coloured coats, ornamented with ribbons, fringes, and spangles; the gay trappings of their horses; the two soldiers in uniform; the Indians; the servant girls, and the sumpter mules, which closed the procession; the merry countenances of all; the parents, relations and friends, waving their hats and handkerchiefs from the walls of the town; the sound of the church and convent bells, summoning the inhabitants to mass; the distant view of the sea on one side, and that of the enchanting plain and mountain-scenery on the other reminded me of fairy regions, and at times caused me almost to doubt the reality of what I beheld.'

Mr. Stevenson was shortly after this ordered to proceed to the city of Concepcion. As he carried letters of introduction from his kind host, Don Nicolas, to a family at Concepcion, he was warmly entertained there; and he appears thence forward to have gained every where friends for himself: a circumstance which very much alleviated his detention as a prisoner of war, and procured for him many delightful excursions and parties of pleasure into the country and among the people.

From the coast of Chile, our traveller was escorted, still as a prisoner at large, by sea to Callao, and from thence to Lima; where, on his arrival, he was conducted to the city gaol, and remained shut up for about eight months with about a hundred criminals of the worst description. Owing to the generous friendship of two Spanish officers, with whom he fortunately became acquainted, the severity of his captivity was at length relaxed. He was gradually released from prison, and suffered to enjoy a degree of liberty, which soon converted his situation into an agreeable residence, and domesticated him among the inhabitants. There is a mystery about this whole commencement of Mr. Stevenson's per ́sonal narrative, which he has not cared to explain: but we arrive at the fact that he became domiciliated in the capital of Peru, and acquired all the insight of a native into the state of society and politics in the country, as well as into its general features and natural productions, for several years before its emancipation from the yoke of Spain. On all these subjects of observation and research, he has accumulated a vast fund of information in his work. Among the most curious parts in the book, may be noticed his account of the Inquisition at Lima. There is much truth in the remark that the exaggerated accounts given at different periods of the Inquisition have tended rather to create doubt than to establish the certainty of its inhuman proceedings. But that its secret horrors were sufficient to appal the imagination may be gathered from the simple and unstudied description of the instruments of torture, which Mr. Steven

son

son saw when the dungeons of the suppressed tribunal at Lima were thrown open.

Mr. Stevenson's sketches of the state of society at Lima, and of the distinctive character of the different classes of its motley population, are very animated. There, are to be found all the colors which vary the human complexion: the sooty African, the brown Indian, the pale Creole, the olive-tinged Andalusian, and the rosy Biscayan, with every intermediate shade and hue of expression and countenance which such a heterogeneous mixture can create.

From Lima our author made many excursions through the maritime Peruvian provinces; and his geographical and statistical details on the districts through which he passed may be read with profit. His account of the mode of travelling in Peru is amusing; and his directions on this subject for Englishmen who may visit the country are worth extracting.

• Our mode of travelling would have been regarded in England as a curiosity; a friend and myself were mounted on two mules, with huge deep saddles covered with red woolly rugs, large wooden box stirrups, broad girths, and straps attached to the saddles both behind and before: these straps passed round the breasts and hams of the mules, to prevent the saddles from slipping as we rode up and down the cuestas, some of which are exceedingly steep. I had two mules laden with my luggage: on the one was placed my mattress and bedding, put into a large leather case, called an almaufres; on the other were two petacas, or square trunks, made of untanned bullocks' hides, and curiously wrought with thongs of the same material. My comrade had two mules also laden in a similar manner; for, when travelling in any part of South America that I visited, it is almost always necessary to take a bed, because no inns or houses of accommodation are found on the roads, or even in the towns or cities. Our peon, or muleteer, generally followed the mules, while we proceeded on before; but on approaching a village or hamlet, the peon alighted, and tied the mules together, fastening the halter of one to the tall of another, to prevent them from straggling.'

The total absence of inns, or any similar establishment on the roads, or in the towns and villages, would present to an English traveller an almost insurmountable obstacle; and as this country is now (1824) likely to be frequented by many of my countrymen, I think it will not be uninteresting to those who may stand in need of some information, nor unentertaining to the public at large, if I give a concise description of the general mode of travelling in Peru.

'If a resident in Lima wish to go to any considerable distance from the capital, the best plan he can pursue is to enquire at the tambos for requas, mules, which are from the country he intends to visit, and agree with the muleteers or carriers for the number

of

of mules he may want. With an eye to comfort, the traveller must provide himself with a mattress, bedding, and an almaufres, leather bag, already described, sufficiently large to hold, besides the bed, his wearing apparel, because the cargo would be otherwise too light.

I always formed another load with a trunk, containing linen, books, and writing materials; also a canteen, holding two or three small pans, oil, vinegar, salt, spices, sugar, coffee, tea, knives and forks, spoons, &c., and thus equipped, having a good poncho, saddle, al uso del pais, bridle and spurs, a traveller has little to apprehend from the want of inns. The plan I usually followed was, to go to one of the principal houses in the town or village, and to ask if I could remain there during my stay in that place: this request was never denied me; and, nine times out of ten, I have had nothing to pay, with the addition, perhaps, of letters of recommendation, or kind messages, to persons residing in the town or village to which I was going. If it happened to be from one cura to another, I was not the less pleased, because their society in such places is generally the best, and their fare is certainly not the worst. It is much to be feared, that the political changes likely to take place in South America will be inimical to the general feeling of hospitality in the inhabitants: civilization will teach them refinements superior to such barbarous practices.'

Mr. Stevenson favors us with an historical chapter on the discovery and conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, the cruelties of Pizarro and his followers, and their execrable murder of the Inca Atahualpa. As he is here compelled to copy the usual Spanish authorities, and is enabled to repeat only the usual version of one of the most familiar pieces of history, he might have spared himself and his readers the unneces sary task. The proofs which he has collected in his volumes of the lingering attachment of the Peruvian Indians to the memory of the Incas and the empire of their forefathers, are, however, interesting and touching; and in one place he relates a story prevalent among them, the oral tradition of the first Inca Manco Capac, which is really curious. From the universal belief in which it is held, and the religious care with which it has been handed down to these times, it contains something almost like evidence that Peru had been visited by some "bearded European" in ages far more remote than Pizarro's conquest. The curiosity of this tradition will repay a perusal.

In 1808 our author's range of observation was extended, and his means of acquiring a political knowlege of the country were increased, by his appointment as private secretary to Count Ruis de Castilla, President and Captain-General of Quito. Accompanying that nobleman, who quitted Lima to

take

take possession of his government, Mr. Stevenson embarked in his suite at Callao, landed at Guayaquil, and from thence journeyed to Quito; where he was still stationed when the first revolution broke out, and the war of independence commenced in the Spanish colonies. There appears little in the character or manners of the Quitenos to distinguish them from the Limēnos. From Quito Mr. Stevenson visited a great deal of the surrounding country, either from curiosity or in the discharge of official duties; and he mingled occasionally with the descendants of the aboriginal natives. Having ourselves a more intimate acquaintance with the manners and character of some of the native tribes in the northern division of the great American continent, than falls to the lot of most Europeans to acquire, we have been led to peruse all the notices of the South American Indians, which Mr. Stevenson has thickly scattered through his volumes, with much attention and interest. He has evidently been a nice and close observer of the Indians; and, like all those who have enjoyed opportunities of gaining a real insight into their character, he is strongly impressed in their favor, and disposed to controvert the malignant calumnies of their oppressors and enemies. It would be a curious and interesting. inquiry to examine the points of resemblance and difference between the Indians of the northern and southern continents of America. They have adored in common one God, the Great and Good Spirit; and, among them, similar superstitions have clouded the purest worship which man, unaided by the blessings of Revelation, has ever attempted to offer to his Maker. Many minor opinions and many customs are common to the Indians of Canada, of Guiana, and of Peru; and every traveller on the shores of the Canadian rivers and lakes will recognize the following little picture:

The most curious method used by the Peruvian Indian for catching fish is that which is practised after nightfall: he takes his small canoe and places in the bow of it a large piece of lighted coutchouc, in order to attract the fish: he then places himself behind the light, and strikes them with a small harpoon; and he is so dexterous that he very rarely errs. The sight of two or three canoes on the water at night, having their large lights burning, and now and then reflected on the fisherman, or silvering the rippled stream, is very pleasing. Many times have I wandered along the margins of the river at Esmeraldas to witness this scene, when the silence of the night was uninterrupted, except by the lave of the waters gently splashing on the sandy shore.'

The portion of Mr. Stevenson's work, over which we have thus been rapidly passing, occupies the two first volumes.

The

The third and last differs very much in character from the preceding parts. It may be said, in some measure, to continue the story of his personal adventures from the æra at which the revolution broke out at Quito; because he sided with the cause of freedom, and his own share in the subsequent political transactions was far from being either unimportant or uninteresting. But his third volume is in fact much more than a mere personal story. It forms a complete, though abridged history of the revolution and its consequent wars in all the emancipated colonies, which Spain possessed on the shores of the Pacific. Many of the particulars of the contest are not new to us; for they have already been told by Mrs. Graham and Captain Basil Hall, in their inter esting works. But we are here indebted to Mr. Stevenson for the first connected view of the whole struggle of the western South Americans for all that can dignify life. Both for these historical details, and for his varied and intimate knowlege of the people, the political condition, the commerce, the agriculture, and the natural productions of Chile, Peru, and Quito, Mr. Stevenson is, beyond all doubt, the best authority which we yet possess; and his work is by far the most valuable and extensively useful publication on these subjects which has fallen under our notice.

ART. XI. The Bar, with Sketches of eminent Judges, Barristers, &c. &c., a Poem, with Notes. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 160. 6s. Boards. London, Hurst, Robinson, and Co.; A. Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Robinson and Hernaman, Leeds. 1825.

As s a poem this is a composition of very unequal merit. The structure of the lines is not only generally uncouth, but very frequently offensive to the ear from a defect or redundancy in the measure. It is easy to perceive that the writer is little practised in verse or prose, for he has managed the arrangement of his subject most unskilfully. As the poem now stands, it is a piece of motley patchwork, straggling, desultory, and crude, yet occasionally graced by gleams of wit, and generally happy in its sketches of character. It is to the latter quality that it is indebted for the very considerable reputation which it has already acquired, particularly among the gentlemen of the highly respectable profession with which it is chiefly conversant.

Another distinctive merit of these Sketches consists in their freedom from slanderous remark. They are conducted in a gentlemanlike style throughout: they are the fair criticisms

of