changing. When Captain Hall was in this archipelago, he counted no less than 130 islands from the deck of his ship, presenting forms of endless variety. Many of those islic clusters are inhabited: the houses are built in valleys, almost entirely hid by hedges, trees, and creepers; but the natives are, in manners, cold and repulsive. They have many gardens; and on the sides of the hills are seen millet and a peculiar species of bean. The animals seen here, and at Loo-choo, are pigeons, hens, hawks, and eagles; crows are innumerable. Here are also cats, dogs, pigs, bullocks, and horses; butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders, snakes, and monkies; and in pools, left by the tide, are numerous fish of various colours. The inhabitants, as we before observed, are

cold; while, not far distant, reside the Loo-choos, a people amiable and engaging to the last degree.

VIII.

The heat of Africa is but little relieved, in any latitude of that great continent. At Congo, the climate may be ascertained by the number of its flowers. There is scarcely a field, that does not present a richer assemblage, than the finest garden in Europe: the lilies, which grow in the woods and valleys, are exquisitely white, and of the most bewitching fragrance. Flowers, which grow single in other places, are here seen blushing upon one stalk in clusters; under the trees and hedgerows are beds of hyacinths and tuberoses, one or two hundred in a groupe: their colours are variegated profusely; and the roses and honeysuckles afford a stronger perfume, than those of Asia : while American jessamine, some white, and others of the brightest scarlet, grow, as we are informed, by dozens in a bunch. These flowers yield little scent in the day; but in the evening and morning they are truly delicious. The soil is, in fact, encumbered with luxuriance of vegetation: and Captain Tuckey1 found the natives stamped, as it were, with mildness, simplicity, and benignity.

The Cape de Verd Islands approach, in vegetation, more nearly to the temperate regions, than the tropical owing, it is supposed, to the abundance of its vapours. Madeira has the most healthful climate of all the African islands; but Madagascar is the most Narrative, p. 350, 4to.

beautiful: Nature seeming there to have taken pleasure, in exhibiting herself in the richest brilliancy of youth; and in producing every species of fine landscape; from the luxuriousness of uncontrolled vegetation to the grandeur of immense forests, and the sublimity of cataracts and precipices. This is a country in which, though Nature has done every thing, man has done comparatively nothing: for its natives are wild in their habits, and barbarous in their manners to the last degree. Here, too, are found gum-lacca, benzoin, amber and ambergris; beds of rock chrystal; and not only three kinds of gold ore, but a multitude of jaspers, sapphires, topazes and emeralds. Above all, the island contains two hundred millions' of acres, equal to any in the world. It would, therefore, be pre-eminently worthy of being erected into an empire; were not its climate so noxious, and its waters so pestilential. It produces apples, pears,

peaches, guavas and strawberries; with oranges, lemons, grapes, and other fruits, growing both without and within the tropics: bulbous-rooted flowers, too, are innumerable; and the hedges are frequently composed of myrtles, quinces, and pomegranates.

The southern Cape of Africa, displays all the splendour of the vegetable kingdom. In no quarter of the world are flowers more rich in size, in colour, or variety. At the source of the Elephant river, corn grows luxuriantly with little culture; and so abounding is it in apricots, figs, mulberries, and 1 Rochon's Voyage to Madagascar, 1792, p. 171.

almonds, that the Dutch called it the Good Hope.' Aloes are in blossom all the year; and the air is so pure, along the south-eastern coast, that the new moon is frequently seen like a piece of white silk. Dividing the Atlantic from the Indian ocean, it has

A shore so flowery, and so sweet an air,

Venus might plant her dearest treasures there.

IX.

Camöens.Mickle.

Towards the south pole, stretches a land,"discovered by Dirk Gherritz, a Dutch captain, in 1599. In 1739, two vessels discovered land in lat. 47° and 48°, but they did not land, on account of the ice. In 1820, an English captain, voyaging from Monte Video to Valparaiso, found land in 61° longitude 55°. He coasted its shores for two hundred miles; but was unable to discover whether it was an island or a continent. He called it New Sheetland. There were no inhabitants; the land, for the most part, was covered with snow; pines, and other arctic plants, were occasionally seen; and there were vast numbers of seals and whales.

The coast of Patagonia, southward of the American continent, is wild and horrific. "Hares, deer, wild fowl, and ostriches," says a friend, writing from Bahia de Fodos Sontes, 66 are seen in every direction." Horned cattle abound in the vast plains, affording food to tigers and lions; though the latter are smaller in size, and less fierce than those of Africa. The Patagonians are the finest race of men in the world; having regular features, and [admirably proportioned limbs. The Spaniards having introduced

1 Paterson's Travels in Africa, 4to. p. 34, 1790.