' 
 
TjT^JEI-^-JEIIT EDITIOK". 
 
 THE 
 
 TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 CELEBRATED TRAVELERS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE WORLD. 
 
 1 1 
 
 NEW, REVISED, LIBRARY EDITION, ILLUSTRATED WITH STEEL 
 PLATES, COLORED ENGRAVINGS, ETC. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HOWE, 
 
 AUTHOR OP "HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS TJF VIRGINIA," "HISTORICAL 
 COLLECTIONS OF OHIO," ETC. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 PUBLISHED BY HENRY HOWE. 
 
 NO. 118 WEST FOURTH STREET. 
 
 1870. 
 
 tr 
 
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 18 r j8, by 
 
 HENRY HOWE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Distrio jf Ohio, 
 
 PRINTING COMPANY. 
 Bt*r*oiyp«ti. and Btndart. 
 nam it., vui mhv 
 
/ 4 
 
 o 
 
 'o 
 
it 7a 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The whole world are now near neighbors. Only a short time 
 olnce, he who had circumnavigated the globe was looked upon with 
 wonder, as among the favored of mortals. Now, he whose dwelling is 
 the nearest to your own, may, within a few months, have visited u the 
 uttermost parts of the earth," and the fact not considered sufficiently 
 novel for your knowledge. 
 
 With rapidly increasing intercourse all the world is changing. 
 Commerce, the great civilizer, is introducing us to everybody and 
 everybody to us. Such a general shaking of hands never was before 
 seen since Father Time commenced his travels. Such a universal 
 interchange of ideas never entered the conception of the wisest of the 
 ancients. Such a magnificent " clearing" was never before opened to 
 the Pioneer in Enterprise. Everybody is learning something from 
 everybody. Civilized nations are consequently growing more liberal 
 and more humane, and those not civilized are fast becoming so. 
 
 To the inhabitants of a far-distant isle, the first vessel whose canvas 
 is seen whitening their seas, is a mighty idea — not " even their 
 fathers dreamed so great a thing ;" and if this be succeeded by others 
 and commerce springs up, then, with new ideas arise new wants, and 
 for the gratification of these comes industry — the germ of all civiliza- 
 tion. If still more favored, a stranger, with a benign countenance and 
 a book in his hand, lands upon their island. He brings " glad tidings 
 of great joy," proclaiming " Peace on earth and good will to man." 
 Through the power of his words the islanders cast down their idols, 
 they no longer sacrifice to false gods ; they become charmed with the 
 moral heroism of Him who came and offered his life for their good, and 
 christian civilization is begun — that which is to leap from isle to isle — - 
 to penetrate the remotest recesses of every land, and to bring all 
 
 nations into one brotherhood. 
 
 (iii) 
 
 w37£586 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 Not to " know the world," was excusable in olden times, wnen 
 people dressed in homespun and ate from wooden trenchers ; but for 
 us, whose first act in rising is to jump out of, and into, cloth made in 
 foreign lands, and who grumble if the first morning's meal is not 
 agreeably seasoned by condiments from the antipodes, there can be no 
 apology. To contribute to such a knowledge is the design of this 
 volume : to satisfy it completely, so as to know perfectly all people, is 
 somewhat further than we can go. It would, for instance, be a plea- 
 sant task could we, for the reader's benefit, by some process spiritually 
 uncap the cranium of a Chinaman or of an Arab, take a peep into his 
 mental workshop, and watch its operations for a single day: but this 
 being one of those curious undertakings not permitted us with even 
 our own townspeople — some of whom, with all our researches, remain 
 to this hour complete enigmas to us — it cannot be expected we should 
 " take such liberties with strangers." 
 
 We can however do this much ; we can describe the country the 
 Chinaman lives in ; how he grows his tea, and does his farming; 
 how he spends his boyhood — the games he plays — the sort of school 
 he attends — the books he studies and the way he is flogged — how he 
 trades and what in — what he makes and how it is made — the kind 
 of house he lives in and the way it is furnished — how he courts and 
 gets married — what he thinks of his wife — how much of his boys 
 and how little of his girls — his general ideas of the world and of 
 matters and things in general — what he regards as " the chief end 
 of man," and where he thinks his spirit is going when the grand 
 routine of all his doings and thinkings here below is terminated, and 
 the mortal remains of the poor Chinaman are consigned to the "tomb 
 of his ancestors." 
 
 Obtain this kind of knowledge of the principal people of the world 
 and we obtain that which liberalizes. Something is possessed 
 to think of and watch, beside the shape of the furrow our own plow 
 turns over, the small gossip of our own little neighborhood, or 
 the dirty bubbles that come walloping up from the bottom of our 
 own political cauldron. We get, too, a more " realizing sense" of the 
 important truth — that it is circumstance which creates national, alike 
 with individual characteristics ; and out of this grows charity for 
 peculiar national ideas and for heterodox personal opinions. Readily 
 do we see, had we been transported in babyhood to China and reared 
 in a Chinese family, we should have rejoiced in a queue a yard or more 
 long; thought angular eyes and deformed feet the acme of beauty; the 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 world square, like a table ; Confucius the most pre-eminent of mortals, 
 and China the greatest of all countries ; or had Turkey been the scene 
 of our rearing, we should have considered the most agreeable position 
 in life, the cross-legged ; perhaps have been gladdened with a whole 
 regiment of wives, would have called down the curses of Allah upon 
 the "unbelieving dogs of Christians," and may be, have joined a troop 
 of whirling or of howling dervishes. 
 
 Various are the uses of such information — a topic we could expand 
 into an essay, but not here, this being the place in which he who 
 makes a book is expected to devote to a chat with those who read it, 
 though, it is said, the latter rarely deign to listen to what he has to 
 communicate. 
 
 Some two years since, while engaged in our vocation as a publisher 
 of books circulated by subscription solely, we commenced condensing 
 such works of travel as were judged best suited to the wants of those 
 who have heretofore obtained our publications ; and the result is the 
 respectable-sized volume you now hold. Our endeavor was to make 
 it elementary, so that it would be adapted to any unlettered person 
 whose eye should traverse its pages. To such, if an unknown word 
 or allusion be given without an accompanying explanation, the charm 
 of the most interesting narrative is marred, and if frequent, he arises 
 dissatisfied from the perusal. There is no fact in nature or in science, 
 not too abstruse for the learned, which is too abstruse for the common 
 apprehension, if the successive steps to it be closely connected and in 
 the right direction, for the human mind is essentially the same in all, 
 and each brain has its own full set of tools. 
 
 This, like our other publications, is intended to be disposed of by 
 subscription solely. This mode of circulating literature, as practiced 
 in this countiy, is peculiarly an American invention. In Europe it is 
 adopted to insure, in advance, the expense of costly works — with us, 
 as a method — for the convenience of the purchasers — of engaging 
 sales after a book has been issued. Our mode has grown out of 
 the general desire at large for information, and the difficulties expe- 
 rienced by the mass in procuring just the kind adapted to them ; for 
 it should be remembered that the regular book-merchant — the trader 
 in ideas — is the very last man who emigrates — the very last to be 
 established in a young community, and solely too from the absence 
 of a demand for his services. Taking the whole land through, doubt- 
 less a thousand establishments have been reared to supply the animal 
 appetite for liquid stimulus to one erected to minister to the intellect, 
 
yi PREFACE. 
 
 by the sale of books ; and further, millions of our people never in 
 their lives have even entered a bookstore, and millions upon millions 
 do not annually average the possession of a single new book. With 
 all our self-congratulated civilization, the mass of even our most 
 enlightened communities is far behind a proper standard of cultiva- 
 tion, as is illustrated by the universal desire for tinsel and display — 
 by the fawning to those who by the exercise of abhorrent qualities 
 have accumulated an unusual share of externals ; in the want of value 
 for genuine worth and in a true idea of the objects of life generally. 
 In fact, Ignorance everywhere rears his stupid front, and among the 
 best weapons with which to vanquish him are books, and in the inte- 
 rior, with a vast number, the habit of obtaining and of using these 
 will not be acquired unless brought to their very doors. 
 
 This volume is principally composed of abridgments from a great 
 variety of sources, as will be seen by reference to another page, where 
 Authorities are given. "Works so constructed, and this mode of circu- 
 lating them, are among the most useful of instrumentalities in the 
 universal diffusion of knowledge, the fruits of which tend to the per- 
 manent happiness and elevation of our common humanity. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 This is the first revised edition of this work. It 
 contains some new and valuable articles especially 
 adapted to the times, as "Prussia in 1870;" "France under 
 Louis Napoleon;" "The Chinese as Emigrants and Colonizers," etc. 
 
 It forms the first of a series to be issued under the 
 general title of 
 
 jjbrarg of Inshptdhre and Jnte^mnmg Janpftr^ 
 
 These boohs are to be regarded as standard family 
 works of historic value— not, therefore, of a mere tem- 
 porary interest^ but for all time. 
 
 Each volume of this library 
 Will be complete in itself, 
 
 S^" Will be uniform in size, style and price with the 
 others, 
 
 &^ Will be sold separately, 
 
 M^And on very moderate terms. 
 
O O IN" T IE IN" T S . 
 
 * 
 
 Page. 
 
 PRUSSIA IN 1870, 13 
 
 COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY THROUGH 
 
 RUSSIA AND SIBERIA, 27 
 
 EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS IN RUSSIA, . . 6Q 
 
 THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA, 6$ 
 
 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS IX SWITZERLAND, . 71 
 
 A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND, 97 
 
 WILKES' EXPLORING EXPEDITION TO THE 
 
 PACIFIC, 113 
 
 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT, 145 
 
 M. LESSEPS AND THE SUEZ CANAL, 171 
 
 THE FUTURE OF EGYPT, 173 
 
 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA, 175 
 
 THE CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLO- 
 NIZERS, 209 
 
 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS, 217 
 
 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE, 241 
 
 FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON, 25<) 
 
 A NEW ENGLANDER IN OLD ENGLAND, . . . 267 
 
 ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA, . 305 
 
 (ix) 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SLAVERY, .... 355 
 
 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE 
 POLAR REGIONS, FROM THE EARLIEST 
 
 DAYS, 369 
 
 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN IN GER- 
 MANY, 413 
 
 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN, WITH NO- 
 TICES OF THE JAPANESE, 437 
 
 AUSTRALIA, WITH LIFE THERE, 457 
 
 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA, . . . 475 
 
 LIFE IN INDIA, 507 
 
 RAILROADS IN HINDOOSTAN, . . 544 
 
 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY, 547 
 
 A FEW DAYS IN POLAND, 580 
 
 LYNCH'S EXPEDITION TO THE DEAD SEA, . . 591 
 
 OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN, . . 602 
 

PRUSSIA IN 1870 
 
 Prussia Described — Prussia and France — Prussian Soldiers — The sudden Popularity of the 
 King — Ignorance of Languages — German Farm Life — Rude Agriculture — American 
 pl ows — Berlin the Capital — Mr. Bancroft, the American Minister — The Prussian Par- 
 liament — King William — Sketch of Bismarck — General Moltke — Various Public 
 Characters — How the People live. 
 
 Prussia is doubtless to Americans, at this present time, the most interesting 
 country in Europe. It is not for what she has been, nor for what she is, but 
 the promise of a great future that especially attracts. That future means the 
 entire German nation — about forty millions of people — united under one 
 government and one code of laws. For a century, the German people have 
 been struggling for German unity, but the ambitions of different states and 
 kingdoms, for an independent existence, have delayed, but can not prevent 
 the final consummation. 
 
 The aspirations of the German nation for political unity, led, in 1866, to the 
 war between Austria and Prussia, resulting in the defeat of Austria and the dis- 
 solution of the old German Diet. The reorganization which followed the war 
 is regarded nowhere as a permanent settlement, but only as a temporary com- 
 promise for avoiding new and serious complications. The present war with 
 France was made by Louis Napoleon through fear of the overshadowing power 
 of Prussia. 
 
 By the war with Austria, Prussia gained great accessions of population and 
 territory, and took position as one of the leading powers of Europe. Her 
 population was increased from eighteen millions to about thirty millions of 
 people, and her territory from one hundred and eight thousand to one hundred 
 and thirty-five thousand square miles ; consisting of Prussia and the German 
 States north of the river Main. Hence, Prussia is sometimes designated 
 North Germany, and the union, "The North German Confederation." 
 Her area is a trifle less than, that of the combined states of New York, 
 Pennsylvania and Virginia. In North Germany 71 per cent, of the popu- 
 lation are Protestant, and 26 per cent. Catholic. In South Germany the 
 Catholic element predominates. 
 
 The man to whose foresight Prussia owes her recent rapid advance to a first 
 rate power, is Count Otto Von Bismarck, who, in clearness and massiveness 
 of intellect, stands confessedly at the head of the statesmen of Europe. 
 
 13 
 
14 PRUSSIA IN 1870. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1867 that our countryman, Rev. Dr. Bellows, 
 traveled in Prussia. In his published letters, he presents his impressions of 
 the national life at the very interesting period in the history of the country. 
 One of the most thoughtful and observant of travelers, his letters, from which 
 we make a few extracts, are particularly instructive. He says : 
 
 "Passing from Holland into Prussia we found ourselves, the moment we 
 crossed the frontier, in a military country, and felt at once the change from a 
 nation at rest and in the ordinary condition of things, to a nation aroused ancj 
 thrilled through and through with new life and ambition. 
 
 The depots seemed almost American in the activity and crowded appear- 
 ance they presented. Soldiers were almost as thick as civilians, and they 
 looked like men with business on hand, and not mere frames for uniforms. 
 The country, too, though old and uninteresting in itself, presented an appear- 
 ance of rapid improvement, and looked new with its new life. The further 
 we have gone into Prussia, the more the awaking of the nation has struck us. 
 The recent war has put this country into a striking sympathy with the 
 United States in the revival of all its energies, the consciousness of power, 
 and the prevalence of the sentiment of nationality. The mighty and suc- 
 cessful effort it lately made against Austria, so far from exhausting its strength 
 or ambition, has only nerved it for greater things, and aroused every drop of 
 military feeling in a people who have not forgotten Frederick the Great. 
 
 The Luxembourg question was settled, not without much resistance from 
 the popular feeling, which would have enjoyed an opportunity of measuring 
 swords with France. How long the itch for a chance to pay off old scores 
 with their natural enemy, as Prussia holds France to be, will be controlled by 
 prudent statesmanship, remains to be seen. But we saw daily evidences that 
 among the people at large, and especially the army, war with France would 
 bring every Prussian to the front, and render almost any amount of personal 
 sacrifice easy. 
 
 We are too warm lovers of the new German Empire — for that is *he 
 manifest destiny of things here — to wish to see it risked by a war with 
 France. Meanwhile, let us confess the strength of the favorable impression 
 all the Prussian officers have made upon us. A handsomer, more intelligent, 
 or more spirited set of soldiers, we have never met. They certainly wholly 
 outshine the French officers in mere exterior promise. Tall, well-made, 
 soldier- like in bearing, they have the manners of educated gentlemen, and 
 look as fit for peace as for war. 
 
 The King of Prussia, a man of seventy, it will be recollected, succeeded 
 his brother only five years ago, although, owing to the paralytic condition of 
 the late King, he had been regent for ten years before he came to the throne. 
 A great stickler for military etiquette and discipline, and a determined up- 
 holder of his prerogative, he has never been porjular with the liberal party, 
 nor indeed with the people generally, until since the late war. Two years ago 
 he shared with Count Bismarck the odium of dissolving the Parliament be- 
 
PRUSSIA IN 1870. 15 
 
 cause it would not vote supplies for an increase of the army. The wisdom 
 of the policy they had steadily pursued, of increasing and every way strength- 
 ening the military power of the country, has now been revealed by the results 
 of the struggle with Austria and the consolidation of North Germany with 
 Prussia ; and the popularity of King William and his Prime Minister has 
 suddenly become quite overwhelming. Even the liberals begin to believe the 
 government friendly to their hopes. The King himself, whom I saw at 
 Paris, and again at Ems, looks like a sensible, serious and simple-minded 
 man. He rode last Saturday into Ems, which was decked out in charming 
 holiday attire to receive him, with a simplicity quite extraordinary. A single 
 outrider preceded him. His carriage was unaccompanied by others. He had 
 one officer on the seat with him — and two mounted men followed. He wore 
 a rather plain uniform, and the fatigue cap of Prussian officers. Nothing 
 could be less pretentious. The country people from the neighborhood had 
 assembled to greet their new king. The streets were gay with triumphal 
 arches and flags and garlands. Thousands of small trees had been brought 
 from the forest and stuck into the pavements, to wear for a day or two the 
 appearance of growth and permanency — the most expensive and elaborate 
 form of festive decoration I ever saw undertaken, and wonderfully successful. 
 The King spent two or three days in the little watering-place, and moved 
 about with almost the freedom of a private person, exhibiting no distrust of 
 his subjects, and meeting everywhere with hearty and affectionate respect. 
 Count Bismarck was not with him. He is, however, very popular, and not 
 insensible to his laurels. I heard this story from a good source at Paris : 
 Some one said to the Count, " Was not your excellency afraid that the people 
 at Paris, instead of shouting 'Vive le Roi,' would cry 'Vive Bismarck?'" 
 "No," said the Count; "I knew exactly what they would say, and it was 
 far more gratifying than anything else they could have said. First '. Vive le 
 Roi,' and then ' Voila Bismarck.'" And certainly "Voila Bismarck," on 
 every occasion when he moved in any public procession, was the general ex- 
 clamation. Everybody was curious to see him, and eager to point him out 
 to his neighbor. 
 
 Dusseldorf is a model German town, solid, dull, devoted to art and music, 
 with a fine park and capital accommodations for the first necessity of the 
 Germans, a place for gathering over their wine and beer with their wives and 
 children* and spending at least two evenings in the week in the open air, with 
 orchestral music and pleasant chat. The night I passed in town happened to 
 be the anniversary of the battle of Koniggratz, and from 5 to 10 p. m. the 
 best portion of the citizens were in the tea-garden, adjoining the town-hall, 
 enjoying the rational amusement of excellent music from two bands, one of 
 strings and the other of brass, who alternated with each other. Had a mem- 
 ber of the Total Abstinence Society entered that assembly and seen a hundred 
 tables covered with bottles half empty, of every shape and color, mingled 
 with mugs of beer and cups of tea and coffee, and men, women and children 
 
16 PRUSSIA IN 1870. 
 
 seated about them, and all partaking of the various drinks, he would have 
 been in despair at the complete sway of wine-bibbing among the people of 
 Dusseldorf./ The first ladies and gentlemen, the ministers of religion, the 
 young women, the old men, the innocent children, all would have been in one 
 condemnation — a wine-bibbing generation. And yet a careful survey of the 
 garden would have failed to show one single person excited to indiscretion or 
 the loss of self-control — one single noisy or tipsy man. And here for four 
 or five hours are whole families in the open air, engaged in domestic and social 
 chat, enjoying music and the sympathy of their fellow -creatures instead of 
 being scattered and divided as with us — the old here, the young there, the 
 men in one place, the women in another. As I looked upon the cheerfulness 
 and moderation, the cordial intercourse, the absence of carking cares, or of 
 haste and self-condemnation in this German tea-garden, I felt that Germany 
 understood social life far better than any portion of America. As to the at- 
 tempt to abolish drunkenness in America by a general assault upon the use 
 of all things that can intoxicate, it is well meant, and has its excellent effects. 
 But it is greatly to be feared that it is not enough in accordance with natural 
 laws to be a permanent influence. We must improve family life, and specially 
 must we cultivate the participation of men and women, old and young, in 
 common pleasures, before we can hope to exorcise the demon of excess and 
 sensuality from American society." 
 
 In his letter on German life, Dr. Bellows says : 
 
 " Ignorance of the languages is a terrible obstacle to any clear and satis- 
 factory intercourse with the natives of European countries. Americans 
 associate abroad almost exclusively with each other, and are essentially blind 
 and deaf to the inner life or usages and experiences of the peoples they visit. 
 They return home with erroneous impressions, superficial views, and the prej- 
 udices they brought with them. I speak from a humiliating experience, and 
 feel that all I venture to say upon what interests me more than anything else, 
 the moral life of the countries I am journeying in, is subject to the deduction 
 of a very limited range and a very shallow depth of observation. 
 
 I was fortunate enough yesterday to visit a German gentleman of wealth, 
 intelligence, and a ripe experience, who had lived, twenty years ago, long 
 enough in America to acquire a thorough knowledge of our language, insti- 
 tutions, manners and feelings, and who had been long enough back in his na- 
 tive country to have all the familiarity with its present life and all the German 
 feeling essential to a proper account of the existing condition of Germany. 
 In company with a late Governor of Rhode Island, with Mr. Wells, the Com- 
 missioner of Revenue, and our excellent and devoted American Consul-General 
 at Frankfort, Mr. Murphy, I had the valuable opportunity of an hour or two 
 of conversation with Herr G. There were four of us pelting him with in- 
 quiries, note-book in hand, and a more ready, competent and unfailing wit- 
 ness and furnisher of precise and valuable information I never yet saw under 
 the process of cross-questioning. He is one of those men the whole business 
 
PRUSSIA IN 1870. 17 
 
 )f whosfc remaining life should be to answer intelligent questions concerning 
 the economic and social life of Germany. I never happened to meet his su- 
 perior in quick apprehension and explicit and full information, in the sphere 
 of e very-day observation. 
 
 The village in which Herr G. lives is half-way between Homburg and 
 Frankfort, on the banks of the little river Neider. There he has a large farm, 
 which he carries on under his own eye for a part of the year, living in the 
 winter in Frankfort. He raises pretty much everything that is grown in the 
 Middle States of America. He sends milk to market, and his cattle are all 
 stall-fed. His cows continue perfectly healthy, although they never leave 
 their stable. A cow is worth about forty dollars, a farm-horse about sixty. 
 Common field-laborers are hired at about twenty-four dollars a year wages, 
 with their board, which is estimated to cost about sixty dollars a head more. 
 
 Women receive only about sixteen dollars a year, and are allowed the same 
 quantity of food. Their daily ration is two pounds of bread, about a quarter 
 of a pound of cheese, sufficient potatoes, with butter or lard to cook them 
 with, on four days of the week, and every other day a half-pound of meat, 
 beef, mutton or veal. Cabbages, which are sold at a dollar the hundred 
 head, are considered an article of luxury, and do not enter into the common 
 food of the laboring class. The farm-hands are not furnished from the vil- 
 lage ; they come from Bavaria and the Fulda country, where they have little 
 patches of land and cottages to which they return in the winter. The vil- 
 lagers have usually, in this Rhine region and about the Main, a little farm of 
 perhaps ten, fifteen, twenty acres, which they work themselves, and from which 
 they draw their living. These little strips of farm-land are worth from 8500 
 to 8800 per acre. 
 
 There is no considerable chance for labor-saving implements of agriculture in 
 a country where labor is so cheap. Still, improved plows are gradually creeping 
 in. Mr. G. introduced a new American plow into his fields a few years ago, and 
 an interdict was immediately put upon it by the council of the village. He 
 was obliged to apply to the highest authority in his country for a reversal of 
 this restraining process. It was granted, and he put his plow to work. The 
 next season the whole potato crop in the neighborhood failed, with the excep- 
 tion of Mr. G.'s. This put the farmers on inquiry, and it was discovered 
 that a few inches deeper plowing with the new implement had carried the 
 roots beyond the source of the rot, and the farmers at once adopted quite 
 generally the American plow. It is in this way that improvements are slowly 
 but surely creeping into the costly and wasteful methods of this German 
 gardening, which is here called farming. 
 
 Farm-labor is not intelligent. It is chiefly Catholic in its origin, and, 
 comes from regions that ai e not enterprising or forehanded enough to emigrate 
 to America. The emigration to our country is usually from districts the most 
 advanced in comfort and mental activity, and it is the best and not the worst- 
 part of the laboring population that goes to America. 
 2 
 
18 PRUSSIA IN 1870. 
 
 A certain kind of elementary education is compulsory in Prussia and over 
 Germany generally. The government furnishes the teachers, but the parents 
 of the children pay their wages. If any are too poor to do this, the expense 
 falls upon the village. The cost of roads and bridges and their maintenance 
 is a tax on the village. Each village has its burgomaster and its council. 
 The chief officer, or mayor, is paid a small salary of from fifty to one hun- 
 dred florins (forty cents is a florin). The council, elected by the villagers, has 
 authority to lay taxes and collect them. These villagers are often intelligent, 
 and very commonly take a weekly newspaper. Their houses, huddled too 
 much together, and with none of the charms of our American village-homes, 
 are yet comfortable, and the streets are usually cleanly ; but the appearance is 
 gloomy and monotonous. The villagers, however, meet after their day's work, 
 to talk over local and personal matters and to discuss politics over their beer 
 and pipe, and are not without enlightened views of their interests." 
 
 In October, our traveler was at Berlin, the third city in Europe. He writes : 
 
 " Berlin — the capital of Prussia and the center of German power, material, 
 intellectual and political — is situated on a small, stagnant stream, called the 
 Spree, in the midst of a vast, sandy plain, which, on the north, stretches up 
 to the Baltic, and is swept by winds that envelop it for a large part of the 
 year in clouds and fogs. It is in north latitude 51 deg., and has a cold, damp 
 climate, which, with its uninteresting situation, makes its growth almost a 
 miracle. Yet in one hundred and fifty years it has become a city of 600,000, 
 from perhaps not more than 50,000 at that date, and chiefly through the vig- 
 orous policy of Frederick the Great, in making it the center of military and 
 intellectual life. 
 
 Trade and commerce have obeyed the attraction of these higher powers, and 
 Berlin is now a vast capital, second only to Paris in importance and in mag- 
 nificence upon the European Continent. Its streets are wide and well built. 
 The French style of large buildings, with separate floors for private families, 
 prevails. "Unter den Linden," its famous promenade, answers, though 
 poorly, to the Champs Ely sees of Paris. A wide and shaded walk for pedes- 
 trians, with a side-road for horsemen, runs through the middle of the street, 
 which is lined on both sides with the principal hotels, cafes and shops. This, 
 street, which is about a mile long, is occupied at the southern end for a quar- 
 ter of a mile by the Palaces of the King and the Crown Prince, the old Schloss 
 built by Frederick the Great, the Arsenal, the Dom, or principal church, and 
 other public buildings. In the middle of it stands the magnificent equestrian 
 statue of Frederick the Great, around the pedestal of which are placed in life- 
 size, and in strict historical portraits, the statues of his chief generals, and 
 of the statesmen and philosophers that adorned his reign. Along the sides of 
 the street are fine statues in marble or bronze of the military heroes and 
 statesmen of Prussia. 
 
 The absence of any good building-stone in the neighborhood has made Ber- 
 lin a city of brick, covered almost in all cases with ornamented and painted 
 
PRUSSIA IN 1870. 19 
 
 stucco. This gives a faded and unsubstantial character to the architecture 
 generally. The dampness of the climate, with the dust, rusts the exterior 
 of the buildings, and there is nothing bright and fresh, as in Paris, about 
 even the newest part of Berlin. The Thier-garden (garden of animals), just 
 outside the Brandenburg gate, is the "Bois de Boulogne" of Berlin. It is 
 very extensive and covered with fine trees, through which rustic roads and 
 paths are cut, and among which a few fine statues are sprinkled. On one 
 side of this the favorite residences of the richer class are found, and new and 
 showy streets ran from it, full of large and costly private houses. The 
 United States Minister occupies one of them, in Regenten Strasse, where he 
 exercises an elegant hospitality to his countrymen and to the savans of Berlin, 
 among whom he finds himself so much at home. The country is fortunate in 
 being represented at Berlin at this critical and pregnant moment by a man 
 known so well beforehand to the literati and statesmen of Prussia. Mr. Ban- 
 croft has received a most distinguished welcome at the Court and among the 
 savans. Bismarck, it is said, has shown him very unusual respect, and the 
 King, receiving him at his own table, has expressed his satisfaction at being 
 able, for the first time, to talk with an American Minister in his own German 
 tongue. , 
 
 The flatness of Berlin is so perfect that I have hunted in vain for any 
 natural elevation in or around it from which the city could be looked down 
 upon. The evenness is very unfavorable to any street effects, and indeed to 
 any easy acquaintance with the topography. Excepting the main avenue, 
 there is hardly a commanding street in Berlin. 
 
 To-day, October 24, the Prussian Parliament — which with so little criti- 
 cism has sustained the late vigorous and confessedly unlawful measure of the 
 government — was dissolved by the King in person. About 2^- o'clock the 
 main body of the hall began to fill with the nobles, generals, state function- 
 aries and deputies of the kingdom. Sitting among a favored few in the tri- 
 bune, or gallery, to which tickets from our Minister had admitted us, we 
 looked down upon the gathering of this gorgeous assembly. Entering infor- 
 mally as they arrived, one or two at a time, we had an opportunity to watch 
 somewhat deliberately their individual appeareance. Half, at least, were 
 either soldiers or in military uniforms, of all kinds and degrees of splendor — 
 red, white, green — but always profusely covered with gold lace, and com- 
 monly hung about with orders and stars, sashes and ribbons. Another por- 
 tion were in the usual court-dress, which is a kind of Quaker coat that has 
 broken out into colors and gold lace. A few ecclesiastics or professors, in 
 solemn gown and cape, with an order or two on their breasts shining all the 
 more brilliantly from its black background, moved in the motley throng. 
 
 Perhaps fifty gentlemen in plain clothes were mixed in the assembly. 
 There were no seats for this company, notwithstanding the venerable and in- 
 firm appearance of a large number of them. Indeed, the advanced age of 
 most officials and notabilities in Prussia is one of the characteristic features 
 
20 PRUSSIA IN 1870. 
 
 of a civilization where routine and slowness of advancement are painfully in 
 the way of merit and vigor. A few chairs on one side of the simple throne 
 (a classic chair upon a slightly raised platform) were reserved for the privy 
 council and ministers of state, and in these, at 3 o'clock, twenty dignitaries 
 took their places, with Bismarck at the left nearest the throne. 
 
 Suddenly a herald announced the King in a loud voice, and William I. 
 came unattended, and cap in hand, and at once ascended the platform. He 
 was in full uniform of a dark green, and in boots and spurs, and after bowing 
 to the assembly, put on his cavalry cap with its fountain plume. One short, 
 simultaneous and percussive "Owa" welcomed him. Bismarck advanced, 
 and, with a very low salute, put the open portfolio containing the Royal 
 speech into the King's hands. He read it in a simple and rather awkward 
 manner, without pretension and without effect. One suppressed murmur of 
 applause greeted the close of the paragraph referring to the harmony of the 
 session. At the close (the reading could not have taken three minutes) Bis- 
 marck took the address from the King's hands, and turning toward the assem- 
 bly, pronounced the Parliament, in the name of the King, dissolved. The 
 King bowed and immediately descended from the throne (he had not once 
 sat down), and left the hall amid a few hearty huzzas. 
 
 Bismarck was dressed in the same white uniform I had seen him in at the 
 Emperor's ball at Paris. He wore jack-boots and spurs. His fine, great 
 head upon his tall, full figure, gave him a marked superiority over the whole 
 assembly. Power, prudence, self-possession, capacity, success, are stamped 
 upon his features and bearing. If he is worn with care, he does not show it ; 
 perhaps he carries it in those great sacks that hang under his eyes ! He 
 seems about fifty-four, and thoroughly well-preserved. His habits are care- 
 ful. He rides on horseback, and bathes in summer in the open river, a few 
 miles from the town. He seems to possess much of the attainments of John 
 Quincy Adams, with a tact in statesmanship which never marked that pow- 
 erful politician. If he had fallen from the skies he could not have come more 
 opportunely, or with qualifications more out of the usual line of German 
 statesmanship. 
 
 Knowing all that German statesmen ever know, he has a thoroughly un- 
 German dash and practical quality in him which marks him out from his pre- 
 decessors, and leaves him wholly alone in his kind. With unsurpassed cour- 
 age and competency, he possesses distinguished prudence and self-control. 
 He does not undertake the impossible, nor invent a policy. He merely shapes 
 and articulates a public sentiment which for a hundred years has waited for 
 its crystallizing moment. He is not a moral genius, nor are disinterestedness 
 and pure philanthropy his inspirers. But he is a patriot, and sees Prussia's 
 opportunity to lead Germany to her destiny, and probably no man could pos- 
 sess qualities or antecedents better fitted to the work , 
 
 An aristocrat, he puts himself at the head of the party movement, and ad- 
 vocates all possible reforms in the interests of a larger liberty and a freer life. 
 
PRUSSIA IN 1870. 21 
 
 He swallows and digests his antecedents, and evidently despises all criticism 
 which merely convicts him of disagreement with himself — where the disa- 
 greement is necessary and born of new circumstances and new opportunities. 
 He is clearly a whole head and shoulders above not only his cotemporaries in 
 Prussia, but European statesmen in general ; and the more I see of the slack, 
 tape- tied, broken- spirited character of German politicians — dreamy, me- 
 chanical, wordy, theoretical and inefficient — the more I admire the prompt, 
 incisive, practical and bold qualities of this redeemer of Germany. But I am 
 getting on too fast. After the King left, Bismarck passed into the assembly 
 and greeted personally a large number of the members. 
 
 General Moltke, who planned the late triumphant campaign with such pro- 
 phetic wisdom, and executed it so precisely, was very conspicuous, and the 
 center of very special attention. Not unlike General Dix in appearance, al- 
 though much older, and quite infirm, Moltke, dressed in a white uniform and 
 covered with orders, had a most modest and quiet carriage, and looked very 
 little like a hero covered with fresh laurels. I looked in vain for Prince Carl, 
 the cavalry leader of the war, nephew of the King and a great favorite of the 
 people. The Prince of Prussia, with his English whiskers and great mus- 
 tache, was very distinguishable. He occupies a separate palace next the 
 King's, and seems a fair enough heir to the throne. His wife (Victoria, 
 eldest daughter of the English Queen) is a woman of special culture and of 
 a practical turn of mind, though capable of literary conversation and pos- 
 sessing marked skill with the pencil. She has six children already. The 
 King is seventy years old — a plain, robust, soldierly man, with a great native 
 passion for military matters — of unquestioned personal courage, and of a fair 
 average understanding. He has a bluff face, and seems to love a simple life. 
 He is an honest man, but without any special qualifications for the exigencies 
 of governing. 
 
 The King is doubtless led by Bismarck, who has the tact and judgment to 
 treat the monarch with profound deference, while the King has the sense to 
 appreciate his Minister's superior knowledge and address, and to follow his 
 counsels. 
 
 I attended two sessions of the Parliament which had just risen, in the 
 temporary chamber where it sits. The Parliament is composed, like our own 
 Congress, of two Chambers. The House of Deputies is composed of Rep- 
 resentatives, one for each one hundred thousand of the people. To favor the 
 smaller provinces another representative is allowed them where the fraction 
 passes fifty thousand ; an advantage which Prussia, strong in her majority, 
 can readily afford. The Deputies quite fairly represent all classes ; there are 
 nobles, commoners and mechanics in the House. Perfect freedom of debate is 
 allowed. 
 
 There is enough to keep one busy for a long time among the sights of Ber- 
 lin, and we have passed rapidly through them. The Royal Library, one of 
 the four largest in the world, is beautifully arranged, and contains many 
 
22 PRUSSIA IN 1870. 
 
 most valuable and interesting MSS. and a rich assortment of illuminated 
 missals. It is particularly rich in everything appertaining to the history of 
 the Reformation, and is redolent with the memories of the Reformers them- 
 selves — copious specimens of whose letters and MSS. are found here. 
 
 We made a visit to Potsdam, which is eighteen miles from Berlin and cor- 
 responds to it, as Versailles does to Paris, only it far exceeds it in interest. 
 The modern palaces are very charming, specially the summer palace of the 
 King, and his favorite resort when he desires retirement. No palace could 
 possess a more home-like and attractive character. The palace looked in all 
 parts made for use, and to be really in use. No part of it was so modest and 
 homely as the King's own bed-room, quite high up in the palace and com- 
 manding a lovely view of the river and the well-planted grounds sloping 
 toward it. The King's bed was single, without posts, and made, like the other 
 furniture, of a native wood. No well-to-do farmer could sleep on a plainer couch. 
 
 Prussia is a military country in even a more marked sense than France. It 
 owes its existence, its growth, its safety, its self-respect to arms. Its people 
 are educated by the musket; they are all under military drill. The uniform 
 is almost the national costume. Berlin is a city of barracks and arsenals and 
 guard-houses, and soldiers are the characteristic feature of its street popula- 
 tion. A clean, fresh, straight, comely -looking set of fellows they are, with 
 self-respect and order in every button and every line of their features and 
 forms. The education to cleanliness, decent manners, good carriage and re- 
 spectful behavior which this great camp, called Prussia, secures, is something 
 most instructive to see. 
 
 The soldiers do not look brutal, coarse or sensual. There is some secret 
 about their training which neither the French nor the English have caught. 
 It must be a good deal in the German blood — which is not hot, but as if made 
 of beer, not beef — a little cool and sluggish. The German military spirit is 
 informed and corrected by the universal education of the people. German 
 soldiers and sailors are different from American or English or French. They 
 are neither drunkards, nor quarrelsome, nor reckless. The union of a careful 
 elementary education with a universal participation in the soldier's calling, 
 takes away the exceptional character and licensed rudeness which belong to 
 soldiers when they are only a special class of the population. But, doubtless, 
 this soldier-life, so favorable to order and decorum, and even so chastening 
 to youthful passions, has another and a most painful side to it. It drills the 
 Prussian youth to mechanical habits, represses personal enterprise, delays the 
 self-relying qualities in their character, habituates them to being taken care of, 
 encourages them to lives of busy idleness, and sacrifices each to all, the people 
 to the country. Accordingly, there is a general spirit of listlessness, occu- 
 pation with immediate pleasures, or magnifying of eating and drinking as 
 very serious occupations, a contentment with humble means, a patient waiting 
 for slow advancement, which it is discouraging to see in so well-educated, so 
 respectable and so orderly a people. 
 
PRUSSIA IN 1870. 23 
 
 Quick as Prussia is in arms — because her military life is all reduced to ma- 
 chinery, and the machinery is in the finest order and can be set in motion in 
 an hour- -there is no other quickness about her. She is a slow country. 
 Every practical interest lags. Her workmen are slow, and do not effect in a 
 day three- fourths of the work of an English or American workman. It drives 
 one nearly crazy to see how many arms there are on the levers by which the 
 smallest object is reached. In the restaurants one man receives the order, 
 another carries it, a third transfers it, a fourth executes it, a fifth receives the 
 thing executed, and a sixth makes it over to the original orderer. It takes 
 twenty minutes to get a chop which would be before you in five minutes in 
 an American eating-house. There is a system of military subordination run- 
 ning through the whole social and economical life, and this narrows and limits 
 everybody's sphere, and contracts and paralyzes energy and hope. 
 
 The people are driven to pleasures and trifles, as a substitute for engaging 
 occupations. They pass an immense amount of their time in beer- shops and 
 gardens, listening to dance-music. They are not rude and drunken — far from 
 it — but they are unaccustomed to the concerns and unfamiliar with the earnest 
 purposes that characterize our life. And with all the freedom of which they 
 boast, they are practically drilled out of the best part of freedom by a paren- 
 tal government that takes care of them like so many ungrown boys and girls. 
 
 The very students in the University are numbered like state's prisoners, 
 and carry round a card in their pockets which they must show on demand. 
 The police, or some government functionary, are forever meddling with the 
 freedom of the people, who are so used to being watched and ordered and in- 
 structed that they do not even know that they are imprisoned in government 
 rules and bureaucratic regulations. If you would go to the opera, you must 
 make a written application for a ticket the day before, and you will receive 
 (or perhaps not) a written notice whether you may be permitted to purchase 
 a place ! A servant girl can not leave her place without notifying the police, 
 nor go to one without her paper of confirmation and two or three other cer- 
 tificates. 
 
 Every Prussian must carry a passport in moving from town to town, which 
 any sentinel may challenge him to produce. The fact is, the people are tied 
 with a very short string to every finger and toe, and can not move out of their 
 places, and the misfortune is that they do not seem to know it. They talk 
 very loudly and proudly of English and American license and disorder, and 
 civic immoralities and drunkenness and crime, and admire very much their 
 freedom from these misfortunes ; but they forget that alongside these tares the 
 strongest wheat is growing, and that their political soil is much like their 
 sandy territory, unfavorable to any large growths of either weeds or wheat. 
 
 In regard to the political situation in Prussia, it may be said that the only 
 two parties are those of Bismarck, aiming at the unity of all Germany mainly 
 by military force, and the party which wishes to bring about the same result 
 by volnntary concession on the part of the outlying southern states, There 
 
24 PRUSSIA IN 1870. 
 
 is no doubt that the force party is carrying the day Already force has, 
 brought three-quarters of all Germany into union, and the other quarter is 
 very sure to fall in. 
 
 The overwhelming predominancy of Prussia will be abated by the union, 
 and thus the general liberties of the German race greatly advanced. Many 
 conservatives perceive this side of the consolidation, and are opposed to it as 
 involving a peril for Prussian influence. " Union first and liberty afterward " 
 has been here, as with us, the cry of patriots. But many who might like the 
 union, do not like the liberty, and they prefer to keep things as they now 
 are, with Prussian influence in Germany at the very highest point. But this 
 can not be done. Bismarck has the good sense to see that Prussia must finally 
 yield to German nationality. He is, therefore, in opposition to his old con- 
 servative associates, accepting the destiny of Prussia, and aiding it in a certain 
 way to sacrifice itself to a larger interest. This is noble. 
 
 Bismarck has for his invaluable assistants in shaping Prussia and Germany, 
 General Moltke, the first soldier in Europe, and General Wrode, an admirable 
 tactician and organizer. Having himself been embassador at every impor- 
 tant court in Europe — Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Vienna — he thoroughly 
 knows diplomatic characters and political tendencies, and can make his com- 
 binations with unfailing skill. He was a student of Louis Napoleon until 
 he excelled his master in astuteness, courage, and success. He is a sort of 
 combination of Mr. Seward and General Grant ; with the dialectic and diplo- 
 matic acuteness and use of skillful means and patient methods, without much 
 care for what people say, which has distinguished the Secretary of State, and 
 with the energy and pertinacity of character, the prudence and directness which 
 have illustrated the career of the Lieutenant-General. Bismarck was once a 
 Prussian captain, but does not claim a soldier's reputation. The King had made 
 him a general, partly because he likes to see his Minister in military uniform 
 and partly as a compliment. 
 
 One of the most striking illustrations of the repressive tendencies of Prus- 
 sian policy is seen in the forbiddance to retail newspapers or pamphlets and 
 books in the streets of Berlin. To have a newspaper, you must subscribe for 
 it for the year. As a consequence, the newspapers are neither numerous, en- 
 terprising, nor universally read. There seems a want of acquaintance with 
 current events — a difficulty about obtaining local information, which is un- 
 favorable to liberty and practical intelligence. 
 
 There is a certain awkwardness in small affairs, a want of tact, or of a 
 sense of fitness — of practical ingenuity and address — here in Northern Ger- 
 many which is unaccountable. The public buildings here, at the center of 
 physical science, are wastefully and stupidly arranged as to entrance and exit, 
 and terribly unventilated. All windows and doors are awkwardly handled. 
 There is no grace and facility in mechanical matters. 
 
 In respect of the custom of living in stories, or appartments — some poor 
 people in the cellar, a graf on the first floor, a hochrath on the second, a shop- 
 
PRUSSIA IN 1870. 25 
 
 keeper on the third, and a shoe-maker on the fourth — there is much to be said 
 on both sides. It abolishes special districts, in which rich or poor live. It 
 brings the two ends of society together ; it makes the children of the various 
 orders and classes acquainted with each other, and secures a certain democratic 
 sympathy. It is favorable to external morality and order. On the other 
 hand, it destroys the privacy and free development of class-life, which we see 
 in England and America. It makes home a less sacred word, and depresses 
 those marked qualities which grow up in a less watched and more castellated 
 domesticity. 
 
 In regard to the general morals of Berlin (a representative city), it is un- 
 questionably a place of extraordinary order and decency — a place where trades- 
 men and mechanics keep their word, where crime is unfrequent, and where 
 drunkenness or furious orgies, such as we have in England and America, are 
 rare. At one season of the year they go into the country and drink buck- 
 beer for a few days (a very potent liquor), and indulge in a kind of satur- 
 nalia. There is an immense festivity always going on in beer-gardens — 
 where the people flock, especially on Sundays and festivals. Wine and beer 
 and schnapps have an immense consumption ; but, either because the temper- 
 ament of the people is more lymphatic, or because they have learned by ex- 
 perience to regulate their appetites, or because there is more domestic com- 
 panionship in their pleasures, there does not seem to be the same tendency to 
 perilous excess. 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 THE K BEK LIN. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Cochrane crosses to France — Curious Adventures — St. Petersburgh — Stripped by Rob- 
 bers — Novgorod — Moscow — Khans of the Golden Horde — The Knout — Religious Su- 
 perstitions — Vladimir — Cochrane broomsticked by fanatical Women — Central Rus- 
 sia — Fair at New Novgorod. 
 
 Russia, as a whole, is the most gigantic empire, in point of territorial ex* 
 tent, ever known to have existed, equaling in extent the whole of North 
 America ; there is, consequently, a great variety of climate, and of produc 
 tions ; and this vast territory is all under the dominion of one man ! 
 
 Russia was originally divided into a great number of primitive and original 
 nations, and presents more diversity of language and races than any other 
 country. The principal stocks are, 1st. The Sclavonic, in which are com- 
 prised the Russians, the Poles, and the Lithuanians, etc. ; 2. The Finnish ■ 
 
 27 
 
28 COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY. 
 
 3d. The Turkish or Tartar ; 4th. The German or Dutch ; and 5th. The 
 Gothic, or the Swedes, a number of whom may be found centered among the 
 population of Finland. The whole empire is estimated to contain at least 
 eighty millions, of which sixty-four millions are in Europe, two-thirds of 
 whom are great Russians, or Muscovites. These may be found chiefly in 
 Central Russia, around Moscow, where the country is densely peopled. 
 
 The ancients had very little knowledge of what now constitutes Russia. 
 The nucleus of the empire was formed about 862, by Rurik. About the year 
 1000, Vladimir introduced Christianity ; but from this period, for several 
 centuries, the country was invaded by hordes of Tartars, and all manner of 
 barbarities committed upon its people. At length, after most bloody and 
 sanguinary wars, the Tartars were expelled. In the 17th century, White 
 and Little Russia were conquered from the Poles, and the Cossacks of the 
 Ukraine, or Little Russias, acknowledged the supremacy of the Czar; 
 various internal improvements were effected, and the power of Russia began 
 to be felt and feared by all her neighbors. At length, in 1696, Peter the Great 
 ascended the throne, and the destinies of Russia and of the northern world 
 were immediately changed. This prince, who has been properly styled the 
 "Father of his Country," gave to the arms of Russia a decided preponder- 
 ance in the north of Europe ; he also gave her a fleet, conquered large prov- 
 inces on the Baltic, laid the foundations of the noble city which bears his 
 name, and introduced among his people the arts, the literature, the customs, 
 and, to some extent also, the laws and institutions of the more civilized 
 European nations. The difficulties he had to encounter in his projects for 
 civilizing his dominions were of the most formidable description, and could 
 not have been overcome by one of a less stern, decided character. 
 
 Under Catharine II. (during the era of the American Revolution), a 
 princess of extraordinary talent, Russia acquired a vast accession of power 
 by her acquisitions in Poland and the Black Sea. 
 
 The disastrous invasion by Napoleon vastly added to the power and 
 influence of Russia, which, a century since, had not more than a quarter of 
 its present population. Eventually, Russia will have possession of Turkey. 
 She needs an outlet upon the Mediterranean to extend her commerce, and to 
 raise her to one of the first naval powers of the world. 
 
 The war in the Crimea, in the last years of the Emperor Nicholas' reign, 
 ending in the memorable siege of Sebastopol, grew out of the ambition of 
 Russia for territorial extension. 
 
 The orthodox Greek church is the dominant religion of the empire. All 
 power emanates from the Czar. The title Autocrat, which he assumes, 
 indicates the nature of his authority, which he is presumed to derive only 
 from God. 
 
 The Bible was first introduced into Russia during the reign of Alexander 
 the First, by the English Bible Society. The Catholic Jesuits opposed its 
 introduction, speaking, writing, and preaching against it; and, as a conse- 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY. 29 
 
 quence, Alexander expelled the Jesuits. In 1825, the emperor Nicholas, 
 influenced by his black clergy, expelled the Bible. On the ascension of 
 Alexander the Second, the present emperor, to the throne, he restored it ; and 
 now it is found in every second house in Great Russia, and is highly prized 
 by the people. In 1861 Alexander emancipated his serfs, and, as a conse- 
 quence, a new life is being infused into his subjects. With the Bible and 
 Freedom, Russia must, in the future, advance to greatness and power with 
 accelerated rapidity. 
 
 Among the most indefatigable of all modern travelers, whose adven 
 tures have been made known to the world, appears the name of John 
 Dundas Cochrane. At the early age of ten years, he entered the cockpit of 
 a British man-of-war, and eventually attained the position of captain in the 
 royal navy ; which rank he held, at the time he commenced his tour across 
 the whole width of Europe, through Siberia, to the eastern verge of zne 
 Asiatic continent. His journey was performed much of the way on foot 
 and occupied something over three years, during which he traversed a dis- 
 tance of thirty thousand miles. 
 
 That a captain of the British navy should thus attempt a journey of man) 
 thousand miles, alone, on foot, and over a country considered as next to im- 
 passable, may be considered as among the most wonderful undertakings of 
 modern times. But he was one of those adventurous spirits to whom dan- 
 gers and difficulties form the chief attractions to difficult achievements ; and 
 that those he so regarded is evident from the confession that he "was never 
 so happi as while traversing the wilds of Siberian Tartary." 
 
 In January, 1 820, Captain Cochrane addressed a letter to the Secretary c\ 
 vne Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty, offering to undertake a journey 
 into the interior of Africa, for the purpose of ascertaining the course of the 
 river Niger. The plan he proposed to follow was nearly that adopted by 
 Mungo Park in his first journey : intending to proceed alone, and requiring 
 only to be furnished with the countenance of some constitutional govern- 
 ment. With this protection, he would have accompanied the caravans, nor 
 hesitated, as he averred, to sell himself " for a slave, if that miserable alter- 
 native were necessary to accomplish the object in view." He objected to the 
 plan of going in a party, from the difficulty of finding men, otherwise suit- 
 able, whose constitutions admitted of an equal degree of suffering and fatigue. 
 In attempting it alone, he would rely upon his own individual exertions and 
 knowledge of man, unfettered by the frailties and misconduct of others. 
 
 The Admiralty not giving a favorable answer to his proposition, he dete/ 
 mined to undertake a journey, varying only the object and the scene to tha 
 of the unfortunate Ledyard, viz : to travel round the globe as nearly as it 
 can be done by land, crossing Northern Asia to America at Beh ring's 
 Straits. He also determined to perform the journey on foot, for the best 
 of all possible reasons, that his finances allowed of no other. 
 
 Having, therefore, procured the necessary documents, and filled his knap- 
 sack with such articles as he judged were required to enable him to wander 
 through the wilds, deserts and forests of three quarters of the globe, he left 
 London in February, in the packet, and landed at Dieppe, and from thence 
 
30 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 proceeded to Paris, procured his passports, and then set out on his journey 
 toward the German frontier. After several days' walking, he entered the 
 winding valley of the Meuse, a branch of the famous *'blue Moselle." 
 Each side of the valley was a continuous vineyard and orchard, and the 
 inhabitants a healthy, robust, and cheerful body of laborers. In this vicinity 
 he fell in with one of Napoleon's old soldiers, who, having been taken 
 prisoner during the Russian campaign, was transported far into the wilds of 
 Siberia. He amused our traveler with some marvelous stories of his adven- 
 tures and sufferings in that distant part of the world. As they were walk- 
 ing and chatting cheerfully along together, he communicated a secret for the 
 cure of blistered feet, which the Captain found, on subsequent trial, an un- 
 failing remedy. It is simply to rub the feet, on going to bed, with spirits 
 mixed with tallow dropped from a lighted candle into the palm of the hand. 
 On the following morning no blisters will exist. The spirit seems to possess 
 the healing power, the tallow serving only to keep the skin soft and pliant. 
 The soles of the feet, the ankles and the instep should be rubbed well ; and 
 even when no blisters exist, the application is a useful preventive : salt 
 and water is a good substitute. 
 
 As he neared Frankfort on the Rhine, Cochrane stopped at an inn in a 
 little paltry village. The landlord, seeing he was but a foot traveler, 
 actually turned him out. Pocketing the affront, he bought a small loaf 
 of black bread, and pushed on, fatigued, cold, and mortified, till he reached 
 a barn, which he entered, and reposed with "perfect content," for the 
 night, in the hay-loft. 
 
 Beyond Frankfort he passed through a low, dreary country. March had 
 now come, and brought with it its usual dreary, blustering winds and driving 
 snows. The roads were in a wretched state, and his feet equally so. He, 
 therefore, took temporary refuge in a small inn, from whence he was driven 
 by the rudeness of a sot, and then entered another ; but was here followed 
 by the audacious rascal, when the fellow's wife opportunely made her ap- 
 pearance, took his part, and, by her very dextrous use of a good cudgel, 
 rid Cochrane of his impertinence. 
 
 A day or two after, he arrived at the beautiful little city of Fuld, late 
 in the evening, very much fatigued. He had been induced to make a 
 longer day's journey by some companions he had picked up on the road, 
 one of whom was a wandering journeyman tailor, the second a mender of 
 old kettles, and the third an Italian cage maker. They shared everything in 
 common, which enabled Cochrane to reduce his expenses one-half; a measure 
 the emptiness of his purse seemed to render not wholly unnecessary. In a 
 miserable barn they found shelter for the night ; and the next morning 
 pushed on, wading over the hills knee deep in snow. At Naumburg he was 
 unable to gain admittance into any house except that of a poor shoemaker, 
 which he did at the price of a glass of "schnaps;" for a second glass he 
 mended his shoes and gaiters, and gave him a truss of straw to sleep on. 
 
 Traveling over a low country, and by a dirty road, he reached the large, 
 filthy, and scattered town of Deuben, the first in Prussia Proper. His recep- 
 tion was uncivil, if not inhuman. His passport was demanded, then he was 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY, 31 
 
 forcibly seized and subjected to the sarcasm and official tyranny of a set of 
 whiskered ruffians, who, after moving him from one guard to another, at 
 length thrust him into a large public room, in a sort of inn, filled with mili- 
 tary rubbish. He requested supper of the landlord ; he only laughed at 
 him ; to his demand for a bed, he grinningly pointed to the floor, and refused 
 him even a portion of the straw which had been brought in for the soldiers. 
 Of all the demons that have ever existed or been imagined in the human 
 shape, he thought the landlord of the inn, in ill-nature and personal hideous- 
 ness, the blackest. " His face half-covered with a black beard and bristly 
 whiskers, his stature below common ; his head sunk below his shoulders, to 
 make room for the protuberance of his back ; his eyes buried in the ragged 
 locks of his lank grisly hair ; — add to this a club-foot and a voice which, on 
 every attempt at speech, was like the shrieking of a screech-owl, and you 
 have," says our traveler, " some faint idea of this mockery of a man. For 
 some time he strutted about wrapped up in furs, which ill concealed the 
 ragged testimonials of his wretched poverty, and taking immense quantities 
 of snuff. The oaf at length deliberately opened a large box, and placing in 
 it a pillow and some straw, wrapped a blanket around him, and commited his 
 person to this rude but novel species of bed, shutting the lid half-way down 
 with a piece of wood apparently kept for that purpose." " I confess," says 
 Cochrane "my indignation was so strongly excited, thaj. had materials been 
 at hand, I had the strongest inclination to nail the monster down in his den." 
 Cochrane' s feelings were such that he was determined at all hazards to run 
 the risk of an escape, and at midnight he got out of the window, and travel- 
 ing over a sandy road reached Wittemburg at eight o'clock in the morning, 
 The second evening after he arrived at Potsdam, where, with infinite difficulty, 
 he procured admittance to a house, content to purchase black bread for his 
 supper and the use of a bench for a bed. 
 
 Potsdam is a large, fine, but desolate town, and seems to be one huge bar- 
 rack, scarcely a living being is seen without the Prussian uniform. Yet it is 
 an interesting spot, for it contains the tomb of Frederick the Great. So great 
 an air of melancholy pervaded the place that our traveler was glad to leave 
 it behind. 
 
 On reaching Berlin he called upon Mr. Rose, the British ambassador at the 
 Prussian capital, who offered him a room at his hotel ; but the independent 
 plan which he had adopted led him to decline these hospitalities. 
 
 Berlin is one of the most uninteresting capitals on the continent. It stands 
 in the midst of a sandy plain ; the streets are generally plain, ill-paved, and 
 with little ornament. The town, however, contains a great number of scien- 
 tific and literary establishments, and its university ranks among the first in 
 Europe. Indeed the Prussians now excel in their system of education, which 
 is the most complete ever established. The instruction of all classes is care- 
 fully provided for, and the law compels all parents to send their children to 
 school. Every parish is bound to have a common-school, and every town an 
 academy. Normal schools provide teachers for every grade, and in some, 
 pecuniary assistance is afforded to poor scholars of good promise. Govern- 
 ment, with parental care, supports all these institutions, and oversees, through 
 
32 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 officers appointed for the purpose, the details of their discipline : and aside 
 from this she munificently provides for the blind, and deaf and dumb, and 
 opens to the use of even the humblest individual the national collections of 
 natural history, the philosophical and astronomica 1 apparatus, and the public 
 libraries. 
 
 From Berlin, Cochrane proceeded, over a bleak and almost deserted country, 
 to Stettin, after forty miles of heavy and dreary walking. He in vain de- 
 manded a night's lodging at three different houses, though he had previously 
 ordered and eaten as many suppers for that express inducement. He then 
 retreated to the wharf, cold and snowy as it was, and threw himself on the 
 ground to repose for the night. A brother tar passing roused him up, and by 
 a little past midnight, through dint of earnest persuasion, induced the land- 
 lord of the Copenhagen Inn to receive him on condition that his passport 
 should be deposited in his hands as security. 
 
 A day or two after, while traveling through a marshy country, Cochrane 
 got lost in an attempt to cross a frozen swamp, and wandered some fifteen 
 miles out of his road. Thus much for quitting the high-road to make a short 
 cut, which a pedestrian should never do except under a certainty of being 
 right. 
 
 "A post-house, called Romini," says he, "with a good, civil landlord, 
 better wife, and seven well-behaved children, made me welcome, dried my 
 clothes, and gave me a glass of schnaps to keep me warm ; while a good 
 supper of beef and potatoes was preparing for me. Cold, wet, weary, and 
 half famished, I had entered the benevolent post-house ; but one short houi 
 restored me to life and good-humor, and ultimately to the enjoyment of a 
 clean bed, made on the spot for my accommodation by filling a tick with hay 
 and sewing it up again. Happy, contented, though impoverished family, 
 would to heaven that benevolence like yours had more numerous followers 
 among mankind ! I had arrived in a most miserable plight, the heavy and 
 frequent rains having dilapidated my apparel, which, even in good weather, 
 was not calculated to last long. My cap I had lost in the icy swamp, and in 
 place of it my head was bound up in a piece of red flannel. My trowsers 
 were literally torn in tatters, and my shoes tied to my feet to prevent their 
 falling off. All I had retained was sound health and a contented mind, and 
 I wanted nothing more ; for this generous family had during the night put 
 my entire wardrobe to rights ; and I departed the following morning with 
 sound clothing and reflections oi heartfelt gratitude to have met with the 
 beneficial exercise of such qualities in a quarter of the world where I had so 
 little reason to expect them. 
 
 " Over an execrable road, sandy heath, and in cheerless wintry weather 1 
 resumed my route, and reached Zanone, on the banks of the little river Bos- 
 lin. Here again I found lodgings in a cobbler's stall. An old bedstead and 
 straw mattress served for the cobbler and his grandson in one corner ; in the 
 second was a fireplace but no fire ; in the third a cupboard, with an empty 
 glass and two or three broken plates ; and in the fourth a board for his jour* 
 neymen to work upon, when he had business to employ them, which no^ 
 served for my bed-place. In this place I passed the night, charmed with the 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY, 33 
 
 contentment of old Crispin, whose whole happiness seemed wrapped up in 
 the future welfare of his grandson. I was provided with some straw and a 
 horse-rug, which, however they might assimilate me to the inhabitants of the 
 stable, were truly acceptable ; for the night was cold,- and the windows, which 
 transmitted the light only through oiled paper, could not prevent the sensible 
 intrusion of cold air." 
 
 Next morning, in spite of the obstacle of a sprained ankle, he pushed on 
 toward Schlaws, where he was arrested and taken before the magistrates to 
 answer the offense of smoking in the streets. His ignorance of the laws and 
 very palpable poverty alone saved him from a fine. At Skolpe, thirty-five 
 miles farther on, the police supplied him with quarters at the guard-house : 
 "a circumstance rendered almost necessary to me," says Cochrane, "from 
 the unaccountable, but manifest ill-will of the women .toward me. The ill- 
 fated Ledyard, had he been situated as I have often been, would have allowed 
 exceptions to his beautiful encomium on the fair sex. But Ledyard's fortune 
 was better in this respect, and he was justified by his own experience in 
 espousing the cause of the whole sex." 
 
 He endured much while traveling in this region from the bad condition of 
 his shoes, which the variations in the weather made alternately like sponge 
 and horn. The country grew more picturesque as he advanced, but bore a 
 desperately bad name from the bands of robbers that infested it ; but his 
 poverty prevented him from entertaining any unnecessary fears of them. 
 
 At Dantzic, a strongly fortified town on the Baltic in Polish Prussia, he 
 was kindly received by the English consul, and having obtained a present of 
 a pair of strong, English shoes, he departed, passing successively through 
 Dnishaw, Marienberg, Elbing, and the populous towns of Konigsberg, and 
 Memel. At the place last named, he says : H I received great marks of kind- 
 ness from its inhabitants, who even expostulated with me on my seemingly 
 unhappy mode of life. If happiness, however, be the one pursuit in this 
 world, it may admit of question, whether a traveler does not attain a greater 
 portion of it than most others — certainly more than those who languish on 
 the lap of ease, and who, in one shape or other, feel the tortures of anxiety, 
 though surrounded by all the luxuries which affluence can procure." 
 
 Cochrane soon after crossed the Russian frontier, and at Narva made an 
 acquaintance who gave him a lift on his journey. The story we tell in his 
 own words : "When on the point of resuming my journey, I was accosted 
 by a black gentleman, who, as he informed me, was a resident and retired 
 merchant of St. Petersburg. Understanding that I was a foreigner, he en- 
 tered into many inquiries with me, of my rank, country, the object of my 
 travels, and my reasons for pursuing them on foot. To these inquiries I re- 
 plied, and to the last simply observed that I was in the habit of traveling on 
 foot, and that indeed I could not afford to see the world in any more conve- 
 nient manner. He expressed his regret that a man of my merit had not been 
 better rewarded by fortune — and his satisfaction at the same time that he 
 had it in his power to offer me a lift even to the capital of Russia, having two 
 carriages empty ; though he was prevented by an affair of importance 
 from resuming the journey that day. I accepted his offer, and- agreed te 
 3 
 
34 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 await his pleasure, rejoiced at the opportunity afforded me of entering the 
 imperial capital in style, with less expense, and still less fatigue. In the 
 meantime I ate and drank freely at his charge ; and not to appear backward, 
 I ordered for myself the luxury of a proper bedroom, where I slept well. 
 
 " I learned the next morning that the important business, which detained 
 my friend, was neither -more nor less than an intrigue with a rosy-cheeked 
 chambermaid. This being dispatched, we departed ; he in the first, and I in 
 the second carriage, each drawn by four horses. I had a specific charge from 
 him to use no ceremony in abusing the coachman if he should slacken in his 
 driving. I soon forgot this admonition in a sound sleep, for which, by-the- 
 by, I afterward got a severe reprimand. We passed through Yamberg and 
 reached Kipene the next evening. My companion, again having treated me 
 with supper and bed, left me for the night, evidently a little nettled at his ill 
 success in engaging the affections of a little Russian girl who had waited on 
 us at table. 
 
 " While at breakfast next morning and just as the horses were announced, 
 my companion asked me whether I was furnished with a passport. I replied 
 in the affirmative. He requested to see it ; and observing my name, inquired 
 if I was related ' to Admiral KaTcran, who was in de West Indies at de cap- 
 ture ob de Danish island in 1807?' Being informed I was the admiral's 
 nephew, he asked, 'Be you de son ob massa Johnstone KakranV — 'Yes, I 
 am,' — ' You are den,' said he, ' dat lilly massa Jonny I know'd at de same 
 time.' It now turned out that this black gentleman, with the two carriages 
 and four horses each, had been my father's and my uncle's servant thirteen 
 years before. Having talked over old matters, he remarked that he never 
 could have recognized me, from the alteration that time had made in my fea- 
 tures ; observing that I seemed to have verified the West Indian proverb, 
 ' Like the black man's pig, very lilly bvt dam old* I acknowledged the jus- 
 tice of the remark and proceeded to inquire his history ; but as he did not 
 seem inclined to be communicative on this head, I did not press him ; and 
 we proceeded both in the same carriage ; my friend no longer considering 
 me in the light of a menial servant" 
 
 At parting with his sable friend at St. Petersburg, he declined, much to 
 Cochrane's chagrin, giving him his address, as he felt an increased curiosity 
 to learn the source of his wealth and situation in life. The next day, in relat- 
 ing this adventure to Dr. Ryan, the physician of the young prince Labonoff, 
 the doctor stated that the carriages of the prince having been left at Narva, 
 he sent his black servant to bring them to the capital. Fortune's frolic 
 was now explained ; the wealthy, dashing, overbearing, and intriguing com- 
 panion of the captain being no more than the very humble attendant of his 
 Highness. 
 
 Having obtained comfortable lodgings in St. Petersburg, through the inter- 
 vention of the British consul-general, Cochrane sent a memorial, by 
 Count Nesselrode, to the emperor, soliciting a permit to pass through the 
 Russian empire on his way to America, either by Kamtschatka or Behring's 
 Straits — a sealed mandate from the emperor, with an order from all gover- 
 nors and persons in authority to assist him to the utmost of their power — one 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 35 
 
 to the police not to interfere or molest him, and a letter of introduction to the 
 governor-general of Siberia. The emperor Alexander, with the well-known 
 kindness of his disposition, not only granted him all he asked, but generously 
 offered to provide him money for the journey, at the same time -expressing 
 a belief that when he was furnished with the required documents he would 
 flinch from his formidable and hazardous undertaking. The gift of money 
 he gratefully declined, and to the expression of the belief, he replied, he 
 should be ready to set off on his journey of eight or ten thousand miles at 
 half an hour's notice. 
 
 In Russia the police regulations respecting travelers, are very strict, and 
 it was fortunate for Cochrane that he had an influential friend at court. A 
 stranger in St. Petersburg is obliged to procure a permit of residence, and he 
 cannot leave for the interior without obtaining certain papers. So stringent 
 are the Russian police that it is not probable, except in a time of war, that 
 a single foreigner has, within a century, entered Russia without their 
 knowing accurately his name, business and movements. Nor can a foreigner 
 Heave St. Petersburg unless he first publish his intention in three successive 
 numbers of the Gazette, as a measure of safety to his creditors. After this he 
 must petition for a passport. It is with great difficulty that a Russian can leave 
 the empire at all, and then only for a limited time, and after an enormous ex- 
 penditure. If he does not return at the call of the police, he is liable to have 
 his property confiscated and to be banished to Siberia. 
 
 Since Cochrane was at St. Petersburg, the city has much advanced in 
 elegance and refinement, and this great capital now absorbs so much of the 
 notice of the civilized world that we pause to give a more lengthy notice, 
 from the records of a recent American traveler. 
 
 St. Petersburg was founded by the Czar, Peter the Great, in 1703, to 
 secure a communication by sea between his empire and the rest of Europe. 
 It is built upon a marsh upon the southern bank of the Neva, and includes 
 several islands in the river. The houses generally stand upon piles and are 
 usually of brick covered with plaster and washed a white, yellow or pink color. 
 The intense cold of winter discolors the walls and peels off the stucco. About 
 the first of June some 70 or 80,000 serfs come from the interior to repair and 
 rebeautify the city, which soon, assumes as fresh an appearance, as if entirely 
 new. When viewed in the subdued twilight of a summer evening, the bril- 
 liant colors of the colonnades, and deep embrasures of the palaces and other 
 public buildings are indescribably beautiful. Some of the islands are occu- 
 pied as summer residences by members of the royal family, and by the no- 
 bility, and are embellished with villas, shell chateaux and fantastic cottages ; 
 at every turn water perspectives, lawns containing Chinese pagodas, Grecian 
 temples, and Italian colonnades are continually presented to the eye. Some 
 of these charming residences are surrounded with parks, vine-covered pavil- 
 ions, and terraces adorned with flowers, while the perfume of the plants, and 
 the sounds of music make it seem like enchantment. 
 
 Days are required to see all the curiosities at St. Petersburg. Among 
 these may be mentioned the Hermitage with its two thousand paintings, and 
 within which are the famous winter gardens, and the scenes of the voluptu- 
 
86 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 ous banquets of Catherine — the Imperial Library, with its half a million of 
 rare volumes and manuscripts — the Museum of Peter, containing his clothes, 
 and tools, and specimens of his handicraft ; the Museum of the Academy of 
 Sciences, etc. Beside these are Imperial lyceums, gymnasiums, universities, 
 military schools, schools of engineers, of law, medicine, etc.; charitable insti- 
 tutions, and various others. In the city are over two hundred churches and 
 chapels, most of which are surmounted with four or five golden or parti- 
 colored cupolas, and adorned within by a profusion of ornaments, shrines and 
 images of the Virgin, resplendent with gold and jewels. One of the first 
 streets in the world is the Nevsky Perspective, three miles in length, which is 
 usually crowded with vehicles of all kinds, and thronged with ladies, ser- 
 vants in livery, officers and soldiers of every uniform, Circassians and Cos- 
 sacks in their respective costumes, civilians, merchants and serfs in sheep- 
 skins. 
 
 In the environs of the city, the palace of PeterhofF, or the house of Peter, 
 rich in treasures of arts, and gorgeous in the splendor of its decorations and 
 furniture, equaling Versailles in the magnitude and beauty of its artificial 
 cascades, presents an unrivaled picture of luxury and taste. In this retreat, 
 the Great Czar was accustomed to forget the cares of office, while yielding to 
 the charms of his peasant-born mistress. In these grounds the widow of 
 Peter was wont to mingle the habits of her early life with the indulgences of 
 her imperial condition, in suppers prepared by her own queenly hands. Here 
 the second Catherine, timid in the midst of regal splendors secluded herself 
 at times from the world, and refusing the ministry of human hands, was 
 served at table by the aid of ingenious machinery. In her amusements, she 
 sometimes sought to realize fairy scenes in the music of nymphs, the wood- 
 land dances of youth arrayed in white, and in the serving of feasts appa- 
 rently by magic art. Few of these curious devices now remain ; mechanical 
 fish still swim in the neglected waters, and an artificial tree drenches the too 
 confiding stranger with copious showers of water, the moment he seeks its 
 shade. A pond in the vicinity illustrates the punctuality with which fish can 
 be taught to come for their food at the ringing of the bell. 
 
 A Railway uniting St. Petersburg with Tsarkoe, a distance of 15 miles, 
 was the first constructed in Russia. An accident, attended with the loss of 
 several lives, prejudiced the public against its use. So great is the timidity 
 of this people, in the risk of human life, that Carter, the Lion Tamer, was 
 forbidden to exhibit his usual feats, and the same feeling proving injurious to 
 the prosperity of the road, the Emperor, attended by the President of the 
 company, volunteered to intrust his august person to this dangerous species 
 of locomotion, before confidence could be restored and the road resume its 
 accustomed business. 
 
 Not far from the city, the Imperial Farming Institution educates, at the 
 public expense, two hundred young men selected for their intelligence. A 
 sober-looking Yankee, ignorant of all languages but his own, but with a head 
 full of native ingenuity, had wandered to Russia, with a lot of patent Yankee 
 Agricultural machines, and was astonishing the Russian youths with the su- 
 perior style and execution of his implements of husbandry. The broad 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 37 
 
 swarth, the smooth meadow, the straight furrows, were a novelty to men ac- 
 customed to zig-zag plowing, ragged mowing, and antediluvian tools, but a 
 hastily-constructed winnowing machine to take the place of the primitive cus- 
 tom of throwing the grain into the air, for the wind to remove the chaff, com- 
 pleted their amazement. Yet the empty honor of membership in the Impe- 
 rial Society of agriculture was all the reward vouchsafed to the enterprising 
 stranger. 
 
 The Royal foundery of Alexandroffsky is under the management of Ame- 
 ricans, and the entire system of Russian railways, as well as the construction 
 of the noble line, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, was confided to an Ameri- 
 can gentleman of eminent professional ability — the late Major George W. 
 Whistler, formerly of the U. S. Engineer corps, and widely known for his 
 connection with the early history of Massachusetts' railways. In spite of 
 the obstacles presented by the peculiar face of the country, by the mulish- 
 ness of the peasantry, by court intrigue and by disappointed competitors, he 
 succeeded in all his plans, and so thoroughly justified the confidence placed 
 in him, as an American, that two American Contractors, Messrs. Harrison and 
 Eastwick, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Winants, of Baltimore, were employed 
 from among a host of competitors, English, French, Dutch, German, and 
 Belgian, to furnish the road with locomotives and cars. The English work- 
 men at the Royal Foundery were of course disgusted with this scheme of the 
 Yankees, a disgust not lessened by the recollection that the Emperor's favor- 
 ite steam yacht was of American manufacture, but very much deepened by 
 an order speedily to quit the Foundery, which up to this time, had been under 
 English control. The assistant workmen, however, who had been imported 
 into the country from the United States at high wages, soon gave place to 
 Swedish mechanics, worried out with a land and a people ignorant of politi- 
 cal speeches and political excitement, and not yet blessed with a newspaper 
 press, with free schools or free churches. The manufacture of locomotives 
 and cars was carried on upon a gigantic scale ; three thousand workmen 
 were speedily employed in the construction of two hundred of the first, 
 and seven thousand of the last. Contracts to the amount of millions of 
 money were soon offered to the enterprising young Americans. But they had 
 to work mainly with Russian operatives, and in spite of all their humanity 
 they could find no substitute for the lash with which to sustain their invete- 
 rate propensity to lying, theft, laziness, and drunkenness. Still their success 
 repeatedly elicited the warm commendation and approval of the Czar. The 
 introduction of steam excavating and pile-driving machines from this country 
 into Russia, and the success of an American dentist in regulating the Imperial 
 grinders, together with the known partiality of the Emperor for American 
 mechanics, brought upon him, a few years ago, a perfect torrent of Yankee 
 notions. From a patent pin machine to the picture of an awful looking 
 stomach, diseased by brandy, nothing, it was thought, could come amiss to 
 his majesty. Wooden clocks, Newtown pippins, Colt's revolvers, Mineral 
 teeth, were a few of the articles sent out by our speculating countrymen. But 
 the matter was overdone, and a ukase was issued declining, for the future, 
 all presents to the Royal family ; otherwise the Russian empire might 
 
38 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 have been regenerated by the money making projects of speculating 
 Yankees. 
 
 The summer of St. Petersburg is short. The long twilights of July are 
 succeeded, in September, by the long nights and gloomy days of the early 
 northern winter. The withered leaves, the piercing air, the gray and dismal 
 sky, the wailing winds, and the mournful murmurs of the Neva, seem to 
 unite in a sad requiem over the early grave of summer. October comes, and 
 at this dreary season, the last steamer takes its departure for another land, 
 and with it all water intercourse of St. Petersburg with other countries, 
 ceases, and the broad Baltic is chained for many months in endless fields 
 of ice. 
 
 In the dead of winter, the sunlight lasts but about five hours, and fre- 
 quently artificial light is made necessary by the clouds and dense mists. In 
 this season of extreme cold the mercury sometimes sinks to 30° and 35° be- 
 low zero. Regular exercise is impossible by a stranger, but the Russian 
 peasant, his beard white with frost and his body only covered with a rude 
 sheepskin, withstands the severest cold with a hardihood almost incredible. 
 The howl of wolves is often heard in the suburbs mingled with the long wild 
 cry of the Russian sentinel. The clear nights of this season of the year are 
 surpassingly beautiful. * The evergreen and ever silent woodland, hung 
 with white drapery, and the pine boughs tipped with icicles image forth the 
 realms of the great frost king, while millions of stars twinkle in the cold, 
 clear firmament and the moonlight sparkles upon the crystal-surfaced snow." 
 The winter in the capital is a constant scene of festivity ; crowds of peasants 
 flock to the city in their rude vehicles ; an animated crowd fills the Nevsky, 
 representatives from every country of Europe and Asia, all protected by furs 
 from the cold. The highway, at the same time, is filled with every kind of 
 sleigh, from the dashing rapid moving equipage of the noble to the plain 
 block of ice on which the Finland peasant woman sits in her humble sledge. 
 The Emperor is often seen in the Nevsky. The flutter of the crowd an- 
 nounces his approach, sometimes in a vehicle of little pretension, and some- 
 times on foot — a tall figure with plumed hat and dark cloak, recognizes by 
 the military salute the homage of the multitude and speedily disappears. 
 
 The palaces of the wealthy nobles, in St. Petersburg, are furnished in the 
 French style, with great extravagance and splendor. In the winter, they be- 
 come the theaters of festal scenes of exceeding brilliancy, and the visitor is 
 at once transported from the cold of winter to the warmth of a summer 
 clime. Whenever the Emperor of Russia, or his family, visit a noble house, 
 they are given a most brilliant reception. On his approach, anxiety and awe 
 are impressed upon every countenance. He hurries with an air of diffidence 
 and impatience from room to room, and as he enters, the multitude 
 arise and in silence make the most profound obeisance. All eyes are upon 
 him to catch his words and watch his every motion. No one can speak un- 
 less first addressed by him. And happy and envied is that individual who 
 has received a nod of recognition from his sovereign. " What favor," once 
 asked the Emperor of a courtier, " can I bestow upon you ?" " Every time 
 you see me at court," he replied, " whisper in my ear, ■ you are an Ass.' " 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN J0URNE7 39 
 
 During carnival the balls and festivities are most brilliant. These are ter- 
 minated by Lent. With Easter the gayety is resumed, balls again come in 
 vogue, theatres are opened, and the square of the admiralty is filled by ice 
 hills* shows, and the circus. At this season the common Russians, huge 
 bearded fellows, carry in their bosoms and eat large quantities of hard bo^ed 
 eggs, of variegated colors, and painted with the cross. On meeting a friend 
 they give him one, exclaiming, " Christ is risen." The latter, on taking it, 
 rejoins, "He is risen indeed." The two then hug and kiss each other most 
 lovingly. 
 
 Most of the prominent nobles of the capital have traveled, and are refined 
 in manners and magnificent in their hospitality ; but they are licentious, and 
 spend their lives and fortunes in a continued round of dissipation. The Rus- 
 sian ladies have great vivacity, dress with exquisite taste, are extremely win- 
 ning and seductive in their manners ; but they are licentious, intriguing, and 
 sensual. Before marriage the peasant girl essays illicit love ; but with the 
 noblesse that is reserved until after wedlock, as marriage is but a matter of 
 convenience, and every opportunity is then given to the unbridled gratifica- 
 tion of her passions. 
 
 Whoever visits St. Petersburg in May will have an opportunity of wit- 
 nessing one of the most gorgeous military spectacles in the world — the review 
 of the Imperial Guard, which takes place preparatory to their departure to 
 summer quarters. A private letter of a young American, who was present 
 at this review, thus graphically describes it : 
 
 " For about four hours," says he, " I had a good view of the magnificent 
 sight, and my hurried pen will fail to give you an adequate description of its 
 exceeding splendor. When I arrived upon the ground the troops had 
 already begun to march. 
 
 The balconies and windows of the public buildings and elegant private 
 residences surrounding it were filled with ladies and gentlemen, and the 
 sides of the field itself thronged with a dense mass of men, women and 
 children. On one side stood a gorgeous tent upon a raised platform for the 
 Empress, before whom and the Emperor the troops were to pass in review. 
 The panoramic view of the whole you can readily imagine was beautiful; but 
 the review itself of this great body of sixty thousand troops, who in part only 
 compose the garde imperiale of the Emperor, and who are distinct from the 
 main army, which, I believe, numbers near one million rank and file, is a spec- 
 tacle of surpassing interest. 
 
 The foot soldiers, infantry principally, first passed in review, marching by 
 platoons of companies, containing, perhaps, one hundred and fifty men each, 
 and in double order. As each platoon arrived opposite the Emperor, it sent 
 forth as with the voice of a giant, the peculiar Russian hurrah, for " my 
 beloved." The soldiers were all picked men, tall, athletic, and each wore a 
 heavy, black moustache. They moved with mathematical precision, and 
 whether on a slow or quick march, were like pieces of mechanism, their 
 muskets not varying it seemed an inch either in height or inclination. 
 
 Of all the marching I have witnessed, and I have seen the American, 
 French, Dutch and Prussian soldiers — none will at all compare with the Rus 
 
40 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 sian, The uniform of the infantry was blue and red, not unlike our militia 
 uniform in Connecticut. It was about two hours before the infantry had 
 passed in review : then came the cavalry advancing in double order by pla- 
 toons of sixty horses abreast ; which, when I recall, seems like a magnificent 
 vision. 
 
 A company of Caucassian Princes were in the advance, mounted upon coal 
 black fiery steeds, with long manes, and tails almost sweeping the ground. 
 The Caucassians, a fierce and manly-looking body, were dressed in a scarlet 
 garment fitting close to the skin ; over this was a finely-wrought steel chain 
 armor, covering the entire body. Upon their feet were a kind of sandal ; 
 upon their legs leather leggings similar to those of our Indian warriors ; across 
 their backs a bow with well-filled quivers ; in their hands a carabine, and in 
 their girdles the savage- looking yataghan. 
 
 The Tartars succeeded, upon their wild-looking fleet little horses, with 
 their necks shot forward and lifted heads, as if snuffing the breeze ; and so 
 uniform was this line of heads that it seemed as if they were drawn up by 
 pullies. The costume of the Tartar soldier is a blue frock trimmed with silver, 
 and a kind of skull-cap bound with fur. In his hand is a spear, the end of 
 which he rests upon the head between the ears of his horse. 
 
 Then came the Chevalier Lancers, splendid looking men, in white cassimere, 
 upon most elegant horses, with heavy and highly-polished brass breast- 
 plates, and brass helmets, surmounted by the imperial eagles. 
 
 Regiment after regiment passed by, each regiment with different colored 
 horses, and the horses in each regiment so well matched in size, form, color, 
 and indeed every respect, that to distinguish them, each had braided in his 
 mane his number upon a small plate. The lancers are all picked men, the 
 flower of the Russian army — the officers of noble birth : were it not for the 
 different colored pennants upon their lances, and color of the horses, no one 
 regiment could be distinguished from another. 
 
 After the lancers came the Imperial Hussars, in their costume of red with 
 high fur caps, and all mounted upon snow-white steeds. This, it is said, is 
 the favorite regiment of the Empress. Following them were the Imperial 
 Carabineers, on black horses, and dressed like the Lancers, except that their 
 helmets and breast-plates were of steel highly polished. Next were the Cos- 
 sacks — their black steeds carrying their heads high in the air. The uniform 
 of the latter is similar to the Tartars above described, except in their caps, 
 which are high, and of fur : their weapon is a sharp-pointed lance of steel. 
 The rear of this immense body of cavalry, amounting to over thirty thousand, 
 was brought up by the regiments of mounted artillery, six horses abreast, 
 three to each gun. The Sappers and Miners' baggage wagons and the pon- 
 toon train terminated the line. 
 
 But the greatest sight was the marching of the horses attached to the dif- 
 ferent regiments ; they seemed like machines. You think it ' strange/ no 
 doubt, and yet it is no less ' strange than true,' that every horse in march- 
 ing kept perfect time with his feet to the music. I never saw soldiers on foot do 
 it better, indeed not so well, for when a quick lively tune was played, every 
 horse commenced a trot, and kept up the same uniformity of step as before 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN" JOURNEY 41 
 
 when on a walk. And to see those horses wheel by companies, and i*» dou- 
 ble order, coming round with the precision of a compass describing a circle, 
 exceeded anything I ever imagined. After the whole army — for the Impe- 
 rial Guard is organized as an entire and distinct army — had passed in review 
 in order before the Emperor, the infantry left, and the cavalry remained, and 
 went through some evolutions. First, the Caucasians came at a full run 
 down the field, and the other regiments in succession. 
 
 After this the whole body stationed themselves at some distance opposite 
 the Emperor in close order, and at a given signal, half of the body, over fif- 
 teen thousand horsemen, started on a run, and suddenly halted a few feet in 
 advance of the Czar, preserving, as they halted the same compactness and 
 perfect front they had before starting. A few more evolutions finished the 
 review, a day which has done much to impress on me the remark of Napo- 
 leon, that with an army of Russian soldiers he could conquer the world. 
 He spoke of soldiers, not of officers, of whom he had not a high opinion." 
 
 The Russian soldier is a mere machine, and has not a thought beyond his 
 Church and the Emperor; for both he believes it is his duty to live and die. 
 
 The pay of the Russian soldier is only about three dollars per annum. 
 He is fed upon a coarse bread and a kind of soup, and, upon some great fete 
 day, is given meat as a luxury. The pay of the Russian officer is also very 
 small. A lieutenant gets but five hundred rubles per annum — a little more 
 than one hundred dollars ; a captain, seven hundred rubles ; and a colonel, 
 only two thousand rubles. 
 
 You ask, "how they live I , The officers generally have a competency beyond 
 their pay ; some few there are who have not, and their condition is worse than 
 the soldier, for the latter is provided with a uniform, and is fed at the ex- 
 pense of the Emperor." 
 
 We now return to follow the fortunes of our traveler, whose stay in St. 
 Petersburg was but brief. 
 
 On the evening of the 24th of May he buckled on his knapsack, turned 
 his back on St. Petersburg, and trotted over a partially cultivated country. 
 A pretty avenue of birch trees lined the road, as if to accompany him as far as 
 possible on his departure from the precincts of civilized man. "Nature 
 here," says he, "got the better of a tolerably stout heart; and as I turned 
 around to catch a last glimpse of the capital I had left, and of the friends to 
 whom I had bade, perhaps, a last adieu, I could not suppress my grief, and 
 had not my honor been committed, should certainly have returned. A sigh 
 escaped me as I ejaculated my last farewell, till starting at the expression 
 of my weakness, I resumed my journey with slow and melancholy steps. 
 
 " It was ten o'clock — for I had now a watch — and I had reached six miles. 
 The night was beautifully clear, though rather cold from the effects of a 
 northern breeze. The moon was nearly full, and I looked at the beautiful 
 luminary, and then considered my project and intentions and the conduct I 
 ought to follow : sitting down at a fountain on the Poulkousky hill, I read to 
 myself a few lessons which the time and the occasion seemed to inspire : 
 * Go,' said I, ' and wander with the illiterate and almost brutal savage ! — go, 
 and be the companion of the ferocious beast ! — go, and contemplate the hu« 
 
42 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 man being in every element and climate, whether civilized or savage — of 
 whatever tribe, nation, or religion. Make due allowance for the rusticity of 
 their manners ; nor be tempted to cope with them in those taunts, insults, and 
 rudeness to which the nature of thy enterprise will subject thee. Contemn 
 those incidental circumstances which but too often surprise mankind from 
 their good intentions and deprive the world of much useful and interesting 
 information. Avoid all unpleasant topics, and remember that ' the proper 
 study of mankind is man.' Should robbers attack thee, do not by a foolish 
 resistance endanger thy life. Man may become hardened by crimes, and 
 persist in the practice of them, till meeting with resistance he will be tempted 
 to murder ; but man is still a human being, even while seeking subsistence 
 by rapine and plunder, and seldom, from mere wantonness, will he spill the 
 blood of his fellow-creature. It is only by patience, perseverance, and humi- 
 lity, by reducing thyself to the lowest level of mankind, that thou canst expect 
 to pass through the ordeal with either safety or satisfaction. ' Something like 
 these were my self-dictated precepts, and I pledged their performance in a 
 draught from the cool and limpid fountain." 
 
 A few miles beyond Tosna, he sat down beside a milestone to enjoy the 
 solace of a pipe, " when," says he, " I was suddenly seized from behind by 
 two ruffians, whose visages were as much concealed as the oddness of their 
 dress would permit. One of them, who held an iron bar in his hand, dragged 
 me by the collar toward the forest, while the other, with a bayoneted mus- 
 ket pushed me on, in such a manner as to make me move with more than 
 ordinary celerity : a boy, auxiliary to these vagabonds, was stationed on the 
 road-side to keep a look-out. We had got into the thick forest when I was 
 compelled to strip myself entirely naked, and then they tied me to a tree. I 
 began to think, from their manner, that they intended to shoot at me for a 
 target. I was however reserved for other uses ; the villains, with much sang- 
 froid, seated themselves at my feet, and rifled my knapsack and pockets. 
 They then compelled me to take at least a pound of black bread and a glass 
 of rum from my flask. Having appropriated my trowsers, shirts, stockings, 
 and English shooting shoes — which I regretted most of all — as also my spec- 
 tacles, watch, compass, thermometer, and pocket sextant, and all my money, 
 they at length released me from the tree, and at the point of a stiletto made 
 me swear that I would not inform against them. I was then again treated 
 to bread and rum and once more fastened to the tree, and thus abandoned. 
 Not long after, a boy, who was passing, heard my cries and set me at liberty. 
 I did not doubt he was sent by the robbers, and felt so far grateful ; though 
 it required uncommon charity to forgive their depriving me of my shirt and 
 trowsers and leaving me almost as naked as I came into the world. 
 
 To continue his route or return he thought would be alike indecent and 
 ridiculous, but there being no remedy, he pursued his journey. He had still 
 left a blue jacket and two waistcoats. He put on his jacket and one waist- 
 coat as usual, tied his other waistcoat around his body, so as to serve as a 
 sort of short petticoat reaching to his knees, restored his empty knapsack tv 
 its old place, and then shirtless and trowserless, bareheaded and barefooted 
 "trotted on," to use his own language, " with even a merry heart." 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 43 
 
 Within a few miles he came up to General Woronoff, who was overseeing 
 a corps of soldiers making a new road. His excellency provided him with 
 food, and then offered him some clothing, which he declined, " considering" 
 his " thin dress as peculiarly, as well as nationally becoming." The generaj 
 directed his coachman to take him in his carriage to the first station, but 
 Cochrane, finding riding too cold, preferred walking, barefooted as he was. 
 Passing through many neat and populous villages, he reached Novgorod, 
 over a hundred miles from St. Petersburg. The town looked grandly as he 
 approached : the numerous spires and steeples of the churches and convents, 
 with their gilded and silvered casements glittering in the sun, recalled for a 
 moment the memory of its ancient splendor. On entering the place the first 
 thing he did was to call upon the governor, who at once offered him cloth- 
 ing : he was, however, hungry, and requested food. The governor smiled, 
 but assented, and then Cochrane accepted a shirt and trowsers, and eventu- 
 ally a complete outfit from his excellency. 
 
 This ancient and celebrated city, which in former days was characterized 
 by the proverb: "Who can resist the gods and the great Novgorod?" is 
 now only a provincial capital. In its glory, it was the metropolis of a great 
 republic, and contained near half a million of souls within its walls. The 
 foundation of St. Petersburg, in 1703, proved a death-blow to its prosperity. 
 
 The steeples of Novgorod present a monument of pride to the inhabitants; 
 the cross upon them stands alone, unaccompanied by the crescent ; this being 
 an emblem that the Tartars in all their invasions never succeeded in entering 
 the city. 
 
 Cochrane advancing thence into the interior, found the country generally 
 presenting a wild, gloomy, monotonous aspect ; vast dreary plains extended 
 on every side to the far distant verge of the horizon, interspersed with forests 
 of evergreens ; but as he neared Moscow the change was striking, immense 
 herds and flocks, with well-peopled villages, greeting the eye in every direc- 
 tion. He passed, on the way, great numbers of pedestrian laborers, who, 
 like the Gallegos of Spain, were traveling to the southward to assist the less 
 populous districts in harvesting. Just before he entered Moscow, his road 
 led through a desolate and dreary waste ; then the town with its hundreds 
 of spires and steeples, domes and towers, flashed upon his eye, and shortly 
 after, he entered the gates, and thus terminated a continuous walk of thirty- 
 two hours, in which he had performed one of his greatest pedestrian feats, 
 having accomplished ninety-six miles. 
 
 " Moscow," says he, " is beautiful and rich, grotesque and absurd, magni- 
 ficent and mean. But beside these general features, there is at present 
 [1820] one arising from later circumstances, the city being only half built, 
 and the streets half finished ; brick and mortar everywhere incommoding the 
 passenger. Such is the appearance of Moscow, which is yet very surpris- 
 ing considering how recently it has risen from its ashes." This city is said 
 to stand upon more ground than any other in Europe ; almost every paiace 
 or nobleman's house has a garden, and all wooden houses are detached from 
 the fear of fire. 
 
44 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA 
 
 Moscow, the ancient metropolis of the Empire, is supposed to have been 
 founded about the year 1300. Although it was 'entirely destroyed by the 
 Tartars in the 14th century, by the Poles in the 17th, and again in part 
 by the French, it is now more splendid and populous than ever. Its popu- 
 lation has much increased since the visit of Cochrane, and now is near four 
 hundred thousand ; in appearance it more resembles an Asiatic than a 
 European city. It is chiefly built of wood, and palaces and huts stand 
 mixed together in striking contrast. It has more than six hundred churches, 
 many of which have five or six domes, beside steeples, spires, and crosses, 
 gilded and joined together with golden chains. Its convents, too, are almost 
 innumerable, rivaling the churches in size and splendor. Its streets broad, 
 irregular and winding in every direction, continually present a variety of 
 novel features to the stranger, where churches, palaces, barracks, and cot- 
 tages, in red, blue, and green, are mixed up in a confused and bewildering 
 mass. On an eminence in the middle of the city, stands the Kremlin, de- 
 rived from Krem, the Tartar word for fortress, from the towers of which is 
 a magnificent view. It is nearly triangular in form ; its walls two miles in 
 circumference. Within there are no regular streets, but it contains three 
 squares, and abundance of room for carriages and foot passengers. It is 
 crowded with palaces, churches, monasteries, arsenals, museums, and other 
 public buildings, exhibiting every variety of taste and every order of archi- 
 tecture, Grecian, Gothic, Italian, Tartar, and Hindoo ; rude, fanciful, gro- 
 tesque, gorgeous, magnificent, and beautiful and overtopped by upward of 
 thirty gilt cupolas. Above every object in the Kremlin rises the tower of 
 Ivan Veliki, about two hundred and seventy feet high, and containing thirty- 
 three bells, the smallest of which weighs seven thousand, and the largest 
 one hundred and twenty-four thousand pounds ; on festival days the whole are 
 tolled together. The Tartars for four centuries were masters of Central 
 .Russia. The officers of the Khans of the Golden Horde, most of the time, 
 dwelt in the Kremlin, in oriental magnificence, receiving tribute from the 
 Russian princes, who bent their knees in abject submission to the Great 
 Khan, and when he entered the city, offered to the haughty Tartar a jew- 
 eled goblet filled with mare's milk, and even licked the drops that fell upon 
 the mane of his war-horse. 
 
 Ivan the Terrible, whose atrocious cruelty is hardly credible, erected here 
 his contrivances for torture. " I am your god as God is mine ; my throne is 
 surrounded by Archangels as is the throne of God," was his blasphemous 
 language, as his hapless victims were plunged into caldrons of boiling oil. 
 Here also the rack and the dagger in the hands of the infuriated Peter the 
 Great, evinced the barbarous determination of the Czar to accomplish his re- 
 forms, by the death of the soldiery, who had ventured to oppose them. 
 Mingling the excitement of wine and the excitement of blood, twenty decap- 
 itated heads succeeded the same number of bumpers, and were followed by 
 the destruction of eighty more of his soldiers, who were suspended by their 
 hair, and their heads stricken off by a cimitar in the hands of the frantic 
 monarch. Near the city are the Sparrow hills eminence, of no great height, 
 but affording a charming view of the brilliancy, the splendor, and the gro- 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 45 
 
 tesqueness of the vast city in the plain below. Over these hills, the troops 
 of Napoleon passed, and when, for the first time, they saw spread before 
 them that ancient capital, the promised end of their weary marches, brilliant 
 in the lio-ht of the morning sun, and rich in the treasures of nature and art, 
 their weariness and their fears were forgotten, as the cry of \ Moscow 1' 
 ' Moscow!' echoed from rank to rank of the invading host. In thirty days a 
 desolate plain, with palaces and churches, domes and spires, involved in one 
 common ruin, was all that the great conflagration had left of this once 
 splendid capital. 
 
 Our traveler's stay in Moscow was brief, and a day or two after leaving 
 this fantastic city, he was in the center of Russia proper, where villages 
 abounded, and the country was all cultivated. This region, called Great 
 Russia, contains several provinces, and in point of wealth and industry is the 
 heart of the Empire. It is inhabited by the Great Russians. The Russians ' 
 are formed of many races, of which the Great Russians comprise four-fifths 
 of the population of the empire, and his rapacity and cunning will enable 
 him finally to absorb all the other races ; he is avaricious, sensual, dull, ob- 
 stinate, and of great powers of endurance. Generally he has red or yellow- 
 ish hair, coarse features, vile low forehead, and an ill shaped figure. His 
 generative power is remarkable ; and in central Russia the increase of popu- 
 lation exceeds all former precedent in Europe. 
 
 In Great Russia, prior to the abolition of serfdom, a few years since, by 
 the Emperor Alexander, the value of the estates was owing, principally to 
 the number of serfs, some of which were so vast as to contain one hundred 
 thousand souls. Legally the serf had certain privileges, and could not be 
 sold except with the estate ; but the proprietor treated him pretty much as 
 he pleased, and sold him at any time that he could get a good price. 
 
 The following is a description of serf life, written previous to the aboli- 
 tion of serfdom : 
 
 " Like the American slave, he works with apathy, and just as commanded. 
 He can become a musician or a mechanic with great facility, but never at- 
 tains more than mediocrity. He is chary of his strength, and frequently are 
 seen a hundred serfs hauling by a line a stick of timber that, with us, would 
 take only a dozen or twenty Irish laborers. Like sailors raising freight from 
 the hold of a vessel, they pause and sing for a few seconds, and then when 
 the chorus is struck, all give " the long pull, the strong pull, and the pull 
 altogether." The peasants live in small collections of miserable log-houses 
 one story high, scattered on the estates. All their furniture consists of long 
 wooden benches, a few stools, a table, wooden bowls, plates, and spoons, 
 earthenware dishes, spinning-wheels, a stove, and the image of the Virgin 
 hung in a corner. The family sleep in a single room ; in summer on benches, 
 in winter on the stove. The peasants' stove is similar to a baker's oven with 
 a broad flat top, and is constructed of brick and mortar. Every few days 
 they luxuriate in a vapor bath : this is produced by pouring water on the 
 hot stove, until the apartment is all one dense cloud of steam. The whole 
 family, who strip perfectly naked, are quickly covered with perspiration, when 
 they turn to, and in frolicksome glee, rub and switch each other with 
 birch twigs, dash pailfuls of cold water on their persons, and frequently rush 
 
46 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 out and tumble over and over in a snow bank. It is the great luxury of the 
 Russian, high and low, and a universal " cure all." Yet, the Russians are 
 extremely filthy ; their cabins unventilated, and very dirty. In the country, 
 sheepskin is the costume for both sexes. Cloth wrapped about the legs is a 
 substitute for stockings, and linden bark shoes for those made of leather. The 
 neck is always completely naked, open to the cold, while the head and ears 
 are buried in a cap ^f yellow wolf skin : next to the body the wool of the 
 sheep is worn, while the skin is on the outside, and coming in contact with all 
 torts of things, assumes a dirty brown hue. Thus accoutered, with the face 
 and neck buried in a thick coarse beard, the Russian resembles a bear. He 
 eats, sleeps, and works in one sheepskin for a succession of years, and when 
 we add that this abounds with vile odors and vermin, it will at once be seen 
 that the Russian peasant is not a very fascinating object to a fastidious taste. 
 Notwithstanding, he never suffers for food, habitation or clothing ; in this re- 
 spect, having the advantage of thousands in more civilized countries. The 
 want of cleanliness extends even to the higher classes ; the nobility are fre- 
 quently disgustingly filthy about their persons, and their magnificently-fur- 
 nished chambers are often alive with whole legions of fleas, bedbugs and 
 other vermin, though it would be unjust not to acknowledge the numerous 
 exceptions to this general rule. 
 
 The Great Russian peasant is represented as hospitable and pious accord- 
 ing to his ideas of religion. Rarely is he happy, unless drunk. Then his 
 loud, harsh, quarrelsome notes give place to low sweet accents ; he covers 
 his wife and children with kisses, hugs them with delight, and turns in for the 
 night the most amiable of beings. He awakes in the morning morose and 
 savage, and flogs his wife with demon-like fury. 
 
 It is the policy of the Emperor to consolidate his power by assimilating all 
 his people to one religion, one language, and one set of customs. In Poland 
 the only church was the Romish, and the Lutheran that of Finland and the 
 Baltic provinces. By intimidation, and by rewards, all those people are com- 
 pelled to bow to the Greek altar. The Russian creed teaches that the author- 
 ity of the Czar is divine, he being God's earthly representative, and, there- 
 fore, to thwart his will is to incur the Divine wrath ; this, with the propaga- 
 tion of the Russian language and customs, rapidly changes her conquered 
 tribes to the Russian type, either by amalgamation, or by their rapidly- 
 diminishing numbers. Some of these people still maintain their Pagan insti- 
 tutions, but strangely blended with Mahometan and Christian ceremonies. 
 
 Formerly the Russians converted the conquered people to the Greek faith. 
 by surrounding their villages with Cossacks, and driving them, at the poim 
 of the lance, into the water to be baptized and christianized. Such subju- 
 gated tribes, as do not readily amalgamate with the Russians, are subject to 
 the most ruthless oppression from the petty officials of the government. 
 Goaded to desperation by these severities, petty insurrections sometimes occur, 
 when in their mad vengeance, they often set fire to the villages, destroy the 
 crops, and riot in heedless despair, until the Cossacks arrive, when exile and 
 thfc knout are inflicted without mercy upon the guilty or suspected. The pun- 
 ishment of the knout is graduated to the offense. If slight, the adroit operator 
 5 
 
COCHEANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY. 47 
 
 will but cut out strips of flesh from the back ; if heavy, he will tear out the 
 intestines, when the unhappy victim sinks and dies. In Russia every promi 
 nent criminal is condemned to die by this awful and disgraceful punishment 
 
 On the death of the Russian peasant the priest draws up, and the bishop signs 
 a passport to heaven, which is put in the hands of the corpse. On theii 
 return from the grave, priests and friends have a jollification at the dwelling 
 of the dead, the first toast being " to the happiness of the soul of the de 
 parted, for he was a good fellow and loved grog." 
 
 Prominent in nearly every village is the church, which is usually of brick, 
 painted white or yellow, inclosed with walls and surmounted by green domes, 
 and a tower with a bell, on top of which is a cross above a crescent, illustrating 
 the triumphs of Greek Christians over the Mahometans, and the ambitious 
 designs of the Russians upon Turkey. Over the door of the church is a 
 portrait of St. Nicholas, to whom the people bow in prayer as they go in. 
 The sanctuary, which is concealed by a screen, is ornamented with pictures 
 of the saints. There is a sanctum sanctorum with the holy table, above 
 which, hung in a canopy, is a dove, as a symbol of the Holy Ghost. Open 
 upon the table is the cross and a box holding the holy elements, and in both 
 sides concealed choristers chant and repeat the prayers of the Priests. Be- 
 fore images of the Savior and the Virgin, candles are ever burning. The 
 language of worship is the old Sclavonian, which, although rarely compre- 
 hended, is attentively listened to ; the auditors repeatedly bowing and ex- 
 claiming, " God have mercy upon us." Although the Russians affect not to 
 worship images, and to abhor what they term, " the idolatry of the Roman 
 Catholics," yet in all their houses are images of the Virgin, to which they 
 pay their adorations. Before the days of Peter the Great, the principal 
 difference between the Greek church and that of Rome consisted in the be- 
 lief that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father only, instead of from the 
 Father and the Son conjointly. Peter the Great announced himself as the 
 Patriarch of all the Christians in his empire, and in connection with the later 
 monarchs cunningly framed the spiritual so as to obtain all the temporal 
 power, and so enlarged the breach between the two churches as to forever 
 prevent a junction. 
 
 Church and State are now firmly united in Russia ; the Emperor is high- 
 priest, and king, and is invested with absolute power over his subjects, alike 
 in spiritual and temporal matters. The common Russian priest is destitute of 
 influence, and often a drunken vagabond. He can marry but once ; and if 
 so unfortunate as to lose his wife is ever after obliged to remain a widower 
 and dwell in a monastery. 
 
 The Russians, of all classes, are ridiculously superstitious and wholly 
 governed by their religiv s emotions. Their many observances illustrate 
 their Asiatic origin. p A „e Russian, like the Turk, is both a fa^lst and a fa- 
 natic, and on the least trifling occasion makes the most profound prostrations. 
 As he enters his own door, before he eats, when he coughs, spits, or sneezes, 
 or does other ihings indelicate to ears polite, of which, he of all frail mortals, 
 is most certain to be guilty; he is instanter exceedingly devout — bows, crosses 
 himself and in the most humiliating tone exclaims, " God be merciful to mo 
 
48 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 a sinner." His superstitions thus control his whole life, and when we per- 
 ceive that the Russian autocrat is his " God on earth," the tremendous p^wer 
 of the Czar needs no further illustration. 
 
 Vladimir was the first considerable town Cochrane entered beyond Mos- 
 cow. He says, at this time, " my way of life, excited an interest in the 
 peasantry among whom I passed, several of them dividing their meals and 
 sharing their fires and dwellings with me, with the most cordial good-will. 
 I might nevertheless have considered myself fortunate if I could have reached 
 Vladimir with only a sound drubbing instead of a broken head, because I 
 could not ask in the Russian language for some kuass and fire to light my 
 pipe. To prevent the recurrence of this evil, on the next occasion I entered 
 a house without ceremony and helped myself. My hostess, with the assist- 
 ance of others of her sex, drove me out at the end of broomsticks, which 
 were not spared upon my back. The odds were fearfully against me ; I was 
 therefore content to bear my punishment without resistance. At Vladimir I 
 inquired the character of my persecutors, and learned that most of those vil- 
 lages are inhabited by Raskolnicks or schismatics, a sect broken off from the 
 Greek Church and more intolerant than even the Church of Rome. They 
 are bound by the rules of their religion to deny food, fire, and water, and 
 every assistance to all who are not of their own persuasion ; and are even 
 forbidden to hold intercourse with them. Notwithstanding the repulsiveness 
 of these tenets they are said to gain many thousand proselytes every year. 
 They are considered good agriculturists, and of the most sober and industri- 
 ous habits, never drinking ardent spirits nor using tobacco. Among them- 
 selves they are a kind, friendly people, and excellent husbands and fathers ; 
 but toward the rest of the world are — what I too certainly experienced." 
 
 At the town of Pagost, where he arrived half- famished and quite fatigued, 
 not having tasted food during twenty-four hours, and walked forty miles, he 
 considered himself fortunate in being able "to put up" for the night in a 
 cash. " Nor did I," says he, " think this mode of passing the night a novel 
 one. Often, very often, have I, in the fastnesses of Spain and Portugal, 
 found similar lodgings. Here I occupied the place of crockery, there that 
 of wine ; here in the land of liberality, there in that of nonentity." In this 
 region he was again apprehended for smoking in the streets of a village bear- 
 ing the euphonious name of " Selo-Bogorodskeye." 
 
 Cochrane was now in the richest part of central Russia. As he advanced 
 through a beautiful undulating country, for miles and miles not a tree, not a 
 hedge appeared — all was a boundless ocean of wheat, yellow for the harvest, 
 and waving and nodding in golden-hued splendor, in the passing zephyrs. 
 This was the province of New Novgorod, some two hundred and fifty miles 
 east of Moscow. Its vast fertility, as a wheat-producing region, has proba- 
 ably no equal on the globe — it is wonderful ; and enough is raised to supply 
 the whole of southern Europe, in case of a famine. Railways will fully de- 
 velop the enormous agricultural capacities of the empire. The town of 
 New Novgorod, which Cochrane next entered, contains about nine thousand 
 inhabitants ; but this small population is greatly enhanced at the annual fair, 
 which is held at this the main central mart of the empire, when two hundred 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 49 
 
 thousand people of many nations flock thither with their produce and nianu- 
 factures. A late American traveler, who chanced to be here at one of these 
 annual gatherings, gives a glowing description : 
 
 " The people came," says he, " from Siberia, and the frozen seas ; 
 from the foot of the Chinese wall; from the confines of Russia ; from beyond 
 the Indus, to barter with men from the West. Apart from the native pro- 
 ductions, nearly every article of foreign growth was in the market. There 
 were various European and American imports from the tropics — the hard- 
 ware of England, Germany and Russia — the cottons of America and the Car- 
 olinas ; the silks of Persia and France ; the damasks and velvets of Turkey ; 
 the perfumes and spices of Arabia, furs from Siberia, rubies and turquoises 
 from Turkestan ; the musk of Thibet ; carpets of Heran, silks of Mascara ; 
 the shawls of Cashmere ; jewels and fancy articles collected from the East 
 and the West, and a great multiplicity of articles of utility or ornament, the 
 enumeration of which would require a volume. The amount of sales which 
 take place at this great gathering, in some years, exceeds thirty millions of 
 dollars. In the most distant regions of Asia the policy and perseverance of 
 Russia has opened an immense market for domestic fabrics. Caravans of 
 thirty thousand men even, not unfrequently leave Orenburg traverse a great 
 extent of western and northern Asia, frequent the distant fairs of Thibet, 
 Yarkand and Bokara, and penetrate to the remote regions of northern India. 
 Thus sustained by commercial intercourse and secured by diplomatic art, 
 Russian influence in the East is vast beyond all calculation, and is constantly 
 increasing and extending from tribe to tribe, and province to province. 
 
 The site of the fair was the river flat opposite the town. There were 
 erected houses and booths, each street having its peculiar and separate com- 
 merce. The animation that prevailed and the innumerable variety of people 
 were indescribable. The inhabitants of the Russian empire alone, are com- 
 posed of about eighty different nations. With many of these various nations 
 from the West were represented together with Greeks, Arnraits and Alba- 
 nians from beyond the Black sea; Arminians, Persians, and Arabs from beyond 
 the Caspian ; Servians, Croatians and Wallachains, from beyond the Danube ; 
 Kirghises and Baschirs, from the tribes of hunters and herdsmen beyond the 
 Urals ; Buchanans and Kalmucks, Chinese, Turks and Tartars, and every 
 variety of race gave to the place, the sounds and confusion of another Babel. 
 
 The Tractirs, continues this traveler, or eating-houses, filled to over- 
 flowing, furnished the fare peculiar to almost every people. The cuisine of 
 the East, rivaled that of the West in variety if not in excellence. Delicacies 
 of the Parisian restaurant ; dainties of the Persian nabob ; the tonsrue of the 
 reindeer from Archangel ; grapes, olives, figs and melons from the northern 
 provinces ; delicious sterlets from the Volga, and sturgeon from the Caspian 
 were in great demand, in equal abundance. Beside these daintu s there was 
 almost every kind of wine and liquors, even to London porter. The dissipa- 
 tion and extravagance that prevailed exceeded all belief. Numerous were 
 the Persian Ghebers, or worshipers of fire, now ardently devoted to the 
 wines of France ; numerous the Mahometans, whose eccentricities of con 
 duct set at defiance the grave precepts of the Koran ; numberless the 
 4 
 
50 THROUGH RU&SIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 Russian traders, who, since the late fast, had already regained the ruby nose 
 and wonderful rotundity of figure. 
 
 Thousands of forlorn women, from the London street-walker, to black-eyed 
 damsels who hailed from the Isle of Sappho, had wandered hither, and the 
 saloons re-echoed with the minstrelsy of every land. We heard voices and 
 harps of singing-girls from the banks of the Rhine and Danube ; we were 
 entertained with the music and dance of a party of Muscovites, whose per- 
 formances reminded us of the exhibition of the Choctaws ; and we witnessed 
 the singular antics of a troupe of dark brown gipsies. The latter were t*he 
 far-famed Tsigani, the wild Bayaderes. Their women are very beautiful and 
 some of them have intermarried with the best blood of the empire. Their 
 supple movements, melodious voices, and brilliant eyes, with lids and lashes 
 dyed like those of the Egyptian Almahs, are skillfully employed to fascinate 
 the Russian nobles. A famous Russian song, " Tene par verish," " Believe 
 not thou art beloved," was sung by the gipsy queen. The gipsy dance, 
 although very much in step and movement like what they call at Communi- 
 paw, " a regular heel and toe," excels it much in quickness and animation, — 
 the male performer holding himself erect, looking daggers and unutterable 
 things, and the female indulging in wanton movements, while both are ex- 
 horted " to put it down," by a wild and excited chorus of the gipsy band. 
 
 Under the guidance of our epauleted cicerone, we went almost every- 
 where, and wherever we went, we never failed to produce a sensation among 
 the Orientals, who had never seen or heard before of the Amerikanskoi. A. 
 troop of mounted Cossacks, with lash, lance and fierce hurrah, running before 
 the carriage, cleared the way, and ere the Captain could say ' sesame/ every 
 door was opened." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cochrane leaves New Novgorod— Voyage on the Volga— Curious Crafts— Songs of the 
 Boatmen — Kazan — Tartar Customs — Siberia described — Cochrane enters Siberia — 
 Tobolsk — Exiles — Enters the Chinese borders — Banished Mandarins— Tomsk— Silver 
 Mines — Irkutsk — Boat Voyage down the Lena — Yakouta Hunters — Singular Custom — 
 Dreary Journey — Incredible Gluttony — Hardships — Desolate Scene — Life at Nishney 
 Kolymsk — Fair with the Tchuktchi — Perilous Journey — Okotsk — Kamtschatka — Dissolu- 
 tion of Airy Phantoms — Marries — Beturn. 
 
 At New Novgorod Cochrane changed his mode of traveling, and em- 
 barked on board a lio-hter on the magnificent Volga. This vessel was a flat- 
 bottomed boat of 250 tons, and in her took passage for Kazan, some two hun- 
 dred and fifty miles eastward, near the Asiatic frontier. The traveler here 
 sees upon this stream a great and singular variety of craft, among which are 
 large clumsy boats, curiously painted and carved like Chinese junks, with 
 masts painted in* stripes like a barber's pole, and an image of St. Nicholas 
 conspicuously placed on the stern of each. Some of them are of a thousand 
 tons, and generally provided with a single mast, and a sail of prodigious size, 
 which is handled with surprising facility. The boats are often provided with 
 oars, to be used when the wind is unfavorable or dies away. The oarsmen, 
 heavy-bearded savage -looking fellows, frequency relieve their labors by 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 51 
 
 songs, which, like all Russian strains, are of a wild, plaintive character 
 The voyage is monotonous, and the passenger finds little else to do but U 
 recline at ease upon his mat upon deck, lazily smoke his pipe, and gaze upon 
 a dreary uninhabited shore. 
 
 In a few days Cochrane reached Kazan, a large and flourishing town, 
 inhabited by a considerable Tartar population, near the borders of Siberia. 
 Having overrun all of Northern Europe, the successors of Ghengis Khan 
 founded at Kazan the seat of their Empire, and from the gorgeous splendor 
 of their tents they were distinguished as " the Khan of the Golden Horde." 
 Some three centuries since they were conquered by Ivan the Terrible ; their 
 mosques changed to Christian temples, their chiefs baptized by force, and 
 nothing now remains to evince their former magnificence and splendor. 
 
 Next to St. Petersburg and Moscow, Kazan is the largest city in Russia, 
 containing fifty thousand inhabitants ; it is famous for its soap and leather, and 
 is the principal depot of the trade with China and Siberia. One quarter of 
 its population are Tartars, who reside together in a separate part of the city. 
 They live in neat, comfortable residences, in forcible contrast to those of the 
 Russians ; these are ornamented by fine inclosed gardens, which, with their 
 many-colored flowers, shrubbery and beautiful ornamental trees, impart to 
 each the air of a terrestrial Paradise. Our traveler was much pleased with 
 the Tartars. The men are very handsome, with athletic, manly figures, fine 
 eyes, and bright, good-humored faces. The females are beautiful, and attract 
 attention by their dark-brown complexions, large lustrous eyes, and jet-black 
 hair, which falls in tresses upon their naked shoulders. These people vastly 
 surpass the Russians in industry, generosity and intelligence ; and are far 
 more tolerant, charitable and hospitable. " The latter find it impossible to 
 convert them, and they remain firm to their religion, and carefully educate 
 their children in the precepts of the Koran. Although it is allowed, they sel- 
 dom have more than a single wife. A well behaved stranger, no matter 
 what be his faith, will have a kind invitation to enter the dwelling of a Tar- 
 tar, where he will, perhaps, be astonished at the picture of domestic felicity 
 that will be unfolded to his vision. Among the reminiscences of his child- 
 hood may be the awful story of old Blue Beard, or of some cruel husband 
 called a Turk, or he may have grown up to manhood, with ideas of the 
 superior social and moral excellencies of the Europeans. With all this, and 
 particularly after what he has seen in European and Christian Russia, he 
 will be able to rectify his prejudices, and receive better impressions of oriental 
 life by witnessing the natural tone of refinement, temperance and chastity 
 that prevail in the patriarchal households of the semi-Asiatic population of 
 Kazan." 
 
 Cochrane, beyond Kazan, often passed through the villages of the Tartars, 
 and was always received at their houses with a hearty welcome. He says, 
 in speaking of these cases, that he gladly partook of their homely fare. 
 " When I had it," says he, " I always treated their wives with tea : they, 
 however, with the usual deference of Mahometan females, respect the pre- 
 sence, not only of their husbands, but of any other male, too much to partake 
 of it before them without their previous consent. These Tartars are a most 
 
52 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 obliging and hospitable race, and hardly ever go beyond the village wLich 
 borders on their own. They have become excellent agriculturists, and the 
 women employ themselves in weaving a strong sort of carpeting, which they 
 make into counterpanes, bed-blankets and carpets. Their dwellings are clean 
 and neat ; they have neither chairs nor stools, and live principally upon Lorse 
 flesh." As Cochrane was now nearing the Siberian boundary, we pause to 
 give some description of that vast and comparatively unknown land, in which 
 he so extensively traveled, 
 
 Siberia is the general name for the vast region owned by Russia, occupying 
 all the northern parts of Asia, and extending from the Ural mountains on the 
 west, to the Pacific on the east ; and bounded, on the north, by the frozen 
 ocean. The original Siberia was a small khanate, founded by the Tartars, 
 on the banks of the Irtish and the Obi, and was so named, from " Siber," its 
 capital. The khanate was invaded and conquered by Don Cossacks, in the 
 sixteenth century. As the Russian conquests and discoveries gradually ex- 
 tended eastward, the designation, Siberia, eventually became attached to an 
 immense district of country. 
 
 Siberia is mostly a vast plain ; the cold, in the northern part, is keener and 
 more constant than in Lapland. The winter lasts for nine or ten months. 
 The summer heats are short, but sudden and powerful, and the growth of 
 vegetables aimost perceptible. The climate, except the excessive cold, is, on 
 the whole, favorable to man. 
 
 Siberia is noted for its mineral wealth ; gold, silver, platina, copper, and 
 iron, being of late years, produced in enormous quantities. The grand 
 mining districts are on its eastern border, in the Oural mountains ; the prin- 
 cipal gold mines, are those of Beresov. Through its enormous mineral 
 wealth, Siberia may eventually become one of the most powerful and wealthy 
 nations in the world. 
 
 The Russians are, of course, the dominant people ; but they, with the 
 Cossacks and other colonists from Europe, inhabit chiefly the towns and 
 military stations. Some of them are the posterity of the soldiers, who con- 
 quered the country, others are exiles, and their descendants — still others are 
 adventurers, peasant deserters, and broken merchants, who have wandered 
 thither to endeavor to mend their ruined fortunes. Siberia holds out great 
 inducements to enterprise, and she is gradually improving in civilization. 
 
 The country, although comprising fully one-eighth of the area of the 
 known world, is so thinly settled, as to possess a population of less than 
 four millions, or about one person to a single square mile. The Rus- 
 sians form but a small part of its inhabitants. Numerous Tartar colonists 
 occupy the southern part of the government of Tobolsk, and immense hordes 
 of savage tribes, under different names, inhabit the full extent of the country. 
 Almost every nation of Asia, has representatives in Siberia ; and in its several 
 towns are found, Armenians, Chinese, Jews, etc., while the Tongooses, Finns, 
 Samoides, Yakuts, Tschutschi, Koriaks, Bashkirs, etc., form the principal 
 tribes. The customs and religion of these different people, partake of almost 
 every shade and creed in the known world, and they are, as a whole, a sin- 
 gular commixture of civilization and barbarism. Beside the agricultural 
 
COCHRAN E'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 53 
 
 labors which are carried on in places suitable for the production of grain, 
 with the hunting and fishing, and rearing of horses and cattle, that form the 
 chief occupation of the native tribes, the industry of the Russian settlers is 
 chiefly directed to the working of the mines, and the manufacturing of iron 
 and copper, and utensils of these metals, leather, shagreen, carpets, arms, 
 glass, etc. Many of the manufacturers have sent their serfs into Western 
 Europe, to study various branches of the arts, and these returning, have 
 established schools in the towns, for the benefit of their brethren. 
 
 The trade of Siberia with foreign nations, is very extensive and profitable. 
 Tobolsk is the center of the greatest amount of commerce. The produce of 
 the mines, fisheries, and hunting expeditions, are here met with, and 
 exchanged for European and Chinese goods, and manufactured articles. 
 Annual fairs are held at various points, and some of the traders come in 
 caravans from a distance of thousands of miles. 
 
 Siberia is divided into seven great governments, Tobolsk being the most 
 western, and Kamtschatka the most eastern. A governor-general, is the 
 chief executive officer. The town of Tobolsk, situated on the Irtish, was 
 formerly the capital of all Siberia. Excepting two churches and the gover- 
 nor's house, it is built of wood. Many institutions, similar to those of St. 
 Petersburg, have been introduced ; literature, science, and polite amusement, 
 have made considerable progress among the people. Irkutsk, on the lefi 
 bank of the Anjara, is the chief town in eastern Siberia, and the most elegant 
 in the country ; its principal inhabitants are merchants, and the civil and 
 military officers of the government. Yakutsk, on the Lena, is the great seat 
 of the fur trade, and of commerce with the native tribes. Siberia is well 
 watered by numerous great rivers, which unitedly, form many thousand 
 miles of internal navigation. 
 
 Our traveler, in a few days' journey beyond Kazan, reached the famous 
 Ur.il mountains, the dividing line of the two continents. He says, "I gently 
 ascended a considerable elevation into the bosom of the Ural mountains, 
 where not a vestige of cultivation exists beside young firs and birch : the air 
 was exceedingly cold on the summit. At noon I stopped at the last Euro- 
 pean residence, where I dined. The good people had determined that I 
 should not leave this quarter of the globe with any trace of dissatisfaction, 
 as young children continually presented me with wild strawberries and cream, 
 which it is the custom, at this season, for these poor people to offer to the tra- 
 veler. I received the present, standing with one foot in Asia and the othei 
 in Europe, surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains, covered, however, with 
 nothing but biushwood. 
 
 "Early the ensuing morning I reached Ekatherinebourg, having in safety 
 passed the mighty barrier which separates Europe from Asia. The ascent 
 and descent are so nearly imperceptible, that were it not for the precipitous 
 banks everywhere to be seen, the traveler would hardly suppose he had 
 crossed a range of hills. As far as this frontier town of Siberia, I had tra- 
 veled through one continued forest of pine trees, and for twenty miles nothing 
 met the eye but fir-wood. On reaching the Asiatic side of the Ural chain, 
 I could not help remarking that the inhabitants of all the villages were much 
 
54 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 more civil, more hospitable, and more cleanly dressed ; and in no one in- 
 stance would they accept money for the food I had occasion to procure. I 
 never entered a cottage but shtshee — a cabbage soup — with meat, bread, and 
 mi] k were immediately placed before me unasked; nor could any entreaty 
 of mine induce them to receive a higher reward than a pipe of tobacco or a 
 glass of vodka (whisky). In short, to prevent uselessly troubling the inhabi- 
 tants, I was obliged to consign my nearly exhausted purse to the care of my 
 knapsack, renouncing the unhackneyed and unsocial custom of paying for 
 food." 
 
 Ekatherinebourg is the key to Siberia, and a large, well-built city. In its 
 vicinity are numerous magnificent iron and copper founderies, and the river 
 Iset, upon which it stands, is here dammed up so as to form a sort of lake for 
 the washing of the sand, which produces gold. Six thousand serfs, or slaves, 
 were then employed in washing the sand ; but the results were so meager 
 that the government cleared annually, over the cost of their support, only the 
 average value of about four dollars on the labor of each individual. 
 
 After quitting Ekatherinebourg, the next point of note reached was 
 Tobolsk. This town, once the capital of all Siberia, then contained 20,000 
 people, composed of Russians, Tartars, and Bucharians. A considerable 
 trade is carried on with China from this, the great mart of all central and 
 western Siberia. Tobolsk is a place of exile for political offenders only. 
 The greater part of these are officers, who, says our traveler, "have the pri- 
 vilege of appearing in public without the loss of either rank, fortune, or even 
 character," and as these are generally persons of mind, the society of Tobolsk 
 is good, and to a considerable degree civilized. 
 
 Those exiled for criminal offenses are generally condemned to labor in the 
 mines of Nertchinsk, in eastern Siberia, on the borders of China, which our 
 traveler, at a later period, visited. This place reminded him forcibly of those 
 pathetic descriptions of the mines of Siberia drawn by writers of romance, 
 for there all these descriptions seemed verified, and his feelings were har- 
 rowed at the cruelties of those in charge of the unfortunate criminals. The 
 haggard, worn-down, and half-starved appearance of these poor, wretched 
 victims, he says, it is impossible to conceive of. If any of them happened to 
 escape from the miseries by which they were surrounded, they were hunted 
 and shot down like wild beasts by the half-savage people of the neighboring 
 districts. 
 
 From the reign of Peter the Great to the present time, exile to Siberia, for 
 political offenses, has been of constant recurrence, and most of the romance 
 of Russian history is connected with the frozen steppes of that country. A 
 regular system of convict colonization was commenced in 1754, during the 
 reign of Elizabeth, who was too tender-hearted to sign the death-warrant of 
 even the most atrocious criminal, though she tolerated and countenanced the 
 most barbarous cruelties. The knout, in addition to hard labor for life in 
 the mines, is now the general substitute in Russia for capilal punishment. 
 In cases where the criminals are banished for life, the sentence is often ren- 
 dered more rigorous by condemnation to civil death, in which cases alone, the 
 families of the convicts are not allowed to follow them into ezile, and they 
 are neither permitted to write nor to receive letters. 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 55 
 
 Kazan is usually the starting point of the detachments of convicts am' 
 exiles, who periodically leave Russia for Siberia to the number of many 
 thousands. The convicts travel on foot, all being on starting supplied wit], 
 clothing at the public expense. The men walk in pairs, and when passing 
 through towns, have fetters attached to their ankles to prevent their escap- 
 ing. To each detachment are generally attached some wagons or sledges 
 for the women, the aged, and the infirm ; and these usually lead the van, the 
 younger men following, and the whole party, commonly numbering fifty to 
 sixty individuals, being escorted from station to station by a detachment of 
 Cossacks stationed in villages. Many tales are told of the barbarous treat- 
 ment to which the exiles are subjugated during their passage to their various 
 places of destination by the brutality of the escort. 
 
 Among these tales is an affecting story related by a recent traveler, who 
 was at the time in a little Russian hamlet near Kazan, when about one hun- 
 dred prisoners, men and women, passed on their way, as exiles, to Siberia- 
 Chained in couples, attired in coarse gray coats, some of them barefooted, 
 and all with heavy weights fastened to their limbs, they moved slowly, pain- 
 fully along, the whole wretched procession being guarded by a few soldiers 
 and a troop of noisy Cossacks, with their long pikes resting in their right stir- 
 rups, guns slung upon their backs, and heavy whips hanging from their left 
 wrists. Some of the prisoners were persons of decided superiority. " Oneot 
 these," says he, "a tall and commanding figure, and a noble butemaciated coun- 
 tenance, gazed earnestly, as if he would have said, ' Oh, that I might tell you 
 the secret of my being here.' Another, who looked at us imploringly, and 
 said in French, ■ Do you go to Moscow ?' was struck in the face by a soldier, 
 and ordered to be quiet. My God ! was there no rescue, no help, no hope at 
 hand ! Excited almost beyond control for those exiles, in whose expression 
 innocence was written, we watched the miserable band upon its dreary jour- 
 ney, until the rattling of their irons no longer grated upon the heart. " 
 
 Many of those in Siberia never learn why they are exiled. Many are 
 doubtless sent through error, being mistaken for others, who thus escape 
 punishment. Such was the case with M. Michelvosky, a notary of Wilna, 
 who was seized and taken to Siberia, instead of a namesake who resided in 
 Warsaw, and was engaged in the last insurrection of the Poles. 
 
 A minister was commanded by the Emperor Paul to punish and exile an 
 offender ; but unable to find him he seized in his place a newly-arrived Ger- 
 man, tore out his nostrils, and sent him to Siberia, where he remained until 
 the Emperor Alexander ascended the throne, who returned him to St. Peters- 
 burg and gave him the monopoly of importing lemons. 
 
 The river Irtish is the Styx of the Siberian Hades ; from the moment the 
 exiles cross the ferry in the neighborhood of Tobolsk, the extinction of their 
 political life commences. Here they lose the name by which until then they 
 have been known to the world, and henceforward are designated simply by 
 a number, and any change of the latter is punished with five years' compul- 
 sory labor over and above the original sentence. At Tobolsk sits the board 
 which decides the final destination of each of the unfortunate eyiles. 
 
56 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 The situation of Tobolsk, at the juncture of the noble Irtish and Tobol, is 
 romantic. The climate is so cold that, except in the southern part of the 
 province of which it is the capital, no grain is produced, and all the wood is 
 of stunted growth. Fishing is an active pursuit at Tobolsk, which, beside 
 providing for the maintenance of those engaged in it, yields a very remu- 
 nerating profit. The embroidery of muslin is there also brought to consider- 
 able perfection ; it was introduced originally by the daughters of exiled 
 officers, who had felt the deprivation of their former means of subsistence. 
 
 With a grateful remembrance of the kindness he had experienced at 
 Tobolsk, Cochrane bade adieu to the city and traveled in a southerly direc- 
 tion toward the Chinese frontier, up the valley of the Irtish. He passed 
 through many towns which were usually garrisoned by Russian troops, and 
 was entertained at several of the villages of the Tartars of the Bashkir race : 
 the perfect neatness of their houses — whose white plastered chimneys and 
 ovens reminded him a little of his own country — their civility and kindness, 
 and the well-cultivated appearance of their corn and pasture lands were ex- 
 tremely gratifying to him. He slept contentedly on their clean beds, and 
 partook, with keen relish, of their milk and cakes. 
 
 After a journey of near a thousand miles from Tobolsk, he left the great 
 Siberian plains and arrived among the romantic mountain lands on the Chi- 
 nese frontier : at a village in their midst, among other similar luxuries, he 
 was treated with wild currants, melons, cassia, "milk and honey :" 
 "Surely," said he, in speaking of the fertility, beauty, and magnificence of 
 the country, "this is the natural place for the habitation of man." From 
 motives of curiosity he diverged a few miles from his path to visit Mai ay a- 
 Narymka, the last Russian station on the frontier. An officer and a few men 
 are all that are left to mark the boundaries of the two mighty empires of 
 Russia and China. " I forded," says he, " the little stream which forms the 
 actual limit, and seating myself on a stone on the left bank, was soon lost in 
 a reverie. It was about midnight ; the moon, apparently full, was near her 
 meridian, and seemed to encourage a pensive inclination. What can surpass 
 that scene I know not. Some of the loftiest granite mountains, spreading in 
 various directions, inclosing some of the most luxuriant valleys in the world ; 
 yet all deserted ; — all this fair and fertile tract abandoned to wild beasts, 
 merely to constitute a neutral territory ! 
 
 " To the first Chinese settlement it is eighty miles : formerly their 
 advanced post was where I am writing this account, and I felt something 
 like pleasure to find myself within the celestial empire. Their guard, it 
 seems, was removed by the court of Pekin from jealousy of her subjects 
 holding any converse with foreigners. The commanding officer is a banished 
 mandarin, who is compelled to live like his soldiers, being denied both money 
 and assistance from his friends ; but as the post is generally occupied by 
 a person who has been condemned to death for some great crime, he is fain 
 to accept his pardon on condition of serving ten years as chief of the guard. 
 They had, as I was informed, a neat village, with abundance of meat and 
 vegetables, beside wild fruits." 
 
 Cochrane's route was again northward through Barnaoule to Tomsk. 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 57 
 
 Within the limits of the government of Kolyvan, of which Barnaoule is tht 1 
 capital, a very large number of silver mines were being worked. All the 
 peasant population, numbering 82,000, were engaged, two-thirds of their 
 time, in the mines. The plan in operation was for each peasant to work 
 twelve hours each night the first week ; twelve hours each day the second 
 week, and the third week to devote to the cultivation of his land. The con- 
 dition of these peasants, or slaves of the crown, is far from being wretched. 
 Their lands are very fertile, and with due industry and good management, 
 many of them are able to save money. 
 
 At Barnaoule our traveler met with Speranski, the governor-general of 
 Siberia, who treated him with the greatest kindness, and presented him an 
 open order, amounting almost to a command, addressed to all the officers of 
 government in the country, to give him every protection and aid within their 
 power to advance him on his journey. After reaching Tomsk, Cochrane's 
 course was again eastward : after a journey of many days through a tolera- 
 bly well settled country, he reached Irkutsk, now the chief city of Siberia. 
 The town then had some 15,000 inhabitants, with a dozen churches, and 
 schools on the Lancasterian plan. The society of this place, and many other 
 parts of Siberia, he found much benefited by the Swedes, and French, and 
 other exiles, many of whom possess first-rate talents. These expatriated in- 
 structors have tended to improve and civilize Siberia in a ratio surpassing 
 that of central Russia. 
 
 After a week's enjoyment of the hospitalities of the good people of Irkutsk, 
 he set out with a Cossack attendant down toward the valley of the Lena : at 
 Vercholensk on the Lena, he procured a canoe and a couple of hands, who, 
 with the Cossack, assisted in paddling the canoe, which went down stream 
 at the rate of a hundred miles per day. The banks of the river he found 
 lofty and well wooded, and the scenery pleasant. Numerous villages, with 
 rye-fields, were passed scattered among the valleys, each invariably attended 
 by its own little stream. The weather was cold, the scenery always moun- 
 tainous ; numerous islands were scattered about the river ; wherever he 
 stopped, he fared well from the Russian colonists, as well as from the fore- 
 sight of his friends at Irkutsk, who had provided him plentifully with 
 provisions for his voyage. "A traveler in Russia," says he, "whether native 
 or foreigner, on taking leave of his friends previous to his departure, uni- 
 formly finds at his lodgings all the provisions required for his journey, with 
 another lodging pointed out at some friend's upon his route, for as long as he 
 pleases. Indeed, I have no doubt, that a man may travel through the Rus- 
 sian empire, so long as his conduct is becoming, without wanting anything — 
 not even horses and money ; excepting only in the civilized parts, between the 
 capitals, St. Petersburg and Moscow." 
 
 Cochrane continued down the valley of the Lena for about 2000 miles 
 on its course to the frozen ocean. In the latter part of the route, the river 
 became so much filled with floating ice that he was compelled to again take 
 the land, and in that manner reached the northern town of Yakutsk, on the 
 Lena. Half a dozen churches, the remains of an old fortress, and some 
 tolerable buildings give it some decency of appearance ; yet Cochrane 
 
58 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SILERIA. 
 
 thought it one of the most dreary-looking places he had ever seen, although 
 he was put in the enjoyment of every comfort. 
 
 It is a great commercial center : from the Anubra to Behring's Straits, 
 from the banks of the Frozen Sea to Mount Aldana ; from Okotskj and even 
 Kamtschatka, goods are brought hither, consisting chiefly of furs, seals' teeth, 
 and mammoths' tusks, which afford excellent ivory, all of which are sold in 
 the summer to itinerant traders, who give in return tobacco, corn and flour, 
 tea, sugar, liquors, Chinese silks and cottons, cloth, iron and copper utensils, 
 and glass. The inhabitants of the town are chiefly traders, who buy of the 
 Yakut hunters their furs at a cheap rate, and then sell them to the agents, 
 who come from Russia in search of them. These traders are the Russian 
 inhabitants, the native Yakuti being the only artisans. In this distant 
 colony of the human race, the new-born child of the Russian is given to a 
 Yakut woman to nurse, and when old enough, learns to read and write, 
 after which he is brought up to the fur-trade, and his education is finished. 
 
 The Yakuti, who inhabit this region, are rather a favorable specimen of 
 the savage. The Yakut, since his connection with the Russians, has become 
 even rich, having flocks and herds, and at home plenty of koumiss * to 
 drink and horse-flesh to eat. He has great endurance and can bear tremen- 
 dous cold. He travels in the snow without tent or pelisse : on reaching the 
 camp, he lies down on the snow, with his saddle for a pillow, his horse-cloth 
 for a bed, his cloak for a covering, and so he sleeps. His eyesight is keen, 
 and his powers of both eating and fasting prodigious. Like the red Indian, 
 he recollects every bush, every stone, every hillock, every pond necessary to 
 find his way, and never loses himself however great the distance he may 
 have to travel. 
 
 His food is boiled beef and horse-flesh, cows' and mares' milk. But his 
 chief delicacy is raw and melted fat, while quantity is always the chief 
 merit of a repast. He likewise mixes a mess of fish, flour, milk, fat, and a 
 kind of bark, the latter to increase the bulk. Both men and women smoke 
 inordinately, swallowing the vapor — a most pernicious and terrible habit. 
 Brandy is their most precious drink, their own koumiss having not sufficient 
 strength to satisfy them. In summer they wander about in tents collecting 
 hay; in the winter they dwell in the yourte or hut, which is a wooden frame 
 of beehive shape, covered with grass, turf and clay, with windows of clear 
 ice. The very poor dig three feet below the soil ; the rich have a wooden 
 floor level with the adjacent ground, while rude benches all round serve as 
 beds, divided one from the other by partitions ; the fireplace is in the middle, 
 inclined toward the door. 
 
 Cochrane passed nearly the whole of October in the hospitable and com- 
 fortable residence of the governor of Yakutsk. Every evening a party of the 
 natives, male and female, congregated at the house, where tea was frequently 
 passed round. Their manner of using sugar with tea was to him novel, 
 although after the fashion of the Chinese. He thus describes it: "Each 
 
 * Koumiss is a kind of sour milk — mare's milk being preferred — which has undergone, to 
 a certain degree, the vinous, or wine-like, fermentation. A subsof uent process of distilla- 
 tion creates a sort of weak brandy from it. 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 59 
 
 individual takes a small lump, which he grates between his teeth in such a 
 manner as only to consume a very small part of it; and thus, although the 
 person has drunk three or more cups, the greater portion of the sugar 
 remains, and being placed upon the inverted cup, finds its way back to the 
 suofar-dish when the party has broken up ; so that, probably at the feast on 
 the following day, a lady or gentleman may happen to get his old friend back 
 again." 
 
 The next great point in Cochrane's journey was Nishney Kolymsk, 1 3G0 
 miles northeast of Yakutsk, or within the Arctic zone. This distance was 
 to be traveled over in the winter season and in the coldest part of the 
 north-east of Asia. All this ho heeded not, as he thought himself amply 
 provided, having been able with comfort to walk about the streets of Yakutsk 
 with the only addition to summer clothing of a flannel waistcoat, when the 
 thermometer was 20° below zero. " It is true," says he, the "natives of the 
 place felt surprised and pitied my forlorn and hopeless situation, not seem- 
 ing to consider that when the mind and body are in constant motion, the ele- 
 ments can have but little effect upon the person. I feel confident that most 
 of the miseries of human life are brought on by a want of a spirit of perse- 
 verance, of patience under fatigue and privations, and a resolute determina- 
 tion never to shrink while life retains a spark. Often indeed have I found 
 myself in difficult and trying circumstances from cold, hunger, or fatigue, 
 and I may affirm with gratitude, I have never felt happier than in encounter- 
 ing these difficulties. Thus in the present case, I had no overcoat, no knee- 
 preservers, blankets, or bed ; no guard for my ears or face ; in short, I 
 discovered, too late, I was not properly provided, and attributed the preserva- 
 tion of my life solely to the strength of my constitution, which I have never 
 seen equaled." 
 
 Provided with a Cossack for a companion, and a couple of sledges drawn 
 by horses, Cochrane departed from Yakutsk on the last day of October. 
 The nights were at times passed in huts, stationed twenty-five miles apart on 
 the road for the use of travelers, and at others they encamped in the open 
 air, the thermometer often being some 30° and 40° below zero. On these 
 occasions the snow was first cleared away to the depth of a couple of feet ; 
 then pine branches were spread for a bed and a fire made in the form of a 
 horse-shoe, so as to keep all parts of the body alike warm, and thus without 
 any other covering than his clothes, our traveler was enabled to sleep in 
 comfort, notwithstanding the intense cold of this Arctic climate. 
 
 At Tabalak, about 250 miles from Yakutsk, one of the few scattered vil- 
 lages in this desert country, he witnessed the enormous gluttony of a Yakut 
 child some five years of age. " I had observed the child," says he, " crawl- 
 ing on the floor, and scraping up with its thumb the tallow-grease which fell 
 from a lighted candle, and I inquired in surprise whether it proceeded fiom 
 hunger or liking of the fat. I was told from neither, but simply from the 
 habit in both Yakuti and Tomjousi of eating whenever there is food, and 
 never permitting anything that can be eaten to be lost. I gave the child a 
 candle made of the most impure tallow, — a second, — and a third — and all 
 were devoured with avidity. The steersman then gave him several pounda 
 
60 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 of sour frozen butter ; this also he immediately consumed ; lastly, a large 
 piece of yellow soap, — all went the same road ; but as I was now convinced 
 that the child would continue to gorge as long as it could receive anything, I 
 begged my companion to desist as I had done. 
 
 "As to the statement of what a man can or will eat, either as to quality or 
 quantity, I am afraid it would be quite incredible ; in fact, there is nothing 
 in the way of fish or meat, from whatever animal, however putrid or un- 
 wholesome, but they will devour with impunity, and the quantity only varies 
 from what they have, to what they can get. I have repeatedly seen a Yakut 
 or a Tongucse devour forty pounds of meat in a day. The effect is very 
 observable upon them, for from thin and meager-looking men, they will be- 
 come perfectly pot-bellied. Their stomachs must be differently formed from 
 ours, or it would be impossible for them to drink off at a draught, as they 
 really do, their tea and soup scalding hot (so hot, at least, that a European 
 would have difficulty in even sipping at it), without the least inconvenience. 
 I have seen three of these gluttons consume a reindeer at one meal ; nor are 
 they nice as to the choice of parts ; nothing being lost, not even the contents 
 of the bowels, which, with the aid of fat and blood, are converted into black 
 puddings. 
 
 " For an instance in confirmation of this, no doubt, extraordinary state- 
 ment, I shall refer to the voyages of the Russian admiral Saritcheff. ■ No 
 sooner,' he says, ■ had they stopped to rest or spend the night, than they had 
 their kettle on the fire, which they never left until they pursued their jour- 
 ney, spending the intervals for rest in eating, and in consequence of no sleep, 
 were drowsy all the next day. The admiral also says, ' That such extraor- 
 dinary voracity was never attended with any ill effects, although they made 
 a practice of devouring, at one meal, what would have killed any other per- 
 son. The laborers/ the admiral says, 'had an allowance of four poods, or one 
 hundred and forty-four English pounds of fat, and seventy-two pounds of rye 
 flour, yet in a fortnight they complained of having nothing to eat. Not cre- 
 diting the fact, the Yakuti said that one of them was accustomed to consume 
 at home, in the space of a day, or twenty-four hours, the hind-quarter of a 
 large ox, twenty pounds of fat, and a proportionate quantity of melted butter for 
 his drink. The appearance of the man not justifying the assertion, the admi- 
 ral had a mind to try his gormandizing powers, and for that purpose he had 
 a thick porridge of rice boiled down with three pounds of butter, weighing 
 together twenty-eight pounds, and although the glutton had already 
 breakfasted, yet did he sit down to it with great eagerness, and consumed 
 the whole without stirring from the spot ; and, except that his stomach be- 
 trayed more than ordinary fullness, he showed no sign of inconvenience or 
 injury, but would have been ready to renew his gluttony the following day.' 
 So much for the admiral, on the truth of whose account I place perfect 
 reliance." 
 
 After resting two days at Tabalak, on the 22d of November, he resumed 
 his journey. " The first night," says he, " we halted on the banks of a 
 small lake, where some fishermen were hauling their nets, although the ice 
 tfas twenty inches deep ; of course, I became entitled to a proportion of the 
 
COCHKANE'S PEDESTRIAN" JOURNEY 61 
 
 fish caught — to insure which, I invariably partook of the fatigue : let who 
 will make his appearance, of whatever tribe or religion, in Siberia, he will 
 certainly be entitled to food, if he partakes in the labor of catching it — I do 
 not know a more humane custom. The plan is indeed, ingenious, and proves 
 that 'necessity is the mother of invention.' Having fixed upon the spot, a 
 large hole is made in the most distant part, opposite to the place to which the 
 fish are to be hauled, and then holes are also made from it on each side cir- 
 cularly, toward the point where the fish are to be caught : the distance from 
 hole to hole, about fifteen or twenty feet ; the whole of the net is then let 
 down the first opening, as are the ropes attached to the hauling of it, which 
 ropes are fastened to a long pole, which under the ice, conducts the rope? 
 from hole to hole. Both ends are taken up at the last and largest opening 
 and the net is thus hauled ; and a considerable quantity of fish are caught." 
 
 Their halting-place, the succeeding night, was among a most magnificent 
 range of mountains, with lofty projecting bluffs and overhanging precipices. 
 The three following days, were those of constant labor; their route lay 
 over the surface of some frozen rivers, where they were obliged frequently to 
 halt and clear away the snow with their spades, to enable their animals to 
 proceed at all ; and then to drag their baggage after them ; but this was not 
 all. When free from this severe labor, the ice was so clear and slippery, 
 that with all the assistance they could give, it was found impossible to save 
 their poor animals from dreadful falls and heavy strains ; and they constantly 
 fell groaning under their loads. 
 
 After leaving the rivers, they struck upon an immense plain, and reached 
 a hut, having been obliged to abandon one of their horses. Cochrane wa« 
 now suffering from blisters on his feet, occasioned by the freezing of the per- 
 spiration. Evidence was shown of the cold, in the mountains they had 
 passed : the rocks in many places, were split asunder by its intensity. 
 
 As familiar illustrations of the different effects of cold, at the various 
 degrees which it attains in Siberia, we here digress, and quote some passages 
 from " CottrelFs Recollections of Siberia," giving the experiences of a resi- 
 dent, who had devoted much time to meteorological observations. At 39 Q 
 (of Reaumur, a not unusual degree of cold, even at Irkutsk), the breath is 
 heard to issue from the mouth with a sound like very dry hay, when crumpled 
 in the hand, and the sledge ceases to glide smoothly over the snow. At 45° 
 (below which, the thermometer not unfrequently falls at Yakutsk), in spit- 
 ting, the saliva freezes before it reaches the ground, and you see it form a 
 round solid ball on the snow. At Holy Cape, in the Icy Sea, in passing 
 through a gorge of the mountains, when the thermometer stood at only 30°, 
 he felt a current of air which burned and pinched the skin like a needle 
 This wind, the natives call Kious ; and in order to inure themselves to it, 
 they expose their faces continually, until the skin becomes hardened and in- 
 sensible to its effects. "What is very singular, the Kious is not felt when the 
 wind is high. Professor Erman, when traveling in Siberia, experienced, on 
 laying his naked hand on a metal instrument, which had been exposed to the 
 open air, the same sensation and effects as if he had come in contact with 
 red-hot iron ; the skin of his fingers becoming immediately blistered, and 
 
62 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 adhering to the metal. In traveling, it is frequently necessary to stop on the 
 road, to have the congealed breath and blood cleared out of the horses' nos- 
 trils, the excessive cold causing the animals to bleed violently at the nose." 
 
 But we must return to our traveler. To rest their horses, they did not 
 depart until late the next day. " The intervening time," says Cochrane, 
 " I consumed in various employments, chiefly by contrasting in my mind, 
 the populous cities and towns I had left, with the remote and widely distant 
 villages I now meet, and ' those vast and uncultivated tracts/ as are observed 
 by Talleyrand, when speaking upon society, ' traversed rather than peopled, 
 by men who belong to no nation. It is a novel spectacle for a traveler, who, 
 taking his departure from a large town where society is perfected, watches 
 every degree of civilization and industry becoming every moment weaker, 
 until he arrives in a few days at the clumsy and coarse hut, constructed with 
 the trunks of fallen trees. Such a journey, is a practical analysis of the 
 origin and progress of nations, where we have a complicated aggregate to 
 arrive at the most simple elements ; every day we lose sight of some one of 
 those inventions which our unceasing wants have rendered necessary, and 
 seem to travel backward in the history of the progress of the human mind. 
 If such a spectacle invites the imagination, if we are delighted to find in 
 space what alone belongs to time, we must be content to see very few social 
 ties among those men who appear so little to belong to the same association 
 so little to possess a uniformity of character.' These ideas, so congenia 
 with my own, occupied me in a melancholy mood until I rose, and, looking 
 at the grandeur of the scenery, reflected, that wherever I was, the sami 
 Providence was there also." 
 
 On the ninth day after leaving Tabalak, they reached Zashiversk, two hun 
 dred and fifty miles distant : between the two places, there was not a singl 
 inhabited dwelling, and but eight charity yourtes or travelers' huts. Of all 
 the places he had ever seen, bearing the name of city or town, this appeared 
 to Cochrane the most dreary and desolate ; his blood froze within him, as he 
 beheld and approached the settlement. This, the first considerable halting- 
 place from Yakutsk, the half-way house, is nine hundred or a thousand 
 miles removed from a civilized spot. It gives name to a commissariat, and 
 contained seven most miserable huts, inhabited severally, by two Russian 
 priests, two military officers, a post-master, a merchant, and an old widow ; 
 and these seven persons constituted the whole population. 
 
 This desolate spot is on the banks of the Indirgirka river, which furnisher 
 abundance of fish, almost the only support of its inhabitants. On the 3d ol 
 December, he left the town, grateful for the kindness of its poor inhabitants, 
 who had supplied him with plenty of fish, here eaten in a raw state, and 
 which seemed to him, the greatest delicacy he had ever tasted. " In spite 
 of our prejudices," says Cochrane, " there is nothing to be compared to the 
 melting of raw fish in the mouth ; oysters, clotted cream, or the finest jelly 
 in the world is nothing to it ; nor is it only a small quantity that may be 
 eaten of this precious commodity. I myself, have finished a whole fish, 
 which, in its frozen state, might have weighed two or three pounds, and 
 
COCHRANE'S PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 63 
 
 with black biscuit and a glass of rye-brandy, have defied either nature or art 
 to prepare a better meal. It is cut up or shaved into slices, with a sharp 
 knife, from head to tail, and thence derives the name of Stroganlna ; to com- 
 plete the luxury, only salt and pepper were wanting." 
 
 For awhile, they passed down on the slippery surface of the Indirgirka, 
 the route still l)'ing north ; then they entered upon a seemingly boundle3a 
 plain, Cochrane suffering much, at times, from the cold, especially in hia 
 knees, which, from his being on horseback, were peculiarly exposed, and had 
 become terribly inflamed ; they had a feeling of deadness and dreadful fatigue, 
 which he could not account for, until a trader explained to him by signs and 
 words, that if he did not protect them by additional covering, he would cer- 
 tainly not only lose both legs above the knees, but by their subsequent mor- 
 tification, his life also ; he took the advice, and suffered no more from this 
 source. 
 
 Making their way for days through the snow-clad plains, they reached 
 the station called Malone, beyond which, horses seldom go. Cochrane was 
 here provided with thirteen dogs, a driver, and a vehicle covered over with 
 a frame, and an oil-cloth to keep out the cold, which he finding to confine 
 the air too much, rashly threw away, and in this unprotected state, continued 
 on. The want of exercise affected him cruelly, and he was distressed with 
 the cold beyond all experience. Sometimes it made him so drowsy, that it 
 required all the exertions of the driver to prevent him from falling into the 
 fatal sleep. 
 
 At length, on the last day of December (1820), after a most tedious, labo- 
 rious, and perilous journey from Yakutsk, of sixty-one days, twenty of which 
 were passed in the snow, without even the comfort of a blanket, and with 
 far less clothing than the poorest of the natives, Cochrane arrived at Nishney 
 Kolymsk. He felt grateful for his safe arrival at such a season of intense 
 cold, and with only the upper part of the nose between the eyes, at all 
 injured. 
 
 Nishney Kolymsk, is a large town for this part of the world, containing as 
 it does, near fifty dwellings, and four hundred people. It is on the river 
 Kolyma, only two or three days' journey from the frozen ocean. Two hun- 
 dred years ago, it was founded by a wandering Cossack ; though what could 
 have induced people to settle in a place where the sun lights, but never 
 warms, seems to us a mystery ; where there is a day that lasts fifty-two of 
 our days, and a night that lasts thirty-eight ; where there is no spring and no 
 autumn, but ? faint semblance of summer for three months, and then winter, 
 and where a few stunted willows and grass form all the vegetation. But by 
 way of compensation, the reindeer and other arctic animals abound ; abundance 
 of swans, ducks, geese, partridges, and other birds ; and the quantity of fish 
 which swarm the rivers is absolutely prodigious. And yet, though the popu- 
 lation of this region be now so scanty, there was once a numerous race in this 
 part of Siberia, the ruins of whose forts and villages, are yet found. Beside 
 the native population, there are in the district, three hundred Russians, the 
 descendants of exiles. Their houses are of wood, which have floated down 
 
64 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 the stream from more southern climes and thrown upon the shore, and col- 
 lected by years of patience. Moss and clay fill up the chinks, and in winter 
 the panes are of ice, half a foot thick, and in summer of skins. 
 
 The people are a bold, energetic race. Every hour of weather fit for out- 
 door work, is spent in fishing and hunting, and preparing food for the winter. 
 In the light sledge, or on skates, with nets and spears, they are laboring at 
 each of these employments in its season. Toward the end of the long winten, 
 a perfect cloud of swans, geese, ducks, and snipes pour in ; and all, men, 
 women, and children, rush forward to the hunt. The fish come in next, as 
 the ice breaks ; and presently, the time for the reindeer hunt comes round. 
 Every minute of the summer season is consumed in laying in a stock of all 
 these aliments for a long and dreary winter season : the women collect herbs 
 and roots. As the summer is just about to end, the herrings appear in shoals, 
 and a new source of subsistence is opened up. 
 
 Immediately upon his arrival, Cochrane received ample supplies of provi- 
 sions and dress, and he was enabled 'to take daily exercise with impunity, 
 when the thermometer was 58° below zero. He found there, the celebrated 
 Baron Wrangel, who with his party, were then engaged upon one of his ex- 
 ploring expeditions in these Arctic regions. 
 
 Although Kolymsk is not without its trade, the chief traffic of this region 
 is at the fair with the Tchuktchi at the Ostrovnaya fortress, two days' jour- 
 ney east of the town. The inhabitants look to the Tchuktchi for their winter 
 clothing and most valuable fur trade. Our traveler attended the annual fair 
 which was held in March at Ostrovnaya. About one hundred and fifty indi- 
 viduals of the tribe had come from their country, on the borders of Behring's 
 Straits, some eight hundred miles distant, in sledges drawn by reindeer, and 
 loaded down with ivory (the teeth of sea-horses), bear, reindeer, and fox 
 skins, and some reindeer meat, being partly productions of their own coun- 
 try, and partly obtained from the North American Indians on the opposite 
 side of the Straits. These they exchanged with the Russian traders for 
 tobacco, knives, kettles, needles, bells, scissors, pipes, beads, and other small 
 ornaments, and blue nankeen, and white cotton. 
 
 The fair was held upon the river opposite the fortress. Early each morn- 
 ing the Tchuktchi arrived at the place of barter, and forming a semicircle, 
 opening toward the fort, disposed their furs, etc., upon their sledges, mounted 
 their persons on the top of their goods, and then with their arms thrust into 
 their bosoms to keep them warm, patiently awaited the appoint- i signal for 
 the barter to commence. The moment it was given they remainei perfectly 
 quiet, while the Russians, on the contrary, started pell-mell for the 
 sledges, laden down with pots, pans, kettles, knives, swords, hatchets, scis- 
 sors, etc., all jingling in ludicrous confusion : priests, officers, Cossacks, and 
 merchants, men, women, and children were alike fantastically dressed with 
 articles of traffic, of which tobacco constituted the chief. The labor of selling 
 appeared to fall almost entirely upon the Kolymskians, who had to drag along 
 their loads of merchandise a long time before they could induce the wily 
 s?vages to barter. 
 
 The Tchuktchi are a very adventurous people, and wander much among 
 
COCHRAN E'S PEDESTRIAN" JOURNEY 65 
 
 the Polar seas in their skin boats in quest of their game. Their features, 
 manners, and customs evince that they are of American origin, and our 
 traveler was of opinion that the northern races of American Indians are 
 descended from them. 
 
 The principal object Cochrane had in view in attending the fair was to 
 make an arrangement with these people to allow him to accompany them 
 through their country, for the purpose of crossing Behring's Straits to the 
 American continent ; but this plan failing through the exorbitant demand of 
 the savages, he determined to take the direct route to Okotsk, distant, in a 
 southerly direction, on the Pacific, nearly two thousand miles, with the inten- 
 tion of reaching America in a vessel from that point. 
 
 Winter was raging in all its severity when our traveler left Nishney Ko- 
 lymsk for Okotsk. His way was over a large tract of desolate country 
 nearly two thousand miles across. Our limits do not permit us to detail the 
 difficulties and perils of the undertaking, which far exceeded anything of the 
 kind within his experience ; but which, after seventy-five days of indescribable 
 toil, were successfully conquered. His route lay along broad, rapid, dan- 
 gerous, and almost impassable rivers, over lofty, ice-clad mountains, large, 
 overflowed marshes, through dense, decayed forests, and half-frozen lakes. 
 He suffered greatly from cold, rain, hunger, and fatigue, was forty-five nights 
 exposed to the snow, and often without fire with the thermometer 25° and 
 30° below zero. At one time he was for five days without food ; was fre- 
 quently lost and bewildered in the snow mountains ; for a space of one thou- 
 sand miles he did not see a single human habitation, and for nearly half that 
 distance not a solitary individual. 
 
 On his arrival at Okotsk, he was received with much kindness by Captain 
 Ushinsky, the chief officer of the place. That gentleman was much sur- 
 prised at his haggard and miserable appearance. Cochrane finding no ves- 
 sels in the port bound to the American continent, and no probability of there 
 being any during the year, was constrained to abandon the grand object of 
 his enterprise and the chief fruits of all his toils. He, however, crossed over 
 to the peninsula of Kamtschatka. There he remained eleven months, and 
 there all his "airy phantoms, bold desires, and his eccentric turn" were 
 "dissipated by one woman." In short, in this extreme corner of the world, 
 our bold traveler, who had conquered so many difficulties, was conquered in 
 turn : he fell captive to the charms of one of the softer sex, a native of Kamt- 
 schatka, and was bound in indissoluble bonds. 
 
 The peninsula of Kamtschatka is of an oval shape ; through it runs, from 
 north to south, a magnificent chain of mountains, from which issue numerous 
 rivers, crowded with fish of an excellent flavor. Ship timber abounds, and 
 grass of a most nutritious quality. The climate is too cold for potatoes, cab- 
 bages, or peas, btft turnips and radishes thrive amazingly. The principal 
 riches are furs from the animals of the chase, of which there is a prodigious 
 number ; next to these may be considered the dogs. These faithful and use- 
 ful creatures are employed to transport the fish, supply the house with water, 
 the cattle with hay — in fine, to do all the work that horses perform in tempe- 
 rate climates. Surprising quantities of geese, ducks, swans, snipes, and wild 
 5 
 
66 THROUGH RUSSIA AND SIBERIA. 
 
 cccks abound, and as a whole, few people have more of the necessaries of 
 life than the Kamtschatkes. 
 
 The natives are hospitable, truth-loving, honest, and amiable ; they are 
 established in villages, built in the old Russian style, which are clean and 
 comfortable. During the summer or fishing season, they leave their winter 
 residences for the balagans, or places which they use for drying their fish. 
 Thus the summer is employed in preparing food against the winter, while 
 the latter is taken up in the chase. The whole population amounts to about 
 four thousand, of which one-quarter only are Russians. The introduction of 
 ardent spirits and of Russian convicts have both been productive of much 
 misery to the natives. 
 
 When our traveler left Kamtschatka he was accompanied by his wife. 
 His return route to St. Petersburg was by easy stages, and without marked 
 incidents. He had been absent a little over three years. 
 
 If this hurried sketch of his travels in Siberia has been devoid of the inte- 
 rest anticipated, it can be in a measure explained by our traveler's own 
 words: " Siberia," says he, "is, in fact, one immense wilderness, whose 
 inhabitants are so scattered, that five or six hundred miles are often passed 
 by the traveler without seeing an individual, much less any cultivation, or 
 any works of man at all worthy of description. The manners, dress, and 
 customs of the inhabitants are the same. The severity of the climate is, in 
 most cases, co-equal, and in general productive of the same results, anct 
 there is, as a whole, so little of interest in Siberia to be seen, that it is hardly 
 possible to form an interesting narrative upon it." 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION OP THE SERFS. 
 
 The present Emperor of Russia, Alexander, ascended the throne in 1854. 
 In 1861 he signalized his reign by the emancipation of all the serfs of his 
 empire. The total population of the empire was then about eighty-two 
 millions. Of these nearly sixty millions were serfs, eighteen millions mer- 
 chants, mechanics and professional men, and a million and a half of noble- 
 men and clergy. 
 
 Under the old regime slaves could not own the land, but they were required, 
 generation after generation, to reside on the same lands. The nobles did not 
 own the slaves, hut they owned the land to which the serfs were legally 
 attached : so it amounted practically to the same thing. The merchants and 
 some few other classes, not serfs, could own a small portion of land. Lip- 
 pincotfs Magazine, for August, 1870, states : 
 
 " The emperor Alexander has tried to deal justly by his nobles, as well as 
 to place it in the power of every freedman to obtain a home. The nobles 
 were called upon to relinquish about a third of their land, to be distributed 
 in small parcels among the emancipated serfs, w r ho were required to pay for 
 it in labor or otherwise, at a fair valuation. The terms were made easy, the 
 payment being extended over a period of forty -nine years, in equal annual 
 
EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS. 67 
 
 installments ; and in order to avoid difficulty or contention between the 
 former masters and serfs, the imperial government assumed these payments 
 to the land-owner, and the serf made his payments to the government. It 
 was also provided that the land-owner could receive his pay from the govern- 
 ment at once, upon a discount of twenty per cent. — a very moderate rate of 
 interest for forty-nine years. By these wise and judicious measures no injus- 
 tice has been done to the nobility, while at the same time an incentive to 
 labor and to effort has been given to those who have suddenly found them- 
 selves transferred from slavery to freedom. Had this policy been pursued 
 in our own country, justice would have been secured to the freedman, while 
 all classes would have participated in the beneficial results. 
 
 Under the present laws of Russia any one can hold land who has the 
 industry and energy to acquire it. The moral and material results of this 
 wholesale emancipation have, as yet, only begun to develop themselves ; but 
 to give an idea of what has already been accomplished, it is stated by M. de 
 Catacazy, the Russian minister at Washington, that the emancipated serfs 
 have already, under a system of taxation, established over fifteen thousand 
 schools for the education of their children, and the number is constantly 
 increasing. 
 
 As an illustration of the physical and material development consequent on 
 this movement, he cited the fact that since the emancipation over eleven 
 thousand miles of railroad have already been built, and eight thousand miles 
 more are at this time in process of construction. 
 
 The story which recently went the rounds of our press, that the emperor 
 Alexander was addicted to habits of intemperance, is pronounced by those 
 who know him to be false and without foundation." 
 
 The plan of the emancipation of the serfs was conceived by Alexander 
 when a mere child : 
 
 Nothing was farther from the thoughts or intentions of the emperor 
 Nicholas, the father of the present emperor, or of his advisers, or of the 
 nobles of Russia, than this act consummated by the present emperor. When 
 a boy of nine years, Alexander, sitting one morning at the breakfast-table 
 with the emperor and empress, his governess standing near, was observed to 
 be leaning his head upon his hand, and apparently in deep thought. His 
 mother asked him, 'What are your thoughts, my son?' As the boy hesi- 
 tated, the question was repeated, when, looking up with an earnest and deeply 
 serious air, he said, ' I was thinking how, when I become emperor, I can 
 make free all my poor countrymen who are now slaves.' His mother was 
 startled by this answer, while the emperor Nicholas turned pale. The gov- 
 erness, fearing that the charge might be made that her influence over the 
 child had caused this strange and unaccountable remark, was much discon- 
 certed. The empress earnestly questioned the boy as to the origin of this 
 extraordinary thought. After some hesitation he answered that he had learned 
 it in church and from God's word, wherein the duty of loving one's neigh- 
 
68 THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA. 
 
 bor as one's self, and of doing unto all men as we would have them do unto 
 us, was so often and so earnestly inculcated. He thought that it was not 
 right that those poor people should forever remain slaves. The subject was 
 not again alluded to, but the young prince pondered all such things in his 
 heart, and as he grew older grew stronger in his determination to confer this 
 great boon upon his subjects. 
 
 On his accession to the throne, Alexander immediately sent for a man of 
 eminent piety and honesty, as well as of a strong intellect, and intrusted his 
 thoughts and plans to him. These two, in the recesses of the palace, with 
 God's eye upon them, and with an earnest desire within them to carry out 
 in the best manner possible the great plan of emancipation, devised and put 
 into operation that vast scheme, the result of which has been the freedom of 
 all the serfs of Russia." 
 
 THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Russia, inhabited by the great Sclavonic race, is as yet a young giant in its 
 infancy. The part she is to act in human history is but begun. The recont 
 emancipation of her serfs has, in the future, untold benefits to herself and the 
 world generally. Professor Pumpelly, in his work, " Across America and 
 Asia," gives the following forecast of the coming events to the prominent 
 races of man, which must strike every thoughtful mind. He says : 
 
 " If we look at a map of the world, with reference to the inevitable future 
 of the northern temperate zone, we shall find its greatest cultivable areas 
 divided between two great sections of mankind — the Anglo-Saxon and the 
 Sclavonic. And these are also the areas which admit of a sure increase of 
 population to a point compared with which the present numbers are almost 
 as nothing. 
 
 An eminent English geographer has calculated that, considering the rate 
 of increase in the United States, the area of cultivable land in the two 
 Americas, and the capacity of that area for supporting life, it is possible that 
 within a little more than three centuries the population of North and South 
 xVmerica will be between two and three thousand millions. 
 
 And, in view of the relative rates of increase and absorption now ruling 
 among the different races on these continents, it is probable that at some 
 future period its population will be in so far homogeneous that it will speak 
 one language and have one form of government. 
 
 A similar calculation applied to the eastern continent would point to a 
 not less wonderful expansion of the Sclavonic race, from the Baltic Sea to 
 the Pacific Ocean. Leaving out of consideration all the rest of its territory, 
 European Russia possesses, south of the latitude of Moscow, a region of the 
 most fertile agricultural land, whose extent and productiveness are so great 
 that it is not too much to say that it is capable of supporting a population 
 four times as large as that of China — greater than the entire population of 
 our globe. 
 
THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA. 69 
 
 Until recently the tendency of the political and social organization of Rus- 
 sia has been to prevent a rapid increase of population ; but the recent polit- 
 ical reform, and the growing network of railroad and steamboat communica- 
 tion are infusing a new life in the empire, and there is no reason to doubt 
 that facilities for expansion will be followed there, as elsewhere, by a growth 
 in the ratio of increase of population. It will be strange if, within the next 
 ten or twenty years, Russia, which is by nature the granary of Europe, does 
 not come into a competition with our Western States, which, perhaps, not 
 even the utmost exertion on our part will enable us to hold out against. 
 
 When we consider the immense extent of this empire, and its capacity for 
 population, wealth and power, and then compare with it the small extent of 
 western Europe, split up into small nationalities, with an overflowing popu- 
 lation dependent on the East and West for its supply of food, the belief of 
 the Pan-sclavist seems almost prophetic ; Russia, more than America, i( hangs 
 like a thunder-cloud," over its western neighbors. 
 
 The expansion from the West and from the East, to the opposite shores of 
 the Pacific, of two races on a civilization hitherto intimately connected with 
 the Atlantic coasts, is already marking out for the Great Ocean a most im- 
 portant part in the early future. Into this future history another element 
 seems destined to enter ; I mean the part that will be taken by the Chinese 
 and Japanese peoples. 
 
 The immense resources of China in coal and iron and other minerals, in 
 labor and the means of supporting life, and in the conformation of its sur- 
 face, are elements which, in the present and coming age, can not be idle. The 
 utilizing of these resources can not fail to be followed by the same results 
 there as elsewhere, raising the nation by which they are developed to a po- 
 sition of authority in the world's affairs. There seems to me to be little 
 doubt that this result will be accomplished by the Chinese people. In 
 every direction we see in this race evidences of that vitality which has made 
 of them a great nation, and which has kept them erect through all the vicis- 
 itudes of the rest of the world through long ages, which have witnessed 
 the destruction and scattering of races and rise and fall of great empires. 
 This vitality is becoming apparent in a new and equally important direction : 
 the Chinese are showing themselves to be essentially fitted to be colonizers, 
 and as such they seem already to be resolving a great geographical problem. 
 They are showing themselves capable of peopling and making useful to the 
 world the vast extent of the peninsular and island territory of Further India 
 and Australasia. Here they exhibit the same energy as at home, and that too 
 in climates where neither the Malay inhabitants will, nor the European 
 laborer can, endure fatigue. Throughout these regions, wherever they obtain 
 a foothold, they absorb both the trade and the industry which supports it. 
 
 In a large English machine-shop at Singapore, the owners have substi- 
 tuted entirely Chinese for English workmen, finding the former more sober 
 and enduring, and, after instruction, even better mechanics. In this same 
 
70 THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA. 
 
 English colony, Chinese capitalists are said to have driven their European 
 rivals almost or quite out of the field. In the Sandwich Islands, of six 
 sugar plantations, expected to produce, in 1865, 20,000 tons of sugar, two 
 were owned by Chinese capitalists and worked by Chinese labor. In our 
 own western territories, where they are treated worse than dogs, this race is 
 obtaining a foothold, and is destined to assume a political importance preg- 
 nant with great good or great evil. The introduction of this labor upon the 
 Pacific Railroad is certain to give the Chinaman the same incentive to emi- 
 grate from his over-crowded country as that which impels the Irishman 
 across the Atlantic. 
 
 Excepting our ignorance as to the results of amalgamation between the 
 European and the Mongolian races, and the danger of the formation of caste 
 if such a mixture does not take place, I see no reason why such an immigra- 
 tion should be followed by other than the most desirable consequences. 
 There are many parts of Central and South America better adapted to a 
 Chinese population than to any other. And the same remarks might apply to 
 the far north, for they show the same energy in the extreme cold of the Sibe- 
 rian frontier. 
 
 The day of the first meeting of a through train on the Pacific Railroad with 
 the Chinese American steamers, was the beginning of a new era in the history 
 of the Pacific world. This line, across the continent and across the ocean, is 
 surely but the beginning of a great network which, on the new maps of every 
 decade, will measure the growing enterprise of our own continent, of the 
 Pacific, and of Eastern and Northern Asia. 
 
 Thus there is being completed a grand cycle in the history of civilization. 
 The compass, printing, gunpowder, the use of coal, and a vague knowledge 
 of some subtle fluid in the air and earth — all these had their origin among a 
 people on the western shores of the Pacific. Long applied, in the land of 
 their birth, in their simplest forms to their simplest uses, these instruments 
 of civilization have traveled westward around the globe during six hundred 
 years, becoming perfected and building up sciences and arts which give com- 
 mand over time and space, over force and matter, until now, the only step 
 that remains to complete the circle and the cycle is their engraftment on the 
 etock from which they sprung." 
 
SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 IN 
 
 SWITZERLAND 
 
 DE SAUSSURE S ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Siftch of Switzerland — Mountainous Character — Glaciers — Avalanches — Lakes — Y {.Hoys- 
 History — Social condition — "Watch Making — Free Trade — Swiss Melodies— Scenes around 
 Lucerne — Beauty of this region — Lake of Lucerne — The Story of William Tell — Pictorial 
 Bridges— The Swiss Guards— Heroism of Arnold de Winkelreid— Slide of Alpnach— 
 Ascent of the Righi — Extraordinary glory of the view — Catastrophe of Goldau. 
 
 Switzerland, in size, is a little less than the two states of Vermont and 
 New Hampshire. It is a very high and rugged country, and is traversed 
 by ramifications of the Alps and Jura mountains. The word Alp, signifies 
 a mountain. The immense masses of these mountain regions exhibit a 
 perfect chaos, and present on all sides inaccessible rocks, and everlasting 
 snows. The intervening valleys, however, contain extensive districts, fertile 
 and beautiful, and forming a singular contrast with the mountains that over- 
 shadow, and seem ready to overwhelm them. The gradations of anima/ 
 and vegetable life, are singularly marked at different elevations ; and the 
 tine, the oak, the beech, and the fir, rapidlv succeed each other, until from 
 
 (IV 
 
72 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 the limits of perpetual snow, animal and vegetable life become gradually 
 more and more dwarfish, and at length give way beneath the blight of inhos- 
 pitable regions which reach the skies. 
 
 At 3.000 feet elevation is the region of glaciers. These remarkable objects 
 are formed exclusively in the highest valleys, where the sun never penetrates. 
 A glacier is def.ned as a mass of ice hanging on an alpine ridge, or inclosed 
 in one of its valleys, and which is moving continually down its declivity, im- 
 pelled by its own gravity. Their margins are bounded by roundish blocks 
 of stone, which have been accumulated before them as they advance. The 
 glaciers of Switzerland cover more than 1000 square miles, or about one 
 seventeenth of its entire surface ; and it is from these inexhaustible source? 
 that the principal rivers of Europe are supplied with water. The avalanches 
 formed by the accumulated snows rolling down the steep sides of the moun 
 tains, are terrific, sometimes overwhelming entire villages. But the " land- 
 slips," are still more serious. These fall, like avalanches, from the sides of 
 the mountains, and consist of masses of earth torn from their beds by the ex- 
 pansive force of freezing. One of the most disastrous of these took place in 
 1806, when Goldau, and several other villages in the valley of Arth, were 
 overwhelmed by the fall of the earth and stones from the Rossberg. Unlike 
 the Alps, the chain of Jura is clothed from base to summit with luxuriant pine 
 forests. It stretches along the western and north-western frontier, from the 
 Rhone to the Rhine, arid nowhere rises to the limit of perpetual snow. 
 
 Switzerland is pre-eminently the country of lakes. They are all small, 
 none being over fifty miles long, and a few miles in width. They are 
 generally remarkable for their picturesque beauty. The principal are Con- 
 stance, Leman or Geneva, Neufchatel, Lucerne, and Zurich. 
 
 Switzerland, called by the Romans Helvetia, was celebrated for the valor of 
 its people. During the middle ages it was overrun by a succession of bar- 
 barous invaders, and in turn came under the supremacy of Charlemagne, of 
 the House of Burgundy, and finally of the House of Hapsburg, whio". 
 rendered it an appendage of the German Empire. The violence of Albert c. 
 Austria, brought on a crisis. The forest cantons, under the impulse received 
 by the daring courage of William Tell, rose to assert their liberties. A 
 long struggle ensued, but the battle of Mongarten, m which the Austrian 
 forces were completely routed by the mountaineers, secured the independence 
 cf Switzerland. A confederacy of thirteen cantons was formed, and the 
 Swiss, engaged in wars among themselves, and with neighboring powers, toon 
 acquired a high military reputation. 
 
 In 1815, after the downfall of Napoleon, twenty-two cantons were con- 
 federated together for the mutual protection of their liberties and indepen- 
 dence. The Diet, which directs the general affairs of the country, is com- 
 posed of deputies from the cantons, who give their votes under instruction, 
 each canton having one vote. In this legislature is vested the power of 
 making treaties, but the separate cantons may treat with foreign powers in 
 military matters, and for purposes of economy and police, but these treaties 
 must respect the federal compact, and the rights of other cantons. The Diet 
 appoints and recalls diplomatic agents, oversees the general safety, and regu- 
 
IX SWITZERLAND. 73 
 
 !ates the military affairs of the federal army. The internal affairs of each 
 canton, are managed by independent local governments, pretty much in the 
 same way as in the United States. Many changes have taken place within 
 the last thirty years, all tending more and more to democracy, and many of 
 the cantons which were of an aristocratic complexion, are now thoroughly 
 democratic. 
 
 About seven-tenths of the population are composed of German Swiss, who are 
 generally Protestants, and the French, Italian, Roman, and Swiss (the last 
 named, speaking a language near the Latin), who are for the most part 
 Catholics. The relative numbers are about 1,300,000 Protestants, to 850,000 
 Catholics. This mixture of races and religions, proves anything but a source 
 of harmony among the Swiss. The Catholics are bigoted, and the Protes- 
 tants retaliate. Neither allows the other to become citizens of their respec- 
 tive cantons. In some cantons, Catholicism is peremptory, and all the children 
 must be brought up in that faith. Several disturbances have occurred be- 
 tween the rival churches, and much blood flowed on both sides. In 1847, 
 civil war was the result, but the Protestants prevailed, and expelled the 
 Jews, and all monastic orders from the confederation. The Swiss are 
 among the best educated people of Europe. The principal towns in Switzer- 
 land are Berne, Basle, Zurich, Lucerne, Lausanne, and Geneva. Berne is gener- 
 ally esteemed the capital ; it certainly is one of the most elegant and wealthy 
 of the cities. In the different towns and villages throughout the country, 
 manufactures are carried on to a considerable extent, for home consumption 
 and export. The manufacturing industry of Switzerland, in some measure, 
 takes its tone from the distinctions of race in the population. The Germans 
 engage in the manufacture of iron and machinery, linens, ribbons, silk, 
 cotton, pottery, and some kinds of toys; while the French, from their superior 
 artistic tastes, employ themselves in making watches, jewelry, music boxes, 
 and other elegant objects. Iron of a superior quality is found in one of the 
 cantons ; and coal is also dug, but it is of a poor quality, and wood forme 
 the chief fuel. Salt is now made within the canton of Basle, and in the 
 Valais. From the prevalence of rapid running streams, there is an abund- 
 ance of water-power in almost all quarters. 
 
 Geneva and Neufchatel, are the seat of the watch manufacture, a largs 
 proportion of the watches being made in hamlets and villages throughout 
 the two cantons. In the long valley, called the Yalle Travers, stretching 
 from the neighborhood of Neufchatel to the borders of France, and at Lode, 
 in the same quarter, are numerous small factories of these elegant articles. 
 The existence of a great manufacture in cottages, scattered over fifty miles 
 of mountains, covered some months in the year with snows so deep, as to im- 
 prison the inhabitants in their dwellings, is a singular fact in social economy, 
 well worthy of notice. One of the most intelligent of the village watchma- 
 kers, presented Dr. Bowring with an interesting account of the origin and 
 progress of this remarkable trade, from which we draw the following 
 passages : 
 
 "As early as the seventeenth century, some workmen had constructed 
 pocden clocks, with weights, after the model of the parish clock, which ^va 
 
74 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 placed in the church of Locle in the year 163C. But no idea had as yet 
 been conceived of making clocks with springs. It was only about the latter 
 end of the same century, that an inhabitant of these mountains, having re- 
 turned from a long voyage, brought back with him a watch, an object which 
 was, till that time, unknown in the country. Being obliged to have his 
 watch repaired, he carried it to a mechanic, named Richard, who had the 
 reputation of being a skillful workman. 
 
 Richard succeeded in repairing the watch, and having attentively examined 
 its mechanism, conceived the idea of constructing a similar article. By dint 
 of labor and perseverance, he at length succeeded, though not without having 
 had great difficulties to surmount, and he was compelled to construct all the 
 different movements of the watch, and even to manufacture some ill-finished 
 tools, in order to assist him in his labors. When this undertaking was com- 
 pleted, it created a great sensation in the country, and excited the emulation 
 of several men of genius, to imitate the example of their fellow-citizen ; and 
 thus, very fortunately, watch-making was gradually introduced among our 
 mountains, the inhabitants of which had, hitherto, exercised no other trade 
 or profession, than those which were strictly necessary to their daily wants; 
 their time being principally employed in cultivating an ungrateful and unpro- 
 ductive soil. Our mountaineers were frequently compelled, before the intro- 
 duction of the above-named industry, to seek for work during the summer 
 months, among the people of the surrounding country. They rejoined their 
 families in the winter, being enabled, from their economical savings, the mod- 
 erateness of their wants, and the produce of a small portion of land, to 
 supply themselves with the necessaries of life. And it must be remarked, 
 also, that the entire liberty which they enjoyed, united to the absence of 
 any description of taxation, greatly tended to relieve the hardships of 
 their lot. 
 
 For a number of years, those who betook themselves to watch-making, 
 were placed at a great disadvantage, by having to import their tools, but 
 these, they in time learned to make, and greatly improve upon. In propor- 
 tion as men embraced the profession of watch- making, the art became more 
 developed; several returned from Paris, where they had gone to perfect 
 themselves, and contributed, by their knowedge, to advance the general skill. 
 It is not more than eighty or ninety years since a few merchants began to 
 collect together small parcels of watches, in order to sell them in foreign 
 markets. The success which attended these speculations, induced and en- 
 couraged the population of these countries to devote themselves still more to 
 the production of articles of ready sale ; so much so, that very nearly the 
 whole population has, with a very few exceptions, embraced the watch-making 
 trade. Meanwhile, the population has increased three-fold, independently of 
 the great number of workmen who are established in almost all the towns of 
 Europe, in the United States, and even in the East Indies, and China. It is 
 from this period, also, that dates the change which has taken place in the 
 country of Neufchatel, where, notwithstanding the barrenness of the soil, 
 and the severity of the climate, beautiful, and well-built village* are every- 
 where to be seen, connected by easy communications, together with a veiy 
 
121 SWITZERLAND. 75 
 
 considerable and industrious population, in the enjoyment, if not cf great 
 fortunes, at least, of a happy and easy independence. 
 
 Thus, in defiance of the difficulties which it was necessary to overcome, in 
 spite of the obstacles which were opposed to the introduction of the produce 
 of our industry into other countries, and notwithstanding the prohibitions 
 which enfeebled its development, it has, at length, attained a prodigious ex- 
 tension. It may be further remarked, that from the upper valleys or Neuf- 
 chatel, where it originated, it has spread from east to west, into the valleys 
 of the Jura, and into the cantons of Berne and Vaud ; and further, that all 
 these populations, form at present, a single and united manufactory, whose 
 center and principal focus, is in the mountains of Neufchatel." 
 
 The manufacture of wooden toys, such as small carved figures and boxes, 
 is also carried on in the mountainous parts of Switzerland, many of the rural 
 laborers employing themselves on these articles, at leisure hours, and partic- 
 ularly during the winter season, when out-door labor is stopped. Among 
 the hills near Unterseen, and Interlaken, we have rb&erved a number of 
 these interesting domestic manufactories, by ^hich, at little cost, many 
 comforts are procured. 
 
 Appenzell takes the lead in cotton manufactures, and Zurich, in the spin- 
 ning and weaving of silk. It is most extraordinary, how the manufacture of 
 these bulky articles should prosper, considering the distance of the country 
 from the sea. Surrounded by hostile, or at least, ..-ival and jealous neighbors, 
 and with a long land carriage, on which heavy tolls are imposed, to and from 
 seaports, the Swiss still contrive to carry on a successful foreign trade, and 
 even out-do the French and Germans, in point of skill and cheapness. The 
 whole social condition of the Swiss is curious. The bulk of the country is 
 divided into small possessions, each cultivated or superintended by its pro- 
 prietor. There are few persons with large estates ; and " landed gentlemen," 
 as they are termed in England, are almost unknown. The rural population, 
 therefore, whether agriculturists, in the valleys or plains, or sheep, or neat- 
 herds, among the hills, are, for the greater part, only a superior kind of 
 peasants, few of whom possess the wealth or comforts of modern Scotch 
 farmers. In some districts the people unite the character of agriculturists 
 and artisans. On certain days or seasons, or at certain hours, they work on 
 their little farms, and the rest of the time is employed in weaving, toy-making, 
 or in some other handicraft. Instead of confining themselves to towns, the 
 Swiss operatives prefer working in villages, or in cottages, scattered on the 
 fa:e of the hills ; for there they are near the gardens or fields, which they 
 delight in cultivating, and there they can inexpensively keep a cow, goat, or 
 pig. A great number have goats, for the sake of the milk, and because their 
 keep is next to nothing, in the way of outlay. 
 
 The diligence with which the families of Swiss workmen pursue their 
 labors in and out of doors at these rural retreats, is spoken of by all travelers 
 as a kind of wonder ; and in the neighborhood of Zurich, it appears in its 
 most captivating form. Wandering up the slopes of the h'.ils, we perceive 
 numerous clusters of cottages, inhabited principally by weavers, from which 
 
76 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 the sound of the shuttle is heard to proceed. Here, as elsewhere, the 
 cottages are chiefly of wood, but substantial, and are generally ornamented 
 with vines clinging to the picturesque eaves of the roof. All around are 
 patches of gardens, or small inclosed fields, sufficient, probably, to pasture 
 one or two goats, with some ground under crops of potatoes. Industry is 
 everywhere observable. If the husband is at the loom, his wife is out of 
 doors at the yotatoe ridges, a girl is winding bobbins, and a boy is attending the 
 goats. Eaby leads the only sinecure life, and is seen sprawling at his ease 
 on a cushion laid on the ground, at a short distance from the mother. The 
 people in this way are constantly at work. They may be seen laboring in 
 the fields before sunrise, and after sunset. With all their labor, in and out 
 of doors, families do not realize above eight or nine shillings each, weekly. 
 Provisions are cheaper than in England, and the taxes are few and light ; 
 but with these advantages in their favor, the Swiss do not realize so high a 
 remuneration as English operatives. Yet with their few shillings weekly, 
 they are better off them workmen in England, because they are exceedingly 
 economical. The Stfiss oper?/-i\e employs his spare hours, in making his 
 own or his children's clothes, ami his wife and children are all productive in 
 some humble way; so that, being frugal and easily contented, the family is 
 never ill off. All contrive to save something. With their savings they build 
 or buy a cottage, and purchase a piece of ground, and to attain this amount 
 of riches — to have this substantial stake in the country — is their highest 
 ambition. 
 
 The most remarkable point in the social economy of Switzerland, is the 
 universal piinciple of freedom in trade, in which respect it has no parallel on 
 the face cf the earth. A free export and import are permitted. The 
 government has no custom-house establishment, either in reference to the 
 general frontiers or the frontiers of the respective states ; the only impediment 
 to the transport of goods, in any direction, is the exaction of tolls, at 
 the rate of about one penny per hundred weight, for the benefit of the can- 
 tonal revenues, from which, however, the roads are kept in repair. 
 
 All restrictions on the importations of articles from other countries being 
 thus removed, it might be supposed by some, that the country would be 
 deluged with foreign manufactures, greatly to the injury of native capitalists 
 and workmen. But this does not appear to be the case. In several branches 
 of manufacture the Swiss excel ; and the opportunity of buying certain kinds 
 of foreign produce, at a particularly cheap rate, enables the people to en- 
 courage the growth of other manufactures in their own country. The 
 peasant who buys an P^nglish-made knife at half what he could buy a Swiss one 
 for, has a half of his money remaining, wherewith to purchase a native- 
 made ribbon ; hence Swiss manufactures of one kind or other, are sure to be 
 encouraged. 
 
 Switzerland is celebrated for a class of melodies called the Ranz de Vaches, 
 which are peculiar to her Alpine valleys. Almost every valley has an air 
 of i f s own, but the original air is said to be that of Appenzell. Their effect 
 in producing home sickness in the heart of the Swiss mountaineer, when 
 
IJN SWITZERLAND. 77 
 
 heard in a distant land, and the prohibition of this music in the Swiss regi- 
 ments in the service of France, on account of the number of deserters oc* 
 casioned by it, is well known. 
 
 These national airs are particularly wild in their character, yet full of 
 melody ; the choruses consist of a few remarkable shrill notes, uttered with 
 a peculiar falsetto intonation in the throat. They originate in the practice of 
 the shepherds on the Alps, of communicating with another at the distance of 
 a mile or more, by pitching the voice high. The name, " Ranz de Vaches," 
 signifying " cow rows," is derived from the order in which the cows march 
 home at milking time, in obedience to the shepherd's call, communicated by 
 the voice or through the Alp-horn: this is a simple tube of wood, wound 
 round with bark, five or six feet long, admitting of but slight modulation, 
 yet very melodious when caught up and prolonged by the mountain echoes. 
 
 In some of the remoter pastoral districts of Switzerland, from which the 
 ancient simplicity of manners is not altogether banished, the Alp-horn sup- 
 plies, in the higher pastures, where no church is near, the place of the vesper 
 bell. The cowherd, posted on the highest peak, as soon as the sun h?.« jtt, 
 pours forth the first four or five notes of the psalm, " Praise God the Lord." 
 the same notes are repeated from distant Alps, and all within hearing, un 
 covering their heads and bending their knees, repeat their evening crison, 
 after which the cattle are penned in their stalls, and the shepherds betake 
 themselves to rest. 
 
 The traveler among the Alps, will have frequent opportunities of hearing, 
 both the music of the horn, and the songs of the cowherds and dairy-maids; 
 the latter have been thus described by Southey : " Surely the wildest chorus 
 that ever was heard by human ears, a song, not of articulate sounds, but in 
 which the voice is used as mere instrument of music, more flexible than any 
 which art could produce, sweet, powerful, and thrilling beyond description." 
 
 The region about the Lake of Lucerne is one of the most interesting in 
 Switzerland, and the lake itself the finest in the country. It is called ths 
 Lake of the Four Cantons — Uri, Schwytz, Unterwalden, and Lucerne, which 
 it laees, and is the geographical and historical center of Switzerland. It was 
 here that occurred those heroic scenes, which have associated the name of 
 Tell, with those of Wallace and Washington, as the preservers of their re- 
 spective countries, from the grasp of foreign tyrants. Not much is really 
 known of this patriot, but the little that has been wafted by history and tra- 
 dition, to our times, is interesting, and possesses all tho charms of poetry and 
 romance. This Swiss hero was born in the canton of Uri, near the Lake 
 of Lucerne, about the the year 1275, and was, by profession, a farmer. 
 
 The ancient city of Lucerne is beautifully situated, with the lake on the 
 south-east. A fertile country lies in its rear and on both sides, while Mount 
 Pilate rises in grand gloom on its right, and the Righi mountain, with its 
 cheerful verdure, in front. 
 
 The great curiosity of Lucerne are its two bridges over the Reuss. One of 
 them called the Cathedral bridge, thirteen hundred and eighty feet in length, 
 is hung with two hundred and forty pictures, representing the whole Scripture 
 history : scenes from the Old Testament are arranged on one side, and sub- 
 
78 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 tiously displaying an extensive supply of rope wherewith to hang th*.. chiefs 
 of the rebels — a hasty reckoning of victory, which reminds us of similar con- 
 duct and similar results when Wallace repulsed the invaders of Scotland. 
 
 The confederates, in whose ranks were William Tell and Furst, in order to 
 oppose this formidable invasion, occupied a position in the mountains border- 
 ing on the convent of our Lady of the Hermits. Four hundred men of Uri, 
 and three hundred of Unterwalden, had effected a junction with the warriors 
 of Schwytz, who formed the principal numerical force of this little army. 
 Fifty men, banished from this latter canton, offered themselves to combat 
 beneath their native banner, intending to efface, by their valor and conduct, 
 the remembrance of their past faults. Early on the morning of the 15th of 
 November, 1315, some thousands of well-armed Austrian knights slowly as- 
 cended the hill on which the Swiss were posted, with the hope of dislodging 
 them ; the latter, however, advanced to meet their enemies, uttering the most 
 terrific cries. The band of banished men, having precipitated huge stones 
 and fragments of rocks from the hill-sides, and from overhanging cliffs, 
 rushed from behind the sheltering influence of a thick fog, and threw the ad- 
 vancing host into confusion. The Austrians immediately broke their ranks, 
 and presently a complete route, with terrible slaughter, ensued. The con- 
 federates marched boldly on, cheered by the voice and example of Henry of 
 Ospenthal, and one of the sons of old Redding of Biberegg. 
 
 The flower of the Austrian chivalry perished on the field of Morgarten, 
 beneath the halberts, arrows, and iron-headed clubs of the shepherds. Leo- 
 pold himself, though he succeeded in gaining the shattered remnant of his 
 forces, had a narrow escape ; while the Swiss, animated by victory, hastened 
 to Unterwalden, where they defeated a body of Lucernois and Austrians. 
 In this instance Count Otho had as narrow an escape as the emperor. After 
 these two well-fought fields, the confederates hastened to renew their ancient 
 alliance, which was solemnly sworn to in an assembly held at Brunnen on 
 the 8th day of December. 
 
 All that remains to be told of the Swiss hero's life is the immemorial tradi- 
 tion, that William Tell, the same who shot Gessler in 1307, assisted at a 
 general meeting of the commune of Uri in 1337, and perished in 1350 by an 
 inundation which destroyed the village of Biirglen, his birthplace. Accord- 
 ing to Klingenberg's chronicle, however, written toward the close of the 
 fourteenth century, when many of his cotemporaries were still living, Wilhel- 
 mus Tellus of Uri, as he calls him, the liberator of his country, became, 
 after the battle of Morgarten, administrator of the affairs of the church of 
 Beringer, where he died in 1354." 
 
 The ancient city of Lucerne is beautifully situated, with the lake on the 
 south-east. A fertile country lies in its rear, and on both sides, while Mount 
 Pilate rises in grand gloom on its right, and the Righi mountain, with its 
 cheerful verdure in front. 
 
 The great curiosity of Lucerne are its two bridges over the Reuss. One of 
 them, called the Cathedral bridge, thirteen hundred and eighty feet in length, 
 is hung with two hundred and forty pictures, representing the whole Scripture 
 history : scenes from the Old Testament are arranged on one side, and sub 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. 79 
 
 jects from the new, on the other. The other bridge is hung with oil paintings, 
 representing all the heroic events in Swiss history. In a garden near the 
 town is a monument, designed by Thorswalden, to the memory of the Swiss 
 guards, who fell in defending the Tuilleries, on the 10th of August, 1792. 
 It is hewn out of solid rock, and represents a lion dying, wounded by an 
 arrow, and seeming in the agonies of death, to protect the Bourbon fleur-de- 
 lis. The figure is twenty-eight feet long, and eighteen high. It bears the 
 inscription " Helvetiorum fdei ac virtuti." i. e. " To the faith and virtue of the 
 Helvetians," together with the names of the brave officers and men who fell on 
 that bloody occasion, while faithfully defending a feeble and unworthy master. 
 
 In the town arsenal are relics of the ancient heroism of Switzerland, among 
 which is the sword of William Tell, and a statue of Arnold de Winkelreid, of 
 Unterwalden. The name of Winkelreid is associated with an amazing act of 
 heroic self-sacrifice, one unequaled in the whole range of modern history. 
 
 At the battle of Sempach, the Austrian hosts, four to one of the Swiss, had 
 long withstood their attacks, when Winkelreid exclaimed, " I will open you 
 a passage, only protect my wife and children ! then springing forward, he 
 seized in both arms, as many of the enemy's spears as he was able, buried 
 them in his body, and sank to the ground, while his companions rushed for- 
 ward to victory through the breach over his dead body ! 
 
 Mount Pilate occupying a point beyond the termination of the Alpnach 
 arm of the Lake of Lucerne, is, in many respects, an interesting mountain. 
 There is a small lake near its summit, which Pontius Pilate, who is said to 
 have resided in Switzerland, after he was banished by Tiberias into Gaul, 
 stung with remorse, plunged into, and perished. 
 
 Upon this mountain was constructed, many years ago, a great and useful 
 work, the slide of Alpnach, for facilitating the descent of timber. 
 
 On the south side of Pilatus are great forests of spruce fir, consisting of 
 the finest timber, but in a situation which the height, the steepness, and the 
 ruggedness of the ground, seemed to render inaccessible. They had rarely 
 been visited but by the chamois hunters, and it was from them, indeed, that 
 the first information concerning the size of the trees, and the extent of the 
 forest appears to have been received. These woods are in the canton of Un- 
 terwalden, where there are no manufactures, little accumulation of capital, 
 and no commercial enterprise. In the possession of such masters, the lofty 
 firs of Pilatus were likely to remain long the ornaments of their mountains. 
 
 Mr. Rupp, however, a native of Wirtemberg, and a skillful engineer, in 
 which profession he had been educated, indignant at the political changes 
 effected in his own country, was induced to take refuge among a free peo- 
 ple, and came to settle in the cai>*on of Schwytz, on the opposite side of the 
 Lake of Lucerne. The accounts which he heard there of the forest just men- 
 tioned, determined him to visit it, and he was so much struck by its appear- 
 ance, that long and rugged as the descent was, he conceived the bold project 
 of bringing down the trees, by no other force than their own weight, into the 
 Lake of Lucerne, from whence the conveyance to the German ocean was 
 easy and expeditious. A more accurate survey of the ground convinced hin? 
 of the practicability of the project. 
 
go SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 He had by this time resided long enough in Switzerland, to have both \»M 
 talents and integrity in such estimation, that he was able to prevail on r 
 number of the proprietors to form a company, with a joint stock, to be laid 
 out in the purchase of the forest, and in the construction of the road along 
 which it was intended that the trees should slide down into the lake of Lu- 
 cerne, the arm of which, fortunately, approaches quite near to the bottom of 
 the mountain. The sum required for this purpose was very considerable foi 
 that country, amounting to nine or ten thousand pounds ; three thousand 
 pounds to be laid out in the purchase of the forest from the community of 
 Alpnach, the proprietors of it, and the rest being necessary for the construc- 
 tion of the singular railway by which the trees were to be brought down. 
 
 The distance which the trees had to be conveyed is forty-six thousand feet. 
 The horizontal distance just mentioned is forty-four thousand two hundred 
 and fifty-two feet — eight English miles and about three furlongs. The decli- 
 vity is, therefore, one foot in 1768 ; the medium angle of elevation 3° 14' 20." 
 
 This declivity, though so moderate on the whole, was in many places very 
 rapid. At the beginning the inclination was about one-fourth of a right 
 angle, or about 22° 30' ; in may places, 20°, but nowhere greater than the 
 angle first mentioned, 22° 30'. The inclination continued of this quantity 
 for about 500 feet, after which the way was less steep, and often considerably 
 circuitous, according to the directions which the ruggedness of the ground 
 forced it to take. 
 
 Along this line the trees descended in a sort of trough built in a cradle 
 form, and extending from the forest to the edge of the lake. Three trees 
 squared, and laid side by side, formed the bottom of the trough ; the tree in 
 the middle having its surface hollowed, so that a rill of water, received from 
 distance to distance, over the side of the trough, might be conveyed along 
 the bottom, and preserve it moist. Adjoining to the central part (of the 
 trough), other trees, also squared, were laid parallel to the former, in such 
 a manner as to form a trousrh rounded in the interior, and of such dimen- 
 sions as to allow the largest trees to lie, or to move quite readily. When the 
 direction of the trough turned, or had any bending, of which there were 
 many, its sides were made higher and stronger, especially on the convex side, 
 or that from which it bent, so as to provide against the trees bolting or flying 
 out, which they sometimes did, in spite of every precaution. In general, the 
 trough was from five to six feet wide at top, and from three to four in depth ; 
 varying, however, in different places, according to circumstances. 
 
 This singular road was constructed at considerable expense ; though, as it 
 went almost for its whole length through a forest, the materials of construe- 
 tion were at hand, and of small value. It contained 30,000 trees ; was in 
 general supported on cross timbers, that were themselves supported by up- 
 rights fixed in the ground. It crossed in its way three great ravines ; one at 
 the height of sixty-four feet, another at the height of one hundred and three, 
 and a third, where it went along the face of a rock, at that of 157. In two 
 places it was conveyed under ground. It was finished in 1812. 
 
 The trees which descend by this conveyance were spruce-firs, very straight, 
 and of great size. All their branches were lopped off, stripped of the bark 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. gj 
 
 *nd the surface, of course, made tolerably smooth. The trees or logs, of 
 which the trough was built, were dressed with the ax, but without much 
 care. 
 
 All being thus prepared, the tree was launched with the root end foremost; 
 into the steep part of the trough, and in a few seconds acquired such a velo- 
 city as enabled it to reach the lake in the short space of six minutes ; a result 
 altogether astonishing, when it is considered that the distance is more than 
 eight miles, that the average declivity b but one foot in seventeen, and that 
 the route which the trees have to follow is often circuitous, and in some 
 places almost horizontal. 
 
 Where large bodies are moved with such velocity as has now been de- 
 scribed, and so tremendous a force of course produced, everything had need 
 to be done with the utmost regularity, every obstacle carefully removed, that 
 can obstruct the motion, or that might suffer by so awful a collision. Every- 
 thing, accordingly, with regard to launching off the trees, was directed by 
 telegraphic signals. All along the slide, men were stationed at different 
 distances, from half a mile to three quarters, or more, but so that every 
 station might be seen from the next, both above and below. At each of 
 these stations also, was a telegraph, consisting of a large board like a door, 
 that turned at its middle, on a horizontal axle. When the tree was launched 
 from the top, a signal was made by turning the board upright, the same was 
 followed by the rest, and thus the information is conveyed, almost instanta- 
 neously, all along the slide, that a tree was on its way. By-and-by, to any 
 one that is stationed on the side, even to those at a great distance, the same was 
 announced by the roaring of the tree itself, which became always louder and 
 louder ; the tree came in sight, when it was perhaps half a mile distant, and 
 in an instant after shot past, with the noise of thunder and the rapidity of 
 lightning. As soon as it had reached the bottom, the lowest telegraph was 
 turned down, the signal passed along all the stations, and the workmen at 
 the top were informed that the tree had arrived in safety. Another was set 
 off as quickly as possible, the moment was announced as before, and the 
 same process repeated, till the trees that had been got in readiness for that 
 day had been sent down into the lake. 
 
 The trees thus brought down into the Lake of Lucerne were formed into 
 rafts, and floated down the very rapid stream of the Reuss, by which the 
 lake discharges its water, first into the Aar, and then into the Rhine. By 
 this conveyance, which is all of it in streams of great rapidity, the trees 
 sometimes reached Basle in a few days after they had left Lucerne, and there 
 the intermediate concern of the Alpnach company terminated. They still 
 continued to be navigated down the Rhine in rafts, to Holland, and were 
 afloat in the German ocean, in less than a month from having descended 
 from the side of the Pilatus, a very inland mountain, not less than a thousand 
 miles distant. The Emperor Napoleon, had made a contract for all the 
 timber thus brought down. This useful work has since been taken down. 
 
 If you are favored with a fine clear sunrise, then, of all excursions from 
 Lucerne, that to the summit of the Righi is unrivaled in the world; for itr 
 brauty. 
 
 6 
 
82 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 We made our ascent, says the Rev. George. B. Cheever, in his Wandering-* 
 of a Pilgrim, in the afternoon, so as to be upon the mountain by night, ah 
 ready for the morning's glorious spectacle. 
 
 The sunset was one of extraordinary splendor, as regards the clouds and 
 their coloring in the golden west, and we enjoyed also a very extensive view, 
 but not the view. 
 
 The brow of the mountain is as perpendicular as Arthur's Crag at Edin- 
 burgh, almost cresting over like the sea-surf or a wave in mid-ocean. In 
 the evening, walking along the edge of the precipice, the vast scene is of a 
 deep and solemn beauty, though you are waiting for the dawn to reveal its 
 several features. The lights in so many villages far below, over so great an 
 extent, produce a wild and magic picturesqueness. There at our left is Lucerne, 
 here at our feet is Kussnacht ; a few steps to the right, and Arth is below 
 you, with many glancing lights in the surrounding chalets. The evening 
 church bells are ringing, and the sound comes undulating upward, so deep, 
 so musical. There is no moon, but the stars are out, and methinks they look 
 much brighter, more startling, more earnest, than they do from the world 
 below. How far above that world ! How pure and still the air around us. 
 
 The summit where we are is called the culm of the Righi, because it is the 
 culminating, or highest point, running, with a turf-covered slope, to the wave- 
 like summit. A few steps down the slope stands the little inn, with a second 
 rough lodoanor-house below, though the accommodations are insufficient for 
 the crowd of sleepers waiting for the sun. 
 
 We slept little and unquietly, and we rose while the stars were still bright, 
 but beginning to pale a little in the east with the breaking light of day ; and 
 no man who has not been in the same situation can tell the delight with 
 which we threw open the windows, and found a clear, fresh, glorious morn- 
 ing. The sentinel of the dawn, for the sleepers in the inn, seized his long 
 wooden horn, and blew a blast, in-doors and out, to waken them, and then, 
 one after another emerged into the open air, and hastened to the top of the 
 mountain, to watch the movements of the sun. 
 
 It was the sixth of September, and the most perfectly beautiful morning 
 that can be imagined. At a quarter past three, the stars were reigning 
 supreme in the heavens, with just enough of the old moon left to make a trail 
 of light in the shape of a little silver boat among them. But speedily the 
 horizon began to redden over the eastern range of mountains, and then the 
 dawn stole on in such a succession of deepening tints, that nothing but the 
 hues of the preceding sunset could be more beautiful. But this is the great 
 difference between the sunrise and sunset, that the hues of sunset are every 
 moment deepening as you look upon them, until again they fade into the 
 darkness ; while those of the sunrise gradually fade into the light of day. It 
 is difficult to say which process is most beautiful ; for, if you could make 
 everything stand still around you, if you could stereotype or stay the pro- 
 cess for an hour, you could not tell whether it were the morning dawn or the 
 evening twiiight. 
 
 A few Ion y, thiu strips of fleecy clouds lay motionless above the eastern 
 horizon, }»>e Uj^v »f silver lace, dipped first in crimson, then n g^l£„ ther 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. 83 
 
 m pink, then lined with an ermine of light, just as if the moon had been length • 
 ened in soft furrows along the sky. This scene in the east attracts every eye 
 at first, but it is not here that the glory of the view is to be looked for. This 
 glory is in that part of the horizon on which the sun first falls, as he strug- 
 gles up behind the mountains to flood the world with light. And the reason 
 why it is so glorious, is, because, long before you call it sunrise in the east, 
 be lights up in the west, a range of colossal pyres, that look like blazing cres- 
 sets, kindled from the sky, and fed with naphtha. 
 
 The object most conspicuous, as the dawn broke, and, indeed the most 
 sublimely beautiful, was the vast enormous range of the snowy mountains of 
 Oberland, without spot or vail of cloud or mist to dim them, the Finsteraar- 
 horn at the left, and the Jungfrau and Silberhorn at the right, peak after 
 peak, and mass after mass, glittering with a cold, wintery whiteness in the gray 
 dawn. Almost the exact half of the circumference of the horizon, com- 
 manded before and behind in our view, was filled with these masses of snow 
 and ice ; then, lower down, the mountains of bare rock, and, lower still, the 
 earth, with mounts of verdure ; and this section of the horizontal circumfer- 
 ence, which is filled with the vast ranges of the Oberland Alps, being almost 
 due west from the sun's first appearance, it is on their tops that the rising rays 
 first strike. 
 
 This was the scene for which we watched, aud it seems as if nothing in 
 nature can ever again be so beautiful. It was as if an angel had flown round 
 the horizon of mountain ranges, and lighted up each of their white pyra- 
 midiGal points in succession, like a row of gigantic lamps, burning with rosy 
 fires. Just as the sun suddenly tipped the highest points and lines of the 
 snowy outline, and then, descending lower on the body of the mountains, it 
 was as if an invisible omnipotent hand had taken them, and dipped the whole 
 range in a glowing pink ; the line between the cold snow, untouched by the 
 sunlight, and the warm roseate hue above, remaining perfectly distinct. This 
 effect continued some minutes, becoming, up to a certain point, more- and 
 more beautiful. 
 
 We were like children in a dark room, watching for the lighting up of 
 some great transparency. 
 
 It was as if we witnessed some supernatural revelation, where mighty 
 spirits were the actors between earth and heaven : 
 
 " With such ravishing delight 
 And mantling crimson, in transparent air, 
 The splendor shot before us." 
 
 And yet, a devout soul might have almost felt, seeing those fires kindled as 
 on the altars of God made visible, as if it heard the voices of seraphim crying, 
 holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory ! — 
 for, indeed, the vision was so radiant, so full of sudden, vast, unimaginable 
 beauty and splendor, that methinks a phalanx of the sons of God, who might 
 have been passing at that moment, could not have helped stopping and 
 shouting for joy, as on the morning of the creation. 
 
 This was the transient view, which, to behold, one might well undertake a 
 
84 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 voyage across the Atlantic : of a glory and a beauty indescribable, aod dc ■■- 
 where else in the world to be enjoyed, and here only in perfect weather. 
 After these few moments, when the sun rose so high, that the whole masses 
 of snow upon the mountain ranges were lighted with the same rosy light, it 
 grew rapidly fainter, till you could no longer distinguish the deep, exquisite 
 pink and rosy hues, by means of their previous contrast with the cold white. 
 Next, the sun's rays fell upon the bare, rocky peaks, where there was 
 neither snow nor vegetation, making them shine like jasper, and next on the 
 forest and grassy slopes, and so down into the deep bosom of the vales. The 
 pyramidal shadow cast by the Righi mountain was most distinct and beautiful, 
 but the atmospheric phenomenon of the specter of the Righi was not visible. 
 
 This amazing panorama is said to extend over a circumference of 300 
 miles. In all this region, when the upper-glory of the heavens and moun- 
 tain-peaks has ceased playing, then, as the sun gets higher, forests, lakes, 
 hills, rivers, trees, and villages, at first indistinct and gray, in shadows, be- 
 come flooded with sunshine, and almost seem floating up toward you. There 
 was, for us, another feature of the view, constituting by itself, one of the 
 most novel and charming sights of Swiss scenery, but which does not always 
 accompany the panorama of the Righi, even in a fine morning. On earth, 
 the morning may be too fine. This was the soft, smooth, white body of mist, 
 lying on most of the lakes, and on the vales, a sea of mist, floating, or rather, 
 brooding, like a white dove, over the landscape. The spots of land at first 
 visible in the midst of it, were just like islands, half emerging to the view. 
 It lay over the bay of Kussnacht, at our feet, like the white robe of an infant 
 in the cradle, but the greater part of the Lake of Lucerne was sleeping 
 quietly without it, as an undressed babe. Over the whole of the Lake of 
 Zug, the mist was at first motionless, but in the breath of the morning, it 
 began slowly to move altogether toward the west, disclosing the village of 
 Arth, and the verdurous borders of the lake, and then uncovering its deep 
 sea-green waters, which reflected the lovely sailing shadows of the clouds as 
 a mirror. 
 
 Now the church-bells began to chime under this body of mist, and voices 
 from the invisible villages, mingled with the tinkle of sheep-bells, and the 
 various stir of life awakening from sleep, came stilly up the mountain, and 
 now, some of the mountain-peaks, themselves, began suddenly to be touched 
 wtth fleeces of clouds, as if smoking with incense in morning worship. De- 
 tachments begin, also, to rise from the lakes and valleys, moving from the 
 main body up into the air. The villages, chalets, and white roads, dotting 
 and threading the vast circumference of the landscape, come next into view; 
 and now, on the Lake of Zug, you may see reflected the shadows of clouds, 
 that have risen to the surface, but are, themselves, below us. 
 
 It is said you can see fourteen lakes from the place where we are standing; 
 I counted at least twelve, last evening, before the night-vail of the mist had 
 been drawn over them, but this morning, the goings-on in the heavens, have 
 been too beautiful and grand, to take time for counting them. On the side 
 of the Righi, under the eastern horizon, you behold the little Lake of Lo- 
 wertz, with the ruins of the village of Goldau, destroyed by the slide of the 
 
W SWITZERLAND. 85 
 
 Rossberg, and you trace distinctly, the path of the destroying avalanche, the 
 vast groove of bare rock, where the mountain separated, and thundered 
 down the vale. A little beyond are the beautiful parks of Schwytz, called 
 the Miters. 
 
 All this wondrous panorama is before us. Whatever side we turn, new 
 points of beauty are disclosed. As the day advances, every image, fully de- 
 fined, draws to its perfect place in the picture. A cloudless noon, with its 
 still solemnity, would make visible, for a short time, every height and depth, 
 every lake, mountain, town, streamlet, and village, that the eye could reach, 
 from this position, and then would pass again the lovely, successive transitions 
 of shade deepening into shade, and colors richlier burning, into the blaze of 
 sunset, and the soft melancholy twilight, till nothing could be seen from our 
 high position, but the stars in heaven. In a few hours, we have witnessed, 
 as on a central observatory, what the poet Young calls — 
 
 " the astonishing magnificence 
 
 of unintelligible creatiou," 
 
 from the numerous worlds that throng the firmament at midnight — 
 
 Where depth, height, breadth, 
 Are lost in their extremes, and where to count 
 The thick-sown glories in this field of fire, 
 Perhaps a seraph's computation fails," 
 
 to the beauty and sublimity of our own small world revealed, when theirs is 
 hidden, in the break of dawn, and revealed with such an array of morning 
 splendor, that not even height, and the universe of stars, can be, for the 
 moment, a more entertaining spectacle ! 
 
 And for whom hath God arranged all this ? Not for the angels alor.e, but 
 for every eye that looks to him in love, for the humblest mind and heart that 
 can look abroad and say, ** My Father made them all ! He made them, that 
 his children might love him in them, and know him by them." 
 
 From the summit of the Rhigi, one overlooks the beautiful Rossberg moun- 
 tain, a scene of a dreadful catastrophe, only a few years ago — an avalanche, 
 by which three or four lovely villages were overwhelmed in one vast burial, 
 and four hundred and fifty-seven persons perished. 
 
 The place out of which it broke, in the mountain, is a thousand feet in 
 breadth, by a hundred feet deep, and this falling mass extended bodily, for 
 three miles in length. It shot across the valley with the swiftness of a can- 
 non-ball, so that in five minutes, the villages were all crushed, as if they had 
 been egg-shells, or the mimic toys of children. And when the people looked 
 toward the luxuriant vale, where the towns had lain, smiling and secure, the 
 whole region was a mass of smoking ruins. 
 
 But this history ought not to be related in any other language than the 
 simple and powerful narrative of Dr. Zay, of the neighboring village of 
 Arth, an eye-witness of the whole spectacle : 
 
 " The summer of 1806," says he, " had been very rainy, and on the first 
 and second of September, it rained incessantlv. New crevices were observed 
 
gg SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 in the flank of the mountain, a sort of cracking noise was heard internally, 
 stones started out of the ground, detached fragments of rocks rolled down 
 the mountain. At two o'clock, in the afternoon of the second of September, a 
 large rock became loose, and in falling raised a cloud of black dust. Toward 
 the lower part of the mountain, the ground seemed pressed down from above, 
 and when a stick or a spade was driven in, it moved of itself. A man who 
 had been digging in his garden, ran away from fright, at these extraordinary 
 appearances ; soon, a fissure, larger than all the others, was observed ; in- 
 sensibly it increased, springs of water ceased all at once to flow; the pine- 
 trees of the forest, absolutely reeled ; birds flew away, screaming. A few 
 minutes before five o'clock, the symptoms of some mighty catastrophe, 
 became still stronger; the whole surface of the mountain seemed to glide down, 
 but so slowly as to afford time to the inhabitants to go away. An old man. 
 who had often predicted some such disaster, was quietly smoking his pipe, 
 when told by a young man, running by, that the mountain was in the act of 
 falling ; he arose, and looked out, but came into his house again, saying he 
 had time to fill another pipe. The young' man continuing to fly, was thrown 
 down several times, and escaped with difficulty; looking back, he saw the 
 house carried off all at once. 
 
 Another inhabitant, being alarmed, took two of his children and ran 
 away with them, calling to his wife to follow with the third ; but she went in 
 for another who still remained (Marianna, aged five); just then, Francisca 
 Ulrich, their servant, was crossing the room with this Marianna, whom she 
 held by the hand, and saw her mistress ; 'At that instant,' as Francisca after- 
 ward said, ' the house appeared to be torn from its foundation, (it was of 
 wood) and spun round and round like a teetotum; I was sometimes on my 
 head, sometimes on my feet, in total darkness, and violently separated from 
 the child.' When the motion stopped, she found herself jammed in on all 
 sides, with her head downward, much bruised, and in extreme pain. She 
 supposed she was buried alive, at a great depth ; with much difficulty, she 
 disengaged her right hand, and wiped the blood from her eyes. Presently, 
 she heard the faint moans of Marianna, and called her by her name ; the 
 child answered that she was on her back, among stones and bushes, which 
 held her fast, but that her hands were free, and that she saw the light, and 
 even something green. She asked whether people would not come to take 
 them out. Francisca answered, that it was the day of judgment, and that no 
 one was left to help them, but that they would be released by death, and be 
 happy in heaven. They prayed together. At last, Francisca's ear was 
 struck by the sound of a bell, which she knew to be that of Steinenberg ; 
 then seven o'clock struck, in another village, then she began to hope there 
 were still living beings, and endeavored to comfort the child. The poor little gir. 
 was at first clamorous for her supper, but her cries soon became fainter, and 
 at last quite died away. Francisca, still with her head downward, and sur- 
 rounded with damp earth, experienced a sense of cold in her feet, almost in- 
 supportable. After prodigious efforts she succeeded in disengaging her legs, 
 and thinks this saved her life. Many hours had passed in this situation, 
 when she again heard the voice of Marianna, who had been asleep, and now 
 
IN oWITZERLAND. £7 
 
 renewed her lamentations. In the meantime, the unfortunate father, who, 
 with much difficulty, had saved himself and two children, wandered about 
 till daylight, when he came among the ruins to look for the rest of his family. 
 He soon discovered his wife, by a foot which appeared above ground ; she 
 was dead, with a child in her arms. His cries, and the noise he made in 
 digging, were heard by Marianna, who called out. She was extricated with 
 a broken thigh, and saying that Francisca was not far off, a farther search 
 led to her release also, but in such a state that her life was despaired of; she 
 was blind for some days, and remained subject to convulsive fits of terror. 
 It appeared that the house, or themselves at least, had been carried down 
 about one thousand five hundred feet from where it stood before-. 
 
 In another place, a child, two years old, was found unhurt, lying on its 
 straw mattress upon the mud, without any vestige of the house from which 
 he had been separated. Such a mass of earth and stones rushed at once 
 into the Lake of Lowertz, although five miles distant, that one end of it was 
 filled up, and a prodigious wave passing completely over the island of Jeh- 
 wanau, seventy feet above the usual level of the water, overwhelmed the 
 opposite shore, and as it returned, swept away into the lake many houses with 
 their inhabitants. The village of Siewen, situated at the farther end, was in- 
 undated, and some houses washed away, and the flood carried live fish into 
 the village of Steinen. The chapel of Olten, built of wood, was found half 
 a league from the place it had previously occupied, and many large blocks 
 of stone completely changed their position. 
 
 The most considerable of the villages overwhelmed in the vale of Arth, 
 was Goldau, and its name is now affixed to the whole melancholy story and 
 place. I shall relate only one more incident : A party of eleven travelers, 
 from Berne, belonging to the most distinguished families there, arrived at 
 Arth, on the second of September, and set oft' on foot for the Righi, a few 
 minutes before the catastrophe. Seven of them had got about two hundred 
 yards a-head — the other four saw them entering the village of Goldau, and 
 one of the latter, Mr. R. Jenner, pointing out to the rest the summit of the 
 Rossberg, (full four miles off in a straight line) where some strange commo- 
 tion seemed taking place, which they, themselves, (the four behind) were ob- 
 serving with a telescope, and had entered into conversation on the subject, 
 with some strangers just come up ; when, all at once, a flight of stones, like 
 cannon balls, traversed the air above their heads ; a cloud of thick dust ob- 
 scured the valley; a frightful noise was heard. They fled ! As soon as the 
 obscurity was so far dissipated as to make objects discernible, they sought 
 their friends, but the village of Goldau had disappeared under a heap of 
 stones and rubbish, one hundred feet in height, and the whole valley pre- 
 sented nothing but a perfect chaos ! Of the unfortunate survivors, one lost 
 a wife, to whom he was just married, one a son, a third the two pupils under 
 his care. All researches to discover their remains, were, and have ever since 
 been, fruitless. Nothing is left of Goldau, but the bell which hung in its 
 steeple, and which was found about a mile off. With the rocks, torrents of 
 mud came down, acting as rollers ; but they took a different direction when 
 in the valley, the mud following the slope of the ground toward the Lake of 
 
88 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 Lowertz, while the rocks, preserving a straight course, glanced across the 
 valley toward the Righi. The rocks above, moving much faster than those 
 near the ground, went farther, and ascended even a great way up the Righi; 
 its base is covered with large blocks, carried to an incredible height, and by 
 which trees were mowed down as they might have been by cannon." 
 
 The people of Goldau are said to have possessed such interesting qualities 
 of person and manners, such purity and simplicity of domestic life, as well 
 corresponded with the loveliness of their native village, and its surrounding 
 scenery. How strange and awful seems, under such circumstances, the 
 transition from time into eternity! 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Vallkt of Chamouni— Swiss Peasantry — the Mer de Glace — Fate of a Danish Traveler — 
 Ico Caverns — Alpine Oasis — Excursion to the Hospice of St. Bernard— Dogs of St. Bern- 
 ard — Passage of Napoleon's Army — Benevolence of the Monks— the House of the Dead- 
 Terrors of the Splugen Pass— De Saussure's Ascent of Mont Blanc — Magnificent 
 Exhibition. 
 
 It was early one fine summer morning that Dr. J. P. Durbin and party, 
 left Geneva for the far-famed vale of Chamouni, at the base of Mont Blanc. 
 Their road followed the windings of the Arve, through a wild and pictur- 
 esque country. In a few hours, the roughness of the road compelled them 
 to change their carriage for a kind of settee, on wheels, called chars a banc. 
 The scenery became more and more wild, and on all sides arose gigantic 
 Alps, shrouded in mists, which occasionally partially dispersed, and disclosed 
 their lofty pinnacles piercing the skies. 
 
 In the valley of the Arve, a few peasants' dwellings were occasionally 
 passed. These were low stone cottages, surmounted by wooden attics, and 
 with small windows barred with iron. Under their wide projecting eaves, 
 were heaped piles of wood, and often large ovens were seen, where the bread 
 of a whole neighborhood was baked semi-weekly, as is the custom of these 
 regions. They saw women mowing in the fields, who wielded their scythes as 
 easily, and cut as broad a swarth as the most expert men. 
 
 At Chamouni, they passed the succeeding day, in gazing at the beaut} r 
 and the sublimity of the Alpine world — at the green fields of this charming 
 vale, the sombre evei'green forests, at the bases of the mountains, the pictur- 
 esque cottages and hamlets, above all which, rose, robed in eternal ice and 
 snow, the lofty summits of giant mountains. 
 
 On the 7th of July, the party made an excursion to the " Mer de Glace," 
 or sea of ice, an enormous glacier, situated far up the mountains. It is 
 twenty-five miles long, and two and a half broad, and from the side of 
 Mont Blanc, descends slopes and through ravines. 
 
 After breakfast they started on mules, proceeding along in single files, and 
 accompanied by their guide, and a boy with iron-pointed ice-pikes. When 
 half way to the glacier they turned to gaze back at the valley they had left, 
 when they saw the fields of grain dwindled to the apparent size of the 
 squares of a chess board, the dwellings to little toy houses, which the Arve 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. 89 
 
 wound between like a little silver thread. On the opposite, and northern 
 side of the valley, the mountains appeared to bound the world, for further 
 on, all was sky, save where miles and miles distant, one gigantic Alp shot far 
 up heavenward its pale blue crest. 
 
 An hour more, and they were partaking of rest and refreshment at a little 
 pavilion in the mountain, and then again, in high spirits, started off on foot, 
 with pikes in hand. But they had no idea of the difficulties before them. In 
 places, they were obliged to edge along on narrow ledges of rock, scarce two 
 inches wide, while above rose, for thousands of feet, lofty ledges of rock, and 
 below, yawned deep and awful chasms. The " Mer de Glace" was at 
 length reached ; but instead of being a sea of smooth, hard ice, it was found 
 to be mostly frozen slush. In spots it was solid ice, and in other places snow 
 had filled up the chasms in its surface. It is frequently difficult to distin- 
 guish the solid ice from the treacherous snow. Once a Danish traveler, 
 heedless of the warning of his guide, while on a glacier, slipped into a 
 chasm, and was seen no more. 
 
 The chasms descend to great depths. The heat of the earth, and running 
 water enlarges them at their bases into immense connecting caverns. On 
 me occasion Professor Hugi, entered some of these caverns by the dried up bed 
 of a rivulet, where he wandered about for hours, in places walking upright, and 
 in others compelled to crawl through narrow fissures. Everywhere a faint 
 light penetrated, and water continually dripped upon him from icicles. The 
 celebrated Saussure, sunk shafts several hundred feet in depth into a glacier 
 in a fruitless attempt to ascertain its thickness. 
 
 With four or five hours' more labor they came to a little Alpine oasis, 
 which retained its verdure amid surrounding snow and ice, at an elevation of 
 over 8,000 feet. Here the grass was green and soft, and wild flowers 
 bloomed ; these had been warmed into life by the rays of the sun, collected 
 by encircling rocks, and then reflected and concentrated upon this little spot. 
 Directly before them stood Mont Blanc, the giant of the Alps, its white, 
 snowy head shooting far up into the blue sky. Between them and the 
 mountain, and laying upon its side, was the "Mer de Glace," with its gaping 
 chasms and pyramids of blue tinted ice. " Never," says Dr. Durbin, " had 
 I such a conception of the wonderful "power of God, as when standing in the 
 midst of this Alpine world." 
 
 Having returned to Chamouni, the party, on the second morning, Left 
 for the celebrated Pass of the Great St. Bernard, elevated eight thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea. The second day, they passed through 
 Liddes, beyond which point vegetation disappeared ; deep beds of snow were 
 met with, and all around was enshrouded in wintery desolation. Continuing 
 on, they passed by a plain wooden cross, and soon after, met two of the 
 noble, and far-famed dogs of St. Bernard, who gazed at them with looks 
 full of mildness and benevolence. At three o'clock that same afternoon, the 
 summit of the pass was reached, and before them stood the object of their 
 journey, the Hospice, the most lofty human habitation in all Europe. 
 
 Through the Pass of the Great St. Bernard, the Roman legions, two thou- 
 sand years ago, used to defile while crossing the Alps, in their military 
 26 
 
90 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 expeditions against the Gothic barbarians of the North. It is noted, in om 
 times, by the famous passage of Napoleon's army of reserve, 60,000 strong, 
 when on its way to the bloody field of Marengo. Their hundred pieces of 
 artillery were placed in trees hollowed out, and each were drawn over the 
 mountain steeps, by the united strength of a hundred soldiers. 
 
 On a level spot, on the summit of the Pass, stands the Hospice, founded 
 at a very early period, for the comfort and safety of travelers, in their peril- 
 ous passages over the mountains. In 962, it was re-established by St. Ber- 
 nard, and has been continued from that day to this, a period of nearly a 
 thousand years. About a dozen monks of the Augustin order, generally 
 reside here. They bind themselves by a vow to remain fifteen years, yet so 
 severe and intense is the cold, that they seldom live much over half that 
 time. What a praiseworthy design ! What noble self-denial ! 
 
 Every morning, in winter, a monk and a servant descend the mountains 
 in every direction, to hunt for travelers, who have been overtaken, and lost 
 amid storms of snow, to carry them to the Hospice, and minister to their 
 wants. Each monk and servant, is accompanied by one of the noble dogs 
 of St. Bernard. These animals are of a tawny hue, large, and powerful, 
 and unequaled for sagacity and aftectionateness of disposition. When they 
 leave the Hospice on winter mornings, a small basketful of bread and wine, 
 is placed around the neck of each for the benefit of any lost traveler that 
 may be found. Some years since one of these dogs, in a single da}', saved 
 the lives of fifteen persons. 
 
 The unfortunate wayfarer frequently perishes, ere the aid of these benevo- 
 lent monks can reach him. The bodies of such are conveyed to the morgue. 
 or dead house, a small square stone building, where if not claimed, they re- 
 main, and -in the lapse of years, gradually fall to pieces. " It never thaws, 
 nor does corruption, or the worms of death ever invade the inmates of the 
 cold charnel house of St. Bernard. It presented a fearful spectacle," says 
 Dr. Durbin, "as we looked through the grated window; and I shall keep the 
 image of it to my dying day. The cold earth floor was strewn with bones, 
 and bodies half crumbled, which had fallen from their leaning posture by the 
 wall. Others stood there as they had stood for years, and seemed to turn 
 their ghastly gaze upon us; one especially, whose winding sheet, his only coffin, 
 was yet perfect around him. But what clings most closely and sadly, is a 
 mother and her infant. She had clasped her child to her bosom, drawn the 
 skirts of her gown around it, pressed her hands firmly about its neck, then 
 looked back over her shoulder as if for help, and died. There they stood 
 before me just as they were found. W T ith saddened hearts we turned 
 away, and retraced our steps to the convent." 
 
 Visitors are entertained free of expense at the convent ; but they generally 
 consider it their duty to contribute to its support, a little box being placed 
 for that purpose in the chapel. The traveler is greeted kindly at the door 
 by a monk, and conducted to a cheerful apartment and fire within. 
 
 The monks proved very amiable and agreeable. Having partaken of a 
 comfortable meal, and enjoyed an hour's chat by the fireside, they were con- 
 ducted to their chambers, being soon ensconsed in the clean white sheets of 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. 91 
 
 the excellent beds of the Hospice, slept finely after the fatigues- of the 
 day. " Next morning," continues Dr. Durbin, " we rose early, in time to 
 attend mass in the chapel. Within, the tones of the organ -were sounding 
 sweetly, while without, the wind was howling over the snow-clad mountains, 
 as it does on the wild December nights at home. How beautiful it was — the 
 worship of God on this dreary mountain top ! I felt its beauty, as I listened 
 to those deep organ tones, and heard the solemn chant of the priests in the 
 mass; and I honored in my heart these holy men, who devote themselves to 
 this monotonous and self-denying life, in order to do good in the spirit of 
 their master, to the bodies and the souls of men. Nor did I honor them the 
 less that they were Romanists and monks of St. Augustin ; for well I know 
 that for a thousand years, Romanists and monks of St. Augustin had done 
 the good deeds that they were doing, and that, when none else could do 
 them. A man must be blinded indeed by prejudice, or bigotry, that 
 cannot see the monuments of Catholic virtue, and the evidences of Catholic 
 piety in every country in Europe ; and worse than blind must he be, that will 
 not acknowledge and honor them when he does see them." 
 
 Where'er we roam — along the brink 
 Of Rhine, or by the sweeping Po, 
 Through Alpine vale or champaign wide, 
 What'er we look on, at oar side 
 Be charity ! to bid us think, 
 And feel, if we would know." 
 
 Beside the St. Bernard, the Simplon, and the Splugen are the most cele- 
 brated of any of the Alpine passes, on this frontier. That of the Splugen 
 seems to be shrouded in more absolute terrors than any in Switzerland. 
 
 " The passage of the French general, Macdonald, at the perilous gorge of 
 the Cardinell in the Splugen, was made in the most terrific of seasons. 
 Through this terrific chasm, at the will of Napoleon, he undertook a five 
 days' fight with the elements. It was winter and storm, but there was no 
 retreating. He advanced with his army in the face of a cannonade of ava- 
 lanches, on the brink of unfathomable abysses, where many a score of de- 
 spairing men, and struggling horses, buffeted and blinded by the wings of 
 the tempest, and wrapped in a winding sheet of ice and snow, were launched 
 off by the crashing mountain masses, and buried forever. Over this gorge, 
 the avalanches hang, balanced and brooding, so that a whisper may pre- 
 cipitate them. 
 
 In the passage of Macdonald's army through this frightful region, it is a 
 wonder that whole regiments were not buried at once. The amazement is, 
 that passing in a winter's storm, with avalanches repeatedly shooting through 
 these columns, so large a portion of the army escaped, not more than a 
 hundred men and as many horses being lost. One of the drummers of the 
 army having been shot in a snow bank from the avalanche into the frightful 
 gulf, and having struggled forth alive, but out of sight and reach of his com- 
 rades, was heard beating his drum for hours in the abyss, vainly expecting 
 rescue Poor fellow ! the roll of his martial instrument had often roused 
 
92 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 his fellow soldiers with fierce courage to the attack, but now it was his own 
 funeral march that he was beating, and it sounded like a death-summons for 
 the whole army into this frightful hades, if another avalanche should thunder 
 down. There was no reaching him, and death, with icy fingers, stilled the 
 roll of the drum, and beat out the last pulsation of hope and life in his bosom S 
 Macdonald was still struggling on to Marengo. The army suffered more 
 from fatigue and terror in the passes than in all their battles. Had they 
 perished in the gorge of the Cardinell, the victory at Marengo would, per- 
 haps, h*we been changed into a defeat, which, of itself, might have changed 
 the whole course of modern history." 
 
 The summit of Mont Blanc, the giant of the Swiss mountains, is so diffi- 
 cult of access, that it is only within the memory of some now living, that its 
 perils have been overcome. The earlier attempts, by different persons, to 
 climb to its summit, are described by De Saussure. He himself only suc- 
 ceeded in the attempt, after repeated failures. 
 
 The first mountaineers, who had advanced to a great height in the chase 
 of the chamois, entered, in 1775, into a valley of ice, closely shut in by high 
 snow banks, and having a narrow passage open at the further extremity. 
 The thinness of the air at this great height, added to the reflection of the sun 
 on the snow, and the absence of circulation of the atmosphere in the narrow 
 valley, caused so suffocating a heat, that, on observing the black color of the 
 sky — a phenomenon usual at great elevations — through the opening at the end 
 of the valley, they were seized by a panic fear, and turned back to Chamouni. 
 They imagined they had seen the entrance of some awful gulf, or of the infer- 
 nal regions. 
 
 On the eighth of June, 1786, two separate parties of guides had resolved 
 on exploring these solitudes : one man, Jacques Balmat, presented himself 
 without invitation, an' 1 followed a party against their will. The expeditions 
 did not succeed, an' 1 as a storm of snow and hail had set in, those who had 
 composed them set out on their return home. Jacques Balmat, being on un- 
 friendly terms with the others, kept aloof, and finally quitted them to search 
 for some crystals, under a rock at some distance. On attempting to rejoin 
 them, he lost their trace, and the storm having come on, resolved to spend 
 the night alone in the midst of the desert, rather than expose himself to the 
 dangers of a solitary descent, in the darkness. He waited, patiently, under 
 the rock, in spite of his suffering from the cold and hail. At sunrise, the 
 weather cleared up, and he resolved to devote the day to the exploration of 
 these vast and unknown solitudes. His perseverance was rewarded, for, by 
 dint of research, he arrived alone on the summit of Mont Blanc, by a road 
 which all succeeding travelers have followed, and which is certainly the only 
 practicable one. 
 
 Upon his return to Chamouni, Balmat made no mention of his success, buu 
 having heard that Dr. Paccard was about to make an attempt, he communi- 
 cated the secret, and offered to guide him to the summit. In consequence, he 
 and Paccard arrived there in August, 1786. De Saussure, who resided at Ge- 
 neva, was informed of this on the morrow, and set out immediately for the spot, 
 but a succession of bad weather during all the autumn prevented his ascent. 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. 93 
 
 The next year, on the first of August, De Saussure formed a caravan of 
 eighteen guides, furnished with provisions, poles, ropes, ladders, and scien- 
 tific instruments. They left Chamouni at seven o'clock in the morning, spent 
 their first night on the summit of the mountain of Cote, to which point the 
 excursion is always easy; beyond, it is nothing but ice and snow, and full of 
 danger. 
 
 The next morning, although all were eager to start, some difficulties arose 
 amongst the guides, in the arrangement and division of their loads. The fa- 
 tigue of the burden they cared not for, but they feared that the accumulated 
 weight would sink them through the snow into some hidden chasm. They 
 soon got on to the glacier of the Cote, and there became entangled in a laby- 
 rinth of peaks of ice, separated by chasms of great depth. Some of these 
 were very broad and open. In such cases, they had to descend to the bottom, 
 and again ascend the other side, by stairs, cut with a hatchet in the ice. 
 Often, on arriving at the bottom of such places, they found themselves sur- 
 rounded with almost perpendicular walls of ice, and it seemed nearly impos- 
 sible for them to escape from their icy prison. In other cases, these awful 
 chasms were concealed by mere crusts of snow, over which they were 
 obliged to pass. These intrepid guides, whose lives had been spent among 
 the fearful dangers of the mountains, so long as they walked on the ice, 
 though ever so narrow the ridges, or slanting the declivities, moved with firm 
 and steady tread ; they laughed, talked, and defied each other, in jest, but 
 when they passed over those slight roofs of snow, suspended across deep 
 chasms, the most profound silence was observed ; the three first, tied together 
 by a cord, at spaces six or eight feet apart ; the others two by two, each holding 
 by the end of a long stick, their eyes fixed on their feet, each endeavoring 
 to place lightly and exactly, his foot in the steps of the one who had gone 
 before. It was at a spot of this description, that one of them, Marie Coutel, 
 narrowly escaped being lost. He had, with two others, been sent on to re- 
 connoiter. Suddenly, the snow gave way beneath him, disclosing an awful 
 abyss, to which was seen neither bottom nor aides, and all that saved him 
 was the cord that held him dangling in the air, between his comrades ! 
 
 In places, their course lay along a narrow projecting shelf of ice, where, 
 on the one side, rose a lofty wall of mingled ice and snow, and on the other, 
 sunk an icy precipice. In such spots, a single slip of the foot on the treache- 
 rous material, would suffice to send the adventurous traveler a crushed corpse, 
 upon the granite-like ice, hundreds of feet below. De Saussure, on these 
 occasions, took a careful survey of the dangers, that he might accustom him- 
 self to them, for in advancing, it was impossible for him to place his feet 
 properly, without first looking at the precipice ; and if this awful sight was 
 taken unawares, the danger he knew was imminent, of his being paralyzed 
 by fear, and thus losing his life. He advanced over these places, holding on 
 to the center of a long, straight stick, between him and the wall, each end 
 of which, was held by a guide. 
 
 As they advanced high up the mountain, they all suffered extremely from 
 the rarity of the air. At the close of the second day, they had reached the 
 Dome du Goute, 11,970 feet above the level of the sea. Here they stopped 
 
94 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 to pass the night. They had long and serious deliberations, respecting the 
 precise place they should select to pitch the tent they had brought with 
 them. Beside the cold, they had two dangers to guard against, one from 
 above, the other from below — the avalanches, and abysses concealed by su- 
 perficial snow. The guides trembled at the thoughts of the snow, loaded 
 with the weight of nineteen men, collected in a small space, and softened by 
 the heat of their bodies, melting, and giving away all of a sudden, and swal- 
 lowing them, in the middle of the night ; and from the appearance of the 
 spot they first selected, their indications existed for this apprehension. 
 Another, some few hundred feet distant, seeming to be free from these 
 dangers, the guides commenced excavating a place to pitch their tent ; but 
 they very soon felt the rarity of the air. Those robust men had scarcely 
 thrown up five or six shovels of snow, when they found it impossible to con- 
 tinue, from the difficulty of breathing, and were obliged, continually, to 
 relieve each other. 
 
 In high mountains, covered with snow, the halt, at the close of the day, is 
 extremely painful. If you sit still you are frozen, and fatigue, joined to tho 
 thinness of the air, deprives one of the necessary strength to get warm by 
 exercise. This was the situation of the party, who were impatient to get 
 into the tent. When within it, their situation was not much bettered. The 
 confined air created nausea, and made several of them very sick, and threw 
 one of them into the most agonizing pain. This illness caused in them an 
 ardent thirst, which they could only satisfy by melting snow, in a chafing- 
 dish, a slow process for supplying so many persons. 
 
 The night was beautiful. The moon shone with a brilliancy unknown to 
 the inhabitants of the lower world, from out the middle of a sky, dark as 
 ebony. Jupiter shot forth rays of light from behind the loftiest summit of 
 Mont Blanc, and the reflected light from over this vast extent of snow, was 
 so dazzling, that only the largest stars were visible. In the night, just as they 
 began to sleep, they were aroused by the thunder of an avalanche. It was 
 late when they set out the next morning. On all sides scarce anything was to 
 be seen but snow. This was of a dazzling whiteness, and formed a singular 
 contrast with the almost black sky, always found on such high regions. 
 
 As they advanced, the increasing rarity of the air became very painful, and 
 they were obliged to stop and rest every thirty or forty paces. They had not 
 gone far, before they came to the avalanche, which had fallen the night be- 
 fore. Here they all stopped to rest their lungs and limbs, in hopes of cros- 
 sing it quickly; but in this they were deceived. The sort of weariness which 
 proceeds from this cause, is absolutely insurmountable. When at its height. 
 the most imminent peril fails to increase one's speed. ButDe Saussure infused 
 fresh courage into his guides, by repeatedly telling them that this place was 
 really the least dangerous, because all the loose snow of the heights above, 
 had already come away. 
 
 As they neared the summit, their strength visibly failed ; they could only 
 go fifteen or sixteen steps without stopping to take breath. De Saussure, 
 every now and then, felt a sort of fainting, which obliged him to sit down, 
 but as he recovered his respiration, his strength returned, and '% then secmen 
 
IN SWITZERLAND. 95 
 
 as if he could get to the top at one stretch. All the guides were similarly 
 affected, in proportion to their strength. From this cause, their progress was 
 continually slower and slower; but at eleven o'clock, they had gained the 
 summit. 
 
 "My first looks," says De Saussure, "were fixed on Chamouni, (about 
 seven miles distant, in a straight line) where I knew my wife and her two 
 sisters were, with a telescope, anxiously following all our steps. I felt pleased 
 when I saw the flag hoisted, the promised signal the moment they saw me on 
 the summit." He was easily distinguishable from his companions, as he 
 wore on this occasion, a cocked hat, trimmed with gold lace, and a dress of 
 bright scarlet. 
 
 " I could now enjoy," continues De Saussure, "without regret, the grand 
 spectacle I had under my eyes. I could hardly believe my senses, it ap- 
 peared to me like a dream, when I saw below me those majestic summits, 
 whose bases even, had been, for me, of such difficult and dangerous access. 
 I seized their relation to each other, their connection, their structure, and a 
 single glance cleared up doubts that years of labor had not been able to 
 dissolve. 
 
 During this time, my guides pitched my tent, and set out the little table on 
 which I meant to make the experiment of the boiling of water. But when it 
 was necessary for me to dispose of my instruments, and observe them, I found 
 myself every moment obliged to suspend my work, and attend only to my 
 respiration. If it is considered, that the air had little more than half of ite 
 ordinary density, it may be seen, that it was necessary to supply it by the 
 frequency of inspirations. When I was perfectly quiet, I felt only a slight 
 pain at my breast; but when my attention was fixed continuously, for some 
 moments, I was obliged to rest to recover myself again. My guides felt the 
 same sensations. They had no appetite ; and to say the truth, our provisions, 
 which were all frozen, were not in a state calculated to excite one ; neither 
 did they care for wine, or brandy; indeed, they had found that strong liquors 
 increased this disposition, without doubt, by increasing the circulation." 
 
 De Saussure, in his narrative of his ascent, fails to describe the wonderful 
 pictorial phenomena, he could not but have witnessed. Although celebrated 
 for his scientific talents, it excites our pity to discover that his mind was ut- 
 terly destitute in that appreciation of the beautiful and the sublime in nature, 
 the possession of which, even to the humblest peasant, at times, imparts such 
 exquisite delight, and the exhibitions of which, are not among the least of the 
 bounties bestowed by a kind Providence, to cheer the pilgrimage of man, 
 and to lift his thoughts above the monotony of common life. Not so with o 
 late traveler, an Englishman, eminent in literature, who accomplished the 
 ascent in the summer of 1851, and who, to the keenest appreciation of the 
 most ethereal, delicate, manifestations of beauty in natural objects, unites the 
 power of describing them, only less vivid than reality, because words are ever 
 less vivid than life. His description of sunset on Mt. Blanc, is one of the 
 most exquisite word-paintings we have ever seen, conveying to the imagina- 
 tion such transcendent views of the evanescent, changing glories of the scene, 
 that it appears like a glimpse into that mysterious unknown, where " the eye 
 
96 SCENES AND EXCURSIONS IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived," of the 
 visions of beauty, that awaiteth the coming of the faithful. We unfold it to 
 the view of the reader, and thus close our article on Switzerland. 
 
 " The sun, at length, went down behind the Aiguille du Goute, and then, 
 for two hours, a scene of such wild and wondrous beauty — of such incon- 
 ceivable unearthly splendor — burst upon me, that, spell-bound and almost 
 trembling with the emotion its magnificence called forth, — with every sense, 
 and feeling, and thought, absorbed by its brilliancy, I saw far more than the 
 realization of the most gorgeous visions that opium, or hashees, could evoke, 
 accomplished. At first, everything about us — above, around, below — the 
 sky, the mountain, and the lower peaks — appeared one uniform creation of 
 burnished gold, so brightly dazzling that the eye could scarcely bear the 
 splendor. As the twilight gradually crept over the lower world, the glow 
 became still more vivid ; and presently, as the blue mists rose in the valleys, 
 the tops of the higher mountains looked like islands rising from a filmy ocean 
 — an archipelago of gold. By degrees, this metallic luster was softened into 
 tints, — first orange, and then bright transparent crimson, along the horizon, 
 rising through the different hues with prismatic regularity, until, immediately 
 above us, the sky was a deep, pure blue, merging toward the east into glow- 
 ing violet. The snow took its color from these changes ; and every portion 
 on which the light fell, was soon tinged with pale carmine, of a shade simi- 
 lar to that which snow at times assumes, from some imperfectly explained 
 cause, at high elevations — such, indeed, as I had seen in early summer, upon 
 the Furka and Faulhorn. These beautiful hues grew brighter, as the twi- 
 light below increased in depth ; and it now came marching up the valley of 
 the glaciers, until it reached our resting-place. Higher, and higher still, it 
 drove the lovely glory of the sunlight before it, until the vast D6me de Goute, 
 and the summit, itself, stood out, ice-like, and grim, in the cold evening air, 
 although the horizon still gleamed with a belt of rosy light." 
 
A SUMMER TOUR 
 
 IN 
 
 SCOTLAND 
 
 Battle-field of Culloden. 
 
 SKETcn of Scotland — Crossing the Atlantic— Liverpool — The manufacturing districts — 
 Newcastle — Descent into a coal-mine — Berwick — Electioneering scene — English reserve- 
 Edinburgh — Ascent of Arthur's seat — Charms of the Scotch dialect — Holyrood palace — Me- 
 mentoes of Queen Mary — Highland village — Gaelic song — Loch Katrine — Lady of the Lake- 
 Lilliputian steamboat — Life in the Highlands — Loch Lomond — Highland scenery — Pleasing 
 adventure — Ascent of Ben Lomond — Social condition of the Scotch — Beautiful glens — Visit 
 to Iona and Staffa — Great Glen of Scotland — Ascent of Ben Nevis — Charming scenery — In- 
 verness — Culloden moor — Loch Leven — Mary's castle — Eoyal regalia — English aristocracy — 
 Gretna Green — Windermere. 
 
 The greatest length of Scotland is 280, and greatest breadth 146 miles; 
 its area about 25,u00 square miles, or about equal to that of South Carolina. 
 Generally speaking, it is so rugged and sterile that not more than one-third 
 of its surface is arable. It contains but a few extensive vales, its surface, 
 even where most level, being much diversified with hill and dale. Her 
 natural scenery, as described by Sir Walter Scott, is-" a wildering scene of 
 mountains, rocks, and woods," and her glens and mountains, lakes and 
 streams teem with traditions of a more romantic age, and are rendered 
 
 * Abridged from " A Summer in Scotland, by Jacob Abbott;" published by Harper & 
 I*™., 12 mo. of 331 pages. 
 
 7 97 
 
98 
 
 A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 immortal by the eloquence of his descriptions. Originally Scotland ?a! 
 covered in a great part by wood, as is expressed in its ancient name Cale- 
 donia, signifying, in Gaelic, a wooded, hilly country. Sixty years ago the 
 country had become almost entirely bare of wood, but latterly extensive 
 plantations have been formed in most districts, as a protection to the cultivated 
 lands. Husbandry, a hundred years since, was in a very backward state ; 
 now, owing to enlightened agriculture, it is the very reverse. The chief 
 grain is oats, the cultivation of which covers one-quarter of all the arable 
 land ; this hardy plant furnishes food for the great bulk of the people and of 
 all classes of community. 
 
 The Scotch are of the same origin as the Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes, 
 and are a large muscular race. The Scotch figure is not so round and soft 
 as the English ; the face in particular is long and angular, with broad cheek- 
 bones. The people are characterized by their energy, enterprise, perseve- 
 rance, and habits of thrift : caution, foresight, and reflection appear to be 
 prominent traits in them. They are noted for their love of country and for 
 their strong sense of religion ; nowhere is the Sabbath observed with more 
 decorum than in Scotland. Education is generally diffused, and it is compa- 
 ratively rare to find a native unable to read and write. Since the year 1600 
 the population of Scotland has increased from one to three millions. In the 
 north, the population is very sparse, averaging in some districts not over two 
 families to the square mile. 
 
 Scotland is noted also for her divines, novelists, and her poets. The names 
 of Knox, Chalmers, Scott, Campbell, and Burns are as familiar, wherever 
 our language is spoken, as household words. 
 
 This country was long one of the most barbarous in Europe. To the 
 ancient Romans it was unknown as a distinct country, being, with England 
 and Wales, received as one country under the general name of Albion, or Bri- 
 tain, and divided arnon^ a multitude of different tribes. Its original inhabi* 
 tants appear to have been the Picts or Caledonians, the ancestors of the Scotch 
 Highlanders. A few centuries after the commencement of the Christian era, 
 the country was successively invaded and partially conquered by the Saxons 
 and by the Scots. These two last finally occupied the southern part or the 
 lowlands of Scotland, and from them originated the race later known as the 
 Scotch Lowlanders. The original country of the Scots was Ireland, which, 
 in the fourth century, was often called Scotland. 
 
 "On the extinction of the direct line of the Scottish kings, in 1290, by the 
 death of Margaret of Norway, John Baliol and Robert Bruce, descendants 
 of David I, appeared as competitors for the crown. The pretensions of both 
 were supported by powerful parties, and, to avoid civil war, it was decided 
 to refer the matter to Edward I, king of England. Edward now claimed 
 that the kings of England were paramount in Scotland, and that the compe- 
 titors should do homage to him as such. This was consented to, and Edward, 
 finding Baliol most suitable to his views, decided in his favor. The latter, 
 however, being less subservient than was expected, was speedily set aside 
 by Edward, who attempted to seize the kingdom on the pretense of its having 
 escheated to him through the rebellion of his vassal. 
 
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 99 
 
 Tne nation, however, was not so to be transferred. The standard of re- 
 bellion was raised by Sir William Wallace, and in the sequel the famous 
 Robert Bruce, grandson of the competitor of Baliol, appeared in the field. 
 The battle of Bannockburn, in 1314, decided the contest, and gave indepen- 
 dence to Scotland by establishing the conqueror and his family on the throne. 
 The House of Stuart succeeded in 1371, the unfortunate history of which is 
 invested with more than ordinary interest. The principles of the Reformers 
 were early introduced into Scotland, and were eagerly adopted by both the 
 nobles and people. The Protestant religion obtained the ascendancy in 1 560, 
 shortly before the return of the beautiful but ill-fated Mary from France. 
 At this period the royal authority was at a very low ebb ; the most violent 
 contentions prevailed among the nobility, and it would have required a sove- 
 reign of no ordinary ability and energy of character to conduct the govern- 
 ment under such difficult circumstances. Mary failed — her anti-Protestant 
 prejudices, and the violence of her passions were ill suited to such a condition 
 of the country. Having been deposed in 1567, Mary was succeeded by her 
 son James VI, then a minor. The latter succeeded, on the demise of Eliza- 
 beth, in 1603, to the crown of England, by which event the two British 
 crowns were happily united under one sovereign. 
 
 From the accession of the Stuarts to the union of the crowns, a period of 
 about 230 years, Scotland, speaking generally, was in a most turbulent and 
 unsettled state. The feudal system had been early introduced, and the great 
 estates and influence enjoyed by several of the nobles enabled them to rival 
 the sovereign in power and importance, and sometimes to despise his orders, 
 and insult his person. In England the power of the nobles had been reduced 
 by the elevation of the commons, and thus the sovereign depended more on 
 the affections of the people for support, than on the caprice of the great 
 barons. The kings of Scotland, however, had no such support to fall back 
 upon — they depended on their vassals, who were restrained only by interest. 
 In consequence, the power of the kings was much circumscribed, and civil 
 broils were of perpetual recurrence. England, for special reasons, fomented 
 these discords, and kept the country in a continual state of ferment and 
 anarchy. 
 
 The union of the crowns in 1603, introduced a great change for the 
 better into the domestic relations of Scotland. The barons could no longer 
 look to England for countenance or support in the contest with their sove- 
 reigns, and as a consequence, the power of the latter over the masses was 
 proportionately increased. Hence, though Scotland labored under various 
 grievances, resulting principally from the unseasonable hostility of the sove- 
 reign to the Presbyterian form of church government, to which the majority 
 of the people were enthusiastically attached, the kingdom gained materially 
 in tranquillity and good order. 
 
 The union of the kingdoms, in 1707, was, as it were, the natural result 
 and completion of the union of the crowns. Though unpopular at the time, 
 and opposed by many of the best Scottish patriots, it has been of vast advan- 
 tage to Scotland as well as to the empire generally. 
 
 In the suppression of the rebellion of 1745 were extinguished the long 
 
100 A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 cherished hopes of the Jacobites, and at the same time this result was advan- 
 tageous in stimulating the government to great measures for the civilization 
 of the Highlanders, and the introduction of a more efficient judiciary. The 
 old feudal judicatories were abolished, and the empire of law and order 
 established throughout the country. The most satisfactory conditions en- 
 sued, and the public energies were happily turned into those departments cf 
 industry and enterprise in which they have achieved such astonishing pre- 
 eminence. " 
 
 It is now some years since, that the Rev. Jacob Abbott, of New York, 
 made a tour to the most prominent points of interest in Scotland. His nar- 
 rative, entitled "A Summer in Scotland," is written with that truthfulness 
 and simplicity of style for which this author is noted. 
 
 Mr. Abbott left Boston in one of the Cunard line of steamships. His nar- 
 rative commences with his departure from his native land. He describes life 
 on board of a steamship, and the every-day incidents of a voyage at sea, 
 with a clearness we have not seen elsewhere. After landing at Liverpool he 
 proceeded through the great manufacturing district — wherein lie the main 
 elements of the gigantic power and prosperity of the nation, — through York 
 to Newcastle, in the north of England, famous for its coals. He made seve- 
 ral visits to the collieries, and on one occasion sprang into a huge bucket, 
 suspended over the mouth of a coal-pit, and descended perpendicularly, by 
 the power of steam, eight hundred feet into the bowels of the earth. He 
 there wandered about for hours, a distance of several miles through various 
 alleys and lanes in that subterranean world. At one time he was under the 
 bed of the river Tyne, which flowed on in its course nearly a thousand feet 
 above, bearing upon its surface throngs of shipping. Finishing his under- 
 ground explorations, he returned to daylight in the same manner as he had 
 descended, and about dusk a few evenings later arrived at the southeastern 
 town of Scotland, Berwick-upon-Tweed, after a comfortable passage, upon a 
 railroad car, of three hours' duration, through a country of extreme verdure 
 and beauty of scenery. 
 
 The old town of Berwick, or Berrick as they pronounce it, was then in an 
 uproar of excitement, it having been on the eve of an election. Groups of 
 men, women, and children filled the streets, flags were flying from the win- 
 dows, and the whole scene was illuminated by the light of burning tar-bar- 
 rels. The candidates, as is customary on these occasions, were courting 
 popularity by throwing halfpence from the windows of the Red Lion, the 
 principal tavern of the town, to a throng of ragged boys and girls, men and 
 women in the street below ; and whenever the coin jingled upon the stones a 
 general scramble took place, amusing to behold, in which numbers would be 
 thrown upon the ground piled upon each other, some of the children entirely 
 disappearing from view under the heap of scramblers. Shouts soon after 
 went up for tar-barrels from hundreds of voices: " Give us some shillin's to 
 buy some tor-borrills." Their wants were supplied, the "tor-borrills" were 
 lighted, and, with great "noise and confusion," sent rolling zig-zag through 
 
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 the streets, causing a general scattering among the peopie whenever they 
 came near. 
 
 The remains of the old fortifications, which surround Berwick, are to a 
 certain extent covered with grass, and furnish a delightful walk ; the scene, 
 as one progresses, is continually changing. From these heights one has a 
 delightful view of the sea and its smooth beaches, while in other directions, 
 the smooth green hills, having been cultivated for centuries, please the eye 
 by a peculiar softness of verdure unknown to our country. Our traveler, 
 late on the evening of his arrival, wandered out upon the summit of the 
 mound to enjoy the quiet beauty of the scenery. He there found two other 
 gentlemen evidently travelers and on the same errand as himself. In our 
 country nothing would have been more natural than for them to have sought 
 the acquaintance of each other; but this .English etiquette forbade, and to 
 have done so would have been considered rudeness. Our people travel 
 partly for the purpose of seeing character, and to make acquaintances which 
 will facilitate their business plans, and therefore, on these occasions, wish to 
 know and be known. In England, as in all densely populated countries, 
 there is more danger from forming hasty acquaintances among strangers ; 
 beside which a large number of persons travel mainly for the sake of rest 
 and retirement from the busy scenes of pleasure in which they have been 
 merged, and therefore wish to avoid forming new associations. Again, the 
 distinction of classes, which in the course of centuries has interwoven itself 
 into the very constitution of English society, forbids an easy familiarity 
 among those wholly ignorant of each other's claims to notice. 
 
 From Berwick our traveler proceeded to Edinburgh, by the great northern 
 railway, which, running through a beautiful, fertile country along the verge 
 of the lofty cliffs, here bounding the German Ocean, furnishes a magni- 
 ficent sea-view. 
 
 Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a town of about the population of 
 Cincinnati. It consists of two parts, the Old and the New Town. The latter 
 lies on level ground, on the north, and is a handsome, modern-built city ; the 
 former is separated from it by a deep valley running east and west, and lies 
 south of the other on a long and lofty ridge, and bears an ancient, venerable 
 aspect. Prince's street, the Broadway of Edinburgh, is in the New town on 
 the edge of the dividing valley, and is noted for the magnificence of its build- 
 ings. Between the Old and New towns, and between the various sections of 
 the New town itself, as well as in the centers of the principal squares, gardens 
 are laid out in the modern landscape style, forming delightful places of recre- 
 ation. It is chiefly owing to the unequal ground upon which Edinburgh ia 
 situated, the massive elegance and regularity of its buildings, the intermix- 
 ture of ornamental pleasure-ground, and the picturesque hills immediately 
 adjacent, whence distant and extensive prospects are commanded, that thia 
 city makes so great an impression upon strangers. 
 
 The hills, in the environs, afford very extended and varied views. The 
 most famous of these are Calton Hill, the Salisbury Crag, and Arthur's Seat, 
 the towering summit of a vast collection of precipices, glens and peaks. To 
 American eyes these hills, valleys, and slopes are so very smooth and green 
 
102 A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 as to be very striking, because with us wild land of this kind is covered with 
 forests, and stony, whereas here man has been in possession for many centu- 
 ries and the steep slopes have become worn to almost the smoothness of a 
 lawn. 
 
 In company with a lady, who had scaled some of the loftiest mountains 
 of Switzerland and Italy, our traveler, one evening about sunset, attempted 
 the ascent. After rising several hundred feet by a narrow zig-zag path, they 
 turned to look back, when the depth below them struck them with awe. 
 Every moment they were apprehensive of sliding, in which event there was 
 nothing to prevent them from descending clear to the bottom of the vailey. 
 Far above extended the same slippery steep, crowned by a line of frowning 
 cliffs. For a moment they were doubtful how to proceed, but at length, with 
 great caution, they picked out their course, and soon after were at the sum- 
 mit: In the meantime the hill was dotted with other parties following c a 
 after them, carefully picking out their way, and the air was filled with th 
 strains of martial music, that came from a Scottish bagpipe across the wides 
 glen, in tones sweet and softened by distance. 
 
 Amid the green slopes of the hill was an abundance of wild flowers, anc 
 every crag was adorned by the "bluebells of Scotland." Blooming among 
 the rest was a tiny, delicate daisy, which at the time escaped the particulai 
 notice of Mr. Abbott; it being, like true worth, modest and unobtrusive. 
 But the genius of Burns, which hallowed everything it touched and drew 
 inspiration from the humblest objects of nature, found a congenial task in 
 portraying its charms, and in drawing therefrom a simple, touching moral. 
 To appreciate the beauty of the lines, they should be read aloud, deliberately, 
 and with emphasis. 
 
 TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY. 
 
 Wee, modest, crimson tipped flower, There in thy scanty mantle clad, 
 
 Thou'st met me in an evil hour, Thy snawy bosom sunward spread, 
 
 For I maun crush amang the stoure* Thou lifts thy unassuming head 
 
 Thy slender stem : In humble guise ; 
 
 To spare thee now is past my pow'r, But now the share uptears thy bed, 
 
 My bonnie gem. And low thou lies. 
 
 Cauld blew the bitter-biting north Such is the fate of artless maid, 
 
 Upon thy early, humble birth; Sweet flow'ret of the rural shade! 
 
 Yet cheerfully thou glinted* forth By love's simplicity betrayed, 
 
 Amid the storm, And guileless trust ; 
 
 Scarce reared above thy parent earth Till she, like thee, all soil'd is laid 
 
 Thy tender form. Low i' the dust. 
 
 The flaunting flow'rs our gardens yield, Such is the fate of simple bard, 
 
 High sheltering woods and wa's maun shield. On life's rough ocean luckless starred ! 
 
 But thou, beneath the random bieldj Unskillful he to note the card|| 
 
 0' clod or stane, Of prudent lore. 
 
 Adorns the histie§ stibble-jield, The billows -iw and gales blow hard, 
 
 Unseen, alane. And whelm him o'er. 
 
 * Stoure, dust in motion. f Glinted, peeped. % Bield, shelter. \ Hisue, dry 
 
 fl Card referring to the compass card, on which thr points of the compass are marked to guide *he helm* 
 
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 103 
 
 Such fate of suffering worth is giv'n, Even thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate. 
 
 Who long with wants and woes has striv'n, That fate is thine — no distant date ; 
 
 By human pride or cunning driv'n Stern ruin's plowshare drives, elate, 
 
 To mis'ry"s brink; Full on thy bloom, 
 
 Till wrenched of every stay but Heav'n, Till, crushed beneath the furrow's weight, 
 
 He, ruin'd, sink! Shall be thy doom. 
 
 Seating themselves upon the summit, Mr. A. and companion were soon ap- 
 proached by a young lad, who very respectfully addressed them, and said, 
 pointing to the plain beneath : "Wad the ladie like to see Jeanie Dean's cottage, 
 which is described in Walter Scott's novel of the Heart of Mid Lothian ? Yon is 
 it — the double cottage, by the road-side, with the tiled roof." " Yon village," 
 soon continued he, " is Libberton, where Reuben Butler lived, who was en- 
 gaged to be married to Jeanie." Then, after pointing out other localities of 
 similar interest, he added: "Those hills, to the south, are the Pentland Hills, 
 and that high land, further east, is the Lammermuir, the scene of Sir Walter 
 Scott's novel, the Bride of Lammermuir." This, and much other informa- 
 tion, was conveyed to them by the young man in a pleasant Scotch tone, but 
 in good English words. His subject in accosting them, " Wad the ladie like 
 to see Jeanie Dean's cottage?" instead of pointing out the magnificent 
 castles, palaces, and abbeys, and other like objects in view, was a strong evi- 
 dence of the absorbing interest which it is rightly supposed has been excited 
 in every traveler in objects immortalized by the genius of Scott. Aside from 
 this, the language of the guide was attractive to our travelers. u There is," 
 says Mr. Abbott, "a charm about the Scotch dialect to one, who, after having 
 been from childhood accustomed to it in reading and hearing read the writ- 
 ings of Burns and Scott, now for the first time listens to it in real life, which 
 makes you glad to stop and talk with any one who uses it, whether what they 
 say is of any importance or not." 
 
 The most interesting spot about Edinburgh is the bedroom of Mary, Queen 
 of Scots, in the palace of Holyrood. It is full of relics, sad mementoes of 
 one whose whole life was a melancholy history, and over whose dark fate, 
 even after the lapse of three centuries, the tear of sympathy is wont to fall. 
 The room has an extremely antique expression, its old-fashioned furniture, 
 ancient-looking pictures, time-worn and faded, all look fragile, as if about to 
 fall to dust by the ravages of age. Everything remains just as Mary left it. 
 In this and the adjoining apartment, the visitor is shown a chair embroidered 
 by Mary herself, the queen's work-table, and upon it her work-box, lined 
 with silk now decayed and torn, and containing her pincushion and the other 
 articles for which it was appropriated ; beside these it holds a beautiful 
 miniature of Mary at the period when she was married to Lord Darnley. 
 There is also a picture of Mary on the walls, representing her in her execu- 
 tion robes, as she was led out to be beheaded by order of Queen Elizabeth, 
 after an imprisonment of eighteen years. In a little cabinet adjoining is a 
 portrait of poor Rizzio, who was stabbed in Mary's arms, as he, in vain, 
 rushed to her for protection from his ruthless murderers. He was an affec- 
 tionate and gentle boy, and the extreme beauty and innocence of his face is 
 such that every one, who sees his portrait, involuntarily acquits him of crime 
 
104 A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Rizzio lies buried under the pavement of the palace. The room, in which 
 he was assassinated, has not been occupied from that day to this. 
 
 After visiting, with melancholy interest, the ruins of the palace at Linlith- 
 gow, some twenty miles west of Edinburgh, where Mary was born, our trave- 
 ler set out upon a tour to the extended mountainous region in western 
 Scotland, known as the Western Highlands, and celebrated for its wild and 
 picturesque scenery, its lofty mountains, and its romantic lakes. Among the 
 latter are Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine, which are but four or five miles 
 apart, being separated by a wild and rugged glen. 
 
 Proceeding leisurely from Edinburgh up the broad and beautiful valley of 
 the Forth, through a region of luxuriant fertility and adorned with cottages, 
 parks, gardens, plantations, and villas, he arrived at the town and castle of 
 Stirling, which stands on a rocky hill, island-like, in the midst of a scene of 
 beauty and fertility. From thence he continued on toward the mountains, 
 which gradually loomed larger and grew nearer, until, when the last rays of 
 the sun had departed from their summits, he was in their very midst ; riding 
 into a long street of a mountain village, he dismounted, and entered the village 
 inn. The street was bounded by thatched and tile-covered cottages, before the 
 doors of which the cottagers were out with their wives and children enjoying 
 the evening air, now that the labors of the long summer-day were ended. . 
 
 Having engaged quarters for the night, our traveler sallied out to see a 
 neighboring waterfall among the mountains. Taking a little boy as a guide, 
 he had proceeded but a short distance, when he met two young girls return- 
 ing from some pastures above. He bade them good evening, when they 
 returned his salutation in good English, and then added some words in an 
 unknown language. Learning, by inquiry from his guide, that it was the 
 Gaelic, the ancient language of Scotland, the little fellow, at his desire, asked 
 them to " Sing the gentleman a Gaelic song." " Yes," rejoined Mr. Abbott, 
 "let us hear it; sing away." At once they commenced in full and clear 
 voices, and sang, in perfect time, a simple but spirited and expressive song. 
 While singing, with childlike modesty, they half-way turned their heads; 
 but when their song was ended they again looked up with grateful and happy 
 faces. Mr. Abbott remunerated them for their music and invited them .to 
 accompany him to the waterfall. 
 
 The next morning, in company with numerous other tourists, he set out in 
 an open car and proceeded up a pretty glen, and finally entered a narrow and 
 romantic mountain gorge, named the Trosachs ; he stopped at the farther end 
 of the gorge at the Trosachs' inn, beautifully situated on the shores of Loch 
 Katrine. This lake is made classic by the poem of the Lady of the Lake. 
 Here the traveler is pointed out the watch-tower of Rhoderic Dnu, a rocky hill 
 towering several hundred feet above the water, and a lovely island called 
 "Ellen's Isle." Two lofty peaks, in the mountain range which hems in the 
 lake, Ben- Venue and Ben- An, mark its commencement. Both are enormous 
 masses covered densely with heather and ferns, which, when seen in the 
 slanting rays of an evening or morning sun, have an inexpressibly rich and 
 velvety appearance. 
 
 The next day Mr. Abbott left the inn and embarked upon the tiny steamej 
 
A SUMMER IK SCOTLAND. 105 
 
 thai plys upon the lake. It was the smallest sample of a steamboat that ever 
 met his eye ; it was open, long, and narrow, with seats around its sides, 
 which were protected from the weather, like a tent, with canvas above. 
 The engine was of Lilliputian dimensions, but worked well, and carried them 
 along rapidly until it stopped ; when the party landed and proceeded to cross the 
 glen which separates Loch Katrine from Loch Lomond. Part proceeded on 
 foot, with their knapsacks buckled on their backs, while others got into dros- 
 kies, a sort of gig much used in the Highlands. Our traveler was surprised 
 to see, not only here but in all the Highland valleys which he subsequently 
 visited, that the country appeared almost completely devoid of inhabitants. 
 Some of these valleys are of great extent, and for miles and miles, as far as 
 the eye can reach, the view is ever open and unobstructed. The bounding 
 hills and slopes are naked and totally devoid of trees, there being instead a 
 6oft carpet of grass and heather, with, here and there, small herds of sheep 
 and cattle, while in the bottom of each glen lies an excellent but narrow road, 
 upon which a team, or a farmer's wagon going to market, is never seen. 
 Occasionally one passes a solitary hut, the residence of some shepherd and 
 family, with, perhaps, a vegetable patch or two around it. Now and then, 
 he comes to a cluster of cottages and an inn, which, if he enters, he will be 
 astonished to find amply provided with everything to minister to his comfort. 
 These are all the signs of habitations that appear, except occasionally a 
 plain sort of hunting boxes, the temporary residence of sportsmen who come 
 up here in the summer season, to spend a few days on their estates in shoot- 
 ing grouse. In truth, the whole of the Highlands are now but the abodes 
 of scattered shepherds and herdsmen, and of those who provide for the wants 
 of tourists and sportsmen, who wander thither for health and pleasure amid 
 their enchanting scenery. 
 
 There are but few remains of the ancient Highland manners, which are so 
 well depicted by the historians and romance writers of Scotland. By the 
 policy of the English government, laws were passed after the unfortunate 
 battle of Culloden, by which the wealth and the power of the chieftains were 
 destroyed and the clans broken up, and now neither exist save in history and 
 in song. Even the dress is rarely worn, except by some few individuals, on 
 rare occasions, as a matter of curiosity. 
 
 Mr. Abbott went over to Loch Lomond in a drosky. His first view was 
 from a high mountain-pass, when far below, suddenly burst upon his sight 
 this beautiful sheet of water at the bottom of a long, deep, and narrow val- 
 ley. Clouds and mists were rolling along the sides of the mountains, and 
 the effect occasioned by them upon the lake and its dark and deep valley, 
 was gloomy and sublime. 
 
 After a short sojourn at an ancient stone cottage, on the borders of Loch 
 Lomond, called Rowerdennan Inn, the little steamer w T hich plies on the lake, 
 was seen gliding into view from around a projecting headland, and, on its 
 arrival, the company embarked. The impression one obtains of the loch 
 from on board of the steamboat, " is simply that of a long and narrow sheet 
 of water, bordered by lofty mountains, which rise abruptly from the water's 
 ed^e and are endlessly varied in contour, but all clothed to their summits 
 
106 A SUMMER m SCOTLAND. 
 
 with a rich, soft, and velvet-like covering of deep green and brown. The 
 whole scene, though inexpressibly beautiful and grand, seems at first an 
 absolute solitude. The few faint traces of the presence of man along the 
 shores have to be sought out with scrutiny and with care." 
 
 Mr. Abbott remained several days enjoying the charming scenery of the 
 loch. He narrates some little adventures of his at this time, which give one 
 a pleasant insight into the every-day life of the Highland cottiers. While 
 taking a stroll late one afternoon, he overtook a peasant girl, neatly dressed, 
 in the path just before him. Just then she was in the act of stooping down, 
 and appeared to be doing something about her feet. Thinking she had hurt 
 her foot, he put the inquiry. She replied very artlessly: "There is na' 
 ony thing the matter, I was only takin' aff my shoon and stockin's because 
 they hurt my feet." The road, "a little further alang was very rough," and 
 she could "better gang barefoot." He entered into conversation with 
 her, and to his numerous inquiries, respecting her ways of living, she 
 answered with a modest frankness and simplicity that was very gratify- 
 ing. Soon they came to a broad, though shallow stream, and he uttered an 
 exclamation as to how he should cross it. "Na," said she, "ye canna get 
 acrass here ; but stay, and I'll pit a stane for ye." Saying which, she waded 
 into the water and put stones in line for him to pass over. At length, at the 
 top of a slight declivity, they reached an old Highland cottage, built of 
 stone, and with a thatch-covered roof. At the door was a neatly attired, 
 intelligent, and fine-looking woman, with two or three children playing 
 around her, one of which was a beautiful little girl of seven, her hair 
 arranged with motherly pride, hanging in ringlets. Here, he bade the moun- 
 tain maiden good-bye, and stopped to talk awhile with the good woman, on 
 the broad flat stone before her door. By her invitation, he walked in to 
 rest. The room was small, and as he bent down to enter, out bounded a 
 pet lamb, a dog, and a kitten. Rough, flat stones formed the floor. The 
 house was without a chimney, and in the back part of the room, a fire was 
 built against a large flat stone, the smoke from which, ascended through a 
 hole in the roof. Only a few small, dry sticks were burning, fire-wood being 
 very difficult to obtain. He entered freely into conversation with her, and 
 told her how people of her class lived in his country. He described 
 the log-houses of our farmers ; their immense fire-places, and their great 
 heaps of firewood before their doors for winter's use, and said, that in many 
 parts, the forests were so much in the way, that they destroyed them, adding, 
 that he supposed that here they were not allowed to cut the trees. " Na, 
 na," she replied, "<we darena coot a tree. We should be driven oot o' the 
 Ian' entirely, an' be t fined foreby." 
 
 The next day, in company with a young lowlander and a guide, our tra- 
 veler ascended thelofty mountain of Ben Lomond. The mountains of Scot- 
 land are peculiar, being entirely bare of trees or any other obstructions ; yet, 
 are just as beautiful, as if covered with verdant forests. " A soft, rich 
 cushion of green and brown, covers the whole, beautifully variegated with 
 the different shades of verdure which grass and heather, in their various 
 combinations, assume, and shy the change of light and shade produced by tbv 
 
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND 107 
 
 undulating surface, and by the movement of the clouds." From the summit 
 of Ben Lomond, a glorious view was had over nearly a third of Scotland. At 
 their feet lay beautiful lakes, deeply embosomed in the mountains : the lofty 
 peaks of Ben-Venue and Ben- An, and numerous others seemed to pierce the 
 very heavens. In the distance, was seen Stirling Castle, and beyond, 
 Arthur's Seat, at Edinburgh. 
 
 Our traveler, after a few days' wanderings among these scenes, mounted 
 a coach, ascended a narrow road through a gap in the mountains, and took a 
 final leave of Loch Lomond. He passed rapidly through gien after glen, and 
 by lake after lake, and arms of the sea, shut in among the smooth, heather - 
 covered mountains, green to their summits, the whole combining to produce 
 an impression of surpassing grandeur, and of perfect solitude. Yet, deserted 
 as these glens appeared, they are inhabited by three distinct classes of in- 
 habitants. First, are the noblemen, who here hold immense estates, of miles 
 and miles in extent, and beautiful country-seats in which they reside but a 
 few weeks in the summer, spending the greater part of the year amid the 
 festivities of London. . Second, follow the attorney, the clergyman, and the 
 " tacksman," whose business it is to lease a part of the lands for grazing. 
 This second class perform no manual labor, possess the dress, manners, and 
 cultivation of gentlemen, but look up with profound veneration to the noble 
 proprietor, and in turn, down upon the third class, the " cottiers," the labor- 
 ers, and the shepherds, as the mere " common herd." Unlike our culti- 
 vators of the soil, these are entirely free from care, having nothing more to 
 do than to pay their rents, and simply to work on as their fathers did before 
 them. They have no hope nor chance of rising, and stand in neither fear nor 
 danger of falling. They are, of course, very humble and very poor, but con- 
 tented with their position, and have by habit, so long been accustomed to have 
 somebody above them to look up to, that they seem to experience from it a 
 feeling of protection and safety. How different is this from the position of 
 the American, who is ever striving to rise in the social scale, and who will 
 bear every evil and endure every suffering, sooner than the feeling of depen- 
 dence ? 
 
 After passing through the beautiful glens above described, Mr. Abbott 
 reached the little town of Oban, built mainly of cheerful-looking white cot- 
 tages, standing under some lofty cliffs, on a small but picturesque bay on the 
 Atlantic coast. Beyond, far out at sea, the Scottish highlands rise from the 
 blue waters, in the form of numerous small islands, some of which are of 
 exquisite beauty. The largest are inhabited, containing towns and villages ; 
 on the smaller, roam flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. Some are used as 
 hunting-grounds by the proprietors, who, at certain seasons, visit them to 
 shoot grouse, which breed in great numbers amid the heather. Mr. Abbott 
 overheard an English gentleman say to a companion, that the population of 
 a large island they were then sailing past, did not increase ; that a large 
 number were obliged to emigrate not long before, M because the duke com- 
 pelled them." "He does not want," continued he, "the population to in 
 crease. He wants to keep it a quiet, still place, for his shooting ?" 
 
 Two of these islands, Iona and Staffa, are objects of great interest te 
 
108 A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 tourists. The first, is the spot from whence Christianity first originated in 
 Scotland. St. Columba, about the middle of the sixth century, founded here a 
 monastery and a nunnery. The Culdees or followers of Columba, rendered 
 great services to the whole north, supplying teachers for the seminaries of 
 England, and sending missionaries to Norway, and even Russia. They 
 taught the principles of primitive Christianity, rejecting alike, the vows of 
 celibacy and the ceremonies of the Romish Church. Iona at length became 
 Roman Catholic, and nourished until the Reformation, when its monks were 
 dispersed, and its edifices demolished. Upon it are the ruins of a cathedral, 
 a church, and a nunnery : adjacent to the first, is a graveyard, where repose 
 the remains of no less than forty-eight ancient Scottish kings, eight of Nor- 
 way, four of Ireland, and one of France. Staffa, five miles north, is a small 
 but lofty islet, and is composed of, and stands on, a multitude of basaltic col- 
 umns, which project out of the ocean. Its chief attraction is Fingal's Cave, 
 a vast cavern, whose sides are formed of the columns, through which, the 
 sea dashes in and out with a tremendous roar. Taking a small steamer at 
 Oban, our traveler devoted one day to a visit to the curiosities of both of 
 these islands, returning in the evening. 
 
 From Oban, he proceeded in a steamer up northward, through an arm 
 of the sea called Loch Linhee, and landed at a small village on its eastern 
 shore, for the purpose of making the ascent of Ben Nevis, the highest moun- 
 tain in Scotland. Various mountain peaks were visible, lifting their green 
 heads up all around ; but Ben Nevis, the monarch of them all, was shut out 
 from view among soft, wool-like clouds. The next day, in company with 
 a guide, he effected the ascent after four hours of toilsome labor. The lower 
 part is a broad expanse of pasturage, on which subsist large flocks of sheep ; 
 the upper, is a mass of stones and debris, and beyond the limit of vegetation. 
 At its summit, the sun was shining brightly, while the summer clouds 
 beneath shut out all view of the lower world. But our traveler found conso- 
 lation in the reflection of being elevated so far above the surrounding coun- 
 try. With the pleasant sensation which resting confers, after severe physi- 
 cal effort, he sat down beside a cairn — a tall monument of stones, raised to 
 commemorate some event — breathed in the balmy air, and mused upon the 
 awful solitude, desolation, and grave-like quiet that rested upon all things. 
 
 The spot where Mr. Abbott landed, is in a vast fissure, called the Great 
 Glen of Scotland : it begins with Loch Linhee at Oban, on the Atlantic 
 shore, and running in a northeast direction, clear across the heart of the 
 country for about a hundred miles, terminates at the German ocean, leaving 
 on the north, about one-third of Scotland. It varies in width, from one to 
 three miles. About seventy miles of this valley are occupied by long and 
 narrow strips of water or lochs, of variable size. Through this opening has 
 been constructed the Caledonian canal, the labor of building which, was 
 comparatively slight, from the natural navigation furnished so much of the 
 way by the lochs. The passage of the canal, which is effected by steamers, 
 is pleasant from the variety of the scenery ; the wild and mountainous char- 
 acter of the country ; the rude villages and the ancient castles and modem 
 forts. Starting in a small steamer from the Atlantic side, our traveler fount' 
 
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 109 
 
 an ah of solitude resting upon the scene. The canal was seen before them, 
 winding its way along a narrow, but cultivated and verdant valley, while on 
 either side, ran long ranges of mountains, with here and there scattered cot- 
 tages along their green slopes. Not any villages nor busy landings were in 
 view, the canal appearing to be principally devoted to transporting a few 
 tourists along the chain of lochs. As they advanced, the rich green of the 
 heather disappeared, and projecting ledges gave the slopes a stern and deso- 
 late aspect; occasionally, however, some broad, lateral, fertile glen opened to 
 view, disclosing fields of waving grain, and sometimes the country houses or 
 hunting-boxes of the gentry, peering forth from a mass of shrubbery. At 
 one place, they passed within a few rods of two gentlemen reclining upon a 
 grassy lawn, in front of one of these residences, and gazing at their boat as it 
 glided by. Our traveler was at the moment conversing with the captain, 
 
 who told him that Lord owned that estate. " He has recently bought 
 
 it for thirty-five thousand pounds. That is he, with the white hat, lying upon 
 the grass." The place was beautiful, but the region round about, desolate 
 and lonely. "What portion of the year, does the owner spend here?" 
 inquired Mr. A. " Oh," rejoined the captain, "only two or three weeks in 
 the shooting season. He only bought it for his amusement, and keeps it just 
 for game. He has very large estates in England." 
 
 At the end of Loch Ness, the mountains give place to a broad and fertile 
 country, of surpassing rural loveliness. It was harvest-time, and the reapers 
 were at work in immense bands, there being in one spot, a line of fifty or 
 more, principally women, who, as they advanced together, carried the whole 
 field with them. Immense stacks of hay and oats were being constructed in 
 various spots, as large and as regular in shape as a barn. Amid this scen- 
 ery, stands the charming town of Inverness, with its handsome villas and 
 gardens ; and just east of it, on the margin of Moray Frith, is the fatal field 
 of Culloden Moor, where, in 1745, perished the cause of Charles Stuart and 
 the power of the Highland chieftains was broken forever. Every schoolboy 
 recollects the pathetic lines of Campbell, where the wizard, on meeting the 
 gallant Lochiel, forewarns him of this event — of the defeat of the Highland- 
 ers, and the flight of their king : 
 
 " Lochiel, Lochiel ! beware of the day, 
 When the Lowlands shall meet thee, in battle array; 
 For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight, 
 And the clans of Cnlloden are scattered in fight. 
 ***** 
 
 'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, 
 
 And coming events cast their shadows before. 
 
 I tell thee, Culloden's dread echoes shall ring, 
 
 "With the bloodhounds that bark for thy fugitive king. 
 
 Lo ! anointed by heaven with the vials of wrath, 
 
 Behold, where he flies on his desolate path ! 
 
 Now, in darkness and billows, be sweeps from my sight: 
 
 Rise, rise! ye wild tempests, and cover his flight! 
 
 'Tis finished ! their thunders are hushed on the moors: 
 
 Culloden is lost, and my country deplores." 
 
 From Inverness our traveler again turned southward, toward Edinburgh. 
 
HO A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 passing through the old town of Perth, which is some forty-five miles north 
 of the capital, the intervening country being highly cultivated, and present- 
 ing in its broad fields, plantations of trees, parks, lawns, villages, and farm- 
 houses, a strong contrast to the Highlands, and the rude homes of their in- 
 habitants. Near midway, stands Loch Leven, a wide lake, some fifteen 
 miles around, imbosoming in its center, a small, low island, where in the 
 midst of a grove of evergreens, stand the ruins of an old castle, its walls 
 grown over with moss and creepers, in which Queen Mary was imprisoned. 
 Mr. Abbott having engaged some boatmen, was rowed to the spot, and gives 
 a lengthy and interesting description. The castle was very small, and Mary 
 was shut up in a little tower overhanging the water. After a confinement 
 of several months, she escaped in a boat, through the aid of George Doug- 
 lass, a young man, and brother of the keeper, who became interested in the 
 beautiful and unhappy prisoner. While our traveler was gazing upon the 
 scene, his guide narrated the events of her escape and subsequent history, in 
 language that Scott would have been eager to have embodied in a tale, and 
 ended with saying, that after " she got awa', she brocht a few o' her freends 
 thegither, but could na' mak' head against her enemies ; an' sae she fled to 
 England, in hopes she could fin' somebody to tak' pairt wi' her there : but 
 she was joost taken up by Queen Eleezbeth, wha was her ain cuisin, an' shut 
 up in prison for many years, an' then beheaded. She was very hardly used 
 puir leddy ; but she held firm to her principles through it a'." 
 
 In ancient times, castles were first erected and formed points around which 
 towns by degrees grew up. Such was the case with the old castle of Edin- 
 burgh, which yet stands on a lofty eminence in the Old town, and is noted in 
 history. The regalia, consisting of the crown, the scepter, and the sword of 
 state, with other royal emblems of the ancient monarchy of Scotland, are ye* 
 preserved within its walls. After the crowns of England and Scotland be- 
 came united, in the person of Charles I, that monarch ordered the regalia to 
 be taken to London. This, the Scotch would not agree to ; though they ac- 
 knowledged that he was lawfully their king, but claimed that Scotland was 
 a distinct monarchy from England, and that he must come to Scone, the an- 
 cient place of the coronation of the Scottish kings, to be crowned. 
 
 After the execution of Charles, Cromwell made war upon the Scotch roy- 
 alists, and endeavored to get possession of the regalia. These being of im- 
 mense pecuniary value, apart from other considerations, were sent to Dun- 
 nottar castle, a strong position on the sea-coast, south of Aberdeen, for 
 safety. This castle became invested by a strong military force, and as it was 
 evident that it could not stand a long siege, the royal emblems were in im- 
 minent danger of soon falling into the hands of the English. They were, 
 however, saved by a stratagem of a lady — a Mrs. Granger, the wife of a 
 clergyman, in an adjoining parish. Having obtained permission of the En- 
 glish general to visit the lady of the Governor, she took with her two maids, 
 who on their return, carried out the sword and scepter, secreted in some 
 bundles of flax, which they said, they were going to spin for the governor's 
 *ady. The crown, Mrs. Granger secreted about her person, and that same 
 night, her husband buried them under the pavement-stone in front of his 
 
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. HI 
 
 pulpit. A few weeks after, when the castle surrendered, the English general 
 finding the regalia — the great object of his efforts — missing, treated the gover- 
 nor and his lady with great cruelty, to force them to confess where they were 
 deposited. The latter died some time after, in consequence, it was said, of 
 injuries received in the vain attempt to extort the secret from her. 
 
 On the restoration of the monarchy in England, the regalia were placed in 
 possession of the Scottish parliament, and all those who had been connected 
 in their preservation rewarded. At the consummation of the union of the 
 kingdoms of Scotland and England, at the beginning of the last century, the 
 Scottish people were much excited, and many deeply opposed to the measure ; 
 therefore, to allay the excitement, the royal emblems were locked up out 
 of view, in an enormous oaken, iron-bound chest, and placed in a strong, 
 prison-like room in Edinburgh Castle. The apartment then remained un- 
 opened for ninety years, and the chest itself for a quarter of a century longer. 
 At length, generations having passed away and the public mind being at rest 
 upon the subject of the union, orders were given, about the year 1817, to open 
 the chest, and bring to light these royal emblems, upon which no eye had 
 rested for more than a century. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott was appointed among the commissioners for this purpose. 
 There was intense interest and excitement in the crowds which surrounded 
 the castle during the opening of the chest. Numerous stories were afloat, 
 and many declared that the emblems would not be found — that they had 
 been stolen away to England. Of course, no one could prove to the contrarv. 
 The room was entered, the chest broken open, and the treasures found safe. 
 As evidence of success, a flag was raised upon the castle, whereupon the 
 multitude filled the air with oft-repeated huzzas. There the regalia still re- 
 main, and from that day to this, they have been visited by an almost uninter- 
 rupted succession of strangers. Beside the regalia, there are several other 
 of the royal jewels and badges deposited beside them. They all lie upon 
 velvet cloths and cushions, beneath an iron grating : the rich gold and bril- 
 liant gems, in the dim light of the place, sparkle with a most imposing effect. 
 
 Early one morning, before the sun had risen, our traveler mounted a 
 stage-coach in Glasgow, being on the point of his departure from the roman- 
 tic and picturesque land of the Scots. Standing about in the streets, were 
 numerous groups of countrymen and women, each furnished with sickles, and 
 waiting to be hired for the day, to reap in the neighboring fields, by farmers 
 or their agents, who were walking among them for this purpose. In Great 
 Britain, the word farmer, describes a different sort of person from what it does 
 in our country. He is there a kind of semi-gentleman, a point midway 
 between the proprietor and the laborer. He hires from the former, the right 
 simply to crop the land ; another — generally the proprietor himself — has 
 " the shooting," and not unfrequently somebody else still, " the fishing." 
 
 Neither is the proprietor, in our sense, the owner of the soil. He only has 
 the use of the estate dt ring lifetime ; he can neither sell nor give it away on 
 decease ; its use falls to his eldest son, by the law of entail, who is the solo 
 representative of his family, and so on in rotation, generation after genera- 
 tion. The rest of the brothers and sisters are left to be provided for other- 
 
;Q2 A SUMMER IjS SCOTLAND. 
 
 wise ; usually they are obliged to shift for themselves. As the sons grow up ; 
 some are sent into the army, some into the navy, others embrace professions, 
 and all are obliged to work for their living, that the. '^family " name and for- 
 tune may be aggrandized in the person of the eldest son. The Englishman is 
 proud in having a long line of ancestors, and is desirous for its continuance 
 through all future generations. Abominable and unjust as the law of entail 
 seems to us, yet it is probable that if it were abolished, English gentlemen would 
 generally make wills to endeavor to effect the same purpose. As our traveler 
 was leaving Glasgow in the mail coach, a fellow-passenger conversing with him 
 upon these subjects, was told by him, that in America, the testator could 
 leave his property to any person he chose. " Indeed !" replied the English- 
 man, " I thought your laws required its being divided equally.'' " Not at 
 all," rejoined the other ; " our laws divide it equally, in the absence of any 
 testamentar7 directions ; but the proprietor may convey it by his will, as he 
 pleases." " Then, why does he not give it all to his oldest son ?" " Because 
 he loves the others just as much as he does him." " But does he not want 
 to found a family ?" continued the Englishman, in accents of surprise. 
 
 On the Scottish border, the coach reached a neat little village, the famous 
 Gretna Green, and the coachman pointed to a handsome white house, seen 
 through intervening shrubbery, where runaway couples are united. 
 
 At Carlisle, a few miles farther on, the company changed to the cars, and 
 went on at railroad speed. Soon after, our traveler took a branch line which 
 led into the famous lake and mountain region of Cumberland, in the north- 
 western part of England, and noted the world over for its romantic scenery. 
 It was Saturday afternoon, and he felt desirous to go to some quiet place, 
 where lie could pass the approaching Sabbath ; and where would he find one 
 more appropriate than Windermere ? the home of the poet Wordsworth, and 
 a spot of surpassing rural loveliness -and beauty. 
 
 The sun went down ere he reached the place, and the mountains and val- 
 leys were assuming the dark, somber hue of night, when he was set down at 
 the castle-like inn on the borders of the romantic lake, Windermere. He 
 ordered his evening meal, and while it was preparing, " began to mount a 
 hill behind the house, which seemed to be a sort of stepping-stone to the 
 mountains beyond." " I walked," says he, " along a little path, through 
 recently reaped fields, with a high wall on one side, which shut me out from 
 some gentleman's park or pleasure grounds. Groups of trees were scattered 
 here and there, and old walls and hedges, over and through which, I made 
 my way slowly, in the dimness of twilight. I seated myself on the rocks on 
 the summit, and looked far and wide, over the valleys which were spread out 
 before me. Lights began to glimmer here and there, from the quiet English 
 homes, with which these valleys wese filled. The lake resumed its reflec- 
 tions of the evening sky in its sheltered parts, and was ruffled by the evening 
 breeze in others. The scene was impressive and almost solemn. But it soon 
 became too cool for me to remain, notwithstanding the protection of the 
 Highland plaid, which almost every tourist has around him, in coming out 
 of Scotland. I reflected that it was September, and that 1 was in England 
 Wy Summer in Scotland, was ended and gone." 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PACIFIC OCEAN 
 
 LANDING ON THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 .introductory observations — Departure — Polar Current— Madeira — Cape De Yerd Islancr* — 
 Rio Janeiro — Cruise in the Southern Polar Region — Loss of the Sea Gull — Valparaiso — 
 Callao— the Paumotu Group — Origiu of the Coral Islands — Society Islands — Navigator'a 
 Group — Council with the Natives — Curious Customs — Humanity to the Females — 
 Sidney — Second Cruise in the Antarctic Seas — Discovery of the Antarctic Continent — 
 Perils— Return to Sidney — Navigators in the South Polar Seas — Briscoe and Ballcny — Dis- 
 coveries of D'Urvillo and Sir James Ross — Facts respecting the Antarctic Continent. 
 
 To enlarge the boundaries of geographical knowledge, thus opening new 
 
 avenues for commercial enterprise, and for the introduction of the arts and 
 
 refinements of civilization among uncultivated and barbarous tribes, and so 
 
 increasing the amount of human happiness, is among the most noble objects 
 
 8 113 
 
114 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 which can demand the attention of a great nation. Since the discovery of 
 the mariner's compass, the principal commercial nations of the world, actua- 
 ted by various motives, have sent forth innumerable expeditions upon the 
 broad expanse of waters that encircle the globe, to advance the cause of 
 science, or to discover new lands, thus making the acquaintance of stranger- 
 races, and bringing to light and to use, the many previously unknown, and 
 peculiar productions of far distant climes, which minister to the welfare, or to 
 the luxury of man. 
 
 Our own country — but the creation of yesterday — until recently, was too 
 much absorbtd in laying the foundations of her youthful institutions on a 
 sound basis, for coming generations, to turn her gaze outward, to objects not 
 intimately connected with this grand end. But the time had come, when the 
 rank to which she had grown among commercial nations, required that she 
 should take her place in the wide field of maritime discovery. 
 
 Accordingly, her first and pioneer expedition was organized in the year 
 1838, under the command of Lieut. Chas. Wilkes, of the U. S. Navy. On 
 the 18th of August, of that year, the vessels composing the squadron, sailed 
 from Hampton Roads, Virginia. They were three in number, and consisted 
 of the sloops of war Vincennes, and Peacock, and the store-ship Relief; to 
 these were subsequently added two tenders — the Sea Gull, and the Flying- 
 Fish. 
 
 At that period, England, France, Spain, and Portugal, fitted out expedi- 
 tions for the same destination, — the island world of the Pacific. This vast 
 ocean — stretching its blue waters, nearly one quarter the distance round the 
 globe, on the one extreme laving the shores of the New World, and on the 
 other, dashing its surf upon the older continent of Asia — is studded with 
 myriads of islands, in places, as thickly as the canopy of Heaven is studded 
 with stars. Many of these are of exquisite beauty, rising in living green 
 from out the blue of ocean. The most gorgeous luxuriance of vegetation is 
 always present; flowering trees and shrubs, of every color, are ever in bloom ; 
 luscious fruits the whole year round, hang tempting, in bounteous profusion, 
 requiring no other care than the putting forth of the hand that stretches to 
 pluck them ; animals of graceful forms, bound through the forests ; birds of 
 rare plumage, and of melodious notes, flit from bough to bough ; sweet land- 
 scapes, where hill and valley, land and water, soltly melt and blend, delight 
 the eye ; and finally, an atmosphere, so delicious, and so bland, that every 
 breath is a luxury, seems to render their fascinations complete. Unhappily, 
 as in other of the most favored parts of our world, these blessings are be- 
 stowed upon unworthy objects. Many of these islands swarm with the lowest 
 and the vilest of our race, — with treacherous savages, sunk to the most 
 degraded forms of idolatry — with ravenous cannibals, ever eager to murder 
 the weak and defenseless, that they may glut their ghoul-like appetites. 
 
 The islands of the Pacific, until very recently, were but imperfectly known- 
 The increasing demands of commerce required that some of the more promi- 
 nent should be examined, their position and forms accurately determined, 
 and the best harbors discovered and surveyed. Treaties of amity with the 
 natives were necessary for the protection of the mercantile marine. Aside 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 115 
 
 from these duties, the American expedition were to make surveys on certain 
 points of the South American coast, on the coasts of Oregon, and of Cali- 
 fornia, to make explorations in the antarctic seas, and finally, among the 
 larger islands near the south-eastern coast of Asia. A full corps of scientific 
 gentlemen accompanied the expedition, with all the necessary apparatus for 
 observing the weather, and astronomical and atmospherical phenomena. 
 Among these was a philologist, to study the structure of the various lan- 
 guages of the people among whom they might be thrown, and thus learn the 
 history of their origin, by the similarity of their words to those of other na- 
 tions — three naturalists ; a mineralogist ; an instrument maker, to repair the 
 instruments ; a taxidermist, to prepare and preserve specimens of animals ; 
 and, finally, two draughtsmen, to make pictures for future use, of painted 
 01 tattooed savages, tropical or antarctic landscapes, storm-driven or ice- 
 bound vessels, curious beasts, birds, or fishes, insects, snakes, vegetables, and 
 shells, for science is so omniverous in its tastes, that it deems nothing too 
 humble to study, which the Almighty deems not too humble to create. 
 
 Soon after the expedition had left the Capes of Virginia, the influence of 
 the cold polar current began to be felt. This current flows parallel to the 
 coast, from Davis's Straits, in the Arctic Seas, to Cape Hatteras, along the 
 inner edge of the Gulf Stream. As they entered this stream, the thermom- 
 eter rose in a short time from 77° to 83°, but again fell to a temperature of 
 about 80°, showing that the stream is warmer on its inner edi^e. The 
 later examinations of Lieut. Bache shows that this current of warm water, 
 480 fathoms deep, divides itself into two channels, separated by a portion of 
 cold water: the change is as sudden as if the two were separated by a wall. 
 
 On the 25th of August, they steered for Madeira. The weather continued 
 pleasant, and flying-fish, and shoals of beautiful dolphins were numerous. 
 An enormous cotton-wood tree, covered with barnacles, was descried, which 
 had probably grown on the banks of the Mississippi, several thousand miles 
 distant. 
 
 Early in October, the Azores were passed, and the rocky cliffs of Madeira 
 rose in view. This mountain island, to an unsurpassed climate, unites the 
 productions of the torrid and temperate zones. Terraces, supported by walls, 
 gird its lofty cliffs. On the lowest of these grow lemons, oranges, citrons; 
 next, figs, pomegranates, and bananas ; still higher, currants, apples, peaches, 
 plums, tomatoes ; and above all, the potatoe. 
 
 The Cape de Verd islands were next reached, and from thence they de- 
 parted for Rio Janeiro, where they arrived in the last week of November. 
 
 On the 6th of January, 1838, the squadron departed from Rio Janeiro. 
 Five weeks after, the snow-clad peaks, and barren rocks of Terra del Fuego 
 loomed up above the horizon, and in a month more, having doubled the 
 stormy Cape Horn, they were at anchor in Orange Harbor. This, one of the 
 best harbors on the Fuegan coast, was entered by Capt. Cook, to obtain wood 
 and water for his antarctic cruise. 
 
 In the latter part of February, all except the Relief, departed for a cruise 
 of discovery in the southern polar regions. Their progress became impeded 
 bj ice, and wintery storms, and the Peacock was saved, only with great diffi- 
 
116 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 culty. Splendid exhibitions of the Aurora Australis, illuminated these dreary 
 Reas, and in all their glory, were seen that beautiful constellation, the southern 
 cross, the zodiacal light, and the magellanic clouds, — those three clusters of 
 congregated stars, discovered by Magellan, whose light is faded by their ira 
 mense distance, to a vapor-like hue. 
 
 In May, the squadron, which had been separated, rendezvoused at Valpa- 
 raiso, except the Sea Gull, which encountered a storm in the latter part of 
 April, and nothing more was ever known of her or of her hapless crew. 
 From thence, they sailed to Calloa, remained there a month, and then, bid- 
 ding adieu to the light skies and fertile soil of Peru, turned their course west- 
 ward, for the beautiful islands imbosomed in the Pacific. 
 
 On the 13th of August, the green coast of Clermont de Tennere, or Mi- 
 nerva Island rose out of the ocean before them, and as they landed the 
 natives fled in terror. This belongs to the Paumotu group, or cloud of 
 islands, sixty-five in number, and formed of coral. Ten days after, they were 
 at the Disappointment islands. The natives seemed friendly, but concealed 
 their females, fearing they would be carried off by their strange visitois. In 
 this vicinitj'-, at King's island, they found abundance of spring water, and 
 cocoanuts, but no inhabitants ; traces of the visits of pearl fishermen were 
 seen. The day after the 30th, they came up with Raraka island, one of the 
 largest Of the Paumotu group, and were received kindly by the natives, who 
 had been, in a measure, civilized by missionaries. 
 
 Several of these islands were surveyed, by stationing the vessels at inter- 
 vals around them, and measuring base lines, by means of guns fired at each 
 station, in quick succession. It is a rough mode, and only an approximation 
 to accuracy. Light passes from the sun to the earth in eight seconds, and 
 for any distance on the earth is almost instantaneous ; sound, however, travels 
 slowly, 1090 feet, or about one-fifth of a mile per second. By noting the 
 lapse of time between the flash and report of their guns, the distances of the 
 vessels apart were given. Then by each vessel taking observations with a 
 compass, of the same objects upon the shore, they were placed in possession 
 of all the elements necessary for calculating its general outline. 
 
 The geology of the Paumotu group has been the subject of much inquiry. 
 Captain Wilkes, after various experiments of interest, advances the opinion 
 that the Coral Islands of the Pacific, are fragments of a vast continent, the 
 less solid parts of which, in the course of ages, have been worn away by the 
 action of the waters. The whole population of these islands is about ten 
 thousand, some of whom are, or were, recently, cannibals, and live in loath- 
 some wretchedness. On the more western islands, are many native mission- 
 aries, and the people there are comfortable and prosperous. 
 
 After making pretty full examinations of this cluster, the squadron by the 
 middle of September, were at anchor in Matavia Bay, on the island of Tahiti or 
 Otaheite as it was formerly called. This, the principal of the Society islands, has 
 been called "the brightest gem of the Pacific." Far distant it is descried by 
 the mariner from its lofty mountains, which rise up from a beautiful country, 
 luxuriant in the richest productions of the tropics to a height of seven aud 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 117 
 
 nine thousand feet. While they remained, they were treated in the most 
 hospitable manner by the civil authorities, missionaries, and natives. 
 
 Directly after the arrival of the squadron, a few weeks later, at the Samoan 
 or Navigators' Group, all the islands were divided among the vessels, to be 
 surveyed, and an observatory to be established on Tutuila. Afono or council 
 was soon held by the chiefs of the group, at the request of Captain Wilkes, 
 in which resolutions for the protection of American whalers were passed ; 
 but as the Samoans are crafty and treacherous, little dependence was to be 
 placed upon them. During their stay a council of chiefs tried a native for 
 the murder of an American the year previous. Finding him guilty, they 
 were preparing to hang him, when the officers interfered, and had his punish- 
 ment commuted to perpetual banishment, and when they departed took him 
 to Wallis's island. 
 
 The Samoan Group were discovered in 1768, by Count de Bouganville, a 
 celebrated French navigator. The climate is fine, the vegetation most luxu- 
 riant, and the scenery enchanting. The land sloping up gradually from the 
 shores, is often diversified by hill and valley, lagoon and streamlet, while 
 among the green foliage of the palms and cocoa nuts, peep out the mission- 
 ary's cottage, and the simple dwellings of the natives clustered around the 
 rustic chapel, above all which smiles a sky of cloudless beauty. Wide coral 
 reefs, gigantic monuments of the industry of their tiny builders, surround these 
 islands, and as it were, inclose them from the wild waves of mid ocean. 
 
 The natives have generally fine figures, frank pleasing countenances, and 
 are remarkably neat. They possess much musical talent, and pleasant voices, 
 and evince poetical taste in their beautiful legends. A marked difference 
 exists between those under missionary influence and others, called " devils' 
 Kien," their behavior being more courteous and in accordance with civilized 
 customs ; yet they retain many of their original habits, one of which is in 
 saluting a visitor by rubbing their noses on the back of his hand. 
 
 The condition of woman is much better than in most of the South Sea 
 Islands, and in the Christian villages, they are employed in light household 
 duties, weaving mats, etc. The people pass much time in reading and study, 
 of which they seem to be very fond. In each village is a council house for 
 public meetings. Missionary efforts, first commenced in this group about 
 thirty years since, have much benefited the people, one-third of whom are 
 now professing Christians. Beside the missionaries, are 150 native teachers, 
 and over 12,000 pupils in the schools. 
 
 Leaving these islands in November, the squadron again steered westward, 
 and in nineteen days made the light house of Port Jackson Bay, on the coast 
 of New Holland, or Australia, as it is now called. The same night they ran 
 up the harbor of Sidney, the capital of New South Wales ; in the morning 
 the garrison and townspeople were greatly surprised at seeing the American 
 flag wave over a squadron, which had entered their harbor so silently and 
 unexpectedly. 
 
 The American squadron remained at Sidney about a month, to prepare for 
 a cruise in the Antarctic ocean. Unfortunately the vessels were not suitable 
 
118 
 
 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 for the dangerous service before them, not having been built with sufficient 
 strength to make their way through the immense fields of ice of the southern 
 Polar regions. 
 
 Toward the last of December they turned their course toward that dark, 
 unknown land, the subject of so much speculation and anxious inquiry. The 
 existence of a vast southern continent, had been for many years conjectured 
 by navigators and geographers; but the icy walls which closed in those distant 
 regions, seemed to forbid all hope of ever penetrating their mysteries, 
 
 On the 16th of January (1840), twenty-one days after leaving Sidney, in 
 dications of land were distinctly observed. For several successive days, 
 attempts were continually made to land, until the officers and crews, worn 
 down by cold and excitement, found it impossible, and the vast masses of ice 
 and the huge icebergs gathering around, seemed to threaten their destruction. 
 They persevered until the Peacock became in such a shattered and almost 
 Binking condition, that she was obliged to return to Sidney. The Vincennes 
 and Porpoise, proceeded westward, and on the 30th, discovered Piner's Bay, 
 and the name of Antarctic was first given to the newly found land. A fort- 
 night later, was seen the greatest portion of coast visible at any one time, 
 being computed to be about seventy -nine miles in length, and elevated, at one 
 point, three thousand feet. A huge barrier of ice prevented all further in- 
 vestigations. In consequence the vessels turned northward, the Porpoia* 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 119 
 
 reaching the Bay of Islands on the 26th of March, and the Vincennes at 
 Sidney on the 10th of the same month, where she joined the Peacock. 
 
 Great controversy exists, as to whom the honor of first discovering the 
 Antarctic continent belongs. The distinguished English navigators, Briscoe 
 and Balleny, each assert their claim, the former in 1831, and the lattei, in 
 1839 ; but their examination was merely cursory. Another claimant to the 
 original discovery, was Dumont D' Urville, highly esteemed, while living, for 
 his great scientific acquirements, and his important discoveries. This cele- 
 brated navigator, in 1837, left France, with two corvettes " IS Astrolabe and la 
 Zelee, on an exploring cruise in the Antarctic Seas. He visited the Southern 
 Pacific, and having discovered Louis Philippe Land, shaped his course to- 
 ward the South Pole. On the 19th of January, he discovered land, on the 
 142d meridian. Various ineffectual attempts were made to reach the shore, 
 though some of the officers succeeded in making a small inlet near the coast, 
 and of obtaining specimens of the granite rock, of which it is composed. 
 The land which they succeeded in tracing, for the distance of one hundred 
 and twenty miles, and to which the French commander gave the name of 
 Terre Adelie, seemed to be covered with perpetual snow, and was entirely 
 destitute of vegetation. He then sailed toward the east, passing along for 
 about sixty miles, a solid wall of ice, one hundred and fifty feet in height. 
 After ascertaining that this wall, supposed to be the crest, or covering of a solid 
 body of land extending to the southward, he found himself obliged, by the 
 shattered state of his vessels, and the worn out condition of his crew, to 
 return northward. The scientific discoveries, of the French and American 
 expeditions, were very similar, but the merit of the original discovery of the 
 unexplored land, below New Holland, is generally conceded to Captain 
 Wilkes. This hazardous voyage of the French commander, proved to be his 
 last. He was burned to death in one of the cars on the railroad, between 
 Paris and Versailles, on the 8th of May, 1842. 
 
 The most important, and most varied information, in regard to this sup- 
 posed Antarctic continent, was afforded by the researches of Captain Sir 
 James Clark Ross, of the British navy, the discoverer of the northern mag- 
 netic pole. His object during his voyages, made between the years 1840, and 
 1843, were the improvement of the science of Magnetism, and the discovery 
 of the true position of the southern magnetic pole. The term magnetic pole, 
 signifies the spot where the needle of the compass points straight downward, 
 and there is, in the polar circle of each hemisphere, such a locality. 
 
 Provided with two vessels, the Erebus and Terror, he sailed from England, 
 and in August, 1840, arrived at Hobart-Town, in Van Diemen's Land. 
 These differed from the French and American vessels, in being strongly built, 
 and in every way rendered suitable for along polar cruise. So staunch were 
 they, that he forced them through a thick belt of ice two hundred miles 
 across, a feat which would have caused the inevitable destruction of the 
 American squadron. Learning that the American and French squadrons had 
 failed to get beyond 67° south latitude, in the quarter he had selected for his 
 own researches, he determined to turn his attention to some other point. He 
 left Hobart-Town in November, 1840, and in six weeks entered the Antarctic 
 
120 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 regions, still farther to the east, where he found himself amid vast masses 
 of ice. 
 
 On the 11th of January, 1840, land, with lofty mountains, was seen ahead: 
 one of these, ten thousand feet high, was named Mount Sabine. " It was," 
 observes Ross, "a beautifully clear evening, and we had a most enchanting 
 view of the two magnificent ranges of mountains, whose lofty peaks, perfectly 
 covered with eternal snow, rose to elevations varying from seven to ten thou- 
 sand feet above the level of the ocean. The glaciers that filled their inter- 
 vening valleys, and which descended from near the mountain summits, pro- 
 jected in many places several miles into the sea, and terminated in lofty 
 perpendicular cliffs. In a few places the rocks broke through their icy 
 covering, by which alone we could be assured that land formed the nucleus 
 of this, to appearance, enormous iceberg." 
 
 " On the 12th, advantage was taken of fine weather to effect a landing : 
 when about three miles from the shore, a boat put off from each ship with 
 the captains and several of the officers. ' We found,' says Sir J. Ross, ' the 
 shores of the mainland completely covered with ice projecting into the sea, 
 and the heavy surf along its edge forbade any attempt to land upon it ; a 
 strong tide carried us rapidly along between this ice-bound coast and the islands 
 among heavy masses of ice, so that our situation was for some time most cri- 
 tical ; for all the exertions our people could use were insufficient to stem the 
 tide. But taking advantage of a narrow opening that appeared in the ice, 
 the boats were pushed through it, and we got into an eddy under the lee of 
 the largest of the islands, and landed on a beach of large loose stones and 
 stranded masses of ice. The weather had now put on a most threatening 
 appearance, the breeze was freshening fast, and the anxious circumstances 
 under which we were placed, together with the recall flag flying at the ship's 
 mast-head, which I had ordered Lieutenant Bird to hoist if necessary, com- 
 pelled us to hasten our operations. 
 
 * The ceremony of taking possession of these newly-discovered lands in 
 the name of our most gracious sovereign Queen Victoria was immediatelv 
 proceeded with ; and on planting the flag of our country amidst the hearty 
 cheers of our party, we drank to the health, long life and happiness of her 
 Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert. The island was named Pos- 
 session Island. It is situated in latitude 71° 56' and longitude 171° 7' east, 
 composed entirely of igneous rocks, and only accessible on its western side. 
 We saw not the smallest appearance of vegetation, but inconceivable myriads 
 of penguins completely and densely covered the whole surface of the island, 
 along the ledges of the precipices, and even to the summits of the hills, 
 attacking us vigorously as we waded through their ranks, and pecking at us 
 with their sharp beaks, disputing possession. : which, together with their loud 
 coarse notes, and the insupportable stench from the deep bed of guano, whnh 
 had been forming for ages, and which may at some period be valuable to the 
 agriculturists of our Australian colonies, made us glad to get away again, after 
 
 having loaded our boats with geological specimens and penguins After 
 
 a long and heavy pull, we regained our ships only so short a time before so 
 thick a fog came on, with a strong northerly breeze, that to have been 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 121 
 
 a few minutes later would have rendered our return to the ships 
 impossible.' 
 
 A heavy gale came on, but in the rolling sea which it produced, indications 
 were gained of a large space of open water to the windward, in the direction 
 most desired by the explorers. While beating about, to prevent losing 
 ground, other portions of land were seen ; and on the 17th, when the weather 
 cleared, mountain ranges were discovered at a distance of one hundred miles, 
 so great is the refractive power of the atmosphere in icy regions. On the 
 21st, the dip was 87° 39', denoting a considerable approach toward the 
 magnetic pole, a dip at 90° being straight downward. Some vexation w as 
 felt that the barrier of land ice stood in the way of a direct course to the 
 interesting spot ; the alternative was, to beat up and seek a westerly route. 
 On one occasion, while thus engaged, f it was,' to quote the narrative, the 
 most beautiful night we had seen in these latitudes, the sky perfectly clear 
 and serene. At midnight, when the sun was skimming along the southern 
 horizon, at an altitude of about two degrees, the sky overhead was remarked to 
 be of a most intense indigo blue, becoming paler in proportion to the distance 
 from the zenith. The 22d was a notable day : the ships were in latitude 
 74° 20', higher than had ever been reached by any former navigator, an 
 event which naturally called forth much rejoicing. The dip had increased 
 to 88° 10' on the 25th, leaving the presumption that the pole was not more 
 than two hundred miles distant. Two days later, formal possession was 
 again taken of an island, to which the name of Franklin Island was given, in 
 latitude 76° 8' south, longitude 168° 12' east. It is about twelve miles long 
 and six broad, devoid of all appearance of vegetation ; even the hardy mosses 
 and lichens were absent, from which, and other instances, Sir J. Ross consi- 
 ders, ■ that the vegetable kingdom has no representative in antarctic lands. 
 It is the very sublimity of barrenness ; and who, on reading the description 
 will not recall the lines — 
 
 ' But here — above, around, below, 
 On mountain or in glen, 
 
 Nor tree, nor shrub, nor plant, nor flower, 
 
 Nor aught of vegetative power, 
 The weary eye may ken; 
 
 For all is rocks at random thrown, 
 
 Black waves, bare crags, and banks of stone, 
 As if were here denied 
 
 The summer sun, the spring's sweet dew, 
 
 That clothe with many a varied hue 
 The bleakest mountain side. 
 
 Early on the 28th, the vessels stood toward the high land seen th* *» /• 
 before : ' It proved to be a mountain twelve thousand four hundred fe*t ox 
 elevation above the level of the sea, emitting flame and smoke in great- pro- 
 fusion ; at first the smoke appeared like snow-drift, but as we drew nearer, it* 
 true character became manifest. 
 
 1 The discovery of an active volcano in so high a southern latitude cannot 
 but be esteemed a circumstance of high geological importance and interest, 
 and contribute to throw some further light on the physical construotion* o£ 
 
122 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 our globe, I named it Mount Erebus ; and an extinct voleano to the cast- 
 ward, little inferior in height, being by measurement ten thousand nine hun- 
 dred feet high, was named Mount Terror.' 
 
 Later in the same day the latitude was found to be 76° 6', and the vessels 
 were to the southward of the magnetic pole, the approach to which was im- 
 peded by land ice. Standing in for the land under all sail, I we perceived a 
 low white line extending from its eastern extreme point as far as the eye 
 could discern to the eastward. It presented an extraordinary appearance, 
 gradually increasing in height as we got nearer to it, and proving at length to 
 be a perpendicular cliff of ice, between one hundred and fifty and two hun- 
 dred feet above the level of the sea, perfectly flat and level at the top, and 
 without any fissure or promontories on its even seaward face.' Far in the 
 rear a range of mountains was seen, which were named the Parry Mountains, 
 in honor of the eminent arctic explorer. They are the most southerly land as 
 yet known on the globe. The sight of this barrier was a great disappointment 
 to all on board, for they had anticipated being able to push their researches 
 far beyond the 80th degree ; but, as Sir J. Ross observes, they ' might with 
 equal chance of success, try to sail through the cliffs of Dover as penetrate 
 such a mass.' They coasted along this icy wall to the eastward ; and on the 
 2d February had increased the latitude to 78° 4', the highest point ever 
 reachtd ; on the 9th they stood closer in, to a bay where the cliff being low, 
 enabled them to look down upon it from the mast-head. *■ It appeared to be 
 quite smooth, and conveyed to the mind the idea of an immense plain of 
 frosted silver : gigantic icicles depended from every projecting point of its per- 
 pendicular face.' Although in a season answering to the month of August 
 in England, the temperature was not higher than 12 degrees, and did not rise 
 above 14 degrees at noon ; and so much young ice was formed during the 
 nights as to threaten a sudden stoppage to the exploration, which, however, 
 was continued until the 13th, in hopes of coming to the end of the icy barrier, or 
 to find some passage through it to the southward. But these expectations 
 were not to be realized. After sailing along the frozen cliff for four hundred 
 and fifty miles, the vessels bore up to the westward, to make another attempt 
 to reach the magnetic pole before the season finally closed. Unlike the bergs 
 of the northern regions, which are dismembered by the action of the sea, this 
 extraordinary barrier, of probably more than one thousand feet in thickness, 
 crushes the undulations of the waves, and disregards their violence : it is a 
 mighty and wonderful object, far beyond anything we could have thought or 
 conceived.' 
 
 By the 17th it became apparent that the endeavor was useless : a secure 
 harbor was then sought for, in which the vessels might winter, and from 
 which parties could be sent overland in the spring to visit the burning moun- 
 tain, whose frequent eruptions afforded a magnificent spectacle, and to disco- 
 ver the great center of magnetic attraction. But after a hard struggle to 
 reach an island through sixteen miles of intervening land ice, this attempt 
 was also abandoned, not without much regret on the part of the commander, 
 who had indulged the hope of planting the British flag on the southern mag- 
 netic pole as he formerly had on the northern, Still there was much satisfac* 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION". 123 
 
 tion in knowing that they had penetrated farther toward the south than any 
 other explorers, however adventurous, and that they had traced the coast of 
 a great unknown continent from the 70th to the 79th degree of latitude. 
 They were then in latitude 76° 12' south, longitude 164° east, the dip 
 88° 40' and ' were therefore only one hundred and sixty miles from the 
 (magnetic) pole.' 
 
 On the 25th, as Ross relates, ' we had a good view of the coast. The 
 whole of the land being perfectly free from cloud or haze, the lofty range 
 of mountains appeared projected upon the clear sky beyond them beautifully 
 defined ; and although of a spotless white, without the smallest patch of ex- 
 posed rock throughout its whole extent to relieve it, yet the irregularities of 
 the surface, the numerous conical protuberances and inferior eminences, and 
 the deeply-marked valleys occasioned many varieties of light and shade, that 
 destroyed the monotonous glare of a perfectly white surface, but to which it 
 is so very difficult to give expression either by the pencil or description. It 
 was a most interesting scene to us, as it was truly the best view we had of the 
 northern shore and mountains of Victoria Land, and of which the western 
 extremity was by no means the least remarkable feature.' 
 
 The nights were lengthening ; stars became visible ; everything betokened 
 the rapid approach of winter. Ross, however, determined on ascertaining 
 whether any connection existed between the new found continent and the 
 Balleny Isles, and bore up for this purpose. On the evening of the 28th the 
 party had their last sight of Victoria Land and the first of the aurora australis, 
 which differs from the northern lights ' in the greater length of the vertical 
 beams, and the frequency and suddenness of its appearances and disappear- 
 ances — more like flashes of light : it was again also perfectly colorless, had 
 considerable lateral flitting motion, and formed an irregular arch about thirty 
 degrees high, whose center bore west.' 
 
 On the 2d March land was seen which had the appearance of two islands ; 
 if not part of the group discovered by Balleny in 1839, it was considered 
 they might eventually prove to be mountains. On the 4th March the ships 
 recrossed the antarctic circle, having been to the southward of it for sixty- 
 three days, and on the 7th were for several hours in a position of extreme 
 danger ; it fell calm, and under the dead set of the waves the ships were 
 slowly drifted down to a range of huge icebergs, against which the sea broke 
 with appalling violence. Every eye was transfixed with the tremendous 
 spectacle, and destruction appeared inevitable : thus were they driven for 
 eight hours until within half a mile of the bergs, when a gentle air 
 stirred, the heavy ships yielded slowly to its influence ; it freshened to a 
 breeze, and before dark, to the heartfelt thankfulness of all, they were far out 
 of danger. On the 6th April they anchored once more at Hobart Town, after 
 an absence of five months." 
 
 In the winter of 1841-42, Captain Ross made another voyage southward 
 For a thousand miles, he pushed his way through an iceberg, in which his 
 vessels became entangled, and while the land was traced ten degrees farther 
 to the east, the winter again set in. The third, and last attempt made to 
 reach the South Pole, was made in 1842-43, but was attended with still less 
 
124 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 success, and at last the persevering and adventurous navigator was obliged 
 to relinquish his long cherished designs of discovery in those impenetrable 
 regions, his officers and men, being nearly exhausted. 
 
 The observations he made, were subsequently completed, and the existence 
 of the Antarctic continent, discovered by Captain Wilkes, confirmed by Lieu- 
 tenant Moore, who proceeded from Cape Town, on a scientific expedition in 
 the barque Pagoda ; hired for that purpose by the British government. He 
 was unable, however, to penetrate far, in consequenoe of the ice he 
 encountered. 
 
 The result of these various expeditions, nevertheless, are of much im- 
 portance. The Antarctic continent is found, from well authenticated evidence, 
 to be of a volcanic character, and several geological theories have been 
 established, and various facts connected with the animal and vegetable k\n<r- 
 dom discovered. Here the Aurora Australis is seen, exhibiting the most 
 beautiful varieties of color, and a brilliancy that renders the smallest print 
 distinctly legible. Bright pink flashes dart upward to the zenith and stream- 
 ers of exquisite beauty float along the sky. 
 
 All traces of vegetation disappeared, on penetrating into those regions of 
 ice and snow. The cabbage is the only plant that flourishes, with even 
 tolerable vigor, as high as 50° south latitude, and beyond this only lichens, 
 and the lowest order of plants are found. Seals, whales, sea-lions, and sea- 
 elephants, abound, and one remarkable fish called a "killer," which attacks 
 the largest whales, catches them by the throat, and worries them to death, 
 but as whalers say, eats no part of them but the tongue. It is about twenty 
 feet long, of a brownish color, and possesses immense strength. 
 
 The interesting physical facts and results brought to light by these 
 voyages, have added materially to the resources of science and philosophy. 
 " Among the more noteworthy is the discovery that the ocean which envelops 
 our globe is divided into three thermal basins (basins of warm water) — two 
 polar, one equatorial. The bottom is occupied by a fluid layer more or less 
 deep, of one uniform temperature, 39-5. On the equator, and in the inter- 
 tropical regions where the warmth of the sun penetrates sensibly, the tem- 
 perature of 39-5 is not reached at a less depth than 1200 fathoms below the 
 surface; on the parallel of 45° it is found at half this depth, and at 56° 14' it is 
 the same above and below. Thus, in the last-mentioned latitude a circular 
 zone exists of constant and uniform temperature. Sir J. Ross crossed it six 
 times in six different longitudes, and always with the same result — the ap- 
 proach to it was invariably indicated by the thermometer ; and he considers 
 it as a sort of neutral girdle between the two basins, and as establishing the 
 fact of the actual mean temperature of the mass of water, unaffected by the 
 interior heat of the earth. South of the line the surface becomes colder, and 
 in latitude 70°, a thermometer must be sunk 750 fathoms to reach the tem- 
 perature of 39-5. 
 
 * This circle of mean temperature of the southern ocean,' as Sir John Ross 
 observes, ■ is a standard point in nature, which if determined with yery great 
 accuracy, would afford to philosophers of future ages the means of ascertain- 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 125 
 
 ing if the globe we inhabit shall have undergone any change of temperature, 
 and to what amount, during the interval.' 
 
 We learn also that the pressure of the atmosphere at the level of the sea 
 is not the same in every part of the globe. Barometrical observations show 
 that this pressure increases gradually from the equator to about the 30th 
 parallel, from which it as gradually sinks up to the pole, and falls below the 
 mean of the equator : generally stated, we may say that, south of Cape 
 Horn, the Mercury stands an inch lower than in other regions. This differ- 
 ence of pressure is assigned as a mechanical cause of ocean currents, of 
 which the most powerful issue from the south polar seas ; or it may be that 
 the great quantity of fixed ice, or the greater expanse of water in those 
 parts, admits of a more powerful generation and propagation of streams than 
 in the north ; and to this cause we may perhaps refer the presence of ice- 
 bergs 10° lower in the antarctic than in the arctic regions. 
 
 Our knowledge of climatic phenomena is also enlarged : Sandwich Land, 
 in the same latitude as the north of Scotland, is always deeply buried in ice 
 and snow, which the summer fails to melt ; Yorkshire and South Georgia are 
 about the same parallels, yet the only vegetation of the latter is a few lichens 
 and mosses ; while Iceland, which lies 10° nearer to the northern pole, has 
 870 species of plants. Hermit Island is the most southerly land on which 
 trees grow." 
 
 Such are some of the items of knowledge gained of this remote quarter 
 of the globe. " Human enterprise has learned many of the secrets of that 
 region of mighty contrasts, and will doubtless, when opportunity offers, 
 pursue the investigation. Meantime the wintery solitudes of the far south 
 will be undisturbed by the presence of man ; the penguin and the seal will 
 still haunt the desolate shores ; the shriek of the petrel and scream of the 
 albatross will mingle with the dash and roar of continual storms and the 
 crash of wave-beaten ice; the towering volcano will shoot aloft its columns 
 of fire high into the gelid air; the hills of snow and ice will grow *nd spread: 
 frost and flame will do their work, till, in the wondrous cycle of terrestrial 
 change, the polar lands shall again share in the abundance and beauty which 
 now overspread the sun-gladdened zones." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 New Zealand — Characteristics of this group, and of its Inhabitants — Tonga Islands — Pleas- 
 ing Manners of the People — Fondness for Ornament — Superstitions — Missionaries — Feoje« 
 Islands— Ferocity of thone Islanders — Beauty of the Coral— Productions — Cannibalism- 
 Costume — Murder of Lieutenant Underwood, and Midshipman Henry — Retaliation- 
 Sandwich Islands— Descriptions — Cruise of Captain Hudson— Oregon and California — 
 Gold — Philippine Islands — Manilla — Singapore— Interesting description of the Islands of 
 the Indian Archipelago, and of their Inhabitants — Return. 
 
 Br the last of March, all the squadron except the Peacock had rendez- 
 voused at the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand. The New Zealand group arc 
 imong the most recent acquisitions of Great Britain, and are beautifully 
 
126 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION". 
 
 situated The climate is delightful, and fruits and flowers abound. It pos- 
 sesses finer harbors, perhaps, than any other group in these seas, which 
 renders them favorite places of resort. 
 
 Several towns of considerable commercial importance, are situated upon 
 this group, the largest of which, Kororarika, contains over a hundred houses, 
 and other buildings, and was at one time so famous for its wickedness and 
 degradation, being the resort of the most abandoned and vicious, that it was 
 called Blackguard Beach. A much better state of things, however, has 
 now been introduced by the British. The population is of a very mixed 
 character, numbering, perhaps, about one thousand, and made up of runa- 
 way sailors, escaped convicts, foreign residents, etc. 
 
 Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, contains about three thousand in- 
 habitants, and is a flourishing town. It is situated on a beautiful river, and 
 has many natural advantages from its locality. The white population, in New 
 Ulster, the only regular colony, has been estimated at twenty thousand, ana 
 the entire population of New Zealand has been conjectured to be 150,000. 
 Coal abounds on one of the islands, together with the clay used for brick- 
 making, and many valuable mineral productions. The soil is generally fer- 
 tile, and well adapted to the growth of grain, the climate being similar to 
 that of the south of France, and though variable, generally healthy. The 
 emigration of the lowest and most vicious persons to New Zealand, exerted 
 the most injurious effects upon the natives, and previous to the healthful in- 
 fluence of missionary labor, and of wholesome and stringent laws, the preva- 
 lence of crime was fearful. In 1840, a colonial organization was formed 
 here, by the British government, under Captain Hobson, of the Royal Navy. 
 The arrival of this gentleman at New Zealand, led to the redress of various 
 wrongs, particularly with regard to land unjustly obtained from the natives. 
 These were now honorably purchased by the government, divided and sold at 
 auction, to the numerous settlers who were constantly emigrating hither. 
 
 The New Zealanders are proud and revengeful, but hospitable to strangers. 
 Like all savages they are extremel)' - fond of ornaments, and tattoo themselves 
 profusely, wearing enormous rings in their ears, and decorating themselves 
 with the most gaudy and brilliantly colored feathers. They seem somewhat 
 poetical in their tastes, having an abundance of rude lyrics, and are passion- 
 ately fond of music. They have too, a kind of astronomy, and various 
 strange superstitions and legends, relating to the creation of the world, of 
 which they seem to have an imperfect idea. Their dances and funeral occa- 
 sions, are alike characterized by great festivity, in which the discharge of fire- 
 arms is the grand finishing ceremony. Vegetation here is not remarkably 
 luxuriant, with the exception of the native flax, which promises to be a most 
 important export. In all respects New Zealand bids fair to become the abode 
 of flourishing colonies, and a center of commerce for the adjoining islands. 
 
 The expedition next visited the Tonga or Friendly islands. These, disco- 
 vered by Captain Cook in 1773, are noted for their varied scenery, their ani- 
 mal and vegetable productions, and for missionary stations. Several of them 
 seem to be formed entirely of coral, and the immense reefs which close them 
 in ar« entirely composed of this gigantic monument of the skill and industry 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. \%J 
 
 of the little coral builders. An active volcano is on one of these islands, and 
 hurricanes and earthquakes are both violent and destructive. The climate is 
 unhealthy, from the sudden changes, and coughs and consumption frequent. 
 Vegetation on most of the coral islands is richly luxuriant; the bread-fruit, 
 and cocoa-nut tree, grow in perfection, and the graceful forest-trees of these 
 tropical regions, are entwined by a profusion of beautiful vines, whose many- 
 hued flowers alike fill the air with fragrance, and enhance their gorgeous 
 magnificence. 
 
 The Tonga islands contain about twenty thousand inhabitants. These 
 people are warm-hearted, and seem to enjoy life. In most of the South Sea 
 Islands woman is degraded to a brute-like condition, and infanticide and can- 
 nibalism are common. Here, woman is treated with kindness, and connubial 
 attachments, and fondness for offspring are strong. The males perform al 1 
 the out-door labor, the females engaging only in the lighter occupations. The 
 Tongese have fairer complexions than the neighboring islanders, frank and 
 pleasing countenances, and their women, with frequently great personal at- 
 tractions, unite modest and winning manners. Their fondness for dress is 
 extreme, and when arrayed in their gala costumes, they paint their faces in 
 bars of red, white, and yellow, or in other ways, according to fancy. Musi- 
 cal in their tastes, they have tunes suited to every employment. The voices 
 of the females are sweet, and while engaged in weaving mats, or in construct- 
 ing reed baskets, they sing in a wild and somewhat mournful style. 
 
 During the visit of the American squadron, the natives arrayed themselves 
 in their martial costume, decorated with war paint, and their brilliant mats, 
 bells, and other ornaments. Captain Wilkes thus describes their appearance, 
 in his narrative : "I was now surrounded by large numbers of warriors, all 
 grotesquely dressed, and ready for the fight, with clubs, spears, and muskets. 
 In addition to the usual tapa round their waist, they had yellow and straw- 
 colored ribbons, made of the pandanus leaves, tied around their arms, above 
 the elbow, on their legs, above and below the knees, and on their bodies ; 
 some had them tied and gathered up in knots, others, wore them as scarfs — 
 some on the right shoulder, some on the left, and others on both shoulders. 
 Some of these sashes were beautifully white, about three inches wide, and 
 very pliable. Many of them had fanciful head-dresses ; some with natural, 
 and some with artificial flowers, over their turbans, (called sala) and nearly 
 all had their faces painted in the most grotesque manner, with red, yellow, 
 and white stripes, crossing their faces in all directions. Some were seen with 
 a jet black face, and vermillion nose, others with half the face painted white. 
 When a body of some eight hundred of these dark-looking, well-formed war- 
 riors, all eager for the fight, and going to and fro, to join their several com- 
 panies, is seen, it is hardly possible to describe the effect." 
 
 Tonga, the principal island, is considered sacred, and is the seat of the 
 principal temples, and the Mecca of the group. The natives worship a vari- 
 ety of gods, some of whom are not represented by any image, and others are 
 celebrated warriors of past times, whose heroic deeds live in tradition. Their 
 oldest god was Maui, who drew the islands out of the sea with a hook and 
 Jinc : with his two sons he lives under the earth, and when he turns over 
 
128 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 earthquakes are produced. Bulotu is another famous deitj , said to inhabit 
 an imaginary and far distant isle, of the same name. This interesting per- 
 sonage dwells in a cave, which he is unable to leave from the enormous length 
 of his tail ; he, however, finds consolation in his confinement, in the charm- 
 ing society of his numerous wives. The spirits of the kings and eminent 
 chieftains of the Tongese, are transported after death to Bulotu, the " island 
 of the blessed," a spot of wondrous beauty, where abounds the most luscious 
 and tempting fruits. ' The hereafter of the lower classes proves no compen- 
 sation for the greater ills they have borne while living: their lot still con- 
 tinues, hard, for after death they must remain on earth, and feed on lizards 
 and worms, while those- translated to Bulotu, are allowed to tickle their pal- 
 ates with the most delicious viands; and to finish the attractions of their en- 
 chanting residence, hogs, as in '* Lubber-land" abound, which,, in the estima- 
 tion of the Tongese, completes their felicity. In this paradise of the Tongese, 
 no fruit or flower ever withers or decays ; but if a flower be culled, another, 
 the exact image of it, forthwith rises in its place, and if a bird is killed, its 
 melody is continued without the loss of a single note, by another songster, 
 exactly resembling it, which at that instant has been called into being. So, 
 also, if their favorite animal, the hog, be destroyed, its place is immediately 
 filled by another corpulent grunter. 
 
 Bulotu, to whom the most costly presents are made, and sometimes human 
 sacrifices, is destitute of good qualities, and has absolute power, not only 
 over man, but over the inferior gods who reside on the island. Mortals can- 
 not visit Bulotu, except by the especial interposition of the deities, for to in' 
 hale its air is instant death. It is .said, however, that a party of natives once 
 visited this delightful spot, and strove to pluck the fruit and flowers, but they 
 elutled their grasp, and everything appeared to them as unsubstantial as 
 shadows. They also attempted to enter the houses, but found them unreal, 
 and discovered too, that they could walk through the trunks of the trees, 
 and the hills without meeting with any resistance. 
 
 The Tongese are daring and expert swimmers, and like all the natives of 
 the islands of these seas, are passionately fond of the water. The large ca- 
 noes in this part of the world are extremely graceful and handsome in dis- 
 play, particularly the double war canoes, with flags and streamers, paddling 
 along with great swiftness and skill. When these are assembled, as they 
 sometimes are, to the number of hundreds, fully equipped, and their chiefs 
 and men habited in full war costume — with their clubs, pikes, halberds, 
 spears, bows, arrows, and slings for throwing large stones, all ready 
 for action — the spectacle is extremely imposing. The double canoes are 
 united by a deck or platform, on which is often a hut. 
 
 The Methodists, in 1821, were the first to establish missions in these 
 islands. The influence of the missionaries has much elevated the condition 
 of the natives ; great numbers have been taught the common branches, and 
 females in sewing and knitting. About one quarter of the inhabitants pro- 
 fess Christianity. As a people, the Tongese are much attached to their an* 
 cient customs, and fierce and bloody contests have ensued between the heathen 
 aud ch*-kr,ian parties. While the squadron were at the islands, the differeul 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 129 
 
 factions were preparing for battle. Capt. Wilkes endeavored to reconcile 
 their difficulties; but his friendly efforts were quite unsuccessful, the mission- 
 aries seeming rather desirous for a trial of strength between the parties. The 
 "Devils" party triumphed, and after various conflicts peace ensued. 
 
 Early in May the squadron left for the Feejee islands, where they arrived 
 in a few days. This group lies in a semi-circular form, the base of which is 
 about 19° 30' south latitude, and number one hundred and fifty islands, of 
 which less than one half are inhabited. They have long been so notorious 
 for their hidden coral reefs, and for the ferocity of their inhabitants, that few 
 vessels seldom dared to approach, except now and then, an American or an 
 English whaler : and these ventured with the extremest caution, as it was rare 
 that any left their inhospitable shores without losing some of their crews, or 
 missing a part of their stores. The inhabitants mostly retain their original 
 characteristics, excepting where brought under the influence of the missiona- 
 ries, who with the assistance of a number of converted Tongese emigrants, 
 have produced a most happy influence upon the inhabitants of Lakemba. 
 
 The coral reefs surrounding these islands, are of rarest beauty. The 
 branching coral, partly sunk beneath the surf, presents the most brilliant hues 
 of pink, purple, green, and yellow, tinting the waves with delicate reflections. 
 The soil, of this cluster, is luxuriantly fertile, and a soft, delicious atmo- 
 sphere rests over it, even in the rainy season, when in other lands the sky is 
 dark and cloudy: in the hottest of weather, the inhabitants are refreshed by 
 exhilarating sea-breezes. The air is loaded with the fragrance of innumer- 
 able aromatic shrubs, and the thousand gorgeous blossoms of a tropical clime. 
 But these blessings are mingled with evils, and as in the Tonga islands, 
 rheumatism, coughs, and lung diseases are prevalent. 
 
 Three different kinds of cocoa, and nine of bread-fruit trees, grow here, 
 and furnish the natives with food, clothing, materials for their hats, cooking- 
 utensils, and implements of war. A singular method of preparing their 
 bread-fruit is practiced. The rind is taken off, then jars filled with it, and 
 placed in small holes in the ground, lined with banana ; these are thatched 
 over, and in a short time the fruit ferments, and forms a cheese-like substance, 
 very pleasant and nutritious to the taste. Bamboo is applied to a variety of 
 purposes, — for building huts, for torches, drinking vessels, etc., and also foi 
 candlesticks, while prepared leaves of the cocoa serve for candles. Out of 
 the toa or " iron wood" are made spears, bowls, and various other domestic 
 articles. In short, most of the animal and vegetable productions are ren- 
 dered available, by the ingenuity of the natives, and these comprise all the 
 ordinary productions of the tropical climes. The sea is also fruitful, fish and 
 turtle abounding. These animals are here, as elsewhere, considered a great 
 delicacy, while their shells are a valuable article of commerce. The turtles- 
 are caught in nets, and confined in pens, by the water-side, to fatten for use. 
 A green worm, found in the salt water, called balolo, is esteemed a great 
 luxury. The " biche de mer," or sea-slug, is yet more prized and eagerly 
 sought for. In its movements it resembles a caterpillar, and is from two to 
 nine inches in length, and of various colors. The natives find them as pearls 
 are found, by diving down deep among the fissures of the coral rocks, or else 
 9 
 
130 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 they fish for them by torch or moonlight. They are prepared for market, by 
 first opening, cleaning, and then drying : immense quantities are sold to the 
 Chinese, by whom they are highly esteemed. 
 
 Woman here is exceedingly degraded, being regarded as scarce above a 
 beast of burden. Like the female of the North American Indian, she may 
 often be seen bending beneath the weight of a heavy burden, under a burn- 
 ing sun, while her lord and master saunters along leisurely by her side, 
 without offering the slightest assistance. 
 
 The countenances of the Feejeeans are as repulsive as their characters are 
 detestable. The Feejeean is abject and fawning to superiors, haughty and 
 tyrannical to inferiors, and treacherous and vindictive to all. To his guest 
 he will seem friendly and hospitable, but the moment he leaves his roof, his 
 nature appears instantly to change, and he does not hesitate, for the slightest 
 inducement, to rob or even to murder him. Deformed children, lazy persons, 
 and old people, are put to death by their relations, to avoid the trouble of 
 their. support ; and worse than all, these people are ferocious cannibals, and 
 delight in feeding upon the corpses of those taken by stratagem or in war. 
 Females, when they have strayed away from home, are often murdered for 
 food, their flesh being more esteemed than that of the men ; the choice parts 
 are the fleshy part of the arm and thigh, which are always preferred. They 
 have earthen pots expressly to cook their horrid repast, and it is esteemed 
 a peculiar luxury, so great that their women are forbidden to partake of it. 
 Wars between the different tribes are very frequent, and atrocious murders 
 of every day occurrence. In short they are thoroughly brutalized and de- 
 graded, the slaves of their own miserable passions, excepting in the extreme 
 eastern group, where missionary labor is producing its appropriate results. 
 
 The Feejee islands are supposed to contain about 150,000 inhabitants, 
 which are divided into five classes — kings, chiefs, warriors, land-holders, and 
 the kaisis, or common people, and slaves, the latter being much the largest 
 class. The great influence of the priests, as in some others that claim to be 
 civilized, tends to keep the lower classes, if possible, in a more abject state 
 of subjection. The turban or sala, of the finest gauze-like material, is a 
 distinguishing mark of persons of quality. It is encircled by a wreath of 
 flowers, and adorned within by brilliant feathers. The chiefs wear necklaces 
 of bright shells or stones, and of the teeth of human victims. Combs of 
 bone or reed, are worn by all classes, and paint profusely used on the hair 
 and face. An elastic band, neatly braided and dyed is the sole garment of 
 the females : with maidens it is only three inches wide ; but married women 
 have it broader. Tattooing is performed only on the females, and is con- 
 sidered essential to their safe passage to the other world. 
 
 Animal food and fish, is the ordinary diet of the chiefs, and vegetables of 
 the common people. Several agreeable preparations are made of yams, 
 cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, and bananas, the cooking being mostly by steam. 
 Everything at the tables of the chiefs is conducted with as much precision, 
 according to their ideas of etiquette, as the several courses at a fashionable 
 American or European Hotel. Their food is served up in fresh banana 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 131 
 
 leaves, and when a new dish is brought on, the mats and vessels previously 
 used, are carefully removed. The principal meal is at sunset. 
 
 The elite pass their time in visiting, or receiving calls, or in attending to 
 their toilette. Dancing is a favorite amusement with all classes, and care- 
 fully taught by expert masters in the art. It consists in ugl} 7 wri things and 
 contortions of the body, accompanied by the clapping of hands, monotonous 
 chanting, and the beating of a drum. Polygamy is common, and often the 
 chiefs possess from one to two hundred wives, and when one of them dies, 
 some of them are strangled and buried with him. Ndengi, the principal 
 god, is represented in the form of a huge serpent, and his power over the 
 inferior deities is absolute. After death, the Feejeeans believe their spirits go 
 to Ndengi to be judged. Some he allots to devils who roast and eat 
 them, and others, after roaming about in far distant islands are annihilated. 
 Human sacrifices to their gods are common, and they have temples or spirit 
 houses, regarded as sacred, where their offerings to their deities are de- 
 posited. With all their wild superstitions, is mingled the theory of future 
 rewards and punishments, and of a second death. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of the squadron at the Feejee group, a noted chief 
 named Vendovi, who had heen mainly instrumental in the murder of some 
 American seamen awhile previous, was captured and taken on board of one of 
 the vessels. This so alarmed the natives, that great respect was shown Cap- 
 tain Wilkes, which for awhile continued unimpared. At length one of their 
 boats having been thrown by a storm on the reefs in Sualib Bay, was dis- 
 covered by parties of the natives trolling on the beach, who thereupon 
 rushed forward, and made a prize ot io and its contents. Restitution was de- 
 manded, and the vessel reluctantly restored, but not its contents ; and the 
 natives behaved so treacherously, and prevaricated so grossly in the matter, 
 that Captain Wilkes resolved to punish them. A party of sailors and 
 marines, under Captain Hudson, landed at the town of Tye on Sualib Bay, 
 the residence of those engaged in the robbery, attacked, and drove the natives 
 from the place, and burnt about sixty of their houses. 
 
 This punishment prevented farther injury from the natives in that vicinity, 
 but subsequently a tragical affair occurred at the island of Malolo. On the 
 24th of July, Lieutenant Underwood went ashore in th,e first cutter of the 
 Vincennes, but unfortunately had neglected to arm himself sufficiently 
 against the attacks of the treacherous islanders. The savages exhibiting 
 symptoms of hostility, a hostage was seized and carried on board the cutter, 
 under the impression that this would prove a guarantee for the safety of tht 
 officers while they remained ashore, but unluckily the savage succeeded in 
 springing overboard, and gaining the land. This seemed to be the signal for 
 a general attack upon Lieut. Underwood and his party, who thereupon were 
 surrounded, and finally attacked by the savages. The Americans endeavored 
 to retreat to their boat ; but this was impossible. All hope of escape was 
 cut off by overwhelming numbers, and a short and gallant resistance ensued, 
 in which Lieut. Underwood and Midshipman Henry were both knocked down 
 by the clubs of the natives and killed, while others of the party were severely 
 
132 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDiYIetf. 
 
 wounded. Two officers, Lieutenants Emmons and Alden, who witnessed th? 
 affray from the cutter, hastened with some of their men to the rescue, 
 but only arrived in time to regain the lifeless bodies of their murdered 
 companions. 
 
 Having buried the remains of the unfortunate officers on one of the lonely 
 islands of that vicinity, our countrymen proceeded to inflict summary punish- 
 ment upon the murderers. Stationing boats at intervals around Malolo, to 
 frustrate any attempts at escape, Captain Wilkes, and Lieutenant Ringgold, 
 each landed at the head of a strong party. A fierce encounter ensued, in 
 which the only two towns on the island, and the plantations of the inhabi- 
 tants were destroyed. The latter stoutly resisted, retreating to their forti- 
 fications and discharging a variety of missiles, but the assailants pressing 
 forward, set fire to their bamboo works, and drove them from every part, 
 with a total loss of about sixty killed and many wounded, while our people 
 received no other injury than the slightly wounding of a seaman. 
 
 The natives thoroughl} 7 " intimidated, most abjectly sued for pardon, and 
 ceased further to molest the Americans, who had given them a lesson, the 
 beneficial effects of which were likely to endure for years. In August the 
 squadron departed for the Sandwich islands, but ere they left the Feejee 
 group, regulations in regard to vessels frequenting the islands for traffic, and 
 other purposes, were adopted and signed by the principal kings. 
 
 The Sandwich Islands have long- been celebrated for the richness and 
 variety of their productions, and for their unsurpassed climate and scenery, 
 but now, with the acquisition of California by the United States, their impor- 
 tance is doubly enhanced, as they occupy a central position between the great 
 marts of commerce east and west. All the immense trade which must neces- 
 sarily be carried on between Canton and San Francisco, will of course pass 
 this group, thus rendering them, whatever their political destiny may be, the 
 grand emporium of commerce in the Pacific between the old and new 
 worlds. The principal members of the group are Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, 
 Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau ; the remaining three, Molokini, 
 Lehua and Kaula, are but rocky barren islets. They stretch along for a dis- 
 tance of about three hundred miles, and Hawaii, (formerly known as 
 Owhyhee) the southernmost of the group, has an area nearly equal to the State 
 of Connecticut, and twice that of all the others combined. Oahu, how- 
 ever, is politically and commercially the most important island of the group. 
 It is about forty-six miles long, twenty-three broad, and, like Hawii, rises 
 from the ocean to an elevated plain in the interior, which is dotted with nume- 
 rous mountain peaks which rise to an elevation of three or four thousand feet 
 
 This cluster were discovered by Captain Cook in the year 1778, and named 
 in honor of the Earl of Sandwich, then first Lord of the Admiralty, and it 
 was here that Cook came to his untimely end, being murdered by the natives 
 in February of the ensuing year. Like the Tonga and Feejee Islands, they 
 are almost entirely encircled by coral reefs, and just inside of the breakers 
 that dash over the low sandy beach, or spend their fury against the tall basal- 
 tic cliffs, or the piles of lava on the shore. Vegetation, rich with the luxu- 
 riance of tropical climes, indicates the abundance with which the soil of these 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 13 3 
 
 delightful islands is teeming. Evidences of the volcanic character of this 
 group everywhere abound. Enormous conical craters, and vast piles of 
 scoriaceous lava indicate, that they were once the seat of active volcanoes, 
 whose lurid columns of smoke and flame were the beacon light to the mariner 
 on the far ocean. But these volcanoes have been nearly extinct for years. 
 The only two now active are those of Kilanea on the island of Hawaii, and 
 that of Manaw Loa. The volcano of Kilanea is very peculiar. Unlike other 
 volcanoes, it does not send up jets of flame and smoke, or eruptions of molten 
 lava, but has a vast depression in its center, in which, as in a huge cauldron, 
 is a hot seething mass of boiling lava, whose angry waves are forever surging 
 and hissing, with a terrific sound. This, the natives believed, in olden time, 
 was the abode of Pele, the principal goddess of the Hawaiians, and they were 
 wont to associate everything fearful or sublime with all that they imagined 
 of their potent deity. The crater is of an oval shape, five miles long, and two 
 and a half miles wide, and is surrounded with vast heaps of molten lava, and 
 bundles of capillary glass, which the natives call "Pele's hair." The hot 
 steam which frequently escapes from the cracks and fissures, serves to cook 
 the meals of the natives, who resort here for the purpose. There is a black 
 mass of hard lava, about seven hundred feet below the outer edge opening, 
 from which one may descend to the edge of the burning pool, but this feat is 
 exceedingly dangerous, as the thin crust of lava sometimes gives way be- 
 neath the weight of a footstep, but the descent from the outer bank to the 
 ledges of black lava has been frequently accomplished. Over the molten 
 mass hangs suspended a thick cloud of vapor, looking like fire by night, and 
 like mist by day. The surface of this fiery lake presents very singular appear- 
 ances. Sometimes huge cones, resembling volcanoes, will shoot up, sending 
 forth flame and smoke and burning stones, then exploding, will suddenly sink 
 into the boiling crater, and disappear in the hot gulf of boiling fire, accom- 
 panied by the deepest and most awful roaring. 
 
 It is estimated that the Sandwich Islands contain about two hundred thou- 
 sand inhabitants, but their various wars, the prevalence of disease, and other 
 causes, have combined to reduce the population rapidly, and it is apparent 
 that the natives are generally and surely diminishing. It is supposed that 
 about one-half of the native population reside on Hawaii, and the whole 
 amount numbered not over eighty thousand, showing a surprising decrease. 
 The tide of emigration is rapidly pouring in, of the most heterogeneous de- 
 scription, consisting of Dutch, French, Chinese, English, Germans, Yankees, 
 Mexicans, and California Indians, each exhibiting their peculiar national 
 characteristics, and presenting a grotesque and motley assemblage of men 
 and manners. 
 
 The foreign residents usually continue or adopt European fashions, but the 
 dress of the natives presents an incongruous mixture of the habiliments of 
 civilized nations, and their own primitive attire, of which the mdso, a shirt 
 fastened at the waist, and of different lengths, according to the taste or 
 circumstances of the wearer, is the most generally worn, alike by males and 
 females. On holidays, some of the native leaders of the ton indulge in the 
 luxury of pantaloons, and at rare intervals, in a cotton shirt, if such an arti- 
 
134 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION". 
 
 cle is found among their possessions ; while the females wear long gowns, 
 like the morning dresses of French and American ladies. Ornaments, beau- 
 tifully carved, of ivory and bone, and necklaces of the bright ruby fruit of 
 the pandanus, or woven of hair, ornament the necks of the women. The 
 wreaths of flowers with which they used to decorate their heads are now 
 almost entirely laid aside, owing to the influence of the missionaries, but the 
 chiefs wear a kind of tiara of net- work, decorated with brilliant feathers, and 
 the females of high rank, a pretty coronet, feathers and flowers intermingled. 
 The queen usually appears in public, with a superb scarlet crape shawl over 
 a silk or satin dress, and sometimes she displays a gorgeous robe, beautifully 
 decorated with flowers. The king is generally clothed in European attire, a 
 blue broadcloth coat and white vest and pantaloons, but his state robes are 
 made of the material called ropce, gorgeously trimmed with scarlet or yellow 
 feathers. 
 
 The natives of the Sandwich Islands resemble ir some respects that of the 
 Samoan group, their complexions being of a dark olive, and their forms fine 
 and well developed. They have dark, expressive eyes, and dark hair, and 
 among the chiefs and higher classes, a graceful easy address, and stately 
 forms and gait. The Hawaiians are naturally indolent and selfish, and 
 almost destitute of parental affection, as infanticide and kindred crimes are 
 common, and excite but little horror. They are, however, tolerably 
 intelligent, honest, and hospitable, and quite courageous. 
 
 The influence of the missionaries has been beneficial among these people, 
 enabling them to overcome their natural indolence, and teaching them thrift 
 and industry, leading them to respect the rights of property, and even when 
 their labors have been most extensive, the excesses in which they formerly 
 indulged, and the pernicious habits common among them, have been aban- 
 doned. 
 
 Swimming, an art in which they particularly excel, is the favorite amuse- 
 ment of both sexes. They thus spend hours together, sporting in the most 
 furious surf, provided with a surf-cord of about eighteen inches in width, and 
 nine feet in length. Spreading himself lengthwise upon this, the bather dex- 
 trously avoids the billows rolling in, sometimes bounding entirely over the 
 waves, or diving through them, with the rapidity of a fish, and riding tri- 
 umphant at last on the topmost crest of the huge breakers, half-a-mileor more 
 from shore. 
 
 Riding on horseback, quoits, and a game called malkee, consisting of throw- 
 ing stones in narrow trenches, sometimes a mile in length, are also favorite 
 pastimes. Gaming, in various forms, is prevalent among those not under 
 missionary influence. One of the old games was hoolua, or sliding down hill, 
 but instead of being on snow or ice, it was on a layer of smooth grass, placed 
 along a broad furrow, down a steep declivity, extending some distance beyond 
 on level ground ; then provided with light hand-sleds, the islander would 
 coast up and down, with as much delight as the Russian on his hill of ice. 
 
 Their chief articles of food are fish and taro, though pork and poultry, with 
 various kinds of fruit and vegetables, are eaten among the natives of these 
 islands as among those of adjacent groups : their food was baked in a hole ia 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 135 
 
 the earth lined with heated stones. Poe, an article of which they are extra- 
 vagantly fond, is prepared in the following manner : The root, called taro, of 
 which it is made, is baked until it becomes dry, and then mixed with water, 
 and beaten until it is of the thickness of paste ; then, after being set aside fol 
 twenty-four hours, it is fit for use, having acquired a slightly acid taste. 
 The natives are extremely fond of smoking, enjoying the practice as much 
 through the night as in the day, and never going abroad, even the smallest 
 distance, without taking pipes and tobacco. Great lamentation ensues when 
 a person dies, particularly if the deceased is of much note. The wailing, 
 consisting of dismal shrieks and groans, is kept up for days and nights ; and 
 for a long time after, when the mourners meet, they rub their noses together, 
 and clasping hands, utter low moaning sounds. Much has been said in regard 
 to missionary influence in these islands, but it is generally admitted that the 
 strictness of these spiritual teachers in prohibiting everything in the shape 
 of amusement, show, or ornament, to a people, to whom, from the habits of 
 a lifetime, they had become a necessity, were disastrous, and it may proba- 
 bly be the reason why the gorgeous pageants and imposing ceremonies of 
 the Roman Catholic Church have produced so much impression among the 
 natives wherever the worship of that church has been introduced. 
 
 When the American Board of Missions commenced its operations here, the 
 entire population seemed given over to every species of excess, under the lax 
 government of Kamamena II, and their exertions in the seemingly almost 
 hopeless undertaking, were most noble and praiseworthy. Though the labors 
 of the missionaries seemed for a time to be productive of few beneficial results, 
 yet, in 1822, they established a printing-press, and commenced publishing 
 tracts, and in 1823, the government publicly demanded the observance of 
 the Sabbath. After the youthful Kamameha III succeeded to the throne, the 
 government was administered by Kaahumanu, one of the wives of his father, 
 and during her regency of eight years, many important reforms were effected, 
 through missionary agency. A written constitution was, in October, 1840, 
 adopted by the kings and chiefs, and publicly promulgated. 
 
 The government of the islands is a limited monarchy, and a prime ministei 
 is associated with the king in his administration. Representatives are elected 
 by the people, to a national parliament, and a certain number of chiefs form 
 a council, without whose consent no laws can be enacted. Four governors, 
 of four districts, are appointed by the king, and they have a supreme court, 
 consisting of six judges, two of whom are appointed by the king and pre- 
 mier, and four by the representatives. Under the new code of laws, adopted 
 after the constitution, strangers and their rights were protected, as well as 
 natives and residents. An active and efficient police admirably sustain these 
 laws. At Honolulu, when vessels are landing their cargoes, constables are 
 stationed along the wharves to preserve order, so that property may be con- 
 sidered as safe here as at any European or American port. 
 
 Located all over the island, are public and charity schools, for the instruc- 
 tion of children of the lower classes, and at Lahainaluna, and Wailuku, are 
 high schools for the children of the higher classes. One-third of the native 
 population are members of the church, and in the group are twenty churches. 
 
136 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 Two ably-conducted weekly newspapers are published, and the members 
 of the legislature, and other officers of high standing, are well educated, and 
 seem well to understand the affairs of other countries, as well as the govern- 
 ment of their own. 
 
 Rats, mice, and dogs, are the principal animals. In olden time, among 
 the Hawaiian s, they were considered a luxury, and baked in pies. Small 
 droves of cattle, partially tamed, are found among the mountains, and were 
 formerly hunted with the lasso, by the Spaniards from California. 
 
 Honolulu, the capital of the Sandwich Islands is beautifully situated on the 
 Routhern coast of Oahu, on a broad, open plain, sloping to the water's edge, 
 and contains about ten thousand inhabitants. The harbor of this fine town, 
 is inclosed by a high reef of coral, in which is an opening sufficient for sixty 
 or seventy vessels of a hundred tons. Main, the principal street, is finely 
 laid out, and filled with neat, tasteful houses, surrounded with beautiful 
 shrubbery, and gardens well stocked with fruit, flowers, and vegetables. 
 
 On Punch Bowl Hill, the site of an extinct crater, is a rude fortification, 
 and on Diamond Hill is a battery, overlooking the town. In Honolulu, are 
 three churches of considerable size ; one built by the contributions of the na- 
 tives, is constructed of coral stone, hewn out in blocks, and has a tall spire, 
 like those of many American churches ; another is a thatched building, and 
 the last, is built of plastered adobes, or sun-dried brick. In the town, also, 
 is an institute for scientific research, a museum, a large library, a charity and 
 orphan school, together with several neat private and public school-houses. 
 
 Hilo, Wailuku, and Kailua, are all delightfully situated, and have fine na- 
 tive villages near them ; Wailuku is noted for its female seminary, as also is 
 Lahainaluna. At Lahaina is the king's palace, built of coral; also, a for- 
 tress, and the royal storehouses. Hilo has the largest church on the island, 
 a fine building, which will hold several thousand persons. Waimea contains 
 about four hundred houses, in the midst of a beautiful valley, abounding in 
 every variety of tropical fruits. A fine river turns several mills, and a large 
 fortress is also located there. The best houses are built of blocks of coral 
 and lava, with glazed windows, and nicely carved, or thatched roofs, but the 
 natives prefer their own grass houses, which are ingeniously constructed. 
 
 The Vincennes came to anchor in the roads of Honolulu on the 24th 
 of September, 1840, where, on the 30th, she was joined by the Peacock. 
 After the departure of the two larger vessels from the Feejee group, the Por- 
 poise and tender were engaged in watching the conduct of the natives to- 
 ward the missionaries at Somu-somu, and in examining Natava bay. After 
 many delays, during which the crew were again reshipped, the original term 
 of their engagement having expired, the squadron set sail for the American 
 coast, on the 5th of April, 1841, and on the second of May anchored in the 
 Straits of Juan de Fuca — which separates Vancouver's island from Oregon — 
 with the exception of the Peacock and Flying-Fish, which, on the 2d of De- 
 cember set sail to survey part of the Samoan group, and several adjacent 
 islands. The first land encountered by them on their way to the south, was 
 Washington, or New York island, a little island, at about 160 degrees west. 
 This islet is about three miles in length, uninhabited, and covered with the most 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 137 
 
 beautiful vegetation of the tropical regions, but owing to the heavy surf, the 
 American vessels were unable to send a boat ashore to examine it. Passing 
 Jarvis, Enderbury, and Nukonono islands, they discovered a new island, on 
 the 29th of January, which they called Bowditch island. 
 
 The three islands, Fakaafo, Oatafu, and Nukonono, constitute the group, 
 known as the Union Group. The natives of these islands resemble those of 
 the Samoan group, in language and appearance ; they are mostly light-colored, 
 and pleasing in their appearance, although they are in the habit of tattooing 
 their faces and bodies extensively. They seem to be entirely ignorant of the 
 use of fire, and never cook their food, eating fish in a raw state, and the fruit 
 of the cocoa-nut and pandanus. 
 
 After leaving these islands, Captain Hudson next proceeded to the Samoan 
 group, and anchored in the harbor of Apia. The chief object of this second 
 visit was business relative to the murder of an American seaman belonging to 
 a whaling vessel. The murderer had been protected by one of the chiefs, 
 who refused to surrender him. After various ineffectual attempts to capture 
 this chief, and detain him until the murderer was secured, Captain Hudson 
 thought it best to inflict summary punishment, to protect vessels for the future. 
 Accordingly, on the 25th of February, three towns on the island were re- 
 duced to ashes, without any skirmish with the natives. 
 
 From Apia, he turned his course toward Mataatu, and from this place both 
 vessels proceeded to Ellices island, containing about one thousand inhabitants, 
 and interesting from its varied productions, and fine coast. Leaving this place, 
 Captain Hudson reached Drummond's island on the 3d of April — this island, 
 with fifteen others, constituting the Tarawan, Kingsmill, or Gilbert group. 
 They are densely populated, containing about sixty thousand inhabitants, of 
 which ten thousand are on Drummond's island alone. The younger females 
 are distinguished for great personal beauty, both of form and feature, and 
 resemble the Samoans. The inhabitants of Pitt's island, to the north, are 
 remarkably corpulent and unwieldy, and usually very kind and hospitable to 
 strangers. Swimming in the surf, dancing, and playing foot-balls, are favor- 
 ite amusements, with both sexes. The dress of the females is simple, con- 
 sisting of a single garment, beautifully braided of strips of cocoa-nut leaves ; 
 both men and women are passionately fond of ornaments. 
 
 Arriving at Cape Disappointment, on the coast of Oregon, Captain Hudsoi 
 attempted to enter Columbia river the following day, when his vessel, th» 
 Peacock, struck on a bar, and in a few hours was a total wrec«.. The ofhters, 
 crew, and papers were with difficulty rescued, and landed at Astoria. The 
 Flying-Fish entered in safety. In August, Capt. Wilkes joined Capt. Hud- 
 son, having finished his survey in northern Oregon. The Vincennes pro- 
 ceeded down to San Francisco, to survey the Sacramento river, while the 
 officers and crew of the Peacock were transferred to an American brig, pur- 
 chased for the occasion. The other vessels of the squadron proceeded south- 
 ward, and anchored on October 19th, in the bay of San Francisco, where the 
 Vincennes already lay. 
 
 The vessels of the expedition having all arrived at San Francisco, sailed 
 on the first of November for the Sandwich Islands, to prepare for their return 
 
138 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 to the United States; on the 18th they anchored again in the harbor of Hon- 
 olulu. On the 27th, the Vincennes and tender took their final departure from 
 that port, sailing for Manilla, which they reached Jan. 13th, 1842, while the 
 Oreo-on and Porpoise proceeded through the China sea to Singapore. 
 
 Manilla, the capital of the Philippine islands, is in a circular form, on the 
 east side of Manilla bay, and presents all the peculiar characteristics of a 
 Spanish town. The houses, built of volcanic tufa, with flat roofs, and balus- 
 trades, and projecting balconies, are seldom very high, on account of earth- 
 quakes. Instead of glass, thin pieces of semi-transparent shell are us,ed. 
 The religion is Roman Catholic, and churches, and monasteries, nunneries, 
 etc., are found in abundance. A missionary college, orphan asylums, and 
 other charitable institutions, are in operation, and the cathedral, and arch- 
 bishop's palace, are among the principal public buildings. Cigars are a great 
 article of export, and in one manufactory alone, eight thousand females are 
 constantly employed, each female making about two hundred cigars per 
 day. 
 
 The Philippine Islands were first discovered by Magellan, in 1521, and 
 still belong to Spain. They produce the most delightful varieties of tropical 
 productions, and possess a climate extremely variable, on account of their 
 extent north and south. Nearly all their trade is carried on through Manilla, 
 whose commerce is extensive. Among the beautiful articles of embroidery, 
 silk, gauze, etc., is a gossamer fabric called pina, made of the delicate fibers 
 of a species of pine-apple, This is so fine, that all currents of air, are ex- 
 cluded from the room in which it is woven, by means of gauze screens, 
 placed at the windows. It is made into collars, handkerchiefs, caps, etc., 
 richly embroidered, and is extremely expensive. Sailing southward through 
 the Straits of Mindoro, the Vincennes turned to the Sooloo archipelago, 
 reaching Soung harbor on the 3d of February, while the tender directed its 
 course to Singapore. The inhabitants of the Sooloo group are said to re- 
 semble the Chinese in dress, and differ little from other nations of the 
 East Indies. Captain Wilkes held an interview with the Sultan, relative to 
 the protection of American vessels from Sooloo pirates, and concluded an 
 amicable treaty with him. Soon after, the Vincennes joined the other vessels 
 of the squadron, at Singapore. This is the principal town of the small island 
 of Singapore, situated at the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula. 
 
 The town was founded in 1819, by Sir Stamford Raffles and now con- 
 tains about 30,000 inhabitants, a motley race, of whom the Chinese, and the 
 Malays predominate. The harbor is beautiful, and numerous uncouth 
 vessels lie at anchor, and a variety of boats ply in every direction over its 
 waters. The sovereignty of the island was conceded to Great Britain in 
 1825. Being near the equator, the seasons are much alike, and the heat the 
 same night and day through the whole year. A fine breeze blows, and a 
 pleasant shower falls almost every day in the year ; and a wonderful energy 
 alike pervades animal and vegetable life. Countless varieties of plants 
 render the forests impenetrable to man ; and myriads of insects and reptiles 
 abound both on land and in the sea ; and corals, madrepores, and mollusca, 
 of exquisite beauty attract the eye. The island possesses a delightful climate 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 139 
 
 and so many advantages, that it has been called the " Paradise of India." 
 the home of plenty, and the abode of health. 
 
 The commerce of Singapore embraces almost every article of Indian 
 Chinese, and European industry. Native vessels from almost every part ot 
 the "Twelve Thousand Islands," or Oriental archipelago, trade here. These 
 are generally manned by Bugis, the sailors of this immense collection of 
 islands. Their vessels are prows, of from ten to one hundred tons, and with 
 crews of from twenty to sixty men; as many as two hundred of these, annu- 
 ally visit Singapore, having in them, men and women, at least 20,000 
 persons 
 
 " The commerce of tne countries, in and around these seas, would form 
 an important and interesting theme for the political economist. From the 
 elegant and civilized Chinese, to the wildest tribes which roam the interior 
 of the most unknown islands, all are animated and benefited by an honorable 
 commerce which existed, perhaps, before the European found his way into 
 these seas. The savage Batta collects camphor — the Daya and Harafoora, 
 gather diamonds and gold — the Sulu dives for pearl — the Malay explores his 
 lonely shores for edible birds' nests,* or gathers the nutmeg and the clove, 
 or sweeps the shores for agar-agarf — the Bugis acts as both merchant and 
 mariner, bearing these gatherings from port to port — the Sumatran furnishes 
 pepper for all the world — the more civilized Japanese, smelts ores, and con- 
 structs articles of elegant utility — the still more refined Chinese gives im- 
 pulse to the whole, by his luxury and his capital, while the Western World 
 shares the precious commodities, and returns the thousand productions of 
 more perfect sciences and arts. This vast, populous, and favored portion of 
 the earth, is that which the ancients, even so late as the time of Constantine, 
 regarded as untenable by man, inhabited only by satyrs, headless monsters, 
 and human pigmies." 
 
 The " Twelve Thousand Islands," comprising the Indian archipelago, con- 
 tains an estimated population of forty millions of people. The several races 
 inhabiting them, are divided into numerous tribes speaking different 
 languages, and possessing different religions; among the principal of which, 
 are Mahometanism, Buddhism, and Brahminism : the forms of government 
 are various, being, however, generally petty despotisms. 
 
 Nowhere on the surface of the globe, does the earth appear to possess a 
 more prolific virtue : trees of gigantic size, shrubs and creepers of unparal- 
 leled beauty, and luxuriance, flowers of the most gorgeous colors, exquisite 
 
 * These birds' nests are made by the sea-swallow, which finds the principal ingredients 
 among the foam of the waves, and collects it as the bee gathers honey from flowers. The 
 substance is unknown, but it is half transparent and glutinous, and when flavored with 
 juices, and scented with the perfume of certain plants and flowers, makes a rich, and 
 agreeable basis for soup. To this, the Chinese, who use it extensively, attribute many 
 wonderful virtues. The collection of this article, is carried on by a numerous and hardy 
 class of men, and is often a dismal and dangerous occupation, the birds not unfrequently 
 building their nests in caves, and in the face of lofty, overhanging precipices, beneath 
 which the sea dashes in incessant breakers. 
 
 + Agar-agar is a seaweed chiefly exported to China, where it is converted into a rick 
 jelly for the table, and used also as sizing for cotton goods and paper. 
 
140 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 forms, and fruits unrivaled for their fragrance and flavor, present themselves 
 A o the traveler. The forests abound with odoriferous gums, the seas and 
 rivers with fish, and the earth with the most costly gems and valuable 
 minerals. 
 
 A general comprehensive account of the Indian archipelago, seems not 
 out of place here, and such we pause to give as presented by an interesting 
 writer. " The name, ' Twelve Thousand Islands," was given by the Arabs, 
 who many centuries since penetrated these sunny and tranquil seas, and as 
 they beheld group after group of the mighty archipelago burst upon their 
 vision, in a sort of poetical admiration, bestowed upon it the name of the 
 ' Twelve Thousand Islands,' thus making use of a definite expression to 
 signify an indefinite number. 
 
 This immense system of island extends about 3,600 miles in length, by 
 2,200 in breadth. Lying on both sides of the equator, it enjoys throughout 
 its whole extent something like perpetual summer, except where the elevation 
 of the mountains produces a temperature approaching to that of more northern 
 climates. The productions of this vast archipelago are extremely varied ; 
 and it will probably be found when these islands, some of which are now 
 almost entirely unknown, are fully explored, that each, both small and great, 
 grows something peculiar to itself, in addition to many productions which are 
 common to the entire group. What the resources of these islands are, no 
 man knows, though the late discovery of the qualities of the gutta-percha 
 may serve to justify the belief, that thousands of articles which might be con- 
 verted to the use of civilized man, now lie concealed within their forests. 
 
 Entering the Straits of Malacca, and sailing eastward by the island of 
 Singapore, the traveler may be said to enjoy a perpetually shifting panorama, 
 whose features are richer and more magnificent than can be viewed anywhere 
 else in the world. Here he will observe innumerable islets, level or pyra- 
 midal, floating like so many green nests upon the waves ; there he will seem 
 to be sailing along the coasts of large continents, or of its lands which he 
 could not circumnavigate in many months. Sometimes, as he advances to- 
 ward the rising sun, he beholds a succession of verdant plains or savannas, 
 which are then suddenly interchanged for alpine regions, covered with 
 gorgeous vegetation to the summit, which is often lost in the clouds. In one 
 place the seas are as narrow as rivers, intersected by coral reefs, studded 
 with feathery islets, sheltered by mountains overhung by cliffs and precipices, 
 and painted with a variety of brilliant colors by the superb reflections of the 
 shores. Elsewhere the waters unfold themselves in sunny expanses, on 
 which for whole days one may lose sight of land, though always made con- 
 scious of its vicinity by the flight of birds, or the appearance of small prahut 
 (boats), which could not venture their frail constructions upon the ocean. 
 The reflection which naturally suggests itself to the mind is, that one is pass- 
 ing over the ruins of a submerged continent, the pinnacles only of which, 
 now appear above the water. 
 
 The stranger cannot but regard with extreme interest the ever-varying 
 aspect of the different groups, peopled by millions of human beings, in very 
 different stages of civilization. He will observe fleets of prahus laden with 
 
WILKES S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 141 
 
 the merchandise of Europe, making their way with oars and sails toward the 
 Aroo islands, and the coasts of New Guinea, and others steering toward 
 Macassar, Labuan, Sarawak, or Singapore, with the rich commodities found 
 among the islands on the eastern verge of the archipelago, and all perform- 
 ing the duties of civilization's primitive apostles — uniting innumerable islands 
 and groups by the links of commerce, whose golden touch everywhere awakens 
 industry, and incites men, otherwise lethargic, to serve their neighbors by 
 benefiting themselves. 
 
 By this beneficent process the whole archipelago might, in time, be 
 brought to taste the blessings of refinement. Unfortunately, however, for 
 ages there has existed an extensive system of piracy, which has kept these 
 islands in a state of barbarism. These buccanneers are Malays, Dyaks, and 
 Arabs, who are exceedingly numerous in all the groups of islands. The 
 nature of the seas affords them every possible advantage for carrying on their 
 calling successfully ; large and endless coral reefs, of which they alone know 
 the secret entrances and exits ; narrow channels between islands ; gulfs, 
 shoals, creeks, and bays ; and on the great islands innumerable rivers ; with 
 a vast network of branches, channels, deltas, sandbanks, and diverging 
 mouths. Of the strength of their buccaneering fleets, various estimates 
 have been formed, but they have been known in former times, to amount to 
 several hundred prahus, which, with their united crews, formed a force of 
 several thousand pirates, all armed to the teeth, and inspired by an insati- 
 able appetite for rapine and plunder. 
 
 These fleets do not proceed to attack the posts or fleets of any neighboring 
 or hostile tribes, but taking the widest possible range, extend their ravages 
 to the most distant islands, and sometimes include Singapore within the scope 
 of their operations. It is an indisputable fact, that small vessels belonging 
 to that British post, have been captured among the intricate channels of the 
 neighboring groups, after which, the buccaneers, disguising themselves as 
 fishermen, or honest traders, have boldly entered the harbor, and sold both 
 the vessels and the merchandise they contained, to the Kling, Chinese or 
 Malay residents ; of course the crews of such unfortunate vessels were 
 otherwise disposed of — that is, were either murdered in cold blood, or sold 
 for slaves in some distant island. 
 
 On other occasions, when the pirates confine their ambition to humbler 
 achievements, they sweep along the coast of some great island, such as Bor- 
 neo, Celebes, Java, Sumatra, or New Guinea, plundering, ravaging, burning, 
 and collecting captives as they advance. When their force is sufficiently 
 great to inspire them with confidence, they ascend some river, and attack in 
 succession, all the towns erected on its banks. The plan they pursue is 
 generally this : a party disembarks, and penetrating through the jungle, hems 
 in the devoted settlement on the land side, while a cordon of prahus de- 
 velops itself along the beach. The inhabitants rush to arms, and defend 
 themselves, sometimes not without success, attacking and perhaps burning 
 the enemy's vessels. More commonly, however, the assailants triumph, the 
 village is sacked and destroyed, and the unfortunate inhabitants driven into 
 the wilderness. Sometimes they carry out their designs in a more diabolica/ 
 
14 2 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 manner. Approaching the village under cover of the night, with the utmost 
 silence and secrecy, they surround it completely on all sides ; and while the 
 main body stand ready with their spears and matchlocks, to slaughter ali 
 who attempt to escape, a few kindle torches, and advance and fire the 
 houses. A loud shout is then simultaneously raised, the more completely tc 
 bewilder the inmates, who, awakening in the midst of noise and flames, rush 
 forth blindly in the first impulse of terror, and are easily speared by the 
 pirates. On all the men death is inflicted in this way, but the women and 
 children are preserved to be disposed of in slave markets. These expedi- 
 tions are conducted on precisely the same principles and for the same objects 
 as the African slave hunts. 
 
 The piratical Malays, Dyaks, and Arabs, who chiefly subsist by making 
 war on industry, are nevertheless at intervals, themselves industrious, ap- 
 plying themselves to fishing, trading, collecting the produce of the surround- 
 ing forests, or even cultivating the soil, the process least reconcilable with the 
 habits of a buccaneer. Pitching upon a suitable situation, they erect for 
 themselves neat and capacious villages, which are extremely peculiar. In 
 these fertile equatorial countries, the trees attain an immense bulk and height, 
 and in the primeval wilderness, grow close together. With a taste and an 
 originality of conception, suggested at first, perhaps, by the nature of the 
 climate, they ascend these vast denizens of the forest, and cut off the head 
 and projecting branches at the height of about forty or fifty feet from the 
 ground, and by barking, to prevent growth, convert them into so many 
 pillars. On the summit of these they lay the foundation of their future 
 village, which thus, even in the most swampy situations, is airy, cool, and 
 healthy. The dwellings are formed of timber and light cane work, and with 
 republican simplicity, are made all of equal height and dimension. Along 
 its whole length, runs a broad gallery or veranda, with low lattice-work in 
 front, to prevent the children from tumbling over. Frequently this gallery 
 surrounds the whole village, and commands magnificent prospects over the 
 river and country. Here, in a sort of cloistered shade and breezy elevation, 
 the female pirates may be seen sitting at work, or nursing their babes, while 
 their husbands are on their distant and dangerous depredations, or en- 
 gaged in tending their cocoanut groves, rice plantations, and even their 
 gardens, for these people, rude and sensual in many respects, are highly 
 poetical in their partiality for horticulture. These piratical paradises, 
 with their trim beds, their carefully laid out alleys, their plants, flowers 
 and luxuriant vegetation, present an extremely pleasant feature to the fancy. 
 Close at hand, also, are the cocoanut groves, with their cleared stems and 
 clustering fruit, and long pendulous leaves, waving lazily in the wind. 
 
 In the dwellings of the pirates, the imagination may likewise find some- 
 thing with which to interest itself. When the Dyaks predominate, one of the 
 most remarkable objects perceived on entering, is a number of human heads, 
 smoke-dried, and suspended in festoons or strings; these are regarded as 
 warlike trophies, and are exhibited with pride by the inmates. 
 
 That there should be Arabs at all in these distant isles, may justly excite 
 the reader's surprise, especially when he learns their numbers, and the great 
 
WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPED1 HON. 143 
 
 power they have, at times, exercised among the native tribes. Of the irrup« 
 don of these men from Arabia, eastward, little is known, but it is supposed 
 to have taken place about a thousand years ago, when Islamism was first 
 communicaiing its mighty impulse to the populations of Western Asia, and 
 throwing them forth like lava streams, to overflow the neighboring countries 
 in all directions ; a section of the bold race, half prophets, half adventurers, 
 carried the sword of the faith to the very gates of the Celestial Empire, 
 everywhere triumphing, either by the force of their arms, or by the superi- 
 ority of their knowledge and understandings. When the Moslems, elevated 
 into a sublimity of character by their belief in the unity of God, first left 
 their homes, there was not a region in the world in which they would not 
 find themselves superior to all they met. With unparalleled disinterested- 
 ness, and singleness of purpose, and enthusiasm, they undertook the con- 
 quest of the world, not so much to acquire riches and dominion for them- 
 selves, as to insure reverence to the truths they taught, and the morality 
 which they, for a time, unquestionably, practiced. 
 
 Arriving in the Twelve Thousand Islands, they easily acquired among the 
 rude natives both respect and power, and soon became rulers, magistrates, 
 and lawgivers. Unsusceptible to the passion of fear, they exposed them- 
 selves without shrinking to the greatest danger, firmly persuaded that the) 
 must obtain power on earth, or the crown of martyrdom in heaven. 
 
 Their religious fervor gradually cooled, and what was first apostleship, 
 therefore, speedily became ambition ; and the children of Mahomet achieved 
 for themselves sovereignties, erected palaces, organized harems, and delighted 
 their epicurean fancies with a blaze of grandeur and magnificence scarcely 
 known to the sultans of Egypt, or the still more voluptuous Shahs of Ivan. 
 ■Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Timor, and Borneo, submitted to the sway of Mos- 
 lem princes, who, possessing the elements of a civilization, elevated very far 
 above that of the natives, may be said to have done good service by enlight- 
 ening and humanizing their subjects. What the Arabs of Egypt, and of 
 Persia, thought of the achievements of their countrymen in the east, may be 
 learned from the narratives of the "Arabian Nights," every page of which 
 furnishes evidence that the imagination of the Moslems figured to itself a 
 boundless world in the recesses of the Eastern Ocean, where islands and con- 
 tinents of unimaginable extent and fabulous opulence, stretched away inter- 
 minably toward the rising sun. 
 
 The Sultan of Matarain, in Java, and that of Brune\ in Borneo, acquired 
 extraordinary authority, and there was not one island of note in the whole of 
 the mighty group, that did not experience more or less the influence of Ma- 
 hommedanism. What direction this civilization might hare taken, had it 
 been left to freely develop itself, cannot now be determined upon, because in 
 the midst of its career the natives of Europe made their appearance in the 
 archipelago, and threw into inextricable confusion, the whole of this extraor- 
 dinary system of society. The Portuguese and the Spaniards took the lead, 
 and for awhile reaped a golden harvest. The former finding more encour- 
 agement elsewhere, drifted toward Japan and China, leaving the Spaniards 
 to struggle with the Dutch, for the supremacy of the archipelago, where the 
 
144 WILKES'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 
 
 rich and beautiful group of the Philippines still yields obedience to Spain. In 
 destroying one set of institutions, these Europeans did not establish their own ; 
 but such was their despotic, sanguinary course, which alone was governed by 
 motives of relentless cupidity, that under their baneful influence these islands 
 in a measure, have been thrust back into a state of barbarism. The British, 
 who of late have been taking measures to gain a foothold in the archipelago, 
 by their measures for destroying piracy, and by the efforts of their mission- 
 aries, will eventually do much for the civilization of its people." 
 
 At Singapore, the officers and crew of the exploring expedition joyfully 
 hailed the prospect of a speedy return to the land and homes from which 
 ,hey had been so long separated. 
 
 To the regret of all, the Flying-Fish, on examination, was found unfit to 
 •eturn home, and they were reluctantly compelled to sell at public auction, 
 she companion of so many perilous voyages, and the participant in strange, 
 wild adventures, in the distant southern seas. Her crew was transferred to 
 the other vessels, and the squadron sailed from Singapore on the 26th of 
 February, entering the Indian Ocean a week after. The Vincennes, making 
 more progress than the other vessels, Captain Wilkes concluded to touch at 
 the Cape of Good Hope, while the Porpoise and Oregon proceeded to Ric 
 Janeiro. The Vincennes arrived at Table Bay, in the middle of April, and 
 touched at St. Helena on the first of May, where the Porpoise and Oregon 
 had preceded her. On the 10th of June, 1842, she entered the Brooklyn 
 navy yard, where she was soon joined by the Porpoise and Oregon, and 
 gladly welcomed home, after a protracted voyage of perilous adventure, and 
 gratifying discovery, the Porpoise and Vincennes being the only two of the 
 original squadron, which four years previously had left the United States on 
 an expedition, in some respects, unequaled in interest and importance. 
 
BART LETT'S GLIMPSES 
 
 OF 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 NCAMPMENT IN THE DESEET. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Description of Egypt — Condition of Egypt in the time of Abraham— The Shepherd Kings— 
 The Theban Kings — Settlement of the Israelites — The Kings of Sais— Conquest by Alex- 
 ander — Conquest by the Arabs — Arrival at Alexandria — Miserable Condition of the 
 Fellahs — Alexandria — Mehemet Ali's Canal — Voyage on the Nile — The Nile Valley — The 
 Delta — Cairo — Blind Persons — The Regiments of one eyed soldiers — Vailed Females — 
 The Bazaar — Arab Merchants — Memphis — Heliopolis — Visit to the Pyramids. 
 
 This ancient and celebrated kingdom occupies the whole of the region of 
 the Nile, and in area equals four such states as Ohio. Little more than one- 
 tenth part, and principally that along the valley of the Nile can be cultivated, 
 the remainder consisting mainly of sandy deserts, and sterile rocky mountains. 
 The valley of the Nile from the cataracts to near Cairo, is bounded on both 
 sides by ranges of mountains. The banks of this celebrated river, consist 
 of a succession of rich plains of unequal width, studded with little groves 
 of palm trees, each of which hides a village. These groves, animated by 
 numerous flocks of turtle doves, pigeons, and other birds, are surrounded 
 with cultivated land, which is sometimes covered by the inundation ; and on 
 
 10 u:> 
 
146 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYP1. 
 
 the rising of the waters, or at other seasons by irrigation, is clothed with the 
 richest verdure, and the most luxuriant crops. 
 
 The Nile, about eighty miles from its entrance into the Mediterranean, 
 divides into two great branches, the dead level plain between them being 
 the celebrated Delta. On each side of the Delta is a level plain of the same 
 character. The whole of these plains are intersected in every direction by 
 numerous canals, which everywhere convey the water, and produce a con- 
 tinual verdure. About sixty miles above Cairo, a canal passes through a 
 gap in the western mountains, into a large and populous district called 
 Fayoum. Here, smiling fields covered with a luxurious, and almost tropical 
 magnificence of vegetation, form a beautiful contrast to the surround- 
 ing barren desert. 
 
 The coast of Egypt is so low, that when first seen, it looks like a faint line 
 on the horizon. Without the periodical rise of the Nile, which is caused by 
 the heavy annual rains in Central Africa, and its consequent depositions, the 
 whole of Egypt would be a desert, and the fertility of its inundated portions 
 would not exist, for it scarce ever rains in Egypt, in some parts not averag- 
 ing over two showers in a year. 
 
 Egypt contains all the cultivated vegetables in the old world ; but it has 
 neither meadows nor forests. Beasts of prey abound ; jackals and hyenas, 
 are common, crocodiles infest the Nile, and noxious vermin swarm among the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Egypt has long been occupied by races of various origin, who have re- 
 tained their distinguishing characteristics with the constancy peculiar to ori- 
 ental nations. The Mameluke, making his boast of being a purchased slave, 
 lived for centuries by the side of the Arab, proud of his freedom and ancient 
 family. The Mamelukes, however, are now expelled ; and the leading races 
 consist of the Copts, the Arabs, and the Turks. The Copts, though of no 
 political importance, are by much the most ancient, and, strictly speaking, the 
 only native race. The sculptures on the most ancient monuments represent 
 under the same form and features the original Egyptians, when that country 
 was ruled by its native kings. The word Copt seems even a corruption of 
 the middle syllable of the word Egyptian, and the Copts are supposed to be 
 descendants of the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 The most numerous part of the population, being that almost exclusively 
 employed in agriculture, consists of Arabs, whom the fertile soil of Egypt 
 has attracted f/om all the surrounding regions of desert. Lower Egypt has 
 been peopled chiefly from Arabia and the shore of the Red Sea ; Upper 
 Egypt, from the tracts of Africa, which lie to the west and south. These 
 cultivating Arabs, called Fellahs, retain much both of the features and char- 
 acter of their original tribes; an oval countenance, dark skin, large forehead, 
 and small sparkling eyes. Neither have they, by any means, lost that pride, 
 attachment to kindred and ancestry, and vindictive spirit, which distinguish 
 the independent sheiks of the desert. On the whole, however, their conduct 
 is much more settled and peaceable ; indeed, in the large towns of the Delta, 
 they have contracted dissolute and irregular habits, which seem to have pre* 
 vailed from antiquity in that part of Egypt. 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 147 
 
 The Turks, though the least numerous part of the population, are highly 
 important, as having been always, nominally, and as being now, really, the 
 masters of the country. In their general features they do not differ from 
 those who inherit the rest of the empire. This small portion, however, the 
 instruments of a despotic government, and who all either possess or aim at 
 political power, do not afford a favorable specimen of the Turkish character. 
 Among no description of men, perhaps, exists a more entire disregard of 
 principle, than among the officers of a despotic government, who, in seeking to 
 rise, are accustomed to resort to every means of violence or fraud. Spending 
 most of their time in a gloomy retirement, they brood in silence over their 
 dark machinations, and are continually revolving schemes for circumventing 
 and destroying each other. 
 
 There are Jews, Greeks, and Armenians in Egypt, but scarcely in sufficient 
 number to be considered otherwise than as strangers settled in the country. 
 The Jews are, in a great measure, supplanted by the Copts, a similarly op- 
 pressed race, in all those branches of traffic which usually devolve upon them 
 in Mahometan countries. 
 
 The religion of Egypt is the Mahometan, exercised with all its accustomed 
 bigotry and intolerance. The Copts, who profess Christianity, are subjected 
 to a special tribute or poll-tax, and are excluded from all public employments, 
 except those in which their exclusive qualifications render it absolutely 
 necessary to employ them. 
 
 In all hot countries, but more especially in Egypt, irrigation is the first re- 
 course of agriculture. The periodical inundation of the Nile, when swelled 
 by the rains of Abyssinia and central Africa, is the primary cause on which 
 her fertility depends. This is so fully admitted, that, in the years when the 
 Nile does not rise beyond a certain height, the miri, or tribute, is not exacted. 
 The whole of the Delta, during the autumnal season, is laid entirely under 
 water. To effect this object, a number of intersecting canals were formed by 
 the provident care of the ancient government; and the utility of these is so 
 urgent, and the consequences of their interruption so immediately fatal, that 
 they have not been wholly neglected, even by the supineness of modern ad- 
 ministration. The number of canals in Egypt has been stated at 6,000 ; but 
 this, at all events a loose estimate, cannot be true, unless we include those 
 minor channels conducted by private industry through every tract, and 
 almost every field. The great canals, which are maintained by the public, 
 do not exceed eighty or ninety. In a great part of Upper Egypt and of 
 Fayoum, machinery is employed to convey the water to grounds which, from 
 their elevation above the river, cannot, without artificial means, be inundated. 
 Buckets raised by pulleys are sometimes sufficient ; but at other times re- 
 course is had to more ingenious machines moved by oxen. This successive 
 rise and retiring of the waters produces a singular variation in the aspect and 
 surface of Egypt. According to the description of Amrou, in his report to 
 the Caliph Omar, it presents in succession an appearance of a field of dust, 
 that of a fresh -water sea, and that of a flower-garden." 
 
 The trade of Egypt consists chiefly in the export of her raw produce, par- 
 ticularly cotton, and of the articles brought from the interior by caravans . 
 
148 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 but the principal article is negro and Abyssinia slaves, who are brought in 
 great numbers to the slave markets of Egypt, whence all the neighboring 
 princes of the Turkish Empire are supplied. Modern Egypt is divided into 
 Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt. 
 
 There is no kingdom more distinguished in history than Egypt, or the name 
 of which excites more awful and solemn ideas. Her people are the earliest 
 known to us as a nation, and Egypt had endured for ages before Greece and 
 Rome sprung into existence. When Abraham entered the Delta, from Ca- 
 naan, the Egyptians had long enjoyed a settled government and established 
 laws. While Abraham and his countrymen were moving about in tents and 
 wagons, the Egyptians were living in cities. They had already cultivated 
 agriculture, and parceled out their valleys into farms; they reverenced a land- 
 mark as a god, while their neighbors knew of no property but herds and 
 moveables. They had invented hieroglyphics and improved them into sylla- 
 bic writing". Thev had invented records, and wrote their kings' names and 
 actions on the massive temples which they raised. Of course, we have no 
 means of counting the ages during which civilization was slowly making 
 these steps of improvement. Its earliest history is involved in fable, when 
 it is said the gods reigned on earth ; its ascertained history commences with 
 the oldest remaining records. These are the temple at Karnak, the obelisk 
 at Heliopolis, .the great pyramids built by kings of Memphis, with the tablets 
 in the copper-mines near Sinai, recording the conquest of that country by 
 Suphis. Such was the state of Egypt in the time of Abraham. It was di- 
 vided into several little kingdoms. Subsequently, the Chaldean and Pheni- 
 cian herdsmen moved from the east, and settled in great numbers in the 
 Delta, and their sovereigns, who dwelt at Abaris, the city probably after- 
 ward called Heliopolis, were called the shepherd kings. They took posses- 
 sion of some of the cities, and levied tribute upon the Egyptians. The states 
 of Egypt made common ground against their tyranny, and about 1500 years 
 before the birth of Christ united and expelled them from the land. 
 
 Now began the reign of those great Theban kings, whose temples, statues, 
 obelisks, and tombs, have made the valley of the Nile of such interest to 
 travelers, for more than three thousand years. The third pyramid was built; 
 the great sphinx was carved, and the two gigantic statues on the plain of 
 Thebes were set up, one of which uttered its musical notes every morning at 
 sunrise. 
 
 It was at the beginning of this period that the Israelites settled in the 
 Delta, and Joseph, as prime minister of the king of Memphis, changed the 
 laws of Lower Egypt. And it was after Thebes and Memphis were united, 
 that Moses led his countrymen out of Egypt, to escape the tyranny of their 
 masters. The Egyptian religion at this time, was the worship of a crowd of 
 gods, of which some were stone statues, and others living animals ; and it 
 was against these and other Egyptian superstitions, that many of the laws of 
 Moses are directly pointed. 
 
 The tombs of these kings are large rooms quarried into the Libyan hills, 
 opposite to Thebes, with walls carved with paintings, which this wonderfully 
 dry climate still keeps as fresh as if just painted, and with hieroglyphics 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EG fPT. 149 
 
 whbh we are attempting to read. The grand and simple columns whici 
 upheld their temples were afterward models from which the Greeks copied 
 Theban prosperity had lasted about 500 years, during which the magnifi- 
 cence and civilization of Egypt was the wonder of all neighboring nations. 
 
 For the next 300 years Egypt was in a state of war and turbulence. As 
 the prophet Isaiah had foretold, Egyptian fought against Egyptian, brother 
 against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom 
 against kingdom. At length, aided by the Greeks, the city of Sais gained 
 the mastery, and under the Kings of Sais, Egypt was again prosperous. 
 Next, Cambyses overran Egypt, and reduced it to a Persian province, and 
 for 200 years it suffered severely under its Persian rulers, and its own 
 struggles for freedom. 
 
 After Alexander the Great had conquered Persia, a little more than three 
 centuries before the birth of Christ, Egypt became a Greek kingdom, and 
 Alexander founded Alexandria, as the Greek capital. On his death, his 
 lieutenant, Ptolemy, became the first of a race of monarchs who governed 
 for three hundred years, and made it a second time the chief kingdom in the 
 world, till it sunk under its own vices and luxuries, and the rising power of 
 Rome. The Ptolemies founded a large public library, and a museum of 
 learned men. Under their patronage Euclid wrote his geometry ; conic sec- 
 tions were invented; anatomy was studied; Homer was edited; the Bible trans- 
 lated into Greek, and several of the apocryphal books were written. 
 
 Under these Alexandrian Kings, the Egyptians still continued building 
 their grand and massive temples, and finally unsuccessfully rebelled against 
 the Alexandrians. After the death of the beautiful Cleopatra and the defeat 
 of Mark Antony, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. It was 
 still a Greek state, and Alexandria was the chief seat of Greek learning and 
 science. The library which had been burnt by Caesar's soldiers, had been 
 replaced by another, the famous Alexandrian Library, afterward burnt by 
 the Arabs. The Egyptians still continued building temples, and covering 
 them with hieroglyphics as of old. But on the spread of Christianity, old 
 superstitions died out; animals were no longer worshiped, and hieroglyphics 
 ceased to be made. Monasteries were built all over the land ; Christian 
 monks took the place of Pagan hermits, and the Bible was translated into 
 the Coptic. 
 
 On the division of the Roman Empire, Egypt fell to the lot of Constanti- 
 nople, and the last traces of science retreated from Alexandria before 
 ignorance and bigotry. The country fell off every year in civilization, popu- 
 lation and strength ; and when the Arabs or Saracens, animated by religion, 
 and with all the vigor and youth of a new people, burst forth upon their 
 neighbors, Egypt was conquered by the followers of Mahomet, a. d., G40, 
 six hundred and seventy years after it had been conquered by the Romans, 
 and with the exception of the short time it was in possession of Napoleon, it 
 has been under the dominion of people of that faith, from that day to this. 
 
 It was on a bright day early in the summer of 1845, that Mr. W. H. Bart- 
 lett, the author of " Forty Days in the Desert," embarked on board a 
 
150 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 steamer at Marseilles, for the historic land of Egjpt. Their voyage through 
 this summer sea was brief and prosperous. After leaving the Island of 
 Malta, the sky grew warmer, and was tinged with a soft purple hue, as they 
 neared the African coast. On the fourth day, the Egyptian shore appeared, 
 a long, low, yellow line of sand, specked with a few distant palm trees, and 
 camels pacing along the coast. Soon they were before Alexandria, which was 
 the greatest of all cities founded by the mighty conqueror, who here meant 
 to revive the glory of the Troy which he had ruined. 
 
 Of the ancient splendor of the great capital of the West, scarce a trace 
 remains. Our traveler found the town of a half Oriental, half European 
 aspect, its streets swarming with Turks in gorgeous robes, half naked Arabs, 
 glossy Negroes, shabby-looking Israelites, Greeks, Armenians, and Europeans, 
 of every shade, from lordly consuls, down to scamps of every degree ; dirty 
 Christian monks, sullen moslem dervishes, sore-eved beggars, naked children 
 covered with fleas, and troops of half savage dogs, all aided to fill up the 
 motley picture. 
 
 The Fellahs, or Egyptian Arabs, are the common laborers, and although 
 very graceful and antique in appearance, are a wretched race, living in filth 
 in ruined hovels, which the first storm destroys. Even childhood here, 
 seems a most wretched period of existence ; the meager, listless infants 
 covered with dirt and fleas, which form a black ring around their apparently 
 diseased eyes, present a distressing spectacle. Yet with all their poverty and 
 i qualor the Fellahs are a noisy, jovial people. 
 
 The ruins of the ancient city founded by Alexander, lay a short distance 
 .outh of the modern town. Here, among the relics of the desolation of ages, 
 are the obelisks called the needles of Cleopatra, and Pompey's pillar, a noble 
 column of granite about seventy feet high. It is supposed to have belonged to 
 a magnificent building, containing the celebrated Alexandrian Library, burnt 
 by the Moslem conqueror, Caliph Omar. This library was composed of 
 700,000 manuscript volumes ; these were supposed to have been mostly 
 works of theological controversy. The fanatical Omar ordered its destruc- 
 tion, exclaiming, that if the contents of the books were agreeable to the word 
 of God, that is the Koran, there would be no need of them; if not they ought 
 not to exist. They were accordingly used for heating the 4000 baths of the 
 great city of the West, which then contained no less than 4000 palaces, and 
 400 theaters. Under Moslem rule the city rapidly declined. 
 
 A canal seventy miles long, cut in 1819, by Mehemet Ali, connects Alex- 
 andria with the Nile. Such was his reckless, despotic haste, that a forced 
 levy of 300,000 Fellahs were gathered to make the work, without tools or 
 adequate provisions. Obliged to dig with their hands, often in deep mud 
 and a poisonous atmosphere, 30,000 of their number perished in the seven 
 months in which the work was constructed. The canal is animated by the 
 constant passage of boats laden with rice, corn, and cotton, the rich produce 
 of the valley of the Nile ; its scenery is monotonous, and the traveler soon 
 wearies by the universal presence of the squalid mud hovel of the Fellah, 
 the naked filthy children, and the clamorous, greasy, blear-eyed population, 
 whose tattered rags seem alive with vermin. Our traveler on this occasioc 
 
BARTLETT S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 151 
 
 left Alexandria for Cairo by a steamer. On a previous visit, he went in 
 a boat, via the canal, and of this first voyage he gives a particular 
 description. 
 
 On arriving at Atfeh, the point on the Nile where the canal terminates, Mr. 
 Bartlett embarked on board a small boat for Cairo. The sun had sunk; a 
 rosy twilight had succeeded, and above the rich level of the Delta, the moon 
 was peeping. "And here," says he, "I must notice, that what reconciles 
 the traveler to this land of plagues, is not alone the monumental wonders on 
 the banks of the Nile, but the beauty of the climate, the luxuriousness of the 
 air, the glorious sunset, and serene twilight, reflected in the noble river, and 
 casting over the hoary remains of antiquity, a glow and gorgeousness of hue, 
 which heightens their melancholy grandeur, and gilding over a mud village, 
 until its tilth and misery are forgotten." He mounted on the roof of the 
 little cabin, as the broad lateen sail swelled smoothly under the pressure of 
 the wind. The boat, with her long wake whitening in the moon, and her 
 Arab crew lying upon the deck, and chanting their plaintive songs, flew 
 rapidly along through these historic waters ; the noise of the Fellahs, and 
 sounds of the Darrabuka, or Egyptian drum, were heard loudly, and then 
 again died away, as they alternately neared or receded past the villages on 
 the bank. On awakening the next morning, the breeze had died away, and 
 the crew were engaged in tracking or towing the boat on the bank, to the 
 music of a monotonous chant. Not a breath of air stirred, the cloudless sky 
 was reflected upon the glassy river, and the heat, as the day advanced, was 
 overpowering. 
 
 The lower Nile is at first amusing, but soon tires by its sameness. The 
 villages of mud huts embowered in palm groves that line the bank, and their 
 noisy babbling crowd of Fellahs ; the glimpses of the green Nile valley and 
 its yellow desert boundary, like life and death in startling juxtaposition and 
 contrast — the picturesque boats, with their gay colored passengers — the men 
 paddling on rafts loaded with watermelons or pottery — the creaking water- 
 wheels used for irrigation — all form a sort of slow moving panorama, which, 
 seen under a brilliant sky, interest at first by their lively novelty. Three 
 thousand years since, how infinitely more lively must have been the scene ! 
 Then innumerable boats thronged the river, from the high prowed barges 
 of the kings and nobles, splendidly painted, adorned with hieroglyphics, and 
 with richly ornamented sails, to the ordinary passage boats of the more 
 humble Egyptians. Incessant crowds filled the banks with chariots and horse- 
 men, and thickly spread villages with elegant temples amid groves of palm, 
 and extensive villas and gardens and vineyards, stretched away in endless 
 variety. 
 
 The river to whose beneficent agency the ancient Egyptians owed their 
 greatness, was regarded as peculiarly sacred. In all the cities certain 
 priests were appointed to the sole service of this deity, the god Nilus ; and 
 if a corpse was found upon the sacred shore, the nearest town was obliged 
 to embalm and bury it with every mark of honor. 
 
 When in the season of the annual flood, the river has attained its full 
 height, very singular is the appearance of the country. The vast inundated 
 
!52 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 expanse extends to the desert boundary of the valley ; the isolated villages 
 in their palm groves, are scattered about like floating islands. As it begins 
 to fall, the sower, wading into the mud, literally " casts his bread upon the 
 waters," which cover the recent, and still liquid deposit. When the water 
 drains off from particular places, a carpet of the most vivid green immedi- 
 ately follows in its train, and the face of the land glows with a new-created 
 beauty. 
 
 After passing the fork of the Delta where the two branches of the Nile 
 join, our traveler first caught sight of the pyramids, afar off on the borders 
 of the Libyan desert, which, like the first distant view of the Alps, produces 
 a sensation never to be forgotten. On the opposite or east bank of the 
 river, the fantastic minarets of Cairo, a perfect ornamental city, built by the 
 Arab conquerors ef the fallen empire, peeped forth from amid a dense mass 
 of palm groves and gardens. Arrived at Boulak, the port of Cairo, our 
 traveler found the shores lined with kiosks and coffee houses, full of indo- 
 lent smokers, and crowds of camels and asses, with most noisy drivers. 
 Vast heaps of corn, the wealth of the Nile valley, lay upheaped ready for 
 shipment, warehousing being unnecessary in this dry soil and climate. 
 Mounting, on a donkey, our traveler was soon in " the Great Al Cairo," the 
 city of Saladin, and of the Arabian Nights. 
 
 Cairo stands three miles east of the Nile, and is the natural center of 
 Egypt: Heliopolis was five miles below its site, and Memphis ten above. The 
 city is one of the most completely Arabian now existing. Within, though 
 here and there is an open square, it is one maze of crooked lanes ; the widest 
 generally, being barely sufficient for two laden camels to pass abreast, the 
 narrowest scarcely one. The lower parts of these narrow lanes are usually 
 in shadow. Often from a private garden, palm trees overhang the narrow 
 passage. The style of the nouses, like that of the old European cities of the 
 middle ages, consists of successive stories cf latticed windows, overlying one 
 another to the topmost story, till in the gloomy Jewish quarter, they actually 
 meet and interclasp one another. These lattices are devoid of glass, and 
 are so contrived as to admit a free view of the passengers, while those within 
 are concealed from the most prying scrutiny. Over the door, is generally 
 some inscription of a religious character. Numerously scattered about the 
 streets are fountains, a peculiar feature of oriental cities. The crowd is in- 
 cessant, and the variety of characters and costumes very curious. The bulk 
 of the population are Moslem Arabs, a few Turks, and Jews, many Christian 
 Copts, and a mixture of Europeans. In one place, one may see an Arabian 
 Fady riding an immense ass, gayly adorned with tassels and trappings, and 
 conducted through the crowd by a servant. She is enveloped in a silk 
 wrapper, her whole person except her face, which is half covered by a thin 
 white muslin vail, concealing all but the dark lustrous eyes. It is often 
 ludicrous to observe the studied care with which a girl covers her face with 
 the fragment of a vail, while she raises her drapery in the freest manner 
 possible. Nothing seems regarded by the Moslem females as a breach of 
 modesty, if the face be covered, which to show, is regarded as an open 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT 153 
 
 proof of the abandonment of virtue. Sometimes } t ou encounter a whole harem 
 thus mysteriously equipped. 
 
 One is astonished at the immense number of blind persons to be met with 
 in these streets, and indeed, everywhere in Egypt. It has been variously 
 attributed to the continual glare of the sun, the subtile, impalpable dust, 
 which is one of the plagues of the country, and to the transition from the 
 dry air to the moist vapors of the Nile. Moreover, in the hope of escaping 
 the ruthless conscription, by which Mehemet Ali recruited his armies, parents 
 frequently deprived their boys of one of their eyes. The despotic pacha 
 was not thus to be balked of his prey — he formed two regiments of one-eyea 
 soldiers. 
 
 The Bazaars of Cairo, as in all oriental cities, are the great gathering 
 places of the population, the head-quarters for news, gossip, and intrigue of 
 the town. Through their dark labyrinths, a dense crowd incessantly pours. 
 Each trade has its separate quarter, and there are numerous Khans, 01 
 depots for the reception of merchandise ; these are large courts, surrounded 
 by buildings opening from the bazaars, and defended by strong gates closed 
 at night. To wander about and mingle with the strange and turbulent crowds, 
 impresses the European with novel sensations, every turn presenting a fresh 
 picture of oriental life and manners. 
 
 The shopman of Cairo does but little business, and is in no sort of a hurry 
 about it. Even with the aid of pipe and prayers, he has some difficulty tc 
 kill the time. Here is no fear of " tremendous competition," and everything 
 jogs on in its old way. He squats cross-legged on his little carpet before his 
 shop door, fills his pipe and puffs away. Does a customer approach, another 
 pipe is filled and presented, and at intervals between the puffs, the trade is 
 slowly carried on. The trader begins by asking too much, the purchaser by 
 offering too little, and by the time the pipe is ended, the difference is adjusted, 
 and the bargain concluded " in the name of God." When the mournful 
 cry of the muezzin — the watchman who reminds the faithful that the hour 
 of prayer has come — thrills from the gallery of some neighboring minaret, 
 the shopkeeper pauses, and goes through with the appointed round of devo- 
 tion and praise. Of that modern invention the newspaper, he is profoundly 
 ignorant, but at intervals he chats with a casual passenger, or retails with 
 his neighbor the rumors of the passing hour, or takes a quiet nap on his 
 shop-board. Thus he contrives to while away the hours until sundown. 
 
 From the lofty citadel of Cairo, one takes in at a view the whole city, with 
 its beautiful mosques and their counfrless domes, and fantastic minarets. To 
 the east in a secluded valley stand the long ranges of the tombs of the Mame- 
 luke sultans, stretching into the desert toward the Red Sea. On the south 
 extends the dense verdure of the Delta, where stood Heliopolis, the most 
 learned city of Egypt, and there yet stands its obelisk, upon which Abraham 
 may with curious eyes have gazed as he entered that wonderful land. But 
 to the westward it is, that the chief glories of the scene expand ; the long 
 range of the dusky pyramids standing in sublime serenity above the site of 
 vanished Memphis, on the edge of the boundless Libyan desert, glorious 
 
154 JBARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF ElYPT. 
 
 lelics pointing backward from an antiquity already hoary, through a long 
 and dim vista of unknown monarchs, toward the unknown orioin of 
 civilization. 
 
 It is a pleasant ride of two hours from Cairo to the site of Heliopolis. The 
 traveler is surprised to find that it stood on an artificial elevation. Nothing 
 remains of its splendid edifices but one solitary obelisk. It was at Heliopolis, 
 it is supposed, that Moses planned the liberation of his countrymen ; here 
 too, or in the vicinity, Jeremiah wrote his Lamentations for their downfall. 
 From the learned priests of Heliopolis, Plato, who studied here, is believed tc 
 have derived the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and of a future 
 state of rewards and punishments. 
 
 One afternoon, our traveler, with some companions, set forth from Cairo tc 
 visit the pyramids. As they emerged from the city, they encountered one 
 of those suffocating tempests of hot sand, which is among the most torment- 
 ing plagues of the country. They crossed the Nile by a ferry, and struck 
 the edge of the Libyan desert as the sun was sinking behind the pyra- 
 mids in a flash of glory. A whole posse of Arabs just then rushed forth, to 
 force upon them their importunate, annoying services. A few blows, well 
 laid on from the baton of their guard, a well armed Janizary, was necessary 
 to disperse them. On reaching the place among the tombs where they 
 intended passing the night, the Sheik of the neighboring Arab village came 
 forward, and they agreed with him, for the services of two Arabs as guides, 
 on the following morning, to assist them in the ascent of the great pyramid. 
 
 This done, they sallied forth on to the desert, where a majestic apparition 
 suddenly burst upon them, whitened by the light of the rising moon, the 
 enormous head and shoulders of the sphinx — that famous monument with 
 the body of a lion, and the face of a young woman. — Its features, though 
 mutilated, yet bore an expression of bland repose, and immutable serenity. 
 Returning to their nocturnal abode in a tomb, scooped out of the rock on 
 which the great pyramid is reared, they laid down upon their carpets, and 
 were soon wrapped in slumber. 
 
 The next morning, the Arabs awoke them, and in a few moments they 
 were at the base of the great pyramid. As with Niagara, so is it with these 
 marvels of creation ; it is not until you stand close beneath them, that you 
 realize their overwhelming magnitude and grandeur. With the assistance 
 of the Arabs, they ascended the countless layers of masonry until panting 
 and palpitating they had gained the summit. 
 
 The view from the great pyramid is as wonderful as the structure itself. 
 From its top they looked down upon two regions different as life itself. Far 
 as the eye could see, stretched away the glorious valley, the eternal fertility 
 of which has outlived the empires founded upon, and nourished by, its 
 wonderful soil. And everywhere coming up to its green edge, like an impass- 
 able barrier, were the yellow sands of the boundless Libyan desert. Over 
 the eastward mountains on the other side of the Nile, the sun uprose like a 
 ball of intense fire. As it climbed the sky, the distant Nile flushed with the 
 growing splendor. The smoke curled up from the Arab villages, and the 
 barking of dogs, the sh^ll voices of Fellahs, and the lowing of cattle, faintly 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 155 
 
 ascended to their lofty post. But the only sound that arose from the im- 
 mense expanse of the Libj 7 an desert, was the wailing of the winds over its 
 dead surface in wild and mournful music. 
 
 For 2,000 years the builders and the objects of the pyramids, were 
 mysteries which baffled all the wise men of various ages. At length the 
 discoveries of Champollion, have enabled the monuments to tell their own 
 history, to disclose their objects, and the names of their builders. Recent 
 explorations have brought to light no less than sixty-nine pyramids, which 
 are proved to have been a succession of royal monuments; the size of each 
 is supposed to have been corresponding to the length of the reign of each 
 builder, who added every year a fresh layer of stones until his decease, 
 when the pyramid was finished and closed up. When we view the night of 
 immeasurable antiquity into which their history extends, we can appreciate 
 the sublime exclamation of Napoleon, when upon the plain beneath, prepared 
 to give battle to the Mameluke cavalry; "Soldiers! from the summit of 
 these monuments forty centuries look down upon you." 
 
 The entrance to the great pyramid is about forty feet from the ground. 
 Within it are several narrow channels, all running in a sloping direction, their 
 united length being many hundred feet. They conduct to several apart- 
 ments, the most prominent of which, are the king's and the queen's cham- 
 bers. The last is under the very top of the pyramid, and beneath it is 
 supposed that the body of the king was deposited 4,000 years ago. 
 The king's chamber, the principal room, is entirely constructed of red 
 granite, as is also an empty sarcophagus, or stone coffin, which there reots 
 upon an enormous granite block. In a passage above this chamber, was 
 discovered an engraved tablet in hieroglyphical characters, bearing the name 
 of King Suphis, the founder of the pyramid. 
 
 That a people who could erect such monuments as the pyramids must 
 have arrived at a btfffa decree of civilization and refinement is a natural infer- 
 ence, and one fully corroborated by the remarkable modern discoveries 
 among the numerous surrounding tombs. Wilkinson had already found 
 representations of "the trades, boats, repasts, dancing, agricultural and 
 farming processes, as in the tombs of later date, at Thebes and elsewhere, and 
 with enumerations in figures of the wealth of the owner of the tomb, which 
 like that of Abraham, consisted principally in flocks and herds. He remarks, 
 that a picture of a butcher sharpening his red knife on a blue rod, seems to 
 prove the use of steel. Copper, we know from the monumental tablets at 
 those places, was brought by the kings of this dynasty from the neighboring 
 peninsula of Sinai, where their names are engraved upon the rocks. These 
 mysterious pyramids, which have excited the conjectures and baffled the scru- 
 tiny of ages — even the empty tombs that were abandoned to the bats and 
 jackals — seem now, by the Prometheus wand of hieroglyphical discovery, 
 to reveal a world of curious information as to minutest details of a civilization 
 existing some four thousand years ago. 
 
 It has latterly been maintained that these stupendous monuments were 
 erected by gradual and easy degrees, by paid labor, and at government ex- 
 pense ; serving, in fact, the most useful and beneficent design of giving 
 
156 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 employment to the poorer classes of a vast agricultural population, confined by 
 nature on a mere strip of alluvial soil, when thrown idle three months of the 
 year by tb' inundation of the Nile. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Dicscrip? ic ff of the Egyptian hieroglyphics— the Eosetta Stone —Mexican hieroglyphics- 
 Chinese do. —Dancing girls —Morning on the Upper Nile —Villages — Tombs of Beni 
 Hassan — Boatmen of the Nile — Siout — Slave boat — Melancholy spectacle — Temple of 
 Dendera— Keneh— Ruins of Thebes— their vastness— Temples of Carnac and Luxor— Tho 
 Vocal Memnon — Metropolis of Death — Process of Embalming — Address to the Mummy 
 at Bolzoni's exhibition — Esneh — Edfou — Splendor of Ancient Egypt— Suez Canal. 
 
 The earliest and simplest mode of recording events seems to have been 
 that of hieroglyphics or picture writing, which is a rude delineation of objects, 
 such as that by which the Mexican scouts informed their master Montezuma 
 of the arrival of Cortez and his band, by sketching the appearance of the 
 Spaniards, their ships, horses, and fire-arms. But picture writing becomes 
 too cumbersome and imperfect a process for recording facts, and some method 
 must be contrived for shortening the task. This is effected at first, perhaps, 
 by sketching only a part for the whole, such as a scaling ladder to represent 
 a siege, and flying arrows to indicate a battle, etc. The next step is to invent 
 symbols, in which one thing is put for another, from some supposed or fancied 
 resemblance. Thus, an eye, with a scepter underneath, denotes the king or 
 kingly power ; a hawk's head, surmounted by a disc, represents the sun, etc. 
 By a combination of such symbols an event may be recorded, and will pre- 
 sent itself to the mind of the beholder, who has the key of the system, with- 
 out the assistance of words. 
 
 Until within the last thirty years the sculptures and paintings which so pro- 
 fusely cover Egyptian monuments, were entirely unintelligible, because the 
 key to their explanation, that is, the power of reading the hierog'yphical 
 inscriptions everywhere accompanying them, was wanting. By degrees, a 
 nearer approach was made to this key by the discovery of the famous Rosetta 
 stone, now in the British museum. This stone, found by the French at Ro- 
 setta, a village in Egypt, is a yard long, and nearly as broad. It contains 
 three inscriptions. The first inscription is in pure hieroglyphic characters, 
 the second in demotic characters, a kind of written hieroglyphics, and the 
 third and last is in Greek. From the last, or Greek inscription, it appears that 
 the three inscriptions, either wholly or substantially, mean the same thing, 
 and form a royal decree, which was ordered to be sculptured. According 
 to the Greek inscription, it appears also, that the stone was erected in the 
 reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes, (a. c. 194,) whose benevolence it describes, and 
 enumerates his victories, and the principal transactions of his reign. 
 
 The inscriptions are a good deal mutilated, particularly the hieroglyph ical; 
 but they are still sufficiently distinct to allow the characters on the first and 
 second inscriptions to be compared with each other and the Greek. As the 
 discovery of this stone presented to the learned the first opportunity of 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 157 
 
 viewing the Greek language along with the Egyptian written language— a 
 known with an unknown writing — great hopes were entertained that a nearly 
 complete key would thereby be obtained to the deciphering of the nume- 
 rous monuments of ancient Egypt. 
 
 The Greek inscription thus being proved to be a translation, the attention 
 of learned men was next directed with intense earnestness to the second or de- 
 motic one. It appears, however, from the investigations of Dr. Young and 
 Champollion, whose attention has been deeply engrossed with this subject, 
 that the Greek does not faithfully represent the demotic inscription, but 
 merely gives its substance. Hence, the great difficulties which involve this 
 subject, and which from that time to this baffles the investigations of the sci- 
 entific. Yet many of these secrets have been unraveled, and the time may 
 come when the vast fund of information which the ancient Egyptians sculp- 
 tured with so much labor will be thrown open to the perusal of the modern 
 world. 
 
 According to Champollion, the hieroglyphical writing of the Egyptians 
 consists of three different species of characters. 
 
 First. The hieroglyphic, properly so called, in which the representation 
 of the object conveys the idea of the object itself, either entire or in a short- 
 ened form. Many words were thus expressed, chiefly those denoting com- 
 mon visible objects. These are termed, by Champollion, figurative, and are 
 divided into figurative proper, figurative conventional, — that is agreed upon as 
 figurative — and figurative abridged. 
 
 Second. Ideas represented by visible objects, used as symbols ; and these 
 are generally employed in the expression of abstract ideas or complex matters. 
 For instance, such as representing a tumult by the picture of a man throwing 
 arrows ; adoration, by a censer containing burning incense, etc. In some of 
 these the connection between the thing to be related and the object selected 
 to depict it are easily seen ; in other cases, the connection depends on associa- 
 tions, not understood by us, and which therefore we cannot trace. 
 
 Third. The last species of hieroglyphics consists of phonetic characters, in 
 which the sign represents not an object but a sound. The honor of the 
 recent progress made in the explanation of* the hieroglyphical writing is 
 divided between the English orientalist, Dr. Youn^, and the Frenchman, 
 Champollion ; but the latter appears to have had no small share in the original 
 discoveries, as well as to have carried the science to a high degree of 
 cultivation. 
 
 The walls and monuments, and statues of the ruined cities of central 
 America are covered with hieroglyphics. These were, doubtless, sculptured 
 at a very early day, as even the existence of these ruins were unknown at the 
 time of the conquest of Cortez. The workmanship in some of these monu- 
 ments is considered equal to the finest Egyptian sculpture ; but in others it is 
 more rude. Whence came the race who built them is a mystery ; but analo- 
 gies have been descried in their works to those of the most ancient people of 
 the old world. 
 
 The Chinese writing was originally wholly ideographic ; i. e. expressing ideas 
 wholly by symbols, which answers to the second class of Egyptian hierog\y 
 
158 BARTLETTS GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 phics, with some admixture of the first. But in the process of time the 
 greater part of the characters have become simply phonetic. 
 
 Our traveler from Cairo proceeded up the Nile en route for Thebes, in a 
 boat which he had hired. On the afternoon of the second day he was 
 attracted by the sound of music, and perceived an assemblage of orientals 
 under a gourd on the river bank, and rising now and then over their heads 
 the braceleted arms and castanets of the famous Ghawazee or Egyptian 
 dancing-girls. He went ashore to witness the spectacle. Around a platform 
 grouped a number of officers of the Pacha. The most part of them had 
 grown gray under a system ojf cruel oppression, of which they were the 
 agents. Their faces were grave, hard, and cruel lines were about their eyes 
 and mouths, and they rarely moved a muscle, but when some little voluptuous 
 bycplay of the dancers, specially addressed to themselves, brought a hideously 
 sensual smile across their pallid faces. They occupied the seats of honor, 
 while behind them, crowded together, Fellahs, boatmen, women and children. 
 The dancing-girls seemed half overcome with the heat, excitement, and raki, 
 (a liquor made from the palm-tree,) which an old white-bearded cafe-keeper 
 administered at the end of every dance. The dance at first was modestly 
 coquettish, it became by degrees the excitement of wanton frenzy, and at 
 length died away in languor. When our traveler first ascended the platform 
 they were merely in lazy, and somewhat graceful attitudes, clicking their cas- 
 tanets, and exchanging speaking glances with the old hoary sinners around ; 
 but as he seated himself one of them saluted him with such a gesture of an 
 original and unequivocal character, as brought forth shouts of applause from 
 old and young, crimsoned his cheeks with the blush of offended modesty, and 
 made him wish himself anywhere but there. None were here ashamed openly 
 to applaud what is considered more decent to vail in our more refined coun- 
 try, where the opera dancer is skilled in throwing a still more dangerous 
 charm of mingled grace and piquancy over the same idea, which, in all its 
 unvailed gros&ness, forms the characteristic expression of the Egyptian 
 dance. 
 
 The next morning upon the Nile was most delicious. Our traveler break- 
 fasted under the awning outside of his cabin. " There are hours, " says he, 
 " which one can never forget, into which the enjoyment generally spread 
 over life seems concentrated ; among these few are more happy than thoso 
 in which we realize another climate, the air, soil, and vegetation being 
 totally different, all inspiring new and delicious sensations. Such was this 
 morning upon the Nile. There was such a broad, lustrous tranquillity in the 
 cloudless, purple heaven, shed upon the noble stream, coming down through 
 its eternal valley in a full, majestic, glassy current ; the tall stems of the 
 palms, grouping to the very edge of the river, lifted their burden of gently 
 rustling fans so serenely into the summer air, with their glowing clusters of 
 yellow dates, just ripening, their rich gum catching the morning beams ; and 
 the level green valley, variegated with crops, spread away so quietly to its 
 desert boundary, its verdure rendered tenfold more beautiful by contrast with 
 the yellow sands. I leaped ashore, and walked along the river bank ; the 
 palm-trees and groves of sont, a species of acacia, were thronged by lniume* 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. \j\) 
 
 rable birds darting about the surface of the water ; and so happy and joy 
 Suspiring is the climate, that the poor, enslaved Fellah for a while forgett 
 his care, and mingles his songs with theirs, as he leaves his village to repair 
 to the labors of the field. Strolling through the palm-groves, I reached 
 Bibbe, a considerable village, standing on a high bank above the river. The 
 villages in Egypt, very pretty at a distance, are far from answering to the 
 luxuriant appearance of the country, and a brief inspection reveals the 
 degraded and miserable state of the inhabitants. Vast mounds of dust and 
 offal are usually collected at the outskirts, the favorite resort of dogs, flies, 
 and filthy children often quite naked, who assail the traveler, the one with 
 loud barkings, and the other with deafening cries for beckshish. The dwell- 
 ings are but a collection of mud hovels ; but the residence of the " Sheik 
 belled," or head of the village, has usually a little more architectural pre- 
 tensions, though confined to the same material. This functionary is often 
 tolerably well dressed, but the great bulk of the Fellahs have scarcely a rag 
 to cover them, and the women's whole clothing consists of a Ions: blue robe, 
 grievously worn and tattered. Enter one of their wretched dwellings, — there 
 are but a few vessels for food and water, and the around serves for chair and 
 table ; yet, as in such a climate it is certain that the wants of the body are far 
 less sensibly felt. 
 
 Beside the dwelling of the Sheik, the mosque, with its minaret, is the only 
 feature of the village. I have been amused at the grotesque spectacle pre- 
 sented at one of these villages at high noon, when the whole population, 
 rational and irrational, seems to take the river 'en masse.' The buffaloes, 
 camels, asses, and sheep crowd down to the brink ; old men are seen sitting 
 apart gravely by the edge, engaged in an elaborate purification of their per- 
 sons, without a particle of clothing; naked children are dabbling and washing 
 one another, and women swimming about in the stream ; while those who 
 have already profited by the cleansing agency of the flood, are sitting apart 
 deeply involved in depopulating their ragged garments before venturing again 
 to resume them." 
 
 Proceeding on his voyage, he reached the celebrated tombs of Beni Hassan, 
 situated high up on the side of the hills which ascend from the river bank. 
 Their architecture is simple and elegant, and is probably that from which the 
 Grecian Doric was derived. The walls of one which Mr. Bartlett entered is 
 covered with an inexhaustible variety of paintings, showing, w. h surprising 
 distinctness, the domestic manners of that remote period. They embrace all 
 the processes of agriculture, from sowing to harvest, with fowling, fishing 
 and hunting scenes ; the different trades and occupations, and even amuse- 
 ments, dancing, wrestling, playing at ball, and even the inflicting of punish- 
 ment by the bastinado. Here you see, as on the bank of the Nile at the pre- 
 sent day, peasants proceeding to market, bearing their burdens, and driving 
 their cattle hefore them, and the different craft on the river, minutely 
 depicted. 
 
 When the wind lulled away, as it frequently did on their voyage, the men 
 were obliged to track or drag the boat against the current, a most toilsome 
 process. The boatmen on the Nile, like all Egyptian Arabs, are pious in 
 
160 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT 
 
 thv-ir way. Their mutual salutations are all prayers. " Peace be unto you!" 
 " God be with you !" " May God receive you into paradise," are common 
 expressions, interchanged between passing crews, and they never pass each 
 other without saluting one another. The songs with which they encourage 
 each other as they labor are in a similar strain of invocation, and often have 
 a very beautiful effect. The Iieis, or headman, leads the air, and the boat- 
 men sing in chorus, increasing in fervor in the vigor of their labors, almost to 
 frenzy with the difficulties to be surmounted. 
 
 In a few days they reached Siout, the capital of Upper Egypt, some two 
 hundred miles above Cairo. It is a considerable town, with handsome 
 mosques, and richly picturesque environs. It is the resort of caravans of 
 slaves, who, after being hunted down in their native country in the far inte- 
 rior, are brought here across the desert. It has a still more infamous dis- 
 tinction, as being the chief place where the black guardians of the harem 
 are deprived, by a torturing process, of their manhood. One shudders with 
 horror at such a state of society as demands such atrocities. And as evi- 
 dence of the degraded state of Christianity here, its Coptic professors are 
 agents in these horrible violations. 
 
 At Girgeh a village farther up the river, he found a vessel laden with 
 female slaves for the Cairo market, mostly negro girls, with a few specimens 
 of Abyssinian beauty, much esteemed by the voluptuaries of the capital. 
 " The principal Jellab or slave dealer," says Mr. Bartlett, " was seated on the 
 shore, apparently waiting the chance of a purchaser. A number of negro 
 girls were lounging about upon the sunny shore, reveling in the grateful heat, 
 while others sat upon the boat. They were fine well-made creatures, glossy 
 as satin, and in excellent condition ; for the most part lively, careless chat- 
 terers, and rather bearing out the accounts of some travelers of warm 
 imaginations, who represented them as purely sensual, and always anxious 
 to attract a purchaser as soon as possible. Whatever suffering they might 
 have endured in the circumstance of their original capture, they were to all 
 appearance taken very great care of. A fat, flabby old Turk now came 
 waddling down from Girgeh, and the Abyssinians were produced and shown. 
 They did not, however, answer his expectations, in fact, I had myself seen 
 far handsomer in the slave bazaar at Cairo, and he fell back upon the negro 
 girls. A group was now formed around one whom I had not noticed before, 
 and who presented in her reluctant, downcast manner, a singular contrast to 
 the rest. Her dress consisted merely of a string of leathern thongs around 
 the loins, but a large wrapper was thrown loosely over her. The slave-dealer 
 placed her, like a connoisseur, and proceeded to dwell upon her ' points,' 
 but she did not somehow tell upon the sensual fantasy of the old Turk : he 
 was provoked by her air of dejection, and rudely thrust up her declining 
 head ; next, with a cautious manipulation from head to foot, proceeded, in 
 jockey phrase, to ascertain her soundness ; and, finally, hastily whipping off 
 the scanty covering from the poor shrinking creature, he proceeded to satisfy, 
 with a hasty glance, the last and most important particulars of his curiosity. 
 The slave-dealer looked up and smiled with an unanswerable air, but the old 
 Turk looke i dubious and unsatisfied ; the crowd of callous and laughing 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 161 
 
 spectators were, as usual, divided in opinion, while the defenseless subject ol 
 their gaze and controversy stood cowering before them with an air of abject, 
 hopeless despondency. One might see that, although of a race supposed to 
 be comparatively destitute of feeling, nature had made her of a mould too fine 
 for such rude handling ; perhaps some home-remembrance came across her 
 mind, for a more melancholy expression I never witnessed in a human 
 creature. Finally, the old Turk declined to purchase her, and she walked 
 listlessly back again to her corner in the hold of the vessel." 
 
 It being the season of the inundation, our traveler did not meet with what 
 is at other times an every-day occurence, viz : the sight of crocodiles. In 
 some parts of Egypt this animal was worshiped as a god. They were tamea 
 by the ancient Egyptians, who made pets of them, decorating them with ear- 
 rings and bracelets, and pampering them with roast meat and wine. 
 
 The next point of interest reached, was the temple of Dendera, the most 
 beautiful in Egypt. On entering, one is impressed by the peculiar emotions 
 t»roduced by Egyptian architecture — a feeling of awful, gloomy sublimity, 
 >rhich is heightened by the sculptures and hieroglyphics, which cover the 
 oralis in mute, mysterious meaning. The twenty-four gigantic columns of 
 ;he portico, have sculptured upon each in immense proportions, "the human 
 face divine." They look down upon one with a steadfastness of expression, 
 that awes the beholder, as if in the presence of genii from a realm of 
 enchantment. 
 
 The great portico, comparatively a very modern addition, was added in 
 the reign of Tiberius. We cannot but admire the zeal of the Egyptians, by 
 whom this work was then finished, who denying themselves all beyond the 
 coarsest food and clothing, thought a noble, massive temple, for the worship 
 of the gods, one of the first necessaries of life. 
 
 The temple at Dendera, was dedicated to the goddess Athor, the Venus 
 of the Egyptians ; but it would seem, from the reputation which the town of 
 Keneh, on the opposite side of the river bears, that she had simply crossed 
 to the opposite bank, to establish her peculiar worship, with an absence of all 
 mystery, and even decency, by day as by night, among the thousand mud- 
 hovels of the modern town, which is the most dissolute place in Egypt. 
 
 The overland journey to India was formerly performed over this ancient 
 route, which was an immense thoroughfare in the days when Europe was the 
 home of barbarians. Now the railroad from Alexandria to Suez has changed 
 all this. Keneh was also the starting point for Mahometan pilgrims, for a 
 three days' march across the desert to the Red -Sea, on their way to the tomb 
 of the Prophet, at Mecca. It is difficult to conjecture how the place became 
 so disreputable. " Some people/' says a reverend traveler, "may think that 
 its being a halting-place for the pilgrims, is almost enough to account for the 
 mystery, since ' perils,' as Bacon remarks, * commonly ask to be paid in 
 pleasures.' 
 
 At Keneh, our traveler was waited upon by a portly official, who was very 
 
 complimentary, and begged to know if there was anything he could do for 
 
 him. Upon this he complained of the misconduct of the Reis and his sailors, 
 
 on which the other very politely offered to have them bastinadoed, but this 
 
 11 
 
162* BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 was respectfully declined. He then earnestly invited Mi. Bartlett to sup 
 with him, when he should be entertained with some of the more peculiar ex- 
 hibitions of the dancing girls ; but this delicate compliment to his taste and 
 morals, was also declined. Next, he received the honor of a visit from 
 some Italian doctors, in the service of the Pacha, who beside the desire of 
 conversing with a passing stranger, have an eye to a little private practice, 
 and generally add a trifle to their slender pay, by the infirmities of European 
 travelers, or the peccadilloes of Mahometan pilgrims. 
 
 Our traveler was glad to leave this wicked place, and full of glowing 
 anticipations, the sails were spread for the ruins of Thebes. Next day about 
 noon, the immense plain of Thebes began to open to view, and the eye to catch 
 glimpses of its distant ruins. The expanse is so vast, miles intervening 
 between the different groups of ruin, that a sense of void and emptiness was 
 substituted for that powerful and lively effect he anticipated upon the first 
 view of the ruined city. The exhausted sailors fastened the boat to a 
 decayed tree. The plain lay around in breathless silence, and sultry heat ; 
 the mountains colorless as if calcined ; the distant temples, like blackened 
 wrecks of a conflagration ; the palms smitten by the sun, scarcely rustled 
 their languid leaves ; the vegetation was parched, the over-arching sky of 
 intense oppressive brightness, and over this scene of another age, the silence 
 of death reigned. For a long time, not a sound was heard. Suddenly, a 
 throng of guides, donkey boys, and itinerant tradesmen in curiosities, at- 
 tracted from their holes in the distant cliffs, by a glimpse of the boat, made 
 their appearance. Picturesque in aspect, with heavy features, and dark 
 faces, turban on head, and enveloped in gay shawls, gracefully arranged 
 over their long brown robes, they rushed on board, pressing upon their 
 visitors a strange medley of bits of mummy cases, scraps of papyrus, testi- 
 monials from former travelers, coins, inscriptions, etc. Here was the very 
 source and center of the world's civilization. The Trojan war commences 
 Grecian history, seven hundred years after Abraham removed from the plains of 
 Chaldea. But when this patriarch of the Hebrews led his flocks to drink of 
 the waters of the Nile, Egypt had long been a highly civilized nation. While 
 the rest of the world were living in hovels, or in rude habitations of the 
 most primitive structure, Egypt possessed cities, immense in size, and crowded 
 with palaces and temples, obelisks and monuments, grand in conception, and 
 of a vastness and splendor, which puts at defiance the rivalry of modern 
 wealth, and modern art. 
 
 Passing up the Nile still further, the Temple of Carnac arrests the pro- 
 gress of the traveler, as he fixes his gaze upon the grandest structure in 
 Thebes, or in the world. Upon this vast temple, more than three miles in 
 circuit, the Egyptians appear to have lavished all their magnificence. The 
 Temple is approached by a long avenue of sphinxes, once six hundred in 
 number, nearly three feet apart, but now reduced to fifty, sculptured out of 
 the hardest stone, and highly polished. This avenue terminates in a suc- 
 cession of lofty portals, three hundred feet apart, with colossal statues in- 
 terposed between. The vast temple was everywhere covered with the finest 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 163 
 
 sculptures, representing the succession of races who had possessed the 
 country, and the various dynasties which had ruled its people. What now 
 appears to the traveler a mass of confused ruins, presented in the days of its 
 splendor a glorious succession of colossal statues, obelisks, vast halls, 
 portals, gates, and whole forests of columns, ranged in regular succession 
 and perfect harmony with each other. The material employed was various, 
 sometimes a beautiful and compact marble, brilliantly white and lustrous was 
 used, sometimes immense stones of variegated hues, derived additional beauty 
 from the rose- colored or the black marbles of Syene. Everything is on a 
 grander scale than elsewhere in Egypt. Among the obelisks adorned with rich 
 sculptures is one, the loftiest ever erected by the hand of man. A solid 
 block of the hardest stone, it rears its head ninety-one feet from its base. The 
 principal hall is three hundred and eighteen feet long, and one hundred and 
 fifty-nine feet broad, a hundred and thirty-four columns, seventy feet high 
 and eleven feet in diameter still support the roof, while a long avenue of 
 others have all, except one, fallen down, and lie on the ground, ranged in 
 their primitive order. The very colors with which the sculptures were ori- 
 ginally adorned, still remain in their primitive luster. No other earthly 
 object is so capable of improving the mind of the beholder. When Napo- 
 leon's army first caught sight of the immense ruin, they stood still, struck as 
 it were with an electric shock. To Beizoni. it appeared as though he was 
 entering a city of departed giants. 
 
 The temple of Luxor is in beauty what that of Carnac is in grandeur. 
 Each in its way surpasses all else the world can show. Two obelisks of solid 
 Syenite granite, each eighty feet in height, form the entrance. Behind these 
 stood two lofty statues forty feet high, now much defaced and sunk in sand, 
 two hundred columns of different dimensions, still stand within the temple, 
 while obelisks, walls, and every apartment is covered with a profusion of 
 sculpture, upon which the tooth of time seems scarcely to have made an im- 
 pression in more than forty centuries. One of the magnificent obelisks al 
 the entrance, was given by Mehemet Ali a few years ago, to Louis Philippe, 
 and now stands in the very spot in Paris where the unfortunate Louis XVIth, 
 and the more unfortunate Marie Antoinette, lost their lives. 
 
 In the British Museum in London, is the head of one of the statues of the 
 Memnonium, which was removed by the care of Beizoni — that early traveler 
 in this land of mysteries — and which in its perfect beauty, attests the skill in 
 sculpture attained by the ancient Egyptians. This is the smallest of the 
 colossal figures, which once adorned the entrance to the temple, now so 
 mutilated and covered by the sand of the adjoining desert, as hardly to be 
 perceived by the eye of a casual observer. 
 
 One of these statues has been known for ages, by the name of the " vocal 
 Memnon." Daily as the sun rose above the Arabian mountains, and touched 
 its lips with light, responsive sounds were heard from the gigantic figure. 
 But the voice of stone has long been silent, and modern visitors wait in vain 
 for the mystic utterance. Explanations of this wonder of Egypt have been 
 frequently sought in natural causes. An easier solution of the difficulty 
 
154 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 may be found, in the skill of an artful and ingenious priesthood, who seemed 
 not to have been wholly ignorant of devices still practiced in the heart of 
 sivilized and christian Europe. 
 
 When the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Thebes, his queen, disappointed 
 at not hearing the musical sounds, uttered threats of the emperor's dis- 
 pleasure, which speedily brought the stone impostor to his senses. Now 
 that the priesthood of ancient Egypt, and the people whom they deceived, 
 have long ago passed away, Memnon utters no longer her solemn notes. 
 Some idea of the vast magnitude of this mass of stone, may be formed from a 
 calculation which makes its weight when unmutilated, to have been nearly a 
 thousand tons, the breadth of the figure across the shoulders, more than 
 twenty-two feet, and the distance from the neck to the elbow over fourteen 
 feet. The people who wrought these gigantic marvels of architecture and 
 art, still lie near the scene of their labor and their pride, awaiting the resur- 
 rection morn. 
 
 In all oriental nations, peculiar honors have always been paid to the re- 
 mains of the dead. But Egypt surpasses the world in monumental works. 
 The tombs of Thebes, are the metropolis of death. The Libyan mountains, 
 in the rear of the city, for several miles present a perpendicular face of rock, 
 three to four hundred feet in height. Galleries and passage ways ever}'- 
 where penetrate these mountains, the entrances to which, are purposely made 
 narrow, in order that closely fitting stones might hide the repositories of the 
 departed. Passing through passages hundreds of yards in length, but often 
 not more than a foot in diameter, the traveler finally reaches wider chambers, 
 and, as wearied by his slow and toilsome labor, he sits upon the body of some 
 ancient Theban, it yields to his weight, his hands thrown out to save him 
 from falling, meet no resistance in the mouldering ruins of humanity, and 
 he crushes through a dusty mass of what once was bone, and muscle, and 
 flesh. 
 
 These mummies are the embalmed bodies of the ancient Egyptians. Thirty 
 or forty centuries ago, they were citizens of Thebes, the magistrates, the 
 merchants, or the citizens of this opulent city, and here the bodies still are 
 amid the ruins of the temples, the obelisks, and the pyramids they may have 
 helped to erect. It remains undecided what particular motive first induced 
 the Egyptians to resort to this mode of disposing of their dead. It may 
 have sprung from some peculiarity of their religious faith, or from those who 
 had gone before them, or possibly from the scarcity of fuel for burning the 
 bodies of the dead, a very ancient mode of sepulture. Whatever the motive, 
 the Egyptians were long accustomed to embalming all who died, whether 
 high or humble. The poor were simply embalmed in salt, and this prepara- 
 tion, with the uniform and low temperature of the tombs, was found sufficient 
 for a long preservation of the dead. Far more elaborate care was bestowed 
 upon the wealthier classes. The entrails were first extracted from a hole in 
 the side, and the brain drawn through the nostrils. The body was then 
 soaked in salt, a mixture of asphaltum, of resin, and of aromatic drugs were 
 then forced through the cavities, into all the hollow parts of the body. Each 
 finger and toe, after the nailr, had been properly gilt, were encased separately 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 165 
 
 in cloths first saturated with asphaltum, and then covered with thimbles of 
 gold. After the body had been subjected to a dyeing process, a thin envelop 
 of cotton, also saturated with asphaltum, was glued to the body. Above 
 this, successive layers of prepared cloth, often to the number of fifteen or 
 twenty, were wound round the body, and the whole covered over with a fine 
 cement, designed wholly to exclude the air. Lengthwise down the breast, 
 hieroglyphic characters stated the name of the deceased in letters of gilt. 
 Thus prepared, the mummy was placed in a coffin of sycamore or cedar 
 wood, ornamented with numerous sacred hieroglyphics, often descriptions of 
 the passage of the soul into another world, or its transmigration into different 
 forms. Two, three, and even more cases, in some instances, inclose the first 
 coffin ; whatever the number, they all are ornamented with inscriptions and 
 paintings. Thus preserved and prepared for burial, they were placed within 
 their chambers, whose entrances were securely closed. 
 
 In viewing one of these objects, of what in a far remote antiquity, was a 
 livino- man, actuated with all the hopes and desires which actuate us, how 
 naturally are the reflections which press upon the mind, given in the well 
 known : 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE MTJMHT AT BELZONI'S EXHIBITION. 
 
 And thou hast walked about — how strange a story ! 
 
 In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago, 
 When the Memnonium was in all its glory, 
 
 And time had not begun to overthrow 
 Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, 
 Of which the very ruins are tremendous. 
 
 Speak ! for thou Ion? enough hast acted dummy,' 
 Thou hast a tongue — come — let us hear its tune : 
 
 Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, mummy 1 
 Revisiting the glimpses of the moon; 
 
 Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures, 
 
 But with thy bones, and flesh, and limbs, and features. 
 
 Tell us — for doubtless thou canst recollect, 
 To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame ? 
 
 Was Cheops or Cephrcnes architect 
 Of cither Pyramid that bears his name ? 
 
 Is Pompey's Pillar really a misnomer ? 
 
 Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer ? 
 
 Pr haps thou wast a mason, and forbidden 
 
 bj oath to tell the mysteries of thy trade, — 
 Then say what secret melody was hidden 
 
 In Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played ? 
 Perhaps thou wert a priest — if so, my struggles 
 Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles. 
 
 Perchance that very hand, now pinion'd flat, 
 Has hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh, glass to glass ; 
 
 Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat, 
 Or doff 'd thine own to let Queen Dido pass ; 
 
 Or held, by Solomon's own invitation, 
 
 A torch at the Great Temple's dedication. 
 
166 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 I need not ask thee if that hand, m hen arm'd, 
 Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled, 
 
 For thou wert dead, and buried, and embalm'd, 
 Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled : — 
 
 Antiquity appears to have begun 
 
 Long after thy primeval race was run. 
 
 Thou couldst develop, if that wither'd tongue 
 Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen, 
 
 How the world look'd when it was fresh and young, 
 And the great deluge still had left it green— 
 
 Or was it then so old that history's pages 
 
 Contain'd no record of its early ages ? 
 
 Still silent ? uncommunicative elf! 
 
 Art sworn to secrecy ? then keep thy vows ; 
 But, prithee, tell us something of thyself— 
 
 Reveal the secrets of thy prison-house : 
 Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumbered, 
 What hast thou seen — what strange adventures numbered t 
 
 Since first thy form was in this box extended 
 We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations ; 
 
 The Roman Empire has began and ended — 
 New worlds have risen — we have lost old nations, 
 
 And countless kings have into dust been humbled, 
 
 While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled. 
 
 Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head 
 When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses, 
 
 March'd armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread, 
 O'erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis, 
 
 And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder, 
 
 When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder ? 
 
 If the tomb's secrets may rot be confess'd, 
 
 The nature of thy private life unfold ; 
 A heart hath throbbed beneath that leathern breast, 
 
 And tears adown that dusty cheek have roll'd : 
 Have children climbed those knees, and kiss'd that face I 
 What was thy name, and station, ago, and race ? 
 
 Statue of flesh — Immortal of the dead 1 
 
 Imperishable type of evanescence ! 
 Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, 
 
 And standest undecay'd within our presence, 
 Thou wilt hear nothing till the Judgment morning, 
 When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning. 
 
 Why should this worthless tegument endure, 
 
 If its undying guest be lost forever ? 
 let us keep the soul embalmed and pure 
 
 In living virtue, that when both must sever, 
 Although corruption may our frame consume, 
 Th' immortal spirit in the skies may bloom. 
 
 Covering the walls of innumerable chambers and oassages, as well as the 
 stone coffins of the more wealthy, is a profusia . .-. painted sculpture, which 
 reveals the daily life of the departed Egyptian world, its religious solemnities, 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 167 
 
 its familial usages, festivals, hunts, bull fights, fishing and fowling scenes, 
 domestic life, both of festivity and sorrow, the whole progress of life, from 
 the cradle to the grave, the passage of the dead into the realms of futurity, 
 «he judgment and the mysterious transmigration of the soul. 
 
 Up a narrow ravine lies, at a distance of two miles from the city, the 
 "Valley of the tombs," a gloomy solitude, surrounded by high mountains, 
 precipitous to the very top. Here the kings of Thebes sought u> hide from the 
 world, the resting-place of their race. Broken gates, mutilated sculptures, 
 and empty coffins, tell how successfully avarice and curiosity have triumphed 
 over every precaution. Amid the endless profusion of painted sculptures, 
 the eye is often shocked by representations of headless trunks streaming with 
 blood, the horrid libations poured out over the graves of the imperial dead. 
 
 Belzoni long sought in vain to penetrate into one of these tombs, which had 
 excited his curiosity. Obstacle after obstacle had purposely been interposed 
 by the builder to prevent access to the sepulchral chamber. At last he 
 reached it, and found in the center of the most magnificent vault yet disco- 
 vered, a sarcophagus of aragonite, nine feet five inches long, and three feet 
 five inches wide. This chamber was recognized to be the tomb of Necho, 
 who is mentioned in Scripture as having waged successful war against Judea 
 and Assyria. His coffin was covered with sculptures most carefully executed, 
 and representing several hundred figures of captive Hebrews, with their 
 peculiar features, of dark Ethiopians, and of gorgeously dressed Persians. 
 The figures are each about two inches in height, and are brilliantly colored. 
 
 Twenty-six miles above Thebes is the smaller temple of Esneh, peculiar for 
 its antique purity of style, and one of the most perfect of ancient monuments. 
 The zodiac, with which the cupola of this temple is adorned, forms one of the 
 most remarkable evidences of ancient science, and has thrown much light upon 
 controverted subjects in astronomy. At Edfou, thirty miles higher up the 
 Nile, is a temple four hundred and eighty-four feet long, two hundred and 
 twelve feet in breadth, and ornamented with a peristyle of thirty-two columns, 
 forming a magnificent perspective. Above Edfou the plain of Egypt narrows 
 extremely, and here are found the immense quarries of the finest sandstone, 
 which have furnished the materials of all the temples which are found between 
 Syene and Dendera. This stone is intermixed with quartz, united by a cal- 
 careous gluten ; the general color is white or gray, though often tinted with 
 spots and veins. When first quarried it is easily worked, though time gives 
 it the hardness of the most solid rocks. 
 
 Quite up to the Cataracts, ancient temples are frequent, and even far 
 into the limits of Nubia, are found memorials of the days of the Pharoahs, 
 and of the worship of Osiris and Apis ; but they differ only in detail from 
 what has already been described as existing lower down the Nile. Egypt in 
 ruins is a land of wonders. Egypt in the days of its greatness, was possessed 
 of a splendor of which even imperial Rome was ignorant. The Greeks may 
 have possessed a superior delicacy of taste, but in the vastness of their con 
 ceptions, and in the magnificence of their undertakings, Egypt is unap- 
 proached in all antiquity. What a comment upon the necessity of a revela- 
 tion from God are these gigantic remains of ancient days, constructed in 
 
168 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 honor of some idol, or as a mausoleum of ape or ibex, crocodile or lizard J 
 Christianity alone can dignify art by faith, and can alone teach us that th 
 heart is the only immortal temple of the Almighty. 
 
 The prospects of Egypt, so long given over to a hopeless oppression 
 seemed to have brightened under the new rule, which in the person of Meheme 
 AH, was extended over her. The different representations which Englisl 
 and French writers have made of the tendency of this policy, in accordance 
 with the different political intents of the two countries, as well as the remark- 
 able character of the man himself, seems to demand some brief notice of this 
 memorable ruler. 
 
 Eighty-four years ago the obscure Albanian village of Cavalla gave birth 
 to a child of humble parentage, who, in many respects, has been to Egypt 
 what Napoleon was to France. The world-renowned Viceroy of Egypt, 
 Mehemet Ali, fittingly commenced his career as a tax-gatherer of the Sultan's 
 tribute in his native province. At the age of thirty, and about the commence- 
 ment of the present century, he first set foot as a subordinate in the Albanian 
 jorps, on the soil which was to become the scene of his future greatness. 
 Already he was regarded as a rising man. A successful speculation in 
 t-obacco, and a not less fortunate one in matrimony, had prepared the way for 
 «is rapid military promotion to the office of General of Division. The object 
 of the enthusiastic attachment of his Albanian troops, he was successful in 
 his engagements with Napoleon's veterans, who sought in vain to secure for 
 their master the fruitful delta of the Nile. After their expulsion from Egypt, 
 Mehemet Ali began to develop his schemes of ambition, and fully to carry 
 out those vast projects which were to make him the all but in name independ- 
 ent Sultan of Egypt. 
 
 The Mamelukes, a numerous and fierce band of mercenaries, alternately 
 overawing their rulers, or tyrannizing over the people, had long been the 
 same curse to Egypt that the Janizaries had once been to Turkey. For 
 more than six centuries this body of highly-disciplined troops, about twelve 
 thousand in number, mostly natives of Circassia, and the remote provinces 
 of Turkey which lie between the Black and the Caspian seas, had controlled 
 the government of Egypt, and ground to the dust, by their extortion and their 
 violence, the unfortunate Fellahs. Aliens in blood from the rest of the Egyp- 
 tians, powerful in numbers, and rapacious beyond the ordinary rapacity of 
 hireling troops, they were fit instruments with which to extort the last rag 
 from the naked, and the last crust from the hungr} 7 . Not content with the 
 license given to their cupidity, they always sought, and often succeeded in 
 making the Pacha their tool. 
 
 Mehemet Ali, however, was not the man to submit to a division of powei 
 with anybody, much less to become the tool of his own soldiery. After 
 years of difficulty and contention, with true barbarian policy, he determined 
 upon their extermination. Taking occasion from the public investiture of his 
 son with the command of the army to be sent against the Wahabees of Arabia, 
 who had taken possession of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Mehemet 
 Ali invited that portion of the Mamelukes who were encamped near Cairo, 
 to be present at the festival. Leading from the immense fortress of the city is 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGiTT. 169 
 
 a long defile, surrounded by high walls, and terminated by a colossal gateway 
 The Mamelukes, who had been welcomed by the Pacha with unwonted hos- 
 pitality, and whose good cheer was still moist upon their lips, had just 
 mounted their splendid chargers, and were gayly prancing through the narrow 
 defile, when the gates were closed, and a murderous fire was opened upon 
 them by Mehemet's Albanian troops. From parapet and tower destruction 
 was poured down upon the helpless and too-confiding Mamelukes. A few 
 moments sufficed for the work of death. The Pacha, seated where he could 
 observe the bloody scene, but hidden from view, saw the power that for six 
 centuries had oppressed the land, destroyed in a moment. The rest of the 
 Mamelukes, already greatly reduced in number by the wars which had deso 
 lated the country, and scattered at different posts, fell victims to the same 
 treacherous fate. Nearly six hundred of these dreaded oppressors were 
 slain under Mehemet's eye at Cairo. 
 
 A single Mameluke escaped. Detained in the city, Amin Bey awaited 
 the troop outside the gate ; seeing it shut, he suspected treachery, and spur- 
 ring his horse over the ramparts, a precipitous descent of forty feet, he escaped 
 with his life by the sacrifice of his noble charger, who was killed by the 
 leap. This act, so consonant to Eastern habits, and so odious to ours, Mehe- 
 met Ali always justified as a political necessity. Treachery to the country, 
 in conspiring to make over Egypt to the English, and deadly hostility to his 
 own person and government, were the defenses upon which he relied for his 
 vindication. Whatever may be thought of the morality of the act, the coun- 
 try has, doubtless, been a gainer by their extermination. A single tyrant, 
 when his views are comprehensive, may accomplish much good. Twelve 
 thousand tyrants are an unmitigated curse to any country. Mehemet Ali 
 next undertook to introduce the European dress and drill among his soldiers, 
 but, at first, unsuccessfully, All Cairo was in an uproar ; his troops became 
 mutinous, murdered their officers, and plundered the city. Mehemet had 
 gone too far, and must recede. His Albanians were restored to their beloved 
 width of breeches, beside being pardoned for their excesses. The Pacha, 
 however, adhered no less firmly to his original design. A levy of Egyptian 
 youth was soon made, and, under the energetic drill of French officers, Me- 
 hemet soon possessed a disciplined army of eighty thousand men, able to 
 compete with European troops, and far superior to any force ever before 
 known in the East. 
 
 The Pacha was not less successful in his efforts to form an Egyptian navy. 
 The ruin of his first fleet was accomplished at Navarino. A second fleet of 
 more than fifty vessels, twenty of which were ships of the line, or frigates, 
 soon testified to the wonderful energy and resources of the man. With such 
 material for the accomplishment of his plans, Mehemet Ali has waged suc- 
 cessful war against Europeans, Asiatics, and Africans ; Arabia, Nubia, and 
 Syria have each contributed to give solidity to his well-earned military 
 fame. The conquest of the latter, involving as it did, war with his nominal 
 master, the Sultan of Turkey, called for all his resources. His success in this 
 campaign shook the throne of Constantinople, and the poor tax-gatherer of 
 Cavalla might have ascended the throne of the Caliphs, had not the European 
 
170 BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 
 
 powers interfered for the protection of their own interests Compelled 
 to surrender his Syrian conquests, he still succeeded in procuring for himself 
 the hereditary lordship of Egypt. Virtually independent, the rulers of Egypt 
 henceforth acknowledged no other dependence upon Turkey than the pay- 
 ment of the annual tribute to the Sultan. 
 
 The military successes of Mehemet Ali, however, form but an insignificant 
 part of his claims to public notice. His gigantic projects for the development 
 of the resources of the country, and the considerable success which attended 
 them, have long ago given him a wide celebrity. Wherever his authority 
 extended, there the foreign traveler was sure of protection. Amid the wild 
 Nubians, in the remote parts of Upper Egypt, in the trackless desert of Arabia, 
 and amid the once lawless population of Cairo, the traveler was made safe 
 in purse and person. The solitary pilgrim to the shrine of the false prophet, 
 equally with the christian pilgrim to the sacred places of the holy city, was 
 everywhere guarded by the dread which the name of Mehemet Ali inspired. 
 
 Gratitude for such protection has led travelers to speak more favorably of 
 him than the facts seem to justify. He made his government an absolute 
 despotism, and this of itself is decisive as to the permanent value of his reign 
 to Egypt. The character of each successive Pacha necessarily determines the 
 measure in which his people shall be prosperous and happy. Not one move- 
 ment of further progress in arts, in commerce, or in agriculture, can be guar- 
 anteed to such a country beyond the life of its present ruler. The Pacha of 
 to-day may be a wise, patriotic, and humane man. Under him, industry, 
 secure of its reward, will everywhere flourish. His successor of to-morrow, 
 may be a cruel, sanguinary monster. At once the ingenuity and the enter- 
 prise of a people begin to wither and die. Exaction and violence have des- 
 troyed nope, the only incentive to labor. In all that Mehemet Ali did, he 
 failed to do the one thing, without which, everything else was of little 
 value. 
 
 Had he aimed to render permanent his reforms in Egypt by such institu- 
 tions as were in his power, his name might have gone down to posterity as 
 a herald of civilization and a benefactor of his race. Some good he unques- 
 tionably did. He united Alexandria to Cairo by a canal, and thus developed 
 the agriculture of a fruitful region, by giving it a constant and lucrative mar- 
 ket. He improved the breed of sheep and horses by the importation of 
 foreign stock, and by judicious crossing. He practiced an entire religious 
 toleration, and gave his aid and countenance to European scholars, artisans 
 and merchants. He introduced vaccination, and stopped the ravages of the 
 plague and cholera by well-administered quarantine laws. Sugar refineries, 
 saltpeter manufactories, cannon founderies, and cotton factories were among 
 the fruits of his long reign. Dye-shops and print-works, the manufacture of 
 various fabrics of woolen, cotton and silk, gave a strange aspect to this coun- 
 try of the Pharaohs. To the observer who looks only on the surface ot 
 things, a new day of hope, of industry and growth seemed to have dawned 
 upon Egypt. His highly disciplined army, his well-appointed navy, manu- 
 facturing establishments of various kinds, and the before unknown safety of 
 the stranger from violence, seemed to indicate that this earliest of civilized 
 
BARTLETT'S GLIMPSES OF EGYPT. 171 
 
 lands had begun to renew her youth, and that under the new dynasty she was 
 once more to become a powerful nation. 
 
 Turn over the page, and how great the contrast. In the forty years of 
 Mehemet Ali's authority over Egypt, her population has been diminished 
 one-half ! What a tale of wrong and oppression does this single fact unfold. 
 War, the very element of the Pacha's life, has exhausted the manhood of the 
 land. A merciless conscription has accomplished what neither a foreign in- 
 vasion nor civil oppression could have done. Whenever the Pacha needed 
 more troops, a new levy was ordered, and recruiting bands everywhere pene- 
 trated the land ; the mechanic was seized in his shop, the laborer in his field, 
 and the miserable Fellah was borne away from the midst of his disturbed 
 family. The sight of a soldier was a sign for the wretched inhabitants to 
 hide themselves. Festivals and funerals were deserted through fear of the 
 conscriptions. An anecdote from the Foreign Quarterly Review will illus- 
 trate the crafty way in which his army was sometimes recruited. " He 
 induced a Christian slave, in one of the large villages of Egypt to commit 
 an offense against the Mohammedan religion, the penalty of which was death. 
 The man was promised not only that he should not lose his life, but also that 
 if he played his part well to the last, he should receive a handsome reward. 
 The Christian was tried with great ceremony, and sentenced to die. The 
 governor, who was in the secret, ordered that the execution should take 
 place with unusual pomp, as the offense was one which excited great indig- 
 nation among the faithful ; and to do honor to the ceremony, and under pre- 
 tense that a rescue might be attempted, several hundred soldiers were 
 marched into the village without exciting suspicion. On the day appointed for 
 the execution, the peasantry of the country, for miles round, flocked into the 
 town. The man was tied up, and the signal for execution had only to be 
 given, when, suddenly, the soldiers closed upon the populace, and driving 
 out all the women and children, and the old men, bound the rest, and 
 marched them off. It is but just to say, that the supposed culprit was 
 released, thus showing that Mehemet Ali could keep faith. If he had chosen 
 to break it, the poor fellow might have been executed without having an op- 
 portunity of imploring the despot to spare the life which he had solemnly 
 promised to preserve." 
 
 This anecdote sufficiently illustrates the cost at which the armies of Mehe- 
 met Ali were recruited, and what an expense of terrorism and life his system 
 was successful in imposing upon Europeans by the appearance of vigor, such 
 vigor as necessarily attends upon the plans of sagacious barbarians, bent upon 
 witnessing immediate results of his policy. 
 
 Mehemet Ali died in 1849, after a stormy and most eventful career, in 
 Egypt, of forty-nine years. His successors have been Abbas Pasha, Said 
 Pasha and Ismail Pasha, the present viceroy. 
 
 M. LESSEPS AND THE SUEZ CANAL. 
 
 A brighter era appears to be dawning upon Egypt, and she is now gradu- 
 ally advancing toward that position to which she is entitled by her inex- 
 haustible resources and her unrivalled geographical position. In 1859, she 
 
172 M. LESSEPS AND THE SUEZ CANAL. 
 
 had five hundred miles of railroad finished. The most important was that 
 which connects the Mediterranean with the Eed Sea, forming the famous 
 overland route to India. Beginning at Alexandria, it runs up the delta of 
 the Nile to Cairo, one hundred and thirty-one miles, and thence extends to 
 Suez, ninety-one miles farther — in all two hundred and twenty-two miles. 
 
 The greatest work of modern engineering, in Egypt, is the celebrated ship- 
 canal, one hundred miles in length, extending from Port Said, on the Medi- 
 terranean, to Suez, at the head of the Red Sea. It was the enterprise 
 of M. Lesseps, an indefatigable Frenchman, who unfolded his plans to the 
 viceroy of Egypt, in 1854. With a vast deal of opposition and obloquy 
 from various sources, especially from England, the canal was opened in 
 the fall of 1869, at an expense of about seventy millions of dollars. When 
 entirely completed it will be three hundred feet wide and twenty -six feet 
 deep, a sufficient depth to accommodate first-class sea-going steamers. 
 Aside from the excavation of the canal, the construction of a harbor was 
 required on the Mediterranean side, itself a herculean task, which modern 
 science has accomplished. The town of Port Said, containing ten thous- 
 and inhabitants, has grown on the spot, and is rapidly increasing. The 
 harbor is formed by two sea-walls, extending into the Mediterranean, of an 
 united length of nearly three miles and inclosing five hundred acres of har- 
 bor. These walls are composed of blocks of stone manufactured on the 
 beach from hydraulic lime and sand. They weigh twenty-two tons each, 
 were moulded, by machinery, in the proportion of one of lime and three of 
 sand, moistened with salt water, dried three months in the sun, and then 
 carried out and tumbled into position from lighters. The harbor and canal 
 are excavated by steam, by dredging machines as tall as church steeples, with 
 ponderous iron wheels twenty feet in diameter, and buckets (as big as a hogs- 
 head) on an endless chain. When completely finished, the quantity of 
 earth excavated from the canal will equal in amount a line of earth one yard 
 high and one yard wide, reaching more than twice around the globe, or one- 
 fifth the distance between us and the moon. The cost of all the machin- 
 ery used is about twelve million of dollars. It is expected that this canal 
 will become the great maritime highway of the world. 
 
 The canal runs through several small lakes. One of these, Lake Timsch, 
 is connected with a branch of the Nile by a fresh-water canal fifty miles long, 
 forty feet wide and nine feet deep. The lake is seventeen feet lower than the 
 river. " The canal was dug to supply the workmen of the ship-canal during 
 its construction, for ships after the work is accomplished, and to irrigate the 
 surrounding country. In 1865 this whole region was a desert, but now there 
 are fields of barley, young palm groves, fruit trees, flowers, vegetation spring- 
 ing up everywhere — the once barren waste literally blooming with roses. 
 It is said, that the extended cultivation of this delta has already affected the 
 climate ; that there are heavier dews and more frequent showers. The open- 
 ing of fresh-water canals and extensive irrigation will largely increase the 
 
THE FUTURE OF EGYPT. I73 
 
 area of cultivated land. Water turned upon the sand, if long continued, will 
 bring forth vegetation, and in time make a fertile soil, so wonderful is the 
 economy of nature." 
 
 THE FUTURE OF EGYPT. 
 
 Ismail Pasha, the present viceroy of Egypt, is an extraordinary man. 
 He received a military education in France, and became viceroy in 1863, 
 during the era of our rebellion. 
 
 " The war in the United States was his golden opportunity. The world 
 wanted cotton, and Egypt could afford to raise it at the price then given. 
 The delta of the Nile was turned into one vast cotton-field, and for a year 
 or two, Egypt, which, from the time of Joseph, had been one of the world's 
 granaries, was compelled to go to Odessa for wheat, while she sent her bales 
 of cotton to Manchester — filling the Pacha's purse with English gold. The 
 American war greatly stimulated Egyptian industry. 
 
 Ismail Pasha has' caught the spirit of modern enterprise. He is a friend 
 of the Suez canal, and favors railroads. He is laying a railroad along the 
 western bank of the Nile, which is to extend beyond Thebes, to the first cat- 
 aract, to near the borders of Nubia, and bringing to the sea-coast the pro- 
 ductions of the vast regions beyond. The valley of the Nile is the natural 
 highway to the heart of Africa, by which commerce and Christian civiliza- 
 tion are yet to reach Ethiopia. The work which Ismail Pasha is doing will 
 be as far-reaching in its results as time itself. Not only up the Nile, but 
 across the delta, he is constructing railroads. A new route, more direct than 
 that through Cairo, will soon be opened from Alexandria to Suez. Another 
 railroad will be built from Alexandria, east to Port Said, the northern ter- 
 mination of the canal. The delta is a network of water- ways, natural and 
 artificial ; but water communication is too slow for the viceroy ; he must 
 have the canal. In his private character he is hard, overbearing and avari- 
 cious." 
 
 In ancient times, Egypt was the first nation in the world. While all 
 Europe and most of Asia were involved in barbarism, she was far advanced 
 in arts and sciences, and reared temples, pyramids, statues and obelisks which 
 remain, to our day, the wonder and admiration of the world. After ages of 
 misery and darkness and oppression, the herald of a new birth is proclaimed 
 through commerce, railroads, steamships, telegraphs, the printing-press, the 
 influx of travelers — all the features of Christian civilization. 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 177 
 
 China Propel is the only division to which the name China is given and the 
 only part settled by the Chinese, and that to which this article relates. The 
 common name for this portion of the empire is the Eighteen Provinces ; but 
 the Chinese themselves term it the M Middle Kingdom." For beauty of 
 scenery, fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, magnificent and navigable 
 rivers, and variety and abundance of its productions, it will compare with 
 any portion of the globe. 
 
 The ascertained history of China dates from the reign of Fuhhi, 303 years 
 after the deluge and 2,852 prior to the birth of Christ, which extends from 
 the present time back to the enormous period of 4,800 years. Prior to this 
 the history of China is involved in fable. Ten centuries ago they were the 
 most civilized nation on the earth, and the incredulity manifested in Europe 
 five hundred years since, at the recitals of the Venetian traveler, Marco 
 Polo, regarding their condition, is the counterpart of the sentiments now 
 expressed by the Chinese when they hear of the power and grandeur of 
 western nations. Their civilization has been developed under peculiar forms 
 and influences, and must be compared to, rather than judged of by, European : 
 the dissimilarity is as wide, perhaps, as can possibly exist between two races 
 of beings having the same common nature and wants. A people from whom 
 some of the most distinguishing inventions of modern Europe came — such ss 
 the compass, porcelain, gunpowder, and printing — whose population nearly 
 equals all the other races of mankind combined, united in one system of 
 manners, letters, and polity — whose cities and capitals rival in number the 
 greatest metropolis of any age — who have not only covered the earth but the 
 waters with towns and streets : such a nation must occupy a conspicuous 
 place in the history of mankind, and the study of their character and condi- 
 tion commends itself to every well-wisher of his race. 
 
 It has been too much the custom of writers to overlook the influence of the 
 bible upon modern civilization ; but when a comparison is to be drawn between 
 European and Asiatic civilization, this element forces itself upon the attention 
 as the main cause of the superiority of the former. It is not the civilization 
 of luxury or of letters, of arts or of priestcraft ; it is not the spirit of war, 
 the passion for money, nor the application of machinery, that renders a nation 
 permanently great and prosperous. " Christianity is the summary of a 1 ] 
 civilization," says Chenevix ; "it contains every argument which could be 
 urged in its support, and every precept which explains its nature. Forme i 
 systems of religion were in conformity to luxury, but this alone seems to 
 have been conceived for the regions of civilization. It has flourished ia 
 Europe while it has decayed in Asia, and the most civilized nations are the 
 most purely Christian." Christianity is essentially the religion of the people , 
 and when it is covered over with forms and contracted into a priesthood, \\m 
 vitality goes out; this is one reason why it has declined in Asia. The attain- 
 ments of the Chinese, in the arts of life, are perhaps as great as they can be 
 without this spring of action, without any other motives to obedience and 
 morality, than the commands or demands of the present life. 
 
 The industry of the Chinese has given them their commanding place among 
 the nations of the earth, and their superiority over all their neighbors is owing 
 
178 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 chiefly to this virtue. Not only has the natural vegetation been superseded 
 wherever culture would remunerate their toil, but high hills have been tilled 
 and terraced almost to their tops; cities have been built upon them, and 
 extensive ranges of wall erected along their summits. They practice upon 
 a vast scale all the industrial arts, whether rural or manufacturing and main- 
 tain the largest population ever united under one sytem of rule. 
 
 An important event in the history of China was its conquest by the Man- 
 chus Tartars two centuries ago. They have since maintained their sway 
 over the unwarlike Chinese with but little difficulty. The Tartars compelled 
 the Chinese to adopt their mode of shaving the front of the head as a token 
 of submission. This order was resisted by many who chose to lose their 
 heads rather than part with their hair, but the mandate was gradually en- 
 forced and has ever since been one of the distinguishing marks of a Chinese. 
 
 Anciently the Chinese wore their hair long, and bound it on the top of their 
 head : they took pride in its glossy black and called themselves the black- 
 haired race. That which was introduced on the penalty of death as a token 
 of allegiance, is now followed from choice. The people are now vain of a 
 long thick cue. In winter the head is covered with a silken skull-cap or felt 
 hood. In summer the men usually go bareheaded and shade their eyes from 
 the sun with a fan. 
 
 The Chinese are considered as belonging to the Mongolian variety of the 
 human race. Their forms are well built and symmetrical ; in stature they 
 equal the Europeans, and their complexions are of a yellow tint. A great 
 difference exists, however, among them in these respects, between the north- 
 ern and southern Chinese, and between the inhabitants of the mountains and 
 those of the plains and the sea-coast. In size, the women are disproportion- 
 ately small, and to those accustomed to the European style of beauty the Chi- 
 nese women possess but little. But still the Chinese face is not destitute of 
 some beauty, and when animated with good humor and an expressive eye, 
 and lighted by the glow of youth and health, their features lose much of their 
 repulsiveness. The hair and eyes of the Chinese always being black, a 
 European with light eyes and hair appears strange to them. The Chinese 
 have applied the term " foreign devils" to Europeans, " because/' say they, 
 " they have deep, sunken blue eyes, and red hair like demons." 
 
 The only Chinese possessing hereditary rank are the members of the im- 
 perial family, who are distributed into five classes, all distinguished by wear- 
 ing a yellow girdle ; but they possess no political powers or privileges, and 
 have only very small revenues assigned to them for subsistence. Beside the 
 descendants of the Emperors, there is another class of imperial kinsmen, 
 descended from the brothers or uncles of the first Tartar Emperor, who are 
 distinguished by a red sash and girdle. 
 
 Polygamy is not permitted ; a man can have only one legal wife, but he 
 may have as many concubines as he pleases ; and the offspring of the latter 
 possess many of the rights c f ' *gitimacy. The concubine is bought for money, 
 and is taken into the house nearly as any other domestic. The wives are the 
 slaves of their husbands; they live and die in ignorance, and every effort to raise 
 themselves above the rank assigned to them is regarded as impious arrognnce. 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 179 
 
 The manners of this numerous people have one striking characteristic, am. 
 their religious opinions and practices are precisely similar throughout the em- 
 pire. When the main features of the Chinese have been studied in one place, 
 and in one person, they have been studied in all ; and when one train of ar- 
 gument has been discovered, which suffices to silence the objections of one 
 individual, it will be equally effective on all other occasions. The uniformity 
 and invariableness of the Chinese mind is to be traced perhaps to their pos- 
 sessing one set of opinions on philosophy and religion ; which, being laid 
 down in their ancient books, and transmitted from age to age, constitutes the 
 public and universal belief on these topics, and runs through the whole mass 
 of society. Hence the missionaries always find the Chinese using the same 
 arguments, and starting the same objections, which often having been an- 
 swered before, can easily be answered again. The people have, from time 
 immemorial, been separated from the rest of mankind, almost as much so as 
 if inhabiting another world, hence free intercourse has never shaped their in- 
 ventions, or their literature originated ideas suitable to the rest of mankind. 
 All they have done is specifically Chinese — all their productions have a na- 
 tional character ; they are stiff, contracted, and incapable of being wrought 
 into any foreign composition. The government is in the form of a patriarchal 
 despotism ; limited, however, in some degree, by the right of representation 
 possessed by certain classes of magistrates, and by the obligation of the Em- 
 peror to select all government officers from the literati. This class forms an 
 enlightened aristocracy, to which the young men of every rank may be ad- 
 mitted, after having passed the necessary educational steps to qualify them 
 for the exercise of public functions. The Emperor takes the title of " Son of 
 Heaven," and '* August Emperor ;" he exercises supreme power, chooses his 
 successor from among the legitimate heirs, and believes himself responsible 
 for any calamity that may befall his people, as pestilence, famine, etc., etc. 
 When such occurs, he publicly accuses himself as having offended Heaven, 
 and imposes upon himself certain penances to propitiate the offended gods. 
 The public functionaries are divided into nine classes, each of which is dis- 
 tinguished by a jewel or ornament peculiar to itself, and which is worn in the 
 caps of the officials. They are called by Europeans " Mandarins," from 
 the Portuguese verb mandar to command. Each district has its particular 
 magistrates, who are invested with ministerial and judicial authority. The 
 proportion of public officers is very small in proportion to the population, 
 and probably does not exceed one to every ten thousand inhabitants, whose 
 salaries are generally not over $250 per annum. The expenses of the go- 
 vernment are consequently small, and the burdens of taxation comparatively 
 light. 
 
 The public works of China infinitely surpass those of any other country in 
 magnitude, if not in skill. The " Great Wall," long considered one of the 
 mightiest of human undertakings, was built about two centuries before the 
 birth of Christ. It extends from the shores of the Yellow sea westward fifteen 
 hundred miles, and ends in rocks aid deserts almost impassable. 
 
 At present it is simply a geographical boundary, and, except at the passes, 
 cothing is done to keep it in repair. The other great work, the Imperial 
 
180 FORBES' FIVE YEARS W CHINA. 
 
 CaArtl, is sever hundred miles long, and two hundred feet wide, built with flood 
 gates, but no *ocks ; and in connection with certain rivers, gives an inland 
 water communication from Pekin to Canton, interrupted only by a single 
 mountain r'.nge. It passes through alluvial soil in every part of its course, 
 and the eh'ef labor was expended in constructing embankments, and not in 
 digging a deep channel. The banks are sometimes twenty feet above the 
 surrounding country, and a hundred thick. Several large towns stand be- 
 low, and near its banks, in such a position as to cause an involuntary shudder 
 at the thought of the destruction that would take place if the banks should 
 give way. Other important public works have been erected for the purpose 
 of commanding water for irrigation, and to prevent inundation. The bridges 
 over rapid streams and broad estuaries are of solid granite, and evince great 
 skill and perseverance in their construction. 
 
 Since the opening of the "jive ports," viz., Canton, Amoy, Fuh-chau-fu, 
 Ningpo, and Shang-hae, by treaty with England, in 1842, the commerce by 
 sea has greatly increased ; yet the internal trade of China is by far the most 
 important. It is carried on through the Empire by means of the rivers and 
 canals ; and thence from various trading-posts on the northern, western, and 
 south-western frontiers, into Russia, Turkestan and Hindoostan. Prior to the 
 British treaty, the whole of the ocean trade was monopolized by a privileged 
 class at Canton, called the " Hong merchants," and all foreign trade was 
 conducted through them ; no foreigner was permitted to trade with the na- 
 tives, except through this channel ; and none were allowed to reside with 
 their families at Canton. By this treaty, and treaties since made with other 
 Christian nations, however, all these restrictions are removed ; foreign mer- 
 chants now trade with whom they please, and their families are permitted to 
 reside in the country. The commerce between the United States and China 
 is now very large ; and in all respects the Americans are on the most bene- 
 ficial footing of any nation, owing mainly to the statesmanship of the late 
 American Minister to the Court of Pekin, the lamented Anson Burlingame. 
 
 China contains many cities and large towns beside those chiefly described 
 below, but they have never acquired a foreign fame, nor been visited by any 
 other travelers than a few Catholic missionaries. The greatest sameness ex- 
 ists in all of them. In the largest are a few well-paved streets, lined with 
 shops ; but most of the streets are very narrow, extremely dirty, and lined 
 with mere hovels. The suburbs of many cities are larger than the cities 
 themselves, and it is not unusual to see a large walled space without houses 
 where formerly was a city. The cities have often a fine appearance at a dis- 
 tance, but internally are only a mass of houses irregularly clustered together, 
 without furniture or comforts, and filthy in the extreme. The grandeur of 
 the natural scenery is often striking. Commanding situations are chosen for 
 temples, which serve likewise for taverns, theaters, public halls and gambling- 
 houses. The building of houses is regulated by law, and none of them 
 allowed to exceed a certain size. 
 
 Pekin, the capital of the empire, stands on a sandy plain twenty-six miles 
 distant from the great wall, and contains between two and three millions of 
 inhabitants. It is about twenty-five miles in circumference and is surrounded 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 181 
 
 by high castellated walls, inside of which is a wet ditch. It h composed of 
 two distinct cities — the Tartar city, inhabited by Manchus Tartars, and the 
 old town, by Chinese. The Tartar town is very handsome and has wide clean 
 streets ornamented with gay, showy shops. The finest buildings are the 
 temples, which are spacious and magnificent, and adorned with columns and 
 stairs of white marble. The emperor's palace is within the Tartar city : it is 
 in a square form surrounded by walls of about two miles in circumference. 
 Within the inclosure are numerous buildings containing halls, temples, etc., 
 and the imperial gardens. An adjoining inclosure, occupied by people in 
 the service of the court, contains numerous large gardens, with artificial 
 lakes and hills, temples and halls. Pekin is distinguished by its numerous 
 public institutions, resembling those of Europe notwithstanding the great dif- 
 ference interposed by Chinese habits, manners, and customs. In its neigh- 
 borhood is the emperor's summer palace which is one of the most magnificent 
 structures in the world, and the lands about it, measuring over thirty miles 
 in circumference, are diversified with artificial lakes, canals, hills, valleys, 
 rocks, and islands which are occupied with arbors, forests, pavilions, and 
 every object agreeable to the sight. 
 
 Canton is on Pearl river, one hundred miles from the sea, and is sur- 
 rounded by canals, branches of rivers, rice-fields, and towering barren hills. 
 It is a very ancient city and was recently the sole emporium of British and 
 American commerce with China. It is built in the usual Chinese style, sur- 
 rounded by high walls, and pierced with gates. A wall divides it into the 
 old and the new cities ; but the suburbs are fully as large as the inclosed 
 parts. Few of the houses only exhibit any splendor ; the dwellings of the 
 poor are miserable and crowded, and even in the houses of the wealthy there 
 is but little comfort. The governor's palace is a spacious, but by no means 
 elegant building. Many thousands of people live continually on the watei 
 in a sort of floating houses, ranged in lines like streets. Its population is 
 over a million. In the densest parts of the city of Canton, the roofs are 
 covered with a loose framework, on which firewood is piled, clothes washed 
 and dried, and meals cooked : it also affords a lounging and sleeping-place in 
 summer. Few of the streets exceed over ten or twelve feet in width, and 
 most of them are less than eight feet. No public squares, filled with foun- 
 tains and shrubbery, nor any open spaces, except small areas in front of 
 temples, relieve the closeness of these lanes. 
 
 11 The absence of horses and carriages, and a custom of huddling together, 
 a desire to screen the path from the sun, and their ignorance of the advan- 
 tages of another mode, are perhaps the reasons for making them so narrow. 
 In case of fire, it is difficult to get access to the burning buildings, and 
 troublesome and dangerous for the inmates to move or save their property. 
 At all times, porters carrying burdens are impeded by the crowd of passen- 
 gers thronging the thoroughfares, who likewise must pass Indian file lest they 
 tilt against the porters. 
 
 The streets are usually paved with slabs of stone laid crosswise, and ex- 
 cept near markets and wells are comparatively clean. They are not laid out 
 straight and some of them present a singularly irregular appearance from the 
 
182 FORBES FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 slight angle which each house makes with its neighbors ; it b*ing considered 
 rather unlucky to have them exactly even. The names of the streets, instead 
 of being marked on the corners of the blocks, are written on the gateways at 
 their ends ; and as each division makes a separate neighborhood, and has its 
 own name, a single long street will in its course have five, six, or more 
 names. The general arrangement of a Chinese city presents a labyrinth of 
 streets, alleys, and byways, very perplexing to a stranger who has neither 
 plan nor directory to guide him, nor numbers upon the houses and shops to 
 direct him. The sign-boards are hung from the eaves or wall each side of 
 the door, or securely inserted in stone sockets ; some of them are ten or fif- 
 teen feet high, and being gayly painted and gilded on both sides with pictu- 
 resque characters, a succession of them as seen down a street produces a 
 pleasing effect. The shrines of the street gods are usually located in little 
 niches in the wall, sometimes with altars before them, and receiving no other 
 regard than a few incense sticks." 
 
 Nankin is about half the size of Canton and is one of the principal manu- 
 facturing towns of the empire ; it is famous for its silks, cotton, paper, and 
 nankeen. Macao is a Portuguese town of about 20,000 inhabitants. It has 
 an excellent harbor and is situated at the southern extremity of a large 
 island. Amoy, on an island of the same name, has 300,000 inhabitants. 
 Fuh-chau-fu has 600,000 people, Ning-po 400,000, and Shang-hae 250,000. 
 Ting-hai has an excellent harbor and is an important city on an island of the 
 Chusan archipelago. Suchau and Hangchau are two immense cities in the 
 interior, but little known to Europeans : each contains two millions of people. 
 
 We continue, in the succeeding pages of this article, our account of China 
 and the Chinese, mainly derived from the work of Captain Forbes of the 
 British navy, -entitled "Five years in China; from 1842 to 1847." Our 
 author traveled over a vast extent of country and mixed among people 
 of all ranks, from the highest officers to the poor tenant of the humblest cot- 
 tage. 
 
 It was thus his lot to travel in this wonderful country, where man 
 appears under such an extraordinary aspect as to have led some writers to 
 doubt whether Noah might not have settled in China with a fourth son. 
 His book, however, is not in the ordinary form of travels, where the 
 personal movements of the author occupy a large space ; but is divided 
 into chapters, each being allotted to some subject connected with China 
 and the Chinese. 
 
 As regards the accounts of the Chinese nation at large — says our 
 traveler — nothing can be more fallacious than the ideas conveyed by the 
 ordinary accounts which we read. " I found myself" — says he — " in the 
 midst of as amiable, kind, and hospitable a population as any on the face of 
 the globe, as far ahead of us in some things as behind us in others. As for 
 the honesty of the people continues he, " Let us speak of man as we find 
 him ;" and though comparisons are odious, yet rather costly experience com- 
 pels me to say that my own property suffered more from actual robbery in 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 183 
 
 landing and passing the English frontier, than during my whole sojourn in 
 China. 
 
 Under the despotic sway of the " Son of Heaven" — as the Chinese term 
 their emperor — the subject enjoys a fair portion of liberty, and more happi- 
 ness than falls to the lot of most nations. The empire is as one family, and 
 if the Imperial Father sometimes visits severely the error of one member of 
 it, yet he is slow to exercise his authority ; and though death be the penalty 
 that the law awards for many offenses, capital punishments are extremely 
 rare ; and the bent of legislation aims at providing against the ills of hu- 
 manity, by relieving its wants, and preventing rather than punishing crime. 
 For this purpose education is general, arts are encouraged, gigantic under- 
 takings are completed for facilitating trade, agriculture is held in honor, and 
 every possible means adopted for feeding the people, and preventing or allevi- 
 ating famines, which without some such regulations would perhaps oftener 
 occur. 
 
 The cities of China, and their inhabitants, with the exception of those of 
 Canton, are very similar to each other, and as I consider Shanghae to be the 
 most important for us to know about, I have selected it to describe as the 
 best means of giving an insight into Chinese town life. This city and Can- 
 ton, at present, sustain nearly all the trade with foreigners. 
 
 At Shanghae the foreigner is surrounded by a peaceable, and hospitable 
 community, where crime is a matter of such rare occurrence that his 
 Excellency Kung Muku, the civil governor said in my presence, that 
 during his government of so large a population, which had lasted I believe 
 nine years, one execution only had taken place and that for crim. con., and 
 murder of the injured husband. This may serve as an illustration, not only 
 of the morality of a people, whom I have read somewhere, termed a nation 
 without morals or truth, but of the general mildness of the government. 
 But beside the absence of crime at Shanghae, I have had several years' ex- 
 perience to ground my statements on, that insults and annoyances of every 
 kind, are less frequent to strangers than in any other part of the world. 
 
 The city, that is to say the part of Shanghae inclosed within the wall, is 
 by no means extensive for China, being less than four miles in circumfer- 
 ence — that of Nankin is thirty — but it is surrounded on all sides by very 
 large suburbs. It is entered by four large, and two small gates; beside these 
 are three water-gates, by which the different canals having made the circuit 
 of the walls, pass through the city into the river, carrying with them all the 
 offal, and affording the means for the transportation of merchandise. The 
 streets are narrow and dirty, and the houses low. Nearly all the govern- 
 ment offices are within the walls. Among the principal institutions are the 
 college, a fine building with stone edifices, and ornamental temples surround- 
 ing, a highly elegant grotto garden, varied with lakes, hills and trees. 
 
 The Temple of Confucius is a handsome stone structure, covering about 
 three acres of ground. Several large Buddhist temples ornament the city, 
 which are nearly all painted red. On the city walls are some large temples, 
 commanding fine views. Among these near the north gate, is the Temple 
 of Spring, in which are five apartments open on all sides, where the ladies 
 
184 FORBES' FIVE TEARS IN CHINA 
 
 o*eet in the month of May, to watch the progress of Spring, and deck their 
 raven black hair with the early flowers. 
 
 Near the center of the city, are the public gardens with lakes and islands ; 
 in and around these are picturesque overhanging temples fitted as tea houses. 
 In various parts of the gardens are temples for the deities, play houses, and 
 grottoes, surmounted with exotics arranged with great taste, while in the 
 area in front of the principal tea-houses, are the tents of astrologers, doctors, 
 dentists, necromancers, booksellers, almost all itinerate trades, peep-shows, 
 dancers on tight ropes, and Punch. Although this place is generally thronged 
 with visitors, no disturbances or annoyances ever take place. In the houses 
 adjoining are every kind of shop, among which are a number of dealers in 
 antiquities and curiosities. 
 
 The mandarins' offices are among the most showy buildings, being 
 generally painted with bright colors, and approached through large court 
 yards in which are huge carved representations of dragons, lions, or other 
 animals, each of which is emblematic, as the figures in heraldry. On the 
 left-hand side is an orchestra for a band of music, and on the right the 
 saluting guns. The house is in three distinct buildings, a court yard separat- 
 ing each. The first is that of ceremony, consisting of a large hall, with a 
 smaller apartment on each side ; the next receiving rooms for visitors, and 
 the third private apartments. The bridges which mostly consist of one high 
 arch with stone stairs, are in many instances highly carved, and each orna- 
 mented with a painted lantern. In the principal streets are high triumphal 
 gateways of elegant structure in splendid alto-relievo, to commemorate some 
 important event, or hand down the name of some great officer — some of 
 these are very magnificent. 
 
 The Hall of United Benevolence, is the principal charity. It comprises 
 a general society for assisting the poor. It bestows medicines, supports a 
 free hospital, and is in every sense a noble institution, and well worthy of its 
 name. A branch of it, the Foundling Hospital, is supported by voluntary 
 subscriptions ; and if of doubtful benefit elsewhere is not misplaced in China, 
 where the practice of infanticide has had the sanction of the law. 
 
 The principal local officers are the Foo-yuen or Prefect, military intend- 
 ant — the Tsna-fu, or sub-colonel — the Cheheen, or chief magistrate — and the 
 Tinig-che, or sub-prefect of the coast guard. 
 
 The mandarin, in his sedan chair, is surrounded by attendants, who clear 
 the way for him in no very civil manner; as should any luckless country- 
 man's curiosity tempt him to stand and gape on the great man's equipage, as it 
 passes, an attendant very soon gives him to understand, by a blow from a 
 bamboo, that his attentions are not wanted ; this ceremony answers to the 
 *.* move on" of our policemen. According to his rank, he has one or more 
 horsemen in his train, with the invariable state umbrella of crimson silk, 
 trimmed with vermillion or yellow. High colors and tawdry dress disguise 
 a considerable quantity of filth, sometimes about the attendants. Should the 
 object of his visit require more attendants than belong to the dignity of his 
 situation, bystanders in the streets are seized upon, pressed into service, and 
 made followers for the hour The number of his sedan-bearers varies from 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 185 
 
 two to six, according to his dignity ; but a merchant cannot have more than 
 two bearers and a single follower, to carry his visiting cards, etc. 
 
 The traveling is mostly by water, but when a canal will not serve, and a 
 land journey must be undertaken, the mandarin travels in his sedan, and his 
 lady in a species of palanquin, or litter. Subordinates content themselves with 
 a kind of wheelbarrow, propelled by two coolies (laborers), the body of 
 which holds the luggage, and a seat on each side of the wheel (which is 
 cased over), the two passengers, the whole being balanced with great nicety, so 
 as to require little more labor than that of propulsion by the coolies. A poor 
 man, who cannot afford this mode, slings a pole across one shoulder, with a 
 basket hanging from each end, which may contain a child, or luggage, as the 
 case may be, the poor wife making the best of her way, that her cramped 
 feet will allow, behind him, carrying a basket in each hand. 
 
 There is a remarkable omission in each room, the kitchen excepted, of 
 every house, which is the want of a fire-place. The climate of Shanghae 
 varies according to the season, from tropical heat to frost, sufficient to allow 
 skating, and yet a fire, for the purpose of warming a very slight-built house, 
 is a luxury unknown. The only approach to it that I saw, was now and 
 then a little pan, like the French " ChaufTerette," which a Chinaman would 
 use for either feet or hands. There is no standing round a fire, or stove, in 
 a tea-house, or wine-shop, as with us. The dress is varied with the season. 
 Should the morning be cold, huge gowns are put on lined with fur, if on a 
 rich wearer, stutfed with cotton, if a poor one, in number as the necessity 
 requires. If the weather gets warmer toward midday, one or more are shed, 
 but resumed for the afternoon, if required, and by this means a man is 
 enabled to weather the coldest winter without a fire. 
 
 The principal streets have a brilliant appearance. All the shops are open, 
 and set off" in the gayest manner possible. Red and gold are the predomi- 
 nant colors, and the stock arranged so as to show off to the best advantage. 
 The thoroughfares being narrow, are frequently covered in with an awning, 
 and have thus the appearance of a bazaar, or arcade. The shopmen are 
 dressed according to the pretensions of the establishment, and attend with 
 the utmost civility, showing at the same time great ingenuity in making the 
 purchaser and his money part good friends. The richest shops both in ap- 
 pearance and reality, are the silk shops, although their attraction, in some 
 towns, is denied to the street, from their standing much in the rear. They 
 are entered by a plain gateway, illuminated by several gaudy lanterns, and 
 the sign alone directs attention, such as Chaw-twan-foo, silk and satin shop. 
 Passing through this gateway, you enter a paved courtyard, fitted en grotU 
 with several large vases of gold fish, and many exotics, often covered in with 
 trellis work and vines, hung with numbers of cages, containing singing and 
 other birds, the most famous of which is the Soo-chow mocking-bird, a 
 species of lark, which mocks all sounds. Facing the entrance are three 
 apartments, hung with variegated lanterns, supported by splendidly carved 
 pillars, etc., generally of polished wood ; the center apartment is fitted as a 
 receiving room, with handsome furniture, and here one of the partners 
 attends to whom the customer's wants are explained, and by whom a seal 
 
186 FORBES' FIVE Y EARS W CHINA. 
 
 and tea are offered ; the various articles are brought from the other two 
 apartments, divided from you and the courtyard only by rectangular counters. 
 The general contents of the shops are blazoned forth in gold letters, on var- 
 nished black boards, or painted characters, on light-colored boards, such as 
 " Pekin satins and Canton crapes," " Hangchow reeled silks and Hoo-chow 
 crapes," "Hoo-chow cottons and Ningpo senshaws," gauzes, lawns, and satins. 
 The display of embroidery is magnificent. The satins are the richest, the 
 colors the most brilliant, and the work well worthy of such beautiful material. 
 
 Vying in colors and appearance with the silk warehouses, are the fruit 
 shops, in which rich and poor can luxuriate on delicious fruits from the two 
 oceans ; the former on grapes and the fruits not in season, which sell for high 
 prices ; but an iced slice of pineapple or melon can be obtained by the latter, 
 in the hottest part of the year, for a few cash, or something less than a 
 farthing. The next, perhaps, in size, are the cloth warehouses Sih-poophoo. 
 In them are great varieties of woolens, puffed off as " all kinds of woven 
 stuffs, selected and picked." " we neither spare pains nor money," etc. The 
 tea-dealer has his establishment surrounded with metal vases in which are 
 the samples ; boiling water is always at hand for the purchaser to try the 
 taste, but is not so often resorted to as the shorter process of laying a small 
 quantity in the palm of the hand, and on application to the nose, judging by 
 the aroma; the portion ordered is packed in a leaden box of the required 
 size. The sign may be Song-min-cha, " famous teas from every province," 
 or the names of some of the most valuable growths, as Singlo-Woohe, i. e., 
 Singlo and Bohea. 
 
 The chandlers' establishment, Chuh-yuen, is often an extensive one, inas- 
 much as he is a general dealer, beside selling candles of different descriptions 
 as " poured over and made for sending as presents and offerings :" these are 
 of the tallow-tree, with an ornamented coating of wax, many of them very 
 gaudy, both in color and decoration, and are described in the signs as " small 
 wick candles made heavy with wax, and increased by other materials." 
 
 On all sides are inscriptions eulogistic of these costly lights : such as " in 
 the evenings in the celestial palace they hand down the order;" "late at 
 night in the snow gallery they study the books ;" but should the shop have 
 a view only into a back street a more modest sign suffices, as Chuh-haow- 
 shwang hae se sin chu chuh, " candle warehouse, double dips and small 
 wicks, superior candles." Hams, sugar, rice, cakes, flour, bacon, dried fruits, 
 and every kind of grocery, may frequently be found in these establishments, 
 whose granaries, bakehouses, and other offices, are very extensive. Smokers 
 and snuff-takers are seduced by romances, such as the following: "We issue 
 and sell Hang Chow tobacco, the name and fame of which has galloped to 
 the north of Ke-chow ; and the flavor has pervaded Keang-nan in the south ;" 
 " famous tobacco from the Shihma district ;" " original importers of the Fokeen 
 Chappoo and Hong Chow tobaccoes." The pipes are arranged often with a 
 great deal of taste, like swords in an armory, and snuffs of various qualities, 
 some of them very highly scented, are taken out of bottles, with a small 
 spoon attached to the stopper. Cigars ar^ unknown, and the weed, in spits 
 &f its galloping fame, is but indifferent. 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN" CHINA. 187 
 
 A sufficient introduction to the dainties of a tavern might be supposed tc 
 exist in the grand display of the various dishes, stews, soups, and entrees, 
 exposed to view, without additional allurements, as Leang-shih Hang, " rate- 
 able and provision warehouse ;" " six kinds of eatables' warehouse ;" " Tar- 
 tar and Chinese tables spread according to the seasons, bowls of vegetables, 
 meats, puddings, soups, cakes, aromatic and simple vegetables, and common 
 rice bowls." Through the four seasons bowls of vegetables, with Tartar and 
 Chinese, complete dinners, one of which I have attempted a description of 
 below. Tea-houses are fitted up in a fairy-like style, and in situations over 
 water, or high above the tops of other houses, to catch the air in summer 
 time, and when convenient have gardens, Cha-yuen, attached. In them you 
 can have a private apartment lightly and elegantly fitted up, generally with 
 bamboo furniture, or seat yourself at one of the many tables in the public 
 rooms, with a pipe, cup of tea, and a few dried melon pips, all for one penny. 
 The walls are hung with various pictures in rolls and inscriptions, such as 
 ". fruits of all kinds brought from the north and south, with aromatic and 
 plain tea cakes ;" " flag and lance, shaped with sparrow-tongued teas ;" 
 " Prince's eyebrow and Oldman's eyebrow teas ;" " according to your wishes 
 a small cup of tea." These houses are generally well filled, and are the 
 haunts of jugglers, fortune-tellers, and other idle vagabonds, and itinerant 
 dealers of all kinds : women are seldom seen in them, except dancing and 
 singing girls. But the drug shop, Yo-tsau-choo, is, perhaps, the most showy 
 establishment in some towns : beside highly-ornamented drawers, there are 
 all sorts of porcelain jars and vases, containing the specifics. 
 
 It is said that the physician is not a well-paid man ; however that may be, 
 the apothecary is, and he generally combines the two professions. Surgeons 
 and surgical instruments are unknown ; nearly all the common European me- 
 dicines are in use, but instead of essences, extracts, and tinctures, the native 
 preparations are very simple decoctions, although these as well as plasters 
 are on a very extensive scale, for malades imaginaires abound. In cases of 
 severe pain an opposite part is punctured, with the forefinger and thumb, as 
 a counter-irritant. Actual cautery is not unusual, especially in cases of 
 rheumatism. 
 
 A dying shop, Ten-fang, recommends itself thus, M green double dye, 
 black as ink, in skill we rival celestial workmanship." An encomium rather 
 more qualified might not be misplaced, their dyes are indeed splendid. Ba- 
 zaars are very handsome and extensive, well filled with articles " for sending 
 as presents, antique curiosities, ornaments for setting out tables, and present- 
 ing as dowries;" " crystal for young and old eye-glasses." The spectacles 
 are as large as teacups, set in heavy tortoiseshell frames, and slung round the 
 ears with two strings, their odd appearance may be imagined. 
 
 Beside these signs, and many more different kinds not enumerated, each 
 house has its carved sign : thus, a doctor's shop will be ornamented with a 
 patriarch leaning on a crook, and by his side a deer or a stork, the stork being 
 the emblem of longevity, which, as is well known, at least in China, pulver- 
 ised dried deer's flesh affords the surest means of attaining. 
 
 A tea-house is known by huge vases almost surrounding it in all directions. 
 
188 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 filled with the water of Heaven, i. e., rain water, which is preferred, and in 
 private houses is often kept for upward of a year to acquire considerable 
 imaginary powers of extracting the flavor of the tea. It is in such celebrity, 
 that the Son of Heaven himself, the literary Emperor Kang-He composed an 
 ode on the propriety of keeping the waters of heaven, and the celestial mode 
 of making tea, which may be read on many of the small Chinese tea-cups, 
 that is to say, if you can translate it. A huge Tartar boot crowns the shop 
 of a dealer in that line, with a carving of some kind or another, as is the case 
 with most shops : notice is given sometimes in this manner : " All here mea- 
 sured by one rule, when favored by merchants who bestow their regards on 
 us, please to notice our sign of the Double Phenix on a board, as a mark, 
 then it will be all right." 
 
 The pawnbroker and the banker are often synonymous terms with the 
 Chinese. They are called three per cent per month shops, that being the 
 rate at which they advance money on any kind of goods whatever, beyond 
 which they are not allowed to charge upon pain of receiving sixty blows. 
 These shops, as may well be believed, from the rate of interest, are often 
 immensely rich. About four feet from the ground, a strongly barred open- 
 ing appears, through which the goods or security are passed, and if accepted, 
 the money is handed out, and a ticket corresponding to the one placed on the 
 article given, redeemable in three months if required. 
 
 In adition to the shops, the frequented streets and populous villages are 
 supplied with traveling trades of every kind beside ; the tea-gardens and 
 squares are filled with astrologers, necromancers, fortunetellers, peep-shows, 
 jugglers, Punch, dentists, quacks, in short, all the drags on the purse to be 
 found in other countries. The most useful of these is the walking restaura- 
 teur. His apparatus is of the most compact order, all lightly balanced on his 
 back With one hand, while with the other he teazes a fire and goes from place 
 to place crying his prepared dishes, until his progress be arrested by some 
 hungry traveler. His whole apparatus, which may be six feet high by nine 
 feet long, is almost entirely made of bamboo. Beside the one in which he 
 walks, there are two perpendicular divisions ; on the top of that before him 
 are the basins, plates, etc.; then the supply of wood, below which is the fire- 
 place and kitchen, consisting of an iron pan, covered over by a wooden tub, 
 and let into light plaster-work upon the fire ; thus he boils, stews, or fries 
 according to the taste of the customer ; in the other division are the meats, 
 vegetables, etc., beside a quantity of gaudy Chinaware, containing the dried 
 herbs, peppers, etc., required ; for a very trifling sum the laborer can here 
 procure a hearty meal without leaving his work, as the restaurateur hovers 
 about all places where most needed. Beside the above are tea-stalls of the 
 same kind, in which are kept hot and ready the various kinds of Bohea for 
 public convenience. 
 
 The itinerant barber's apparatus is complete, the water always boiling on 
 a fire over his head, while in his rear on a pole, balanced over his shoulder, 
 are water, basin, razors, towels, etc.; if he be in requisition he picks out a 
 convenient spot, shaves the head, cleans the ears and eyes, cracks the joints, 
 and shampoos the body, in an incredibly short space of time. Hair is only 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 189 
 
 worn on the crown of the head in shape of a cue. The shaving is a inattei 
 of necessity to the mandarin and gentleman, while scarcely a laborer goes 
 more than three or four days unshorn. 
 
 Tinker, tailor, and shoemaker, each has his pack, and basking in a sunny 
 spot plies his trade, finishes off one job and utters his peculiar cry for another. 
 
 The dentist pitches his tent on arriving ; he opens box after box, producing 
 hundreds of human teeth, on which he lectures, declaring each large and 
 more decayed tooth to have belonged to a prince, duke, or high mandarin, 
 who honored him with his patronage, and saved himself from the most terrific 
 tortures. 
 
 The fortune-teller is a cunning, mysterious looking rascal ; he is seated at 
 a table under an awning, before him his magic mirror, books, pencils, ink, 
 etc. So intent is he on his studies, that the vociferations of a country-look- 
 ing bumpkin, which have attracted a crowd of gazers, have failed to awaken 
 him. Slowly he rouses himself from the trance of his meditations, and with 
 a mysterious shudder and start, he excuses himself hastily, shuts his book 
 with an air, talks of the spirits having deceived him in causing him to be- 
 lieve that a poor man, destined to fill a high office, humbly awaited him at 
 the gate of celestial bliss ; is much surprised when his clownish customer 
 calls upon him to unfold his prophetic powers, and relate what heaven may 
 have in store for him. Having asked him if he is sure they have not met be- 
 fore, which question confirms the bumpkin in the opinion that he must have 
 been the cause of this extraordinary vision, he places a stool for him opposite, 
 and then commences the divination of futurity. After asking a few ques- 
 tions, he places his mirror so as to reflect the heavens, and inscribes thereon 
 certain mystic signs, these he continually changes (having referred to a num- 
 ber of books and talking all the time aloud), writing now and then on a slip 
 of paper ; he at last fills up all he requires, and hands it to the delighted 
 and deluded simpleton ; then falling into a reverie awaits the arrival of 
 another, who is not slow in arriving : one fool makes many, and the trade is 
 a good one. 
 
 The craniologist unfolds his plates, and, if no one will come forward, lec- 
 tures on them at great length. One of these plates I bought immediately 
 after a lecture, as a curiosity. It is a representation of a face, with a head- 
 dress that has not been in use for some centuries, inscribed all over with cha- 
 racters ; every feature bears some development or other. The ears speak 
 volumes ; the forehead is almost an encyclopedia of organs, some denoting 
 the qualities of the mind, others emblematic of the destiny of the individual. 
 Some of the characters are in circles, surrounded by numbers and profes- 
 sional terms. 
 
 The interpretations do not exactly tally with those of our phrenologists, 
 and when doctors differ, I cannot decide a point on which one is as likely tc 
 be right as another, with the chances, if any, leaning in favor of the Chinese, 
 who have studied the matter for centuries before it was dreamed of in Europe. 
 
 In a quiet little nook, perfectly apart from the noise of the street or garden, 
 sits, under a tree or awning, the ckess-player, he either teaches the art o* 
 offers to play, and has much custom in both. 
 
190 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 The most novel traveling that I met with, was that of the circulating libra- 
 rian, with a box filled with little pamphlets of dramas, tales and romances 
 He goes the circui : of the town, and leaves, brings away, or exchanges his 
 books, as the case may be, bringing information and tittle-tattle home to every 
 man's door. His trade is not a bad one, as his stock costs very little, and is 
 in some demand. 
 
 Every cry almost to be met with in London, or other cities, may find its 
 equivalent in China. Dancing on the tight-rope, traveling players, gambling, 
 cakes, oranges, etc.; in short, every species of out-of-door mode of extracting 
 money from the unwary. 
 
 In every city and town there are several public baths, and no village is 
 without one or more, in which the million may have baths for the small sum 
 of five Le, or the twentieth part of four-pence half-penny. These houses need 
 no sign : from evfry aperture issues steam in vapors and volumes — their 
 vicinity is moist Nor is cleanliness the only benefit conferred by them 
 on the poorer classes of a people, whose almost sole beverage is a decoction 
 of tea ; and it is a great convenience to be enabled to purchase from their 
 enormous reservoirs, as much boiling water for a le as would nearly supply a 
 family in drirking for a day. Fuel being, scarce in the winter time, this is a 
 great boon and much taken advantage of, and might well be copied in cities 
 nearer ho ne. 
 
 While I was at Shanghae, taking a stroll, about three o'clock, on the last 
 day of ViB Chinese year, in the immediate neighborhood of the custom-house 
 for effecting the Fukien dues, this building took fire, and, together with 
 some houses adjoining, was burnt : I was much surprised at the alacrity and 
 excellent order with which the engines were brought to the spot. Every 
 division of the town has its engine, and every engine company its separate 
 dress. I suppose, on this occasion, there must have been nearly twenty en- 
 gines on the spot in less than half an hour, made like large tubs, with two 
 cylinders each, worked by two men, and throwing the water very well 
 through a leather hose. 
 
 There is a mysterious freemasonry spread all over China and its depend- 
 encies, together with Java, Singapore, Malacca, and Penang, called the " So- 
 ciety of the United Three," known to Europeans as the " Triad Society;" 
 originally formed for purposes of mutual benevolence, but now a very dan- 
 gerous institution. The " three" are heaven, earth, and man. The late Dr. 
 Milne made the following researches into this difficult subject. The mem- 
 bers of it, calling themselves brethren, are the most depraved of the dregs of 
 the people, the idlers, gamblers, opium smokers, and such like vermin ; their 
 objects are, at home, mutual assistance, theft, robbery, overthrow of regular 
 government, and aim at political power. Abroad, plunder, mutual conceal 
 ment of crime, and defense against established authority. Their government 
 is a triumvirate of elder brethren, who have a larger share of the plundei 
 than the rest. They are bound together by oaths and certain initiatory rites 
 and make themselves known to each other by secret signs. 
 
 I have heard it remarked that there are no beggars in China, but persona 
 experience in the country has given me rather a different opinion. In th« 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 191 
 
 city of Shanghae there are more beggars, I was near saying, than in Naples, 
 but, certainly, than in Lisbon ; and, for impertinence, loquacity, and filth, 
 would beat all I ever witnessed. Their name is legion, and a formidable le- 
 gion they are, completely organized, and possessing great power ; no res- 
 pectable shopkeeper is free from the presence of one or more of them, nearly 
 the whole day, unless he pays a tribute, or, in other words, compounds with 
 the king of the beggars ; and, odd as it may appear, this filthy horde are re- 
 nresented by a chief, who is, in his own person, responsible for his gang, in 
 case of any extraordinary enormity being committed. As a mark of theii 
 independence, they wear no tails ; they either encamp in the outskirts, oi 
 inhabit a deserted joss, or other house, or barn, or ice-house, in summei 
 time ; their dress is sackcloth and dirt. 
 
 They are certainly enthusiastic in their profession, and not to be pitied ; 
 they will not work, but, to excite charity and commiseration, cut and maim 
 themselves to an extent hardly credible. It is no uncommon sight to see 
 men dying, and even dead, half buried in snow, and almost naked, in the 
 middle of a populous city, and yet they are constantly receiving alms which 
 is immediately spent in all kinds of debauchery. 
 
 The usual mode of exaction is as follows : — the beggar either covers him- 
 self with loathsome filth, or ornaments his person with flowers ; sometimes a 
 red tallow lighted candle is stuck in his hair, and with a small gong, drum, or 
 two pieces of wood in his hands, he enters a shop, where either the smell or 
 the noise the rascal kicks up soon teaches the unfortunate shopkeeper the 
 value of peace and quiet, opens him to conviction, and brings him to terms 
 to get rid of the nuisance. So he goes on through street after street ; no 
 attempt is made to turn him out, though he be filled with vermin, some of 
 which he not unfrequently leaves in exchange for the alms he receives. They 
 are said to recruit from the people by stealing their offspring ; however that 
 may be, child-stealing is a common crime in China, as the numerous placards 
 and warnings from bereaved parents may prove in any city; (there are bill- 
 stickers in China as elsewhere.) Beside the above, there are some real 
 objects of charity, who, from inundations of rivers, banks, fires, etc., are ren- 
 dered houseless; these have frequently, as in England, begging-letters, calling 
 on the charitable to assist them, and not in vain, as the Chinese are a bene- 
 volent people, and not one of any respectability will pass an object really 
 deserving of his charity without relieving his wants. "Are there widows ? 
 compassionate them; are there aged ? support them; are there sick ? dispense 
 medicine to them ; are there starved and cold ? give clothing to them," are 
 the words of a Buddhist, from which some Christians might take a useful 
 hint. 
 
 If there be any one thing that the genius of this extraordinary people has 
 brought nearer to perfection than another, it is the cultivation of the soil. 
 The economy of their agriculture is beautiful ; the whole country presents the 
 appearance of one continued garden ; no large commons starving a few mise- 
 rable horses, nor parks and chases laid waste for the special purpose of breed- 
 ing rabbits, are to be met with ; the land is meant to feed and clothe the peo- 
 ple, and to that use its powers are directed. Not an inch of soil is lost that 
 
192 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHIN'A. 
 
 can be made useful by the most laborious and apparently unpromising indus- 
 try, save only such parts as are set aside for burial-grounds. Swamps are 
 drained by canals, which carry the superfluous waters where they are turned 
 to profitable account in enriching land that otherwise would not be produc- 
 tive. Hills are terraced to the summits, and the banks of rivers and shores 
 of the sea recede, and leave flourishing farms to reward the enterprise of man. 
 I know nothing that would be likely to be more valuable from this country 
 than the report of an experienced and scientific farmer, could such be induced 
 to bestow a short time in traveling to China, and making its agriculture his 
 study. The whole country may be said to be one vast estate or manor, of 
 which the Emperor is the lord, with pretty large power over his tenants, 
 which he is not slow sometimes in exercising. The Emperor, as is well 
 known, is a great patron of agriculture, and condescends once a year, with 
 his own royal hands, to guide a richly-ornamented plow, specially kept for 
 the purpose. His Majesty first turns a stated number of furrows (I believe 
 three), then the royal kindred, and afterward the ministers ; the land 
 so plowed is then sown with grain, the produce of which, on its ar- 
 riving at maturity, is eagerly bought at a high figure by the pliant 
 courtiers. 
 
 It has often been the custom for the emperors, whose reigns have been 
 marked with peace and plenty, to compose odes and songs in honor of the 
 labors of husbandry. Thus, the second emperor of the present, i. e. Ta- 
 Tsing dynasty,. Yung-Ching remarks, "Of old the emperors plowed, and 
 the empress cultivated the mulberry tree : though supremely honorable, 
 they disdained not to labor, in order that by their example they might 
 excite the millions of the people to lay due stress on the radical principles of 
 political economy. " Suffer not a barren spot to remain a wilderness, or an 
 idle person to abide in a city, then the farmer will not lay aside the plow 
 and hoe, or the wife the silkworm or her weaving." 
 
 To obtain the largest supply in the most economical manner from the 
 smallest space is the desideratum of the Chinese agriculturist, which, beyond 
 all other nations, he has been successful in arriving at. Nature has given 
 him a favorable climate in most parts, a good soil, and numerous and splen- 
 did rivers, on which art and labor have been most unsparingly lavished in 
 making them subservient to the purposes of irrigation, which may be said to 
 be universal. Beside the canals and navigable rivers, which no part of 
 China is far distant from, every field is partially bounded by water, which, in 
 the low countries, is easily made to inundate the fields, and cleared off at 
 convenience by means of flood-gates. In Kiang-tsu, and all parts having 
 canals, it is raised by means of chain-pumps of the rudest materials, worked 
 either by hand, feet, or bullocks, according to the size of the machine ; that 
 by hand can only be worked by two men, that by foot by as many as four, 
 but only one bullock at a time is yoked. In Fukien, and where springs are 
 constantly met, wells are dug, and over each an upright pole of large dimen- 
 sions is raised, at the upper end of which is slung a crosspiece, and to one 
 end is attached the bucket with length of rope sufficient to reach the water ; 
 to the other a stone of sufficient weight to over-balance it, and thus a single 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 193 
 
 man can draw hundreds of tons daily ; these wells are sometimes found a* 
 each corner of the paddy or rice-field. 
 
 But irrigation is not confined to the low countries, but on the highest ter- 
 races, the smallest mountain stream, the veriest drippling of a spring, is car- 
 ried by convenient channels from one level to another, with as little waste 
 as possible, till, having gone through each in succession, it is conducted into 
 a deep reservoir, to be ready for service again ; but on those high grounds, 
 where springs and streams are not at hand, the water has to be raised from 
 a lower level. In Quang-tung, where the hilly country sometimes requires 
 the water to be considerably raised, reservoirs are established on ledges, 
 twenty or thirty feet above each other ; at every reservoir stand, one on each 
 side, two men, between whom is slung a bucket or pail of large proportions ; 
 the ropes being relaxed, the bucket fills, when it is drawn up, the rope being 
 horizontally tightened ; and by a peculiar swing or jerk every drop is re- 
 ceived into the reservoir above, and so on till it reaches the highest point 
 desired. 
 
 For manure, almost everything not edible is preserved, and this become?, 
 the more necessary from the comparatively small quantity of stock kept. 
 Nothing in town or country is wasted ; the refuse of the drain is not left to 
 pollute the rivers, but is carefully collected ; all remnants of animal and 
 vegetable matter, even to the wiping of a barber's razor, is sought for, and 
 duly appreciated. 
 
 Water, when it can be spared, is drawn off from the canals, for the sake of 
 the deposit it may leave behind ; the small canals are cleared out for this 
 purpose nearly every year. Large vessels are everywhere seen, and, in 
 place of the legends of commination which adorn our walls, the smallest con- 
 tribution is invited and thankfully received, ay, even paid for. 
 
 The farm, however small, is not so much the estate of an individual pro- 
 prietor, as the home of a family, or seat of a clan, many generations of which, 
 under one acknowledged head or patriarch, are often congregated in the same 
 dwelling. As the farm-houses in general differ but little from each other, 
 except in size, I will endeavor to give the reader a description of one. 
 
 In a small island, formed by a moat for the supply of water and the rear- 
 ing of ducks and geese, well sheltered by bamboos and other trees, and 
 nearly hid from view, stands the house, consisting of one floor only, built, 
 when possible, of stone, in other cases of brick (of so superior a quality as 
 to become an article of commerce with this country, and to find its way to 
 Liverpool), or of wood. In the center is a large hall called the "Hall of 
 Ancestors" common to all the family. In it are arranged the household gods 
 (among which are invariably the Taouist divinities presiding over hearing 
 and sight), and relics, such as an ancestral picture, in the most conspicuous 
 part of the wall, on each side of which is an aphorism of Confucius, and in 
 front a table bearing incense burners and fruits as offerings, and ornamental 
 porcelain vases, etc. The hall also serves for a drying-room for their seeds, 
 and a depository for the smaller implements of husbandry. It is the scene 
 of their entertainments, many of their festivals, and the adoration of the gods, 
 but never used for culinary purposes. This forms the nucleus of the building; 
 13 
 
194 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 around it are the dwelling rooms of the different divisions of the tribe ; and 
 as often as a marriage takes place an apartment is added for the newly- 
 wedded couple, and, in time, the whole presents rather the appearance of a 
 village than a single dwelling-house. The furniture of each family consists 
 of a bed highly ornamented, in many cases carved and richly inlaid with 
 ivory ; a few high-backed chairs, often of bamboo ; a plain polished round 
 table ; washing utensils of brass ; and, in one corner of the room, cooking 
 utensils consisting of a block fire-place, in which a few round pans are sei 
 with masonry, though in the larger establishments the kitchen is a separate 
 building : around the room are several red varnished cabinets, and in these 
 apartments the females are employed in the household duties of needlework, 
 spinning, etc., a spinning-wheel and loom forming necessary appendages to 
 each farm-house in those parts where cotton is grown. Nearly everything 
 for the use of the family is home-made — agricultural instruments are home- 
 made and repaired ; cotton is grown, and spun, and made into clothes ; 
 silk-worms are reared, and all the process of winding and weaving done by 
 the family ; flour is ground, cakes are baked, and sain shoo is distilled from 
 rice, and as much as required stored, the rest, and whatever other produce 
 not wanted for home consumption, is either exchanged for other necessaries 
 among the neighbors, or sent to some town in the vicinity to find a market. 
 In Kiang-tsu, where that species of cloth better known under the name of 
 nankin is made, the drapers, who are proprietors of large houses in the cities, 
 hire stalls outside the walls and meet the farmers on the road and buy their 
 cloth, paying in bills drawn on their own houses. 
 
 The livestock consists of a liberal supply of fowls, ducks, geese, goats, 
 and pigs, and a dog or two (scarcely any family, however poor, is without 
 one or more of the latter two), together with one or two bullocks and buffa- 
 loes according to the labor required. The buffalo is almost an amphibious 
 animal, being constantly in the water. The implements are very simple and 
 primitive — I may almost say barbarous. The plow has no coulter, and 
 but one handle, and, with the exception of the share, is entirely of wood. It 
 is drawn by a single bullock or buffalo, by means of a trace passing before the 
 breast with a strap over the shoulders. 
 
 The principal crop in the parts I visited is rice. The land being highly 
 manured yields two crops per year ; but it was observable in the year 1845 
 in the north and east valleys in Chusan, three crops were taken from most 
 of the fields. During the growth all weeds are culled, and anything that 
 might obstruct the crop or unnecessarily draw the land, carefully removed. 
 
 Corn and vegetable lands are usually productive of three crops, as the fol- 
 lowing : The corn seed is sown in rows, between every two of which is a 
 row of cotton, beans or other vegetable (the cotton is an annual). At har- 
 vest-time the corn is reaped, and the field, all yellow to-day, is beautifully 
 green to-morrow, the cotton being about six or eight inches high; the minutest 
 portion of stubble is removed by women and stored up for manure, and the 
 field weeded ; the" cotton, on coming to maturity, is plucked, the tree plowed 
 in for manure, and the field prepared for the third crop of clover, vege- 
 tables, or a kind of sesame ; if clover, only a part is cut and the rest plowed 
 13 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHItfA. 195 
 
 in for manure. Fallows are unknown, and from the constant manuring, the 
 land is enabled to produce at the above rate with little variation without be- 
 coming exhausted. In tea plantations and orchards of all kinds the land is 
 equally worked. 
 
 In each province there is generally a paved high road from one Foo to 
 another, and sometimes, but not often, to a Heen ; these roads are in good 
 order and about six feet broad, beside these are the footpaths which skirt 
 the fields as boundaries, but are sometimes very inconvenient to the traveler 
 from the tortuous courses they take, as sometimes you start off at right 
 angles from the object of your journey ; beside these and the canals, a stone 
 often divides two properties. In this way the country is perfectly open, save 
 where here and there dotted with picturesque farm-houses, joss-houses, and 
 bosquets of bamboo. 
 
 The bamboo here deserves a passing mention, as I know no plant so useful 
 for so many purposes as the Chinese make it. There is scarcely a trade or 
 manufacture among them that is not more or less assisted by it, while its 
 early shoots form one of the choicest edibles as a vegetable preserve and 
 pickle. In early times, before books were compiled, all records were carved 
 on slips of bamboo. The most elegant household furniture, chairs, sofas, 
 tables, beds, and even the pillars, to support the house itself, are made of it. 
 
 The curiosity-maker, the toy maker, the carpenter, the agriculturist, are 
 indebted to it. The masts of boats and small ships, beside a long list of 
 other marine paraphernalia, are from its wood, clothing from its fiber, and 
 lampwicks from its pith ; the soldier and sailor, the clerk and civilian, carry 
 it as pike-handles, and arrows, and pencils. I have in my own possession a 
 jacket, for an under-garment, made of it, like network, to be worn next the 
 skin in hot weather. The housebreaker finds it an assistant of his crime in 
 his own hands and his repentance in those of the executioner. 
 
 It is forbidden to plow, feed cattle, or cut wood in the places where empe- 
 rors, kings, princes, saints, sages, faithful ministers, and other illustrious 
 worthies are buried. Now, as it is apt to please each and every farmer and 
 others to vote his or their immediate predecessors " the illustrious dead," 
 the actual farm is sometimes diminished by the frequency of these ancestral 
 monuments. But I do not know that we should grudge them that whim 
 when they make so good use of the rest of the land ; and if some of the 
 above particulars may not square with European notions of econom)?-, among 
 their fruits may be mentioned the most contented, good-humored, well- 
 fed, industrious, and happy population that, in the course of sixteen years 
 of service in the navy, and rambles in most parts of the globe, I have ever 
 met with. 
 
 " Great attention is paid in China to the cultivation of the mulberry, and 
 there are more than twenty different works by Chinese authors, devoted to 
 delineating the various processes attending to the manufacture of silk, many 
 of which are illustrated. The manufacture of this elegant article of dress 
 originated with the Chinese, and its introduction to the nations of the west 
 has been comparatively modern. Half of all the garments worn by th« 
 Chinese, are supplied alone from this branch of industry. 
 
196 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 " Among the branches of Chinese industry, the growth and preparation of 
 tea has been most celebrated abroad, and the gradual introduction and use 
 of this beverage among the nations of the west, and the important conse- 
 quences of bringing the two into more intimate intercourse, and opening to 
 the Chinese the blessings of Christian civilization, resulting from the trade, 
 is one of the most interesting results that ever flowed from commerce. Tea, 
 gunpowder, printing, and the compass, are four things which have worked 
 marvelous changes in the social condition, intercourse, disputes, and mental 
 improvement of mankind ; and probably all of them are traceable to China 
 and Chinese ingenuity. The plant grows in almost every part of China, in 
 Corea, Japan, Annam, and the adjacent regions, and its infusion forms a 
 common beverage for nearly two-thirds of the human race. Its progress 
 has been gradual in all those countries, and in Europe it has been well com- 
 pared to that of truth : suspected at first, though very palatable to those 
 who had the courage to taste it; resisted as it encroached; abused as its popu- 
 larity seemed to spread, and establishing its triumph at last in cheering the 
 whole land, from the palace to the cottage, only by the slow and resistless 
 effects of time, and its own virtues. 
 
 The knowledge of the tea plant can be traced back among the Chinese, 
 almost three and a half centuries before Christ; but it has been in general use 
 among them only about ten centuries. The plant is generally from three to 
 six feet high, and in Assam it has been found growing wild to the height of 
 thirty .feet. It usually presents a dense mass of foliage, on an infinite number 
 of small twigs, a result of the practice of cutting it down. The leaf is of a 
 dark green color of an oblong, oval shape, and the flowers are white, with- 
 out smell and single ; the seeds resemble hazel-nuts in size and color, three 
 of them being inclosed in a hard nut and so oily as. to corrupt soon after 
 ripening, this oil is rather acrid and bitter, but is useful for various purposes. 
 
 Tea is usually raised by individuals who cultivate a few dozen or scores of 
 shrubs upon their own lands, and either cure the leaves themselves, or sell 
 them to their neighbors after assorting them according to their quality. There 
 are very large plantations under the care of rich landlords, but each little 
 farmer raises tea as he does cotton, silk or rice upon his own premises. The 
 seeds are thickly planted in nursery beds, because many of them fail from 
 their oily nature, and when the nurslings are a foot or more high they are 
 transplanted into rows of about four feet or more apart. No preparation of 
 the ground is necessary, nor is much care taken to keep the shrubs in a 
 healthy state. The produce of old and celebrated nurseries is carefully col- 
 lected and cured by itself, and one native authority states that the prices of 
 these particular lots vary from $15, to $100 per pound. The average 
 yield of the plant is six ounces ; four crops of leaves are gathered during the 
 season, and on these occasions, the whole population, men, women, and 
 children, find employment. The two last being inferior are not exported. 
 
 The quality of the different kinds of tea depends almost as much upon the 
 mode of curing, as upon the nature of the soil, or the age of the leaf. Some 
 sorts are quite changed in their particular flavor by the curing and mixing 
 processes they undergo. The difference in the color of black and green tea 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 197 
 
 is wholly owing to the mode of preparation. The difference in taste, douot- 
 less, arises from the greater portion of the oil left remaining in the green tea, 
 and it is this, it is supposed, which occasions the peculiar effects upon the 
 nerves, ascribed to drinking green tea, and not its being cured upon copper, 
 as has frequently been erroneously stated." 
 
 The Chinese bill of fare may be said to include everything animal and 
 vegetable, that nature will digest, together with some few items of minerals, 
 with the exception of milk and its preparations. It is only for the use of 
 foreigners that cows and goats are ever milked, but otherwise no part of the 
 animal is lost ; but when one is killed, the blood is carefully collected, the 
 hair is removed, and the skin and offal apportioned in lots, and sold. 
 
 Poultry, game, and fish, all kinds of grains, vegetables, fruits, are to be 
 had in the different parts of the empire, abundant in quantity, and excellent 
 in quality. Some, together with the dishes made from them, were new to 
 me ; such, for instance, was the King of Cabbages, indigenous to the Shang- 
 tung province, which would form a splendid acquisition in England to the 
 cattle grazier ; it is a thick-set cabbage, perfectly white, and so close, that 
 when required to be kept, removing an outside leaf or two about once a week, 
 will make it last for many months ; it has found its way, I hear, to Paris, 
 where it is known as the " Chou de Nankin." It is used as a simple veget- 
 able, cooked, or " au naturel," or in winter, a most excellent mild salad, and 
 the Chinese salt and pickle, both this and other cabbages, and make a kind 
 of sourkrout. It frequently weighs twenty pounds. 
 
 Most European and tropical fruits flourish in different parts of the country, 
 according to the climate, and a large trade in fruits is carried on by means 
 of junks, these are mostly preserved, in different modes, moist and dry, 
 whole, and in shreds, with vinegar or sugar, which latter, in the province of 
 Fo-kien, and the island of Formosa, is grown and manufactured in high per- 
 fection, but is never used to sweeten tea. Honey is abundant, oils are ex- 
 tracted from the olive, sesame, cotton-seed, several kinds of cabbage, pork- 
 fat, and fish, which, together with the castor-oil, are all used for culinary 
 purposes ; the use of the latter, for any purpose other than a medicine, is, I 
 should suppose, peculiar to the Chinese ; it is expressed through a cullender, 
 and when fresh, has not the aroma that it afterward acquires. 
 
 Ducks' eggs are in great requisition, and in order to meet the demand for 
 them, great numbers are kept on all the navigable rivers and canals, in float- 
 ing poultry-houses. They are under very remarkable discipline, they go out 
 to feed, and return home with wonderful expedition, and at a word from 
 their masters, will do almost anything that can be required of them ; he 
 stands meanwhile at the entrance, and flogs the straggler, and rewards the 
 foremost. They are never allowed to hatch their own eggs, almost all towns 
 having ovens for that purpose. The eggs of all birds are used, but those of 
 the ducks are salted in the shells, as is the flesh also, for sea stores. Consid- 
 erable quantities of fish are salted and dried ; the collared eel is very fire, 
 but none are thrown away, blubber even is eaten, as are water-snakes, frogs, 
 toads, shell-fish of every species, tortoises, snails, gelatinous worms and 
 lizards. 
 
198 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHIN a 
 
 The various grains are used in making unleavened bread, not unlike a 
 muffin in appearance, cooked on the side of a portable oven, and generally by 
 steam, together with pastry of divers sorts, among which, are some very simi- 
 lar to European, as wafers, sponge-cakes, etc., which would be palatable 
 enough, were it not for the introduction of a lump of pork-fat, discoverable 
 only by the uninitiated, at a most disagreeable period. The introduction 
 of pork-fat into these articles of Chinese gastronomy is universal and 
 disgusting. 
 
 Imported are Ginseng, a kind of liquorice, which was formerly a royal mo- 
 nopoly, and could only be grown on the EmperOr's property, in the north, 
 but has latterly been introduced from Canada, and some parts of the United 
 States ; and birds'-nests of the sea-swallow, a transparent substance, in ap- 
 pearance somewhat resembling a gum, reckoned a great delicacy, and sold 
 at very high prices. I have seen four or five, when very clear, weighing only 
 three or four ounces each, sell for thirty dollars. They are brought from 
 the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, as likewise are Beches-de-mer, or 
 sea-slugs, brown looking snails, about six or seven inches long. They are an 
 expensive luxury, as are the exotic dainties of roes, sounds, tripe, fins, and 
 tails of sharks. Great art is shown in dressing all these delicacies ; the 
 cookery is perhaps a little richer than most English palates would relish, but 
 some of the stews, soups, and made dishes, are excellent. 
 
 " Travelers hear, beforehand, that the Chinese devour everything, and on 
 their arrival in the country, straightway inquire if rats, mice, and cats, are 
 eaten, and hearing that such is the case, perpetuate the idea, that they form 
 the common articles of food. They are, doubtless, eaten now and then, as 
 are many other undesirable things by those who are compelled by want, but 
 to put these and some other disgusting eatables in the front of the list gives 
 a false idea of the every-day food of the Chinese. 
 
 The various modes of catching and rearing fish exhibit the skill and con- 
 trivance of the people of China, thirty-six millions of whom, it is estimated; 
 derive their food from the water. Necessity compels them to invent and try 
 many ingenious ways of securing the finny tribes. The smacks, which swarm 
 along the coast go out in pairs to join in dragging the nets fastened to their 
 boats. In the shallows of rivers rows of heavy posts are driven down and 
 nets secured to them, which are examined and changed at every tide. Those 
 who attend these nets, moreover attach scoops, or drag-nets, to their boats so 
 loaded that they will sink and gather fish feeding near the bottoms. Lift- 
 ing nets, twenty feet square, are supended from poles elevated and 
 depressed by a hawser, worked by a windlass on shore ; the nets are baited 
 with the whites of eggs spread on the meshes. 
 
 Cormorants are trained, in great numbers in the eastern provinces, to cap- 
 ture fish and are sometimes under such good order, that they will disperse at 
 a given signal and return with their prey without the precaution of a neck- 
 ring. If one seizes a fish too heavy for him alone, another comes to his 
 assistance and the two carry it aboard the boat of their master, which they 
 will distinguish amid a fleet of the same kind. In moonlight nights, low, 
 narrow shallops, provided with a wide white board fastened to the wale and 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 193 
 
 floating upon the water, are anchored in still water; the moon shinmg upoi. 
 the board, the deceived fish leap out upon it or into the boat. Sometimes a 
 boat, furnished with a treadle, goes up and down near the shores, striking 
 boards against its bottom and sides ; the startled fish are caught in the net 
 dragging astern. The crews of man} 7 small boats combine to drive the fish 
 into their nets by splashing and striking the water, or into a pool on the mar- 
 gin of the river, at high tide, in which they are easily retained by wattles, 
 and scooped out when the water has fallen. Divers clap sticks together, 
 under water, to drive their prey into the nets set for them, or catch them 
 with their toes, when, terrified at the noise, they hide in the mud. By these 
 and other contrivances the Chinese capture the finny tribes, and it is no sur- 
 prise to hear that China contains as many millions of people as there are days 
 in the year, when one sees upon what a large proportion of them feed and 
 how they live." 
 
 Learning assumes its proper position in the flowery land, and is the key to 
 all the civil offices under the crown : the highest employe is the best scholar, 
 without regard to birth. Sons of peasants contend in the race for preferment 
 with members of the imperial family ; and no one, who can pass the requisite 
 examinations, with the exception of the three excluded classes of boatmen, 
 coolies, and actors, need despair of promotion ; but no civil appointment can 
 be held without a literary qualification. "A stone uncut forms no gem ; a 
 man unlearned knows not good principles," are Chinese sayings. Every 
 province is, as it were, a university of itself, of which the inhabitants are born 
 members ; and many a scholar finishes a long life before his education is 
 complete. On entering some of the poorest establishments, very often a little 
 fellow may be seen sitting on a high stool behind the counter, reading to him- 
 self most intently and aloud. He is the child of parents whose poverty com- 
 pels them, for want of an assistant, to keep their sons alternately at home for 
 a day to mind the shop. Having served the customers, who have perhaps 
 had to bawl pretty loudly in his ear to engage his attention, with as little loss 
 of time as possible ; he remembers the proverb his mother has so often 
 dinned into his ear, that '* It is better to be a fowl's back than a cow's tail," 
 and sets to work again in the hope of keeping pace with his brother, whose 
 time for staying at home comes to-morrow. The village-school is generally 
 attached to the joss-house (once for all as the word is likely to recur, the 
 word joss means a, god, and joss-house a temple), and is supported partly by 
 government and partly by the fathers of the pupils, consisting of a master, 
 often a very superior man, and twenty or thirty boys, each of whom has his 
 separate chair, table, books, and a piece of wood, painted white to serve as a 
 slate, on which he writes with a camel's hair brush and Indian ink ; while 
 learning his lesson, he reads aloud. The din of so many voices at once, on 
 my entering a school, often reminded me of my experience of the Bell system 
 in England, in days of yore ; every youngster, on the approach of a stranger, 
 straining his throat to the loudest pitch. Near the door in awful dignity, 
 with spectacles on his nose, sits the dominie behind a table, bearing the very 
 unacademical pipe and tea-tray, with some future mandarin swinging his 
 body to and fro like a mast in a storm, stumbling over a saying of Confu- 
 
200 . FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 cius that he has just learned by heart, and trying to make himself heard 
 amid the confused howling of the rest. 
 
 " To bring up a child without education is a crime in the father, to educate 
 without due severity betrays sloth in a teacher," a charge not often brought 
 home to the latter worthy, whose cane has by no means a sinecure of it, 
 The first idea of writing is gained by placing thin transparent paper over the 
 characters and so copying them ; after that the tablet above-mentioned is 
 used with Indian ink, easily washed out with a little water. 
 
 The appearance of the young dog is the same everywhere. " The whining 
 school-boy, with his satchel, and shining morning face, creeping like snail, 
 unwillingly to school," if he meet another boy on the road, causes himself a 
 flogging for being detained by a game of hop-scotch, which is as popular 
 among the rising generation of China as of England. From about eight to 
 ten is the age of attendance at the village-schools. The salaries of the mas- 
 ters are, I am afraid, small ; they are very courteous and respectable men ; 
 but their domestic establishments are very humble. After gaining the rudi- 
 ments of education at school, or from his father, or some professor his friend, 
 the aspirant may, at his leisure, it would seem, next look to becoming a candi- 
 date for the first of the four degrees of literary honors. 
 
 Such is the encouragement given by government to learning, that the best 
 education which the country affords, may be procured on the most moderate 
 terms. Certain magistrates are appointed in every province, to take charge 
 of the candidates for offices under government, to direct them in their studies, 
 and twice a year to hold public examinations, when small presents are distri- 
 buted to the most deserving. At Pekin, is a grand National College, which 
 is supported by government ; the members of which are the chief literati of 
 the empire. Nothing, however, but old established principles are' taught; tht 
 scholar of the present day, must not venture to go beyond the sages of an- 
 cient times ; learning is, consequently, at a complete stand-still. As a further 
 encouragement to literature, the press is left free, and any one may print what 
 he pleases, taking his risk of the consequences ; the government being very 
 rigid in suppressing " wicked, corrupt, and seditious publications," and in 
 punishing their authors. 
 
 V History has always been the object of attention, and the Chinese annals 
 form the most complete and continuous, that exist in any language. The cus- 
 tom of competition, has given a powerful stimulus to political and philosophic 
 eloquence. Literary history, criticism, and biography, are the subjects of 
 a crowd of works, remarkable for their order and regularity. The Chinese 
 possess many translations of books from the Sanscrit, (the learned language 
 of Hindoostan) upon religion and metaphysics. They have lyric, narrative, 
 and descriptive poems, theatrical pieces, romances of manners, and romances, 
 wherein the marvelous prevails. They possess, beside, a great number of 
 special and general collections, libraries, and encyclopedias, and in the last 
 century, they began the printing of a collection of select works, in 180,000 
 volumes ! Notes, glossaries, commentaries, catalogues, indices, extracts ar- 
 ranged in the order of subjects, lend their aid to facilitate research. They 
 have excellent dictionaries, in which all the symbols of their writing, and all 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 201 
 
 the words of their language are explained, with the greatest care, and in 
 very regular order. Books are printed upon silk paper, and as this paper is 
 extremely fine, they are obliged to print only upon one side ; the parts are 
 classed, numbered, and paged ; finally, there is not even in Europe, a nation 
 that has so many books, books so well made, so commodious for consultation, 
 and at so low a price ; and notwithstanding, there is no country where real 
 science and literature are at a lower ebb. 
 
 *' Geography has been cultivated from the most ancient times ; a fact which 
 is proved by the descriptions of the empire, given in a work issued five cen- 
 turies before Christ. The imperial geography forms 260 volumes, in quarto, 
 with maps and plans ; it embraces every topic ; topography, hydrography, 
 monuments, antiquities, natural curiosities, industry, productions, commerce, 
 agriculture, government, population, general history, biography, and biblio- 
 graphy. Astronomy has always been held in honor, but its progress has 
 been very limited. Their knowledge of mathematical science, appears to be 
 very low : they use the decimal system of arithmetic, and execute with rapi- 
 dity, all its operations, by means of a machine, the swanpan, the use of which 
 has passed into Russia and Poland. Their medical science is mixed with 
 superstitious practices, and founded upon imaginary theories. They have 
 good books of medical natural history, accompanied with plates." 
 
 The religion of the Chinese is Buddhism. The Emperor, as great father 
 of the nation, is the high -priest of this, the ancient State religion of China, 
 and permits no one but the mandarins, his representatives, to officiate at the 
 sacred rites, performed in honor of the principal deities. Further than this, 
 religion is not connected with, or supported by, the government, and there is 
 an entire freedom in religion. " Buddhism appears in China, with its doctrine 
 of transmigration, its numerous images, its monastic institutions, its bells and 
 beads, its noisy music, and its peculiar dress ; all giving it a strong resem- 
 blance to the Catholic worship." Beside the prevailing religion, there is that 
 of Confucius, Taouism, and nearly all the forms of mythology known to his- 
 tory, with deities innumerable, who are supposed to preside over everything 
 in creation, from celestial affairs even down to the economy of the kitchen. 
 
 Confucius, the patriarch of Chinese literature, though an object of worship 
 himself, was not intentionally the founder of a new creed. The aim of his 
 studies was merely a system of moral philosophy, that might put an end to 
 the troubles and rebellions that, during his lifetime, distracted his country 
 and enable man to attain a greater degree of happiness in this world, by 
 learning, in short, " that useful science to be good." The leading feature of 
 his doctrine is filial piety, and submission to parental authority. " Under the 
 five modes of punishment, there are three thousand crimes, but the greatest 
 of these is undutifulness to parents." " He that doeth good, heaven will re- 
 ward him with good ; but he that doeth evil, heaven will recompense him 
 with evil." But it is not clear that he had any definite knowledge of the ex- 
 istence of a superior being beyond the heavens that he saw, and he always 
 parried the questions put to him by his disciples concerning a future state. 
 But as a moralist he was no ordinary man, and has influenced the habits of 
 thought of more of his kind, than any other uninspired authority. Ho 
 
202 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN" CHINA. 
 
 stamped his character on his age and country ; and at this day, after a lapse 
 of more than two thousand years, a knowledge of such of his works as are 
 extant, may raise the son of a peasant to the highest civil rank under the 
 sovereign, and has done so for many. 
 
 He was born in the year 551, B. C. His birth is said to have been at- 
 tended with extraordinary prodigies, all emblematic of his future greatness ; 
 among the rest various marks were found on his body, and for the first and 
 last time the mysterious animal the Kelmg appeared alive on earth ; the recol- 
 lection of which is preserved by a representation of it on the wall of every 
 house inhabited by a mandarin. 
 
 Having lost his father when only three years of age, he was left to the 
 guardianship of an excellent mother, whose care he repaid with the utmost 
 affection and reverence. His personal appearance was remarkable, his 
 figure was gigantic, and his complexion of almost negro blackness ; but the 
 gravity and dignity of his deportment, and his calm and benevolent counte- 
 nance commanded respect. The task of his education was not very burden- 
 some to his mother, learning seemed to come to him as if by inspiration ; at 
 school he soon left all rivalry behind, and at the age of seventeen had 
 mastered whatever Chinese learning had then to oppose him. At nineteen 
 he married, and in due time he had a son, whom he named Pih-yu from a 
 present of carp sent him by the King of Loo ; at twenty he became inspector 
 of pastures and flocks in his native province, an office that he held for two 
 years, when, at the death of his mother, he set the example since universally 
 followed by his countrymen, of giving up all government employment for the 
 next three years after the death of a parent. This seems to have been the 
 crowning period of the life of Confucius, and perhaps of Chinese history ; he 
 retired to indulge his grief and respect for his mother, and to mature those 
 plans of human improvement which he has left a time-honored inheritance to 
 his nation. 
 
 But it must have been about this time also that occurred the one circum- 
 stance that in a Chinaman's idea would leave a blot on his character. In a 
 country where divorces are of rarer occurrence than even in our own, and, 
 for any other reason than the single one of adultery, in the highest degree 
 discreditable, he put away his wife, the mother of his only son, on the very 
 insufficient plea that the married state interfered with his studies. 
 
 At the age of thirty he resolved to devote the remainder of his life to 
 philosophy, and to planning some oriental whole duty of man, a course 
 which he pursued as steadily as the political commotions of the times would 
 allow ; and having attained a good old age, was gathered to his fathers in his 
 native province of Loo, now part of Shangtung, where his posterity still 
 reside and flourish. 
 
 If we are to believe tradition, a few short records, carved in rude hiero- 
 glyphical characters on bamboo or metal, comprised the whole literature of 
 nis countrymen before his time ; and Confucius gave them the four branches 
 of philosophy, classics, politics, and history, in which the literary degrees 
 are still conferred. The main root of his system is filial piety, of which he 
 Qiro^lf set so brilliant an example in the regard he always showed for his 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 203 
 
 mother. He taught that to cast away the remains of a parent, or con- 
 sign them to the grave with little more ceremony than those of a mere 
 animal, and to consider that as the last duty we owed them, was degrading 
 to the dignity of man ; but that by periodically repeating some act of homage 
 to our ancestors at their tombs, or before some representation of them at 
 home, their memories would be cherished, and a glow of filial piety and 
 affection would be kept alive to transmit to posterity ; and the same practice 
 being continued among them would, as it were, perpetuate our existence. 
 This may be the reason why dying without male issue is regarded as such a 
 calamity ; and should the wife fail to produce a son, the law allows the sub- 
 stitution of one or more concubines to prevent the name becoming extinct in 
 the male line. 
 
 The transition from such homage to worship would be easy and natural, 
 and the practice of it is now enforced by law; no excuse exempts any one ; 
 the priests of Taow and Fuh, who are strictly forbidden, on pain of punish- 
 ment, to perform otherwise the rites of the state religion; the Mahometan and 
 the proselyte to Christianity are all enjoined, and readily comply with the 
 injunction, to visit the graves of their immediate parents, and worship the 
 manes of their ancestors, and repair the tombs. Two festivals are held in 
 honor of Confucius, and upward of 1560 temples are erected to his memory. 
 It is calculated that on the two occasions there are sacrificed, every year, 6 
 bullocks, 27,000 pigs, 5,800 sheep, 22,800 deer, and 27,000 rabbits ; beside 
 27,000 pieces of silk that are burnt upon his altars. But the patriarch may 
 have influenced the belief of his countrymen in one particular, the effect of 
 which may be in the womb of time ; in the sixth century, before our Savior, 
 he foretold that a prophet would arise in the west whom all would obey. 
 Some have acknowledged him in Buddha, but others still look for his coming; 
 and it need be no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that as the 
 country becomes more open to intercourse with foreigners, this prophesy may 
 assist, as it may have done already, in gaining proselytes to one or other of 
 the sects of Christianity. 
 
 The temples of Confucius usually cover an enormous area ; one establish- 
 ment at Ningpo occupies about ten acres of land, laid out in ornamental 
 temples of all sizes, triumphal entrances, fountains and tanks, and courts 
 planted with trees, mostly yew. But, except on occasion of a festival, these 
 are rarely or never visited, and the grass grows in abundance through the 
 interstices of the pavement. The festivals are occasions for some of the most 
 beautiful processions I ever saw. I witnessed one in Amoy, at which were 
 collected all the literati from an environ of upward of thirty miles, each 
 man carried a lantern in form of some production of the earth, or that of a 
 bird, quadruped, or fish. The larger of them are the size of life, and drawn 
 on wheels, they were made of thin silk, beautifully painted and ornamented, 
 and lighted up with candles inside. None under the rank of Seu-tsaid (the 
 first degree) could join ; all were in full dress, all walked, with the exception 
 of mandarins in office, who were carried in sedan-chairs, and every man, 
 beside his lantern, carried some fruit, tree, fowl, or other offering; they 
 walked two and two, and in rear of each of the larger animals, such as 
 
204 FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 elephants, buffaloes, etc., was a band. The whole was said to extend three 
 miles. At midnight a peal of cannon thundered from the walls, and the 
 admiral (Shuy-tse-tetuh), the senior mandarin, stepping into his chair, gave 
 the signal to advance, when, on the instant, a hundred of the most discordant 
 bands of gongs and wind instruments struck up the most diabolical noise, and 
 away went the procession. The city was illuminated with lanterns of every 
 make and shape, the men were supposed to find places for themselves, while 
 in front of each house were platforms for the ladies. It was as light as day, 
 and every one, being well dressed in silks and satins of the gayest colors, gave 
 the whole scene an appearance of immense richness. The ladies of Amoy 
 adorn their hair with innumerable flowers, which, with the variety of color 
 in their dress, added much to the general effect as the procession passed ; 
 each house vied with its opposite neighbor in the number and beauty of its 
 various lanterns and fireworks ; the thunder of which latter were quite 
 a relief to the hideous bellowings of the band. But everything went 
 off with the utmost regularity and good-humor, and all the streets of 
 the town were paraded until daylight put an end to the festival of the 
 spring. 
 
 Leaon Keaun, or Leaow-tse, the founder of the Taou, or sect of reason, 
 was a cotemporary of Confucius, but his followers at the present day are 
 not numerous, and his doctrines nearly obsolete. What few temples there 
 are remaining are supported by a priesthood, dressed in flowing robes, and 
 differing from every other class in China, except the Meaou-tse, in their 
 mode of arranging the hair, which is collected into a knot on the crown of 
 the head, and not plaited into a cue, or tail. Their tenets are visionary and 
 mysterious. The earlier proselytes, like hermits, sought solitudes in deserts 
 and caverns, and were little more or less than maniacs, believing in all sorts 
 of nonsense, good and evil spirits, earthly immortality, and terrestrial para- 
 dises, more especially Kwanlin, the seat of everything that was delightful, 
 situated somewhere in the west, with its groves, grottoes, delicious fruits, 
 and warbling of birds, where was to be sought the great pillar, on which the 
 world rests, measuring three hundred thousand miles in height, and the 
 fountain sparkling with the waters of life, one drop of which conferred im- 
 mortality. Of the few remaining temples, that at Ningpo, which I entered, 
 contains, among its godhead, the deities of the cycle, sixty in number, one 
 for each year. The chief ceremony performed, but which I had no oppor- 
 tunity of witnessing, is that of relieving the deity on the last day of the year. 
 Beside these are the gods of fire, air, earth and water, and the genii of the 
 hills, rivers, thunder and lightning, etc. One struck me as very remarkable, 
 it was a female figure, surrounded by small purses and pieces of silk, tied to 
 every convenient part. She presided over conception and birth, and the to- 
 kens were not so much of regard to the goddess as to keep her in mind of the 
 requests of the votaries. 
 
 There is scarcely a spot of real natural beauty that is not ornamented 
 by a pagoda or other Buddhist temple. A natural grotto, let its access be. 
 ever so difficult is enlarged and altered into a receptacle for idols. 
 
 Of all the joss-houses I have visited, that of Tien T'hung, in the province 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 205 
 
 of Che-Kiang is the most beautiful and extensive. In a recess formed by two 
 mountains at the close of the fertile valley of Teaow-Pih, the road, which han 
 hitherto been a flagged pathway, expands into a broad avenue, extending 
 about a mile, with lofty trees on each side, adorned at intervals each with a hand- 
 some ornamental summer-house. Passing over a well-supplied water-course, 
 the thrilling noise whereof is increased by a fall immediately under, from a 
 height of about thirty feet into a large artificial basin below ; at a sharp 
 turning the astonished traveler comes suddenly on one of the most romantic 
 scenes I ever witnessed. There is a majesty about the first appearance of 
 the monastery seldom seen in China. Immediately in the rear are the high 
 topping hills, which appear to rise almost perpendicularly, covered with a 
 magnificent forest. In front is a large tank filled with the elegant lotus 
 plant, reflecting in its calm waters the huge building. Facing the temple is a 
 small seven-storied stone pagoda, on each side of which are three lofty 
 urns. Through the woods in all directions are foot-paths commanding every 
 variety of scenery. 
 
 Birds of beautiful plumage and the most silvery notes abound, and in- 
 crease and multiply, safe in the vicinity of the abodes of men, one of the 
 tenets of whose religion is " Thou shalt not kill." 
 
 The Chinese have no sabbath, and no division of the year by weeks, but 
 labor every day in the year, except the first, which is our 27th of Febru- 
 ary, they devote to family visiting, and the last, which is held sacred 
 to the memory of their ancestors. They celebrate the festival of the full moon 
 with noise and riot, and at the first full moon of each year they celebrate 
 the "feast of lanterns" for two successive nights, when the whole empire is 
 illuminated, and every house and every vessel on the rivers and canals deco- 
 rated with large painted lanterns, in the construction of which they excel all 
 nations in beauty and ingenuity. 
 
 " Each age has deemed the new-born year 
 The fittest time for festal cheer — 
 In China, as well as elsewhere." 
 
 On the 26th of February, 1845, while walking through the streets of 
 Shanghae, I was startled by the sound of a serenade that brought imme- 
 diately to my mind our Christmas waits, coming from a band that consisted 
 of five or six performers on bamboo castanets, wooden drums, etc. Every 
 body was busily preparing for the approaching festival of the new year that 
 was to commence on the morrow. The shops were gayly decorated, espe- 
 cially the butchers', who, as with us, displayed their fattest meat, but it was 
 mostly of pig, decked out with green boughs. We all assembled on the 27th, 
 at the consulate, and, according to etiquette, started off in full uniform, to 
 pay our respects and congratulations to our numerous native friends. Every 
 body visits everybody in gayest attire, the ceremony differing but little from 
 our own : we had, the day before, sent round our cards, printed in Chinese 
 characters, and a verbal message to name the hour when we would do our- 
 selves the honor of paying our respects to the mandarins punctually. At the 
 time appointed, we were carried in sedan-chairs, and most hospitably received 
 
206 FORBES' FIVE TEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 with bands and salutes of guns and gongs, and obliged to make some show 
 of eating at each visit. 
 
 The next day (27th Feb'ry) being the first day, was unfortunately wet, 
 and the people contented themselves with paying their adorations at home, to 
 the household gods, instead of going to the temples, and the streets were 
 nearly deserted. On the 28th, everybody appeared abroad in holiday attire, 
 making calls ; the higher orders in sedan-chairs, the rest on foot ; and when- 
 ever a man met a friend he performed the Chin-chin, and bowed his head as 
 low as he could, as is usual, amid festivity. In China, the bands were deci- 
 dedly a nuisance, and excitement was constantly kept up by a running fire 
 of crackers; shops were closed, and everybody appeared happy, and in the 
 evening, all the junks on the rivers and canals were beautifully illuminated. 
 On the 29th, I entered the public gardens with some difficulty, owing to the 
 density of the crowd ; the principal object seemed to be to amuse the children, 
 taking them to see sights, purchasing little presents, showing them peepshows, 
 Punch, jugglers, tight-rope dancing, and mountebanks of all sorts. Every 
 child carried some little gift, and I saw the parents of many returning home, 
 loaded with gaudy toys that they had purchased, or received as presents. 
 These festivities lasted till the 15th day of the moon, and ended with a grand 
 illumination and procession of lanterns, as in the spring festival of Confucius. 
 
 11 The last days of the year," says Hue, " are, ordinarily, with the Chi- 
 nese, days of anger, and of mutual annoyance ; for having at this period 
 made up their accounts, they are vehemently engaged in getting them in J 
 and every Chinese being at once creditor and debtor, every Chinaman is just 
 then hunting his debtors, and in turn, is hunted by his creditors. He who 
 returns from his neighbor's house, which he has been throwing into utter 
 confusion, by his clamorous demands, for what that neighbor owes him, finds 
 his own dwelling turned inside out by an uproarious creditor, and so the thing 
 goes round. The whole town is a scene of vociferation, disputation, and 
 fighting. On the last day of the year, disorder attains its height ; people 
 rush in all directions, with anything they can scratch together, to raise money 
 upon, at the broker's or pawnbroker's, the shops of which tradesmen are 
 absolutely besieged throughout the day, with profferers of clothes, bedding, 
 furniture, cooking-utensils, and movables of every description. Those who 
 have already cleared their houses in this way, and yet have not satisfied the 
 demands upon them, post off to their relations and friends, to borrow some- 
 thing or other, which they vow shall be returned immediately, but which im- 
 mediately takes its way to the Tang-Pou, or pawnbroker's. This species of 
 anarchy continues till midnight ; then calm resumes its sway. No one, after 
 the twelfth hour has struck, can claim a debt, or even make the slightest al- 
 lusion to it. You now only hear the words of peace and good-will ; every- 
 body fraternizes with everybody. Those who were just before on the point 
 of twisting their neighbor's neck, now twine their friendly arms about it." 
 
 The wife of a Chinese officer, either civil or military, takes rank and title 
 with her lord ; her dress is as magnificent as satin, silk, and embroidery can 
 make it. The hair is beautifully adorned, and, as an appendage, is not un 
 frequently, the peacock's feather, for a badge of rank. 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 207 
 
 The feet are, perhaps, the point on which ladies pique themselves most, 
 and to render them the most useless to themselves, would appear to be the 
 desideratum of Chinese female happiness, but Chinese only. The Tartars 
 have never adopted the fashion, and the empress herself wears, rationally, 
 large feet ; but all the Chinese, who can afford it, and that is nearly the 
 whole female population, except in the environs of Canton, and some other 
 sea-ports to the southward, cause the unformed bone of the infant's feet, at a 
 very early age, to be broken, and the toes bent beneath the palm of the foot. 
 In this way, the tiny foot is bandaged, and not allowed to grow; the consequences 
 are a very small foot, but a huge unwieldy ankle, and no calf. The pain of 
 the alteration, in the direction of the bone, as it forms, frequently kills the 
 sufferer ; yet mothers pride themselves on their own feet, and subject their 
 offspring to the same treatment, knowing the pain they must endure. In 
 order to walk, some of these beauties are constrained to totter with the help 
 of a stick, which, with a white powder, used to blanch their countenances, 
 called forth the following verse, from an inspired oriental poet : — 
 
 " Pale as rice, and graceful as the bamboo." 
 
 Another curious fancy of these ladies, is letting the nails of the fingers grow 
 so long as to render the hands totally useless. I have in my possession, a 
 cover, made of white copper, to fit on the finger like a thimble, to protect one 
 nail, of an inch and a half long, which, together with a shoe and its clog, 
 three inches and a half long, was taken out of a respectable house at the 
 storming of Chang-kung-fu. The eyebrows are penciled with Indian ink, 
 and the eyelashes put into correct shape by the barbers. The ladies of qua- 
 lity are seldom or never seen, but are shut up like Turks ; their lives pass in 
 music, tea-drinking, embroidery, smoking, and playing chess. About one in 
 ten of them are educat3d. 
 
 The marriage ceremony is an imperative duty to every Chinese ; not to 
 have a son to worship at his tomb is the dread of all, and the sooner this dif- 
 ficulty is overcome the better. The terms honorable, and illustrious, are 
 used to the father, while the bachelor is looked upon with certain horror. Tc 
 the poor man, the acquirement of a son, is what he looks forward to, and the 
 hope nerves his arm to new toils, whereby to acquire a sufficiency to marry 
 with, i. e., to buy his wife. Sons are looked upon as profitable and honorable, 
 while daughters as almost the contrary, and the rearing of them is a matter 
 of question with the parents, literally, whether it will pay or not ; according 
 to the accomplishments of the lady, so is her price, or remuneration to the 
 parents. Bearing the same surname, is about the only one bar to marriage 
 in general, and although this may appear but a trilling one, still, from the 
 few surnames in China, it is a grave impediment. 
 
 Marriageable age, is from fifteen, on either side. A go-between, or publie 
 match-maker, frequently arranges the affair, but more commonly, it is settled 
 by one of the parents. Love has not often a hand in the matter. The 
 anxious parents of the youth, having, by one means or other, procured a 
 bride for him, presents of geese, cakes, samshoo, etc., pass between the 
 families. 
 
208 FORBES' FIVE TEARS IN CHINA. 
 
 The bride becomes the slave of her lord, tfhom, perhaps, she has never 
 seen before. If her mother-in-law be alive, she becomes only second in the 
 household, being entirely under the guidance of her mother-in-law for her 
 life. And should she not in due season, present her lord with an offspring, 
 or should repeated presentations prove females, he is by law, at liberty to 
 take a concubine, whose position in household affairs is secondary to the wife's ; 
 and again, should that lady prove barren, or not produce a male, a second, 
 or more, follow. But it is not lawful for a man to put aside his wife and 
 marry one of these concubines. But matrimony is not always the realization 
 of hope. A merchant in Ningpo having seen and admired the fair daughter 
 of a fellow-townsman, got his parents to arrange a marriage ; when all was 
 ready, he opened the bridal chair, and led into the house his intended's sister, 
 who was not only ugly, but terribly pitted with small-pox : it was too late to 
 retreat, he had got her for better and worse, and there was no redress ob- 
 tainable. I heard the story from the poor fellow's own lips. 
 
 There is an old saying, that to render life perfectly happy, it is necessary 
 to be born at Soo-Choo to be handsome ; to live at Canton to be luxurious ; 
 and to die in the province of Keang-tsu, whose forests produce beautiful 
 wood for making coffins. The coffin is mostly provided before death, and 
 retained in the house sometimes for years, generally richly carved, painted, 
 and decorated, of huge dimensions, and, when occupied, cemented down. 
 
 No sooner is the breath out of a man's body, than a message is sent to 
 announce it to all the relations. Women are hired to wail and lament ; 
 seated on each side of the coffin, clothed in sackcloth and white garments, 
 they howl and cry without cessation, assisted by the female relations of the 
 deceased on their arrival. If a father dies, the eldest son, supported by his 
 friends, carries a basin with some small money to the nearest well — throwing 
 in the coin, he draws some water with which the body and face of the de- 
 ceased are washed. This ceremony is performed by the nearest of kin. On 
 the second day priests attend, and erecting an altar in the hall of ancestors, 
 present offerings, and perform prostrations to the household gods for the 
 welfare of the soul of the deceased, in which ceremony the females, clothed 
 entirely in white, also attend, while the nearest male relations perform the 
 Ko-tow, and repeat prayers to the most dismal tune. No sooner is this cere- 
 mony over than three guns are fired to conclude the ceremony for the day, 
 in honor of the deceased, which is followed by a wake. 
 
 On the outside of the door of the house is pasted a yellow paper, setting 
 forth the virtues, rank, etc., of the deceased ; and all friends call to condole 
 with the bereaved, who not unfrequently answer these attentions by a placard 
 some days after, also pasted on the front of the house, "thanking all parties 
 for kind inquiries." After the washing, the body is placed in the coffin, and 
 a tablet bearing the inscription intended for the tombstone placed thereon . 
 these tablets are of wood, painted red and gold, with a black field for the 
 inscription, which is in gold characters. The inscription for a male runs thus, 
 (after the name), " the deceased, who shone illustrious in his days, finished 
 his state of probation in the seventh day, second moon, twenty-third year of 
 Taow-Kwang, in the dynasty of Ts'hing." 
 
FORBES' FIVE YEARS IN CHINA. 209 
 
 The oblations and prostrations of priests and relatives, together with th« 
 lamentations of hirelings, music and feasting, last for seven days without 
 cessation, and off and on till the twenty-first, when the coffin is taken out to 
 the burial-place. In front march a band, then some small banners borne 
 by boys, priests, and a sedan-chair, bearing the tablet and dress, boots, shoes, 
 and stockings especially, together with all the insignia of office of the de- 
 ceased, preceding the coffin, with which as mourners are the deceased's male 
 friends and relations dressed in white and sackcloth ; following are the female 
 relations, who waddling along Ko-tow and howl incessantly. The coffin is 
 placed above or below ground, and built over, or otherwise, according to the 
 wealth of the deceased's kindred. 
 
 After the coffin is placed, the wooden tablet is brought back to the house 
 and formally placed with the others of the family in the hall of ancestors, and 
 incense burnt before it ; a feast closes the day, and until the forty -ninth day 
 after the death, offerings and prostrations are made to it morning and even- 
 ing, when the ceremony ends, only revived in the feast of the dead, when 
 houses, clothes, money, and every imaginable want, in paper imitation, is 
 burnt, being supposed by the relatives to be carried in reality by invisible 
 spirits for the use of their friends in the next world. 
 
 THE CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZER8. 
 
 We here close our extracts from the work of Forbes. Our own country- 
 man, Raphael Pumpelly, Professor in Harvard University, traveled some- 
 what extensively in China at the period of the close of our Rebellion. One 
 of the chapters of his work, "Across America and Asia," gives his views 
 of the Chinese as emigrants and colonizers. As it is a question that is 
 shortly to assume a vital importance to the well-being of our country, we 
 quote his views and facts in an abridged form : 
 
 "If we Americans of to-day turn from the splendid sunrise of our national 
 morning, to the misty vail that enshrouds the future, we shall see a giant 
 specter slowly defining its shadowy form against the western heavens. 
 
 Let us look and reflect, for it is the mirage of a distant empire — a loom- 
 ing of one-third of the human race. It is the foreshadowing of a problem 
 which only time can solve — one of the most important in the world's history. 
 Let us examine the elements of this problem. 
 
 On the western shore of the Pacific, there is a country not much larger 
 than the United States east of the Mississippi, in which a population of more 
 than four hundred millions treads closely upon the capacity of the soil for 
 supporting existence. So true is this, that those years in which the pro- 
 ductiveness of the earth falls below the average, witness the horrors of a 
 wide-spread famine. 
 
 By uniting patience and industry with intelligence and the skill attained 
 
 through ages of experience — by uniting all these qualities in wresting from 
 
 Nature the last atom she can yield, and, finally, by returning to Mother 
 
 Earth, with scrupulous care, all that has been taken from her, with interest 
 
 14 
 
210 CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 
 
 drawn from sea and river, this race maintains its vitality unimpaired. But 
 it is a struggle for life. So long as the throes of this tremendous struggle 
 were confined to China by strong natural and political barriers, they found a 
 remedy in decimation by famine and pestilence. But the last twenty years 
 have effected as great breaches in the political barrier which the Chinese had 
 raised about them as twenty centuries have made in their ancient wall of 
 brick and stone. The social and political restraints which have opposed em- 
 igration are disappearing, and the first consciousness of an expansive power 
 is beginning to show itself in the maritime provinces of the empire. 
 
 A few years since, the confines of Asia and its archipelagoes were the hori- 
 zon of the world to every Chinaman. The small fields therein opened to a 
 peaceful race, attracted many enterprising emigrants ; but neither were the 
 openings large enough; nor the facilities for reaching them great enough, to 
 initiate any very important movement. The discovery of gold in California 
 and Australia, and the demand for labor on the distant shores of the Pacific, 
 gave the needed impulse. Timidly, at first, small numbers went abroad ; 
 then tens of thousands, until now there must be nearly two hundred thousand 
 Chinamen on the American continents alone. During these years, there has 
 also been a continuous stream returning to Asia, and carrying home, in the 
 aggregate, a large amount of money and information. 
 
 Thus, the number of Chinamen who have seen the outside world can not 
 be far from one per cent, of the whole male population of the empire. These 
 act as a leaven on ever-growing circles at home, spreading among hundreds 
 of millions those stories of adventure in distant lands, of wonders, of bound- 
 less demand for labor, and of high wages, which make individuals think, and 
 become restless. Thoughts arise, which, when they become common to 
 large nurhbers, are intensified to a degree proportionate to the size of the 
 masses swayed by them, until the sympathetic attraction of remote countries 
 produces the tidal wave and currents of emigration. 
 
 In China we have one-third of the human race suffering from an excessive 
 death-rate, and all the misery of an incessant struggle for life, with no rem- 
 edy but the ability to overflow into other lands, until the population at home 
 shall stand in a proper ratio to the means of support. 
 
 Leaving out all other questions, the capacity of America for receiving 
 emigration is at present boundless, as compared with the capacity of all the 
 world to supply it. An eminent English geographer has carefully calcu- 
 lated that the two Americas are capable of supporting thirty-six hundred 
 millions of inhabitants, or three times the present population of our globe. 
 Room and subsistence are not wanting. The capacity for absorption of labor 
 is scarcely more limited. 
 
 The end of the long-continued exodus from Europe can not be far off; to 
 think otherwise is to believe unjustifiably in a rapidly approaching decay of 
 the nations beyond the Atlantic. Social and political reforms, raising the 
 condition of the people, especially that of the women of the lowest classes * 
 
CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 211 
 
 the increase in industrial prosperity, and the continued drain of skilled laboi 
 to foreign countries, seem to be silently working, throughout Europe, toward 
 the establishment of a proper balance between population and means of 
 support. 
 
 The facilities for crossing the Pacific are yearly increasing, and so is also 
 the knowledge of America in China. Unless obstacles be placed in the way, 
 immigration will increase rapidly ; with additional encouragement, it will 
 soon become enormous. 
 
 Under these circumstances, if this emigration should be proportionate to 
 the necessity for relief that exists in China, or to the capacity for receiving it 
 here ; or again, if it should bear the same relation to the parent population 
 that the emigration from Ireland and Germany bears to the home population of 
 those countries, the male adults of Mongolian origin on this continent would 
 soon outnumber those of the European race. 
 
 If the probabilities of the case bear any proximate relation to the possibil- 
 ities, the teeming population of our hemisphere two or three centuries hence 
 may have more Chings and Changs in their genealogical trees than Smiths 
 and Browns ; for, other things being equal, the predominant blood will be 
 that of the race best able to maintain an undiminished rate of increase. 
 
 With an emigration from China standing in the same relation to the home 
 population that the drain from Germany holds to the population of that 
 country, we should have an influx of more than one million Chinese yearly. 
 Ten years of this rate would place upon our soil a preponderance of male 
 adults of Mongolian blood over those of all other families of man among us. 
 The perception of this possibility can not but awaken in the mind of the true 
 American the gravest thoughts ; the questions involved are of transcendant 
 importance. 
 
 The question of the prohibition or the heavy taxation of Chinese immi- 
 gration, is almost sure to be one of the earliest and most bitterly-fought 
 issues of the Far West. The hostility to the Chinese of the white laborers, 
 especially the Irish, is very bitter. Twenty years of contact between the 
 two races, in California, have done little toward removing the prejudice 
 against the Chinese. They have poured steadily into and out of the country ; 
 but, surrounded by barriers, they have been forced to form a world of their 
 own. Within this, some fifty thousand men have been thriving, while many 
 of them have amassed large fortunes. Many an enterprise, too, has swamped 
 in failure which would have given brilliant returns but for the tyranny of 
 white workmen, who prevented the employment of cheap Chinese labor. This 
 tyranny is met with at every step : from the court-room, where the China- 
 man is denied the right of giving evidence in mixed cases, to the gold- 
 diggings, where white rowdies, acting as self-appointed collectors, levy the 
 mining tax, which is never assessed upon Americans. 
 
 California is just beginning to feel how suicidal her course toward Chinese 
 labor has been ; and she is finding that her material prosperity is increasing 
 
212 CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 
 
 apace with the innovation upon that policy. The Chinese are now found in 
 woolen, paper, and powder mills; in the horax works, in the hop planta- 
 tions, fruit orchards and vineyards, following the reaping machines on farms, 
 and working the salt pits on the coast ; doing, almost universally, the cook- 
 ing, and engaged in hundreds of branches of industry that would-be impos- 
 sible without their cheap labor. 
 
 The sure result of this will be that, in a few years, the small savings of 
 these workmen will, by accumulation, transform the laborer of to-day into 
 the capitalist, contracting to build railroads, owning large farms or factories, 
 and lines of ships, and making great commercial combinations. This is 
 certain ; for no people upon the face of the earth advance so unswervingly in 
 the accumulation of capital ; and in its investment, from childhood upward, 
 they combine the shrewdness of the Jew with the many-sidedness of the 
 Yankee. 
 
 On the island of Java, under the dominion of the Dutch, they number one 
 hundred and fifty thousand. Beginning, on their arrival, as coolies and 
 laborers, many of them amass large fortunes. Their industry embraces the 
 whole system of commerce, and they have obtained nearly the monopoly of 
 the native produce. In their hands are all the manufactories, distilleries, 
 potteries, etc., and they have large coffee and sugar plantations. In the 
 English colony of Singapore, under the full protection of English law, the 
 Chinese have obtained a strong foothold, and are accumulating large fortunes. 
 Nearly all the trade is under their control ; and this, in 1867, represented 
 sixty-four million dollars in exports and imports. Carrying with them and 
 retaining their innate energy in a country where both the natives and Eu- 
 ropeans succumb, morally, if not physically, to an enervating climate, they 
 are absorbing every department of labor. The writer was told, some years 
 since, that the English owners of a large machine -shop at Singapore were 
 gradually removing their English workmen, and replacing them with China- 
 men, having found the latter more sober, docile, enduring, and equally skill- 
 ful. So successful is their competition, that Parsees, Jews, and Europeans 
 can retain no foothold in face of it. 
 
 The Chinese alone, of all races, have shown themselves able to maintain 
 vigorous moral and physical vitality in the unwholesome and enervating 
 climates of the South. The ability to thrive in the most extreme climates 
 is a remarkable characteristic of this people. The writer has seen them, in 
 considerable numbers, pursuing the different branches of their industry, on 
 the confines of Tartary and Siberia, where the mercury sinks every winter to 
 sixty degrees below zero. 
 
 The most striking features in the history of China, are the endurance of 
 its civilization and its national vitality, which seems undiminished, notwith- 
 standing the great age of the empire. Every essential feature of their civili- 
 zation — moral, social, political, industrial — is the offspring of their own 
 minds. The mariner's compass, gunpowder, and printing, were among their 
 
CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 213 
 
 early inventions. It has been claimed that the first printed copy of the Bible 
 was made in China. 
 
 It has often been made a reproach to the Chinese that their inventions 
 have remained unperfected. This is certainly a remarkable fact. But it 
 finds its explanation in the other fact, that the Chinese have had no compe- 
 tition from the outer world, so their inventions stopped at the point where 
 the desired end was attained, which was labor-aiding rather than labor- 
 saving. 
 
 The principles upon which the whole social and political fabric of the 
 empire is based, are paternal and filial duty, and individual responsibility 
 for the public welfare. As the emperor is the son of Heaven and the father 
 of the people, he is responsible to Heaven for the well-being of the nation. 
 A portion only of his power is delegated to the officers of the government. 
 So also in the family the parent is supreme, but also responsible for the con- 
 duct of the children. The entire population of a city is responsible for the 
 citizens ; each ward, for its families ; each family, for its members. No crime 
 is greater than the violation of filial duty, in the family relation, and all 
 crimes acting against the public good are brought to the doors of the public 
 sponsors. 
 
 But the Chinese, always too material and practical a people to vest the 
 control of the imperial will in Heaven alone, established, so far as we know, 
 first among mankind, the principle that the will of the people and the will 
 of Heaven are identical. Believing thus firmly that " the voice of the people 
 is the voice of God," a council of the wisest men of the empire, themselves 
 raised from the people, has ever surrounded the throne, holding the position 
 of censors, memorializing the emperor on the state of the country, and gen- 
 erally not hesitating to risk their lives in criticising a wrong policy. 
 
 As the people are the children of the emperor, they are all equal as mem- 
 bers of one family. All being equal, competition for office is open for all. 
 Education is universal ; and proficiency in scholarship forms the basis of this 
 competition. 
 
 Among the Chinese alone, of all peoples, has the principle that forms the 
 basis of our own government — the equality of man — existed through all 
 history. 
 
 Having no fear of the future world, the Chinese meet death with great 
 courage, dreading it less than continued pain. The family ties are very 
 close, and family honor is the strongest check on their actions. Their sense 
 of commercial honor is deep ; and my own experience, in central and north- 
 ern China, leads me to think that honesty is quite as general there as in other 
 countries. The existence of hospitals, founded by private charity, proves 
 that the Chinese are not negligent of social responsibilities. 
 
 It is no slight tribute to say, that during nearly five thousand miles of 
 travel in this closely-peopled land, the writer never saw a drunken China- 
 man. The Chinese have been charged, as a people, corrupt beyond measure, 
 
214 CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 
 
 given over to every abomination, and practicing infanticide to tjie extent of 
 destroying one-quarter of the female children ; but it is the opinion of Dr. 
 Lockhart, an eminent medical missionary, that the latter crime is perhaps 
 less common, in its various forms, than in England and America ; and it 
 should seem that the healthy and moral condition of society is proved by the 
 vitality of the nation. 
 
 With all the admiration a careful observer must have for China, it is 
 certainly not a pleasant country for a foreigner to live in, unless he recog- 
 nizes and keep always before him the fact that organic matter, in decaying and 
 giving nutriment to plants, loses every vestige of its former character. There 
 is too much of the human element : go where you will, look where you will, 
 it is there. In the more closely-peopled parts, the traveler is surrounded 
 by a turbid stream of life, while he treads a soil almost human — the ashes of 
 the unnumbered millions of the past — the very dust which he breathes and 
 swallows, is that of a charnel-house. The water of wells is everywhere 
 impregnated with organic decay, and the rivers are the sewers of countless 
 cities. 
 
 On the densely-peopled plain, all the organic and much of the mineral 
 ingredients of the soil must have made many times the circuit of plant and 
 animal life ; in other words, every thing that goes to make the human body 
 has formed part of human bodies which have passed away. 
 
 Few foreigners have the courage to enter the large southern towns in sum- 
 mer, so horrible is the air. In the neighborhood of great cities, on the delta 
 plain, where water is found just below the surface, one may ride for miles always 
 in sight of coffins, bursting in the scorching heat of the sun, and breeding 
 the pestilence that yearly sweeps off the surplus population. 
 
 What I have attempted to make conspicuous is the fact, that the spirit of 
 the Chinese, as shown in their enterprise and energy as colonizers, in their 
 commercial character and faculty of organization, in the democratic idea of 
 the political equality of man, in the practical decentralization of their gov- 
 ernment, and in the universality of education, and the making of education 
 a necessary qualification for office, is in harmony with the spirit of the 
 present age. This is the strong armor of the race — its safeguard in the 
 future struggle for existence. 
 
 We have seen that there exists in China a boundless source of emigration, 
 and the necessity for emigration ; that the capacity of America for receiving 
 this emigration is comparatively unlimited ; that the emigration will be, at 
 least, proportionate to the encouragement offered ; that the encouragement is 
 springing into existence through the recognition of the Chinese as a neces- 
 sary element for the development of our resources ; that the immense influx 
 of these people will constitute a possible political power, which can not 
 remain latent ; and that the attainment of the privileges of citizenship will 
 make of them a fixed population, which, so far as we Know anything to the 
 contrary, may, at no distant date, largely outnumber the European element. 
 
CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 215 
 
 The first question which naturally arises is, in what can this people con- 
 tribute to our material prosperity ? It is not difficult to answer to this, that, 
 by reason of their many-sidedness, their adaptability to all branches of 
 industry, they can contribute more than any foreign element in the first 
 generation. They can supply labor for the house and field, and for every 
 need on sea and land. Within the really impassable limits set by nature, 
 they alone can render productive vast tracts of land, the cultivation of which 
 is essential to the prosperity of our mountain territories. 
 
 They can contribute largely to our wealth, and that of the world, by their 
 saving of material, and by forcing us, through competition, to become more 
 economical in this respect. They can advance greatly our material prosper- 
 ity, also, by their independent enterprise as capitalists. Indeed, the lower- 
 ing the price of labor, through Chinese immigration, taken in connection with 
 the almost certain rise in price in Europe, appears to offer the best solution 
 of the vexed question of free-trade, by placing us on equal or superior foot- 
 ing with Europe in the manufacture of those things which now require pro- 
 tection. It should seem that Chinese emigration, organized on the most 
 liberal plan, in conformity with the emigration laws of China, and under 
 the responsible guidance of Chinese contractors, would rapidly raise our 
 Southern States to a height of prosperity never yet reached by them, and 
 render possible the completion and maintenance of great works, necessary to 
 control the overflow of the Mississippi, and to drain unproductive and 
 malarious regions." 
 
 Mr. Pumpelly speaks highly of our missionaries among the Chinese — 
 their earnest devotion to the conversion of the natives to Christianity. But 
 he regards their way to success as full of difficulties. He says : " The truth 
 is, that the Chinese, though superstitious, have no religion ; at least, none 
 which stands in any relation to a future existence. A national religious 
 change must pre-suppose that the supplanting faith meets some want gen- 
 erally felt among the people. The establishment of any religion pre-supposes 
 a well-defined belief in a future existence, and a feeling of utter dependence 
 upon a Deity. That the Chinese had something of this religious sentiment 
 in times which ante-date their written history, seems to be shown in their 
 State religion, now sunken into a mere form. But the principle which the 
 early philosophers established as the corner-stone of government — that the 
 will of the people is the will of Heaven — has been carried to its natural con- 
 sequence : the elevation of public welfare to the position of being the highest 
 aim of monarch and citizen. The Chinaman has no God ; and having no 
 belief in a system of future rewards and punishments, has no fear of death, 
 and consequently feels none of those wants which one must suppose to exist 
 in a convert to Christianity. In this respect, he differs from the Japanese 
 and Polynesian. The former, while strongly imbued with the religious sen- 
 timent, has outgrown, in his intellectual progress, the doctrines of a corrupted 
 Buddhism ; while the latter is easily persuaded to exchange the bloody rites 
 
216 CHINESE AS EMIGRANTS AND COLONIZERS. 
 
 of his superstition for the humane doctrines of Christianity. While Japan 
 offers one of the best fields for proselytizing, China is certainly the worst. 
 
 One form of the missionary enterprise — the medical mission — has always 
 commanded the respect and gratitude of the Chinese. The names of the 
 excellent doctors, Parker and Lockhart, and others, who have spent years in 
 alleviating suffering among the natives, are known far and wide in the 
 empire, and will long be remembered for the good they have done." 
 
 In a conversation with Mr. Burlingame, a high Chinese official, a member 
 of the Board of Foreign Affairs, thus stated the views of the government in 
 regard to religion : " Our sentiments are identical with yours, though they 
 are expressed by different signs ; and our religious principles are the same as 
 yours, though they are clothed in different forms : that is to say, what yon 
 mean by 'Lord,' we call 'Heaven.' It is not a firmament of stone or vapor 
 we worship ; but the Spirit who dwells in Heaven. In the popular idolatry, 
 we put no faith whatever; but the Emperor makes use of it as an auxiliary 
 power in governing the people. The teachers of every creed agree as to the 
 principles of virtue. Any one of these systems will suffice to deter men from 
 the perpetration of secret crimes, which the law of the land would be power- 
 less to prevent As a proof of our liberality. I may mention that 
 
 we are even now inviting Christian missionaries to become the teachers of 
 our children; and if Christian churches ever produce better citizens than 
 Buddhist, or Christian schools better scholars than the Confucianist, we shall 
 gladly acknowledge their work." 
 
A SOJOURN 
 
 AMONG 
 
 THE TUKKS 
 
 A TURKISH FAMILY. 
 
 Obiqin ot tie Turks— Their Political System— Character— Decay of the Turkish Empire- 
 Constantinople — Its beauty of Situation — The Suburbs — The Bosphorus — History of Con- 
 stantinople — Tombs — Aspect of the City, and its People — Vailed Women — The Bazaar — 
 The Seraglio— Adventure of a young .Russian in the Sultan's Harem— Lady Mary Wortloy 
 Montague's visit to a Harem — Turkish women — Massacre of the Janizaries — The Sultan's 
 Palace— The Sultan— A Conflagration— Fatalism— The Mosques— Religion of the Turks - 
 Excursion up the Bosphorus— Turkish and Armenian Beauty— Valley of Sweet Wateib— 
 Dancing Dervishes. 
 
 The Turks or Toorks, originated in' the high central regions of Tartary, 
 on the border of the Altai mountains. Their noble stature and fair ruddy 
 complexions, distinguish them from the Mongols, the other ruling Tartar 
 race. 
 
 In the tenth century, having subdued all their neighbors, they were 
 attracted by the rich and beautiful regions of the south, until the whole of 
 Western Asia fell into their hands, and in 1299, Othman or Ottoman, on*; of 
 their chiefs, founded the mighty Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Emptr* 
 was raised to its greatest height by the capture of Constantinople, in 14b* , 
 by Mahomet II. The power of the Turks now struck terror into all Europe 
 
 217 
 
218 A SOJOCJRxN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 In the next century they subdued Egypt, and Barbary ; they overran Hun 
 gary, and repeatedly besieged Vienna, and threatened not to rest until they 
 should stable their steeds in the Cathedral of St. Peter's at Rome. At this 
 crisis, the European states became alarmed, Poland and Germany united, and 
 several times drove back the Moslems with prodigious loss. In the 17th 
 century, the Ottoman power began to decline ; the rigor of discipline was re- 
 laxed ; the grand signior resigned himself to the indulgences of the seraglio, 
 and revolts of the pachas distracted every part of the empire. Above all, 
 when Russia began to develop her gigantic resources, the star of Ottoman 
 ascendency rapidly declined. In the war of 1 828, with Russia, the troops 
 of the Czar entered Adrianople, and saw the road to the capital open, and 
 would then have conquered the empire, but for the interference of other 
 European powers, in her ambitious designs. 
 
 The Turkish political system is formed upon a purely Asiatic model. Its 
 principle is the subjection of the whole administration civil, military and 
 religious, to the absolute disposal of one man, the Sultan, who is considered 
 as sole ruler by divine commission ; here a peculiarly sacred character is 
 communicated to him, and according to Mahometan belief, he is incapable of 
 doing a moral wrong. The government is sometimes called the Sublime 
 Porte. The Grand Vizier is the Sultan's prime minister ; he is invested with 
 the authority of supreme magistrate, and assisted by the Divan or tribunal, 
 is the person upon whom devolves entire, the exclusive power of the state. 
 The Ulema, or body of Mollahs, form the depository of the laws of the 
 empire, and the only class who approach to the character of a national coun- 
 cil. As they receive their education in the colleges attached to the mosques, 
 they bear quite a sacred character. No great measure of state can be taken 
 without a " fetwa" from the mufti, the President of the Ulema, who ranks 
 next to the Sultan in dignity. Justice is administered by members of the 
 Ulema ; in large towns, termed Mollahs, and in small, Cadis. 
 
 The government hac no such political divisions of the empire, as European, 
 and Asiatic Turkey, these being merely divisions made by geographers. The 
 inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire, are divided into two great classes — the 
 Turks, or Osmanlis, and the Rayahs, or the ancient inhabitants of the 
 countries conquered by the Turks. The Rayahs are mostly Christians, as 
 Greeks, Armenians, Sclavonians, etc. The foreign Europeans are termed 
 Franks. 
 
 The national character of the Turk is thoroughly oriental. The grave, 
 secluded, and serious cast impressed by a despotic government, and by the 
 Mahometan law renders the Turk a solemn, solitary being. Belonging to a 
 conquering people, he is inspired by a sense of personal dignity, which raises 
 him above the system of falsehood and deceit, so universal elsewhere 
 throughout the east. Hospitality and alms-giving are oriental virtues. 
 Every grandee keeps a sort of open table ; and the fragments of the feast are 
 distributed at the door to the poor. It is rare to hindei any one from pluck- 
 ing herbs or fruit, in a garden or orchard. This humanity is even extended 
 to the lower creation, which enjoy at Constantinople a sort of paradise. 
 The dogs, though excluded as unclean from the houses and mosques, are 
 
A SOJOURN AM03G THE TURKS. 219 
 
 allowed to multiply in the streets, until they become a perfect nuisance ; the 
 doves feed at liberty on the grain, in the harbor which echoes with the 
 crowded clang of unmolested sea birds. 
 
 The empire of the Turks is in a state of decay. That power which but a 
 few centuries since, was the terror of all Christendom, is melting before the 
 light of a higher civilization, as all nations are doomed to do, who are not 
 possessed of those great principles of christian vitality, upon which alone, is 
 impressed undying permanence. 
 
 The evidences of the decay of the empire are forcibly presented by a late 
 traveler. " When a traveler," says he, " from Europe passes eastward out 
 of christian Europe into the Turkish Empire, nothing strikes him so forcibly 
 as the utter desolation and decay everywhere seen. Among the most 
 obvious of these evidences are the ruins of former arts, indicating the 
 grandeur and magnificence of a former civilized state of society. As the 
 traveler passes through a forest he will probably stumble on a magnificent 
 paved road, now covered up with bushes, and only visible where the path 
 crosses and lays it bare ; and on passing the streams he will often see the 
 remnants of magnificent bridges spanning them — and on the borders of the 
 seas the remains of magnificent harbors, now desolate — Smyrna and Constan- 
 tinople, perhaps, being the only ancient ports of the Empire that have main- 
 tained their position as commercial cities. 
 
 Another evidence of her general decay is found in her vast and dreary 
 cemeteries, far away from the habitations of man, presenting at a distant view 
 the aspect of an extended area of white marble — portions of the ruins of a 
 city disappearing in the neighborhood, and a great city, as evident from the 
 character of the ruins of fine architectural buildings, broken up and placed 
 at the head and foot of these tombs. Travelers speak of this as one of the 
 most impressive evidences of the decay of Turkey. 
 
 The third sign of her decay is the diminishing of her trade — arising from 
 two causes, the natural inertness of the Mohammedan population, and the 
 superiority of the European christian powers in matters of art and of science. 
 Turkey differs from all the governments of Europe in these respects, that she 
 has no public debt, never makes a loan, and has no protective duty. She 
 simply asks money from her subjects to pay her current expenses, and in 
 doing so, does not ask it by taxation — but the country beng divided in 
 pachalates and chieftainships, the Pacha, who receives an intimation from the 
 Sultan of the amount required, instructs the chieftains of his district, who 
 make the collection through the heads of the communities — the Moslems 
 being levied on by families, the Christians through their bishop, and the Jews 
 through their rabbi ; not being subjected within the forms of any legal 
 restriction, extortion in the collection of this money being universal. Owing 
 to the superiority of European skill, and the want of any encouragement in Tur- 
 key for any domestic products, not only do the exports cease, but the whole 
 consumption is supplied from foreign sources. 
 
 The fourth evidence of the decay of Turkey is in her religion, a fact 
 demonstrated by the condition of her mosques rapidly decaying, many of them 
 closed, and some converted into caravan stations ; also by the diminution 
 
220 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TI3RKS. 
 
 .n the attendance upon public worship, and by the reduction in the num 
 . er of pilgrimages to the sacred cities of Jerusalem, Damascus, Medina 
 and Mecca. 
 
 The fanaticism of the Turks — their belief that they were predestined instru- 
 ments ordained by God to reduce the world to himself, made their early con- 
 quests an easy task. When the tide was turned, and Turkey was obliged to 
 accept the protection of France, as a shield against the designs of Russia, she 
 relinquished hei mission as a conquering power, and the main element which 
 had given her vitality. With her decay, the isolated christian nations within 
 her bosom, began to emerge into life, and became not only acknowledged, 
 but emancipated, and within the last ten years all the christian nations are 
 free. The christian nations became the artisans, the merchants, the bankers, 
 factors, etc.; and the result has been that while the Turkish population has 
 diminished, the christian population has acquired almost all the wealth of 
 the country, and have now in their hands the administration of all civil affairs, 
 and of all commerce. The Black sea and the Mediterranean are now covered 
 by christian steamers, as is also the Nile, and within the last five or six years 
 the Euphrates and the Tigris. 
 
 The course of events indicated only three possible alternatives in relation 
 to the destiny of Turkey — either she must be regenerated — or secondly, there 
 must be a restoration of the ancient christian states on the soil which they 
 once owned — or thirdly, Turkey must be dismembered and distributed among 
 the present European powers. Turkey saw this alternative, and choosing the 
 first, in 1839, she assembled a national convention outside the city of Constanti- 
 nople. There a decree was read, containing these two points — first, to conci- 
 liate the Moslem population, it attributed the decay of the empire to the 
 neglect of the Mohammedan religion, yet ordained a christian constitution 
 and system of laws — an open declaration in the heart of Turkey, that she 
 cannot be regenerated without accepting christian influence. A subsequent 
 decree established common schools, the government aiming to take education 
 out of the hands of the priesthood, thus further indicating the assimilation 
 to christian institutions. But change the religion of Turkey, and the Turkish 
 Empire ceases. 
 
 The conclusion then is this, whether Turkey shall be regenerated by the 
 efforts of her own government, becoming christian in her institutions and her 
 life ; or the christian states be restored on the soil they once possessed ; or 
 whether she be divided among the European powers, it will cease to be a 
 political power — and the vast valley that shuts out the living powerful influ- 
 ences of Europe to the west, and prevents them meeting the powerful spring- 
 tide eastward, will be swept away — and when that shall be, the time is not 
 far distant, when all that extensive portion of the old world shall be rege- 
 nerated by the powerful christian influences of the West, and enter the family 
 of enlightened civilized christian nations." 
 
 Aubrey de Vere, an English traveler, approached Constantinople in a 
 steamer from the sduth, up through the sea of Marmora. He had been 
 occupied some time in the cabin, when a fellow-traveler entered, and 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 221 
 
 announced that they were approaching Constantinople. He hastened on 
 deck and the view presented of the city, on its many hills, was the most 
 splendid of the kind that this earth affords. He was greeted by the sight of 
 gorgeous palaces, innumerable mosques with gilded domes, minarets, glisten- 
 ing like needles of fire, surrounded with their shining crescents, dome-sur- 
 mounted baths and royal tombs : the magnificent brilliancy of these was 
 relieved by the green of the dense foliage of the immense gardens and trees 
 which adorn the capital, mingled with clumps of cypress that skirt the hills, 
 and give the effect of a city standing in a forest, but partially cleared. Sc 
 intensely is a fair prospect prized by a Turk, that on every commanding spot 
 the house of some oriental is placed, with its gilded lattices gleaming through 
 a leafy screen, and multitudes of the houses are painted red, green, or blue, 
 which enhances the gorgeous appearance of this great capital of the 
 Ottomans* 
 
 To appreciate the extent of Constantinople, it must be recollected that for 
 all purposes of picturesque effect the various suburban towns constitute but 
 one city. The city proper, Galata and Pera, all on the European side of 
 the Bosphorus, and Scutari on the Asiatic, as one approaches from the south, 
 come at once into view, each rising stage above stage along the slopes of the 
 hills, in a vast magnificent amphitheater. The effect of this unrivaled posi- 
 tion is,"that nearly every building of importance is brought at once before the 
 eye, minaret and dome lifting themselves up one above another. 
 
 After they had anchored they proceeded to land in one of those little fan- 
 ciful caiques, which dart to and fro to the number of thousands upon the 
 surface of the Golden-Horn, and glide as lightly upon the water as so many 
 graceful moving swans. 
 
 The traveler, on entering the city for the first time, looks with dismay upon 
 the contrast of the view compared with that which first greeted him from the 
 sea. The streets are narrow, hilly, ill-paved and dirty — the houses generally 
 small, often tawdry and half-ruinous. In general the dwellings have no win- 
 dows toward the streets, and by law cannot exceed twenty-six feet in height ; 
 but as one climbs the summits of the citied hills, he is again greeted with 
 visions of beauty. He sees noble views of the sea over a glorious array of 
 towers, domes and gardens, and what is mean in detail shrinks into insignifi- 
 cance in the grandeur of the whole. The houses, though small, and mostly 
 of wood, possess many picturesque features, especially a broad, projecting 
 roof, which produces a striking contrast of light and shade. The houses ot 
 the rich are sumptuous. 
 
 The exact position of the city proper, called by the Turks Stamboul, is at 
 the south-western entrance of the Bosphorus, where it merges into the sea of 
 Marmora. Just at that point the Golden-Horn, an exquisitely beautiful 
 little bay, about seven miles long, runs up north-west from the Bosphorus, 
 leaving Stamboul south-west of it, on a point of land formed by it and the 
 sea of Marmora. 
 
 The city is surrounded by a triangular wall, eleven or twelve miles in cir- 
 cumference, and is built on seven hills, with their intervening valleys. Within 
 the city, at the point of the promontory, is the imperial palace, commonly called 
 
222 A SOJOURN" AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 the Seraglio, the other principal buildings are the mosques, of which there 
 are said to be four hundred. 
 
 Another point of land on the European side, lying north-east of that on which 
 the city stands, is formed by the junction of the Golden-Horn with the Bos- 
 phorus. On this point stands Galata and Tophanna, the commercial quarter, 
 and Pera, the Christian quarter, a miniature collection of all nations, each of 
 which finds its capital and government in the palace of its embassador. The 
 first occupies the extreme point ; behind it rises Pera, and beyond stands 
 Tophanna. Farther up on the Bosphorus, opposite the city, on the Asiatic 
 side of the strait, is Scutari, inhabited by 80,000 Turks. 
 
 The streets of Constantinople are mostly deserted and silent, all the activity 
 and business being concentrated in the bazaar, which is composed of long 
 and wide galleries, which communicate with each other in an irregular 
 manner, and are covered with arches or domes. Toward evening, the coffee- 
 houses, which are very numerous, are much thronged. The trade of the city 
 is very active, and carried on with almost every part of the world. Its 
 population, including the suburbs, is computed at 800,000. 
 
 From the mouth of the Golden-Horn to the castles of Europe and Asia, 
 four miles above, the Bosphorus is lined on both sides with villages and 
 palaces, while behind them, are hills adorned with terraced gardens, and 
 luxuriant groves. There are, perhaps, a dozen palaces whose gay colors and 
 gilded cornices flash back the rays of the sun, and are reflected in the glassy 
 waves. Together with the forts, batteries, and villages, they form a continua- 
 tion of Scutari and Tophanna, northward to the castles above spoken of. 
 At that point the mountains press upon the waters, and confine them within 
 straits scarce half a mile wide. Here the ancients pretended that the singing 
 of birds in Asia could be heard in Europe ; a poetical image, doubtless, tc 
 give an idea of the narrowness of the channel at this point. These two 
 massive gray castles standing on the edge of the water, one in Europe, the 
 other in Asia, are the northern keys of the capital, as those of the Darda- 
 nelles are the southern. Here Darius crossed, on his Scythian expedition ; 
 Xenophon, with his ten thousand, on his return to Europe, and Godfrey of 
 Bouillon, with his host of Crusaders, on his way to Palestine ; and here too, 
 Mohammed the Second, who built the castles, ferried over his troops, to 
 besiege the city. Above, the Bosphorus is adorned with villages, palaces, 
 and kiosks, those open pavilions or summer houses, supported by pillars, in 
 which the Turk delights to sit or recline at ease, and while away the hours in 
 luxurious indolence. 
 
 Constantinople was founded in the fourth century, by the Roman Emperor 
 Constantine, on the ruins of ancient Byzantium, which had been established 
 by the Greek navigator Byzas, about a thousand years previously. For 
 successive centuries this eastern metropolis of the Roman Empire, encoun- 
 tered alternate seasons of prosperity and vicissitude. As early as 668, the 
 Turks had appeared in arms against it. The might of Islam burned to fling 
 itself upon the ancient Christian capital. In that wonderful career of suc- 
 cess which had attended it since the prophet's death, the capture of Con- 
 stantinople, had been its highest aspiration, for instinctively the crescem 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 223 
 
 hated the cross. The fated hour at last arrived. On the 6th of Apiil 1453, 
 Mohammed II, commenced that siege which ended in the loss to Christen- 
 dom, of what had been so long revered as her eastern metropolis. With 
 only some 7000, or 8000 troops, and a few monks and citizens, the last Con- 
 stantine held at bay for several weeks the Turkish force of 258,000 men. 
 
 The events of that terrible siege can never be forgotten. Constantinople 
 was torn asunder by religious factions, as furious as those which tormented 
 Jerusalem in her last agony. After consulting his astrologers, Mahomet 
 fixed the 29th of May as the day for the final assault. On the previous day 
 he harangued his chiefs, and sent heralds through the camp, who threatened 
 with his implacable displeasure all who might shrink from their duty, and 
 dervises who promised to the brave the gardens, the rivers, and the black- 
 eyed virgins of Paradise. The ardor of the troops burned with a steady 
 flame, and the camp resounded with shouts of ** There is no God but God ; 
 and Mahomet is his Prophet." 
 
 History contains no passage more solemn or more pathetic than the last 
 farewell of the Greek chiefs summoned by Constantine to his palace, the 
 night before the general assault. The emperor, in his final appeal, held out 
 small hopes of success ; but the heroic band needed none, resolved to die in 
 the discharge of duty. They wept ; they embraced each other ; finally they 
 repaired to the cathedral of St. Sophia, and for the last time before that fane 
 was converted into a mosque partook of the Holy Communion. The 
 emperor asked pardon of all whom he might ever have injured, and received 
 from his people, as from his confessor, an absolution confirmed erelong by 
 that of death. That sad ritual over, the chiefs mounted their horses once 
 more, and each proceeding to the spot on the ramparts confided to his 
 especial care, waited there for the morning light. 
 
 Day broke at last, and with it the battle. The assault was begun at the 
 same time by sea and land; and in a few moments a mighty and multitudinous 
 host, wielded as if by some unseen power like that which directs the tides 
 of the sea, was precipitated to the attack. To retreat or to stand still for a 
 moment became impossible, even if any in that assailing army had wavered. 
 Wave after wave was repulsed, but the conquering tide rushed on : those in 
 the front ranks were pushed forward by the compact masses behind ; and the 
 myriads who fell successively beneath the walls whose gaping ruins we still 
 behold, filled up the trenches with their bodies, and bridged a way for the 
 myriads that followed. The Pachas of Romania, and Anatolia and Syria, 
 and every eastern province that bowed to the Crescent, advanced successively 
 with jeweled turban at the head of their respective hosts. Attended by his 
 household troops, and holding an iron mace in his hand, Mahomet II, seated 
 on horseback close by, witnessed every assault, and rewarded every high 
 action with his eye. During a temporary lull, the voice of the emperor was 
 heard uro-incr his exhausted band to one effort more. At that moment, Ma- 
 hornet, lifting his mace, gave the final sign ; and the irresistible Janizaries, 
 whose strength had been reserved until then, rose up and dashed themselves 
 on their prey. From that instant the details of the battle were lost in clouds 
 of smoke and flame, and the clamor of drums, trumpets, and attabal 1 * 
 
224 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 Constantine continued to fight to the last, surrounded by his nobles and 
 friends, who strengthened themselves, as their ranks thinned, by shouting his 
 name. The last words which he was heard to utter were, " Cannot there be 
 /ound a Christian to slay me ?" Fearing to fall alive into the hands of the 
 enemy, he cast aside the imperial purple, and mingling in the thickest of the 
 Dattle, was struck down by an unknown hand, and buried beneath the press 
 of the slain. In another moment, Constantinople was in the hands of the 
 Turks. 
 
 The vast size of the city prevented the news of its capture from spreading 
 for sometime to its remotest quarters. The sudden silence was probably the 
 first intimation of the fatal catastrophe : and what that silence meant, the 
 people refused to ask. While the battle thundered around the walls, and 
 even to the last moment, there were multitudes of fanatics who believed that 
 a divine interposition would yet come to their relief. An enthusiast, as wild 
 as any that shook his lean fist in scorn of Titus and his legions from the 
 glowing roofs of the Temple, had prophesied that the Turks would indeed 
 force their way into Constantinople ; but that, as soon as they had penetrated 
 as far as St. Sophia's, an angel would descend from heaven, and, delivering 
 a fiery sword to a poor man seated at the foot of Constantine's column, 
 would say to him, " Take this sword and avenge the people of the Lord." 
 The commissioned minister of wrath was then to arise, and drive the inva- 
 ders back to their burning sands. When the fatal news had spread, the 
 panic-striken population of Constantinople, urged by an irresistible instinct, 
 rushed with one accord to the long-deserted shrine of St. Sophia. No angel 
 but the angel of Retribution met them there. In a few minutes the senators 
 and their slaves were bound together in couples ; the prelate and the court- 
 jester were goaded along side by side ; the hands of the matron were tied 
 together with her vail, and those of the nun with her sacred girdle ; and on 
 all sides were heard the wild farewell and the wails of despair. Another 
 sound, erelong, was heard above that lament. From the loftiest pinnacle 
 of St. Sophia, the clear voice of the Muezzin, piercing the golden sunset, 
 proclaimed " There is no God but God ;" and in a few minutes more Ma- 
 homet II, offered up his thanksgiving before that high altar at which Con- 
 stantine had the night before received the communion, and at which, a few 
 months earlier, the united worship of the two churches (the Greek and 
 Roman Catholic) had been solemnized. 
 
 The outward aspect of the city is true to its character and history. No 
 one has built for posterity because no one could trust to the future. The 
 rich have spent their wealth on luxurious divans and rich carpets, not on 
 marble halls, because they knew that before the latter was completed, the 
 bow-string might be their portion. At one moment a man is a slave and the 
 next he is a Grand Vizier ; then the wheel of fortune goes round, and he is 
 an exile. In all respects the external features of Constantinople are charac- 
 teristic of an empire founded on a faith, and of a people gravely devoted to 
 pleasure, yet addicted also to meditation, and a blind submission to fate. 
 The three ideas which they express are, religion, enjoyment, death. The first 
 is represented by the mosques and minarets, which tower above everything 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 225 
 
 else ; the second, by the ample baths, and beautiful fountains with their pro- 
 jecting roofs, Moorish pannel works, and gilded lattices. The idea of death 
 confronts you wherever you move through this paradise of the senses, noi 
 only in the cemeteries on the sides of the hills, but in many a lofty, dome- 
 'Surmounted tomb, scattered throughout the city, in which a sultan receives 
 in death, the filial veneration of his subjects. 
 
 " The first of these tombs," says De Vere, " which I saw took me by sur- 
 prise. Not knowing what it was, I inquired of my guide concerning its 
 destination. " Go near to it," he said, " and you will discover." It was a 
 hexagonal building of white marble, surrounded by a projecting arcade of 
 pillars, surmounted by a dome, wreathed around by lilies, which forced their 
 way up through its foundations, and partially shaded by a rifted planetree, 
 which flung the shadow of its waving branches on the white walls and golden 
 lattices. Approaching the latter, and looking through them, I beheld beneath 
 a vaulted and gilded roof, and, resting on a rich carpet, a coffin slanting up- 
 ward toward the head, placed on a stately bier, and supporting, at the upper 
 end, a white turban and a plume of sable feathers. At each side were 
 ranged other coffins, smaller, but of various sizes, and without turbans or 
 plumes, on which a few beams, struggling through the narrow and arched 
 windows immediately under the roof, and half lost in the thick walls, fell with 
 a feeble luster. A circle of lamps was suspended from the roof, and in 
 front of the coffins stood five or six lofty tapers, about twelve feet high, on 
 golden pedestals. Within all was stillness and voluptuous gloom : without, 
 the softness of the air and brightness of the sunshine derived an additional 
 charm from the cooing of the doves in the plane-tree, and on the roof of the 
 building. " It is the Sultan Solyman," said my guide. " In the large 
 coffin beside him lies Roxalana, his wife. The small coffins contain some of 
 his children, whom he put to death." " And why did he put them to 
 death ?" I asked. " Oh, he thought they might become dangerous," was 
 the reply. There they repose together, the parent and the murdered children, 
 in peaceful reunion. Probably those children thought there was as little to 
 be surprised at in their fate as my cicerone did. A belief in fatalism recon- 
 ciles men to all things. A real belief in Providence would do as much to 
 tranquilize, without interfering with freedom of action. 
 
 The bearing of the people as you pass them in the streets at Constanti- 
 nople, is in strange harmony with the city. The women who glide past you^ 
 beside fountain and garden-wall, in their long white robes and vails, which 
 allow no part of the face to appear but the dark and mournful eyes, might 
 be almost taken for ghosts revisiting the scenes of past delights. Not less 
 singular is the effect when those of a higher rank and more splendid attire, 
 drive slowly by in a hearse-like carriage, consisting, as it does, of a shallow 
 open body, richly gilded, without springs, and mantled by a canopy, some- 
 times of black cloth, and sometimes of a less gloomy color, and drawn by 
 slow heavy oxen. In place of the merry laugh, the flashing eye, and the 
 elastic gate, there was in each Turk whom I met, an expression of melan- 
 choly self-possession, which could hardly have been more pronounced, had 
 he been invariably under the influence of opium. In place of billiards ot 
 15 
 
226 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 dice, or any active game, Jhe everlasting pipe, long or short, crooked o) 
 straight, was the resource of those who had no occupation, and of many 
 who had. Buying and selling, bargaining and conversing, seemed to be 
 carried on in a state of somnambulism. Pleasure itself seemed a serious 
 thing, and conserve of roses was handed to the customer with an air of heavy 
 sedateness. "Eat," seemed the address of the grave Mussulmen, "eat, 
 true beliovei, before you die." 
 
 The bazaar of Constantinople is one of its most important regions, being, 
 pehaps, only equaled in general estimation and reverence, by the Sultan's 
 seraglio, which is not a palace merely, but a vast and important district of 
 Stamboul, or the city proper. The bazaar is, in fact, the palace of the 
 people, where, shaded from the heat, each man may roam in a world as 
 splendid as a mine, or the jeweled caverns existing in a child's -imagination. 
 To one who has an eye for rich and quaint pictorial effects, the bazaar 
 is an inexhaustible storehouse. The roofs of its long and narrow streets are 
 supported by stone arches, sometimes connected by wooden galleries which 
 span the dark passages below like bridges. If you take your stand upon one 
 of these naileries, and look along from arch to arch, and down upon the mov- 
 ing groups beneath, dressed in the costume of all nations, and seen sometimes 
 in shadow, ana sometimes by the oblique light of a slanting beam, you fancy 
 yourself in the aisles of a cathedral without limits ; albeit one devoted ex- 
 clusively to the service of the money-changers. If you descend from that 
 aerial station you find yourself in the midst of a scene not easily to be matched 
 fbr richness. As in a garden the splendor of coloring is much increased 
 jrhere flowers of the same species are allowed to flourish in large unbroken 
 masses, so the goigeous effect of the bazaar is enhanced by the circumstance 
 that to every branch of trade a separate portion of it is allotted. 
 
 The most brilliant part of this vaulted region is perhaps the armory, hung 
 as it is with every species of arms, ancient and modern, for use or for display; 
 helmets and shields, suits donned in many a chivalrous field, glittering spears, 
 Indian bows, blades from Damascus, scimetars from Egypt, every species of 
 harness in short for man or horse, embossed with gold, and often with gems, 
 enriched with arabesques, and disposed in the most fantastic patterns. In 
 another part of the bazaar, and for the benefit of a softer class of customers, 
 you find yourself in a meadowy wilderness of Cachemire shawls, numerous 
 enough, one might imagine, to cover all the white shoulders that droop 
 beneath ermine and diamond in all the European capitals. In another part 
 are suspended innumerable little mirrors enchased with pearl, and mounted 
 with golden handles, which are among the most favorite possessions of the 
 daughters of the East, adorning their inmost retreats, and by no means left 
 at home when they make expeditions abroad. Still more beautiful is that 
 part devoted to embroidery in silk and muslin, where you find brocaded stuffs 
 stiff enough to stand, and embroidered with flowers of every color, and 
 mantles as if of woven air, almost invisible from thinness, except where they 
 are covered in golden traceries with verses from the Koran, or some Persian 
 love poem. Other parts of the bazaar are a blaze of jewelry, radiant with 
 every sort of precious stone, separate or enwreathed in necklaces and rosaries, 
 
A SOJOURN" AMONG THE 1 (JRKS. 227 
 
 or inlaid in precious cups, rich plate, housings for horses, and head-dresses 
 for their riders. 
 
 In addition to this multitudinous array, other parts of this inclosed city 
 of trade are devoted to spices from all parts of the East, porcelain of every 
 sort, fruit, preserved and dry, and that confectionary, in the preparation of 
 which Constantinople has no western rival. There is no conceivable elabo- 
 ration of fruit and sugar, with aromatic gums, precious juices, oils and 
 creams, which is not to be found here in the prettiest and most various 
 shapes, and scented with the most delicate odors. The interest of the scene 
 is much increased by the strange aspect and bearing of the venders of all 
 those articles, some of whom are Jews, others Turks, while others are Greeks, 
 Armenians or Persians. Many a keen eye is fastened on the unwary Frank 
 the moment he is in sight, and many a finger beckons him on into the dusky 
 recess in which the grave merchant is seated cross-legged on his carpet, with 
 a pipe in his mouth. You enter, are hospitably asked to be seated, and are 
 perhaps handed a pipe. In a little time the goods are produced with a lei- 
 surely sedateness, and a price is named at least double their real value, the 
 merchant, if he is a Persian, assuring you that in having been directed to an 
 honest man you prove that you were born under a fortunate star, and that 
 he is offering you the article for half what he paid for it. You decline his 
 proposal ; he resumes his pipe in silence and apparent indifference, and at 
 last rolls round on you a heavy sleepy eye, and names half the price he had 
 demanded before. Your interpreter tells you that this time the price is a 
 fair one, accordingly you pay down the money (the said interpreter of course 
 receiving a due proportion of it) rise up and depart." 
 
 The seraglio, a palace of Stamboul, was built by Mahomet II, and is among 
 the most prominent curiosities of Constantinople. It stands at the extreme 
 south-eastern point of the city, at the junction of the Golden-Horn with the 
 sea of Marmora, and forms a vast triangle, inclosed by battlemented walls, 
 something like three miles in circuit. It is composed of gardens, terraces, 
 palaces, kiosks, barracks, and out buildings of all sorts ; and contains a large 
 number of servants, guards, women and pages, for the personal service of the 
 Sultan. 
 
 Certain portions of the Seraglio are open daily for the inspection of the 
 public ; others can be visited by foreigners furnished with the necessary per- 
 mit, or accompanied by some dignitary of state ; but there is one portion 
 whose door-sill is never crossed without exposure to the most frightful punish- 
 ment. Thus is that place one of the mysteries of the world. 
 
 Eight principal gates give access to the Seraglio ; five on the side toward 
 the sea, and three on that of the city. Each of these gates has been the 
 scene of some bloody drama, so frequent in Turkish history, more especially, 
 the imperial gate. To the right and left of this gate are two niches in which 
 were deposited the bleeding heads of the victims condemned by the Sultan, 
 and where the heads of the massacred Janizaries were heaped up to the top 
 of the gate, when the Sultan Mahomet destroyed that famous soldiery in 1825. 
 
 This magnificent entrance opens upon the square of St. Sophia, opposite a 
 beautiful marble and porcelain fountain. It leads into a large irregular court. 
 
228 A. SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 surrounded on every side by buildings, and embellished with trees and foun- 
 tains. First, upon the left, is the church of St. Irene, built by Constantine the 
 Great, now used as a museum, and containing a valuable and curious collection 
 of ancient and modern weapons of warfare, and the gold and silver keys of the 
 cities conquered by the Turks. Opposite are the stables, containing the 
 thousand horses of the Grand Seignior, and the dwellings of the chief officers 
 of state. At the end of the court is an elegantly ornamented gate, covered 
 with paintings and inscriptions ; it is called the Gate of Salutations, and 
 beneath the vestibule of this gate disgraced functionaries, as they left the 
 palace, received from the executioner the famous silk rope. 
 
 By following the platform of the palace to the left, we reach by a narrow 
 balcony, supporting lofty terraces, the Harem, or residence of the wives and 
 mistresses of the Sultan. We cannot approach this interdicted spot — we can 
 only look upon its grated windows and pleasant balconies, surrounded by 
 trellises and blinds, interwoven with flowers. 
 
 No one knows what transpires within the walls of this palace, within 
 which inexhaustible wealth has collected all the wonders of luxury; marble 
 baths, enchanting gardens, legions of slaves, having no other will than the 
 caprice of their master, and within are from four to five hundred women from 
 among the most beautiful in Asia, Africa, and Oriental Europe. Many 
 among them are scarcely known by the Sultan ; they see no one but their 
 odious guardian, and it can be easily imagined that this barbarous seclusion 
 must result in frightful demoralization. 
 
 It is almost incredible that a man, risking a frightful death, with small 
 chance of escape or success, would dare to cross the hermetically sealed door- 
 sill of these mysterious apartments, yet a story is told of a young Russian 
 diplomatist, some years since, having bribed a young Jewish girl who sold 
 perfumes to the captives of the harem to introduce him, in a female dress, 
 where, it is said, he lived like a Sultan two entire days. At the end of that 
 time, having been detected by a eunuch, and seeing no other means of escape, 
 with a desperate effort, he wrenched off the bars of a window, and leaped 
 into the Bosphorus. That same night he embarked for Odessa. 
 
 To enter the harem of the meanest Mussulman would be a more dangerous 
 undertaking still, as the daring adventurer could not hope to remain con- 
 cealed for an hour in a small private house, while the thousand crooks and 
 turns of the seraglio, and its infinite number of inhabitants, might leave a fair 
 chance of escape. 
 
 The celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montague was the first Frank woman 
 known to have been allowed to have entrance into the sacred apartments of 
 the harem, a word by the way, the literal signification of which is, " The 
 Forbidden." The harem she visited was that of the Kiyaya, Deputy to the 
 Grand Vizier. Her account of this visit, written more than a century since, 
 is here given. 
 
 " I was met at the door by two black eunuchs, who led me through a long 
 gallery between two ranges of beautiful young girls, with their hair finely 
 plaited, almost hanging to their feet, all dressed in fine light damasks, bro- 
 caded with silver. I was sorry that decency did not permit me to stop t« 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 229 
 
 consider them nearer, but that thought was lost upon my entrance into a 
 large room, or rather pavilion, built round, with gilded sashes, which were 
 most of them thrown up, and the trees planted near them gave an agreeable 
 shade, which hindered the sun from being troublesome. The jessamines and 
 honeysuckle that twisted round their trunks, shed a soft perfume, increased 
 by a white marble fountain, playing sweet water in the lower part of th« 
 room, which fell into three or four basins with a pleasing sound. 
 
 The roof was painted with all sorts of flowers, falling out of gilded baskets, 
 that seemed tumbling down. On a sofa raised three steps, and covered with 
 fine Persian carpets, sat the kiyaya's lady, leaning on cushions of white satin, 
 embroidered ; and at her feet sat two young girls about twelve years old, 
 lovely as angels, dressed perfectly rich, and almost covered with jewels. But 
 they were hardly seen near the fair Fatima, (for that is her name,) so much 
 her beauty effaced everything I have seen, nay, all that has been called 
 lovely either in England or Germany. I must own that I never saw anything so 
 gloriously beautiful, nor can I recollect a face that would have been taken 
 notice of near hers. She stood up to receive me, saluting me after their 
 fashion, putting her hand to her heart with a sweetness full of majesty that 
 no court breeding could give. She ordered cushions to be given me, and 
 took care to place me in the corner, which is the place of honor. I confess I 
 was so struck with admiration, that I could not for some time speak to her, 
 being wholly taken up in gazing. The surprising harmony of features, that 
 charming result of the whole ! that exact proportion of body ! that lovely 
 bloom of complexion unsullied by art ! the unutterable enchantment of her 
 smile ! But her eyes ! — large and black, with all the soft languishment of the 
 blue ! every turn of her face discovering some new grace. 
 
 After my first surprise was over, I endeavored, by nicely examining her 
 face, to £nd out some imperfection, without any fruit of my search, but my 
 being clearly convinced of the error of that vulgar notion, that a face exactly 
 proportioned, and perfectly beautiful, would not be agreeable ; nature having 
 done for her with more success, what Apelles is said to have essayed, by a col- 
 lection of the most exact features, to form a perfect face ; add to all this a 
 behavior so full of grace and sweetness, such easy motions, with an air so 
 majestic, yet free from stiffness or affectation, that I am persuaded, could she 
 be suddenly transported upon the most polite throne of Europe, nobody would 
 think her other than born and bred to be a queen, though educated in a 
 country we call barbarous. To say all in a word, our most celebrated 
 English beauties would vanish near her. 
 
 She was dressed in a caftan of gold brocade, flowered with silver, very well 
 fitted to her shape, and showing to admiration the beauty of her bosom, only 
 shaded by the thin gauze of her shift. Her drawers were pale pink, her 
 waistcoat green and silver, her slippers white satin, finely embroidered ; her 
 lovely arms adorned with bracelets of diamonds, and her broad girdle set 
 round with diamonds ; upon her head a rich Turkish handkerchief of pink 
 and silver, her own fine black hair hanging a great length in various tresses 
 and on one side of her head some bodkins of jewels. 
 
 I am afraid you will accuse me of extravagance in this description. I 
 
230 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 think I have read somewhere that women always speak in raptures wnen 
 they speak of beauty, and I cannot imagine why they should not be allowed 
 to do so. I rather think it a virtue to be able to admire without any mixture 
 of desire or envy. The gravest writers have spoken with great warmth of 
 some celebrated pictures and statues. The workmanship of Heaven certainly 
 excels all our weak imitations, and, I think, has a much better claim to our 
 praise. For my part I am not ashamed to own, I took more pleasure in 
 looking on the beauteous Fatima than the finest piece of sculpture could have 
 given me. 
 
 She told me the two girls at her feet were her daughters, though she appeared 
 too young to be their mother. Her fair maids were arranged below the sofa, 
 to the number of twenty, and put me in mind of the pictures of the ancient 
 nymphs. I did not think all nature could have furnished such a scene of 
 beauty. She made them a sign to play and dance. Four of them imme- 
 diately began to play some soft airs on instruments, between a lute and 
 guitar, which they accompanied with their voices, while the others danced 
 by turns. This dance was very different from what I had seen before 
 Nothing could be more artful or more proper to raise certain ideas. The tune 
 so soft — the motions so languishing ! accompanied with pauses and dying eyes ! 
 half falling back, and then recovering themselves in so artful a manner, that 
 I am very positive the coldest and most rigid prude upon earth could not 
 have looked upon them without thinking of something not to be spoken of. 
 
 When the dance was over, four fair slaves came into the room with silver 
 censers in their hands, and perfumed the air with amber, aloes-wood and 
 other scents. After this they served me with coffee upon their knees, in the fine 
 Japan china, with soucoups of silver gilt. The lovely Fatima entertained 
 me all this while in the most polite, agreeable manner, calling me often Guzee 
 Sultanum, or the beautiful sultana, and desiring my friendship with the best 
 grace in the world, lamenting that she could not entertain me in my own 
 language. When I took my leave, two maids brought me in a fine silver basket 
 of embroidered handkerchiefs ; she begged I would wear the richest for her 
 sake, and gave the others to my woman and interpreters. I retired through 
 the same ceremonies as before, and could not help thinking I had been some 
 time in Mahomet's paradise, so much was I charmed with what I had seen." 
 
 The Turkish women are treated by the men with much kindness, and do 
 not, as is generally believed, suffer from caprice and brutality. Notwith- 
 standing what has been said on the subject lately, Europeans persist in repre- 
 senting a Turk as surrounded by a swarm of voluptuous females, among 
 whom he can choose as he pleases. This is a singular mistake, to take each 
 subject of the empire for a sultan. There are very few Turks in Constantino- 
 ple who are allowed by law to have more than two or three wives, especially 
 as they are always lodged in different houses, and usually some distance 
 apart. It is true that every husband furnishes his wife with as many slaves 
 as his means will allow : this is an oriental luxury. He is absolute master 
 iu his own house ; and if, braving his wife's jealousy, he is openly unfaithful, 
 he incurs general disapprobation. 
 
 Miss Pardoe obtained admission to the apartments of the women in man) 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 231 
 
 Turkish families, and she has lcng descriptions of them, from which we 
 gather the following 1 items : The life of the Turkish woman is a long sleep ; 
 not only does she sleep for the sake of rest, but for the want of something 
 else to do, thus you see the Turkish apartments are all calculated for repose ; 
 they are furnished on three sides with divans, about a foot from the floor; 
 these divans are very soft, and covered with crimson stuff, and scattered upon 
 them are numbers of pillows, embroidered with gold and silver. Is it cold 
 weather ? you will find a copper vessel filled with burning coals, at the end 
 of the room : coverings more or less costly, elegant napkins, and a few small 
 rosewood tables complete the furnishing of the apartment. The dweller in 
 this sleeping Paradise has but to arrange the pillows, cross her arms, and 
 close her eyes ; Morpheus soon arrives, and the soul of this Turkish woman 
 is soon at liberty in the land of dreams. A Turkish woman says to her 
 neighbor, " Come to-morrow, and take a nap with me," as naturally as an 
 American lady would invite her friend to spend the evening with her, and 
 bring her work. This custom of sleeping so much tends to make them grow 
 fat, and causes their hair to fall out also ; Miss Pardoe discovered that the 
 majority of the Turkish women wore wigs. 
 
 The wife of a merchant in easy circumstances usually dresses at home, in 
 an under waistcoat of silk gauze, with a border of fringe of narrow ribbons, 
 pantaloons of colored cotton made very full, and reaching to the ankle, her 
 feet are naked, but bj- her side are beautiful little yellow slippers, covered 
 with embroidery and ornaments. Their carpets are so soft and thick, that 
 she seldom wears her slippers, and looks upon them rather as articles of 
 luxury than use. Over this vest, she wears a cotton robe, of some shining 
 color, with a fringed border, open in front, with a long train confined at the 
 waist by a cashmere scarf. In winter a close green or violet colored vest 
 trimmed with fur, completes her costume. When she goes out she wears a 
 turban with its thick vail, and long olive-colored cloak and yellow boots over 
 her slippers. 
 
 The Abmeidan, the grand square of Stamboul, is an oblong shape, bor- 
 dered upon one side by the very beautiful mosque of Achmet, and on the 
 other by miserable dwellings. Near this square are the ruins of the barracks 
 of the Janizaries, where in the short space of a few hours, in the year 1825, 
 Mahmoud exterminated that infuriated soldiery, who had for a length of 
 time tyrannized over the people and the Sultan himself. 
 
 The extermination was brought about by an Egyptian officer striking a 
 Turkish soldier. The Janizaries rose en masse. The Sultan, informed of it, 
 and prepared for emergency, was with his principal counselors in one of the 
 gardens upon the Bosphorus. He hastened to the Seraglio, seized the sacred 
 standard of Mahomet ; the Muftis and Ulemas assembled around this stand- 
 ard, swearing the destruction of the Janizaries; the regular troops and faithful 
 Mussulmen armed themselves, and rallied around their Sultan. He, himself, 
 advanced on horseback, at the head of the Seraglio troops, the Janizaries 
 assembled upon the Abmeidan, respected him ; he traversed this mutinous 
 crowd several times, risking death a thousand times, but animated with that 
 supernatural courage which decision always inspires. That moment was to 
 
232 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 be the last of his life, or the first of his freedom and of his power. The 
 Janizaries, deaf to his commands, refused to submit, they gathered from all 
 parts of the city to the number of 40,000 men. The faithful troops of the 
 Sultan, the artillerymen and infantry occupied all the outlets of the streets 
 opposite the Hippodrome. The Sultan gave the order to fire, the artillery- 
 men hesitated, a daring officer, Kara Djehennem, rushed to one of the 
 cannons, snapped his pistol over its priming, and laid the first group of Jani- 
 zaries low in the dust by the discharge. 
 
 The remaining Janizaries gave way; but the cannon played upon them from 
 every side, fire devoured the barracks of the prisoners in that narrow space, 
 thousands perished beneath the crumbling walls, by the iron sleet, and by 
 fire. The extermination commenced, and ceased not until the last Janizary 
 present had fallen: 120,000 men, enrolled into this corps, were prey to the 
 fury of the people and the Sultan. The waters of the Bosphorus bore their 
 corpses to the sea of Marmora. The remainder were banished to Asia 
 Minor, and perished on the way, the Empire was delivered — the Sultan, more 
 absolute than any prince had ever been before, had now none but willing 
 slaves. 
 
 The largest of the palaces of the Sultan in the neighborhood of Constanti- 
 nople is Beshik-Tash, situated on the Bosphorus. '* I made an excursion," 
 says De Vere, " to it, accompanied by my guide. As we approached its 
 gate, advancing through a narrow passage, we met the Sultan, who rode 
 forth attended by his suite. He rode a white horse, was covered with a dark 
 blue cloak and wore a red cap. His countenance was pale, and marked by 
 an expression of sorrowful exhaustion. Although but twenty-three or twenty- 
 four years of age, he looks to he forty, the pleasures of the harem having 
 brought upon him a premature old age. His dark, melancholy eye rested 
 upon me as he passed, but I cannot say he looked at me, and if he saw me 
 it was as he might have seen a dark streak on the wall close to where I stood. 
 That gaze, in which no distinction is made between an animate and an in- 
 animate object, appears peculiar to the East." 
 
 The Sultan Abdul Medjid, came into power in 1839, he being then but 
 eighteen years of age. His father seeing the superiority of the European 
 troops, had begun to discipline them on the French military discipline, and to 
 attire them in the European costume. These and other reforms, assimilating 
 the people to the European standard, were adopted by Redschid Pacha, 
 whom the present sultan appointed Grand Vizier, and a constitution was 
 given to the empire based on a European model, which allows every subject 
 freedom of religion and security of life and property. Since then, the spirit 
 of hostility to the Christians has rapidly been disappearing, by intercourse 
 and the spread of intelligence. 
 
 Constantinople is supplied with water from the vicinity of Belgrade, con- 
 veyed by ingenious pipes and resevoirs, this is perhaps the only thing of 
 public utility in the city, that is regularly organized, there are no pavements, 
 no lights, no names to the streets, no numbering of the houses, nor no police 
 or civil officers in case of accident, or even fires, which are so frequent, thai 
 the duration of a house here is estimated not to be over five or six years. 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 233 
 
 " Constantinople is the great encampment of Islam on the shores oJ 
 Europe. The Turks themselves, believe that in the Book of Fate, a da) U 
 written, on which they will have to turn their faces once more toward the tomb 
 of their prophet. Perhaps this it is which makes each inhabitant contented 
 with his frail and humble abode, and to regard those conflagrations which 
 perpetually occur in the city, as slight evils. A fire, larger or smaller is 
 always raging in some part of the narrow wooden streets of Stamboul. " I 
 soon," continues De Vere, " had an opportunity of witnessing one of these 
 conflagrations, which seem to be regarded by the people in the light of an 
 amusement. Vast multitudes moved, in what for a Turk is haste, toward 
 the spot. Joining them, I found a whole street of houses, from which clouds 
 of smoke were issuing, and from which, it was expected every moment that 
 the flames would burst. In expectation of this event, piles of carpet and 
 cushions had been brought from the neighboring houses, and placed where- 
 ever room could be found. On these comfortable seats the multitude had 
 established themselves, the men in one part sedately smoking, the women in 
 another, now looking on, and now playing with their children. In a moment 
 refreshments of all sorts were provided — sweetmeats, confectionary, and 
 sherbet, by a number of rival purveyors, who advanced with alacrity among 
 the smoke and falling sparks, evidently considering the scene of destruction 
 • sort of 'benefit,' got up for their especial profit. 
 
 In a few minutes the flames burst out with a loud crash, flinging an ex- 
 citing heat into the faces of the crowds, who without removing their pipes — 
 except to drink — gazed on with silent impassioned interest. Among the 
 calm crowd of spectators, were the proprietors of the burning houses, 
 smoking their pipes like their neighbors, and well assured that their loss had 
 been determined by Allah, long before the Prophet was born/' 
 
 Tho most interesting edifice in Constantinople is the mosque of St. Sophia. 
 It was built by the Emperor Justinian, 915 years before the conquest of Con- 
 stantinople, as a place of christian worship, being dedicated on Christmas 
 Eve of the year 538. On that occasion the Emperor was so overjoyed as to 
 run up to the altar and exclaim, " God be praised, who hath esteemed me 
 worthy to complete such a work. Oh ! Solomon, I have surpassed thee !" 
 For nearly a thousand years it remained a place of christian worship ; for 
 500 years, it has been a Turkish mosque, and its lofty dome may yet sus- 
 pend its magnificent proportions over a christian altar, centuries after the 
 followers of the crescent have departed from a European soil. 
 
 The Turks found this the grandest specimen of architecture upon the con- 
 quest of the empire, and subsequently built all their mosques upon this model 
 St. Sophia, like every other religious building in Constantinople, is approached 
 by a large inclosed court. This court is paved with marble, and shaded by 
 plane-trees. In the midst is a marble fountain covered with a far-projecting 
 octagonal roof. In this water the devotee washes himself before he enters 
 the sacred building ; and many a group spread their carpets, and smoke their 
 pipes around, interspersed with pilgrims from remote lands, and merchants 
 who sell relics, amulets, and other merchandise of a less dignified order. 
 
 Externally the mosque is in the form of a square, of about two hundred 
 
234 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 and fifty feet on a side. Internally it is divided by pillars into the shape 
 of a Greek cross. Its dome is one hundred and eighty feet from the pave- 
 ment, and in diameter is one hundred and fifteen. " The mosque of Sulei- 
 man and Achmet, in their external appearance and internal capacity and 
 airiness are superior ; but the richness and variety of material, and the reli- 
 gious associations and sacred gloom which pervade the interior of St. Sophia, 
 captivate even the Moslem, and fill the mind of the Christian with the pro- 
 foundest awe. There is not anywhere else on earth such a combination of 
 venerable and interesting materials. There stand eight porphyry pillars, 
 whbh once adorned the Temple of the Sun; eight verde-antique columns, that 
 once ornamented the celebrated Temple of Diana of the Ephesians ; there 
 too are pillars from the Acropolis at Athens ; from the Temples of Osiris and 
 Isis in Egypt, of Apollo at Delos, and of Cybele at Cyzicus. It seems as if 
 all that was magnificent and venerable in the old religions was here assem- 
 bled to do homage to the new" 
 
 Few great churches have been raised with such rapidity as St. Sophia's. 
 Under the care of Anthemius, the architect, and his ten thousand laborers, 
 encouraged by the familiarity of the Emperor, who is said to have inspected 
 at stated intervals their advancing work, clothed in a linen tunic, the cathe- 
 dral was completed in less than six years from its foundation. 
 
 Near to St. Sophia's, stands one of the loftiest and richest of the mosqaes, 
 that which bears the name of the Sultan Achmet. Lifting; on high *ts 
 haughty dome, the curve of which is far more elevated than that of its neigh 
 bor, it differs from the church of Justinian as an elm differs trom a spreading 
 oak. Beneath the central cupola are clustered several smaller domes and 
 half-domes. The Achmetie boasts no fewer than six minarets, each 
 enwreathed with three galleries, from one of which the clear tones of the 
 Muezzin pealing from the shining vault, like a divine summons, calls the 
 people to prayer. Every royal mosque is marked by the adjunct of twc 
 minarets, and several of them possess four, but the Achmetie alone has six. 
 It is to be hoped that whenever the Russians are in possession of Constanti- 
 nople, they will not pull down those light and beautiful structures. 
 
 Bells are abhorred by Moslems, and therefore the minarets of the mosque 
 supplies the place of the belfry of the Christian edifice. "The voices of a 
 thousand muezzins simultaneously proclaiming throughout the city, There is 
 but one God, and Mahomet is his Prophet, come to prayers ! come to salvation! 
 fall as agreeably on the ear of the Turk as the chime of the church bells on 
 the ear of the Christian." 
 
 The porches through which you enter the mosques are among the most 
 picturesque parts of the buildings. They are surmounted by exquisite little 
 vaults or roofs, as richly fretted with carved work as the roof of a bishop's 
 throne in a cathedral. Above them extend, in golden traceries, mystic 
 inscriptions in the Arabic character, consisting chiefly of sentences from the 
 Koran, which, flashing from a groundwork of dark green or purple, gleam 
 like mimic constellations reflected in the sea. Everywhere in Constantinople, 
 over gate and tomb, and bath, and palace front, you are confronted by those 
 blazoned texts from the Koran, which are scattered as widely as devout pic- 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 235 
 
 tures are in Roman Catholic countries, and look as if the endeavor had been 
 to make the city one great book. Nowhere has bibliolatry, or devotion to a 
 book, being carried further than among the Moslems. 
 
 The religion of Mahomet, which numbers one hundred and fifty millions of 
 followers, is considered to be preserved throughout this empire in a state of 
 peculiar purity. The chief observances of this religion consist in the namaz, 
 or prayer, repeated five times each day, preceded by ablution, and accom- 
 panied by prostrations ; and in the observance of the fast of Ramadan, when 
 during a whole month, neither solid food nor liquid is tasted before sunset. 
 The mosques have certain officers attached to them, as the sheiks and kialibs, 
 who preach and read, the imam, who has the care of the mosque, and the 
 muezzin, who, five time each day, from the top of the highest minaret, calls 
 the neighborhood to prayers, when each Mussulman drops business for a few 
 moments, and, whether in the house or in the street, drops on his knees in 
 prayer. These functionaries are not distinguished from other citizens by 
 either dress or deportment, and there is not any office of religion which can- 
 not be regularly performed by any private citizen. 
 
 *' The grand principles of the moslem faith are expressed in two articles, 
 the first of which is this : 
 
 ' There is no deity but God.* 
 
 God, who created all things in heaven and in earth, who preserveth all 
 things, and decreeth all things, who is without beginning and without end, 
 omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, is one. His unity is thus declared 
 in a short chapter of the Ckoor- an [Koran :] 'Say, He is one God; God 
 the Eternal : He neither begets, nor is He begotten ; and there is none 
 equal unto him.' He hath no partner, nor any offspring in the creed of the 
 Mooslim. Though Jesus Christ (whose name should not be mentioned with- 
 out adding, ' on whom be peace') is believed to have been born of a pure 
 virgin, by the miraculous operation of God, without any natural father, to be 
 the Messiah, and the Word of God, which He imparted unto Mary, and a 
 Spirit proceeding from Him,' yet he is not called the Son of God, and no 
 higher titles are given to him than those of a Prophet and Apostle : he is 
 even conidered as of inferior dignity to Mahomet, inasmuch as the Gospel is 
 held to be superseded by the Ckoor- an. The Mooslim believes that Seyyidna 
 'Eesa (or 'our Lord Jesus,') after he had fulfilled the object of his mission, 
 was taken up unto God from the Jews, who sought to slay him ; and that 
 another person on whom God had stamped the likeness of Christ, was cruci- 
 fied in his stead. He also believes that Christ is to come again upon the 
 earth to establish the Mohammedan religion, and perfect peace and security, 
 after having killed Antichrist, and to be a sign of the approach of the 
 last day. * 
 
 The other grand article of the faith, which cannot be believed without the 
 former, is this : 
 
 ' Mahomet is God's Apostle.* 
 
 Mahomet is believed by his followers to have been the last and greatest 
 of Prophets and Apostles. Six of these — namely, Adam, Noah, Abraham, 
 Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet — are believed each to have received a revealed 
 
236 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 law, or system of religion and morality. That, however, which was revealed 
 to Adam, was abrogated by the next ; and each succeeding law, or code 
 of laws, abrogated the preceding : therefore those who professed the Jewish 
 religion from the time of Moses to that of Jesus were true believers ; and 
 those who professed the Christian religion (uncorrupted, as the Moslems say, 
 by the tenet that Christ was the Son of God) until the time of Mahomet, are 
 held, in like manner, to have been true believers ; but the copies of the Pen- 
 tateuch, the Psalms of David (which the Moslems also hold to be of Divine 
 origin,) and the Gospels now existing, the Mohammedans believe to have been 
 so much altered as to contain very little of the true word of God. The 
 Ckooran they believe to have suffered no alteration whatever. 
 
 It is farther necessary that the Moslem should believe in the existence of 
 angels and of the devil, and likewise genii (an intermediate race of beings 
 between angels and men ;) also in the immortality of the soul, the general 
 resurrection and judgment, in future rewards and punishments in paradise 
 and hell, in the balance in which good and evil works shall be weighed, and 
 in the bridge Es-Sirat (which extends over the midst of hell, finer than a 
 hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword,) over which all must pass, and 
 from which the wicked shall fall into hell. He believes also that they who 
 have acknowledged the faith of Mahomet, and yet acted wickedly, will not 
 remain in hell forever, but that all of other religions must : that there are, 
 however, degrees of punishment as well as of rewards, the former consisting 
 in severe torture by excessive heat and cold, and the latter in the indulgence 
 of the appetites by most delicious meats and drinks, and above all by the 
 company of the girls of paradise, whose eyes will be very large and entirely 
 black, and whose stature will be proportioned to that of the men, which will 
 be the height of a tall palm-tree, or about sixty feet. Such the Moslems 
 generally believe, was the height of our first parents. It is said that the 
 souls of martyrs reside, until the judgment, in the crops of green birds, which 
 eat of the fruits of paradise. Women are not to be excluded from paradise 
 according to the Mohammedan faith, though it has been asserted by many 
 Christians that the Moslems believe women to have no souls. In several 
 places in the Ckooran, Paradise is promised to all true believers, whether 
 males or females. It is the doctrine of the Ckooran that no person will be 
 admitted into paradise by his own merits, but that admission will be granted 
 to believers merely by the mercy of God ; yet that the felicity of each person 
 will be proportioned to his merits. The very meanest in paradise is promised 
 'eighty thousand servants, (beautiful youths, called weleeds, or wilddn,) 
 ' seventy-two wives of the girls of paradise, (hhooree-yehs, or hhoor el-'oyoon,) 
 1 beside the wives he had in this world,' if he desire to have the latter (and 
 the good will doubtless desire the good,) and a tent erected for him of pearls, 
 jacinths, and emeralds, of a very large extent,' and will be waited on by three 
 hundred attendants while he eats, and served in dishes of gold, whereof three 
 hundred shall be set before him at once, each containing a different kind of 
 food, the last morsel of which will be as grateful as the first : wine, also, 
 though forbidden in this life, will yet be freely allowed to be drank in the 
 next, and wilhout danger, since the wine of paradise will not inebriate.' We 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 237 
 
 are faither told that all the superfluities from the bodies of the inhabitants 
 of paradise will be carried off by perspiration, which will diffuse an odor like 
 that of musk ; and that they will be clothed in the richest silks, chiefly of 
 green. They are also promised perpetual youth, and children as many as 
 they may desire. These pleasures, together with the songs of the angel 
 IsrafeSl, and many other gratifications of the senses, will charm even the 
 meanest inhabitant of paradise. But all these enjoyments will be lightly 
 esteemed by those more blessed persons who are to be admitted to the 
 highest of all honors — that spiritual pleasure of beholding, morning and eve- 
 ning, the face of God. The Moslem must also believe in the examination of 
 the dead in the sepulcher, by two angels, called Moonkir and Nekeer, of ter 
 rible aspect, who will cause the body (to which the soul shall be for the time, 
 reunited) to sit upright in the grave, and will question the deceased respect- 
 ing his faith. The wicked they will severely torture, but the good they will 
 not hurt. Lastly, he should believe in God's absolute decree of every 
 event, both good and evil. This doctrine has given rise to as much 
 controversy among the Moslems as among Christians ; but the former 
 generally believe in predestination as in some respects, conditional. In 
 religious practice, the most important duties are prayer, alms-giving, fasting, 
 and pilgrimage.' * 
 
 Of all the excursions in the neighborhood of Constantinople, that up the 
 Bosphorus to the Black Sea is the most interesting. " In company with our 
 embassador and Dr. R., an American missionary, I embarked," says De 
 Vere, " in a caique, one of those slender shell-like boats, which bounded for- 
 ward under the oars of our sinewy boatmen like a young antelope. The 
 Bosphorus in its numerous windings is so frequently land-locked, that it often 
 spreads into what appears to be a series of lakes, environed by landscapes 
 of exquisite beauty. In one of these lakes the expanse is wider and sunnier 
 than in its neighbor; in another, the rocks are steeper and the flowering shrubs 
 more distinctly revealed. The most picturesque points are sure to be crowned 
 by some rich man's palace; the projecting roof casts a shadow on the stream, 
 and slightly obscures the gilded lattices behind which — cages of imprisoned 
 birds — the inmates of his harem, are hidden. As we passed them, the breeze 
 wafted us a sweeter fragrance from their gardens, and sometimes the sound 
 of minstrelsy or the laugh of the captive beauties, gathered probably around 
 some story-teller. Chained to the wall of the house, and tossing lightly on 
 the ripple, or moored in a still canal passing under an archway into the palace, 
 was commonly a caique, glowing with crimson and glittering with gold. I 
 should have been glad to have seen the fair household embarking, but was 
 not so fortunate. 
 
 Not less beautiful are those reaches of the Bosphorus, the scenery of 
 which is of a less festal character, where the hills are higher, the glens 
 narrower, and the cypresses more thickly clustered. In several places the 
 current was so strong that our boatmen were unable to pull against it. On 
 these occasions we landed, and a number of men coming to our assistance, the 
 caique was dragged, with the aid of ropes, past the projecting rock. Every 
 interruption afforded fresh opportunities of enjoying the scenes around us 
 
238 A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 
 
 Ir many places we passed close to a range of marble seats at the water's 
 edge, on which, or near which, repose gay companies of women, Turk, 
 or Armenian, who had come forth to enjoy the sunset. Whether by mis- 
 chance, or but half by chance, on these occasions much more of their vailed 
 face is frequently revealed to the gaze or glance of the passer by, than he 
 makes acquaintance with at Constantinople. The Turkish countenance, with 
 its beautiful oval shape, its colorless purity and wax-like stillness, and above 
 all its dark, tender, and dreamy eyes, has a charm about it which the more 
 brilliant Greek lacks. 
 
 The Armenian women are, as a race, the most lovely I have seen. Their 
 eyes combine something of the Turkish languor with the brilliant irradiation 
 of the Greek. Their hair falls in waves of the glossiest black down their 
 fair brows, and their complexion has the freshness of the rosebud's inmost 
 leaf. Their forms are tall, and characterized at once by stateliness and a 
 suave and gentle grace. Their movements are modest, but marked also by a 
 soft decision. Nothing can exceed the picturesque beauty of those Arme- 
 nian women, which is much increased by their oriental costume, their crim- 
 son slippers, their cloaks of brilliant green or blue, and the long white vails 
 which stream over their shoulders. In spite of the ordinary error, which 
 associates especially with Mahometanism, that subjection of the female sex, 
 which prevailed in the East ever since the patriarchal times, the Christian 
 Armenians not only live in as complete a seclusion as their Turkish sisters, 
 but are also in quite as strict a thraldom. Notwithstanding, I should think 
 it likely that they are happy in their domestic relations. 
 
 On our return, in place of pursuing the windings of the Bosphorus, we 
 followed an inland path, passing along many a hollow glen, and stopping 
 often to admire some new combination of mountains, marked by those pecu- 
 liar attributes of vastiness, stillness, luxuriance, and smoothness which char- 
 acterize the scenery of Asia. The most beautiful of these glens is one called 
 the " Asian Valley of Sweet Waters." This is the favorite place of resort 
 for the rich, and is especially thronged on Friday, the Mahometan Sabbath. 
 Hither flock all the beauties of Constantinople for their holiday revel. Not 
 only the wives of the beys, emirs, and pachas, but the sultanas themselves. 
 Over the green grass their carriages, glittering with gold, and shaded by 
 velvet and silken awnings, are slowly and noiselessly drawn by white oxen, 
 and occasionally by horses ; while the dark, voluptuous eye gleams upon the 
 passer-by between the breeze-stirred vail and the pillow of crimson satin on 
 which the pallid cheek reposes. Through the plain wanders a pellucid 
 stream, which falls into the Bosphorus, and on the banks of which tower up 
 stately groves of plane-trees, from twenty to thirty feet in circumference, and 
 disposed often with a regularity almost architectural. 
 
 " A pillow'd shade with echoing walks "between." 
 
 Under these tented groves the Persian carpets are spread, as well as many a 
 cashmere shawl, and mantle of glowing orange or purple ; and among them 
 the revelers dispose themselves in festal groups, some smoking their pipes, 
 some drinking sherbet, some restraining a truent curl with the aid of » 
 
A SOJOURN AMONG THE TURKS. 239 
 
 pearl-compassed hand mirror, some watching the feats of a conjurer, some 
 listening to a minstrel, Jewish, Greek, or Wallachian, and some in deep atten- 
 tion to a story-teller from Persia or Arabia, whose endless narrative is inter- 
 rupted now and then by a fearless laugh ringing from the heart. From 
 group to group pass, as the day wears on, the slave, carrying water from the 
 fountain in silver pitchers, the confectioner, laden with baskets of fruit and 
 sherbet." 
 
 Among the sights at Constantinople which the traveler is most earnestly 
 recommended to see, are the " dancing dervises," the following description 
 of which, is given by De Vere : 
 
 " This singular ceremonial takes place in a college of dervises within the 
 region of Galata, and is open to the inspection of any one who does not ob- 
 ject to discard his shoes, and substitute for them a pair of slippers, with 
 which he is speedily provided. The chapel is a small octagon building, part 
 of which is railed off for the religious exercises of the brethren, while 
 another portion of it is devoted to the use of strangers. The inclosed space 
 was empty when I arrived. In a few minutes the dervises entered, wrapped 
 in long dark cloaks with flowing sleeves, and bearing on their heads that 
 high and tapering gray hat which marks their community. Bending gradu- 
 ally as they advanced, and kneeling till their foreheads touched the ground, 
 they remained for some time absorbed in prayer. Again they bowed pro- 
 foundly to their superior, an old man who stood in the center of the circle, 
 clothed in an ample pelisse of green silk and fur, and then took their stations 
 around him, with their hands folded on their breasts, their eyes closed, and 
 their faces, dim and abstracted, inclined gently forward. 
 
 From a gallery in the upper part of the building musical sounds were 
 heard erelong, to which the dervises added their voices. To me nothing 
 could be much more harsh or grating than such music, but over those who 
 joined in it the effects which it exercised seemed magical. Gradually a deep 
 enthusiasm appeared to fall on them, and that peculiar species of rotatory 
 movement improperly termed dancing, commenced. Slowly, at first, they 
 spun round, each revolving on his axis, and all preserving exactly the same 
 relative position as they circled round and round the inclosure. During 
 these extraordinary evolutions they extended their arms at each side, while 
 their long and loose robes, gray, green, and brown, spreading out on all sides 
 as their gyrations became more rapid, imparted to their figures a pyramidal- 
 like outline of which their sharp hats formed the top. This mystical dance 
 continued for the space of about five minutes, when, ceasing it in a moment, 
 and simultaneously, they stood still once more, each with his hands on his 
 breast, and his face toward his superior. After an interval of prayer, the 
 same ceremonial was gone through a second and a third time. There is 
 something remarkable in the perfect regularity of the movement, and yet 
 more so in the contrast between the extreme velocity which it reaches, and 
 the stillness of those pale, absorbed countenances, slightly inclined toward 
 the right shoulder, and calm as in a dream. 
 
240 A SOJOURN AMOffG THE TURKS. 
 
 Such spectacles, however, are rendered utterly unsatisfactory by that im- 
 possibility of appreciating their real import under which a stranger labors. 
 It is difficult for us to realize in this strange exhibition anything more than 
 unmeaning, and, as it strikes some, a ridiculous ceremonial. On the other 
 hand, we know that the eastern nations have, from the earliest periods, asso- 
 ciated dancing, as we associate music, with religious aspiration, and that it is 
 impossible for us to ascertain what that dance may express to them as it 
 would be for a spectator without an ear to appreciate our cathedral service. 
 
AN AMERICAN 
 
 IN 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 FRENCH PEASANTS. 
 
 Sketch of France — Landing at Havre — Fine appearance of the People— Business Women — 
 The Seine — Eouen — Cathedral — Reverence of the Catholics — French river Steamers — 
 Paris — Social Arrangements of the Parisians — Sunday in Paris — Delightful Walk — Fine 
 Arts— Galleries of Art open to the Public— Their Influence— Morals of the French— Li- 
 centiousness — Position of Woman — Marriages of convenience — Departure from Paris — 
 Dijon — The Saone — Agriculture in France — French Peasant Life — Temperance of the 
 People — Departure from Lyons — Peasant Women — A Keflection. 
 
 France has an area of about three times that of the State of Virginia. 
 Its surface exhibits an advantageous mixture of high and low lands. Its 
 climate, though varying much in different localities, is in general genial, and 
 well adapted to extensive and profitable agriculture. On the north it ap- 
 proaches that of England ; in the central regions the winters are mild and 
 short, and all seasons are exempt from extremes. In the south the midsum- 
 mer is oppressively hot, and irrigation necessary to agriculture. 
 
 16 241 
 
242 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 The French are of a very mixed origin. The Grseco Latin race corres- 
 ponding to the French who inhabit the north of the Loire, and the country 
 immediately south of that river ; the Romans south of the French, and 
 the Italians who occupy Corsica, include over thirty of the thirty-five millions 
 of Frenchmen. Its remaining people are a Germanic race who inhabit 
 Alsace and part of Lorraine ; the Flemings, who live in the north ; the Bre- 
 tons in Brittany, and the Basques in the low Pyrenees. These various races, 
 to the present day, in a great measure preserve the national peculiarities of 
 their several ancestors. Of all these, so low is general education in France, 
 that not one-tenth are acquainted with even the letters of the alphabet. 
 
 The history of France dates from a very early period. It was the scene 
 of many exploits in the time of the Romans, by whom it was invaded and 
 subdued. The French are the descendants of these and the ancient Gauls 
 and their language, a mixture of modified Latin, and the tongue of the 
 original inhabitants, but much altered in spelling and pronunciation. France 
 for many centuries was governed in a despotic manner by a line of sovereigns 
 from that of Clovis, in the year 481, to that of the Bourbons in the person 
 of Louis XVI, in 1789. One of these monarchs, Louis XI V, in the latter 
 part of the 17th century exhausted the resources of the nation in foreign 
 wars, and personal extravagance, and beside greatly corrupted the manners 
 of the people. This laid the foundation for a course of events which 
 terminated in the national ruin, and the fearful outbreak of the revolu- 
 tion in 1789, which deluged the country in blood, and ended with the estab- 
 lishment of a Republic ; but this was speedily succeeded by the elevation of 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, first as consul and next Emperor. The battle of 
 Waterloo in 1815, closed his career, and the Bourbons were again restored 
 to the throne. Charles the Xth, the last of the Bourbons, was expelled by 
 the revolution of 1830, and Louis Philippe, a descendant of the brother of 
 Louis XIV, was elevated to the throne. France now became and so remained 
 a constitutional monarchy until the 22d February 1848, when royalty was 
 abolished and a republic again established, which after four years' duration 
 merged into a monarchy, under Louis Napoleon. 
 
 It was on a fine morning in spring, that J. P. Durbin, D. J).,* the traveler 
 whose steps we now follow, first beheld a city of France. He was at the 
 time on board the noble ship the Ville de Lyon, in which, twenty-two days 
 before, he had left New York. The fog having rolled away from the 
 surface of the beautiful bay before them, disclosed, at the distance of five 
 miles, Havre, at the mouth of the Seine, the port of Paris, and the Liverpool 
 of France. 
 
 On going out to see the town, soon after his landing, he was struck with 
 the superiority of the people in physical appearance, as compared with his 
 own countrymen. Fine health and much enjoyment of life was shown in their 
 
 * Abridged principally from " Durbin's Observations in Europe." This work com- 
 prises his travels in France, Switzerland, down the Rhine, in Holland, Belgium and Eng- 
 land, Scotland and Ireland. 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 243 
 
 fresh complexions, elastic steps, and full developed figures. This in a great 
 measure arises from the French being accustomed to spend so much of their 
 time in the open air. The greater part of the citizens were cheerfully pro- 
 menading the streets, and the little folks, of both sexes, full of glee, were 
 running, romping, rolling the hoop and jumping the rope. Most of the fe- 
 males were without bonnets. He was also impressed by the smallness of the 
 shops, the exceeding variety and richness of the merchandise, and, by the 
 fact, that, with a solitary exception, they were kept by females. In France, 
 nearly all the petty trading is carried on by the women, and many occupa- 
 tions of a light, feminine character, in which, with us, males officiate, there 
 properly fall within their province. 
 
 In the evening, a mild and beautiful night, which terminated the first day 
 of our traveler's experience in the land of the French, he bent his footsteps 
 toward the quay. The whole population seemed to be in the streets. Every- 
 where policemen, in their peculiar garb, mingled among the people, to pre- 
 serve, if necessary, by force, that quiet our own citizens secure simply by 
 their superior civilization and love of order. 
 
 Early the third morning after his landing, Dr. Durbin embarked on board 
 of a steamer, which, gliding out of the harbor, was soon on its way up the 
 Seine to Rouen, the ancient capital of Normandy. 
 
 The Seine is a beautiful river, full of historical interest : its banks were the 
 battle-grounds of France and England, and with every elevation are con- 
 nected legends of that, or of an earlier period, when it was scourged by the 
 piratical swarms of Scandinavia, or of an antiquity yet more remote, when 
 France was under the sway of the Roman eagle. Clear down to the water's 
 edge the grass was of a rich velvet green. Frequently, as they advanced, 
 beautiful valleys opened to view on either side, disclosing here and there lovely 
 villages, with the environing hills, cultivated to the highest degree, their sum- 
 mits, in places, crowned with forest trees, in the cool refreshing verdure ot 
 spring. 
 
 In five hours, Dr. Durbin was comfortably located in the hotel of Rouen. 
 In the French hotels, in the large provincial towns, the traveler pays only 
 for his room and the services of the fille de chambre. His meals he can take 
 as he chooses, at any time, and either as he may desire, at the general table, 
 where he pays a stipulated sum, or at an eating-house, where he pays only 
 for what he may order. 
 
 Rouen comprises two parts, the old and the new town. They are separated 
 by the Boulevards, which is a noble wide street, adorned with trees, and 
 almost surrounding the city. The word " boulevards" signifies ancient walls. 
 Many of the old towns of continental Europe are adorned by these enchant- 
 ing avenues ; so that the old walls, once their defense, now form shaded 
 streets, and the pleasure grounds of their inhabitants. The old part of 
 Rouen is miserably built, with narrow streets, winding about like cow -paths; 
 moreover, they are destitute of side-walks, and paved with square stones, 
 which, sloping to the center, there form a gutter. This, however, is not 
 peculiar to this city, but general in all cities on the continent ; paved walks for 
 foot passengers, on the sides of the streets, next to the houses, being almost 
 
244 ^N AMERICAN" IN FRANCE. 
 
 entirely unknown. To an American eye the houses of Rouen look queer 
 enough, with their stout oaken frames, cemented or bricked between ; their 
 narrow fronts, and lofty peaked roofs, tiled or slated. None are in blocks, and 
 rarely two alike. In the new town are many fine modern houses, of soft 
 cream-colored stone, which often are surrounded by trees and gardens. 
 
 Dr. Durbin was unexpectedly gratified with the people, their manners and 
 characteristics. They appeared to be sober and discreet, and without that fri- 
 volity we Americans have been taught to consider a peculiarity of the French. 
 
 Among the antiquities of the town the Cathedral is celebrated. This mag- 
 nificent structure is nearly four hundred and fifty feet long, by over one hun- 
 dred in width, and the pyramid upon its center tower, in the design, reaches 
 the enormous height of four hundred and thirty- six feet. On entering this 
 gigantic edifice he was struck with awe by its solemn grandeur and its vast 
 proportions. Its long rows of lofty pillars, its innumerable sharp Gothic 
 arches, the silence that reigned in the vast spaces, while a mass of light of 
 every hue, thrown upon all objects through more than a hundred stained 
 glass windows, impressed him with novel and overpowering sensations. 
 
 The stained glass windows are not only glass colored in brilliant hues, but 
 the colors are so arranged, that each window illustrates a particular sub- 
 ject. The pictures in two windows depict the life of Joseph. The history of 
 John the Baptist is shown in a third, while a fourth exhibits the passion of 
 Christ, and so on. The paintings, bass-reliefs and statues of the cathedral 
 form, as it were, an open volume of religious history, which, appealing to 
 the mind through the eye, familiarizes to the most ignorant peasant the great 
 events narrated in the Bible. 
 
 " No wonder that the people of Catholic countries are so much attached 
 to their religion, when we consider how enticing to the feelings are its splen- 
 did ceremonies, and its magnificent churches, rendered sacred by the recol- 
 lections of a thousand years. The reverence of the Catholic for his church 
 edifice is far more profound than that of the Protestant. The rich paintings, 
 sculptures, and adornments, not only impress as works of art, but as parts of 
 the temple of God, are imbued with an ideal sanctity. 
 
 There appears to be more depth and seriousness in the worshipers than 
 with Protestants. Unaccustomed as we are to the solemn pomp and pa- 
 geantry of the Catholic service in Europe, it is impossible to conceive of its 
 power over the imagination, and the feelings of those educated in the midst 
 of these magical associations. Even the enlightened Protestant will find 
 much that is elevating and majestic, in many of the ceremonies, aided as they 
 are, by the mighty influence of the higher arts, appealing to the eye by the 
 forms of beauty, and the ear with tones of richest harmony, that rivet atten- 
 tion, and take captive the imagination.'' 
 
 Our traveler left Rouen for Paris in the steamer Dorade, the same which 
 conveyed the remains of Napoleon up the Seine, when brought from St. He- 
 lena to Paris. On the place on the deck where had stood the sarcophagus, or 
 coffin, was a black marble slab, with an inscription, which stated, in French, 
 " Here reposed the mortal remains of the Emperor Napoleon, from the 9th 
 to the 15th December, 1840." 
 
AN AMERICAS IX FKANCE. 245 
 
 All looked upon this with emotion : the deck passengers especially evinced 
 deep feeling, and, in violation of the rules, rushed forward to gaze upon the 
 spot, where, for six days, had rested the mortal remains of the great man 
 whose memory is so idolized by the nation. 
 
 The Dorade, a fair specimen of the French river steamers, was an ill-look- 
 ing boat, compared to ours of the same class : it was long and narrow, with 
 the deck completely exposed to the weather, and its only cabin a small, 
 cramped, shabbily-furnished room below. On the river side, numerous large 
 batteaux were seen, drawn by horses on the land, and at each village, the 
 washerwoman's ark, a diminutive raft of wood, with a bench by the water 
 side, upon which the clothes are rubbed after a soaking in the stream. Nu- 
 merous interesting villages and ruins, came in view, and on nearing the capi- 
 tal, towns and cities were passed in rapid succession. 
 
 At La Pecq they changed to the cars, and soon after dark were in Paris. 
 Taking carriages for a hotel, the party of our traveler entered the famous 
 Boulevards, a broad avenue dazzling with lights, and crowded by thousands 
 of the Parisians, walking, talking, lounging about the splendid shop-win- 
 dows, and seated before the cafes, partaking of refreshments. 
 
 They secured rooms, and as is usual in Paris, obtained their meals at the 
 eating-houses, or cafes. These establishments are peculiar to Paris. On 
 first entering, one sees a well-dressed, and frequently, beautiful woman, 
 seated behind a high and marble-topped desk, upon an elegant velvet-covered 
 ottoman. With the grace and business-like air of the Frenchwoman, she 
 oversees all the operations of the cafe, receives strangers, orders the servants, 
 and manages the finances. Selecting a table, a bill of fare is passed, from 
 which one can choose at desire. 
 
 These establishments are all-important to the every-day life of the citizens 
 of Paris. They are divided into five or six different grades, from the splendid 
 cafes and restaurants, the resort of the higher classes, to the miserable eat- 
 ing-houses, patronized by the artisans ; there is, moreover, a regular system, 
 by which the leavings of the best, are handed over to the next, and so on in 
 rotation, until the last remnants are served up at the cheapest houses, after 
 passing through various changes, and losing all traces of their original 
 character. 
 
 Many of the first families, in professional and mercantile life, live at these 
 establishments. Their daily business being finished, they dine, and then re- 
 create until bed-time, by promenading and frequenting places of public 
 amusement. By this mode of life, an unusual share of time for out-door 
 amusement is given to the Parisian ; but it is at the expense of the pleasures 
 of home, a word, by the way, of which he is even ignorant of the meaning. 
 Although eminently social, he is not domestic, as the dwellings show. In 
 Paris, houses for single families are very rare. 
 
 The wealthier clas'ses frequently reside in hotels, and live as described. 
 The common dwellings are usually large, and contain several families ; a 
 single family often occupying all one story, in each of which is a complete 
 suite of rooms. In front, and in the center of each house, is a wide archway, 
 closed by a door of iron, which leads into a square court ; from this area, 
 
246 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 stairs conduct to several suites of rooms, each complete for one family, which 
 having no communication with the others, by entries or passages, secure pri- 
 vacy to the household. The same plan, with slight modifications, is followed 
 in the smaller dwellings of the humbler classes. The American city houses 
 are like those of the middle class of Englishmen. 
 
 On walking out, on his first Sunday in Paris, Dr. Durbin could not realize 
 the day, so different was the aspect of things from what he had been accus- 
 tomed to. The troops were out, marching to the sound of martial music, ma- 
 sons and carpenters were at work, laborers were paving the streets, and 
 numerous shops were open, with the women in them, waiting upon custom- 
 ers, or sewing. In the evening, he strolled down to the spacious Place de la 
 Concorde, and mingled "in the vast crowds which rolled in vast tides through 
 the Place, westward, into the Champs Elys6es, (or Elysian Fields) and fol- 
 lowed the avenue toward the Triumphal Arch." From the Place the scene 
 was splendid. Scattered about, were groups of statuary; high rose the mag- 
 nificent obelisk of Luxor, and beautiful fountains were playing. To the east, 
 lay the gardens of the Tuilleries, and, in the opposite direction, stretched the 
 forests of the Elysian Fields. All around, flashed brilliant gas-lights, from 
 palaces and theaters, and lanterns shone from a thousand moving carriages. 
 Passing into the beautiful Elysian Fields, tents, booths, and tables, every- 
 where abounded, loaded with tempting eatables for sale, together with innu- 
 merable kinds of fancy articles, the business being mainly conducted by 
 females. Crowds of contented, and well-behaved people, were all around, 
 walking, talking, and laughing, and full of enjoyment. 
 
 In the whole of this long walk, he saw a quiet and an order unknown in 
 any of our towns, on public days. The people of Paris, so far as regards 
 intruding upon the comforts and privileges of others, behave, in their Sunday 
 amusements as considerately as ours, on their way to church. 
 
 The people, generally, are contented with theatrical amusements, music, 
 fine shows, and in visiting public gardens. The government judiciously mi- 
 nisters to the national taste — hence, all the galleries of paintings, sculpture, etc., 
 and the palaces with their splendid grounds, are free to all classes, especially 
 on the Sabbath. 
 
 Our traveler, a few weeks later, had an opportunity of observing how the 
 Sabbath was observed in a Protestant city. This was at Geneva, " the 
 cradle of Calvinism." On the Sabbath morning succeeding his arrival, he 
 was aw T akened by martial music ; on going to his window he saw the fire- 
 companies marching out, to exercise their " machines" on the square, the 
 vicinity of which was thronged by market-women. By nine o'clock, market 
 •was over, the streets quiet, and the people neatly dressed, on their way to church. 
 In the afternoon, after church service, the inhabitants were seeking amuse- 
 ment in the public gardens, and usual places of pleasure. A little business 
 in the morning, then worship, and finally, amusement, is the mannei in which 
 the Sabbath is spent in continental Europe, alike with Catholics and 
 Protestants. 
 
 Among the earliest objects in Paris which arrested the notice of Dr. Dur- 
 bin, was the column of Napoleon, in the Place de Vendome, which is crownec 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 247 
 
 by an immense bronze statue of the Emperor. It is 135 feet high, and 
 formed of cannon, taken from the Russians and Austrians, in the wars of 
 Napoleon, and is covered with bass-reliefs in bronze. It bears the inscription 
 "Monument tUvee a la Gloire de la Grande Armee Par Napoleon le Grand,'* 
 i. e., "Monument erected to the glory of the Grand Army, by Napoleon the 
 Great." 
 
 From the top is had a most magnificent panoramic view of Paris and its 
 environs. Among a confused ocean of roofs and houses, of every conceiv- 
 able form, is seen the various striking edifices and towers, palaces, gardens, 
 and public grounds of the city, and beyond, the green fields of the country, 
 the chateau and forest of Vincennes, and the tombs and monuments of Pere 
 la Chaise. 
 
 Dr. Durbin visited the chambers of the Deputies, and also that of the 
 Peers. The former were an ordinary looking body, and those who addressed 
 the house, as was their custom, read their speeches. Contrary to all our 
 ideas of good taste, the clerk read with emphasis and gesticulation. The 
 Peers were generally advanced in life, and some of them of venerable aspect ; 
 they were attired in uniform coats of blue cloth, with standing collars, and 
 gold lace on the cuffs. 
 
 Our traveler was astonished at the immensity and completeness of the 
 Jardin des Plantes. On entering the north-eastern gate, the garden opens to 
 view a vast grove, separated into quarters, by avenues. Within the inclo- 
 sure is a menagerie — one of the most complete and extensive in the world — a 
 botanical garden, with hot-houses ; a museum, and library of natural his- 
 tory ; museums of comparative anatomy, mineralogy, and geology, and la- 
 boratories, and scientific apparatus of every possible description, for public 
 lectures, which are given by the most distinguished scholars to the public, 
 free of charge, government maintaining the whole expense of the establish- 
 ment. So vast is it, and so many its curiosities, that our traveler passed two 
 days of delightful recreation in rambling through it. 
 
 Among the most imposing buildings in Paris, are those of the Hotel des 
 Znvalides, situated on the southern bank of the Seine, opposite the Elysian 
 Fields. The grounds inclosed, contain sixteen acres. Here, maintained in 
 comfort, at the public expense, dwell the worn-out soldiers of the Republic, 
 and Imperial Armies of France. They number about three thousand men, 
 among whom are 200 officers, from a marshal down, and all paid and main- 
 tained according to rank. They are considered the same as if in the regular 
 service ; the officers are in their uniforms, sentinels stand post, and military 
 ' Uy, as in any garrison, is gone through with. It is a melancholy yet amus- 
 ing sight, to see these old veterans, some armless, and others on crutches, or 
 wooden legs, hobbling through their military evolutions, and performing the 
 manual ; but, at the same time, it is a judicious arrangement, serving to dis- 
 pel the misery of idleness, by an employment congenial to their tastes and 
 education. In the grounds sloping down to the Seine, from the Hospital, 
 =ach soldier has to cultivate a small patch about twenty feet square, for a 
 flower-garden ; these form a pleasing characteristic of the place, being full 
 jf (lowers, honeysuckle- bowers, and handsome shrubs. Dr. Durbin tried to 
 
248 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 purchase a rose of several of these antiquated warriors, but unsuccessfully, it 
 being against the regulations. Finally, on going up to one alone, by himself, 
 he pointed to a rosebud, at the same time holding a franc in his hand. Hur- 
 riedly clipping it, the old man passed him the bud, and beckoned to him to 
 drop the franc down upon the bed, which he did, for the veteran was doubt- 
 less in more trepidation from fear of detection, than he had been in days of 
 yore, from fear of the enemy, while marching up to storm a hostile battery. 
 
 The leisure of many, was passed in making models of towns and fortresses, 
 which had fallen before the prowess of their arms, and the object of their 
 adoration, Napoleon, was at every turn shown by little statues, crowned with 
 newly-plucked flowers. The halls of the building are called Austerlitz, Wa- 
 gram, etc., in memory of the great battles of Bonaparte, and those who had 
 been fellow-soldiers, live in the same apartment, where they can meet and 
 " fight their battles over again." 
 
 In the chapel of St. Jerome, is the tomb of Napoleon, the most striking 
 feature of the establishment. " We approached," says our traveler, " the 
 iron grating that cuts off access to the sarcophagus, and stood within a few feet 
 of the ashes of the hero. I felt a sensation of awe, such as I had never be- 
 fore experienced in presence of the living, or among the remains of the dead. 
 Upon the marble, lay his crown, his sword, and hat which had pressed his 
 manty brows at Eylau. . . We held our voices in the great man's resting- 
 place. Many came while we were there, but none, who did not gaze with 
 reverence on the tomb of him who had broken up the despotic institutions of 
 a thousand years, and changed the face of Europe and the world." 
 
 Previous to the Revolution, France was well supplied with churches ; but, 
 during that dreadful period, the institutions of religion were trampled upon, 
 its ministers persecuted, and most of the churches rifled and destroyed ; from 
 these disasters the country has never fully recovered. Paris, in 1870, had 
 only about seventy churches for its million and a half of inhabitants. But 
 their capacity is generally enormous, for one Catholic church accom- 
 modates, frequently, eight or ten different congregations, on a Sabbath ; so 
 the deficiency is not so great as it appears to be. The church of Notre Dame 
 is full of interest, from its thrilling historical associations. All Europe was 
 shocked by the blasphemous farce which took place within its walls in No- 
 vember, 1793, when the female Maillard, a courtesan, was placed on the high 
 altar, and crowned " the Goddess of Reason," by Herbert, amidst a multitude 
 of his infatuated, vulgar associates. Nine years later, with great military 
 and ecclesiastical ceremony, the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in 
 France, was here celebrated, and two years later yet, in December 1804, 
 the coronation of Napoleon took place, with still surpassing splendor. 
 
 Without doubt, the most interesting walk in any city in the world, is that 
 from the east front of the Louvre, in Paris, through the courts and gardens 
 of the palaces, the Place de la Concorde, and the Elysian Fields, to the Arch 
 of Triumph, at the Barriere de L'Etoile, in the city wall, distant two miles. 
 The Louvre is a magnificent edifice, arranged on four sides of a hollow 
 square. It was formerly the palace of several of the monarchs of France, 
 now, it is celebrated for its splendid gallery of paintings and sculpture. 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 249 
 
 Passing from the west side of the Louvre, you enter the Place du Muse- 
 um, which communicates with the Place du Carrousal; the two form an area 
 of 600 by 1200 feet, bounded on three sides by the Louvre and the Tuille- 
 ries, while through a portal, on the north, the Place du Palais Royal opens 
 before one a scene of splendor and enchantment, especially when illuminated 
 at night, with its delicious gardens, long arcades, and its walks, filled with 
 gay promenaders. 
 
 The Place du Carrousal is separated on the west from the court of the 
 Tuilleries, by a railing of iron, with gateways, opposite the center of which 
 is the Triumphal Arch, built by Napoleon, in honor of the great events of 
 the campaign of 1805. The view from this place, of the palace of the Tuil- 
 leries is magnificent, it extending before you in one continuous front, of over 
 a thousand feet long, and in varied architecture. Passing through a portal 
 in its center, you enter an area of sixty acres, the Garden of the Tuilleries, 
 the gayest and most elegant promenade in the city. On the left, winds the 
 Seine, beyond which is the Palace d'Orsay, and on the right, the palace-like 
 residences of Rue Rivoli. The part of the gardens on the east, is adorned 
 with neat parterres, and elegant statues, and that on the west, by a dense fo- 
 rest of ornamental trees. Continuing still to the west, you leave the grove, 
 pass through the Place.de la Concorde, and continue on, and walk for a mile, 
 through the forest of the avenue of the Elysian Fields, until you reach the 
 Triumphal Arch at its farther end, which, standing upon an elevation and 
 rising to the height of 152 feet, can be seen from every direction. This noble 
 arch commemorates the hundred victories of France over Europe, and is 
 covered with allegorical and historical sculptures. It was commenced by Na- 
 poleon, in 1830, and finished by Louis Philippe, in 1836. Such a scene of 
 grandeur, and gayety, and life, as this walk opens to one, has no counterpart 
 in the world. 
 
 France has been unequaled in the magnificence of her palaces; of these, 
 Versailles, twelve miles south-west of Paris, is the most splendid. It was 
 erected about a hundred years since, by Louis XIV, who resolved that it 
 should be the " center of the politics, arts, literature, and refinement of the 
 civilized world." 
 
 The whole, gardens, parks, and forests, embraced a circumference of over 
 sixty miles, with villages and agricultural grounds, scattered here and there 
 through it. To beautify the scenery, hills and ridges were created, leveled, 
 or raised, and valleys filled up, or excavated, and upon the spot rose, as if by 
 enchantment, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, with its public squares, gardens, 
 hotels, and numerous institutions of charity, and of science. The immense 
 expense of all this, amounting to over two hundred millions of dollars, to- 
 gether with the vast sums necessary to sustain them, beggared France, and 
 was one of the causes of the revolution. 
 
 The visitor is perfectly overwhelmed by the immensity and the magnifi- 
 cence of the buildings, the entire facade of which extends to the enormous 
 length of about 1600 feet, with numerous porticoes, multitudes of columns, 
 and statues, windows, and doors. Nor will his wonder cease, when he views 
 the extent of the grounds, the many groups of statues which line the 
 
250 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 avenues, the arbors, the shores of the lakes, and the fountains, one of which, 
 alone, cost $300,000. So expensive is it to maintain this vast establishment, 
 that no sovereign, since the revolution, has dared to meet it. Louis Phil- 
 ippe made some important additions, from his own purse, and then threw 
 open the whole to the people of Paris, as a place of recreation. 
 
 An idea of how the proud monarch lived who erected Versailles, is given 
 in a recent publication, which describes the ordinary routine of life, day after 
 day, and year after year, of Louis XIV, in his palace. 
 
 "At eight o'clock in the morning two servants carefully entered the chamber 
 of the king. One, if the weather was cold or damp, brought dry wood to 
 kindle a cheerful blaze upon the hearth, while the other opened the shutters, 
 carried away the collation of soup, roasted chicken, bread, wine, and water, 
 which had b^en placed, the night before, at the side of the royal couch, that 
 the king might find a repast at hand in case he should require refreshment 
 during the night. The valet de chambre then entered and stood silently and 
 reverently at the side of the bed for one half hour. He then awoke the 
 monarch, and immediately passed into an anteroom to communicate the im- 
 portant intelligence that the king no longer slept. Upon receiving this an- 
 nouncement an attendant threw open the double portals of a wide door, when 
 the dauphin and his two sons, the brother of the king, and the Duke of 
 Chartres, who awaited the signal, entered, and approaching the bed with the 
 utmost solemnity of etiquette, inquired how his majesty had passed the night. 
 After the interval of a moment the Duke du Maine, the Count de Toulouse, 
 the first lord of the bed-chamber, and the grand master of the robes entered 
 the apartment, and with military precision took their station by the side of 
 the couch of recumbent royalty. Immediately there followed another pro- 
 fession of officers bearing the regal vestments. Fagon, the head physician, 
 and Telier, the head surgeon, completed the train. 
 
 The head valet de chambre then poured upon the hands of the king a few 
 drops of spirits of wine, holding beneath them a plate of enameled silver, 
 and the first lord of the bed-chamber presented to the monarch, who was 
 ever very punctilious in his devotions, the holy water, with which the king 
 made the sign of the cross upon his head and his breast. Thus purified and 
 sanctified he repeated a short prayer, which the church had taught him, and 
 then rose in his bed. A noble lord then approached and presented to him a 
 collection of wigs from which he selected the one which he intended to wear 
 that day, and having condescended to place it, with his own royal hands upon 
 his head, he slipped his arms into the sleeves of a rich dressing-gown, which 
 the head valet de chambre held ready for him. Then reclining again upon 
 his pillow, he thrust one foot out from the bed clothes. The valet de cham- 
 bre reverently received the sacred extremity, and drew over it a silk stocking. 
 The other limb was similarly presented and dressed, when slippers of em- 
 broidered velvet were placed upon the royal feet. The king then devoutly 
 crossing himself with holy water, with great dignity moved from his bed and 
 seated himself in a large arm-chair, placed at the fireside. The king then 
 announced that he was prepared to receive the First Entree. None but the 
 especial favorites of the monarch were honored with an audience so confi- 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 251 
 
 dential. These privileged persons were to enjoy the the ecstatic happiness 
 of witnessing the awful ceremony of shaving the king. One attendant pre- 
 pared the water and held the basin. Another religiously lathered the royal 
 chin, and removed the sacred beard, and with soft sponges, saturated with 
 wine and water, washed the parts which had been operated upon and soothed 
 them with silken towels. 
 
 And now the master of the robes approaches to dress the king. At the 
 same moment the monarch announces that he is ready for his Grand Entree. 
 The principal attendants of royalty, accompanied by several valets de cham- 
 bre and door keepers of the cabinet, immediately took their stations at the 
 entrance of the apartment. Princes often sighed in vain for the honor of an 
 admission to the Grand Entree. The greatest precautions were observed 
 that no unprivileged person should intrude. As each individual presented him- 
 self at the door, his name was whispered to the first lord of the bed-chamber, 
 who repeated it to the king. If the monarch made no reply the visitor was 
 admitted. The duke in attendance marshaled the new comers to their several 
 places, that they might not approach too near the presence of His Majesty. 
 Princes of the highest rank, and statesmen of the most exalted station were 
 subjected alike to these humiliating ceremonials. The king, the meanwhile, 
 regardless of his guests, was occupied in being dressed. A valet of the 
 wardrobe delivered to a gentleman of the chamber the garters, which he in 
 turn presented to the monarch. Inexorable etiquette would allow the king 
 to clasp his garters in the morning, but not to unclasp them at night. It was 
 the exclusive privilege of the head valet de chambre to unclasp that of the 
 right leg, while an attendant of inferior rank might remove the other. One 
 attendant put on the shoes, another fastened the diamond buckles. Two 
 pages, gorgeously dressed in crimson velvet, overlaid with gold and silver 
 lace, received the slippers as they were taken from the king's feet. 
 
 The breakfast followed. Two officers entered ; one with bread on an 
 enameled salver, the other with a folded napkin between two silver plates. 
 At the same time the royal cup-bearers presented to the first lord a golden 
 vase, into which he poured a small quantity of wine and water, which was 
 tasted by a second cup-bearer to insure that there was no poison in the 
 beverage. The vase was then rinsed, and being again filled, was presented 
 to the king upon a golden saucer. The dauphin, as soon as the king had 
 drank, giving his hat and gloves to the first lord in waiting, took the napkin 
 and presented it to the monarch to wipe his lips. The frugal repast was 
 soon finished. The king then laid aside his dressing-gown, while two attend- 
 ants drew off his night-shirt, one taking the left sleeve and the other the 
 right. The monarch then drew from his neck the casket of sacred relics, 
 with which he ever slept. It was passed from the hands of one officer to 
 that of another, and then deposited in the king's closet, where it was care- 
 fully guarded. The royal shirt, in the meantime, had been thoroughly 
 warmed at the fire. It was placed in the hands of the first lord, he presented 
 it to the dauphin, and he, laying aside his hat and gloves, approached and 
 presented it to the king. Each garment was thus ceremoniously presented. 
 The royal sword, the vest, and the blue ribbon were brought forward. A 
 
252 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 nobleman of high rank was honored in the privilege of putting on the vest, 
 another buckled on the sword, another placed over the shoulders of the monarch 
 a scarf, to which was attached the cross of the Holy Ghost in diamonds, and 
 the cross of St. Louis. The grand master of the robes presented to the king 
 his cravat of rich lace, while a favorite courtier folded it around his neck. 
 Two handkerchiefs of most costly embroidery and richly perfumed were then 
 placed before his majesty, on an enameled saucer, and his toilet was com- 
 pleted. 
 
 The king then returned to his bedside. Obsequious attendants spread before 
 him two soft cushions of crimson velvet. In all the pride of ostentatious 
 humility he kneeled upon these, and repeated his prayers, while the bishops 
 and cardinals in his suite, with suppressed voice, uttered responses. But 
 our readers will be weary of the recital of the routine of the day. From 
 his chamber the king went to his cabinet, where, with a few privileged ones, 
 he decided upon the plans or amusements of the day. He then attended 
 mass in the chapel. At one o'clock he dined alone, in all the dignity of un- 
 approachable majesty. The ceremony at the dinner-table was no less punc- 
 tilious and ridiculous than at the toilet. After dinner he fed his dogs, and 
 amused himself in playing with them. He then, in the presence of a number 
 of courtiers, changed his dress, and leaving the palace by a private stair- 
 case, proceeded to his carriage, which awaited him in the marble court-yard. 
 Returning from his drive, he again changed his dress, and visited the apart- 
 ments of Madame Maintenon, where he remained until 10 o'clock, the hour 
 of supper. The supper was the great event of the day. Six noblemen 
 stationed themselves at each end of the table to wait upon the king. When- 
 ever he raised his cup, the cup-bearer exclaimed aloud to all the company, 
 " drink for the king." After supper he* held a short ceremonial audience 
 with members of the royal family, and at midnight went again to feed 
 his dogs. He then retired, surrounded by puerilities of ceremony too tedious 
 to be read. 
 
 Such was the character of one of the most majestic kings of the Bourbon 
 race. France, wearied with them, drove them from the throne, and placed 
 Napoleon there, a man of energy, of intellect, and of action ; toiling, night 
 and day, to promote the prosperity of France in all its varied interests. The 
 monarchs of Europe, with their united millions, combined and chained the 
 democratic king to the rock of St. Helena, and replaced the Bourbon. But 
 the end is not even yet. In view of the wretched life of Louis XIV, Ma- 
 dame Maintenon exclaimed : " Could you but form an idea of what kingly 
 life is ! Those who occupy thrones are the most unfortunate in the world." 
 
 The French have a passion for the fine arts, and a taste for them every- 
 where prevails, as is shown by the countless museums and schools of art 
 hroughout France. In the palace and galleries of the Louvre, in Paris, is 
 the finest collection in Europe. For perhaps a mile or more the halls stretch 
 along, filled with every variety of beautiful paintings and statuary. Ad- 
 mission, as with all public places in Paris, is free, and on Sunday the Louvre 
 is crowded with all sorts of folks, from the workman in his dirty blouse, to 
 ihe fashionable belle, radiant in beauty and glittering in jewels. All this 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 253 
 
 has a great influence upon the taste of even the most humble citizen, whc 
 has ever before him the grand and beautiful in the galleries of art, in the 
 public gardens, palaces, buildings, and all that is curious and instructive in 
 the scientific institutions. Even too, while walking the streets, his taste is 
 exercised by statuary everywhere disposed, by beautiful architecture, and 
 ever leaping fountains. 
 
 The influence of this is shown in the fine taste of the people, as exhibited 
 in their neat-fitting dresses, their fondness for flowers, their graceful man- 
 ners and unaffected politeness. It increases their love of country and their 
 devotion to their religion, which calls to its aid all the powers of genius, and 
 all the fascinations of art. 
 
 In Paris, such long, deep, and high ranges of warehouses as those in New 
 York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore rarely exist ; nor streets occupied 
 alone with private residences. Business is there more scattered, and the 
 goods are sold in small show-shops on the street, the rest of the building be- 
 ing often used for their manufacture. European shopkeepers evince far 
 more taste in displaying their goods than ours, an advantage which compen- 
 sates for the inferior size of their stores. 
 
 In many of the antique public buildings of some of these old cities the rain 
 water is discharged, not by ordinary spouts from the roofs, but by the open 
 stretched mouths of men or animals, cut in caricatured forms : the animals 
 thus represented are generally lions or dragons, or their heads with human 
 bodies. " On the continent every idea is made to assume some form of life, so 
 as to speak to the senses ; and there is scarcely a beautiful or magnificent 
 conception published in Europe, that has not been painted, engraved, sculp- 
 tured, carved or moulded in plaster, and placed in galleries, or offered for 
 sale in the shops. Thus the mass of the people can look upon the visible 
 embodiment, and at least be pleased, if they cannot master the mighty 
 thought, and enter that beautiful world of intellect where it was produced." 
 
 As a whole, the stranger is apt to be disappointed with the general appear- 
 ance of Paris. It owes its reputation for magnificence to some of its unri- 
 valed localities, the Boulevards, gardens, palaces, etc. Generally the streets 
 are winding and narrow, having side-walks scarce a yard wide, and in many 
 parts are disgusting from filth. The houses are alike in color, and when new 
 are white, and when old, dingy. The architecture is various, and abounds in 
 ornament. Monotonous uniform blocks and squares, like those of our 
 cities, with their plain smooth walls and square windows, are here 
 unknown. 
 
 From within the city the view is marred by the ugly forms of millions of 
 stone pipes and earthen cylinders, that alike project above the roofs of the 
 palaces and the meanest dwellings. 
 
 The French towns," like our own, show the ideas and characteristics of the 
 inhabitants. In France they are absorbed in the idea of the glory of the nation, 
 seeming satisfied to be even homeless, provided the splendor of their country 
 excites universal admiration. In America, the people but little regard the 
 State, thinking their comfort and respectability paramount to the advance- 
 ment of public buildings, museums and parks. The one results in a State, 
 
254 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 which is glorious, and the other in a people, independent and happy. A 
 blending of ideas would improve each. 
 
 France has a large number of foundling hospitals, one of which, the Hospice 
 ties Enfants Trouvts, (Hospital for the Foundlings) in Paris, was visited by 
 Dr. Durbin. This institution was founded by St. Vincent de Paul, who, from 
 the purest motives, sought out the abandoned children of the city, to have them 
 supported in their infancy, and educated in virtue. The effect of this insti- 
 tution has been to prevent infanticide, which prevailed to an alarming degree; 
 at the same time it is probable it has increased the fruits of illicit love. Most 
 of the children are scattered about the interior, to be nursed by the healthy 
 peasant women : at that time they numbered about fifteen thousand. As with 
 most of the city hospitals, this is under the care of the self-sacrificing bene- 
 volent sisters of charity. 
 
 About ten thousand, of the thirty thousand children annually born in Paris, 
 are illegitimate, and licentiousness prevails to an enormous extent among all 
 classes. But, owing to police regulations, open immodesty in the public 
 streets is very rare, differing greatly in this respect from the shameless degra- 
 dation so often encountered in London, or even in our own New York. The 
 licentiousness of Paris and London is probably about the same, although, 
 owing to the misrepresentation of English travelers in everything regarding 
 France, we have been taught to consider differently. In our country and in 
 England licentiousness is alone tolerated in the male sex ; in France, about 
 the same lenity is extended to woman, and known guilt does not always expel 
 her from society. The moral condition of the French woman is affected by 
 her position. Instead of being modest and shrinking, like the American wo- 
 men, she is bred to business, engages in politics, and is educated to converse 
 on any topic Hence she loses the delicacy and the modesty that confer the 
 greatest chanu upon the sex. 
 
 Among the higher classes marriage is a matter of convenience — not of 
 love. These loveless marriages are not so very repugnant, as thereafter the woman 
 can, at option, have a lover. A sort of tacit understanding exists between 
 man and wife to obey, to a certain extent, their own fancies. The French wo- 
 man considers her fondness for her lover not at all conflicting with her duty 
 to her husband and family, whose honor and welfare she deems sacred. 
 These are novel ideas to an American, and abhorrent to all his habits of 
 thought and education. 
 
 Dr. Durbin, on leaving Paris, hired a good courier, who understood the 
 principal languages of Europe. His duty was to engage passages, obtain 
 good rooms at the hotels, attend to the passport, "do up" the talking, and 
 have a general oversight over all traveling and hotel arrangements. This 
 individual having secured seats in the diligence, our traveler and compan- 
 ions left Paris toward sunset, one summer's day, en route for Switzerland. 
 The French diligence is a singular, ungainly, yet comfortable conveyance, 
 and is, perhaps, preferable to the English stage coach. It is a movable 
 edifice with three rooms. The first and foremost, is called the Coupe, and 
 holds three, which is very pleasant in fine weather, as it has glass in the 
 f-ont, and at the sides ; but when it is cold, it is rather airy, and therefore^ 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 255 
 
 less comfortable than the interior, which is the next apartment, with accom- 
 modations for six, three on a seat, who sit face to face. The last division is 
 the rotond, which is generally entered behind, like an omnibus, and the seats 
 run lengthwise, and will also hold six. The prices vary in each apartment, 
 being highest in the coupe, and the next in the interior ; these are also sepa- 
 rated by thick-cushioned walls. Four or six horses are tied to this huge ma 
 chine, usually by rope traces, with immense collars, and harness, covered 
 with skins on the shoulders. The postilion, in his livery, mounts his nigh 
 wheel horse, and if there are six, another mounts the next, and then, amid 
 the cracking of the whips, the machine starts with a rumbling noise that is 
 absolutely deafening. 
 
 Our traveler found journeying in the diligence agreeable, and by breakfast 
 time, next morning, was ninety miles distant from Paris, and on the succeed- 
 ingmorning, at the ancient city of Dijon. Its streets are narrow, crooked, 
 and without sidewalks. Although it was the Sabbath, it appeared like a high 
 market day, for as they neared the town, they passed carts, wagons, don- 
 keys with panniers, women " toting" milk cans on their heads, and on enter- 
 ing it, they found the shops open, and business going on as usual. They 
 were impressed by the good looks of the citizens, the neat and genteel ap- 
 pearance of the young men and women, and by the unusual number of hale, 
 cheerful-looking old folks. 
 
 At two o'clock, the next morning, they reached Chalons, on the Saone, and 
 there took a steamer for Lyons. In the absence of any regular sleeping ac- 
 commodations, our traveler threw himself upon a settee, and laying down a 
 chair horizontally, formed a suspension pillow, by tying his handkerchief 
 across its legs, as is often done on board our steamers, and then endeavored 
 to compose himself to sleep. Vain attempt ! Some Frenchmen coming into 
 the cabin, were infinitely tickled at this, to them, novel mode, and were so 
 merry over it, that he was obliged to relinquish all endeavors to court the 
 drowsy god. 
 
 The steamer was of iron, long, and narrow, and uncomfortable, and 
 thronged by a variety of people, of many countries and costumes, some of 
 them very queer. The breakfast-table could accommodate but a tithe of 
 their number. Such a rush as was made by these Frenchmen, when break- 
 fast was ready, transcended anything of the kind ever seen on an American 
 steamer, ^ome of them even straddling over the table, in their anxiety to se- 
 cure seats. 
 
 As the party of our traveler conversed in English, the company were at 
 first shy, thinking they were Englishmen, but on discovering they were Ame- 
 ricans, their whole manner changed, and at once they became " the lions" of 
 the day. 
 
 The country on the Saone is not so picturesque as that on the Seine. The 
 stream is of a clear light green, resembling our own beautiful Ohio — 
 and several graceful suspension bridges overarch it. In the latter part of the 
 day, the signs of the vicinity of a large town abounded — the hills were cul- 
 tivated to their summits in pretty patches, and elegant chateaus were seen on 
 either side, with beautiful groves, gardens, and statues. Two hours before 
 
256 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 sunset, they arrived at Lyons, finely situated on the neck of land formed by 
 the union of the Rhone and the Saone. Its streets are generally narrow, 
 dirty, and destitute of sidewalks, and evince the stir and bustle of manufac- 
 ture and commerce. Its situation, at the junction of two rivers, the bold ele- 
 vations in its vicinity, the odor of bituminous coal, and the incessant clang of 
 its iron-works, give it a strong resemblance to Pittsburgh. 
 
 Lyons is famous for its manufactures of velvets, stockings, ribbons, and 
 silk goods of all sorts, the best of which are exported to our country. From 
 an observatory in the vicinity, is had over a broad and beautiful plain, a mag- 
 nificent view of the Alps, above which, robed in eternal ice, towers the ma- 
 jestic Mont Blanc. 
 
 The Lyonese are noted for their patriotism and devotion to the Catholic re- 
 ligion. In the ancient church of St. Irenseus, is an inscription on the pave- 
 ment, to the memory of 19,000 Christians, who, in the reign of the Roman 
 Emperor Severus, suffered martyrdom. 
 
 This journey from Paris to Lyons, gave our traveler an opportunity of 
 seeing French rural life, and the general appearance of the interior. 
 
 " The public roads in France are wide, and usually ornamented on both 
 sides with lofty trees, which give them a grand appearance. The French 
 are peculiarly fond of trees planted in regular rows, the general style, alike 
 in the public gardens of their cities, and on their roads in the country. Un- 
 like the low and branching top shade trees usually planted in our country, 
 for ornament, these are lofty, slender, and graceful, the rows often meeting 
 at top, and forming a beautiful shady arch, over the center of the road. 
 
 Generally, in the northern and central parts of France, there are no hedge- 
 rows, as in England, nor walls, and fences, as in our own country, to divide 
 the different fields, so that the whole country appears like one single extended 
 field of immense magnitude. Let the reader imagine himself on an emi- 
 nence, from which he has a complete unbroken view to the horizon ; let him 
 fancy an agreeable variety of extended but gradual slopes of hill and dale, 
 spread out before him, over which he beholds the surface of one boundless 
 and undivided plantation, except the long and straight lines of various colors, 
 from the different crops, and here and there, long rows of lofty trees, and he 
 will have an idea of the magnificence of a French landscape." 
 
 Compared to ours, or the English, the implements of French husbandry 
 are very primitive and rude, and a sight of the awkward, clumsy plow, used 
 to break up the beautiful fields of this boasted center of the civilization of 
 Europe, would excite the smiles of a Yankee farmer. French agriculture is, 
 indeed, in a low condition, although no country in Europe, perhaps, contains 
 so large a proportion of arable land. 
 
 The burden wagons have generally two wheels only, and these enormous. 
 The tire consists of several connecting pieces, frequently an inch or more 
 thick, and ten inches wide. A large log forms the axle, huge pieces of tim- 
 ber the shafts, and oak-beams the bed, so that the wagon alone, would, with 
 us, be thought a load ; but the French draught-horses are of prodigious 
 strength, and one, with comparative ease, will draw this cumbrous vehicle, 
 laden with six or eight casks of wine or a large load of hay. 
 
AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 257 
 
 The laborers that our traveler passed in the fields, were principally women, 
 dressed in a short, tight jacket, and a coarse, red woolen skirt, narrow and 
 short. The sabot, a heavy wooden shoe, shaped like a shoe last, covered 
 their feet, which made their gait, of course, clumsy and unelastic. These 
 peasant-women are short, slender, homely, and work in the vineyards and 
 fields, along with the men, and occasionally guide the plow. 
 
 Dr. Durbin first saw our Indian corn growing in the valley of Dijon, one 
 of the sweetest of vales. Their route, for about twenty miles, lay on its western 
 border, through a succession of towns and villages, while it stretched fai 
 away to the eastward, " covered with vineyards and fields of grain, like an ocean 
 of many colors ; from the whitened rye, ready for the sickle, and the golden 
 wheat, ripening apace, to the dark-green of the vine and the rich foliage of 
 the many clumps of trees that adorned the landscape, until the delightful view 
 was bounded by a range of high grounds, whose blue, dim outline was just 
 distinguishable in the distance, the whole forming a scene of exquisite loveli- 
 ness and rural beauty." " An American, traveling through the interior of 
 France, is impressed with the entire absence of the appearance of comfort in 
 the cabins of the peasants and lower classes generally. They live almost 
 entirely in villages. For miles one may travel over the most beautifully cul- 
 tivated fields, and his eye not rest on a single dwelling ; at length he will 
 come to an insignificant town or village, and there find, hoarded together in 
 one dirty place, the laborers for several square leagues of land. Generally 
 their houses are of stone, and often situated in low moist places : the floors 
 are of stone, tiles, or of the earth itself, and on a level with the street. One 
 roof covers the dwelling, the barn and the stable. With such appendages, 
 and a naturally clayey, muddy soil, and with the most slovenly habits, one can 
 readily perceive that a French peasant's family must carry into the house on 
 their sabots an immense amount of mud and manure. Often may they be seen 
 scraping out the mud and manure from their houses, as a hostler would his 
 stable ; beside this, their cottages are both miserably furnished and lighted. 
 The general style of building in France, and especially in the country, is 
 heavy and uninteresting. This is, in part, owing to the material used, a soft 
 limestone, and in part, the style of the country edifices. Stone is plenty — 
 brick and wood are scarce ; hence everything is built of stone, the humble cot- 
 tage, the stately mansion, the stable and the palace : the character of the 
 stone is dull and soft, and the external surface is generally covered with a 
 coarse dull stucco. If you pass a gentleman's chateau, you will find it of the 
 same character, inclosed, and to a considerable degree, hidden by a high 
 stone wall of heavy masonry and coarse stucco : such an edifice, in American 
 eyes, is anything but a convenient, pleasant place of residence for domestic 
 enjoyment. Many of the public hotels are miserable hovels, and at the same 
 time are so constructed as to give the traveler a view of the worst parts of the 
 concern at his first entrance : not unfrequently are they entered through the 
 kitchen." 
 
 Soon after leaving Paris, our traveler, for the first time, saw a shepherd, 
 with his flock. Between the center of the main roads, in France, and the 
 fields usually is a grass-plot, some two rods wide, upon which the sheep feed. 
 17 
 
258 AN AMERICAN IN FRANCE. 
 
 The intelligence of the shepherds' dogs, which tend them, is surprising. A dog 
 will allow the sheep to nibble within a yard of the grain, but the instant any- 
 thing like trespass appears, he will, of his own accord, drive off the meek- 
 eyed intruder by a good-natured snap. Cattle are also similarly watched by 
 these dogs, which are of a peculiar breed. 
 
 Near Lyons, Dr. Durbin saw three yoke of oxen plowing on a level field 
 and light soil, with one man to drive, and a second to plow : an active Penn- 
 sylvania farmer, he observes, with two good horses, would have accomplished 
 double as much as these two men and six oxen. 
 
 The French vineyards did not meet his expectations, as he found them to re- 
 semble immense pea-patches. The vines are cultivated in hills, in rows, 
 each clump growing round a stick about a yard high. From what he person- 
 ally saw, he was confident that the inhabitants of vine-growing countries are 
 far more temperate than those of others, as the ordinary wines, drank where 
 produced, so far from intoxicating, actually benefit the peasant, being, in 
 fact, an important part of his .daily sustenance. On going out in the morn- 
 ing to his labors, the peasant takes along a loaf of coarse black bread and a 
 canteen of wine, but seldom partakes of meat, cheese, or butter. He drinks 
 the pure juice of the grape, a far different article from the wine of commerce, 
 which derives its body or taste from a skillful combination of drugs and 
 spirits. It is from this cause that intemperance is so rare in France. 
 
 Our traveler spent three very interesting days in Lyons, and early on the 
 morning of the fourth, departed, with his companions, in the diligence. Soon 
 they were out in the country, and found the road thronged with market- 
 women on donkeys of every variety. Mounted on pack-saddles, these females 
 were busy knitting, while on each side of them hung huge baskets, or panniers, 
 brimfull of eggs, butter, cheese, etc. 
 
 They breakfasted at an ugly little village by the road-side. Being on top of the 
 diligence our traveler saw that the garret of the inn was a cocoonery. Before 
 the door women were sorting cocoons, " whose web," says he, " is by this 
 time, probably shining in the vest of a fine lady in Paris, or adorning perhaps, 
 the person of a chambermaid in my own humble dwelling in Pennsylvania, 
 while these poor work-women are still clad in their rude woolen petticoats." 
 
 It being harvest, the fields were filled with busy groups of men, women and 
 children. In rude cradles, under the trees, infants were sleeping, while, 
 hard-by, under the full blaze of a summer's sun, their mothers were toiling. 
 
 Their route, on this, their last day in France, lay through the richest valley 
 they had yet seen, the crops being very heavy, the cattle strong and fat, and 
 the vines unusually large, and trained around mulberry trees. The people 
 seemed to live in comfort, and to have some rational ideas of home, as each 
 little farm had its own separate and neat, though humble dwelling. " What 
 a paradise," says our traveler, " it would be, if its population of one hundred 
 thousand was made up of Yankee farmers." 
 
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 259 
 
 FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 Since Dr. Durbin traveled through France, the country, so far as its 
 exterior — its monuments, its quays, and its roads — are concerned, has been 
 set in wondrous order by Louis Napoleon, who will be long remembered as 
 the Renovator of the public magnificence of Paris, and all the other chief 
 cities of the empire. It has been the great era of improvement in France. 
 
 Our countryman, Rev. Dr. H. W. Bellows, was at Paris in the summer 
 of 1867, at the period of the famous French Exposition, when the city was 
 alive with people from all quarters of the globe. From his published letters 
 we make some interesting and instructive extracts : 
 
 " Three days, during which we have not thrown off our sea-sickness, or 
 become wonted to terra fir ma, do not afford much experience of French life. 
 But it is time enough to leave a general impression, which may only lose 
 vividness by familiarity. The general aspect of an external civilization, 
 splendid and finished beyond our utmost conceptions, is undeniable. Paris, 
 over whose principal streets and parks we have been continually wandering 
 since we arrived, is one great spectacle of architectural vastness, splendor, 
 taste, and finish, where magnitude, costliness, arrangement, and effect, com- 
 bine to surprise and delight the eye. The city is laid out with scenic art. 
 It seems the work of one mind, in which all the parts are subordinate to the 
 whole, and every private interest or convenience is subservient to the public 
 result. Whereas, in England or America, you feel that the public has what 
 is left after private interests and convenience have all been satisfied, you feel 
 here that the public helps itself first, and flings the crumbs to the private 
 citizen. 
 
 Paris, therefore, imperial and spectacular as it is, is, to a wonderful extent, 
 cosmopolitan and universal ; and, therefore, spite of emperor and police, 
 popular and democratic. For what can be so enriching and satisfying to the 
 humble and poor, as the feeling that, while they have little or no private 
 property, they are actual share-holders in immense public wealth, and conve- 
 niences and splendor, to the common use of which they are freely invited. 
 
 When I saw a poor woman sitting on the grass in the Tuileries, within 
 stone's throw of the palace, with her day's work of sewing lying around her 
 and her baby playing near, apparently in full enjoyment of the public pro- 
 tection and of the beauty of the noble garden, I understood how despotism 
 might be rendered very tolerable by an enlightened policy, and how France 
 and Paris — with their glory, and strength, and beauty — stand in the place 
 of private possessions to millions of her people. They walk and stroll in her 
 boulevards and parks, gratified and dazzled with the variety, and elegance, 
 and charm that everywhere greets them, without those feelings of discontent 
 which we might expect from not being able to appropriate more to strictly 
 private use. 
 
 Everybody is at home in Paris, in one sense, and, in another, everybody 
 
260 FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 is out of doors. The people live in the streets and cafes. The sidewalks 
 are thronged ; and you would think the whole population had agreed to take 
 tea or coffee, wine or eau-de-vie, together, on the Boulevard des Italians, 
 between 8 and 10 p. m. Such a perpetual picnic on pavements was never 
 seen. But, then, the pavements are so broad and smooth, and the streets so 
 clean and free from dust, that it is almost as comfortable as, and far more 
 lively than eating and drinking at home. 
 
 Homes of some sort these genteel, well-dressed people must have ; but 
 where are they ? All the streets, little and big, seem given up to shops. 
 Private doors, with names and numbers, are not seen. No porch or portico 
 welcomes you to Mr. Smith's or Mr. Jones' residence ! You find, after 
 awhile, that all, except the selectest few, live in apartments — three or four 
 rooms on a floor — and that you approach them usually through a court opening 
 into an interior square, from which, by a common staircase, you ascend to 
 your entresol — your first story, two flights up ; your second, three, and so on. 
 Paris does n't mind climbing ; and such a getting up stairs was never any- 
 where else so indispensable. Broadway has hitherto seemed to me to present 
 a tolerable example of denseness in the population of a street ; but almost any 
 considerable street in Paris beats it outright. 
 
 Notwithstanding the vast shifting crowd in the streets, there is an air of 
 leisure and festivity which makes you feel as if the real Frenchman's business 
 was enjoyment. The general expression of countenance is a good-natured 
 raillery. The earnestness and anxiety of the American face is totally lacking. 
 A kind of refined Celt, with a turned-up nose> irregular features, a bantering 
 look, and a carefully-disposed dress, a fancy shirt-bosom, and a bright-colored 
 neck-tie, light gloves, and nice boots — the Frenchman twirls his cane as the 
 Spanish woman flutters her fan, and seems at perfect ease, and with unlim- 
 ited time at his disposal. 
 
 He sits down to his eau-de-vie and his cup of coffee, in the open street, as 
 if he never intended to get up. He fumbles his Figaro, or evening news- 
 paper, as if all that concerned him in the world were in his grasp. Perhaps 
 his wife and daughter are with him, as easy and contented as himself ; but 
 more likely, under forty, he has no such incumbrances — if not in humble life. 
 He lights like a butterfly in the sun, and is quiet and comfortable. He came, 
 you know as little whence ; he goes, you know as little whither. 
 
 In the evening, you will find him, perhaps, at the open-air concert, a la 
 Musard, where one hundred and fifty of the best orchestral performers render 
 the best and the newest music to perfection, and where, amid the mild radiance 
 of countless moons of gas, and in the shelter of beautiful trees, you sit with five 
 thousand decorous (< Parley-vous" for an hour, to mingle music and tobacco- 
 smoke, eau-sucre, or something stronger. A little later, you may see him at 
 the Jardin Mabille or Des Fleurs, where the demi-monde, in most hypocritical 
 decorum, set the fashions for the rest of the world, while all sorts of stran- 
 gers and natives dance in a somewhat free manner, and foreign virtue and 
 
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 261 
 
 piety improve their opportunities for seeing how gay and elegant folly can be 
 made, and how discreetly self-abandonment can carry herself before company. 
 The theaters and operas will probably have the attention of a few thousand 
 more ; although the Frenchman is never fully at home in any kind of house. 
 
 The streets and shops are a perpetual "exposition," much more attractive 
 and seeable than any set exhibition of wares can be. You pass through nar- 
 row passages (connecting streets together by a sort of inland navigation), 
 which glitter with jewelry and small wares, and in which even vegetables 
 and meats are so arranged as to make a part of the artistic display ; for, in 
 France, they have carried the art of exhibition to perfection. 
 
 Every grocer's, fruiterer's, dry goods', butcher's shop, is a study of neatness, 
 picturesque display, and appeal to admiration. The windows are each 
 studies, done in some one of the different styles — now with fruits, then with 
 clothes ; here with confectionery, and there with jewelry ; in this quarter, 
 with shawls, in that, with boots and shoes ; on this side, with bread and 
 cakes, on the other, with bottles and glassware. The gas is double refined, 
 and in double quantity. The night is as light as the day. All the cabs 
 must carry lanterns after dark, and this gives the view, as you look down, 
 say from the Arc de Triomphe, upon the Champs Elysees, a look as if the 
 long broad road were buzzing with myriads of gigantic glow-worms. 
 
 But, after all, there is a cosy inside to Paris, as well as a brilliant outside. 
 The courts around which so many of the larger houses are built, furnish cool 
 and quiet retreats from the noise and rush of the streets. It is charming to 
 experience how sudden and unexpected the change is. 
 
 Yesterday (June 6th, 1867) we went, with all the world, to the great 
 review on the Longchamps, or race-course, in the Bois de Boulogne. This 
 magnificent park seems large enough to rusticate all Paris in. Its breadth 
 appears equal to its length, and its thorough simplicity and naturalness, its 
 amplitude of open space, and its abundance of trees and shade, fit it for 
 public displays and private enjoyment. 
 
 The field of the review could not have been less than a plain of a mile 
 square. Around the square were gathered the sight-seeing Parisians in 
 dense masses. Every point of advantage was crowded with a .special swarm 
 of people. The trees were hanging with human fruit; producing the oddest 
 effect in the distance. On one side of a small portion of the square (the 
 usual stand of the judges and favored spectators of the races) some thousand 
 fortunate persons enjoyed the privilege of a raised seat, in the immediate 
 vicinity of the empress and her ladies, and in direct front of the emperor's 
 position as he reviewed the troops. In different parts of the field were 
 posted what seemed about forty thousand infantry, fifteen thousand cavalry, 
 and five thousand artillerymen. There may not have been as many, or three 
 may have been more. But it took the troops an hour and twenty minutes 
 (part of the time at double-quick, and with the cavalry on the full trot) to 
 pass the point we occupied. Promptly, at the moment announced, the 
 
262 FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 emperor's cortege, all mounted, appeared at the most distant corner of the 
 field. It was welcomed by a blast of trumpets, which, taken up by a hundred 
 bands, echoed round the vast plain. 
 
 The three monarchs — the emperor of the French on the right, next the 
 emperor of Russia, and next to him the king of Prussia — rode in front, fol- 
 lowed by a long cortege of brilliantly-uniformed officers (perhaps a hundred), 
 their respective staffs, and other distinguished functionaries. Gortschakoff 
 and Bismarck were said to be among them. A special troop of cavalry (the 
 emperor's guard), very splendid in equipments, followed the Imperial train. 
 At a brisk trot this gold-and-silver-burnished company rode round the whole 
 field, inspecting the general appearance of the troops at rest. They were 
 greeted with "vive Vempereur" in moderate transports. Passing near our 
 stand, the general appearance of the emperors was distinctly made out by 
 the aid of a good opera-glass. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, who rode a pretty, sorrel horse, had on a blue sash, and 
 fewer orders than his companions. His hair was lighter than I had expected. 
 His face is heavy and cold, without a trace of the beauty of his family ; yet 
 not without the mould of his house. He is thick-set ; but rides well, and 
 bows gracefully. 
 
 The emperor of Russia, who rode a black horse (his own, brought from 
 St. Petersburg for the occasion, and without that square-cut English tail, 
 which is now adopted in France), is tall, only fairly good-looking, with dark 
 beard, and without any of the commanding air of his father. The French 
 emperor talked much with the Russian, and little, seemingly, with the Prus- 
 sian monarch. 
 
 The king of Prussia has little that is distinguished in his appearance at a 
 distance ; but is represented, by those personally acquainted with him, as 
 fascinating in his manners, especially to ladies. At a certain moment, the 
 monarchs rode out of the field into the inclosure, just before the empress's 
 stand, and made their salute to her and her court. Then, having taken their 
 post perhaps thirty rods off, fronting the stand occupied by favored spec- 
 tators, the troops passed before them in review. 
 
 After the review — which finished with the promptness with which it 
 began — the royal company and cortege dismounted, and joined the empress 
 and her party within the tribune or stand. At a distance of perhaps a dozen 
 yards, I saw the introductions and hand-shakings of monarchs, and queens, 
 and princesses going on. The empress was marked by a dress purely white, 
 with a green parasol. I could not see the expression of her face. Those who 
 did, describe it as worn and changed. 
 
 Last evening (June 7th) the prefect of the Seine — the mayor of Paris — 
 gave a great ball, at the Hotel de Ville, to the imperial guests. The splendid 
 palace was illuminated outside with gas, which is now so arranged along the 
 chief lines of all the public buildings as to make an immense and universal 
 illumination very easy, however expensive it may be. Inside, thousands of 
 
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 263 
 
 wax caudles shed a full, mild light on the gilded and curtained walls of this 
 gorgeous edifice. About six thousand guests were present. 
 
 There was neither announcement nor introduction ; but, on delivering his 
 ticket of invitation, the guest was passed up the long stair-cases by lackeys 
 in red plush breeches and gold-laced coats, or between the emperor's guards, 
 with muskets in their rigid hands, looking like lifeless statues. Arriving at 
 the top, he was passed from room to room, amid flowers and fountains, until 
 he arrived at the chief saloon. Here the principal ball-room was railed off, 
 and made accessible only to the diplomatic corps and other civil functionaries. 
 Raised seats surrounded the dancing floor, and from an outside gallery, a few 
 hundred fortunate guests could look down upon the scene. This gallery was 
 itself the most beautiful part of the scene. Broad and colonnaded, several 
 hundred feet long, and wide enough for a large promenade, it was completely 
 covered with a gilded, temporary lattice-work, which was overrun, ceiling 
 and sides, by a delicate vine of living green, converting it into a vast arbor, 
 more elegant and graceful than any species of decoration I had ever seen. 
 The guests were all in knee-breeches or tights, with silk stockings, and more 
 than half in uniform or court dresses. A kind of Quaker-cut coat, embroid- 
 ered in gold, or silver, or parti-colored silks and satins, with lace cravats, and 
 orders of all devices and varieties, formed the ordinary costume ; others ap- 
 peared in black, with the inevitable breeches, pumps, and white gloves. 
 
 The ladies, with the exception of more jewels, were not dressed otherwise 
 than in our own American ball-rooms. They were more plump and large 
 than our women ; but had little of their pure and brilliant complexion or 
 regularity of features. They looked, however, in better health, and had 
 most charming manners. There was no pushing or rudeness in the vast 
 crowd ; and, although the floor showed the tags of torn dresses and scraps of 
 muslin, on the whole, the ladies carried their trains through the crowd with 
 unexpected safety and success. 
 
 At 10:30 p.m. a blast from the band, breaking into the Russian hymn, an- 
 nounced the arrival of the emperors and their suites. The streets, for a mile 
 approaching the Hotel de Ville, had, from an early hour, been lined with 
 people to watch the royal carriages, which are so lighted as to show their 
 interior and passengers. A great curiosity to get a view of the guests 
 instantly showed itself, and was restrained only by general courtesy from 
 becoming a rush. I could not push, nor did I know enough of the premises to 
 find a point of observation ; and it was at least two hours before I got any 
 sight of the imperial party. There could not have been more than two sets 
 of dancers, and these I never got near enough to see. 
 
 At about 11:30 p.m. the royal party made a tour of the rooms, and even 
 then I had only a glimpse of their heads. But about midnight, by a lucky 
 chance, I found myself jammed with a friend into a narrow passage, through 
 which the emperor passed, and in spite of a dozen officials with silver chains 
 round their necks, who tried to crowd us out of the way, we could not disap- 
 
264 FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 pear, there being no place to disappear in, and accordingly standing stock-still 
 we had a view almost at fingers' ends of the whole brilliant company. 
 
 First came the emperor of Russia with the empress Eugenie; he was 
 firm and sober, looking a little as if a Polish assassin might be lurking even 
 in that guarded company ; she gracious and affable, but faded, and not com- 
 manding in beauty or bearing, and dressed much like any other lady. Then 
 came the king of Prussia, with some unknown princess ; then the emperor of 
 France, with the princess Mathilde. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, born in 1808, has a poor walk and an uninteresting pres- 
 ence. He looks care-worn and cold, anxious and reserved. His complexion 
 is pallid and his expression deprecatory. His hair is fast turning grey. There 
 is nothing to excite enthusiasm in his look or manner. In private, he is 
 reported as mild-spoken, amiable, and of quick intelligence ; but his face is 
 both impassive and unpromising. All the portraits flatter him. The prin- 
 cess of Russia, a general favorite, followed. 
 
 Bismarck, a noble, tall, full-faced man, clad in a white uniform, with an 
 air of power and victory, was in the procession, and interested me more than 
 anybody. 
 
 A poorer-looking set of men, generally speaking, it would be difficult to 
 collect. Many were very short and crooked ; many insignificant in face and 
 carriage, and their elaborate dresses only added to their indifferent aspect. 
 The value set on ribbons and orders, on titles and family names, is past all 
 belief to an American ; and the intense curiosity to see, and the deference 
 shown to these crowned heads, by their own subjects, is wonderful, to use no 
 other adjective. 
 
 Supper was served through the evening at various counters, behind which 
 stood numerous liveried waiters. It was ample and dainty, without foolish 
 profusion. Unintoxicating drinks, and ices, and sherbet, with punch and lem- 
 onade, and no wines, so far as I saw. There was great moderation and deco- 
 rum shown about the tables. Nothing can exceed the general courtesy mark- 
 ing the ordinary intercourse of average-conditioned foreigners. Americans 
 have something to learn from them in this direction. 
 
 Democratic, France doubtless is, in its tastes and customs ; but its 
 democracy is social rather than political, in contradistinction to our own 
 land, where it is political rather than social. I venture to say that less 
 jealousy exists between rich and poor, high and low, in France than in 
 America, and that people care even less for the status of those they associate 
 with. They ride in second-class cars, they drive in shabby hacks, they meet 
 freely in public places, and there is a jovial and kindly intercourse between 
 them. Moreover, waiters, drivers, and common folk, are intelligent and 
 sharp-witted in their own sphere of life. The French head is characteristi- 
 cally well developed, and the face expressive. 
 
 It is surprising, however, how little interest, in political or other general 
 news, the people seem to take. The newspapers are very poor and scanty, 
 
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 265 
 
 as compared with ours. The interest in universal concerns is small. Amer- 
 ica is of much account only in the eye of far-looking economists and states- 
 men. Improved as our reputation is, the ignorance ahout us is still gross, 
 and the indifference still more so. They know that somehow we are getting 
 away millions of European people, although few of the emigrants are French, 
 who have no taste and little skill in colonial work — (witness Algeria w^hich it 
 takes ahout as many troops to keep in order as it has population.) They 
 know we are growing rich and powerful ; but they have no notion of our 
 civilization, or superiority in substantial respects. They have no conception 
 of the relative higher kind of civilization, greater independence, intelligence, 
 earnestness, and dignity, which marks our whole life. An American can 
 afford to smile at their splendor and accumulated riches, their equipages and 
 spectacles, their titles and orders, and feel that the real progress of civiliza- 
 tion is now going on upon the other side of the great ocean. 
 
 It is impossible to leave Paris or France without an increased sense of the 
 material majesty of the nation and country. The American idea of France is 
 derived too much from English prejudices to be correct ; and we look at it 
 too much, in our generation, through the feelings we have for its immediate 
 government, to do justice to the permanent character which belongs to the 
 people, and to appreciate the immense liberties and privileges which have 
 been slowly wrested from the successive dynasties, and which no regime 
 dares to invade. The industry of the country is so various, its ingenuity 
 and taste so pre-eminent, and its resources so rich and self-contained, that its 
 wealth is easily accounted for, and can not be readily diminished by bad 
 government. But what is most impressive, is the union of longevity with 
 youth. Ages have stored up their accumulations of riches in architecture, 
 arts, and public works. The country is teeming with agricultural labor and 
 experience. Its wines, and silks, and laces, supply the world. Its importa- 
 tions are light ; its exportations, enormous. Its people are sober, industri- 
 ous, and saving. Life is reduced, in all its economies, to a finished system. 
 Waste or superabundance is unknown ; and the people bear the marks of 
 general health, due to the wisdom of their personal habits, the mixture of 
 labor and leisure, their aptness for recreation, and their knowledge how 
 innocently to mingle in social relaxations. A universal pride in their 
 country, and a devotion to its glory, sustain the government in constant 
 improvements ; and the people find their freedom and happiness largely in 
 the provisions made for their daily enjoyment of out-of-door life, in the midst 
 of public gardens, abundant light, and cheap music. 
 
 The great cities are everywhere marked with evidences of the care of the 
 government to gratify the national pride in monuments and public works. 
 It is no wonder that the Frenchman is, of all men, the least disposed to 
 emigrate, and thinks himself the citizen of the foremost nation. The gov- 
 ernment is not slow to encourage his self-complacency. The very " Expo- 
 sition," now in progress, is only one of the means it takes to show its people. 
 
266 FRANCE UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 that France can beat other nations in every form of industry and art, and can 
 fill half the whole space allotted to the world with her own manufactures 
 and products. She has made her capital the pleasure-ground of the civilized 
 human race. The superfluous wealth of all countries sets toward her beauti- 
 ful boulevards. A perpetual stream of gold obeys the superlative attraction 
 of her exquisite civilization, and flows steadily into her unreturning hand. 
 She visits no other country ; but entertains all. And she is entitled to her 
 privilege ; for it is difficult to believe that the world has ever seen, at any 
 period of its history, a city so deserving of wonder and admiration as the 
 city of Paris. Of the strength of the existing government, there can be 
 little doubt. 
 
 Louis Napoleon has known how to surround himself with able adminis- 
 trators, and has devoted himself to the glory of France. His character does 
 not inspire moral enthusiasm nor personal respect ; but it does awaken the 
 sentiment of admiration for ability, courage, persistency, and power. 
 
 He has made the army his ally by a steady regard to its self-complacency, 
 and has placed France so much at his mercy (not only by the fortifications 
 of Paris, but by the whole military discipline of the nation,) that it is hard 
 to see how any revolution can occur without its aid, or how its aid could 
 be won away from the dynasty he has established. And perhaps the liber- 
 ties of France are as likely to flourish under his natural successors as under 
 any other masters of a more popular sort. 
 
 France is a democratic empire. There is a passion for personal rule and 
 imperial display, united with a craving for a large possession of popular 
 independence. This independence is hardly political, and is only poorly 
 representative. Neither the parliament nor the press are free ; nor is there 
 any sufficient right of assembling together for the consideration of public 
 questions or the manufacture of public opinion. But the government con- 
 cedes largely, and with an ever freer hand, what the people would vote to 
 themselves, if they had the chance. She takes away the appetite for political 
 action, by granting the fruits of it in advance. Interference, either by the 
 police or by any other authorities, with individual rights, is small. Life and 
 property are wonderfully safe. 
 
 The idealists and political philosophers are, of course, intensely dissatis- 
 fied with a state of things which does not recognize any of the great precepts 
 of political liberty. They feel the thraldom of the press and of the assem- 
 bly to be an intense humiliation ; but I doubt much if the people commonly 
 enough share their sentiments to make the prospects of any change for the 
 better very encouraging. I doubt even if the death of the emperor would be 
 attended by the changes which are commonly predicted in England and 
 America. But France is a dangerous country to prophesy in or about ; and 
 I will not pretend to have any adequate materials for a valuable judgment 
 about its political future. But certainly my respect for the nation and the 
 government has increased with a nearer view of it." 
 
A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 IN 
 
 OLD ENGLAND.* 
 
 STRATFORD UPON AVON, THE BIRTHPLACE OF 8HAKSPEARE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Historical Sketch of England — ^Reflections natural to an American on leaving for England 
 — the Ocean— Portsmouth — Petty Annoyances — English Rail-cars — London — Bibacious 
 indulgences — Gog and Magog — Guildhall — City Police — Cheapside — St. Paul's — its Mon- 
 uments — Temple-bar — the Strand — Narrow limits of London proper — Houses of Paiha- 
 mcnt — Magnificence of the City — Westminster Abbey — Anecdote of a Vermonter — Visit 
 . to the House of Lords — Lord Brougham — Affair at Slievegamon — Duke of Wellington — 
 Appearance of the English Nobility — English bluntness — Buckingham Palace—Flunky 
 spirit of the Humbler classes— Hyde Park — Equestrianism — London Omnibuses. 
 
 England, that great nation, upon whose possessions the sun never sets, 
 and whose tributary countries and people are more numerous than Rome in 
 the days of her greatest splendor could boast, occupies the southern part of 
 an island, which, with Scotland, is known as Great Britain. The original 
 inhabitants were a Celtic tribe, but such has been the result of numerous 
 
 * This article is written by, and details the experiences of, H#***# D**, Esq., an earlj 
 friend and schoolmate. — H. H. 
 
 261 
 
268 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 early conquests, that nowhere in England can be found a town, or even a 
 hamlet, of this ancient lineage. In the principality of Wales, however, the 
 primitive race still flourishes, and enables us to form tolerably correct notions 
 of the painted barbarians, whose courage was praised by Caesar, and whose 
 beauty was admired by Roman maidens. Little is known of this people 
 till the ambition of the great Roman conqueror induced Julius Csesar, fifty- 
 five years before the birth of Christ, to attempt its conquest. His success 
 was of little service to his country, as tin was the only valuable product of 
 the island, which, from its nature, could be the source- of no considerable 
 revenue. The habits and manners of the aborigines singularly resembled 
 those of our own native Indians. Though a brave and hardy people, they 
 could not withstand the disciplined valor of Roman cohorts, and for nearly 
 four hundred years, the " mistress of the world" held this island as the ultima 
 thule of her western possessions. Constantine the Great, the first Christian 
 emperor of Rome, was a native of Great Britain, and under his reign 
 Christianity was preached to the inhabitants, just emerging from barbarism. 
 The final departure of the Romans left the Britons at the mercy of predatory 
 bands of Picts and Scots, whose home lay in the north part of the island. 
 To resist their overwhelming numbers, the Saxons, a warlike nation of Ger- 
 many, were called to the aid of the Britons, but when their joint efforts had 
 expelled the common enemy, the Saxons, finding the country suited to tlieir 
 wants, refused to depart, and succeeded in making good their pretensions to 
 the soil. Hengist and Horsa, the leaders of the Saxon band, everywhere 
 triumphed, and Hengist became the first Saxon King of Kent. But it was 
 not till the year 519 that the western part of the province was subdued ; nor 
 till the year 585 that the Saxon Heptarchy, or the division of their conquest 
 into seven kingdoms, each with its separate king, was established. The Sax- 
 ons, being Pagans, and the Britons, Christians, the triumph of the former was 
 a triumph of a false over the true faith. The mission of St. Augustin, begun 
 in the year 596, and authorized by Pope Gregory, whose interest in the distant 
 island had been powerfully excited 37 the beauty of some English slaves 
 exposed for sale in tie market-place of Rome, was eminently successful. 
 From the seventh century downward, Christianity may be regarded as the 
 national faith of the whole island. 
 
 The two centuries, during which the heptarchy extended, was a period ot 
 almost constant intestine war and confusion. Egbert, king of Wessex, partly 
 by conquest, and partly by inheritance, became the first monarch of all Eng- 
 land, and as such was solemnly crowned at Winchester in the year 800. 
 
 It is from this period that the name, England, and the introduction of the 
 Saxon language, from which our own is chiefly derived, take their date. 
 Englishmen are accustomed to regard the reign of Egbert's grandson, the 
 renowned Alfred, as the beginning of the greatness and grandeur of tneir 
 country. To him belongs the honor of establishing trial by jury, the muni- 
 cipal organization of towns, and a regular militia. He first substituted stone 
 and brick for wood, in the erection of dwellings. The endowment of a uni- 
 versity at Oxford, witnesses to his regard for learning. The founding of the 
 British navy testifies to his wisdom and his patriotism. Poet and historian, 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 269 
 
 philosopher and legislator, in all these characters he commands the respect 
 and the reverence of mankind. The invasion of a Scandinavian race of pirates, 
 known in later times as Danes, for a time drove the youthful king from his 
 throne, but his wisdom in council and his bravery in the field soon enabled 
 him to exhibit his clemency to the conquered invaders, by offering them 
 permission to remain in the country on the single condition of embracing 
 Christianity, and submitting to baptism. In the reign of Alfred's grandson, 
 Athelstan, about the year 930, the Bible was translated for the first time into 
 the Saxon language. About the middle of this century, the influence of the 
 clergy, in the affairs of the State, begins to be perceptible ; an influence which 
 continually augmented down to the reformation, and which stamped a memo- 
 rable impress both for good and for evil upon the character of the English 
 people for nearly five centuries. After nearly sixty years' absence, the Danes 
 again invaded the island in 994, when Ethelred, the king, compounded for 
 his safety by a large bribe. Eight years later, this monarch caused a general 
 massacre of all the Danes resident in the island. This act of treachery cost 
 him his crown, and Canute, the son of the Danish conqueror, divided the 
 sovereignty of the country with Edmund Ironsides, the son of Ethelred. But 
 in 1042, the Danish royal line became extinct, and all England was again 
 united, under Edward III, surnamed the Confessor. Though the dominion 
 of the Danes lasted near two centuries, they introduced no change of laws, 
 customs, language, or religion, and seem to have readily amalgamated with 
 the people they had conquered. 
 
 Another of the great eras of English history, perhaps its greatest, is the 
 Norman conquest. A disputed succession to the crown between Harold and 
 William, surnamed the Conqueror, was decided by the battle of Hastings, 
 fought on the 24th of October, 1066. The field of Hastings terminated the 
 Saxon dominion in LVvjland, after continuing six hundred years. Much that 
 constitutes the free institutions of England as well as of our own country, 
 has come down to v.g from our Saxon forefathers. The limited power of the 
 supreme magistrate, the recognition of the popular will, the paramount 
 authority of the great council of the nation, the administration of justice by 
 the people ^jonselves, in the form of jurors, the principles of local self- 
 government, and the non-interference with the people, except in great emer- 
 gencies, all formed parts of the institutions of the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 With the Norman invasion was introduced the feudal system, the great 
 peculiarity of which was the tenure of land on condition of military ser- 
 vice. All grants of land were supposed to proceed from the monarch. To 
 these grants were attached the obligation to appear, at the summons of the 
 king, on the field of battle, with a given number of retainers, horses, and mu- 
 nitions of war. In the same mode, the knights and squires held from the greai 
 lords, on condition of famishing a proportionate military force, on command 
 of their feudal superiors. In this way, there became attached to every acre 
 of land in tha country, the duty of providing for its defense. Intimately con- 
 nected with this system was the institution of chivalry, which softer ed the 
 manners ' t a rur'.e age, by the deference exacted toward the old, to ladies, 
 and to 'jie h'&ksS, from all aspirants to knightly honors. 
 
270 A NEW EtfGLANDER 
 
 The singular infatuation, known as the Crusades, which induced all 
 Christendom, in the middle ages, to attach so grave an importance to rescu- 
 ing from the hands of infidel Turks and Arabs, the sacred spots of the 
 Holy Land, made memorable by the life, the miracles, and the sufferings of 
 the Redeemer of mankind, did much, indirectly, to extend the progress of 
 English civilization. The veteran warriors who returned from fighting around 
 the holy sepulcher, brought back with them more enlarged views, much 
 knowledge of oriental manufactures, then superior to those of the West, and 
 a variety of information in science, in agriculture, and in art. Though there 
 was much ignorance, injustice, and lawless violence in these ages, yet some 
 preparation was needed before a revival of learning could ensue, or the re- 
 formation of the church be accomplished. The gradual improvement in 
 knowledge, and the arts of life, in commerce, and manufactures, which is 
 perceptible during the long interval of more than 400 years, from the time 
 of the conquest, to the accession of Henry VIII, naturally resulted from 
 the new elements infused into the English character by the triumph of the 
 conqueror. With the reign of Henry, commenced that great movement of 
 the English mind, known as the Protestant Reformation ; and which is 
 acknowledged equally by its friends and by its enemies, to have exerted a 
 wide influence on the national character. 
 
 The invention of printing, and its introduction into England by Caxton, and 
 the discovery of America, had just preceded the collision between the Church 
 of Rome and her alienated sons. These causes gave a rapid impulse to the 
 oublic mind. A new light seemed to be breaking in upon the world, and the 
 concurrence of base personal motives, upon the part of the king, with those 
 of a purer character on the part of many of his counselors, made England 
 a Protestant country. The controversy, the persecutions, and the wars, in 
 which this great event involved the nation, continued for nearly a century 
 and a half. By means of these agitations, every man who possessed the power 
 of reflecting justly, found his mind engaged in discussing and canvassing the 
 momentous questions, of right, of justice, of authority, of duty, of protection 
 and obedience. The right to discuss implies the right to decide, and the 
 right to decide, involves the further right of acting in accordance with our 
 decisions. The denial of this strictly logical conclusion, led to that great 
 event which practically vindicated the momentous truth that government is 
 instituted solely for the good of the governed. The great rebellion of 1640, 
 which hurled Charles I, from his throne, was caused by the attempt to 
 coerce uniformity of religious faith, and to compel an unquestioning obedi- 
 ence to the state. Archbishop Laud, the narrow-minded adviser of the king, 
 united in his character the vices of a parasite and a bigot. The Earl of 
 Strafford, the willing instrument of tyranny, was both by temperament and 
 education, a man of arbitrary counsels. Under the guidance of these two 
 men, the attempt was made to compel uniformity in faith and passive obedi- 
 ence in the state. When this audacious design was fully understood by an 
 incensed people, then the fruits of the mental activity caused by the 
 Reformation, were witnessed in a throne leveled with the dust, a beheaded 
 monarch, an aristocracy in exile, and Oliver Cromwell, the son of a private 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 271 
 
 gentleman of Cambridgeshire, wielding the scepter of the conqueror. The 
 rebellion had accomplished its end in administering a fearful lesson to all who 
 should abuse their power, and as a natural consequence of the extremes to 
 which sudden fundamental changes in the constitution had been carried, the 
 reaction of opinion brought back the exiled son of the beheaded king. 
 
 The expulsion of James II, and the house of Stuart from England, twenty- 
 eight years later (in 1688), and the invitation of the Parliament of England, 
 to William Prince of Orange, to become their king, may be regarded as the 
 last great epoch in English History. Though social evils of great enormity 
 exist, and though the aristocratic constitution of her laws is at war with 
 the more equitable spirit of the age, yet in her long history, her jealous love 
 of liberty is everywhere apparent ; and to this jealousy, we are indebted for 
 the ^reat fundamental rights which lie at the base of our own more extensive 
 and more democratic liberty. 
 
 To an American visiting England for the first time, there is a peculiar interest 
 wholly disconnected with the scenery, the arts, the commerce, and the manu- 
 factures of the country. It is as the home of his ancestors, as the soil on 
 which the battle has been fought, which gives to us our habeas corpus, our 
 trial by jury, and our municipal institutions, and as the land, which, for almost 
 two centuries, has been a refuge for the oppressed, and an asylum for the 
 destitute of all nations, that England is to him, what no other country can be. 
 Hardly less devoutly than the pilgrim, who, for the first time beholds 
 the places made memorable by the life or the death of our Savior, does the 
 American traveler visit the scenes hallowed in his memory by the sufferings 
 of martyrs, or by the dying heroism of confessors for liberty and truth, or 
 by the protracted struggle of other generations, for the maintenance of 
 popular rights, and for the continuance of popular liberty. 
 
 The interval between leaving his country, and reaching that of his fore- 
 fathers, is a fitting, and almost necessary preparation for any useful lesson 
 which his travels may teach him. Leaving the bustle and confusion of a 
 New York dock, he gradually, but rapidly, drops down the Narrows, and 
 soon leaving behind him the shifting panorama of land and water, of stores 
 and ships, he speedily finds himself alone amid a world of waters ; east and 
 north, west and south is a vast unbroken expanse of ocean. The sky seems 
 to cover him like a dome. He feels that he is in a new world. The cares 
 and perplexities of his fast-receding home seem to him like the childish trouble 
 of some remote period of his existence. He is conscious of an expansion of 
 mind, and of some additional preparedness for profit from his foreign expe- 
 rience. From day to day the sublime monotony of ocean continues. Some- 
 times a distant speck is discerned far off on the undulating plain — presently it 
 looms into the likeness of a ship, and like a dream, it vanishes in the obscure 
 distance, or, with proud port, it dashes by, fearlessly riding the summit of 
 the waves ; again rigging, spars and masts soften out of view, till some final 
 wave hides the receding speck from sight. Suns rise and set. The vessel, 
 with its cordage sometimes flapping idly against the masts, and sometimes 
 whistling dismal echos to the wind, glides or plunges onward in its race. 
 
272 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 Weary, and almost endless, seems the long distance, till, at last, from aloft, 
 at some unexpected moment, descends the sound — "land, oh ! land." Teles- 
 copes and straining eyes seek to discern the coast, which none but practiced 
 optics can perceive. A few hours more, and an adventurous pilot-boat runs 
 under your lee ; for a moment the yards are backed, and a strange and wea- 
 ther-beaten face, looking out from his large and shaggy pilot-coat, is added 
 to your familiar numbers. To the eager inquiries for news, he responds, by 
 hauling from his capacious pockets, a few soiled papers, fortunate, indeed, if 
 free from the marks of the ever-present English beer-pot. The charge 
 of the ship is wholly surrendered to the new comer, and in a little time more 
 your feet stand on English soil. 
 
 The first experience of a traveler, in England, is pretty sure, however, to 
 be the death of his romance. Getting your trunks through the Custom- 
 House, is a most prosaic affair, and often, not a little trying to the temper. 
 It was early in the morning when we landed at Portsmouth. The ship's boats 
 took our company to the jetty, but as the water was low, we stepped into a 
 small boat, and were rowed, certainly not more than ten yards, to where we 
 could land dry-footed. For this service, which should be, and probably was 
 paid for by the owners of the ship, three men wanted a shilling a-piece, from 
 each of us. Wherever we went, there they were after us ; for hours they 
 hung around us, importuning us for their pay ; nor would they listen to our 
 representations that we were to be landed in England, by our contract with 
 the owners. At last, more to get rid of the annoyance, than because we were 
 satisfied with the justice of their claim, we paid their demand, with the ex- 
 ception of one fellow, who had the impudence to base his claim upon having 
 held out his hand, to steady us, as we descended from the boat. We made 
 short work with this gentleman, and got heartily cursed for our pains. 
 
 Our next business was to dress ourselves fit for the usages of civilized life, 
 a habit we had neglected, in accordance with a very proper custom at sea. 
 Sending a servant of the hotel for a tooth-brush, he returned with half a 
 dozen ; the price, he said, was half a crown ; paying the amount, though it 
 seemed enormous, I thought nothing more of it, till a more prudent friend, 
 having the same need as myself, went out and purchased a similar brush for 
 five pence. This revealed the fellow's rascalit)'-, and my own greenness. Half 
 a crown was the price of the whole five, but he succeeded in leading me to 
 think this was the cost of each, and so made a fool of me, and a rogue of 
 himself, for about twenty-five pence, or about half a dollar. In no very 
 pleased frame, we crossed to the Custom-House, and found that my trunk 
 had been broken open, in our absence, and its contents tumbled about. Leav- 
 ing the remnant of my temper there, beside two books, which he said were 
 re-prints of English copyright works, and therefore, not to be recovered ; we 
 left Portsmouth in the second class cars for London. 
 
 These are the cars, all respectable Englishmen, who are not men of wealth, 
 are in the habit of using. Yet they were scarcely more decent than our 
 Paddy cars, rough frame-work boxes, with hard, wooden seats. The passen- 
 gers were well-dressed, and well-behaved. Some quite lady-like females oc- 
 cupied the seat next before me. 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 273 
 
 The country disappointed us. It was neither so densely inhabited, nor so 
 thoroughly cultivated, as I had contemplated. The wide strip of grass or weeds, 
 bordering each small inclosure of cultivated ground, particularly surprised 
 us, in a country where the rent of land is enormous. A visible economy was 
 everywhere practiced in the wood used for fences. Hardly more than a 
 quarter of the material customary with us, seemed to be used. But the clouds 
 were so dark over head, and the rain so incessant, as to induce us to slumber 
 our way to London, and wait a more propitious day to gratify our curiosity 
 about English scenery. Something less than four hours brought us, at eight 
 o'clock at night, to London. Our long anticipated visit to this great metro- 
 polis of the world, was achieved in a dirty cab, a heavy rain and a dark 
 night. 
 
 Driving to a boarding-house, much frequented by Americans, we were re- 
 ceived by a bevy of pretty servant girls, in their neat dresses of print and 
 snow-white caps. One of the prettiest of them, showed us immediately to- 
 bed, wearied out as we were with the ride, and the perplexities of our entrance 
 into England, through its maritime gateway of Portsmouth. 
 
 The sensation on first waking in London, is peculiar. A confused idea of 
 something strange, though pleasurable, is immediately followed by the thought 
 you are in London; St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Hyde Park, 
 and a thousand other places rush upon your mind — and yet your room don't 
 look very different from what you are familiar with at home. The curtains to 
 your bed appear, indeed, a little old-fashioned, and the partly carpeted floor, 
 strikes you as being rather shabby. The washing-apparatus may be a trifle 
 larger, but the furniture, generally, is much the same as might be seen in a 
 thousand boarding-houses in New York, or Boston. The family with whom 
 we boarded were Methodists, and all were assembled, morning and night, for 
 prayers. We were somewhat astonished, the evening of that day, to see all 
 the male members of the family, amounting to fifteen or twenty, retire after 
 prayers, into a back room, and each one, proceeding to some small cupboards 
 on one side of the room, take down his decanter of gin or brandy, and mix 
 himself a glass of liquor. The gentleman who led the devotions of the 
 family, indulging, also, in a pipe of tobacco. 
 
 Issuing into the street, I observed a peculiar-looking building facing the 
 street, at no great distance, and before which a policeman was stationed. 
 Wishing to exercise my Yankee gift of guessing, I merely asked the man if I 
 could be admitted. He rather gruffly said " No, not till nine o'clock." Consol- 
 ing myself with a chew of that nauseous weed, tobacco, [ugh !] I was about 
 to consign the box to my pocket, when the policeman held out his hand for 
 it. I looked him steadily in the face, and told him that box lid would be 
 opened precisely at nine o'clock, and he then could have some. The man 
 laughed, and said he supposed I could go into the building then, though 
 strangers were not usually admitted before the regular hour. Entering a 
 large hall, the building stood identified as the Guildhall of London, for at the 
 upper end, standing on pedestals, were two gigantic figures, fancifully dressed, 
 somewhat in the war costume of a Potawattomie Indian, and known and re- 
 verenced by all Cockneys, as Gog and Magog, the tutelary deities of the 
 18 
 
274 IN OLD ENGLAND. 
 
 magnificent temple, dedicated to the Prince of Peace. The church covers 
 more than two acres of ground, and the height of the dome, from the base 
 to the top of the cross, which surmounts it, is four hundred and four feet. 
 Repeated visits are needed to give a person an adequate idea of its vastness. 
 The general feeling, among Americans especially, who have not been accus- 
 tomed to the larger kinds of public edifices, is one of disappointment. The 
 justness of the proportions of its several parts, and the harmony observed in 
 its statues, and othei ornaments, render it difficult for the mind to take in 
 the gigantic scale upon which every portion of the building has been con- 
 structed. The width of the dome, for instance, did not at first seem to me, 
 more than fifty feet, though its true diameter is more than three times as 
 great. Protestantism knows not how to make use of a cathedral when it is built 
 ready to its hands. Instruction enters so largely into the idea of protest- 
 ant worship, that an edifice too vast for the human voice to fill, seems incon- 
 gruous with this elementary notion of the reformed faith. St. Paul's, though 
 occasionally used in its whole extent, for certain charity celebrations, is 
 chiefly dedicated to the perpetuation of the memory of the' illustrious dead. 
 From the wall on the right of the usual entrance, Dr. Johnson looks down 
 upon the visitor, with more than the usual severity of the schoolmaster sage. 
 Sir William Jones, the learned oriental scholar, is also justly honored by this 
 tribute to his memory. Howard, the philanthropist, is kept in perpetual re- 
 membrance by a statue by Bawn. Nelson, Collingwood, Cornwallis, and 
 Howe, are great names in English history, and their monuments fittingly 
 adorn St. Paul's. Less worthily, Packenham, and Gibbs, generals who lost 
 their lives at the battle of New Orleans, and Ross, who commanded in the 
 attack on Baltimore, in 1814, are recognized by their countrymen, as brave 
 men, whose names are worthy to be handed down to posterity. 
 
 Leaving St. Paul's, with its contemptible admission fee, and its historical 
 associations, strangely mixed together in my mind, we next descend Ludgate 
 Hill, and Fleet street stretches its long course before us. The same cease- 
 less tide of human beings flows through its length, as through Cheapside. 
 Leaving the Temple on the left, and Chancery Lane, with its numerous inns 
 of court, on the right, we passed under an archway of moderate height, but 
 completely covering the narrow width of the street. 
 
 Temple bar, in ancient days one of the gateways of the city, is identified 
 in the mind of every reader of history, with a multitude of bloody sights. 
 For ages, it was customary to expose the bleeding heads of political offenders 
 upon poles, set upon the summit of the gateway. Here, rotted into dust, the 
 heads of Harrison, of Vane, and of Scott, the brave and true-hearted cham- 
 pions of liberty, in the days of Stuart misrule, and tyranny. Here the 
 ghastly eyes of Sidne)' and Russell, seemed to have shut, in the bloody sleep 
 of death, upon the hopelessness of English freedom. On Temple bar were 
 exhibited the mutilated quarters of the numerous victims of the savage rage 
 of the infamous Judge Jefferies. Although the English revolution seemed 
 to soften the severity, or rather ferocity, of the English laws, in regard to 
 political offenders, yet it was not till the last hopes of the House of Stuart 
 wtre destroyed b) the results of the rebellion of 1745, that this gateway 
 
A NEW ENGLANDER 275 
 
 city. Time out of mind, have these e^.gies guarded the noble room so ofteB 
 redolent with the odors of high festivity ; for here, the Lord Mayor, Alder- 
 men, and Common Council of London, are wont to entertain the great digni- 
 taries of the earth, whenever they choose to visit the metropolis of England. 
 Up and down the long room, marched a small detachment of the police, their 
 usual drill before going out on their term of duty. They were a fine, manly 
 looking set of fellows, dressed in a uniform of blue, their coats with straight 
 collars, on one of which is marked, in large letters, the division to 
 which they belong, and on the other, their particular number, as thus, 
 " G. 96." 
 
 A few steps from the Guildhall, brings you into Cheapside, and for the first 
 time you realize the full tide of London life. Two compact rows of foot-passen- 
 gers, pursuing their different ways, line the walk with a never-ceasing crowd 
 You must walk neither faster nor slower than the general motion, or you will 
 be pushed and jostled about, till you are glad to govern your pace, by that 
 of the column in which you happen to be. As you gaze around you, the 
 sturdier build of the people, and the greater uniformity of height, shows you 
 that it is not an American city. No tall Kentuckian, no long-sided Vermon- 
 ter, nor long-limbed Carolinian, breaks the general monotony. As a whole, the 
 English are shorter than the Americans, though their superior stoutness would, 
 probably, make their weight much the same. You are surprised at not seeing 
 more bluff", portly John Bulls. This type of the Englishman is the some- 
 what rare exception, not by any means the rule. Passing up Cheapside, the 
 tall spire of Bow Church, is a prominent object. Bow-bells, are the ones 
 which sounded in Whittington's ears, " Return, Whittington, return," beside 
 being the bells, within the sound of which, all Londoners are born Cockneys. 
 Directly in front of you, looms up the massive dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 Cheapside ends, and Ludgate hill begins, on the opposite sides of this vast 
 pile. 
 
 As you turn from Cheapside into St. Paul's church-yard, as the short street 
 is called which bounds the cathedral on the left, you see far above you the 
 huge dome, which covers the center of this first of protestant cathedrals. 
 The small open space which surrounds it, is partly filled with old grave-stones, 
 and monuments, though now long disused as a place of general sepulture. 
 Entering an imposing door-way, your romance receives a severe shock, in the 
 demand for " tuppence," which some small ecclesiastical official stands ready 
 to receive from all comers. The church is cruciform, separated in the middle 
 by a magnificent dome. One end of the choir is partitioned off", and 
 forms the church, within which, divine service is performed daily. It is 
 within this inclosure that the magnificent organ stands, whose solemn sounds 
 echo through the lofty building. The rest of the cathedral is a vast extent 
 of marble flooring. Not a bench or chair breaks the monotony of the long 
 view, but scattered along the walls, are busts and monuments, to the memory 
 of the men who have immortalized themselves by their genius in war, or lite- 
 rature, or art. It strikes an American painfully, to see how many of those, 
 whom England delights to honor, are indebted to bloody decks, or more 
 bloody battle-fields' , for the renown which gives them a title to a place in this 
 
•276 ' A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 exhibited, for the last time, a spectacle more fit for a tribe of Indian savages, 
 than for Christian England, justly proud of her civilization, her philosophy, 
 and her far-reaching humanity. We observed near the gateway a chair 
 standing on the pavement, from which, every moment or two, its occupant 
 would rise, and stopping each wagon that contained anything for sale, would 
 exact a penny. This is the ancient city tax, on all vehicles coming into the 
 markets of London, and is collected on every street that leads into the city. 
 
 Temple-bar separates Fleet street from the Strand. This noble street of 
 warehouses and stores, is considerably wider than the streets which lie within 
 the city of London. The city proper, it may be well to state, contains but 
 about two or three hundred thousand inhabitants, or hardly more than one- 
 tenth part of the whole population of London. Indeed, there are actually tewer 
 persons in the city of London, than there were a century ago, possibly even 
 two centuries ago. Formerly there were many more dwellings than stores. 
 The palaces of the noble and wealthy continue, in many cases, to this day ; 
 but commercial London needs them for stores, or shops, or warehouses, or 
 manufacturing establishments, and the result has been, that the population 
 of the city has been driven without the chartered limits, in order to accommo- 
 date the business of this emporium of the world's industry. Less than a mile, 
 still further westward, the Strand terminates at Charing- Cross. An equestrian 
 statue of Charles I, one of the falsest of English monarchs, and whose 
 treachery cost him his head, adorns this spot. A large open space, hand- 
 somely railed in, with a fountain of water in its midst, adjoins Charing-Cross, 
 and is known as Leicester square. The National Gallery of painting, belong- 
 ing to the government, and open twice a week, for the gratuitous use of the 
 public, occupies the whole front of the square beyond, and altogether they form 
 a most imposing view. 
 
 Turning to the left from Charing-Cross, a broad avenue, called Parliament 
 Street, leads, by a moderate distance, to the new and noble Housf of Parlia- 
 ment on the east side of the street, and the ever venerable, and grind Abbey 
 of Westminster on the west. Here the real magnificence of Lov.don begins 
 to unfold itself. Everything looks upon a grander scale. Far on for miles 
 to the west, are broad streets, lofty mansions, magnificent abodes of luxury, 
 refinement, and taste, public and private pleasure grounds, all on a scale of 
 splendor and extent, befitting the great capital of the British nation. To an 
 American, no description of a foreign church of celebrity, can give an ade- 
 quate idea of what it is ; least of all, could any amount of writing place 
 before his mind the appearance of a great historical edifice, like Westminster 
 Abbey. First of all, its chief attraction is not its ecclesiastical character. It 
 is as the sacred repository of the ashes of the mighty dead, as the resting-place 
 of those who have moved the world by their statesmanship, or by their 
 martial achievements, or by some other exhibition of gigantic genius, that it 
 takes such a hold upon the imagination of the stranger. Beneath its vast 
 roof, rest all that was mortal, in long lines of proud sovereigns, and more 
 worthily, of the sovereigns of human thought. As you enter the Abbey at its 
 south-east corner, almost on a level with the street, you stand in the renowned 
 Poets' Corner. Just over your head, on the wall, is the bust of Ben Johnson, 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 277 
 
 with its memorable inscription, "0, rare Ben Johnson.'' As your mind 
 runs over the long list of England's noblest authors, } 7 ou are actually oppressed 
 with the multitude of effigies and inscriptions, bearing their names, every- 
 where about you. Your mind refuses to take in the thoughts that crowd 
 upon you, and it is something of a relief, to escape into other parts of the 
 building, where less crowded memories pursue you. 
 
 But a small part of the Abbey is devoted to the public service of the 
 Almighty Being to whom it is dedicated. A few benches, placed longitudi- 
 nally in the choir, and thinly occupied with worshipers, seat, on week days, 
 the entire assembly, who respond to the very peculiar sing-song tone in which 
 the service is read, or rather chanted forth. The music is striking enough to 
 an American ear, and has something of an unearthly sound. As you cast 
 your eye around the body of the church, you are struck with the prodigality 
 of the carved statues in niches, and the variety of devices of every kind, cut 
 from the solid stone. A grinning head of a monkey, an African negro, with 
 exaggerated thickness of lips and flatness of nose, all sorts of monsters in the 
 animal creation, and contortions of the human face, enough to set up twenty 
 theatrical clowns, excite your wonder, and confuse your old and familiar 
 notions of the house of God. The eastern portion of the Abbey, and that last 
 erected, is known as Henry Vllth's chapel, and was built at the expense of 
 this monarch. For prodigality of embellishment, and lavishness of expense, 
 this chapel far exceeds anything of the kind in England. Here was interred 
 this sagacious usurper and king. Here the proud maiden queen, who never 
 feared the face of man, rests alike from her usefulness and her crime. A 
 few feet beyond, another and more lovely queen, Mary of Scotland, found 
 repose from the jealousy and hatred of her unlovely cousin. This Abbey 
 also contains the ashes of that early lawgiver, the wise and patriotic Alfred 
 the Great. Canning, and Pitt, and Wilberforce, have here fitting tributes to 
 their high deserts. Yet there is an ignoble crowd of patrician names cover- 
 ing the walls, of whom history is ignorant, and whose only claim to be num- 
 bered with the mighty dead, is in their titles and wealth. 
 
 Emerging from the gloom of the Abbey, a few steps place you at the 
 entrance of the New House of Parliament. The theory of the English 
 Constitution regards law-making as a private process. Indeed, it is only by 
 tolerance that a single stranger is ever admitted, or that any report of its 
 proceedings are permitted to be published. There are two ways in which 
 foreigners can gain admittance, one by obtaining a ticket from his country's 
 embassador, and the other by feeing a porter at the door. Probably this last 
 is the preferable way, for one to whom economy is not of primary importance. 
 The Americans are peculiarly a traveling, and a curious people. They not only 
 go abroad, but they go abroad to see, and very difficult of access must a 
 place be, that the Yankee don't succeed in finding his way into. The conse- 
 quence is, our minister at London has abundant calls for the tickets which 
 are issued to him daily, during the session of Parliament. To the praise of 
 Americans be it said, that while none but the higher classes of other countries 
 who visit England, often apply for tickets of admission, no American, how- 
 ever illiterate, ever thinks of leaving London without a sight of its law- 
 
278 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 givers. We happened once to be at the dwelling of Mr. Bancroft, Minister 
 to the Court of St. James, when a very tall, awkward, and badly-dressed 
 Vermonter, marched into the room without knocking, and placing his back to 
 the door, spoke out, " I want a ticket to git into the Gineral Court." With 
 all the incivility of his manner, there was an intelligent curiosity at bottom, 
 which would send him home a wiser man for his travels. 
 
 The tickets with which we entered, were proffered us by the Secretary of 
 Legation. Passing through a long passage-way, our umbrella was demanded 
 of us by some official, (to whom on our return, we paid a shilling for its 
 custody,) and were then ushered into the gallery of the House of Lords. 
 Below, dimly seen by the departing light of day, a small number of gentle- 
 men were conversing in a pleasant and scarcely audible tone, very courteous 
 in manner, and more resembling an after-dinner discussion of gentlemen, 
 than a legislative assembly. 
 
 While we were present, Lord Brougham rose and said, he had just been 
 informed, that a telegraphic communication had been received from Liver- 
 pool, stating that the police and military force in Ireland, had met the 
 peasantry, who were in insurrection, and had not only refusod to engage 
 them, but had actually gone over to their side, and inquired of the ministry 
 if they had received any government dispatches to that effect. Lord Pal- 
 merston, a tall, manly-looking gentleman, the very ideal of Joha Bull in his 
 best phase, replied No, and that he presumed there was no truth in the rumor, 
 as the government had received dispatches from the Lord Lieutenant, of a 
 later date than that assigned to the affair at Sleivegamon, which contained 
 no allusion to such an occurence. The very quiet way in which Lord 
 Brougham's news was received, seemed to me but a poor prestige for the 
 success of Smith O'Brien and his patriotic, but precipitate fellow conspirators. 
 The face of Lord Brougham is certainly very ugly. Punch's portraits can 
 hardly be called caricatures; rugged and ragged-looking, his countenance is 
 not improved by the funny way the tip of his nose seems to have been 
 chopped off, to shorten its disproportionate length. His forehead is bony 
 and uneven, and his hair very obstinate-looking. His figure is good enough, 
 but more American in its leanness than English. There is a convukive 
 twitching about his face, and his body seems never at rest. Sitting behind 
 some lord who was speaking, he caught him by the skirts of his coat, and 
 tried to pull him down on his seat, repeating rapidly, " You have said 
 enough," three or four times. 
 
 After a time, a venerable looking man with gray hairs entered, whom it 
 did not need the general respect which was paid him, to identify as the 
 Duke of Wellington. The world is full of portraits of the man whom the 
 English delight to call the conqueror of the world's conqueror. It needs no 
 such injustice to the memory of Napoleon, to do fitting honor to the brave 
 soldier, whose military capacity has so often been vindicated in India, in 
 Spain, and in Portugal. Had the Battle of Waterloo never been fought, 
 Wellington would still remain the greatest English general of the present age. 
 The Duke took his seat, and leaning his head upon his cane, seemed to 
 listen carelessly to what was going on. He presently rose, and uttered a few 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 279 
 
 words, which were listened to with marked respect. It was gratifying to see 
 a man whom fame had extended to the utmost limits of the world. 
 
 As a body of gentlemen, the House of Lords looked to me much as any 
 other body of gentlemen would, in whom natural peculiarities had all been 
 softened down, and almost obliterated by the inexorable law of present 
 necessity, which compels them to far more solicitude for their order, than for 
 the development of the particular talent or genius with which nature may 
 have endowed them. Shortly after our entrance, and when the more promi- 
 nent lords had been pointed out to me by an American friend, who accom- 
 panied us, two gentlemen entered, and took their seats by our side. As the 
 twilight had commenced, and the chamber was rather dark, particularly so 
 to those who had just entered, one of these gentlemen began asking me 
 who this one and that one was, as successive individuals addressed the 
 House. After replying for a time, I became tired with his importunity, and 
 replied to his further inquiries, " I don't know indeed sir, I am quite a 
 stranger." He answered in a tone, sufficiently brusque, " You are an Eng- 
 lishman, aint you V* " No sir." " Oh, I see, you are a Scotchman." " No 
 sir" (more emphatic). " Why you aint an Irishman, are you ?" " No sir, 
 I am not" (very short). "Well, what are you then?" This was carrying 
 the free and easy, I thought, quite far enough, but it is a good rule any- 
 where, and particularly in a foreign country, not to be in a hurry to take 
 offense, so I replied in a manner that I thought would stop the conversation, 
 "I am an American sir." My gentleman, however, had no idea of desisting 
 yet, but followed up the matter with, " Why I thought all Americans talked 
 through their nose, you don't." I now lost my temper, and said, "Well, 
 that is much like ignorant persons with us, they think all Londoners are 
 Cockneys, and don't know how to use the letter h, putting it on where it 
 does not belong, and leaving it off where it does." After this rather belli- 
 gerent style of talk had lasted some time, the person asked me, if I had been 
 into the House of Commons. I told him No. "Well," said he, "if you will 
 give me your address, I will send you some tickets for to-morrow." I thanked 
 him, but was to leave in the morning for Paris. " Well then, on my return 
 he should be happy to send them to me." I did not know when I should 
 return. " Well, about when," etc. There was no resisting his persevering 
 determination to oblige, and so I mentioned the probable length of my 
 absence. Six or seven weeks later, I was surprised with a note, in a strange 
 hand, which, on opening, I found to contain two tickets of admission to the 
 Commons, with a polite assurance that Mr. W., would be happy to send 
 myself and friends, all the tickets we might need, during our stay in London. 
 I mention this fact as peculiarly illustrating a certain roughness in the Eng- 
 lish character, which is most repulsive to an American, and which, perhaps, 
 is most offensive at the very moment the Englishman is meditating some 
 kindness. 
 
 Leaving the Parliament House, you pass to the right of the inclosure 
 within which Westminster Abbey stands, and making a turn or two, you en- 
 ter a long avenue, one side of which is occupied by dwellings, and the other, 
 lying open to St. James's Park. On the north side of this beautiful piece of 
 
280 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 ground, stands the Palace of St. James, but which is used only on state oc- 
 casions, as the reception of embassadors, public audiences, etc. Bucking- 
 ham Palace, which faces the Park on the west, is the private residence of the 
 Queen, and is never used for such purposes. The first-named palace, is a 
 plain structure of brick, and has little about it to attract or gratify the curi- 
 osity of a stranger. Buckingham Palace, though subject to much criticism, 
 as all the architectural efforts of George the Fourth seem to be, is really an 
 imposing structure. Its situation is beautiful, fronting a sloping lawn, which 
 leads down to a flower-environed body of water, which occupies the center 
 of the Park. Venerable trees, and the greenest grass give a peculiarly 
 beautiful look to the appendage to the two London palaces of the monarchs 
 of England. 
 
 From Buckingham Palace, you pass through a small irregular-shaped piece 
 of ground, called the Green Park, and crossing Piccadilly, you stand at the 
 entrance of Hyde Park. A noble gateway, surmounted by a colossal eques- 
 trian statue of the Duke of Wellington, forms the entrance to the Park. 
 Looking in, you see a huge, brazen, reclining statue of Achilles, perfectly 
 naked, also erected in honor of the Iron Duke. This statue was cast at the 
 expense of the ladies of England, in honor of the great commander, from 
 cannon captured by him in his Spanish campaigns. Close by the gateway, 
 stands Apsley house, a noble edifice, purchased by the British Government, 
 and presented to the Duke of Wellington, after his success at Waterloo. The 
 side of the Palace facing the Park, has most of its windows boarded up, 
 which gives it a very odd look. In the riots, which preceded the passage 
 of the reform bill, the mob undertook to convince the Duke of the folly of 
 his opposition to their favorite measure, by smashing his window-glass. In 
 great wrath, the Duke swore the damage should never be repaired, till the 
 nation came to its senses, and made good the injury which had been done 
 him. While standing at Hyde Park corner, an old gentleman, who was the 
 gate-keeper, proffered me a chair, and began to explain to me whose the 
 several equipages were, as they rolled rapidly by. The Duchess of Kent, 
 the mother of the Queen, of whom, by the way, the English speak very 
 highly, was pointed out to me — the Queen Dowager Adelaide, occupying 
 the same carriage, and looking like two comfortable, good-natured ladies who 
 had taken the world easily; the Duchess of Sutherland, a magnificent queen- 
 like beauty, a daughter of Lord Grosvenor, the very ideal of aristocratic 
 blood; the Duke of Cambridge, the youngest son of George the Third, a jolly- 
 looking compound of a bon-vivant, and a polar bear ; one of the Rothschilds, 
 a portly man of fifty-five, or thereabouts, with more of a German than a 
 Jewish face, and a multitude of other London notabilities. It was amusing, 
 as illustrating the snobbish tendency of the humbler classes, in England, to 
 hear his comments, whenever a stylish carriage passed by, on whose panel no 
 coronet blazed: "That is nobody;" "That's some tallow-chandler, who's 
 got rich, and is trying to cut a swell," and so on, with deprecatory remarks 
 about every person who was indebted to his own talent for his rise in the 
 world, and not, as Lord Thurlow once happily expressed it, "to being the 
 accident of an accident." 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 281 
 
 The Duke of Wellington was accused of being quite as close a man with his 
 money as is consistent with the reputation heroic. The gate-keeper, who is 
 allowed to sell milk, told me, with some chagrin, as I thought, that the Duke 
 bought but a pint of milk daily, for the consumption of all Apsley-house. 
 He also took me into a little inclosure, adjoining his lodge, where, among a 
 few flowers and vegetables, stood a miserable tobacco plant, and wanted me, 
 as an American, and of course familiar with the whole subject, to tell him 
 why it did not flourish. While I was endeavoring to explain to him, the kind 
 of soil and cultivation our tobacco-growers selected, I was surprised to see 
 him dart from my side, and bow repeatedly, and very humbly, to a small 
 boy, about twelve years old, who was in the charge of a confidential servant. 
 ''How is my Lord, and how is my Lady, your Lordship's mother?" "and 
 will your Lordship do me the honor," etc., and " will your Lordship be 
 pleased," etc. etc., repeated usque ad nauseam. The boy seemed a well-be- 
 haved lad enough, and his manners struck me as being particularly good for 
 an age when lads generally are perfectly unbearable. After his little Lord- 
 ship had left, the man returned, and began to apologize for having left me in 
 the haste he did, but "it was Lord Coventry." "Well, what of it?" 
 " Why he will have sixty thousand pounds a year, when he comes of age." 
 " I don't see why you should reverse the order of nature, even if he is a 
 Lord, and rich, to boot. A lad like that, if properly instructed, would feel it 
 to be his business to be respectful to the aged, and an old man like you, 
 ought to be ashamed of teaching him a different lesson." But the flunky 
 spirit was too strong in him to be convinced, and I allowed him to terminate 
 the argument, with " Well, that is some of your d — d republican nonsense." 
 On leaving, I offered the old fellow a shilling or two, for his civility, but he 
 drew himself up, with the remark, " I don't take money for such things, sir." 
 Apologizing for my mistake, I told him that in America we had the impres- 
 sion that such things were looked for in England. " Not by me, sir," he re- 
 plied, "I am the Lodge Keeper." So I parted with the Lodge Keeper, and 
 to this day remain ignorant of the precise social importance of the officer, 
 which made it improper for him to receive a gratuity from one he had 
 obliged. 
 
 Turning into Hyde Park, you see a large pleasure-ground, where every- 
 body who keeps a carriage, in London, is in the habit of taking an airing, be- 
 tween the hours of four and six in the afternoon. At these hours you see a 
 sight which can be seen nowhere else in the world. In the height of what 
 is called the season, that is, when all the rank and fashion of the country 
 assemble in London — the sight is not, properly, the show of London, but of 
 all England, to say nothing of Scotland and Ireland. The horses are, almost 
 invariably, good, many superior ones, and some, in beauty, unequaled in the 
 world. They are trained to a longer reach in their step, by several inches, 
 than with us, which adds much grace to their motion when going, as they 
 usually do, at a slow pace. The carriages seem heavy, to an American eye, 
 but they are very perfectly finished, and as easy as a cradle. The livery, or 
 fanciful costume, in which the coachman and footman are dressed, is gener- 
 ally in more subdued taste, than I had anticipated. Occasionally, some 
 
282 A NEW ENGLAJNDER 
 
 gorgeously dressed footman will attract your eye, but as my friend the Lodge 
 Keeper would say, " they are nobodies." I have seen some very good trot- 
 ting ill England, but that is not the favorite pace. Racing is everything 
 there, as hunting is the fashionable amusement with gentlemen, while hunt- 
 ing, being little practiced with us, and everybody riding, fast trotting becomes 
 the desirable thing in a horse. I am sure I have seen more fast trotters, in 
 one day, on the Third Avenue, or on the Bloomingdale road, in New York, 
 than I saw during my four months' residence in London. 
 
 Hundreds, and probably, thousands of thoroughly appointed carriages, roll, 
 every pleasant day, over the smooth and hard paths of the Park. Horsemen, 
 generally mounted on fine blood animals, and followed by trig-looking serv- 
 ants, are seen' on all the walks! They ride with much shorter stirrups than 
 we, which gives them a very awkward appearance. Such a mode, however, 
 must be much safer in hunting, where desperate leaps are often to be taken, 
 and where it is necessary, frequently, to rise in one's stirrups. The military, 
 however, ride in our usual mode, though it would seem to be necessary, in 
 actual conflict, for cavalry to feel their feet, in order to strike an effective 
 blow. Young unmarried men, however, use, for their ordinary locomotion, 
 cabs, a very ugly-looking contrivance, for any decent man to double himself 
 into, as must be done to effect an entrance. One of the finest horses I saw 
 in London, was a cab-horse of the Duke of Wellington's, driven by himself ; 
 a nobler animal it would be impossible to conceive of. Young lads, mounted 
 on spirited ponies, course up and down, and early learn to sit a horse, not to 
 straddle him, like a cleft stick, nor to be carried, like a bundle of wool. Scat- 
 tered over the Park, especially on Sundays, are crowds of well-dressed 
 pedestrians, both gentlemen and ladies. 
 
 Who would think, in viewing this exhibition of wealth, refinement, and 
 high social advantages, that a five minutes' walk would place you amid scenes 
 of squalid wretchedness, of low vice, and brutal crime, unsurpassed by the 
 worst sight that the worst part of Africa could present ? Such, however, is 
 the truth, and the London of the refined, and the London of the miserable, 
 are two cities which neither know or are influenced by one another. But at 
 present, we have nothing to do with the more obscure parts of London. 
 Evening has now arrived, and the Park is deserted. 
 
 As you retrace your steps, you are conscious of weariness, and hailing 
 the first omnibus you see, you plump yourself down upon the first unoccu- 
 pied seat, and begin to look around you. Obviously, you say to yourself, 
 these vehicles won't compare with our own. They are not so neat, they 
 have even a filthy look. Instead of the strap passing over the leg of the 
 driver, a pull on which, will stop the carriage, and turn it to either curb, ac- 
 cording to the number of pulls you give, you see there a man stationed on 
 the foot-board, whose whole business is to let in and let out the various 
 people who may ride in his " bus." You say at once, labor can't be in any 
 great demand here, when the work which one man performs in America, re- 
 quires two in London. Should the weather be rainy, and what day in Lon- 
 don is secure against rain ? you will be amused to see with what cold-blooded 
 selfishness the ladies who seek an entrance into an omnibus filled with gentle* 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 283 
 
 men, are denied an inside seat, by the ungallant beings in male habiliment*, 
 who have already monopolized all the seats. " First come, first served," ap- 
 pears to be the motto of John Bull, and it is doubtful whether any amount 
 of beauty, or any degree of decrepitude, would be sufficient to induce most 
 Englishmen to vacate a comfortable inside seat, on a rainy day, for their ac- 
 commodation. The pace at which the horses move, is considerably slower 
 than with us. The idea of a racing omnibus, about which constant com- 
 plaints may be found in the New York papers, would be here a perfect ab- 
 surdity. Should you mount to the outside, and be possessed of the ordinary 
 curiosity of an American, you will meet with a most stolid being for a driver, 
 until you express some curiosity as to the quality of the beer sold along the 
 road you are passing. It will be but a short time before your driver holds 
 up near some conspicuous beer shop, and intimates that the stuff sold there 
 "is not swipes by no means." Lubricating his inner man seems to oil the 
 hinges of his tongue, and very often, the stranger will find it to his account. 
 in thus ministering to the, apparently, only vivifying liquid that can touch 
 the seat of sensibility in the driver of a London omnibus. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Education — Smithfield Drovers— Sagacity of their Dogs— British Museum— the Fine Arts- 
 Old Bailey— Brutality of a Judge— Trial of a Chartist—Thames' Tunnel— the Tower- 
 London Low Life — Visit to a den of Thieves — Hampton Court — Excursion to the Country 
 —Lord Mayor of London— University of Oxford— English Homes— Rural Life— Agricul- 
 ture — Manufactures — Commerce. 
 
 One of the very peculiar sights which most frequently attracts the atten- 
 tion of the traveler, from our side of the water, is the number of bare-headed 
 boys, in yellow breeches, and short upper garments, of the very coarsest 
 fabrics, which seem everywhere in sight, especially in Cheapside and Fleet 
 street. They are the scholars of the famous Christ Church Hospital, a pub- 
 lic 'school, endowed by Edward the Sixth, out of the spoils taken by his 
 father from the supposed monasteries of the Romish faith. Hugh Latimer, 
 the honest and straight-forward reformer, witnessing the spoliations of the 
 old church, and dreading lest all the wealth which had been devoted by sin- 
 cere, though misguided men, to sacred purposes, should be absorbed by the 
 selfish and needy hangers-on of the court, ventured to preach a sermon be- 
 fore the youthful monarch, in which he insisted, in the boldest language, that 
 which had once been consecrated to sacred uses, could not be perverted to 
 secular ones, and mentioned, especially, the urgent need there was for some 
 school, for the gentle nurture of the children of the citizens of London. This 
 sermon led to the endowment of this noble school, in which, hundreds of 
 poor boys, who would otherwise have remained unnurtured, have received 
 an education, which has made them useful, and sometimes, eminent men. 
 Coleridge, Chas. Lamb, and Leigh Hunt, to say nothing of the numerous 
 other men of less eminence, who have done honor to this foundation, arc 
 
284 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 indebted to Christ Church Hospital, for the gratuitous education which made 
 them what they were. The mode in which the children of the English 
 people are educated, is a fine illustration of the way in which a thousand re- 
 sults are effected there, by traditionary institutions, which are accomplished 
 more perfectly with us, by a general law. 
 
 Of course, in a community over-populated like England, there are innu- 
 merable schools for all who are willing to pay for the instruction of their 
 children. Then there are large institutions, like the Merchant-Tailors' School, 
 and others, where boys are educated very thoroughly, and at no expense to 
 their parents. Innumerable charity schools, either endowed by individuals 
 or supported by religious and moral associations are frequent. One of the 
 common sights of London, of a Sunday morning, is the number of such schools, 
 all dressed out in quaint uniform, and looking like the picture of Goody-two- 
 shoes, on the way to school. Of late years, an association of gentlemen, with 
 Lord Ashley at their head, have established, what, with the true English 
 hatred of cant, are called " Ragged Schools." And ragged, they well may 
 be called, human wretchedness never made a broader mark upon the face of 
 man than you may witness upon the countenances of these children of the 
 dishonest, thieving, loafering population of London. With all the particular 
 good these schools may effect, the instruction they can impart is but a drop 
 in the bucket compared with the necessities of the case. London has a popu- 
 lation of two millions of people ; of this number, one-fifth are between the 
 ages of four and sixteen, and should, according to our Yankee notions, be 
 under instruction. To accommodate these four hundred thousand children with 
 the means of education, at least eight thousand teachers are needed, with, 
 say, one thousand large public school-houses, each for the accommodation of 
 four hundred pupils, divided into eight schools. What can the fifty ragged 
 schools accomplish for this vast metropolis. The difficulty, in devising a sys- 
 tem of schools for the instruction of all, does not spring from a want of philan- 
 thropy in the minds of Englishmen, or from any want of conviction of its 
 necessity and utility. Upon the Established Church must rest the reproach 
 and the shame of the imperfect, or totally neglected education of the rising 
 generation. Give to her the control of the schools, let her clergy be their 
 official visitors and superintendents, and let her theology be taught in them, 
 and England might speedily have a common-school system rivaling that of 
 Massachusetts or Prussia. But this is impracticable. The dissenters of 
 various names, including the Methodists and the Roman Catholics, are nearly, 
 if not quite, equal in number to the members of the Establishment. The 
 Unitarian will not permit his children to be taught the doctrine of the Divi- 
 nity of our Savior, which he himself disbelieves. The Independent refuses 
 to have his children instructed in the jure divino right of Episcopacy, or in the 
 justice of a State religion. The Baptist and Methodist have each their objec- 
 tion, and so on through the long category of dissent. What then can be 
 done ? Episcopacy is horror-struck at what she calls a " Godless education," 
 and prefers the present ignorance to continue forever rather than adopt oui 
 unsectarian usage. 
 
 There are men, however, within the pale of the church, who possess more 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 285 
 
 enlarged views of the duty of the State, and who are laboring efficiently, in 
 union with Dissenters, to induce the government to introduce the only practi- 
 cable system of common schools, one in which the Bible shall be read, but no 
 dogmatic theology be taught. England has evidently reached a crisis in her 
 destiny. Hereafter she is to be, not what her aristocracy may wish, not even 
 what her commercial or manufacturing lords may desire, but just that, and no 
 more, than the character of the great mass of her people may be. 
 
 Every body has heard of Smithfield : in the minds of some it is associated 
 with the fagot and stake, with heroic martyrdom for liberty and truth, and 
 as the great confessional of protestant England. Others, in a more mundane 
 spirit, rejoice over Smithfield, as the great center, from which noble barons 
 of beef, and the juiciest of steaks, radiate into every kitchen of London. 
 Beginning near St. Paul's Cathedral, two great thoroughfares, diverging but 
 slightly, penetrate London to the westward ; the most northerly line is com- 
 posed, for a good part of its length, of the broad street known as Holborn. 
 This street, in position and character, is, to the line made up of Fleet-street and 
 the Strand, very much what the Bowery in New York is to Broadway. 
 Turning to the right, from the junction of Newgate-street with Holborn, you 
 ascend a steep hill, and proceeding a few rods, you find yourself in the midst 
 of a large irregular opening, apparently of ten to a dozen acres in extent, sur- 
 rounded with stores, taverns, and dwellings, and completely filled with cattle- 
 pens. This is Smithfield, and here the animals which are to find rest in the 
 stomach of alderman or vagabond, lord or lout, are driven for the inspection 
 of the butcher, and for purchase. Early in the morning, a stranger, living in 
 the vicinity of any of the great thoroughfares which terminate here, will be 
 awakened by the bellowing of oxen, the lowing of cows, and the bleating of 
 sheep. He seems to be in the midst of some vast farm-yard, instead of in the 
 heart of the most populous city in the world. It is well worth the traveler's 
 while to leave his bed at early dawn, and watch the progress of the droves 
 through the narrow street. The sheep, in particular, often amused me. A 
 flock of two or three hundred, driven by a single shepherd, assisted by a 
 small dog, sufficed to guide this most wayward of all animals through the 
 crowded streets. The dog, assisted by an encouraging word from his mas- 
 ter, would spring on the back of one of the flock, and race from back to back, 
 never touching the ground till he reached the offending animal, when a sin- 
 gle pull by the ear restores the vagrant sheep to his proper place. I once 
 saw two large flocks meet at the corners of two streets, and going at right 
 angles to each other. It was wonderful to see the tact and intelligence of 
 the two little colley dogs. Twenty men could not have done what these lit- 
 tle creatures did, in restoring order. The flocks had got into an inextricable 
 confusion, but a pull by the wool, or the ear, done with great rapidity, the 
 dogs jumping into the midst of the flock, and selecting all stragglers which 
 had got into the wrong road, in two minutes, had the sheep all separated, 
 and jogging on again toward Smithfield. 
 
 One of these shepherds told me, that you might mix up a thousand sheep, 
 and in a few minutes his dog would have the five hundred belonging to his 
 master all safe by themselves. Still, it is unsafe to have the streets of a greaf 
 
286 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 city periodically filled with cattle. Though wonderfully few accidents occur, 
 there necessarily must be great anxiety on the part of parents, who live on 
 the lines of travel used by the drovers, lest their children should suffer from 
 the pranks sometimes cut up by an enraged ox, or over-driven cow. One 
 part of Smithfield is devoted to the sale of donkeys, two days in the week, and 
 an amusing sight it is. Such a pack of very sharp-looking vagabonds, with 
 their eye-teeth cut ever since they were babies, if, indeed, such hard-looking 
 customers ever had a babyhood, I never saw. Cutting and .hauling at the 
 bridle of some meek little dwarf, and making their big cudgels resound on 
 their hollow sides, they will trot their animals up and down the short wait 
 devoted to this purpose, and tell more lies about him than they utter sen- 
 tences. His price is eighteen shillings, and he is only selling him because he 
 is going into the draying business, and will need a larger animal ; or he is 
 disposing of him, because the child for whose use he was kept, has recently 
 died ; or the friend, who owned him, has gone to America. No lie that will 
 serve his turn ever comes amiss. I never fully realized the fact, that home- 
 less boys, in large cities, neverhave a childhood, till I saw these donkey mer- 
 chants. It was perfectly frightful to see lads from twelve to twenty years old. 
 with all the cunning, avarice, and brutality of a rogue in grain pictured out in 
 their countenances. The prices seemed to range from ten shillings up to a 
 guinea; in one instance, thirty-five shillings were paid. They were, for the most 
 part, a galled and over-worked lot of beasts; though many of them looked as if a 
 month's rest and plenty to eat would put them in good condition. An im- 
 mense number of donkeys are used in England. Cheap in price, and very 
 hardy, they cost but little in shelter and food. Half a dozen donkeys will 
 thrive in a pasture where a horse would starve. They can draw enormous 
 loads. It is not an infrequent sight, to see, in London, a wagon filled with 
 vegetables, and surmounted with two and three men or women, beside a 
 child or two. Almost all the vegetable carts are drawn by them. In places 
 of popular resort, in the outskirts of the city, you will see scores of them 
 bridled and saddled, and a ride on a donkey is a regular part of the day's 
 programme, in the pic-nic excursions of the cit to Greenwich, Richmond, and 
 Hampton- Court. A superior kind of animal is kept by gentlemen for their 
 children, while too young to be trusted with a horse. Why they are not 
 more used in this country it would be difficult to say. They can be kept at 
 less than a quarter of the cost of a horse, are very hardy, and will do an im- 
 mense deal of work. Many a poor farmer, or mechanic, with a few acres of 
 land, who can't afford a horse, would be glad to have a donkey. There is, I 
 know, a prejudice against them, as being vicious ; but, abused, as they gene- 
 rally are, by their owners, and stoned by every idle boy, it would be strange 
 if they did not use their heels freely, when occasion demands. But when 
 treated kindly, and petted by the children, as sometimes happens, I was 
 repeatedly assured, they were kind and docile, and capable of a warm 
 attachment to those who feed them. 
 
 A short distance north-west of Smithfield, I noticed a massive stone gate- 
 way crossing the rond, which was the most venerable-looking object 1 had 
 vei seen in England. Entering the tower, the door of which stood invitingly 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 287 
 
 open, I found this was all that was left of the grand monastic establishment 
 of the order of Knight Templars of St. John of Jerusalem. Not only had the 
 vast establishment which once stood here disappeared, but the very order 
 itself had become extinct. It was in the rooms over this gatehouse that the 
 Gentleman's Magazine was printed and published during the early days of 
 Dr. Johnson's literary career, when he got an insufficient and precarious liv- 
 ing by contributing to its pages. The tap room remains in the same state it 
 was in, when Johnson sat behind a small screen to hide his rags f M om the 
 publisher, which he was too proud to exhibit. Passing through a labyrinth 
 of streets, in the attempt to save distance by a short cut, and actually travers- 
 ing about twice the space I needed to have done, I found myself in Great Rus- 
 sell-street, and in front of a building before which a sentinel was posted. 
 This sight always indicates that the place belongs to the government. Enter- 
 ing the vestibule, I found myself in the British Museum. It is not easy for 
 an American, with his strict notions of economy in the administration of 
 government, to comprehend the magnificent scale on which England accom- 
 plishes any favorite project in art or science. The library, alone, contains 
 about three quarters of a million volumes : the collections in science are vast. 
 All the fruits of Layard's researches in Nineveh, which brought to light the 
 history, the science, and the art of ancient Assyria, in the days of her pride, 
 are there. Antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other countries, fill 
 up many large halls. The head of Memnon, the sarcophagus of Pharaoh, 
 the gigantic skeleton dug up in Siberia, will serve to indicate the nature of 
 this vast store-house for the gratification of an intelligent curiosity. 
 
 All these treasures are thrown open gratuitously, for the inspection and 
 mstruction of the public. Not one day, nor many days, will suffice to go over 
 even the catalogue of these wonders. Selecting some single subject which inte- 
 rests you, and, confining yourself to the hall devoted to its illustration, you 
 may, from what is before you, attain a respectable acquaintance with - the sub- 
 ject. A better knowledge of ancient Assyria may be got from the sculptures 
 brought from Nineveh, than could possibly be got by the ordinary traveler 
 in Assyria itself. Leaving the museum, we directed our steps to the National 
 Gallery, in Trafalgar-square. The building itself has been much criticised 
 for its want of height, and for the disproportionate size of the colonnade which 
 occupies its front. Its position, fronting a large square, in the midst of 
 which a lofty column to Nelson, is erected, and facing the termination of the 
 Strand, at Charing- Cross, is a noble one. The gallery is open but two days 
 in the week to the public, its use for the other four days being reserved for 
 artists. To say, to most Americans, that a single painting, perhaps, of small 
 dimensions, has cost fifty thousand dollars, would make them open their eyes 
 widely. But there are, probably, hundreds of paintings in Europe, for any 
 one of which, fifty thousand dollars would be refused. 
 
 In no other respect is there so wide a contrast between England and our 
 own country, as in this matter of the fine arts. Here, the residence of a man of 
 wealth rarely exhibits any patronage of the arts beyond a few daguerreotypes, 
 and a yard or two of canvas, covered with p >rt raits of himself and his 
 tiiiniiy. Occasionally, am! only of late years, ;-i-nilemen who have livid 
 
288 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 abroad, bring home, on their return, a few paintings of value. In England, 
 on the contrary, there is hardly a gentleman's house in which productions of 
 eminent painters may not be found, while thousands of houses are embellished 
 by them with a profusion, and at an expense, of which it is difficult for us to 
 conceive. The influence of the arts, in refining the general taste, was hardly 
 appreciable, while there was no public collection of paintings, and the govern- 
 ment erected this building, and purchased works of celebrity, in order tc 
 benefit artists, and open to the public a new and refining source of pleasure. 
 Specimens of all the great artists of Europe adorn its walls ; but if one, whose 
 taste in art is wholly uncultivated, may be allowed to express an opinion, the 
 fame of England, in the hands of Hogarth, Gainsborough, Wilkie, Reynolds, 
 and Lawrence, suffers nothing in the comparison. Such noble uses of the 
 revenue of the State, almost reconciles one to the enormous taxation of Eng- 
 land, especially when that taxation is levied upon somebody else's pocket, and 
 not upon your own. Without expense of any kind, the humblest person, 
 native or foreigner, can spend two days in each week in the study of some 
 of the finest productions of genius. 
 
 Newgate is a very innocent word, but, how few ever think of it, in its 
 original meaning ; and to what multitudes does it convey no other idea than 
 that of crime, and of a retributive death. Just out of Fleet-street, at its lower 
 end, stands this great and ancient prison. Close by it, and, indeed, connected 
 with it, by a subterranean passage, along which criminals are conveyed, is 
 the Old Bailey, the building in which offenders are tried, and from which 
 they are committed to Newgate. As you enter this temple of justice, you 
 see, conspicuously before you, a notice, cautioning you against paying any 
 one for admission., on any pretext. Thanking Heaven, that one single thing 
 in all England is free from a tax or a fee, you enter boldly, when a man 
 touches you on tbe elbow, and says, " a shilling, sir." You refer him to the 
 printed notice, but he tells you, that it only means you must pay nobody but 
 himself. Paying your shilling, for it is no use to refuse, you enter a small 
 gallery, facing the court. Beneath you is a large dock, as it is called, in 
 which the prisoner stands, as commonly no seat is allowed. Behind him is a 
 large mirror, which reflects to the court all that the prisoner does, while, on a 
 ledge before him, there is duly arranged, several bunches of rue, to revive 
 him, in case of faintness. The judge was arrayed in robes of silk, and had 
 a monstrously ugly old wig on his head. By his side, dressed rather fantas- 
 tically, were two or three officials of London, sheriffs, etc., all frightfully dis- 
 figured by wigs, as were all the lawyers. 
 
 The judge, who was the common sergeant of the city, was a brutal, and 
 insulting old fellow, who would have appeared much more creditably engaged 
 in jawing a lazy set of Paddies, on a canal or railway, than on the seat of 
 justice. A rather conceited, but ignorant young lawyer, was urging as I 
 thought improperly, some point which had already been decided against him. 
 The judge, after telling him he must be stupid, if he could not see the pro- 
 priety of his decision, turned to Alderman Gibbs, who sat by his side, and 
 whispered so loudly, that I could hear him quite across the court, " Tne 
 fellow is a fool." An unfortunate witness, to whom a clear head was « 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 289 
 
 stranger, was completely stultified by the domineering tone of the judge. 
 " What did this man say?" asked the judge. "When I was going," began 
 the witness, " Who cares where you were going ; what did this man say?" 
 repeated the common sergeant. " Please your lordship, as I was going," 
 again commenced the man. " Who cares whether you was coming or going, 
 I ask you what this man said ?" Once more the witness began in the old 
 strain, when the irritated judge burst out, " What's your name, where did 
 you come from? Stand down, you stupid fellow, and try to think how to 
 answer a plain question." A lady's maid, in the service of Lady Dun- 
 donald, was on trial for stealing a large quantity of linen from her mistress. 
 The jury, who did not leave the box, but consulted together in whispers, in 
 rendering their verdict of acquittal, said, they thought Lady D. ought to have 
 been present. "No she hadn't — more fool she if she had — mind your own 
 business — call the next case." It is fair, however, to say, that this is an ex- 
 ceptional case. The general tone of the bench, and prosecuting officers, 
 struck me as eminently humane and just toward the accused. But in one 
 case, actual injustice was done to a miserable Irishman, who was in company 
 with a thief, though not with him at the time of the robbery. The judge 
 said, no doubt he was on the watch, to prevent interruption. This may have 
 been so, though there was not a particle of proof of the fact before the 
 court. The poor fellow burst into an agony of tears, when he was sentenced 
 to ten years at Botany Bay. 
 
 An adjoining court, in the same building, presented a striking contrast to all 
 this. The somewhat noted chartist, Cuffee, was on trial for sedition. The At- 
 torney-General, Sir John Jervis, acted in behalf of the government. His duty was 
 an easy one. A small body of policemen, with a couple of shorthand writers, 
 were sent to one of the chartist meetings, which was to be addressed by Cuffee, 
 and notified him of their object. In the course of an hour, Mr. Cuffee had talked 
 sedition enough to hang twenty men, if that were the object of the govern- 
 ment. The particular expressions relied upon by the prosecution, to prove 
 sedition, were testified to, and Sir John Jervis, in a quiet, gentlemanly 
 way, explained the law on the subject to the jury, saying nothing in anyway 
 to influence their minds. The defense was a strange one for a lawyer of any 
 reputation to make, and Cuftee's counsel was a rather celebrated one. He 
 commenced by saying, that the law of England recognized the right of revolu- 
 tion, and was proceeding to quote Blackstone in support of the doctrine, when 
 the judge stopped him, and said, such a line of defense was inadmissible. 
 The counsel undertook to argue this absurd doctrine, when the judge sternly 
 told him, though there might be some apology for an ignorant man like the 
 prisoner, believing such an absurd notion, there was none whatever for a 
 man learned in the law, and such a defense was disgraceful. The jury 
 almost immediately brought in their verdict of guilty, when the judge, after 
 a few remarks upon the folly and wickedness of attempting to excite an insur- 
 rection against the government of the country, sentenced him to two years - 
 imprisonment, and a fine, I think, of five hundred pounds. As Cuffee was a 
 ooor journeyman shoemaker, the fine was the most severe part of the punish- 
 19 
 
290 , A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 ment, as he might lie in jail for years, before such a sum could be raised by 
 the chartists, miserably poor as most of them are. 
 
 The river Thames runs for miles, through compact lines of warehouses, 
 factories, and dwellings. The city side, on the left of the river, and the 
 Surrey side on the right, contain a compact population of two millions, in- 
 closed within an area of about ten miles square. Small iron steamers run 
 up and down this mighty stream, passing each other every moment, and 
 making frequent landings, at a cost of from one penny, to three pence for 
 each passenger, according to the distance. Though very convenient and 
 cheap, they are miserable affairs. There is not a ferry-boat, on the remotest 
 waters of the great west, of our own country, which is not far superior to the 
 best steamer I saw in England. The cabins are small, ill-lighted, and so 
 low, that a middle-sized man cannot stand erect with his hat on. No carpets, 
 no mirrors, no cushioned seats, no highly polished wood work, and no gild- 
 ing, render them attractive. They are often crowded, especially on Sundays, 
 with six and eight hundred, and even a thousand persons. Should the 
 railing give way, numbers, from their crowded state, would be precipitated 
 into the river. The width of the river varies very much. Judging by the 
 eye, it is about as wide at London bridge, as the Ohio river at Cincinnati, 
 v/hen the water is at the lowest. Several bridges, constructed at great ex- 
 pense, and many of them possessed of great beauty, unite the London with 
 the Surrey side. About a mile below the lowest bridge, is the tunnel, which 
 crosses the river beneath the water. This gigantic undertaking was com- 
 menced years ago by a private company, but the expense was so great, and 
 the impediments so numerous, that, though aided by several parliamentary 
 grants, the enterprise was for a time abandoned. At length, the government 
 undertook, and completed it, and the river was crossed by foot-passengers. It 
 was originally designed to finish the tunnel for carriages, but though long 
 contemplated, no road for horses has been opened from either end. You 
 descend a circular flight of stone steps, about seventy -five feet from the sur- 
 face of the ground, when you see stretching before you, a long, double arch, 
 built entirely of stone. As you pass along from side to side of the river, it 
 is difficult to conceive that a mighty flood of water is rolling over your head, 
 or that perhaps the keel of some large ship may be but a short distance above 
 you. A penny is charged as toll, but the receipts are said to be hardly 
 sufficient to meet the necessary expenses of lighting and repairs. 
 
 On our return, we visited the Tower, once a palace, then for centuries a 
 prison for state offenders ; it now serves as the National Museum of curiosities. 
 It is a venerable place, and gloomy enough it must have seemed to the states- 
 men and warriors who incurred the displeasure of their sovereigns, and were 
 transported from the gayety of a court, to the solitude of a tower dungeon. 
 As you enter, a soldier dressed in the military costume of Henry VHIth, con- 
 ducts you around the buildings. You first, however, pay him sixpence, 
 which entitles you to be hurried rapidly from curiosity to curiosity, and to 
 listen to his sing-song account of their history. The block and ax, with 
 which Ann Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIHth, and mother of Queec 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 291 
 
 Elizabeth, was beheaded; the small room in which Sir Walter Raleigh was 
 confined for many years; cannon raised from the wreck of the Royal George, 
 after more than half a century's immersion in the ocean, were among the 
 things to which our attention was called. We were hurried so rapidly from 
 object to object, that it became exceedingly annoying, and I offered our 
 guide his own price, to allow me to take my own time. He said it was im- 
 possible, such a thing had never been heard of, and I was content, per- 
 force, to follow the man into the horse armory. To me this was by far the 
 most interesting part of the show. Here, mounted on horseback, were all 
 the monarchs of England from the Conqueror downward, with renowned 
 knights and warriors, each dressed in the armor of his age, and in many 
 cases, in the particular suit he had worn in life. It needed little imagination, 
 with these figures in sight, to realize a battle as it was in feudal times. How 
 they could endure the enormous weight of armor, sometimes as much as a 
 hundred and twenty pounds, it is difficult to conjecture. Further on, we were 
 passed over to an old woman, who, with a comically reverential air, showed us 
 the regalia, as it is called, and the paraphernalia used in the coronation of the 
 monarchs of England. Here was the identical crown, which, in our boyish 
 simplicity we used to suppose the king wore as we wear our hats, beside it, 
 was the scepter, which he was always thought to hold in his hand. Gold, 
 diamonds, and pearls, flashed before our eyes, and when the female custo- 
 dian told us how many millions these baubles cost, I could not help hurriedly 
 computing how many poor children the interest of this useless wealth would 
 annually clothe and educate, who are now growing up all over London, in 
 vice and crime, fit food for the penitentiary, the hulks, Botany Bay, or the 
 gallows. This terminated the sights to which the expenditures of our six- 
 pences entitled us. As we passed out, we stopped for a moment to think ot 
 the multitude of victims who had suffered the last pangs of death in that 
 narrow passage way, under the hands of the executioner. 
 
 Desirous of seeing the worst side of London life, I had formed an 
 acquaintance with a policeman, who had been for eighteen years in the 
 service, and engaged him to show me around his beat, which included the 
 famous Rookery, and the purlieus of Drury Lane, the worst part of London. 
 About midnight, he began to show me what night life in London was. 
 While pointing out to me a fence, or place for the purchase of stolen goods, a 
 man came out and stared impudently into my face, when the policeman 
 
 told him to go into the house. The fellow said, he would be d d if he 
 
 did, when the policeman took him by the collar and shoved him into a yard, 
 and closed the door upon him. Another man immediately came from the 
 fence, and began to abuse the policeman, who told him to go back into his 
 house. Instead of doing so, he drew a heavy bar of iron from beneath his 
 coat, and aimed a blow at the policeman's head, which the latter warded off at 
 the expense of his hand, which was badly bruised. The fellow instantly turned 
 and jumped into the house, and jammed-to the door, when the policeman 
 stove in a panel with the butt end of his hanger, which the police just then, 
 were permitted to wear, in anticipation of danger from the chartist commo- 
 tious. Creeping in, the policeman, aided by a second, who came at his call 
 
292 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 brought out the man who had been so free with his blows, but now he could 
 neither see, hear, stand, nor walk, but lay flat upon the pavement, and com- 
 pelled the policemen to carry him about a quarter of a mile bodily. I ob- 
 served the next day, in the newspaper, that the fellow was imprisoned but 
 thirty days for this outrage. 
 
 On his return, with his wounded hand hastily bandaged, the policeman 
 took me up a narrow street, filled with dilapidated houses, some of them 
 very tall, and introduced me into a room in one of them, where a miserable 
 old woman sat hovering over a fire. Just before our entrance, we had seen 
 three boys skulking in, whom the policeman said were juvenile thieves. As 
 we entered, he said to the old woman, "Well, Mother O'Brian, I have come 
 to see you again ; " " Yes," said she, " but it's no good ; the poor dears haint 
 prigged nothing all day ; they haint got nothing to pay their lodgings with." 
 This, be it understood, was a penny lodging-house, where the most miserable 
 of the race were accustomed to resort, when their funds ran low. Proceed- 
 ing up the stairs, the policeman said to me, " Be careful to walk in the middle 
 of the stairs, for the sides are all covered with night soil." He also told me 
 not to touch anything in the house, and that I had better slip my pantaloons 
 inside my boots, for fear of the body lice which abounded there. Ascending 
 two pairs of stairs, we entered a room about sixteen feet square ; in one 
 corner, on a pile of rags laid upon the floor, were a man and three boys. The 
 man had a shirt on, but the boys were perfectly naked. Across the foot of 
 the bed lay a girl of fourteen or fifteen, with absolutely nothing on her per- 
 son but an old bonnet over her hair, apparently to keep it from becoming 
 tangled. The boys, who were the ones we had just before seen stealing into 
 the house, pretended to be in a sound sleep, and rubbed their eyes very na- 
 turally. They protested vehemently, they had stolen nothing all day, and 
 appealed to the woman whether they had not been unable to pay for their 
 lodgings, as a triumphant proof of their innocence. In the next corner, was 
 a man between two women, the face of one of whom was a complete mass of 
 blood. In the other two corners of the room, were similar collections of 
 rags, similarly occupied. There was neither a bedstead or a bed in the room. 
 The plastering had been torn away by yards, and the rotten floor was in- 
 clined at a considerable angle from a level, and seemed as though it would 
 give way at every step. 
 
 We went into a number of other rooms, filled with the same miserable oc- 
 cupants, but a hasty glance sufficed. Of such wretchedness I had never 
 conceived, and all this, and much more, existed within ten minutes' walk of 
 the palace where the Queen was then sleeping, and of the residences of the 
 aristocracy, the humanity, and the wealth of the land. 
 
 Leaving with a heavy heart, these penny lodgings, my conductor took me 
 to a plain-looking house, and told me to go boldly in, that there was a grand 
 gathering of thieves there, but nothing was to be feared if I showed no- 
 timidity. Entering a large room, I found from fifty to seventy-five men sit- 
 ting; on benches around the walls. Nothing was said, as I passed from man 
 to man, looking at each one, as though I was in search of some particular 
 thief, till I had gone half round the rtiom. Then muttered exclamations, and 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 293 
 
 occasional curses, were rapidly deepening into something more serious, when 
 luckily for me, the policeman entered, and asked me if I had found the man. 
 1 told him no, except it was this man, pointing to one in front of me, whc 
 had his hat closely jammed down over his eyes. My companion took his 
 hanger and knocked the hat from the fellow's head. I never saw on human 
 countenance, such an expression of haggard apprehension, as on this man. 
 He probably had been guilty of some crime, and supposed he was about tc 
 be arrested ; when I said the man was not there, the lon^-drawn breaths in- 
 dicated how great was the relief to this vagabond set of rogues and thieves. 
 I had seen enough of the low life of London for one night, and as the long 
 dawn of an English October began to lighten the tall spires of London, I left 
 my intelligent conductor, with my thanks, and also something more 
 substantial. 
 
 Hampton Court, twelve miles from London, is one of the show places of 
 the country. It was built by Cardinal Woolsey, for his especial residence, 
 but the jealousy of Henry VIII, having been artfully excited by the repre- 
 sentations of some of the Cardinal's enemies, who told him it was diso-race- 
 ful to have his prelate better lodged than himself, he interrogated the Cardi- 
 nal on the subject, who seeing his danger, answered that he was building it 
 for the King. Henry gave him other lands in exchange, and Hampton Court 
 has ever since remained in the possession of the crowri. It was a favorite 
 residence of King James I, and Charles I, and Queen Anne. It has long, 
 however, been abandoned, as a royal residence, and is now a favorite resort 
 for London pleasure-seekers. Quite a number of the impoverished scions of 
 nobility are lodged here, and supported by grants from the government, pro- 
 fessedly, on the ground of services rendered the country, by some of their 
 ancestors, but really, to save the order from the necessity of labor, or the 
 degradation of the workhouse. 
 
 Leaving London, by sail from the " Nine Elms station," I was speedily- 
 landed at Richmond Hill. After being duly importuned by the donkey-boys, 
 to take a ride upon their scurvy beasts, and ascending a beautiful grassy 
 slope, whence a charming rural view is obtained, I walked along a narrow 
 road between high hedges, the openings in which, exhibited, everywhere, 
 beautiful glimpses of a highly cultivated country. 
 
 Passing Wandsworth Common, I observed a small flock of fat sheep, in a 
 small but rich-looking pasture, and a man leaning over the fence, looking at 
 them. He was the owner of the sheep, and rented the land, for the purpose 
 of giving a final feed to his stock, before sending them up to the London 
 market. He told me he paid £5 10 rent per acre, and at my expression of 
 surprise at his high rent, he said his lease was nearly out, and he could not 
 renew it under £6 10, or £7, a year. Add to this, tithe, or the one-tenth 
 due the clergy, and the heavy taxation, and how a tenant-farmer can live is a mys- 
 tery to me, though he gets about thirty to forty per cent, more for his sheep 
 than the New York price. Our farmers, who own their lands, and whos« 
 taxation is light, and who pay anything or nothing, as they please, for the 
 support of religion, think their own employment is far less remunerative 
 than the mechanic's or the trader's, what would they think if each acre oi land 
 
294 A NEW EI GLANDER 
 
 was burdened with an annual rent of ttventy-five to forty dollars. It is nc 
 wonder that such numbers of English farmers are every year leaving theif 
 heavy burdens on industry at home, and throwing in their lot with our own 
 people. 
 
 Sauntering leisurely along, a well-dressed man, of rather superior address, 
 erossed the street, and addressing me in an apologetic way, said he was 
 ashamed to be reduced to the necessity of asking assistance, but he was a re- 
 duced tradesman, and thrown out of business ; he had a wife and four 
 children, dependent upon the contributions of the wealthy for their support, 
 etc. etc. In my simplicity, I took all this for gospel, and gave the Jeremy 
 Diddler what silver I had in my pocket. I did not see him do it, but I have 
 no doubt, as soon as my back was turned, he struck his tongue into his 
 cheek, and complimented me with a few thoughts on the lubricating eflfects of 
 soft soder. A very few weeks' residence in London, teaches a stranger that 
 genteel begging is a very popular and profitable profession. As it had begun 
 to rain just on my entrance to the town of Kingston upon Thames, I stopped 
 at the nearest tavern, and odered supper. After dispatching several mutton 
 chops, I asked the landlord to show me a room. He was very sorry, but a 
 company of soldiers were quartered on him, and every room was full. It 
 seems that every tavern in England is obliged, by law, to accommodate sol- 
 diers at a much lower rate than other travelers pay. As quite a detachment 
 were stopping that night at Kingston, I found it difficult to obtain lodgings. 
 At last, however, I found a very old building of wood, with timbers quite as 
 large as were used in the first generation of American houses. It was so 
 low between joints, that, though no giant, I could not stand with my hat 
 on. My bedroom had, however, a charming air of neatness. The sheets, 
 white as driven snow, and fragrant with lavender, the floor scrubbed to a 
 whiteness that actually made me hesitate to put my travel-soiled feet upon it, 
 and the curtains to the bed and single window, fresh and clean — all these to- 
 gether, brought vividly to my mind, a country home in New England. The 
 next morning was a little chilly, and I begged the landlady to allow me to 
 take my breakfast by the kitchen fire. What an air of neatness that kitchen 
 wore. The jambs of the chimney were adorned with Dutch tiles, containing 
 the history of Joseph and his temptation. The hearth, the floor, the tables, 
 everything looked as though dirt was a stranger to the house. The copper 
 and pewter utensils hanging on the walls, wore a dazzling polish, while three 
 female domestics, in nice white caps, collars, and aprons, were a fitting ac- 
 companiment to the general attractions of the room. The girls, and nice 
 rosy-cheeked creatures they were, told me their wages, which they considered 
 very good, were £7 a year, beside Christmas vails, of a few shillings value, 
 which it was optional for their mistress to give, if they were satisfied with the 
 services rendered her. Custom has established a singular rule for servants 
 in most parts of England. Silk dresses, and parasols, are prohibited them, 
 for as a lady once said to me, "how could a body distinguish the mistress 
 from the servant?" Delains for winter, and muslins for summer, are per- 
 mitted articles of dress. Strange as it may seem, a servant who should dress 
 in silk, and carry a parasol, would be thought on the short road to ruin. A 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 295 
 
 feather in her hat would be thought to indicate that her ruin was already 
 accomplished. 
 
 A more charming morning than the one in which I walked the few milea 
 from Kingston to Hampton Court, I never remember. Almost for the first 
 time, in England, I saw the sun, not as it commonly looks there, like a red- 
 hot warming-pan, trying to emerge from vapory clouds, but in all the efful- 
 gence of its beauty. Within the hour, I was entering this relic of Tudor 
 magnificence. Proceeding up a broad marble staircase, I was surprised to 
 see the various doors ornamented with noble names, " Lady Caroline," " Lady 
 Mary," etc. While I was hesitating what to do, a lady opened a door near 
 me, to whom I apologized for my unintentional intrusion, and begged to know 
 where the picture-gallery was. It seems I had got up the wrong staircase, and 
 the lady courteously directed me which way to go to find the object of my 
 pursuit. At the head of the stairs, my cane was demanded of me, but a 
 desperate limp, improvised for the occasion, enabled me to keep it. Room 
 after room, naked of furniture, with the exception of the state-beds, about as 
 large as a moderate-sized chamber, and with the walls covered with paint- 
 ings, most of them of no great merit, led us at length to the apartment which 
 contained the " Beauties of the Court of Charles II." I had long been fa- 
 miliar with engravings from these portraits, but here they were in all the vo- 
 luptuous bloom and freshness of their charms. A more beautiful, or a more 
 corrupt court never existed than that of the " Merry Monarch." Nell 
 Gwynne, Duchess of St. Albans, and ancestor of the present Duke, was 
 raised by her charms, from an orange peddler about the theater, to a coronet. 
 Her sunny face looks lovingly out from a forest of curls, and indicates the 
 good heart which led her to influence her paramour to found Chelsea Hos- 
 pital. Lady Castlemaine, the Duchess of Portsmouth, and a dozen other 
 beauties, with swelling bosoms abundantly exposed, and lascivious-looking 
 eyes, stared out as brilliantly from the canvas, as though painted but yester- 
 day. Among these portraits, there is one of cabinet size, that represents, 
 the catalogue says, an unknown lady, that is not only the finest in the room, 
 but the finest I ever saw. I spent hours over this nameless lady; as often as 
 I got away from it, I would feel drawn back by some irresistible charm to 
 take one more look. Not only was there great beauty of feature, but in the 
 expression of the countenance, there was that charming union of purity with 
 spirit, that is so rarely seen, but more rarely resisted. After passing the 
 whole day in and around Hampton Court, I was glad to rest my weary limbs 
 on an omnibus box, beside the driver, which speedily took a load of visitors 
 back to the cars for London. 
 
 Everybody who has read " Whittington and his Cat," has heard of the 
 Lord Mayor of London. As the first magistrate of the first city of the 
 world, and as retaining more of the parade of feudal display, than almost 
 any other distinguished official in England, the grand show of the gilt coach, 
 tha burly coachman, and the tall footmen behind, all dressed out in buff 
 breeches, si:k stockings, blue military coats, of the pattern of centuries ago, 
 with the three-cornered hats and big canes, the Lord Mayor himself, in his 
 erix-irjed robes and massive chain, with city Remembrancer, Recorder, and 
 
296 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 other subordinate luminaries that revolve around him, appeal strikingly to 
 the immense number of poor apprentices, who witness from week to week, 
 the grand display in honor of the man, who once may have been as poor as 
 they. As everybody knows, one of the qualifications for the mayoralty, is 
 such a degree of wealth, as will enable the candidate to keep up the ancient 
 reputation of the city for hospitality. The impression is somewhat common 
 with us, that it is unusual for a person in England to rise from extreme 
 poverty to wealth. Such, however, is not the case. The concurrence of 
 talent, industry, and good fortune in an individual, does there, as here in a 
 multitude of cases, transfer the poor barefooted lad with a stout heart and 
 strong hands, into the pursy citizen, with a large abdominal corporosity, to 
 which his gold chain and big seals cling most lovingly. The oil and color 
 man, as they strangely designate a dealer in pickles, preserves, etc., or the 
 chandler, as is queerly called the man whose occupation would be known 
 with us, as that of a huxter, or fifty other occupations, may present the suc- 
 cessful candidate for the coveted honor of the Lordmayorship of London, and 
 show how well industry, skill, and mercantile ability, are appreciated there. 
 But jn addition to the great display of a well spread table, good food, and 
 rich wines and liquors, feasting great men, from Prince Albert down to Pro- 
 vincial Mayors, on all conceivable occasions, he also has as part of his duties, 
 that of holding a daily court, for the examination and punishment of offenders 
 within the city limits. 
 
 The late holder of the office, was a specimen of a genuine John Bull, 
 portly, bluff-looking, with a hard, bold eye, and a complexion speaking 
 loudly of calipash and calipee, washed down with copious libations of Bur- 
 gundy and Heidsick. At his left, a competent clerk, professionally educated, 
 sits, as the indispensable familiar to the wealthy tradesman, elevated to a post 
 which compels to the constant administration of criminal justice. As a speci- 
 men of the way they sometimes get on, when venturing to dispense with the 
 aid of the clerk, we once heard the Lord Mayor call up for trial, a boy, on 
 charge of having robbed his employer. The clerk said the boy's master de- 
 clined to prosecute. The magistrate turned to the lad, and said, " You are 
 a worthless fellow, you aint worth prosecuting, your master don't think you 
 are worth the trouble of it. Now go." And this to a boy of fifteen, giving 
 the lad to understand that his crimes and vices, had made him too contempt- 
 ible to be punished, or in other words, that a person must have some degree 
 of respectability about him, before the law would take notice of his delin- 
 quencies. One of the most disagreeable things about English courts, large 
 or small, is the difficulty of a stranger's getting admission. On the whole, 
 the most feasible mode of gaining an entrance to such places, is at once to 
 hand over your shilling, when all difficulties will immediately cease. The 
 porter at the Mansion Houses, as the Lord Mayor's official residence is called, 
 may tell you as he told me, **.. there is no room in the court," but the moment 
 he observes your hand stealing into your pocket, his frigid manners become 
 most cordial, and he says with the blandest of smiles, " possibly there may 
 be room for another, I will see," in a moment he will re-appear, and usher you 
 into the large court room, where there may be a dozen or twenty spectators 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 297 
 
 So much for the virtue of a shilling, in reducing a crowd to a baker's 
 dozen or so. 
 
 The University of Oxford, is the aristocratic place of education for wealthy 
 Englishmen. The town itself is about the size of New Haven, Conn., and has a 
 population of twenty-five thousand, while the University has about four times 
 as many students enrolled as there are at Yale College, or rather more than 
 2,000. Imagine yourself on a tall steeple, at the intersection of the two 
 principal streets, called Carfax, and looking round, you will see a multitude 
 of Gothic and Norman towers, and turrets, irregularly scattered over the 
 whole town, and appended to large buildings, built in quadrangular form, or 
 around a hollow square. Possibly a better idea may be gained by imagining 
 a hundred gothic churches, varying in size from that of Trinity church 
 New York, to that of some country church, which has battlemented walls but 
 no tower, and by uniting from half a dozen to twenty of these buildings, you 
 may form some idea of some twenty different colleges. These colleges are all 
 independent coporations, governing themselves, and united together for some 
 general purposes, but each having its own system of instruction, its separate 
 officers, and its own internal police. Education, in Oxford, in the languages 
 of Greece and Rome, is pursued with great thoroughness. The higher 
 mathematics are also successfully cultivated, but the whole theory of a public 
 education differs widely in England and America. There, it is the accom- 
 plishment of a gentleman. Here, it is a means of usefulness and influence 
 over others. The Natural Sciences form no part of the general course of study, 
 though lectures are given to such as may wish to cultivate a knowledge of 
 Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, etc. With all their defects, the Universi- 
 ties are noble places of education for the sons of the aristocracy, and of the 
 more wealthy of the mercantile and manufacturing classes. As institutions 
 of learning for the less wealthy, King's College, and the London University 
 have been established, and partly endowed by the government. In them, 
 the course of instruction is better adapted to the wants of the present age, 
 than at Cambridge or Oxford. Dissenters are not admitted to the latter 
 University, nor can be graduated at the former, in consequence of the matri- 
 culation oath in the one case, and the graduation oath in the other, being so 
 shaped as to be conscientiously taken by nobody but Episcopalians, or mem- 
 bers of the established church. This is not the case at the London Uni- 
 versity, the consequence of which is, a large patronage from Dissenters. 
 
 No general provision exists in England for the elementary education of all 
 its population. Yet the number w T ho cannot read at all, is comparatively 
 small. What with corporation schools, charity schools, the schools connected 
 with the church, and those supported by dissenters, together with those 
 established in large manufactories and by private munificence, almost all 
 have some opportunity to gain a knowledge of reading, and to a less degree, 
 of writing. The miserably poor of large cities, and the semi-paupers of 
 certain agricultural districts are, however, as a class, destitute of all ac- 
 quaintance with books. Justice, however, requires us to- say that during the 
 last twenty years, great improvements have been made in the means and 
 facilities for the education of the masses. 
 
298 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 The following description of an English home, extracted from Bartlett's 
 " What I saw in London," will give a pleasing, as well as just impression 
 of the domestic comfort and enjoyments of that large middling class, which 
 in England, as in every other country, is its strength and pride. 
 
 "A true English home is as sweet and beautiful a place as a Mahometan 
 could wish for his paradise ! It exhibits that exquisite finish, which is the 
 consequence of cultivation. When we speak of an English home, we mean 
 a home among the select middle classes, not among noblemen or working- 
 men, for among the former, there is a hollow-heartedness, and abject devotion 
 to mere conventionalities — a disgusting pride of blood, wealth and connec- 
 tions. And were we to describe the homes of the latter — the toiling laborers 
 of England — we should picture broken casements, expiring fires, haggard 
 countenances, and young children crying for bread. 
 
 But we choose now to describe — 
 
 " The merry homes of England ! — There woman's voice flows forth in song, 
 
 Around their hearths by night, Or childhood's tale is told, 
 
 What gladsome looks of household love Or lips move tunefully along 
 
 Meet in the ruddy light ! Some glorious page of old." 
 
 In the English heart there is a deep love of quiet, calm enjoyments, and 
 home joys — this is the reason why the English home is so lovable. Unlike 
 the French, they are not suited with an eternal round of festivities, balls, or 
 theatrical amusements. The Frenchman lives continually abroad, and 
 scarcely at all at home. In England the holidays, even in London, have a 
 rural tinge. When the Frenchman would rush to the Boulevards, the more 
 quiet and sedate Englishman gathers his children about him, and goes to 
 spend the day at Epping Forest, Gravesend, or Kerr Gardens. It would be 
 no pleasure for him to wander over the fashionable walks of the city, but 
 away from the crowd, in the bosom of his family, he indulges in the height 
 of felicity. 
 
 Among the middle classes in England, or perhaps we should say the upper- 
 middle, there is no degree of want, but rather a profusion of all that can 
 minister to the respectable appetites of mankind. The house, the grounds, 
 the situation and prospect are nearly perfect. We have seen many English 
 homes, and never for once came away from one without an enthusiastic ad- 
 miration of the sweet garden in which it pleasantly nestled. Painting minis- 
 ters to the eye, and music to the ear* 
 
 In the morning at nine the father sits down cosily with his family to his 
 dry toast and coffee, his morning newspaper and family letters, devouring 
 them all together. The Times with fresh news from all quarters of the world 
 lies open before him, and the " resonant steam eagles" have been flying all 
 night that he may read his letters with his morning meal. He then starts for 
 his counting-house, or his office, and with a luncheon at mid-day satisfies his 
 appetite until the dinner hour — which is at four, five, or six, as circumstances 
 may be — when he dines with his family around him. 
 
 Tea is served at seven, a simple but generally a very joyous meal. Sup 
 per is ready at nine or ten, of which the children never partake. 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 299 
 
 A true English home is intelligent, educated, and full of love. All that 
 Painting, Sculpture and Poetry, can do to beautify it, is done, and Music 
 lingers in it as naturally as sunshine in a dell. Those who say the English 
 are not a hospitable, frank, generous people, know nothing of their inner life. 
 A railway ride across from Liverpool to Paris, reveals nothing of the charac-. 
 ter of the people. It is a part of their system of conventionalities to preserve 
 a cool exterior when in the business world. Take these very men at home, 
 and the transition is almost miraculous. The knitted brow is smoothed with 
 smiles, and the silent tongue has become voluble with joy. And the in- 
 fluence of the English homes upon the children — is it not visible over the 
 world ? Those evening joys never are forgotten, but in the time of tempta- 
 tion, gather about the heart of youth, like a group of angels, guarding it 
 from all sin. 
 
 By the gathering round the winter hearth, By the smiling eye and loving tone, 
 
 Whon twilight call'd unto winter mirth; Over their life has a spell heen thrown. 
 
 By the fairy tale or legend old It hath brought the wanderer o'er the seas 
 
 In that ring of happy faces told ; To die on the hills of his own fresh breeze ; 
 
 By the quiet hour when hearts unite And back to the gates of his father's hall ; 
 
 In the parting prayer, and kind good-night ; It hath led the weeping prodigal." 
 
 Everybody feels an interest in the agriculture of England. Rural Eng- 
 land calls forth the rapturous praises of all travelers from other lands. The 
 gentle beauty of the landscape, the depth of green which covers her 
 meadows, the thick luxuriousness of her woods and forests, the beauty of 
 her horses, the huge size and fatness of her cattle, the noble breeds of sheep 
 that cover her hill sides, and the perfection even of her swine, are attractions 
 which no lover of country scenes can resist. To an American, especially, 
 there is an additional charm which springs from the contrast of highly culti- 
 vated land, with the primeval forest, and often rude tillage of his own home 
 Indeed, fields which have been penetrated by the plow for a thousand years, 
 must necessarily wear a very different aspect from fields which still show in 
 blackened stumps, how lately the forest was dispossessed. One of the most 
 striking features of the English country, is the abundance and magnificence 
 o( her hedges. Instead of gloom}' walls of stone, or the unpoetical fence 
 of rails, rich luxuriant boundaries of hawthorn, or buckthorn, or some other 
 variety of shrub, impervious to light, and impenetrable by cattle, or even 
 by truant schoolboys, skirt the roads and lanes, and give an air of charming 
 quiet to the eye of the traveler. The height of these hedges varies from five 
 or six, to fifteen or twenty feet. They grow rapidly, and in a very few years 
 become sufficiently dense to answer every purpose of an inclosure. They 
 also attain a great age, hedges having been pointed out to me beneath the 
 shade of which, the soldiers of Cromwell rested from the toil of a trium- 
 phant battle. 
 
 The hedges in the Isle of Wight excel all others both in size and beauty. There 
 is, however, a very serious objection to their use, arising from the quantity of 
 ground they consume. In a country, where every foot of land is needed, foi 
 the production of food, for its starving millions, and where the inclosures 
 are generally small, it can easily be seen, that many hundred thousands of 
 
300 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 acres must be rendered useless by this cause. Though the landscape suffeis 
 immeasurably from their destruction, and though fences of stone or timber are 
 not picturesque, yet the more prudent among the owners of the soil are begin- 
 ning to clip away their haws and bucks, and substitute fences less exacting 
 of room. Much of the beauty of rural England comes from a cause that 
 calls out the frequent execrations of the traveler : the perpetual rains, dews, 
 and fogs, which so annoy him, give that constant greenness to the grass, 
 which makes England, the first country in the world, for the beauty of its 
 animals, and the excellence of its meats. English beef is known the world 
 over — English mutton has no rival ; English butter and cheese is the stand- 
 ard of excellence wherever these table luxuries are known. But the fields 
 covered, for nine or ten months of the year, with living green, explains it all. 
 No burning sun withers the grass, no long droughts shed a summer death 
 over vegetation, as it does with us. The almost daily rains which pour down 
 from the willing heavens, compensates the farmer for the drenching he may 
 receive, in the perennial beauty of his farm. But the garden-like appearance 
 of many parts of England, is not wholly owing to the kindness of nature. 
 Agricultural improvements are carried on to an extent that would surprise 
 even the most enterprising of American farmers. The land, being generally 
 held under leases from wealthy land-owners, the latter are willing to incui 
 part of the expense of improvements which give a permanent addition to tht 
 value of the farm. Thus great benefit has been found to result from a 
 thorough system of drainage in clay lands. The tiles employed in this 
 expensive work are commonly furnished by tne landlord, while the tenant 
 furnishes the necessary labor. In leases which run from thirty to ninety 
 years, or even when the lease is but for ten years, this is not an inequitable 
 airangement. The present benefit accrues to the tenant, without increase of 
 rent, the future benefit to the owner, who gets an advance in price at the next 
 letting. 
 
 Farming implements of all sorts, from patent drills and corn crushers, 
 to expensive reaping and mowing machines, form part of the customary ap- 
 paratus of every well-tilled farm. Indeed so far is this carried, that steam ia 
 beginning to be used as a motive power in several sections of the country. 
 This machinery is generally more cumbrous, and much more expensive, than 
 shnilar machines in this country. Small faimers, of course, cannot procure 
 implements of this description, though they are essential to profitable till age- 
 There is at present a strong tendency to lease land in large farms, and it is 
 no uncommon thing to find English farmers, who do not own a foot of land, 
 who yet pay an annual rent of five, ten, and twenty, and sometimes even 
 thirty or forty thousand dollars, for the land they cultivate. The number of 
 small farmers is rapidly diminishing, and, under the operation of free trade in 
 corn, which has reduced the price of wheat from twenty-five to thirty-three 
 per cent., and therefore rendered the closest calculation necessary, in order 
 for the agricultural classes to live, it is feared this valuable class of the popu- 
 lation will soon be utterly extirpated. When this end is accomplished, there 
 can be but two classes of agriculturists, the few wealthy farmers, who have 
 capital to carry on the business with every facility machinery can give, and 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 301- 
 
 the many farm laborers, who receive from eight to eighteen pence a day, and 
 who, with swch a pittance, must live little better than the swine he feeds. 
 Agiicultural wealth is a good thing for a nation, but agricultural men are 
 better, and the sacrifice of the latter to the former does not portend future 
 prosperity and continued greatness to this heavily burdened people. 
 
 The perfection of agriculture is much aided by the abundance of her rivers. 
 Though the largest would be thought little more than streams with us, and 
 though others, like the Avon and the Trent, of which all the world have heard, 
 be regarded as only streamlets, yet their number, together with their thousand 
 little tributaries, which water almost every farm of any considerable size, 
 give every advantage for thorough irrigation. It is said, there are about 
 fifteen hundred streams, of various extent and importance, in Eng- 
 land, and that, together, they constitute the best river system in the 
 world. 
 
 Even more important to the mechanical and manufacturing interests of 
 England, than to her agriculture, is her abundance of water. Wherever a 
 natural fall occurs, or wherever one can be made, no matter at what expense, 
 there you see huge mills, factories, furnaces, glass-works, and every variety 
 of establishment, for the employment of the poorly-paid artisan, and the profit 
 of the great factory lords. There, the vast coal fields, with a supply still 
 lodged in the bowels of the earth, sufficient to furnish fuel to all the world for 
 more than twenty thousand years, together with inexhaustible beds of iron 
 ore, of a quality surpassed by that of no other country, complete the 
 natural advantages which England possesses for being the workshop of the 
 world. The skill, ingenuity, and enterprise of her people, have nobly 
 seconded the provisions of nature. Whatever the art of man can make, from 
 the most massive machinery to the keenest instrument the surgeon wields, 
 or from the coarsest fabric of wool to the most delicate gauze of silk or linen, 
 comes from her inexhaustible industry and invention. The wealth and 
 enterprise of the most commercial nations of ancient or modern times, sink into 
 'nsignilicance, when compared with the commercial greatness of England. 
 Her inland commerce is the richest and most active of any in the world, while 
 the foreign, extends to every port accessible over the whole earth. Everything 
 for which a demand anywhere exists — everything for which a demand can 
 be created, is manufactured, and scattered broadcast over all lands. Two 
 hundred and fifty millions of dollars worth of exports annually go forth from 
 this vast industrial hive. Her cotton manufactures are the most extensive 
 of the whole, and alone amount to nearly one hundred and fifty millions ol 
 dollars yearly. More than a million and a half of people are employed in the 
 production of these fabrics, and the capital devoted to this single branch of 
 industry is more than two hundred millions of dollars. Half a million of peo- 
 ple are engaged in the manufacture of woolens. Fifty millions of dollars 
 worth of silk goods are annually produced, by the labor of three hundred 
 thousand work people. Articles made of leather are manufactured to the 
 amount of one hundred millions of dollars. Every year, four hundred and 
 twenty thousand operatives, turn out a hundred and thirty millions of dollars 
 worth of whatever is made of metal. Then follow immense quantities of 
 
302 A NEW ENGLANDER 
 
 earthenware, china, glass, watches, jewelry, paper, soap, and almost every 
 article which the ingenuity of man has devised. • 
 
 McCulloch, the eminent statistical writer, concludes, that twelve millions 
 of acres are cultivated in England, of which nearly four million acres are de- 
 voted to wheat, three millions to oats and beans, one million three hundred 
 thousand each to clover and roots, (turnips, potatoes, etc.,) nine hundred 
 thousand acres to barley and rye, and one hundred and fifty thousand to hops 
 and garden produce; beside one million six hundred and fifty thousand acres, 
 which lie fallow, annually. The same writer estimates the annual value of 
 these lands at £72,000,000, and the seventeen millions of acres of pasture 
 lands at £59,000,000. 
 
 While, as a whole, the agricultural processes of England are behind those 
 of no other country in Europe, and, in many respects, are superior, there 
 are certain particulars in which there is great room for improvement, such as 
 the unnecessarily massive character of their machinery, the employment of 
 more strength than is needed, neglect, in many parts, of drainage, and, as a 
 cause of most of their difficulties, a reluctance to profit by the experience and 
 inventions of other nations. This trait of character in the English farme/ i« 
 often witnessed among those of them who have been compelled to emigrate to 
 this country, and who generally show little disposition to avail themselves of 
 the experience of our own countrymen, whose familiarity with the climaie, 
 soil, and markets, entitle their opinion to great weight. To bestow the same 
 labor upon land, whose price in fee-simple is only five shillings, as upon land 
 whose annual rent is twenty or thirty dollars, is the height of folly ; but it is 
 not always easy to convince the English farmer of his error. 
 
 In treating of the condition of religion in a foreign country, a writer is apt 
 to be improperly influenced by his own particular views upon a subject which 
 is of the last importance to mankind, and which he is inclined to look upon 
 through the medium of the prejudices in which he has been educated. 
 
 The religion of England, as recognized by the State, is Episcopal, that is, 
 it consists, so far as organization is concerned, of a national church, of which 
 the king or queen, for the time being, is the earthly head, subordinate to 
 whom are two archbishoprics, that of Canterbury and that of York, twenty- 
 six bishoprics, the incumbents of most of which have seats in the House of 
 Lords, and over ten thousand parish priests, with their curates. In theory, 
 this number of clergy of all grades is supposed to be sufficient for the reli- 
 gious instruction of all England. 
 
 In consonance with this view, there is a perpetual rent-charge upon the 
 whole country of one-tenth of its produce, for the maintenance of the worship 
 of God. In many cases, this tithe, as it is called, has been commuted for a 
 fixed sum, so that the burden upon the land is far less than would at first be 
 supposed. But when it is taken into account that a large portion of the peo- 
 ple are conscientiously opposed to any connection whatever with, or depend- 
 ence of the church upon, the state, as well as to the constitution and claims of 
 the Establishment, the hardship of this compulsory support of the Church of 
 England becomes more apparent. Thousands of congregations of dissenters 
 from the worship recognized by law, while voluntarily supporting pastors 
 
IN OLD ENGLAND. 303 
 
 and teachers of their own choice, are also compelled to pay their share of the 
 expense needed for the maintenance of a parish minister to whose doctrine they 
 may have conscientious scruples, and to whose connection with the state their 
 feelings are repugnant. Beside this injustice, the parish priest is rarely 
 chosen by those to whom he ministers, but by some neighboring landlord, 
 in whom, as chief owner of the soil, the advowson, or right of presentation, 
 rests. 
 
 Bad as this state of things is, it would be doing great injustice to the pre- 
 sent holders of ecclesiastical tenures, not to say, that as a body, they are a 
 useful, exemplary, and religious class of men. To their honor be it said, 
 that though dependent upon the wealthy for advancement, they are not 
 backward to rebuke their vices ; and though independent of the poor, they 
 are generally ready to recognize their virtues, and to advocate their true 
 interests. Yet, a change for the better is most desirable. They not only 
 should feel for, but they should sympathize with, the poor. Such a change 
 in the practical relations of the priest and his people as was effected in part by 
 John Wesley, is what is needed to remove from the minds of the prejudiced 
 and the ignorant, the impression, that all for which the sacred shepherd cares 
 is the fleece of the sheep intrusted to his oversight. Such a change, the pro- 
 gress of events indicates to be near at hand. The increasing strength and 
 influence of the dissenters, the progress of just and liberal ideas, and the con- 
 viction of thousands of intelligent minds, that religion will flourish best as it 
 did in apostolic days, without the aid of the secular power, conspire to 
 weaken the established church, and to indicate the near approach of that time 
 when human laws will no longer make hypocrites, by granting peculiar protis 
 or honor to the advocates of any single form of religious organization. It 
 ought also to be said, in honor of the English nation, that though tenacious 
 of the privileges of the Established Church, complete toleration is granted to 
 every other faith. Jews may deny the Lord that bought them ; infidels may 
 reject the inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament ; 
 Quakers may exalt the law written upon the heart over the printed page ; 
 independency may scoff at miters and altars, and even Mormons may impiously 
 teach, that Joe Smith was sent into the world to complete what our Savior 
 began, yet they all possess an equal right to make all the converts they can, 
 and to make them too, out of the bosom of the Establishment, and no law will 
 punish their efforts, or hinder their success. Much has been said, most 
 unjustly, against the Establishment, while, in reality, the worst that in justice 
 can be affirmed, is, that she possesses a revenue, independent of the will of 
 the people, of twenty or thirty millions of dollars, and that she has been built 
 up on the erroneous idea, that religion, if left to their voluntary support, 
 would speedily be rejected. It is one of the noblest prerogatives of the 
 American people, to demonstrate the truth of the doctrine universally held by 
 our own people, that religion is a necessity of human nature, and will be sup- 
 ported by the spontaneous offerings of every free people. 
 
 Yet there is one terrible drawback on the prosperity of England, which is 
 becoming continually more burdensome, and that is her poor laws. Whil 
 England remained a Catholic country, the clergy were regarded as the hea 
 
304 A NEW ENGLANDER IN OLD ENGLAND. 
 
 venly appointed almoners of the bounty of the rich toward the poor. But 
 when the large endowments of the church were made over to the grasping 
 nobles and courtiers of Henry VIII, the reformed church and clergy had not 
 the means of supplying the necessities of the destitute. The monasteries and 
 convents were shut up, and the poor were compelled to depend upon the 
 casual benefactions of the rich. The natural consequence was, that surh 
 charity was not sufficient for the relief of the destitute, many of whcm 
 resorted to violence, robbery and murder, in order to fill their stomachs. To 
 such an extent was this true, that over eight thousand persons were hung for 
 robbery in a single year, in the time of Henry VIII. The reign of this 
 monarch's daughter, Elizabeth, was signalized by the passage of the first pool 
 laws known in England. The fact that such aid was made compulsory by 
 the law, induced increasing numbers to rely upon it, instead of relying upon 
 their own exertions, when the times were bad and food was dear. No 
 inducement was held out to the poor to lay by in prosperity for a season of 
 adversity; for the law assured them of a support, come what might. The 
 result of this policy is seen, in a larger number of paupers in England than in 
 any of the other countries of Europe. Some years of scarcity have witnessed 
 one-sixth of the entire people dependent upon the exertions of the rest. What 
 will finally come out of this, no man can say. The evil is gigantic, and some 
 remedy must be found, or her poor laws will prove her undoing. 
 
 Our account of England must close with a brief notice of her leading 
 towns : among her great manufacturing cities, Manchester, Birmingham, 
 Leeds, and Sheffield stand foremost. The first is the great place for the pro- 
 duction of cotton goods. Birmingham is the chief seat of the manufacture 
 of iron ware of every kind. Leeds is the center of the woolen business, and 
 Sheffield is known to every school-boy as the place where the best knives are 
 made, and to those of greater age, as possessing facilities for turning out 
 the most perfect razors that ever passed over the face of man. In addition 
 to these towns, Coventry is celebrated for its ribbons and watches, Axminster, 
 Wilton, and Kidderminster for its carpets, Bradford for its cloths, Notting- 
 ham for its hosiery, and Spitalfields for its silks. But it would be in vain to 
 enumerate all the towns of England which are celebrated for their productions. 
 Wherever there are men, there is industry in some form, and far distant be 
 the day when the land of our forefathers shall exhibit any other spectacle than 
 that of a country filled with an industrious, intelligent, and moral people. 
 Whoever loves his kind may well say, in the language of one of its 
 greatest poets— " England, with all thy faults, I love thee still." 
 
ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES 
 
 MUNGO PARK AND OTHERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 Peculiar Condition of Africa— Knowledge of the Ancients respecting this Continent— Inva- 
 sion by the Arabs — Discoveries of the Portuguese — Western Africa — Southern Africa- 
 Eastern Africa — Central Africa — Ledyard, the American Traveler — Mungo Park's First 
 Journey— He undertakes to explore Africa — Departure — 111 Treatment at Bondou and 
 Joag — Kooniakary — Captivity among the Moors — Escape — The Niger — Sego — Sansanding 
 — Silla — Obliged to Return — Various Misfortunes — Distressed State — Finds Belief at 
 Kamalia — Arrival in England. 
 
 The vast continent of Africa, 
 comprising nearly one fourth of the 
 entire land area of the globe, has 
 presented greater obstacles to 
 human enterprise than any other 
 equal portion of the earth's sur- 
 face. The peculiar physical con- 
 dition of Africa has operated as 
 one cause of her isolation from 
 the rest of the world. The other 
 portions of our earth, situated 
 under the tropics, consist, gener- 
 ally, either of sea, or of narrow 
 peninsular tracts of land, and 
 clusters of islands, blown upon 
 by the sea-breeze. Africa, on 
 the other hand, presents scarcely 
 one o*ulf or sea-break in its vast 
 
 o 
 
 outline. 
 
 A consequence of this compact 
 
 geographical shape of a conti- 
 nent, the greater part of which is within the torrid zone, is its subjection, 
 throughout its entire extent, to the unmitigated influence of the sun's heat. 
 All that is noxious in climate, we are accustomed to associate with Africa. 
 Here stretching out into a boundless desert, where for days the traveler toils 
 amid burning sands under a stifling sky ; there covered with a dense and 
 swampy jungle, breathing out pestilence, and teeming with all repulsive 
 forms of animal life, the African continent seems to defy the encroachments 
 20 305 
 
306 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 of European civilization. And although, probably, our ideas of these Afri- 
 can horrors will be modified by more accurate knowledge, enough seems 
 ascertained to prove that the laying open of interior Africa to the general 
 flood of human influences, will be among the last achievements of the explo- 
 ring spirit of our race. 
 
 Notwithstanding the difficulties which lie in the way, Africa has at all times 
 been an object of curiosity and interest to the inhabitants of the civilized parts 
 of the earth ; and scientific zeal, the desire of extending traffic, and even the 
 mere thirst for adventure, have prompted many expeditions for the purpose 
 of exploring its coasts, and making discoveries in its interior. The ancients 
 appear to have acquired much knowledge of Africa, which was afterward 
 lost, and had to be re-acquired by the moderns for themselves. The African 
 coasts of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea were not only familiar to the 
 ancient geographers, but were inhabited by populations which performed a 
 conspicuous part in the general affairs of the world, and ranked high in the 
 scale of civilization — the Egyptians, Carthaginians, etc. Nor, if we may 
 believe the evidence which exists in favor of the accounts of the circumnavi- 
 gation of Africa by ancient navigators, were the other coasts of the continent — 
 those, namely, which are washed by the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean — 
 unvisited by northern ships. Regarding the interior of Africa, too, the 
 knowledge possessed by the ancients, although very meager in itself, was 
 nearly as definite as that possessed by their modern descendants, until within 
 a comparatively recent period. As far as the northern borders of the Great 
 Desert, their own personal observation might be said to extend, and respect- 
 ing the wandering tribes of black and savage people living farther to the 
 south, they had received many vague notices. The Nile being one of the 
 best-known rivers of the ancient world, its origin and course were matters of 
 great interest, and the African geography of the ancients, in general, may be 
 said to consist of speculations respecting this extraordinary river. The first 
 mention made of the other great African river, the Niger, is by Ptolemy, who 
 lived seventy years after Christ. Ptolemy believed that this river discharged 
 itself ultimately into the Nile ; others, however, did not admit this conclusion, 
 and acknowledged that the real course of the Niger was a mystery. 
 
 Such are some of the most prominent points in the ancient geography of 
 Africa. How wild and inaccurate must have been the notions entertained 
 respecting the shape and total extent of the African continent, may be judged 
 from the fact, that one geographer describes it as an irregular figure of four 
 sides, the south side running nearly parallel to the equator, but considerably 
 to the north of it ! Others, again, held forth the fearful picture of Centra] 
 Africa as a vast burning plain, in which no green thing grew, and into which 
 no living being could penetrate ; and this hypothesis of an uninhabitable tor- 
 rid zone became at length the generally received one. 
 
 The invasion of Africa by the Arab races in the seventh century, wrought 
 a grsat change in the condition of the northern half of the continent. Found- 
 ing powerful states along the Mediterranean coasts, these enterprising Ma- 
 hommedans, or Moors, as they were called, were able, by means of the camel, 
 to effect a passage across the Desert, which had baffled the ancients, and to 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 307 
 
 hold intercourse with the negroes who lived on its southern border along the 
 banks of the Niger and the shores of Lake Tchad. In some of these negro 
 states the Arabs obtained a preponderance, and with others they carried on an 
 influential and lucrative commerce. The consequence was a mixture of Moor- 
 ish and negro blood among the inhabitants of the countries of Central Africa 
 bordering on the Great Desert, as well as a general diffusion of certain scraps 
 of the Mahommedan religion among the negro tribes. Hence it is that, in 
 the innermost recesses of interior Africa at the present day, we find the ne- 
 groes partly professing Paganism, partly Mahommedanism, but all practicing 
 ceremonies and superstitions in which we observe the Pagan spirit with a 
 slight Mahommedan tincture. 
 
 It was not till the fifteenth century that the career of modern European 
 discovery in Africa commenced. The Portuguese, leading the van of the na- 
 tions of Europe in that great movement of maritime enterprise which consti- 
 tutes so signal an epoch in the history of modern society, selected the western 
 coast of Africa as the most promising tract along which to prosecute discovery; 
 their intercourse with the Moors having made them aware that gold and other 
 precious commodities were to be procured in that direction. In the year 1433 
 Cape Bojador was passed by a navigator called Gilianez ; and others suc- 
 ceeding him, passed Cape Blanco, and, exploring the entire coast of the 
 Desert, reached at length the fertile shores of Gambra and Guinea. The 
 sudden bending inward of the coast-line at the Gulf of Guinea, gave a new 
 direction and a new impulse to the activity of the Portuguese. Having no 
 definite ideas of the breadth of the African continent, they imagined that, by 
 continuing their course eastward along the Gulf, they would arrive at the 
 renowned country of the great Prester John, a fabulous personage, who was 
 believed to reign with golden sway over an immense and rich territory, situ- 
 ated no one could tell exactly where, but which some contended could be no 
 other than Abyssinia. The Portuguese, while prosecuting their discoveries 
 along the African coast, did not neglect means for establishing a commercial 
 intercourse with those parts of the coast which they had already explored. 
 Settlements or factories for the convenience of the trade in gold, ivory, gum, 
 different kinds of timber, and eventually, also in slaves, were founded at 
 various points of the coast between Cape Verde and Biafra. Various mission- 
 ary settlements were likewise founded for the dissemination of the Roman 
 Catholic faith among the natives. 
 
 The chimera of Prester John was succeeded by the more rational hope of 
 effecting a passage to India by way of Southern Africa. This great feat, 
 accordingly, was at length achieved by Vasco de Gama, who, in 1497, four 
 years after the discovery of America by Columbus, persisted in his course to 
 the south so far as to double the Cape of Good Hope, and point the way north- 
 ward into the Indian Ocean. By his voyages, and those of his successors, 
 the eastern coast of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope through the Mo- 
 zambique channel to the Red Sea, was soon defined as accurately as the 
 western coast had been by the voyages of his predecessors ; and thus the 
 entire outline and shape of the African continent were at length made known. 
 This great service to science and to the human race, was rendered, it ought 
 
308 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 to be remarked, by the Portuguese, who may be said to have conducted the 
 enterprise of the circumnavigation of Africa from its beginning to its end ; 
 and this is perhaps the greatest contribution which the Portuguese, as a na- 
 tion, have made to the general fund of human knowledge. 
 
 The outline of Africa having thus been laid down on the maps, and the 
 extent of its surface ascertained, the attention of discoverers was next turned 
 to its interior. The efforts made by the Portuguese to explore Nigritia in 
 search of Prester John have been already alluded to ; but it was by the other 
 nations of Europe, especially the English, the French, and the Dutch, who, 
 on the decline of the Portuguese power, began to compete with each other 
 in this field of enterprise, that the greatest advances were made in the know- 
 ledge of the geography of the various parts of Africa, and of the races 
 which inhabit it. For these last two hundred years, discoverers and travel- 
 ers of various nations have been adding to our information respecting this 
 vast continent; and in consequence of their joint labors, some in one part, 
 some in another, we are now able to form an idea, very general, it must be 
 admitted, but still tolerably distinct, of Africa and its inhabitants. In pre- 
 senting a summary view of the progress of African discovery, from the pe- 
 riod of the final circumnavigation of the continent, and its correct delineation 
 in outline down to the present time, it will be advantageous to take up its 
 divisions in the following order : — Western Africa, Southern Africa, Eastern 
 Africa, Central Africa or Nigritia, and Northern Africa, including the Great 
 Desert. 
 
 Western Africa. — The shores of Western Africa, especially those which 
 border the Gulf of Guinea, have retained to the present time the distinction 
 which they acquired at the period of their discovery by the Portuguese, of 
 being the market which European ships visit for African commodities. 
 
 The Portuguese, as we have already mentioned, were the first to plant 
 factories along this coast, from the southern termination of the Great Desert 
 to Congo, and other maritime districts south of the equator. Allured by the 
 profits of the slave trade, other European nations hastened to occupy stations 
 on the same coast ; and toward the end of the eighteenth century, the num- 
 ber of European forts and factories, round the shores of the Gulf of Guinea, 
 were said to be forty in all ; of which fifteen belonged to the Dutch, fourteen 
 to the English, four to the Portuguese, four to the Danes, and three to the 
 French. Deriving its principal commercial importance from the trade in ne- 
 groes, which this chain of forts was intended to guard, Western Africa has, 
 since the abolition of the slave trade, fallen considerably out of view. Ac- 
 cording to the best information, however, that has been obtained, "the terri- 
 tory is in the possession of a number of petty states, many of which compose 
 aristocratic republics, turbulent, restless, licentious, and generally rendered 
 more depraved by their intercourse with Europeans." 
 
 Proceeding from north to south, let us briefly notice the various countries 
 of the western coast, with the tribes which inhabit them. 
 
 The most northerly is Senegambia, the name applied to the district watered 
 by the two rivers Senegal and Gambia, commencing from the Desert, and ex- 
 tending as far ar the Grain Coast. According to Mungo Park, the territory 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 309 
 
 is inhabited by four tribes — the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and the 
 Mandingoes. In all of these tribes, part are Mahommedans by profession ; 
 but the great body of the people are Pagans, called by their Mahommedan 
 brethren Kaffirs, or infidels, and practicing the Fetish form of worship ; that 
 is, the worship of inanimate objects. The Feloops were described by Park 
 as a gloomy and revengeful race, but honorable and faithful in their dealings 
 with friends ; the Jaloffs as an active and warlike people, with jet-black skins, 
 but among the most handsome of the negroes, divided into several principali- 
 ties, and excelling in the manufacture of cotton cloths ; the Foulahs — a race 
 of more importance in Africa than Park imagined — as of a tawny complexion, 
 with soft silky hair and pleasing features, much attached to a pastoral life ; 
 and the Mandingoes, who are by far the most numerous people in this part 
 of Africa, as of a mild, sociable, and obliging disposition, the men commonly 
 above the middle size, well-shaped, strong, and capable of enduring great 
 labor; the women good-natured, sprightly, and agreeable. 
 
 The tract of country adjoining Senegambia on the south, and stretching 
 along the Gulf of Guinea, from the Grain Coast, to the Bight of Biafra, has 
 been named Upper Guinea, and includes beside the colonies of Sierra Leone, 
 Liberia, and the Ivory and Gold Coasts, noted for their unhealthiness, three 
 native states — namely, Ashantee, Dahomey, and Benin. Our information re- 
 specting these negro kingdoms is derived from the discoveries of curious tra- 
 velers, among' whom may be mentioned Mr. Norris, who undertook a journey 
 to the coast of the king of Dahomey, in 1792, with the hope of making ar- 
 rangements beneficial to English trade ; Mr. Bowditch, who took part in a 
 mission for a similar purpose to the king of Ashantee, in 1817 ; and Captain 
 Adams, who visited Benin at a later period. 
 
 Ashantee is described as a hilly country, well-watered by numerous 
 streams, and covered almost entirely with that rich vegetable luxuriance, 
 the labor of removing which, it has been observed, is as severe for the agri- 
 culturist as the opposite labor of fertilizing barren lands. The Ashantee 
 negro clears the land by means of fire, thus both removing the rank vegeta- 
 tion, and spreading the soil with a rich manure, which yields two crops a year. 
 Beside innumerable kinds of fruit and flowers, and all the giant trees of the 
 tropics, the productions are sugar, tobacco, maize, rice, yams, ami potatoes. 
 All kinds of tropical animals, likewise, swarm in Ashantee. The human inha- 
 bitants of the whole region or empire, are estimated at three millions, and 
 though possessing in a marked degree, some of the worst negro characterist- 
 ics, they are, upon the whole, more advanced than most of the African tribes, 
 not only practicing a regular and tolerably skilled agriculture, but showing 
 considerable ingenuity in several mechanical arts — as dying, tanning, pottery, 
 weaving, and the manufacture of instruments and ornaments out of gold, 
 iron, etc. They are also cleanly and well clad, and pay some attention to 
 the building and decoration of their houses. Their government is an abso- 
 lute monarchy, or nearly so ; the classes of society under the monarch being 
 cabocces or nobles, gentry, traders, and slaves. Polygamy is allowed, but 
 no one but the king possesses many wives. The royal number of wives is 
 said to be precisely three thousand three hundred and thirty-three, who. 
 
310 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 however, act also in other capacities, as body guards, etc. The most horri- 
 ble of the Ashantee customs is, that of sacrificing a number of persons on 
 the death of every man of rank ; the number of victims being regarded not 
 only as indicating the dignity of the deceased in this world, but as deter- 
 mining his rank in the next. The belief in a future state is one of the strong- 
 est of their religious ideas. Regarding the origin of mankind, they, as well 
 as other negro tribes of the Guinea coast, have the following singular tradi- 
 tion : The Great Spirit, they say, having created three white men and women, 
 and as many black, offered the blacks the first choice of two articles which 
 he held in his hand, one of which was a calabash, which contained gold, 
 iron, and all the choice products of the earth, in consequence of which, the 
 negro to this day, possesses those blessings in abundance; while the sealed 
 paper falling to the share of the whites, has conferred on them the higher 
 gift of knowledge, wherewith the contents of the calabash may be turned to 
 account. This admission of the superiority of the whites, on the part of the 
 Ashantees, appears also in their belief that the good negroes become white 
 in the future state. No part of Africa, or even of the world, is believed to 
 be richer in gold than Ashantee. 
 
 The kingdom of Dahomey, situated eastward from Ashantee, resembles it 
 in the general aspect of the soil, and in many other particulars. It appears 
 to be a recent negro state, formed by the conquest of a number of tribes, by 
 a powerful race from the interior. The government of the Dahomans, like 
 that of the Ashantees, is an absolute monarchy; but the Dahoman king seems 
 to be still more despotic in practice than his Ashantee neighbor. When in 
 obedience to some superstitious freak, he wishes to send a message to some 
 of his deceased relatives in the other world, he delivers the message to some 
 attendant negro, whose head is immediately cut off, as a means of forwarding 
 him to his destination; if the monarch has forgot any part of his communi- 
 cation, he immediately adds a postscript, by a second messenger. The 
 bloody custom of sacrificing a number of victims on the occasion of a great 
 man's funeral, is practiced at Dahomey as well as at Ashantee. The Daho- 
 mans have similar religious beliefs with the Ashantees ; their principal object 
 of worship, appropriately enough, is the tiger. Of late years some improve- 
 ment is believed to have taken place in the habits of this fierce African race. 
 
 Passing from Upper Guinea, of which Ashantee and Dahomey are the 
 principal territories, we come next to Lower or South Guinea, which extends 
 from the Bight of Benin to the commencement of Southern Africa, and in- 
 cludes the provinces or districts of Loango, Congo, Angola, and Benguela. 
 The whole of this tract of coast, presents the aspect of a country degraded 
 and deterioated by intercourse with Europeans, to a condition worse than its 
 original negro barbarism. Here, more than three centuries ago, the Portu- 
 guese established themselves partly as missionaries of Christianity, and 
 partly as traders in slaves; and while their efforts in the former capacity, 
 directed as they are by the most absurd and wretched bigotry, produced 
 almost no beneficial effect ; the curse of the slave traffic, which they imported, 
 has adhered to the country with a tenacity which all the rigors of modern 
 philanthropy cannot overcome. It is from these coasts that the exportation 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 311 
 
 of negroes is said to go on at the present time, more busily than it did before 
 the abolition of the slave trade. The characteristics of the coast, and of the 
 population which inhabits it, are determined by the brutal traffic of which it is 
 the scene. It is impossible, within our limits, to give a description of the 
 whole line of shore, of the small port-towns scattered along it, with their 
 motley population of negroes, mulattoes, and slave-dealing Portuguese, or of 
 the negro districts in the interior, where the natives fight and kidnap each 
 other to supply the demand for slaves on the coast. 
 
 Southern Africa. — Occupied with their lucrative commerce on the fertile 
 coasts of Western Africa, the Portuguese scarcely bestowed a thought on the 
 southern extremity of the continent, the aspect of which was less promising ; 
 and accordingly, for a centun^ and a half after the famous voyage of Vasco 
 de Gama, the district around the Cape of Good Hope remained a blank waste 
 to Europeans. The prudent and enterprising Dutch, however, having em- 
 barked in the East India trade, soon discovered the importance of the Cape 
 as a commercial station, and in the year 1650, they founded Cape Town, the 
 capital of Cape Colony, the most flourishing of all the European settlements 
 in Africa. Encroaching, without the least scruple, on the territories of the 
 natives, the Dutch extended their possessions so as to include an area of up- 
 ward of one hundred and twenty thousand square miles, some spots of which 
 were cultivated into immense grazing farms. Under the Dutch the natives 
 suffered dreadfully, numbers of them being reduced to bondage, and others 
 driven into the interior to find subsistence as best they could. In 1795 the 
 colony was taken by the English : it was restored again to the Dutch in 1800. 
 
 A second time, however, it was taken by the English, to whom it was finally 
 ceded in the year 1815, and is now, accordingly, an English possession. 
 Both before and after the cession of Cape Colony to the British, various 
 travelers have undertakeu journeys among the tribes inhabiting this extremity 
 of Africa ; and no accounts are more full and interesting than those of the va- 
 rious missionaries, who, since the beginning of the present century, have 
 employed themselves in the arduous task of carrying the doctrines of 
 Christianity into the heart of the native tribes. The native tribes of Southern 
 Africa are two in number — the Hottentots and the Caffres ; the former, so far 
 as not extirpated, inhabiting the tract of country adjacent to Cape Colony on 
 the western coast, the other, the tract adjacent to the colony on the eastern 
 coast. 
 
 Of the Hottentots of the colony and its vicinity, it is said that they have 
 " become noted and almost proverbial for presenting man in his lowest estate, 
 and under the closest alliance with the inferior orders of creation. It must, 
 indeed, be admitted, that they take particular pains to render their external 
 appearance the most hideous that the human body can possibly present. 
 Grease is poured over their persons in copious streams, which, being exposed 
 to the perpetual action of smoke, forms on their skin a black and shining 
 cake, through which the native color, a yellowish brown, is scarcely ever per- 
 ceptible. Grease, in Africa, forms the chief distinction of rank — the rick 
 besmearing themselves with fresh butter, while the poor are obliged to tea) 
 the fat from the bowels of slaughtered animals. They assign as a reason foi 
 
312 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 this singular practice, an effect which has been readily admitted by judicious 
 travelers — namely, that such a coating has, in this climate, a most salutary 
 influence in defending them from the rays of the sun, and in averting many 
 cutaneous disorders. Nature seems to have aided the task of disfiguring 
 them, by covering the head with irregular tufts of hard and coarse hair, and 
 causing singular prominences, composed of fat, to jut out in parts where they 
 are least ornamental. Nor do their habits of life present anything to redeem 
 this outward deformity. Their kraals, or villages, consist of a confused 
 crowd of little conical hovels, composed of twigs and earth, in which large 
 families sit and sleep, without having room to stand upright. The fire, in 
 the middle, fills these mansions with thick smoke, the floors being deeply co- 
 vered with every species of filth. At festivals, when an ox or a sheep is 
 killed, the Hottentots rip open the belly, tear out the entrails, which they 
 throw on the coals, and feast on them before the animal is completely dead. 
 Yet they are a friendty, hospitable race, living together in the greatest affec- 
 tion and harmony. The sluggish and senseless stupidity with which they 
 have been taxed, seems to have been in a great measure produced by their 
 degrading subjection to the Dutch boors. It has been asserted that the Hot- 
 tentots are destitute of all ideas of religion ; but this is not correct. It is as- 
 certained that they believe in a Supreme Being, as well as in an inferior 
 spirit, of a malignant nature; and that they practice certain superstitious rites, 
 as are usual among savages. 
 
 Such is the description given of the Hottentots, as they were under the 
 Dutch rule. Since the Cape came into the possession of the British, they have 
 not been treated with the same neglect and cruelty as they experienced from 
 the Dutch, who used to prohibit Hottentots, equally with dogs, from entering 
 their places of worship ; still, with some exceptions, arising from the beneficial 
 effects produced in some places by the missionaries, the account seems to 
 remain substantially true. Immediately to the north of the Colony, and on 
 the borders of the Snewburg, or Snowy Mountains, are the Bosjesmans, or 
 Bushmans, the most savage and degraded of all the South Africans. They 
 were visited in 1797, by Mr. Barrow, Private Secretary to Lord Macartney, 
 with the view of ascertaining whether friendly relations might not be entered 
 into with them, to prevent their incursions upon the farms of the Europeans. 
 
 Mr. Barrow, at the same period, crossed the frontier which divides the Colony 
 from the country of the Caffres, and made acquaintance with this race, dif- 
 fering widely in almost all respects from their neighbors the Bushmans. He 
 found them a handsome and spirited people, of frank and generous deport- 
 ment ; leading a roaming pastoral life, and possessing numbers of cattle, in 
 the rearing of which they seemed proficient. 
 
 Before the commencement of the present century, little more was known 
 respecting the original inhabitants of Southern Africa than what we have 
 thus generally indicated. But in 1801, two gentlemen, Messrs. Trutter and 
 Somerville, made an excursion to a considerable distance beyond the districts 
 of the Bushmans and the Cafl'res, whom Mr. Barrow had visited, and disco- 
 vered a large river, now called Orange river, flowing westward, into the At- 
 lantic. The banks of this river they found inhabited by a pastoral tribe called 
 
ADVENTURES IN" AFRICA. 31:] 
 
 the Koranes ; and the information they received from this people inducing 
 them to continue their journey still farther to the north, they at last reached, 
 what not a little surprised them — a city or town — of two or three thousand 
 houses, very neatly built, and well arranged. 
 
 The name of this city was Lattakoo; and the accounts which the travelers 
 brought back of it to the Cape, and of the friendliness with which they had 
 been received by the Boshuanas, who were then the prevalent tribe, induced 
 the government to send Dr. Cowan and Lieutenant Denovan to continue the 
 discovery, and, if possible, make their way past Lattakoo, so as ultimately to 
 reach Mozambique on the east coast. The issue of this expedition was un- 
 fortunate. The travelers reached Lattakoo in safety, but were killed at a 
 distance of eleven days' journey beyond it. The same route was afterward 
 pursued by Dr. Henry Lichtenstein, who added considerably to the knowl- 
 edge then possessed of this part of Africa. But the most enterprising tra- 
 veler in these regions was Mr. John Campbell, a missionary, who, animated 
 with an eager desire to spread Christianity among the rude Hottentots and 
 Caffres, undertook a journey for that purpose in 1813. He reached Lattakoo, 
 made known the object of his visit to Mateebe, king of the Boshuanas, and, 
 after some importunacy, obtained leave to establish a missionary station in 
 the capital. Having succeeded in the object of his expedition, Mr. Campbell 
 returned, but made a second journey to Lattakoo in 1820. He found the 
 missionary establishment in active operation, but little progress had been made 
 in converting the natives, who manifested the most profound indifference on 
 the subject of religion. Mr. Campbell now penetrated beyond Lattakoo, and 
 came among tribes till then unknown, some of them showing a considerable 
 advance in the arts of life, inhabiting neat villages, cultivating the ground, 
 smelting iron and copper, and manufacturing various implements. He also 
 came upon the border of an immense desert, which, from its appearance, and 
 the information which he was enabled to collect respecting it, he thought en- 
 titled to be named the Southern Sahara, as rivaling in extent the Great 
 Northern Desert. Whether, as he was led to imagine, this Desert stretches 
 from the tropic of Capricorn, where he saw its extremity, to the equator, is 
 a point which can only be settled by farther discovery; but the supposition 
 does not appear probable. 
 
 Subsequently to Mr. Campbell's journey, these regions have been visited 
 by other travelers, who have made us better acquainted with the tribes of the 
 South Cape, by giving us details of their customs and manner of life. The 
 latest of these is Mr. Robert Moffat, likewise a missionary. The general con- 
 clusion, from the accounts of these various travelers, seems to be, that the 
 southern extremity of Africa, is inhabited by two principal races — the Hot^ 
 tentots, who, both physically and intellectually, are far inferior to the average 
 of mankind; and the Caffres, a bold and savage, but promising race, resem- 
 bling in their general features the natives of other parts of Africa, and divi- 
 ded into a number of tribes, who inhabit villages scattered through the 
 country which borders on the Southern Desert. 
 
 While describing the inhabitants of Southern Africa, we have left the gene- 
 ral features of the country itself undescribed. The following passage will 
 
314 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 supply the deficiency: — " Southern Africa consists," says a writer, " of a 
 most strange assemblage of mountains and plains, of spots lovely and pictur- 
 esque beyond description, and gifted with inexhaustible fertility, and of seem- 
 ingly boundless plains, where barrenness reigns so completely paramount, 
 that the very principle of vegetation appears to be extinct. At a certain dis- 
 tance from the colony we enter upon regions over which the clouds of ignor- 
 ance — almost the only clouds one meets with — still brood. We traverse 
 large rivers, which rise no one knows where, and envelop their exits in equal 
 obscurity. Ranges of mountains also, with appellations uncouth, and hiding 
 no one knows what treasures of the animal and vegetable kingdoms in their 
 unvisited recesses, sweep before us along the verge of the horizon, dim, blue, 
 and shadowy, like so many fragments of fairyland. And if the great out- 
 lines of the landscape be original and bold, the filling up and coloring are no 
 less so. Everything upon which the eye rests has the appearance of having 
 been cast in a mould nowhere else made use of in the system of nature. 
 Among the terrestrial animals, what bulk and fantastic formations ! How nu- 
 meious and strikingly contrasted are the groups that present themselves! 
 In their character and habits what extremes seem to meet ! How unspeak- 
 ably lavish seems to be the waste of vitality ! Yet who will dare to say that, 
 in this prodigious outpouring of animal life, there is a single- creature that does 
 not enjoy and adorn the scene on which it moves? If there be anything we 
 should be disposed to think out of place, it is the stunted representatives of 
 humanity, who, under the name of Bushmen, roam in indescribable misery 
 and degradation over those sublime savannahs. To a man of imagination, 
 nothing more inspiring can be conceived than climbing one of the breezy 
 peaks overlooking that strange wilderness, at the moment that the dawn is 
 busily unfolding all its varied features. From every tree the heavy dew- 
 drops pour like rain; streams of white mist, smooth and glassy as a tranquil 
 river, float slowly down the valleys, reflecting from their surface the trees, 
 and cliffs, and crags on either hand. Here, through openings between feath- 
 ery mimosas, weeping-willows, and tall trembling reeds, we catch a glimpse 
 of some quiet lake, the haunt of the hippopotamus; while a herd of graceful 
 purple antelopes are seen drinking on its further margin. There, amid thick 
 clumps of camel-thorn, we behold a drove of giraffes, with heads eighteen 
 feet high, browsing on the tops of trees. Elsewhere, the rhinoceros pokes 
 his long ugly snout from a brake. While the lion, fearless in the conscious- 
 ness of his own strength, parades his tawny bulk over the plain, or reclines, 
 in sphinx-like attitude, beneath some ancient tree." 
 
 Eastern Africa. — With the exception of the countries bordering on the 
 Red Sea — Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinirt — which cannot be included in so 
 general a survey as the present, the eastern coast of Africa is undoubtedly 
 the least-known portion of the whole circuit of the continent. The tract of 
 country extending from the northern extremity of CafFreland to Cape Guard- 
 afui, and including the states or territories of Sofala, Mozambique, Zangue- 
 bar, and Ajan, was early visited by the Portuguese in their voyages to India; 
 and in the course of the sixteenth century, various settlements were planted 
 in it by them, similar to thos( which they planted along the Guinea Coast. 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 315 
 
 The most conspicuous difference was, that here the ruling race were not pure 
 negroes, but men of Arabic descent, and vehement Mohammedans. It was 
 from these that the Portuguese wrested the immense line of coast-territory 
 which they once held in this part of Africa, and of which they made Mozam- 
 bique the capital. On the ruin of the Portuguese power in India, their settle- 
 ments in Eastern Africa declined; the Arabs and blacks reconquered a great 
 portion of their ancient territory; and it is now merely by sufferance that the 
 once powerful Portuguese retain a footing on the coast a tall. What they do 
 possess, however, they guard with the utmost jealousy; and they testify ex- 
 treme aversion to the intrusion of any other European nation into these terri- 
 tories where they once lorded it so proudly. Mr. Salt, who visited Mozam- 
 bique in 1808, found it to contain a population of less than three thousand, 
 of whom only five hundred were Portuguese. " The rural population of this 
 part of Africa," says Mr. Macculloch, "is in the most degraded state; and 
 although the soil be naturally rich and productive, the culture of cotton, in- 
 digo, sugar, and other articles of commerce is wholly neglected. Rice, mil- 
 let, and manioc are raised almost without labor, furnishing, with cocoa-nuts, 
 almost the entire food of the slaves. The commerce of Mozambique has 
 greatly decreased, in consequence of our exertions to suppress the traffic in 
 slaves; but although much diminished, the slave trade is still carried on to a 
 considerable extent both with Brazil and Arabia. These slaves, who are 
 chiefly of the tribe of the Monjores, and brought from the center of the con- 
 tinent, a distance of forty or forty-five days' journey from the colony, are pro- 
 cured from the native merchants in exchange for salt, shells, tobacco, coarse 
 cloths, etc. Goods costing about two dollars, will bring in, as the case may 
 be, either a slave or an elephant's tusk, weighing from sixty to eighty pounds 
 of ivory. Hippopotamus' tusks, gold dust, Columbo-root, gums, and amber, 
 are the other chief exports." 
 
 From these few particulars, which include nearly all that is known of this 
 part of Africa, it will appear that, with the exception of the infusion of the 
 Mohammedan and Arabic element, which is here very strong, it bears a 
 close resemblance to the corresponding portion of the western coast. There 
 are the same impediments, arising from climate, to the acquisition of much 
 knowledge of the country by Europeans, who, at best, are unable to pene- 
 trate farther than a few miles into the interior. It appears probable, indeed, 
 that the last portions of the coast of Africa to be thoroughly explored will be 
 these sites of the declining Portuguese colonies. 
 
 Central Africa. — Under the general name of Central Africa may be inclu- 
 ded the whole of the interior of the continent south of the Great Desert. 
 This immense extent of country may be divided into two parts — Southern 
 Central Africa, lying between the tropic of Capricorn and the equator; ana 
 Northern Central Africa, called also Soudan, or Nigritia, lying between the 
 equator and the Great Desert. The former is as yet totally unknown and 
 unexplored; and before our information respecting it can be at all authentic 
 and accurate, two most difficult expeditions must have been made, which 
 have not yet been so much as proposed — one from the Cape of Good Hope 
 northward as far as the Mountains of the Moon, the other transversely across 
 
3iQ ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 the continent from Congo to Zanguebar or Mozambique. At what future 
 period the spirit of enterprise may achieve these two journeys it is impossible 
 to tell. 
 
 Northern Central Africa, or Nigritia, has, on the other hand, been pene- 
 trated by travelers, who have advanced into it from all directions. From the 
 earliest times this part of Africa attracted attention, as being the country 
 through which the famous Niger flowed, on whose banks the great city of 
 Timbuctoo, of the wealth of which vague accounts had reached the shores 
 of the Mediterranean, was reputed to be situated. To ascertain the course 
 of this river, and to reach this celebrated negro city, were the leading objects 
 of all who engaged in the enterprise of African discovery. In the year 
 1618, an English company was formed for the purpose of opening up a com- 
 munication with Timbuctoo, and not long afterward a similar company was 
 formed in France. For a century and a half the two nations continued to 
 compete with each other in the enterprise : the Erglish trying to make their 
 way up the river Gambia, which they imagined J .o be the outlet of the Niger; 
 the French, on the other hand, persevering along the Senega], which seemed 
 to them more likely to be identical with the Niger. Much useful information 
 was acquired in these successive voyages respecting Western Africa; but no 
 intelligence was obtained of the site of the great city of the negroes. It 
 was clearly ascertained, however, that neither the Senegal nor the Gambia 
 could be identical with the Niger, supposing the traditionary accounts of that 
 river to be^true. Three distinct opinions respecting this river began to be 
 entertained. Some said that there was no Niger at all, such as the ancients 
 had described it, but that some river, branching off into the Senegal and 
 Gambia, was alluded to. Others believed that the ancient accounts of the 
 Niger as a river flowing toward the east was correct, and that it was to be 
 considered one of the upper branches of the Nile. A third party maintained 
 that the supposition of the Niger being identical with the Nile was untenable, 
 considering the immense breadth of the continent, and that the true Niger 
 was some stream rising in the interior of Africa, and flowing into the sea at 
 some point of the western coast farther south than the Senegal and the Gambia. 
 A subsequent modification of this opinion was, that the Niger did not flow 
 into the sea at all, but terminated in some great marsh or lake in the interior 
 of Africa, resembling the Caspian Sea. 
 
 Such was the state of information, or rather of doubt, with respect to the 
 course of the Niger, when, in the year 1788, a number of spirited men of 
 science, including Lord Rawdon, Sir Joseph Banks, the bishop of Landaff, 
 Mr. Beaufoy, and Mr. Stuart, formed themselves into an association for the 
 purpose of prosecuting this and other questions of African geography to an 
 issue. No sooner had the society been formed, than it commenced its labors. 
 The first travelers, however, whom it sent out were cut off by death. 
 
 The very first who presented himself was an American, John Ledyard, 
 a native of Groton, Connecticut, whose history is so remarkable, that we 
 pause to dwell longer upon it than the regular chain of this article demands : 
 
 " His father died while he was yet a child, and he was left under the care 
 of a restive in Hartford. Here he enjoyed the advantages of a grammar- 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 317 
 
 school. After the death of his patron, when he was eighteen years of age, 
 he was left to follow his own inclinations. With a view to the study of divin- 
 ity, he now passed a short time in Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, 
 where he had ah opportunity of learning the manners of the Indians, as there 
 was a number of Indian pupils in the seminary. His acquaintance with the 
 savage character gained in this place, was of no little advantage to him in the 
 future periods of his life. His poverty obliging him to withdraw from the 
 college before he had completed his education, and not having a shilling in his 
 pocket to defray the expense of a journey to Hartford, he built him a canoe, 
 fifty feet in length, and three in breadth, and being generously supplied with 
 some dried venison for his sea-stores, he embarked upon the Connecticut, and 
 going down that river, which is in many places rapid, and with which he was 
 totally unacquainted, he arrived safely at Hartford, at the distance of one 
 hundred and forty miles. 
 
 " He soon went to New York, and sailed for London in 1771, as a common 
 sailor. When Captain Cook sailed on his third voyage of discovery, Ledyard, 
 who felt an irresistible desire to explore those regions of the globe which were 
 yet undiscovered, or imperfectly known, accepted the humble station of cor- 
 poral of marines, rather than forego an opportunity so inviting to his inquisi- 
 tive and adventurous spirit. He was a favorite of the illustrious navigator, 
 and was one of the witnesses of his tragical end in 1778. He surprised his 
 friends in America, who had heard nothing of him for ten years, by a visit 
 in 1781. Having offered his services to several merchants to conduct a tra- 
 ding voyage to the north-west coast, and meeting with no encouragement, he 
 again embarked for England in 1782. He now resolved to traverse the con- 
 tinent of America from the north-west coast, which Cook had partly explored, 
 to the eastern coast, with which he was already perfectly familiar. Disap- 
 pointed in his intention of sailing on a voyage of commercial adventure to 
 Nootka Sound, he passed the British channel to Ostend, with only ten guin- 
 eas in his purse, determined to travel over land to Kamtschatka, whence the 
 passage is short to the western coast of America. When he came to the 
 gulf of Bothnia, he attempted to cross the ice, that he might reach Kamts- 
 chatka by the shortest way ; but finding that the water was not frozen in the 
 middle, he returned to Stockholm. He then traveled northward into the 
 arctic circle, and passing round the head of the gulf, descended on its east- 
 ern side to Petersburg. There his extraordinary appearance attracted gen- 
 eral notice. Without stockings or shoes, and too poor to provide himself 
 with either, he was invited to dine with the Portuguese ambassador, who 
 supplied him with! twenty guineas on the credit of Sir Joseph Banks. Through 
 his interest, he also obtained permission to accompany a detachment of stores, 
 which was to be sent to Yakutz for the use of Mr. Billings, an Englishman, 
 who was intrusted with the schemes of northern discovery, in which the Em- 
 press was then engaged. From Yakutz, which is situated in Siberia, six 
 thousand miles east of Petersburg, he proceeded to Ochotsk, on the Kamts- 
 chatka sea ; but as the navigation was completely obstructed by ice, he re- 
 turned to Yakutz, intending to wait for the conclusion of the winter. Here, 
 in consequence of some unaccountable suspicion, he was seized in the name 
 
318 ADVENTURES W AFftTOA. 
 
 of the Empress by two Russian soldiers, who conveyed him, in the depth of 
 winter, through the north of Tartary to the frontier of the Polish dominions, 
 assuring him at their departure, that if he returned to Russia, he should cer- 
 tainly be hanged, but if he chose to return to England, they wished him a 
 pleasant journey. Poor, forlorn, and friendless, covered with rags, and ex- 
 hausted by fatigue, disease and misery, he proceeded to Konigsberg, where 
 the interest of Sir Joseph Banks enabled him to procure the sum of five guin- 
 eas, by means of which he arrived in England. 
 
 u He immediately waited on Sir Joseph, who recommended to him an adven- 
 ture as perilous as that from which he had just returned. He now was in- 
 formed of the views of the African association. He engaged with enthusi- 
 asm in an enterprise which he had already projected for himself; and receiv- 
 ing from Sir Joseph a letter of introduction to one of the members of the 
 committee appointed to direct the business, and promote the object of the 
 association, he went to him without delay, The description which that gen- 
 tleman has given of his first interview, strongly marks the character of this 
 hardy traveler. 'Before I had learned,' says he, 'from the note, the name 
 and business of my visitor, I was struck with the manliness of his person, 
 the breadth of his chest, the openness of his countenance, and the inquietude 
 of his eye. I spread the map of Africa before him, and tracing a line from 
 Cairo to Sennaar, and from thence westward in the latitude and supposed di- 
 rection of the Niger, I told him that was the route by which I was anxious 
 that Africa might, if possible, be explored. He said he should think himself 
 singularly fortunate to be intrusted with the adventure. I asked him when 
 he would set out. To-morrow morning, was his answer.' 
 
 " From such zeal, decision and intrepidity, the society naturally formed 
 the most sanguine expectations. He sailed from London, June 30, 1788, and 
 in thirty-six days, seven of which were spent in Paris, and two at Marseilles, 
 arrived in the city of Alexandria ; and having .here assumed the dress of 
 an Egyptian traveler, proceeded to Cairo, which he reached on the 19th 
 of August. He traveled with peculiar advantages. Endowed with an orig- 
 inal and comprehensive genius, he beheld with interest, and described with 
 energy, the scenes and objects around him ; and by comparing them with 
 what he had seen in other regions of the globe, he was enabled to give his 
 narrative all the varied effect of contrast and resemblance. His remarks on 
 Lower Egypt, had that country been less generally known, might have ranked 
 with the most valuable of geographical records. They greatly heightened 
 the opinion which his employers already entertained of his singular qualifica- 
 tions for the task which he had undertaken. Nor was his residence at Cairo 
 altogether useless to the association. By visiting the slave markets, and by 
 convers : ng with the Jelabs, or traveling merchants of the caravans, he ob- 
 tained, without any expense, a better idea of the people of Africa, of its 
 trade, of the position of places, the nature of the country, and the manner of 
 traveling, than he could by any other means have acquired ; and the commu- 
 nications on these subjects, which he transmitted to England, interesting and 
 instructive as they were, afforded the society the most gratifying proofs of the 
 ardent spirit of inquiry, the unwearied attention, the persevering research, 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 319 
 
 and the laborious, indefatigable, anxious zeal, with which thoir author pur- 
 sued the object of his mission. 
 
 " He had announced to his employers, that he had received letters of ear- 
 nest recommendation from the Aga ; that the day of his departure was ap- 
 pointed ; that his next dispatch would be dated from Sennaar ; and the com- 
 mittee expected with impatience the result of his journey. But that journey 
 was never to be performed. The vexation occasioned by repeated delays in 
 the departure of the caravan, brought on a bilious complaint, which being in- 
 creased at first by incautious treatment, baffled the skill of the most approved 
 physicians of Cairo, and terminated his earthly existence, January 17, 1789. 
 
 " The society heard with deep concern the death of a man, whose high 
 sense of honor, magnanimous contempt of danger, and earnest zeal for the 
 extension of knowledge, had been so conspicuously displayed in their ser- 
 vice ; whose ardor, tempered by calm deliberation, whose daring spirit, sec- 
 onded by the most prudent caution, and whose impatience of control, united 
 with the power of supporting any fatigue, seemed to have qualified him above 
 all other men, for the very arduous task of traversing the wildest and most 
 dangerous part of the continent of Africa. Despising the accidental distinc- 
 tions of society, he seemed to regard no man as his superior ; but his man- 
 ners, though unpolished, were not disagreeable. His uncultivated genius was 
 peculiar and capacious. The hardships to which he submitted in the prosecu- 
 tion of his enterprises and in the indulgence of his curiosity, are almost in- 
 credible. He was sometimes glad to receive food as in charity to a madman, 
 for that character he had been obliged to assume in order to avoid a heavier 
 calamity. His judgment of the female character is very honorable to the 
 sex. ' I have always remarked,' says he, ■ that women in all countries are 
 civil and obliging, tender and humane : that they are ever inclined to be gay 
 and cheerful, timorous and modest ; and that they do not hesitate, like men, 
 to perform a generous action. Not haughty, not arrogant, nor supercilious, 
 they are full of courtesy, and fond of society ; more liable in general to err 
 than man, but in general also more virtuous, and performing more good ac- 
 tions than he. To a woman, whether civilized or savage, I never addressed 
 myself, in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent 
 and friendly answer. With man it has often been otherwise. In wandering 
 over the barren plains of inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden and 
 frozen Lapland, rude and churlish Finland, unprincipled Russia, and the wide 
 spread regions of the wandering Tartar ; if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, 
 the women have ever been friendly to rne, and uniformly so. And add to 
 this virtue, so worthy the appellation of benevolence, their actions have been 
 performed in so free and kind a manner, that if I was dry, I drank the 
 sweetest draught, and if hungry, I ate the coarsest morsel with a double 
 relish.' " 
 
 Another of these adventurers, Major Houghton, ascended the Gambia, 
 traveling alone by land. He seems to have been endowed with a gay, active 
 and sanguine spirit, fitted to carry him through the boldest undertakings, but 
 without that cool and calculating temper necessary for him who advances 
 amid scenes of peril and treachery. Quitting the Gambia, he was on his 
 
320 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 way to Tirnbuctoo, when he was robbed by some Moors on the Great Desert, 
 and left naked without food or shelter. He wandered about until quite ex- 
 hausted, and then sat under a tree and expired. Mungo Park was shown the 
 very spot where his remains were abandoned to the fowls of the air. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the celebrated Mungo Park presented himself 
 to the society. Born in the county of Selkirk, in Scotland, and having been 
 educated for the medical profession, Park had just returned from a voyage 
 to the East Indies in the capacity of assistant surgeon on board of a vessel, 
 when he offered his services to the association. Park departed on his expe- 
 dition in the summer of 1795, he being then twenty-four years of age. His 
 instructions were to ascertain the course, and if possible, the rise and termi- 
 nation of the Niger, and to use his utmost exertions to visit the principal towns 
 and cities in its neighborhood, particularly Tirnbuctoo and Houssa. 
 
 He set sail from Portsmouth on the 22d May, 1795, and on the 21st June, 
 arrived at Jillifree on the Gambia. He then proceeded to Pisania, in the fer- 
 tile kingdom of Yani, where he was detained five months by illness under the 
 hospitable roof of Dr. Laidley. While suffering from the fever of the climate, 
 he acquired the Mandingo language, and obtained considerable information 
 from the negro traders respecting the interior countries. The Gambia at this 
 station was deep and muddy, overshadowed with impenetrable thickets of 
 mangrove, and the stream filled with crocodiles and river-horses. 
 
 On the 2d of December, Mr. Park took his departure, attended only by a 
 few negro servants. On the 5th, he arrived at Medina, where the good old 
 king received him with the same hospitality he had so liberally shown to Major 
 Houghton ; but earnestly exhorted him to take warning from the fate of that 
 too adventurous traveler, and go no farther. Mr. Park was not to be thus 
 discouraged, but immediately proceeded to enter the great forest or wilder- 
 ness which separates this country from Bondou. He conformed to the exam- 
 ple of his companions in hanging a charm or shred of cloth upon a tree at its 
 entrance, which was completely covered with those guartiian symbols. In 
 two days he had passed the wood, and found Bondou a fine champaign coun- 
 try, watered by the Faleme. He had soon, however, to encounter the perils 
 which cannot but await every single and defenseless traveler who, loaded 
 with valuable goods, passes through a succession of petty kingdoms where 
 law is unknown. At Fatteconda, which he reached on the 21st December, he 
 was obliged to wait upon Aim ami the king, who had already disgraced him- 
 self by the plunder of Major Houghton. Being desirous to preserve a good 
 new blue coat, Mr. Park deemed it the wisest plan to wear it on his person, 
 fondly hoping that it would not be actually stripped off his back. However, 
 after the introductory ceremonial, the king began a warm panegyric on the 
 wealth and generosity of the whites, whence he proceeded to the praises of 
 the coat and its yellow buttons, concluding with expressing the delight with 
 which he should wear it for the sake of his guest. He did not add, that if 
 these hints were disregarded, it would be seized by force ; but our traveler, 
 being thoroughly convinced that such was his intention, pulled off the coat r 
 of which he humbly requested his majesty's acceptance. The king then 
 abstained from farther spoil, and introduced him as a curiosity to his female 
 
ADVENTURES ftf AFRICA. 321 
 
 circle. The ladies, after a careful survey, approved of his external appear- 
 ance, with the exception of the two deformities of a white skin and a high 
 nose ; but for these they made ample allowance, being blemishes produced by 
 the false taste of his mother, who had bathed him in milk when young, and, 
 by pinching his nose, elevated it into its present absurd height. Park flat- 
 tered them on their jet-black skins and beautifully flattened noses ; but was 
 modestly warned that honey -mouth was not esteemed in Bondou. 
 
 Another forest intervened between that kingdom and Kajaaga, which he 
 crossed by moonlight, when the deep silence of the woods was interrupted 
 only by the howling of wolves and hyenas, which glided like shadows through 
 the thickets. Scarcely was he arrived at Joag, in Kajaaga, when a party from 
 Bacheri the king surrounded him, and declared his property forfeited, in con- 
 sequence of having entered the country without payment of the duties. Thus 
 he was stripped of all his goods except a small portion which he contrived to 
 hide. Unable to procure a meal, he was sitting disconsolate under a bentang, 
 tree, when an aged female slave came up and asked if he had dined. Being 
 told that he had not, and had been robbed of everything, she presented sev- 
 eral handfuls of nuts, and went off before he could return thanks. Demba 
 Sego, nephew to the king of Kasson, and who happened to be then at Joag 
 endeavoring to negotiate a peace between his uncle and Bacheri, who were at 
 variance, now undertook to guide him into that country, and did so ; but ex- 
 acted so many duties and presents, that Mr. Park was stripped of half his 
 remaining stock. Kasson was found a level, fertile, and beautiful country. 
 At Kooniakary, the capital, our traveler was well received by the king, and 
 forwarded to Kemmoo, the principal town of Kaarta. Daisy, the sovereign 
 of this last, likewise received him with the utmost kindness ; but on learning 
 his intention of taking the route to Timbuctoo through Bambarra, he stated 
 this to be impossible, as he himself was then at war with the latter kingdom, 
 and assured him that he would at once be killed if he attempted to enter it 
 from Kaarta. There remained, therefore, no alternative but to go by way of 
 the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar, a perilous and fatal route, in which Major 
 Houghton had already perished. Mr. Park, however, hoped, by proceeding 
 along the southern frontier, to reach Bambarra without coming much into 
 contact with the barbarous and bigoted Moors by whom it was peopled. 
 
 On his arrival at Jarra, a large town chiefly inhabited by negroes, but 
 entirely under the power of the Moors, he sent to Benowm, the capital, 
 a messenger loaded with presents to negotiate with Ali, their chief, for a pas- 
 sage through his territories. After waiting a fortnight in ffreat anxietv, he 
 received a safe-conduct to Goombo, a place on the frontier of Bambarra. He ' 
 first proceeded to Deena, a town in the possession of the Moors, who insulted 
 and plundered him in the grossest manner, so that he was happy to escape by 
 setting out at two in the morning of 3d March. He passed next through 
 Sampaka and Dalli, where he was received by the negro inhabitants with the 
 kindness and hospitality of that race ; he was even induced to stop a day at 
 Dalli under promise of an escort ; but this was a fatal pause. At Sami, on 
 the 7th March, a party of Moorish horsemen appeared, for the purpose of 
 felling him that Fatima, the favorite wife of Ali, had been struck with curi 
 21 
 
322 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 osity to see what kind of creature a Christian was; that he must therefore 
 come and show himself ; but was assured that he would be well treated, and 
 on satisfying her majesty's wish, would even be forwarded on his journey. 
 
 Benowm, the Moorish capital, to which Park was then conveyed, proved to 
 be a mere camp composed of a number of dirty tents, intermingled with herds 
 of camels, horses, and oxen. He was surrounded by crowds actuated partly 
 by curiosity and partly by that malignant feeling which always inflames the 
 Moors against Christians. They snatched off his hat, made him unbutton his 
 clothes to show the whiteness of his skin, and counted his fingers and toes to 
 see if he were really of the same nature with themselves. After being kept for 
 some time in the sun, he was lodged in a hut made of cornstalks, supported 
 by posts, to one of which was tied a wild hog, evidently in derision, and to inti- 
 mate that they were fit associates for each other. The hog, indeed, would have 
 been the most harmless part of the affair, had not idle boys taken delight in 
 tormenting and working up the animal to a constant state of fury. Crowds 
 of men and women incessantly poured in to see the white man, and he was 
 obliged to continue the whole day buttoning and unbuttoning his clothes, to 
 show his skin, and the European manner of dressing and undressing. When 
 curiosity was satisfied, the next amusement was to plague the Christian, and 
 he became the sport of the meanest and most vulgar members of this rude 
 community. The Moorish horsemen took him out and galloped round him, 
 baiting him as if he had been a wild beast, twirling their swords in his face 
 to show their skill in horsemanship. Repeated attempts were made to compel him 
 to work. One of Ali's sons desired him to mend the lock of a double-barreled 
 gun, and could scarcely be persuaded that all Europeans did not ply the trade 
 of a smith. He was also installed as barber, and directed to shave the head 
 of a young prince ; but not relishing this function, he contrived to give his 
 highness such a cut that Ali took the alarm and discharged him as incapable. 
 That chief, under pretense of securing him against depredation, seized for 
 himself all that remained of the traveler's property. Having examined the 
 instruments, he was greatly astonished at the compass, and particularly at its 
 always pointing toward the Great Desert. Park, thinking it vain to attempt 
 any scientific exposition, said that its direction was always to the place where 
 his mother dwelt ; whereupon Ali, struck with superstitious dread, desired it 
 to be taken away. 
 
 Amid these insults, Park's sufferings were the more severe from the very 
 scanty measure of food with which he was supplied. At midnight only he 
 received a small mess of kouskous, not nearly enough to satisfy nature. He 
 had been invited, indeed, to kill and dress his companion the hog ; but this 
 he considered as a snare laid for him, believing that the Mahommedans, had 
 they seen him feasting on this impure and hated flesh, would have killed him 
 on the spot. As the dry season advanced, water became scarce and precious, 
 and only a very limited quantity was allowed to reach the infidel, who thus 
 endured the pangs of the most tormenting thirst. On one occasion, a Mooi 
 who was drawing water for his cows, yielded to his earnest entreaty that he 
 might put the bucket to his mouth ; then, struck with sudden alarm at such a 
 profanation of the vessel, seized it and poured the liquid into the trough. 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 323 
 
 desiring liiin to sh? e with the cattle. Park overcame the risings of pride, 
 plunged his head i^to the water, and enjoyed a delicious draught. 
 
 During this dreadful period he contrived, nevertheless, to obtain some in- 
 formation. Even the rudest of his tormentors took pleasure in teaching him 
 the Arabic characters, by tracing them upon the sand. Two Mohammedan 
 travelers came to Benowm, from whom he obtained routes to Morocco, Walet, 
 and Timbuctoo ; but they gave the most discouraging report as to the pros- 
 pects of reaching the latter city. He was told it would not do ; the Moors 
 were there entirely masters, and viewed all Christians as children of the Devil 
 and enemies of the prophet. 
 
 Fatima, the wife of Ali, whose curiosity to see a Christian he had been 
 brought hither to gratify, was absent all this time and not like to arrive, while 
 the rancor of the Moors, by whom Park was surrounded, became always more 
 imbittered. A party even proposed that he should be condemned to death, 
 though Ali's sons only recommended to put out his eyes, alleging that they 
 resembled those of a cat. Hereupon he began seriously to consider the pos- 
 sibility of escape ; but beside his being closely watched, the Desert was now 
 so entirely destitute of water, that he must have perished on the road with 
 thirst. He was therefore obliged to await the rainy season, however unfa- 
 vorable for traveling through the negro territories. 
 
 Ali, on the 30th April, having occasion to move his quarters, came to Bu- 
 baker, the residence of Fatima, and Park was introduced to that favorite 
 princess. The beauty of a Moorish female is measured entirely by her cir- 
 cumference ; and to bestow this grace on their daughters, the mothers stuff 
 them with enormous quantities of milk and kouskous, the swallowing of 
 which is enforced even with blows, till they attain that acme of beauty which 
 renders them a load for a camel. The dimensions by which Fatima had cap- 
 tivated her royal lover were very enormous ; she added to them Arab features 
 and long black hair. This queen at first shrunk back with horror at seeing 
 before her that monster, a Christian ; but after putting various questions, 
 began to see in him nothing so wholly different from the rest of mankind. 
 She presented to him a bowl of milk, and continued to show him the only 
 kindness he met with during his dreadful captivity. At length her powerful 
 intercession induced Ali to take Park with him to Jarra, where our traveler 
 hoped to find the means of proceeding on his journey. 
 
 At Jarra a striking scene occurred. Ali, through avarice, had involved 
 himself in the quarrel between the monarchs of Kaarta and Bambarra, and news 
 arrived that Daisy was in full march to attack the town. The troops, who 
 ought to have defended the place, fled at the first onset, and nothing remained 
 for the inhabitants but to abandon it and escape from slaughter or slavery, 
 the dreadful alternatives of African conquest. The scene was affecting. The 
 local attachments of the African are strong ; and the view of this disconsolate 
 crowd quitting perhaps forever their native spot, the scene of their early life, 
 and where they had fixed all their hopes and desires, presented a striking 
 picture of human calamity. Park would now very gladly have presented 
 himself before his friend Daisy; but being afraid that in the confusion he 
 would be mistaken for a Moor, and killed as such, he thought it a safer course 
 
324 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 to join the retreat. He found more difficulty in escaping than he had ex- 
 pected, being seized by three Mahommedans, who threatened to carry him 
 back to Ali, but finally contented themselves with robbing him of his cloak. 
 In flying from savage man, he soon found himself involved in a danger still 
 more alarming. He was in the midst of an immense desert, in which was 
 neither food nor a drop of water. Having ascended the loftiest tree within 
 his reach, he could see no boundary to the scene of desolation. The pangs 
 of thirst became intolerable, a dimness spread over his eyes, and he felt as 
 if this life, with all its mingled joys and miseries, was about to close, — as if 
 all the hopes of glory by which he had been impelled to this adventurous 
 career had vanished, and he was to perish at the moment when a few days 
 more would have brought him to the Niger. Suddenly he saw a flash of 
 lightning, and eagerly hailed it as a portent of rain ; the wind then began to 
 blow among the bushes, but it was a sand-wind which continued for an hour 
 to fill the air. At last there burst forth a brighter flash, followed by a refresh- 
 ing shower, which being received upon his clothes, and the moisture wrung 
 out, gave him new life. He traveled onward, passing, but carefully shun- 
 ning, a village of the Moors, when thirst, imperfectly satisfied, began again to 
 torment him. Then he heard a heavenly sound — the croaking of frogs ; and 
 soon reached the muddy pools which they inhabited, when the thirst both of 
 himself and his horse was thoroughly quenched. He came to a Foulah vil- 
 lage, called Sherillah, where the dooty, or chief magistrate, shut the door in 
 his face, and refused him a handful of corn ; however, in passing the suburbs, 
 a poor woman who was spinning -cotton in front of her hut, invited him to 
 enter, and set before him a dish of kouskous. Next day he was hospitably 
 received by a negro shepherd, who regaled him with dates and boiled corn ; 
 but happening to pronounce the word Nazarani (Christian), the wife and 
 children screamed and ran out of the house, to which nothing could induce 
 them to return. 
 
 At Wawra, Park considered himself beyond the reach of the Moors ; and, 
 being kindly received, determined to rest two or three days. When he was 
 known to be on his way to Sego, the capital, several women came and be- 
 sought him to ask the king about their sons, who had been taken away to the 
 army. One had neither seen nor heard of hers for several years ; she declared 
 he was no heathen, but said his prayers daily, and that he was often the sub- 
 ject of her dreams. Leaving this place he came to Dingyee, where he 
 seemed invested with a sacred character, a man earnestly entreating a lock of 
 his hair to be used as a saphie or charm ; and receiving permission to cut it 
 off, he contrived to crop completely one side of the head. Proceeding to- 
 ward Sego, he joined on the road several small negro parties; but, as the coun- 
 try became more populous, hospitality was less common. In Moorja, how- 
 ever, though mostly peopled by Mahommedans, he found gayety and abun- 
 dance. He next passed through several towns and villages, which, in the 
 late war, had been systematically destroyed ; the large bentang tree under 
 which the inhabitants used to meet had been cut down, the wells were filled 
 up, and everything done which could render the neighborhood uninhabitable. 
 He passed also a cqffle, or caravan, of about seventy slaves tied together by 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 325 
 
 the neck with thongs of bullocks' hide seven slaves upon each thong. Hi? 
 horse was now so completely worn out, that, instead of attempting to ride, he 
 was content to drive it before him. Being also barefooted, and in the most 
 miserable plight, he afforded a subject of merriment to the natives, who asked 
 if he had been traveling to Mecca, and made ironical proposals for the pur- 
 chase of his horse : even the slaves were ashamed to be seen in his company. 
 
 At length, the near approach to Sego, was indicated by crowds hastening 
 to the market ; and Mr. Park was told that on the following day, the 21st July, 
 that primary object of his search, the Joliba, or Great Water, would appear 
 before him. He passed a sleepless night, but, starting before day-break, he 
 had the satisfaction, at eight o'clock, to see the smoke rising over Sego. He 
 overtook some former fellow travelers, and in riding through a piece of 
 marshy ground, one of them called out, geo affilli (see the water), and look- 
 ing forward, " I saw," says he, "with infinite pleasure, the great object of 
 my mission, the long-sought-for majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, 
 as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. 
 
 I hastened to the brink, and having drank of the water, lifted up my fer- 
 vent thanks in prayer to the Great Ruler of all things, for having thus far 
 crowned my endeavors with success." 
 
 Mr. Park now saw before him Sego, the capital of the kingdom of Bam- 
 oarra. It consisted of four separate towns, two on each side of the river, 
 surrounded with high mud walls, — the houses, though only of clay, neatly 
 white-washed, — the streets commodious, with mosques rising in every quar- 
 ter. The place was estimated to contain about thirty thousand inhabitants. 
 The numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated 
 state of the surrounding country, presented altogether an appearance of civi- 
 lization and magnificence little expected in the bosom of Africa. The traveler 
 sought a passage to Segosee-Korro, the quarter where the king resided ; but 
 owing to the crowd of passengers, he was detained two hours ; during which 
 time his majesty was apprised that a white man, poorly equipped, was about 
 to pass the river to seek an audience. A chief was immediately sent, with an 
 express order that the traveler should not cross without his majesty's permis- 
 sion, and pointed a village at some distance where it was recommended that 
 the stranger should pass the night. Park, not a little disconcerted, repaired 
 to the village ; but as the order had not been accompanied with any provision 
 for his reception, he found every door shut. Turning his horse loose to 
 graze, he was preparing as a security from wild beasts, to climb a tree and 
 sleep among the branches, when a beautiful and affecting incident occurred, 
 which gives a most pleasing view of the negro character. An old woman, 
 returning from the labors of the field, cast on him a look of compassion, and 
 desired him to follow her. She led him to an apartment in her hut, procured 
 a fine fish, which she broiled for his supper, and spread a mat for him to 
 sleep upon. She then desired her maidens, who had been gazing with fixed 
 astonishment at the white man, to resume their tasks, which they continued 
 to ply through a great part of the night. They cheered their labors with 
 a song, which must have been composed extempore, since Mr. Park, with deep 
 emotion, discovered that he himself was the subject of it. It said, in a 
 
326 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 strain of affecting simplicity, — " The winds roared and the rains fell. The 
 poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no 
 mother to bring him milk, no wife to grind his corn. — Chorus — Let us pity 
 the white man no mother has he," &c. Our traveler was much affected, and 
 next morning could not depart without requesting his landlady's acceptance 
 of the only gift he had left, two out of the four brass buttons that still 
 remained on his waistcoat. 
 
 He remained two days in this village, during which he understood that he 
 was the subject of much deliberation at court, the Moors and slave-mer- 
 chants giving the most unfavorable reports of his character and purposes. A 
 messenger came and asked if he had any present, and seemed much disap- 
 pointed on being told that the Moors had robbed him of everything. On the 
 second day appeared another envoy, bearing an injunction from Mansong 
 that the stranger should not enter Sego, but proceed forthwith on his journey; 
 to defray the expenses of which, a bag, containing 5000 cowries, was deli- 
 vered to him. Mr. Park estimates this sum at only twenty shillings ; but, 
 according to the rate of provisions, it was worth much more, being sufficient 
 to maintain, for fifty days, himself and his horse. 
 
 Two davs brouoht our traveler to Sansanding, a large town with 10,000 
 inhabitants. He hoped to enter unnoticed, finding himself mistaken by the 
 negroes for a Moor. Being taken, however, before Counti Mamadi, the 
 dooty, or chief magistrate, he found a number of Mahommedans, who denied 
 the supposed national connection, and regarded him with their usual hatred 
 and suspicion. Several even pretended they had seen him before, and one 
 woman swore that she had kept his house three years at Gallam. The dooty 
 put a negative on their proposition of dragging him by force to the mosque ; 
 but they climbed over in great numbers into the court where he had taken up 
 his quarters for the night, insisting that he should perform his evening devo- 
 tions, and eat eggs. The first proposal was positively declined ; but the sec- 
 ond he professed his utmost readiness to comply with. The eggs were 
 accordingly brought, but raw, as the natives imagined it a part of European 
 depravity to be fond of them in that state. His reluctance to eat raw eggs 
 exalted him in the eyes of his sage visitants ; his host accordingly killed a 
 sheep, and gave him a plentiful supper. 
 
 His route now lay through woods, grievously infested with all kinds of wild 
 animals. His guide suddenly wheeled his horse round, calling out " Wara, 
 billibilli! — a very large lion!" Mr. Park's steed was ill fitted to convey 
 him from the scene of danger; but, seeing nothing, he supposed his guide 
 mistaken, when the latter exclaimed, " God preserve me !" and the traveler 
 then saw a very large red lion, with the head couched between the fore paws. 
 His eyes were fixed as by fascination on this sovereign of the beasts, and he 
 expected every moment the fatal spring ; but the savage animal, either not 
 pressed by hunger, or struck with some mysterious awe, remained immova- 
 ble, and allowed the party to pass unmolested. Real misery arose from a 
 meaner cause, namely, the amazing swarms of musquitoes which ascend from 
 the swamps and creeks, and to whose attack, from the ragged state of his 
 garments, he was exposed at every point. He was covered all over with 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 327 
 
 blisters, and at night could get no rest. An affecting crisis next arrived. 
 His horse, the faithful and suffering companion of his journey, had been 
 daily becoming weaker. At length, stumbling over some rough ground, he 
 fell : all his master's efforts were insufficient to raise him, and no alternative 
 remained but to leave the poor animal ; which, after collecting some grass 
 and laying it before him, Mr. Park did, not without a sad presentiment that, 
 erelong, he himself might in like manner lie down and perish with hunger 
 and fatigue. 
 
 He now resolved to hire a boat, in which he was conveyed up the river to 
 Silla, another large town, where his reception was so inhospitable that the 
 dooty reluctantly permitted him to take shelter from the rain in a damp shed. 
 Half-naked, worn down by fatigue and sickness, and foreseeing the approach 
 of the rains by which the whole country would be inundated, Mr. Park began 
 seriously to contemplate his situation. All the obstacles now stated were 
 small, when compared to the fact, that, in proceeding eastward, he would 
 still be within the range of Moorish influence. He learned, that at Jenne, 
 though included in Bambarra, the municipal power was chiefly in the hands 
 of these savage and merciless fanatics, who, at Timbuctoo also, held the en- 
 tire sway. On these grounds he felt convinced that certain destruction 
 awaited him in his progress eastward ; that all his discoveries would perish 
 with himself; and that his life would be sacrificed in vain. His only hope, 
 and it was but faint, of ever reaching England, depended upon his return 
 westward, and on his proceeding by the most direct route to the coast. On 
 this course he determined, — a decision which was fully approved both by his 
 employers and by the public. 
 
 During his stay at Silla, he used every effort to obtain information respect- 
 ing the more eastern countries, particularly the kingdom of Timbuctoo, and 
 the course of the Niger. He was told that the next great city along that 
 river was Jenne, which was represented as very flourishing, and larger than 
 Sego or any other place in Bambarra. Lower down, the river spread into 
 an expanse, called Dibbie or the Dark Lake, so extensive that, in crossing it, 
 the canoes for a whole day lost sight of land. On the eastern side, the Niger 
 issued out of this lake in two large branches, inclosing the alluvial country 
 of Jinbala, when they again united in one channel, which flowed on to Kabra, 
 the port of Timbuctoo. That town, situated a day's journey north from the 
 Niger, was described to Mr. Park as the great center of the commerce car- 
 ried on between the Moors and negroes, by means of which the former people 
 had filled it with Mohammedan converts ; it was added, that the king and 
 his principal officers belonged to this faith, which was professed there with 
 even more than the usual bigotry. An old negro related, that, on his enter- 
 ing a public inn, the landlord laid on the floor a mat and a rope, saying, " If 
 you are a Mussulman, you are my friend, sit down on this mat ; if not, you 
 are my slave, and with this rope ,1 will lead you to market." The king, 
 named Abu Abrahima, was clothed in silk, lived in great pomp, and possessed 
 immense riches. There has since appeared reason to suspect that, in theso 
 reports, both the bigotry and the splendor of Timbuctoo were somewhat 
 exaggerated. Beyond this city, eastward, there was said to be a great king- 
 
328 \DVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 doin called Houssa, with a capital of the same name, situated on the Niger. 
 This also was somewhat inaccurate. There is no city called Houssa ; and 
 the term is applied, not to a kingdom, but to an extensive region comprehend- 
 ing many principalities, and through which the Niger does not pass. 
 
 Having formed his resolution, he forthwith began his return to the west- 
 ward, and at Modiboo met with an unexpected and rather pleasing occur- 
 rence. While he was conversing with the dooty, a horse was heard to neigh; 
 upon which the magistrate asked, smiling, if he knew who was speaking to 
 him — and presently going out, led in the traveler's own horse, greatly re- 
 cruited by rest. Mr. Park at first drove the animal before him, but afterward 
 mounted, and found him of great benefit in passing the swamps and swollen 
 rivulets which obstructed his route. He soon learned that dangers, even 
 greater than he was aware of, had beset his path. The king of Bambarra 
 had been at last so worked upon by Moorish counselors, that, repenting even 
 his former stinted kindness, he had sent messengers to apprehend Park, and 
 to bring him a prisoner to Sego; from which fate he escaped only by the re- 
 trograde direction he had taken. Thenceforth, every door was resolutely 
 shut against him ; at Sansanding, his best friend, Counti Mamadi privately 
 paid him a visit, and advised him to leave the city early next morning, and 
 to make no delay in the vicinity of the capital. Accordingly, at a village 
 near that city, he obtained a confirmation of the above tidings, and was ex- 
 horted to lose no time if he wished to get safe out of Bambarra. He then 
 quitted the road, and struck off through fields and swamps. He once in 
 tended to swim across the Niger, and push toward the Gold Coast, but after- 
 ward resolved to pursue his course westward along the river, and thus ascer- 
 tain its precise line. He had now nothing to subsist on except what charity 
 bestowed, which was only an occasional handful of raw corn. There was 
 also the greatest difficulty in finding a way through the swampy and inunda- 
 ted grounds. Once his horse and he sunk together to the neck in mud, and 
 came out so completely besmeared, that they were compared by the natives 
 to two dirty elephants. At another time, when he had stripped, and was 
 leading his horse through a river that took him up to the neck, a friendly 
 African called out, that he would perish if he went on, and undertook to pro- 
 cure a canoe ; but when he came out, and his white skin was distinctly seen, 
 the stranger put his hand to his mouth, exclaiming, in a low tone of amaze- 
 ment, " God preserve me ! what is this ? " He continued his kindness, however, 
 and at Taffaro, where our traveler was shut out from every house, and 
 obliged to sleep under a tree, brought him some supper. One of his most 
 disagreeable encounters was at Souha, where the dooty, after a surly refusal 
 of every refreshment, called upon a slave, whom he ordered to dig a pit, 
 uttering, at the same time, expressions of anger and vexation. The hole be- 
 came always deeper and deeper, till it assumed the appearance of a grave; 
 and Park, who saw no one but himself likely to be put into it, began to think 
 it was high time to be moving off. At length the slave went away, and re- 
 turned, holding by the leg and arm, the naked corpse of a boy about nine 
 years old, which he threw in with an air of savage unconcern, the dooty ex 
 claiming, "naphula attiniata! money lost, money lost ! " Mr. Park withdrew 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 329 
 
 in the deepest disgust at this display of brutal and selfish avarice. The only 
 hearty meal he obtained for many days was from a Moslem convert, who, 
 presenting a board, entreated him to write a saphie upon it, the return foT 
 which would be a good supper of rice and salt. This was too important an 
 offer to be rejected from nice scruples. He, therefore, covered the board 
 with the Lord's Prayer, which his host carefully washed off and drank, after- 
 ward licking the wood with his tongue. For this, in addition to his good rice 
 supper, he received next morning a breakfast of meal and milk. 
 
 Our traveler now arrived at Bammakoo, where the level country on this 
 side of the Niger terminates ; but, on wishing to cross to the other bank, he 
 was informed that the river would not be fordable for several months, and 
 that no canoe could be procured large enough to transport himself and his 
 horse. At length there was pointed out a path, rocky and difficult, but 
 through which he might contrive to pick a way under the direction of a Jilli- 
 kea, or singing man, who was going to Sibidooloo. The track, however, 
 proved excessively rough and perilous ; when his tuneful conductor, finding 
 himself mistaken in the way, sprang up among the cliffs, and quickly disap- 
 peared. Mr. Park was obliged to return and search among a number of 
 glens, till he found a track marked by the tread of horses, which led him to 
 £ooma, a beautiful sequestered village in the heart of those barren moun- 
 tains, where, on the produce of a small fertile valley, the inhabitants lived in 
 peaceful abundance. They showed that kind hospitality which had been be- 
 stowed only scantily and occasionally in the still more fruitful regions below. 
 Mr. Park set out next day for Sibidooloo ; but on this route his last and 
 greatest disaster awaited him. In passing a rivulet he found a shepherd, who 
 had been wounded by a party of banditti, and soon after saw a man sitting 
 on the stump of a tree, while from among the grass appeared the heads of 
 six or seven others, with muskets in their hands. Seeing it impossible to es- 
 cape, he resolved to put the best face he could on his situation. Pretending 
 to take them for elephant-hunters, he went up and asked if their chase had 
 been successful. Instead of answering, one of them ordered him to dis- 
 mount; but then, as if recollecting himself, waved with his hand to proceed. 
 The traveler had not "-one far when he heard voices behind, and, looking 
 round, saw them all in full pursuit, calling to him that they were sent to carry 
 himself and his horse before the king of the Foulahs at Fooladoo. He did 
 not attempt a vain resistance, but accompanied them till they came to a dark 
 spot in the depth of the wood, when one of them said, ** This place will do." 
 The same man snatched off Mr. Park's hat ; another instantly detached the 
 last remaining button from his waistcoat; the rest searched his pockets, and 
 investigated, with the most scrupulous accuracy, every portion of his apparel ; 
 at last they determined to make sure work by stripping him to the skin. As 
 he pointed to his pocket-compass, with earnest entreaty, one of them cocked 
 a pistol, threatening, if he should touch it, to shoot him through the head. 
 As they were carrying off everything, they were seized with a feeling of re- 
 morse, and threw to him his worst shirt, a pair of trowsers, and his hat, inths 
 crown of which he kept his memorandums. 
 
 After this blow, Mr. Park felt a deeper depression than he had experienced 
 
330 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 under any former disaster. Naked and alone, in a vast wilderness, 500 miles 
 from any settlement, surrounded by savage beasts and by men still more sav- 
 age, he saw no prospect before him but to lie down and perish. From this 
 depth of despondency his mind was suddenly revived by a mingled impres- 
 sion of nature and of religion. A small moss, in a state of fructification, 
 struck his eye, the delicate conformation of whose roots, leaves, and capsule, 
 could not be contempleted without admiration. He then bethought himself, 
 — " Can that Being who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this 
 obscure corner of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, 
 look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed 
 after his own image?" Inspired by these just and pious reflections, he 
 started up and went on, despite of fatigue ; and he soon found deliverance 
 to be nearer than he had any reason to anticipate. 
 
 Having arrived at Sibidooloo, he waited on the mansa, or chief ruler of the 
 town, and related his misfortune ; when the latter, taking his pipe from his 
 mouth, and tossing up his sleeve, said, with an indignant air, " Sit down, you 
 shall have everything restored to you; I have sworn it." He then ordered 
 several of his people to go by daybreak next morning over the hills, and ob- 
 tain the assistance of the dooty of Bammakoo in pursuing the robbers. Thus 
 relieved, Mr. Park remained two days in this hospitable village, but found it 
 pressed by so severe a famine that he could not think of tasking their kind- 
 ness any longer, and went on to a town called Wonds. Here the mansa, 
 who was at once chief magistrate and schoolmaster, received him with kind- 
 ness ; but the famine was felt there with equal severity. Remarking five or 
 six women who came daily to receive an allowance of corn from the dooty, he 
 took leave to ask an explanation. " Look at that boy," said the magistrate, 
 " his mother has sold him to me for fifty days' subsistence for herself and 
 family." Our traveler, having during his stay become very unwell, heard 
 the hospitable landlord and his wife lamenting to themselves the necessity of 
 supporting him till he should either recover or die. 
 
 At the end of nine days messengers arrived from Sibidooloo with Mr. 
 Park's horse, harness, clothes, and even the pocket compas, though broken ; 
 all of which had been recovered by the exertions of the mansa. The horse, 
 being reduced to a skeleton, and quite unfit for a journey over the flinty 
 roads, was presented to his landlord ; the saddle and bridle were sent to his 
 generous friend at Sibidooloo. Then, sick as he was, our traveler took leave, 
 and went through several towns in the mountain territory of Manding, where 
 he was, on the whole, hospitably treated. His arrival at Kamalia formed a 
 most important era. There he met Karfa Taura, a negro, who was collecting a 
 coffle of slaves for the Gambia. Carfa told him it was impossible at this 
 season to traverse the Jallonka wilderness, in which there were eight rapid 
 rivers to be crossed ; but he offered to support him in the interval, and con- 
 duct him at the proper season to the Gambia, asking only a reasonable com- 
 pensation, which was fixed at the value of a prime slave. Mr. Park was 
 thus seasonably delivered from all his troubles, and obtained a more certain 
 prospect of reaching home in safety. 
 
 He no longer encountered those difficulties and vicissitudes which had ren- 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 331 
 
 dered the former part of his journey so full of interest and adventure. In 
 traversing the high countries of Manding, Konkodoo, and Dindikoo, the 
 chief object of which attracted his attention was the mode of extracting gold. 
 This precious metal did not occur in the form of ore, or in large masses, but 
 its grains were mingled with a species of dust or sand. This golden earth 
 appears to be chiefly washed down by torrents from the summit of the neigh- 
 boring chain of mountains ; but it is collected with most advantage after the 
 ground is dry and the harvest removed. Being indicated by its reddish tinge, 
 it is put into large baskets, called calabashes, and agitated with a rotatory 
 motion, so that at every turn a portion of light sand mixed with water flies 
 over the brim. The weightier parts then remaining are mixed with pure 
 water, stirred, and carefully examined ; and it is considered satisfactory if 
 three or four grains are found in the whole basket. The dust is preserved 
 in quills, which are often stuck in the hair as ornaments. 
 
 The most formidable part of the journey homeward was through the Jal- 
 lonka wilderness, a vast and very dense forest, in which the caravan traveled 
 during five days without seeing a human habitation. They marched in close 
 and regular order, to protect the party against the attack of wild beasts, 
 whose roarings were heard continually around them, and to which every one 
 who straggled was sure to fall a victim. Such, too probably, was the lot of 
 Nealee, a female slave, who, either from obstinacy or from excessive fatigue, 
 refused to proceed any further ; and after vain attempts to compel her by the 
 whip, she was abandoned to her fate. On emerging from this forest, they 
 had no difficulty in passing through the fine open country of Dentila, and the 
 smaller wilderness of Tenda. Mr. Park was again on the Gambia ; and on 
 the 10th of June, 1797, reached Pisania, where he was received as one risen 
 from the dead ; for all the traders from the interior had believed and reported, 
 that, like Major Houghton, he was murdered by the Moors of Ludamar. 
 Karfa, his benefactor, received double the stipulated price, and was over- 
 powered with gratitude ; but when he saw the commodious furniture,- the 
 skillful manufactures, the superiority in all the arts of life, displayed by the 
 Europeans, when compared with the attainments of his countrymen, he was 
 deeply mortified, and exclaimed, " Black men are nothing," expressing his 
 surprise that Park could find any motive for coming to so miserable a land 
 as Africa. 
 
 Mr. Park had some difficulty in reaching home. He was obliged to em- 
 bark, on the 15th of June, in a vessel bound to America, and was afterward 
 driven by stress of weather into the island of Antigua, whence he sailed on 
 the 24th November, and on the 22d December arrived at Falmouth. He 
 reached London before dawn on the morning of Christmas-day, and, in the 
 garden of the British Museum, accidentally met his brother-in-law, Mr. Dick- 
 son. The interval of two years having elapsed since any tidings of him 
 reached England, had caused him to be given up for lost, so that his friends 
 and the public were equally astonished and delighted by his reappearance. 
 The report of his unexpected return, after making such splendid discoveries, 
 kindled throughout the nation a higher enthusiasm than had perhaps been 
 excited by the result of any former mission of the same nature. To satisfy 
 
332 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 the public impatience, an outline was drawn up by Mr. Bryan Edwards, ac- 
 companied with learned and able geographical illustrations by Major Remnel. 
 The entire narrative was published early in 1799, and beside the interest in- 
 separable from the remarkable events which it t describes, the merit of being 
 written in a pleasing and animated style has rendered it one of the most pop- 
 ular books in the English language. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 Pake's second journey. — Views under which he was sent out — Departure — Overtaken by 
 the Rainy Season — Great Sickness and Distress— Embarks on the Niger — Negotiations 
 with the King of Bambarra— Obtains permission to build a Vessel — Sansanding — Sets 
 sail— Accounts of his death— Expeditions of H^raeraan, and Nichols— Riley, Tuckey, 
 Peddie, Campbell, Gray and Ritchie — Denham's and Clapperton's Expedition — Clapper- 
 ton — Laing — Caile — Expedition of the brothers Lander — Mouth of the Niger discovered 
 by the Landers — Laird, Oldfield, and Richard Lander's Expediti :n — Death of Landers- 
 Subsequent Expeditions — the Foul ahs— Northern Africa and the Great Desert — Civiliza- 
 tion of Africa. 
 
 Tee discoveries of Park, in his first journey, though the most splendid 
 made by any modern traveler, rather excited than satisfied the national curi- 
 osity. The Niger had been seen flowing eastward into the interior of Africa ; 
 and hence a still deeper interest and mystery were suspended over the future 
 course and termination of this great central stream. Kingdoms had been 
 discovered, more flourishing and more populous than any formerly known 
 in that continent ; but other kingdoms, still greater and more wealthy, were 
 reported to exist in regions which he had vainly attempted to reach. The 
 luster of his achievements had diffused among the public in general an ardor 
 for discovery, which was formerly confined to a few enlightened individuals. 
 It was evident, however, that the efforts of no private association could pen- 
 etrate the depths of this vast continent, and overcome the obstacles presented 
 by its distance, its deserts, and its barbarism. Thus it became necessary for 
 George II.I, the patron and employer of Cook, to come forward as the pro- 
 moter of discovery in this new sphere. In October, 1801, accordingly, Mr. 
 Park was invited by government to undertake an expedition on a larger scale 
 into the interior of Africa. Having in the meantime married the daughter 
 of Mr. Anderson, with whom he had served his apprenticeship as a surgeon, 
 and having entered with some success on the practice of his profession in the 
 neighboring town of Peebles, it was supposed that, content with laurels so 
 dearly earned, he had renounced a life of peril and adventure. But none 
 of these ties could detain him, when the invitation was given to renew and 
 complete his splendid career. His mind had been brooding on the sub 
 ject with enthusiastic ardor. He had held much intercourse with Mr. Max- 
 well, a gentleman who had long commanded a vessel in the African trade, by 
 whom he was persuaded that the Zaire, or Congo, which, since its discovery 
 by the Portuguese, had been almost lost sight of by Europeans, would prove 
 to be the channel by which the Niger, after watering all the regions of Inte- 
 rior Africa, enters the Atlantic. The scientific world were very much dis- 
 posed to adopt Park's views on this subject ; and accordingly the whole plan 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 333 
 
 of the expedition was adjusted with an avowed reference to them. The agi 
 tation of the public mind, by the change of ministry and the war with 
 France, delayed further proceedings till 1804, when he was desired by Lord 
 Camden, the colonial secretary, to make his arrangements, with an assurance 
 of being supplied with every means necessary for their accomplishment. The 
 course which he now suggested was, that he should no longer travel as a 
 single and unprotected wanderer ; his experience decided him against such a 
 mode of proceeding. He proposed to take with him a small party, who, 
 being well armed and disciplined, might face almost any force which the na- 
 tives could oppose to them ; with these to proceed direct to Sego ; to build 
 there two boats forty feet long, and from thence to sail downward to the es- 
 tuary of the Congo. Instructions were sent out to Goree that he should be 
 furnished liberally with men, and with everything else of which he might 
 stand in need. 
 
 Mr. Park sailed from Portsmouth in the Crescent transport on the 30th 
 January, 1805. About the 8th March, he arrived at the Cape Verd Islands ; 
 and on the 28th reached Goree. There he provided himself with an officer 
 and thirty-five soldiers, and with a large stock of asses from the islands, 
 where the breed of these animals is excellent, and which appeared well fitted 
 for traversing the rugged hills of the high country whence issue the Senegal 
 and Niger. He took with him also two sailors and four artificers, who had 
 oeen sent from England. But before all these measures could be completed 
 a month had elapsed, and it was then evident that the rainy season could not 
 t;e far distant, — a period in which traveling is very difficult, and injurious 
 to European constitutions. It is clear, therefore, that it would have been 
 r> rodent to remain at Goree or Pisania till that season had passed ; but, in 
 Mr. Park's elevated and enthusiastic state of mind, it would have been ex- 
 tremely painful to have lingered so long on the eve of his grand and favorite 
 undertaking. He hoped, and it seemed possible, that before the middle of 
 June, when the rains usually begin, he might reach the Niger, which could 
 then be navigated without any very serious toil or exposure. He departed, 
 therefore, with his little band from Pisania, on the 4th May, and proceeded 
 through Medina, along the banks of the Gambia. With so strong a party, 
 he was no longer dependent on the protection of the petty kings and mansas ; 
 but the Africans, seeing him so well provided, thought he had no longer any 
 claim on their hospitality ; on the contrary, they eagerly seized every oppor- 
 tunity to obtain some portion of the valuable articles which they saw in his 
 possession. Thefts were common ; the kings drove a hard bargain for 
 presents ; at one place the women, with immense labor, had emptied all the 
 wells, that they might derive an advantage from selling the water. Submit- 
 ting quietly to these little annoyances, Mr. Park proceeded along the Gam- 
 bia, till he saw it flowing from the south between the hills of Foota Jalla and 
 a high mountain called Muianta. Turning his face almost due west, he 
 passed the streams of the Ba Lee, the Ba Fing, and the Ba Woollima, the 
 three principal tributaries of the Senegal. This change of direction led him 
 through a tract much more pleasing than that which he passed in his dreary 
 return through lallonka and its wilderness. The villages, built in delightful 
 
334 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 mountain-glens, and looking from their elevated precipices over a great ex- 
 tent of wooded plain, appeared romantic beyond anything he had ever seen. 
 The rocks near Sullo assumed every possible diversity of form, towering like 
 ruined castles, spires and pyramids. One mass of granite so strongly re- 
 sembled the remains of a Gothic Abbey, with its niches and ruined staircase, 
 that it required some time to satisfy him that it was composed wholly of nat- 
 ural stone. The crossing of the rivers, now swelled to a considerable mag- 
 nitude, was attended with many difficulties ; and in one of them Isaaco, the 
 guide, was nearly devoured by a crocodile. 
 
 It was near Satadoo, soon after passing the Falene, that the party expe- 
 rienced the first tornado, which, marking the commencement of the rainy 
 season, proved for them " the beginning of sorrow." In these tornadoes, 
 violent storms of thunder and lightning are followed by deluges of rain, 
 which cover the ground three feet deep, and have a peculiarly malignant in- 
 fluence on European constitutions. In three days twelve men were on the 
 sick list. The natives, as they saw the strength of the expedition decline, 
 became more bold and frequent in their predatory attacks. At Gambia at- 
 tempts were made to overpower, by main force, the whole party, and seize 
 all they possessed ; but the assault was repelled without bloodshed, by their 
 merely presenting their muskets. At Maniakarro the whole population hung 
 on their rear for a considerable time, headed by thirty of the king's sons ; 
 and great delicacy was felt as to the mode of dealing with these august 
 thieves, so long as their proceedings were not quite intolerable. One of them 
 came up, and engaged Mr. Park in conversation, while another ran off with 
 his fowling-piece ; and, on his attempting pursuit, the first took the opportu- 
 nity of seizing his great coat. Orders were now given to fire on all depre- 
 dators, royal or plebeian ; and, after a few shots had been discharged without 
 producing any fatal effects, the thieves hid themselves among the rocks, and 
 were merely seen peeping through the crevices. 
 
 The expedition continued to melt away beneath the deadly influence of an 
 African climate. Every day added to the list of sick or dead, or of those 
 who declared themselves unable to proceed. Near Bangassi, four men lay 
 down at once ; it was even with difficulty that Mr. Park dragged forward 
 his brother-in-law, Mr. Anderson, while he himself felt very sick and faint. 
 His spirits were about to sink entirely, when, coming to an eminence, he ob- 
 tained a distant view of the mountains, the southern base of which he knew 
 to be watered by the Niger. Then indeed he forgot his fever, and thought 
 only of climbing the blue hills which delighted his eyes. 
 
 But three weeks, during which he experienced the greatest difficulty and 
 suffering, elapsed before he could arrive at that desired point. At length he 
 reached the summit of the ridge which divides the Senegal from the Niger, 
 and coming to the brow of the hill, saw again this majestic river rolling its 
 immense stream along the plain. Yet his situation and prospects were 
 gloomy indeed, when compared to those with which he had left the banks 
 of the Gambia. Of thirty-eight men whom he then had with him, there sur- 
 vived only seven, all suffering from severe sickness, and some nearly at the 
 last extremity. Still his mind was full of the most sanguine hope, especially 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 335 
 
 when on the 22d August, he felt himself floating on the waters of the Niger, 
 acd advancing toward the ultimate object of his ambition. He hired canoes 
 to convey his party to Marraboo ; and the river, here a mile in breadth, waa 
 so full and so deep, that its current carried him easily over the rapids, but 
 with a rapidity which was even in a certain degree painful. 
 
 At Marraboo he sent forward the interpreter, Isaaco, to Mansong with part 
 of the presents, and to treat with that monarch for protection, as well as for 
 permission to build a boat. This envoy was absent several days, during 
 which great anxiety was felt, heightened by several unfavorable rumors, 
 among which was, that the king had killed him with his own hand and an- 
 nounced his purpose to do the same to every white man that should come 
 within his reach. These fears were dispelled by the appearance of the royal 
 singing man, who brought a message of welcome, with an invitation to repair 
 to Sego, and deliver in person the remaining presents intended for the 
 monarch. At Samee the party met Isaaco, who reported that there was 
 something very odd in the reception which he had received from Mansong. 
 That prince assured him, in general, that the expedition would be allowed to 
 pass down the Niger ; but whenever the latter came to particulars, and pro- 
 posed an interview with Mr. Park, the king began to draw squares and tri- 
 angles with his finger on the sand ; and in this geometrical operation his 
 mind seemed wholly absorbed. Isaaco suspected that he labored under some 
 superstitious dread of white men, and sought by these figures to defend him- 
 self against their magic influence. It was finally arranged that the presents 
 should be delivered, not to Mansong in person, but to Modibinne, his prime 
 minister, who was to come to Samee for that purpose. He accordingly ap- 
 peared, and began by requiring, in the king's name, an explanation why 
 Park had come to Bambarra with so great a train from so distant a country, — 
 allowing him a day to prepare his reply. Next morning the traveler gave an 
 answer in form, representing his mission as chiefly commercial, and holding 
 forth the advantages which Bambarra might reap by receiving European 
 goods directly from the coast, instead of circuitously, as now, through Mo- 
 rocco, the Desert, Timbuctoo, and Jenne, having a profit levied upon them 
 at every transfer. Modibinne expressed satisfaction both with the reasons 
 and with the presents ; and on his return next day offered, on the part of 
 Mansong, the option of building a boat either at Samee, Sego, Sansanding, 
 or Jenne. Park chose Sansanding, thus enabling the king to avoid a per- 
 sonal interview with the Europeans, of which he seemed to entertain so mys- 
 terious a dread. 
 
 The voyage down the river was distressing ; for, though the fatigue of 
 traveling was avoided, the heat was so intense that it was thought sufficient 
 to have roasted a sirloin ; and the sick had thus no chance of recovery. San- 
 sanding was found a prosperous and flourishing town, with a crowded market 
 remarkably well-arranged. The leading articles, which were cloth of 
 Houssa or Jenne, antimony, beads, and indigo, were each arranged in stalls ; 
 shaded by mats from the heat of the sun. There was a separate market foi 
 sait, the main staple of their trade. The whole presented a scene of commer- 
 cial order and activity totally unlooked-for in the interior of Africa. 
 
336 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 Mansong had promised to furnish two boats; but they were late in arriving, 
 and proved very defective. In order to raise money, it was necessary to sell 
 a considerable quantity of goods. Nor was it without much trouble that the two 
 skiffs were finally converted into the schooner Joliba, forty feet long, six 
 broad, and drawing only one foot of water, the fittest form for navigating the 
 Niger downward to the ocean. 
 
 During Park's stay at Sansanding he had the misfortune to lose his 
 brother-in-l.uy, Mr. Anderson, to whom his attachment was so strong as to 
 make him say, — " No event which took place during the journey ever threw 
 the smallest gloom over my mind till I laid Mr. Anderson in the grave. I 
 then felt myself as if left a second time lonely and friendless amid the wilds 
 of Africa." Though the party was now reduced to five Europeans, one of 
 whom was deranged, and though the most gloomy anticipations could not fail 
 to rise in the mind of our traveler, his firmness was in no decree shaken. 
 He announced to Lord Camden his fixed purpose to discover the termination 
 of the Niger, or to perish in the attempt ; adding, " Though all the Europeans 
 who are with me should die, and though I were myself half-dead, I would 
 still persevere." To Mrs. Park he announced the same determination, com- 
 bined with an undoubting confidence of success ; and the commencement of 
 his voyage down the Niger, through the vast unknown regions of Interior 
 Africa, he called " turning his face toward England. " 
 
 It was on the 17th November, 1805, that Park set sail on his last and fatal 
 voyage. A long interval elapsed without any tidings, which, considering the 
 great distance and the many causes of delay, did not at first excite alarm in 
 his friends. As the following year however, passed on, rumors of an un- 
 pleasant nature began to prevail. Alarmed by these, and feeling a deep 
 interest in his fate, Governor Maxwell of Sierra Leone engaged Isaaco the 
 guide, who had been sent to the Gambia with dispatches from the Niger, to 
 undertake a fresh journey to inquire after him. At Sansanding, Isaaco was 
 so far fortunate as to meet Amadi Fatouma, who had been engaged to suc- 
 ceed himself as interpreter. From him he received a journal purporting to 
 contain the narrative of the voyage down the river, and of its final issue. The 
 party, it would appear, had purchased three slaves, who, with the five Eu- 
 ropeans and Fatouma, increased their number to nine. They passed Silla 
 and Jenne in a friendly manner ; but at Rakbara (Kabra) and Timbuctoo 
 several armed parties came out to attack them, who were repelled only by a 
 smart and destructive fire. No particulars are given of any of those important 
 places ; nor of KafFo, Gottoijege, and others, which the discoverers are repre- 
 sented as having afterward passed. At length they came to the village (more 
 properly city) of Yaour, where Amadi Fatouma left the party, his services 
 having been engaged only to that point. He had, however, scarcely taken 
 his leave, when he was summoned before the King, who bitterly complained 
 that the white men, though they brought many valuable commodities with 
 them, had passed without giving him any presents. He therefore ordered 
 that Fatouma s'hould be thrown into irons, and a body of troops sent in pur- 
 suit of the English. These men reached Boussa, and took possession of a 
 pass, where rocks, hemming in the river, allow only a narrow channel fci 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 337 
 
 vessels to descend. When Park arrived, he found the passage thus obstructed, 
 but attempted, nevertheless, to push his way through. " The people began 
 to attack him, throwing lances, pikes, arrows and stones. He defended him- 
 self for a long time ; when two of his slaves at the stern of the canoe were 
 killed. The crew threw everything they had into the river, and kept firing; 
 but being overpowered by numbers and fatigue, and unable to keep up the 
 canoe against the current, and seeing no probability of escaping, Mr. Park- 
 took hold of one of the white men, and jumped into the water. Martyn did 
 the same, and they were all drowned in the stream in attempting to escape. 
 The only slave that remained in the boat, seeing the natives persist in throw- 
 ing weapons into it without ceasing, stood up and said to them, — ' Stor. 
 throwing now ; you see nothing in the canoe, and nobody but myself ; there- 
 fore cease. Take me and the canoe, but don't kill me.' They took possession 
 of both, and carried them to the king." 
 
 These sad tidings, conveyed in course to England, were not for a long 
 time received with general belief. The statement, being sifted with care, was 
 thought to contain inconsistencies, as well as such a degree of improbability 
 as left some room for hope. But as year after year elapsed, this hope died 
 away; and Denham and Clapperton, in their late expedition, received accounts 
 from various quarters which very nearly coincided with those of Amadi 
 Fatouma. Park's adventures, they found, had excited the deepest interest 
 throughout Africa. Clapperton, in his last journey, even saw the spot where 
 he perished, which, allowing for some exaggeration, did not ill correspond 
 with the description just given. Nay, he received notice, that Park's manu- 
 scripts were in the possession of the king or chief of Yaour or Youri, who 
 offered to deliver them up on condition that the captain would pay him a 
 visit, which, he unfortunately was never able to perform. 
 
 From 1800 to 1822, various attempts were made to penetrate after Park 
 into the heart of Nigritia. In 1800 a German, named Hornemann, succeeded 
 in penetrating to the Niger, but nothing was heard of him for a quarter of a 
 century, when Clapperton ascertained that he had died of dysentery. In 
 1804, another enterprising spirit, Mr. Nichols, endeavored to penetrate to the 
 interior from the Gulf of Guinea, but perished at the outset from a pestilen- 
 tial fever of the country. In 1809, Roentger, a second German explorer, 
 proceeded from Morocco, but was murdered in the Great Desert by his guides. 
 Another individual, James Riley, supercargo of the American brig Commerce, 
 was cast away in the year 1815, on the borders of the Great Desert of Saha- 
 ra, near Cape Bojador. 
 
 The crew, on landing, were assailed by a small band of armed natives, 
 whose appearance indicated the utmost degree of poverty and ferocity. They 
 began forthwith an indiscriminate plunder, emptied trunks, boxes, and casks, 
 cut open the beds, and amused themselves with seeing the feathers fly before 
 the wind. The sailors, in the meanwhile, were endeavoring to patch up their 
 long boat as a means of escape, but were greatly mortified, on the approach 
 of dawn, to observe from their shattered wreck, on which they had passed a 
 melancholy night, a much more numerous band of these merciless savages. 
 By perfidious gestures addressed to the captain, whom they had recognized 
 22 
 
338 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 as commander, they now induced Mr. Riley to land, upon which they put 
 their daggers to his breast. He contrived, however, by stratagem, to make 
 his escape to the long-boat which was attached to the ship, when the crew 
 immediately pushed out to sea, resolved to brave all the dangers of that ele- 
 ment. Accordingly, they worked a little way along the shore, incessantly 
 employed in baling their crazy bark ; but as the leaks increased, while provi- 
 sions and water failed, Riley and his men came to the conclusion, that by re- 
 maining at sea they must perish, and on land they could do no more. They 
 retouched the coast near Cape Barbas on the 8th September, but finding it to 
 consist of perpendicular rocks, they walked four miles, and finally clambered 
 up broken fragments, almost at the risk of life, ere they could reach the 
 summit. But what a scene was there presented ! Before them extended an 
 immeasurable plain, without a shrub, plant, or a blade of grass ; nothing that 
 even for a moment could support human life. They fell to the ground, ex- 
 claiming, ** 'Tis enough ! — here we must breathe our last ! " From such utter 
 despair even the horrors of African bondage appeared almost a deliverance. 
 Toward evening a light was descried gleaming along the waste, indicating 
 that they were in the neighborhood of a band of these marauders. Having 
 waited till morning they approached the camp, and prostrated themselves in 
 a suppliant attitude. The Arabs uttered a furious yell, and immediately en- 
 gaged in a violent contest for the living booty thus unexpectedly presented. 
 This dispute ended in a division of the sailors among the barbarians, by whom 
 the captives were hurried in different directions into the interior of the wilder- 
 ness. The sufferings of Riley were so extreme as made him almost regret 
 the life which he had saved, till he met Sidi Hamet, a respectable caravan- 
 merchant, who, in bargaining* for his person, showed much sympathy for his 
 situation, and undertook to conduct him to Mogadore, provided he were made 
 sure of a good ransom. The American soon had the satisfaction of seeing 
 two blankets, a cotton robe, and a bundle of ostrich feathers paid as the price 
 of his liberty. He prevailed on the Mussulman, also, to purchase his com- 
 panions ; after which they set out together to cross the Desert with their 
 master and deliverer. They had a very painful journey to perform, riding 
 with the utmost rapidity on the naked backs of camels, over hills of loose 
 sand, while the air was filled with tempests of drift. Food and water being 
 moreover very scanty, they were reduced almost to the condition of skeletons, 
 and Riley declares that he did not ultimately weigh above ninety pounds. 
 His mind also was oppressed with much anxiety, as Sidi Hamet, with all his 
 humanity, gave notice from time to time, that, should his expectations as to 
 the ransom fail, he would cut all their throats. Having procured, therefore, 
 a reed and some black liquid, Riley wrote a pathetic representation of his 
 sufferings, addressed generally to the consuls or to any Christians who might 
 happen to be resident at Mogadore. After eight days of dreadful suspense, 
 a letter arrived. His emotion was too great to allow him to read it ; but one 
 of his companions found it to be from Mr. Willshire, the English consul, ex- 
 pressed in the most sympathizing terms, and with an assurance that the ran- 
 som would be provided, This was faithfully performed ; and a hospitable 
 reception at Mogadore soon restored Riley to health and to his formei 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 339 
 
 dimensions. The narrative which Riley published on his return to America, 
 added, however, nothing to the knowledge of African geography. 
 
 In 1816, the British government, possessed with the idea that the Congo 
 was the outlet of the Niger, fitted out two expeditions, one of which, under 
 Captain Tuckey, was to ascend the Congo in vessels ; the other, under Ma- 
 jor Peddie, was to penetrate the interior by Park's route, and, embarking on 
 the Niger, to sail down it so as to meet Captain Tuckey, which would of 
 course happen, if the Congo and the Niger were identical. Both parties 
 were brought to a halt ; the expedition up the Congo by cataracts, which 
 prevented farther navigation, and the land expedition by the hostility of the 
 natives ; and the only result of consequence, was to explode the hypothesis 
 that the Congo and the Niger were the same. 
 
 About the year 1819, attention was drawn to the possibility of penetrating 
 into Central Africa by a route not yet tried — namely, from Tripoli, through 
 the Great Desert. Accordingly, in that year, Mr. Ritchie and Lieut. Lyon, 
 began the journey from Fezzan across the Desert. They reached Mourzouk 
 in Fezzan ; but Mr. Ritchie dying there of bilious fever, the expedition was 
 abandoned. 
 
 Records, more or less extensive, were preserved of all these expeditions, in 
 which so many gallant and daring men lost their lives ; but the termination 
 of the Niger, the great and leading mystery of the African continent, re- 
 mained as much in the dark as ever. The difficulties, dangers, and deaths, 
 however, which had so plentifully attended all attempts to rend away the 
 vail, only stimulated the spirit of enlightened enterprise to fresh and increased 
 exertions. 
 
 The bashaw of Tripoli, who had lent his countenance to the late expedi- 
 tion, and whose influence extends far into the center of the African continent, 
 continued to give such assurances of his aid and protection to any mission 
 that might be resolved upon, that the British government made an attempt 
 by the desert once more. The new adventurers were Major Denham, Cap- 
 tain Clapperton, and Dr. Oudney, with one or two companions. In April 
 1822, the travelers reached Mourzouk, after a long and toilsome journey, 
 nearly straight south, from Tripoli. The sultan of Fezzan, though a tribu- 
 tary of Tripoli, showed himself inimical to the progress of the party, and ac- 
 tually ordered them to remain at Mourzouk until he went to Tripoli and re- 
 turned again. Seeing no alternative, Major Denham retraced his steps to 
 Tripoli, and made a complaint to the bashaw; but not finding his remonstrances 
 attended to, the English officer at once took shipping for Britain, to make the 
 bashaw's breach of faith known at the court of London. The dignitary of 
 Tripoli was put into dreadful alarm by this spirited proceeding, and sent ves- 
 sel after vessel to pacify and recall the Major. By one of these that officer 
 was found performing quarantine at Marseilles, and was prevailed on to re 
 turn, on the faith of the bashaw's firm assurances that guides and every 
 other help were now at the command of the mission. Major Denham found 
 this to be true. A caravan belonging to a great native Arab merchant, 
 named Boo Khaloom, was on the point of starting for Soudan on the Niger, 
 and with this band the travelers were to cross the Desert in company. 
 
340 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 This trader, who was now to be a guide to the English into the immense 
 regions of the south, was a personage of a very different character from what 
 we in this country can form any idea of. The African caravan-merchant has 
 nothing in common with that respectable class of men who, seated in v,ount- 
 ing-houses at London or Amsterdam, direct the movement of their ships over 
 the ocean, and count the silent accumulation of their profits. He, on the con- 
 trary, must accompany his merchandise from one extremity to the other of a 
 great continent, and across its immense deserts, the scene of much suffering, 
 and frequently of death itself. Nor is it from a parched wilderness and a 
 burning climate that he has most to apprehend. His path is everywhere 
 beset by bands whose trade is plunder, and who find amusement in assassi- 
 nation. He must therefore have his property guarded by armed men, ready 
 to defend with their blood what his money has purchased. These followers, 
 being in continual service, and exposed to frequent fighting, become practiced 
 soldiers, and are more than a match for the roving barbarians who infest the 
 Sahara. Even the greatest princes view these merchant-chiefs with fear and 
 jealousy; and though they contrive to draw considerable advantage from 
 their trade, scarcely consider the kingdom as their own while their troops are 
 within its boundaries. The merchants, unhappily, do not confine themselves 
 to self-defense ; but, seeing robbery practiced on every side, against them- 
 selves, begin to retaliate, and soon find it cheaper, and, according to African 
 ideas, not less honorable, to replenish their stores by plunder than by pur- 
 chase. Slaves, the staple of their trade, are generally obtained by the most 
 atrocious violence, in expeditions called ghrazzies or felateas, undertaken solely 
 for that guilty purpose ; but, by engaging in such enterprises themselves, the 
 merchants enjoy the benefit, since they reckon it such, of paying in blood 
 instead of money. Provided they can escape the dangers and casualties to 
 which they are exposed, their profits are immense, the value of merchandise 
 being somewhat more than tripled by its conveyance across the Desert. Thus 
 a few successful journeys enable a man to acquire a fortune almost princely, 
 and a high degree of influence in the Barbary States. In short, the mer- 
 chant, the warrior, the prince, the thief, are united in this extraordinary cha- 
 racter ; and he is prepared, according to circumstances, to act in one or in all 
 of these capacities. Yet Boo Khalloom might be reckoned a good specimen 
 of this evil race. He possessed an enlarged and liberal mind, and was hon- 
 orable, and even humane, so far as a slave-merchant could retain these quali- 
 ties ; he was dragged, too, with reluctance, into the most odious parts of his 
 vocation, — while at home his generosity was such as to make him almost 
 idolized. 
 
 The expedition, beside the English, contained a retinue of above two hun- 
 dred -Arabs, ranged in tens and twenties, under different chiefs. These bar- 
 barians enlivened the route by their traditionary tales, their songs, their 
 extemporary poems, in which all the incidents of the journey itself were nar- 
 rated ; in short, by an inexhaustible fund of wit and vivacity. Their pride, 
 their revenge, their robberies, did not come into view in their intercourse with 
 the English, who, being received into their camp, having eaten of their bread 
 and salt, and being bound in the cord of friendship, were entitled to all the 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 341 
 
 rights of hospitality, and would have been protected even at the hazaid of 
 life. 
 
 They were soon in the heart of the Desert, where they spent whole days 
 without seeing a living thing, even a bird or an insect, that did not belong to 
 the caravan itself. After painful marches under the direct action of the solar 
 rays, they were delighted by the stillness and beauty of the night. The 
 moon and stars shone with peculiar brilliancy ; cool breezes succeeded to the 
 burning heat of the day ; and on removing a few inches of the loose hot soil, 
 a soft and refreshing bed was obtained. Even the ripple of the blowing 
 sand sounded like a gentle and murmuring stream. Every noise was rendered 
 doubly impressive by the deep stillness, as well as by an echo from the sur- 
 face of the surrounding waste. The road derived a very peculiar aspect from 
 the quantity of salt with which the soil was impregnated ; the clods were 
 often cracked so as to resemble a plowed field ; and from the sides of cavi- 
 ties were hanging beautiful crystals of that mineral like the finest frost-work. 
 Sometimes the ground for several miles was glazed over, resembling a sheet 
 of ice ; but though the surface was very hard, the interior was brittle, and 
 the salt fell away in flakes. 
 
 The travelers had not* proceeded far, when the melancholy aspect of the 
 Desert was heightened by a succession of objects which could not be viewed 
 without the deepest horror. The ground was strewed with the skeletons of 
 former travelers, who had perished in the attempt to cross this extensive wild- 
 erness. These at first appeared singly, but afterward increased till they 
 amounted to fifty or sixty in a day. At Meshroo a hundred were seen 
 together ; and near the wells at El Hammar they were found lying in count- 
 less multitudes. One forenoon, as Major Denham was dozing on horseback, 
 he was awakened by the sound of something crashing under his horse's feet, 
 and on looking down, saw the animal trampling on two perfect human skele- 
 tons. A movement of one of the feet had separated the skull from the 
 trunk, and driven it forward like a ball. In some of these remains portions 
 of the flesh and hair were left, and even the features were still distinguishable. 
 Two female skeletons lay closely twined together, having evidently been faith- 
 ful friends, who had died in each other's arms. The Arabs gave little proof 
 of their boasted sensibility, in the utter indifference with which they viewed 
 these dismal objects, driving about the limbs with their firelocks, passing 
 coarse jests upon the dead, and deriding the sympathy manifested by their 
 English companions. They told them these were only blacks, " damn their 
 fathers," — the barbarous prejudice arising from difference of religion and line- 
 age having thus extinguished in their breasts every touch of human sympathy. 
 
 For fourteen days, hills of sand, and plains of sand, constituted the only 
 objects in sight of the travelers. At the end of that time, they again beheld 
 symptoms of herbage, being now on the northern borders of the kingdom of 
 Bornou. Shortly afterward, on reaching a town called Lari, the British tra- 
 velers beheld a sight which made up for all they had undergone. This was 
 the great inland sea of Africa, Lake Tschad, the existence of which had been 
 so often canvassed, and which now lay before them" glowing with the golden 
 rays of the sun." 
 
342 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 Lake Tschad, one of the most interesting points of central African scenery, 
 is a vast triangular sheet of water, about one hundred and eighty miles long 
 from east to west, and above one hundred miles in extent at its greatest 
 breadth. It lies between 14 and 17 degrees of north latitude, and 12 
 and 15 degrees of east longitude. Two large streams flow into it, the 
 one, called the Yeon, from the west, and the other, the Shary or the Tshary, 
 from the south. Lake Tschad is situated about five hundred miles to the 
 east of the Niger, and the country lying between them bears the general 
 name of the Soudan, though particular appellations are given to provinces, 
 such as Houssa, and others. Bornou is the district lying immediately to the 
 west of the lake. Major Denham spent a considerable time here. He found 
 the kingdom of Bornou in a very peculiar position as to government. The 
 people are negroes, and had once been subjugated by the Fellatas, a race 
 combining negro with Moorish descent, and the conquerors and oppressors of 
 many kingdoms of the interior. But a Bornouese negro, of humble birth and 
 powerful talents, had aroused his countrymen, and driven out the Fellatas. 
 This individual was found by Major Denham to be in possession of the whole 
 power of Bornou, though out of respect to the prejudices of the people, the 
 old Fellata prince was still permitted to hold a nominal throne, and the 
 empty title of sultan. The real ruler contented himself with the title of 
 sheikh. He is described by Denham as being extremely intelligent, and as 
 holding the reins of power with great firmness and sagacity. The Bornouese 
 are disciples of Mahomet, and may be called well civilized, in comparison 
 with other inland nations. Their country supplies them abundantly with 
 food, and they carry on manufactures to a considerable extent in cotton. Such 
 is the enlightened character of the present sheikh, that, if his hands were 
 once clear of the troubles caused by turbulent neighbors, and which compel 
 him to keep up a large force, he would speedily, Major Denham thinks, make 
 Bornou one of the first kingdoms of Africa. 
 
 Boo Khalloom having dispatched his affairs in Bornou, was persuaded by 
 his followers to enter upon an expedition into the mountains of Mandara, in 
 the south, to attack a village of the Kerdies, or unbelievers, and carry off 
 the people as slaves to Fezzan. Major Denham allowed his zeal for discov- 
 ry to overcome other considerations, and contrived to be one of the party. 
 They were accompanied by Barca Gana, the principal Bornou general, a ne- 
 gro of huge strength and great courage, along with other warriors, and a 
 large body of Bornou cavalry. These last are a fine military body in point 
 of external appearance. Their persons are covered with iron plate and mail, 
 and they manage with surprising dexterity, their little active steeds, which 
 are also supplied with defensive armor. They have one fault only, but that 
 a serious one, — they cannot stand the shock of an enemy. While the con- 
 test continues doubtful, they hover round as spectators, ready, should the 
 tide turn against them, to spur on their coursers to a rapid flight ; but if they 
 see their friends victorious, and the e,nemy turning their backs, they come 
 forward and display no small vigor in pursuit and plunder. 
 
 The road that led to Mandara formed a continued ascent through a fertile 
 country which contained some populous towns. The path being quite over* 
 

 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 343 
 
 grown with thick and prickly underwood, twelve pioneers went forward with 
 long poles opening a track, pushing back the branches, and giving warning 
 to beware of holes. These operations they accompanied with loud praises 
 of Barca Gana, calling out, — "Who is in battle like the rolling of thunder ? 
 Barca Gana. In battle, who spreads terror around him like the buffalo, in 
 his rage ? Barca Gana." 
 
 The expedition, after passing through a beautiful plain, began to penetrate 
 the mighty chain of mountains which form the southern border of the king- 
 dom. Alpine heights, rising around them in rugged magnificence and gigantic 
 grandeur, presented scenery which our traveler had never seen surpassed. 
 The passes of Hairey and of Horza, amid a superb amphitheater of hills, 
 closely shut in by overhanging cliffs, more than two thousand feet high, were 
 truly striking. Here, for the first time in Africa, did nature appear to the 
 English to revel in the production of vegetable life. The trees were covered 
 with luxuriant and bright green foliage ; and their trunks were hidden by a 
 crowd of parasitical plants, whose aromatic blossoms perfumed the air. There 
 was also an abundance of animal life of a less agreeable description ; three 
 scorpions were killed in the tent ; and a fierce but beautiful panther, more 
 than eight feet long, just as he had gorged himself by sucking the blood of a 
 newly-killed negro, was attacked and speared. The sultan of Fezzan and 
 Barca Gana were attended by a considerable body of Bornou and Mandara 
 cavalry, whose brilliant armor, martial aspect, and skillful horsemanship gave 
 confidence to the European officer, who had not yet seen them put to the 
 proof. 
 
 It was the third day when the expedition came in view of the Fellata town 
 of Dirkulla. The Arabs, supported by Barca Gana and about a hundred 
 spearmen, marched instantly to the attack, and carried first that place, and 
 then a smaller town beyond it, killing all who had not time to escape. The 
 enemy, however, then intrenched themselves in a third and stronger position, 
 called Musfeia, inclosed by high hills, and fortified in front by numerous 
 swamps and palisades. This was likewise attacked, and all its defenses 
 forced. The guns of the Arabs spread terror, while Barca Gana threw eight 
 spears with his own hand, every one of which took effect. It was thought, 
 that had the two bodies of cavalry made even a show of advancing, the vic- 
 tory would have been at once decided ; but Major Denham was much sur- 
 prised to see those puissant warriors keeping carefully under cover behind a 
 hill on the opposite side of the stream, where not an arrow could reach them. 
 The Fellatas, seeing that their antagonists were only a handful, rallied on the 
 tops of the hills, were joined by new troops, and turned round. Their women 
 behind, cheering them on, continually supplied fresh arrows, and rolled down 
 fragments of rock on the assailants. These arrows were fatal ; they were 
 tipped with poison, and wherever they pierced, the body in a few hours be- 
 came black, blood gushed from every orifice, and the victim expired in 
 agony. The condition of the Arabs soon became alarming ; scarcely a man 
 was left unhurt, and their horses were dying under them. Boo Khalloom 
 and his charger were both wounded with poisoned arrows. As soon as the 
 Fellatas saw the Arabs waver, they dashed in with their horse ; at sight of 
 
344 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 which all the heroic squadrons of Bornou and Mandara put spurs to their 
 steeds, the sultan at their head, and the whole became one mass of confused 
 and tumultuous flight. Major Denham saw too late the peril into which he 
 had wantonly plunged. His horse, pierced to the shoulder-bone, could 
 scarcely support his weight ; but the cries of the pursuing Fellatas still urged 
 him forward. At last the animal fell twice, and the second time threw him 
 against a tree, then, frightened by the noise behind, started up and ran off. 
 The Fellatas were instantly up, when four of his companions were stabbed 
 beside him, uttering the most frightful cries. He himself was fully prepared 
 for the same fate ; but happily his clothes formed a valuable booty, through 
 which the savages were loath to run their spears. After inflicting some 
 slight wounds, therefore, they stripped him to the skin, and forthwith began 
 to quarrel about the plunder. While they were thus busied, he contrived 
 to slip away, and though hotly pursued, and nearly overtaken, succeeded in 
 reaching a mountain-stream gliding at the bottom of a deep and precipitous 
 ravine. Here he had snatched the young branches issuing from the stump 
 of a large overhanging tree, in order to let himself down into the water, 
 when, beneath his hand, a large liffa, the most dangerous serpent in this 
 country, rose from its coil, as in the very act of darting upon him. Struck 
 with horror, Major Denham lost all recollection, and fell headlong into the 
 water ; but the shock revived him, and, with three strokes of his arm, he 
 reached the opposite bank, and felt himself, for the moment, in safety. Run- 
 ning forward, he was delighted to see his friends Barca Gana and Boo 
 Khalloom ; but amid the cheers with which they were endeavoring to rally 
 their troops, and the cries of those who were falling under the Fellata spears, 
 he could not for some time make himself heard. Then Maramy, a negro ap- 
 pointed to attend on him, rode up a£sd took him on his own horse. Boo Khal- 
 loom ordered a burnouse to be thrown over him, — very seasonably, for the 
 burning sun had begun to blister his naked body. Suddenly, however, 
 Maramy called out, " See, see ! Boo Khalloom is dead !" and that spirited 
 chief, overpowered by the wound of a poisoned arrow, dropped from his 
 horse, and spoke no more. 
 
 The Arabs had lost forty-five of their number, beside their chief; the rest 
 were in a miserable plight, most of them wounded, some mortally, and all 
 having lost their camels and the rest of their property. Deep sorrow was 
 afterward felt in Fezzan when they arrived in this deplorable condition and 
 reported the fall of their chief, who was there almost idolized. A national 
 song was composed on the occasion, which the following extract will show to 
 be marked by great depth of feeling, and not altogether devoid of poetical 
 beauty : — 
 
 " Oh ! trust not to the gun and the sword ! The spear of the unbeliever 
 prevails ! 
 
 " Boo Khalloom, the good and the brave, has fallen ! Who shall now be 
 safe ? Even, as the moon among the little stars, so was Boo Khalloom among 
 men ! Where shall Fezzan now look for her protector ? Men hang then heaaa 
 in sorrow, while women wring their hands, rending the air with their crie* i 
 As a shepherd is to his flock, so was Boo Khalloom to Fezzan S 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 345 
 
 " Give him songs ! Give him music ! What words can equal his praise ? 
 His heart was as large as the desert! His coffers were like the rich over- 
 flowings from the udder of the she-camel, comforting and nourishing those 
 around him 1 
 
 " Even as the flowers without rain perish in the fields, so will the Fezzan- 
 ers droop ; for Boo Khalloom returns no more ! 
 
 " His body lies in the land of the heathen I The poisoned arrow of the 
 unbeliever prevails ! 
 
 " Oh ! trust not to the gun and the sword ! The spear of the heathen 
 conquers ! Boo Khalloom, the good and the brave, has fallen ! Who shall 
 now be safe ?" 
 
 Major Denham, while in this region, found an opportunity of traveling 
 round nearly the whole of Lake Tschad, and thus satisfied himself that the 
 waters of the Niger did not enter this inland pool. After eighteen months' 
 stay in Bornou, Denham was joined by Captain Clapperton, who had sepa- 
 rated from him in order to explore the country of Soudan — an excursion on 
 which Dr. Oudney unfortunately perished, from fatigue, and the diseases in- 
 cidental to the climate. Clapperton was well received at Soccatoo, the capi- 
 ital of Houssa, and the seat of Bello, the great Soudanite monarch, and the 
 head of the Fellata nation. Like the sheikh of Bornou, Sultan Bello was 
 found to be an able and intelligent man. His capital, Soccatoo, situated on a 
 tributary of the Niger, and distant four days' journey from that river, is one 
 of the largest cities of the interior, containing, to appearance, above forty 
 thousand inhabitants. The city is laid out in regular streets, and is surroun- 
 ded, like most African towns, with clay walls. The houses are well-built 
 cottages, generally of clay, and the mosques, as well as parts of the sultan's 
 palace, are ornamented with painted wooden pillars, in a very pretty style of 
 architecture. 
 
 Denham and Clapperton do not inform us very minutely of the differences 
 in personal appearance between the negroes of Bornou and the Fellatas of 
 Houssa. It would appear, however, that many of the Fellatas approach to 
 a copper color, and have extremely fine, regular features, like the Arabs. 
 Others of the race resemble more nearly the pure negroes in features and 
 complexion. The Fellatas commonly clothe every part of their bodies, 
 wearing turbans, shirts, and trowsers, and sandals. The chief commercial 
 city of Houssa is Kano, a place nearly as large as Soccatoo, and a little 
 farther eastward. Kano is unquestionably the same city as Ghana, men- 
 tioned six hundred years ago by the old Moorish writer Edrisi as the greatest 
 trading town of Houssa. Cattle, vegetables, dyes, the cotton fabrics of the 
 country, and slaves, are the principal objects of traffic in the market-place of 
 Kano, which is formed of little sheds or stalls of bamboo, and is superin- 
 tended by a regular sheikh or judge. Kowries constitute the current 
 coinage. 
 
 Upon the whole, the two countries of Houssa and Bornou must be regarded 
 as far above any kingdoms of the African interior yet visited by Europeans, 
 in point of power and civilization. The Fellata sultan, Bello, was extremely 
 anxious that an English consul should be sent to Soccatoo, and that a trade 
 
346 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 should be opened up with the English. Before the travelers left either Houssa 
 or Bornou, however, they found the rulers of those places to cool in their 
 desire for British intercourse. This arose, without doubt, from the intrigues 
 of the Arabs, who were afraid that the traffic through the desert from the 
 Mediterranean might be superseded by the commerce of the British from the 
 Atlantic or western coast. The Arabs, therefore, artfully placed before the 
 minds of the African princes the consequences which had resulted to India 
 and other countries from a connection with Britain. 
 
 The safe return of two principal members of this expedition, after an ab- 
 sence of three years, and the interesting nature of the observations made by 
 them, was cheering and encouraging to the British authorities, and to all who 
 took an interest in African discovery. But the question of the Niger's out- 
 let, through which alone, it was obvious, commercial intercourse could be 
 securely and effectually established with the interior, remained yet in doubt, 
 though the late travelers were fully convinced that the river flowed into the 
 Atlantic somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea. Ere he had rested many months 
 at home, Clapperton, one of the bravest of the many brave men who had 
 risked their lives on the same dangerous adventure, was again on his way to 
 Africa, at the head of an exploratory party. His companions were Dr. Mor- 
 rison and Captain Pearce, beside a faithful servant of Clapperton, Richard 
 Lander. It was resolved on this occasion to enter the interior from Badagry, 
 a district on the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, from which Clapper- 
 ton believed the Niger might be soonest reached. 
 
 In the course of their arduous journey, all of the party died except Clap- 
 perton and his servant, Lander. They persevered, nevertheless, passing 
 through many populous negro towns situated between the coast and the 
 Niger. In April, 1826, they reached Boussa, on the Niger, the place where 
 Park had been killed ; they saw the spot where he had met his death, and 
 heard that some relics of him were still preserved, but could not procure a 
 sight of them. After staying sometime at Boussa, Clapperton crossed the 
 Niger and paid another visit to the territories of his former acquaintance, 
 Sultan Bello, who, however, seemed less friendly to him, than on the previous 
 occasion, apparently suspecting the motives which actuated the British in 
 their efforts to procure information respecting a part of the world so remote 
 from their own. Wearied out by his toils, Clapperton became ill at Soccatoo 
 and died there on the 13th of April, 1827, in the arms of Richard Lander, 
 who, with great difficulty, made his way alone back to the west, and from 
 thence to England, carrying with him his own journal and Clapperton's 
 papers. 
 
 Meanwhile, the British government were making another attempt from the 
 Mediterranean to open up the interior of Africa — for such was the ultimate 
 and highest object to be attained through these expeditions. About the time 
 that Clapperton set out on his second journey, Major Laing, an able officer, 
 who had already traveled on the African coasts, entered the Desert by way 
 of Tripoli, under the protection of a personage who had resided twenty-two 
 years at Timbuctoo. When in the middle of the Desert, the party was at- 
 tacked by a band of wild Tuaricks, and Major Laing was left for dead, with 
 
ADVENTURKb IN AFRICA. 347 
 
 twenty-four dreadful wounds on his person. He recovered, however, by the 
 care of his surviving companions, although numerous portions of bone had 
 to be extracted from his head and temples ! When able to do so, he pur- 
 sued his journey, and on the 1 8th of August, reached the famous city of 
 Timbuctoo. Several letters were received from him, dated at this place, 
 which he described as having disappointed him in point of extent, being only 
 about four miles in circuit, but that he had found its records copious and in- 
 teresting. Major Laing never had the opportunity, unhappily, of making 
 these valuable discoveries known, being murdered three days after leaving 
 Timbuctoo, by a wretch who had undertaken to guide him to the mouth of 
 the Senegal or its neighborhood. What became of the ill-fated traveler's 
 papers is not yet known. 
 
 The next light thrown upon African geography came from a source some- 
 what different from those described. Rene Caillie\ a Frenchman of humble 
 origin, being early animated by a love of enterprise, left his country at the 
 age of sixteen, and arrived at Senegal in the year 1816. Having heard 
 soon afterward of Major Gray's expedition, he contrived, after many diffi- 
 culties, to join the party in Bondou, and returned with them to the coast. 
 He afterward came to France, but went back to Africa in 1824, always ani- 
 mated with the hope of distinguishing himself on the field of discovery. A 
 prize offered by the French Society of Geography stimulated him finally to 
 a successful exertion. Assuming the character of a Mahommedan on a pil- 
 grimage to Mecca, he joined, on the 19th of April, 1827, a small native car- 
 avan, traveling from the river Nunez to the interior. He soon after reached 
 the Joliba (the name which the Niger bears as far down as Timbuctoo,) but 
 was detained by illness, for five months, at a place called Time. On his re- 
 covery, he passed onward to Jenne on the Niger, a city described by him as 
 containing 8000 or 10,000 inhabitants, and as being a place of considerable 
 traffic. At Jenne he embarked in a loose native vessel of sixty tons burden, 
 and sailed with a party of merchants through lake Dibbie (mentioned by 
 Park,) and down the Niger, until, in April 1828, the vessel stopped at Cabra, 
 the port of Timbuctoo. The inhabitants of Cabra were about 1200 in num- 
 ber, and were solely occupied as porters, either in unloading goods, or in 
 conveying them on the backs of asses to Timbuctoo. That city itself lies 
 about ten miles from the Niger, and is a place of some 10,000 or 12,000 in- 
 habitants. It is chiefly built of bricks, and is supported entirely by com- 
 merce. The population are partly negroes and partly Moors, but the king is 
 a negro, and the government solely in the hands of that class. On the other 
 hand, though all the people engage more or less in trade, the Moors are the 
 principal merchants. The great article of traffic is salt, which is brought 
 from the mines in the neighboring Desert of Sahara, and is disseminated 
 from Timbuctoo over the whole of central Africa. 
 
 After leaving Timbuctoo, Caillie made his way across the Desert to Tan- 
 gier, where he arrived in August, 1828, and whence he was forwarded by 
 the French consul to Europe. When his narrative was published, the truth 
 of it was at first doubted, but afterward the world became satisfied of his 
 veracity, and placed such inaccuracies as his work contained, to the account 
 
348 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 of his want of scientific knowledge and of scientific instruments. Upon the 
 whole, however, M. Caillie has contributed little to the removal of those glar- 
 ing blanks which have so long defaced the map of Africa. 
 
 Not so the next adventurer to whom we have to allude. This was Rich- 
 ard Lander, the faithful follower of Clapperton. Lander made an offer of 
 his services to government, for the investigation of the course and termina- 
 tion of the Niger. The offer was accepted, and Lander embarked at Ports- 
 mouth on 9th of January, 1830, accompanied by his younger brother John, 
 who shared in all the toils and honors of the expedition. The Landers ar- 
 rived on the 19th of March at Badagry, and at the end of the month 
 started on the same route pursued by Clappertor \n his journey to the Niger. 
 Paskoe, the old guide, was again taken into service by the Landers. After 
 an interesting journey through the populous cities of Yarriba, the travelers 
 arrived at Boussa, on the Niger, on the 17th of June. The king of Boussa 
 welcomed them with great cordiality. Though gentle and hospitable this 
 prince was a mere ignorant savage, in comparison of the kings of Houssa and 
 Bornou. At Boussa, notwithstanding that aversion always evinced by the 
 natives to speak about Park, the Landers found an old nautical publication 
 belonging to that traveler, with a loose paper or two between the sheets — one 
 of them an invitation card to dinner. The man who possessed this book re- 
 garded it as his household god, every written paper being of magical import 
 in the eyes of the natives. The tobe, or surtout-dress, of rich crimson dam- 
 ask, which Park had worn, was also recovered at Boussa by the Landers, 
 but no distinct account was got of the mode in which these articles came 
 ino the hands of their owners. 
 
 After making all inquiries, so as to rescue any relics of Park, and even 
 ascending to Yaourie, a city and province a few days' journey farther up the 
 Niger, for that purpose, obtaining for their trouble a double-barrelled gun, 
 which had belonged to the traveler, the Landers endeavored to procure a 
 canoe that they might sail down the river, and solve the great problem of its 
 course and termination. They were assisted in the kindest manner by the 
 king of Boussa, who sent messengers down the Niger to a large market-town 
 called Rabba, in order to pave the way for the secure passage of the travelers, 
 On the 20th September, the travelers embarked in a canoe provided for them, 
 on the Niger. 
 
 On the 7th of October they arrived opposite Rabba, having passed a num- 
 ber of islands and towns on the river, always a magnificent stream. The 
 ruler of Rabba being dissatisfied with the presents made to him, the travelers 
 were reluctantly forced to give him Park's tobe, and they subsequently had 
 the misfortune to lose his gun. Near Rabba the river took a wide sweep to 
 the eastward, but it turned again to the south. Egga, another famous mar- 
 ket-town on the river, and Kacunda, were afterward passed, and the mouths 
 of two large tributaries, the Coodovia and the Tchadda, were also seen. 
 Various other towns were passed in succession, the largest of which was Boc- 
 qua and Attah. The Landers had now arrived at a region where signs of 
 European intercourse w re seen, and where the natives had been tainted by 
 the demoralizing consequences of the slave commerce. At a place called 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 349 
 
 Kirree the travelers suffered a heavy misfortune. They were attacked by a 
 number of canoes, seized, and their property taken from them. Richard's 
 journal, among other articles, was lost in the river, though the notes of his 
 brother were happily preserved. The travelers expected nothing but death 
 at this time themselves ; but their lives were saved that they might be carried 
 down the river to Eboe town, where the king of the Eboe people resided, and 
 by whose subjects the attack had been made. 
 
 On their way to Eboe town they passed a large lake on the river, which 
 afterward divided itself into three broad streams, flowing at different inclina- 
 tions to the southwest. From this, and previous branchings of the stream, 
 the Landers felt convinced that they were close by the termination of the 
 Niger, in the Gulf of Guinea ; and their anxiety to continue their route was 
 proportionable to their pleasure at the near accomplishment of their task. 
 Obie, the Eboe king, resolved to detain them, however, till a ransom was got 
 from the English ; but king Boy, a monarch residing farther down the river, 
 and who was then in Eboe town, became bound for the ransom of the Landers, 
 and carried them down Nun river, to Brass town, his father's capital. King 
 Boy subsequently went down to the mouth of the river with Richard Lander, 
 leaving John at Brass town. An English merchantman was lying in the 
 Nun, and with hope in his heart, Richard Lander went on board of her with 
 Boy, and explained his situation to the commander, Captain Lake, expecting 
 to find a countryman's sympathy and aid. The wretch refused to expend a 
 penny on their ransom, though, if he had possessed a spark of intelligence, 
 he might have been assured that the British Government would gladly have 
 paid, ten times over, any outlay ma,'.-, under such circumstances. Richard 
 Lander, with difficulty, prevailed on Boy to go and bring his brother John 
 to the brig, by which time the traveler hoped that Lake would relent. The 
 brutal captain, however, did not relent ; and when Johr* Lander came to the 
 brig, he and his brother, much against their will, were forced to leave the 
 river without satisfying Boy, who had generously taken the risk of recovering 
 their ransom. It is a consolation to think that the British Government ulti- 
 mately remunerated Boy far beyond his expectations. In Captain Lake's 
 vessel, meantime, the Landers, after much danger, crossed the bar of the 
 river Nun, and entered the open sea in the Gulf of Guinea, with the deep 
 satisfaction on their minds of having thus attained the glory of discovering 
 the termination of the Niger ! 
 
 The solution of the great African mystery by the Landers was justly felt 
 by their countrymen as a national triumph. But the matter when explained, 
 looked so simple, as in the case of Columbus with the egg, that men won- 
 dered how they could have been so long in the dark respecting it. The 
 splitting of the Niger into numerous branches near its close, some of them a 
 hundred miles distant from others, was the real cause of all the difficulty. 
 Like the Nile, the Niger has a large delta, and each of its branches bore the 
 look of independent streams. The delta of the Nile is partly inhabited, but 
 is extremely marshy, 
 
 Since the completion of Park's great discovery by the Landers, two expe- 
 dition* have been fitted out for the navigation of the Niger, from its mouth 
 
350 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 into the interior. At first there was a general belief that now a comn anica- 
 tion had been opened with Central Africa, and that by means of the Niger, 
 an easy and speedy intercourse could be held with the negro tribes living 
 south of the Great Desert. Accordingly, two steamers, one of them entirely 
 iron, were fitted out in 1832, at the expense of some individuals in Liverpool, 
 anxious to commence the new trade. They arrived at the delta of the Niger 
 in the month of October, accompanied by a sailing vessel, laden with articles 
 for traffic. Many of the crew were carried off by the pestilential influence of 
 the climate ; and the steamers did not ascend very far. The Tchadda, a tri- 
 butary of the Niger, was explored for about a hundred miles by one of them ; 
 but its banks were not found to present much opportunity for commerce, and 
 the steamer returned to the Niger. Richard Lander, who had given his ser- 
 vices to the expedition, was mortally wounded in a scuffle with the natives, 
 while ascending the river in a boat with a supply of kowries, which he had 
 returned to the sea-coast to procure. He died thirteen days after, on the 2a 
 February, 1834 ; and in July the vessels left the Niger on their voyage home, 
 the crew of one having been reduced from thirty-nine to five and that of the 
 other from nineteen to four. In a commercial point of view the expedition 
 was also a failure, the only article of value procured, being ivory, and that 
 in too small a quantity to pay the expenses. 
 
 A second expedition, consisting of three iron steamers commissioned by 
 government, set sail for the Niger in May, 1841. The object of the expedi- 
 tion was to open up such an intercourse with the native princes on the banks 
 of the Niger as might serve to assist in suppressing the African slave trade, 
 and to plant the seeds of civilization in the center of the continent. Beside 
 being amply manned and furnished, the vessels carried with them all that 
 was necessary for establishing a little colony or model farm on the banks of 
 the Niger, such a scheme seeming best fitted for inoculating the African popu- 
 lation with the habits which it was desired to introduce among them. The 
 entire number of individuals connected with the expedition was 301, of whom 
 145 were Europeans, and 156 persons of color. The vessels commenced the 
 ascent of the Niger on the 20th of August ; passed Aboh, the capital of the 
 Eboe country, where the commissioners negotiated with Obie, the king or 
 chief of the district, regarding the suppression of the slave trade. Ninety- 
 five miles farther up they came to Iddah, the capital of the king of Eggarah, 
 with whom a treaty was also concluded. On the 10th of September the con- 
 fluence of the Nio-er and the Tchadda was reached ; and here it was deter- 
 
 o 
 
 mined to establish the model farm. Accordingly, the part of the crews and 
 cargoes intended for the purpose was disembarked. 
 
 Meanwhile sickness had become so prevalent, and the number of deaths so 
 great, that two of the steamers were obliged to descend the river with the 
 invalids, in order tc give them the chances of recovery on the coast. The 
 remaining steamer, the Albert, advanced as far a Egga, about 350 miles 
 from the sea. Farther than this, however, the increasing illness of the crew 
 prevented it from proceeding ; and accordingly, '^ving explained to the chief 
 of the place the object of the visit, the commaLk*er turned back on the 5th of 
 October, and descended the ri»'~*\ there bein^ hardly hands sufficient left to 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 351 
 
 manage the vessel. The Albert reached the sea on the l6r,h of October, the 
 other two steamers having reached it on the end of the previous month. The 
 expedition had been most disastrous. Of the 145 white men, only fifteen 
 escaped the river fever; while of the 156 blacks, only eleven were attacked. 
 The list of deaths showed a total of 53. The news of these unfortunate re- 
 sults having reached England, orders were sent out in the summer of 1842 to 
 abandon the enterprise, and remove the laborers from the model farm ; which 
 was accordingly done. 
 
 By way of summing up the information we have yet been able, by all our 
 researches and expeditions, to obtain respecting Soudan or Nigritia, we may 
 state an opinion which seems to be gaining ground. It is maintained by 
 some that there is evidence that great changes have occurred in Central 
 Africa within the last few centuries ; that, in fact, a general movement 
 toward civilization is discernible in the heart of this vast and forbidding con- 
 tinent — a movement not originated by European contact, but born among the 
 Africans themselves. There is evidence, it is said, that a few centuries ago 
 the inhabitants of Nigritia were very far inferior, in promise and culture, to 
 what they are at present ; that the commercial spirit and manufacturing in- 
 genuity which travelers report to exist among the negro tribes are of recent 
 growth. The great agents in this change in the condition of Central Africa 
 are said to be the Foulahs — a people of doubtful origin, but possibly Asiatic. 
 These Foulahs are represented as having acted as conquerors of the original 
 negro tribes — triumphing by virtue of their superior temperament and or- 
 ganization, and incorporating the petty states of the old negro chiefs into 
 large kingdoms ; helping also to civilize the natives by introducing among them 
 the ideas of Mahommedanism, which, however inferior and pernicious in 
 themselves, were yet an advance upon the original negro beliefs. 
 
 " Throughout the whole extent of Nigritia or Negroland, the Foulahs un- 
 doubtedly occupy pre-eminence. They are found spread over a vast geogra- 
 phic region of 28 to 30 degrees of longitude (1500 miles), and of 7 to 10 
 degrees of latitude, or 500 miles. They extend from the Atlantic Ocean, 
 from the mouth of the Senegal and Senegambia on the west, to the kingdoms 
 of Bornou and Mandara on the east ; from the Desert of Sahara on the north, 
 to the mountains of Guinea oi Kong on the south. This wide superficies 
 contains more than 700,000 square miles, which is equal to the fourth part 
 of Europe, and a tenth part of the immense continent of Africa." 
 
 In some parts of this vast extent of territory the Foulahs are politically su- 
 preme, in others they are feudal dependents of the original chiefs; but every 
 where they seem to be the growing power. " The Foulahs are not negroes. 
 They differ essentially from the negro race in all the characteristics which 
 are marked by physical anthropology. They may be said to occupy the 
 intermediate space betwixt the Arab and the negro. All travelers concur in 
 representing them as a distinct race in moral as in physical traits. To their 
 color, the various terms of bronze, copper, reddish, and sometimes white, has 
 been applied. They concur also in the report that the Foulahs of every 
 region represent themselves to be white men, and proudly assert their supe- 
 riority to the black tribes among whom they live. The Foulahs are rigid 
 
352 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 Mahommedans, and according to Mollien the French traveler's report, they 
 are animated by a strong zeal for proselytism. They are the missionaries of 
 Islam among the Pagan negro tribes. Where they have conquered, they 
 have forced the adoption of the Koran by the sword ; and while pursuing 
 quietly their pastoral occupation, they become schoolmasters (maalims), and 
 thus propagate the doctrines and precepts of Islam. Wherever the Foul ah 
 has wandered, the Pagan idolatry of the negro has been overthrown ; the 
 barbarous Fetish and greegree have been abandoned ; anthropophagy and 
 cannibalism have been suppressed. Thus the Foulahs are now exercising a 
 powerful influence upon the moral and social condition of Central Africa. I dc 
 not doubt that they are destined to be the great instrument in the future civi- 
 lization of Africa, and the consequent suppression of the external Atlantic 
 slave trade. They will, probably, erect one vast empire in the Soudan, and 
 the influence which that power may exert in the great question of African 
 civilization, gives to them no ordinary importance." If this opinion be true, 
 what might not be the result if the Foulahs, at present Barbarians and Ma- 
 homniedans, themselves were overpowered by the higher and purer ideas 
 which have raised Europe to its present supremacy over the earth ? Mean- 
 while, it is consoling to think that, even in Central Africa, the human race 
 has been moving onward. 
 
 Northern Africa and the Great Desert. — Respecting that vast section of the 
 African continent which extends from the Mediterranean to Nigritia, it appears 
 that we are only beginning to obtain a correct description. Various officers 
 of the French army at present engaged in the arduous enterprise of establish- 
 ing the colony of Algeria, have occupied themselves in collecting information 
 regarding the numerous tribes overspreading Northern Africa ; and it would 
 seem, from their accounts, that the ideas we have been accustomed to enter- 
 tain concerning these regions are far from correct. 
 
 According to these recent accounts, Northern Africa, between the Mediter- 
 ranean and Nigritia, consists of two portions — the Tell, or that strip of land 
 varying from 50 to 120 miles in breadth, which lies along the sea ; and the 
 Sahara, or, as it has commonly been called, the Great Desert. V On the Me- 
 diterranean coast of Africa, there are in progress at this moment great politi- 
 cal and commercial revolutions. There exists in that region a sanguinary 
 and unceasing conflict of Christianity with Mahommedanism, of civilization 
 with semi-barbarism. France having conquered the extensive territory of 
 Algeria, is now pushing forward her victorious legions into the more impor- 
 tant and more populous empire of Morocco. The result of a conflict between 
 undisciplined hordes and the science of European warfare cannot be doubtful. 
 :But there are elements in this contest which perhaps have not been well un- 
 derstood. It is not with the Arab population of those countries with which 
 France has chiefly to contend. That, indeed, is the more intellectual but 
 smaller portion of the people of Algeria and Morocco. The more ferocious 
 and larger portion of that population consists of the aboriginal Berbers, the 
 ancient Numidians, and Mauritanians. The Romans termed this race genus 
 inswperabile hello — ' unconquerable in war.' It remains to be determined if 
 they have lost that proud appellation." 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 353 
 
 " To form a correct conception of the Sahara," says a writer in the Ed in 
 burgh Review, condensing the information contained in some of the recent 
 French publications on the subject, " our readers must dismiss from their 
 minds all the loose and fantastic conceptions which have been attached, from 
 time immemorial, to the interior of northern Africa. Instead of a torrid re- 
 gion, where boundless steppes of burning sand are abandoned to the roving 
 horsemen of the Desert, and to beasts of prey, and where the last vestiges of 
 Moorish civilization expire long before the traveler arrives at Negroland and 
 the savage communities of the interior, the Sahara is now ascertained to con- 
 sist of a vast archipelago of oases ; each of them peopled by a tribe of the 
 Moorish race or its offsets, more civilized, and more capable of receiving the 
 lessons of civilization, than the houseless Arabs of the Tell [the mountainous 
 tract lying between the Great Desert and the sea] ; cultivating the date-tree 
 with application and ingenuity, inhabiting walled towns, living under a regu- 
 lar government, for the most part of a popular origin ; carrying to some per- 
 fection certain branches of native manufactures, and keeping up an extensive 
 system of cr..iii ercial intercourse with the northern and central part of the 
 African continent, and from Mogador to Mecca, by the enterprise and activity 
 of their caravans. Each of the oases of the Sahara, which are divided from 
 one another by sandy tracts, bearing shrubs and plants fit only for the nou- 
 rishment of cattle, presents an animated group of towns and villages. Everv 
 village is enriched by a profusion of fruit-bearing trees. The palm is the 
 monarch of their orchards, as much by the grace of its form, as by the value 
 of its productions ; and the pomegranate, the fig-tree, and the apricot cluster 
 around its lofty stem. The lions and other beasts of prey with which poetry 
 has peopled the African wilds are to be met with only in the mountains of 
 the Tell, never in the plains of the Sahara. The robber tribes of the Tuaricks 
 frequent the southern frontier of the Sahara, and the last tracts of habitable 
 land which intervene between these oases and the real Desert ; but in the 
 Sahara itself, communications, carried on after the fashion of the country, are 
 regular and secure. War is, indeed, of frequent occurrence between the neigh- 
 boring tribes, either for the possession of disputed territories, or the revenge 
 of supposed injuries ; but all that is yet known of these singular communities 
 shows them to be living in a completely constituted state of society, eminently 
 adapted to the peculiar part of the globe which they inhabit, governed by the 
 strong traditions of a primitive people, and fulfilling with energy and intel- 
 gence, the strange vocations of their life." 
 
 " Almost all the Sahara tribes," says M. Carette, a French captain of en- 
 gineers, vho has contributed much to clear up our notions of this portion of 
 Africa, tff% accustomed to a system of annual peregrination, which must have 
 existed from time immemorial, inasmuch as it is based upon the nature of the 
 climate and the produce, and the primary wants of their existence. This 
 general movement is commonly performed in the following manner : — During 
 the winter and spring the tribes are collected in the waste tracts of the Sahara, 
 which, at this season of the year, supply water and fresh vegetation, but they 
 never remain more than three or four days on any one spot ; and when the 
 pasture is exhausted, they strike their tents, and go to establish themselves 
 23 
 
354 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 elsewhere. Toward the end of the spring thej pass through the towns of the 
 Sahara, where their merchandise is deposited. They load their camels with 
 dates and woollen stuffs, and then turn their steps toward the north, taking 
 with them their whole wandering city — women, dogs, herds, and tents — for 
 it is at this season that the springs begin to dry and the plants to wither on 
 the Sahara, at the same time that the corn is ripe in the Tell. There they 
 arrive at the moment of the harvest, when corn is abundant and cheap, and 
 thus they take a double advantage of the season, by abandoning the waste as 
 it becomes arid, and seeking their fresh stock of provisions in the north, when 
 the markets are overstocked with grain. The summer they pass in this coun- 
 try in commercial activity, exchanging their dates and woolen manufactured 
 goods for corn, raw wool, sheep, and butter ; while their herds are allowed 
 to browse freely upon the lands, which lie fallow after the gathering in of the 
 harvest. The signal for the return homeward is given at the end of the summer; 
 the camels are reloaded, the tents again struck, and the wandering city once 
 more marches forth, as it came, in short days' journeys toward the south. 
 
 The Sahara is regained about the middle of October, the period when the 
 dates are ripe. A month is passed in gathering and storing this fruit ; ano- 
 ther is devoted to the exchange of the wheat, and barley, and raw wool for 
 the year's dates and the woolen stuffs — the produce of the yearly labor of 
 the women. When all this business is concluded, and the merchandise 
 stored away, the tribes quit the towns, and lead their flocks and herds from 
 pasture-land to pasture-land among the waste tracts of the Sahara, until the 
 following summer calls for a renewal of the same journey, the same system 
 of trade. 
 
 " The Sahara," continues M. Carette, "is that part of Algeria which is most 
 civilized and most capable of receiving civilization. It is there that habits of 
 precision are most generally diffused, and there that we find the greatest 
 amount of intelligence, activity, and social disposition." The only portion of 
 the Sahara which answers to our ideas of an uninterrupted waste of sand, 
 seems to be the most southern belt of it, which adjoins Nigritia, and which is 
 infested by a roving race called the Tuaricks, who conduct a commercial in- 
 tercourse, especially in slaves, between the negro countries and the oases of 
 the more northern parts of the Sahara. " These Tuaricks," says M. Carette, 
 " pretend to be of Turkish descent, and affect to treat the Arabs with disdain. 
 They are tall, strong, of slender make, and of fair complexion, with the ex- 
 ception of a few of mixed blood. They wear a head-dress, one of the ends 
 of which covers the whole face except the eyes ; and almost all, whether rich 
 or poor, have their feet bare, because, according to their own account, they 
 never go on foot." The southern Tuaricks keep the towns of the Soudan 
 in a constant state of blockade, hunting down the negroes in their neighbor- 
 hood, and carrying them off for sale. 
 
 From the general survey which we have taken of Africa, and of the progress 
 of African discovery, it appears that, while there is scarcely a point in its 
 vast circuit where Europeans have not attempted to settle, scarcely any of 
 the settlements have flourished. For the purposes of trade, such establish- 
 ments will no doubt be maintained at a vast sacrifice of life — the consequence 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 355 
 
 of the pestilential effects of the climate on European constitutions ; but it it 
 not likely that any settlements of a permanent description will be effected 
 except at the southern and northern extremities of the continent. Cape Co- 
 lony as yet is the most prosperous, indeed the only settlement worthy of the 
 name in Africa ; whether the French will be able to make anything of Alge- 
 ria, remains yet to be seen. As for the center of the continent, it seems quite 
 hopeless to suppose that Europeans can ever operate there directly. The 
 utmost that can be anticipated is, that they shall be able to act upon the con- 
 tinent through native agents. By establishing a commerce with central 
 Africa, they may stimulate whatever tendencies to civilization exist among 
 the negro races ; they may create an activity through the continent resembling 
 that caused by the slave traffic, but every way nobler and more beneficial. 
 Whatever seeds of improvement there are among the natives, whether negroes, 
 Foulahs, or Arabs, may be developed by this means, and made to fructify. 
 And in this respect, nothing could be more gratifying than to know that the 
 opinion explained in a former part of this article, with regard to Central Africa, 
 is well-founded, and that an actual movement is in progress among the na- 
 tives toward a more advanced stage of humanity. 
 
 " The tastes and tendencies of the African mind seem to tend toward mu- 
 sic and the softer arts, rather than toward the scientific and stronger devel- 
 opments of intellect. If this be the ultimate tendency of African tastes and 
 developments, then it may be a very desirable and beautiful civilization, that 
 country will ultimately attain ; but one which will never counteract the dom- 
 ination of the Gothic, or, as it is now called, the Anglo-Saxon superiority. It 
 is only the scientific development of the human mind, which can ever wield 
 power. 
 
 " Africa is probably destined, eventually, to receive a civilization, as soft 
 and luxurious, as ancient Asia ; but, raised to a far higher level, by the 
 genius of Christianity — Christianity is itself mild, peaceful, and softening, 
 and may, therefore, ultimately find in Africa and in Eastern climes, a soil 
 congenial and peculiar to itself. Amid the world's overturning and revolu- 
 tions, it may happen, that Europe will be darkened and defiled by a gross in- 
 fidelity, while America and Africa may become the residence of the purest 
 and brightest Christianity ! Such a revolution would be no more marvelous 
 than that Babylon and Tyre have become ruins, and returned to barbarism. 
 The world is but a complex scene of ruin, revolution, and restoration, The 
 day is dawning for Africa, and even the blackness of her night will pass 
 away before the renewing influence of Christian civilization." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Origin of Slavery — Rise of the African Slave-trade — African and American Slave-trade- 
 Slave Factories — Slave Hunts in Nubia — Modern African Slave-trade — Nominal abolition 
 of the Slave trade — Horrors of the Middle Passage — Conclusion. 
 
 The mere name of Africa insensiby suggests, in connection, its great lead- 
 ing article of commerce, — the traffic in men. To give a few pages to this 
 
356 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 subject, in concluding this article, will be found instructive to some of our 
 readers. 
 
 Slavery, in some form, has existed from the remotest ages. It obtained, 
 among the Patriarchs, was a recognized institution of the Jews, Egyptians, 
 Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In reading the history of any ancient 
 State, we are apt to forget it is only of the free inhabitants that it relates, and 
 of the immense mass of bondsmen, we learn next to nothing. Debtors were 
 then sold to liquidate their debts ; gamblers staked their liberty on their last 
 chance ; or criminals were enslaved for crime ; parents sold their children, 
 and finally, war, more than all others united, added its multitudes of van- 
 quished as victims to slavery. 
 
 The most enlightened nations of antiquity gave the broadest sanction to 
 this institution. In Rome the slaves formed a motley population ; some were 
 foreigners, others natives — some less civilized than their masters, others 
 more so — some tilled their masters' fields ; others taught them the sciences — 
 some worked in chains, and endured the task ; others lived in comfort and 
 were even petted ! Thus a rich citizen of Rome, eighteen hundred yean; 
 ago, would possess slaves of all nations — dark haired beauties from the East ; 
 golden haired ones from the North ; cooks from southern Italy ; learned men 
 and musicians from Greece or Egypt ; menials and drudges from remote 
 Scythia, interior Africa, or the savage island of Britain. Out of this pro- 
 miscuous system arose negro slavery. 
 
 Negroland or Nigritia may be called the land of negroes. In ancient 
 times, it bore but a share of the burden. Britons and Scythians were the 
 fellow-slaves of the Ethiopian ; but at last, all the other nations seemed to 
 conspire against the negro race, agreeing never to enslave each other, but to 
 make the blacks the slaves of all alike. Thus the abolition of promiscuous 
 slavery, in the modern world, was purchased by the introduction of a slavery 
 confined entirely to negroes. 
 
 The African tribes, who ultimately became the universal prey of Euro- 
 peans, themselves subjected men to perpetual bondage, and from remotest 
 time, every wealthy negro had his slaves alike with the rich Greek or Roman. 
 As in civilized countries, the slave population in the interior of Africa, many 
 times exceed that of the free. So the modern form of negro slavery origi- 
 nated with the negroes themselves. In ancient times, negroes were trans- 
 ported by their Arab or negro owners, across the desert, and sold to the 
 Carthaginians and Egyptians, and occasionally would be exported from 
 thence into southern Europe, where they were always highly valued for their 
 patience, mild temper and extraordinary endurance. Still anciently, in Eu- 
 rope, the negro enjoyed not that miserable pre-eminence which now assigns 
 him as the born drudge of the human family. White-skinned men were 
 alike slaves, and if in Carthage and Egypt, black slaves more abounded, it 
 was solely because more easily obtained. 
 
 Although the use of negroes as slaves, by the Arabs, gave the first hint 
 of negro slavery to the Europeans, the Europeans are quite entitled to the 
 credit of having found it out for themselves. As the Portuguese were the 
 first Europeans acquainted with Africa, so they first set the example of from 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 357 
 
 thence obtaining negroes. As early as 1434, one Anthony Gonzales, a Por- 
 tuguese, carried from the coast of Guinea a few negro lads, and sold them 
 to some Moorish families in Spain, — an act which provoked criticism at the 
 time. But from that day it became customary for the captains of vessels 
 landing on that coast to export a few young negroes. The traffic proving 
 profitable, negroes no longer were exported as curiosities in twos and threes, 
 but formed a part of the cargo, as well as gold, ivory and gum. The ships 
 no longer sailed to discover new countries, but for lucrative cargoes ; and 
 the inhabitants of the negro villages along the coast, delighted with the 
 knives, bright cloths, beads and other gewgaws, they received for gold, ivory 
 and slaves, were sure to have these ready for any ship that might land, so 
 that in about seventy years after Gonzales had carried away the negro boys, 
 the slave trade was in full blast, thousands being annually exported, — a traffic 
 in which the Spaniards had then also entered. 
 
 The West India Islands was the first part of America colonized by the 
 Spaniards. They first employed the Indians to labor for them ; these, 
 although capable of much passive endurance, drooped and lost all heart when 
 put to labor, and this ill-usage and the small-pox carried them off in thou- 
 sands, so that in St. Domingo alone, in the short space of seven years, be- 
 tween 1508 and 1515, the natives dwindled from 60,000 to 14,000. The 
 condition of these poor aborigines became so heart-breaking, that the Do- 
 minican priests espoused their cause, asserting them to be free men, and de- 
 nying the right of making them slaves. Bartholomew de Las Casas, a be- 
 nevolent priest, by his energy and perseverance as a friend of the Indians 
 produced a great effect upon the Spanish government. 
 
 The relaxation in favor of one race was at the expense of the slavery of 
 another. As early as 1503 a few negroes had been imported into America, 
 and it was found that not only could each do as much work as four Indians, 
 but that while the Indians were fast becoming extinct, the negroes thrived, 
 waxed fat and propagated wonderfully. The plain inference was to import 
 negroes as fast as possible, and it was done. 
 
 The Spaniards remained not long alone in this new traffic ; but as they 
 first had all America to themselves where negro labor was in demand, they 
 alone possessed large numbers of negroes. But when other nations came to 
 colonize America, they patronized the slave-trade. In 1616, negroes were 
 first imported into Virginia, in a Dutch vessel, on trial ; these the planters 
 found so useful that negroes speedily came in great demand in the old Do- 
 minion. English merchants, calculating and vigilant then as now, embarked 
 in the traffic, and soon others, so that by the middle of the 17th century all 
 Europe was buying and selling negroes. 
 
 So universal is the spirit for barter, that immediately the new and great 
 demand for slaves created its own supply. Slavery had always existed in 
 Negroland, but was comparatively limited. The new demand stimulated 
 the natural animosities of the various negro tribes on the west coast ; and 
 tempted by the clasp-knives, looking-glasses, and wonderful red cloth the 
 white men always brought, the whole negro population for many miles in- 
 land began fighting and kidnapping each other. Finally the far interior, the 
 
358 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA 
 
 district of Lake Tschad and the mystic source of the fatal Niger, hitherto 
 untrodden by the foot of a white invader, began to feel the tremor caused bv 
 the traffic on the coast ; and erelong the very negroes who seemed safest in 
 their central obscurities, were drained away to meet the increasing demand ; 
 either led captives by warlike visitants from the west, or handed from tribe to 
 tribe, till they reached the sea. In this way central Africa, with its teeming 
 myriads of negroes, came to be the great mother of slaves for exportation, 
 and the negro villages on the coast the warehouses, as it were, where the 
 slaves were stowed away till the ships of the white men arrived to carry 
 them off. 
 
 European skill and foresight assisted in giving constancy and regularity to 
 the supply of negro'*"' from the interior. At first the ship had to sail along 
 a large tract o r f ' e Guinea coast, picking up a few negroes at one place, a 
 little ivory or got 4 « another. No coast is so pestilential as that of Africa, 
 and this mode was clumsy, repulsive, and excessively dangerous. There- 
 fore, small settlements of Europeans, called slave factories, were planted 
 along the coast, to negotiate with the negroes, stimulate them to activity in 
 their slave-hunting expeditions, purchase the slaves brought in, and ware- 
 house them until the arrival of the ships. 
 
 Slave factories dotted the western coast from Cape Verde to the equator, 
 established by French, English, Dutch, and Portuguese traders These were 
 fortifications generally built at the mouth of some navigable river, or on 
 an island near the coast. The fort inclosed a large area ; within it were 
 magazines for the merchandise, soldiers' barracks, a slave depot, and in gen- 
 eral upon the ramparts the quarters of the officers and agents, and outside 
 the huts of negroes in their service. If the troops who garrisoned the fort 
 exceeded twenty or thirty, a commissioned officer usually had charge of them. 
 The most remarkable forts were St. George del Mina, erected by the Portu- 
 guese ; Cape Coast Castle, by the English ; Fort Louis, by the French, and 
 Goree. Most of them mounted from fifty to sixty pieces, and were capable 
 of standing a siege even by regular troops. 
 
 Next in importance to the commander or governor were the factors, a part 
 of whom remained in the fort to keep up the supplies and manage the trade 
 there while others carried on the traffic in the interior, often ascending the 
 rivers in armed vessels and exchanging, with the people, various articles for 
 slaves, gold-dust and ivory, and occasionally establishing themselves in some 
 town, and as it were keeping shop to carry on their business. 
 
 The European subordinates of the factory, were clerks, book-keepers, ware- 
 housemen, artificers, mechanics, gunners and soldiers, all of whom had par- 
 ticular quarters and lived under military discipline. The soldiers were 
 mostly the refuse of the armies of their respective nations, dismissed for bad 
 conduct. Abandoned desperadoes at home, they willingly engaged to go to 
 Africa, allured by a life of ease, indolence and licentiousness, and exposed to 
 no danger except that of a deadly climate. But few were fit for active duty, 
 which was of less consequence, as they were seldom or never required to 
 fight except on the ramparts, and rarely, even there. Hence they spent 
 their time in smoking, drinking palm wine, and in gaming, and were gene- 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 359 
 
 rally carried off by fever or dissipation inside of two years after their arrival. 
 A stranger on first visiting any of the African forts, felt there was something 
 both horrible and ludicrous in the appearance of its garrison ; for the indi- 
 viduals composing it, appeared ghastly, debilitated and diseased, to a degree 
 unknown in other climates; and their tattered and soiled uniforms, resembling 
 each other only in meanness, and not in color, suggested the idea of the 
 wearers being a band of drunken deserters, or of starved and maltreated 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 The forts, although employed principally as depots for merchandise, yet 
 were often visited by native dealers from the interior with slaves, ivory and 
 gold-dust for traffic. They were also most cordially received by the gover- 
 nor, lest they should take their goods to another market, and treated with 
 liquors, sweetmeats and presents, and urged to drink freely. The unsuspi- 
 cious negro merchant, dazzled by the variety of tempting objects ostenta- 
 tiously displayed before him, and exhilarated by wine or brandy, was easily 
 led to conclude a bargain little advantageous to himself; and before he 
 got sober, his slaves, ivory and gold-dust, were transferred to the stores of 
 the factory, and he was obliged to be contented with what he had, in his mo- 
 ments of inebriety, agreed to accept in exchange for them. 
 
 From this it appears, that not only did the managers of the factories re- 
 ceive all the negroes brought to them, but that emissaries, "junior factors" 
 as they were called, penetrated into the interior, as if thoroughly to infect 
 the central tribes with the spirit of commerce. The result of this was the 
 creation of large slave markets in the interior, and where slave merchants, 
 whether Negro, Arabic, or European, met to conclude their wholesale bar- 
 gains. One of these great slave markets was at Timbuctoo ; but for the 
 most part the slaves were brought down in droves by Slatees, or negro slave 
 merchants, to the European factories on the coast. At the time Park tra- 
 veled in Africa, so completely had the interior become possessed with the 
 trading spirit, so much had the capture and abduction of negroes increased, 
 that those native slave merchants were observed to treat the slaves they were 
 driving to the coast with considerable kindness. The negroes were, indeed, 
 chained together to prevent their escape. Those who were refractory had 'a 
 thick billet of wood fastened to their ankle ; and as the poor wretches, quitting 
 their native spots, became sullen and moody, their limbs at the same time 
 swelling and breaking out in sores with the fatigue of traveling, it was often 
 necessary to apply the whip. 
 
 Still, the Slatees were not wantonly cruel ; and there was nothing they 
 liked better than to see their slaves merry. Occasionally they would halt in 
 their march, and encourage the negroes to sing their snatches of song, or play 
 their games of hazard, or dance under the shade of the tamarind tree. This, 
 however, was only the case with the professional slave-driver, who was com- 
 missioned to convey the negroes to the coast ; and if we wish to form a con- 
 ception of the extent and intricate working of the curse inflicted upon the 
 negroes by their contact with white men, we must set ourselves to imagine 
 all the previous kidnapping and fighting which must have been necessary to 
 procure every one of these droves which the Slatees carried down. What a 
 
360 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 number of processes must have conspired to collect a sufficient number of 
 slaves to form a drove ! In one case, it would be a negro master selling a 
 number of his spare slaves ; and what an amount of suffering even in this 
 case must there have been arising from the separation of relatives ! In an- 
 other case, it would be a father selling his son, or a son selling his old father, 
 or a creditor selling his insolvent debtor. In a third, it would be a starving 
 family voluntarily surrendering itself to slavery. When a scarcity occurred, 
 instances used to be frequent of famishing negroes coming to the British 
 stations in Africa and begging •' to be put upon the slave chain." In a 
 fourth case, it would be a savage selling the boy or girl he had kidnapped 
 a week ago on purpose. In a fifth, it would be a petty negro chief disposing 
 of twenty or thirty negroes taken alive in a recent attack upon a village at a 
 little distance from his own. Sometimes these forays in quest of negroes to 
 sell are on a very large scale, and then they are called slave-hunts. The 
 king of one negro country collects a large army, and makes an expedition 
 into the territories of another negro king, ravaging and making prisoners 
 as he goes. If the inhabitants make a stand against him, a battle ensues, in 
 which the invading army is generally victorious. As many are killed as may 
 be necessary to decide that such is the case ; and the captives are driven 
 awav in thousands, to be kept on the property of the victor till he finds op- 
 portunities of selling them. In 1794, the king of the southern Foulahs, a 
 powerful tribe in Nigritia, was known to have an army of 16,000 men con- 
 stantly employed in these slave-hunting expeditions into his neighbors' terri- 
 tories. The slaves they procured made the largest item in his revenue. 
 
 While a wholesale deportation of slaves from Central Africa was actively 
 organized, and conducted in order to supply the American market, Nubia, 
 and some other districts were equally laid under contribution for slaves, by 
 Egyptian and Turkish invaders. Unlike the Christians, the less fastidious 
 Mohammedans captured slaves for themselves, and under Mohammed Ali, 
 the late ruler of Egypt, this system was carried on to an enormous extent. 
 
 His slave-hunts were conducted on a grand scale. These expeditions took 
 place annually, after the rainy season, with as much regularity as the collect- 
 ing of a tax, and were called " The Gasna." Dr. Maddon, who was in 
 Egypt in 1840, gives the following description: 
 
 " The capturing expedition consists of from 1000 to 2000 regular foot 
 soldiers ; 400 to 800 Bedouins on horseback, armed with guns and pistols ; 
 300 to 500 of the militia (half-naked savages) on dromedaries, with shields 
 and spears ; and 1000 more on foot, with bucklers and small lances. As 
 soon as everything is ready, the march begins. They usually take from two 
 to four field-pieces, and only sufficient bread for the first eight days. Oxen, 
 sheep, and other cattle, are generally taken by force before, at Kordofan, 
 although the tax upon cattle may have been paid. When they meet with a 
 flock, either feeding or at the watering-places, they steal the cattle, and do 
 not care whether it belongs to one or more persons ; they make no reparation 
 for necessary things, whoever may be the sufferer ; and no objection or com- 
 plaint is listened to, as the governor himself is present. 
 
 As soon as they arrive at the nearest mountains in Nubia, the inhabitants 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 361 
 
 are asked to give the appointed number of slaves as their customary tribute* 
 This is usually done with readiness ; for these people live so near Kordofan, 
 and are well aware that, by an obstinate refusal, they expose themselves to 
 far greater sufferings. If the slaves are given without resistance, the inhabi- 
 tants of that mountain are preserved from the horrors of an open attack ; 
 but as the food of the soldiers begins to fail about that time, the poor people 
 are obliged to procure the necessary provisions as well as the specified num- 
 ber of slaves, and the Turks do not consider whether the harvest has been 
 good or bad. All that is not freely given, the soldiers take by force. Like 
 so many bloodhounds, they know how to discover the hidden stores, and fre- 
 quently leave these unfortunate people scarcely a loaf for the next day. They 
 then proceed on to the more distant mountains : here they consider them- 
 selves to be in the land of an enemy : they encamp near the mountain which 
 they intend to take by storm the following day, or immediately, if it is prac- 
 ticable. But before the attack commences, they endeavor to settle the affair 
 amicably: a messenger is sent to the sheikh, in order to invite him to come to the 
 camp, and to bring with him the requisite number of slaves. If the chief agrees 
 with his subjects to the proposal, in order to prevent all further bloodshed, or 
 if he finds his means inadequate to attempt resistance, he readily gives the 
 appointed number of slaves. The sheikh then proceeds to procure the number 
 he has promised ; and this is not difficult, for many volunteers offer them- 
 selves for their brethren, and are ready to subject themselves to all the hor- 
 rors of slavery, in order to free those they love. Sometimes they are obliged 
 to be torn by force from the embraces of their friends and relations. The 
 sheikh generally receives a dress as a present for his ready services. 
 
 But there are very few mountains that submit to such a demand. Most 
 villages which are advantageously situated, and lie near steep precipices or 
 inaccessible heights, that can be ascended only with difficulty, defend them- 
 selves most valiantly, and fight for the rights of liberty with a courage, per- 
 severance, and sacrifice, of which history furnishes us with few examples. 
 Very few flee at the approach of their enemies, although they might take 
 refuge in the high mountains, with all their goods, especially as they receive 
 timely information of the arrival of the soldiers ; but they consider such 
 flights cowardly and shameful, and prefer to die fighting for their liberty. 
 
 If the sheikh does not yield to the demand, an attack is made upon the vil- 
 lage. The cavalry and bearers of lances surround the whole mountain, and 
 the infantry endeavor to climb the heights. Formerly, they fired with cannon 
 upon the villages and those places where the negroes were assembled, but, 
 on account of the want of skill of the artillerymen, few shots, if any, took 
 effect : the negroes became indifferent to this prelude, and were only stimu- 
 lated to a more obstinate resistance. The thundering of the cannon, at first, 
 caused more consternation than their effects, but the fears of the negroes 
 ceased as soon as they became accustomed to it. Before the attack com 
 mences, all avenues to the village are blocked up with large stones or other 
 impediments, the village is provided with water for several days, the cattle 
 and other property taken up to the mountain ; in short, nothing necessary foi 
 a proper defense is neglected. The men, armed only with lances, occupy 
 
3(}2 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 every spot which may be defended ; and even the women do not remain in- 
 active : they either take part in the battle personally, or encourage their hus- 
 bands by their cries and lamentations, and provide them with arms ; in short, 
 all are active, except the sick and aged. The points of their wooden lances 
 are first dipped into a poison which is standing by them in an earthen vessel, 
 and which is prepared from the juice of a certain plant. The poison is of a 
 whitish color, and looks like milk which has been standing ; the nature of the 
 plant, and the manner in which the poison is prepared, is still a secret, and 
 generally known only to one family in the village, who will not on any account 
 make it known to others. 
 
 The signal for attack being given, the infantry sound the alarm, and an 
 assault is made upon the mountain. Hundreds of lances, large stones, and 
 pieces of wood, are then thrown at the assailants ; behind every large stone 
 a negro is concealed, who either throws his poisoned lance at the enemy, or 
 waits for the moment when his opponent approaches the spot of his conceal- 
 ment, when he pierces him with his lance. The soldiers, who are only able 
 to climb up the steep heights with great difficulty, are obliged to sling their 
 guns over their backs, in order to have the use of their hands when climbing, 
 and, consequently, are often in the power of the negroes before they are able 
 to discover them. But nothing deters these robbers. Animated with avarice 
 and revenge, they mind no impediment, not even death itself. One after 
 another treads upon the corpse of his comrade, and thinks only of robbery 
 and murder ; and the village is at last taken, in spite of the most desperate 
 resistance. And then the revenge is horrible. Neither the aged nor the sick 
 are spared ; women, and even children in the womb, fall a sacrifice to their 
 fury; the huts are plundered, the little possession of the unfortunate inhabi- 
 tants carried away or destroyed, and all that fall alive into the hands of the 
 robbers are led as slaves into the camp. When the negroes see that their re- 
 sistance is no longer of any avail, they frequently prefer death to slavery ; 
 and if they are not prevented, you may see the father rip up first the stomach 
 of his wife, then of his children, and then his own, that they may not fall 
 alive into the hands of the enemy. Others endeavor to save themselves by 
 creeping into holes, and remain there for several days without nourishment, 
 where there is frequently only room sufficient to allow them to lie on their 
 backs, and in that situation they sometimes remain for eight days. They 
 have assured me, that if they can overcome the first three days, they may, 
 with a little effort, continue full eight days without food. But even from 
 these hiding-places the unfeeling barbarians know how to draw them, or they 
 make use of means to destroy them : provided with combustibles, such as 
 pitch, brimstone, etc., the soldiers try to kindle a fire before, the entrance of 
 the holes, and, by forcing the stinking smoke into them, the poor creatures 
 are obliged to creep out and surrender themselves to their enemies, or they 
 are suffocated with the smoke. 
 
 After the Turks have done all in their power to capture the living, they 
 lead these unfortunate people into the camp ; they then plunder the huts 
 and the cattle ; and several hundred soldiers are engaged in searching the 
 mountain in every direction, in order to steal the hidden harvest, that the 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. - 363 
 
 rest of the negroes, who were fortunate enough to escape, and have hid 
 themselves in inaccessible caves, should not find anything on their return to 
 nourish and continue their life. 
 
 When slaves to the number of 500 or 600 are obtained, they are sent to 
 Lobeid, with an escort of country people, and about fifty soldiers, under the 
 command of an officer. In order to prevent escape, a sheba is hung round 
 the necks of the adults. A sheba is a young tree, about eight feet long, and 
 two inches thick, and which has a fork at the top ; it is so tied to the neck of 
 the poor creature, that the trunk of the tree hangs down in the front, and the 
 fork is closed behind the neck with a cross-piece of timber, or tied together 
 with strips cut out of a fresh skin ; and in this situation the slave, in order to 
 be able to walk at all, is obliged to take the tree into his hands, and to carry 
 it before him. But none can endure this very long ; and to render it easier, 
 the one in advance takes the tree of the man behind him on his shoulder." 
 In this way, the men carrying the sheba, the boys tied together by the wrists, 
 the women and children walking at liberty, and the old and feeble tot- 
 tering along leaning on their relations, the whole of the captives are 
 driven into Egypt, there to be exposed for sale in the slave-market. Thus 
 negroes and Nubians are distributed over the East, through Persia, Arabia, 
 India, etc." 
 
 From this, it appears that there have been two distinct slave trades going 
 on with Africa — the slave trade -on the west coast, for the supply of America 
 and the European colonies, and the slave trade on the north-east, for the sup- 
 ply of Egypt, Turkey and the East. The one may be called the Christian, 
 the other the Mahommedan slave trade. The one has been legally abolished, 
 the other is as vigorously prosecuted as ever ; and negroes are bought and 
 sold daily in the public slave markets of Cairo and Constantinople. The Ma- 
 hommedans, it is said, treat their negroes with more kindness than the 
 Christians. And while the slaves of the west are all negroes, in the east 
 there are slaves of all countries, Asiatics as well as Africans ; as was the case 
 in Greece, Rome, and other countries of the ancient world. 
 
 We return to the western slave trade. About the year 1750, this trade was 
 carried on with extraordinary vigor. All the great nations had factories on 
 the Guinea coast, and ships of all nations came periodically to carry off their 
 valuable cargoes, which, it is supposed, did hot fall short of 100,000 negroes 
 annually. In thirty years, at this rate, Scotland would be emptied of its pre- 
 sent population. So much has the demand for slaves been confined to Ame- 
 rica, that it may be said, that but for the discovery of America, negro slavery 
 would never have existed. Negro slavery was a device struck out in a bold 
 .,nd unconscientious age to meet a great emergency. . When Europe, as we 
 have seen, had discovered the New World, with all its riches, and found 
 the aborigines there useless as laborers, and fast disappearing, broken- 
 hearted, into their graves, provoked at so untoward an occurrence, she looked 
 about in no very scrupulous mood, for some other population less delicately 
 framed, whom she might compel to help her through the crisis. Her eye 
 lighted on the brawny figure of the negro, and the whole difficulty vanished. 
 Here was the individual specially to dig in mines, and work in su^ar planta- 
 
364 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 iions. What so convenient as to use the old continent for the purpose of 
 subjugating the new one ? 
 
 Having sketched the origin and progress of the slave trade, we have now to 
 trace the history of its nominal abolition. Possibly, if we had the means of 
 knowing, we should find that from the year 1512, when Cardinal Ximenes 
 protested against the introduction of negroes into America, down to the year 
 1787, when Clarkson and Wilberforce began the great struggle, there were 
 never wanting in the world good and benevolent men, who saw the injustice 
 of the trade, were grieved inwardly when they thought of it, and even 
 denounced it in conversation. As cultivated feeling advanced, so there was 
 a growing feeling that the slave trade was a wrong thing. 
 
 About the year 1650 Morgan Goodwin publicly broached the subject by 
 writing upon it. A century later two memDers of the society of Friends in 
 America, John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, endeavored to get the people 
 of their own persuasion to abandon the traffic. Benezet founded and taught 
 a negro school in Philadelphia, and denounced the slave trade in various 
 publications. So powerful was the effect produced by these two men that 
 the Friends in America emancipated their slaves. In 1772, through the in- 
 fluence of the benevolent Granville Sharpe, the English Bench made the 
 famous decision, " that when a negro puts his foot ^>n English ground he is 
 free." In 1785, the slave trade was proposed as the subject of a prize essay 
 at Cambridge. The prize was gained by Thomas Clarkson. On Sunday, 
 the 28th of October, 1787, Wilberforce made this entry in his journal, " God 
 Almighty has placed before me two great objects, the suppression of the 
 slave trade and the reformation of manners." The reformation of manners 
 he did not accomplish, but the suppression of the slave trade he did. Clark- 
 son and Wilberforce, the twin spirits of the movement, were soon able to form 
 a powerful confederacy, including men of all parties, and to shake the mind 
 of the nation. 
 
 In 1787, Wilberforce first mooted the question in Parliament, and the sub- 
 ject was continued to be agitated for many years, the friends of abolition gra- 
 dually gaining strength amid most strenuous opposition, until the bill for the 
 total abolition of the British slave trade was passed, and received the royal 
 assent in March, 1807. At first, the penalty for continuing the traffic was 
 simply pecuniary ; in 1811, an act was carried by Lord Brougham, making 
 it felony, punishable by transportation for fourteen years, or imprisonment at 
 hard labor. This being found inadequate, in 1824, the slave trade was de- 
 clared piracy, and the punishment death. In 1837, the punishment was 
 again changed into imprisonment for life. 
 
 Erelong all the foreign powers imitated Great Britain, and the UnHed 
 States and Brazil made the traffic piracy, punishable with death. And, with 
 the exception of the United States, all have agreed to the mutual right of 
 search ; that is, each has agreed to permit its ships to be searched at sea by 
 the ships of the others, so as to detect any si »ves who may be on board. 
 
 To import negroes from Africa, is now, therefore, an illegal act, by the law 
 of all civilized nations. Startling as the assertion is, the slave trade is now 
 no more abolished than it ever was ! This appaling fact is proved beyond tho 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 365 
 
 possibility of doubt, that all that has been done has only aggravated the evil 
 •t was intended to destroy. It has changed, what was formerly a legal trade, 
 pursued openly by respectable persons, into a contraband trade, pursued se- 
 cretly by blackguards and desperadoes. It is an ascertained fact that no 
 illicit trade can be suppressed if the profits be more than thirty per cent. 
 Those of the slave trade average 180 or 200 per cent. Accordingly, since 
 the slave trade was declared illegal, a vigorous contraband traffic has been 
 carried on by French, Spanish, Portuguese, and American crews, the wages 
 of the common sailors often being forty dollars a month. The captain, and 
 often the sailors in these ships, are said to be men of ability, not only ai 
 seamen, but in other respects. Cuba and Brazil are the principal slave 
 importing countries. The annual delivery of negroes to Brazil is about 
 80,000, to Cuba about 60,000, and if we add 10,000 for all other places, 
 the annual delivery of negroes in America amounts to 150,000 ; that is t<s 
 say, nearly double the largest annual delivery ever known to have been made 
 before Wilberforce began his labors. 
 
 It is calculated that for every ten negroes Africa parts with, America 
 receives only three ; the other seven die. The number 150,000 being that 
 which America annually receives, there must, according to this estimate, be 
 500,000 negroes every year, collected in the interior of Africa for the Ame- 
 rican market, of whom — in the journey from the interior to the coast, — during 
 the passage across the Atlantic, — and in the process of acclimating, soon after 
 landing — there perish — men, women, boys, and girls — the enormous number 
 of 350,000 ! 
 
 While the trade was legal, the ships designed for carrying slaves, were, in 
 a measure, constructed like other vessels, and the number of negroes a ves- 
 sel was allowed to carry, was fixed by law. All this is now altered. By 
 making the traffic illegal, all power is lost of regulating it. In order to es- 
 cape the cruisers, all slave-ships are constructed on the principle of fast-sailing. 
 The risk of being captured takes away all inducements, from mere selfish 
 motives, to make the cargo moderate ; on the contrary, it is now an object to 
 make the cargo as large as possible, for then, the escape of one cargo out of 
 three will amply repay the dealer. Accordingly, the negroes now are packed 
 in the slave ships literally (and this is the comparison always used) like her- 
 rings in a barrel. They have neither standing room, nor sitting room, nor 
 lying room ; and as for change of position during the voyage, the thing is 
 impossible. They are cooped up anyhow, squeezed into crevices, or jammed 
 up against the curved planks. The allowance in breadth for an adult negro 
 is nine inches, so that the only possible posture is on the side. The following 
 is a brief description given by an eye-witness, of the unloading of a captured 
 slaver, which had been brought into Sierra Leone : " The captives were now 
 counted ; their numbers, sex, and age, written down, for the information of 
 the court of mixed commission. The task was repulsive. As the hold had 
 been divided for the separation of the men and the women, those on deck 
 were first counted ; they were then driven forward, crowded as much as pos- 
 sible, and the women were drawn up through the small hatchway from their 
 hot, dark confinement. A black boatswain seized them one by one, dragging 
 
366 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 them before us for a moment, when the proper officer, on a glance, decided 
 the age, whether above or under fourteen ; and they were instantly swung 
 again by the arm into their loathsome cell, where another negro boatswain 
 sat, with a whip or stick, and forced them to resume the bent and painful atti- 
 tude necessary for the stowage of so large a number. The unfortunate 
 women and girls, in general, submitted with quiet resignation, when absence 
 of disease and the use of their limbs permitted. A month had made their 
 condition familiar to them. One or two were less philosophical, or suffered 
 more acutely than the rest. Their shrieks rose faintly from their hidden pri- 
 son, as violent compulsion alone squeezed them into their nook against the 
 curve of the ship's side. I attempted to descend in order to see the accom- 
 modation. The height between the floor and ceiling was about twenty-two 
 inches. The agony of tbe position of the crouching slaves may be imagined, 
 especially that of the men, whose heads and necks are bent down by the 
 boarding above them. Once so fixed, relief by motion or change of posture 
 is unattainable. The body frequently stiffens in a permanent curve ; and in 
 the streets of Freetown I have seen liberated slaves in every conceivable state 
 of distortion. One I remember, who trailed along his body, with his back to 
 the ground, by means of his hands and ankles. Many can never resume the 
 upright posture." 
 
 One item of the immense mortality during the passage, consists of negroes 
 thrown overboard when the slaver is chased, or when a storm arises. Many 
 thousands perish annually in this way. On board ship, continuance of 
 misery, frequently for many weeks in a cramped posture, aside from the mor- 
 tality it occasions, spreads disease among the survivors. Dropsy, eruptions, 
 abscesses, dysentery, and blindness, sometimes become general. 
 
 Where slavers are captured, the whole amount of punishment is usually 
 nothing more than the forfeiture of the ship. With reg rd to the crews, the 
 laws which make slave-dealing piracy, and liable to capital punishment, is, 
 practically, a dead letter, there being no instance of an execution for that 
 crime. The poor negroes, on the other hand, when taken out of the captured 
 vessel, have very little attention paid to them, and are cast adi : ft to shift for 
 themselves. 
 
 Lastly, the condition of the poor negroes at sea, when the sla\ er falls into 
 British hands, is far from being improved. Perhaps, never was the utter 
 inefficacy, the utter foolishness we may say, of all that has yet been done to- 
 ward the suppression of the slave trade, been more strikingly made out than 
 in the harrowing pamphlet recently published by the Rev. Pascoe Grenfell 
 Hill, entitled " Fifty Days on Board a Slave Vessel in the Mozambique Chan- 
 nel, in April and May 1843." The Progresso, a Brazilian slaver, was cap- 
 tured on the 12th of April, on the coast of Madagascar, by the British cruiser 
 Cleopatra, on board of which Mr. Hill was chaplain. The slaver was then 
 taken charge of by a British crew, who were to navigate her to the Cape of 
 Good Hope. Mr. Hill, at his own request, accompanied her; and his 
 pamphlet is a narrative of what took place during the fifty days which 
 elapsed before their arrival at the Cape. We cannot here quote the details of 
 the description of the treatment of the negroes given by Mr. Hill ; but the 
 
ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 357 
 
 following account of the horrors of a single night will suffice. Shortly after 
 the Progresso parted company with the Cleopatra, a squall arose, and tW 
 negroes, who were breathing fresh air on the deck, and rolling themselves 
 about for glee, and kissing the hands and the clothes of their deliverers, were 
 all sent below. "The night," says Mr. Hill, "being intensely hot, 400 
 wretched beings thus crammed into a hold 12 yards in length, 7 in breadth, 
 and only 3^ feet in height, speedily began to make an effort to re-issue to the 
 open air. Being thrust back, and striving the more to get out, the after- 
 hatch was forced down on them. Over the other hatchway, in the fore-part 
 of the vessel, a wooden grating was fastened. To this, the sole inlet for the 
 air, the suffocating heat of the hold, and perhaps panic from the strangeness 
 of their situation, made them press ; and thus great part of the space below 
 was rendered useless. They crowded to the grating, and, clinging to it for 
 air, completely barred its entrance. They strove to force their way through 
 apertures fourteen inches in length and barely six inches in breadth, and in some 
 instances succeeded. The cries, the heat — I may say without exaggeration, 
 * the smoke of their torment' — which ascended, can be compared to nothing 
 earthly. One of the Spaniards gave warning that the consequence would be 
 'many deaths.' " Next day the prediction of the Spaniard "was fearfully 
 verified. Fifty-four crushed and mangled corpses lifted up from the slave 
 deck have been brought to the gangway and thrown overboard. Some were 
 emaciated from disease, many bruised and bloody. Antonio tells me that 
 some were found strangled, their hands still grasping each other's throats, 
 and tongues protruding from their mouths. The bowels of one were crushed 
 out. They had been trampled to death for the most part, the weaker under 
 the feet of the stronger, in the madness and torment of suffocation from 
 crowd and heat. It was a horrid sight, as they passed one by one — the stiff 
 distorted limbs smeared with blood and filth — to be cast into the sea. Some, 
 still quivering, were laid on the deck to die ; salt water thrown on them to 
 revive them, and a little fresh water poured into their mouths. Antonio re- 
 minded me of his last night's warning. He actively employed himself, with 
 his comrade Sebastian, in attendance on the wretched living beings now re- 
 leased from their confinement below; distributing to them their morning meal 
 of farina, and their allowance of water, rather more than half a pint to 
 each, which they grasped with inconceivable eagerness, some bending their 
 knees to the deck, to avoid the risk of losing any of the liquid by unsteady 
 footing ; their throats, doubtless, parched to the utmost with crying and yell- 
 ing through the night." 
 
 On the 12th of April, when the Progresso parted company with the Cleo- 
 patra, there were 397 negroes on board. Of these only 222 were landed at 
 the Cape on the 22d of May; no fewer than 175, a little short of half, having 
 died. Many also died after being landed. The crew escaped, there being 
 no court empowered to try them at the Cape. Abundantly does the narra- 
 tive of Mr. Hill justify the bold sentence with which he concludes — "While 
 we boast that the name of Wilberforce, and the genius and eloquence which 
 enabled him to arouse so general a zeal against the slave trade ; while others 
 are disputing with rim the claim of being ' the true annihilator of the slave 
 
368 ADVENTURES IN AFRICA. 
 
 trade,' that trade, so far from being annihilated, is at this very hour carried 
 on under circumstances of greater atrocity than were known in his time, and 
 '.he blood of the poor victims calls more loudly on us as the actual, though 
 mintentional, aggravators of their miseries." 
 
 " The injuries inflicted by the abolition project may be briefly summed up: 
 The number of negroes imported into America is twice as great as it was, 
 while the mortality in the traffic has increased from about fifteen to thirty- 
 three per cent. The evil, in short, has been doubled in extent, and doubled 
 in intensity ; so that if we take a given increase in extent to be of the same 
 value as the same numerical increase of intensity, we may say that the issue 
 of the struggle which was meant to abolish the evil of the slave trade, has 
 been to quadruple thai wil." 
 
ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 POLAK REGIONS. 
 
 MIDNIGHT IN THE ARCTIC 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 Aspect of the Polar Eegions— Natural Phenomena— Arctic Ocean— Early Explorations- 
 Fate of Sir Hugh "Willoughby— Davis's Discoveries— Misfortunes of Barentz— Hudson's 
 Discoveries — Hearne — Capt Cook — Parry and Franklin's Voyages — Franklin's Overland 
 Journey— Intense Sufferings— Parry's third Voyage— Buchan— Scoresby— Boss— Back— 
 Dease and Simpson— Eussian Explorations—Behring's Discoveries— Wranyell— Franklin's 
 Last Expedition. 
 
 The varied physical aspect of the globe offers as much to charm or awe 
 the eye of man as to minister to his comfort and well-being. From the glow- 
 ing heat and gorgeous vegetation of the torrid zone, we move through all 
 gradations of climate and feature to the frigid regions of either pole, where 
 perpetual ice and a depressed temperature present an extraordinary contrast 
 to the lands of the sun : from intensest heat we pass to intensest cold ; from 
 the sandy deserts of the south, to the icy deserts of the north. Yet there is 
 24 369 
 
370 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 a» much in the frozen zone to impress and elevate the mind of the beholder, 
 as in the countries where nature displays herself in rich and exuberant love- 
 liness. Beyond the seventieth degree of latitude, not a tree meets the eye, 
 wearied with the white waste of snow: forests, woods, even shrubs, have dis- 
 appeared, and given place to a few lichens and creeping wood plants which 
 scantily clothe the indurated soil. Still, in the farthest north, nature claims 
 her birthright of beauty; and in the brief and rapid summer she brings forth 
 numerous flowers and grasses to bloom for a few days, until again blasted by 
 the swiftly-recurring winter. 
 
 In these regions certain mysterious phenomena exhibit their most powerful 
 effects : here is the point of attraction of the compass needle ; and here the 
 dipping needle, which lies horizontal at the equator, points straight down- 
 ward. Slowly, in its cycle of nearly two thousand years, this center or po!e 
 of magnetic attraction revolves in obedience to laws as yet unknown. Two 
 degrees farther toward the north is situated the pole of cold — a mystery, like 
 the former, to science, but equally inciting to curiosity. If induction may be 
 trusted, the pole of the earth is less cold than the latitudes 15° below it. 
 
 Round the shores and seas of the arctic regions ice ever accumulates : a 
 circle of two thousand miles diameter is occupied by frozen fields and floes 
 of vast extent, or piled high with hugest forms, awful yet fantastic as a 
 dreamer's fancy. Mountain masses — 
 
 "Whose blocks of sapphire seem, to mortal eye, 
 Hewn from cerulean quarries in the sky, 
 "With glacier battlements that crowd the spheres, 
 The slow creation of six thousand years, 
 Amidst immensity they tower sublime, 
 Winter's eternal palace, built by Time." 
 
 Here the months are divided into long periods of daylight and darkness : for 
 many weeks the sun sinks not below the horizon ; for three dreary months 
 he appears not above it — 
 
 "And morning comes, but comes not clad in light ; 
 Uprisen day is but a paler night." 
 
 But, in the absence of the great luminary, the vivid coruscations of the au- 
 rora borealis illuminate the wintery landscape, streaming across the skies in 
 broad sheets of light, flashing in multicolored rays, or quivering in faint and 
 feathery scintillations — a light that takes away the irksomeness of gloom, and 
 makes the long night wondrous. 
 
 When we contemplate the aspect of the northern world, — bleak, naked, 
 dreary, beaten by the raging tempest, and subject to an extremity of cold 
 which, with us, is fatal to life and to all by which life is supported, — we natu- 
 rally imagine that animal nature must exist there on a small scale, and under 
 diminutive forms. It might be expected, that only a few dwarf and stunted 
 species would be scattered along its melancholy shores, and that life, as it 
 attempted to penetrate these realms of desolation, would grow faint and expire. 
 But the mighty Architect of nature, whose ways and power far surpass 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 371 
 
 human comprehension, makes here a full display of his inexhaustible resources. 
 He has filled these naked rocks and wintery seas with a swarming profusion 
 of life, such as he scarcely brings forth under the most genial glow of tropi- 
 cal suns. He has stored them with the mightiest of living beings, compared 
 to whose enormous bulk the elephant and hippopotamus, which rear their 
 immense shapes amid the marshy plains of the tropics, seem almost diminu- 
 tive. Even the smaller species, as that of the herring, issue forth from the 
 frozen depths of the Arctic zone in shoals which astonish by their immensity. 
 Moving in close and countless columns, they fill all the southern seas, and 
 minister food to nations. The air, too, is darkened by innumerable flocks of 
 sea-fowl, while, even upon the frozen surface of the land, animals of peculiar 
 structure find food suited to their wants. 
 
 By what means, or by what resources, does Nature support, amid the 
 frozen world, this immensity of life ? Wonderful as are her operations, they 
 are always arranged agreeably to the general laws imposed upon the uni- 
 verse ; and we shall find, in the structure and condition of the animal world, 
 the powers by which it is enabled to defy this frightful rigor of the elements. 
 Some of the provisions by which animal frames are adapted to the varying 
 extremes of the climate have almost the appearance of direct interposition ; 
 yet a more profound investigation always discovers the causes of them to be 
 deeply lodged in their physical organization. 
 
 It is on the seas and shores of the Arctic zone that we chiefly observe this 
 boundless profusion of life ; and in conformity with that arrangement by 
 which Nature supports the inhabitants of the seas, by making them the food 
 of each other, so here also we observe a continued gradation of animals, rising 
 one above another, the higher preying upon the lower, till food is at last found 
 for those of largest bulk and most devouring appetite. 
 
 The basis of subsistence for the numerous tribes of the Arctic world is 
 found in the genus medusa, which the sailors graphically describe as sea- 
 blubber. The medusa is a soft, elastic, gelatinous substance, specimens of 
 which may be seen lying on our own shores, exhibiting no signs of life ex- 
 cept that of shrinking when touched. Beyond the Arctic circle it increases 
 in an extraordinary degree, and is eagerly devoured by the finny tribes of all 
 shapes and sizes. By far the most numerous, however, of the medusan races 
 are of dimensions too small to be discerned without the aid of the microscope, 
 — the application of which instrument shows them to be the cause of a pecu- 
 liar color, which tinges a great extent of the Greenland Sea. This color is 
 olive-green, and the water is dark and opaque compared to that which bears 
 the common cerulean hue. These olive waters occupy about a fourth of the 
 Greenland Sea, or above twenty thousand square miles ; and hence the 
 number of medusan animalcules which they contain is far beyond calcula- 
 tion. Mr. Scoresby estimates that two square miles contain 23,888,000,000,- 
 000; and as this number is beyond the range of human words and conceptions, 
 he illustrates it by observing, that 80,000 persons would have been employed 
 since the creation in counting it. This green sea may be considered as the 
 polar pasture-ground, where whales are always seen in the greatest numbers. 
 These prodigious animals cannot derive any direct subsistence from such 
 
372 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 small invisible particles ; but these form the food of other minute creatures, 
 which then support others, till at length animals are produced of such size as 
 to afford a morsel for their mighty devourers. The genus cancer, larger in 
 size than the medusa, appears to rank second in number and importance. It 
 presents itself under the various species of the crab, and, above all, of the 
 shrimp, whose multitudes rival those of the medusa, and which in all quar- 
 ters feed and are fed upon. 
 
 " There is," as observed by Lieutenant- Colonel Sabine, W a striking resem- 
 blance in the configuration of the northern coasts of the continents of Asia 
 and America for several hundred miles on either side of Behring's Strait ; 
 the general direction of the coast is the same in both continents, the latitude 
 is nearly the same, and each has its attendant group of islands to the north 
 — the Asiatic continent, those usually known as the New Siberian Islands — 
 and the American, those called by Sir Edward Parry, the North Georgian 
 Group, and since fitly named, from their discoverer, the Parry Islands. The 
 resemblance includes the islands also, both in general character and latitude." 
 
 With respect to the Arctic Ocean, a late writer explains — "We may view 
 this great polar sea as inclosed within a circle whose diameter is 40°, or 2,400 
 geographical miles, and circumference 7,200 miles. On the Asiatic side of 
 this sea are Nova Zembla and the New Siberian Islands, each extending to 
 about the 76th degree of latitude. On the European and American sides 
 are Spitzbergen, extending to about 80°, and a part of Old Greenland, whose 
 northern extremity is yet unknown. Facing America is the large island 
 washed by Regent's Inlet, Parry's or Melville's Islands, with some others, in 
 latitude 70° to 76°, and beyond these nothing is known of any other land or 
 islands ; and if we may form an opinion, by inspecting the general chart ot 
 the earth, it would be, that no islands exist which could in any shape obstruct 
 navigation." It is to these regions, and the labors of which they have been 
 the scene, that we have for a short period to direct our attention. 
 
 The history of Arctic explorations properly begins at a period earlier by 
 several centuries than is generally believed. Careful researches promoted 
 and carried on of late years by the Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copen- 
 hagen, and others interested in the subject, have established the fact, that 
 Newfoundland, Greenland, and several parts of the American coast, were 
 visited by the Scandinavians — the Northmen and Sea-Kings of old — in the 
 ninth and tenth centuries. While Alfred was engaged in expelling the Danes 
 from England, and bestowing the rudiments of civilization on his country, and 
 Charles the Bald was defending his kingdom against a host of competitors, the 
 daring sea-rovers were forming settlements in Iceland. One hundred and 
 twenty-five years later, a. d. 1000, Leif Erickson led the way to the west- 
 ward, and landed on the shores of New England, between Boston and New 
 York, naming the country Vinland, from the wild vines which grew in the 
 woods. These adventurers made their way also to a higher northern latitude, 
 and set up stones, carved with Runic inscriptions, with the date 1135, on 
 Women's Islands — latitude 72° 55' — Baffin's Bay, where they were discov- 
 ered in 1824. The colonists on the eastern coast of this great bay made regu- 
 lar trips to Lancaster Sound, and part of Barrow's Strait, in pursuit of fish. 
 
y&sb 081 j W 
 
 MAP OF THE ARCTIC REGION 8. 
 
 MAP, SnOWINO THE ROUTE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 The solid black line shows the outward course of the vessels ; the dotted line denotes 
 the drift of the vessels, their baffled attempt to reach Lancaster Sound a second time, and 
 their return home. „ 7 o 
 

IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 375 
 
 more than six centuries before the adventurous voyage of Parry," and carried 
 on a trade with Markland, as Nova Scotia was then called. Their numbers 
 must have been considerable, for, in Greenland, there were three hundred 
 homesteads, or villages, and twenty churches and convents. They kept up 
 intercourse with Europe until 1406, when it was interrupted by extraordinary 
 accumulations of ice on their coasts ; and though the Danish government has 
 made repeated attempts to discover their fate, it still remains in doubt ; the 
 supposition is that all perished from privation or violence of the natives. 
 Spitzbergen, too, contained numerous colonists. Graves are frequently met 
 with on its shores ; in one place Captain Buchan saw several thousands, the 
 corpses in some of them as fresh as when first interred, preserved by the 
 rigor of the climate. 
 
 These early explorers were unable to take full advantage of their American 
 discoveries ; this was reserved for a later period. " Intervening," observes 
 Humboldt, " between two different stages of civilization, the fifteenth century 
 forms a transition epoch, belonging at once to the middle ages, and to the 
 commencement of modern times. It is the epoch of the greatest discoveries 
 in geographical space, comprising almost all degrees of latitude, and almost 
 every gradation of elevation of the earth's surface. To the inhabitants of 
 Europe, it doubled the works of creation, while, at the same time, it offered 
 to the intellect new and powerful incitements to the improvement of the na- 
 tural sciences in their physical and mathematical departments." 
 
 As we approach the period here referred to, we find a new spirit at work ; 
 no longer the boisterous adventuresomeness of the Northmen, but an earnest 
 spirit of enterprise. In 1380, the Zeni, two Venetian navigators, voyaged 
 into the north, ignorant of the fact, that the Scandinavians had preceded 
 them by three centuries, and brought home accounts of the countries they 
 had seen. Within eighty years after this event, the gulf and river of St. Law- 
 rence and Newfoundland, were visited by the three Coterels : the father returned 
 to Portugal, but his two sons perished, while endeavoring to extend his dis- 
 coveries. In 1497, during the reign of Henry VII, British enterprise was 
 first directed to a region in which it has been subsequently developed to a 
 degree without example ; and Cabot, or Cabota, the younger, landed at La- 
 brador eighteen months before Columbus saw the mainland of tropical 
 America. He contemplated, also, a voyage to the pole, and sailed up to 67-J 
 of north latitude. It was thought scarcely possible that the newly-discovered 
 continent stretched so far from north to south without a single opening to the 
 westward, and the search for this became the prime object with mercantile 
 adventurers, who hoped to find a way to the rich and gorgeous countries 
 lying beyond. Sir Hugh Willoughby was sent out by the Muscovy Company 
 with two ships to find a north-east passage to ' Kathay and India ;' and 
 pushed his way as far as Nova Zembla, from whence, being stopped by ice 
 he returned to a lower latitude, and in September, 1553, put in at the mouth 
 of the river Arzina in Lapland. A melancholy interest attended this event, 
 little anticipated by the unfortunate leader when he wrote in his journal — 
 1 Thus remaining in this haven the space of a weeke, seeing the yeare 
 farre spent, and also very evill wether — as frost, snowe, and haile. as 
 
376 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 though it had beene the deepe of winter, wee thought it best to winter 
 there.' 
 
 The darkest gloom involves the fate of this first English expedition. Nei- 
 ther the commander, nor any of his brave companions ever returned to their 
 native shores. After long suspense and anxiety, tidings reached England, 
 that some Russian sailors, as they wandered along those dreary boundaries, 
 had been astonished by the view of two large ships, which they entered, and 
 found the gallant crews all lifeless. There was only the journal of the voy- 
 age, with a note written in January, showing, that, at that date, the crews 
 were still alive. What was the immediate cause of a catastrophe so dismal 
 and so complete, whether the extremity of cold, famine, or disease, or whether 
 all these ills, united at once, assailed them, can now only be matter of sad 
 conjecture. Thomson thus pathetically laments their fate : — 
 
 Miserable they, 
 Who here entangled In the gathering ice 
 Take their last look of the descending sun, 
 While full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost, 
 The long, long night, incumbent, o'er their heads, 
 Falls horrible. 
 
 The other vessel, commanded by Richard Chancellor, reached Archangel, 
 and opened the way for commercial intercourse with Russia. 
 
 Next in importance are the three voyages by Frobisher, in 1576-78. He 
 discovered the entrance to Hudson's Strait, and explored that still known as 
 Frobisher's ; but failed in penetrating to the westward. Great hopes were 
 excited by some lumps of yellow glistening ore which he brought home, and 
 in his later voyages gold-mines were not less to be searched for than the 
 north-west passage. The study of natural phenomena was not, however, 
 altogether lost sight of, as appears by a passage from the instructions issued 
 under the authority of Elizabeth for the gallant seaman's guidance. ' Yf yt 
 be possible,' so runs the official document, 'you shall leave some persons to 
 winter in the straight, giving them instructions how they may observe the 
 nature of the ayre and state of the countrie, and what tyme of the yeare the 
 straight is most free from yce ; with who you shall leave a sufficient prepara- 
 tion of victualls and weapons, and also a pynnas, with a carpenter, and 
 thyngs necessarie, so well as maybe.' Then followed Sir Humphrey Gilbert's 
 expedition to colonize Newfoundland ; the fate of this ' devout gentleman 
 and philosopher' has been touchingly narrated by a transatlantic poet — 
 
 * Eastward from Campobello 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed ; 
 Three days or more he seaward bore, 
 
 Then, alas ! the land-wind failed. 
 
 Alas ! the land-wind failed 
 
 And ice-cold grew the night ; 
 And never more, on sea or shore, 
 
 Should Sir Humphrey see the light. 
 He sat upon the deck, 
 
 The Book was in his hand ; 
 " Do not fear f Heaven is as near," 
 
 He said. " by water as by land:" 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 377 
 
 The three voyages by Davis, in 1585-88, enlarged the limits of research ; 
 by the discovery of the strait which still bears his name, he opened the way 
 to Baffin's Bay and the Polar Sea; he also surveyed a considerable extent of 
 the Greenland coast. Various attempts to find a passage were also made 
 during this century by Spaniards, French, Danes, and Dutch ; those of the 
 last-mentioned nation being the most memorable. To avoid the risk of a voy- 
 age to India across the ocean, over which Spain claimed the supremacy, they 
 sought for a shorter passage by the north-east. 
 
 The three voyages by William Barentz, 1594-96, afford striking examples 
 of dangers encountered, and manful perseverance in struggling against them. 
 He made his way to the sea between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, until, to 
 quote the narrative of the third voyage, ' we came to so great a heape of ice, 
 that we could not sayle through it.' In August of the last mentioned year, 
 the vessel was embayed by an unusual drifting of the ice, which, crushing 
 around them with a violence that ' made all the haire of our heads to rise upright 
 with feare,' forced them ■ in great cold, povertie, miserie, and griefe, to stay 
 all that winter.' They exerted themselves to the utmost to avoid so terrible 
 an alternative ; but on the 1 lth of September, as is related, ■ we saw that we 
 could not get out of the ice, but rather became faster, and could not loose our 
 ship, as at other times we had done, as also that it began to be winter, we 
 tooke counsell together what we were best to doe, according to the time, that 
 we might winter there, and attend such adventure as God would send us ; 
 and after we had debated upon the matter (to keepe and defend ourselves 
 both from the colde and wilde beastes), we determined to build a house upon 
 the land, to keepe us therein as well as wee could, and so to commit our- 
 selves unto the tuition of God.' While casting about for material for the edifice, 
 to their great joy they discovered a quantity of drift timber, which they re 
 garded as a special interposition of Providence in their behalf, and ' were 
 much comforted, being in good hope that God would show us some further 
 favour ; for that wood served us not only to build our house, but also to 
 burne, and serve us all the winter long ; otherwise, without all doubt, we had 
 died there miserably with extreme cold.' 
 
 Parties were thereupon set to work to build the house, and drag their 
 stores from the ship on hand-sleds, in which labors they were grievously 
 interrupted by bears and severity of the weather : if any one held a nail be- 
 tween his lips, the skin came off with as much pain on taking it out again as 
 though the iron had been red-hot ; yet notwithstanding the cold, there was 
 open sea for many weeks an ' arrow-shot beyond their ship. The dwelling, 
 slow in progress, was finished by the end of October, and thatched with sea- 
 wrack, the more effectually to close the chinks in the roofs and walls, and 
 ' we set up our dyall, and made the clocke strike.' On the 4th November 
 wee saw the sun no more, for it was no longer above the horizon ; then oui 
 chirurgeon made a bath (to bathe us in) of a wine-pipe, wherein wee entered 
 one after the other, and it did us much good, and was a great meanes of our 
 health.' All the spare clothing was distributed, regulations established wit 
 regard to diet, and duties apportioned ; the master and pilot being exempte 
 from cleaving wood, and other rude labors. Traps were set to catch foxe 
 
378 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 for food, and cheerfulness was as much as possible promoted; but at times 
 they were snowed up, and could not open their door for many days, and had 
 no light but that of their fire ; they were tormented with smoke, while ice 
 two inches thick formed in their sleeping-berths. The clock stopped with 
 cold, after which they could only reckon by the ' twelve-hour glass.' 
 
 The misery they endured may be judged of by the tone of some of the en- 
 tries in their journal ; which suffering was but too frequent : — ' It was foule 
 weather againe, with an easterly wind and extreame cold, almost not to bee 
 endured ; whereupon wee lookt pittifully one upon the other, being in great 
 feare that if the extreamitie of the cold grew to bee more and more, we 
 should all dye there with cold ; for that what fire soever wee made it would 
 not warme us ; yea, and our sacke, which is so hot, was frozen very hard, so 
 that when we were every man to have his part, we were forced to melt it in 
 the fire, which we shared every second day about halfe a pint for a man, 
 wherewith we were forced to sustayne ourselves ; and at other times wee 
 dranke water, which agreed not well with the cold, and we needed not to 
 coole it with snow or ice ; but we were forced to melt it out of the snow.' 
 Sometimes,, while they sat at the fire, ■ and seemed to burne on the fore-side, 
 we froze behind at our backes, and were all white as the countreymen use to 
 bee when they come in at the gates of the toune in Holland with their sleds, 
 and have gone all night.' It might indeed seem that no room remained for 
 hope ; yet under date December 19 we read, * wee put each other in good 
 comfort, that the sunne was then almost halfe over, and ready to come to us 
 againe, which wee sore longed for, it being a weary time for us to bee with- 
 out the sunne, and to want the greatest comfort that God sendeth unto man 
 here upon the earth, and that which rejoyceth every living thing.' They 
 kept Twelfth-Night also, and ' made pancakes with oyle, and every man a 
 white bisket, which we sopt in wine : and so, supposing that we were in our 
 own countrey, and amongst our friends, it comforted us as well as if we had 
 made a great banquet in our owne house : and we also made tickets, and our 
 gunner was king of Nova Zembla, which is at least two hundred miles long, 
 and lyeth between two seas.' 
 
 On the 24th of January they saw the sun again, a sight that reanimated 
 their sinking spirits, confined as they had been with no light but that of the 
 fire, and often prevented by heavy snow from going out of their dwelling 
 for many days in succession. Several of the party were sick — one died : a 
 grave seven feet deep was dug in the snow ; and then, as is mournfully re- 
 corded, ' after that we had read certain chapters and sung some psalms, we 
 all went out and buried the man.' As the days lengthened, they set about 
 preparations for departure, and repaired their two boats, and had good hope 
 ' to get out of that wilde, desart, irkesome, fearfull, and cold countrey.' On 
 the 13th of June thG survivors, twelve in number, left the desolate shore 
 after a stay of ten months. Barentz and two others were so worn out with 
 disease, that they died soon after, amid all the privations of exposure in 
 small boats in an ice-encumbered sea. The remainder struggled onward, 
 manfully overcoming the perils that beset them ; and in September reached 
 the coast of Lapland, where • wee saw some trees on the river side, which 
 
3 THE POLAR REGIONS. 379 
 
 comforted us, and made us glad, as if wee had then come into a new world ; 
 for in all the time that wee had been out wee had not seene any trees.' On 
 the 11th of the same month, after a voyage of 1143 miles, these brave- 
 hearted men set up their boats in the ' merchants' house at Coola, as a sign 
 and token of their deliverance ;' and embarking on board a Dutch ship, in 
 the course of a few weeks once more set foot in their native country. 
 
 Henry Hudson, ' the North Seas' great Columbus,' comes next in the list 
 of explorers. In his first voyage, with a crew of only ten men and a boy 
 (1607), he penetrated as far as 82° of north latitude, and discovered part 
 of the eastern coast of Greenland. His second attempt was made on the 
 track of Barentz, but with no better success. In his third and last voyage 
 in 1610, he passed the strait which now bears his name, and entered the 
 great inland sea known as Hudson's Bay. Concluding that this led to the 
 north-west passage, he passed the winter there, with the intention of resum- 
 ing operations early in the following year ; but in the spring his crew, 
 wearied with hardship, mutinied, and Hudson, with his son and seven others, 
 was turned adrift in a small boat, and never afterward heard of: 
 
 * Of all the sea-shapes death has worn, may mariners never know 
 Such fate as Hendrik Hudson found in the labyrinths of snow.' 
 
 We are told in the history of the voyage, that later in the same day on 
 which the fated few were abandoned, the conspirators saw the boat again, 
 when i they let fall the main-sayle, and out with their top-oayles, and flye as 
 from an enemy.' Continuing thus that night and the next day, ' they saw 
 .not the shallop, nor ever after.' But punishment overtook the perpetrators 
 of this foul crime : four were killed in a skirmish with the Esquimaux near 
 Cape Digges ; and another died on the passage to Ireland, where the survi- 
 vors arrived in a famishing condition, having been reduced to such extremi- 
 ties for want of food as to devour their candles. Strange to relate, no attempt 
 was made to bring the mutineers to trial ; some of them, indeed, were after-, 
 ward employed in further explorations. 
 
 Great hopes were entertained that the much-desired passage would be 
 found leading out of Hudson's Bay ; and a good deal of controversy on the 
 question arose from time to time among contending voyagers and their 
 abettors. 
 
 Between this period and 1616, those arms of the sea known as Sir Thomas 
 Rowe's Welcome and Fox Channel were discovered ; and in the year just 
 mentioned, Baffin sailed into and explored the vast bay, 800 miles long, and 
 300 wide, named after him. For a long time his report of its great length 
 was disbelieved, but later researches have confirmed the accuracy of his 
 statements ; even the latitudes laid down by him are almost identical with 
 those recently determined with all the advantage of superior instruments. 
 Among other openings, Baffin saw Lancaster Sound, and had he explored it, 
 Parry's discoveries would have been anticipated by two hundred years, as 
 they had been to some extent by the long-forgotten Northmen. The opinion, 
 I owever, at that time, and indeed until within the past thirtv years was, that 
 no practicable opening to the Polar Sea existed except that at Behring'? 
 
380 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 Strait. From this period to about the middle of last century, the outlets to 
 the west of Hudson's Bay were the points to which effort was directed ; and 
 truly may it be said that these earlier navigators left very little for those who 
 came later. In small vessels, varying from ten to fifty tons burthen, they 
 accomplished more than has since been effected by lavishly-equipped 
 expeditions. 
 
 In 1743 parliament offered a reward of £20,000 to any one who should sail 
 to the north-west by way of Hudson's Strait, which passage, it was declared 
 would be 'of great benefit and advantage to the kingdom.' Between 1769-72, 
 Mr. Hearne undertook three overland journeys across the territories of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company to the shores of the Polar Sea. He failed in the 
 first two attempts ; in the third he succeeded in reaching a large and rapid 
 river — the Coppermine — and followed it down nearly to its mouth, but, as 
 *here is reason to believe, without actually viewing the sea. The proof of 
 the existence of the river was the most important result of Mr. Hearne's 
 labors ; for such scientific observations as he attempted are loose and 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 In the following year (1773), in consequence of communications made to 
 the Royal Society on the possibility of reaching the North Pole, Captain 
 Phipps was sent out with two vessels to effect this interesting object. He 
 coasted the eastern shore of Spitzbergen to 80° 48' of latitude, and was 
 there stopped by the ice, and compelled to return. In 1776 Cook sailed on 
 the fatal expedition which cost England her famous navigator, with instruc- 
 tions to attempt the passage of the Icy Sea from Behring's Strait to 
 Baffin's Bay. The clause of the act above referred to, wherein Hudson's 
 Strait was exclusively specified, was altered to include ' any northern pas- 
 sage' for ships ; and £5000 was further voted to any one who should get 
 within one degree of the pole. Cook, with all his perseverance, could not 
 penetrate beyond Icy Cape, latitude 70° 45', where he found the ice stretch- 
 ing in a compact mass across to the opposite continent, which he also visited, 
 sailing as far as Cape North on the coast of Asia. It would appear that 
 expectations prevailed of the enterprising mariner's success, for a vessel was 
 sent to Baffin's Bay to wait for him, in 1777, in charge of Lieutenant Pickers- 
 gill. One other journey within this century remains to be noticed — that by 
 Mackenzie, under sanction of the Hudson's Bay Company, with objects 
 similar to those of Hearne. In 1789, he left Fort Chipewyan, crossed Slave 
 Lake, and descended the Mackenzie River, a stream of much greater magni- 
 tude than the Coppermine, to an island where the tide rose and fell. But, 
 as in the case of his predecessor, we have no certainty that he reached the 
 ocean. Rivers, however, play an important part in Arctic discovery ; and it 
 as something gained to know that the sea could be reached by their means. 
 We may here observe once for all, that these land expeditions, whose prime 
 object has been to determine the northern coast-line of America, are not to 
 be confounded with the attempts to discover the north-west passage. 
 
 The result of these discouragements was a cessation of naval researches, 
 which continued for many years ; but at length a change took place, as 
 sudden and inexplicable as the acccumulation of ice from centuries before 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 381 
 
 which cut off the Danish colonies in Greenland from communication with the 
 mother country. In 1816-17 the Greenland whalers reported the sea to be 
 clearer of ice than at any former time within their knowledge. This fact 
 engaged the attention of the Admiralty ; and the Council of the Royal 
 Society were consulted as to the prospects of renewed operations in the 
 Arctic regions. Their reply was favorable; and in 1818 two expeditions 
 were fitted out — the one to discover the north-west passage, the other to 
 reach the pole. Captain (now Sir John) Ross and Lieutenant (now Sir Ed- 
 ward) Parry, in the vessels Isabella and Alexander, were intrusted with the 
 former of these objects. They were especially charged to examine the great 
 openings described by Baffin, as existing at the head of the vast bay which 
 he so diligently explored ; and in carrying out these instructions, the com- 
 manders found full reason to applaud the care and perseverance of the able 
 navigator who had preceded them by two hundred years. It must be re- 
 membered that we are now treating of a period when science put forward its 
 imperative claims, and when, as at present, something more was required than 
 a meager chart of a previously-unexplored coast, and graphic accounts of 
 new countries and their inhabitants. Astronomy, geology, meteorology, 
 magnetism, natural history, were all clamorous for new facts, or for satisfac- 
 tory tests of those already known. For the same reason it is that of late 
 years, exploring expeditions have been more interesting to the philosopher 
 than to the general public. Lord Anson, returning from the southern seas 
 with wagon-loads of Spanish dollars and doubloons, would be hailed witk 
 popular acclaim ; while Sir James Ross arriving from the Antarctic Ocean 
 with materials for accurate magnetic charts, and records of soundings, deep 
 as Mont Blanc's altitude, is the hero of the scientific world. 
 
 The open state of the sea greatly facilitated the purposes of the expedi 
 tion. In August the ships were sailing up Lancaster Sound, with everj 
 prospect of an easy passage to the westward ; when the commander, fancy 
 ing that he saw a range of mountains barring all further progress in the 
 distance, hesitated to advance, and finally, throwing away the favorable 
 pportunity, returned with his consort to England. 
 
 The Dorothea and Trent, commanded by Captain Buchan and Lieutenant 
 (now Sir John) Franklin, comprised the expedition destined for the pole. 
 Captain Beechey, to whom we are indebted for an interesting account of the 
 voyage, observes : ' The peculiarity of the' proposed route afforded oppor- 
 tunities of making some useful experiments on the elliptical figure of the 
 earth ; on magnetic phenomena ; on the refraction of the atmosphere in high 
 latitudes in ordinary circumstances, and over extensive masses of ice ; and 
 on the temperature and specific gravity of the sea at the surface, and at 
 various depths ; and on meteorological and other interesting phenomena.' 
 The vessels sailed in April, 1818, Magdalena Bay in Spitzbergen having been 
 appointed as a rendezvous in case of separation. For a time they made 
 good progress to the northward, keeping near the shore. At length a furious 
 gale came on, with all the snowy, sleety bitterness of the north, freezing 
 upon the rigging, and encumbering alike the movements of vessel and crew. 
 The Dorothea was only saved from being driven on shore by forcing her intt 
 
382 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 the main pack of ice, which afforded shelter. The Trent, although in less 
 peril, had suffered severely in the storm ; and reluctantly the grand object — ■ 
 pushing northward — was given up as hopeless. Lieutenants Franklin and 
 Beechey, proposed to renew the attempt with dogs, sledges, and baidars — 
 the skin-boats of the Esquimaux — appliances which experience has shown 
 to be generally the most serviceable in ice traveling; but for that time nothing 
 came of the project. 
 
 The phenomena peculiar to the north, Were new to most of those embarked 
 on this expedition. The novelty of constant daylight for several weeks, pre- 
 vented some of the party from taking needful rest, until necessity compelled 
 them to obey the natural laws, as observed by other animated creatures in 
 those regions. Captain Beechey writes : ■ Very few of us had ever seen the 
 sun at midnight ; and this night happening to be particularly clear, his broad 
 red disc, curiously distorted by refraction, and sweeping majestically along 
 the northern horizon, was an object of imposing grandeur, which riveted to 
 the deck some of our crew who would perhaps have beheld with indifference, 
 the less imposing effect of the icebergs. The rays were too oblique to 
 illumine more than the inequalities of the floes, and falling thus partially on 
 the grotesque shapes either really assumed by the ice, or distorted by the 
 unequal refraction of the atmosphere, so betrayed the imagination, that it 
 required no great exertion of fancy to trace, in various directions, architectural 
 edifices, grottoes, and caves here and there glittering as if with precious metals.' 
 
 Among other topics, Captain Beechey enters on the theory of iceberg for- 
 mation, and contrasts it with the analogous effects in an Alpine glacier. The 
 latter slopes, while the former always presents a perpendicular face to the 
 sea — a result produced by the continual increment of rain and snow, and the 
 action of sea-water below in preventing expansion of the base. Icebergs, in 
 fact, are amongst the most surprising of Arctic phenomena. On one occa- 
 sion, the discharge of a musket half a mile distant caused a huge mass to 
 fall, the wave from which heaved a boat with its crew ninety-six feet up the 
 beach, and there left it stove in. Shortly afterward, the two lieutenants were 
 viewing another part of the same berg, when an avalanche of ice slid from 
 it with a plunge that disturbed the ship four miles away; although they, 
 themselves, by keeping the boat's head to the swell, rode over in safety. 
 On this, Captain Beechey remarks — 'The piece that had been disengaged at 
 first wholly disappeared under water, and nothing was seen but a violent 
 boiling of the sea, and a shooting up of clouds of spray, like that which oc 
 curs at the foot of a great cataract. After a short time it reappeared, rais- 
 ing its head full a hundred feet above the surface, with water pouring down 
 from all parts of it ; and then, laboring as if doubtful which way it should 
 fall, it rolled over, and after rocking about some minutes, at length became 
 settled. We now approached it, and found it nearly a quarter of a mile in 
 circumference, and sixty feet out of the water. Knowing its specific gravity, 
 and making a fair allowance for its inequalities, we computed its weight at 
 421,660 tons. A stream of salt water was still pouring down its sides, and 
 there was a continual cracking noise, as loud as that of a cart-whip, occa 
 sioned, I suppose, by the escape of fixed air.' 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 383 
 
 The failure in the chief object of these two expeditions, excited feelings 
 which could only be satisfied by renewed exertions. The mountains said tc 
 exist at the bottom of Lancaster Sound were affirmed, by some who had borne 
 part in the abortive voyage, to be ocular deception. The question was soon 
 put to the proof. Two ships, the Hecla and Griper, commanded by Captain 
 Parry, sailed to explore Lancaster Sound on the 4th of May, 1819. Every 
 effort was made to arrive on the scene of operation at the earliest possible 
 period, and as the shortest route, the ships were forced into the ' Middle Ice,' 
 in Baffin's Bay, in the middle of July. This collection of ice is as striking a 
 phenomenon in this part of the sea, as are the great banks of weed, Fucus 
 nutans, which float with little or no change of place in the Atlantic, off the 
 Azores, and the Bahamas. As its name indicates, it occupies a position in 
 the middle of the bay, leaving a narrow channel on the eastern side, more or 
 less encumbered with drift-ice, while on the western side, the sea is generally 
 unobstructed. The local position of this body of ice is supposed to be due 
 to the action of conflicting currents, which retain it pretty nearly in one spot. 
 The usual route round its northern extremity, followed by whaling ships, 
 doubles the length of a voyage, and whenever possible, they endeavor to 
 cross the pack in a lower latitude. This was what Parry did. By dint of 
 sawing, heaving, and sailing at the rate of about twelve miles a day, he 
 forced his way through the barrier, more than eighty miles in width, in seven 
 days. A clear sea awaited him on the western side ; and by the end of July 
 he was in the entrance of Lancaster Sound, waiting with anxiety and impa- 
 tience for an easterly breeze. It came at last ; both vessels crowded sail ; 
 and as Captain Parry relates — ? It is more easy to imagine than to describe 
 the almost breathless anxiety which was now visible in every countenance, 
 while, as the breeze increased to a fresh gale, we ran quickly up the Sound. 
 The mast-heads were crowded by the officers and men during the whole 
 afternoon ; and an unconcerned observer, if any could have been unconcerned 
 on such an occasion, would have been amused by the eagerness with which 
 the various reports from the crow's nest were received — all, however, hither- 
 to, favorable to our most sanguine hopes.' The question as to a passage was 
 soon settled. ' We were,' pursues the narrative, * by midnight in a great 
 measure relieved from our anxiety respecting the supposed continuity of land 
 at the bottom of this magnificent inlet, having reached the longitude of 83° 
 12', where the two shores are still above thirteen leagues apart, without the 
 slightest appearance of any land to the westward of us for four or five points 
 of the compass.' 
 
 An inlet ten leagues wide, on the southern shore, was next seen. Thinking 
 that this would lead to the American continent, Captain Parry sailed into it 
 for some distance until stopped by the ice. While here, the singular phenom- 
 enon was observed, as it had been by former voyagers, of the compasses be- 
 coming useless, the needles losing all directive power, and pointing to any 
 direction in which they might be turned. This effect, which added materi- 
 ally to the difficulty of navigating an unknown sea, was due chiefly to the 
 proximity of the magnetic pole : a successful means of correcting it has since 
 then been discovered, as will be hereafter explained. From this channel, tc 
 
384 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 which the name of Regent's Inlet was given, the ships returned to Barrow's 
 Strait, where, on the 22d of August, another wide opening of eight leagues 
 was discovered on the northern shore. Far as the eye could reach, it was 
 clear of ice, but no attempt was made to explore it, as all on board the ves- 
 sels were desirous of getting to the westward : it was called Wellington 
 Channel. Beyond this several islands were passed, the whole group now 
 known as the Parry Islands ; and during this part of the voyage a change 
 was noticed in the general direction of the compass needle from westerly to 
 easterly, showing, as Captain Parry observes, that they had ' crossed imme- 
 diately to the northward of the magnetic pole, and had undoubtedly passed 
 over one of those spots on the globe where the needle would have been found 
 to vary 180°, or, in other words, where its north pole would have pointed due 
 south.' 
 
 Sailing onward, the passage narrowed ; Melville Island was discovered and 
 named ; and on the 4th of September, the party became entitled to the par- 
 liamentary reward of £5000 offered for attaining 110° of west longitude ; a 
 gratifying fact duly commemorated in the appellation of an adjacent head- 
 land — Bounty Cape. The narrowing of the channel disappointed the ex- 
 plorers in their hope of making their way to Behring's Strait in one season. 
 Ice was met with ; on the 14th of September a sudden fall of snow indicated 
 the close of the fine season; the Griper was forced on shore; and though 
 got off again, the obstructions were such as to make it evident that no time 
 was to be lost in looking for winter quarters. With some difficulty the course 
 was retraced to a bay in Melville Island ; but new ice, seven inches in thick- 
 ness formed so rapidly, that before the vessels could be brought to their 
 anchoring-ground, a channel more than two miles long had to be cut to admit 
 them. 
 
 All heavy materials and stores were immediately landed, the decks cleared, 
 and each vessel housed over with a thick tilt-cloth ; and to insure as much 
 snugness as possible under the circumstances, the sides were banked up with 
 snow. Notwithstanding the heating apparatus distributed throughout each 
 ship, the sleeping berths were nearly always damp, and coated with ice ; and 
 whenever the external air was admitted, by the opening of a door, the sudden 
 rush of cold condensed the warm air of the apartment to a visible vapor, 
 which settled and froze on the bulk-heads and beams. Later in the season 
 the berths were taken down, and hammocks, slung a-midship, substituted for 
 them, very much to the comfort and health of the crews — an arrangement 
 which has been followed in subsequent voyages with equal benefit. During 
 the winter all available means were taken to promote health and cheerfulness: 
 when the weather permitted, the men took exercise on shore, and on other 
 occasions, were made to run round the' deck, to the tunes of a hand-orqfan, or 
 to their own songs. Dramatic entertainments were prepared : the fir?t rep- 
 resentation took place on the day on which the ice-bound adventurers lost 
 sight of the sun, to see it no more for three dreary months, and was repeated 
 fortnightly afterward. A school was opened, and well attended by the crews, 
 who found learning to read a valuable relief from ennui and its concomitant 
 evils; and the officers, among other modes of using the time, si* vl ied 8 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 385 
 
 weekly manuscript newspaper — ' The North Georgia Gazette, and Winter 
 Chronicle' — in which humor and philosophy were mingled, to the amusement 
 and edification of writers and readers. Those who understand the intimate 
 connection between mental and physical health will best appreciate these 
 attempts to provide occupation for mind and body. 
 
 But the scientific objects of the expedition were not forgotten : in the ob- 
 servatory built on shore, astronomical, magnetical, and meteorological observa- 
 tions were perseveringly recorded, in spite of the rigorous climate, and when 
 the cold was such that to touch the metal of the instruments raised a blister, 
 or took off the skin, just as in a case of burning, it was necessary to hold the 
 breath while observing, otherwise a thin film of ice formed on the eye-glasses. 
 Several phenomena peculiar to northern latitudes were taken account of: cu- 
 rious effects of refraction, appearances of aurora, facility of hearing sounds 
 at great distances — in calm weather conversation could be held between two 
 individuals more than a mile apart, with but a slight elevation of the voice ; 
 smoke did not rise, but crept along for several miles in a horizontal direction ; 
 objects seen at a distance, in the dreary waste of snow, deceived the eye, and 
 appeared much larger than they were in reality. February, 1820, was the 
 coldest part of the season ; the temperature fell to 55° below zero, a degree 
 of frigor which might well be supposed to be unbearable ; yet if there be no 
 wind, it can be borne without pain. Mercury froze so as to become malleable, 
 and could be beaten into a variety of forms. 
 
 In March, preparations were made to fit the ships again for service ; the 
 ice which had accumulated inside the Hecla, from breath and steam, was 
 scraped off, making a quantity of seventy-five bushels. On the 12th and 
 13th of May, the first ptarmigan, deer, and musk-ox, were seen ; the animals 
 pass every spring from the mainland to the islands, to graze and breed. On 
 the 1st of June, a party set out to cross the island to its northern shore : the 
 pools were full of fowl, the rapid fervor of an Arctic summer had already 
 converted the snowy waste into 'luxuriant pasture ground,' rich in flowers 
 and grass, with ? almost the same lively appearance as that of an English 
 meadow,' a fact which fully accounts for the periodical migration of animals 
 from the continent. 
 
 It was not until the 1st of August that the ships were once more fairly 
 afloat, and endeavors made to push to the westward ; but the icy barrier 
 which the party had seen on their first approach, still barred their progress. 
 The Griper again took the ground during a perilous interval, and all further 
 progress in the much-desired direction, became hopeless. The heads of the 
 vessels were reluctantly turned to the eastward ; they stood out of the sound, 
 surveyed part of Baffin's Bay, and in November returned to England, tvitb 
 all hands, comprising ninety-four individuals, in health, having lost but one 
 during their eighteen months' absence. 
 
 In September of the same year that Parry sailed, an overland expedition 
 started from York Factory, Hudson's Bay, under charge of Sir John Frank- 
 lin, accompanied by Dr. (now Sir John) Richardson, two midshipmen — 
 Messrs. Back and Hood — and Hepburn, a seaman, with the object of explor- 
 ing the north coast of America, to its eastern extremity, from the mouth of 
 25 
 
3g(5 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 the Coppermine. There was a chance that Parry might make for the coast, 
 in his ships ; and if so, the two parties would have co-operated with mutua. 
 advantage. Franklin and his party, increased by the addition of sixteen 
 Canadian voyageurs, interpreters, etc., left Fort Chipewyan, in July 1820, 
 for Fort Enterprise, on Winter Lake, more than 500 miles distant. Here, 
 after walking eighty miles to get a look at the Coppermine, they wintered, 
 while Mr. (now Sir George) Back, returned on foot to Fort Chipewyan, to 
 expedite the transit of stores required for the next year's operations. At the 
 end of five months, he rejoined his companions, having walked 1100 miles on 
 snow shoes, in the depth of winter : a journey which put his powers of endu- 
 rance to a severe test, the thermometer being seldom above zero, and on one 
 occasion, 57° below it. On the last day of June, 1821, the whole party 
 having dragged their canoes and baggage to the river — a tedious and fa- 
 tiguing service — embarked on the rapid stream, and reached the sea on the 
 18th of July. The main object of the expedition then commenced; and 
 with two birch-bark canoes, each manned by ten men, and fifteen days' pro- 
 vision, Franklin paddled to the eastward. They followed the coast for two 
 weeks, pinched at times for want of food, as some of their pemmican had 
 turned mouldy, till they came to what is now called Coronation Gulf, a dis- 
 tance, reckoning the indentations of the shore, of 555 geographical miles. 
 By this time, the canoes, which had gone through some rough duty, were 
 scarcely serviceable ; and the stock of provisions was reduced to three days' 
 consumption. Under these circumstances the leaders resolved to return.. 
 They walked first, to a spot on the shore, ten miles distant from their halting- 
 place, which, with literal truth, was named Point Turnagain. To attempt to 
 reach the Coppermine, so late in the season, would have been fatal to the 
 whole of the party; they therefore made for Hood's river, discovered by 
 them a few days previously, up which they had ascended, to the first rapid, 
 by the 26th of August. Two small portable canoes, were then constructed 
 from the two larger ones, for the purpose of crossing rivers, on the journey 
 now before them ; and on the 1st of September they set off on a straight 
 course, for Fort Enterprise, 1 50 miles distant. The fatigues and privations 
 endured on this route, are scarcely to be paralleled ; short of food, ill sup- 
 plied with clothing, and exposed to the howling severity of the climate, the 
 escape of any one of the number appears almost a miracle. Some days, 
 when there was nothing to eat, and no means of making a fire, they passed 
 entirely in bed ; on others, after a weary and exhausting travel, their only 
 nourishment, on halting for the night, was tripe de roche, or rock-tripe, a spe- 
 cies of lichen, Gyrophora proboscidea of botanists, a plant of most nauseous 
 taste, and the cause of cruel bowel complaints to the whole party. Daily 
 they became weaker, and less capable of exertion : one of the canoes was so 
 much broken by a fall, that it was burned to cook a supper; the resource of 
 fishing too, was denied them, for some of the men, in the recklessness of 
 misery, threw away the nets. Rivers were to be crossed by wading, or in 
 the canoe ; on one of these occasions, Franklin took his seat with two of the 
 voyageurs, in their frail bark, when they were driven by the force of the 
 stream and the wind, to the verge of a frightful rapid, in which the canoe 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 387 
 
 upset, and but for a rock on which they found footing, they would there have 
 perished. On the 19th, 'previous to setting out, the whole party ate the re- 
 mains of their old shoes, and whatever scraps of leather they had, tc 
 strengthen their stomachs for the fatigue of the day's journey. These,' adds 
 Franklin, 'would have satisfied us in ordinary times, but we were now almost 
 exhausted by slender fare and travel, and our appetites had become ravenous. 
 We looked, however, with humble confidence to the great Author and Giver 
 of all good, for a continuance of the support which had hitherto been always 
 supplied to us at our greatest need.' 
 
 A day or two afterward, the remaining canoe was left behind ; no entrea- 
 ties could prevail on the men to carry it farther. Dr. Richardson, too, was 
 obliged to abandon his collection of plants and minerals, from inability to en- 
 dure the burthen. The killing of five small deer, at this time, however, 
 enabled them to rest for a couple of days, to recruit their exhausted strength. 
 On the 26th, they came to the Coppermine, the crossing of which, owing to 
 their weak condition, the loss of the canoe, and having to construct a raft of 
 willow branches, detained them until the 4th of October. They were now 
 almost in the last stage of starvation ; and had it not been for the exertions 
 of Hepburn, in collecting tripe de roche, not one of them would have sur- 
 vived.- On the 7th, when at twenty-four miles from Fort Enterprise, a divi- 
 sion of the party took place : Franklin, with eight of the men, went on, while 
 Richardson stayed behind at the encampment to tend on Hood, who was 
 scarcely able to move. Hepburn remained with them. Three of the 
 voyageurs, unable to proceed with Franklin, and Michel, an Iroquois, were 
 permitted to return to the halting-place, where they would be at least certain 
 )f fire and rock-tripe, but, with the exception of the Indian, they perished by 
 the way : not one of them was ever seen again. Franklin, with his five sur- 
 vivors, reached Fort Enterprise on the 11th. What a disappointment awaited 
 them ! Instead of a cordial welcome from friendly hunters, and abundance 
 of provisions, as had been promised, all was a blank : the building was 
 tenantless. 
 
 A note was found from Mr. Back, who had journeyed on in advance, stating 
 that he had gone in search of the Indians, and if need were, to Fort Provi- 
 dence. This was but poor comfort for the famished travelers, who were 
 obliged'' to take up their quarters in the dilapidated edifice. The rubbish- 
 heaps concealed beneath the snow were searched for old skins, bones, or any 
 kind of offal that might serve as food when stewed with rock-tripe. A good 
 fire was a luxury seldom enjoyed, for they had scarcely strength to collect 
 wood. Eighteen weary days were passed in these painful ^privations, when 
 the monotony was interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Richardson, and Hep- 
 burn, in a most emaciated condition, bringing the melancholy intelligence that 
 Mr. Hood and the Iroquois were both dead. Michel, in a fit of sullen spite, 
 to which uncivilized natures are liable, had shot the young and talented offi- 
 cer, at the encampment where they had last parted ; and his demeanor 
 toward the two survivors becoming more and more threatening, the doctor, 
 under the imperious instinct of self-preservation, took upon himself the re- 
 sponsibility of putting the Indian to death by a pistol-shot. As afterward 
 
388 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 appeared, there was reason to believe that two of the missing voyageurs had 
 also been murdered by the Iroquois. 
 
 Two others of the wretched party died on the second day after Richard- 
 son's arrival at the fort. At last, on the 7th of November, relief came, borne 
 by three Indians, sent by Mr. Back. The messengers proved themselves 
 most kind, assiduous attendants, ' evincing humanity that would have done 
 honor to the most civilized people/ And with good fires, and sufficient food, 
 the sufferers began to recover strength. A week later, they were able to set 
 out for Fort Chipewyan, where they remained until June of the following 
 year. In July they reached York Factory, from whence they had started 
 three years before, and thus terminated a journey of 5,550 miles, during 
 which human courage and patience were exposed to trials such as few can 
 bear with fortitude, unless, as is seen in Franklin's interesting narrative, 
 arising out of reliance on the ever-sustaining care of an Almighty Providence. 
 
 The possibility of entering the Polar Sea having been proved by Parry's 
 first voyage, it was considered that the north-west passage might probably 
 be effected in a lower latitude than that of Melville Island, where the icy 
 barrier had proved impassable. Parry, accordingly, was sent out a second 
 time with the Hecla and Fury, in May 1821, with instructions to make for 
 Repulse Bay, by way of Hudson's Strait. The former never having been 
 fully examined, it was supposed that some opening would be found leading 
 from it to the ocean beyond. Hudson's Strait is notorious for its manifold 
 hindrances to navigation, and the 2d of August had come before the ships 
 reached the narrow channel between Southampton Island and the mainland, 
 named Frozen Strait, by Middleton, who was baffled by it in 1742. At the 
 end of August, the vessels were in Repulse Bay, which, owing to some phy- 
 sical cause, not easy of explanation, but which not unfrequently operates in 
 the Arctic Seas, was almost clear of ice. Boat parties were immediately set 
 to explore the shores, and the result of their labors proved the entire continu- 
 ity of land round the bay, and consequently, the non-existence of any pas- 
 sage to the western waters. Every opening in the coast toward the south- 
 east was then diligently examined, in which service the ships were beset by 
 floating ice, and in a few days drifted back the whole distance gained by a 
 month's hazardous sailing. The season for exploration was now over ; a se- 
 cure anchorage was found off Winter Island, where the winter was passed 
 similarly to that described in the former voyage, but with less tedium ; for a 
 party of sixty Esquimaux — men, women, and children, with dogs and 
 sledges — took up their residence on the island early in 1822, and afforded 
 continual interest to the voyagers in studying their habits, manners, resources, 
 and their adaptation to surrounding nature. Even under such apparently 
 uncongenial circumstances, human ingenuity manifests itself; these people 
 build their winter huts dome-shaped, with blocks of snow, as accurately as 
 though they had studied the geometrical principles of such constructions. 
 They display great skill also, in fitting and sewing their dresses, and in the 
 manufacture of canoes, weapons, and domestic implements. They eat little 
 else than animal food, and whenever they can get it, will devour from ten to 
 twelve pounds of flesh or blubber in a day. Their only domestic animal if 
 
IX THE POLAR REGIONS. 389 
 
 the dog: deprived of this useful creature, their existence would be extremely 
 precarious. On the long journeys which they take in search of food, six of 
 these dogs will draw a sledge, with a load of half a ton, from seven to eight 
 miles an hour, during a whole day. 
 
 On the 2d July, the ships were released from their frozen berths, and 
 attempts made to sail to the northward by Fox's Channel — a most harassing 
 tideway, where more than once both ships were nearly destroyed by pressure 
 from floating ice : so formidable were the obstacles, that sixty-five days were 
 spent in making forty miles ! The elements proved unpropitious, and at the 
 end of October the vessels were once more in winter quarters at the Island 
 of Igloolik ; thirteen days' work having been necessary to cut a canal 4,343 
 feet long, through ice from twelve to fourteen inches, and in some places 
 several feet, in thickness. Here the Esquimaux were more numerous than 
 at winter Island. 
 
 Not until August the 8th, 1823, could the ships be extricated from this 
 new station ; and no sooner were they freed, than they were again beset by 
 drifting ice, which held them for twenty- four days. The risk of passing 
 another winter in these dreary regions appeared to be imminent, when an 
 easterly breeze sprung up, and carried the vessels into open water. They 
 arrived at Shetland in October, after nearly three years' absence, and the 
 eyes of all on board, were gladdened once more with the sight of civilized 
 humanity. The north-eastern point of the American continent was ascer- 
 tained by this voyage : it is a projecting headland of Melville Peninsula, and 
 the connection of the latter with the main, was found to be by a tortuous and 
 narrow isthmus ; and with respect to a navigable passage to the Polar Sea, 
 it proved that the only route to the westward, lay through Barrows' Strait 
 or Regent's Inlet. 
 
 A third expedition, including the same ships with the same commander, 
 was sent out in 1824. Owing to the unfavorable nature of the middle ice 
 in Baffin's Bay, the season was so far advanced by the time the party enterc ' 
 Regent's Inlet, that they at once went into winter quarters at Port Bowen, 
 on its eastern shore. Here they remained until the 20th July 1825, when 
 the voyage was resumed, but under very discouraging circumstances. 
 Great accumulations of ice rendered it almost impossible to advance ; the 
 Fury was driven on shore, and abandoned, though most of her stores were 
 saved, and piled on the beach ; and the Hecla returned to England with a 
 double complement of men and officers. This was the least successful of 
 Parry's voyages ; but there is a fact connected with it which deserves to be 
 recorded : it proved that the anxiety and difficulty, consequent on the loss of 
 power in the compasses, need no longer exist. The placing of a small 
 circular plate of iron in the line of no direction of the ship, and near to the 
 needle, effects a compensation which keeps the latter in working condition. 
 This contrivance is due to Mr. Peter Barlow of Woolwich, and Captain Parry 
 says, • Never had an invention a more complete and satisfactory triumph ; for 
 to the last moment of our operations at sea, did the compass indicate the true 
 magnetic direction/ 
 
 Concurrently with Parry's third voyage, three other expeditions were 
 
390 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 undertaken : the first by Captain Lyon, in the Griper, to proceed by Hudson's 
 Strait, and Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome to Repulse Bay ; then to cross over 
 Melville Isthmus, and survey the coast of America as far as where Franklin 
 left off at Point Turnagain. The vessel sailed in June, 1824, but being 
 totally unfit for the service, except in the quality of strength, she was nearly 
 wrecked on two occasions in the Welcome, and all on board placed in immi- 
 nent peril of their lives ; and at last, Repulse Bay being eighty miles distant, 
 the enterprise was abandoned. 
 
 These expeditions had the twofold object of making the north-west pas- 
 sage, and of completing the survey of the North American coast. Captain 
 Beechey was appointed to command the second, and dispatched in the 
 Blossom, in 1 825, on a similar errand to that now intrusted to Captain Col- 
 linson with the Enterprise and Investigator; namely, to sail round Cape Horn, 
 and enter the Polar Sea by Behring's Strait, so as to arrive at Chamisso 
 Island, in Kotzebue Sound, by the 10th of July, 1826, there to wait for 
 Franklin, of whom more presently. Beechey reached the rendezvous fifteen 
 days after the time appointed, and made immediate preparations for explor- 
 ing the coast to the eastward. The barge, under charge of two of the lieu- 
 tenants, surveyed 126 miles of new shore, until stopped by a long, low, 
 projecting tongue of land, to which the name of Point Barrow was given, 
 but without meeting or hearing any tidings of the expected overland party. 
 The Blossom remained at the anchorage until October, when it became 
 necessary to depart, to prevent her being frozen in for the winter, and after a 
 cruise in the Pacific, she returned to Chamisso Island in August, 1827. 
 Climate, however, with its usual fickleness, was unfavorable ; there was very 
 little open sea ; and in endeavoring to push along the shore, the barge was 
 wrecked, and several of her crew drowned ; and on the 6th of October Capt. 
 Beechey was obliged to abandon further exploration, grieved and disappointed 
 that he had not the satisfaction of bearing with him the adventurous party 
 whom he had been sent especially to meet. 
 
 This party comprised the third of the expeditions referred to above.- In 
 1824, Franklin, undeterred by the recollection of the fearful hardships en- 
 dured in his former overland journey, proposed a second, which, descending 
 the Mackenzie river to the sea, should there divide its force; and while 
 one party explored the coast easterly to the Coppermine, the other, should 
 make its way westerly to Icy Cape, or if possible, Behring's Strait. The 
 project was duly sanctioned, and every preparation made to insure success 
 by building boats, providing scientific instruments, and supplying abundant 
 provisions. Beside three strong, and light boats, built at Woolwich, better 
 suited to navigation among ice than bark canoes, a smaller one, covered with 
 Mackintosh, and weighing only eighty-five pounds, was constructed for the 
 purpose of crossing rivers. In July, 1825, the party arrived at Fort Chipe- 
 wyan, when a combined plan of operations was determined on, in which 
 Richardson and Back, who had again volunteered, held a prominent place. 
 To the latter, and to Mr Dease, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's traders, 
 was intrusted the preparation of winter quarters, so as to avoid all risk of 
 once more encountering the privations they had before so painfully experienced 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 391 
 
 In June 1826, they descended the river, and separated on approaching the 
 sea — Richardson and Kendal going with two boats to the east, and Franklin 
 and Back, with two boats to the west, in which they hoped eventually to 
 effect a junction with Beechey and the Blossom. On the 4th of July, Frank- 
 lin's division was attacked by some hundreds of Esquimaux, and only saved 
 by the coolness and judgment of the leaders. Pursuing their voyage, the 
 usual fate of arctic voyagers awaited them — storms, fogs, cold, and ice. The 
 greatest retardation was from the extreme density of the fogs, caused by the 
 low and swampy nature of the coast, into which the most northerly range of 
 the Rocky Mountains sink. The season was advancing ; and after anxious 
 deliberation as to pushing on or returning, the latter course was decided on. 
 The spot was named Return Reef; and on the 18th of August, the party 
 turned their backs on it, little thinking that Captain Beechey had done so 
 much toward meeting them. On this event, Franklin observes : ' Could I 
 have known, or by possibility imagined, that a party from the Blossom had 
 been at the distance of only 160 miles from me, no difficulties, dangers, or 
 discouraging circumstances should have prevailed on me to return ; but 
 taking into account the uncertainty of all voyages in a sea obstructed by ice, 
 I had no right to expect that the Blossom had advanced beyond Kotzebue 
 Inlet, or that any party from her had doubled Icy Cape.' The extent of 
 coast surveyed was 374 miles, the whole of the tamest and most dreary 
 character. The boats got back to Fort Franklin the 21st of September, 
 after a voyage of 2,048 miles ; and there the unsuccessful party met their 
 comrades who had gone eastward. These had been favored with fine 
 weather, and their sail of 500 miles, or 902 by the coast line, from one river 
 to the other, afforded a pleasant voyage, during which they added some- 
 what to the stores of natural history, botany, geology, etc. 
 
 A second winter passed at the fort. The cold was intense, at one time the 
 thermometer standing at 58° below zero ; but such a temperature even as 
 this may be defied with a weather-tight dwelling, plenty of provisions, and 
 congenial companions. A series of magnetic observations was commenced ; 
 and as the loca ] ity lay on the opposite side of the magnetic pole to that along 
 which Parry had sailed in his voyages, some interesting results were arrived 
 at. 'It appears,' says Franklin, 'that for the same months, at the interval 
 of only one year, Captain Parry and myself, were making hourly observa- 
 tions on two needles, the north ends of which pointed almost directly toward 
 each other, though our actual distance did not exceed 855 geographical 
 miles ; and while the needle of Port Bowen was increasing its westerly direc- 
 tion, ours was increasing its easterly, and the contrary — the variation being 
 west at Port Bowen, and east at Fort Franklin — a beautiful and satisfactory 
 proof of the solar influence on the daily variation.' 
 
 In addition to magnetism, observations of the aurora borealis were also 
 recorded, and the fact established, that no disturbance of the needle (in 
 that locality at least) takes place during the play of the phenomenon. A 
 course of lectures too on practical geology was delivered by Richardson — an 
 eminently useful subject in a new district. And. as an instance of what a 
 love for science may accomplish when animated by a persevering and self- 
 
392 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 reliant spirit, we must not omit to mention Mr. Drummond, one of the party, 
 who passed the winter alone at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in a small 
 ^hut erected by himself, where he collected 1500 specimens of plants, and 
 200 birds and quadrupeds, beside insects. These, though points of minor 
 interest when compared with the grand objects of the expeditions, serve 
 nevertheless to connect the individuals whose names they distiguish. by many 
 links of sympathy and esteem, with unobtrusive thousands who oan admire 
 where they cannot imitate. 
 
 The plan which had been proposed by Franklin for reaching the North 
 Pole on the failure of Captain Buchan in 1818 was taken up by Sir Edward 
 Parry after returning from his third voyage ; and in April 1827 he sailed for 
 Spitzbergen in the Hecla, calling by the way at Hammerfest, to take on board 
 a number of reindeer, which were to be employed in drawing the two boats, built 
 expressly for the service, and fitted with sledge-runners. Arrived at thei.i 
 destination, the vessel was anchored in a harbor on the northern coast, while 
 Parry, with Lieutenants Ross and Bird, Beverly the surgeon, and twenty-four 
 men, started on their novel enterprise. The central point to which their 
 hopes and wishes tended was 600 miles distant ; and to quote the com- 
 mander's words : ' It was proposed to take with us resources for ninety days; 
 to set out from Spitzbergen, if possible, about the beginning of June ; and to 
 occupy the months of June, July, and August in attempting to reach the 
 pole, and returning to the ship, making an average of 13^ miles per day.' 
 Each boat, with the contents, 3,573lbs. or 268ft>s. to each man. Among the 
 stores, was a good supply of that prime essential in arctic traveling, pemmican, 
 which combines abundant nutriment with small compass. It is made from 
 beef dried over wood fires, and pounded, and preserved in bags, with fat to 
 exclude the air. 
 
 On the 13th of June, the party were off Littie Table Island, discovered by 
 Phipps in 1773. It is the most northerly land on the globe at present known, 
 and though but little more than a rock a few hundred feet high, its position 
 is such that, as Parry observes, • bleak, barren, and rugged as it is, one 
 could not help gazing at it with intense interest.* 
 
 In 1806, Captain Scoresby had sailed as high as 31° 30', and reported 
 the ice then stretching to the northward, as a smooth unbroken level, a de- 
 scription which unfortunately would no longer apply in 1827. Where the 
 water was open, the crews availed themselves of sails and oan; but when 
 they came to the ice, the dragging of the boats proved to be a more formid- 
 able task than was anticipated. The reindeer had been left behind at Spitz- 
 bergen, as useless under the circumstances, since there could be no provender 
 for them, and the labor of moving the heavy loads was fatiguing in the ex- 
 treme. A level surface was rarely met with : the ice was nearly everywhere 
 ridged with hummocks, furrowed with deep hollows full of loose snow or 
 water, or broken up into sharp laminas, familiarly termed * penknife ice,' by 
 the sailors. 
 
 Although the season of the arctic summer, when there is constant sunlight, 
 the temperature was seldom above the freezing point. All vicissitudes of wea- 
 ther were to be encountered : one day it rained steadily for twenty-one houis 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 393 
 
 without any of that shelter which the land at times affords. The night was 
 chosen for traveling, the glare from the expanse of snow being less painful 
 to the eyes than when the sun was higher, beside which, the day was the 
 best time for drying wet garments. This arrangement proved rather embar- 
 rassing ; the men scarcely ever knew night from day, and the officers, even 
 with chronometers, would have been sometimes puzzled to tell the hour, had 
 they not been provided with time-keepers constructed to show twenty-four 
 hours on the dial, with but one revolution of the hour-hand in that period. 
 Had they reached the pole, where the sun's apparent height varies very 
 slightly, they would have been unable to retrace their steps without this pro- 
 vision, and might have gone off on a meridian precisely opposite to the 
 true one. 
 
 Their labors thus commenced with the evening : — ' Being rigged for tra- 
 veling,' observes Parry, ' we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit ; and 
 after stowing the things in the boats and on the sledges, so as to secure them 
 as much as possible from wet, we set off on our day's journey, and usually 
 traveled from five to five and a-half hours, then stopped an hour to dine, and 
 again traveled four, five, or even six hours, according to circumstances. 
 After this we halted for the night, as we called it, though it was usually 
 early in the morning, selecting the largest surface of ice we happened to be 
 near for hauling the boats on, in order to avoid the danger of its breaking up 
 by coming in contact with other masses, and also to prevent drift as much as 
 possible. The boats were placed close alongside each other, with their sterns 
 to the wind, the snow or wet cleared out of them, and the sails, supported by 
 the bamboo masts and three paddles, placed over them as awnings, an entrance 
 being left at the bow. Every man then immediately put on dry stockings 
 and fur boots, after which we set about the necessary repairs of boats, 
 sledges, or clothes ; and after serving the provisions for the succeeding day, 
 we went to supper. Most of the officers and men then smoked their pipes, 
 which served to dry the boats and awnings very much, and usually raised 
 the temperature of our lodgings 10° or 15°. This part of the twenty-four 
 hours was often a time — and the only one — of real enjoyment to us : the men 
 told their stories, and " fought all their battles o'er again ;" and the labors of 
 the day, unsuccessful as they too often were, were forgotten. A regular 
 watch was set during our resting-time, to look out for bears or for the ice 
 breaking up around us, as well as to attend to the drying of the ^othes, each 
 man alternately taking this duty for one hour. We then concluded our day 
 with prayers ; and having put on our fur dresses, lay down to sleep with a 
 degree of comfort which perhaps few persons would imagine possible under 
 such circumstances ; our chief inconvenience being, that we were somewhat 
 pinched for room, and therefore obliged to stow rather closer than was quite 
 agreeable. The temperature, while we slept, was usually from 36° to 45°, 
 according to the state of the external atmosphere ; but on one or two occa- 
 sions it rose as high as 60° to 66°, obliging us to throw off a part of our fur 
 dress. After we had slept seven hours, the man appointed to boil the cocoa 
 roused us, when it was ready, by the sound of a bugle, when we commenced 
 our day in the manner before described. 
 
394 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 ' Our fuel consisted entirely of spirits of wine, of which two pints formed 
 our daily allowance, the cocoa being cooked in an iron boiler over a shallow 
 iron lamp with seven wicks — a simple apparatus, which answered our purpose 
 remarkably well. We usually found one pint of the spirits of wine sufficient 
 for preparing our breakfast — that is, for heating twenty-eight pints of water, 
 though it always commenced from the temperature of 32°. If the weather 
 was calm and fair, this quantity of fuel brought it to the boiling point in 
 about an hour and a-quarter ; but more generally the wicks began to go out 
 before it had reached 200°. This, however, made a very comfortable meal 
 to persons situated as we were. Such, with very little variation, was our 
 regular routine during the whole of this excursion.' 
 
 Arctic land presents no very inviting prospect, but the frozen surface of 
 an arctic sea is drearier still. While Parry and Ross marched on ahead of 
 the boats to beat a track, the most insignificant objects became a source of 
 intense interest and curiosity. One warm day two flies on the ice were 
 regarded with a degree of attention that would have been ludicrous under 
 other circumstances ; and equally important was the sight of an aphis borealis 
 in a languid state a hundred miles away from land. Such, with the varying 
 nature of the ice, and efforts consequent thereon, and changes of the weather, 
 were the only incidents to relieve the monotony of daily toil. Rain is not 
 frequent in the north, but during this journey it rained more than in the 
 whole of seven previous summers in a lower latitude. All these facts have 
 to be taken into consideration in order to form an accurate idea of the obsta- 
 cles to be overcome in arctic travel ; and it is satisfactory to observe that, 
 notwithstanding these, the promotion of sience has not been lost sight of by 
 the explorers. On the 17th July Parry and his officers took hourly observa- 
 tions on all natural phenomena observable by means of the instruments in 
 their possession, in accordance with an arrangement proposed by the Royal 
 Society of Edinburgh for simultaneous hourly observations throughout 
 that day. 
 
 The conviction soon forced itself on the minds of the principals, that reach- 
 ing the pole over such ice as daily impeded them was out of the question. 
 Sometimes they gained no more than fifty yards in two hours ; once, after 
 eleven hours of hard work, the advance made was only two miles. The diffi- 
 culty was further increased by a current setting to the southward, by which 
 they lost more ground than they gained. After a day's severe labor in 
 dragging the boats for twelve miles, they were but five miles nearer to the 
 pole than when they started in the morning ; on another occasion they lost 
 thirteen miles in twenty-four hours, the southerly drift running at times five 
 miles an hour. Defeated in their main object, the latitude of 83° became 
 the assigned goal ; yet even in this they were disappointed, and after strug- 
 gling for thirty-five days against multiplied difficulties, they were compelled 
 to give up in latitude 82° 45', with the sole satisfaction that in all human 
 probability no adventurers had ever before penetrated so far. This was on 
 the 23d July, 172 miles from the ship. 
 
 * To accomplish this distance,' writes Parry, 4 we had traversed, by our 
 reckoning, two hundred and ninety-two miles, of which about one hundred 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 395 
 
 were performed by water, previously to our entering the ice. As we traveled 
 by far the greater part of our distance on the ice, three, and not unfrequently 
 five times over, we may safely multiply the length of the road by two-and 
 a-half ; so that our whole distance, on a very moderate calculation, amounted 
 to five hundred and eighty geographical, or six hundred and sixty-eight sta- 
 tute miles, being nearly sufficient to have reached the pole in a direct line,' 
 Soundings had been taken more than once during the journey, and depths 
 obtained varying from two hundred to four hundred fathoms ; here, at the 
 ultimate halting-place, no bottom was found with five hundred fathoms of 
 line. The party were again in the open sea on the 1 1th August, at fifty miles' 
 distance from Table Island, after forty-eight days on the ice ; and ten days 
 later, they arrived on board the Hecla, having been absent nine weeks, and 
 traveled in the whole more than eleven hundred miles. 
 
 Next in chronological order is the expedition equipped at the cost of Sir 
 Felix Booth, and conducted by Captain Ross, and his nephew, Commander 
 (now Sir James) Ross. They sailed in May, 1829, in the Victory, a vessel 
 fitted with a steam-engine in addition to her sails, so as to be able to navigate 
 in calm weather or in baffling winds. The object of the voyage was to search 
 for the north-west passage, as Parry had done before, by some opening lead- 
 ing out of Regent's Inlet : they arrived in this inlet in August, and took on 
 board a large quantity of the Fury's stores, which had been piled on the 
 beach when that vessel was cast away : of the ship herself not a vestige 
 remained. They then sailed for two hundred miles along the east and south- 
 east coast of the land, called North Somerset by Parry, and named Boothia by 
 Ross, in honor of his patron, and wintered in Felix Harbor, from which the 
 Victory was not liberated for a whole year. The narrative of this voyage, 
 indeed, affords little more than a continued succession of difficulties and dis- 
 asters : the steam-engine was thrown overboard as a useless incumbrance : 
 the ship was either firmly beset, or unable to make her way among the ice 
 when at liberty, and was at last abandoned, leaving the party with no 
 resource but the boats and the Fury's stores : without the latter they must 
 have been starved to death. Two dreary winters did they pass on the beach 
 where these stores had been piled, in a building to which they gave the name 
 of Somerset House. In April, 1833, they began to carry provisions by toil- 
 some journeys, and make deposits at various places along the coast in the 
 direction of their route. Not until the 14th August of this year did the ice 
 open to afford them a path of escape from their miserable imprisonment — 
 miserable, although there was no want of food. Happily they at length 
 made their way to Barrow's Strait, where they were taken up by a whale ship, 
 and brought to England. 
 
 One interesting fact brought to light by this voyage affords some relief to 
 its long and barren'series of disasters — the discovery of the north magnetic 
 pole ; the situation of which on the land of Boothia is marked on the m^p. 
 It was made by Commander James Ross, on one of his exploring excursions. 
 'The place of the observatory,' he remarks, 'was as near to the magnetic pole as 
 the limited means which I possessed enabled me to determine. The amount 
 ot the dip, as indicated by my dipping needle, was 89° 59', being thus withia 
 
396 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 one minute of the vertical ; while the proximity at least of this polo, ii Lot itfi 
 actual existence where we stood, was further confirmed by the action, or rathei 
 by the total inaction, of the several horizontal needles then in my posses- 
 sion. This was very nearly the position assigned to it by scientific men several 
 years earlier, and arrived at by protracting the direction lines of compass 
 needles in various circumjacent latitudes, till they met in a central point. 
 Parry's observations placed it eleven minutes distant only from the site deter- 
 mined by Ross. 
 
 * As soon,' says the latter, ' as I had satisfied my own mind on the subject. 
 I made known to the party this gratifying result of all our joint labors ; and 
 it was then that, amidst mutual congratulations, we fixed the British flag on 
 the spot, and took possession of the North Magnetic Pole, and its adjoining 
 territory in the name of Great Britain and King William IV. We had abun- 
 dance of materials for building in the fragments of limestone that covered 
 the beach, and we therefore erected a cairn of some magnitude, under which 
 we buried a canister containing a record of the interesting fact, only regret- 
 ting that we had not the means of constructing a pyramid of more importance, 
 and of strength sufficient to withstand the assaults of time and of the Esqui- 
 maux. Had it been a pyramid as large as that of Cheops, I am not quite 
 sure that it would have done more than satisfy our ambition under the feel- 
 ings of that exciting day. The latitude of this spot is 70° 5' 17'', and its 
 longitude 96° 46' 45" west.' 
 
 Even, if the pole were stationary, this determination could only be regarded 
 as approximate ; but when we know that the center of magnetic intensity is 
 a movable point, we shall readily understand that the cairn erected with so 
 much enthusiasm can now only show where it was. According to Hansteen, 
 the pole moves 11' 4" every year, and revolves within the frigid zone in 1890 
 years, so that it will not reach the same spot in Boothia until the year 3722 ! 
 The precise determination of this point, however, is said to be comparatively 
 unimportant, because its position can always be ascertained by observations 
 of the compass and dipping needles. 
 
 Ross's protracted stay of four years in the inhospitable north induced the 
 government to send out an expedition to look for the absent party. Back, 
 who was then in Italy, hurried home to volunteer his services : his offer was 
 accepted ; and with Dr. King, surgeon and naturalist, he left England in Fe- 
 bruary, 1833. At the Hudson's Bay Company's post, Norway House, the 
 usual complement of voyageurs and other attendants awaited them ; and in 
 high spirits they started for their winter quarters, on the eastern shore of 
 Great Slave Lake. While a dwelling was being erected, the commander took 
 a trip to Lake Aylmer, out of which flows a stream now known as Back's 
 river, down which he hoped to pass the following year to the sea. 
 
 In April, 1834, news reached them of the return of Ross and his crew to 
 England — a fact which animated them with greater spirit for new discoveries. 
 In June they descended the river — a hazardous feat, as will be conceived from 
 Back's description of the stream on arriving at the sea on the 29th July : — 
 1 This, then, may be considered as the month of the Thlew-ee-choh, which, 
 after a violent and tortuous course of 530 geographical miles, running through 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 397 
 
 an iron-ribbed country without a single tree on the whole line of its banks : 
 expanding into fine large lakes with clear horizons, most embarrassing to the 
 navigator, and broken into falls, cascades, and rapids, to the number of nc 
 less than eighty-three in the whole, pours its waters into the Polar Sea in 
 latitude 67° 11' north, and longitude 94° 30' west— that is to say, about 
 thirty-seven miles more south than the mouth of the Coppermine river.' 
 
 Foul weather prevented the exploration of the coast to point Turnagain, 
 as had been intended : the utmost that could be done was to send out a 
 walking party, who, after toiling through swamps for fifteen miles, turned back 
 at a low tongue of land named Point Ogle. Nothing but moss and fern 
 grew on the desolate shores ; there was no drift-wood ; and so damp was the 
 weather, that for ten days, while encamped on Montreal Tsland, they could 
 not light a spark of fire, or obtain a warm meal. Under these adverse cir- 
 cumstances, after naming the prominent points and islands of the estuary in 
 which they had found so little to cheer them, and taking possession of the 
 country in the name of William IV, they made their way to Fort Reliance — 
 their winter quarters on Slave Lake — and in the following year returned to 
 England. 
 
 This was not the last of Back's labors. In 1836, at the instance of the 
 Geographical Society, he attempted to reach Wager Inlet, Repulse Bay, in 
 the Terror, as Captain Lyon had so unsuccessfully endeavored to do twelve 
 years earlier, and for a similar object — the exploration of the shores of Re- 
 gent's Inlet, and of the American continent. The ship sailed in June ; in 
 September she was beset by ice in Fox channel, near Cape Comfort, and 
 there held in its frozen grasp until the 14th of July, of the following year. 
 It was as though an animated spirit opposed the progress of the party, and 
 determined to punish their daring. The stout ship was at times heeled over 
 almost on her broadside by toppling ice ; at others lifted for weeks together 
 on the top of upheaving masses, or compressed between encroaching floes. 
 Human skill was powerless in circumstances which so formidably tasked 
 human courage and fortitude. These qualities were happily not lacking ; 
 and indeed without them, the discomfited band of explorers would never 
 have survived to bring their crippled ship back to England. 
 
 In 1836, the Hudson's Bay Company resolved on completing, if possible, 
 the survey of those portions of the northern coast which Franklin and Back 
 had failed to reach. This service was intrusted to Messrs Dease and Simp- 
 son, two of their employees, with a party of twelve men, who were instructed 
 to descend the Mackenzie river, and on arriving at the sea, endeavor to 
 follow the coast to the westward, either by land or water, as weather and 
 other circumstances permitted, to the point at which Beechey turned back. 
 They were afterward to explore to the eastward from Point Turnagain of 
 Franklin ; to determine whether Boothia Felix were a peninsula, as Ross sup- 
 posed, or an island ; and then to push on in the same direction, to scmie 
 known point which had been visited by Back. In July, 1837, they had 
 reached Return Reef, where Franklin was stopped. Beyond this all was new. 
 Two large rivers were discovered, the Garry and Colville, the latter more than 
 a thousand miles in length. Although in the middle of the dogdays, the ground 
 
398 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 was frozen so hard at four inches beneath the surface, that they could scarcely 
 drive in their tent-pegs. So keen was the north-easterly wind, that 'the spray 
 froze on the oars and rigging ; and out in the bay the ice lay smooth and 
 solid, as in the depths of a sunless winter.' Yet even here a few flowers 
 cheered the eyes of the travelers, and enlivened the stubborn soil. On the 
 1st of August, further progress by water being impracticable — they had 
 gained but four miles on the four previous days — Mr. Simpson, with some of 
 the men continued the journey on foot, while Mr. Dease and the others re- 
 mained in charge of the boats. The walking party, after two or three days' 
 travel, fell in with a number of Esquimaux, from whom they hired an 
 oomiak, or family canoe, in which to pursue the voyage a A ong the lanes of 
 open water occasionally visible close t<"» the beach. On the 4th, after passing 
 the mouth of a large, deep river, *1 saw,' says Mr. Simpson, 'with inde- 
 scribable emotions Point Barrow stretching out to the northward, and inclosing 
 Elson Bay, near the bottom of which we now were.' This, it will be re- 
 membered, was the farthest point attained by the Blossom's barge in 1 826, an 
 exploit commemorated by naming the bay after Lieutenant Elson, one of the 
 officers in command. 
 
 The party returned to the winter station on Great Bear Lake, and while 
 there, received instructions to renew their search to the eastward, and were 
 informed of Sir G. Back's expedition, with which they were if possible to 
 communicate. They were descending the Coppermine in June 1838, in pur- 
 suance of these instructions, when the stream was swollen by spring floods, 
 and encumbered with floating ice, and, in shooting the numerous rapids, 
 ' had to pull for their lives, to keep out of the suction of the precipices, along 
 whose base the breakers raged and foamed with overwhelming fury. Shortly 
 before noon, we came in sight of Escape Rapid of Franklin ; and a glance at 
 the overhanging cliffs told us that there was no alternative but to run down 
 with full cargo. In an instant,' continues Mr. Simpson, ■ we were in the 
 vortex ; and before we were aware, my boat was borne toward an isolated 
 rock, which the boiling surge almost concealed. To clear it. on the outside 
 was no longer possible ; our only chance of safety was to run between it and 
 the lofty eastern cliff. The word was passed, and every breath was hushed. 
 A stream which dashed down upon us, over the brow of the precipice more 
 than 100 feet in height, mingled with the spray that whirled upward from 
 the rapid, forming a terrific shower-bath. The pass was about eight feet 
 wide, and the error of a single foot on either side would have been instant 
 destruction. As, guided by Sinclair's consummate skill, the boat shot 
 safely through those jaws of death, an involuntary cheer arose. Our next 
 impulse was to turn round to view the fate of our comrades behind. They 
 had profited by the peril we incurred, and kept without the treacherous rock 
 in jjjme.' 
 
 They had navigated but a short distance along the coast when they were 
 stopped by ice, and lingered many days at Boathaven, in a state of utter 
 hopelessness. The time for returning had arrived ere any real work had 
 been accomplished. At length, on the 20th of August, Mr. Simpson started 
 with, seven men for a ten days' walk to the eastward, on tb& 6rst of which 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 399 
 
 they passed Point Turnagain, the limit of Franklin's survey in 1821. Bj 
 :he 23d, they had toiled onward to an elevated cape, rising from a sea beset 
 with ice, and the land closing all round to the northward : further progress . 
 seemed to be impossible. ' With bitter disappointment,' writes Mr. Simpson, 
 'I ascended the height, from whence a vast and splendid prospect burst 
 suddenly upon me. The sea, as if transformed by enchantment, rolled its 
 free waves at my feet, and beyond the reach of vision to the eastward. 
 Islands of various shape and size overspread its surface ; and the northern 
 land terminated to the eye in a bold and lofty cape, bearing east-north-east, 
 thirty or forty miles distant, while the continental coast trended away south- 
 east. I stood, in fact, on a remarkable headland, at the eastern outlet of an 
 ice obstructed straight. On the extensive land to the northward I bestowed 
 the name of our most gracious sovereign Queen Victoria. Its eastern visible 
 extremity I called Cape Pelly, in compliment to the governor of the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company.' This was one of the rewards which compensate the 
 adventurous explorer for seasons of peril and privation. 
 
 In 1839, they were more successful, and, favored with mild weather and 
 an open sea, they sailed through the narrow strait that separates Victoria 
 land from the main. On the 13th of August, they doubled Point Ogle, the 
 farthest point of Back's journey in 1834; an event which terminated the 
 long-pursued inquiry concerning the coast-line of the American continent. 
 The survey was now complete. A day or two later, the party, with flags 
 flying, crossed to Montreal Island in Back's Estuary, where they discovered 
 a deposit of provisions which Captain Back had left there five years pre- 
 viously. The pemmican was unfit for use ; but out of several pounds of 
 chocolate, half decayed, the men contrived to pick sufficient to make a kettle- 
 ful of acceptable drink in honor of the occasion. There were also a tin case 
 and a few fish-hooks, of which, observes Mr. Simpson, ■ Mr. Dease and I 
 took possession, as memorials of our having breakfasted on the identical spot 
 where the tent of our gallant, though less successful, precursor stood that 
 very day five years before.' 
 
 They had now obeyed their instructions to the letter ; the coast-line was 
 determined, and connected with what was previously known to the eastward. 
 It was time to think of returning, but a desire to ascertain if Boothia Felix 
 might not form part of the continent on the opposite side of the estuary led 
 them onward. By the 20th of August, they had sailed far enough to see 
 the farther shore, with its capes, of the Gulf of Boothia, which runs down to 
 within forty miles of Repulse Bay ; and they then turned back. On their 
 return, they traced sixty miles of the south coast of Boothia, where at one 
 time they were not more than ninety miles from the site of the magnetic pole 
 as determined by Sir James Ross. A long extent of Victoria Land was also 
 examined ; and on the 16th of September, they once more happily entered 
 the Coppermine, after a boat voyage of more than 1,600 miles, the longest 
 ever performed in the Polar Sea. 
 
 Hitherto we have been occupied with the explorations on and around 
 Northern America, and we now come to the history of those along the con- 
 tinent of Asia, the northern limit of which extends over a space of 14. f >° o/ 
 
400 • ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 longitude. The discovery and survey of this vast region is due entirely tc 
 the Russians ; for although other nations have attempted the passage, they 
 penetrated no farter the Karskoie Sea on the west, and Cape North on the 
 east. The first knowledge of the countries which here bound the polar basin 
 was, as in the case of the other continent, derived from private adventurers, 
 who undertook journeys into those desolate latitudes in hopes of a profitable 
 trade in furs, skins, and ivory. Russian traders, sailing from the White Sea 
 and mouth of the Petchora, voyaged as far as Obi and the Iennissei ; their 
 vessels, similar to those of early British navigators, were little better than 
 shallops, and it is impossible not to be struck with the labors of those whose 
 chief resource was indomitable perseverance. 
 
 The first endeavors under government authority were made about the 
 year 1600; and trading stations were established at the mouths of most of 
 the larger rivers, with the double view of exploration and of subjecting the 
 natives to Russian authority. The Lena, Iana, Indigirka, Alaseia, and 
 Kolyma, wer3 discovered before 1640, by parties sent under Cossack leaders 
 to collect tribute, who at the same time fell in with the Tchuktches, and 
 heard their reports of islands lying off the coast. The earliest attempt to 
 sail to eastward of the Kolyma was made in 1646, and repeated in the two 
 following years, with several small vessels, all of which were wrecked except one 
 commanded by Deshneff, a government functionary, whose name stands high 
 among the early explorers. His grand object was to get round to the mouth 
 of the Anadyr, on the eastern coast, to trade for sable skins ; and the summer 
 of 1648 proving favorable to navigation among the ice, he sailed along the 
 shore and through the strait explored by Behring nearly a century later, and 
 founded a settlement at the place to which he was bound — the Anadyr river. 
 This is the only occasion on which such a voyage has been made ; and to 
 Deshneff and his companions, belongs the honor of having been the first and 
 sole navigators from the Arctic Sea to the Pacific, and of having proved, at 
 a period much earlier than is commonly supposed, that the American and 
 Asiatic continents are not united. 
 
 Other expeditions followed; the Bear Islands were seen; and to obtain 
 accurate particulars concerning them, the government of Siberia sent out two 
 parties in 1711, who crossed the ice to the Likahoff Islands, and saw others 
 yet farther to the north. On their return to the mainland, the leaders were 
 murdered by the crews, who feared the hardships of further explorations. 
 Thus the work went on with varying fortune, the positions mostly ill-defined, 
 as must be the case in the absence of accurate instruments, until 1734, the 
 reign of the Empress Anne, when the Russian Admiralty fitted out three 
 expeditions, ' to obtain a correct knowledge of the northern coast of Siberia 
 from the White Sea to Behring's Strait :' ' one, consisting of two vessels, was 
 to sail from Archangel eastward, to the mouth of the Obi ; another from the 
 Obi to the Iennissei. The third was to sail from the Lena, and consisted of 
 two vessels, one of which was to sail westward to the Iennissei, and the other 
 eastward, past the Kolyma, to Behring's Strait/ 
 
 Insurmountable impediments to navigation, recall of commanders, winter- 
 ing in the rivers, overland journeys to St Petersburg, renewed attempts^ 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 401 
 
 scurvy, and shipwreck, comprise the history of these expeditions. One of 
 the mates, in observations on the compass, makes the remark, ■ The variation 
 of the needle was so great, and it was so unsteady, that I am inclined tc 
 believe the magnet ceases to act in these hi oh latitudes.' This fact is 
 worthy of record, as bearing on phenomena which have subsequently been 
 regarded with much attention. But, on the main question : the Russian 
 Admiralty refused to receive the reports of impossible navigation ; and, in 
 1739, sent out another expedition under Lieutenant Lapteff, who, by dint of 
 perseverance in four successive voyages, did at last pass to the eastward of 
 the Kolyma ; but here fields of ice extending far to the north, barred his 
 further progress. 
 
 Next in order came the voyages by Behring. This mariner, a Dane by 
 birth, was first employed in explorations by the Czar Peter. It was in 1741, 
 that he sailed through the strait which has since borne his name, to examine 
 the coast of Kamtschatka, which was then supposed to stretch away to the 
 south, and join Japan. After being forty-four days at sea, he was wrecked 
 on a small island, where he died in great misery, and but a small number of 
 his crew survived to return to the mainland, and tell the story of his fate. 
 Schalaroff, a merchant of Yakutsk, was equally unfortunate. In 1760, this 
 adventurer, whose name is venerated throughout Siberia, determined on try- 
 ing whether the passage could or could not be accomplished. He perseveied 
 during three seasons, in defiance of mutiny and hardships innumerable. He, 
 too, was wrecked on the desolate coast, seventy miles east of Cape Che- 
 lagskoi, and, with all his crew, died of starvation. Three years later, Ser- 
 geant Andrejeff conducted a sledge expedition across the ice to the Bear 
 Islands ; his reports, which were much exaggerated, led shortly afterward to 
 the accurate survey of this and the adjacent country. 
 
 ■Cook's exploration, which has been before referred to, produced another 
 expedition on the part of the Russians, which sailed from the Kolyma in 
 1787, under Captain Billings ; but the attempts made to navigate either to the 
 east or the west, were both defeated. Further efforts were made at intervals 
 during the first quarter of the present century, some of them mainly to search 
 for the northern continent, whose existence, far in the Polar Sea, had so often 
 been the subject of rumor. And last, we come to the expeditions commanded 
 by Lieutenant Anjou, and Admiral von Wrangell, carried on also by means 
 of dogs and sledges from the year 1820 to 1823 ; the latter taking the mouth 
 of the Kolyma for his starting-point — the former, the river Iana. These un- 
 dertakings were especially promoted by the Emperor Alexander, and were 
 conducted with all the care and skill warranted by an advanced state of sci- 
 ence and philosophy. They failed but in one particular — the discovery of 
 the northern continent. How diligently and perseveringly this was searched 
 for, is best proved by the narrative of perils endured, even to the risk of life, 
 in the arduous enterprise. Three times was the frozen surface of the sea 
 traversed, without leading to any definite result ; on the fourth journey, in 
 March, 1823, Von Wrangell reached the latitude of 70° 51', longitude 175^ 
 27' west — 105 wersts in a direct line from the mainland. Soundings gave a 
 depth of 22-^ fathoms ; the ice here was thin and weak. More than once the 
 26* 
 
402 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 party had only been saved from breaking through by the speed at which the 
 Jogs traveled over it. In the distance, a screen of dense blue vapor — a cer- 
 tain indication of open water — was visible, on which the admiral remarks:— 
 
 1 Notwithstanding this sure token of the impossibility of proceding much 
 farther, we continued to go due north for about nine wersts, when we arrived 
 at the edge of an immense break in the ice, extending east and west farther 
 than the eye could reach, and which at the narrowest part was more than a 
 hundred and fifty fathoms across. . . . We climbed one of the loftiest ice- 
 hills, when we obtained an extensive view toward the north, and whence we 
 beheld the wide immeasurable ocean spread before our gaze. It was a fear 
 ful and magnificent, but to us a melancholy spectacle. Fragments of ice of 
 enormous size, floated on the surface of the agitated ocean, and were thrown 
 by the waves with awful violence, against the edge of the ice-field on the 
 farther side of the channel before us. The collisions were so tremendous, 
 that large masses were every instant broken away; and it was evident that 
 the portion of ice which still divided the channel from the open ocean, would 
 soon be completely destroyed. Had we attempted to have ferried ourselves 
 across, upon one of the floating pieces of ice, we should not have found firm 
 footing upon our arrival. Even on our own side, fresh lanes of water were 
 continually forming, and extending in every direction in the field of ice be- 
 hind us. With a painful feeling of the impossibility of overcoming the ob- 
 stacles which nature opposed to us, our last hope vanished of discovering the 
 land, which we yet believed to exist. We saw ourselves compelled to re- 
 nounce the object for which we had striven through three years of hardships, 
 toil, and danger. We had done what duty and honor demanded : further 
 attempts would have been absolutely hopeless, and I decided to return. ' 
 
 On returning from this extreme limit of their adventurous journey, the 
 party were placed in a situation of extreme risk. ' We had hardly proceeded 
 one werst,' writes M. von Wrangell, ' when we found ourselves in a fresh 
 labyrinth of lanes of water, which hemmed us in on every side. As all the 
 floating pieces around us were smaller than the one on which we stood, 
 which was seventy-five fathoms across, and as we saw many certain indica- 
 tions of an approaching storm, I thought it better to remain on the larger 
 mass, which offered us somewhat more security; and thus we waited quietly 
 whatever Providence should decree. Dark clouds now rose from the west, 
 and the whole atmosphere became filled with a damp vapor. A strong breeze 
 suddenly sprung up from the west, and increased in less than half an hour to 
 a storm. Every moment huge masses of ice around us were dashed against 
 each other, and broken into a thousand fragments. Our little party remained 
 fast on our ice-island, which was tossed to and fro by the waves. We gazed 
 in most painful inactivity, on the wild conflict of the elements, expecting 
 every moment to be swallowed up. We had been three long hours in this 
 position, and still the mass of ice beneath us held together, when suddenly it 
 was caught by the storm, and hurled against a large field of ice. The crash 
 was terrific, and the mass beneath us was shattered into fragments. At that 
 dreadful moment, when escape seemed impossible, the impulse of self-preser- 
 vation, implanted in every living being, saved us. Instinctively, we all sprang 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 403 
 
 at once on the sledges, and urged the dogs to their full speed. They flew 
 across the } T ielding fragments to the field on which we had been stranded, and 
 safely reached a part of it of firmer character, on which were several hum- 
 mocks, and where the dogs immediately ceased running, conscious, apparent- 
 ly, that the danger was past. We were saved : we joyfully embraced each 
 other, and united in thanks to God for our preservation from such imminent 
 peril.' 
 
 More than once, during this trip, the party heard from the Tchuktches, that 
 land could be seen far away in the northern seas. ' There was a part of the 
 coast,' so said a chief, 'where, from some cliffs near the mouth of a river, one 
 might; in a clear summer day, descry snow-covered mountains, at a great 
 distance to the north ; but that in winter it was impossible to see so far.' The 
 part of the coast alluded to was Cape Jakan, which the explorers afterward 
 visited ; but although they ' gazed long and earnestly on the horizon, in 
 hopes, as the atmosphere was clear, of discerning some appearance of the 
 northern land,' they ' could see nothing of it.' 
 
 After Back's last fruitless voyage in the Terror, no further steps toward 
 discovering the north-west passage were made by the British government for 
 seven years. Still, in certain quarters, the desire to settle the long-agitated 
 question, prevailed as strongly as ever : one final effort, it was thought, 
 should be made to traverse the Polar Sea, from its eastern to its western 
 mouth, and many scientific, as well as other considerations, were urged in its 
 favor. The expedition now absent, under Sir John Franklin's command, was 
 at length determined on ; the ships selected — the Erebus and Terror — were 
 those in which Sir James Ross had so successfully navigated the antarctic seas ; 
 and to render them more efficient, each was fitted with a small steam-engine. 
 The route prescribed by official instructions was the track taken by Parry in 
 his first and most fortunate voyage ; to push directly westward from Melville 
 Island to Behring's Strait, without deviation to the north or south, unless ap- 
 pearances were decidedly in favor of such a departure ; and in the event of 
 reaching the Pacific, Sir John was to refresh and refit at the Sandwich Islands, 
 and return to England by way of Cape Horn. The two ships were provided 
 with ample stores for three years ; patent fuel instead of coals, for economy 
 of stowage ; everything, in short, that could promote health, comfort, or the 
 cause of science. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sib John Franklin's Last Expedition^- Anxiety about its Fate — Expedition sent in Search 
 —Departure of the American Expedition— Grandeur and Perils of Arctic Scenes— Anecdote 
 —Joined by the Prince Albert— Esquimaux — the Crimson Cliffs — Yankee Intrepidity — 
 Fall in with Captain Penny— Traces of Sir John Franklin— G wives— the Great Polar 
 Basin — Griffin's Island — Ice-locked Winter Quarters — Sports — Imminent Peril — Floated 
 Southward by the Ice— Balked— Return. 
 
 The vessels under Sir John Franklin, in his last expedition, having on 
 board 138 souls, set sail from England, on the 19th of May, 1845, on their 
 search of a north-west passage to Asia. On the 25th of July, sixty-eight 
 
404 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 days afterward, they were seen by a passing whaler, moored to an iceberg, 
 near the center of Baffin's Bay; since which time, no intelligence of their 
 fate has been received. No especial anxiety was entertained respecting them 
 until the beginning of 1848, for the commander had intimated that the 
 voyage would probably continue for three years, and that they might be the 
 first to announce their own return. But as month after month passed away, 
 without bringing any tidings, an anxious and painful sympathy sprung up in 
 the public mind, and the British government determined that searches fol 
 the missing vessels should be made, and three different expeditions were dis- 
 patched in 1848, for this purpose. Other expeditions were subsequently 
 started out from England, in the course of the two years ensuing, and one 
 from the United States ; but all human efforts to ascertain the fate of the 
 missing vessels, thus far, have been in vain, and perhaps will so remain for- 
 ever shrouded in impenetrable mystery. 
 
 The American expedition, from the high degree of nautical skill and 
 daring courage displayed, merits some detail of its efforts on the behalf of 
 the lost mariners : we therefore, annex its history, as narrated by one of the 
 adventurers. 
 
 This expedition was sent out by Mr. Henry Grinnell, an opulent merchant 
 of New York, and consisted of two small brigs, strengthened for this ser- 
 vice — the Advance, of 140 tons, and the Rescue, of only 90. The command 
 was given to Lieut. E. De Haven, a young naval officer, under whom were 
 Mr. Murdoch, a sailing master, Dr. E. K. Kane, Surgeon and Naturalist ; 
 Midshipman Lovell, and in the Advance, a crew of twelve men. They left 
 New York on the 23d of May, 1850, and were absent nearly sixteen months. 
 In ten days after leaving Sandy Hook, they passed the eastern extremity of 
 New Foundland, and then sailing northeasterly, were soon coasting along the 
 south-west shores of Greenland. 
 
 When the Expedition reached Melville Bay, which, on account of its fear- 
 ful character, is also called the Devil's Nip, the voyagers began to witness 
 the grandeur and perils of Arctic scenes. Icebergs of all dimensions came 
 bearing down from the Polar seas, like vast squadrons, and the roar of their 
 rending came over the waters like the booming of the heavy broadsides of 
 contending navies. They also encountered immense floes, with only narrow 
 channels between, and at times their situation was extremely perilous. On 
 one occasion, after heaving through fields of ice for five consecutive weeks, 
 two immense floes, between which they were making their way, gradually ap- 
 proached each other, and for several hours they expected their tiny vessels — 
 tiny when compared with the mighty objects around them — would be crushed. 
 An immense calf of ice, six or eight feet thick, slid under the Rescue, lifting 
 her almost " high and dr)*-," and careening her, partially, upon her beam's 
 end. By means of ice-anchors (large iron hooks), they kept her from cap- 
 sizing. In this position they remained about sixty hours, when, with saws 
 and axes, they succeeded in relieving her. The ice now opened a little, and 
 they finally warped through into clear water. While they were thus confined, 
 polar bears came around them in abundance, greedy for prey, and the seamen 
 indulged a little in the perilous sports of the chase. 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 405 
 
 The open sea continued but a short time, when they became again entangled 
 among bergs, floes, and hummocks, and encountered the most fearful perils, 
 Sometimes they anchored their vessels to icebergs, and sometimes to floes or 
 masses of hummock. On one of these occasions, while the cook, an active 
 Frenchman, was upon a berg, making a place for an anchor, the mass of ice 
 split beneath him, and he was dropped through the yawning fissure into the 
 water, a distance of almost thirty feet. Fortunately, the masses, as is often 
 the case, did not close up again, but floated apart, and the poor cook was 
 hauled on board, more dead than alive, from excessive fright. It was in this 
 fearful region that they first encountered pack-ice, and there they were locked 
 in, from the 7th to the 23d of July. During that time they were joined by 
 the yacht Prince Albert, commanded by Captain Forsyth, of the Royal Navy, 
 and together the three vessels were anchored, for a while, to an immense 
 field of ice, in sight of the Devil's Thumb. That high, rocky peak, situated 
 in latitude 74° 22' was about thirty miles distant, and with the dark hills ad- 
 jacent, presented a strange aspect where all was white and glittering. The 
 peak and the hills are masses of rock, with occasionally a lichen or a moss 
 growing upon their otherwise naked surfaces. In the midst of the vast ice- 
 field loomed up many lofty bergs, all of them in motion — slow and majestic 
 motion. 
 
 From the Devil's Thumb the American vessels passed onward through the 
 pack toward Sabine's Islands, while the Prince Albert essayed to make a 
 more westerly course. They reached Cape York at the beginning of August. 
 Far across the ice, landward, they discovered, through their glasses, several 
 men, apparently making signals ; and for a while they rejoiced in the belief 
 that they saw a portion of Sir John Franklin's companions. Four men were 
 dispatched with a whale-boat to reconoiter. They soon discovered the men 
 to be Esquimaux, who, by signs, professed great friendship, and endeavored 
 to get the voyagers to accompany them to their homes beyond the hills. 
 They declined ; and as soon as they returned to the vessel, the expedition 
 again pushed forward, and made its way to Cape Dudley Digges, which they 
 reached on the 7th of August. 
 
 At Cape Dudley Digges they were charmed by the sight of the Crimson 
 Cliffs, spoken of by Captain Parry and other Arctic navigators. These are 
 iofty cliffs of dark brown stone, covered with snow of a rich crimson color. 
 It was a magnificent sight in that cold region, to see such an apparently 
 warm object standing out in bold relief against the dark blue back-ground of 
 a polar sky. This was the most northen point to which the expedition pene- 
 trated. The whole coast which they had passed from Disko to this cape is 
 high, rugged, and barren, only some of the low points, stretching into the 
 sea, bearing a species of dwarf fir. Northeast from the cape rise the Arctic 
 Highlands, to an unknown altitude ; and stretching away northward is the 
 unexplored Smith's Sound, filled with impenetrable ice. 
 
 From Cape Dudley Digges, the Advance and Rescue, beating against wind 
 and tide in the midst of the ice-fields, made Wolstenholme Sound, and then 
 changing their course to the southwest, emerged from the fields into the open 
 waters of Lancaster Sound. Here, on the 18th of August, they encountered 
 
406 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 a tremendous gale, which lasted about twenty-four hours. The two vessels 
 parted company during the storm, and remained separate several days. 
 Across Lancaster sound, the Advance made her way to Barrow's Straits, and 
 on the 22d discovered the Prince Albert on the southern shore of the straits, 
 near Leopold Island, a mass of lofty, precipitous rocks, dark and barren, and 
 hooded and draped with snow. The weather was fine, and soon the officers 
 md crews of the two vessels met in friendly greeting. Those of the Prince 
 Albert were much astonished, for they (being towed by a steamer) left the 
 Americans in Melville Bay on the 6th, pressing northward through the pack 
 and could not conceive how they so soon and safely penetrated it. Captain 
 Forsyth had attempted to reach a particular point, where he intended to 
 remain through the winter, but finding the passage thereto completely 
 blocked up with ice, he had resolved, on the very day when the Americans 
 appeared, to " bout ship," and return home. 
 
 The two vessels remained together a day or two, when they parted com- 
 pany, the Prince Albert to return home, and the Advance to make further 
 explorations. On this occasion, off Leopold Island, the Americans evinced 
 an intrepidity and daring skill, that astonished the officers of the British 
 vessel. One of them, Mr. Snow, was on board of the Advance, and in his 
 journal thus dwells upon the subject : 
 
 " If ever a vessel and her officers were capable of going through an un- 
 dertaking in which more than ordinary difficulties had to be encountered, I 
 had no doubt it would be the American ; and this was evinced to me, even 
 while we were on board, by the apparently reckless way in which they dashed 
 through the streams of heavy ice running off from Leopold Island. I hap- 
 pened to go on deck when they were thus engaged, and was delighted to 
 witness how gallantly they put aside every impediment in their way. An 
 officer was standing on the heel of the bowsprit, conning the ship and issu- 
 ing his orders to the man at the wheel in that short, decisive, yet clear man- 
 ner, which the hemlsman at once well understood and promptly obeyed. 
 There was not a rag of canvas taken in, nor a moment's hesitation. The 
 way was before them: the stream of ice had to be either gone through boldly 
 or a long detour made ; and, despite the heaviness of the stream they pushed 
 the vessel through in her proper course. Two or three shocks, as she came in 
 contact with some large pieces, were unheeded; and the moment the last block 
 was past the bow, the officer sung out, « So : steady as she goes on her 
 course;' and came aft as if nothing more than ordinary sailing had been 
 going on. I observed our own little bark nobly following in the American's 
 wake ; and as I afterward learned, she got through it pretty well, though not 
 without much doubt of the propriety of keeping on in such procedure after 
 the ' mad Yankee,' as he was called by our mate. 
 
 From Leopold Island the Advance proceeded to the north-west, and on the 
 25th reached Cape Riley, another amorphous mass, not so regular and pre- 
 cipitate as Leoplold Island, but more lofty. Here, a strong tide setting in to 
 shore, drifted the Advance toward the beach, where she stranded. Around 
 her were small bergs and large masses of floating ice, all under the influence 
 of the strong current. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when she 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 407 
 
 struck. By diligent labor in removing everything from her deck to a small 
 floe, she was so lightened, that at four o'clock the next morning she floated, 
 and soon everything was properly replaced. 
 
 Near Cape Riley the Americans fell in with a portion of an English Ex- 
 pedition, and there also the Rescue, left behind in the gale in Lancaster 
 Sound, overtook the Advance. There was Captain Penny with the So])hia 
 and Lady Franklin; the veteran Sir John Ross, with the Felix, and Commodore 
 Austine, with the Resolute steamer. Together the navigators of both nations 
 explored the coast at and near Cape Riley, and on the 27th they saw in a cove 
 on the shore of Beechey Island, or Beechey Cape, on the east side of the en- 
 trance to Wellington Channel, unmistakable evidence that Sir John Franklin 
 and his companions were there in April, 1846. There they found many 
 articles known to belong to the British Navy, and some that were the property 
 of the Erebus and Terror, the ships under the command of Sir John. There 
 lay, bleached to the whiteness of the surrounding snow, a piece of canvas, 
 with the name of the Terror, marked upon it with indestructible charcoal. 
 It was very faint, yet perfectly legible. Near it was a guide board, lying 
 flat upon its face, having been prostrated by the wind. It had evidently been 
 used to direct exploring parties to the vessels, or, rather, to the encampment 
 on shore. The board was pine, thirteen inches in length and six and a half 
 in breadth, and nailed to a boarding pike eight feet in length. It is supposed 
 that the sudden opening of the ice, caused Sir John to depart hastily, and 
 that in so doing, this pike and its board were left behind. They also found 
 a large number of tin canisters, such as are used for packing meats for a sea 
 voyage ; an anvil block; remnants of clothing, which evinced, by numerous 
 patches and their threadbare character, that they had been worn as long as 
 the owners could keep them on ; the remains of an India rubber glove, lined 
 with wool ; some old sacks; a cask, or tub, partly filled with charcoal, and an 
 unfinished rope-mat, which, like all other fibrous fabrics, was bleached white. 
 
 But the most interesting and at the same time most melancholy traces of 
 the navigators, were three graves, in a little sheltered cove, each with a board 
 at the head, bearing the name of the sleeper below. These inscriptions 
 testify positively when Sir John and his companions were there, and were as 
 follows : 
 
 " Sacred to the memory of John Torrington, who departed this life, 
 January 1st, A. d., 1846, on board her Majesty's ship Terror, aged 20 years." 
 U Sacred to the memory of John Hartnell, A. B., of her Majesty's ship 
 Erebus; died, January 4th, 1846, aged 25 years. 'Thus saith the Lord of 
 Hosts, Consider your ways :' Haggai, chap, i, v. 7." " Sacred to the memory 
 of W. Braine, R. M., of her Majesty's ship Erebus, who died April 3d, 1846, 
 aged 32 years. ' Choose you this day whom you will serve :' Joshua, chap, 
 xxiv, part of the 15th verse." 
 
 How much later than April 3d (the date upon the last-named head -board), 
 Sir John remained at Beechey, cannot be determined. They saw evidences 
 of his having gone northward, for sledge tracks in that direction were very 
 visible. It is the opinion of Dr. Kane that, on the breaking up of the ice, in 
 the spring, Sir John passed northward with his ships through Wellington 
 
408 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATIONS 
 
 Channel, into the great Polar basin, and that he did not return. Dr. Kane, 
 in a letter to Mr. Grinnell, since the return of the expedition, thus expresses 
 his opinion concerning the safety of Sir John and his companions. After 
 saying, "I should think that he is now to be sought for north and west of 
 Cornwallis Island," he adds, "as to the chance of the destruction of his 
 party by the casualties of ice, the return of our own party after something 
 more than the usual share of them, is the only fact that I can add to what 
 we knew when we set out. The hazards from cold and privation of food may 
 be almost looked upon as subordinate. The snow-hut, the fire and light 
 from the moss-lamp fed with blubber, the seal, the narwhale, the white whale, 
 and occasionally abundant stores of migratory birds, would sustain vigorous 
 life. The scurvy, the worst visitation of explorers deprived of permanent 
 quarters, is more rare in the depths of a polar winter, than in the milder 
 weather of the moist summer ; and our two little vessels encountered both 
 seasons without losing a man." 
 
 Leaving Beechey Cape, our expedition forced its way through the ice to 
 Barlow's Inlet, where they narrowly escaped being frozen in for the winter. 
 They endeavored to enter the Inlet, for the purpose of making it their winter 
 quarters, but were prevented by the mass of pack-ice at its entrance. It was 
 on the 4th of September, 1850, when they arrived there, and after remain- 
 ing seven or eight days, they abandoned- the attempt to enter. There was 
 much smooth ice within the Inlet, and while the vessels lay anchored to the 
 " field," the officers and crew exercised themselves by skating. On the left 
 of the Inlet, they discovered a Cairn (a heap of stones with a cavity) eight 
 or ten feet in height, which was erected by Captain Ommanny of the English 
 Expedition then in the polar waters. Within it he had placed two letters, 
 for "whom it might concern." Commander De Haven also deposited a 
 letter there. It is believed to be the only post-office in the world, free for the 
 use of all nations. The rocks, here, presented vast fissures made by the 
 frost ; and at the foot of the cliff, that powerful agent had cast down vast 
 heaps of debris. 
 
 From Barlow's Inlet, our Expedition moved slowly westward, battling 
 with ice every rood of the way, until they reached Griffin's Island, at about 
 96° west longitude from Greenwich. This was attained on the 11th, and 
 was the extreme westing made by the expedition. All beyond seemed im- 
 penetrable ice ; and, despairing of making any further discoveries before the 
 winter should set in, they resolved to return home. Turning eastward, they 
 hoped to reach Davis's Straits by the southern route, before the cold and 
 darkness came on, but they were doomed to disappointment. Near the 
 entrance to Wellington Channel they became completely locked in by hum- 
 mock-ice, and soon found themselves drifting with an irresistible tide up that 
 channel toward the pole. 
 
 Now began the most perilous adventures of the navigators. The summer 
 day was drawing to a close ; the diurnal visits of the pale sun were rapidly 
 shortening, and soon the long polar night, with all its darkness and horrors, 
 would fall upon them. Slowly they drifted in those vast fields of ice, 
 whither, or to what result, they knew not. Locked in the moving yet con:* 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 409 
 
 pact mass ; liable every moment to be crushed ; far away from land ; the 
 mercury sinking daily lower and lower from the Zero figure, toward the point 
 where that metal freezes, they felt small hope of ever reaching home again. 
 Yet they prepared for winter comforts and winter sports, as cheerfully as if 
 lying safe in Barlow's Inlet. As the winter advanced, the crews of both 
 vessels went on board the larger one. They unshipped the rudders of each to 
 prevent their being injured by the ice, covered the deck of the Advance with 
 felt, prepared their stores, and made arrangements for enduring the long 
 winter, now upon them. Physical and mental activity being necessary fo~ 
 the preservation of health, they daily exercised in the open air for s^veial 
 hours. They built ice huts, hunted the huge white bears and the little polar 
 foxes, and when the darkness of the winter night had spread over tLero, 
 they arranged in-door amusements and employments. 
 
 Before the end of October, the sun made its appearance for the last time, 
 and the awful polar night closed in. Early in November they wholly aban- 
 doned the Rescue, and both crews made the Advance their permanent winter 
 home. The cold soon became intense ; the mercury congealed, and the 
 spirit thermometer indicated 46° below zero ! Its average range was 30° to 
 35 c They had drifted helplessly up Wellington Channel, almost to the 
 latitude from whence Captain Penny saw an open sea, and which all believe 
 to be the great polar basin, where there is a more genial clime than that 
 which intervenes between the Arctic Circle and the 75th degree. Here, 
 when almost in sight of the open ocean, that mighty polar tide, with its vast 
 masses of ice, suddenly ebbed, and our little vessels were carried back as 
 resistlessly as before, through Barrow's Straits into Lancaster Sound ! A : i 
 this while the immense fields of hummock-ice were moving, and the vesse's 
 were in hourly danger of being crushed and destroyed. At length, whih 
 drifting through Barrow's Straits, the congealed mass, as if crushed together 
 by the opposite shores, became more compact, and the Advance was elevated 
 almost seven feet by the stern, and keeled two feet eight inches, starboard. 
 In this position she remained, with very little alteration, for five consecutive 
 months ; for, soon after entering Baffin's Bay in the midst of the winter, the 
 ice became frozen in one immense tract, covering millions of acres. Thus 
 frozen in, sometimes more than a hundred miles from land, they drifted 
 slowly along the south-west coast of Baffin's Bay, to a distance of more than a 
 thousand miles from Wellington Channel. For eleven weeks that dreary 
 night continued, and during that time the disc of the sun was never seen 
 above the horizon. Yet nature was not wholly forbidding in aspect. Some- 
 times the Aurora Borealis would flash up still further northward ; and some- 
 times Aurora Parhelia — mock suns and mock moons — would appear in varied 
 beauty in the starry sky. Brilliant, too, were the northern constellations ; 
 and when the real moon was at its full, it made its stately circuit in the 
 heavens without descending below the horizon, and lighted up the vast piles of 
 ice with a pale luster, almost as great as the morning twilights of more genial 
 skies. 
 
 Around the vessels the crews built a wall of s <*» ; and in ice huts they 
 slowed away their cordage and stores to make rovm for exercise on the decks. 
 
410 ADVENTURES AND EXPLORATION'S 
 
 They organized a theatrical company, and amused themselves and the officers 
 with comedy well performed. Behind the pieces of hummock each actor 
 learned his part, and by means of calico they transformed themselves into 
 female characters, as occasion required. These dramas were acted upon the 
 deck of the Advance, sometimes while the thermometer indicated 30° below 
 zero, and actors and audience highly enjoyed the fun. They also went out 
 in parties during that long night, fully armed, to hunt the polar bear, the 
 prim monarch of the frozen north, on which occasions they often encountered 
 perilous adventures. They played at foot-ball, and exercised themselves in 
 drawing sledges, heavily laden with provisions. Five hours of each twenty- 
 four, they thus exercised in the open air, and once a week each man washed 
 his whole body in cold snow water. Serious sickness was consequently 
 avoided, and the scurvy which attacked them soon yielded to remedies. 
 
 Often during the fearful night, they expected the disaster of having their 
 vessels crushed. All through November and December, before the ice be- 
 came fast, they slept in their clothes, with knapsacks on their backs, and sledges 
 upon the ice, laden with stores, not knowing at what moment the vessels 
 might be demolished, and themselves forced to leave them and make their 
 way toward land. On the 8th of December, and the 23d of Januarj'-, they 
 actually lowered their boats and stood upon the ice, for the crushing masses 
 ;vere making the timbers of the gallant vessel creak and its decks to rise in 
 the center. They were then ninety miles from land, and hope hardly 
 whispered an encouraging idea of life being sustained. On the latter occa- 
 sion, when officers and crew stood upon the ice, with the ropes of their pro- 
 vision sledges in their hands, a terrible snow-drift came from the north-east, 
 <*id intense darkness shrouded them. Had the vessel then been crushed, all 
 must have perished. But God, who ruled the storm, also put forth his pro- 
 tecting arm and saved them. 
 
 Early in February the northern horizon began to be streaked with a gorgeous twilight, 
 t\e herald of the approaching king of day ; and on the 18th the disc of the sun first 
 appeared above the horizon. As its golden rim rose above the glittering snow-drifts and 
 piles of ice, three hearty cheers went up from those hardy mariners, and they welcomed 
 their deliverer from the chains of frost as cordially as those of old, who chanted, 
 
 " See ! the conquering hero comes ! 
 hound the trumpet, beat the drums !" 
 
 Day after day it rose higher and higher, and while the pallid faces of the voyagers, 
 bleached during that long night, darkened by its beams, the vast masses of ice began to 
 yield to its fervid influences. The scurvy disappeared ; and from that time until they 
 arrived at home, not a man suffered from sickness. As they slowly drifted through 
 Davis's Straits, and the ice gave indications of breaking up, the voyagers made prepara- 
 tions for sailing. The Rescue was re-occupied (May 13th, 1851), and her stern-post, which 
 had been broken by the ice in Barrow's Straits, was repaired. To accomplish this they 
 were obliged to dig away the ice, which was from twelve to fourteen feet thick around her. 
 They re-shipped their rudders ; removed the felt covering ; placed their stores on deck, 
 and patiently awaited the disruption of the ice. It began to give way on the 5th of June, 
 and in twenty minutes the whole mass became one vast field of moving Jloes. On the 
 10th, they emerged into open water, a little south of the Arctic Circle, in latitude 65° 30'. 
 They immediately repaired to Godhaven, on the coast of Greenland, where they re-fitted, 
 and, unappalled by the perils through which they had again passed, they turned their 
 prows northward, to encounter the ice squadrons of Baffin's Bay. Onward they passed, 
 through the accumulating ice, to Baffin's Island. Here again the expedition encoair.a?ed 
 
IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 411 
 
 vast fields of hummock-ice, and were subjected to the most imminent perils. The floating 
 ice tumbled in huge masses, and reared upon the sides of the sturdy little vessels like 
 monsters of the deep intent upon destruction. The noise was fearful ; so deafening that 
 the mariners could scarcely hear each other's voices. The sound of these rolling masses, 
 together with the rending of the icebergs floating near, and the vast floes, produced a din 
 like the discharge of a thousand pieces of ordnance upon a field of battle. 
 
 Finding the north and west closed against further progress, by impenetrable ice, the 
 brave De Haven was balked, and turning his vessels homeward, they came out into 
 an open sea, somewhat crippled, but not a plank seriously started. During a storm off 
 the banks of Newfoundland, a thousand miles from New York, the vessels parted com- 
 pany. The Advance arrived safely at Brooklyn on the 30th of September, 1851, and the 
 Rescue joined her there a few days afterward. 
 
 SECOND EXPEDITION UNDER D E.KANE. 
 
 The spirit of chivalrous adventure, nothing daunted by the unsuccessful result of this 
 voyage, soon led to the undertaking of another expedition. On the 31st of May, 1853, a 
 single vessel, the "Advance," with a company of seventeen persons, under the command 
 of Dr. Kane, who was attached to the previous expedition, set sail from New York. They 
 went with provisions calculated for a two years' search, their immediate destination being 
 Smith's Sound, the farthest point, to the north, yet reached. This expedition, like the 
 last, was fitted out by Mr. Griunell. No tidings of the little adventurous crew were 
 h >ard, after tl.cy left the coast of Newfoundland. Month after month rolled on, until it 
 siemed probable that they had met the fate of the brave and ill-fated men of whom they 
 were in search. 
 
 At length, an expedition was fitted out, by order of the government, to search for the 
 missing explorers. On May 31st, 1855, just two years after the sailing of Kane's second 
 expedition, the barque "Release," and propeller "x\rctic," under command of Lieutenant 
 Hartstein, U. S. N., set sail for the Polar Sea. In about four months, their search was 
 rewarded with success. They fell in with the whole of Dr. Kane's party, except three, 
 who had died on the voyage, and brought them safely back to New York. The history 
 of the perils of the second Kane expedition, though of absorbing interest, cannot here be 
 told. On the 10th of Sfptember, 1853, they had been frozen in on the coast of Greenland, 
 at the farthest northern point ever yet reached. Here they passed the winter. The next 
 summer was spent in exploring the shores, their vessel remaining fast and immovable in 
 the ice. The next winter (1854-5) was one of great severity ; and before spring, their 
 stock of fuel gave out. At length, in May 1855, they decided to abandon the vessel and 
 return home. They set sail in open boats, and reached the Danish settlements, August 
 4th, having traversed 1300 miles in eighty-one days. Here they were about taking pas- 
 sage for England, when they were fallen in with by Lieutenant Hartstein's Relief Expedi- 
 tion, and all sailed, on the 18th of September, for New York, where they arrived October 
 11th, 1855, to the great joy of their friends, and satisfaction of the public, who had nearly 
 given them up for lost. 
 
 In January, 1856, some additional and highly interesting indications of the fate of Sir 
 John Franklin, and his companions, were brought to light. An overland exploring party, 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company, having traveled north to the mouth of Great Fish river, 
 fell in with a tribe of Esquimaux, who informed them that it was in this neighborhood 
 that, four years ago, the brave adventurers died from famine and exhaustion. On Mon- 
 treal Island, and the opposite coast, according to this account, they had wandered about 
 till, one by one, they expired. In confirmation of this story, a snow-shoe, of undoubted 
 English make, a part of a ship's boat, with the word " Terror " yet distinctly visible 
 upon it, and other articles that had belonged to the Franklin expedition, were found by 
 the explorers, on Montreal Island. No bones, or traces of any human body were discov* 
 ered ; and it is supposed that the remains of the navigators were devoured by the wolves 
 which were seen in large bands throughout the neighborhood. 
 
WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 IB 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 RUINS OP SONNECK CASTLK, ON THE RHINE. 
 
 Sketch of Germany — Romantic Enterprise — Entrance into Germany — Highlands of the 
 Rhine — Legends — The Rheingau — Frankfort — Heidelberg — Amusing Anecdote — Ger- 
 man Students — The Consecration Song — The Landlady's Daughter — Life Among the 
 Peasants — Pleasing Adventures — Sojourn in Frankfort — Amusing Scenes — Christmas 
 and New Year's Festivities — The Court of Peace — The Jew Rothschild — Pedestrian 
 Journey to the Hartz — The Hessians — Specter of the Brocken — Alarming Situation — 
 Leipsic — Dresden — The Madonna of Raphael — Fortress of Konigstein — Mountain 
 Maidens — Bohemia — Austrian Suspicion — Prague — Bigotry — Shrines by the Way-side 
 — Female Degradation — " The Tramping Jour." — Vienna — Austrian Tyranny — Joyous 
 Emotions among the Alps — Adventure in a Mountain Cottage — Hohenlinden — Munich 
 — Frankfort — A Home Scene. 
 
 Germany consists of some forty sovereign states, inclusive of those be- 
 longing to Austria, Prussia, Denmark and Holland. It has been termed the 
 net-work and puzzle of geographers, her divisions are so many and compli- 
 cated. .-JO 
 
414 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 The area of Germany is a little less than four times that of Virginia. Its 
 southern and central parts are traversed by ranges of mountains in every 
 direction, separated only by narrow valleys, while to the north the elevation 
 subsides into a wide sandy plain, little above the sea level. The Tyrol is 
 wholly occupied by branches of the Alps, presenting many of the peculiari- 
 ties of Switzerland. Central Germany is much diversified by picturesque 
 scenery and abounds with verdant and well wooded valleys, which are 
 watered by clear streams. The banks of the Meyn and the Moselle are re- 
 markable for their varied scenery, and the Valley of the Rhine unites the 
 grandeur of a fine landscape with the appearance of a highly fertile country. 
 In the Austrian territories the plains are confined by the Alps ; but are futile 
 and deep, and sometimes as narrow as those of Switzerland. 
 
 The soil of Germany is generally productive, and every species of grain is 
 cultivated. Its extent and variety of elevations produce great variations in 
 climate ; that of Central Germany is the most agreeable and salubrious of any 
 in Europe. The inhabitants of Germany are of three essentially different 
 families : the Deutsch, the Sclavonic, and the Grseco-Latin ; of these the 
 High and Low Deutsch comprise about four-fifths; the Sclavonic a little less 
 than one-fifth and the Grseco-Latin a small fraction principally confined to the 
 Italian portions of Tyrol, Friuli and Trieste. The pervading and legal 
 language is the Deutsch. The Sclavonic people are found east of the Danube: 
 and yet the}' retain .their own dialect, but with a great mixture of German 
 words. 
 
 Germany, especially the Prussian and more Protestant part of the confede- 
 ration, contains one of the best educated and most intelligent communities in 
 Europe : indeed in Prussia, parents are compelled by law to send their 
 children to school. Few Germans can be found unable to read and write and 
 unacquainted with arithmetic. In almost all the large towns classical and 
 other schools abound, and the universities are numerous, well endowed and 
 celebrated. Learned societies spread all over the country, and libraries and 
 museums afford means to those engaged in the pursuit of knowledge. The 
 Press of Germany has long been famous, and German authors, for research 
 and talent, head the grand column of literature. 
 
 Catholicism, Lutherism, and Calvinism are equally the religions of Ger- 
 many, and enjoy in all the states perfect freedom of worship; about 
 one-half of the people are Catholics. 
 
 Germany was known to the ancient Romans, but not, like France, Spain 
 and Britain, conquered and annexed to the Roman Empire. The Germans 
 are described as having then been the rudest, the fiercest, and the bravest of 
 all the barbarians. The surface was divided among a number of small na- 
 tions, scantily cultivating the ground, despising all the arts of civilized life, 
 led by their chiefs in war, but scarcely owning their authority in peace, and 
 determining all things by a general council of the nations. 
 
 In the year 1844, an American youth, at that time an apprentice in a 
 printing office, determined to execute a long cherished desire of visiting 
 
m GERMANY. 415 
 
 Europe. Surrounded by unfavorable circumstances, and destitute of means, 
 other than those provided by an unconquerable will and strong self-reliance ; 
 yet these were found sufficient to carry successfully through, this romantic 
 enterprise of the printer's boy, then scarce nineteen years of age. The evidence 
 he had already given of the possession of literary talents, secured him the 
 situation of a correspondent to two of the leading Philadelphia papers. 
 This, united to a small sum, already obtained from literary labor, answered, 
 by close economy, to pay his expenses abroad for a period of two years, du- 
 ring which he passed through Great Britain, Ireland, and over a large part 
 of continental Europe. 
 
 He traveled in company with another young man, a cousin, and mostly on 
 foot. They rose usually before sunrise, buckled on their knapsacks, and 
 commenced the journey of the day. At the first village they purchased a 
 \oaf of the hard brown bread of the European peasantry, with some trifling 
 addition of cheese or butter, then made a table of their knapsacks and break- 
 fasted by the roadside. At noon they halted an hour to dine and rest ; and 
 in the cold wet days of winter, sought a rock or sometimes the broad abut- 
 ment of a chance bridge upon which to rest. They were kindly received 
 wherever they went, and always met with a friendly reception from the people 
 of the country inns. They saluted them on entering, with, " Be you wel- 
 come," and on leaving wished them a pleasant journey and good fortune. 
 While walking they always accepted a companion, however humble, as in a 
 strange country something can be learned from every peasant. They found 
 the greatest ignorance in regard to America prevailing among the common 
 people, who imagine us to be a half savage race, destitute of intelligence, 
 and almost without law. Traveling in this manner, they had abundant leisure 
 to view the countries through which they were passing, and unusual oppor- 
 tunities of learning the every-day life of the people, all of which were availed 
 of to the full. 
 
 On his return to his native country, he published his pedestrian tour, under 
 the title of " Europe seen with Knapsack and Staff." The very extended 
 circulation of this work, his poetical writings, and his later adventures on the 
 older continents of Africa and Asia, has now given a widely extended knowl- 
 edge to the name of the then young traveler, J. Bayard Taylor. From the 
 part of his work on Europe relating to Germany, the following is derived in 
 a much abridged form. 
 
 Mr. Taylor entered Germany by a steamer on the Rhine, " the river of 
 song and story, whose banks from the Lake of Constance to the German 
 Ocean, are all alive with the histories of the past." His whole soul was ab- 
 sorbed in contemplating the beauty of the celebrated highlands of this stream; 
 mountains, towns, and castles passed, were familiar to him from reading, and 
 although now seen for the first time, seemed old acquaintances, the sight of 
 whom gave exquisite pleasure. 
 
 On the Rhine, the traveler is continually in view of the ruins of old towers 
 and fortresses, for every crag and projecting point has its castle, and 
 often on each side of the stream, several are at once in sight. They differ in 
 character and aspect, although on each is always a tower, and frequently a 
 
41(3 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 cluster of them : in such instances, the keep or donjon, where prisoners were 
 confined, rises higher and in more massive proportions than the cithers. The 
 only one at present occupied, is the castle of Rheinstein, belonging to Prince 
 Frederick of Prussia, who restored and furnished it in the ancient style. Vo- 
 lumes have been devoted to the legends connected with these castles, — sto- 
 ries of chivalry, of love, or crime. And the traveler, well versed in these 
 and history, finds the Rhine full of interest, as he recalls to memory the ac- 
 counts of Roman battles, of feats of robber-knights, of bloody strifes of 
 more recent times, of emperors and kings, and coronations. In real beauty 
 and grandeur, the highlands of the Hudson and the Rhine are about equal, 
 and have often been compared ; though those of our own river are the 
 boldest. 
 
 Some English tourists, were fellow-passengers with Mr. Taylor. Seated on 
 the deck, they passed their time in reading descriptions from open guide 
 books, of the scenery through which they were moving, instead of observing 
 for themselves. A shower of rain drove all the passengers below, except our 
 traveler, just as they were Bearing Lurlei Berg, and he was left alone to the 
 enjoyment of some of the most beautiful landscapes. At this point the river 
 narrows, and the Lurlei Rock, which towers many hundred feet above the 
 stream, is the haunt of a water nymph, named Lurlei, who, as the legend re- 
 lates, by her syren song was wont to charm the boatmen, until they and 
 their barks were lured to destruction on the rocks below. Here, too, the 
 mountain-sides give forth a remarkable echo, with which the German students 
 oftentimes have sport, calling out — "Who is the Burgomaster of Oberwesel ? " 
 the town a short distance above. The echo of the last syllable is alone dis- 
 tinguished in the reply "esel," the German word for ass. 
 
 Among the noted places in this part of the Rhine, is the Rheingau, a dis- 
 trict some twenty miles in length, where is produced the famous Rhenish 
 wines. The hills are all covered with vineyards ; the vine being not the gar- 
 land vine of Italy, but the low bush vine. The liquor is of a white color, 
 and generally acid, and that of some vineyards, particularly celebrated. 
 Originally, this whole region was in the possession of the church ; and monks, 
 abbots, and bishops, then, it is said, had merry times. 
 
 The day after passing through the highlands our traveler was in Frank 
 fort. This is a fine old city of 40,000 people, on the Meyne, twenty miles east 
 of its confluence with the Rhine ; it is the capital of the German confedera- 
 tion, enjoys considerable trade, and its two annual fairs are much frequented. 
 Frankfort was then one of the Hansetowns, or free cities of Germany, the 
 others being Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg ; in 1850 they were deprived of 
 their peculiar privileges. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, at this time remained but a few hours, the next morning leav- 
 ing in an omnibus for Heidelberg, about fifty miles south in Baden, and noted 
 for its university. A few hours' drive carried him and his fellow-traveler 
 through a flat monotonous country, when they entered Darmstadt. The city 
 looked lively and gay, as a festival of three days' duration was just closing. 
 Garlands were suspended from all quarters, the public square was filled with 
 pavilions, and more than a thousand musicians were seen bearing the red 
 
IN GERMANY. 417 
 
 and white flags of Darmstadt. Peasant-girls, attired in the same odd costume 
 worn by their maternal ancestors for centuries back, were met with by wagon 
 loads, their vehicles decorated with a profusion of flowers. 
 
 Continuing on, their route was along the base of a mountain-chain which 
 rose on the east, while far to the west extended the beautiful valley of the 
 Rhine, beyond which were seen the blue outline of hills in France. The 
 neighboring heights were surmounted with old vine-clad castles, while along 
 each side the green foliage of the walnut trees danced joyously to the zephyrs, 
 and the warm bright sun imparted a cheerful aspect to all things. It being a 
 fete day, the peasants appeared full of pleasure and contentment. They saw 
 whole families beneath the walnut trees gathering nuts, or in the vineyards 
 collecting grapes, and carrying them away in huge baskets, piled up with 
 the luscious tempting fruit. " The scene," says Mr. Taylor, " seemed to 
 realize all I had read of the happiness of the German peasantry, and the 
 pastoral beauty of the German plains." He was unable to hold much con- 
 versation with his fellow passengers, from his ignorance of the language. 
 On his informing one of them in broken French, in answer to the question, 
 " where he came from," that he was, " an American," the latter, with an 
 incredulous stare, exclaimed, " Why you are white — the Americans are all 
 black." 
 
 The idea that the Americans were all black, was, at that time, not un- 
 common in Europe. Professor Silliman relates an anecdote in his own ex- 
 perience in England, illustrating this impression, and this has been confirmed 
 time and again by itinerating Americans. The most amusing story of the 
 kind we have met is that given by Maxwell, in his charming book on Russia, 
 by the way, one of the best written books of travels extant. The incident he 
 relates occurred at Moscow. 
 
 Several old gentlemen in this ancient capital manifested great curiosity in 
 everything that related to the United States. They doubted whether Mr. 
 Maxwell was an American, because he spoke English, and because all Ame- 
 ricans they had ever seen were as black as the ace of spades. One old prince 
 was so well satisfied that there was a mistake somewhere, that he insisted 
 upon his accompanying him to the theater, to show him what had been his 
 beau-ideal of American republicans. Among the performers in the orchestra 
 was the object of their search, a grisly-headed well-dressed negro, who 
 tuned up his fiddle in concert with the others. There was no mistaking his 
 nationality, for his style and manner of bowing was in the true " Ole Virginy" 
 fashion. Inclining his head upon his left shoulder, with half-closed eyes, his 
 body lazily swung to and fro, in a manner that evinced he alone could have 
 been bred among the sable minstrels south of Mason and Dixon's line. He 
 informed the prince that this interesting subject was doubtless an American, 
 and explained to him the condition of the slave population in our country. 
 On ascertaining that our serfs were black, and particularly talented in music 
 and dancing, he thought it a capital arrangement, and that, after all, the only 
 two empires in the world of any consequence was that of the model 
 republic and the vast empire of his imperial majesty, the Czar of all the 
 Russias. 
 
 27 
 
418 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 Mr. Taylor spent at Heidelberg and at Frankfort the seven months ensuing, 
 to acquire the language. At this, his first visit, he remained several weeks 
 in Heidelberg, which he found a beautiful place, and was never tired in wan 
 dering among its wild romantic environs. 
 
 With his cousin he hired pleasant rooms in the town. From their window 
 was a full view of the Heiligenberg on the opposite side of the Neckar. 
 Around its base clustered beautiful vineyards, with here and there pic- 
 turesque cottages peering forth from amid the shrubbery ; oftentimes the 
 scene was enlivened by groups of peasant-women toiling up the mountain, 
 bearing huge baskets on their heads, going to their labors. 
 
 They were much amused by many of the customs of the Germans. Cows 
 instead of oxen were used for work. Frequently a single cow was seen drag- 
 ing a cart ; on other occasions two were yoked together by their horns. 
 The cheerful songs of the women at work among the vineyards continually 
 reached ther ears, which, with their odd costumes, was a novelty to the 
 young men. The cookery of the Germans was new, but by degrees they got 
 used to it, and throve well upon potatoes cooked in vinegar and oil, meat 
 flavored with orange peel, artichokes boiled, and other dishes as incongruous 
 to American appetites. 
 
 At Heidelberg, Mr. Taylor was invited to attend a meeting of one of the 
 societies of the students of the university. Attired in the coat and hat of a 
 student, he proceeded thither with a young German named Baader, the pre- 
 sident of the society. Nearing the inn a confused sound of voices met his ear, 
 and as he entered the room he was enveloped in clouds of smoke from over a 
 hundred pipes. Immense long tables were spread out, filled with great 
 stone jugs and long beer glasses ; the students were talking, shouting, and 
 drinking, but it was all in a social friendly way, and the beer being very 
 weak, none were in especial danger of growing over-jolly. 
 
 The President was attired in the ancient German costume, which set off to 
 advantage his fine person. Mr. Taylor says he never saw in any company 
 of young men such numbers of handsome manly countenances. Some time 
 was passed in talking and drinking, with now and then an air from a band 
 of music, when the president called all to order, by striking with the hilt of 
 a sword upon a table ; upon this, all united in one of their glorious songs to a 
 joyous, yet solemn melody, their manly voices swelling out like a hymn of 
 triumph. " Three times during the singing," says he, " all rose up, dashed 
 their glasses together around the tables, and drank to their Fatherland, a 
 health and blessing to the patriot, and honor to those who struggle in the 
 cause of freedom, at the close thundering out their motto, 
 
 ' Fearless in strife — to the banner still true.' 
 
 After this song the same order as before continued, except that the stu- 
 dents from the different societies made short speeches, accompanied by some 
 toast or sentiment. One spoke of Germany, predicting that all her dissensions 
 would be overcome, and that she would rise at last like a phoenix among the 
 nations of Europe, and at the close gave, * s'- ong, united, regenerated Ger* 
 
IN GERMANY. 419 
 
 many V Instantly all sprang to their feet, and dashing the glasses together, 
 gave a thundering " koch/" 
 
 Finally, the tables were cleared, and all united in the most solemn of their 
 ceremonies, the singing of the ' Lands/other, 1 or consecration song." Of this 
 we annex a few verses, to give an idea of its lofty and patriotic character. 
 
 " Silent bending, each one lending * * * * * * * 
 
 To the solemn tones his ear, " Rest the Burschen, feast is over, 
 
 Hark ! the song of songs is sounding, Hallowed sword and thou art free I 
 
 Hear it, German brothers, hear !" Each one strive a valiant lover 
 
 Of his Fatherland to be !" 
 " German proudly, raise it loudly, 
 
 Singing of your fatherland — " Hail to him, who, glory haunted, 
 
 Fatherland ! thou land of story, Follows still his fathers bold; 
 
 To the altars of thy glory And the sword may no one hold 
 
 Consecrate us, sword in hand ! But the noble and undaunted!" 
 
 The German students are characterized by their enthusiasm for their 
 country. Through them, mainly, is the spirit of freedom kept alive ; for their 
 Fatherland they are ever first and bravest in the field, and through them will 
 her final redemption be accomplished. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, on taking his leave of Heidelberg for a longer residence at 
 Frankfort, proceeded part of the way on foot, by the route of the Odenwald, 
 a mountain range, that stretches most of the way between the two cities. 
 The forest scenery reminded him of America, excepting that the trees were 
 only about one-third the size of ours. The first night, the young man 
 stopped at an inn, in the rude little dorf or village of Elsbach. On entering 
 the main room, they found a group of peasant-girls, just in from work in 
 the fields, all of whom were dressed in men's jackets, short gowns, and some 
 had long hair streaming down their backs. They were coarse and uninviting ; 
 in this respect contrasting strongly with the daughter of the landlord, a beau- 
 tiful girl of finely-chiseled features, and as modest as beautiful, remind- 
 ing young Taylor of the exquisite poem of Uhland, " The Landlady's 
 Daughter." 
 
 The next day, entering the old dorf of Beerfelden, on a mountain summit, 
 they found it filled with neighboring farmers, in the ancient country costume, 
 blue frock coats, and broad cocked hats. They had come to a cattle fair, 
 and as they passed them touched their hats, according to the custom of meet- 
 ing travelers in Germany, which shows the kind, friendly feelings of these 
 cheerful people. Groups of children were often met, among the mountains, 
 singing their simple ballads as they went skipping along. 
 
 From Beerfelden, they passed through Erback, the principal city in the 
 Odenwald, and at night entered the only inn of a little village, kept by the 
 Burgomaster. The people, ascertaining they were Americans, crowded 
 around the door, peeped into the windows, and watched their every motion, 
 with an intense curiosity. The news of their arrival spread all over the little 
 community, and evidently to their benefit, for on stopping the next morning 
 to purchase some fruit, a short distance from the place, a farmer, mounted in 
 one of the trees, called out, " they are the Americans ; give them as many 
 as they want for nothing." Before reaching Darmstadt, they visited the 
 
420 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 ruins of Rodenstein, to which the wild Huntsman was wont to ride at mid« 
 night, according to the the romantic tradition which is implicitly believed by 
 the simple-hearted peasants. From Darmstadt they took an omnibus, and 
 entered Frankfort after dark. 
 
 Frankfort is a genuine old German city, founded by Charlemagne. It was 
 a rallying point for the Crusaders, and is full of antiquities, ancient, quaint 
 buildings, and is attractive to the historian, to the lovers of romance and of 
 old legends. 
 
 During his residence of several months in the city, Mr. Taylor found much 
 to interest him. The street below his window, was daily filled with market- 
 women, with their baskets of vegetables and fruit, where they were accus- 
 tomed to sit from sunrise to sunset, day after day, and year after year. Some 
 of them were very aged ; but nevertheless, appeared as tough and hardy as 
 so many old seamen, their complexions tanned to a sole-leather like hue, and 
 their movements as unwieldy and ungraceful as those of an ox. When it 
 rained they sat in large wooden boxes, and for cooking, and for warmth used 
 little furnaces. It was a curious spectacle to see the country-women moving 
 about in the busy throng, in their jackets and short gowns, carrying on their 
 heads huge loads, often a yard or more high. Disputes about their places 
 often occurred in the morning among the market-women, calling for the in- 
 terposition of the police, one or two of whom were generally on the ground, 
 to settle all difficulties on these interesting occasions. 
 
 At Frankfort, Mr. Taylor had the gratification of witnessing the festival of 
 Christmas, which is the most beautiful and interesting of all the German fes- 
 tivals. Four weeks beforehand a fair was commenced in the Roemburg 
 square, where booths, ornamented with evergreens, were filled with a variety 
 of toys, and a perfect "wilderness of playthings." On the 5th of December, 
 it being St. Nicholas' evening, the booths were for the first time illuminated, 
 and the place crowded with a joyous, noisy collection of little folks, accom- 
 panied by their parents and nurses, when large numbers of presents were 
 bought for the approaching festival, and also branches of evergreens to be 
 used for Christmas trees. Night after night, additions were made to the 
 booths in the square, until it resembled an illuminated garden of evergreens, 
 and the same scenes were each evening acted over. In the meantime, 
 Christmas was the all-absorbing topic ; each secretly prepared their presents. 
 Finally, the preceding day arrived, the streets were almost impassable from 
 the crowds, and when the sun had sunk in the west, the long-wished for 
 Christmas Eve had come. Mr. Taylor being one of the guests in a German 
 family, was, with others, some half a dozen little folks inclusive, prohibited 
 entering the rooms above, until the hour when Christ-kindechen should call. 
 While engaged in an interesting conversation, a bell tinkled, and they all 
 rushed up-stairs. In each room was an immense table, on which, amid 
 flowers and wreaths, the presents were most attractively spread out. In the 
 center, the Christmas-tree lifted its beautiful boughs, covered with illuminated 
 wax tapers of every hue, while sweetmeats and gilded nuts hung from every 
 branch. Around the table capered the children in great glee, hunting their 
 presents, while the rest had theirs pointed out, some of whom got costly pre 
 
IN GERMANY. 421 
 
 sents, and Mr. Taylor quite a little German library. As each one discovered 
 the givers he embraced them in turn, and it was an exhibition of the finest 
 emotions. This old custom is beautiful, renewing and strengthening the at- 
 tachment and sympathy between families and friends, and leaving a pleasant 
 impression in the memory of the past. 
 
 On New Year's Eve, the Christmas-tree is again illuminated, and while the 
 remains of the tapers are consuming, the family play for the articles which 
 they have brought and placed upon the branches, care being taken that each 
 shall win as much as he loses — an exchange which creates a fund of merri- 
 ment. At a quarter before twelve, all the windows about town are opened, 
 and the moment the clock strikes the midnight hour, everybody in the houses, 
 in the street, and over the whole city, to the number of 30,000 or 40,000, all 
 at once shout " Prosst New Jahrf" "I wish you a happy New Year." 
 With wishes for a happy New Year all the members of families embrace each 
 other, then rushing to the windows, call out to their neighbors, or to the pas- 
 sers-by in the streets, then crowded with people, who full of joviality and 
 good feeling, send back the cry, exchano^ it with others, and make the wel- 
 kin ring with the universal wish and cheerful songs. Mr. Taylor and com- 
 panions joined the crowd in the streets, and whenever they saw a damsel at 
 a wfodvfr, shouted "Prosst New Jahr ! " when the words were returned in 
 the soft musical tones of woman. 
 
 In the beginning of March, one of the great semi-annual' fairs came off. 
 Booths, with narrow streets between, filled the squares, and merchants from all 
 parts of Europe had collected to show and sell their wares, making a brilliant 
 and dazzling display. Some companies of Tyrolese mountaineers, with their 
 picturesque costumes, splendid manly figures, attracted Mr. Taylor's atten- 
 tion. These, with the throngs of people, variety of faces, and the costumes 
 of different nations, the music continually rising all over the city, from nu- 
 merous bands of wandering minstrels, was a pleasant change from the mo- 
 notony that had begun to make his residence in the city somewhat dull. 
 
 Not long after a fire broke out near by. Rushing to the spot our young 
 countryman found the people in great consternation, some ringing their hands 
 and others crying. One engine came, and soon another, and then the 
 military. It was a scene of confusion and uproar, and sometime elapsed 
 before the engines, miserable little affairs, not much larger than hand-carts, 
 could operate. The water was brought in barrels drawn by horses, until an 
 officer appeared and got access to the hydrant. It was ludicrous and laugh- 
 able enough to one w T ho had witnessed how fires were subdued in New York, — 
 the horses running to and fro hauling barrels, which were first emptied into 
 tubs, and then dipped up in buckets, and turned into the " machines." 
 After a space of four hours, the house being burnt out, and its double walls 
 preventing it from communicating to those next, the fire was subdued. 
 
 The cemetery at Frankfort, which Mr. Taylor visited just before his de- 
 parture, is a beautiful place in summer ; in fact, says he, " the very name of 
 cemetery in German — Friedhof- or ■ Court of Peace' — takes away the idea of 
 death." Some of the mottoes on the tombstones are touching, such for 
 instance as, " Through darkness unto light;" "Weep not for her;" " She in not 
 
422 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 dead but sleepeth;" " Slumber sweet," etc. He mentions also a singular ap- 
 pendage to this cemetry which is known only in Germany ; this is a dead- 
 house in which bodies are put in the hope of resuscitation. It is a small 
 chamber with half a dozen cells on a side. In each cell is a bier and its 
 body. A cord is suspended above each body which is attached to a thimble 
 on each of the fingers of the corpse, so that the least motion communicates 
 to a bell in the watchman's room. The place is lighted at night, warmed in 
 winter, and in adjoining rooms are beds, baths, and a galvanic battery. It 
 had then been established fifteen years, but not a single resuscitation had 
 taken place. 
 
 The men at Frankfort, like the Germans generally, appeared to Mr. Taylor, 
 calm, cautious, and lethargic, which in a great measure may be ascribed to 
 the despotic nature of their government, but the boys, like youngsters every- 
 where, had sprightly, intelligent faces their spirits not as yet bowed down by 
 a knowledge of the nature of the laws under which they lived. He often 
 saw Anselmo Rothschild the most celebrated of the famous brothers, bankers. 
 He resides in Frankfort, and is a little, old, baldheaded, avaricious Jew. He 
 holds, it is said, a mortgage on the City of Jerusalem, which looks like a 
 plan on his part for the final restoration of his race to the Holy trty, and 
 may be one of the links of the chain of circumstances which, under c;.t dis- 
 pensation of Providence, tends to that event. 
 
 The German women, Mr. Taylor thinks deficient in intellectual beauty • 
 the number of positively ugly faces among them astonished him, and he says 
 he has seen more beautiful women in one night in an American assembly,, 
 than in over half a year's residence on the Continent. 
 
 It was toward the close of April, that having completed his preparations, 
 our young traveler mounted his knapsack and with staff in hand bade adieu 
 to Frankfort, and commenced his lonejy walk through Northern Germany. 
 Toiling up a long hill on the road, he turned and took a last look at the 
 quaint old city where he had passed so many pleasant hours, and then with 
 saddened feelings pursued his route, a stranger in a strange land. As the 
 sun was sinking in the west, he reached Friedburg, where he passed the 
 night, and on resuming his route the next morning was hailed by a wander- 
 ing journeyman or handwerker, who wanted company, to which he cheerfully 
 acquiesced and they both trudged along together. He had his knapsack and 
 tools fastened on wheels which he drew after him with ease. At Geissen he 
 parted with his companion, and beyond entered the beautiful valley of Lahn 
 one of the finest districts of Germany. Its bright green meadows, red roofed 
 cottages nestled among gardens and orchards together with the peculiarly 
 picturesque costume of the peasant women created pleasant sensations. But 
 from these peaceful scenes fathers and brothers were once seized by a 
 despotic prince, and transported across the ocean to battle against a people 
 struggling for liberty; for this was in Hesse Cassel, the home of the Hessians, 
 allies of Britain in our country's darkest hour. 
 
 Continuing on he was soon in the heart of Hesse Cassel, where the country 
 became more rolling, but still as beautiful and fresh as ever. Occasionally 
 he halted to sketch some pleasant scene, or to rest beneath a shady bank. 
 
IN GERMANY. 423 
 
 with his knapsack for a pillow, and gaze upon the countenances of the passers 
 by. The observation he excited was at first extremely unpleasant ; but he 
 soon became so accustomed to it, " that the strange, magnetic influence of 
 the human eye, which we cannot avoid feeling, was shorn of its power." 
 
 The April showers which fell occasionally during the latter part of the day, 
 not penetrating farther than his blouse, he kept on and at sunset entered a 
 neat little inn in a small village in the valley, when the tidy landlady greeting 
 him with " be you welcome" brought him slippers for his swollen feet, and 
 giving him an excellent supper of eggs, bread, milk, and butter, made him 
 feel quite at home. While partaking of his frugal meal with a traveler's ap- 
 petite, he listened to an animated discussion in which the village schoolmaster 
 and some farmers were the parties. After a good night's rest and breakfast 
 in the morning, he paid his landlady's bill 6^- groschen or about sixteen 
 cents, and started off over the hills at a rapid rate in the direction of Cassel 
 the capital. At the inn where he dined that day a boy inquired if he was 
 going to America. He told him no, that he had come from there, upon 
 which the little fellow ran out and spread the news all over the village. 
 When he resumed his journey the children pointed at him and cried : " see 
 there ! he is from America !" and the men took off their hats and bowed. 
 
 When about five miles from Cassel the night set in with a dreary rain and 
 he entered an inn by the way-side and called for supper. In the meanwhile 
 a company of students from the city came in, and noticing that he was alone, 
 invited him to their room. On ascertaining that the youthful traveler was 
 an American they became much interested, and gradually gathered around 
 and kept him very busy answering their questions about his country. All of 
 them returned to the city by an omnibus, except five, who remained, and 
 persuaded him to walk with them to town. So much were they pleased that 
 they would not allow him to carry his knapsack, but each bore it alternately 
 all the way, and on his arrival escorted him to a comfortable hotel. 
 
 The next morning two of his new acquaintances called to show him the city, 
 and in the afternoon conducted him to Wilhelmshohe, the summer residence 
 of the prince, on the side of a mountain-range, an hour's walk from the city. 
 It is a magnificent mansion, with grounds highly ornamented with many 
 objects of curiosity in its vicinity. While there Mr. Taylor was shown a few 
 small houses occupied by descendants of the Hessians killed in America, sup- 
 ported here by the prince. 
 
 To one of his new student acquaintances, Carl K , our youthful traveler 
 
 became much attached. His constant, generous attention and kindness first 
 won his esteem, and a closer acquaintance revealed an intellect of a high ordei 
 He showed him some beautiful poems of his own composition of unusuai 
 merit, and he thought he could " see in his dark dreamy eye the unconscious 
 presentiment of a power that would one day place his among " the few im- 
 mortal names not born to die." Such was their congeniality of feelings and 
 tastes that our traveler felt as if, instead of having known him a few hours 
 only, his acquaintance had endured for years. " On taking leave of Carl, at 
 the gate over the Gottingen road," says he, '* I felt tempted to bestow a ma- 
 lediction upon traveling, from its merciless breaking of all links as soou 
 
424 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 as formed. It was painful to think we should meet no more ; the tear3 
 started into his eyes, and feeling a mist gathering over mine, I gave his hand a 
 parting pressure, turned my back upon Cassel, and started up the mountain 
 at a desperate rate." 
 
 That night he rested in Munden, a little, old red-roofed German city, with 
 narrow, crooked streets, and full of ugly old houses, with its walls similar to 
 those which surrounded all the cities of the feudal times, still staricnng, 
 although very ruinous. From thence he had a dreary ride in an omnibus 
 through a wild and monotonous country, to Gottingen, where he arrived with 
 strong symptoms of fever, the penalty of over exertion from walking. 
 Mounting his knapsack, he proceeded wearily through several streets, and en- 
 tered the first inn ; but finding it dirty and dismal, he paid a pleasant-looking 
 boy he met to go with him to a good hotel, which happened to be the best in 
 the place. " I felt," says he, " a trepidation in my pocket, but my throbbing 
 head pleaded more powerfully, so I ordered a comfortable room and a phy- 
 sician." A professor of the university was called in : on his inquiring, as he 
 was leaving, after a second and last call, what he should pay, the latter 
 begged to be excused, and bowing politely, left. On asking of the landlord 
 an explanation of this, he replied, that physicians charged no regular fee to 
 travelers, leaving it to their generosity, but that twenty groschen, or about 
 sixty cents would amply suffice for the two visits ! 
 
 Two days later he was in the midst of the wildest scenery of the Hartz 
 mountains. Alone and on foot, he was toiling up the famous Brocken, in 
 the midst of a furious storm of mingled rain and snow. At length he came 
 to a place where the forest ceased, and the way was over a broken, stony, as- 
 cending plain ; but above, or on either side, he could not see. It was an 
 awful solitude — nothing but the storm and the bleak gray waste of rocks. 
 The mountain grew more and more steep ; he could scarcely trace his way, 
 and the wind was terrific. Already wet through, he began to fear that he 
 could stand the exposure but a little longer, when, on the very summit of the 
 mountain, the Brocken house suddenly rose up before him, and in a few mo- 
 ments more he had entered the mansion, was greeted by two large Alpine 
 dogs in the passage, met with a hearty welcome from the landlord, and hav- 
 ing effected a change of clothing, was seated before a good warm fire enjoy- 
 ing sensations of a most comfortable nature. 
 
 The Brocken is the highest mountain in northern Germany; from its sum- 
 mit is a most magnificent prospect, commanding a view of a vast extent of 
 country, dotted with thirty cities, and two or three hundred villages. This 
 district is the cradle of innumerable German legends and superstitions, and 
 the Brocken has long enjoyed the reputation of being haunted. Here witches 
 and evil spirits celebrate with unholy orgies, and the headless horseman is 
 seen galloping on his fiery charger among the dark cliffs and tangled ravines 
 of the mountain. The curious optical phenomenon, called the Specter of ike 
 Brocken occasionally seen from this spot, has doubtless strengthened the be- 
 lief of its being haunted. It appears at sunset or sunrise, whenever the mist 
 happens to ascend perpendicularly out of the valley on the side opposite to 
 the sun, and leave the mountain top itself free from vapor. The shadow oi 
 
IN GERMANY. 425 
 
 the mountain is reflected against the perpendicular face of the rising vapor, 
 as it were against a wall of gigantic dimensions. The inn then becomes a 
 palace in size, and the human beings on the summit appear like giants. The 
 size of the figures increase or diminish, as the fog is driven farther from, or 
 nearer to, the top of the Brocken, by the wind. " If the fog is very dry, you 
 see not only yourself, but your neighbor — if very damp, yourself only — 
 surrounded by a rainbow-colored glory, which becomes more lustrous and 
 beautiful the damper and thicker the fog is, and the nearer it approaches. 
 
 Unfortunately for our traveler the weather was not propitious for a good 
 view of the glorious prospect from this spot. Once or twice the clouds parted 
 slightly, and disclosed momentary glimpses of the blue plains, dotted witk 
 cities and villages far below. A mountain girl, before he left, as is the cus- 
 tom, presented him " a Brocken nosegay" of heather, lichens, and moss, 
 which he stowed away carefully in his knapsack, as a memento. 
 
 He descended the east side of the mountain, got lost in one of the wildest 
 and loneliest corners of the Hartz, and, on the evening of the second day, 
 half-dead with fatigue, put up at " a ghostly, dark and echoing castle of an 
 inn," enough to send a thrill of terror to a lonely traveler like him. Its 
 inmates were in keeping with its gloomy character. When he retired, his 
 conductor, taking a dim light, led him down the steps of an arched gateway, 
 through a long, damp, deserted court-yard, to a small, solitary stone build- 
 ing, the door of which was opened with a rusty key, and then left him in a 
 miserable closet-like room, destitute of everything but a rough bed. The 
 place was mouldy, the walls cold and damp, and the bed coarse and dirty: 
 On turning down its ragged covers, he discovered, with horror, on the sheet, 
 a stain like blood ! For a moment he hesitated whether to steal out, but he 
 conquered his fears, and putting his staff by the bed, ready for defense, laid 
 down. Several times he was disturbed by footsteps near, and heard voices 
 which appeared to be close to his door. Twice he sat up in his bed, and 
 seizing his cane, listened in breathless anxiety. " In reality," says he, " there 
 may have been no cause for my fears — I may have wronged the lonely inn- 
 keeper by them ; but certainly no place or circumstances ever seemed to me 
 more appropriate to a deed of robbery or crime." 
 
 At Halberstadt, he took the rail-road, which passed over a monotonous 
 country, for Leipsic, which was reached in six hours' traveling. On the 
 route is the old town of Magdeburg, in the citadel of which the famous Baron 
 Trenck was confined. Leipsic is a manufacturing town — a great commercial 
 mart and among the first cities in Europe. Particularly is it noted for its 
 three great annual fairs, each lasting fourteen days, and attended by people 
 from all parts of Europe. It is the greatest book-making and book-selling 
 place in the world ; book stores fill the streets, and half the business of the 
 people seems to consist in printing, paper-making, and binding, and as a 
 consequence the social and intellectual character of the citizens stands high. 
 It was in the neighborhood, on the 16th, 17th, 18th October, 1813, that 
 the great battle of Leipsic was fought, which broke the power of Napoleon, 
 and freed Germany from the yoke of France. The army of Napoleon, 
 192,000 strong, curved around the southern and eastern sides of the city, 
 
426 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 while the allied forces, 300,000 in number, occupied the plain beyond. The 
 thunder of 1,600 cannon boomed forth in this deadly conflict of half a million 
 of men, and upon the vast plain lay over 50,000 dead. 
 
 At Leipsic, Mr. Taylor was rejoined by his cousin, the latter having taken 
 a more circuitous route from Frankfort, by way of Nuremberg and the Thu- 
 ringian forests ; they afterward continued in company. Among the lovely 
 walks around Leipsic is that to the Rosenthal, a beautiful meadow, bordered 
 by forests of German oak. Here they saw picturesque Swiss cottages em- 
 bowered in the foliage, where, afternoons, the social citizens forsake the dusty 
 streets, and assemble to drink their coffee, and recreate from the cares of 
 business. They visited the little village of Golis, near by, where, in a little 
 house, still standing, dwelt the celebrated Schiller. A stone arch erected 
 over the entrance to the room he occupied, bears the inscription, " Here dwelt 
 Schiller in 1795, and wrote his hymn to joy." " Everywhere through Ger- 
 many, " says Mr. Taylor, " the remembrances of Schiller are sacred. In every 
 city where he lived they show his dwelling. They know and reverence the 
 mighty spirit which has been among them. The little room where he con- 
 ceived that sublime poem is hallowed as if by the presence of unseen spirits." 
 
 A three hours' ride by rail-road carried them over the eighty miles of 
 plain that separates Leipsic and Dresden. This latter town, the capital of 
 the kingdom of Saxony, is delightfully situated in a curve of the Elbe, and 
 beside the charming beauty of its environs, is attractive from its glorious 
 galleries of art. Here Mr. Taylor saw Raphael's celebrated picture of 
 the Madonna and Child, and was so filled with love and admiration, that, 
 when he left, he felt sad to think he should never behold it again. He says, 
 "it has somewhat faded during the three hundred years that have rolled away 
 since the hand of Raphael worked upon its canvas. The wild prophetic eye 
 and lofty brow of the young Jesus chains one like a spell. There is something 
 more than mortal in its expression — something in the infant face which indi- 
 cates a power mightier than the proudest manhood. There is no glory around 
 the head, but the spirit which shines from those features marks his Divinity. 
 In the sweet face of the mother there speaks a sorrowful foreboding mixed 
 with its tenderness, as if she knew the world into which the Savior was born, 
 and foresaw the path in which he was to tread. It is a picture which one can 
 scarcely look upon without tears." 
 
 They visited also, the battle-field at Dresden, where the hero Moreau fell ; 
 the Royal Library, containing 300,000 volumes, and the " Green Gallery," 
 an unsurpassed collection of jewels and costly articles, and curiosities of art, 
 amounting to millions and millions in value. As they entered one of the 
 rooms, they were perfectly dazzled by the glare of splendor. " It was all 
 gold, diamonds, ruby, and sapphire. Every case sent out such a glow and 
 glitter, that it seemed like a cage of imprisoned lightnings. Wherever the 
 eye turned, it was met by a blaze of broken rainbows." 
 
 After remaining four days in Dresden, Mr. Taylor and his companion 
 again strapped on their knapsacks, and started off in fine spirits, " en route" 
 for Prague. In two hours they reached Pillnitz, the seat of the palace and 
 gardens of the King of Saxony, who happened as they were passing, to be 
 
IN GERMANY. 427 
 
 there. He was a tall, benevolent-looking man, and apparently beloved by his 
 subjects, who are noted all over Germany for their honesty and social qualities. 
 Their course lay down the Elbe, in the vicinity of which the villages were 
 unusually neat and clean, the meadows fresh and blooming, and the people 
 kind and friendly, reminding our travelers of the words of the old German 
 ballad— 
 
 " The fairest kingdom on the earth, 
 It is the Saxon land !" 
 
 Early next morning, they discerned through the blue mists, the mountain 
 of Konigstein, rising from the banks of the Elbe, over a thousand feet, and 
 crowned by an impregnable fortress, of a mile and a half in circumference, 
 within which are gardens, fields, forest-trees, and a little village. It was the 
 only spot unconquered by the enemy during the Thirty Years' War, and in 
 that with Napoleon ; hence, in times of danger, the royal archives and trea- 
 sures are deposited within it. They entered the fortress by a road cut through 
 the rock, the only place by which admittance can be obtained. The guide, 
 during their walk, pointed out a small square tower, just below which, was a 
 narrow ledge, about two feet wide, on the edge of the precipice. He told 
 them that a German baron, in the reign of Augustus the Strong, having 
 passed the night in revelry, got up while asleep, stepped out of the window, 
 and stretched himself at full length on the brink of the abyss. Luckily, he 
 was seen by a guard, who informed the king, when the latter had him bound, 
 and then awakened by the soft strains of music. 
 
 From this place our young travelers passed through the little town of 
 Konigstein to Schandau, the capital of the Saxon Highlands. Beyond this, 
 on turning up a little narrow rock-bound valley, through which were inter- 
 spersed rustic cottages, they saw the mountain-maidens, attired in bright 
 scarlet dresses, and fancy-colored scarfs bound around their heads. Pleased 
 with the spot, and full of good feeling, they sat down to rest in a quiet se- 
 cluded nook, and made the little valley ring with cheers for their native land. 
 
 As they advanced, the country grew more and more wild, and after a day or 
 two of enjoyment among the mountains, they crossed the Elbe, for the sixth 
 and last time, and soon after entered Neidergrund, in Bohemia, the first Aus- 
 trian village. Their passports having been here examined, they walked on 
 several miles in company with others. Soon as they had crossed the Austrian 
 border, they saw a sudden change in their companions ; they seemed anxious, 
 and if our young Americans chanced to allude to the state of the country, 
 they cautiously looked around, lest they should be overheard, and at once 
 changed the topic, if nearing any of the laborers at work on the road. 
 
 Bohemia is comprised in a large valley, surrounded on every side by lofty 
 mountains. The majority of its people are of Sclavonic origin, and among 
 the most faithful subjects of Austria. Mr. Taylor found the scenery most 
 lovely; on every side were high blue mountains, sweet pastoral valleys, and 
 romantic old ruins, all of which were associated with the wild legends of the 
 dark ages. He had left the civilized Saxon race, and saw around him the 
 features and language of one of those rude Sclavonic tribes, whose ancestors 
 once roamed amid the vast steppes of the Asiatic continent. 
 
4l >g WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 Passing by the battle-field of Kulm, they entered Tepliiz, situated in & 
 lovely valley, and famous for its baths, and on ascending a lofty mountain 
 beyond, they were kindly saluted by the peasants whom they met, with 
 "Christ greet you ! " The next day they were in comfortable quarters, in the 
 semi-barbaric, semi-Asiatic city of Prague, the capital of Bohemia, and a 
 town of 130,000 inhabitants. 
 
 The young men felt as if they were in another world, while rambling 
 through the winding streets of this strange, fantastic, yet beautiful old city, 
 which, from the Byzantine architecture of many of its churches and towers, 
 has an oriental aspect. From the heights on which stands the palace of the 
 Bohemian kings, west of the city, they had a fine prospect of the spires and 
 towers of Prague, and of the Moldau, inclosing green islands, and curving 
 about in graceful forms, until lost to view amid encircling hills. 
 
 The old bridge across the Moldau is five or six centuries old, and was over 
 a century in building. Among the groups of saints and martyrs, which clus- 
 tered on every pier, is a statue of "Johannes of Nepomuck," a priest, whc 
 lived many centuries since, and is now the patron saint of Bohemia. He 
 was a confessor to one of the queens, and because he refused to reveal to the 
 king the secrets she had confessed, he had him cast from the bridge into the 
 Moldau, where, according to the legend, the body floated a long time, with a 
 cluster of stars encircling its head. In passing this statue, and the many 
 other shrines and statues in the city, the passers-by always uncover their 
 heads, and make the sign of the cross. Near the town is an eminence, on 
 which a chapel has been erected, on the place where Protestantism was 
 crushed in Bohemia by the sword. To this spot, the deluded Bohemian pea- 
 santry make pilgrimages, as though it were holy ground. 
 
 For the first two days after leaving Prague for Vienna, their route led over 
 wide lofty plains, across which, cold, cutting winds swept from the distant 
 snow-clad mountains. The people on these ridges were miserably poor, and 
 during the severe winters of this elevated region, suffered much from cold, 
 it being almost impossible to procure firewood, the few forests that exist, being 
 monopolized by the noblemen. They occasionally saw the stately castles of 
 these petty despots, usually on commanding situations, and contrasting 
 strongly with the poor isolated villages of their peasantry. They were now in 
 the heart of Bohemia, the people of which are devoted Catholics. As they 
 journeyed on, they passed, every few rods, a shrine or statue : and Mr. Tay- 
 lor found the worship of images carried on to an extent of which he had no 
 previous conception, and in speaking of these things, he says, " there is some- 
 thing pleasing, as well as poetical, in the idea of a shrine by the way-side, 
 where the weary traveler can rest, and raise his heart in thankfulness to the 
 power that protects him." These representations, however, were so miser- 
 ably executed, so ghastly and shocking, as to excite in him emotions of hor- 
 ror, rather than reverence. The images of Christ, usup.'ly, had swords 
 piercing them. An old man, with a bishop's mitre, represented the 
 Almighty, while the Virgin appeared as a gayly dressed woman, bedecked 
 with a profusion of ornaments. On passing these, the poor peasants always 
 uncovered and crossed themselves. He mentions a beautiful and touching 
 
IN GERMANY. 429 
 
 custom of these people. When the church bell sounded the morning, noon, 
 and evening chimes, every one within hearing uncovered, and offered up a 
 prayer. " Would," exclaims he, " that to this innate spirit of reverence were 
 added the light of knowledge, which a tyrannical government denies 
 them ! " 
 
 On the fourth morning, they passed through the old Moravian city of Iglau, 
 and in this vicinity, and indeed throughout Bohemia, saw some singular 
 teams. Instead of oxen or horses, dogs were frequently used to draw the 
 peasants' carts. Sometimes they saw a donkey and a cow in harness together, 
 at others, a dog and a donkey, on which latter occasions, the time of the 
 driver was apt to be alternately occupied with beating the dog, to prevent him 
 from biting the donkey, and in whipping the donkey away from the grass, by 
 the roadside. Once, they saw a man comfortably seated smoking his pipe in 
 a wagon which was drawn by a dog, and pushed behind by his wife. But 
 the climax of all, was a woman and a dog harnessed together, on the way to 
 market, with a load of produce. The condition of woman here, is very de- 
 graded ; hundreds of them were passed on the road, breaking stone. 
 
 In the latter part of the day they were overtaken by a traveling handwerker 
 or mechanic, who was going to Vienna. They had walked on conversing 
 together for several miles without his* suspecting they were not his fellow- 
 countrymen. At length he casually spoke of the exquisite beauty of some 
 American vessels he had seen at Trieste. " Yes," replied Mr. Taylor, "our 
 vessels are admired all over the world." Upon this he stared at Mr. Taylor 
 without understanding. " Your vessels ?" " our country's," rejoined the 
 other; "we are Americans." " You Americans?" cried he with an ex- 
 pression of amazement and incredulous astonishment, "it is impossible !" 
 To his great joy they convinced him, for every where in Germany there is a 
 kindly feeling toward Americans and a great curiosity to see them. " I shall 
 write down in my book," said he, " so that I never shall forget it, that I once 
 traveled with two Americans." From this grew out a lengthened conversa- 
 tion, in which he told them of the oppressive laws of Austria; and while nar- 
 rating the horrors of the system of conscription, and the degrading vassalage 
 of the peasants, he stopped for a moment as if buried in deep reflection and 
 then with a suppressed sigh looked at Mr. Taylor and inquired: "Is it true 
 that America is free ?" Upon this the other described our country and her 
 institutions, and informed him that we enjoyed far more liberty tl*m anv 
 other country in the world. "Ah !" rejoined the poor fellow, "it is hard to 
 leave one's fatherland, oppressed as it is, but I wish I cozdd go to America.''' 
 
 The three young men stopped for the night at an inn in a beggarly little 
 village, and found difficulty in procuring supper and lodging, as a regiment 
 of Polish lancers in the Austrian service were quartered there. 
 
 In the course of the next day they crossed the ridge which separates 
 the waters of the Elbe from the Danube, and put up for the night at Znaim, 
 the Moravian capital. Next morning the sun rose clear and glorious, and as 
 they neared the Danube the country opened beautifully before them, inter- 
 spersed with vine-clad hills, and rich valleys ; here and there, glimpses were 
 caught of little white villages enveloped in fruit trees in blossom. At length 
 
430 W1NDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 far to the south-west a long range of faint, silvery summits, glistening with 
 snow burst upon their vision, when the hearts of the young Americans 
 bounded with rapture at this their first view of the Alps. Gradually de- 
 scending the elevated country upon which they were traveling, they lost sight 
 of this sublime vision, and entered upon the rich plain of the Danube, covered 
 with grain and in all the glory of summer. They soon crossed the last bridge 
 over " the dark rolling Danube," and entered upon a sort of island shaded 
 with pleasant groves of silver ash. The place was filled with gay prome- 
 nades ; booths of refreshments were scattered about, and strains of music 
 filled the air. From this vicinity a wide street bounded by elegant residences 
 reached into the center of a city, and through this, crowded with multitudes, 
 some in carriages and some on foot going to these delightful groves, they 
 entered the capital of the Austrian Empire. 
 
 Vienna has been the scene of many historical events. In 1271 it was 
 taken by the Emperor Frederick, and again by Rudolph I, in 1297. It was 
 vainly besieged by the Hungarians in 1477, but was obliged to surrender 
 eight years after to Matthias king of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1783 it was 
 again besieged and closely invested by the Turks, under Kara Mustapha, 
 and relieved at last only by the arrival of a Polish army under John Sobieski, 
 who defeated the Turks with great slaughter under the very walls of the 
 city. The head of Mustapha is still exhibited to visitors at the arsenal. In 
 1805 and again in 1809 it surrendered to Napoleon. Six miles east of the 
 city is the island of Lobau, in the Danube, where the French were encamped 
 for six weeks; and opposite to it, near the north bank of the river, are the 
 villages of Aspern, Essling, and Wagram, where were fought the desperate 
 battles which at that time decided the fate of the Austrian Empire. 
 
 The city proper is small compared with the suburbs. The strong fortifica- 
 tions which formerly surrounded it, have been razed and converted into lofty 
 gardens which afford delightful promenades. Beside these are the Imperial 
 Gardens with their cool shades, flowers and fountains, the Augarten, and last 
 the Prater, the largest and most beautiful of all ; this is the island previously 
 alluded to, in the Danube. It is covered with splendid forest trees, and 
 verdant lawns, through which wind broad carriage roads, arched over 
 and completely shaded by horse-chestnuts. In any fine summer afternoon 
 the beauty and nobility of the city may be seen whirling through the cool 
 shades in splendid equipages, and numberless pedestrians thronging the walks. 
 Countless booths and cafes are scattered about, which on these occasions are 
 crowded with many pleasure seekers. The common people on Sundays and 
 holidays come here in throngs. Deer, perfectly tame, bound in herds through 
 the woods, and it is a pleasant sight, when they recline upon the green lawn 
 to see the little children playing beside them. On a fine summer's night 
 it is alive with the gay crowds who have forsaken the dusty city for a few 
 hours' relaxation. "It is this free, social life," says our traveler, "which 
 renders Vienna so attractive to foreigners and draws yearly thousands of 
 visitors from all parts of Europe." It is called the Paris of Germany. 
 
 Vienna, with its suburbs, contains nearly half a million of souls. The 
 Altstadt, the city proper, possesses the most prominent object of interest or 
 
IN GERMANY. 431 
 
 importance — the palace, the offices of government, the residences of the 
 higher classes, the museums, libraries, galleries, etc. 
 
 The Imperial Palace is an immense building, of rare beauty. The cathe- 
 drals are magnificent, and that of St. Stephens, one of the first specimens 
 of Gothic architecture in Germany, has a tower nearly twice as lofty as that 
 of the most elevated church spire in our country. The Belvidere Gallery 
 fills thirty-five halls, and contains three thousand paintings, and beside this, 
 several, but little less splendid belong to princes and noblemen in the city. 
 The Imperial Library has over 300,000 volumes, and 16,000 manuscripts. 
 It is contained in a hall of great splendor, in the center of which stands a 
 marble statue of Charles V, of Hapsburg. Brilliant fresco paintings adorn 
 the ceiling and dome, and the walls are of variegated marble and richly gilded. 
 It seemed familiar to our young pedestrians to be in a large bustling city once 
 more, with its streets thronged with people, reminding them of the never- 
 ending crowds of their own busy New York. 
 
 The morning after their arrival they sallied out to view this Austrian city. 
 They found the streets filled with people, among them dark eyed Greeks, 
 Turks in their turbans and flowing robes, Italians peddling oranges, and little 
 brown Hungarian boys selling flowers. The shops were frequently splendid, 
 and being fitted up with great taste, made a dazzling display. The town 
 being like all cities of continental Europe, destitute of side-walks, it required 
 constant care to avoid being run over by the numberless carriages 
 and moving vehicles of various kinds. They passed several days in Vienna 
 in visiting its many curiosities and rich collections of art. One of the most 
 interesting places they entered was the Imperial Armory. Around the wall 
 on the inside is hung an enormous chain nearly a mile in length. In the year 
 1529 the Turks, who had at that time possession of the heart of Hungary, 
 stretched this chain across the Danube at Buda to arrest the navigation. 
 They were conducted through the various halls in company with a crowd of 
 forty or fifty others by a crusty old guide ; he was so Very overbearing and 
 supercilious in his conduct to the visitors that a tall dignified young man who 
 happened to be near Mr. Taylor could not suppress his indignation. Dis- 
 cerning that our traveler was a foreigner, he spoke in a low tone, bitterly of 
 the Austrian government. "You are not then an Austrian?" asked the 
 latter. "No thank God!" he replied, " but I have seen enough of Austrian 
 tyranny — I am a Pole." 
 
 In this Armory, among a host of similar curiosities, are " banners used in the 
 French revolution ; the armor of ancient monarchs and generals ; old Austrian 
 banners, and horsetails and flags captured from the Turks; the sword of 
 Marlborough; the coat which Gustavus Adolphus wore on the deadly field of 
 Lutzen, pierced in the back and breast with the fatal bullet ; the helm and 
 breastplate of Attila, king of the Huns, which once glanced at the head of 
 his myriads of wild hordes, before the walls of Rome ; the cannon of Count 
 Stahremberg, who commanded Vienna during the Turkish siege in 1529, 
 and the holy banner of Mahomet, taken at that time from the Grand Vizier, 
 together with the steel harness of John Sobieski of Poland, who rescued 
 Vienna from the Turks ; the hat, sword, and breastplate of Godfrey of Bou- 
 
432 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 illon, the Crusader king of Jerusalem, with the banners of the Cross, the 
 Crusaders had borne to Palestine, and the standard they captured from tie 
 Turks, on the walls of the Holy City, etc. 
 
 One fine afternoon the young men visited the grave of Beethoven in a little 
 cemetery beyond the suburbs. Over it is a stone of gray marble with the 
 sino-le word "Beethoven" in letters of gold. On the pedestal is a simple 
 gilded lyre, with a serpent coiled around a butterfly — the emblem of resur- 
 rection to life eternal. Near by is the grave of Schubart, whose beautiful 
 songs are heard all over Germany. 
 
 Having seen the curiosities of the Austrian capital, the young men called 
 at the Police-office, to get their passports vised* for Munich. Soon after en- 
 tering the inspector's room, they were rudely accosted by one of the clerks, 
 who, with a scowling brow, and in an overbearing tone, asked " What do you 
 want here ? " Upon this, they handed him their tickets of sojourn, which 
 every traveler who spends a day in Germany must obtain, and requested their 
 passports. Having ascertained from their ticket who they were, his manner 
 instantly changed, and he invited them to enter within the railing, were they 
 were introduced to the chief inspector. "Desire Herr — , to come here," 
 said this officer to a servant ; then turning to them with much affability, re- 
 marked " I am happy to see the gentlemen in Vienna." An officer then came 
 up, and in good English, told them to speak in their native language, and 
 furthermore, apologized for their neglect, by stating that they spoke German 
 so well, they had supposed they were natives. Their passports then were 
 presented, with a gracious bow, and the hope expressed that they would soon 
 again visit Vienna. In relating this event, Mr. Taylor says, "that he would 
 have felt grateful for the attention they received as Americans, had it not 
 been for their uncourteous reception as suspected Austrians." 
 
 Vienna was the most eastern point of their travels ; they had reached it 
 by a circuitous route through Northern Germany, and now were about re- 
 turning to Frankfort through its southern portions. On examining the state 
 of their funds, on the morning of their departure, they discovered they had 
 but four dollars apiece left, with which to bear their expenses to Frankfort, 
 distant 500 miles ; this, reckoning the time it would take — twenty days — 
 allowed but half a florin (twenty cents) per day, to travel on. Noways dis- 
 heartened at the discovery ; but gathering merriment from it, they passed out 
 of Vienna, in the face of a driving wind in high spirits, and were soon among 
 the hills again. 
 
 The third day, they again came to the Danube, at the little city of Melk; 
 but soon leaving the majestic scenery along its valley, journeyed througn 
 
 * It is necessary for Americans to procure passports from the Secretary of State, which 
 are given gratuitously, in order to visit Europe. The applicant must send his name, age, 
 height, weight, complexion, color of eyes and hair, shape of features, and any peculiarity 
 about his person to the Department at Washington, through his representative in Congress, 
 and a passport will be forwarded to him. It will not be called for in England, but 01. 
 the Continent it must be ready on his entrance into every new country, and generally his 
 landlord will demand it every night. The passport is vised or examined by an officer 
 whose signature is affixed, and for which a fee is sometimes charged, but oftener not. 
 
IN GERMANY. 433 
 
 some enchanting inland vales. The weather was now the brightest and 
 balmiest of June ; the air was filled with the songs of birds — the meadows 
 were carpeted with beautiful flowers ; the fields waved with ripening giain ; 
 magnificent forests covered the hills : sometimes, the snow-crowned Alps 
 were seen glistening from afar ; the sun, reflected from the glaciers, at a hun- 
 dred miles distant, made them to glitter like stars ; at others, the blue moun- 
 tains of Bohemia loomed up in the horizon ; sometimes they saw ever-swell- 
 ing ranges of highlands, the valley of the Danube, threaded by its silver 
 current, and dotted with white cottages and glittering spires. Day after 
 day, they walked through such scenes, sometimes resting under the shade of 
 fruit-trees, by the road-side, or on a mossy bank, on the edge of some cool 
 forest, frequently taking their simple meals by a clear spring, by the way- 
 side, with keenest relish. Blessed with vigorous health, and in the exuber- 
 ance of youthful spirits, they were in raptures with the beauty of all they 
 saw, and experienced all the day long, an elevation of mind, a completeness 
 of joyful emotions, that made everything seem a perfect paradise. 
 
 The fourth night, they put up at the little city of Enns, on the river Enns, 
 the boundary between Upper and Lower Austria. According to the legend, 
 Saint Florian was here cast into the river, by the Romans, with a millstone 
 fastened to his neck ; but lo ! instead of sinking, he was miraculously sus- 
 tained, until he had delivered a sermon to the by-standers. On the houses, as 
 a charm against fire, his image is frequently represented, pouring water on a 
 burning building, with the inscription, " Oh, Holy Florian, pray for us ! " 
 On the roads in Upper Austria, where a fatal accident has occurred, shrines 
 are often erected, on which is painted a picture and description of the event, 
 and a request to all who see it, to offer up prayers on behalf of the 
 unfortunate. 
 
 A walk of but a few hours from Enns, took them to Linz, and on their 
 way they saw young peasant-maidens weeding wheat. They wore broad- 
 brimmed straw hats, and appeared happy as young birds. A day or two 
 after, they were in the midst of the Austrian Alps, and with five hours of in- 
 cessant toil ascended to the summit of the Schafberg, the Righi of the Aus- 
 trian Switzerland. Exhausted with the effort, they laid down upon the 
 heather, and gazed with emotion upon the sublime scene which spread around, 
 of mountains piled upon mountains, until the never-melting snow upon their 
 summits, seemed to mingle and blend with the very clouds. Immediately 
 beneath, lay green lakes, imbosomed in the mountains : far to the north, a 
 line of mist marked the windings of the Danube, and though 120 miles dis- 
 tant, the spires of Munich could be seen with a glass. Such a view fills the 
 soul, elevates and expands the feelings, until rising above the ideas of every- 
 day life, they stand solemnly aloft, like the very mountain-tops, piercing the 
 heavens. 
 
 After half an hour's fatiguing descent, they entered the valley of St. Cil- 
 gen, " a little paradise between the mountains." Lovely green fields and 
 woods slope gradually from the mountain behind, to the still greener lake, 
 spread out before it, in whose bosom the white Alps are mirrored. Its pic- 
 turesque cottages cluster around the neat church with its lofty spire, and 
 28 " 
 
434 WANDERINGS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN 
 
 the simple inhabitants, have countenances as bright and cheerful as the blue 
 sky above them. We breathed [says Mr. Taylor] an air of poetry. The 
 Arcadian simplicity of the people, the pastoral beauty of the fields around, 
 and the grandeur of the mountains, which shut it out from the world, real- 
 ized my ideas of a dwelling-place, where, with a few kindred spirits, the bliss 
 of Eden might be restored." 
 
 They remained here a few hours for rest and refreshment, and Mr. Taylor 
 entered a cottage of a shoemaker, to get his shoes repaired. In the mean- 
 time, he had a pleasant chat with the family. He told them how much he 
 admired their village, and its beautiful scenery. Gratified with his admira- 
 tion, the man and his wife related everything they thought would interest 
 him, and that too, in language evincing cultivation. As he got up to leave, 
 his head almost reached the low ceiling of the cottage, upon which the man 
 exclaimed " how tall ! " " The people in my country are all tall," he replied. 
 " What country is that ? " rejoined the shoemaker. The moment the 
 word "America," escaped the young traveler's lips, the old German 
 threw up both hands in utter astonishment, and at the same time ejaculated — 
 "Ach Gott ! he is an American ! " His wife observed, that " it was wonder- 
 ful how far man was permitted to travel." As he left, he received their kind 
 wishes " for a prosperous journey and a safe return home." 
 
 That afternoon, Mr. Taylor entered a little chapel, in the village grave- 
 yard. The declining sun sent his slanting rays through a side window, and 
 all was still around. At the farther end was a little shrine with flowers. 
 Upon the wall were two monumental tablets. One bore these touching and 
 eloquent words: "Look not mournfully into the past — it comes not again; 
 wisely improve the present — it is thine; and go forward to meet the shadowy fu- 
 ture, without fear and with a manly heart ! " 
 
 The next day they passed through Salzburg, the birth-place of Mozart, 
 and the burial place of Hayden, and one day later still, passed the stream 
 which divides Austria from Bavaria. On crossing the border, everything 
 wore a more pleasant aspect, — the roads were neater, and they were greeted 
 in such a friendly way, by the peasants, that they felt half at home. The 
 next night they passed in the little village of Stein, near which, on the heights, 
 are the ruins of the castle of the famous robber-knight, Hans Von Stein. The 
 dungeons in which he immured his victims remain to this day. 
 
 From another little village beyond, they followed a path across the country, 
 to visit the field of Hohenlinden, familiar to us from childhood, from the 
 beautiful poem of Campbell, commencing with, " On Linden, when the sun 
 was low." 
 
 When about two miles distant, they saw "a tall minaret-like spire, rise from 
 a small cluster of houses, and this was Hohenlinden !" They were disap- 
 pointed in their expectations. The " hills of blood-stained snow" were small, 
 and the " Iser rolling rapidly," several miles distant. Not a monument, or 
 any token of the battle exists. Having recited Campbell's poem, and plucked 
 a few wild-flowers as a memorial, they continued on, and soon after sunset, 
 crossed the bridge over the rapid Iser, and found comfortable quarters in 
 Munich. 
 
IN GERMANY. 435 
 
 Munich, the capital of Bavaria, is situated upon an elevated, cold, sterile 
 plain. Within the present century, it has grown from a third-rate city of not 
 any note, to one of about 100,000 inhabitants, and in the magnificence of its 
 buildings, to one of the first capitals in Europe. Mr. Taylor thought he had 
 seen everything in Vienna to excite admiration, or please the taste, but here, 
 he says, all he had conceived of oriental magnificence, of kingly halls, and 
 splendid palaces, was immeasurably below the reality. Some of the public 
 fc uildings are so novel in their arrangement, and so gorgeous in their orna- 
 ments, that he thought the artists must have derived their ideas from the 
 Arabian Nights. 
 
 Our traveler's tour through Germany was now drawing near to a close. 
 From Munich they proceeded through Witemburg to Heidelberg and soon 
 were again among their friends in Frankfort. After a month's sojourn in that 
 city, Mr. Taylor left Frankfort and continued his travels through Switzerland. 
 Italy, and France, meeting much of interesting adventure all of which is de- 
 scribed in his peculiarly attractive manner. For these details and those of 
 his tour in Great Britain, as well as much relating to Germany, which our 
 rapid sketch has not drawn upon we refer the reader to the volume itself. 
 With a few words describing the return of himself and companions to New 
 York, and his journey home to his native state, Pennsylvania, we close this 
 article. 
 
 After an absence of two years, one beautiful afternoon in early June, the 
 young wanderers sailed up the bay of New York, and were again upon the 
 soil of their native land. They were at once struck with the energy and 
 activity of the people, the keenness of expression on every countenance, the 
 glorious independence of manners — even in the children, all of which was 
 most refreshing after having been so long accustomed to the servile air of the 
 common people of Europe. 
 
 A run across New Jersey, a night in neat Philadelphia, and a sail down the 
 Delaware brought them to Wilmington, within twelve miles of home. Now 
 came the realizing of a plan that had a hundred times whiled away many a 
 dreary mile of European travel. Their knapsacks, slouched German hats, belts, 
 blouses, and pilgrim staves, untouched since leaving Paris, were resumed, and 
 they started on that short walk of three or four hours, but which from the 
 crowd of emotions that pressed upon them, seemed three times as long. As 
 the broad bright sun went down, their homes were not far off. " When the 
 twilight grew deeper," says Taylor, " we parted and each thought what an 
 experience lay between that moment and the next morning. I took to the 
 fields, plunged into a sea of dewy clover and made for a light which began 
 to glimmer as it grew darker. When I reached it and looked with most pain- 
 ful excitement through the window on the unsuspecting group within, not one 
 face was missing !" 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION 
 
 JAPAN 
 
 JAPANESE TEMPLE AND PRAYING MACHINE. 
 
 Description of Japan — Intercourse with Foreign Nations — Russians put in cages by the 
 Japanese — The Jesuits in Japan — Persecution and Expulsion of Christians — Perry's 
 Expedition arrives on the Japan coast — Negotiations — The Express to Yedo — 
 Scenery of the Bay — The Surveying Parties — Landing of Commodore Perry — Recep- 
 tion of the President's Letter by the Prince of Idzu — Exploration of the Upper Bay 
 of Yedo — Departure of the Expedition — Second Expedition — Interesting Incidents — 
 Successful result — Treaty with Japan. 
 
 Japan has ever been a country of mystery, and even now but little is 
 known of its interior. The empire consists of a long chain of islands, 
 stretching along the eastern coast of Asia, for many degrees of latitude, 
 which gives a corresponding range of climate. Their number, small and 
 large, is variously estimated at from one thousand to three thousand eight 
 hundred, and the aggregate area is, perhaps, equal to New York, Pennsyl- 
 vania, New Jersey, and New England. Nipon, the largest island, is nine 
 hundred miles long by about one hundred miles broad, with an area equal to 
 
 437 
 
438 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 all the others combined — viz : 95,000 square miles. Yesso has about thirty 
 thousand ; Kinsu, sixteen thousand ; and Sikok, ten thousand. The popu- 
 lation is not known, but guessed at over thirty millions. 
 
 Japan is rich with the gifts of nature and generally fertile. In parts it is 
 cultivated like a garden, the towns of a large size and the roads and high- 
 ways thronged with people, while in some other parts there is reason for 
 believing the population small ; for it is known that Yesso, the second 
 island in size, though more fertile than New England, has no population 
 beyond fishing-villages on the coast and a few scattered aborigines in the 
 interior. 
 
 The Japanese, not being a meat-eating people, are enabled to cultivate 
 land that otherwise would be in pasture ; and no people in the world so 
 largely partake of sea-food. But the mountainous character of the islands, 
 the large areas devoted by law to forests, and the licensed prostitution of 
 women without medical control, which, by producing barrenness and spread- 
 ing disease, must tend to check population, probably more than overbalance 
 the advantages mentioned, so that it is doubted, by recent travelers, if Japan 
 has in reality over twenty millions of people. 
 
 Japan is inhabited by two distinct races, the Japanese and the Aino. The 
 latter are the aboriginal inhabitants, were conquered by the Japanese, are now 
 few in number, and exclusively hunters and fishermen. The Japanese are 
 supposed to be a cross of the Malay and Mongol races. The authentic his- 
 tory of Japan dates about seven hundred years before Christ, nearly back to 
 the time of Moses. 
 
 " The first allusion in European writings to Japan, is in Marco Polo's ac- 
 count of his travels in Cathay, who was at the court of Ghengis Zhan of 
 Tartary from A. D. 1260 to 1294. That great Tartar chieftain fitted out a 
 grand expedition for the conquest of this empire of Zipangu — the Japanese 
 pronunciation of the word Japan. 
 
 The country was discovered by the Portuguese in 1542, in that age which, 
 above all others, was marked by zeal for the propagation of religion. It was 
 in 1540 that seven young men met in a little underground chapel in Paris, and 
 organized themselves into a society, taking solemn vows never to marry, to 
 remain always in poverty, to render absolute obedience to their chief ; to go 
 at any instant, by day or night, into unknown danger — to the burning sands 
 of Africa, to the jungles of Asia; to employ any means — truth when it 
 would serve, falsehood and duplicity, when nothing else would do — to 
 propagate the gospel. Their election of a chief fell upon Ignatius Loyola, 
 whose ablest follower was Francis Xavier. 
 
 India was then conspicuously before the western nations. All governments 
 were reaching out their hands to grasp the wealth of that land which 
 exported gold, ivory, and peacock's feathers, whose rivers sparkled with dia- 
 monds, whose temple-roofs were overlaid with pure gold, and whose barbaric 
 kings displayed greater wealth than that of all Christendom. It was an age 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 439 
 
 of greed as well as of zeal. The chief officer of the society of Jesus and his 
 most devoted followers were in Spain in 1542. At that time a vessel was 
 fitting out in one of the ports for Goa, the Portuguese colony of India. 
 
 At a day's notice from Loyola, Xavier was ready for the journey to his 
 future field of labor. He stopped not to bid farewell to friends, made no 
 provision for the voyage, packed no ponderous trunks ; but with his old tat- 
 tered cloak, a bag over his shoulder, started upon his far-distant mission, 
 reached Goa before the end of the year, went to the Straits of Malacca, vis- 
 ited the neighboring islands, where he fell in with a Japanese named Angrio, 
 who had been brought to Malacca by the Portuguese, and who accepted the 
 new religion. • Xavier pushed on to Japan, arrived here at Nagasaki in 1549, 
 made a few converts, obtained information, laid plans for the future, sailed 
 for China, and died on the passage. 
 
 But his plans were taken up by his followers. Priests came, and Chris- 
 tianity obtained a foothold at this port. The Portuguese began to trade 
 here at Nagasaki in 1558. A church was established, and several of the 
 Japanese damios, or princes, embraced the Christian religion. The emperor 
 was well disposed toward the missionaries. Two of the damios were sent 
 to Europe as ambassadors to the Pope in 1582, at which time Christianity 
 had made great progress in the empire. They were received at Rome with 
 grand ceremonies ; there was great rejoicing throughout Christendom over 
 the thought that the far East was welcoming the gospel ; that the islands of 
 the sea had stretched out their hands to God, and that prophesy was being 
 fulfilled. It is stated that it was the custom of the priests to go through 
 the streets, bearing a cross, ringing a bell, and sprinkling holy water upon 
 the crowd. Upon whomsoever a drop fell he was counted as a Christian, 
 and was made to believe that he had received the new religion, and was 
 numbered among the converts. 
 
 A new tycoon came into power in 1587. He was a conservative, who 
 held that Japanese should rule Japan, and that foreigners were of a inferior 
 race. He ordered them to quit the country. The people began to throw 
 stones at them in the streets, to jostle them off the sidewalks, and occasion- 
 ally a Japanese gentleman of the conservative party manifested his superior- 
 ity by ripping up or cutting down a priest. The government began to hang 
 native Christians on trees, impaled them on stakes, or pitched them down 
 precipices. The first martyr was executed in 1598, but the Jesuits were not 
 wholly driven from the country till twenty-two years later. In 1620, 
 when the Mayflower was making her lonely voyage across the Atlantic, the 
 tycoon drove the last Jesuit priest from the empire, and a few years later the 
 Dutch traders, who had made no efforts to introduce a new religion, were 
 confined to the small island in front of the town of Nagasaki, called the 
 Desima. Through them the Japanese informed themselves of what was 
 going on in the world, at the same time keeping themselves wholly se- 
 cluded. " 
 
440 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 Repeated efforts made, by England and Russia, with a view to establish a 
 friendly intercourse, failed. In 1803, Resanoff, a Russian embassador, was 
 seized and imprisoned in a bamboo cage, on the beach of Nagasaki, and 
 coolly informed that Russian ships were not needed in Japan. In 1811, 
 Captain Golownin and a party of six or eight were also seized, and, accord- 
 ing to the custom of the country, imprisoned in cages, and remained captives 
 nearly two years, although otherwise well treated. 
 
 To our own country belongs the honor of first opening Japan to the com- 
 merce of the civilized world, a more just cause of congratulation than a 
 thousand. victorious battle fields. 
 
 In 1846, in consequence of the rapid increase in American commerce, our 
 government was compelled to attempt to open intercourse with Japan. The 
 war-ship Columbus and the frigate Yincennes, under Commodore Biddle, 
 arrived at the entrance of the bay of Yedo, with a letter from president 
 Polk to the emperor. The answer was short and decisive, " No trade can be 
 allowed with any foreign nation but Holland." 
 
 The expedition under Commodore Perry, in 1853-4, was successful in 
 breaking down the barriers which Japan had erected against the outer world. 
 The visit of Perry is here given in the language of the well-known traveler, 
 Bayard Taylor, who was a member of the expedition : 
 
 " The squadron, consisting of the Susquehanna, (flag-ship), Mississippi, 
 Plymouth, and Saratoga — the two sloops-of-war being taken in tow by the two 
 steamers — sailed from the harbor of Napa-Kiang, Loo Choo, on the 2d of 
 July. At daybreak, July the 8th, we first made land, which proved to be 
 Cape Idzu, a lofty head-land on the coast of Niphon, not far south of the 
 entrance of the great Bay of Yedo. 
 
 Leaving; the mountains of Idzu behind us, we stood across the mouth of 
 the Bay of Kowadzu, (as the southern half of the bifurcate Bay of Yedo is 
 called,) toward Cape Sagami, at the extremity of the promontory which 
 divides the two. The noon observation gave lat. 34° 57' N., and soon after- 
 ward Cape Sagami came in sight. 
 
 The shores of Sagami are exceedingly picturesque and beautiful. They 
 rise in abrupt bluffs, two hundred feet in height, gashed with narrow dells of 
 the brightest verdure, which slope steeply down to the water, while the 
 country behind rises in undulating hills, displaying a charming alternation of 
 groves and cultivated fields. In the distance rose mountain ranges, receding 
 behind each other until the vapor hid their farthest summits. The eastern 
 coast, belonging to the province of Awa, now came in sight ahead of us, for 
 we were entering the narrowest part of the bay, leading to the upper Bay of 
 Yedo. The distance from shore to shore here varies from five to eight miles, 
 but afterward, expands to twelve or fifteen. 
 
 We kept directly up the bay, and in half an hour after doubling Cape 
 Sagami saw before us a bold promontory making out from the western coast, 
 37 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 441 
 
 at the entrance of the Upper Bay. Within it was the Bight of Uraga, and 
 we could plainly see the town of the same name at the head of it. The 
 Plymouth and Saratoga were cast off, and we advanced slowly, sounding as 
 we went, until we had advanced more than a mile beyond the point reached 
 by the Columbus and the Morrison. We were about a mile and a half from 
 the promontory, when two discharges of cannon were heard from a battery 
 at its extremity, and, immediately afterward, a light ball of smoke in the air 
 showed that a shell had been thrown up. An order was immediately given 
 to let go the anchor, but, as the lead still showed twenty-five fathoms, the 
 steamer's head was put in toward the shore, and in a few minutes the anchor 
 was dropped. 
 
 Another shell was fired, after we came to anchor, and four or five boats, 
 filled with Japanese, approached us. The rowers, who were all tall, athletic 
 men, naked, sav# a cloth around the loins, shouted lustily as they sculled with 
 all their strength toward us. The boats were of unpainted wood, very sharp 
 in the bows, carrying their greatest breadth of beam well aft, and were pro- 
 pelled with great rapidity. The resemblance of their model to that of the 
 yacht America, struck everybody on board. In the stern of each was a small 
 flag, with three horizontal stripes, the central one black, and the others white. 
 In each were several persons, who, by their dress, and the two swords stuck 
 m their belts, appeared to be men of authority. 
 
 The first boat came alongside, and one of the two-sworded individuals 
 made signs for the gangway to be let down. This was refused, but Mr. Wells 
 Williams, the interpreter, and Mr. Portman, the Commodore's clerk, (who is 
 a native of Holland,) went to the ship's side to state that nobody would be 
 received on board, except the first in rank at Uraga. The conversation was 
 carried on principally in Dutch, which the interpreter spoke very well. He 
 asked at once if we were not Americans, and by his manner of asking showed 
 that our coming had been anticipated. He was told that the commander of 
 the squadron was an officer of very high rank in the United States, and could 
 only communicate with the first in rank on shore. After a long parley, the 
 Vice-Governor of Uraga, who was in the boat, was allowed to come on board 
 with the interpreter, and confer with Lieutenant Con tee, the flag-lieutenant. The 
 Japanese official, a fiery little fellow, was much exasperated at being kept in 
 waiting, but soon moderated his tone. He was told that we came as friends, 
 upon a peaceable mission ; that we should not go to Nangasaki, as he pro- 
 posed, and that it was insulting to our President and his special minister, to 
 propose it. He was told, moreover, that the Japanese must not communicate 
 with any other vessel than the flag-ship, and that no boats must approach us 
 during the night. An attempt to surround us with a cordon of boats, as in 
 the case of the Columbus and Vincennes, would lead to very serious conse- 
 quences. They had with them an official notice, written in French, Dutch 
 and English, and intended as a general warning to all foreign vessels, direct- 
 ing them to go no further, to remain out at sea, and send word ashore, why 
 they came, and what they wanted. This, Lieutenant Contee, declined to see or 
 acknowledge in any way. The same notice was taken to the Plymouth by 
 a until er boat, but it was at once orderad o^ 
 
442 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 Commodore Perry had evidently made up his mind from the first not to 
 submit to the surveillance of boats. The dignified and decided stand he took, 
 produced an immediate impression upon the Japanese. They were convinced 
 that he was in earnest, and that all the tricks and delays, with which they are 
 in the habit of wheedling foreign visitors, would be used in vain. Several 
 boats having followed the first one, and begun to collect around us, the Vice 
 Governor was told that if they did not return at once, they would be fired 
 into. One of them went to the Mississippi, and after being repulsed from 
 the gangway, pulled forward to where some of the crew tried to climb on 
 board. A company of boarders was immediately called away, and the 
 bristling array of pikes and cutlasses over the vessel's side caused the Japan- 
 ese to retreat in great haste. Thenceforth, all the Japanese boats gave us a 
 wide berth, and during the whole of our stay, none approached us except 
 those containing the officials who were concerned in the negotiations. I may 
 here remark, that our presence did not seem to disturb, in the least, the coasting 
 trade which finds its focus in Yedo. Without counting the hundreds of small 
 boats and fishing-smacks, between sixty and seventy large junks daily passed 
 up and down the bay, on their way to and from Yedo. 
 
 The Japanese boatmen were tall, handsomely formed men, with vigorous 
 and symmetrical bodies, and a hardy, manly expression of countenance. As 
 the air grew fresher, toward evening, they put on a sort of loose gown with 
 wide, hanging sleeves. As the crew of each boat were all attired alike, the 
 dress appeared to be a uniform, denoting that they were in government 
 service. The most of them had blue gowns, with white stripes on the sleeves, 
 meeting on the shoulder, so as to form a triangular junction, and a crest, or 
 - coat-of-arms, upon the back. Others had gowns of red and white stripes, 
 with a black lozenge upon the back. Some wore upon their heads a cap, 
 made of bamboo splints, resembling a broad, shallow basin, inverted, but the 
 greater part had their heads bare, the top and crown shaved, and the hair 
 from the back and sides brought up and fastened in a small knot, through 
 which a short metal pin was thrust. The officers wore light and beautifully 
 lacquered hats, to protect them from the sun, with a gilded coat-of-arms upon 
 the front part. In most of the boats, I noticed a tall spear, with a lacquered 
 sheath for the head, resembling a number, or character, referring to the rank 
 of the officer on board. 
 
 After dark, watch-fires began to blaze along the shore, both from the beach 
 and from the summits of the hills, chiefly on the western side of the bay. 
 At the same time we heard, at regular intervals, the sound of a deep-toned 
 bell. It had a very sweet, rich tone, and from the distinctness with which 
 its long reverberations reached us, must have been of large size. A double 
 night-watch was established during our stay, and no officers except the Pur- 
 ser and Sugeons were exempt from serving. But the nights were quiet and 
 peaceful, and it never fell to my lot to report a suspicious appearance of any 
 kind. 
 
 The next morning, Yezaimon, the Governor of Uraga, and the highest 
 authority on shore, came off, attended by two interpreters, who gave their 
 names as Tatsonoske and Tokoshiuro. He was received by commander* 
 
PERRf'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 443 
 
 Buchanan and Adams, and Lieutenant Contee. He was a noble of the second 
 rank ; his robe was of the richest silken tissue, embroidered with gold and 
 silver in a pattern resembling peacock feathers. The object of his coming, I 
 believe, was to declare his inability to act, not having the requisite authority 
 without instructions from Yedo. At any rate, it was understood that an 
 express would be sent to the capital immediately, and the Commodore gave 
 him until Tuesday noon to have the answer ready. Sunday passed over 
 without any visit, but on Monday there was an informal one. 
 
 From Tuesday until Wednesday noon, Yezaimon came off three times, 
 remaining from two to three hours each time. The result of all these con- 
 ferences was, that the Emperor had specially appointed one of the chief coun- 
 selors of the Empire to proceed to Uraga, and receive from Commodore 
 Perry the letter of the President of the United States, which the Commodore 
 was allowed to land and deliver on shore. This prompt and unlooked-for 
 concession astonished us all, and I am convinced it was owing entirely to the 
 decided stand the Commodore took, during the early negotiations. We had 
 obtained in four days, without subjecting ourselves to a single observance of 
 Japanese law, what the Russian embassy, under Resanoff, failed to accomplish 
 in six months, after a degrading subservience to ridiculous demands. From 
 what I know of the negotiations, I must say that they were admirably con- 
 ducted. The Japanese officials were treated in such a polite and friendly 
 manner as to win their good will, while not a single point to which we attached 
 any importance, was yielded. There was a mixture of firmness, dignity and 
 fearlessness on our side, against which their artful and dissimulating policy 
 was powerless. To this, and to our material strength, I attribute the fact of 
 our reception having been so different from that of other embassies, as almost 
 to make us doubt the truth of the accounts we had read. 
 
 On the morning after our arrival, the Japanese put up a false battery of 
 black canvas, about a hundred yards in length, on the shore south of Uraga. 
 There was no appearance of guns, but with a glass I saw two or three com- 
 panies of soldiers, in scarlet uniform, riding through the groves in the rear. 
 
 On Saturday morning a surveying expedition, consisting of one boat from 
 each ship, under the charge of Lieutenant Bent, of the Mississippi, was sent 
 for the purpose of sounding up the bay. The other officers were Lieutenant 
 Guest, of the Susquehanna, Lieutenant Belch, of the Plymouth, and Mr. 
 Madigan, master of the Saratoga. The boats carried, in addition to the usual 
 ensign, a white flag at the bow, and were fully manned with armed seamen. 
 They ran up the bay to a distance of about four miles, and found everywhere 
 from thirty to forty-three fathoms of water. On approaching the forts, the 
 soldiers at first came out, armed with matchlocks, but, as the boats advanced 
 nearer, they retired within the walls. The forts were all of very rude and 
 imperfect construction, and all together only mounted fourteen guns, none of 
 which were larger than nine -pounders. 
 
 On Monday morning the same surveying party was again dispatched up 
 the bay, followed by the Mississippi, which was designed to protect them and 
 tow them back in the evening. Lieutenant Bent's boat was in advance, and 
 as he passed the promontory of Uraga, three Japanese boats put out to meet 
 
444 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 him. The officers in them made signs to return, but he kept steadily on his 
 way. We watched the progress of our boats with glasses, but at the distance 
 of four miles, they, with the Mississippi, passed out of sight behind the 
 point. 
 
 It had been arranged with the Japanese officials that the President's letter 
 would be delivered on Thursday morning, July 14, at the town of Gori-hama, 
 two miles south of Uraga. 
 
 The morning was heavy and dark, before sunrise, but soon afterward 
 cleared off brilliantly. As soon as the shore could be distinguished, it was 
 seen that the principal battery, on the promontory of Uraga, had been greatly 
 amplified, and adorned by screens of cotton canvas, in honor of the occasion. 
 On the hill above, among the trees, there were two small forts or rather 
 pavilions, of the same material. The canvas was stretched along a row o.' 
 stakes so as to form a species of paneling, on which the imperial coat-of-arms 
 was painted, alternating with other devices. Behind the canvas we could see 
 that numerous companies of soldiers were drawn up, in different costume from 
 that which they usually wore. Their arms were bare, and the body covered 
 with a short tunic of a dark-brown, blue, or purple color, bound with a girdle 
 at the waist. 
 
 About eight o'clock the anchors were lifted, and the Susquehanna and 
 Mississippi moved slowly down the bay, leaving the Plymouth and Saratoga. 
 We soon saw two boats, bearing the government flag, pulling abreast of us, 
 but further in shore, and accompanied by four other boats with red banners, 
 probably containing a military escort. As the bight opened behind the pro- 
 montory, we saw a long line of canvas walls, covered with the Imperial crest, 
 stretching quite around the head of the bight. In front were files of soldiers, 
 standing motionless on the sandy beach. A multitude of banners of various 
 brilliant colors gleamed in the sun. Near the center of the crescent formed 
 by the troops, were planted nine tall standards — four on one side, and five on 
 the other — from which broad scarlet pennons hung to the ground. In the 
 rear of these, three new pyramidal roofs showed that a house had been pre- 
 pared expressly for the Commodore's reception. On the right, upward of 
 fifty or sixty boats were drawn up in a line parallel to the beach, each having 
 a red flag at its stern. From the head of the bight a narrow valley extended 
 inland between luxuriantly wooded hills. On the left side was a picturesque 
 little town, the name of which, the Japanese informed us, was Gori-hama. 
 The place was undoubtedly chosen, both on account of its remoteness from 
 Uraga, which is a port of customs, and the facility which it afforded to the 
 Japanese for the exhibition of a large military force — a measure dictated alike 
 by their native caution, and the love of display for which they are noted. 
 
 The anchor was no sooner down, than the two government boats sculled 
 alongside, and Yezaimon, with the interpreters, Tatsonoske and Tokoshiuro, 
 came on board. The second boat contained the Deputy- Governor, Saboroske, 
 and an attendant officer. They were accommodated with seats on the quar- 
 ter-deck, until all our preparations for landing were completed. They were 
 dressed, as they had hinted the day previous, in official garments of rich silk 
 brocade, bordered with velvet. The gowns differed little in form from thos* 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 445 
 
 they ordinarily wore, but were elaborately embroidered, and displayed a 
 greater variety of gay colors, than taste in their disposal. Saboroske had a 
 pair of short and very wide pantaloons, resembling a petticoat with a seam 
 up the middle, below which appeared his bare legs and black wollen socks, 
 with an effect rather comical than otherwise. His shoulders contained lines 
 of ornament in gold thread. All the officers wore their crest, or coat-of-arms, 
 embroidered upon the back, sleeves, and breasts, of their garments. 
 
 The boats of the Mississippi, Plymouth, and Saratoga, were alongside in less 
 than half an hour after our anchor dropped, and preparations were made for 
 leaving at once. Both steamers lay with their broadsides to the shore, and 
 the decks were cleared, the guns primed and pointed, ready for action in case 
 of treachery. Commanders Kelly and Lee remained on board their respect- 
 ive ships, in order to act in case of necessity. The morning was very bright 
 and clear, and the fifteen launches and cutters, containing the officers, sea- 
 men, marines and bandsmen, presented a brilliant appearance, as they clus- 
 tered around our starboard gangway. Commander Buchanan took the lead, 
 in his barge, with one of the Japanese government boats on each side. 
 Merrily as the oars of our men dipped the waves, it required their utmost to 
 keep pace with the athletic scullers of Japan. The other American boats fol- 
 lowed nearly in line, and the van of the procession was more than half-way 
 to the shore, when the guns of the Susquehanna announced the Commodore's 
 departure. The gleam of arms, the picturesque mingling of blue and white 
 in the uniforms, and the sparkling of the waves under the steady strokes of 
 the oarsmen, combined to form a splendid picture, set off, as it was, by the 
 background of rich green hills, and the long line of soldiery and banners on 
 the beach. All were excited by the occasion, and the men seemed to be as 
 much elated in spirits as those who had a more prominent part in the proceedings. 
 We all felt, that, as being the first instance since the expulsion of the Portu- 
 guese from Japan, when a foreign ambassador had been officially received on 
 Japanese soil, it was a memorable event in the history of both countries, and 
 that, if not an augury of the future and complete success of the expedition, 
 it was at least a commencement more auspicious than we had ventured to 
 anticipate. 
 
 An impromptu jetty, composed of bags of sand, had been thrown up for the 
 occasion, near the center of the crescent-shaped beach, at the head of the 
 bight. Captain Buchanan, who had command of the party, was the first to 
 leap ashore. The remaining boats crowded rapidly in beside the jetty, landed 
 as many of their crews as had been detailed for the escort on shore, and then 
 pulled off about fifty yards. The seamen and marines were formed into line 
 as soon as they were landed, and presented a compact and imposing file along 
 the beach. The detachments of seamen were under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant John K. Duer, of the Susquehanna; Lieutenant Charles M. Morris, 
 of the Mississippi ; Lieutenant John Matthews, of the Plymouth ; and Passed 
 Midshipman Robert W. Scott, of the Saratoga. Including the officers there 
 were upward of three hundred and twenty persons landed, while the Japan- 
 ese troops amounted, as they themselves informed us, to five thousand. We 
 ind one hundred and twelve marines, about one hundred and twenty seamen. 
 
446 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN". 
 
 fifty officers, and thirty or forty musicians. About a hundred yards from the 
 beach stood the foremost files of the Japanese, in somewhat loose and strag- 
 gling order. Their front occupied the whole beach, their right flank resting 
 upon the village of Gori-hama, and their left against a steep hill, which 
 bounded the bight on the northern side. The greater part were stationed 
 behind the canvas screens, and from the numbers, crowded together in the 
 rear, some of the officers estimated their force at nearer ten than five thou- 
 sand men. Those in the front rank were armed with swords, spears and 
 matchlocks, and their uniform differed little from the usual Japanese costume. 
 There were a number of horses, of a breed larger and much superior to the 
 Chinese, and in the background we saw a body of cavalry. On the slope of 
 the hill near the village, a great number of natives, many of whom were 
 women, had collected, out of curiosity, to witness the event. 
 
 A salute was fired from the Susquehanna, as the Commodore left, accom- 
 panied by his staff; Commander Adams, Lieutenant Contee, and the men, had 
 scarcely been formed into line before his barge approached the shore. The 
 officers commanding detachments were Commanders Buchanan and Walker, 
 and Lieutenants Gillis and Taylor. The officers composing the Commodore's 
 escort formed a double line from the jetty, and, as he passed between them, 
 fell into the proper order behind him. He was received with the customary 
 honors, and the procession immediately started for the place of reception. A 
 stalwart boatswain's mate was selected to bear the broad pennant of the Com- 
 modore, supported by two very tall and powerful negro seamen, completely 
 armed. Behind these followed two sailor boys, bearing the letter of the 
 President and the Commodore's letter of credence, in their sumptuous boxes, 
 wrapped in scarlet cloth. Then came the Commodore himself, with his staff 
 and escort of officers. The marine force, a fine, athletic body of men, com- 
 manded by Major Zeilin, with a detachment from the Mississippi, under 
 Captain Slack, led the way, and the corps of seamen from all the ships, 
 brought up the rear. 
 
 The house of reception was directly in front of the landing, but an inter- 
 vening screen rendered a slight detour necessary in order to reach the 
 entrance ; and Major Zeilin made the most of this circumstance, in order to 
 display our forces to the Japanese. There certainly was a marked contrast 
 between the regular, compact files of our men, and their vigorous, muscular 
 figures, and the straggling ranks of the mild, effeminate-featured Japanese. 
 In front of the house were two old brass four-pounders, apparently of Span- 
 ish manufacture, and on each side stood a company of soldiers, who belonged 
 either to the Imperial forces, or to the body-guard of the Prince. Those on 
 the left wore a uniform somewhat resembling the modern Egyptian dress. It 
 was of a dark-gray color, having full trowsers, gathered below the knees, a 
 broad sash around the waist, and a white cloth, similar to a turban, bound 
 upon the head. They were armed with the old tower muskets, which are to 
 be found in every part of the world, with flint-locks and bayonets. Those on 
 the right wore a different uniform, exhibiting a mixture of dull-brown and 
 yellow in its colors, and carried matchlocks of an antique fashion. 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 447 
 
 Yezaimon and the interpreters preceded us, in order to show the way. The 
 distance from the jetty to the door of the building was so short, that little 
 opportunity was given me for noticing minutely the appearance of the Japan- 
 ese, or the order of their array. The building into which the Commodore 
 and suite were ushered was small, and appeared to have been erected in 
 haste. The timbers were of pine-wood, and numbered, as if they had been 
 brought from some other place. The first apartment, which was about forty 
 feet square, was of canvas, with an awning of the same, of a white ground, 
 with the Imperial arms emblazoned on it in places. The floor was covered 
 with white cotton cloth, with a pathway of red felt, or some similar substance, 
 leading across the room to a raised inner apartment, which was wholly car- 
 peted with it. This apartment, the front of which was entirely open, so that 
 it corresponded precisely to the divan in Turkish houses, was hung with fine 
 cloth, containing the imperial arms, in white, on a ground of violet. On the 
 right-hand was a row of arm-chairs, sufficient in number for the Commodore 
 and his staff, while on the opposite side sat the Prince, who had been 
 appointed to receive the President's letter, with another official of similar 
 rank. Their names were given by the interpreter as "Toda Idzu-no-Kami," 
 Toda, Prince of Idzu, and "Ido Iwami-no-Kami," Ido, Prince of Iwami. 
 The Prince of Idzu was a man of about fifty, with mild, regular features, an 
 ample brow, and an intelligent, reflective expression. He was dressed with 
 great richness, in heavy robes of silken tissue, wrought into elaborate orna- 
 ments with gold and silver thread. The Prince of Iwami was at least fifteen 
 years older, and dressed with nearly equal splendor. His face was wrinkled 
 with age, and exhibited neither the intelligence nor the benignity of his asso- 
 ciate. They both rose and bowed gravely as the Commodore entered, but 
 immediately resumed their seats, and remained as silent and passive as statues 
 during the interview. 
 
 At the head of the room was a large, scarlet, lacquered box, with brazen 
 feet, beside which Yezaimon and the interpreter, Tatsonoske, knelt. The 
 latter then asked whether the letters were ready to be delivered, stating that 
 the Prince was ready to receive them. The boxes were brought in, opened, 
 so that the writing and the heavy golden seals were displayed, and placed 
 upon the scarlet chest. The Prince of Iwami then handed to the interpreter, 
 who gave it to the Commodore, an official receipt in Japanese, and, at the 
 same time, the interpreter added a Dutch translation. The Commodore 
 remarked that he would sail in a few days for Loo Choo and Canton, and if 
 the Japanese government wished to send any dispatches to those places, he 
 would be happy to take them. Without making any direct reply, the inter- 
 preter asked: "When will you come again V The Commodore answered, 
 "As I suppose it will take some time to deliberate upon the letter of the 
 President, I shall not wait now, but will return in a few months to receive 
 the answer." He also spoke of the revolution in China, and the interpreter 
 asked the cause of it, without translating the communication to the Prince. 
 He then inquired when the ships would return again, to which the Commo- 
 dore replied that they would probably be there in April or May. "All four 
 
448 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAH. 
 
 of them?" lie aske^l. "All of them," answered the Commodore, "and 
 probably more. This is but a portion of the squadron." No further con- 
 versation took place. The letters having been formally delivered and 
 received, the Commodore took his leave, while the two Princes, who had ful- 
 filled to the letter their instructions not to speak, rose, and remained standing 
 until he had retired from their presence. 
 
 The return to the boats was made in the same order, the bands playing 
 "Hail Columbia" and "Yankee Doodle" with more spirit than ever before, 
 and few of those present, I venture to say, ever heard our national airs with 
 more pride and pleasure. Yezaimon, Saboroske and the two interpreters 
 attended the Commodore to the boat, and as the embarkation of the different 
 boats' crews occupied some time, on account of the smallness of the jetty, 
 several of the Japanese soldiers profited by the delay to come down and exam- 
 ine us more closely. Many of our men strayed along the beach, picking up 
 shells and pebbles as mementos of the visit. In less than twenty minutes, 
 however, all were embarked, and we returned to the ships, accompanied by 
 the two Japanese boats which had piloted us to the shore. Before twelve 
 o'clock the anchors were lifted, and both vessels were under way on a cruise 
 up the bay. 
 
 Yezaimon, Saboroske and the interpreters, accepted an invitation to remain 
 on board until we reached Uraga, and have their boats towed at our stern. 
 This gave them a chance of seeing the steam-engine in operation, for which 
 they expressed a great desire. They were conducted over the ship and saw 
 the engine from all points of view, betraying a great deal of curiosity in regard 
 to its operation, but no fear. They even obtained a glimmering idea of the 
 manner in which the steam acted, to set the enormous mass in motion. Tat- 
 sonoske asked if it was not the same machine, in a smaller compass, which 
 we used on railroads. During their inspection of the ship they saw many 
 things which must have been new and strange to them, but their composure 
 and self-possession was not in the least disturbed. Notwithstanding the docks 
 were crowded with officers and men, whose curiosity to see them was very 
 great, they were to all appearance unconscious of it, and conducted themselves 
 with as much ease and propriety as I ever saw among the most refined 
 people. 
 
 While going their rounds, their swords were left in the cabin, and most of 
 the officers made use of the opportunity to examine them. The steel was of 
 admirable quality, and kept in good condition, although the shape of the blade 
 was rather unwieldy, and the handle was without a guard. The scabbards 
 were made of shark-skin, very handsomely polished. While in the cabin, a 
 globe was brought, and the position of the United States shown to the Japan- 
 ese. Tatsonoske immediately pointed out Washington and New York, and 
 seemed tolerably familiar with the geography of our country, as well as that 
 of Europe. He asked whether in America many of the roads were not cut 
 through the mountains — evidently referring to railroads. Yezaimon expressed 
 his desire to examine a revolver, several of which the Japanese had noticed 
 in the officers' belts. Commander Buchanan fired off all the chambers of a 
 genuine "Colt," from the quarter deck, to his great astonishment. Before 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN 449 
 
 we had half gratified their curiosity, (which the steam-whistle raised to the 
 highest pitch,) we were off Uraga, and they were obliged to leave. 
 
 As we moved out past the promontory of Uraga, the western shore opened 
 on the left, showing a broad, deep bay, embosomed by hills covered with the 
 greenest and most luxuriant foliage, and with several large villages at their 
 base. We approached within three miles of the eastern shore, which is 
 loftier and wilder than the western, rising into a range of rugged mountains, 
 which showed no signs of habitation or cultivation. But the lower slopes, 
 which undulated gently to the water, charmed me by the rich beauty of 
 their scattered groves, and the green terraces and lawns into which centuries 
 of patient cultivation has formed them. This side of England there is noth- 
 ing so green, so garden-like, so full of tranquil beauty. To the north the hills 
 gradually sank away, and a sandy spur, three or four miles in length, stretched 
 into the bay. This proved to be the ground whereon we had seen the parade 
 of Japanese soldiers, when the surveying boats ascended the bay. The two 
 mounds, which I had noticed through a glass, were surmounted with batteries 
 of about five guns each. 
 
 Changing our course, we made over toward the other side, steering for a 
 bold, projecting headland, about twelve miles beyond that of Uraga. In the 
 intervening bight, to which Lieutenant Bent, as the first surveyor, gave the 
 name of " Perry's Bay," there are two lovely, green islands. The shores 
 of the bay are as thickly settled and as assiduously cultivated, as about and 
 below Uraga. During the voyage up, we had at no time less than seven 
 fathoms, and generally from thirty to forty. After going a short distance 
 beyond the point reached by the Mississippi, and upward of ten miles beyond 
 our former anchorage, we dropped anchor a mile and a half from the shore, 
 in thirteen fathoms. The inward-bound junks, I noticed, made for a point a 
 little east of the north, from our position. According to the Japanese charts, 
 and the best description of Yedo, this must have been the direction of the 
 capital. A long, low he"adland was visible with the glass, with (apparently,) 
 another bight beyond it; but to the north-east, for a segment of about 30°, 
 no land could be seen. This also corresponded to the form of the bay, as 
 given in Japanese charts. 
 
 On the following day, (Friday,) Lieutenants Cooper, of the Susquehanna; 
 Clitz, of the Mississippi ; Goldsborough, of the Saratoga ; and Matthews, of 
 the Plymouth, sounded around the islands, and up to the head of the bight, 
 where they found a deep inlet, into which flowed a beautiful river. The banks 
 were studded with villages, groves, and gardens, and the officers were enrap- 
 tured with the beauty of the scenery. The natives of both sexes, old and 
 young, came down the banks and saluted them in a friendly manner, bringing 
 them cool spring-water to drink, and ripe peaches from their gardens. 
 
 On Friday afternoon, the Commodore went on board the Mississippi, trans- 
 ferring his broad pennant to that ship for a few hours, while he made an 
 exploring trip still further up the bay. After going ten miles in the direction 
 of Yedo, the Mississippi put about in twenty fathoms of water, and returned 
 to her former anchorage, having reached, as was supposed, a point within 
 sight miles if the capital. On the western shore the large towns of Kanagawa 
 29 
 
450 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 and Kowazacki -were seen; -while, on the extremity of a cape in front, 
 not more than four miles distant, stood a tall, white tower, resembling a light- 
 house. Three or four miles beyond, and within this point, was a crowd of ship- 
 ping, which was, without doubt, the anchorage of Sinagawa, the southern 
 suburb of Yedo. There was every probability that the Mississippi could 
 have advanced to a point within cannon-shot of the city. The head of the 
 bay rounded to the eastward, and in that direction the shores became low and 
 flat, and finally disappeared below the horizon. We have, therefore, advanced 
 twenty miles further up the Bay of Yedo than any vessels before us, and 
 shown conclusively that, instead of being shallow and unnavigable, as has 
 formerly been supposed, it contains abundance of water and excellent har- 
 bors. It is, in fact, one of the largest and finest bays in the world, and second 
 to none in the varied and delightful scenery of its shores. 
 
 Early on Saturday morning we moved from our first anchorage to another, 
 five or six miles further down the bay, and much nearer to the shore. The 
 surveying boats were occupied during the whole of the day, without any 
 interference on the part of the Japanese. When we consider that this, one 
 of the greatest bays in the world, has never yet been surveyed, the interest 
 and value of their labors will be better understood. 
 
 Yezaimon came again, on Saturday morning, accompanied by both the 
 interpreters. This time they brought a number of presents, as souvenirs of 
 our visits — consisting of lacquered cups, very light and elegant in form, bro- 
 cade silks, richly wrought with gold and silver thread, tobacco pipes and 
 pouches, and fans covered with hideously distorted and lackadaisical pictures 
 of Japanese ladies. The Commodore was willing to receive them, but insisted 
 on giving something in return. A. selection of American manufactures was 
 made, which, with some maps, engravings, arms, etc., formed a return more 
 than equal in value. They refused to take anything, affirming that it was 
 forbidden by their laws, and would subject them to the danger of losing their 
 lives ; beside, they said, the presents offered them were too valuable to be 
 accepted. They were willing to receive, each, some small articles which they 
 could conceal about their persons. They were positively informed that we would 
 accept of nothing unless they took our gifts, with the exception of the arms, 
 which were removed, as they stated that they could in no case give or receive 
 arms. When Yezaimon saw his presents about to be tumbled back into his 
 boat, he yielded at once, choosing what he probably considered the least 
 dangerous horn of the dilemma. 
 
 In the afternoon they returned in the best possible humor, their course 
 having, probably, been sanctioned by some higher authority on shore. They 
 brought off a quantity of fowls in light wicker coops, and three or four thou- 
 sand eggs in boxes, taking away in return a large box of American garden- 
 seeds. The interview lasted a considerable time, as they were socially dis- 
 posed, and partook of refreshments, both solid and liquid. Tatsonoske 
 stated, in a half confidential way, that the letter of the President had been 
 received in Yedo, and that if the translation, which they had already received 
 through the Dutch, corresponded with the original, the government would be 
 disposed to regard it very favorably. He also hinted that Yezaimon would 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 451 
 
 shortly be promoted to a much higher rank. The latter was exceedingly 
 jovial, and stated, by an expressive pantomime, that he would shed tears on 
 the departure of the squadron. It was dusk when the boat pulled off, and 
 the shadows of the wooded hills, lengthening over the water, soon hid from 
 sight the last glimpse of our Japanese friends. 
 
 On Sunday morning, the 17th, we hove anchor, and started for Loo Choo, 
 having, in ten days, already accomplished more than any other nation has 
 been able to effect for the last two centuries. The universal feeling on board 
 was one of honest pride and exultation. Knowing the cunning and duplicity 
 of the people with whom we had to deal, it was a satisfaction to find all their 
 arts of diplomacy completely shattered by the simple, straight-forward, 
 resolute course adopted by Commodore Perry. Nothing could have been 
 better managed from first to last; and, though I would not encourage a too 
 sanguine anticipation of the final result, I am confident that if he carries the 
 undertaking through in the same spirit with which he has begun it, he will 
 secure all its most important ends." 
 
 Ample time having elapsed for the government of Japan to decide upon 
 the policy of forming a treaty with the young giant Republic of the west, the 
 squadron of Commodore Perry a second time came to anchor in the great 
 Bay of Yedo, on the 12th of February, in the year ensuing. 
 
 They were received in a very friendly manner by the Japanese officials, and 
 a day appointed for a formal meeting upon the grand objects of the visit. In 
 the interval, entertainments were interchanged by the American and Japanese 
 officers. 
 
 "It was during this period that an officer of the squadron approached Yedo, 
 and, if he did not actually enter it, at least, was near enough to judge of its 
 appearance. The city is in the form of a crescent, and stands on an exten- 
 sive plain, with a magnificent back-ground of the mountains and wooded 
 country; but it seems to possess no striking public buildings, while the dwell- 
 ing-houses are generally of one story, and, therefore, present nothing impos- 
 ing in their appearance, except their vast numbers, and the space they occupy. 
 The population of the capital has, however, been greatly exaggerated, for, 
 though it is certainly great, the Japanese officers themselves placed Yedo 
 third among the cities in the world, London, they said, being the first, and 
 Paris the second. 
 
 On the 8th of March, the preparations were completed for the reception of 
 the Commodore. About noon the officers, sailors, and marines, proceeded to 
 the shore and formed a procession ; then moved forward, the band playing 
 "Hail Columbia" and the "President's March." On entering the hall, 
 prepared for this object, the Commodore was received by four commissioners. 
 
 The party being seated, the flag of Japan was run up on board the Pow- 
 hatan, and saluted with twenty-one guns from the launches, after which 
 another salute of seventeen guns was given to the Japanese High Commis- 
 sioner, who, through the interpreter, presented his compliments and welcome 
 to the Commodore and his officers, and particularly inquired about the health 
 of the former. At a sign given, the servants in attendance brought in 
 lacquered stands with tea and saki, sweetmeats, and other conserves, and 
 
452 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 placed one beside each officer. The regalement seems to have been much the 
 same as that which in China generally precedes the transaction of business 
 with foreign officials ; and, while it was going on, there was time to take a note 
 fi the place of meeting. The hall, which had been run up with great celerity, 
 was about fifty feet long, forty wide, and twelve high, and surrounded with 
 magnificent japonicas, some of them thirty feet in height, and in full bloom. 
 Seats and tables, about two feet high, covered with red cloth, extended the 
 whole length of the apartment. The floor was covered with white mats, 
 about three feet long by two wide ; and the place was heated by highly orna- 
 mented braziers placed on beautiful Japan stands. The pillars, supporting 
 the erection, were ornamented with purple crape, and the walls were richly 
 adorned with paintings of birds and flowers. The hall was situated about 
 five hundred yards from the landing-place, and was commanded by the ships, 
 which lay with their broadsides to it. Several native artists were present 
 taking sketches of the strangers. 
 
 The refreshments being over, the Commodore and his personal staff, were 
 conducted by the Japanese commissioners into another room in the rear, the 
 entrance to which was covered with purple crape. The conference lasted 
 three hours, and was carried on through the Dutch language, which the 
 Japanese interpreters, Mats-ma-ki, and Mich-i-taso, and Mr. Portman, the 
 Commodore's clerk, spoke fluently. A very favorable answer was given to the 
 President's letter. A draft-treaty, in English, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese, was 
 put into the hands of the Japanese commissioners, who said that it would 
 receive due consideration ; but the old Emperor had died since Commodore 
 Perry was there, last year, and his successor was a young man, who would 
 require to consult his council before coming to a determination ; and the 
 Commodore was reminded that Japanese did not act with the same rapidity 
 as Americans did; which was thus illustrated: Should several Japanese meet 
 together, desiring to visit the American ships, one would say, "It is a beauti- 
 ful morning !" to which another would add, "How pleasant it is !" then a third 
 would remark, "There is not then a wave to be seen upon the water;" at 
 length a fourth would suggest, "Come let us go and see the ships." That 
 the preliminaries of a treaty would be settled during the present visit, was 
 however, they said, more than probable. 
 
 During this conference, Commodore Perry mentioned that one of the 
 marines had died, and requested, and was given permission to bury him on 
 shore. Before the funeral took place, the Japanese officials came on board 
 to view the body, for which purpose the coffin was opened ; and, after the 
 burial, one of them remarked that, according to the inscription on the lid, the 
 man was a native of Ireland, not of America; but the explanation that 
 followed proved quite satisfactory. In the course of the arrangement for the 
 funeral, the prudence of President Fillmore's, and Secretary Webster's 
 assurance on the subject of religion, was shown. The Japanese said they 
 had observed it with pleasure, and quite understood the distinction between 
 Protestants and Roman Catholics. 
 
 Before the interview broke up, the Commodore mentioned that he proposed 
 to give his officers leave to go on shore for recreation. To this no great 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 453 
 
 objection was made, and within a few days afterward several of the officers 
 were taking exercise on shore. Rev. E. C. Bittinger, the chaplain, made 
 several excursions among the villages and cornfields, which last he found in 
 high cultivation. The houses were generally thatched, but those of the better 
 sort were covered with tiles, having yards, and small gardens, within 
 inclosures. 
 
 The following day, the same gentleman, finding the people neither unfriendly 
 nor indisposed to receive him, and having obtained leave to go on shore, 
 determined to visit two large cities some miles off, called Kanagawa and 
 Kasacca, and, with that view, crossed an arm of the bay, which shortened the 
 distance by several miles. He then proceeded through Kanagawa, supposed 
 to contain from one to two hundred thousand inhabitants ; and from the 
 immense crowds that poured out everywhere to see the stranger, there can 
 be no doubt of the population being very great. The crowds, however, 
 caused no inconvenience or impediment, for on a wave of the hand from the 
 Japanese officials who accompanied Mr. Bittinger, the people cleared a pas- 
 sage; and, afterward, a messenger having been sent forward for the purpose, 
 the people packed themselves at the sides of the houses, and left the center 
 of the street clear for the stranger. He entered some of the houses, which 
 he found. primitive in their furniture and arrangements; but, compared with 
 other oriental dwellings of the same class, neat, clean and comfortable. In 
 some of them he observed clocks of Japanese manufacture. He also visited 
 several temples, which, though smaller than in China, have more gilding on 
 their walls, and ornaments on their idols, and generally, are in better order. 
 The priests, as well as the people, were distinguished for their courtesy. The 
 cities thus visited were not only very extensive, (estimated to be six miles 
 long,) but with wide, well-formed streets. Kasacca is from fifteen to twenty 
 miles distant, by land, from the ships ; and Mr. Bittinger being thus neces- 
 sarily long absent, some anxiety was felt about him. As he was returning, 
 a Japanese officer put into his hands an order from the Commodore for all 
 officers to return on board, and shortly afterward, a courier mounted on a 
 splendid black horse, delivered a similar dispatch, and finding it was under- 
 stood, and acted on, turned round, and galloped back again to report the 
 approach of the American officer, who concluded his journey by torch-light, 
 and found on his arrival that everything that had occurred had been noted, 
 even the number of buttons on his coat beinor recorded. 
 
 o 
 
 On the 13th, Captain Abbott, of the Macedonian, superintended the land- 
 ing of the presents, and the ensuing week was entirely devoted to unpacking 
 and arranging them, and to putting the railroad, telegraph, and other machines 
 in motion. The Japanese observed everything with a mixture of wonder and 
 admiration, and some of the incidents excited their merriment not a little. It 
 was, indeed, a curious sight to see the little locomotive, tender, and passenger- 
 car, only a quarter the ordinary size, and, by the way, the neatest piece of 
 work that ever went out of Norris's manufactory. It was driven by Mr. Gay, 
 chief-engineer of the Mississippi, and Mr. Danby, first assistant, who occa- 
 sionally took a company of Japanese into the car, and whizzed around with 
 them, while crowds of the natives looked on with the utmost astonishment. 
 
454 PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 
 
 The electric telegraph excited the greatest wonder, especially as Mr. Draper 
 sent messages in Dutch, and even in Japanese, which the interpreter wrote 
 with English letters. 
 
 On the 24th, all the preparations were completed, and the Commodore 
 again went ashore to deliver the presents formally to the Commissioners, who 
 had prepared an entertainment for the occasion, and, at the same time, to 
 receive the presents which the Emperor had sent in return. These consisted 
 chiefly of silks, crapes, some very fine lacquered ware, china, silver, arms, 
 household utensils, coins, etc., and several hundred bags of rice, which were 
 piled up in a heap outside of the house. After the presents had been given 
 and received, and the Commodore was just leaving the house to show the 
 railroad to the Commissioner, about thirty very large and powerfully built 
 men made their appearance. They were naked, with the exception of a blue 
 silk scarf, twisted about the loins. They seized the sacks, which weighed 
 about two hundred pounds each, swung them at arm's length above their 
 heads, and carried them, in this manner, a distance of a hundred and fifty 
 yards, performing many antics and feats of strength by the way. 
 
 When the Commodore and commissioners had returned to the house, all 
 the windows on one side of the building were suddenly thrown open, show- 
 ing a circular space outside, where the ground had been made smooth and 
 free from stones. The thirty giants soon entered the ring in procession, while 
 the judges and umpires of the sports took their seats opposite. The men 
 successively engaged in wrestling matches, which consisted chiefly in taking 
 hold of each other under the shoulders, and trying to push the antagonist 
 out of the ring, to effect which many of them violently dashed their heads 
 against each other's breasts, at the same time setting up an infernal howl. 
 
 On the 27th, Commodore Perry entertained the Imperial Commissioners 
 on board the Powhatan. The boat left Kunagawa at one o'clock, under a 
 salute of seventeen guns from the Mississippi, and first took them on board 
 the Macedonia, where they were shown a general exercise of the crew. 
 With the appearance and efficiency of the men, and the fine order of the 
 ship, they were greatly delighted. The Powhatan had the Imperial Japanese 
 flag hoisted at the foremast, and the banner of the Commissioner Hy-a-shi- 
 no-kami at the mizzen. As the boats got under way again, a salute was fired 
 from the Macedonia. The bulwarks of the Powhatan were decorated with 
 flags, arms and flowers. In the cabin a table was set for the Commodore, 
 four commissioners, and the different captains of the squadron, and another 
 in horse-shoe form on the quarter-deck, in order to accommodate the followers 
 of the commissioners, (about forty in number,) and the officers of the squad- 
 ron, who assembled in large numbers to do them honor. The guests were 
 greatly pleased with the entertainment. The toast : " The Zigovon of Japan!'* 
 was responded to by the Japanese commissioners with " The President of the 
 United States!" and both were drank with great enthusiasm. Other toasts 
 followed — "Our Guests," "The Ladies," "Our Friends at Home," "Com- 
 modore Perry," "The Commissioners," etc., etc., until the hilarity was 
 universal. A performance of some of the sailors; who blackened their faces 
 
PERRY'S EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 455 
 
 and sang the classic negro melodies of America, excited the greatest merri- 
 ment among the Japanese. 
 
 On the 31st of March, the treaty was signed. It secures assistance for our 
 vessels, in case of distress; provides that they shall be furnished with wood, 
 water, coal, and provisions, at fixed and reasonable prices; establishes a scale 
 of the value of coin, a standard of weights and measures ; and provides for 
 the carrying on of commerce with Japan by the citizens of the United States. 
 In short, the expedition obtained everything that could have been hoped for 
 from it. We have established a much more intimate relationship with Japan 
 than any other nation has ever been able to accomplish, and all without sub- 
 mitting to one of those degrading impositions on the part of the Japanese, 
 that other nations have accepted without accomplishing their aims. Commo- 
 dore Perry deserves great praise for his firmness, and the admirable manner 
 in which he sustained the dignity of the nation. It is impossible that any 
 other course would have been successful. 
 
 To him alone, belongs the glory of having broken down the barriers which, 
 for two and a half centuries, have separated Japan from the world — and all 
 this without the firirg of a single gun, or the utterance of a single menace." 
 
 This treaty was followed by others with the various European powers, and 
 with our own country through Mr. Townsend Harris, by which further priv- 
 ileges were given. " They gave the right of residence at Yedo, and of trav- 
 eling freely through the empire to the diplomatic agents of the treaty powers, 
 and to the subjects of these powers the right to lease ground at some six or 
 eight different ports, to build, trade, practice freely their respective religions, 
 and to enter the country at the distance of twenty-five English miles." 
 
AUSTRALIA, 
 
 THK 
 
 LAND OF GOLD 
 
 LIFE IN THE BUS 
 
 Dhcovxet of Australia— The Great Desert— Climate— Soil and productions— The Abori 
 ghn*>- -The Transportation system— Convicts first transported to America— Story of 
 Mol3 Flanders, of thfc. early settlers of Virginia — Kidnapping and Transportation of 
 persons from England vo America — Case of Peter Williamson — The Revolutionary War 
 closes America against Bri^sh Convicts — Australia selected as a penal colony — Horrible 
 condition of Society, and ib>> sufferings of the early settlers — The Bush Rangers — Intro- 
 duction of flocks and herds - 1 new class of Emigrants, and life among them — The dis- 
 covery of gold- 
 
 Australia, sometimes determinated the Fifth, or Pick-pocket Continent, is 
 the largest island in the world, and about the size of Europe. Its form 
 approaches a square, and the extreme distance across it from east to west, is 
 3000, and from north to soutfr 2000 miles — the first measurement beinjr 
 something greater than th«^ distance from Boston, Mass., across the continent 
 of North America to San Francisco in California, and the second twice the 
 distance from New York to the Mississippi River. 
 
 A few discoveries were made on the coast of Australia one hundred and 
 thirty years after the discovery of America, but no reliable information was 
 obtained until a century latei, when it was successively visited by several 
 Dutch navigators, and the name of New Holland given. Yet it was not 
 until five years previous to the outbreak of the American Revolution, that 
 
 457 
 
458 AUSTRALIA, THE LAUD OF GOLD, 
 
 was revealed to the civilized world that it was a continent. This was through 
 the instrumentality of the celebrated Oapt. Cook, who surveyed its eastern 
 coast, and came to the conclusion perhaps dimly surmised by previous 
 navigators. 
 
 The island is mostly surrounded by almost continuous ranges of low 
 mountains. Its habitable portions are limited to their slopes, and the space 
 between them and the coast. The width of this habitable belt where explored, 
 in no case exceeds over two or three hundred miles, and elsewhere is prob- 
 ably much less. The interior is one vast sunken desert, more hopelessly 
 barren and uninhabitable than Sahara. Australia, therefore, presents a small 
 proportion of habitable territory compared to the other continents. 
 
 ** This great interior desert has probably never been traversed by the foot 
 of man ; and only two or three expeditions have ever penetrated far into its 
 depths. The farthest point attained was by Captain Sturt in 1844. He 
 made his way some four hundred miles beyond the habitable limits, which 
 brought him very nearly into the geographical center of the island. This 
 he found occupied by an immense plain covered with ridges of drifting sand, 
 often rising to the height of eighty or a hundred feet, and stretching away 
 in either direction as far as the eye could reach. In isolated spots grew a 
 few solitary tufts of grass, the necessary moisture for whose sustenance was 
 supplied by infrequent thunder showers. Permanent water there was none, 
 and the sand was heated to such a degree that a match dropped upon it 
 became instantly ignited. The thermometer on one occasion rose to 153° in 
 the coolest place to be found. In the midst of this sterile tract was a desert 
 of still deeper gloom, which was traced for a distance of eighty miles in one 
 direction, and thirty-five miles in the other. Its surface was paved with a 
 solid bed of dark ironstone, upon which the horses' hoofs rung as upon a 
 metallic floor, but left not the least impression, and in which not the slightest 
 trace of water or vegetation was found. 
 
 Mr. Leichardt, a German naturalist, succeeded in penetrating from the 
 settlements on the eastern coast through the unexplored interior to the 
 northern side of the island ; but his course only led him along the skirts of 
 the great central desert ; yet more than once even here, he was saved from 
 perishing with thirst by following the flight of the bronze-winged pigeon 
 directing its course to some solitary water-hole. In 1846 he set out on a 
 new journey intending to pass from the east through the central desert to the 
 little colony on the western shore. The journey was expected to occupy two 
 and a half years. In April, 1848, a letter was received from him written 
 upon the verge of habitation, since which time his fate is unknown ; but 
 he doubtless perished long ago in the great desert." 
 
 As the settled parts of Australia are as far south of the equator as Vir- 
 ginia and the Carolinas are north, their seasons are the reverse of ours, July 
 heing there in mid-winter. From the dryness of the atmosphere, the absence 
 of marshes, and of rank vegetation, those great curses of new countries, agues 
 and intermittent fevers are unknown in the settled parts, and the climate is 
 such, that the traveler can sleep in the open air with impunity. 
 
 " The soil presents some singular anomalies, especially in respect to the dis- 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF Utmi). 459 
 
 tribution c-f the fertile portions. In other countries the fertile tracts lie 
 usually in masses, and generally along the courses of the rivers. In Austra- 
 lia they occur in isolated patches, and most frequently upon the sides and 
 summits of hills. These fertile tracts are continually intersected by broad 
 plains, the soil of which is too light for cultivation, though forming the most 
 admirable pasturage in the world, or by barren tracts furrowed by ravines, 
 and clothed with scrub, entirely destitute of value. The best authorities 
 assure us that of the land worth occupying, not more than one-third is fit for 
 cultivation ; the remaining two-thirds being only available for pasturage- 
 grounds." But of that which is fit for cultivation, much of it is so rich that 
 four and five successive crops of wheat are grown abundantly. The wheat 
 frequently attains to the height of seven feet, and yields seventy bushels to 
 the acre ; oats ninety, and maize a hundred bushels. 
 
 *' The productiveness of the land adapted for agricultural purposes is very 
 great, and the range of available productions is wide. With few exceptions 
 the trees, fruits, vegetables, and cerealia of the temperate zone flourish, 
 beside many of those belonging to those tropical regions farthest removed 
 from the equator. This is the more remarkable, because everything of the 
 kind is exotic. 
 
 When Australia was taken possession of by the European race, scarcely 
 half a century ago, it was by far the most destitute of natural productions 
 of any habitable land on the globe. No species of grain was known to the 
 natives ; not a single fruit worthy of notice grew wild ; not an edible root of 
 any value was produced. The only game was the shy kangaroo, and a few 
 species of birds ; domestic animals were unknown ; and the only carnivorous 
 animal was the dingo or native dog. 
 
 In some districts, especially upon the seaward slope of the hills, where 
 there is an accumulation of moisture, the forests present something of a 
 tropical character ; lofty trees spread their umbrageous branches about, with 
 great cable-like creepers climbing from tree to tree, forming an almost im- 
 pervious mass. But the prevalent native tree is the f gum-tree.' These 
 trees usually stand wide apart, their bare stems covered with ragged bark 
 like worn-out matting. The leaves are few and scattered, so that they afford 
 but little shade. They spread over the most barren and rocky ground, where 
 there is apparently not a particle of soil. The ground is destitute of under- 
 brush, but scattered around on the brown surface are old decayed branches 
 and trunks often blackened by fire, with which also the still living trees are 
 frequently scarred. This is 'the Bush' — the scene of so much wild ro- 
 mance and startling adventure in the early days of the colony. 
 
 But the ' Plains' are the characteristic feature of Australia. These are 
 jpen park-like intervals, where the gum-trees stand singly or in clumps, and 
 She undulating ground is covered with rich and luxuriant grass. These 
 plains sometimes stretch away for hundreds of miles, over the broad plateaux 
 and table-lands, or are broken by rocky ranges, and end in deep gullies 
 Over these plains the stockman drives his herds, or the shepherd his flocks, 
 for days or weeks, without meeting any serious interruption to his progress. 
 or without failure of the pasturage except in seasons of drought. Thes* 
 
460 AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 plains are the feeding-places of those mighty herds of cattle and horses, and 
 those vast droves of sheep, 'of noble race, whose feet' — so runs the old 
 Spanish saying — 'turn all they touch to gold.' Those plains are the sources 
 of wealth to Australia, more permanent, and perhaps not less valuable than 
 her new-found gold-deposits." 
 
 The first settlers, in the natives, found none to dispute with them possession 
 df the country, and to repeat upon the soil of Australia, those horrid acts of 
 cruelty and massacre, which mark the early history of the settlement of the 
 Americamcontinent. The aborigines were comparatively few, they cultivated 
 no soil, and their only dwellings consisted merely of a few bits of bark set 
 upright as a protection from the wind ; a fire in front, completed their habita- 
 tion. They never probably numbered over a 100,000. Since the settlement 
 they have fast melted away before the rough convicts and settlers, who have 
 shot them down as recklessly as if they had been wild animals. They are 
 exceedingly degraded, entirely destitute of any form of government or chief- 
 tainship, and all attempts to civilize them have been signal failures. Like 
 our own Utah Indians, nothing comes amiss to their appetites ; worms, the 
 larvae of insects, and human flesh, are eaten with the keenest relish. A large 
 white grub with a black head, found in the honeysuckle and cherry tree, is 
 a peculiarly favorite article of food. They discover the grubs by knocking 
 on the tree and then putting their ears to it to listen, they will open it with a 
 tomahawk at the very spot where the grubs are to be found. The women 
 carry their children on their backs in a basket or bag ; and " when they 
 suckle them," writes a late lady resident, " they generally put their breast 
 tinder their arm ; and I have seen them put it over their shoulder." 
 
 They seem to have little idea of the Supreme Being ; and like all uncivil- 
 ized people, are profound believers in enchantment and sorcery. The notion 
 of their own origin is most absurd, viz : that they were brought to this island 
 from some unknown land, on the backs of crows. When a person sleeps, 
 they say, "he is away over the water," fancying that the spirit has returned 
 during slumber to its native land. Their code of honor is unique. The 
 challenged offers his hand to the challenger, who gives it a smart blov. 
 The other in turn reciprocates the compliment, and thus they alternately ooa 
 tinue, until the wounded honor of the offended party is satisfied. 
 
 Their treatment of the female sex is the most atrocious. Their courtship 
 consists in the most brutal violence. The intending husband, hi>VtBig con- 
 trived to find alone the unhappy victim of his inclination, begina \jy beating 
 her to the ground with a club, then accumulating blows upon bl« vs, till she 
 becomes altogether senseless, when he drags her to his hovel, regardless of 
 her striking against shrubs and stones, till, under such promising auspices, she 
 is fixed in his domestic establishment. All their subsequent lit j is of a piece 
 with this outset. Several of the colonists in vain attempted to count the scars 
 with which the heads of these unfortunate females were Vttrieofated. The 
 grandest ceremony of their life consists in a sort of initiation of the youth, 
 by which they are entitled to assume spear and shield, ani to fight. There 
 is a general assemblage of the tribe and neighborhood, and, after a variety 
 of strange ceremonies or dances, consisting chiefly in itaitaticg the gestures 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 4G1 
 
 and movements of the kangaroo, the youth has a tooth struck out, and is 
 thereby invested with all the prerogatives of manhood. All attempts to wean 
 them from this mode of life have been abortive. Bennillong, one of them, 
 was induced to go to England, was there dressed after the English fashion, 
 behaved with tolerable propriety, and appeared to enjoy himself; but im- 
 mediately on his return, he found himself deserted and despised by his 
 countrymen for these foreign attainments, and lost no time in resuming his 
 nakedness, his wildness, his spear and his club. As is usual among savages, 
 and in this case but too natural, they have done no more than add the vices 
 of the newly arrived colonists to their own. They have learned drinking 
 thieving, and importunate begging. Endowed with great talents for mimicry, 
 they readily acquire the language, and become complete adepts in the slang 
 of St. Giles's; and in the war of words with the convicts they fearlessly en- 
 counter the most able veteran, and generally come off victorious. 
 
 "The weapons of the aborigines were the club, the spear — they do not 
 seem to have been acquainted with the bow — and the boomerang. This last 
 weapon is peculiar to the aborigines of Australia, and its mode of action is a 
 puzzle to mathematicians. It is simply a crooked piece of hard wood, three 
 feet long and three inches broad, pointed at each end, the concave side a 
 quarter of an inch thick, the convex side made sharp. The native takes it 
 by one end, and flings it sickle-wise with his hand, when it of course revolves 
 as though upon an axis. If he wishes to strike an object at a distance, he 
 flings it toward the ground, as a boy does a flat stone upon the water to make 
 it 'skip.' And just so the boomerang goes skipping to its mark. If he 
 wishes to throw it so that it shall fall at his own feet, he flings it at a particu- 
 lar angle up into the air ; away goes the boomerang whizzing and whirling in 
 ascending curves, until all at once it turns short round, and flies back directly 
 to its master. And so, by altering the angle at which it is thrown, the 
 weapon strikes at any point behind him. In like manner, the boomerang may 
 be thrown around an intervening object, actualizing, in a fashion, the old joke 
 of the crooked gun to shoot around a corner. The weapon is useless in the 
 nands of a European, being quite as likely to strike the thrower as the object 
 aimed at ; but in the hands of a native it is a formidable missile, striking 
 from the most unsuspected direction, in spite of any defense. You sit uncon- 
 cernedly behind a rock or tree, thinking yourself safe from an attack in the 
 rear ; but the boomerang doubles the corner, and is upon you. That inno- 
 cent-looking native, walking off with his back to you, may be at the instant 
 taking aim at you with the inevitable back-flying boomerang. It doubtless 
 originated from the necessity, in hunting the kangaroo, that the shy animal 
 should not see his assailant ; but it is singular that so barbarous a people 
 should have invented such a weapon." 
 
 The settlement of Australia arose from the war of the American revolution. 
 The accumulation of criminals in the gaols of England at the end of that strug- 
 gle was very great, and projects for transporting them began to be discussed 
 among the English statesmen and philanthropists. America, which had been the 
 grand outlet for banished rogues of the mother country, being closed against 
 them. From a very early day the rogues and vagabonds of the mothe? 
 
462 AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 country were transported to America, and sold as slaves to work upon the 
 plantations. Captain John Smith, the celebrated founder of Virginia, in 
 1619, in vain protested against the introduction of this class of persons ; bu* 
 as a kind of compensation for it two lots of girls, 150 in number, " young and 
 incorrupt," were sent out and sold as wives. The first brought one hundred 
 and twenty pounds of tobacco each, and the second rather more. 
 
 De Foe, the celebrated author of Robinson Crusoe, in his history of Moll 
 Flanders, written in 1683, "unquestionably gives a true picture of the life led 
 by the convicts on the American plantations, as his tales were generally 
 founded upon fact." Moll Flanders was born in Newgate, and, an the story 
 runs, visited Virginia, where, among the matters which her mother-in-law 
 gossipped with her about were those respecting the country and the people. 
 
 " Among the rest," says Moll, " she often told me how the greatest part of 
 the inhabitants of that colony came thither in very indifferent circumstances, 
 from England ; that, generally speaking, they were of two sorts. First, such 
 as were brought over by masters of ships, to be sold as servants ; or, Second, 
 such as are transported, after having been guilty of crimes punishable with 
 death. When they come here, says she, we make no difference ; the planters 
 buy them, and they work together in the field until their time is out ; 
 when it is expired they have encouragement given to plant for themselves, for 
 they have a certain number of acres allotted them by the country, and they 
 go to work to clear and cure the land, and then to plant it with tobacco and 
 corn for their own use ; and, as the merchant will trust them with tools and 
 necessaries upon the credit of their crop before it is grown, so they again 
 plant every year a little more than the year before, and so buy whatever 
 they want with the crop that is before them. Hence, many a Newgate bird 
 becomes a great man, and we have several justices of the peace, officers of 
 the trained bands, and magistrates of the towns they live in, that have been 
 burnt in the hand. She was going on in that part of the story, when her 
 own part in it interrupted her, and with a great deal of good-humored confi- 
 dence, she told she was one of the second sort of inhabitants herself; that she 
 came away openly, having ventured too far in a particular case, so that she 
 was become a criminal; and here's the mark of it, child, says she, and showed 
 rne a very white arm and hand, but branded in the inside of the hand as in 
 such cases it must be. This story was very moving to me, but my mother, 
 smiling, said, you need not think such a thing strange, daughter, for some 
 of the best men in the country are burnt in the hand, and they are not 
 
 ashamed to own it. There's Major , says she, he was an eminent 
 
 pick-pocket ; there's Justice Ba r, was a shoplifter, and both of them were 
 
 burnt in the hand, and I could name you several such as they are 
 
 'Tis that cursed place, Newgate, says my mother, that half peoples this 
 colony." Not a very pleasant foundation for hereditary pretensions among 
 some of the ancient families of the Old Dominion, if this passage from the 
 fiction of De Foe be, indeed, veritable truth ! 
 
 Dr. Lingard, in his History of England, quotes a petition, describing the 
 condition of seventy persons apprehended on account of a local rebellion, whc 
 had been sold at Barbadoes, for one thousand five hundred and fifty pound» 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 46;} 
 
 of sugar apiece, more or less, according to their working faculties. Among 
 them were divines, officers, and gentlemen, who were represented as "grind- 
 ing at the mills, attending at the furnaces, and digging in that scorching 
 island ; whipped at whipping-posts, and sleeping in sties worse than hogs in 
 England." 
 
 It was not uncommon for those in authority to use any means to sell for 
 personal profit all such unfortunates as were brought before them. For 
 instance, it is mentioned that the mayor, aldermen, and justices of Bristol, 
 finding their legal convicts few, and the exportation inconsiderable, contrived 
 to make it more plentiful. When, therefore, any petty rogues were brought 
 before them, they were sure to be terribly threatened with hanging. Upon 
 this some of the officers attending were sure to advise the ignorant, intimidated 
 creatures to pray for transportation, as the only means of saving their lives ; 
 and, in general, by some means or other, the advice was followed ; then, 
 without any more form, each alderman in turn took one and sold him for his 
 own benefit. 
 
 This system, and the demand for labor, led to frequent cases of kidnapping 
 the poor and friendless, and of parties who had made themselves obnoxious 
 to any powerful and unscrupulous individuals. Thus, debtors got rid of 
 their creditors, wives of their husbands, and guardians of their wards. 
 
 In London, one hundred years ago, were regular offices for entrapping 
 young men, who, pressed by temporary difficulties, and unacquainted with 
 the world, were easily seduced by the keepers, to ship themselves to the new 
 world, where they were to revel in numberless delights, but, where, in 
 reality, they were to be plunged into the miseries of compulsory servitude. 
 This practice went under the name of crimping. In the feeble state of the 
 press and of public opinion, these atrocities excited little attention. 
 
 And, worse than this, poor children were stolen in large numbers. Among 
 such was Peter Williamson, a Scotch lad of respectable parentage. In 1740, 
 and when ten years of age, he was sent on a visit to his aunt at Aberdeen ; 
 one day, prompted by childish curiosity, he strolled down to the wharf : while 
 looking at the shipping he was accosted by two men, and persuaded to go on 
 board their vessel. From the deck he was invited to go below, and there 
 found a large number of children, who had been inveigled on board on the 
 same seductive promises as luckless Peter. 
 
 From evidence afterward brought to light, it appears that at least two 
 merchants were immediately concerned in this odious transaction, which was 
 not unknown to, and was privily sanctioned by the public authorities of 
 Aberdeen. The trade was carried on under the color of indenturing appren- 
 tices for service in the plantations. Lads, it seems, from time to time, 
 offered themselves apprentices to go abroad ; parents also, occasionally, from 
 the pressure of poverty, would bring a boy to be enlisted for this pretend - 
 edly desirable kind of employment; the magistrates, likewise, handed over all 
 vagrant youths, and by these various means the exporters carried on a trade 
 which does not seem to have been held as particularly infamous, though they 
 did not scruple to steal children and dispose of them abroad as ai tides of 
 me/ chandize. 
 
464 AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 The trade of these Aberdeen Kidnappers was carried on with so little leai 
 of legal impediment that Peter and the other entrapped children were trans- 
 ferred from the vessel to a barn in the neighborhood until the required num- 
 ber of youths was complete. The disappearance of the nephew alarmed the 
 aunt, and communicating her suspicions to his father, he came to Aberdeen 
 to search for his lost child. Here, having learned from rumor, that a num- 
 ber of youths were confined in a barn previous to their deportation to America, 
 he proceeded to the spot, but was unable to gain admittance, nor was he per- 
 mitted to see his son. Abandoning the search as hopeless, he went home to 
 the disconsolate mother of his child. That he should thus have tamely sub- 
 mitted to being robbed of his son, is ascribable to the partial administration 
 of justice in Scotland a century ago. 
 
 The barn at the time contained from forty to fifty young persons of differ- 
 ent ages, voluntary and compulsory candidates for transportation ; and, while 
 carefully watched to prevent escape, the whole were kept in a constant state 
 of merriment by the well-plied strains of a bagpipe. 
 
 After a detention of about a month the vessel set sail for America. The 
 party arrived at Philadelphia, and were offered for sale to those in want of 
 servants. The transaction proved profitable, as the captain sold the whole 
 lot at from fifty to ninety dollars apiece. The transfer was not for a perma- 
 nent bondage, but only for a limited term of years. Peter was sold for seven 
 years, and brought the sum of seventy-two dollars, which left a handsome 
 profit for the trifling expense of his passage and keep since the day of his 
 capture. He was fortunate in being bought by a countryman, Hugh Wilson, 
 a native of Perth, who had been kidnapped himself, and could compassionate 
 others subjected to the same calamity. At seventeen years of age Peter lost 
 his master, who bequeathed to him his liberty, and a large sum of money. 
 Without pursuing his history in detail further, we only state that he subse- 
 quently married — moved on to the frontier — was taken prisoner by the 
 Indians — escaped, and eventually returned to his native country, where he 
 died in 1799, leaving a character for enterprise and honesty. 
 
 Before the revolutionary war, the introduction of the more easily managed 
 and laborious negroes had rendered the colonists hostile to the importation of 
 white convicts for slaves. As previously observed, that war closed America 
 against them, and the plan was adopted by the English government of 
 " shoveling" out their criminals on the shores of the Antipodes; and Botany 
 Bay was selected as the site of the proposed penal colony, with a cool, care- 
 less indifference whether the spot had the natural means of supporting it 
 As little judgment and humanity was exercised in selecting the colonists as 
 the colony. 
 
 The first fleet sailed on the 13th of May, 1787, and consisted of about two 
 hundred soldiers under Captain Arthur Phillips, the first governor, and eight 
 hundred and fifty convicts, two hundred and fifty of whom were not only 
 abandoned females, but many of them aged, infirm, and idiotic. This fearful 
 disproportion of sexes was increased until there were six men to one woman, 
 
 d the results became too horrible for record. After they had embarked, at 
 last moment, as an afterthought, a chaplain was sent on board. Thera 
 
AUSTRALIA, TEE LAND OF GOLD. 465 
 
 was no school-master, no superintendent, no overseers, except marines, with 
 loaded muskets, in case of revolt. No agriculturist was sent to teach the 
 highwaymen and pickpockets to plow, and delve, and sow. Even the sup- 
 ply of mechanics required for erecting the needful houses and stores, was left 
 a matter of chance, dependent on the trades of the six hundred felons ; and, 
 as it turned out, there were not half a dozen carpenters, only one brick-layer, 
 and not one mechanic in the whole settlement capable of erecting a 
 corn-mill. 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1788, the convict fleet arrived at Botany Bay, but 
 it being found an unsuitable place, they made their first settlement at the 
 spot where now stands the town of Sydney, some eighteen miles distant ; but 
 the name Botany Bay for a long time designated the whole colony. 
 
 The first years of the colony were miserable enough, and the powers vested 
 in the governor such, that all the labor was at his disposal, all the land, all 
 the stores, and all the places of honor and profit, and virtually all the justice. 
 
 Amazement and horror overcome us when we look back on the early days 
 of New South Wales, as this first settled province was called. Under an 
 absolute government, the settlers were crowded together in a narrow space — 
 a promontory cleared of a dense forest. The soil was a barren sand — every 
 yard required for cultivation had to be gained by removing enormous trees 
 of a hardness that tried the temper of the best axes. On one side was an 
 unknown shore, and a shipless sea ; on the other an apparently limitless 
 country, inhabited by savages, in which not a step could be taken without 
 danger of being lost ; a country which produced no wild root or food fit for 
 the sustenance of man. The mass of the community were slaves — slaves, too, 
 without the contented spirits of negroes or Russian serfs, for they had been 
 born in a free country. Far from all civilizing, humanizing influences, in 
 such society, the finest natures became brutalized into tyrants, while the 
 criminals under their command dragged on a miserable existence, or rebelled 
 with all the doggedness of despair. 
 
 More vessels continued to arrive with convicts. In 1790, the third year of 
 the colonization, the whole colony would have starved but for the timely 
 arrival of a store ship. Shortly after four ships entered the harbor of Sydney, 
 in which the greater number of the felons were in a dying state. Many had 
 already died from the continued effects of fevers, foul air, and bad food. The 
 men had been chained together in rows, and confined below nearly through- 
 out the voyage, in order to save trouble. On board one of the ships several 
 of the prisoners died in irons ; their companions concealed their deaths in 
 order to share the extra allowance of provisions, and the horrible fact was 
 noi discovered, so slight was the supervision, until betrayed by the disgusting 
 stench. At that time, the more, and the sooner prisoners died, the more pro- 
 fitable was the transaction to the contractor ; so they died commonly like rot- 
 ten sheep. In those days transportation to New South Wales was almost as 
 terrible as death. There was no hope of liberation ; the will of a ruffian 
 overseer, himself a convict, was law, and death was the punishment of the 
 most trifling crime", and even a reproachful look was sure to be punisbe.b 
 with the lash. 
 30 
 
466 AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 It was not until five years after Governor Phillips's landing that even a tem- 
 porary church was erected, and divine worship performed. 
 
 The office of the governor was no sinecure : he had a large body of con- 
 victs under his command who would not work, and who would drink, and 
 who were, therefore, dependent for subsistence on supplies from England and 
 India. By every ship that left the harbor there was an attempt, generally 
 successful, on the part of the convicts, to escape, and it was no wonder, as the 
 whole population was annually put on short allowance of food, and very often 
 in danger of actual starvation. 
 
 At this period, and for more than twenty years, rum was the ordinary cur- 
 rency of the colony. Almost all extra work was paid for in spirits, and, 
 among free and bond, drunkenness was universal. The tyranny of the pri- 
 soner overseers was so great that the best inclined convicts were goaded to 
 recklessness and crime. Criminal assaults on women were so common that 
 the poor unfortunates were designated by a title expressive of the insults they 
 had received. 
 
 In those early years New South Wales was a complete hell. An idea of 
 the tyranny practised upon the miserable wretches, whose crimes had 
 banished them from their native land, is forcibly given in these extracts, from 
 the voluntary statements of some of the early convicts, made in 1845, to Mrs. 
 Chisholm, a philanthropic lady, to whose exertions in finding employment for 
 the emigrant females, and in other plans for the welfare of the people, Aus- 
 ;ralia is greatly indebted. 
 
 The first statement we quote is that of Joseph Smith. Like all the old set- 
 tlers he was honored with a nickname: Smaskem was the one given him, from 
 the blunt energy with which he always spoke his mind, alike to high and low. 
 
 Joseph Smith's statement. I arrived in the colony fifty-six years since, 
 [1794] ; it was Governor Phillips's time, and I was fourteen years old ; there 
 were only eight houses in the colony then. I know that myself and eighteen 
 others laid in a hollow tree for seventeen weeks, and cooked out of a kettle 
 with a wooden bottom : We used to stick it in a hole in the ground, and 
 make a fire round it. I was sew^ vears in service (bond), and then started 
 working for a living, wherever I could get it. There was plenty of hardship 
 then. I have often taken grass and pounded it, and made soup from a 
 native dog. I would eat anything then. For seventeen weeks I had only 
 five ounces of flour a day. We never got a full ration except a ship was in 
 harbor. The motto was " kill them or work them, their provision will be in 
 store." Many a time have I been yoked like a bullock with twenty or thirty 
 others to drag along timber. About eight hundred died in six months at a 
 place called Toongabbie, or Constitution Hill. I knew a man so weak that he 
 was thrown into the grave, when he said, " Don't cover me up — I'm not 
 dead — for God's sake, don't cover me up !" The overseer answered, " D — n 
 your eyes, you'll die to-night, and we shall have the trouble to come back 
 again !" The man recovered: his name is James Glasshouse, and he is now 
 alive at Richmond. 
 
 They used to have a large hole for the dead. Once a-day men were sent 
 down to 'ollect the corpses of prisoners, and throw them in without ceremony 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 467 
 
 o» service. The native dogs used to come down at night, and fight and 
 howl in packs, gnawing the poor dead bodies. 
 
 The governor ordered the lash at the rate of 500, 600, or 800, and if the 
 men could have stood it, they would have had more. I knew a man hung 
 there for stealing a few biscuit, and another for stealing a duck-frock. A 
 man was condemned — no time — take him to the tree and hang him. The 
 overseers were allowed to flog men in the fields. Often have men been taken 
 from the gang, had fifty and sent back to work. Any man would ha\e com- 
 mitted murder for a month's provisions ; I would have committed three 
 (murders) for a weeks provisions ! I was chained seven weeks on my back, 
 
 for being out getting greens, wild herbs. The Rev. used to come it 
 
 tightly to force some confession. Men were obliged to tell lies, to prevent 
 their bowels from being cut out with the lash. 
 
 Old (an overseer) killed three men in a fortnight at the saw, with 
 
 over work. We used to be taken in large parties to raise a tree ; when the 
 
 body of the tree was raised, he (old ) would call some of the men 
 
 away — then more ; the men were bent double — they could not bear it — they 
 fell — the tree on one or two, killed on the spot. " Take him away ; put him 
 in the ground ! There was no more about it." 
 
 Mrs. Smith's Statement : This lady was the wife of the above. She was 
 blind, and acted as she spoke, and wept on recalling the horrors of her early 
 
 life. u I have seen Dr. ," says she, " take a woman who was in the 
 
 family way, with a rope round her, and duck her in the water at Queen's 
 wharf. This was a common punishment for female prisoners. The laws 
 were bad then. If a gentleman wanted a man's wife, he would send the 
 husband to Norfolk Island. I have seen a man flogged for pulling six tur- 
 nips instead of five. One Deprey was overseer, the biggest villain that ever 
 lived — delighted in torment. He used to walk up and down, and rub his 
 hands when the blood ran. When he walked out his flogger walked behind 
 him. He died a miserable death — maggots eat him up — not a man could be 
 found to bury him. I have seen six men executed for stealing twenty-one 
 pounds of flour. I have seen a man struck when at work, with a handspike, 
 and killed on the spot. I have seen men in tears around Gov. > -beg- 
 ging for food. He would mock them with, ■ yes, yes, gentlemen ; Til make 
 you comfortable ; give you a nightcap, and a pair of stockings.' " 
 
 Henry Hale's Statement: I arrived in the third fleet on the 16th of October 
 1791 ; I was sent to Toongabbie. For nine months there I was on five 
 ounces of flour a day — when weighed out, barely four, served daily. In 
 those days we were yoked to draw timber, twenty-five in a g*ing. The 
 sticks were six feet long ; six men abreast. We held the stick behind us, 
 and dragged with our hands. One man came ashore in the Pitt ; his name 
 was Dixon ; he was a guardsman ; he was put to the drag ; it soon did for 
 him. He began on a Thursday, and died on a Saturday, as he was dragging 
 a load down Constitution Hill. There were 1,300 died there in six months. 
 Men used to carry trees on their shoulders. How they used to die ! The 
 men were weak — dreadfully weak — for wan} of food. A man named Gib- 
 raltar, was hung for stealing a loaf out of the governor's kitchen. He got 
 
468 AUSTKALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 down the chimney, stole the loaf, had a trial, and was hung the next day at 
 sunrise. At this time a full ration was allowed the governor's dog. This was 
 
 Gov. . I have seen seventy men flogged at night, twenty-five lashes 
 
 each. On Sunday evening they used to read the laws ; if a man was found 
 out of ",amp, he got twenty-five. The women used to be punished with iron 
 collars. In Governor King's time they used to douse them overboard ; they 
 killed one." After a lapse of years the character of the colonists began to 
 improve by the arrival of free settlers from Great Britain, to whom lands 
 were granted, and convicts to labor upon them furnished. 
 
 The emigrants have principally settled in three colonies : New Soutb 
 Wales, of which Sidney is the capital, having as previously stated, been the 
 first settled as a penal colony. Victoria, which lies at the south-eastern 
 angle of the island, was first settled in 1835. Its capital is Melbourne. This 
 is the most flourishing of all the colonies, as within it the richest gold de- 
 posits have been found. South Australia, founded the same year as Vic- 
 toria, lies west of it, and Adelaide is its capital. In the spring of 1851, the 
 population of these colonies amounted to 322,000, less than that of the state 
 of Connecticut. In the spring of 1853, owing to the gold discovery, the 
 inhabitants had increased to about two millions, among whom were thou- 
 sands of Californians, with other emigrants from our Republic. 
 
 At Sidney, the society is divided into three classes, the aristocracy or ex- 
 clusives, who maintaining their position very rigidly, are called " exclusion- 
 ists ;" the liberated convicts or "emancipists," and the convicts. These 
 distinctions of caste, are rigidly enforced, but in the interior far less so. 
 Society here, and in the other ports, is now, in the main, like that in Europe. 
 The lowest grade of convicts are imprisoned at New South Wales, or trans- 
 ported to Norfolk Island, an exquisitely beautiful islet, several hundred 
 miles east of Sidney. Most of the public works in the large towns, were con- 
 structed by convicts, strongly guarded by the police and soldiery. The 
 emancipists frequently amass considerable fortunes. Convicts, for several 
 years past, have not been imported to Australia. They are now principally 
 sent from England direct to Van Dieman's Land, and to Chatham island, near 
 two thousand miles south-east of Australia. New South Wales is the only 
 settlement : n Australia formed by convicts, the others having been settled 
 exclusively oy voluntary emigrants. The Island of Van Dieman's Land may 
 be considered as a part of Australia ; it lies about 140 miles south of it, and 
 is about the size of the State of South Carolina. 
 
 The term convict, is never used in Australia. On first landing, the con- 
 victs were called canaries ; in reference to the color of their clothing ; after a 
 due probation, they were exalted to the name of "government men." .The 
 emancipists who set up trades, it is said, maintain even a more punctilious 
 honesty, than the same class of tradesmen in England ; conscious, from the 
 delicate footing on which their character stands, that the smallest slip would 
 be sufficient to overthrow it, and make them be considered as having 
 thoroughly relapsed into all their old habits. It is an important observation, 
 that the young men born in the colony of convict parents, acquire generally a 
 character the reverse of that set them by their progenitors. Their example 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 469 
 
 seems rather to act upon them as a warning, of the misery and degradation 
 which irregular conduct produces. Those born in Australia, go by the fanci- 
 ful name of "the currency." The currency are said to be fine spirited 
 youths, yet from some cause of climate or country, they have the same tall 
 form and pallid aspect, which present themselves in the children of our back- 
 woods. They are much attached to the land of their birth, and have a con- 
 tempt for the mother country, which is by no means lessened by a visit to it. 
 
 The numerous runaway convicts form a dangerous and destructive body, 
 called the bush-rangers, who have often disturbed the peace of the interior 
 districts, and rendered property, and even life precarious. They formerly 
 conducted their plunder on a great scale, and even with forms of honor and 
 courtesy, which seemed very foreign to its nature. The rigorous measures 
 of the government have put down the system. The most efficient instrument 
 for hunting the bush-rangers, is the institution of the black mounted police. 
 Woe betide the unhappy bushranger whose trail is struck by one of these 
 active and dangerous Australian savages. His empty-handed pursuer finds 
 arms upon the road, and smites his victim with stones. " However superior 
 in bodily strength, however desperate his courage, the robber has no chance 
 against the black scout, unless possessed of fire-arms. The latter attacks 
 him with a running fire of stones, thrown with such vigor and accuracy, thai 
 a few minutes would suffice to cut to pieces, or disable the former. The 
 superior agility of the savage, effectually prevents close quarters; and as for re- 
 sisting with the same weapons, so expert is the scout in dodging, that the poor 
 clumsy white man might as well pelt a shadow. An instance is related of a 
 native following for days, a runaway prisoner armed with a musket. Having 
 exhausted the little food he had brought with him, the white man was at length 
 compelled by hunger, to fire at a bird, and ere he could reload, he was felled 
 by a stone, followed by a sustained battery, which soon placed both man and 
 musket in the power of the wily savage." 
 
 It was early discovered that much of the land in Australia, was unsur 
 passed for pasturing cattle and sheep. The escape of two bulls and four 
 cows into " the bush," during the first year of the settlement, at the time, 
 regarded as a great calamity, proved ultimately an immense gain, and the 
 origin of the immense herds of cattle which now cover the plains of Austra- 
 lia. About the same time, it was ascertained that the hairy wool of a few 
 sheep, which had been brought from India, became much finer among the 
 rich pasture of the plains. A British officer, named M'Arthur, from the 
 hint thus obtained, imported a few merinos. From these sprung these count- 
 less flocks, which have made this the greatest wool-growing country in the 
 world. 
 
 The introduction of flocks and herds effected a great change in Australian 
 society. Many of the convicts having served out their time, retrieved their 
 characters, and the free emigrants coming in rapidly, at length greatly out- 
 numbered the convicts. 
 
 Persons of all characters, and every variety of previous habits, have of 
 late years emigrated from England, and planted themselves in Australia, as 
 sheep farmers, each family settling in some rude hut, in the center of its 
 
470 AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 11 run," or sheep walk, rarely at less than five miles from another Thus 
 transplanted all at once from English parlor "life, perhaps, from some learned 
 and elegant profession, into a primeval solitude, and left to their own re- 
 sources, they experienced a change of life unknown in other climes. Young 
 men who have figured in quadrille parties in their native land, find occupa- 
 tion in driving cars and drags, or milking cows ; while ladies, who once pre- 
 sided over a refined hospitality in a British city, are in " the bush," fain to 
 cook victuals for their husband and his shepherds. Labor and exposure, 
 however, are here attended with an excitement which prevents anything like 
 low spirits, and joined to the fine climate, tend to keep up a tone of health 
 which few in civilized life ever enjoy. Then there is no eye of fashionable 
 neighbor, to look pityingly or quizzingly on the details of the mud-house, 
 and the life which passes within it. Above all, the star of hope is present, 
 instructing how to bear with the present for the sake of the future. 
 
 The life of the Australian shepherd is thus described : " He rises at the 
 break of day, makes his breakfast of mutton, unleavened bread baked in the 
 ashes, known as " damper," and tea, made in " bush fashion," by boiling 
 the Chinese leaf in an open kettle with sugar and milk. He now takes his 
 pipe, a blackened dudheen redolent of fragrant " negro-head" and " pig-tail," 
 and drives his flock a-field. The flock feed walking, and it is the shepherd's 
 duty to keep with them, letting them go where they please, unless they 
 approach too near the "scrub," when he must head them off. By the time 
 the sun has reached mid-heaven, he turns them toward some creek or water- 
 hole, where, after they have drank, they camp down in a ring, with their 
 heads turned socially toward the center. This is the time when an Arcadian 
 shepherd would tune his pipes ; his Australian brother, if of a musical turn, 
 solaces the hour with a Jews-harp, or an accordion. These instruments, 
 accordingly, figure largely in the list of imports, five hundred of the latter, 
 and fifty gross of the former, being no extravagant venture by a single ves- 
 sel ; and a shepherd has been known to walk a couple of hundred miles to 
 purchase one of these solacers of his weary hours. As evening approaches, 
 he drives his flock homeward, shuts them in the fold, and delivers them to 
 the charge of the hut-keeper. He then makes his supper of the unvarying 
 mutton, and damper, and tea, and his day's work is done. If the night is 
 clear, as it usually is in Australia, the sheep need no watching till midnight, 
 at which hour the watch takes his post near the fold. If the night is stormy 
 it invites the attacks of the dingo, or native dog, and the watch must walk 
 about his woolly charge. The wages of the shepherd, previous to the disco- 
 very of gold, were from sixty to one hundred dollars a year, with abundant 
 rations of meat, flour, tea and sugar ; what further luxuries he wishes, he pro- 
 vides for himself. If a man were an oyster, no pleasanter life could be asked. 
 For months at a time he may not see a single human face by daylight ; and 
 by firelight only those of the companions of his hut. Even the busy times ot 
 shearing and washing do not disturb the monotony of his life ; for these more 
 active operations are usually performed by itinerant professors, who travel 
 from station to station, busying themselves during the remainder of the year 
 in other occupations. A strike among the tailors in London, some years 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 471 
 
 since, and the consequent emigration of many of the craft, furnished Australia 
 with a number of amateur shearers, who wielded the blades as deftly upon 
 the fleece as they had been wont to do upon the web. 
 
 For the more stirring and adventurous spirits among the colonists, the care 
 of cattle affords a more congenial occupation. The Australian "stockman" 
 is a sort of a Europeanized Tartar. He lives on horseback, and scarcely 
 enters a hut, except to sleep. His food is beef and " damper ;" his pride is 
 his horse ; he scorns those who plow and sow, and above all things, despises 
 a " crawling shepherd." In his " run" the stockman is a king ; his cattle 
 are his subjects ; his saddle is his throne ; his scepter is the stock-whip. This 
 is a thong of leather twelve or fourteen feet long, weighing a couple of 
 pounds, thick at the "belly," and tapering to the end, where it is finished 
 off by silken cracker, and attached to a handle not more than eighteen inches, 
 long. Bearing this official scepter, the " stockman, from his saddle throne, 
 keeps watch over his pasture-ground. Woe to the unlucky beast who, 
 attempts to stray beyond the limits ; the stockman is upon him at once, with 
 his whip, each blow of which, from a practiced hand, cuts through hide and 
 flesh to the very bone. Dexterity in the use of this weapon can be acquired 
 only by long practice ; and the young stockman expectant devotes all his lei- 
 sure to its acquirement, with the grave devotion and persistence of a juvenile 
 practitioner on the violin or French horn ; and makes quite as much noise in 
 attaining a respectable proficiency. At noon, the herds are assembled at the. 
 " camping-ground," close by a watercourse, if possible, where they lie 
 chewing the cud. It takes a year or two to teach a new herd to betake 
 themselves to the spot at the proper hour. The stockman trains them to this, 
 by riding about, and flogging every beast found straying at camp hours. In 
 the course of time the whole herd get so trained, that, at the cracking of the 
 whip, which rings like a musket-shot, they gallop spontaneously to camp. 
 The life of the stockman has at times the excitement of a bull-fight. Once a 
 year the cattle are mustered for inspection and branding, and a maddened 
 bull not unfrequently breaks away from the yard, and heads back for the 
 bush ; a stockman gallops after him, and cuts his flanks with the terrible 
 whip ; the beast turns when his pursuer is close beside him, and unless both 
 horse and rider are wary, the steed is impaled on the horns of the infuriated 
 bull. But, sooner or later, the bullock is subdued, and makes his way back 
 to the yard, his hide covered with mingled blood and foam, his eyes glaring, 
 and tongue protruding, with agony and fear. 
 
 The bullock-driver is a sort of necessary mediator between the city and the 
 pastoral regions. He conducts the enormous carts, with their loads of wool, 
 to market, and brings back the annual returns of stores, and articles of luxury 
 and necessity. His slow journey sometimes occupies two or three months, up 
 the steep mountain side, over apparently impracticable roads, through heat 
 and dust, rain and snow. During the whole time he does not probably once 
 enter a human dwelling, sleeping in his vehicle, while his dog keeps charge; 
 01 er his bullocks, turned out to gather their food. The setting out and return 
 o* the dray are the great annual events in the lives of the settlejs in the Bush,, 
 
472 AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 
 
 for they are almost the sole links which bind the solitary inhabitants to the 
 great world beyond." 
 
 It is impossible to discover from his attire the previous condition of the 
 Australian settler. He may have been a London exquisite, and have prided 
 himself in the polish of his manners as well as the polish of his boots, brilliant 
 in unequaled Day and Martin, and in nicely fitting garments, cut by the 
 immortal Stultz. In Australia, his pride, like that of the Californian gold- 
 digger, takes an Antipodean direction. It shows itself in a face, enveloped, 
 bear-like, in a mass of hair, in a slouched hat, monkey-jacket, and coarse 
 trowsers, tucked in boots of bullock's hide — the whole set off by manners in 
 keeping with, and as boorish as his attire. 
 
 Every settler, when riding through the bush, carries either a kangaroo rug, 
 or a blanket fastened before him on his horse, so that wherever he goes, he 
 is provided with his bed ; and as it is not an uncommon occurrence for one to 
 lose himself in the bush, and be obliged to sleep at the root of a tree, his rug 
 or blanket comes in good service. On rising in the morning he may find 
 himself covered with frost ; but no harm will arise, as none in this climate 
 ever seem to take cold from sleeping out at night. 
 
 Evidence of gold in Australia has long been given. Twenty-five years 
 ago a convict found a " nugget" of gold, near where it has since been dis- 
 covered. His story was disbelieved, and he was flogged for a supposed 
 robbery. Occasionally gold was offered for sale to the jewelers of Sidney. 
 Scientific men, from the geological character of the country, have an- 
 nounced that it must be a gold producing region. In 1848, a Mr. Smith 
 found a piece of gold imbedded in a quartz rock, and offered to disclose the 
 spot, if government would give a reward of £800. The governor suspect- 
 ing it to be of California importation, refused the offer, but promised Mr. 
 Smith a liberal reward if the disclosure proved valuable ; but he declined this 
 promise ; it was too vague for his taste. Another individual, a Mr. Edward 
 Hargreaves, who had been attracted from Sidney to the gold fields of Cali- 
 fornia, on his return set about gold hunting in Australia, and in April, 1851, 
 communicated to the government, that as the result of two months' search, 
 he had discovered valuable deposits of gold, which he would reveal if com- 
 pensated. He received a reply similar to that of Mr. Smith, and possessing 
 more faith than that gentleman, he accepted the proposition, and first took 
 the government geologist to Summerhill Creek, near the town of Bathurst, 
 on the inland side of the mountains, 150 miles west of Sidney, the identical 
 district where an old convict, years before, had professed to have discovered 
 his nuggets. 
 
 A month later, the news began to spread, and hundreds flocked to the 
 place, which they named Ophir. A few weeks later these discoveries in 
 New South Wales, were surpassed by the still greater ones made in the ad- 
 joining colony of Victoria, at Ballarat, fifty miles north of Melbourne. And 
 these were in turn totally eclipsed by the more astounding revelations of Mt. 
 Alexander, where gold was found in quantities, compared to which, the 
 richest " diggin's" of California shrink to very moderate dimensions. At 
 
AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF GOLD. 473 
 
 with the gold discoveries in California, these made the whole population half 
 crazy. The sailor deserted his ship — the mechanic threw down his tools — 
 the carman left his team — the merchant his shop, and the whole population 
 like one great rushing wave, moved onward to the mines, impelled by the all 
 devouring thirst for gold. 
 
RUINED CITIES 
 
 or 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 BUIN8 OF LABPHAK IN YUCATAN. 
 
 Civilization of the Ancient Mexicans — Recent discoveries of the Ruined Cities — ExpoditiCM 
 of Del Rio and Du Paix— Labphak — the Traveler Stephens — Description of the Ruins of 
 Copan, Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen and Kabah — Artificial Fountains — Print of the Red 
 Hand— Speculations concerning the Origin of the Builders of these Cities— Evidences of an 
 Ancient Civilization in various Parts of the American Continent. 
 
 There is more of melancholy in the interest attached to an inquiry into the 
 vestiges of the past throughout America, than in that connected with similar 
 researches throughout the civilized portions of the Old World. In the latter 
 we start from a highly-developed state of civilization, to seek for the slender 
 source whence the mighty stream has sprung; and when we have found this, we 
 turn round with a feeling of delight and wonder to mark the blessings which 
 it has spread as it extended. Even in cases where a great nation and a 
 mighty civilization have ceased to occupy a place in the world, we have 
 nevertheless the assurance that this civilization laid the germ of another, 
 which succeeded it, and that though absorbed and superseded, it has not been 
 fruitless, or utterly lost. In America the case is different : the civilization 
 which now nourishes in many portions of this extensive continent is in no 
 manner connected with its past history or its ancient inhabitants ; it has, on 
 the contrary, proved the most inveterate foe of both, with contemptuous 
 
 475 
 
476 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 superiority leaving the first utterly unheeded, while with relentless cupidity 
 it has persecuted the latter almost to extermination ; and it is not until within 
 a comparatively very recent period that the intruders on the soil of the New 
 World, have stopped to consider whether the history of the despised and 
 persecuted Red man might not be worthy of some attention. That this is the 
 case is now generally admitted ; and the conclusions toward which almost all 
 the inquiries into the early history and past civilization of the red race of 
 America seem to tend, are indeed, of the utmost interest, as they lead to a 
 strong presumption that the nations and tribes inhabiting these regions at the 
 period of the arrival of the Spaniards, were not people emerging from a state 
 of barbarism, and slowly working their way up in the social scale, but that, 
 on the contrary, they were descendants of a more civilized race, sinking 
 gradually from the high position they had once maintained, while some of them, 
 having outstepped the others in their downward career, had already sunk into 
 the condition of savages. These opinions have indeed but slowly gained 
 ground, and are not as yet by any means generally entertained. So accus- 
 tomed have historians hitherto been to see a movement from barbarism 
 upward, that when the European foot first stumbled over the vestiges of an 
 ancient and extinct civilization in the wilds of America, speculative intellects 
 at once set to work to find out what could have been the race that preceded 
 the Red men in the occupation of these countries, and which had probably 
 been exterminated by them. 
 
 When the Spaniards, in 1517 — after twenty-five years' occupation of the 
 West India islands, their first discoveries in the New World — landed upon 
 the coasts of Central America, they were struck with amazement at the con- 
 trast between the state of the countries which now opened to their view, and 
 those with which they had previously become acquainted in these regions. 
 Instead of naked and timid savages, gathered together in tribes independent 
 of, and often hostile to, each other, struggling for subsistence amid the 
 difficulties of uncultivated nature, and unacquainted with the simplest arts of 
 civilized life, they here beheld populous nations living under the dominion of 
 powerful monarchs, subject to the rule of systematic governments and 
 established laws, skilled in arts and manufactures, enjoying all the benefits 
 of organized society, and dwelling in cities which seemed to the dazzled eyes 
 Df the new-comers, to rival in magnificence those of the Old World. 
 
 The city of Mexico, situated in an extensive plain, and built partly on the 
 banks of a large lake, and partly on several small islands on its bosom, was, 
 at the time of the Spanish invasion, approached by artificial roads thirty feet 
 in width, and extending from two to three miles in length. The temples 
 dedicated to the religious worship of the people, the palaces of the monarch, 
 and the dwellings of persons of distinction, were, according to the description 
 of the invaders, of gigantic dimensions and magnificent structure, while the 
 habitations of the lower orders were of the humblest character, being merely 
 huts resembling those of the Indians of the rudest tribes. The building 
 assigned to Cortez and his companions when they visited as friends the 
 monarch whose downfall they were plotting, was a house built by the father 
 of Montezuma, spacious enough to accommodate all the Spaniards and theii 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 477 
 
 Indian allies. It consisted, according to the description of the former, of 
 apartments ranged around extensive courtyards, the whole being inclosed by 
 a stone wall with towers, which served for defense as well as ornament. The 
 most striking architectural features in the city of Mexico were the temples; 
 and foremost among these, was the great Teocalli — that is, House of God — 
 situated in the principal square, and one of the first destroyed by the 
 Spaniards when they became masters of the city. This temple, which was 
 dedicated to Tezcatlopica, the god first in rank after Teoth, the Supreme 
 Being, and to Meritli, the god of war, consisted of a truncated pyramid 
 formed by five terraces, ascended by broad flights of steps. The sides of 
 the pyramid faced the four cardinal points ; its base was 318 feet long, and 
 its perpendicular height 121 feet. It was stated by the Mexicans themselves, 
 to have been built on the model of great pyramids of a similar nature, which 
 were spread over the face of the country, and which the traditions of the 
 people ascribed to the Toltecs, the nation from whom they had received their 
 civilization. On the truncated top of the pyramid were placed the sacrificial 
 stone and the statues of the gods, among which those of the sun and moon 
 were of colossal dimensions, and covered with plates of gold. Around the 
 main building was a wall of hewn stone, ornamented with knots of serpents 
 in bas-relief. Within the precincts of the wall, or immediately adjoining it, 
 were the dwellings of the priests. Edifices of a similar character were repre- 
 sented as existing throughout Mexico and the adjoining countries ; and the 
 capital itself, was said to contain no less than eight temples almost equal in 
 size to that just described, beside two thousand of inferior dimensions. 
 
 On nearer inquiry, however, into the state of that civilization which was at 
 first so, highly lauded by the Spaniards, as hardly inferior to that of Europe, 
 it was ascertained that neither the Mexicans nor the nations bordering upon 
 their empire, and who in a great measure participated in their civilization, 
 were acquainted with the use of iron, without which, it has been observed, no 
 nation can advance far in the arts of civilized life ; that they had not any 
 tame animals trained to assist man in his labors ; that they were unacquainted 
 with the art of writing, and even with the use of hieroglyphics — having no 
 other means of conveying to succeeding ages an account of the past than by 
 the imperfect and tedious process of picture-painting, which, however, they 
 had carried to a considerable degree of perfection ; that communication 
 between the different provinces of the empire was rendered almost impossible 
 by the absence of roads and the density of the forests, which in a great 
 measure covered the face of the country ; that commercial intercourse had 
 attained no higher degree of development than was consistent with a system 
 of barter — the only approach to a standard of value being the establishment 
 of the beans of the cocoa as an instrument of commercial interchange, 
 chocolate being a beverage in universal use throughout the country; and that 
 the religion of the Mexicans, though formed into a regular system, bore the 
 character of a gloomy and atrocious superstition, their divinities — worshiped 
 under the form of stone idols of hideous aspect — being represented as san- 
 guinary and revengeful beings, delighting in the sufferings of the human 
 victims sacrificed on their altars, and having their temples decorated with the 
 
478 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 effigies of serpents, tigers, crocodiles, and other ferocious animals. These 
 facts, together with the still more significant circumstance, that they weit 
 surrounded by tribes, who, in proportion to their distance from this center of 
 civilization, approached nearer and nearer to a state of savage brutality, 
 seemed sufficient to establish the opinion that the Mexican nation was still in 
 its infancy, and separated by only a few centuries from the condition in which 
 its ruder neighbors were still merged. The traditions of the Mexicans, as 
 they were understood, did not indeed assign to their empire any great 
 antiquity ; Montezuma, the monarch who ruled over them at the period of 
 the arrival of Cortez, being, according to their own accounts, only the ninth 
 ruler since their establishment in those territories. But it will be remembered 
 that they assigned their civilization to an anterior race ; this was, however, 
 considered a fond conceit common to every people of recent date. 
 
 Whatever may in reality have been the state of civilization in the newly- 
 discovered world, its want of vigor was soon proved by its utter subjugation 
 to that of the old. Fifty years after the first landing of the Spaniards on the 
 coast of Yucatan, their authority was established over almost the whole of 
 the vast territory of Central America ; and a few years later, the number of 
 the original inhabitants of these countries was so much reduced, that the 
 accounts of their former populousness seemed fabulous. Their monarchs and 
 various rulers were deposed, and put to death, their religion was proscribed 
 and persecuted, their temples and palaces were destroyed, their cities razed 
 to the ground, their idols broken into fragments, or when this could not be 
 effected, buried in the earth, and the dwindled remains of their population 
 reduced to a miserable state of servitude. ,Even now — when republican insti- 
 tutions have been established throughout the countries which once acknow- 
 ledged the sway of Spain, and when the inhabitants of all colors and all 
 races are recognized as equal before the law — the poor Indian, in whom every 
 trace of the spirit of a free man has been obliterated, bends meekly before 
 the superior race, kisses the hand which inflicts the punishment of the lash, 
 and repeats the words which have become proverbial among the Spanish 
 Americans — ' The Indians do not hear except through their backs.' 
 
 Beyond the boundaries of the Mexican and Peruvian empires, and the 
 countries immediately adjoining them, the inhabitants of the American con- 
 tinent were divided into small tribes, independent of each other, destitute of 
 industry and arts, forming no regularly-organized societies, and living alto- 
 gether in a state so rude as to come under the denomination of savages. The 
 physical features of the various tribes distributed over that vast continent 
 were, however, so uniform, that it at once became evident that although in 
 different stages of civilization, they all belonged to the same race, and were 
 merely subject to such modifications as would necessarily arise from the 
 differences in the natural features of the districts which they inhabited, and 
 the state of the society to which they belonged. Thus in the more northerly 
 regions of the North American continent, where the English made their first 
 settlements, the Indians were in a much ruder state than in Central America, 
 but possessed a more warlike spirit and greater physical vigor ; and the 
 struggle between them and the invaders of their country was consequently of 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 479 
 
 longer duration, and of a somewhat different character. Here the Red man 
 never submitted, and the European settlers could not boast of having con- 
 quered the land until they had utterly expelled or exterminated the tribes to 
 whom it belonged by right of prior occupation. As to the country itself, with 
 the exception of the territories occupied by the Mexicans and Peruvians, and 
 to a certain degree those immediately adjoining them, it was untouched by 
 the hand of industry, and presented throughout one great uncultivated wilder- 
 ness, save where a small patch of Indian corn proved the neighborhood of 
 a native encampment. It was covered with immense forests, which, par- 
 ticularly in the southern, and naturally most fertile regions, were rendered 
 almost impervious by the rank luxuriance of vegetation. The vast plains 
 were overflowed by the constant inundations of the rivers, and were converted 
 into unwholesome and impenetrable marshes. In a word, nature presented 
 throughout a picture of wild desolation, though abounding in all the features 
 most favorable to the development of civilization and prosperity. Though 
 we may dwell with pleasure on the idea of some of the richest and most 
 fertile regions of the habitable globe having been redeemed from such a state 
 to one of high cultivation, and of millions of civilized men reveling in com- 
 fort and luxury in countries where nature, left to herself, barely furnished 
 food for a few straggling savages, yet it is melancholy to reflect that a Christ- 
 ian and civilized race has superseded the aboriginal inhabitants of these lands, 
 without having in any instance succeeded in extending to the latter the ad- 
 vantages to which they owe their own superiority; that while expending on 
 the soil the benefit of cultivation, and causing it to yield rich harvests in 
 return for their labor, they, the followers of a religion which teaches man to 
 see in his fellow-man, of whatever race or color, a brother, should not only 
 have left the aborigines in the same degraded state in which they found them, 
 but that they should have disseminated their vices where they knew not how 
 to implant their virtues. If the Anglo-Saxon race can plead in their excuse 
 the wild and intractable character of the savages with whom they had to deal, 
 the same plea will not extend to the Spaniards, whose Indian subjects were 
 docile and submissive to a fault. The incapacity of the Indians for improve- 
 ment has, however, been observed and dwelt upon by all travelers ; and this 
 may perhaps account for so little interest having for a long while been taken 
 in their former civilization, and so few endeavors made, until within the last 
 century, to trace it to its origin. Indeed so little credence was generally 
 attached to any high state of civilization having existed in these regions pre- 
 vious to the Spanish conquest, that when the ancient remains of which we 
 are about to treat were first brought to light by the industry of adventurous 
 travelers, all minds set to work to discover who could have been the authors 
 of these remarkable works, few being inclined to ascribe them to the ancestors 
 of the despised race which had been so easily subjugated by small bands of 
 Spanish adventurers. So little, indeed, was the existence of these monuments 
 known, that the able, philosophic, and conscientious Scottish historian, Dr. Ro- 
 bertson, in his 'History of America, 'published 1777, affirmed, on the authority of 
 persons long resident in those countries, that there was not throughout Spanish 
 America ' a single monument or vestige of any building more ancient than 
 
480 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 the Conquest ;' and his general estimation of the state of the inhabitants of 
 those countries, at that period, led him to the conclusion that the progenitors 
 of the American race must have been in a very barbarous state when they 
 left the cradle of mankind to populate these unknown regions. 
 
 In one of his reports to Charles V, Cortez describes his manner of pro- 
 ceeding in Mexico as follows : — ' I formed the design of demolishing on all 
 «ides all the houses in proportion as we became masters of the streets, so 
 that we should not advance a foot without having destroyed and cleared 
 out whatever was behind us.' These words characterize the policy of the 
 Spaniards throughout the whole of New Spain — a policy followed up during 
 two centuries, and resulting in the almost total obliteration from the face 
 of the country of every trace of the state of things which preceded their 
 arrival. The few ruins that were left to tell the tale of desolation, and the 
 gigantic pyramidal structures — which the untiring industry of the conquered 
 race had reared, and which even the insatiable hatred of their conquerors 
 was unable to destroy — remained utterly unheeded, failing to awaken the 
 interest of the natives of Spanish descent, and lying beyond the reach of 
 European curiosity through the jealous policy of Spain, which placed innu- 
 merable impediments in the way of explorers. However, at the commence- 
 ment of the present century the"illustrious Humboldt, braving all difficulties 
 in pursuance of those scientific objects to which he devoted his life, visited 
 New Spain ; and through his reports Europe learned, for the first time, from 
 an authority which admitted of no doubt, the existence of ruins fully con- 
 firming the statements of the early Spanish writers relative to the cities and 
 temples of Mexico. Since then, tourists innumerable, scientific and unscien- 
 tific, have visited and explored the ruins of Mexico ; but the territory which 
 stretches from Mexico to the Isthmus of Darien, including the peninsula of 
 Yucatan, remained for a long time comparatively unknown. Yet within the 
 impenetrable forests of those very partially-cultivated states are concealed 
 the most remarkable remains of ancient cities, many of whose buildings 
 and sculptures are in a state of such extraordinary preservation, as to render 
 it difficult to believe that they have been abandoned for centuries. 
 
 In the year 1750, some Spaniards traveling in the interior of Mexico are 
 said to have penetrated into the province of Chiapas, and to have discovered 
 fchere, either by chance or through means of information received from the 
 Indians, the remains of a city consisting of ancient stone buildings, and 
 extending, according to their account, over an area of from eighteen to 
 twenty-four miles. So utterly unknown had the city been until then, that 
 no tradition of the country gives any clue even to its name. Among the few 
 Indians who were acquainted with the existence of the ruins, they were 
 known as Las Casas de Piedras — that is, The Stone Houses — and the travel- 
 era who have since explored them have bestowed upon them the appellation 
 of Palenque, from the name of the little village in the vicinity of which they 
 are situated. The news of this discovery, though it reached the ears of the 
 Spanish authorities, foiled to awaken their interest. Thirty years afterward, 
 however, the king of Spain sent out an exploring commission under the 
 direction of Captain Del Rio, and subsequently another under Captain Dm 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 481 
 
 Paix ; but by adverse circumstances the reports of both these gentlemen 
 were withheld from publication for many years, and it is thus only within 
 the last twenty-five years that any authentic accounts of these interesting 
 remains of by-gone civilization have become known to the world in general. 
 Since the publication of the report of the two above-named gentlemen, the 
 ruins have been visited and carefully explored by several enterprising 
 travelers. The last among these, as far as we are aware, was Mr. Stephens, 
 the well-known American writer and traveler, who published in 1839 and 
 in 1842 the result of his researches, illustrated with numerous engravings. 
 
 In the course of his journey through the several provinces of Honduras, 
 Guatemala, Chiapas, Tabasco, and the peninsula of Yucatan, Mr. Stephens 
 met with no less than forty-four ruined cities, the greater number situated 
 within short distances of each other in Yucatan, but buried in the depths of 
 forests, without any visible means of communication, and in many cases 
 unknown to the populations within a few hundred yards of whose doors they 
 are. The term city, which it is customary to apply to these interesting 
 remains, conjures up in the mind a picture very different from that which in 
 reality they present ; for nowhere among these ruins have there been found 
 any remains of the dwelling-places of those classes which in all countries and 
 in all times must form the bulk of the population of a city. The buildings 
 that remain are all of a stately character, seemingly intended for the abode 
 of princes, or devoted to the religious worship of a people who decorated 
 with fond reverence the temples of their gods. No general terms will, how- 
 ever, suffice to give a clear conception of that which is so different from all 
 with which we are familiar in the Old World ; and we will therefore survey 
 in detail such of the cities and their structures as present certain features 
 common to all. 
 
 Though varying in many of their minor features, these ancient remains 
 bear, nevertheless, a strong resemblance to each other — the most general 
 characteristic being the truncated pyramids already alluded to. These, 
 rising in terraces from the level plain, as shown in the elevation of the noble 
 ruins of Labphak in Yucatan, are usually crowned with edifices of vast 
 extent, and richly decorated with sculpture. It is a class of objects the more 
 interesting, as they at once connect the ruined cities of Central America with 
 the aboriginal remains throughout the whole North American continent, and 
 likewise show a kindred relation between the builders of these cities and the 
 inhabitants of Mexico at the time of the Conquest. 
 
 The ruined city of Copan is situated in the province of Honduras, on the 
 left bank of the river Copan, an unnavigable stream which empties itself into 
 the Montagua. Nature has taken entire possession of the site which man 
 has abandoned. Where the hum of busy populations must once have been 
 heard — where the intellect of man may once have wrought and wrangled, 
 there now reigns the dark and silent seclusion of the forest, save when some 
 inquisitive traveler breaks in upon it in quest of the secrets of the past. 
 Though little more than thirty years had intervened since Del Rio attacked 
 it with fire and ax, laying bare the environs of the ruins, the forest was, on 
 the arrival of Mr. Stephens and his companions, so dense, that they wen 
 31 
 
482 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 obliged to work their way forward hatchet in hand. The extent of the ruins 
 of Copan along the left bank of the river is about two miles, but how far 
 they extend into the depths of the forest it has been impossible to ascertain. 
 On the opposite bank of the river, at a distance of about a mile, a ruin has 
 been observed on the top of a mountain 2000 feet high, which may probably 
 have belonged to the city ; the latter may consequently have spread in this 
 direction also. Of palaces, or other dwellings, there are no remains in this 
 place; but running along the river from north to south is a wall 624 feet in 
 length, and from sixty to ninety feet high, forming one of the sides of an 
 oblong inclosure, which it is customary to denominate the Temple, and the 
 other three sides of which are formed by a succession of pyramidal structures 
 and terraced walls, measuring from thirty to one hundred and forty feet in 
 height. The river wall is built of hewn stones from three to six feet in 
 length, and one hundred and twelve feet in breadth, and still is in a very 
 good state of preservation. It is accessible from the river side by flights of 
 steps, leading also on the inner-side down into the inclosed area. The linf 
 of survey taken by Stephens was 2866 feet ; but the walled structures em- 
 braced within it, do not present themselves to the eye in unbroken ranges, 
 but are in many parts in a state of decay, and in others are concealed by the 
 trees which have introduced themselves wherever they have found sufficient 
 soil for their roots, and which cover most, and especially, all the level areas. 
 
 At a short distance from the south-west angle of the river wall of the 
 Temple, are two small pyramidal structures, one of which is concealed with 
 a part of the city wall, running along the left bank of the river, and which 
 seems to have planked a gateway, probably the principal entrance from the 
 river side. Running at right angles with the river, and somewhat within the 
 boundary marked by these structures, is the southern wall of the Temple, 
 beginning with a range of steps about thirty feet high. At the south-eastern 
 extremity of this wall, is another massive pyramidal structure. To the east 
 of this are the remains of terraces and earthen pyramids, and a passage 
 twenty feet wide, which seems to have formed a gateway. From hence the 
 south-eastern corner of the quadrangle surveyed, stretches northward another 
 massive pyramidal structure; and at a short distance, in the same direction, 
 is a detached pyramid, about fifty feet square at the base, and thirty feet 
 high. To the right of the latter a confused range of terraces branches off 
 into the depths of the forest. The range of the Temple walls, running from 
 south to north, continues for a distance of about four hundred feet, and then 
 turning at right angles to the left, runs again southward, and joins the other 
 extremity of the river wall. Within the area inclosed by these walls are 
 other terraces, and pyramids one hundred and forty feet high on the slope, 
 inclosing two smaller areas or courtyards, one of which, situated near the 
 eastern boundary wall, is two hundred and fifty feet square, and the other, 
 close to the river wall, one hundred and forty feet by ninety — both being 
 forty feet above the level of the river, and accessible by steps cut in the sides 
 of the sloping walls that inclose them. 
 
 Down the sides of all the walls and pyramids, and covering the ground ot 
 tlie quadrangular inclosures, are innumerable remains of sculpture, some 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 483 
 
 still maintaining their original position, others forming heaps of fragments, 
 among which, however, many blocks are remarkably well preserved. Half- 
 way up the sides of one pyramid are rows of death's heads of colossal 
 proportions, but which, from their peculiar conformation, are supposed to 
 represent the skulls of monkeys, and not of men — a supposition which is 
 strengthened by the fact, that among the fragments at the foot of the pyramid 
 was found the effigy of a colossal ape or baboon, bearing a strong resemblance 
 to the animals of the same species originally figured on the great obelisk 
 from the ruins of Thebes, which now graces the Place de la Concorde in 
 Paris. These animals were worshiped at Thebes under the name of 
 Cynocephali, and it has been thought not unlikely that the same may have 
 been the case among the ancient inhabitants of Copan. Among the frag- 
 ments on the ground were also several human heads, sculptured, like those 
 of the apes, in bold relief, and impressing the beholder with the belief that 
 they were portraits — nature being closely followed, and the features and 
 expression of the countenance of each bearing a strong individual character. 
 None of these heads are encumbered with the extraordinary head-dresses 
 which form a striking feature in the generality of the sculptured figures in 
 the ruined cities of Central America. The whole of the sides of the terraced 
 walls and pyramids have seemingly been decorated with similar sculptures, 
 which were fixed by stone tenons, in many cases still adhering to them, and 
 which were driven into the wall. In many cases traces of color are still 
 visible, indicating that these sculptures, like those of many of the ancient 
 nations of the Old World, had been painted. 
 
 At the foot of one of the pyramidal walls in the courtyard most distant from 
 the river, stands one of the monuments which form the peculiar character- 
 istics of the ruins of Copan. These are stone columns or obelisks, from 
 eleven to thirteen feet in height, and from three to four feet in width, and 
 something less in depth, in every case having on the principal face a human 
 figure, male or female, sculptured in high relief, presenting its full front, and 
 having the upper part of the arm pressed close in to the body, and the lower 
 part brought forward, so as to allow of the hands being pressed against the 
 breast. They are all clad in rich garments, some in the form of short tunics, 
 others more like long pantaloons. The feet, which are of clumsy form, are 
 generally covered with a kind of buskin ; and the heads are adorned with 
 coverings of the most fanciful description, the details of which can hardly be 
 detached from the mass of intricate sculptured ornaments with which the 
 monuments are covered on all sides from top to base. The idol (for such 
 these objects are supposed to have been) to which we have particularly 
 alluded differs from others in its vicinity, inasmuch as it is broader a* top 
 than below, while the sculpture is in lower relief. The face is of a calm and 
 placid expression, and the sculptured ornaments, though difficult to define, 
 are graceful and pleasing in design. The back and sides of the monument 
 are covered with hieroglyphics, which, as will be seen, abound among the 
 sculptured remains in the ruined cities, and prove that, if the inhabitants 
 of these regions were not in possession of such characters at the time of 
 the Conquest, the nations or generations which preceded them were fully 
 
484 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 acquainted with the use of these written signs. In front of the idol is an altar, 
 lour feet high, and six feet square, of one block of stone, and resting on four 
 globes cut out of the same material. The bas-reliefs on the sides represent 
 a series of sixteen human figures, seated cross-legged, in Oriental fashion. 
 Each bears in his hand a weapon, the precise character of which it is difficult 
 to ascertain, but in which some archaeologists persist in seeing only spiral 
 shells ; and the heads of all are covered with very peculiar head-dresses 
 without plumes. On the side facing the west are the two principal figures 
 of the series, sitting with their faces toward each other, as if engaged in 
 discussion, while seven of the other fourteen figures, turning their heads in the 
 direction of each, seem to form their respective retinues. The top of the 
 altar is divided into thirty-six tablets of hieroglyphics, probably recording the 
 important transaction which the two parties have met to discuss. That pre- 
 cise rules had not existed relative to the costume of the day, may be con- 
 cluded from the circumstance, that of the sixteen head-dresses not two are 
 alike ; and though we are unwilling to believe that the extraordinaiy facial 
 angels represented could be meant to portray really existing faces, still, it 
 must be admitted that there is likewise much variety in the countenances. 
 
 From the pyramidal terrace forming the outer wall of the smaller court 
 within the temple, there is a subterraneous passage leading to the river wall, 
 and below this a sepulchral vault was opened by Colonel Galindo, who ex- 
 plored the ruins some years ago on account of the Mexican government. On 
 each side of the vault, which is six feet high, and ten feet long, by five and 
 a half in width, are small niches, which, at the time of the opening, contained 
 numerous earthenware vessels of different descriptions, filled with human 
 bones, and packed in lime. The floor of the vault, paved with stones, and 
 coated with lime, was strewn with various articles, such as stone knives, 
 stalactites, marine shells, and a small death's head, cut in a green stone, and 
 described as of exquisite workmanship. 
 
 At some distance from the inclosure denominated the Temple, in a level 
 area, inclosed by terraced walls, stands a group of eight stone idols, similar 
 in form and size, and in the position of the hands, to the one above described, 
 but each having a distinct individual character. They are placed at distances 
 of from fifty to two hundred feet from each other, and in front of each is an 
 altar of corresponding character. The chief object of the sculptor having 
 evidently been to inspire awe and terror, he has endeavored to produce the 
 desired effect by exaggeration .of feature, and has, in consequence, in some 
 cases represented countenances ludicrously hideous ; others have, however, 
 a purely terrific expression, and one or two are, on the contrary, pleasing. 
 The workmanship displayed in some of these monuments is considered equal 
 to the finest Egyptian sculpture, but in others it is more rude. Some are 
 covered on all sides with hieroglyphics, and are for that reason the most 
 interesting in the eyes of antiquaries, as there is always a hope that the 
 industry which found a clue to the hieroglyphics of Egypt may also one day 
 be able to unravel the mysteries of Central America. The engraving on the 
 following page exhibits on a very minute scale the front and back of one of 
 these gigantic 'dols, every inch of which is covered with ornamental sculp- 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 485 
 
 lures and hieroglyphics. At the foot of one of them is a colossal sculptured 
 head of an alligator, half-buried in the earth. In one only of the ruined 
 cities have there been found monuments similar to the idols of Copan. At 
 some distance from the ruins, deep in the heart of the wide-spreading forest, 
 are the quarries whence have been drawn the materials for all the monuments 
 we have surveyed. 
 
 Palenque, Uxmal, Kabah, and Chi- 
 cnen, the four other cities which seem 
 to us the most remarkable, offer a char- 
 acter different from that of Copan, inas- 
 much as the pyramidal structures in 
 these places are still crowned with edi- 
 fices of a stately and magnificent char- 
 acter, and the pyramids and terraces 
 are in a much better state of preserva- 
 tion. The ruins designated by the 
 name of Palenque are, as before ob- 
 served, situated in the province of Chia- 
 pas, and have borrowed their name 
 from a neghboring village. With re- 
 gard to the extent of these ruins, ac- 
 counts differ: according to the Indians 
 and the other inhabitants of the village 
 of Palenque — who do not, however, 
 seem to have any real knowledge of the subject, but whose imaginations 
 delight in adding to the marvelous character of the remains in their neighbor- 
 hood — they cover an area of no less than sixty miles ; Du Paix and Del Rio 
 give them a circuit of seven leagues; while Waldeck maintains that they cover 
 a surface of only one league, or about three miles. How far any of these 
 accounts are correct it would perhaps be difficult to ascertain, as the surround- 
 ing country is covered for miles with a forest of gigantic trees, rendered more 
 dense by an impenetrable growth of underwood. In their descriptions of the 
 Casas de Piedras, the most interesting and important objects among these 
 remains, all the explorers agree. When Del Rio visited them, they were 
 fourteen in number, disposed around a rectangular area 450 yards by 300 — 
 five being on the north side, four on the south, one on the south-west, and 
 three on the east, while the largest of the group occupied a central position 
 Mr. Stephens mentions only five as being in a good state of preservation, and 
 describes them, on first view, as being • in style and effect unique, extraordinary, 
 and mournfully beautiful.' The largest building stands upon an oblong 
 mound forty feet high, formed by human labor, having originally been faced 
 with stone, and measuring at the base 310 feet by 260. The building itself 
 is 200 feet long, and 180 feet deep, while the height of the walls is no more 
 than twenty-five feet. It is constructed of stone and mortar, coated with 
 stucco, and has originally been painted, the remains of red, yellow, blue, black 
 and white paint, being still visible in many places. The front faces the east 
 and contains fourteen doorways, separated by square piers adorned with 
 
486 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 spirited figures in stucco. Around the top runs a broad, projecting stone 
 cornice. The principal doorway is indicated by a flight of broad stone steps 
 in the side of the terrace leading up to it. On the other sides of the palace, 
 which are in a more dilapidated condition, it would .seem there have been 
 similar doorways, all giving access to a corridor running around the building, 
 and communicating by two doors only, with a second corridor running parallel 
 with it. Adjoining these corridors, are ranges of chambers communicating 
 by doorways and flights of steps, with an open courtyard on a lower level, 
 but inclosed by the walls of the palace ; such, indeed, are generally the inte- 
 rior arrangements of the buildings in these ruined cities. In cases where 
 there are no courtyards, the back rooms receive light through doorways com- 
 municating with front rooms or corridors, these likewise being devoid of all 
 apertures excepting doorways opening upon the platforms without. In one 
 of the courts or open areas at the Palace of Palenque, is a stone tower, thirty 
 feet square at the base, and three stories high. The purpose for which it has 
 served is difficult to divine, as the outer wall forms but a shell surrounding 
 an inner structure, presenting no visible means of entrance. Between the 
 outer wall and this inner structure is a very narrow staircase, leading up to 
 the top, but terminating abruptly against a dead stone ceiling. Within the 
 precincts of the palace are other detached and much ruined buildings, the 
 character of which it is consequently difficult to define. From the door of 
 the inner corridor on the front side of the building, a flight of stone steps, 
 thirty feet broad, leads down into the principal courtyard, a rectangular area 
 eighty feet by seventy; and on the opposite side is a similar flight correspond- 
 ing with a corridor in the interior of the building. On each side of both 
 these flights of steps are sculptured bas-reliefs of grim human figures, nine or 
 ten feet high. Some are standing, others kneeling; others seated cross- 
 legged ; and the greater number have one or both hands pressed against the 
 breast, as if expressive of suffering, which is also depicted in some of the 
 upturned faces. The forms are uncouth, and the proportions incorrect; but 
 there is a certain force of expression in the countenances and attitudes, which 
 renders them interesting even as specimens of artistic skill. We should far 
 surpass our limits were we to attempt to give a detailed description of the 
 sculptured bas-reliefs, and the figures and groups in stucco, which decorate 
 in rich profusion the walls of the innumerable rooms and corridors in the 
 palace, and are here and there interspersed with tablets of hieroglyphics. 
 We shall therefore limit oursei es to saying that the figures are, as regards 
 the style of countenance, dress, and indeed their whole appearance, unlike 
 those of any other known monuments. But though many of the strange 
 bodily deformities which they exhibit may be attributed to want of skill m 
 the artist, there are nevertheless certain peculiarities of physical conformation 
 which recur so constantly, as to impress the beholder with the belief that 
 such, or nearly such, have been the prevalent forms among the people whom 
 they represent. Among these peculiarities, the form of the heads — flattened 
 behind, and elongated on the top — is particularly remarkable, and would 
 seem to indicate that among the inhabitants of this city, as among some of 
 the Noi tli American Indians of the present day, it has been customary to 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 487 
 
 change the, natural form of the head by pressure in infancy. Large noses and 
 protruding lips also very generally prevail. The head-dresses are distinguished 
 by plumes of feathers in exaggerated profusion, and of the strangest forms. 
 
 The other buildings at Palenque resemble the palace in architectural and 
 ornamental features, but are of smaller dimensions, each having for its founda- 
 tion an artificial pyramidal structure. In one, the piers of the front corridoi 
 are decorated with figures of men and women with children in their arms, 
 but they are much damaged. In the same building there are on each side 
 of the principal doorway stone tablets, thirteen feet long, and eight feet high, 
 covered with hieroglyphics. And it has been observed as remarkable, that 
 these characters are the same as those found at Copan, and also in several 
 of the ruined cities of Yucatan ; thus establishing the fact, that these cities 
 must at least have had a written language in common, though the Indians at 
 present inhabiting the intermediate territories speak several distinct languages 
 and are quite unintelligible to one another. On the back wall of a small 
 oblong chamber in one of the Casas, lighted by a single low doorway, is a 
 sculptured tablet of a very remarkable character. In the center is a cross 
 placed upon a kind of highly-ornamented pedestal, and surmounted by an 
 extraordinary bird, the wings and tail of which bear a strong resemblance to 
 many of the plumes in the head-dresses to which we have alluded. Around 
 the neck of the bird hang strings of beads, from which is suspended an orna- 
 ment supposed by some to be the curious flower called by the Mexicans 
 'macphalxochitl,' or 'flower of the hand,' the pistil being in the form of a 
 bird's foot, with six fingers terminating in so many nails. On each side of 
 the cross, and with their faces turned toward it, are two male figures with the 
 same strangely -shaped heads before-mentioned, but otherwise of great sym- 
 metry of proportion, and considered quite equal to any of the sculptured 
 remains in Egypt. One of these figures seems in the act of making an offer- 
 ing to the bird, while the other is looking on. It is remarkable, as a probable 
 indication of the figures being the portraits of living personages, that the 
 looker-on, being considerably shorter than his companion, is mounted on a 
 kind of footstool, in order to reach the same height. The costume of the 
 men is different from that of all the other figures found amonsr the ruins : for 
 while the garments of the latter in many cases seem made of the skins of 
 animals with the tails still attached to them, the folds of the dresses in the 
 present case indicate that they are made of some pliable texture. These two 
 figures occur again on another tablet, placed in a similar position in one of 
 the other Casas. Here they are both apparently making offerings to a hideous 
 mask, with the tongue lolling out of the mouth, and supported by two crossed 
 batons richly ornamented. The objects offered are in this case decidedly 
 infants, and are presented to the mask seated on the palms of the men's 
 hands. The small chambers in which these tablets are placed, are believed 
 to have been places for private devotion, and have, in consequence, obtained 
 the name of 'ad oratories.' The floors of these adoratories were excavated 
 by Del Rio, and found to contain an earthen vessel and a circular stone, 
 beneath which were a lance-head, two small pyramids with the figure of a 
 heart made of a dark crystal, and two covered earthen jars containing a 
 
488 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 substance of a vermilion color. Among the stucco ornaments in» all these 
 buildings there are also designs of plants and flowers ; and among the frag- 
 ments of sculpture Mr. Stephens mentions a beautiful head and two bodies, 
 1 in justness of proportion and symmetry of form approaching the Greek 
 models.' One statue only has been found among the ruins of Palenque. It 
 is ten feet six inches high, and is more simple and severe in character than 
 any of the other sculptured figures ; so much so, indeed, that it might 
 altogether be taken for the production of another land and another time, did 
 not a hieroglyphic, placed in front about the middle of the body, and from 
 which depends some symbolical ornament, at once recall to mind the idols of 
 Copan, in which both are never-failing features. There are no windows in 
 the palace at Palenque ; but on the inner wall of the outer corridor, which it 
 will be remembered, communicates by two doorways only with the parallel 
 corridor within, there are apertures of about a foot in size, some in the form 
 of the Greek cross, others in that of the Egyptian Tou. The floors are of 
 cement, hard as that in the Roman baths, and the ceilings arched, as is 
 invariably the case in all the apartments and corridors in the buildings of 
 these deserted cities. The perfect arch, was unknown to their builders, 
 as to those of many of the nations of antiquity ; and their substitute for it is 
 constructed precisely on the same plan as the Cyclopean arch, prevalent 
 among the ancient remains of Greece and Italy. It is formed by superin- 
 cumbent layers of stones overlapping each other, until the two sides of the 
 walls approach within about a foot of each other, the top being finally 
 covered in with a flat layer of stones. 
 
 About seventeen leagues directly south of the city of Merida, in the 
 peninsula of Yucatan, are the ruins of Uxmal, the best-preserved of which 
 are scattered over an area 1600 feet by 1100, and consist of six distinct and 
 extensive buildings, and a large truncated pyramid, the summit of which is 
 not crowned with any edifice. Beside these, there are the remains of numerous 
 other edifices, but in a state of great decay. The walls of the city may also 
 be traced to a considerable distance. The principal building, called Casa del 
 Gobernador, or the governor's house, occupies, like all the other important 
 buildings that we have mentioned, the upper platform of an artificial elevation, 
 which rises in three terraces from the level plain, and which, notwithstanding 
 its great dimensions, bears evidence of being the work of man. The first 
 terrace is 575 feet long, three feet high, and fifteen broad: the second is 
 twenty feet high, 250 feet wide, and 545 feet long; the third, on which stands 
 the stately edifice, is nineteen feet high, thirty feet broad, and 360 feet long ; 
 and the sides of all are supported by substantial stone walls, rounded at the 
 angles. In the center of the platform of the second terrace commences a 
 flight of steps 130 feet wide, and leading up to the third terrace immediately 
 in front of the Casa del Gobernador, the facade of which is 322 feet long. 
 The effect produced by the grandeur of the position, and the vastness of the 
 dimensions of this magnificent building, is further increased by the richness 
 of the architectural ornaments which have been lavished on the external 
 walls. These walls are constructed entirely of stone ; and from the base to 
 the cornice — which runs all round the building immediately above the door- 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 48;) 
 
 ways, and about the mid-height of the building — they present a smooth 
 surface. But above the cornice the four sides of the edifice present * one 
 solid mass of rich, complicated, and elaborately-sculptured ornaments, forming 
 a sort of arabesque.' Above the doorways, of which there are eleven in 
 front, and one at each end, the ornaments are, in particular, very elaborate, 
 representing small human figures, with head-dresses of rich plumes — that 
 above the center doorway being larger than the others. The roof of this 
 building is flat, and was originally covered with cement ; and the rear eleva- 
 tion is a solid stone wall nine feet thick, without doorways or apertures of any 
 kind. Within are two parallel ranges of rooms, each range numbering as 
 many rooms as there are doorways in the front wall, through which alone 
 they receive the light, each back-room communicating with the corresponding 
 front-room by a door immediately opposite the outer one. The height of this, 
 as of all the other ruined buildings, does not correspond with the imposing 
 breadth of the facade, it being little more than twenty-four or twenty-five 
 feet. Apparently, the lintels of the doorways have all been of wood, and 
 some were still in their places, and in very good condition, when examined by 
 Mr. Stephens. This is, however, no proof against the antiquity of the build- 
 ings, as these beams are of a very hard wood, which, it is said, does not grow 
 in the neighboring forests, but must have been transported hither from the 
 forests near the Lake of Peten, a distance of about 300 miles. In one of 
 these beams were carved hieroglyphics like those of Copan and Palenque ; 
 with this exception, there have been found at Uxmal no sculptured bas-reliefs 
 or stuccoed figures as at Palenque, and no idols as at Copan. From the 
 manner in which the sculptured ornaments on the exterior of the buildings 
 cover the stones — the several parts of one design occupying several adjoining 
 stones — it is evident that these must have been placed in the wall before they 
 were sculptured. 
 
 On the terrace below that on which stands the Casa del Gobernador is 
 another edifice, of smaller dimensions, and greater simplicity of ornament, 
 but otherwise of the same general construction. This building is called the 
 House of the Tortoises (Casa de las Tortugas), and, according to some of the 
 explorers, owes this appellation to the form of the stones with which the 
 rectangular court inclosed within its four wings was paved. These stones 
 are described as being each six inches square, and exquisitely cut in demi- 
 relief, with the full and accurate figure of a tortoise, and as being arranged 
 in groups of four, with the heads of the tortoises together. The number 
 required to cover the superficies of the court is said to have been 43,660. 
 Of this interesting feature, proving an amount of skill and enterprise in the 
 builders of the cities even surpassing that displayed in the remains still 
 extant, we are sorry to say Mr. Stephens makes no mention. According to 
 him, the edifice has obtained its name from a row of sculptured tortoises 
 adorning the cornice which runs round the top of the whole building. On 
 the same terrace as La Casa de las Tortugas are some other remains, the 
 purpose of which is not evident. Such is, for instance, an oblong structure 
 two hundred feet long, fifteen feet wide, and about three feet high, and along 
 tbe foot of which runs a range of pedestals and broken columns. On anotliei 
 
490 RUIN"ED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 part of the terrace, and within a quadrangular inclosure, is a round stone of 
 rude and irregular appearance, eight feet high, and five feet in diameter, 
 which has obtained from the Indians the name of the Picote, or the 'Whip- 
 ping-Post.' Similar stones in similar positions occur in many of the ruined 
 cities, and have therefore probably been connected with some national custom 
 or religious rite. The same may be said of two other mysterious structures 
 connected with the ruins of Uxmal. These are two edifices, each one hun- 
 dred and twenty-eight feet long, and thirty feet deep, placed opposite to each 
 other, seventy feet apart, and having apparently been precisely similar ii* 
 plan and ornament. The sides facing each other have been embellished with 
 sculptured ornaments, of which the coils of serpents have formed part These 
 edifices have no doorways or openings of any kind, and on being broken into, 
 proved to be nothing but solid walls. In the center of each wall, and exactly 
 opposite to each other, are the remains of two large stone rings. Two hun- 
 dred and forty feet south of these structures is a group of buildings, sur- 
 rounding a rectangular courtyard, entered through an arched gateway, and 
 called the house of the Nuns (Casa de las Monjas). The chief wing of this 
 group is two hundred and seventy-nine feet long, and all the buildings are 
 more richly ornamented even than the Casa del Gobernador. Here, again, 
 huge serpents form the leading feature in the sculptured ornaments. The 
 next building stands upon an artificial, oblong mound, rounded at the extremi- 
 ties, and not cut in terraces as the foregoing, but rising in a very steep ascent 
 from the plain, and accessible by a range of uncommonly steep steps. The 
 building is, like the others, of stone, the walls being on the inside smooth 
 and polished, and externally plain from the base to the cornice above the 
 doorways, and from this to the roof elaborately sculptured. From the front- 
 door of this building an inclined plain, twenty-two feet long, and paved with 
 cement, leads down to the roof of another building, occupying a lower posi- 
 tion, and the walls of which are likewise richly sculptured. This group goes 
 under the name of the House of the Dwarf. The last building which we 
 shall describe is the Casa de los Palamos, or the House of the Pigeons, so 
 called from the peculiar character given to it by a range of structures elevated 
 on the flat roof of the building, and presenting the appearance of a range of 
 gables after the fashion of the German buildings of the middle ages, which, 
 being perforated with small oblong openings, bear some resemblance to 
 pigeon-houses. These structures are nine in number, are built of stone, and 
 have all originally been covered with ornaments in stucco. In one of the 
 noble courtyards inclosed within the different wings of this edifice is another 
 of those strange stones to which the Indians have given the name of Whip- 
 ping-Posts. It must be observed, with regard to the different appellations 
 given to the edifices in these ruined cities, that they are entirely unconnected 
 with the past history of the cities or of the edifices themselves, and are only 
 applied in consequence of some fancied resemblance. At the north-east 
 angle of the Casa de los Palamos is a vast range of terraces facing east and 
 west, and encumbered with ruins, and with these we will take leave of the 
 remains of Uxmal, though we have touched upon comparatively few of the 
 remarkable details which they comprise. 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 491 
 
 At Chichen, another of the ruined cities of Yucatan, the surviving edifices: 
 are spread over an area of about two miles in circumference. The most 
 beautiful, called, like one at Uxmal, Casa de las Monjas (House of the Nuns), 
 is six hundred and thirty-eight feet in circumference, and sixty-five feet high. 
 This unusual height, which is in fact only apparent, is owing to three ranges 
 of buildings being erected, the one immediately above the other, yet so that 
 each of the upper ranges, being built back, and not on the roof of the lower 
 structure, rests on an independent foundation, while the roof of the lower 
 range extends like a platform in front of it. Such is the mode invariably 
 followed in these regions when the buildings have the appearance of consist- 
 ing of several stories. In the present case, the second range is the most 
 elaborately decorated, the ornaments being in the same style as those of 
 Uxmal, and as shown in the annexed sketch of one of its facades. The 
 
 lower range seems to be nothing but a solid mass of masonry, meiely 
 intended to serve as a pedestal for the upper ranges. A grand staircase, 
 fifty-six feet wide, leads from terrace to terrace up to the top of the building. 
 The chief apartment in the interior of the second range, which is entered and 
 lighted by three doorways on the south side, is forty-seven feet long, and only 
 nine feet deep, thus having, like all the large rooms in these buildings, more 
 ftie character of a gallery or corridor than of a room. In the back wall are 
 nine oblong niches ; and from the floor to the very center of the arched ceiling 
 the walls are covered with paintings, now much effaced, but in many places 
 still glowing with bright and vivid colors. The subjects represented have 
 probably been processions of warriors, for human heads adorned with plumes, 
 and hands bearing shields and spears, constantly recur. 
 
 One hundred and fifty yards east of the Monjas is a building which does 
 not, like the generality, stand upon a raised terrace, but to which, neverthe- 
 less, the appearance of an elevated position has been given by digging out 
 the earth for some distance in front of it. This building, the exterior of 
 which is rude and unadorned, faces the east, and measures one hundred and 
 forty-nine feet in front and forty-eight feet in depth. In the center of the 
 
492 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 eastern facade is a broad staircase leading up to the roof, which is flat, as 
 usual ; and corresponding with this, on the other side of the building, is a 
 solid mass of masonry forty-four feet by thirty-four, standing out from the 
 wall, and serving no apparent purpose. The number of chambers within the 
 building is eighteen, and that of the outer doorways nine. In the dark 
 mystery of one of the back chambers is a sculptured tablet, representing a 
 sitting figure, supposed to be engaged in the performance of some mysterious 
 rite, and around it are several rows of hieroglyphic figures, similar to those 
 found in the other cities. In their graphic language the Indians have 
 denominated this building Akatzeeb — that is, " The Writing in the Dark." 
 North of the Monjas is another building, called by them Caracol (The Wind- 
 ing Staircase), different in style from any as yet described. It is circular in 
 form, has a conical shaped roof, and stands on the highest of two terraces, 
 to which ascent is gained by a flight of steps forty -five feet wide, and on 
 each side of which runs a kind of balustrade, formed by the entwined bodies 
 of two enormous serpents. In front of the steps and standing against the 
 wall of the second terrace is a pedestal, supposed to have supported an idol 
 The building which stands on the second platform, is entered by four small 
 doors facing the cardinal points. Within is a circular corridor, and within this 
 another, to which admittance is gained by four smaller doors intermediate to 
 the others, so as to face north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. 
 This corridor encircles a cylindrical mass of solid stone, seven feet six inches 
 in diameter, forming as it were the axis of the building. The corridors are 
 arched in the usual manner, coated with plaster and p'ainted. 
 
 At some distance from this singular structure are others, repeating on a 
 grander scale what we have seen at Uxmal, and supposed to be connected 
 with the public games of the country. Two walls, each two hundred and 
 seventy-four feet long and thirty feet thick, run parallel with each other at 
 a distance of one hundred and twenty feet. In the center of each wall 
 and exactly opposite each other, at the height of twenty feet from the ground, 
 are two massive stone rings, four feet in diameter and with serpents sculp- 
 tured on the outer circle. At the distance of one hundred feet from the 
 northern and southern extremities of the walls, and facing the open space 
 inclosed between them, are two buildings, the one thirty-five, the other 
 eighty feet long, situated on elevations, and each containing one room only. 
 Both are much dilapidated ; but on the inner walls of the smallest there are 
 still traces of rich sculptures, and in front of each are the remains of two 
 columns, also richly sculptured. On the outer side, and at the southern 
 extremity of one of the parallel walls, stands a building surpassing in interest 
 any as yet mentioned. It consists of two ranges — the upper one, which is 
 best reserved, being ornamented externally with a frieze in bas-relief, repre- 
 senting a succession of lynxes or tigers ; while the whole of the inner wall of 
 the lower structure, laid bare by the falling of the outer wall, is likewise 
 covered with bas-reliefs, consisting of rows of human figures interspersed with 
 fanciful ornaments, and each row being separated from the other by an orna- 
 mental border of simple and pleasing design. The figures are all males, with 
 buskined feet and helmet-like head-dresses adorned with plumes. The other 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 493 
 
 parts of their dress are so indistinct and different in each, as to allow fun* 
 scope to the imagination, but to admit of no accurate description. Each of 
 the figures in the upper row carries in his hand a bundle of spears, and all 
 are painted. The upper range of the building, the front corridor of which is 
 supported by massive pillars elaborately sculptured, presents scenes of still 
 greater interest. Here, for the first time throughout these deserted cities, 
 we catch a glimpse of some of the pastimes and occupations of their myste- 
 rious inhabitants, though here, again, the light by which they must be read 
 is wanting. From the front corridor, which overlooks the open space 
 between the walls of what Mr. Stephens denominated the Tennis-Court, a 
 doorway — the lintel of which is a massive beam of sapote-wood richly sculp- 
 tured, and the jambs of which retain traces of sculptured figures — leads to 
 an inner chamber with walls and ceiling covered with paintings. The colors 
 are in some places still bright and vivid, in others much effaced. Some of 
 the figures seem dancing a war-dance with shield and spear ; others are 
 placed on low seats, seemingly of basket-work ; and others, on cushions : one 
 of these figures holds in one hand a large circular ring, like a child's hoop, 
 which he seems intending to trundle with a short stick which he holds in his 
 other hand. In one place is an old woman crouching down, and apparently 
 unloading a sack, which is placed before her; and in another is a large canoe 
 with horses and people in it, and one man falling overboard. The head- 
 dresses worn by these figures are quite different from any others mentioned, 
 and the men have their ears pierced, and small round plates attached to them. 
 The colors employed are green, yellow, red, blue, and 
 reddish-brown — the last invariably used to represent 
 the human flesh, the tint in the female figures being a 
 shade lighter than that used for the male. 
 
 Five hundred feet south-east of the last-described 
 building is another, on an artificial mound rising from 
 the level plain to a height of seventy-five feet, and 
 ascended on two sides by flights of steps, the balus- 
 trades to which have been formed by colossal serpents. 
 The building is not large, but highly ornamented, and 
 commands a view of the whole surrounding plain. On 
 the sides of one of the doorways are sculptured figures, 
 much damaged ; but the head of one, whch is well 
 preserved, shows the ears and nose pierced and deco- 
 rated with rings. Facing the north is a large doorway 
 supported by columns, the pedestals of which are richly 
 sculptured, and leading into a chamber of uncommonly 
 lofty proportions. The roof of this chamber is sup- 
 ported by square pillars, also richly sculptured, but much dilapidated. 
 
 At Kabah, likewise in Yucatan, the ruins present the same character as 
 those already described — namely, broad and noble terraces, and lofty pyra- 
 midal structures, supporting buildings of vast extent, and loaded externally 
 with a profusion of ornaments. The apartments within are arched, as ai 
 Uxmal and Palenque ; and though more ornamented than those in the formei 
 
494 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA.. 
 
 city, are less elaborately so than in the latter. The sculptured bas-reliefs on 
 the jambs of a doorway in one of the buildings, representing one man in a 
 kneeling position, and another man standing before him (see engraving), 
 are very important, on account of the kneeling figure holding in his hand a 
 weapon answering to the description given by Spanish historians of the swords 
 of the Indians at the time of the discovery of Columbus : ' Swords made of 
 wood, having a gutter in the forepart, in which were sharp-edged flints, 
 strongly fixed with a sort of bitumen and thread.' 
 
 In the description of the cities here more particularly mentioned are com- 
 prised the main features which characterize the buildings on the different 
 sites explored. Among the individual peculiarities presented by some of the 
 ruins, the buildings called Casas Cerradas, or Closed Houses, deserve 
 mention. These are buildings externally and internally in every respect 
 resembling the great majority of those described, with the usual distribution 
 of doorways, corridors, and inner-chambers, all completely finished, and 
 then, apparently before the roof was closed in, having been filled up with 
 solid masses of stone and mortar, the doonvays being at the same time 
 carefully walled up. The meaning of these buildings, like so many of the 
 other arrangements in these extraordinary cities, remains a profound mystery. 
 
 On the first survey of these wonderful cities of palaces, buried in the 
 bosom of the vast forests of an uncultivated region, the imagination, struck 
 by the presence of so much grandeur and magnificence, and the total absence 
 of all the petty details connected with the daily necessities and the daily cares 
 of human life, conjures up to itself a race of beings exempt from these neces- 
 sities and these cares, which' has dwelt here in happiness and in splendor. 
 But sober reason soon re-asserts its sway, and bids us believe that when we find 
 traces of human habitations, there also, though hidden, we shall find indica- 
 tions of those conditions without which human nature cannot exist. Thus, 
 though the sites of these cities, especially in Yucatan, seem selected with an 
 entire disregard of that which is generally considered the first of conditions 
 for the foundation of a city — namely, a natural supply of water — we find, 
 upon nearer investigation, that this seeming indifference with regard to the 
 absence of one of the first necessaries of life must have been owing to the 
 consciousness possessed by those builders of their capability of supplying by 
 art the deficiencies of nature. The wonderful perseverance and industry of 
 this race seem to have recoiled before no difficulties : the same hands that 
 raised the immense artificial mounds to bear aloft their stately palaces and 
 temples, were ready to provide artificial means to supply large populations 
 with water. The ponds and wells which have been found buried in the 
 depths of the forest surrounding the ruined cities, and which were until very 
 lately believed by the inhabitants to be natural depressions of the soil, have 
 now been ascertained to be lined with masonry ; and they form a very inter- 
 esting portion of the ancient w orks of the aborigines. Several of these ponds 
 or Aguadas, as they are called by the natives of Spanish descent — situated 
 on the property of a gentleman more observant than the generality of his 
 countrymen, were entirely dried up by the heats of the summer of 1835. 
 The proprietor, placing confidence in tlv: current traditions that they were 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 495 
 
 artificial contrivances and the work of the Antiguos, or Ancients, as the 
 Indians denominate the authors of the many ancient works with which 
 their country abounds, availed himself of the opportunity to make a careful 
 examination of the ponds, and was satisfied that on this point tradition was 
 correct. In 1836 the pond was cleared of mud, and an artificial bottom 
 disclosed, consisting of large flat stones, placed in several layers, the inter- 
 stices being carefully filled with a reddish-brown clay. In the middle of the 
 basin, sunk from the level of this paved foundation, were four wells eight 
 yards deep, and five feet in diameter, and lined with stone, but at the time 
 of which we speak filled with mud. Beside these, there were around the 
 margin of the pond upward of four hundred pits into which the water had 
 filtered, and which, together with the wells, were intended to furnish a supply 
 of water during the dry season of the year, when the upper basin, which 
 depended upon the floods of the rainy season, should be empty. On another 
 estate, within a short distance of the one we have just mentioned, another 
 aguada of a still more extraordinary character has been cleansed and re- 
 stored to its original uses. When the mud, which covered the bottom to a 
 depth of several feet, was cleared away, the upper basin was found to contain 
 upward of forty wells, differing in character and construction, and from 
 twenty to twenty-five feet in depth. These ingenious contrivances of the 
 aborigines, to supply the natural deficiencies of the land, have proved an 
 immense boon to their degenerate descendants and their Spanish masters ; 
 for in a country almost destitute of water-courses as Yucatan, these aguadas 
 were of very great importance, even while their precise character was still 
 unknown. 
 
 Beside these artificial reservoirs, which, as has been said, are scattered all 
 over the face of the country, there are in Yucatan other wells of a most 
 extraordinary character, of which the present inhabitants avail themselves, 
 and which, from various indications, it is evident have also been known and 
 resorted to by the ancient populations. One of these, in the neighborhood 
 of the village of Bolanchen, is most remarkable, and at the same time com- 
 prises the leading features of all. The descent to this well, or these wells—- 
 for there are seven distinct basins containing water — is through the mouth 
 of a rocky cavern, and continues through the bowels of the earth down to a 
 perpendicular depth of 450 feet, but by a pathway in the rock 1400 feet in 
 length, and at times so precipitous, as to necessitate the use of ladders varying 
 from twenty to eighty feet in length. Of these ladders, which are of a most 
 primitive description — being made of rough rounds of wood bound together 
 with osiers — there are no less than seven to be descended and ascended by 
 the Indians, who, from these mysterious sources, carry up on their backs 
 duiing four months of each year, the full supply of water necessary for the 
 consumption of the population of the village, amounting to 7000 souls. In 
 other parts of the country the Indians, in their descent and ascent from well? 
 of a similar nature, have to pass through passages in the rock so low, as to 
 oblige them to crawl on hands and feet; on which occasion the bands passed 
 round their foreheads, and to which the gourds containing the water are 
 attached, are lengthened so as to allow the latter to hang below their hips, ir 
 
496 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 order that they may not protrude beyond the height of the body in thia 
 crouching attitude. The unmurmuring cheerfulness with which this patient 
 race pursue their daily task, apparently as unconscious of its laboriousness as 
 of its dangers, affords a little insight into the qualities which render possible 
 the construction of such works of labor as those with which the country is 
 covered; and it further leads to the conclusion — which indeed the history of 
 Mexico corroborates — that the monuments of the ancient civilization of 
 America, like those of the Old World, have been the work of slaves, toiling 
 like machines, under the direction of masters who allowed them no share in 
 the intellectual light which gave to themselves the power, and taught them 
 the means, of executing such stupendous undertakings. 
 
 In addition to the ingenious cisterns above described, there are among the 
 ruins but one kind of structures which may be supposed to have served for 
 useful purposes. These are subterraneous chambers scattered over the whole 
 area inclosed within the walls of the cities, and about five yards or a little 
 more in diameter, with domelike ceilings, and lined throughout with cement. 
 Access to them is gained by circular holes in the ground, so small, that a 
 man can with difficulty introduce his body. As many as have been explored 
 have been found quite empty, with the exception of one, in which was found 
 a small earthenware vessel. At first, it was suggested that these chambers 
 might have been water-cisterns, but nearer examination proved them not to 
 be fit for this purpose ; and subsequently a more probable opinion has been 
 adopted — namely, that they have served as depositaries for the maize or 
 Indian corn, which was in universal use among the natives of both the 
 American continents at the period of their discovery by the Europeans. 
 Beyond these, the ruins afford no traces of the life and habits of their former 
 occupants. There is, however, one mysterious feature connected with these 
 buildings, and observed even in those most distant from each other, which is 
 of the utmost importance, not only as further proving the similarity of 
 thought and feeling, because of sign and symbol existing between their re- 
 spective populations, but still more as affording a connecting link between 
 these populations and some of the tribes which to this day inhabit the North 
 American continent. We allude to the print of a red hand, which has been 
 found on the walls of the edifices in almost all the cities explored. The sign 
 of the hand, we are told, is not painted, but seems literally printed upon the 
 stones by the pressure of the living hand while moist with the paint, as every 
 minute line and seam of the palm is visible. It is a remarkable fact, that 
 this same sign constantly recurs on the skins of animals purchased from the 
 Indian hunters on the Rocky Mountains, and it is indeed said to be in com- 
 mon use among the tribes in the north. According to Mr. Schoolcraft, a 
 gentleman who has devoted much attention to the habits and customs of the 
 Indians, and quoted by Mr. Stephens, the figure of the human hand is used 
 by the North American Indians to denote supplication to the Great Spirit, and 
 it stands in their system of picture-writing as the symbol of strength, power, 
 or mastery, thus derived. 
 
 By analogies such as the above must the history of the deserted cities and 
 their inhabitants br traced, for their walls and sculptures are the only records 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 497 
 
 of them extant. Among those that we have mentioned, the name of Copan, 
 indeed, holds a place in the history of the Spanish conquest, a city of this 
 name being mentioned as having revolted against the Spaniards in 1530, and 
 as having bravely resisted the attacks of the Spanish soldiers sent to bring it 
 back to subjection. But the general belief is, that these ruins are of a date 
 much anterior to this period; and there are points in the Spanish narrative of 
 the reduction of Copan which could not be applied to a city surrounded by 
 such strong walls as the one whose ruins we have surveyed. Of the ruini 
 now designated by the appellation of Palenque, not even the name is known, 
 as has been seen, and no tradition hovers round the spot to tell of its past 
 glory : the tale is left to its sculptured walls, and even these will not long 
 survive to tell it. Of Uxmal the same may be said. The name of these 
 ruins is derived from that of the estate on which they stand; in the oldest 
 deed belonging to the family who owns this property, and which goes back 
 140 years, they are referred to as Las Casas di Piedras, the common appella- 
 tion for the ruined structures throughout the country. Of the past existence 
 of Kabah not a record or a tradition is extant. These remains lie upon the 
 common lands of the village of Nohcacab, and their very presence was un- 
 known until the opening of a road to Bolanchen disclosed them in the bosom 
 of the wood. The ruins of Chichen, being situated on both sides of the 
 great road which leads to Valladolid, one of the principal modern cities of 
 Yucatan, and full in sight of all passers-by, are, in consequence, more gene- 
 rally known to the people of the country, and the name of this city is recorded 
 in history as that of the first place in the interior where the Spaniards halted. 
 Whether the town was then inhabited, and in the full blaze of that splendor 
 which the magnificent remains indicate, or whether it were already then 
 deserted, is, however, unsettled, for the Spanish chronicler merely mentions 
 the locality as a favorable and strong position for defense against the Indians, 
 on account of the great buildings that were there. However this may be, 
 the reader has no doubt been struck with the general resemblance of the 
 buildings and other monuments which we have been describing to those of 
 Mexico on the arrival of Cortez. The palace of Palenque, or the house of 
 the Nuns at Uxmal, at once familiarize us with the edifice in which he and 
 his companions were lodged by Montezuma; and the vast pyramidal structures 
 call to mind the great Teocalli, which was the first victim of the fanatic fury 
 of the invaders. The total absence of every vestige of the habitations of the 
 humbler classes of the community also leads to the conclusion that the re- 
 semblance of these cities to those of Mexico does not stop here, but that, 
 here as there, the houses of the people must have been of much frailer 
 materials than those of their rulers, whether these were kings, nobles, or 
 priests, and could not long survive their abandonment. Indeed the Spanish 
 historian Herrera, who, in describing Yucatan, says, 'there were so many 
 and such stately stone buildings that it was amazing,' adds — 'their houses 
 (dwelling-houses) were all of timber, and thatched.' But why were these 
 cities abandoned ? Here the mystery again thickens, and here the analogy 
 to Mexico seems no longer to hold good. The subjugation of Yucatan was 
 thrown so much into the shade by the more splendid achievements of the 
 32 
 
498 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 conquests of Mexico and Peru, which, though later known, were more 
 speedily brought under the Spanish yoke, that the glowing descriptions which 
 reached Spain from those countries were not followed by similar ones from 
 Yucatan; nor are there any records of the Spaniards having in this country, 
 as in the two former, waged a war of destruction against the national monu- 
 ments of the natives. To this day the Spanish population in the peninsula is 
 far from numerous, and is gathered in a few large towns ; while the Indians 
 generally dwell in villages under the guidance of a Roman Catholic priest, or 
 settle themselves in the immediate vicinity of the haciendas or estates which 
 dot the country, and give their services to the proprietor in return for the 
 permission to draw water from the well or cistern of his establishment. Even 
 the face of the country seems to be pretty much the same as it was at the 
 period of the Conquest. The great dearth of springs and rivers renders it 
 an qualified for cultivation, and the immense forests of logwood continue to 
 constitute its greatest riches. Therefore, although it must be admitted that 
 the Spaniards, on their arrival, found the Indians in possession of towns, which 
 from the incidental mention of them that occurs in the chronicles of the 
 period, seem to have borne very much the same character as those we have 
 been surveying, yet it is difficult to conceive how, within little more than two 
 centuries (we refer to the date of the discovery of the ruins of Palenque), 
 these cities came to be so completely abandoned and forgotten, and that by a 
 race remarkable for the great tenacity with which it clings to its old customs 
 and institutions. In Mexico, where every vestige of their ancient faith and 
 policy was systematically eradicated, and where the native population of 
 Spanish descent is comparatively very numerous, the Indians have, neverthe- 
 less, retained so strong a traditional feeling of reverence for their ancient 
 faith, that when two idols were accidentally disinterred in the city of Mexico 
 a few years ago, they secretly, in the night, crowned these objects of their 
 former adoration with wreaths of flowers ; but in Yucatan and other districts, 
 they live within a few miles, nay, in some cases a few steps, of the remains 
 of their gorgeous temples, and know not of their existence ; and when the 
 ruins are pointed out to them, and they are asked who were the builders, 
 their only answer is an indifferent ' Who knows?' 
 
 Whoever may have been the builders of the cities of Central America, 
 one thing is established by their discovery — namely, that the civilization which 
 once embellished these regions must have sprung from the same source as 
 that of Mexico, though whether it was more ancient or more modern, must, 
 notwithstanding all the speculation and ingenuity which has been expended 
 on these subjects, still remain unsettled. That some of the cities, at all 
 events, have been ruined and abandoned at the time of the Spanish conquest, 
 there are incidents in the history of that period that lead us to believe. In 
 the narrative of his travels in these- regions, Mr. Stephens mentions, at a dis- 
 t tance of ten leagues from Palenque, a village called Las Tres Cruces, which, 
 tradition says, derived its name from three crosses that Cortez placed there 
 when on his way from Mexico to Honduras ; and justly remarks, that it is not 
 nrobable that one whose aim was conquest and plunder, should have passed 
 bv a city of such importance as Palenque must have been when in the full 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 499 
 
 meridian of its glory, without being attracted by its fame ; nor is it probable 
 that this fame should not have reached his ears, had the city not been already 
 then, as now — a city of the wilderness, desolate and forgotten. But if ruins 
 such as these, so ancient as to have been forgotten, and their very sites 
 unknown, existed at the period of the Conquest, the civilization of these 
 countries could not have been of recent date ; for there is no reason to believe 
 that cities of palaces, the foundations of which were artificial mountains, 
 whose construction required an amount of toil almost inconceivable, and the 
 decoration of which must likewise have cost years of labor, have sprung up 
 at the wave of an enchanter's wand, and been abandoned from such caprice 
 as makes a child weary of its new toy. To be utterly unknown, the ruins 
 must have been out of sight ; and to be out of sight, forests of slow growth 
 must have had time to close their dark curtain around them. But whence, 
 then, came this ancient race of city-builders ; where was the cradle of its 
 civilization? This question has led to speculations, to enumerate which 
 would far surpass our bounds, and would also be beside our purpose ; suffice 
 it to say, that the study of American monuments and traditions, and the 
 analogies which have been descried in them to those of the most ancient 
 people of the Old World, have been thought to prove the descent of 
 the Red men of America from the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the 
 Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Hindoos, Chinese, Tartars, Malays, and 
 Polynesians. 
 
 Without attempting to go as far back as the first settlement of the red race 
 on the continent of America, and to enter the regions of pure speculation, we 
 may, however, trace its civilization back at least a thousand years before the 
 Conquest. The Mexicans, it will be remembered, admitted that in their 
 pyramidal structures they had imitated the earlier works of the Toltecs. This 
 race is the earliest of which any knowledge can be derived from the tradi- 
 tions and picture-writings of the Mexicans. According to these, this people, 
 constituting a powerful nation, arrived from a country somewhere to the 
 north-east of Mexico, whence they emigrated, for some unknown cause, at 
 the commencement of the sixth century of our era; and after about 104 
 years' wandering through the intervening countries, made an irruption upon 
 the great table -land and valley of Mexico, territories bearing in the language 
 of the country the name of Anahuac. Having established an empire under a 
 monarchical form of government, they ruled the country during four centuries, 
 built large cities, and spread civilization around them. After the expiration 
 of this period, they were smitten by pestilence and famine, their numbers 
 dwindled, some portions of the population migrated southward toward 
 Yucatan and Guatemala; and in Anahuac they were superseded in power 
 by other tribes coming from the same direction as they, and of whom 
 the Aztecs or Mexicans of the time of the Spanish conquest were the last 
 Each of these tribes, in its turn, seems to have adopted as much of the civili- 
 zation of the Toltecs as was extant on its arrival ; and as the remains in 
 Mexico, though evidently of different dates, do not present characteristics 
 of any distinct civilization, it is probable that the archetype, of which the 
 remains throughout the whole of the southern part of North America are but 
 
500 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 slight modifications, has been that of the Toltecs, or of the people from whom 
 they had borrowed it; that it is their architecture, their astronomical divison 
 of time, their mythology, and their religious observances and customs, which 
 prevailed throughout these regions. It cannot, however, be maintained with 
 any certainty, notwithstanding the records of the Toltec migration from the 
 north-west, that the territories situated in that direction were the first seat 
 of population and civilization en the American continent. There is, on the 
 contrary, reason to believe that the population and civilization of Yucatan, 
 Guatemala, and Chiapas, had been anterior to those of Mexico; and that 
 thence they have been diffused through the north, whence the populations 
 have again returned southward by one of those refluxes which are common 
 in the early history of nations. 
 
 That civilization has at one period extended far to the north-east of Mexico 
 into the territories which, at the period of the discovery of America by Co- 
 lumbus, were inhabited by rude and savage tribes, modern research has 
 sufficiently established. From the Gulf of Mexico to the southern shores of 
 the great lakes in the United States, earthworks and fortifications have been 
 traced entirely distinct from the works of the Indians, giving evidence of a 
 state of civilization greatly surpassing theirs, yet proving much affinity 
 between the two, and at the same time exhibiting features that show them to 
 be links of the great chain which extends southward also. In the states 
 bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, the Teocalli-shaped structures, of large 
 dimensions, continue to form the leading feature. Further northward, how- 
 ever, in the region watered by the Ohio and its tributaries, though the ancient 
 earthworks are still of considerable magnitude, and in numerous instances 
 of the pyramidal form, terraced, and with a graded ascent to the top, yet a 
 divergence from the system pursued in Mexico is visible in the greater preva- 
 lence of the conical-formed mound, as also in the existence of numerous 
 inclosures formed by embankments of earth and stone. By their number, 
 the regularity of their form, and the vastness of their dimensions, these em- 
 bankments give an imposing idea of the number and capabilities of the 
 people who raised them. In the State of Ohio alone, the number of tumuli 
 raised by the hand of man is estimated at no less than 10,000, and the in- 
 closures are rated at from between 1000 to 1500. Some of these are of 
 course of minor dimensions, while others are of extraordinary magnitude. 
 Inclosures of 100 or 500 acres are said not to be infrequent, and works are 
 occasionally found inclosing as many as 400 acres. On the Missouri, indeed, 
 there is an inclosure embracing an area of 600 acres, while embankments 
 varying in height from five to thirty feet, and inclosing areas of from one to 
 fifty acres, are of common occurrence. However, the amount of labor ex- 
 pended on the works cannot always, we are told, be calculated according to the 
 extent of the area inclosed ; for a fortified hill in Highland county, Ohio, has 
 one mile and five-eighths of heavy embankments, which inclose an area of no 
 more than forty acres. On the Little Miami river in Warren county, in the 
 same state, are similar works, presenting upward of four miles of embankment, 
 inclosing little more than a hundred acres ; and a group at the mouth of the 
 Scioto present an aggregate of about twenty miles of embankment, while the 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 501 
 
 extent of the space inclosed hardly amounts to two hundred acies. The 
 mounds are likewise of various dimensions, some being only a few yards in 
 diameter, and a few feet in height; while others — as, for instance, one at the 
 mouth of Grave creek, Virginia; another at Miamisburg, Ohio; and the trun- 
 cated pyramid at Cahokia, Illinois — have respectively a perpendicular altitude 
 of seventy, sixty-eight, and ninety feet, and measure in circumference at the 
 base, respectively, 1000, 852 and 2000 feet. The area on the truncated sum- 
 mit of the latter measures seven acres, and that of Miamisburg is calculated 
 to contain 311,353 cubic feet. At Selzerstown, Mississippi, there is another 
 great mound, said to cover six acres of ground. With regard to these 
 gigantic structures, an American writer observes, 'We have seen mounds 
 which would require the labor of a thousand men employed on our canals, 
 with all their mechanical aids and the improved implements of their labor for 
 months. We have more than once hesitated in view of these prodigious 
 mounds whether it were not really a natural hill. But they are uniformly 
 so placed in reference to the adjacent country, and their conformation is 
 so unique and similar, that no eye hesitates long in referring them to the 
 class of artificial erections.' The ordinary dimensions of the mounds are, 
 however, considerably inferior to those here mentioned, and generally range 
 from six to thirty feet in perpendicular height by forty to a hundred in diame- 
 ter at the base. 
 
 In accordance with their different characters, these earth and stone-works 
 have, by scientific inquirers, been classed under several heads — namely, la- 
 closures for Defense ; Sacred and Miscellaneous Inclosures ; Mounds of Sac- 
 rifice, Temple Mounds, Sepulchral Mounds, etc., which at once indicate the 
 various purposes for which they are supposed to have served, partly from 
 their resemblance to those of Mexico, the purposes of which are known, and 
 partly from their unmistakable characteristics. The works, the features of 
 which prove beyond a doubt that they must have been constructed for 
 defense, usually occupy strong natural positions, which give evidence of 
 having been selected with profound skill and great care. They are all con- 
 tiguous to water, generally on the steep banks of a stream, by which one side 
 of the inclosed area is defended, and the vicinity of higher lands from which 
 they might be commanded has everywhere been avoided. While the ap- 
 proaches, in general, are made as difficult as possible, access to the fortified 
 position is, on one or two points, allowed to be comparatively easy ; and for 
 the protection of these points the skill of the builders has been taxed to the 
 utmost. A watch-tower or alarm-post, in the guise of a mound, is generally 
 found close to them ; and they are defended by two, or sometimes more, 
 overlapping or concentric walls. In addition to the skill evinced in the choice 
 of position, we must further remark the industry that has reared the works, 
 and the strong conviction of their necessity which must have been entertained, 
 as the stones which, together with earth, form the component parts of the 
 walls, are often foreign to the locality, and must have been brought from a 
 considerable distance. In a large proportion of the works the square and 
 the circle, sepaiate or in combination, very frequently occur; and it has been 
 ascertained by careful admeasurement that in almost every case where they 
 
502 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 do occur, and even in those cases where the embankments and circumvalla- 
 tions are as much as a mile and upward in extent, the circles are perfect 
 circles, and the rectangular works perfect squares, circumstances which prove 
 that the builders must have proceeded on scientific principles. It has also 
 been proved that wherever the locality has been deficient in a natural supply 
 of water, or the position of the works has rendered access to this difficult, 
 tr. e deficiency has been rectified by the establishment of artificial reservoirs 
 within the fortifications. 
 
 Those inclosures which, from their peculiarities and position, are deemed 
 not to have been intended for defense, and are consequently supposed to 
 have constituted that sacred line which, among all primitive people, has 
 marked the boundary of the space consecrated to their religious worship, are 
 frequently of very considerable extent. This circumstance has induced the 
 belief that they have not only inclosed that which has strictly been considered 
 the Temple, but that they have embraced likewise some sacred grove, as 
 was the case among the ancient Britons and other nations of the Old World ; 
 or, what is more probable, the dwellings of the priesthood, as was the case in 
 Mexico and Peru. The correctness of applying a sacred character to these 
 inclosures is proved by the numerous earthen altars which have been found 
 in the inclosed areas, as also by the frequent recurrence of pyramidal struc- 
 tures within their precincts, which fully correspond to those of Mexico and 
 Central America, except that they are not constructed with stone, and that, 
 instead of being ascended by broad flights of steps, their summits are reached 
 by graded avenues or spiral pathways. Upon the summits there are indeed 
 no vestiges of buildings or mural remains ; but as the builders had probably 
 either declined from, or not attained to, the same degree of civilization as the 
 constructors of the southern cities, their edifices may have been of wood, and 
 consequently more perishable. In the Southern United States, from Florida 
 to Texas, the remains, as has been stated, approach nearest to those of Mexico 
 and Central America ; the mounds are pyramidal in form, and their relative 
 positions seem to imply a regular system : broad terraces of various heights, 
 elevated causeways, and long avenues, are of frequent occurrence ; but in- 
 closures, and particularly those of a military character, are rare. In these 
 states, however, much remains to be learned relative to the aboriginal 
 remains, which are only now being scientifically and systematically examined. 
 With reference to all these works the same remark will hold good, that 
 though tribes of half-savage Indians in different parts of the country have 
 erected fortifications, in many respects evincing a certain degree of affinity to 
 the ancient works alluded to, they are invariably greatly inferior to these ; 
 and though the Indians are sometimes found occupying the sites of the 
 various non-military structures, and apparently putting them to uses in a great 
 measure similar to those for which they are supposed to have been originally 
 intended, yet, independently of all other indications, the tribes in these cases 
 always confess that they are availing themselves of the works of predecessors 
 of a much anterior date — predecessors to whom, in their traditions, they 
 always assign great superiority over themselves. The strongest and most 
 indisputable evideia-<pt x %vor of the antiquity of these works of man is, how. 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA 503 
 
 ever, afforded by the monuments which nature has raised on their ruins. In 
 numerous cases where the forest-trees, which now cover the great majority 
 of these mounds and embankments, have been examined, annual rings, 
 denoting a growth of from 600 to 800 years, have been counted on their 
 trunks. But even these 800 years do not bring us near to the date of the 
 erection of the works ; for it has been observed by those who have given 
 attention to these matters, that a homogeneity of character is peculiar to tha 
 first growth of trees on lands once cleared and then abandoned to nature, 
 whereas the sites of the ancient works which we have been describing, present 
 the same appearance as the circumjacent forests, being covered with the same 
 beautiful variety of trees. In a discourse on the aborigines of the Ohio, the 
 late President Harrison, after having stated that upon the first clearing of 
 the forest, certain trees of strong and rapid growth, spring up in such profu- 
 sion, as entirely to smother the others of more weakly nature which attempt 
 to grow in their shade, expresses himself as follows : — ' This state of things 
 will not, however, always continue : the preference of the soil for its first 
 growth, ceases with its maturity: it admits of no succession on the principle 
 of legitimacy : the long undisputed masters of the forest may be thinned by 
 the lightning, the tempests, or by diseases peculiar to themselves ; and when- 
 ever this is the case, one of the oft-rejected of another family will find 
 between its decaying roots shelter and appropriate food, and springing into 
 vigorous growth, will soon push its green foliage to the skies through the 
 decayed and withering limbs of its blasted and dying adversary; the soil 
 itself, yielding it a more liberal support than any scion from the former occu- 
 pants. It will easily be conceived what a length of time it will require for a 
 denuded tract of land, by a process so slow, again to clothe itself with the 
 amazing variety of foliage which is the characteristic of the forests of these 
 regions. Of what immense age, then, must be those works, so often recurred 
 to, covered, as has been supposed by those who have the best opportunity 
 of examining them, with the second growth after the ancient forest state had been 
 regained V 
 
 In the north and north-western part of the territory over which these 
 ancient remains spread, in Wisconsin, and also in a certain measure in 
 Michigan, Iowa, and Missouri, the earthworks assume a character so differ- 
 ent from any we have as yet surveyed, as almost to induce the belief that 
 they must be the productions of a distinct race ; yet the transition fc& not 
 abrupt, for instances of the peculiar mounds which we are about to describe, 
 occur, though isolated, in Ohio also. The works to which we allude are 
 described as structures of earth, frequently of gigantic dimensions as to 
 length and breadth, bearing the forms of beasts, birds, reptiles and even of 
 men, and 'constituting huge basso-relievos upon the face of the country." 
 From their relative position and proximity, there is reason to believe that 
 each has formed part of a general design or system, particularly as they are 
 interspersed with other mounds of circular, quadrangular, and oblong shape, 
 of considerable dimensions, and short lines of embankment, which latter, 
 however, never form inclosures. The animal-shaped mounds are situated 
 upon the undulating prairies and level plains ; and thus, though they are oi 
 
5 >4 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 ^considerable height — varying from one to four feet, and in rare instances 
 only reaching an elevation of six feet — they are distinctly visible, and the 
 imagination is not taxed to trace in them the resemblances of bears, alligators, 
 foxes, pigs, men or monkeys, and birds. Like the embankments of the Ohio 
 valley, they principally occur in the vicinity of the large water-courses, and 
 are always placed above the reach of the annual inundations: The extraor- 
 dinary care with which the minutiae of details have been attended to in the 
 construction of these huge bas-reliefs, is strikingly exemplified in one in the 
 shape of a serpent, which occurs in the state of Ohio, and the description of 
 which we extract from a very valuable and important work on the antiquities 
 of North America, recently published and entitled, ' A ncient Monuments of 
 the Mississippi Valley. By E. G. Squier, Esq., A. M., and E. H. Davies, 
 M. D.' 'It [the serpent] is situated upon a high, crescent-form hill or spur 
 of land, rising 150 feet above the level of Brush creek, which washes its 
 base. The side of the hill next the stream presents a perpendicular wall of 
 rock, while the other slopes rapidly. The top of the hill is not level, but 
 slightly convex, and presents a very even surface, 150 feet wide, by 1000 
 long. Conforming to the curve of the hill, and occupying its very summit, 
 is the serpent, its head resting on the point, and its body winding back for 
 700 feet in graceful undulations, terminating in a triple coil at the tail. The 
 entire length, if extended, would not be less than 1000 feet. The outline of 
 this work is clearly and boldly defined, the embankment being upwards of 
 five feet in height by thirty feet base at the center of the' body, but dimin- 
 ishing somewhat toward the head and tail. The neck of the serpent is 
 stretched out, and slightly curved ; and its mouth is opened wide, as if in the 
 act of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure, which rests partially within the 
 distended jaws. This oval is formed by an embankment of earth without any 
 perceptible opening, four feet in height, and is perfectly regular in outline — 
 its transverse and conjugate diameters being 160 and eighty feet respectively. 
 The ground within the oval is slightly elevated ; a small circular elevation 
 of large stones, much burned, which once existed in its center, has been 
 thrown down and scattered. The point of the hill within which this egg- 
 shaped figure rests seems to have been artificially cut to conform to its outline, 
 leaving a smooth platform, ten feet wide, and somewhat inclining inward, an 
 around it. 
 
 'Upon either side of the serpent's head, extend two small triangular 
 elevations, ten or twelve feet over. They are not high ; and although too 
 distinct to be overlooked, are yet too much obliterated to be satisfactorily 
 traced.' 
 
 Another of these embossed figures in Wisconsin is described as follows: — 
 f It represents a human figure having two heads, which gracefully recline 
 over the shoulders. It is well preserved. The arms are disproportionately 
 long. The various parts of the figure are gracefully rounded ; the stomach 
 and breasts are full and well proportioned.' Its dimensions are, from one 
 arm-pit over the breast to the other, twenty-five feet ; across the arms at the 
 shoulders, twelve; and tapering to four feet at the extremities. Over the 
 hips the breadth is twenty feet ; and over the legs, near the body, eight ; and 
 
RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 505 
 
 tapering to five. The figure above the shoulders measures in width fifteen 
 feet, each neck eight, and the heads ten. The length of the body is fifty 
 feet. The elevation of the breasts, and shoulders, and abdomen is thirty-six 
 inches ; the arms at the junction of the shoulders are the same height, 
 diminishing toward their extremities to ten inches ; the thighs near the trunk 
 are twenty, and at the feet but ten inches in height. 
 
 Some of these mounds have been excavated, and found to contain human 
 remains ; and it has also been ascertained that some of the Indian tribes at 
 present inhabiting the localities deposit their dead in them, though they 
 possess no traditions relative to them, nor has any existing tribe ever been 
 known to construct similar tumuli. The fact of their having at some period 
 or other served for interment, has led Mr. R. C. Taylor, a gentleman who 
 has given them much attention, to express the ingenious suggestion, that 
 they may really, originally, have served as sepulchral mounds, and that the 
 figures of the various animals may have been intended to indicate the ceme- 
 teries of the various families or tribes. Among these peculiar works in Wis- 
 consin, occurs one which again presents the missing link in the chain which 
 extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the confines of Canada : this is an inclo- 
 sure upon the west bank of the Rock river, consisting of a wall of partially- 
 burnt day, five feet high by twenty-five feet base, inclosing an area of about 
 twenty acres, over which are scattered a number of truncated pyramids, forty 
 or fifty feet square upon the top, and between fifteen and twenty in height, two 
 of which are connected with each other by an elevated way similar to those 
 which occur in Mississippi and Louisiana. In a paragraph in one of the reports 
 of the United States Exploring Expedition, mention is made of the existence of 
 mounds in the Oregon territory also ; but as yet, it has not been ascertained 
 whether these present any affinities to, and may be embraced in, the system 
 of which we have been treating. That they are of frequent occurrence upon 
 the river Gila in California, and also upon the tributaries of the Colorado of 
 the west has also but recently been ascertained. On the banks of the river 
 Gila, indeed, it has been asserted that ruins of an ancient city have been met 
 with covering more than a square league, and the buildings of which were 
 analogous to those of the south of Mexico. This led to the supposition that 
 in these territories the Toltecs had made one of their halts on their way to 
 the valley of Anahuac, and that their original country was in consequence 
 located somewhere in the ' far west f but a more accurate knowledge of the 
 localities has led to the abandonment of this opinion, and it is now considered 
 more probable that whatever degree of ancient civilization had reached the 
 countries along the North American shores of the Pacific, has spread thence 
 from Mexico. 
 
 It is not only the earthen structures and stone edifices throughout America 
 which attest the antiquity of the civilization of that continent — the identity of 
 descent in all its inhabitants, up to the time of its discovery by the Spaniards, 
 and the decline of the greater number of its nations from a cultivated to a 
 savage state ; the remains of the manufactures and arts of the people, obtained 
 by excavation, their pictorial arts, their system of hieroglyphics, their modes 
 of interment, their national games and dances, their treatment of theii 
 
506 RUINED CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 prisoners, their language, and their religion, combine to establish the same 
 conclusion. But however interesting these may be in themselves, and in 
 what they demonstrate, our limits preclude our entering upon them. 
 
 With regard to what may be more strictly termed the living testimonies 
 which may serve to shed some faint light upon the strange extinction of 
 civilization throughout regions so vast, they are but slight, yet not devoid of 
 significance. Among several of the Indian tribes of the United States, there 
 exist traditions of their having originally migrated from the west, and of their 
 ancestors having, during their passage eastward, come into hostile collision 
 with, and ultimately defeated, people living in fortified towns. Among the 
 Delaware Indians, for instance, the story goes that, many centuries ago, the 
 great race of the Lenni-Lenapi inhabited a territory far to the west ; and that, 
 when subsequently they began to move eastward, they came upon a numerous 
 and civilized people, to whom they give the name of Alligewi, occupying the 
 country on the eastern banks of the Mississippi, and living in fortified cities. 
 Having applied to this people for permission to cross the river, and to 
 continue their route eastward through their territory, the demand was first 
 acceded to, on condition of the Indians promising not to make settlements 
 within their boundaries — but subsequently, it would seem, repented of ; for 
 during the passage of the river the Indians were attacked by the Alligewi. 
 A fierce and obstinate struggle ensued ; and the Lenni-Lenapi having made 
 common cause with the Iroquois, who had likewise reached the Mississippi in 
 their migration eastward, the two roving Indian tribes made such fierce and 
 repeated assaults upon the Alligewi, that, to avoid extermination, the latter aban- 
 doned their towns and territory, and fled down the banks of the river. The 
 traditions of the Iroquois bear out this of the Lenni-Lenapi; and in every case 
 the Indians dwelling in the localities of the various mounds and earthworks 
 attribute these to a people at an early date exterminated by their forefathers, 
 and never assume them to be the works of the latter. As we have said, the 
 light thus shed upon the history of the past is faint, yet significant, in as far as 
 it seems to reveal the same traces of a downward course in the path of civiliza- 
 tion which appear everywhere in connection with the history of the aborigines 
 of America — a race the wild suckers of which, having grown up in rank 
 luxuriance, had at the period of the arrival of the Europeans well-nigh 
 annihilated the original cultivated and fruit-bearing parent stem. 
 
LIFE IN INDIA 
 
 VISHNU ASLEEP ON A THOUSAND HEADED 
 
 PENT.* 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ipdia Defined— Burmah Described— Manners, Customs, and Government of the Burmans— 
 The Boodhist Keligion next to Christianity— Departure of the Rev. Howard Malcolm 
 from Boston— The Savages of the Andaman Islands— Arrival at Maulmain in Burmah— 
 Judson, the Missionary— Coasting Voyage— Curiosity of the People — Tavoy— Converts- 
 Kindness of the People— New Year Festivities— Cave of Idols— Pagodas— Rangoon- 
 Voyage up the Irrawaddy— Lepers— Boatmen— Toddy-tree— Amusing Alarm— A va, "the 
 Golden City" — Adventures in Ava — Calcutta. 
 
 The term India, was applied by the ancient Greeks to the vast, and then 
 almost unknown regions beyond the Indus. Just before the Christian era, 
 the appellation of Hither India was applied to Hindoostan, and Farther India 
 to the countries on the east of the Ganges, which comprise Burmah, Asam, 
 
 * This engraving illustrates a noted Hindoo legend. ** After the destruction of a pre- 
 vious world by a deluge, this divinity, Vishnu, composed himself to sleep on a thousand 
 headed serpent, which floated upon the surface of the waters. During a nap of some 
 millions of years, a water lily grew from his body ; from this flower issued Brahma, the 
 Creator. Having formed the world anew, and created many of the gods, he proceeded 
 to create man. when the four classes or castes, into which the Hindoos are divided, issued 
 from different parts of his body." 
 
 507 
 
508 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 Munipore, Siam, Camboja, and Cochin-China. All of these countries, Hin- 
 doostan inclusive, contain 200 millions of inhabitants, nearly one-quarter of all 
 on the globe. 
 
 The ascertained history of Burmah, to which country we first particularly 
 direct attention, covers twenty-five centuries ; its fabulous history millions of 
 years ! In 1826, an unsuccessful war with the British East India Company, 
 occasioned the loss of several of her finest provinces, which under British 
 rule, have greatly advanced in civilization. 
 
 But few countries equal Burmah in grandeur of scenery, or in fertility, and 
 in the variety, value, and elegance of native productions. Lofty mountains, 
 extensive forests, and a delightful climate, characterize her upper country. 
 Burmah has eight millions of inhabitants, of whom, not one half are Burmese, 
 the rest being made up of various tribes. The population is almost entirely 
 in the river valleys, which are of such excessive fertility as to produce a 
 hundred fold. 
 
 Burmah is occupied by a people of great activity and acuteness, and pos- 
 sessed of many agreeable qualities. They are shorter than the Hindoos, but 
 excel them in activity, and in features are like the Malays, possessing black 
 hair, thick lips, and flat noses. Their ideal of beauty is a delicate yellow. 
 They build their houses of bamboo, and cover their sides with mats, and 
 generally thatch the roofs. The floors are made of split cane, raised a few 
 feet from the ground. The doors and windows are formed of bamboo frames, 
 and matted ; these swing open at the top, and in hot weather are propped up 
 with sticks, and form shades. In large towns the residences of the wealthy 
 are of wood, the floors planked and the windows panneled. The rank of the 
 occupant is showed by the architecture of his dwelling, and he cannot vary 
 from it without incurring punishment. The houses are destitute of chimnies, 
 and the cooking is done in a small earthen pot. The favorite food of Bur- 
 mah, indeed, of all India, as well as China, is rice, of which, there are at 
 least forty different kinds. 
 
 The people extensively practice tattooing, and are becomingly clad, although 
 much of the person is exposed. The female dress is decidedly objectionable 
 in this respect ; but immodesty in acts or gesture is rare with either sex. 
 The priests are destitute of hair, and wear a yellow garment, which would 
 be judged sacrilegious for others to assume ; such is the peculiar sanctity of 
 this color, that the people often pay their devotions to an old garment of a 
 priest, which has been hung out to dry. All are compelled by their religion, 
 to learn to read, and few cannot ; but science is undeveloped, and alchemy 
 usurps the place of practical knowledge. The people are divided into eight 
 classes, which are indicated by their privileges and employments, viz : the 
 royal family, public officers, priests, merchants, cultivators, laborers, execu- 
 tioners, slaves, and outcasts. The highest offices are open to all but to the 
 slaves, and outcasts. The priests carmot marry or meddle with pclitics. 
 The nuns are mostly old women. 
 
 The Burmans vary in many particulars from the Hindoos, are more active 
 and industrious. Their desires are limited, and easily gratified in a country 
 
LIFE m INDIA. 509 
 
 where the means of living are so abundant and easily attained. Instead of 
 showing the unnecessary desire of Americans, to outstrip his neighbors in 
 dress, food, furniture or house, he is contented when he has attained the 
 customary standard, and then surrenders the rest of his days to repose and 
 enjoyment. To strangers they are hospitable, and one may travel throughout 
 the empire, and receive the best the country affords without expense. Tem- 
 perance is universal, being enforced by religion, law, and public opinion, and 
 their simple diet and fine climate, render them healthy and long-lbed. 
 Children and aged people are treated with great kindness. They are grave, 
 exceedingly amiable, ungrateful, intriguing, impolitic, and universally liars. 
 The king has absolute power, and although usually disposed to govern with 
 love, his plans are often frustrated by the intrigues of his officers. 
 
 The Burmans are offensively proud,, and every Burman appears bloated 
 with self conceit ; gradations of rank are tenaciously observed in the smallest 
 trifles, as in their houses, costumes, caps, and even umbrellas. To ride on 
 an elephant is a royal privilege, and none but the king and his family can use 
 a white umbrella ; the next in rank use those that are gilded, the next red or 
 fringed, next green, etc. Then again, each of these grades is subdivided 
 into a dozen or more, by peculiar marks to indicate the rank of the owner. 
 Even in the every-day language, the same etiquette is observed, there being 
 several ways of speaking of everything, such as eating, walking, sleeping, 
 etc., when applied to people of different grades. To use an expression lower 
 than a person's rank warrants, would be construed as an insult. 
 
 Women are given unusual liberty for an Eastern country, they are treated 
 with kindness, and their intercourse is open and unrestricted. They hold 
 their husbands' purse-strings, do most of the buying and selling, and are 
 exempt from hard labor. Marriage is a matter of love, and courtships are 
 regularly carried on as in christian countries. The ratification of marriage 
 consists in eating out of the same dish. When married, the husband must 
 live with the parents of his wife, serving them as a son for three years, three 
 months, and three days. Divorces are exceedingly common, and all that is 
 necessary to obtain one, is to eat pickled tea before a magistrate. 
 
 An excellent system exists for the division of property. The king owns 
 all the land, of which any subject can use what he can cultivate. If he 
 neglects what he incloses, it can be used by another. This prevents a 
 monopoly of land, and is a judicious management. Burmah has considerable 
 foreign commerce, which is carried on by foreign vessels, their own being 
 coasters simply. The internal commerce is large and an active inland trade 
 is carried on by caravans, with China. Slavery exists, the slaves being 
 prisoners of war, or their descendants. They are well treated, and live as 
 comfortable as their owners. 
 
 In Burmah human wants have a limit easily attained, and giving ample 
 leisure to all for intellectual and moral culture. In these respects Burmah 
 is superior to our own country, where only by incessant labor can the majority 
 earn a bare subsistence, leaving but little leisure for the promotion of the 
 higher wants of our nature. The regular government and laws, written lan« 
 
510 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 guage, established literature, settled abodes, foreign commerce, respectable 
 architecture, good roads and bridges, manufactures, and the condition of 
 woman, show that the Burmans are a civilized people. 
 
 Boodhism, the religion of Burmah, has the greatest number of disciples of 
 any other on the globe, among whom is half of the people of China, Lao, 
 Cochin-China and Ceylon ; all of Camboja, Siam, Burmah, Thibet, Tartary, 
 and Loo-choo ; and a great part of Japan, and most of the islands of the 
 southern seas. Boodh is a general term for divinity. Numberless Boodhs 
 have existed in different ages, and in different worlds ; in some worlds none. 
 In this, four, of whom Gaudama was the last. He was the son of the King of Be- 
 har in Hindoostan, and was born about six centuries before Christ. Previously 
 he had lived in four hundred millions of worlds, having passed through innu- 
 merable conditions in each. " In this world, he had been almost every sort 
 of worm, fly, fowl, fish, or animal, and in almost every grade and condition of 
 human life. Having, in the course of these transitions, attained immense 
 merit, he at length was born son of the above-named king. The moment he 
 was born he jumped upon his feet, and spreading out his arms, exclaimed, 
 " Now am I the noblest of men ! This is the last time I shall ever be born !" 
 His height, when grown up, was nine cubits. His eais were so beautifully 
 long as to hang upon his shoulders ; his hands reached to his knees ; his fin- 
 gers were of equal length ; and with his tongue he could touch the end of his 
 nose ! All of which are considered irrefragable proofs of his divinity. 
 
 When in this state, his mind was enlarged, so that he remembered his for- 
 mer conditions and existences. Of these he rehearsed many to his followers. 
 Five hundred and fifty of these narratives have been preserved, one relating 
 his life and adventures as a deer, another as a monkey, elephant, fowl, etc., 
 etc. The collection is called Dzat, and forms a very considerable part of 
 the sacred books. These legends are a fruitful source of designs for Burman 
 paintings. He became Boodh in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and remained 
 so forty-five years, at the end of which time, having performed all sorts of 
 meritorious deeds, and promulgated excellent laws, far and wide, he obtained 
 " nicban," that is, entered into annihilation, together with five hundred 
 priests, by whom he had been long attended. At his death, he advised that, 
 in addition to obeying his laws, his relics and image should be worshiped, 
 and pagodas built to his memory, till the development of the next Boodh. 
 He is invariably represented in the same manner, except that sometimes he 
 is made to wear a crown, necklace, ornaments on his arms, etc. 
 
 The next Boodh is to appear in about seven or eight thousand years from 
 the present time. His height will be eighty cubits ; his mouth will be five 
 cubits wide, and the length of the hairs of his eyebrows five cubits. The pre- 
 cise time of his arrival is not predicted. No laws or sayings of the first three 
 Boodhs are extant. Those of Gaudama were transmitted by tradition, till 
 four hundred and fifty years after his decease, when they were reduced to 
 writing in Ceylon, that is, a. d. 94. These are the only sacred books of the 
 Burmans, and are all in the Pali language. They are comprised in three 
 divisions or books. Each of these is divided into distinct books, or sections. 
 The whole is called the Bedagat. Copies of parts of these works are not 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 51] 
 
 scarce, though found chiefly with the priests. Entire copies are rare. Some 
 of them are truly elegant, the leaf being covered with black varnish, as fine 
 and glossy as enamel, and over this the words written in gold letters." 
 
 The celestial regions consist of twenty -six heavens, one above another ; and 
 the infernal regions of eight principal hells, each surrounded by sixteen 
 smaller ones. In the first six heavens the inhabitants have body and soul 
 like ourselves ; in the next sixteen they are pure matter, and the last four 
 pure spirit. The aim of mortals after death is to attain to "Tah-wa-ting-tha," 
 one of the middle heavens, which abounds in good things, where they never 
 perform servile labor, for the trees bear everything in profusion, and the 
 term of their lives is about nine millions of times longer than it is in this 
 world. 
 
 In four of the principal hells punishment is inflicted by heat, and in four 
 others by cold. In the sixteen minor hells, the wicked suffer every conceiv- 
 able misery not connected with heat or cold. Worms of vast size bite them ; 
 their bowels are torn out, their limbs racked, and their bodies beaten or lace- 
 rated with dreadful hammers. They are pierced with red-hot spits, crucified 
 head downward, gnawed by dogs, and torn by vultures. These and innu- 
 merable other evils are described in the Bedagat. The inhabitants are six 
 miles high, and are continually creeping and roaming about in the vast caves 
 of their dreadful abode. 
 
 To deny or disbelieve the doctrines of Gaudama incurs eternal suffering in 
 fire. Killing men or animals, causing criminals to be executed, insulting 
 women, old men or priests, cheating, receiving bribes, selling any intoxicat- 
 ing liquor, and parricide, are punished in the worst hells. Merit may be 
 gained by good conduct in any of these hells, so that except the criminality 
 has incurred eternal torment, the sufferers may rise again to become insects, 
 beasts, men, spirits, etc. 
 
 Of any supreme God, or of any eternal self-existent being, Boodhism 
 affords no intimation ; nor of any creation or providence. From the annihi- 
 lation of one Boodh, till the development of another, there is literally no God. 
 Intervening generations must worship his image, law, and priests, and for 
 their rules of life keep the sayings of the last Boodh, viz. Gaudama. 
 
 Not only has the universe and all its systems existed from eternity, but 
 also the souls of all the inhabitants, whether animals, men, or celestials. 
 These souls have from eternity been transmigrating from one body to another, 
 rising or falling in the scale of existence and enjoyment, according to the 
 degree of merit at each birth. This rise or fall is not ordered by any intelli- 
 gent judge, but is decided by immutable fate. In passing through these 
 various forms of existence, the amount of sorrow endured by each soul, is 
 incalculable. The Bedagat declares that the tears shed by any one soul in 
 its various changes from eternity are so numerous, that the ocean is but 
 shallow in comparison ! Existence and sorrow are declared to be necessary 
 concomitants ; and therefore " the chief end of man" is to finish this eternal 
 round of changes, and be annihilated. 
 
 The great doctrines of this faith are five, viz. 1. The eternal existence of the 
 universe, and all beings. 2. Metempsychosis.. 3. Nicban, or annihilation 
 
512 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 4. The appearance, at distant periods, of beings who obtain deification and 
 subsequent annihilation. 5. The obtaining of merit. Of the first four of these, 
 enough has been already said. The last is more deserving of notice, embra- 
 cing, as it does, the whole system of morals. 
 
 Merit consists in avoiding sins, and performing virtues ; and the degree of 
 it is the sole hope of the Boodhist. The forgiveness of sins, and the receipt 
 of favor through the merit of another, are doctrines unknown. 
 
 The sins which are to be avoided are described in a moral code, consisting 
 of five positive commandments against: 1st. Killing. 2d. Stealing. 3d. 
 Adultery. 4th. Lying; and 5th. Drinking intoxicating liquor. Killing 
 applies to even animals for food, and the very religious will not kill even ver- 
 min. Sins are divided into, 1st. Those of the body, such as murder, theft, 
 fornication, etc. 2d. Those of the tongue, as falsehood, slander, harsh 
 words, idle talk, etc. 3d. Those of the mind, as pride, covetousness, envy, 
 heresy, etc. 
 
 Merits are of various kinds, and the precepts enjoin beneficence, gentle- 
 ness, integrity, kindness to parents, love to mankind, making an idol of Gau- 
 dama, building pagodas, public spirit, religious exercises, alms-giving, etc. 
 He who neglects merit is compared to a man who starts on a long journey 
 through a wilderness beset with wild beasts, without providing himself with 
 food and weapons. According to the amount of merit attained in this life is 
 the superiority of the next state of the person. 
 
 In the Bedagat are many discourses said to have been delivered by Gau- 
 dama, in which the duties of the various classes are given and urged. The 
 following is part of one of these addressed to a distinguished personage, who 
 sought his instruction how to avoid evil : 
 
 " Know thou, that to keep from the company of the ignorant, and choose 
 that of learned men ; to give honor to whom it is due ; to choose a residence 
 proper for our station, and adapted for procuring the common wants of life ; 
 and to maintain a prudent carriage, — are means of preserving a man from 
 evil doings. The comprehension of all things that are not evil, the exact 
 knowledge of the duties of our station, and the observance of modesty and 
 piety in our speech, are four excellent modes of renouncing wickedness. 
 
 " By ministering a proper support to parents, wife, and family ; by purity 
 and honesty in every action ; by alms-deeds ; by observing the divine pre- 
 cepts ; and by succoring relations — we may be preserved from evil. By 
 such a freedom from faults, that not even the inferior part of our nature manifests 
 any affection for them ; by abstinence from all intoxicating drink ; by the con- 
 tinual practice of works of piety ; by showing respectfulness, humility, and 
 sobriety before all ; and gratitude to our benefactors ; and finally by listening 
 often to the preaching of the word of God — we overcome evil inclinations, 
 and keep ourselves far from sin. Docility in receiving the admonitions of 
 good men ; frequent visits to priests ; spiritual conferences on the Divine laws; 
 patience, frugality, modesty ; the literal observance of the law ; keeping 
 before our eyes the four states into which living creatures pass after death ; 
 and meditation on the happy repose of Nicbanvj these are distinguished rules 
 for preserving man from wickedness. 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 5 1S 
 
 " That intrepidity and serenity which good men preserve amid the eight 
 evils of life (abundance and want, joy and sorrow, popularit) r and abandon- 
 ment, censure and praise) ; their freedom from fear and inquietude ; from 
 the dark mists of concupiscence ; and, finally, their insensibility to suffering: 
 these are four rare gifts, that remove men far from evil. Therefore, sir i 
 imprint well upon your heart the thirty-eight precepts I have just delivered. 
 Let them be deeply rooted there, and see that you put them in practice." 
 
 " No false religion, ancient or modern, is comparable to this. Its philoso- 
 phy is, indeed, not exceeded in folly by any other ; but its doctrines and prac- 
 tical piety bear a strong resemblance to those of the holy Scripture. There is 
 scarcely a principle or precept in the Bedagat which is not found in the Bible- 
 Did the people but act up to its principles of peace and love, oppression and 
 injury would be known no more within their borders. Its deeds of merit are in 
 all cases either really beneficial to mankind, or harmless. It has no mytho- 
 logy of obscene and ferocious deities ; no sanguinary or impure observances ; 
 no self-inflicted tortures ; no tyrannizing priesthood ; no confounding of right 
 and wrong, by making certain iniquities laudable in worship. In its moral 
 code, its descriptions of the purity and peace of the first ages, of the shorten- 
 ing of man's life because of his sins, etc., it seems to have followed genuine 
 traditions. In almost every respect, it seems to be the best religion which 
 man has ever invented. 
 
 At the same time we must regard Boodhism with unmeasured reprobation, 
 if we compare it, not with other false religions, but with truth. Its entire 
 base is false. It is built, not on love to God, nor even love to man, but on 
 personal merit. It is a system of religion without a God. It is literally 
 atheism. Instead of a Heavenly Father, forgiving sin, and filial service from 
 a pure heart, as the effect of love, it presents nothing to love, for its Deity is 
 dead ; nothing as the ultimate object of action but self; and nothing for 
 man's highest and holiest ambition but annihilation. 
 
 The system of merit corrupts and perverts to evil, the very precepts whose 
 prototypes are found in the Bible ; and causes an injurious effect on the heart, 
 from the very duties which have a salutary effect on society. Thus, to say 
 nothing of its doctrines of eternal transmigration, and of uncontrollable fate, 
 we may see, in this single doctrine of merit, the utter destruction of all excel- 
 lence. It leaves no place for holiness ; for everything is done for the single 
 purpose of obtaining advantage. 
 
 Boodhism allows evil to be balanced with good, by a scale which reduces 
 sin to the shadow of a trifle. To sheeko to a pagoda, or offer a flower to ihe 
 idol, or feed the priests, or set a pot of cool water by the wayside, is sup- 
 posed to cancel a multitude of sins. The building of a kyoung, or pagoda, 
 will outweigh enormous crimes, and secure prosperity for ages to come. Vice 
 is thus robbed of its terrors ; for it can be overbalanced by easy virtues. 
 Instances are not rare of robbery, and even murder, beinsf committed, to 
 obtain the means of buying merit. All the terrors, therefore, with which hell 
 is represented, do but serve to excite to the observance of frivolous rites. 
 The making of an idol, an offering, or some such act, is substituted for repent* 
 ance and reparation, for all inward excellence, and every outward charity." 
 33 
 
514 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 In the year 1835, the Rev. Howard Malcolm was sent out by the Ameri- 
 can Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, as a deputy to examine into the 
 affairs of their various missions in the countries of South-eastern Asia. His 
 opportunities for investigation were unusually favorable, and he appears to 
 have pursued them with a careful regard to strict accuracy. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 22d of September, 1835, Mr. Malcolm sailed from 
 Boston, in the ship Louvre, with a numerous company of missionaries des- 
 tined for the East Indies. As they left the wharf the whole vicinity was one 
 dense mass of grave and silent spectators. Not a sound interrupted the last 
 prayer calling the blessings of Heaven upon their labors. A thousand voices 
 joined in the last hymn. The last tokens of farewell were given when the 
 vessel was cast from her moorings, and favored by a noble breeze, rapidly 
 disappeared from the gazing thousands on shore and in a few hours was far 
 out on the bounding billows. 
 
 The voyage was not marked by any especial incidents ; on the 1st of Feb- 
 ruary following (1836), they entered Hoogly river, and sailed up it some 
 sixty miles to Kedgeree. On this stream stands Calcutta, and their object 
 in entering it, was to obtain conveyance for those missionaries of their party 
 destined for that station. Here Mr. Malcolm first saw some of the natives 
 of the country. They were of diminutive stature, but well proportioned, 
 with bright, intelligent countenances, aquiline noses, and teeth ivory white. 
 Their complexions generally seemed to him about like those of the blacks of 
 the northern states ; some of the young people were about the color of our 
 Indians, and black hair, slighty curly, was universal. Their only garment 
 was a narrow white cotton cloth folded around the loins, which was occasion- 
 ally seen loosened and thrown over the shoulders; a few wore cotton turbans. 
 He was interested in noticing how nicely they cooked their rice, and the 
 enormous quantities they swallowed. Each one grasped all he was able, and 
 stuffing his mouth full, let the surplus tumble down into the dish. Each 
 consumed about two quarts at a sitting ; but this, perhaps, is not to be 
 wondered at, as they eat scarce anything else. After dinner they smoked, 
 then took off their body clothes, spreading them in the sun, and laid down to 
 sleep. 
 
 Having accomplished their errand up the Hoogly, the Louvre returned 
 down the river, and continued on her way to Burmah, in which empire Mr. 
 Malcolm first extensively traveled. A few days after, they passed in the 
 vicinity of the Andaman islands, which are sparsely inhabited by negroes, in 
 the lowest state of degradation, and of the most repulsive aspect. They 
 average about five feet in height ; being entirely a distinct race from the 
 nations around, their origin is a great mystery. Two Mahometan travelers 
 journeying eastward a thousand years since, correctly described these people, 
 as being black, with frizzled hair, and frightful countenances, and as entirely 
 naked, and eating human flesh. In place of clothing, and as a defense against 
 insects, they coat themselves all over with mud, which drying hard, imparts 
 to them a hideous aspect. Their houses are about equal to a monkey's lair, 
 consisting only of four little upright poles, gathered at the top and covered 
 with leaves. 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 515 
 
 After a voyage of about 800 miles from Calcutta in a south-eastern direc- 
 tion, opposite the whole length of the Burman Empire, they cast anchor at 
 Amherst at the mouth of Salwen river, and a few miles below the town of 
 Maulmain, noted as the scene of the missionary labors of the late Mr. Jud- 
 son ; who, on learning of his arrival, came down in a small boat and con- 
 veyed our traveler and company to his residence in Maulmain. 
 
 On the first Sabbath after his arrival public service was held with the Bur- 
 man congregation, in the zayat, or public house. The audience sat on mats 
 on the floor, their backs resting against bamboo logs. They were remarkably 
 attentive and devout, and in prayer, instead of kneeling bent forward, and 
 resting on their elbows, put their palms together. 
 
 While at Maulmain, Mr. Malcolm procured a small cutter, and sailed along 
 some two hundred miles in a south-east direction, to visit the missions at 
 Tavoy, Mergui, and vicinity. The voyage was along a coast bounded by 
 noble mountains, closely covered with forests in the richest verdure. He 
 landed at a small but well-built Burman village, adorned by a profusion of 
 beautiful trees, and distant but a few miles from Tavoy. He was immedi- 
 ately escorted to a cool zayat. This, the principal public building in a 
 Burman village, answers for a tavern, and is frequently used for religious 
 meetings, and contains idols. It is simply a shed, with a floor of split canes, 
 and wide verandahs, as a protection from the sun's rays, which in this 
 climate are overpowering. Some of them are very handsome, and as tra- 
 velers in Burmah always carry their provisions, and water, and fruits, are 
 freely given by the people, the accommodations are all sufficient. 
 
 No sooner had Mr. Malcolm arrived at this zayat, than he was furnished 
 with a mat to lie upon, and water and oranges by the kind-hearted villagers, 
 without hope or expectation of remuneration. Women and children came in 
 throngs to see the foreigner, and in the exercise of their curiosity, behaved 
 with the utmost respect. 
 
 After a short repose he started on foot across the country for Tavoy, ac- 
 companied by his cooley or porter, for a guide, who carried his baggage on a 
 pole slung across his shoulder. They entered the jungle or thicket, and 
 wound their way over the mountains. The foliage was fresh and intensely 
 green, innumerable vines intertwined among the trees, most of which, as is 
 usual in tropical countries, were covered with flowers, which filling the air 
 with fragrance, combined with the general beauty of the country, to impart 
 delicious sensations. They stopped on the summit of the mountain, and 
 spread a cloth under the shade of a large tree, and while partaking of a 
 frugal meal, a couple of Burmese priests and servants came up, and stopped 
 to repose under the same shade. The poor cooley, with great reverence, 
 handed a plateful to one of the priests, an old man, who, after examining, 
 smelling, and tasting the bread, tossed it away in disgust ; he evidently was 
 not used to such an article for food. 
 
 Tavoy contains about 9000 inhabitants, and is a missionary station. In its 
 vicinity Mr. Malcolm found gathered in a christian village, about 200 Karens, 
 in charge of tho Tavoy missionaries. Under their care these people had 
 abandoned *heir wanderings, and acquired habits of industry and neatness 
 
516 LIFF Iff INDIA. 
 
 In their public services they manifested an attention ai.d devotion, far superioi 
 to that usually seen in churches in our own country. They voluntarily built a 
 large house for their mission aiy, and a zayat, and those who had become as« 
 sistants, displayed great missionary zeal. Although but lately wild, and 
 wandering, it was exhilarating to observe with what eagerness they performed 
 every christian duty as soon as it was taught, of which we adduce one 
 example. Their missionary having on one occasion read to them a chapter, 
 enjoining the duty of visiting those sick, or in prison, they for the first time 
 in their lives, commenced immediately performing services of charity and 
 kindness. The next day, they visited a poor widow and her child, afflicted 
 with leprosy, performed many repulsive offices for them, cleaned the house : 
 brought them food, so that the poor old creature was fairly bewildered with 
 delight. One bedridden with loathsome sores, was similarly treated, and 
 ever after, their attention to all in affliction or sickness, had been unremitted, 
 and what was still additionally gratifying, they were performed with such 
 studied concealment, that only through the sufferers themselves, were these 
 charities revealed. Other wonderful changes took place in the morals of the 
 people ; confirmed sots became the strictest teetotalers, and such was their 
 missionary zeal, that some of them took wearysome journeys of months' 
 duration, often sleeping under the trees, and going without food, that they 
 might distribute religious tracts among the unconverted of their countrymen. 
 
 On the 30th of March, Mr. Malcolm had returned to Maulmain. On that 
 day a conference was commenced, at which were present, twelve American 
 missionaries with their wives. The succeeding Sabbath, he preached to 
 them from the text : " Glorify ye the Lord in the fires. " " It is delightfu 1 
 preaching," says Mr. Malcolm, in speaking of this event, " to greedy listen- 
 ers;" and long had most of them been deprived of the refreshment of sitting 
 under a gospel sermon. Mr. Judson had not heard a sermon in English for 
 fourteen years. As my eye rested on this little company, it was sweet to 
 contemplate the venerable founder of the mission (Mr. Judson), sitting there 
 to rejoice in the growth of the cause he had so assiduously and painfully sus- 
 tained. His labors and sufferings for years ; his mastery of the language ; 
 his translation of the whole word of God ; and his being permitted now to 
 be the pastor of a church containing over a hundred natives, make him the 
 most interesting missionary alive." 
 
 After the close of the conference, Mr. Malcolm and Mr. Vinton visited 
 some Karen villages on an island below Maulmain, where the gospel had not 
 yet been preached. Having landed from the boat, they walked through the 
 villages and rice fields until they ascended a mountain, which was covered by 
 an oriental forest, in all its gorgeous magnificence. Every night they lodged 
 in their boat, but the days were passed among the people whose native char- 
 acter was pleasing. Although they went through several villages they saw 
 no poverty, and everything was ordeilv. They entered houses freely, and 
 were always offered mats to sit upon, and received the greatest hospitality. 
 Such was the desire of these people to serve them, that they often expostu- 
 lated with their cook for bringing rice and fowls, as they wanted to present 
 tliem. Hospitality is general among the Karens ; the native assistants ant* 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 517 
 
 missionaries frequently traveled to distribute tracts and preach, and even by 
 those opposed to their religion, were generously supplied the best fare, "with- 
 out money, and without price." 
 
 Mr. Malcolm gives an account of the amusing festivities which usher in 
 the Burman New Year ; this commences at the April new moon. A slight 
 bamboo palisade about six feet long, is erected in front of each house ; this 
 is decorated with young palm trees, and water-pots filled with a variety of 
 beautiful flowers, which gives the streets the appearance of charming garden 
 avenues. An amusing ceremony succeeds, a general war of water, in which 
 all are free to wet whom they please. Men, women, and little children, with 
 large bamboo syringes, are seen creeping up slyly to one another, and pro- 
 jecting the liquid element into the eyes and ears of their victims, and then 
 running off in great glee. All generally take it in fine sport, and none 
 escape getting thoroughly wet. The meaning of this custom is unknown ; it 
 probably originated in some notions of purification from old sins, and enter- 
 ing cleansed upon the New Year. 
 
 The scenery about Maulmain is romantic ; many small mountains rise up 
 abruptly from the level fields, to the height of several hundred feet, and are 
 nearly as large at their summits, as at their bases. As in most parts of Bur- 
 mah, Boodhist zeal has erected pagodas on the hill -tops, whose white forms 
 are a striking feature in the landscape. In most of the mountains are caves 
 which have been used for religious purposes. The wealth and labor shown 
 in these, evince that the country was once densely populated. Mr. Malcolm 
 visited three of the most remarkable, the last, on the river bank below Maul- 
 main. " The entrance," says he, " is at the bottom of a perpendicular 
 but uneven face of the mountain, inclosed in a strong brick wall, which 
 forms a large vestibule. The entrance to this inclosure is by a path, winding 
 along the foot of the mountain ; and nothing remarkable strikes the eye till 
 one passes the gate, where the attention is at once powerfully arrested. Not 
 only is the space within the wall filled with images of Gaudama of every 
 size, but the whole face of the mountain, to the height of eighty or ninety 
 feet, is covered with them. On every jutting crag stands some marble image, 
 covered with gold, and spreading its uncouth proportions to the setting sun. 
 Every recess is converted into shrines for others. The smooth surfaces are 
 covered by small flat images in burnt clay, and set in stucco. Of these last, 
 there are literally thousands. In some places, they have fallen off, with the 
 plaster in which they were set, and left spots of niked rock, against which 
 bees have built their hives undisturbed. Nowhere in the country have I 
 seen such a display of wealth, ingenuity, and industry. But imposing as is 
 this spectacle, it shrinks to insignificance, compared to the scene which opens 
 on entering the cavern itself. It is of vast size, chiefly in one apartment, 
 which needs no human art to render it sublime. The eye is confused, and 
 the heart appalled, at the prodigious exhibition of infatuation and folly. 
 Everywhere, on the floor over-head, on the jutting points, and on the stal- 
 actite festoons of the roof, are crowded together images of Gaudama — the 
 offerings of successive ages. Some are perfectly gilded ; others incrusted 
 with calcareous matter ; some fallen, yet sound : others mouldered ; others 
 
518 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 just erected. Some of these are of stupendous size ; some not larger than 
 one's finger ; and some of all the intermediate sizes ; marble, stone, wood, 
 brick, and clay. Some, even of marble, are so time-worn, though sheltered 
 of course from changes of temperature, that the face and fingers are oblite- 
 rated. In some dark recesses, bats were heard, and seemed numerous, but 
 could not be seen. Here and there are models of temples, kyoungs, Bur- 
 mese monasteries, etc., some not larger than a half bushel, some ten or fifteen 
 feet square, absolutely filled with small idols, heaped promiscuously one upon 
 another. As we followed the paths which wound among the groups of 
 figures and models, every new aspect of the cave presented new multitudes 
 of images. A ship of five hundred tons could not carry away the half of 
 
 The Burmans are not so devoted to their religion as formerly, and things 
 are evidently preparing for some change. Still Boodhism is not neglected ; 
 new pagodas are continually erected in every part of the city of Maulmain, 
 and within it are twenty-nine kyoungs or monasteries, with more than 500 
 priests, novitiates, who are well supported. In the city and vicinity, are 
 seventy-eight pagodas, and scattered about is the sacred banyan tree, which 
 at night is often illuminated with lamps. 
 
 Maulmain is the capital of British Burmah. It is garrisoned with English 
 troops, and is the residence of the governor. This city is the principal point 
 of the Baptist mission in Burmah ; at the time of Mr. Malcolm's visit, it con- 
 tained four missionaries, a printing office, and several houses for worship. 
 The printing office was of brick, two stories high, and 136 feet long. The 
 upper rooms were devoted to a bindery. All the printing and binding, was 
 done by natives. The mission church and school were very prosperous, and 
 many of the children showed remarkable proficiency in acquiring knowledge. 
 The influence of the English has greatly improved the Burmese, whose in- 
 cessant internal wars kept them in a wretched situation. 
 
 On the 14th of May, Mr. Malcolm embarked for Rangoon, about one 
 hundred miles west of Maulmain. It is the only seaport in Burmah, and 
 was formerly a conspicuous place in the Baptist mission. It has considerable 
 commerce, and contains about 50,000 inhabitants; it is mostly a mere col- 
 lection of bamboo huts, which answer well for the people and climate. All 
 necessaries are very cheap; rice, twelve cents a bushel, black tea, which comes 
 down the Irrawaddy from China, twelve cents a pound, and many British 
 manufactures about the c .ame as in Boston. The celebrated pagoda Shoo-da- 
 gon, surmounts an eminence near the city, amid a cluster of smaller pagodas, 
 handsome zayats, and kyoungs, and many noble trees. The hill is divided 
 into successive terraces, supported by brick walls, and has a level summit 
 of two acres. " The two principal approaches," says our traveler, " from 
 the city are lined on each side, for miles, with fine pagodas, some almost 
 vying for size with Shoodagon itself. These are in every state of repair ; 
 from beautiful white new ones to mere grass-grown heaps. 
 
 Passing these on your way from the city, you come to a flight of time 
 worn steps, covered by a curious arcade of little houses of various forms and 
 Bizes, one above another, some in partial decay, ethers truly beautiful. Afte* 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 519 
 
 crossing some terraces, covered in the same manner, you reach the top, and 
 passing a great gate, enter at once this sad but imposing theater of Gau- 
 dama's glory. Before you stands the huge Shoodagon, its top among the 
 clouds, and its golden sides blazing in the glories of an Eastern sun. Around 
 are pompous zayats, noble pavements, Gothic mausoleums, uncouth colossal 
 lions, curious stone umbrellas, gracefully cylindrical banners of gold-embroi- 
 dered muslin hanging from lofty pillars, enormous stone jars in rows to 
 receive offerings, tapers burning before the images, exquisite flowers displayed 
 on every side, filling the air with fragrance, and a multitude of carved figures 
 oi idols, worshipers, griffins, guardians, etc. 
 
 Always, in the morning, men and women are seen in every direction kneel- 
 ing behind their gift, and with uplifted hands reciting their devotions, often 
 with a string of beads counting over each repetition ; aged persons sweep out 
 every place, or pick the grass from the crevices ; dogs and crows straggle 
 around the altars, and devour the recent offerings ; the great bells utter their 
 frequent tones ; and the mutter of praying voices makes a hum like the 
 buzzing of an exchange. Of inferior pagodas (though some surpass in siz' 
 any I have seen elsewhere), there are, in Rangoon, more than five hundred, 
 occupying as much space as the city itself, probably more. Most of them 
 stand a little out of the city, interspersed with groves, embowering costly 
 kyoungs and commodious zayats. The latter are particularly numerous, to 
 accommodate the hosts of worshipers who resort hither at certain seasons of 
 the year. 
 
 In the vicinity of the hill are 150 families of " slaves of the pagoda," con- 
 taining about two hundred men, and, as their chief told me, " plenty of 
 women." They do not appear to be poor or despised, and their quarter of 
 the city is not distinguished by any particular feature. They become so, not 
 always because of crime, but often by merely incurring the displeasure of a 
 great man ; or he gives them as an act of piety. Most of them are so by 
 birth, for the progeny of such persons are forever in the same condition. 
 They are not allowed to marry, except among themselves." 
 
 Some native assistants accompanied Mr. Malcolm to Rangoon, and aided 
 him in distributing tracts. The day succeeding his arrival his assistants seated 
 themselves on their mats under his window, with their heaps of tracts, and 
 quickly gathered an audience, which they continued daily, frequently having 
 twenty or thirty to listen or to dispute. The support of a family here is so 
 easy that plenty of leisure is afforded to all. 
 
 On the 14th of June, Mr. Malcolm embarked in his boat for Ava, the capi- 
 tal of Burmah, on the Irrawaddy — the great river of Burmah — some four 
 hundred miles north of Rangoon. The country was flat, the villages conti- 
 nually in sight, and the lands cultivated in rice. Ten days' diligent progress 
 carried them beyond the vast delta of the Irrawaddy. The weather was 
 delightful, and our traveler found it occasionally pleasant to stop and walk 
 along the shore, through the beautiful groves of mango, tamarind and palm 
 trees between the villages. The cultivators of the soil in Burmah reside alto- 
 gether in villages, as a protection against wild beasts and robbers, and such a 
 thing as a ietached farm is unknown. 
 
520 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 At one place they entered a little hamlet allotted to lepers, five of whom v 
 as they approached, seated themselves by the roadside, and humbly begged 
 alms. Although pale and haggard, they were cheerful, and without pain, as 
 this disease occasions suffering only in its early stages. Four of them had 
 lost nearly all their toes and all their fingers. 
 
 Everywhere around indigo was growing, and large jars, in which it is 
 steeped, often stood in rows on the river bank, and at the villages immense 
 quantities of cotton cloth, which was being dyed, were seen suspended from 
 the trees. Up to near this point the country had been one interminable 
 treeless level, covered with grass and rice. Now the scenery was beautifully 
 diversified ; handsomely curving hills, richly cultivated fenced fields, noble 
 trees, among which rose the graceful tamarind ; horses, with cattle, hogs, 
 and fowls, and numerous birds. Still beyond, cities and towns lined the 
 shores, fine forests clothed the hills, and the scenery was of unsurpassed 
 beauty. 
 
 They passed an astonishing number of trading-boats, frequently hundreds 
 in a day, laden principally with rice, salt, and gnappee, which is a condi- 
 ment for rice, made of half-salted fish, shrimps, etc., pounded to the consist- 
 ency of mortar, and to Europeans of a most repulsive smell. The largest car- 
 ried cargoes of ten or twelve thousand bushels of rice, which sailed when the 
 wind was fair, at other times were drawn by the hands with a rope from 
 shore, or propelled by setting-poles. 
 
 The hardihood, skill, and good nature of the Burmese boatmen is remark- 
 able, and their boats well adapted to the river. In ascending, setting-poles 
 are in almost continual use. These are of almost solid and straight bamboo, 
 and not as with us put to the front of the shoulder, but either above the col- 
 lar bone, or on top of the shoulder, the boatman bending forward till his 
 hands reach the deck, by which the resistance is brought perpendicular to 
 the spine, and much more power exerted than in any other way. Our mode 
 is adopted when only little exertion is wanted. Owing to the shifting nature 
 of the channel the boats are continually grounding, when the men, who seem 
 almost amphibious, spring overboard to shove off. " The strength and energy 
 with which they surmount difficulties," says Mr. Malcolm, " transcend any- 
 thing I ever saw among the boatmen of our western waters, and in tempei 
 and morality they are immeasurably superior. In this trip and in others, I 
 never saw a quarrel, or heard a hard word. Cross accidents have occurred, 
 and we frequently were entangled with other boats ; but all difficulties were 
 met and surmounted with good temper and even hilarity." 
 
 In the upper part of the river, they found the palmyra, or toddy tree, 
 abundant. The sap, or toddy, is usually drank fresh, and is then sweet and 
 wholesome. By standing a few hours it ferments, and is more intoxicating 
 than wine ; but the Burmans, who are a very temperate people, then seldom 
 drink it, and almost never to intoxication. 
 
 As our traveler progressed up the river, and entered the villages, he was 
 amused at the consternation of the people, many of whom in him, for the 
 first time, saw a white man. The dogs barked unusually fierce, and ran, 
 and frequently a herd of Burmese buffaloes scampered off in affright at his 
 
LIFE IN" INDIA. 521 
 
 white face and dress. Not unfrequently a whole family would run away 
 from their house in terror as he entered. Often, as he walked along the 
 bank, and by turning a corner, he suddenly encountered young girls drawing 
 water ; such always dropped their pots, and fled like startled fawns. Those 
 too old to be terrified, regarded him as a curiosity. They turned up his 
 pantaloons, admired the seamless stockings, felt under his vest, and wondered 
 at his many garments. They were very polite, looking upon him as a supe- 
 rior being. They were remarkably considerate not to offend him, and if, on 
 showing his watch, pencil-case, or anything which particularly attracted them, 
 where there were more than could well see, the outer ones waited until their 
 turn, and if he was in haste, quietly desisted. 
 
 After a voyage of three weeks, they arrived within sight of the " golden 
 city." During their voyage up they had visited and distributed tracts in 
 eighty-two towns, cities, and villages ; supplied six hundred and fifty-seven 
 boats, many of them with families, and from fifteen to thirty men. Near sun- 
 down it was their custom to moor at a village, when the assistants collected 
 the people, and passed the evening in preaching and discoursing on religious 
 topics. Such was the avidity of the people to obtain the tracts, that their 
 boat was frequently so crowded with applicants that they had scarcely time for 
 eating or sleeping. This arose not from a desire to learn the new religion, 
 but from curiosity to see a tract, which was novel to them in all respects — 
 in the shape, the printing, and the paper — their own books being of palm- 
 leaves, or black pasteboard, and upon which the words are written with a 
 steatite pencil. 
 
 Our traveler remained a month in Ava. It is inclosed by a wall twenty 
 feet high, and seven miles in circumference. Within is a large walled area, 
 containing the palace, hall of justice, council-house, and noblemen's residences. 
 The numerous pagodas, with their white and gilded spires, in a distant view, 
 give tho city an imposing aspect ; but aside from these it has little worth 
 seeing. 
 
 He early visited a kyoung or monastery erected by the king. It consisted 
 of three immense edifices connected by galleries, the roofs possessing the 
 royal and sacred peculiarity of successive stages, one above another. Every 
 part, both externally and internally, roofs and floors, were handsomely 
 carved and gilded, the whole producing a gorgeous effect. He had an inter- 
 view with the president, in a vast apartment, with lofty pillars. He was 
 reclining in front of the principal idol, on the floor in the midst of his books 
 and writing-materials. His manners were modest, frank and sensible, and he 
 was apparently much gratified to see and converse with them. In the mean- 
 while a young priest entered and worshiped the president just as if he had 
 been an idol, and on leaving gave him a handsome bouquet. This he laid 
 on a vase among others in like manner received. In the city are numerous 
 monasteries — which are in fact priests' colleges — and twenty thousand priests. 
 These buildings are inclosed by walls and adorned by pleasant groves. 
 
 The king's palace is composed of almost a hundred wooden buildings, 
 standing on an area of near a quarter of a mile square, the roofs being in the 
 roy%l style of architecture. The audience hall is a sumptuous structure ; its 
 
522 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 roof is supported by tall, richly-carved pillars, and every part of the building 
 is dazzling with gold. The roof, 195 feet high, ascends like a steeple, and 
 in many successive stages. The boats of the king and of the nobility, are 
 all gilt, not excepting the oars. 
 
 Ava is laid out in square blocks, and the streets, although not paved, are 
 broad, straight, and clean. Bullocks are used for transportation, and to 
 draw the bamboo carriages of the wealthy ; instead of seats the floors of 
 these vehicles are covered with handsome cushions or mats. The bullocks 
 trot along quite briskly, with bells around their necks, jingling cheerfully as 
 they go. The nobility generally reside in a brick building surrounded by the 
 smaller tenements of their servants, in the center of a square with pleasant 
 gardens and fruit-trees often attached. 
 
 Ava has about 100,000 inhabitants, and its numerous shops contain almosf 
 all articles of foreign merchandise. In boat building, sculpture, gilding, 
 and basket making, the people are as ingenious as our own ; near the town is 
 a bridge which evinces architectural skill of a high order. Like the Chinese, 
 the Burmese have no idea of perspective and their best paintings do not sur- 
 pass the daubs intended as ornaments, on the wooden clocks of Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Malcolm, in company with the missionaries of the place, visited Prince 
 Mek-a-ra, son of the late king, and was very politely received. He was the 
 most literary man in Burmah; he read English, was versed in geography, and 
 mathematics, and his library, among several other English works, contained 
 a set of Rees' Cyclopedia. Mathematics was his favorite science, and he re- 
 jected everything not capable of a mathematical demonstration. Though by 
 no means bigoted, he appeared to be attached to the religion of his fathers. 
 One of the missionaries gave him Gallaudet's work on the Soul, which had 
 been translated at Maulmain. He received it thankfully, but remarked, he 
 could not believe its arguments unless as plain as that twice two equals four. 
 Mr. Malcolm remarked that its evidence was of a different nature, and in 
 vain tried to make him comprehend the difference between a mathematical 
 and a moral certainty. Finally he requested the prince to take his pencil, and 
 by ciphering, prove he was not a dead man ! For an instant he appeared 
 entirely nonplused, and then burst into a laugh. After a little, he compre- 
 hended the idea, and agreed to peruse the work studiously. 
 
 Among the other of the leading characters, Mr. Malcolm visited the 
 brother of the king, who has since ascended the throne. He received him 
 with great politeness ; in conversation, his face lighted up with unusual 
 animation. Our traveler found him to be a very strong minded man, and of 
 extensive information. He spoke highly of our country, and his comments 
 upon the institutions of foreign nations, indicated sound judgment and 
 reflection. 
 
 Mr. Malcolm arrived at Calcutta on the 20th of September, 1836, after a 
 hot and disagreeable passage in a small schooner, from Rangoon. As they 
 ascended the Hoogly — one of the mouths of the Ganges — there was much to 
 interest him. At first fishermen's villages, and scattered huts, tropical trees, 
 fields of sugar-cane, broad level rice- fields, and a universal greenness ap- 
 peared on every side. Still further up, a superb array of country seats of 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 523 
 
 mingled Grecian and Oriental architecture, lifted their white columns to the 
 sky, amid magnificent trees. Nearing the city, innumerable boats covered 
 the river, of every conceivable form, peopled by a mixed medley of all nations, 
 in every variety of costume, and speaking a dozen different languages. 
 Before the town innumerable vessels were at anchor ; steam engines poured 
 forth from their towering chimnies immense volumes of smoke ; beautiful 
 stairs sloped into the stream; palankeens, tonjons, buggies, coaches, phaetons, 
 gares, coanches, and hackeries, lined tLc shore, and before them was spread 
 out the great capital of British India, lining the shore for more than six miles 
 and containing half a million of souls. Our traveler having found comfort- 
 able quarters in Calcutta, we leave him awhile to dwell somewhat at length 
 upon the country, its people, and peculiarities. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Description of Hindoostan — Productions — Animal life — Historical survey — Races of Hin- 
 doostan — Fire worshiping Ghebers — Religion of Zoroaster — Hindoo Castes — Religion of 
 Brahma — Transmigration — Religious Books — Literature — Manners and Customs — Trades 
 and Occupations — The Malay Peninsula — Siam — Railroads in Hindoostan. 
 
 The whole northern boundary of Hindoostan, is formed by the Himalayas, 
 and the whole southern is circumscribed by the Indian ocean ; its area is 
 about twenty times that of the state of Virginia, or 1,250,000 square miles. 
 The gigantic ranges of the Himalayas — one of the sublimest features on our 
 globe — rising to the height of 27,000 feet, or over five miles, cover its north- 
 ern part. Southward, for many miles, their ramifications divide the country 
 into a succession of lofty mountains and deep valleys, with vegetation of re- 
 markable stateliness, variety, and beauty, and a profusion of flowers. It is 
 here that the great rivers of India, the Ganges and the Indus, have their 
 rise. Among these mountains are waterfalls unequaled, one of which, on 
 the Carawooty, has a fall of 1 1 50 feet, or near four times that of Niagara. 
 
 The great plains of India extend south of this region over thousands of miles. 
 A large portion of central Hindoostan is composed of valleys and table-lands. 
 One of the most remarkable regions in the country, is the Great Desert, or 
 "the Region of Death," comprising an area equal to the three states of New 
 York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. On the west it is traversed by the Indus, 
 and on the east by the Loonee. Traveling through its sandy wastes, is very 
 difficult. Of the whole of Hindoostan one-third is jungle or waste. 
 
 Hindoostan is one of the richest countries known, in mineral wealth, aside 
 from coal, tin, copper, iron and marble, the precious metals, gold and silver 
 exist, also, rubies, garnets, amethysts, cornelian, jasper, etc., are found in 
 many places, and diamonds in Puna, and the extinct kingdom of Golconda. 
 
 The climate is characterized by extreme heat ; but this is modified by cir- 
 cumstances. The greater part of the country being in the tropics, it has in 
 general a tropical climate, and the year is divided into the wet and dry 
 seasons. The abrupt elevations of portions of it, give it a corresponding 
 change of temperature, so that while the plains are burnt up by intolerable 
 
524 LIFE IN I^MA. 
 
 heat, the mountains that overlook them are crowned with eternal snows. 
 Between these extremes the climate is delightful. The most remarkable 
 peculiarity is the periodical changes of the wind, which blows alternately foi 
 nearly half the year in opposite directions, and are termed monsoons. In the 
 southern peninsular, the setting in of the monsoons is accompanied by terrible 
 hurricanes. In the dry season the atmosphere is loaded with dense vapors, 
 through which the sun scare can penetrate, and vegetation ia under a deadly 
 languor, and if prolonged, most distressing droughts ensue. When the rainy 
 season commences, it rains often for a fortnight without cessation, sometimes 
 causing the streams to overflow the country, and drown thousands of 
 inhabitants. In summer, the heat is so intense during the day that 
 it is unsafe for the stranger to leave his house without the shelter of a 
 carriage, a palanquin or an umbrella. Not unfre^uently in southern India 
 the heat is such, that birds drop down dead. Even the shade of a tent is 
 insufficient, the heat so striking through the canvas, that travelers compelled 
 to pass the day in them, are obliged to crawl beneath the additional shade of 
 the cot or table to protect themselves. 
 
 As a protection against the heat, the dwellings of foreigners are built in the 
 most airy situations, with lofty ceilings and wide verandahs. Venetian blinds 
 alone cover the windows, and bamboo mats the floors, as carpets are too 
 warm, and attract snakes, scorpions, and ugly vermin. Immense grass fans, 
 called punkahs, are suspended from the ceiling, and kept in motion by a ser- 
 vant, and mats, which are continually kept wet, are hung outside of the door 
 and windows. With all these precautions, human life is held by a brittle 
 thread. The marshes of the Ganges are the original seat of the Asiatic cholera, 
 from whence it spread its pestilential breath to the furthest limits of the 
 world. As a contrast to the violence of the monsoon, and the unpleasant 
 effect of the hot winds, there is sometimes a voluptuousness in the climate, an 
 indescribable softness, which soothes the mind, and creates the most delight- 
 ful sensations. 
 
 The most important vegetable productions of India are cotton, indigo, 
 sugar-cane, cajeput oil, sarsaparilla, jalap, dyes of various kinds, cartouche, 
 coffee, opium, hemp, tobacco, (equal to Havana), rice, wheat, barley, pep- 
 per, ginseng, sandal-wood, spikenard, gigantic palms, and bamboo, the lattei 
 of which shoots up sixty feet in a single season. The thick jungles of bamboo 
 cover large portions of the country, and preventing the circulation of air, 
 make the surrounding regions unwholesome. 
 
 Potatoes have lately been introduced, and being much liked by the natives, 
 the cultivation is rapidly extending. European skill and capital are now to 
 a large extent applied to the production of indigo, opium, and tea, all of which 
 can be grown to any extent in Upper Assam. Silk is also an important arti- 
 cle. In 1836, no less than nineteen millions of dollars worth of opium was 
 smuggled from India into China. 
 
 In the hilly countries of the north-west, all the fruits of temperate climes, 
 as apples, pears, grapes, strawberries, etc., are now reared in abundance. The 
 most remarkable vegetable production of Hindoostan is the banyan tree, the 
 branches of which send out shoots which fall to the ground, and taking root> 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 525 
 
 in time become large stems, and form a grove around the parent stem. The 
 natives regard this tree as sacred, believing that their God Vishnoo was born 
 beneath it : near it temples are erected, and under it are placed idols. A 
 noble specimen of this venerated tree stands on the banks of the Neebudda, 
 which measures two thousand feet around the principal stems, and has grow- 
 ing under it a number of fruit-trees. This magnificent pavilion affords a 
 shelter to all travelers, and is generally filled with a variety of birds, snakes, 
 and monkeys. In the march of an army this tree has been known to shelter 
 seven thousand persons under its outspreading branches. 
 
 The most extensive and luxuriant valley in the world, covering near a half 
 million of square miles, is that of the Ganges. In the dry season, the river, 
 like most of those of Southern India, is but a mere brook, the bed of the 
 stream extending- each side like a desert of arid sand. The rivers being an 
 uncertain reliance for agricultural purposes, immense tanks, or artificial lakes, 
 are constructed, banked with clay and sods, sometimes several miles in length, 
 which are filled during the rainy season. Gates are made in their sides, by 
 which the water is let out, and the adjoining country irrigated. Without 
 these the fields would be barren, and man and beast perish. Large wells 
 in some places are also used for irrigation. A sweep or pecotah is used to 
 draw water from the wells and tanks. The mechanism is very simple. On 
 the top of an upright pole is a cross beam, from which is suspended a bucket ; 
 one man walks to and fro upon the pole, which rises, and leaves the bucket, and 
 another empties the water into troughs which lead to every bed. A pleasant 
 song accompanies this labor, almost the first sound a foreigner hears on land- 
 ing,' and the last he forgets. 
 
 Hindoostan produces many of the most interesting forms of animal life. The 
 elephant ranges wild in large herds, in the deep forests and jungles of the east 
 and south, and is domesticated throughout the Peninsula, where it is alike 
 used for labor and to swell the gorgeous parade of the court, religious pro- 
 cessions, and marriage festivities. The rhinoceros is found in Bengal, the 
 camel in the northwest, where it is the ordinary beast of burden ; and among 
 the mountains and forests, in certain parts, a great variety of deer, also lions 
 and tigers, panthers, leopards of great size and ferocity, antelopes, wild boars, 
 hyenas, foxes, squirrels, hares, porcupines, hedgehogs, bears, wolves, wild 
 dogs, and the buffaloe. Monkeys are met with in great variety, alike in 
 town and country, and have multiplied to a vast extent through the super- 
 stition of the Hindoos, who consider them as sacred animals, and even erect 
 magnificent and gorgeous temples to their honor, and endow hospitals 
 for these chattering and amusing creatures. At Ahmenabad are three of 
 these institutions, where the sick and lame monkeys are fed and nursed by 
 salaried attendants. These animals abuse their privileges, and become 
 fruitful sources of mischief. They pluck the flowers and fruits, and break 
 orf the branches of garden trees, and destroy the roofs of houses, all of which 
 is suffered without hinderance or complaint. Devotees are often seen feeding 
 the impudent creatures, and the common people sharing their meals with 
 them. 
 
 The native horse is but a small, ugly, vicious pony; the a?abian horse is 
 
596 LTFE IN INDTA 
 
 imported m large numbers. On tne sandy deserts of Che wesi, wild asses 
 roam in herds, and in the south are several varieties, used for domestic pur- 
 poses. Among the Himalayas the Yak, or Tartar ox, is numerous, and con- 
 stitutes, after corn, the chief wealth of the people; there are also several varie- 
 ties of beeves, one of which, the Brahminee bull, is consecrated when a calf to 
 the divinity Siva, and is so sacredly regarded that the natives think that to 
 inflict a blow upon it will cause the divine displeasure. The jackal is pro- 
 minent among the canine species, and its screams at night, when just heard 
 by the stranger, has often aroused his sympathies, from its exact resemblance 
 to the cries of a woman in distress. 
 
 The heat and moisture of the climate give incredible activity to swarms of 
 noxious and troublesome insects, as well as to those of a more showy class, 
 whose large wings surpass in brilliancy the most splendid colors of art. 
 
 "Let a house remain closed for a few weeks, and upon opening the door and 
 windows, the reader, were he here, would observe several things which 
 would startle, if not terrify him. Turning his eye upward to the ceiling he 
 would see two, three, or more lizards seemingly ready to make a descent 
 upon him. Looking downward he would observe the mat covered with 
 innumerable tiny black ants, moving in all directions with business-like order 
 and speed. If there be a table in the room he would notice the upright post 
 provided with an encircling brass cup, into which water or oil may be poured, 
 and thus the food be guarded from the attacks of these intruders, and a like 
 precaution with the bedsteads, bureaus and safes. He would observe the 
 bookcase standing at a little remove from the wall, to protect it from the 
 ravages of the white ant, that marvel in natural history. Though small, and 
 apparently harmless, they are the most destructive creatures with which we 
 are acquainted. Nothing but stone or mortar can resist their power of devas- 
 tation. Moving just beneath the surface, mole-like, they enter by myriads a 
 table, box of books, chest of clothes, or whatever be left exposed to their 
 intrusion, and cease not their work of destruction until nothing is left but the 
 bare shell. Boxes must be placed upon a stone or some metallic substance, 
 three to four inches in height — books must be bound in Russia leather, or 
 often removed and brushed — beams of dwellings must be saturated with tar ; 
 and all to guard against one of the tiniest, most insignificant-looking, and yet 
 most formidable of the animate creation. 
 
 Let the visitor beware how he lift up the corner of the mat lest the sting of 
 a concealed scorpion make him repent the incautious act, or a snake erect its 
 threatening crest. Let him wait till evening draws on, and a light is brought 
 into the room, and if it be at the right season of the year, a cloud of winged 
 ants will make their entrance, encircling the lamp in a countless swarm, some 
 just burning their feet upon the glass shade, others more boldly flying right 
 into the crater, there to meet their death. In an hour or so they begin to 
 disappear, leaving their wings on the table, and adopting the more humble 
 mode of creeping, like their less aspiring brethren. Let him go out the next 
 morning, and the native lad will be seen, bag in band, gathering from their 
 hiding-places these wingless visitors, from which is made a curry more deli- 
 cious than turtle soup to an alderman ! If he retire to rest without the 
 
LIFE IN INDTA. 527 
 
 shelter of a muslin hanging surrounding his couch the mu^ic and fang of the 
 musquito will forbid repose. If upon rising he take not the precaution of 
 looking into his shoes, his foot may come in contact with a scorpion, or small 
 snake. Casting his eye around during the day he would see the common fly 
 without number. Opening a drawer a company of roaches will manifest theii 
 terror by a sudden and rapid withdrawal from notice. The wasp will be 
 seen passing up and down the Venetian blind in search of food, and the locust 
 will pierce the ear with its sharp, shrill notes." 
 
 Reptiles are exceedingly numerous, from crocodiles and alligators, ana- 
 condas, and boa constrictors — some of the latter forty and fifty feet in 
 length — to the smaller class, as lizards, scorpions, centipedes and tarantulas. 
 There are about fifty different kinds of snakes, among which is the terrible 
 Cobra-de-capella, or "hooded snake." It varies from three to six feet in 
 length. Just below its forehead, is a dilation of the skin, which when it is 
 irritated, it expands and elevates like a hood. When angry, it gives a hiss 
 and erects this skin, then woe to the person whom it bites, for if even an in- 
 finitessimal particle of the concentrated poison enters the system, death is 
 certain. They are frequently exhibited by jugglers, and the natives call 
 them the "good snake," and hold them in veneration. 
 
 Of this kind are the dancing-snakes, which are carried in baskets, through- 
 out Hindoostan, and procure a maintenance for a set of people who play a 
 few simple notes on the flute, with which the snakes seem much delighted, 
 and keep time by a graceful motion of the head ; erecting about half their 
 length from the ground, and following the music with gentle curves, like the 
 undulating lines of the swan's neck. It is a well-attested fact, that when a 
 house is infested with these, and some other kinds of snakes, the musicians 
 are sent for, who by their notes draw them from their hiding-places, and 
 charm them to destruction ; for no sooner do the snakes hear the music, than 
 they come softly from their retreat, and are easily taken. These musical 
 snakes were doubtless known in Palestine, from the Psalmist comparing the 
 ungodly to the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the 
 voice of the charmer, ** charm he never so wisely." 
 
 When the music ceases, the snakes appear motionless ; but if not immedi- 
 ately covered up in the basket, the spectators are liable to fatal accidents. 
 Forbes, the oriental traveler, made a drawing of a cobra-de-capella, which 
 danced for an hour on the table while he painted it. Supposing its fangs to 
 be extracted, he frequently handled it to observe the beauty of its spots, and 
 especially the spectacles on its head. The next morning his servant came in, 
 and accosted him with great trepidation upon the lucky escape which he had, 
 stating that the snake, while being exhibited to some country people the 
 evening previous, had, from either the music stopping too suddenly, or from 
 some other cause irritating the vicious reptile, suddenly darted at the throat 
 of a young woman, and inflicted a wound of which she died in thirty 
 minutes. 
 
 The early history of Hindoostan, like that of most old countries, is in- 
 volved in uncertainty and conjecture. Sesostris, Semiramis, Darius, and 
 Alexander the Great, by their successive invasions, first brought this 3ountrv 
 
528 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 to the notice of the modern world. After these, India fell a prey to Ma< 
 hommedan ambition, which has exceeded in cruelty everything previously 
 known. 
 
 About the year 1000 Mahmoud, king of Ghuznee in Afghanistan, deter- 
 mined to conquer India, and by successive invasions, overran the western pro- 
 vinces, pillaged Delhi, and other cities. On his return he held up to the ad 
 miring gaze of the Ghuznee mountaineers, immense treasures of gold, silver, 
 diamonds, and other precious stones, which inflamed their desires to join in 
 plundering this rich, and luxurious land. Ir his last invasion, he entered 
 the village of Somnaut in Guzerat, the seat ot x famous temple, connected 
 with which, were 2,000 Brahmins, 500 dancing girls, and 300 musicians. 
 This venerated place fell only after a most desperate defense. Mahmoud, 
 in a fit of fanatical zeal, cut off the nose of its giant idol, and then ordered 
 it to be destroyed. The Brahmins instantly dropped on their knees, and in 
 suppliant tones, offered an immense sum, if he would but save this object of 
 their strongest veneration ; but the haughty conqueror indignantly spurned 
 them from his presence, exclaiming, " I am a breaker, not a buyer of idols," 
 and then ordered his men to continue on with its destruction. When the 
 interior was reached, lo ! there was discovered a vast treasure in pearls, 
 rubies, and diamonds, to which the immense sum just before offered by the 
 Brahmins, was but as a mere drop. The Mahommedans eventually succeeded 
 in bringing under their dominion most of Eastern India. 
 
 " Nothing in modern times has equaled the ferocity and desperation of 
 these Moslem conquerors. Urged on by a mad enthusiasm, intoxicated with 
 the hope of rich booty, and inspired with the promise of beatitude, if they 
 died fighting with the infidels, they sprang like tigers on their prey. A fertile 
 country was left desolate ; flourishing cities, heaps of ruins ; palaces were 
 burnt ; temples pillaged, and rivers sacred to their fathers, flowed with 
 blood." In a single hour a hundred thousand natives were massacred, 
 during the reign of Tamerlane, surnamed the " destroying prince" Timour 
 /he "firebrand of the universe" the greatest wholesale butcher in the annals 
 j)f history, marked his track by blood, desolation, famine, and pestilence. 
 Nadir Shah slaughtered the citizens of Delhi, regardless of age or sex — 
 captured Oude — seized upon the imperial treasures in jewels and plate, and 
 specie alone to the amount of ninety-five millions of dollars ; also the famous 
 Peacock throne, valued at five millions, and other valuables in immense 
 quantities. From this time Moslem power in India declined. No longer were 
 the people of whole provinces hunted for sport, like wild beasts, and mothers 
 in excess of agony, tempted to devour their offspring, for the period was 
 drawing nigh, when this ill-fated land was to be visited by a people of a 
 better faith, and a nobler impulse. About the year 1500, the Portuguese 
 having then for the first time doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and landed 
 at Calicut, and founded a commercial empire of a hundred years' duration, 
 and surpassing everything previously known in history, in splendor. One 
 century later the Dutch began a lucrative traffic with the islands of Sumatra, 
 Java, and Ceylon, and finally with India. So bold, assiduous, and enterpris- 
 ing were they, that in less than eighty years, they possessbd nearly all the 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 529 
 
 polio and places, at which the Portuguese had been established, beside forming 
 settlements on the Coromandel coast. 
 
 But again this land of milk and honey, of gold and precious gems, was a 
 third time to change possessors, and to fall into the power of that, then 
 rising empire, " whose morning drum now beats round the world." An 
 English fleet sailing on the south-eastern seas, captured Dutch and Portu- 
 guese Indiamen, and carried, and displayed in London, their rich cargoes of 
 spices, calicoes, porcelain, pearls and ebony ; this excited the cupidity of the 
 English to embark in commerce with this teeming land. A charter was 
 obtained from Queen Elizabeth, in 1599, which became the foundation of 
 that gigantic monopoly, known as " The East India Company." Events 
 of tragical interest mark the history of the progress of the English in India, 
 of which we narrate one that has become world-famous for the horrible 
 sufferings of its victims. 
 
 Some ten years before our own revolutionary war, Surajah Dowlah, the 
 reigning prince, regarded the foreigners settled at Calcutta with suspicion. 
 Their numbers being few, and the fort weak, the English, on the first symp- 
 toms of hostility, attempted to flee for safety to their ships in the river. 
 Unfortunately when they were ready to go on board, the vessels had moved 
 down stream ; night drawing near, the nabob ordered the foreigners to be 
 arrested for examination the next day. They were confined in the fort, since 
 known as "the black hole of Calcutta." One of the survivors of that 
 terrible night, Mr. Holwell, has given a description of their sufferings. 
 
 "The place selected was but eighteen feet square, with only two small 
 windows barred with iron, opening into a close verandah, and scarce^ ad- 
 mitting a breath of air. Into this narrow receptacle the whole of the officers 
 and troops, one hundred and sixteen in number, were compelled to enter, and 
 on their venturing to remonstrate, the commander ordered every one who 
 should remonstrate to be instantly cut down. Thus were they forcibly thrust 
 into this fearful dungeon, into which the whole number could with difficulty 
 be squeezed, and the door was then fast barred from without. Their first 
 impression on finding themselves thus immured, was the utter impossibility 
 of surviving one night, and the necessity of extricating themselves at what- 
 ever cost. The .Jemadars (or Indian Guards) were walking before the 
 window, and Mr. Holwell seeing one who bore upon his face a more than 
 usual expression of humanity, adjured him to procure for them room in 
 which they could breathe, assuring him of a reward next morning of a thou- 
 sand rupees. The man went away, but returned, saying it was impossible. 
 The prisoners thinking the offer too low, tendered two thousand. The man 
 again went and returned, saying that the Nabob was asleep, and no one durst 
 wake him. The lives of a hundred and sixteen men were nothing in compari- 
 son with disturbing for a moment the slumbers of a tyrant ! Every moment 
 added to their distress. All attempts to obtain relief by a change of posture, 
 from the painful pressure to which it gave rise, only aggravated their suffer- 
 ings. The air soon became pestilential, producing at every respiration a 
 feeling of suffocation. The perspiration flowed in streams, and they were 
 tormented with the most burning thirst. Loud cries being made for 'water* 1 
 34 
 
530 LIFE IN INDIA 
 
 the humane Jemadar pushed through the bars several skins filled with that 
 fluid, but this produced only an increase of calamity, through the violent 
 efforts made to obtain it. About eleven o'clock the prisoners began to die 
 fast — six of Mr. Holwell's best friends expiring at his feet and being trampled 
 upon by the survivors. Of those still alive, a great proportion were raving 
 or delirious; some uttered incoherent prayers, others the most fearful blasphe- 
 mies. They endeavored by most furious invectives to induce the guards to 
 fire into the prison and end their miseries — but without effect. When day 
 dawned the few who had not expired, were most of them either raving or in- 
 sensible, and of the one hundred and sixteen who had been inclosed, there 
 breathed only twenty-three !" 
 
 As soon as the news of this terrible event was known at Madras a large 
 force under Colonel Clive immediately proceeded to Calcutta, and avenged 
 this tragedy. The cruel Surajah Dowlah met with a just reward in falling a 
 victim to an assassin. That hour dated the establishment of British power 
 in Bengal ; it has been gradually extending, until now all India is in fact 
 il British India." Yet within it are a few small territories under the French, 
 Portuguese and Danes, which they are permitted to hold from courtesy; also 
 several ostensibly only under the native rulers. 
 
 The Hindoos have so long been an enslaved people that they bear their 
 dependent condition with scarcely an effort to change it, and well may they, 
 for, under the protection of the British lion, they live better and more quietly 
 than ever before. India is England's most precious jewel, and to her she 
 owes much of her present wealth and power. Hisfouy shows that "■ whatever 
 city or nation has in the lapse of past ages* held in its hands the keys of Indian 
 commerce and influence, that city or plave has for the time stood forth in the van 
 of the civilized world, as the richest and most flourishing. While Arabia pos- 
 sessed its commerce it was the far-famed "Araby the blest." " Indian com- 
 merce found Palmyra composed of brick, and left it more precious than mar- 
 ble." The gigantic assaults of the conqueror of Macedonia availed not against 
 Tyre so long as she held the monopoly of the Indian trade. Alexandria 
 speedily eclipsed all surrounding cities by her direct trade with India and the 
 East. Bagdad, through Moslem victories, at once arose the Rome, the Alex- 
 andria, and the Athens of the East ; and Ghuznee too, was long celebrated as 
 the " Celestial Bride." During the dominion of the Portuguese, Lisbon was 
 without a rival. " It must have been," says an eminent writer, " to 
 accomplish some very important moral change in the Eastern world, that so 
 vast an empire as is comprised in British India, containing nearly a hundred 
 and fifty millions of people, should have been placed under the dominion of 
 one of the smallest portions of the civilized world, and that at the other 
 extremity of the globe." 
 
 Of the one hundred and fifty millions in Hindoostan, about one hundred 
 and thirty-eight millions are native Hindoos, divided into many tribes, and 
 speaking twenty or thirty different languages, but all are united by similarity 
 of religion. Ten millions are Mahommedans, descendants of the former con- 
 querors, whose mosques, with their lofty minarets, rise over all the principal 
 towns. They are bigoted and crafty, cold and repulsive, despising th* 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 531 
 
 Hindoos, whom they excel in industry and morality, and hating the English with 
 mortal enmity. A third class, numbering four hundred thousand, are the 
 Eurasians, bastards of Europeans by their Indian mistresses. A fourth class 
 are foreign residents, who number fifty thousand, and among whom none 
 but the self-denying missionaries expect to die there. Aside from these are 
 Chinese adventurers, Arabs, Parsees, and finally, those despised Heaven- 
 cursed wanderers, the Jews. 
 
 The Parsees, or fire-worshiping Ghebers, are a people whom the Mahomme- 
 dan persecutions drove from Persia in the eighth century of the Christian 
 era. They are descended from the ancient Persian followers of Zoroaster, 
 to whose religious tenets and moral laws they still adhere. They are gene- 
 rally a tall and comely race, athletic and well formed, and fairer than the 
 natives of Hindoostan : the young females are delicate and pleasing in their 
 manners. 
 
 The Parsees are all worshipers of fire, and in every temple is a sacred 
 flame, lighted at first from that originally brought from Persia, which is 
 still preserved with great reverence at Sodawara, near Nunsarree. These 
 fires are attended day and night by the priests, and are never permitted to 
 expire. This was also positively enjoined to the Levites, and was adopted 
 by the Greeks and Romans under all their governments. The eternal fire was 
 carried before the army of Darius on silver altars, followed by the magi, 
 singing hymns, and by three hundred and sixty-five youths, clothed in scar- 
 let, amounting to the number of days in the year. These fires are preserved 
 in a large chafing-dish, carefully supplied with fuel, perfumed by a small 
 quantity of sandal-wood or other aromatics. The vulgar and illiterate wor- 
 ship this sacred flame, as also the sun, moon and stars, without regard to the 
 invisible Creator ; but the learned and judicious only adore the Almighty 
 Fountain of Light under the s}^mbol of fire. 
 
 Zoroaster, and the ancient magi, whose memories they revere, and whose 
 works they are said to preserve, never taught them to consider the sun as 
 anything more than a creature of the Great Creator of the universe : they 
 were to revere it as his best and fairest image, and for the numberless bless- 
 ings it diffuses on the earth ; the sacred flame was only intended as a perpe- 
 tual monitor to Reserve their purity, of which this element is so expressive a 
 symbol. But superstition and fable have, through the lapse of ages, cor- 
 rupted the streams of their religious system, which in its source was pure and 
 sublime. 
 
 Herodotus says that the ancient Persians venerated fire as a divinity; and 
 the magi, who detested the adoration of images, worshiped the Almighty 
 only by this element. At the same time they admitted two principles, one 
 the cause of all good, the other that of all evil ; the former was called Oras- 
 medes, the latter Ahriman; the one represented by light, the other by 
 darkness. 
 
 This was the system of Zoroaster and the magi, and under various modifi- 
 cations inculcated in their moral system, is supposed to form vhe contents of 
 the Zend Avesta, or sacred books of the modern Parsees. The morality of 
 the Zend Avesta is good, purity of word, action, and thought being inculcated. 
 
532 LIFE \N INDIA. 
 
 An attention to truth is likjwise particularly enforced. To multiply the 
 human species, and prevent evil are the general duties inculcated by Zoroas- 
 ter and his disciples ; agriculture was particularly recommended. " He,'' 
 says Zoroaster, " who sows the ground with diligence, acquires a greater 
 stock of religious merit than he could gain by ten thousand prayers." The 
 disciple of Zoroaster is enjoined to pardon injuries ; to honor his parents and 
 the king ; to respect old age ; to observe general gentleness of manners, and 
 to practice universal benevolence. Fasting and celibacy are forbidden to the 
 men ; and as far as it may depend on themselves, the latter is discouraged 
 in women : if a man's wife be not barren, only one wife is allowed him : a 
 marriage with his cousin-german is recommended to him as an act particu- 
 larly pleasing to Heaven. 
 
 Some of the Parsee tribe still reside in Persia, near the city of Bakee. on 
 the shores of the Caspian sea, about ten miles from the everlasting fire which 
 they hold in such veneration. This fire issues from the cleft of a rock, five 
 or six feet in length, and three in breadth, appearing like the clear flame over 
 burning spirits ; sometimes it rises to the height of several yards, at others 
 only a few inches above the aperture. It has continued thus, it is said, for 
 ages without intermission, and is doubtless one of the ordinary burning springs 
 common in various parts of the globe. 
 
 The Hindoos are divided into four different tribes, each of which have 
 their different occupations. 1st. The Brahmins, who study religion, astro- 
 nomy, arts and sciences, instruct the youth, and officiate as priests in the 
 temples, and perform every kind of charity. 2d. The Kshatiras, includes 
 kings, nobles, magistrates, officers, etc. 3d. The Veishas, are employed in 
 commerce, agriculture, arms, and the occupation of shepherds, and herds- 
 men. 4th. The Soodras, consists of mechanics, servants, and all the lower 
 classes of society. Each of these principal tribes is subdivided into eighty- 
 four castes or classes, who neither intermarry nor associate with each other. 
 They differ as much in appearance, features and dress, as if of different 
 nations, and by laws strictly observed, they are separated from each other by 
 an insurmountable barrier. The lowest of all, are the Pariahs, who are 
 esteemed the outcasts of society, with whom none of the others will have the 
 least intercourse whatever. So strong is this feeling, that one of a higher 
 caste has been seen to dash a jar of milk to the ground, and break it to atoms, 
 simply because the shadow of a Pariah had fallen upon it as he passed. And 
 those of one caste will not to even save life, give an individual of another 
 caste a drink of water, or attempt a rescue if he is buried under the ruins of 
 a fallen house. In this class are placed foreigners, who therefore, are for- 
 bidden all intimacy with the ipper castes. The lower castes are considered 
 as slaves, and number millions. Constant poverty and accumulated misery, 
 have given a squalid and savage appearance to these unhappy beings. 
 
 In no country in the world, does the religion of the inhabitants appear so 
 prominent as in India, where every town has its different temples from the 
 meanest building which incloses the rudest idol, to the most gorgeous deities, 
 enshrined in pagodas with lofty towers, spacious court-yards, splendid colon- 
 nades, and walled tanks. While priests and devotees crown the idols, and 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 533 
 
 bring offerings of fruits and flowers, the people perform their devotions a* 
 sunrise, standing in the water bathing or throwing water over their heads. 
 During the day-time, the men are attracted by singing to the sacred place, as 
 well as graceful groups of vailed women, who bring their offerings to the 
 divinity. On holydays, the gayly dressed multitude, in their picturesqe cos- 
 tume, intermingled with fakirs and mendicants, present an animated and 
 singular spectacle. 
 
 The Hindoo religion admits of no proselytes, and is therefore a principal 
 means of preserving the castes pure and distinct. This religious and moral 
 system is no doubt of great antiquity ; but those who have deeply investi- 
 gated the ancient and pleasing fictions of the Hindoo mythology, which bears a 
 striking resemblance to that of the ancient Greeks, and may be perhaps 
 traced to the same origin, are of opinion that the civil and religious laws of 
 the Hindoos, called the Institutes of Menu, were compiled about 880 years 
 before the birth of our Savior ; that the Vedas, or sacred volumes, were 
 written 1230 years before Christ, and that preceding this period, everything 
 being handed down by tradition, the account was fabulous and obscure. 
 
 But divested of extraneous matter, there appears to be a great degree of 
 purity and simplicity in the genuine principles of the Hindoo religion, though 
 now obscured by superstitious rites and ceremonies, and blended with gross 
 idolatry. In their original simplicity they teach that there is one Supreme 
 Ruler of the universe, who is styled Brama, or the Great One. They indi- 
 cate also, that this Supreme Intelligence consists of a trinity, expressed by 
 the mystic word OM, of whom the sacred books declare, they " were origi- 
 nally united in one essence, and from one essence were derived, and that the 
 Great One, became distinctly known as three gods, being one person and three 
 aods." The three are distinguished by the names of Vishnu, the Creator, 
 Brama the Preserver, and Sheva, the Destroyer of mankind. Images of 
 these attributes are placed in their temples, and worship, and sacrifice are 
 daily performed before them, and a variety of other statues, representing the 
 different qualities of the Supreme Being ; so that it is a complete system of 
 polytheism, and a source of a thousand fables subversive of truth and 
 simplicity. 
 
 This trinity have given birth to three hundred and thirty millions of Gods, 
 some of whom are held in the greatest reverence. Of these, we notice a 
 few of the most primitive, with their attributes. Oanesa is esteemed the 
 work-perfecter. Before undertaking a journey, writing a letter, reading a 
 book, and the like, Ganesa is upon the lips of the traveler or student. Sub- 
 ramunman is the Hindoo Mars, and especial guardian of the Brahmins. 
 Uoorga, one of the wives of Siva, combines the characteristics of Minerva, 
 Pallas, and Juno. The annual festival in her honor, is magnificent and costly; 
 even in Calcutta alone, it is supposed that half a million of pounds, are ex- 
 pended on this occasion. Kalee, another of Siva's wives, is the Moloch of 
 the land, and delights in blood and carnage. If any of her worshipers cut 
 out a piece of their flesh for a burnt-offering, her delight is boundless. The 
 Swinging festival, and various other observances, are designed to avert her 
 wrath, or secure her blessing. She is the especial friend of thieves and 
 
534 LIFE IN IND - A.- 
 
 murderers, who invoke her blessing before entering upon their deeds of vio- 
 lence and death. All these deities are limited in their physical and menta 
 qualities. There is an entire absence of all moral qualities, not one possessing 
 a single element of truth, modesty or goodness. 
 
 It ever was, and ever must be difficult, for either Christians or Mahomme- 
 dans to convert a Hindoo ; for with them theology is so blended with the 
 whole moral and civil obligations of life, that it enters into every habit, and 
 sanctions almost every action. 
 
 The Vedas or sacred books, according to Hindoo belief, dropped from the 
 mouth of the exalted Brama. At the same time, the Brahma castes were 
 born from his mouth, signifying that their position in community, was to be 
 pre-eminent in sacredness and honor : the Kshatiras were born from his 
 arm, " to protect the earth, cattle and Brahmins," and therefore, to act in 
 offices of trust : the Veishas were born from his thighs, and have, as their 
 assigned vocation, to provide the necessaries of life, and therefore are 
 the farmers and merchants : and last, the Soodras were born from his feet, as 
 denoting the servile pursuits to which they were to be devoted. 
 
 On withdrawing the vail from the sacred volumes of the Hindoos, we see 
 Brama or the supreme deity, represented as absorbed in the contemplation 
 of his own essence, but from an impulse of divine love, resolved to create 
 other beings to partake of his glory, and to be happy to all eternity. He 
 spoke the word, and angels rose into existence ! He commanded, and the 
 hosts of Heaven were formed ! They were created free, and were made 
 partakers of the divine glory, and beatitude, on the easy condition of prais- 
 ing their Creator, and acknowledging him for their supreme Lord. But not 
 content with this happy state in the celestial regions, some of the principal 
 spirits rebelled, and drew a number after them, and were cast into hell. 
 
 In process of time, at the intercession of the faithful angels, the fatal doom 
 of these fallen spirits was revoked ; and they were released on the conditions 
 of repentance, and amendment, in a state of probation. For this purpose, 
 a new creation of worlds took place ; and mortal bodies were prepared for the 
 apostate angels, which they were to animate for a certain space, then to be 
 subject to moral and natural evils, through which they were doomed to trans- 
 migrate under eighty-nine different forms ! the last into that of man ! when 
 their powers and faculties are enlarged, and a merciful Creator rests his 
 chief expectations of their repentance, and restoration to his favor. If they 
 then fail, their punishment is renewed, and they are doomed again to begin 
 their first state of transmigration. In this system we are struck with the in- 
 termixture of truth with error, and false traditions, bearing in many particu- 
 lars a resemblance to the sacred truths of divine revelation. 
 
 On this hypothesis, it appears that one principal reason for the Hindoos 
 regarding the cow with such religious veneration, is, that they believe the soul 
 transmigrates into this animal immediately preceding its assumption of the 
 human form. No Hindoo, even of the lowest caste, will kill a cow or taste 
 its flesh, but will die with perfect resignation rather than violate this tenet. 
 Some of the Brahmins carry their austerities to such a length, as never to 
 eat anything but the grain which has passed through the cow, which after- 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 535 
 
 ward being separated from its accompaniments, is considered by them as the 
 purest of all food. 
 
 Believing as they do, that every living animal, even to the smallest insect, 
 to be the abode of a human soul, undergoing its various transmigrations, 
 they are unwilling to take the life of any animal whatever. Monkeys, croco- 
 diles, the cow, and the bee, and some other insects, and animals, are regarded 
 by them with religious veneration. 
 
 Among the Brahmins, every bird that flies over the city wall, finds an 
 asylum; every house is crowded with monkeys and squirrels ; the trees are 
 filled with peacocks, doves, and parrots ; the lakes are covered with aquatic 
 fowl, and the groves melodious with bulbuls, and warblers of every description. 
 
 There is an anecdote related of a learned Brahmin, to whom an English 
 gentleman had given the use of his library, and philosophical instruments, 
 and at last showed him a valuable solar microscope, which he had just re- 
 ceived from Europe, and in opposition to the scheme of metempsychosis, dis- 
 covered to him the innumerable animalculse devoured by the Brahmins, on 
 every fruit and vegetable which they ate. The English gentleman, instead 
 of seeing his friend delighted at the full display of wonders, was astonished 
 <>o find him unusually thoughtful, and finally to withdraw in silence. The 
 Brahmin on his next visit offered a large sum for the instrument, which was 
 refused. At length overcome by his excessive importunity, the Englishman 
 presented it to him. A gleam of joy flashed across the Brahmin's countenance 
 on obtaining possession of the coveted object. The next moment he raised it 
 above his head, and dashing it violently to the ground, broke it to atoms. 
 The other fell into a passion and upbraided him with ingratitude, ignorance, 
 and folly, all of which the Brahmin bore with patience, and a few days after, 
 again called, and thus addressed his friend: " that I had remained in 
 tiiat happy state of ignorance wherein you first found me ! yet will I confess 
 as my knowledge increased, so did my pleasure, until I beheld the last 
 wonders of the microscope. From that moment, I have been tormented in 
 doubt, and perplexed by mystery. My mind, overwhelmed by chaotic con- 
 fusion, knows not where to rest, nor how to extricate itself from such a maze- 
 £ am miserable, and must continue so to be, until I enter another state of 
 existence. I am a solitary individual among 130 millions of people, all edu- 
 cated in the same belief with myself ! all happy in their ignorance ! So may 
 they ever remain ! I shall keep the secret within my own bosom, where it will 
 corrode my peace, and break my rest ; but I shall have the satisfaction of 
 knowing that I alone feel those pangs, which had I not destroyed the instru- 
 ment, might have been extensively communicated, and rendered thousands 
 miserable ! Forgive me my valued friend, and oh ! convey no more imple- 
 ments of knowledge and destruction I" 
 
 The devotion of the Hindoos to the Supreme Being, and the inferior deities, 
 consistB in regular attendance at the temples, especially at the solemn festi- 
 vals ; in performing particular religious ceremonies in their own houses ; ii 
 prayers, ablutions, fastings, and penances ; but especially in oblations, whick 
 consist chiefly of spices, incense, rice, fruits, and flowers. 
 
5-36 I IFE IN INriA. 
 
 The following extracts from the Vedas or religious books of the Hindoos, 
 are truly sublime : 
 
 God is ONE ! Creator of all that is ! God is like a perfect sphere, without beginning 
 and without end! God rules and governs all creation by a general providence, resulting 
 fron first determined and fixed principles. Thou shalt not make inquiry into the essence 
 of the Eternal One, nor by what laws He governs. An inquiry into either is vain and 
 criminal. It is enough, that day by day, and night by night, thou seest in his works, 
 iiis wisdom, his power, and his mercy : Benefit thereby. 
 
 By one Supreme Ruler is this universe pervaded; even every world in the whole circle 
 of nature. Enjoy pure delight, man ! by abandoning all thoughts of this perishable 
 world; and covet not the wealth of any creature existing. 
 
 To those regions where evil spirits dwell, and which utter darkness involves, all such 
 men surely go after death, as destroy the purity of their own souls. 
 
 Let my soul return to the immortal spirit of God ! and then, let my body, which ends 
 in ashes, return to dust! 
 
 O Spirit, who pervadest fire, lead us in a straight path to the riches of beatitude! re- 
 move each foul taint from our souls; who approach thee with the highest praise, and the 
 most fervid adoration ! 
 
 God, who is perfect wisdom, and perfect happiness, is the final refuge of the man who 
 has liberally bestowed his wealth, who has been firm in virtue, and who knows and 
 adores that Great One! Remember me, 0, OM, Thou Divine Spirit ! 
 
 From an accurate survey of the religion of India, says a noted writer, it is 
 impossible not to perceive that it is essentially identical with that of the 
 ancient Egyptians, and, therefore, that both must have emanated from a 
 common origin. Both nations were distinguished by a division into various 
 orders, and each tribe adhered to the profession of its family, and never 
 invaded the department of another. From a comparison of different facts the 
 following will appear to be the result. At the time of the general dispersion 
 of mankind, some tribes migrated toward the east to India, and some still 
 remained in their original settlements in Chaldea. Egypt, therefore, we 
 might expect to find the source of knowledge for the western, and India for 
 the eastern part of the then known world. The few general traditions which 
 they had received from their ancestors, it is reasonable to imagine, would 
 find a place in the religious systems of all. These traditions would remain 
 unaltered, chiefly in countries like India, cut off from the rest of the world 
 by continued and almost impregnable barriers. 
 
 The variety of fables to which the awful event of the deluge has been 
 accommodated by every heathen nation on the globe — the diversities in the 
 narrative, adapted to different local prejudices, or to various theological 
 opinions, prove that they are taken from broken fragments of some original 
 tradition. It is also observed that the accounts of a deluge still to be found 
 among the more eastern nations, are as strongly marked by truth, and 
 equally conform to the history of Moses, as those which are preserved in 
 Egypt. 
 
 We find that the most common method of accounting for the origin of evil, 
 is the degeneracy of man from a pure to a corrupt state — a doctrine which 
 has retained a place in the popular creed of every nation of both continents, 
 and of the isles of the sea. Of Brahminism it may be almost said to form the 
 basis. It is this idea which causes its followers to submit to the most excru- 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 537 
 
 elating penances, in order to purge the soul from the stains which it has con- 
 iracted during its abode in this polluted body. Hence we see that this doc- 
 trine, corrupted and obscured and exaggerated, has led the ascetical fakir to 
 drag out a long life of protracted, self-inflicted torture, and the bigoted Brah- 
 min to prostrate himself for immolation before the ponderous wheels of the 
 bloody rolling car of Juggernaut. From the fall of man, the universal " cus- 
 tom of sacrificial oblations, as an expiation for sin," is a rite so peculiar and 
 universal that it must have received its sanction from some positive command, 
 and is so unnatural that it could never have been the dictate of natural 
 reason. 
 
 India is a great field for missionary operations. There are at present 
 about one hundred and fifty foreign missionaries in the country, which is less 
 than one to every million of its inhabitants. They have at present about 
 fifty thousand followers. But these converts have been made in the face of 
 almost insuperable difficulties. No Hindoo can become a Christian without 
 loss of caste, to them worse than death : the delinquents are obliged to enter 
 the tribe of Pariahs, the outcasts of all ranks of society; in which, with their 
 offspring, they are compelled to remain forever, and be branded with infamy. 
 
 The celebrated Bishop Heber thus testifies to the characteristics of the 
 Hindoos, and of their religious belief. 
 
 " Of all the idolatries which I have ever read or heard of, the religion of 
 the Hindoos, in which I had taken some pains to inform myself, really appears 
 to me the worst, both in the degrading notions which it gives of the Deity ; 
 in the endless round of its burdensome ceremonies, which occupy the time 
 and Qistract the thoughts, without either instructing or interesting its 
 votaries ; in the filthy acts of uncleanness and cruelty, not only permitted but 
 enjoined, and inseparably interwoven with those ceremonies ; in the system 
 of castes- -a system which tends more than anything else the Devil has yet 
 invented, to destroy the feelings of general benevolence, and to make nine- 
 tenths of mankind the hopeless slaves of the remainder ; and, in the total 
 absence 01 any popular system of morals, or any single lesson which the peo- 
 ple at large ever hear, to live virtuously and do good to each other. I do 
 not say, indeed, that there are not some scattered lessons of this kind to be 
 found in their ancient books ; but those books are neither accessible to the 
 people at large, nor are these last permitted to read them; and, in general, all 
 the sins that a Soodra is taught to fear, are, killing a cow, offending a Brah- 
 min, or neglecung one of the many frivolous rites by which their deities are 
 supposed to be conciliated. Accordingly, though the general sobriety of the 
 Hindoos (a virtue which they possess in common with most inhabitants of 
 warm climates) affords a very great facility to the maintenance of public 
 order and decorum ; I really never have met with a race of men whose stand- 
 ard of morality is so low, who feel so little apparent shame on being detected 
 .r» a falsehood, or so little interest in the sufferings of a neighbor, not being of 
 their own caste or family ; whose ordinary and familiar conversation is so 
 licentious, or, in the wilder and more lawless districts, who shed blood with 
 so little repugnance. The good qualities which there are among them, are, in 
 no instance that lam aware of, connected with, or arising out of, their religion ! 
 
538 L/FE IN INDIA. 
 
 since it is in no instance to good deeds or virtuous habits in life that 
 the future rewards in which they believe are promised. Their bravery, their 
 fidelity to their employers, their temperance, and, wherever they are 
 found, their humanity and gentleness of disposition, appear to arise exclu- 
 sively from a natural, happy temperament, from an honorable pride in their 
 own renown and the renown of their ancestors, and from the goodness of 
 God, who seems unwilling that His image should be entirely effaced, even in 
 the midst of the grossest error." 
 
 The Hindoos anciently were a people of high intellectual cultivation. " The 
 variety of subjects upon which they wrote prove that almost every science 
 was cultivated among them, while the contents of their law and philosophical 
 books, indicate the depth of wisdom possessed by their authors compared 
 with any nation flourishing at that time." The general decay of learn- 
 ing dates from the conquest of the country by the Mohammedans. 
 
 Their books on religion, law, and poetry, exceed in number and bulk those 
 of any nation that ever existed. " Wherever," says a distinguished oriental 
 scholar, " we direct our attention to Hindoo literature, the notion of infinity 
 presents itself ; and certainly the longest life would not suffice for a single 
 perusal of works that rise and swell protuberant, like the Himalayas, above 
 the bulkiest compositions of every land beyond the confines of India." One 
 of their most extraordinary books of poetry, is the Cural, which is more than 
 fifteen hundred years old, and contains a rare collection of poetioal precepts 
 appertaining to almost every duty of man. Some idea of this wonderful pro- 
 duction can be gained from the few stanzas annexed. 
 
 As ranked in every alphabet the first, 
 
 The self-same vowel stands ; so in all worlds 
 
 The Eternal God is chief. 
 
 Know that is virtue, which each ought to do, 
 
 What each should shun, is vice. 
 
 If love and virtue be thy constant guests, 
 
 Domestic life is blest, and finds in these 
 
 Its object and reward. 
 
 Sweet is the pipe, and sweet the lute, they say, 
 
 They who have never heard their children's tongues 
 
 In infant prattle lisp. 
 
 To honor guests with hospitable rite, 
 
 Domestic life, with all its various joys, 
 
 To man was given. 
 
 Though courtesy rejoice the heart, yet words 
 
 Of kindness, which dress the face in smiles, 
 
 Will more avail. 
 
 It is the glory of the just to stand, 
 
 Like the adjusted balance, duly pois'd, 
 
 Nor swerve to either side. 
 
 Proverbs are prominent in the national literature. We annex a few n 
 Rlustration of their character. 
 
 Of what use can the news be to a frog in a well ? 
 Even the monkey thinks its own young precious as gold 
 Even a small rush may be of use as a toothpick. 
 Marry the daughter on knowing the mother. 
 
. t ±lE IN INDIA. 533 
 
 Taciturnity makes no blunders. 
 
 A prudent youth is better than an old fool. 
 
 Can he that prospers not by truth, succeed by lies ? 
 
 No one was ever ruined by speaking the truth. 
 
 The deceitful have no friends. 
 
 It is the essence of riches to corrupt the heart. 
 
 Courage is tried in war; integrity in the payment of debt and interest ; the faithful 
 aess of a wife in poverty, and friendship in distress. 
 
 The truly great are calm in danger, merciful in prosperity, eloquent in the assembly 
 courageous in war, and anxious for fame. 
 
 He who seeks the company of the wise, shall himself become wise ; even glass inserted 
 in gold partakes of its color. 
 
 A gift bestowed with kind expressions, knowledge without pride, and power united to 
 clemency are rare but excellent. 
 
 Every one looking downward becomes impressed with the idea of his own greatness ; 
 but, looking upward, feels his own littleness. 
 
 If the people are ready to be liberal, like a milch cow giving out fresh milk, all the 
 world will be their near relatives. 
 
 The art of printing was unknown to the Hindoos, their books being all in 
 manuscript. The material upon which they write is the palm leaf. Their 
 books are made of several leaves fastened together by a thong — the 
 writing is executed with an iron point, and the letters are at first, almost ille- 
 gible ; it is afterward besmeared with ink, which makes it easily read. The 
 northern Hindoos write with a reed, on a smooth, glossy paper, made of 
 hemp, rice, and different ingredients. 
 
 The various tribes of the Hindoos vary in complexion, from a light brown 
 to a deep jet, and in the form of face and feature, strongly resemble the Euro- 
 peans, though the hair is always long and black, and eyes soft and dull. The 
 higher classes of the women are delicate and graceful, with soft and polished 
 skins, and dark, languishing eyes, and as a whole are unsurpassed in beauty. 
 
 The Hindoos are more slender and less muscular than the Europeans, but 
 far exceed them in endurance, and pedestrian agility. Their dress is simple, 
 modest and graceful, and adapted to the climate. Stockings are rarely worn, 
 as they would restrain their "feet fingers" as their toes are called. While it is 
 exceedingly rare among adults of our country, to find the toes otherwise than 
 deformed, either bent under, or riding over each other, with them, they are 
 too important members to be thus abused. With his toes the tailor twists his 
 thread ; they help the cook to cut his meat ; the carpenter while planing, to 
 nold the board ; the driver to wrench the tale of his ox to hurry him along ; 
 and the pedestrian to pick up anything that has fallen to the ground. 
 
 The Hindoos are very amiable, polite and courteous people, and observe a 
 great deal of etiquette in their social intercourse, using many high-flown, 
 complimentary expressions. Their houses are usually of sun-dried mud, or 
 unburnt bricks, about thirty feet square, and about one story in height. The 
 front is shaded by a verandah, underneath which, in the wall, are several 
 little holes to receive lamps, when a general illumination occurs. The center 
 of the house is a hollow square open at top. One room is appropriated to the 
 household idol, and another named the " room of anger," to which the good 
 woman retreats whenever she is offended. The household furniture consists of 
 only a few simple articles. The principal standard dish is " rice ind curry" 
 
540 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 which the Hindoo partakes of on the floor, first asking a blessing. He eats 
 with his fingers, by rolling the food into small balls, and then adroitly tossing 
 them into his mouth. The females are never allowed to eat with the males, 
 but wait patiently, and take up with their leavings. They are in a depraved 
 social position ; implicit obedience in all cases is required, and the birth of a 
 daughter is regarded as a domestic calamity. 
 
 The most common mode of traveling in India among the wealthy classes 
 and foreigners, is by the palanquin. It is a mere frame made of light wood, 
 and covered with cotton, and internally furnished with little conveniences for 
 the use of the traveler. A full set of bearers will carry a person forty miles 
 in a day, and return the same night. They move along on a slight trot, all 
 keeping step, and beguile their time with songs, indicative of the character 
 of the person they are carrying, such as these : 
 
 SONGS OP PALANQUIN BEARERS. 
 
 A HEAVY PASSENGER. A LADY PASSENGER. 
 
 " Oh what a heavy bag, Ho I Ho I She's not heavy, Putterum, (care) 
 
 He is ample weight, " " Carry her softly, " 
 
 Let's let his Palkee down, " Nice little lady, " 
 
 Let's set him in the mud, " Here's a bridge, " 
 
 NTo, but he'll be angry then, Carry her carefully, 
 
 Ay, and he'll beat us then, Carry her gently, " 
 
 Then let us hasten on, " Sing along cheerily, 
 
 Jump along ! jump along ! Putterum, Putterum." 
 
 The Hindoos are not fond of work, and employ much of their time in at- 
 tending religious festivals ; and in playing various games, as cards, backgam- 
 mon, dominoes, checkers, chess; also in cock-fighting, dancing, hunting, the- 
 atrical amusements, etc. 
 
 They love, in common with other Asiatics, to retire with their women and 
 children, to some cool spot near a river or tank, shaded by the friendly 
 banyan tree, or spreading mango ; there they enjoy that sort of indolent re- 
 pose which they are so fond of ; and partake of an innocent repast of fruit 
 and herbs, on the verdant carpet. The wealthy classes entertain their 
 friends at their garden houses ; but in these mixed companies no women are 
 present except the dancing girls, or tolerated courtezans, who are accom- 
 panied by musicians, playing on instruments resembling the guitar and violin. 
 These singing men and singing women are hired at festivals, and grand 
 solemnities, among all sects and persuasions in India. Many of the dancing 
 girls are extremely delicate in their persons, soft, and regular in their features, 
 with forms of perfect symmetry; and although dedicated from infancy to this 
 profession, they in general preserve a decency and modesty in their de- 
 meanor, which are more likely to allure, than the shameless effrontery of 
 similar characters in other countries. Their dances require great attention, 
 from the dancers' feet being hung with small bells, which sound in concert 
 with the music. Two girls usually perform at the same time; their steps are 
 not so mazy or active as ours, but much more interesting ; as the song, the 
 music, and the motions of the dance, combine to express love, hope, jealousy, 
 
LJFE IN INDIA 541 
 
 despair, and the passions so well known to lovers. The people are very fond 
 of these entertainments, and lavish large sums on their favorites. 
 
 Another kind of dancing girls is dedicated to the principal Hindoo 
 temples. These are supplied by their parents, who are taught, that the pre- 
 sentation of a beautiful daughter to the deity, is highly acceptable; they dance 
 and sing at the festivals, and is the mistresses of the priests. In these, and 
 many other customs, the Hindoos resemble the ancient Greeks. 
 
 One cannot live long among the Hindoos without observing the vast dis- 
 crepancy between the results of their industrial occupations and the means 
 by which they are accomplished. In many departments of art, India knows 
 no superior, the world over, and yet the machinery employed is of the most 
 simple and primitive kind ; such, indeed, as no European artisan would use 
 in forming the rudest structure or the coarsest fabric. 
 
 As the stay of Mr. Malcolm was brief, and his observations comparatively 
 limited, we have derived our account of Hindoostan from other sources. 
 We now follow him in his travels among the Malays, and the Siamese. On 
 the 19th of April (1837), after an agreeable passage in a large vessel from 
 Hindoostan, which happened fortunately to be free from the usual accompani- 
 ment of scorpions, centipedes, cockroaches, and other noxious vermin, he 
 arrived safely at Singapore, the principal town of the small island of the 
 same name, at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula. While there, 
 he made a trip to Malacca, in the Malay peninsula, in a small country brig, 
 the voyage across occupying four days. The city which has been by turns, 
 in possession of the Portuguese and the Dutch, in 1 825 passed into the hands 
 of the English, and is now an important place. It is the head quarters of 
 the military force in the straits. The English officers of six companies of 
 native troops, with the English merchants, form an agreeable social 
 circle. 
 
 As elsewhere throughout India, the European colonial system has been of 
 not the least benefit to the moral and physical well-being of the Malays. 
 The noted college established at Malacca by the missionaries, is but a sort of 
 school where the natives are taught the common English branches. The 
 missionaries have devoted themselves principally to schools, and in translat- 
 ing the Scriptures and tracts, of which great numbers have been distributed, 
 as yet, with such poor results, that Mr. Malcolm could not learn of a single 
 Malay convert in the whole country. 
 
 The Malay peninsula is about 750 miles long, with a breadth of from 
 60 to 170 miles. The northern parts belong to Siam. It is thinly settled, 
 and is the only country of much extent wholly inhabited by Malays, a people 
 everywhere Mahommedans, and devoted to commerce and piracy, and far in- 
 ferior in civilization, to the inhabitants of Java, Japan, Cochin China, and 
 Siam. The common people are in effect but slaves to their ch:'efs, who are 
 their property, and employ or sell them at option. Scattered upon the penin 
 sula, are various, and almost unknown wild tribes ; some of these are negro 
 tribes, compared to whom the Negroes of Africa and New Guinea are civil- 
 ized. They seem to be a distinct creation, averaging less than five feet in 
 
542 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 height. They dwell in trees, and in the cliffs of the rocks, and scaicely sur- 
 pass apes in intellect. 
 
 On the 24th of May, 1837, Mr. Malcolm left Singapore in a vessel, and on 
 the 4th of June arrived at the town of Paknam, at the mouth of the river 
 Siam. According to custom with foreigners, he here reported himself to the 
 native governor of the province, whose residence was mean and dirty. The 
 hall of audience was a burlesque on official pomp, presenting an odd collection 
 of old dirty dust-covered chandeliers, Dutch and Chinese mirrors, paper 
 hangings, pictures, etc. In the midst sat his Highness, squatted on a mat, 
 with nothing to cover his nakedness except a cloth around his loins. Crouched 
 around in abject servility were his attendants, fearful of raising their heads 
 higher than his. In our country an inferior stands : in Burmah and Siam, 
 he seats himself if we stand — squats if we sit, and leans on his elbows if we 
 sit on the floor. It is an insult to raise one's head above a superior or an 
 equal. In conformity with this custom, servants as they enter their master's 
 presence with food are compelled to crawl in on their elbows and bellies, push- 
 ing the waiter on the floor ahead of them. It is amusing to see the half- 
 grown boys of the nobility, attended by servants moving about on their knees 
 for fear of raising their heads higher than their young masters. Having 
 replied to the innumerable questions of the governor, Mr. Malcolm was 
 allowed to proceed in an open pinnace to Bankok, twenty-five miles farther 
 up the river. For the greater part of the distance the country seemed unin- 
 habited ; occasionally forts were passed, resembling those of European con- 
 struction. As they neared Bankok, the shores were lined with houses, 
 enveloped in dense clusters of palm and other fruit-trees ; in the rear of 
 thes-3 extended vast fields of rice. 
 
 Bankok, the capital of Siam, has about one hundred thousand inhabitants. 
 It occupies an island, and both shores of the river for several miles, and con- 
 sists principally of bamboo huts. It has, however, several temples richly 
 gilt, and the King's palaces are large Chinese-like structures. On ascending 
 the river, one sees on each side rows of mean, floating buildings, many of which 
 are open in front, and are used as shops. Before these are displayed the 
 goods in a succession of half a dozen or more shelves, ranged like stairs, one 
 behind the other ; beside them is the shopkeeper, squatted on a mat. These 
 structures stand on bamboo rafts, prevented from floating off by bamboo 
 piles driven outside into the clayey bottom of the river. Immense Chinese 
 junks are seen at anchor, and plying about in all directions ; boats of all sizes, 
 some of which are occupied as shops by fruit-sellers, and petty traders of 
 every variety. Cargo boats, yawls, sampans and pleasure boats complete 
 the novel scene. On each side of the stream, behind all, tower handsome 
 pagodas, from what appears a forest ; but is in reality a city enveloped in 
 foliage. Almost every house in Bankok is reached by the canals or ditches, 
 which penetrate it everywhere, so that the water is at the same time the high- 
 way, the canal, the market, and the exchange ground. 
 
 The empire of Siam is about nine hundred miles long, with a variable 
 breadth of from fifty to four hundred miles. It generally is moun f ainous, Df 
 
LIFE IN INDIA. 543 
 
 a pooi soil, and thinly settled. A part has a dense population, and yields 
 immense quantities of fruits, and is prolific in dye-woods, medicinal gums, and 
 timber. Half of its three millions of people are Siamese, about one quarter 
 Shyans, and the remaining quarter Chinese and Malays. 
 
 The men are very short, and sometimes good-looking ; the women never. All 
 the hair that either sex wear is a small tuft extending from the forehead 
 to the crown, and as both dress alike it is difficult to distinguish a man from 
 a woman. Printed cloth is the usual dress of the people. This is folded 
 round the hips, with the end passing under the body and tucked in at the 
 back. A narrow scarf is worn by the better classes of young females, passing 
 across the breast under one shoulder and over the other. A palm-leafed 
 hat, shaped like a milk-pan turned bottom side up, is used. To permit circu- 
 lation of air, this is set up from the head several inches on a frame of elastic 
 bamboo. The chief amusements are play-acting, cock-fighting, and flying 
 kites : in the two last, old and young, princes and priest, take especial 
 delight. 
 
 The Siamese are crafty, mean, ignorant, conceited, slothful, servile, rapa- 
 cious, cowardly and cruel. If detected in fraud or falsehood, they never even 
 blush. But, like all of the human race, they have some good traits. They 
 are much attached to their children, and, like the Chinese, greatly reverence 
 their parents. A son never stands before his parents, or sits on the same 
 level with his father, and once a month the emperor himself comes in pre- 
 sence of his mother, on his knees. They are amiable, temperate, and inquisi- 
 tive. Woman is remarkably favored. She is free from the laborious 
 drudgery common in some Christian countries, and in a few respects has 
 more influence even than with us. 
 
 They are not quite as civilized as the Burmese, but their houses, dress, 
 and habits, and general condition are much beyond the rudest forms of society. 
 Slavery exists, and the chiefs frequently own thousands of slaves. Some of 
 the neighboring districts have been almost depopulated by wars made for this 
 purpose, and the inhabitants carried captive to Siam. 
 
 The government, though radically despotic, is beneficial to the people. 
 The sovereign is never spoken of but with the utmost reverence, and in public 
 is always alluded to as " the most exalted lord," infallible and infinitely pow- 
 erful. Every thing connected with his person is called golden. A visitor 
 will say that he '* approached his magnificent majesty's golden feet," that 
 " he addressed his majesty's golden ear, etc." 
 
 The Siamese are Buddhists, and among their customs is the singular one, 
 that every Siamese must be a priest three months in his life. He can then 
 leave the priesthood ; but if he again assumes the yellow robe, it must be foT 
 life. Their hierarchy resembles that of the Catholic church, with officers 
 respectively corresponding to the pope, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and 
 other dignitaries. Their temples, or * wats" are numerous and expensive, 
 and in Bankok and vicinity exceed a hundred. Their architecture is Chi 
 nese, mingled with incongruous additions by Portuguese, Siamese, or Peguat 
 artists. Generally they are of brick, externally plastered ani adorned with 
 an \bsurd mosaic of flowers and figures, funned of * v ho!e and broken 
 
544 LIFE IN INDIA. 
 
 crockery. Alike in the wats and private dwellings, a trace of Egyptian 
 architecture exists in the tapering forms of all the windows and doors. 
 
 Siara has considerable commerce. At least two hundred Chinese junks, 
 some of a thousand tons burden, ply regularly between China and Bankok. 
 The annual exports from Bankok amount to five millions of dollars : these are 
 principally sugar, supan-wood, tin, timber, rice, stick-lac, gamboge, frankin- 
 cense, ivory, pepper and cotton. The imports are arms, ammunition, anchors, 
 dry goods, cutlery, crockery, mirrors, and many other productions of Europe 
 and China. Sugar and the other staple exports are raised in Siam by the 
 industry of the Chinese emigrants, a class of people, through whose exertions 
 principally, the country has arisen from barbarism. 
 
 Our traveler remained seven weeks in Siam, and from thence set sail for 
 China, and on the 25th of March, 1838, was again in his native land. During 
 his absence of two years and a-half, he made nineteen voyages by sea, four- 
 teen voyages by river, and several journeys by land, passing over a space of 
 more than fifty-three thousand miles. " In all these wanderings," says he, 
 " often in dangerous and ill-fitted vessels, and regions unhealthy, or infested 
 with robbers, I was neither hurt nor molested ; nor was any person hurt or 
 taken sick where I was." 
 
 RAILROADS IN HINDOOSTAN. 
 
 The recent development of railways in Hindoostan has riveted India to 
 the British throne more strongly than ever. Charles Carleton Coffin, in 
 "Our New Way Bound the World" has given us some facts upon this 
 point : 
 
 " Up to 1853 locomotion through India was attended with great difficul- 
 ties. The Ganges and the Indus are the only navigable rivers, and these, 
 during the dry season, can only be ascended by small sail and row boats. 
 The government had opened here and there a highway connecting interior 
 military stations with Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras ; but the empire, con- 
 taining one million four hundred thousand square miles, had few carriage- 
 roads. Travelers sometimes made their way from point to point in carts 
 drawn by oxen; but the usual conveyance was a palanquin, borne on men's 
 shoulders. Some of the paths were tolerable in dry weather, but during the 
 rainy season wholly impassable. 
 
 Such were the facilities for travel when the project of constructing rail- 
 roads was agitated. The plan was opposed by many, not only in India, but 
 in England. It was asserted that the natives never could be induced to enter 
 a railway -car on account of their religion, which forbids an intermingling of 
 castes. The Hindoos belonged to a sluggish, indolent race. Contact with 
 Europeans for a century had not quickened the millions of India, and it was 
 doubtful if they could be vitalized by any of the appliances of modern civili- 
 zation. So incredulous were the public of obtaining any returns for their 
 money, that with difficulty sufficient funds could be obtained for the opening 
 of a short experimental line at Calcutta, and another at Bombay. 
 
RAILROADS IN HINDOOSTAN. 545 
 
 Contrary to expectation, it was soon discovered that the natives were eager 
 to avail themselves of this new mode of travel. The success of the experi- 
 ment was unmistakable, and measures were taken to develop a grand system 
 of railways, to afford more direct and speedy communication between the 
 chief cities of the seaboard and the interior. 
 
 The railway system of India now embraces about five thousand miles. A 
 uniform gauge was adopted at the outset by the government, — that of five 
 feet six inches, — a medium between the broad and narrow gauges of England. 
 
 The construction of these railways has been beneficial not only to India, 
 but to Great Britain, whence all the materials used in their construction 
 have tjeen transported, giving a great stimulus to British industry, and 
 employing a vast amount of shipping. Between 1853 and 186V more than 
 three and a half million tons' weight of railway material was shipped from 
 English ports. 
 
 The grading was done by natives, who at first declined to work for the 
 contractors, fearing that they would be cheated out of their earnings. To in- 
 spire confidence, payments were made every night, and this soon brought a 
 multitude of laborers. The wages were about ten cents per day, — a small 
 sum, but the Hindoo at manual labor can not accomplish more than one- 
 third as much as a European, and the cost of his support is comparatively 
 trifling. 
 
 We see several thousand men and women at work upon the unfinished 
 lines. They fill their baskets with earth, raise the burden to the top of the 
 head, walk in single file from the gravel-pit to the line of the road, and dump 
 it upon the embankment. One of the contractors distributed several thousand 
 wheelbarrows, and sent word that they must be used. A. few days later he 
 went out and found all hands carrying them on the top of the head ! 
 
 The incident illustrates the tenacity with which the masses adhere to old 
 customs. 
 
 The road leading from Bombay to the valley of the Ganges, though opened 
 only a portion of the way, has paid five per cent, since 1866 ; that completed 
 up the valley of the Ganges, and that leading from Madras across Southern 
 India, have likewise earned five per cent. 
 
 The chief revenue is derived from third-class passengers. It was early 
 discovered that the natives would ride often if the fares were put at a low 
 rate ; and the companies wisely adopted such a tariff* as would develop travel. 
 
 In 1867 there were thirteen million seven hundred and sixty-four thous- 
 and passengers, and all but about six hundred thousand were third-class. 
 
 At the commencement of the railroad enterprise, the Brahmans petitioned 
 for the running of caste cars. They could not come in contact with men of 
 lower grade. It would defile their sacred persons, and unfit them for their 
 high destiny — absorption into Brahma after death. But the railroad man- 
 agers had an eye to profits on their investment. They could not put on cars 
 for each separate caste. Such a procedure would be attended with great con- 
 
546 RAILROADS IN HINDOOSTAN. 
 
 fusion in management, and increased expense. They therefore adopted the 
 European system of class-cars, and told the Brahmans they could stay at 
 home if they could not accommodate themselves to established rules. 
 
 The result is a complete breaking up of caste on the railroad. Now the 
 priest, who is pure enough to enter the most exalted circle of the Hindoo 
 heaven, for the sake of saving a few rupees, can sit all day in a locked car- 
 riage on a hard bench, between two outcast Pariahs, the vilest of the vile, 
 for whom there is no place in paradise. The Brahman may drop off to sleep, 
 and his head rest upon the shoulders of the degraded wretches, yet he is not 
 defiled ! 
 
 Under Mohammedan rule, idolatry was, in a great measure, suppressed ; 
 but when the English came into power, they refrained from interference with 
 religious rites and ceremonies, and the Hindoos became very zealous for a 
 revival of their decaying faith. Suttee was allowed, and there was no check 
 upon infanticide. Temples which had been broken down were repaired, and 
 new ones constructed. The wealthy gave liberally, nor did the poor with- 
 hold their contributions, till, in every shady grove and by every running 
 stream, there was a temple to Krishna, Vishnu, or some other deity of the 
 Hindoo pantheon. It is stated that, at the present time, there are not less 
 than thirty thousand idol temples in the Bombay Presidency alone. 
 
 But a change is taking place among the people. Formerly it was believed 
 that the gods alone conferred wealth, honor, and distinction ; but the natives 
 begin to see that steady industry brings wealth to those who have no faith 
 in idols as well as to the most devout worshiper of the manufactured deities. 
 Ten years ago, five thousand images of the idol Doorga were sold at the 
 annual festival held on the banks of the Ganges in honor of that god ; but 
 since the opening of railroads the sale has almost wholly ceased. 
 
 The locomotive, like a ploughshare turning the sward of the prairies, is 
 cutting up a faith whose roots run down deep into by-gone ages. It is 
 dragging a mighty train laden with goods for the whole human race, and 
 especially for the millions of this land. The engine does not turn out for 
 obstructions such as, in former days, impeded the car of progress ; it makes 
 mince-meat of bulls, be they bovine, Brahminical, or Papal. The days of 
 Brahma are numbered ; and the time is not far distant when regenerated 
 India will clap her hands for joy over the decision of those who directed that 
 there should be no distinction of caste in railway carriages. " 
 
FISK'S 
 
 TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 ITALIAN LANDSCAPE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Sketch of Italy— Entrance into the Country — Turin — Miserable Population— Kecent Reforms 
 in Sardinia — Field of Marengo— Passage of the Apennines— Genoa — Birthplace of Colunv- 
 bus — Curious Customs— Glorious Views— Florence — Venus de Medici— Disgusting Specta- 
 cle — Pisa — The Carnival — Leghorn — Rome — Beggars— Cicero's Monument— Naples- - 
 Lazzaroni — Vailed Statuary— Cemetery for the Poor — Relics from Pompeii. 
 
 Italy is in its greatest length 6>95 miles, with a variable breadth of from 
 20 to 275 miles, and an area of 125,000 miles, including its large islands of 
 Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. In Northern Italy, between the Alps and the 
 Apennines, is the great plain of Lombardy, noted for ages for its exceeding 
 fertility ; extending 250 miles east and west, with an average length of 5V 
 miles. 
 
 547 
 
548 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 The climate is various, depending upon -the latitude and proximity of its 
 different parts to the sea and the mountains. In Lombardy and the North- 
 ern States the thermometer sometimes falls to within 10° of zero ; the more 
 tender plants cannot be cultivated, and chilling winds from the Apennines 
 continue for nearly all the winter months. The climate of Tuscany and the 
 Papal States* south of the Apennines, is favorable to the orange, the lemon, 
 and the olive, although slight snows are not uncommon. The climate of Con- 
 tinental Naples is hot, and the winters short and mild. In Calabria Ultra 
 and Sicily snow is never seen, nor in the former, except on the summits of 
 mountains, and tropical fruits here attain the greatest perfection. The clas- 
 sification applies only to the low lands, as the Alps are clothed in perpetual 
 snow, and the northern Apennines for months during the year. The climate 
 of Naples is considered the most desirable, the mean temperature in winter 
 being just below freezing, and in the summer at 67°; yet it has great inconve- 
 niences ; for^many months little or no rain fall's, and vegetation is burnt to a 
 russet hue ; no cool breezes fan the feverish brow ; the sirocco, from Africa, 
 depresses both animal and vegetable life ; volcanic heat glows continually un- 
 der ground, and occasionally vomits forth noxious vapors, and threatens to 
 destroy whole districts ; swarms of noxious insects fill the air, and the Pontine 
 marshes and similar swamps generate miasmata fatal to life. The fairest sky 
 deceives in its beauty ; and where the vegetation is most luxuriant, there 
 lurk disease and death. The very circumstances which form the charm and 
 the theme of praise of the Italian climate are those which render it dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 The Italians are a mixed race of Greeks, Germans, Gauls, and many others 
 intermingled with the aborigines. They have lf>ng been divided into separate 
 tribes, with dialects so various, that the people of one province can scarcely, 
 if at all, understand those of another. From them has been formed a lan- 
 guage called the Tuscan, based on the Latm, which is used by all educated 
 men, and by her celebrated writers of the middle ages. 
 
 No civilized country is so degraded as Italy — no civilized people sc 
 wretched as the Italians. The country is full of beggars, and swarms of 
 priests, said to amount to half a million, devour the substance of the land. 
 The cares of the present absorb all tire attention of the inhabitants of the 
 cities ; in the country, the mass of the agriculturists eke out a miserable sub- 
 sistence, dwelling in rude hovels, on little farms rarely of over four acres in 
 area, the produce of half of which is claimed by the owners. 
 
 The great mass of the common people are deplorably ignorant ; seldom one 
 is found that can either read or write. Even the learned institutions are far 
 behind those of other European countries, and nothing is taught calculated 
 to foster freedom and expansion of mind. Yet, in spite of these difficulties, 
 many of the Italians become highly educated. All Italy is Roman Catholic, 
 and nowhere are the ceremonies of that church performed with more pomp 
 and ceremony. The higher clergy possess great power, and all the clergy 
 have special privileges, and are generally free from taxation. 
 
 " The national character and the state of society in Italy, are marked by 
 prominent and striking features. The people, in some respects, are, perhaps, 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS 18 ITALY. 549 
 
 the most polished and refined of any in the world. While the German, and 
 many English nobles, place their enjoyment in hunting, and the pleasures 
 of the table, music, painting, poetry, and assemblies for conversation., form 
 the delight of the Italians. 
 
 No pains are bestowed on the improvement of their estates, which are 
 managed according to a mechanical routine, under the care of stewards, who 
 often embezzle a great part of the produce. Being excluded, also, from all 
 concern in public affairs, and from the administration of the state, they have 
 become estranged from habits of manly and energetic exertion. They pass 
 their lives in a listless and lounging apathy, making it their sole object to 
 while away the hour in the most easy and agreeable manner. Their day is 
 spent in a regular routine of attendance on mass, on their lady, on the thea- 
 ter, the Casino, and the Corso. As the title and rank of a noble descend to 
 all his posterity, the great increase in their number, by reducing them to a 
 miserable and proud poverty, tends still more to degrade them in the public 
 eye. Ostentatious magnificence is combined with sordid economy ; the most 
 superb equipages and apartments are let out to foreigners, who are not even 
 quite sure of honest dealing. Attached to many of the Florentine palaces is 
 a little shop, where wine is retailed in the smallest quantities. But the deep- 
 est reproach of Italian manners, seems to be the established system by which 
 every married lady must have her lover, who imposes on himself the duty, 
 wherever she is or goes, to dangle after her as her devoted slave. This con- 
 nection is said to be not decidedly, or at least certainly, criminal, as our man- 
 ners would lead us to suppose, but rather to form an ttat into which it is 
 necessary to enter, on pain of expulsion from the fashionable circles, and 
 which is continued according to a routine of almost mechanical observance. 
 
 The charitable institutions of Naples, Rome, Milan, and Genoa, appear 
 to be most extensive ; and the bounty bestowed, especially at the convents, is 
 considered as one of the chief causes of the idleness and mendicity which 
 prevail in the great cities. Temperance must be admitted as another virtue 
 of the Italians. Notwithstanding the abundance and cheapness of wine, in- 
 toxication is scarcely known, even among the lower ranks. 
 
 The lower ranks form the mass of the Italian population, with scarcely any 
 intervening class between them and the nobles. They share, in some degree, 
 the refined tastes and manners of the higher ranks. The common shopkeep- 
 ers of Florence and Rome, possess a taste in the fine arts, and sometimes even 
 in poetry, which is unknown in the most polished circles beyond the Alps. 
 They delight also in conversation, which they support with -peculiar anima- 
 tion, and with gesticulations, the most varied and expressive of any Euro- 
 pean people. The peasantry are, on the whole, a poor, quiet, contented, or- 
 derly race ; spending, not very wisely, all their little savings in finery foi 
 their wives and daughters. But the populace of the great towns display a 
 character peculiarly idle, tumultuary, and unlicensed. They seem to combine 
 the characters of citizens, beggars, and bandits. The lazzaroni of Naples, in 
 particular, form a numerous body, who exist almost wholly out of the pale of 
 regular society. 
 
 In political convulsions, they have made very signal displays of energy, 
 
550 FtSK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 usually in defense of the reigning family, to whom they are strongly attached. 
 The practice of assassination, whether for hire, or on the impulse of passion, 
 which was long peculiarly Italian, is said to have been considerably reduced 
 by the French. They deprived the sanctuaries of their right to protect the 
 assassin ; and that right has not since been restored to them. Another nu- 
 merous class were the bandits, who, established in the recesses of the Apen- 
 nines, formed a sort of separate people, and carried on their vocation on a 
 great and regular scale. The strength of their line of mountain positions, 
 which ran close and parallel to that of the high road through Italy, afforded 
 them opportunities of which they knew well how to profit. The road from 
 Rome to Naples was their favorite haunt, and even when guarded by pickets 
 of soldiers, at the distance of every mile, it could not always be traveled 
 with safety. They carried on their trade in a systematic manner, and not 
 without some adherence to the principle of honor, when it was once pledged. 
 Their grand aim was to carry off some person of distinction, and then to ex- 
 act a ransom proportioned to his means and dignity. The French and the 
 German troops, stationed in Naples, rooted out most of these dens of banditti. 
 
 The history of Italy is unrivaled in the magnitude of its events, and their 
 influence upon the general destinies of the world. Our limits and plan can 
 allow only a very hasty sketch of the mighty revolutions of which this 
 country has been the center. 
 
 Of the early nations of Italy but little is known. The Etruscans, by the 
 works of art handed down by them, especially in the form of terra-cottas, 
 appear to have been a civilized, as well as a powerful, and free people. The 
 s.oith, colonized from Greece, and even denominated Magna Greecia, was the 
 seat of the most celebrated of the early schools of science : Pythagoras taught 
 at Crotona ; and the Samnites, by their gallant resistance to Pyrrlms, and 
 afterward to the Romans, established their name as a military nation. 
 
 Rome sprung up amid these nations, rather as a band of refugees, than as 
 a regular slate. The Romans then subjected, one after another, first the 
 neighboring tribes, then the whole of Italy; and afterward crossed the seas, 
 to conquer all the known world. Among their high and energetic virtues, 
 and daring exploits, they retained still a character of rudeness : and the first 
 influence of their conquests, was to extinguish in the subject nations the de- 
 gree of civilization they already possessed. Etruria lost her early arts, and 
 Carthage that immense commerce which embraced all the known seas of the 
 globe. But as the hardy captains of Rome penetrated to the cities of Greece, 
 and saw the matchless works of architecture and sculpture with which they 
 were embellished, their rugged pride was softened, and they were smitten 
 with the love of those beautiful arts. The orators of the Forum sought next 
 to transfer the splendid powers of eloquence, which had given dignity and 
 splendor to Athens. At last, Cicero undertook to transplant the Grecian phi- 
 losophy. Unfortunately, at the same time, the chiefs who returned laden 
 with the spoils of so many nations, introduced an unbounded luxury, which 
 vitiated altogether the truth and simplicity of ancient manners. 
 
 The empire of Rome, the most extensive and opulent ever established, 
 was, after dreadful convulsions, erected on the mighty ruins of the senate and 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 551 
 
 the republic ; and the world became, as it were, the inheritance of a single 
 man. On such a trying and perilous eminence, examples were presented of 
 the most unbounded cruelty and dissoluteness ; yet, also, of the most wise 
 and enlightened humanity. During the Augustan age, poetry and all the 
 fine arts were patronized and cultivated with ardor, after the Grecian model, 
 and carried almost to an equal pitch of perfection. The oppressive sway, 
 however, of successive tyrants, and the brutal license of the praetorian guards, 
 soon left little more than that barbarous voluptuousness which generally cha- 
 racterizes a purely despotic government. 
 
 The decline of the Roman empire was attended with calamities to Italy ant> 
 to mankind, still more dreadful than those with which its rise had been at- 
 tended. The barbarians of the north and east of Europe, allured by the re- 
 ported wealth and weakness of the empire, pressed continually closer on its 
 frontier. They were kept in check for some time, by the Danube and the 
 Alps, and by the remaining strength of the legions. At length, they burst 
 all these barriers, and ravaged the beautiful plains of Italy. The transfer 
 ence to Constantinople of the seat of empire, left this portion with an unequal 
 share of the common defense. Rome itself, the imperial capital of the world, 
 became the prey of barbarians ; it was successively sacked by the Goths, 
 under Alaric, and the Vandals, under Genseric. 
 
 The scepter was snatched from the feeble hand of Augustulus, and the 
 western empire was extinguished. The kingdom felt a gleam of reviving 
 prosperity under Theodoric the Ostrogoth, and Theodosius the Great, but 
 was soon overwhelmed by fresh swarms of barbarians, among whom, the 
 Lombards were the most conspicuous, and have given their name to the 
 northern plain, watered by the Po. 
 
 The empire of Charlemagne suspended the troubles of Italy, but formed 
 the commencement of that long series of ultramontane dominion, to which 
 Bhe has been subjected. When the members of that empire, France and 
 Germany, separated from each other, Italy fell to the lot of Germany, which 
 retained the imperial name and dignity, but ever afterward found this country 
 a turbulent and precarious appanage. 
 
 The spiritual authority of the Popes, formed a new species of empire 
 which seemed to invest Rome with a grandeur almost equal to that whici. 
 she had displayed under the Csesars. After a gradual progress, it rose under 
 Gregory VII, to such a height that Henry IV, the most able and powerful 
 prince of his time, was fain to present himself bareheaded and barefooted, 
 and on his knees implore forgiveness for having ventured to dispute the spi- 
 ritual authority. From this time, these proud pontiffs not only claimed the 
 right of disposing absolutely, throughout the Christian world, of all the offi- 
 cers and ministers of religion, and of exacting from it the regular tribute of 
 " Peter's pence," but even of excommunicating and deposing the greatest 
 kings. As the emperors, however, did not tamely submit to these usurpa- 
 tions, from a power which they considered, in a temporal sense, as subordi- 
 aate, a series of struggles ensued, which scandalized the church, and dis- 
 tracted Europe. 
 
 The rise of the commercial republics, Venice, Genoa, and Florence, formed 
 
552 FISK'S TRAVELS IS JTALY. 
 
 a brilliant era for Italy, enabling her almost to equal the most splendid ages 
 of antiquity. Their navies, both for war and commerce, covered the seas, 
 and set bounds to the all-grasping ambition of the Ottoman, which threatened 
 10 overwhelm the whole western world. By degrees, also, the lamp of 
 learning, which had shed for ages only a dim light over Europe, broke forth 
 here into full effulgence. The remains of Greek literature were conveyed 
 over by the learned men who fled before the sword of the Turks ; the wri- 
 tings of the ancients were drawn from the depth of convents, and eagerly 
 studied and circulated. What was of more consequence, a race of enlight- 
 ened princes and nobles arose, who sought glory in patronizing knowledge, 
 while a general taste for it was diffused among a wealthy and refined com- 
 munity. The arts of painting, architecture, and music, on which the wealth 
 of the noble citizens was lavishly expended, rose to an eminence equaling, 
 perhaps, that of the ancients, and surpassing that of any other modern 
 nation. 
 
 The decline and degradation of Italy rapidly ensued after this brilliant era. 
 Her great republics lost the liberty which had rendered them so flourishing ; 
 their arts and commerce were transferred to the northern maritime states. 
 The great monarchical powers, after long struggles, reduced her territory to a 
 state either of subjection or vassalage ; while they continued at the same 
 time to make her soil one of the great theaters of contention. Italy had rea- 
 son more and more to deplore 'her fatal gift of beauty/ which became so 
 fruitful a 'source of present woes and past;' she was branded even with 
 the appellation of 'slave of slaves.' Rome, herself, lost her spiritual 
 greatness, which was withered even in Catholic countries, by the progress of 
 reformation. 
 
 It was toward the last days of the year that our countryman, the late Rev. 
 Or. Fisk,* traveling in a diligence from Paris, entered Turin, the residence 
 of the king of Sardinia. Arriving in the country on Christmas day, he saw 
 the priests and people everywhere engaged in religious ceremonies, and soon had 
 added to his experience the sight of Christians uniting military parade with 
 religious worship, and elevating the host under the beating of drums. The 
 population seemed to be, in a great measure, composed of priests, soldiers, 
 and beggars. Their support and the pageantry of royalty appeared to lean most 
 grievously upon the agriculturists, whose wretchedness and hardships were 
 painful to behold. He saw their miserable huts clinging upon the mountain 
 sides, with little patches of land walled up, here and there, among the rocks, 
 where it seemed impossible for even human foot to rest. When farther in the 
 country, among the plains and valleys of Piedmont, although some improve- 
 ment was observable, yet the same general poverty and w r ant pervaded. 
 
 As an evidence of the superior reverence of the Catholics of Italy for the 
 feast days of their saints, our traveler mentions that the day preceding his 
 arrival in Turin, being one of these holy days, he endeavored to get a draft 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Fisk was President of the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., from 
 whose travels this article is mostly abridged. 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 553 
 
 cashed at a bank ; but was told that they could not do business on that day. 
 "if he would call to-morrow (Sunday !) they would accommodate him." 
 
 Turin is a pleasant city of some 80,000 inhabitants, standing on the river 
 Po, in the center of a beautiful plain shut in by picturesque mountains. Fol- 
 lowing down the valley of the river a short distance, our traveler diverged 
 therefrom, and in the course of a few miles, passed through the battle-field 
 of Marengo, then covered with the early shoots of wheat, looking green and 
 fresh upon ground once red with human gore. Descending, a few hours 
 later, through a gorge in the Apennines, the blue waters of the Mediterra- 
 nean at once burst upon his delighted vision ; but as he reflected upon the 
 fate of the great nations — Egypt, Carthage, Tyre, Sidon, Greece, and Rome 
 that rose, flourished, and decayed upon its shores — that these lands, once 
 the sunniest spots of all the earth, were now enveloped by the dark pall of 
 despotism, sunken, wretched, and degraded, he was wrapped in a train of 
 melancholy emotions. 
 
 The whole landscape was seen mellowed under the mild beams of the moon, 
 as the carriage of our traveler entered Genoa. Here was born, in a house yet 
 standing on its outskirts, the great discoverer, Christopher Columbus. This 
 city is in the form of an amphitheater, rising gradually from the sea. It has 
 been called the M city of palaces." The streets, however, are mere foot-lanes, 
 only three or four being large enough to admit carriages. Sedan-chairs 
 usurp the place of coaches, and donkeys, with packsaddles, that of drays 
 and wagons. 
 
 During the dark ages Genoa was one of the principal cities of Europe, and 
 her government, the republic of Genoa, one of the most powerful. Her 
 mercantile and naval marine were then pre-eminent. Indeed, Venice and 
 Genoa were for a long time the most powerful nations on the sea. Their 
 merchants carried on extensive and profitable commerce with the whole 
 world, but especially with the East Indies, which poured its treasures into 
 the coffers of her merchants, and thus laid the foundation for such lavish ex- 
 penditure in the churches and palaces which still adorn these cities. The 
 richness and number of palaces in Genoa is remarkable, there being some 
 fifty of great elegance, generally of marble throughout, adorned with furni- 
 ture of marble and mosaic, magnificent paintings, and walls resplendent with 
 gold. 
 
 On leaving Genoa our traveler passed sloping hills and sunny vales, yellow 
 with the golden orange and citron, and saw far up on the mountain sides the 
 evergreen olive clustered with its tempting fruit. The mountains too were 
 dotted, here and there, with scattered villages, dwellings, churches, and castles, 
 and the scenery was constantly varied by the indentations of the sea. 
 
 The next day his road, hewn out smooth as a floor from the solid rock, led 
 over one of the loftiest passes in the Apennines : and when he had reached 
 the summit it was to behold all the lower world shut out from view by a vast 
 cloud which stretched to the distant horizon, resembling a smooth snowy- 
 hued ocean ; the mountain-tops, bright in the rays of the sun, lifted up their 
 heads from out the vast expanse "like summer isles in a sea of glory." 
 
 Passing across a corner of Modena, the city of Lucca was reached through 
 
554 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 a land beautiful as paradise, but filled with a population made wretched by 
 despotism. Miserable beggars swarmed around him, and whenever he went 
 into the streets or into the churches his steps were dogged by soldiers and 
 spies. Florence, the next city he entered, has been styled " the Athens of 
 Italy. " It is in the delightful and highly-cultivated vale of Arno. From an 
 elevation in its vicinity one sees the city extended at his feet, with the river 
 winding through its celebrated vale. The villas, convents, and palaces scat- 
 tered below, and the hills around, and the Apennines encircling the whole 
 with their frowning and rocky peaks, form a lively contrast with the verdure 
 of the valley. " Here nature and art, summer and winter, the past and the 
 present are brought and blended together in one harmonious whole. " 
 
 In the galleries of this city, among some of the most celebrated paintings 
 and statues of the old masters, is the famous statue of Venus de Medici, the 
 beau-ideal of female beauty, found in Adrian's villa near Rome, and sup- 
 posed to have been chiseled by Praxiteles, the Greek artist, more than 2000 
 years ago. Among the wonderful collections of the museum of natural his- 
 tory, are some extraordinary anatomical preparations in wax. Beside the 
 representations of all parts of healthy subjects, in every possible aspect of 
 dissection, is that of the plague, shown so true to nature as to excite most 
 horrible and painful sensations. Here also are represented corpses in the 
 various stages of putrefaction, with rats, bugs, and other vermin rioting on 
 the unburied carcasses. 
 
 The chapel of the Medici family is among the many wonders of Florence ; 
 three hundred workmen were employed for many years in its erection and 
 ornament, and it is yet unfinished. Its walls are richly incrusted with every 
 kind of rare and precious marble ; in fact it is one mass of richly-ornamented 
 work. Thus from pride and vain-glory do princes impoverish their people 
 and squander the resources of the land. The church of the Holy Cross 
 contains the tombs of many men of immortal genius. Here the scholar gazes 
 with reverence upon the resting-place of Michael Angelo, of Galileo, of 
 Dante, and other kindred spirits. 
 
 Folic wing down the vale of Arno to Pisa, Mr. Fisk found the whole coun- 
 try like one beautiful garden, abounding in orchards and vineyards. The 
 vines are trained on trees, and run from one tree to another in continued and 
 luxuriant garlands. Every foot of ground between the vines was cultivated 
 with the utmost economy, and mainly by the spade, the plow of Tuscany 
 being an awkward tool seldom used. 
 
 Pisa was formerly a republic and occupies a prominent place in history. 
 It is now particularly known for its celebrated leaning tower, a graceful 
 structure 190 feet high and leaning fourteen feet from the perpendicular, a 
 defect occasioned, it is supposed, by the yielding nature of the soil. Pisa, in 
 common with most of the ancient cities of Italy, has in its buildings relics of 
 those troublous times of the dark ages when literally " every man's house 
 was his castle" — a place of refuge against personal enemies and robbers. 
 One of their features consists in windows barricaded with iron grating, which 
 gives to a stranger an idea that the city is filled with prisons. Yet at the 
 present day this is superfluous, for nowhere is one in less danger from vio 
 
. FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 555 
 
 lence and robbery. Our traveler says, " I never traveled with my property 
 or person so much exposed by night and by day, as since I have been in this 
 country, and everything I have seen has convinced me of the general honesty 
 of the people. In one sense they are not honest ! In all matters of trade 
 they will cheat you if they can. This seems to be no violation of their moral 
 code ; but I wish every country was as free from theft and robbery." This 
 is the only spot in Europe where camels are used for beasts of burden ; the 
 climate is mild, and the soil being sandy is well adapted to them. 
 
 While in Pisa, Mr. Fisk witnessed the Carnival. " This institution of 
 masquerades, feasting, dancing, frolic and fun, is one of the many papal ob- 
 servances, that has been transplanted from heathenism into the Christian 
 Church." Its principal object seems to be to give the people a satiety of feast- 
 ing and amusement, that they may be the better prepared to endure the 
 privations of Lent, which immediately follows. Among the merry-makings 
 is a public masquerade, which takes place in the Italian cities on ' the corso, 
 a street used as a public riding-place, which is thronged with a dense mass 
 of people in carriages and on foot, attired, some with, and some without 
 masks, and in costumes of all nations, as grotesque and comic, as the whim 
 of the wearer may dictate. Very commonly the sexes change dresses ; 
 delicate ladies are seen attired as sailors, and stout, clumsy men in ladies' 
 clothes, with perhaps a huge cigar in their mouths ; there a turbaned, pom- 
 pous Turk will be seen, and here again, will come waddling along some 
 little fellow stuffed out into a figure as bi^ as a hogshead. The balconies 
 and verandahs of the houses are rented to spectators who come to enjoy the 
 sport. The actors pelt each other with • confetti,' a kind of colored sugar- 
 plums, which will make one white as a miller. The love-making, the fantas- 
 tic costumes, and the tricks continually played upon every one, furnish a 
 fund of amusement. 
 
 The three last days are the most exciting ; the whole city seems then to be 
 on the 'corso.' The diversions end with the 'moccoli,' in which the maskers 
 appear with lighted tapers, and endeavor to blow out the lights of the 
 others, while they preserve their own. At last, in the height of the excite- 
 ment, the church bell rin^s, a cmii is fired, and the hilarity is finished ; sue- 
 ceeded by a solemn service in the churches, with the' ceremony of putting 
 ashes on the head, to indicate man's frailty and mortality. 
 
 Leghorn, the most commercial port of Italy, is but ten miles from Pisa. 
 Our traveler was struck with the contrast between this and most other 
 Italian towns. Generally, in Italy, the cities appear to be filled with an idle 
 population, who saunter about at a snail's pace, as if life were a burden, and 
 one begins to be of opinion that the people are incapable of spirited exertion 
 and enterprise. In Leghorn the scene is changed, people move about with a 
 bustling air, and the prompt, active step of business as in our own cities ; 
 and this arises from there being some inducement to exertion. Man, where- 
 ever he may be, is an elastic being ; just remove the weight that presses him 
 to the earth, give him the proper stimulus to exertion, and he springs into 
 active life with an impulse that soon leaves behind the effects of bad habits 
 and long degradation. 
 
-,56 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 From Leghorn, our traveler proceeded in a steamer to Civita Vecchia, the 
 seaport of Rome ; from thence by land to Rome, and through it continued 
 toward Naples, intending to make a longer visit to the " eternal city," latei 
 in the season. The route between the two cities, is to some extent over the 
 old Appian Way, which led through the famous Pontine marshes ; these are 
 twenty- four miles long, and stretch back from the sea from six to twelve miles 
 Anciently these marshes were always under water, and are partially so now 
 at some seasons. From thousands of years back emperors, princes, and 
 popes, have successively made efforts to drain this pestilential pool, so that 
 now a large part of it is cultivated. Still, the sallow countenances of the 
 few miserable wretches who tend their flocks amid these miasmatic fens 
 show their deadly effects. 
 
 The first towns he passed through after entering the Neapolitan states, ap- 
 peared to be the most filthy, wretched, and poverty-stricken, he had ever 
 seen. At one of them, while his baggage was undergoing the usual custom- 
 house examinations, he was surrounded by hundreds of most miserable 
 objects of want, and woe, who by scores stretched out their hands, and in 
 piteous accents implored charity. 
 
 Just before entering Mora, he. passed a splendid monument, erected to the 
 memory of Cicero, on the very spot where he was overtaken and beheaded ; 
 it is now crumbling to decay by the tooth of time, while the intellectual monu- 
 ments erected by himself, will endure for succeeding ages in all their original 
 grandeur and exquisite proportions. Nearing Naples, which is 1 18 miles distant 
 from Rome, he found the road level as a floor, and leading through a rich 
 country, where " the vineyards seemed to have added magnificence to 
 beauty." Immense trees were growing in regular ranges covered with 
 hanging vines, some of which had leaped from tree to tree, and hung down in 
 fantastic garlands and graceful festoons. 
 
 Naples is the most attractive of all Italian cities ; the people have a pro- 
 verb, " see Naples and then die." It presents a remarkably gay and lively 
 aspect, and its bay, some thirty miles across, is unsurpassed in the world. 
 The town rises from it like an amphitheater, and from the summit in the rear, 
 the scene presented is like enchantment. 
 
 Naples is the largest city in Italy, containing about 400,000 inhabitants, 
 30,000 of whom are lazzaroni; many of this class have no home, but sleep 
 in the open air, anywhere in the streets; they live upon next to nothing, 
 the mildness of their climate and their habits, allowing them to subsist with- 
 out fire and with scarcely any clothing. Whenever they get a chance, they 
 officiate as porters, carrying with them for that purpose,, a huge basket in 
 which they lodge at night. They sing and sport, play at cards, stretch 
 themselves at full length on the pavement in the sun, gather and sell old 
 tobacco quids, and stumps of smoked cigars, beg, when opportunity offers, 
 and perform all offices of nature in the open street, with the shamelessness 
 of so many dogs. But their greatest luxury seems to be in hunting heads: 
 one will often see them seated in rows on the street side, one behind the other, 
 hunting the head of his companion who is seated before him, each in turn busy. 
 Long degradation has made them apparently contented with their situation, 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 557 
 
 and with plenty of maccaroni and vegetables to eat> they seem to be a 
 merry race. 
 
 Beside beggars, Naples has in, and about it, some thirty or forty thou- 
 sand soldiers, mostly Swiss and Austrian mercenaries ; also a numerous body 
 of ecclesiastics, a well-fed, fat, portly class, who appear to have uncommonly 
 easy times ; for they are without the care of families, most of them never 
 preach, but have only pastoral duties, masses, and confessions to attend to, 
 which being divided among a large number are very trifling. Aside from 
 these are the monks, leeches devouring the fatness of the land. With her 
 restricted commerce Naples would be sunk into still lower depths' of poverty 
 and degradation, bat for the amazing fertility of the country. 
 
 In the chapel of St. Severus are some wonderful pieces of statuary. The 
 female figure, representing Modesty, is a master-piece : she is covered with a 
 transparent vail, wrought in white marble, and so delicate is it, that one can 
 not only trace through it, the general outline of the figure which it enfolds, 
 but all its features in their exquisite beauty of expression. Another remark- 
 able figure, a sublime triumph of genius, is thkt of Christ extended on the 
 cross. " The form and very muscles are seen through the vail, and the 
 whole looks as if moistened by the clammy sweat of death, while the sublime 
 resignation of our Savior's last hours seems lingering still upon the lifeless 
 countenance." 
 
 The burial-place for the poor of Naples consists of an immense square, 
 walled in, and containing 365 pits, one for each day in the year. Each of 
 these are 12 feet square, walled around, and covered over without any open- 
 ing, except a sort of small trap-door on the surface. Each day in turn a pit is 
 opened, and the corpses, entirely naked, are thrown in : quicklime is cast over 
 these, and the trap-door sealed up ; then just one year elapses for the decom- 
 position of the bodies ere the vault is used again. Dr. Fisk says, he looked 
 into the pit that was open on the day of his visit, and saw some half a dozen 
 infants, perfectly naked, which had just been cast in ; they were fast sinking 
 down into the putrefied mass of by-gone years. In this manner are the 
 poor of the Italian cities generally buried, and it is not uncommon to see rats 
 and other vermin rioting upon the loathsome mass. 
 
 The greatest object of curiosity in Naples is the Museum, containing the 
 relics discovered by the excavations made in the buried cities of Herculaneum 
 and Pompeii. One sees here, historical records, telling in stronger terms 
 than language, of what those cities were, at the moment of their destruction. 
 We do not here allude to the specimens of fine arts, the ancient preserved 
 paintings, the beautiful mosaics, and the splendid statuary, for these are pro- 
 bably equaled by relics of a similar character elsewhere discovered. But to 
 visit a place filled with all the farming tools, kitchen utensils, articles of the 
 toilet, merchandise of the stores, public and private furniture, the sacred 
 vessels and implements of the temples; in fine, everything connected "with 
 war or peace, public or private life, business or pleasure, art or literature, 
 the licentiousness or the religion of a refined, licentious, luxurious, and super- 
 stitious people, existing two thousand years ago, is to see ono of the most sur- 
 prising exhibitions the world has ever beheld. 
 
55 S FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY 
 
 " In these relics of a former age we are surprised to sp«, in a great many 
 instances, the very implements over again with which we are conversant at 
 the present day ; the same pans, the pots and kettles, the gridirons, the ladles ; 
 the steelyards, the stoves, stamps for printing letters on bread, nay, some of 
 the very bread itself stamped; ink-stands, with remains of ink in them, pens or 
 styli, opera tickets, door-trimmings, bits for bridles, - musical instruments, dice, 
 spinning-wheels, distaffs, locks and keys, surgical instruments, almost equal 
 to the modern, moulds for pastry, skimmers, grates, stocks for the feet of pri 
 soners, andirons, mirrors, rouge and other paints for the face — for ladies, it 
 seems, improved upon nature in those days as well as now ; combs, curling- 
 tongs, and other requisites for the toilette. In short, you seem here to be 
 translated back two thousand years, and led into all the familiar scenes of 
 domestic life. And worse than this, there is a reserve room, which none are 
 allowed to enter without a special permit from the director. As the contents 
 of this room are not decent to be publicly exposed, even in an Italian museum, 
 of course they are not proper to be described, even if one could make up his 
 mind to describe them. They are mentioned here as a proof of the extreme 
 licentiousness of those cities. 
 
 The great evidence of universal, or, at least, general corruption in Pom- 
 peii, is the fact that some of these impure indications were taken from the 
 houses of the first citizens, and from the toilettes of the ladies of those families. 
 Diomedes, whose suburban villa was just beyond the gates of Pompeii, ap- 
 pears to have been a man of consular dignity ; and yet his ladies, his daugh- 
 ter, as is supposed, had such forms of jewelry and toys of her toilet as may 
 not be described, and as no virtuous woman could expose on her person. No 
 wonder these cities were overwhelmed by the visitation of Divine Pro- 
 vidence." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Envibons of Naples— Pliny's description of the Eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 79— Pompeii- 
 Villa of Diomedes— Licentiousness of the Ancient Romans— Herculaneum— Excursion to 
 Vesuvius — Rome — Passion Week — Imposing Ceremonies— Illumination of St. Peter's— 
 Antiquities —Falls of Terni— Battle Ground of Hannibal and Flaminius— Bologna— 
 Tasso— Tomb of Petrarch— Padua— Venice —Halls of the Secret Tribunals— Bridge of 
 Sighs —Dungeons— Mechanical Procession — Legacy to the Pigeons —Religious Character 
 of the People -Milan — Entrance into Switzerland. 
 
 The environs of Naples are full of interesting objects. The ruins of Paes- 
 tum are fifty-four miles south-easterly from it. After having survived the 
 Roman Empire, Psestum was destroyed by the Saracens about the tenth cen- 
 tury, and it remained unknown to the world from that time until 1755, when 
 it was accidentally discovered by an artist on a sketching excursion. The 
 first part of the road to it from Naples leads by the ruins of Pompeii, through 
 a beautiful, cultivated country of vineyards ; the latter part is among pestife- 
 rous swamps, where the desolating malaria holds its court : the visitor is 
 therefore not only obliged to carry his own food, but his water, for here he 
 may not even drink — the water changing everything into stone. 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 559 
 
 Comparatively speaking, there are no ruins here ; all smaller works of art 
 have been merged into the common mass of earth ; but the walls of the city, 
 fifty feet high, exist in detached spots, and three temples, with their gates, 
 lift their heads against the sky, and as viewed in the indistinctness of night, 
 are solemnly grand and impressive. Formerly, the deserted situation of the 
 place, made it much frequented by brigands, who laid in wait for small par- 
 ties to the ruins. 
 
 Pompeii, which stands a mile from the sea, was buried under a shower of 
 cinders, ashes, and stones, emitted continuously from Vesuvius, for four days 
 and nights, in the year 79, and by the same eruption which destroyed Hercu- 
 laneum. So extensive and thick was the cloud of smoke and ashes that filled 
 the atmosphere, by this eruption, that it was visible in Africa, and Palestine, 
 and at Rome, 120 miles distant, turned the light of day into the darkness of 
 night, to the consternation of the inhabitants. The eruption, it is supposed, 
 was not so violent as to prevent the escape of most of the inhabitants of 
 Pompeii, as but very few skeletons were found. Those remaining were pro- 
 bably slaves, or those who fell, in the total darkness which prevailed even at 
 noon, by which they became bewildered, and falling over fragments of ruin, 
 were rendered insensible. 
 
 "As a favorite place of occasional residence to families of distinction from 
 Rome, Pompeii, at the time, contained, or had in its neighborhood, several 
 Romans whose names are familiar to the readers of history; among others, 
 Cesius Bassus, a poet, and Agrippa, son of Claudius Felix, the well-known 
 governor of Judea, both of whom became victims of the eruption. Pliny 
 the elder, it appears, was residing at Misenum, on the northern promontory 
 of the Gulf of Naples, along with his nephew, known to us as Pliny the 
 younger. Fortunately, two letters written by the nephew to his friend Taci- 
 tus, describing the catastrophe which killed his uncle and overwhelmed Pom- 
 peii and other cities, have been preserved in an epistolary collection of the 
 author. The following is the first and most valuable of these celebrated letters: 
 
 1 Your request that I would send you an account of my uncle's death, in 
 order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, deserves my ac- 
 knowledgments ; for if this accident shall be celebrated by your pen, the 
 glory of it, I am well assured, will be rendered forever illustrious ; and, not- 
 withstanding he perished by a misfortune, which, as it involved at the same 
 time a most beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many populous cities, 
 seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance ; notwithstanding he has 
 himself composed many and lasting works; yet I am persuaded the mention- 
 ing of him in your immortal writings will greatly contribute to eternize his 
 name. Happy I esteem those to be whom Providence has distinguished with 
 the abilities either of doing such actions as are worthy of being related, or 
 of relating them in a manner worthy of being read ; but doubly happy are 
 they who are blest with both these uncommon talents ; in the number of 
 which my uncle, as his own writings and your history will evidently prove, 
 may justly be ranked. It is with extreme willingness, therefore, that I exe- 
 cute your commands ; and should, indeed, have claimed the task, if you had 
 not enjoined it 
 
560 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 My uncle was, at the time, with the fleet under his command at Misenum 
 On the 23d of August, about one o'clock in the afternoon, my mother de 
 sired him to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and 
 shape. He had just returned from taking the benefit of the sun,* and aftei 
 bathing himself in cold water, and taking a slight repast, had retired to his 
 study: he immediately arose and went out upon an eminence from which he 
 might more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance. It was not at 
 that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, but it was 
 found afterward to ascend from Mount Vesuvius. I cannot give you a more 
 exact description of its figure, than by resembling it to that of a pine tree, 
 for it shot up a great height in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at 
 the top into a sort of branches ; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden 
 gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced up- 
 ward; or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own weight, ex- 
 panded in this manner. It appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark 
 and spotted, as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cin- 
 ders. This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle's philosophical curi- 
 osity to take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, 
 and gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I rather chose 
 to continue my studies ; for, as it happened, he had given me an employment 
 of that kind. As he was coming out of the house he received a note from 
 Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent 
 danger which threatened her ; for her villa being situated at the foot of Mount 
 Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea. She earnestly entreated 
 him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He accordingly changed his first 
 design, and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued with a heroical 
 turn of mind. He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on 
 board, with an intention of assisting not only Rectina, but several others ; for 
 the villas stand extremely thick upon the beautiful coast. When hastening 
 to the place from which others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his di- 
 rect course to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence 
 of mind, as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion 
 and figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh the mountain that 
 the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into 
 the ships, together with pumicestones, and black pieces of burning rock ; they 
 were likewise in danger not only of being aground by the sudden retreat of 
 the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled down from the moun- 
 tain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he 
 should return back again, to which the pilot advising him — 'Fortune favors 
 the brave,' said he ; ■ carry me to Pomponianus.' 
 
 Pomponianus was then at Stabise, separated by a guff which the sea, after 
 several insensible windings, forms upon that shore. He had already sent his 
 baggage on board ; for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet 
 
 * The Romans used to lie or walk naked in the sun, after anointing their bodies with 
 oil, which was esteemed as greatly contributing to health, and therefore daily practiced 
 by them. 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 561 
 
 Deing within the view of it, and indeed extremely near if it should in the 
 least increase, he was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind should 
 change. It was favorable, however, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, 
 whom he found in the greatest consternation. He embraced him with ten- 
 derness, encouraging and exhorting him to keep up his spirits ; and the more 
 to dissipate his fears, he ordered, with an air of unconcern, the baths to be 
 got ready; when, after having bathed, he sat down to supper with great 
 cheerfulness, or at least (what is equally heroic) with all the appearance of 
 it. In the meanwhile, the eruption from Mount Vesuvius flamed out in se- 
 veral places with much violence, which the darkness of the night contributed 
 to render still more visible and dreadful. But my uncle, in order to soothe 
 the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was only the burning of the 
 villages, which the country people had abandoned to the flames. After this 
 he retired to rest, and it is most certain he was so little discomposed as to fall 
 into a deep sleep ; for, being pretty fat, and breathing hard, those who at- 
 tended without, actually heard him snore. The court which led to his apart- 
 ment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, if he had continued there 
 any time longer, it would have been impossible for him to have made his way 
 out; it was thought proper, therefore, to awaken him. He got up, and went 
 to Pomponianus and the rest of his company, who were not unconcerned 
 enough to think of going to bed. They consulted together whether it would 
 be most prudent to trust to the houses, which now shook from side to side 
 with frequent and violent concussions, or fly to the open fields, where the cal- 
 cined stones and cinders, though light indeed, yet fell in large showers, and 
 threatened destruction. In this distress they resolved for the fields, as the 
 less dangerous situation of the two ; a resolution which, while the rest of the 
 company were hurried into it by their fears, my uncle embraced upon cool 
 and deliberate consideration. 
 
 They went out then, having pillows tied upon their heads with napkins, 
 and this was their whole defense against the storm of stones that fell round 
 them. Though it was now day everywhere else, with them it was darker 
 than the most obscure night, excepting only what light proceeded from the 
 fire and flames. They thought proper to go down farther upon the shore, to 
 observe if they might safely put out to sea ; but they found the waves still 
 run extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle having drunk a draught or 
 two of cold water, threw himself down upon a cloth which was spread for 
 him, when immediately the flames, and a strong smell of sulphur, which was 
 the forerunner of them, dispersed the rest of the company, and obliged him 
 to arise. He raised himself up with the assistance of two of his servants, 
 and instantly fell down dead ; suffocated, as I conjecture, by some gross and 
 noxious vapor, having always had weak lungs, and frequently subjected to a 
 difficulty of breathing. As soon as it was light again, which was not till the 
 third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and with- 
 out any marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture that he fell, 
 and looking more like a man asleep than dead." 
 
 " During these occurrences on the Pompeian side of the bay, we learn 
 from the second letter that the younger Pliny and his mother remained al 
 36 
 
562 FISK'S TKAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 Misenum, which was also enveloped in thick darkness, and dreadfully cod* 
 vulsed by the throes of the mountain. On the first morning after the erup- 
 tion, the light was exceedingly faint and languid, and the buildings continued 
 to totter ; so that the mother and son resolved to quit the town — the people 
 following them in the utmost consternation. Having got to a convenient 
 distance from the houses, they stood still in the midst of a most dangerous 
 and dreadful scene. Their chariots pitched backward and forward, though 
 drawn out on level ground, and blocked up with large stones ; the sea seemed 
 to roll back upon itself, and to be driven upon its banks by the convulsive 
 motion of the earth ; and many sea animals were left upon the shore, from 
 which the water had receded. Pliny's mother conjured him to make his es- 
 cape, which, being young (he was then eighteen years of age), he might 
 easily do ; but he refused to leave her, and led her on from the scene of 
 danger. The ashes began to fall upon them, though in no great quantity; 
 but a thick sulphureous smoke like a torrent came rolling after them. Pliny 
 proposed, while they had any light, to turn from the highway, lest his aged 
 parent should be pressed to death in the dark, by the crowd which followed ; 
 and they had scarcely stepped aside when utter darkness overspread them. 
 Nothing was then to be heard, says he, but the shrieks of women, the screams 
 of children, and the cries of men : some calling for their husbands, and only 
 distinguishing each other by their voices ; one lamenting his own fate, 
 another that of his family; some wishing to die from the very fear of dying ; 
 some lifting up their hands to the gods ; but the greater number imagining 
 that the last day was come, which was to destroy both the gods and the world 
 together. At length a glimmering light appeared, which, however, was not 
 the return of day, but only the forerunner of an approaching burst of flames. 
 The mass of hot cinders and stones luckily fell at a distance from them ; then 
 again they were enveloped in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes 
 rained upon them, which they were obliged every now and then to shake off, 
 to prevent being crushed and bruised in the heap. At length this dreadful 
 darkness was dissipated by degrees, like a cloud of smoke ; the real day re- 
 turned, and the sun appeared, though very faintly, and as when an eclipse is 
 coming on ; and every object seemed changed, being covered over with white 
 ashes, as with a deep snow." 
 
 The accumulated weight crushed in the flat roofs of the buildings, and 
 thus so entirely buried the city that its precise position remained unknown 
 until about one hundred years since, when it was accidentally found by some 
 peasants ; almost one third, and that the most public part of the city, has 
 been excavated, and generally too on the line of the streets, the chief of 
 which was the Appian Way. The streets are all paved with lava, and show 
 to this day the ruts made by the carriage wheels 2000 years ago. The ruins 
 of the temples, theaters, and basilica or Judgment Hall, are splendid. In 
 the interior of the last named, the judgment seat is at one end, the rostrum 
 or speaker's desk, at the side, and the dungeons beneath, and all in perfect 
 order. In the temple of Isis were discovered skeletons of several priests, 
 who it seems were dining when the suffocating tempest came on. Here also, 
 is shown the secret staircase and passage, and the place to which the priests 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 553 
 
 ascended to deliver the oracles, the people, who victims to the fraud, thought 
 them to be from the gods. 
 
 One street is devoted to shops, the business of each being indicated by the 
 relics found in them. The finest houses were two or three stories, but ordi- 
 narily only of one. The dwellings were low between joists, without windows, 
 chimneys or fireplaces, the chambers small, and wholly destitute of 
 comfort, the ancient Romans seeking their pleasure mainly at the Forum, and 
 places of public resort. The best dwellings stood facing square courts, with 
 pavements of small pebbles in mosaic surrounded with alcoves, dining, draw- 
 ing-rooms, and chambers ; each usually had a fountain and a cistern. 
 Among the dwellings, that of Sallust is unusually showy. The ancient 
 Romans used instead of ardent spirits, medicated liquors of corrosive quali- 
 ties, and on the marble counter of a drinking-house the circular marks of 
 the tumblers or cups are yet visible. 
 
 On each side of the Appian Way, just beyond Pompeii, are double rows 
 of tombs with tablets, and in which were urns filled with the ashes and bones 
 of the deceased. Near the city gate is the elegant three storied villa of 
 Diomedes, with beautiful furniture. The family seem to have fled for pro- 
 tection to the wine cellar, there being found seventeen skeletons, one of them 
 from her rich ornaments, it is thought, was Mrs. Diomedes. " Near the 
 back door were found two skeletons, one with keys, and wearing a gold ring, 
 supposed to be Diomedes himself ; and near the other skeleton were silver 
 vases, and a wrapper containing eighty pieces of silver money, ten of gold 
 and some of bronze ; probably this was the servant, bearing away the 
 treasures after his master, both of whom, however, were arrested and buried 
 alive." 
 
 The excavations are now being very slowly made, and many new disclo- 
 sures doubtless remain to be revealed. Our traveler, after visiting Psestum 
 and Pompeii, started back to Naples, passing througli Torre del Grceco, a town 
 of 18,000 inhabitants, destroyed in 1798, by an eruption of Vesuvius. He 
 stopped to visit Herculaneum, which, unlike Pompeii, was buried by molten 
 lava to the depth of from sixty to one hundred feet. The lava has become 
 so hard by time, as to render the excavation both costly and difficult, so that 
 comparatively little has as yet been accomplished. Herculaneum was dis- 
 covered 150 years ago by the sinking of a well. 
 
 From a most remote period this has been a volcanic region, as is shown 
 not only by the pavements of the streets, but by the houses and walls of 
 these buried cities, which were constructed of lava ; and what number of 
 cities have been erected upon the tops of cities, far back in distant ages, will 
 never be revealed, until the final trump shall summon the assembled millions 
 to unfold all the secrets of earth's history from the creation to the death of 
 Time. 
 
 Our traveler made a second excursion from Naples along the western 
 shore of the bay, which was the celebrated region of the ancients, the land 
 of enchantment, fable, and song, luxury and licentiousness, and combining 
 all that is most beautiful and terrible in nature. These enchanting shores 
 spread along for many miles in charming variety of outline, being broken up 
 
564 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 into bays, islands, caverns and mountain-heights. The first object is the tomb 
 of Virgil, in an elevated, secluded dell, near the entrance to the famous grotto 
 of Posilipo, a gloomy artificial excavation which penetrates through a moun- 
 tain for near half a mile, and was used as a thoroughfare between Naples 
 and Puzzuoli, the ancient Puteoli. This last named was a noted Roman 
 city, with an excellent harbor, and the spot where St. Paul first landed in 
 Italy. It was in ancient days celebrated for its mineral waters, and was 
 adorned by the elegant villas of the Roman aristocracy. Here procuring a 
 donkey Mr. Fisk proceded to Solfatara, a naked plain, once the crater of an 
 extinct volcano, anciently known as Forum Vulcani or Vulcan's shop. A 
 rampart of shattered hills environ it ; beneath ever burn subterranean fires, 
 with a sound audible to visitors, its crevices emit sulphureous exhalations, 
 while in the darkness of night, pale blue flames issuing from the ground, 
 shed a gloomy illumination over all. 
 
 Beyond he successively passed the villa of Cicero, called by him Acade- 
 mico, of which only the wine-cellar remains, and the Lake d'Agnano, some 
 three miles in circumference, situated among volcanic hills : at the top thn 
 water is fresh — at the bottom salt. On its shores is the Grotto del Cano, or 
 Grotto of the Dog, so called ; because if a dog enters he falls into convulsions, 
 and soon dies. This arises from the fact, that sulphuric acid gas, which is 
 emitted from the water, being heavier than air, rises but only to about the 
 height of a dog, while a man can enter with impunity; from his superior ele- 
 vation, being not at all endangered. 
 
 Still beyond, leaving on the right the New Mountain, 420 feet high and a 
 mile and a half in diameter, which, in 1538, rose in a day and a half by a 
 volcanic eruption, Mr. Fisk came to Lake Avernus, the Tartarus, or hell of 
 Virgil : over this, as stated in the ^Eneid, birds could not fly, nor in it fish 
 live. Now things are changed, for here no longer do the deadly vapors find 
 vent. The ruins of a temple to Pluto are here likewise; beyond it, is the 
 passage to old Pluto's realms, down which ^Eneas descended on his visit to 
 father Anchises in the shades below, taking the river Styx by the way, 
 with Charon for a ferryman. Now, modern Charons, instead of using a boat, 
 carry curiosity hunters, " papoose-back," over the dark, gloomy passage. 
 Having reached the other side, the visitor is shown the bed-chambers and 
 bath of the Sibyls. The Decensus Averni, or road to hell, is closed up. 
 
 There were two Cumean Sibyls, Cumea and Amalthea. The first was in 
 the height of her glory in the era of the fall of Troy. According to the fable, 
 Apollo falling in love with her, promised her whatever she wished for : she 
 asked, and was given permission to live as many years as she held grains of 
 sand in her hand, which, on being counted, amounted to one thousand. She 
 was seven hundred years old at the time, (over three thousand years ago) 
 when Virgil consulted her, and had grown skinny and withered like a mum- 
 my by extreme age. Amalthea, who sold the Sibyllian books to Tarquin 
 the Proud, appeared here near six hundred years later. 
 
 In the dark grottoes and dense forests around Lake Avernus, lived those fa- 
 mous prophets, the Cimmerians, hence the expression " Cimmerian darkness." 
 The darkness of the forests, the poisonous waters, the yawning caverns and 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 555 
 
 grottoes, of this region, united with the wild, unearthly character and profes- 
 sion of those who dwelt in its solitudes, were the foundation of the most in- 
 imitable scenes of the great poem of Virgil. 
 
 A mile from Lake Avernus our traveler came to the baths of the tyrant 
 Nero, which are hot enough to boil eggs, and at an additional mile, to the 
 ruins of Baiae. At this place, Lucullus, Julius Caesar, Horace, and numerous 
 others of the most distinguished Romans, reared magnificent palaces and vil- 
 las upon the sea-shore, here curving round in a beautiful bay. Its delicious 
 climate, its warm, and mineral springs, its fruitful soil, its waters teeming with 
 fish, converted this into an earthly paradise, attracting crowds of the wealthy 
 and luxurious from all quarters, who made this the great center of sensual 
 pleasure, and of voluptuous dalliance. Truly has a modern poet said of Baiae : 
 " Thy conquests all before thee lie, 
 Man's courage — woman's modesty." 
 
 After visiting the ruins of the three beautiful temples of Venus, Mercury, 
 and Diana — the supposed tomb of Agrippina, mother of the monster who 
 fiddled while Rome was burning, and visiting other relics and localities of 
 similar interest, our traveler returned to Naples, fatigued with the day's cir- 
 cuit ; but with gathered store of historical and poetical associations for de- 
 lightful retrospect. 
 
 The third excursion which Mr. Fisk made, was to Vesuvius, eight miles 
 from Naples, the only volcanic mountain on the continent, and one of the 
 most active in the world. All around its base, excepting where covered with 
 lava, vineyards are cultivated, producing the celebrated wine called " La cry 
 mce Christi," i. e., "tears of Christ/" The lava is of various colors, but, 
 generally, dark-brown ; it is very hard, bears a beautiful polish, and is made 
 into a great variety of ornaments, as boxes, necklaces, bracelets, etc. It is 
 thirty miles around the base, from which rise three peaks, Somma, Ottajano, 
 and Vesuvius. The bottom of the cone of Vesuvius is about half a mile in 
 perpendicular height, from the base: it is reached on the backs of donkeys, 01 
 mules, by a gradual ascent of three miles. At the foot of the cone the visi- 
 tors alight, and prepare to ascend. The cone of the present time is about 
 1200 feet in height, and so very steep as to appear nearly perpendicular. 
 From here, each visitor is either carried up in a chair, lashed to poles, and 
 resting on the shoulders of several men, or he makes the toilsome ascent on 
 foot, stepping on blocks of lava, through a mass of ashes and cinders, in 
 which his feet sink ankle deep, and slip back several inches at every step. In 
 this case, he has, however, generally, a guide, who going before helps him 
 along by pulling at a strap fastened around his body. Arrived at the sum- 
 mit, he sees before him a rim or edge a mile across, the intervening space 
 being the crater, a yawning, horrid gulf, in the center of which, far below, an 
 enormous pit is belching forth vast columns of smoke and fiery flames. 
 
 The crater frequently changes its form, hence, the ever-varying descriptions 
 of travelers. Previous to the great eruption of 1631, it had been quiet for 
 centuries ; then it was a deep, thickly-wooded, and romantic valley, filled with 
 game, and containing one or two little lakes of exquisite beauty. Suddenly, 
 it burst out, desolating the country, destroying several villages, and 4,000 
 
566 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 lives. In 1755, the top part of the cone was only a few yards in depth, 
 forming a sort of rim, from the middle of which rose a second cone, for about 
 ninety feet, with its own interior crater. The great eruption of 1822, lowered 
 the cone 800 feet, to its present elevation. 
 
 As before observed, this whole region round about, is of volcanic forma- 
 tion, and the inhabitants of its vicinity are as peculiarly exposed, as were 
 those of the towns and villages that have at different ages been suddenly 
 overwhelmed. From beneath the very center of Naples itself, it is not at all 
 unlikely, that at some time, may burst forth such an eruption as that of the 
 New Mountain, previously described, and its hundreds of thousands, almost 
 in the twinkling of an eye, be consumed in one vast furnace of molten fire. 
 Yet the inhabitants are not at all apprehensive that any catastrophe will hap- 
 pen in their day, nor travelers, during their visit to the crater of Vesuvius. 
 
 The government of Naples is one of the most despotic, suspicious, mean 
 and tyrannical in Europe, and Mr. Fisk, now that his stay here had drawn to 
 a close, was glad to leave for Rome. On entering it he had been saluted by 
 beggars ; while in it he was surrounded by beggars ; and as he left it seven- 
 teen of these miserable, woe-begone, oppressed wretches, attacked himself 
 and party with their never-ceasing importunities. 
 
 11 Rome, still great in its decline, is more interesting to a reflecting mind 
 than the proudest capital of our day ; within it are the sublimest monuments 
 of past ages, and every spot is rendered sacred by awful names, heroic ac- 
 tions, and the fame of those who in genius and glory, towered far above the 
 rest of mankind. Here, too, are the most perfect works of architecture, 
 painting, and sculpture, and here flock, from all parts of the world, eager 
 learners in the most exquisite arts of refinement and beauty. 
 
 There were three cities called Rome ; that which the Gauls destroyed, that 
 which Nero burned, and that which Nero rebuilt. The modern city is still 
 inclosed by them ; but it covers only a portion of the vast site occupied b} T 
 the mistress of the world. Scattered in vast and shapeless masses over the 
 seven hills, appear the ruins of ancient Rome, standing in lonely majesty 
 amid waving groves of funeral cypress. Its palaces, its tombs, its baths, its 
 temples, with their pointed obelisks, are majestic but solitary objects amid the 
 extensive waste of time and desolation. The Palatine, which originally con- 
 tained the whole city which remained always the chief and most prosperous 
 quarter, and is represented by Cicero as crowded with the senate, the orders, 
 and with all Italy, presents a mere landscape, and two solitary villas and a 
 convent. In such heaps of confusion lie the ruins, that we cannot, with but 
 few exceptions, tell the site of even the most famous objects of antiquity. 
 We cannot say, 'here stood the house of Cicero, of Horace, of Maecenas.' 
 However, the Capitol, the Forum, the hills, are stamped with those charac- 
 ters of antiquity that cannot be mistaken. A walk from the Capitol to the 
 Coliseum comprises the history of ages. 
 
 Enough yet remains of the ancient edifices to inspire most solemn emotions, 
 and to give a full idea of the perfection of ancient architectural designs. The 
 Pantheon and Coliseum remain nearly entire, or only with such touches of 
 ruin as to render them more awful and picturesque. The Pantheon — the 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 557 
 
 temple of the gods — whose portico, it is said ' shines inimitable on the earth,' 
 preserves, uninjured, this feature, together with its graceful dome, and the 
 rich fluted marble pillars that line its walls." 
 
 The gigantic Coliseum — the amphitheater for gladiatorial combats — is the 
 most magnificent ruin on the globe ; it is of an oval form, and about one-third 
 of a mile in circumference — a vast arena with seats and galleries, rising tier 
 above tier, to the height of over one hundred and fifty feet. It was often 
 crowded to the enormous capacity of more than 100,000 persons, and even 
 then multitudes sought admittance in vain, because there was no more room. 
 On conspicuous seats sat the Roman Emperor, his officers and nobles, and 
 behind, in tier above tier, the various classes of citizens in the order of their 
 respective ranks. 
 
 At its first open'ng, in the year A. D. 80, the gladiatorial sports continued 
 daily for one hundred days, during which, 5000 wild beasts, and several 
 thousand gladiators fell victims in the bloody conflicts. Such was the eager- 
 ness to witness the barbarous spectacle, that the seats began to be taken up 
 at midnight, so as to be in season for the games of the succeeding day. The 
 signal for the onset was given by a virgin, and if a gladiator fell wounded, it 
 was left for the virgins to make the signal for his preservation or his death. 
 Not unfrequently, the latter was done, when if the poor slave died gracefully, 
 the triumphant plaudits of a hundred thousand spectators, ringing through 
 the amphitheater, consoled him for his fate. 
 
 Soon as the combats were over for the day, the refined and polished Ro- 
 man ladies descended into the arena, yet red with human gore, to partake of a 
 feast ! And lastly, two aqueducts forcing in a flood of waters, cleansed out 
 the blood for the next exhibition. Such was the character of the most re- 
 fined and elegant people of their time, and no better would that of any be, 
 of even our day, unaided by the pure and benevolent principles of Christia- 
 nity. Who is it, in the face of such facts, will deny that the world is not im- 
 proving, or while contrasting the inhumanity of ancient civilization, with the 
 humanity of the modern, can, with even the shadow of plausibility, ascribe 
 the change to any other agency than that which proclaims " peace on earth, 
 and good- will to man?" 
 
 The ancient tombs are of colossal proportions, and were erected under the 
 vain desire for immortality. The mausoleum of Augustus was one of the 
 most splendid monuments, rising to the height of three stories, and sur- 
 mounted by a statue of the Emperor; " each higher story was narrowed by 
 a circling offset, planted with evergreens, so as not only to give to the house 
 perpetuity, but to wreath it around with unfading circlets of perpetual ver- 
 dure." It is used as a circus, while that of Adrian, which was perhaps still 
 more magnificent, has been converted into a fort, with black-mouthed artil- 
 lery pointing defiance. The tomb of Caius Cestus, a priest, is a pyramid 
 sixty-nine feet square, and 113 feet high. 
 
 Another kind of tomb, for the more common people, is called Columbarium. 
 One which Mr. Fisk entered, is a subterranean structure, with walled apart- 
 ments, full of pigeon-holes, in which are urns yet containing the burnt bones 
 of citizens of ancient Rome. The old Romans bordered some of the high- 
 
568 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 ways leading from their cities with tombs ; at Rome, the Appian Way was 
 thus lined for many miles out of the city, the ruins of which yet remain. The 
 catacombs, supposed originally to have been quarries, were also much uiied ; 
 they extended under the city for many miles, winding about in perfect laby- 
 rinths, and communicating with each other, and it is stated, even with Oslia, 
 eighteen miles distant. 
 
 The baths of the ancient Romans exceeded, both in extent and magnificence, 
 everything known in modern times. Bathing being universal with all classes, 
 these establishments were built by the government. Beside the splendor 
 of their architecture, the luxurious sensuality of the people, alive to "the most 
 refined excesses of licentious indulgence," converted them into splendid bro- 
 thels, the various apartments connecting for this object. Attached, were 
 temples, porticoes, and palaces, adorned with beautiful statuary. The baths 
 of Caracalla, resemble the ruins of a city rather than of any single structure. 
 They occupied an elegant square, of over two-thirds of a mile in circuit, 
 were three stories under, and two above ground ; and divided into 1600 
 bathing rooms, together with a large number of bathing tubs, beautifully 
 sculptured in porphyry, marble, and granite ; they accommodated three 
 thousand bathers at a time. 
 
 The baths of Dioclesian are almost equally vast ; and those of Titus, 
 although smaller, were constructed in purer taste, and beneath them was 
 wound the Laocoon, and the finest remains of ancient painting. 
 
 The aqueducts supplied the baths with water, heated by stoves to any 
 temperature desired. The ancient Romans, ignorant of the fact, that water 
 rises to the level of its source, constructed those magnificent aqueducts, the 
 wonder of our time, upon whose stupendous arches rivers of water flowed 
 into the city, from a distance of twenty and thirty miles ; some of these are 
 yet in use, and supply the beautiful fountains of modern Rome. 
 
 The columns of Trajan, and that of Antonius Severus, are magnificent ex- 
 amples of columnar structures : they are of pure white marble, about one 
 hundred and twenty feet high, and decorated with a series of sculptures, re 
 presenting battle scenes and triumphal processions : these wind in a spira. 
 line from the base to the summit of each. That of Trajan in particular, con- 
 tains two thousand five hundred figures, forming a complete system of Roman 
 antiquities, and a mine from which all modern painters have drawn materials. 
 Of the triumphal arches, that of Constantine is the loftiest and the noblest ; 
 that of Titus the richest, although too much crowded with sculpture. 
 
 The villas in the vicinity of Rome, together with their gardens, are a great 
 ornament to the city : the gardens of Lucullus, of Maecenas, of Sallust, are 
 peculiarly spacious and magnificent. Among the villas, that designed and 
 erected by the Emperor Adrian at the beginning of the second century, is an 
 exceedingly interesting collection of ruins, standing on a gentle elevation in 
 the vicinity of the mountains. It occupied a space one mile wide, and over 
 three miles long, and contained the emperor's palaces and gardens, several 
 splendid temples, the schools of the phk jsophers, public libraries, theaters 
 and amphitheaters, etc., etc. The Emperor Adrian was noted for his talents 
 and virtues, although not a believer in Christianity ; yet he thought so well 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 5lH 
 
 of it as to stop the persecutions, and so much admired the character of Jesus 
 Christ, that it is said, "he had serious thoughts of admitting him among the 
 number of his gods." 
 
 Modern Rome, independent of the many single majestic objects, is not a 
 fine city. The streets are paved with rough pavement, ill suited to foot pas- 
 sengers ; the houses are built of stone, and stuccoed. It is one of the filthiest 
 of cities, and the filth is accumulated even in presence of some of the most ma- 
 jestic piles, to such an extent as to be almost unapproachable to the stranger. 
 The whole pavement around the Pantheon is revolting to every sense ; sprin- 
 kled with blood and filth, entrails of pigs, and piles of stale fish. The 
 grounds upon which stand the ruins of the Roman Forum alike make 
 a profuse display of filth. The population of the city has increased in con- 
 sequence of the resort of strangers, to about one hundred and fifty thousand. 
 
 " No city in the world can compare in the splendor of its churches with this, 
 the metropolis of the Catholic world. He who delights in halls of an im- 
 mense size and exact proportion, in lengthening colonnades and vast pillars 
 of one solid block of porphyry, of granite, of Parian or Egyptian marble ; in 
 pavements that glow with all the tints of the rainbow, and roofs that blaze 
 with brass or gold ; in canvas warm as life itself, and statues ready to start 
 from tombs on which they recline, will range round the churches of Rome, 
 and find in them an inexhaustible source of instructive and rational amuse- 
 ment." Foremost among the churches of Rome and of the world, stands the 
 majestic front and sublime dome of St. Peter. On its site has always been 
 the principal church of Rome, erected by Constantine, and rendered sacred 
 by containing the ashes of the apostle from whence the bishops of Rome 
 claim their descent and authority. After being embellished during succes- 
 sive ages, it began to threaten to fall, when the project was conceived of 
 erecting a new and nobler structure. It was carried on for a hundred years 
 by eighteen successive pontiffs, all devoting to it a large proportion of their 
 treasures, and employing upon it the talents of Michael Angelo and other 
 eminent artists. The colonnade and dome are perfectly unrivaled, and ren- 
 der it the most magnificent structure ever reared by mortal hands. It is in 
 the form of a cross, covers five acres of ground, and its dome rises to the 
 height of four hundred feet from the pavement : the whole cost of the struc- 
 ture was sixty millions of dollars. As the visitor enters the church he is as- 
 tonished at the immensity and grandeur of the scene before him — at such a 
 wonderful exhibition of human industry and genius ; such perfect symmetry 
 and proportion in everything around him. Like all the churches of Rome, it 
 abounds in relics. Here one is shown the pillar against which our Savior 
 leaned when disputing with the doctors — the vail of the Virgin Mary — the 
 manger in which the infant Christ was laid. Over the altar, too, is a part of 
 the very lance with which the Savior's side was pierced ; parts of the cross 
 on which he was crucified, and a handkerchief, which was lent to Christ, as 
 lie was going to the cross, by a woman, with which to wipe the sweat and 
 alood from his face ; when lo ! a miracle was performed — a perfect portrait 
 of him being imprinted thereon. Above the dome is what appears to be a 
 little brass ball, about the size of a small globe, yet within it there is room for 
 
570 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY 
 
 sixteen or twenty men, and just about in this proportion are the statues, pil- 
 lars, and othei objects connected with the edifice. 
 
 Mr. Fisk was in Rome during passion week, and gives a lengthy description 
 of the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, which our assigned limits will per- 
 mit us but to briefly notice. Some of these form the most magnificent and 
 gorgeous spectacles in the universe. 
 
 The exercises were opened with Palm Sunday, which was established to 
 celebrate our Savior's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This splendid cere- 
 mony took place in the little chapel of " Capella Sistina," which was crowded 
 to excess. The Pope entered in great state, wearing a silver miter, and at- 
 tired in a magnificent purple robe, resplendent with gold and silver, and 
 glittering gems. Being seated upon his throne, the cardinals, bishops, and 
 other church dignitaries proceeded to pay their respects to his holiness by 
 kissing his hands and his feet, and humbly bowing the knee. This seemed 
 to our Protestant divine very much like man worship ; but the pope's title, 
 " God's vicegerent on earth," and the remark of an intelligent Catholic, that 
 he was " God Almighty upon earth," is in the view of his people a warrant 
 for this seeming adoration. This was followed by some admirable music 
 from the choir of the pope, who began with the Hosanna, sung by the children 
 on the entry of Christ into Jerusalem, reading scriptures, prayer of blessing, 
 chanting, etc. Branches of palm and olive, having, by these exercises, been 
 blessed, were distributed by the pope, firstly, to the cardinals, then to the 
 patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and so on through about thirty grades of 
 priestly orders. The higher grades waved the palms by bowing, kissing his 
 hands, then the palm, and lastly his knees ; all below the rank of bishop 
 kissed his foot instead of his knees. After this, the pope, seated in a magnifi- 
 cent chair, with a gorgeous canopy, rich in crimson and gold, was borne in 
 a procession to the chapel on the shoulders of eight referendees richly at- 
 tired. As his holiness passed, the people and soldiers dropped upon their 
 knees. High mass ended the ceremonies. Dr. Fisk thought this a splendid 
 earthly pageant, and, as a ceremony, certainly imposing ; but as a religious 
 ceremony, founded upon the entrance into Jerusalem of the meek and lowly 
 Jesus upon an ass, "the very contrast of the thing signified." 
 
 On Wednesday our traveler listened to the finest music he ever heard : it 
 was from the Pope's choir. The " function" is called the "tenebrce," or 
 " darkness," and is intended as a commemoration of the darkness and gloom 
 of the church at the hour of betrayal, or it may be, the scene in the garden. 
 The exercises were principally taken up with chanting from the Psalms, the 
 Lamentations of Jeremiah, etc. etc., interspersed with antiphonies, all execu- 
 ted with surprising skill. The crowning piece of the whole was the "miserere" 
 the 51st Psalm, set to music. The humble confession, and the deep contri- 
 tion of this exquisite composition, were so powerfully expressed, when united 
 to this surpassing music, as to be completely overwhelming. " Such wailing," 
 says Dr. Fisk, " lamentation, and woe ! Such tender, melting, agonizing 
 strains of penitential grief and contrition ! They came over my soul like a 
 dissolving charm, melting my heart and opening the very fountains of grief 
 Every emotion of my soul chimed in with the sentiments and music — I felt 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 571 
 
 myself entirely carried away and overpowered by the inspirations of the oc- 
 casion." The music was so skillfully arranged and modified, as to sound 
 " like a multitude of old men and maidens, young men and children, pour- 
 ing forth their united concordant strains of chastened grief, in all their bitter- 
 ness and reverence, of supplication and adoring penitence." 
 
 The next day was called Maundy, Thursday, " because our Savior gave 
 the mandatum, or command to the disciples, to wash each other's feet. There 
 were several " functions" performed this day ; the first was high mass before 
 the Pope, in Sistine Chapel. High mass differs from common mass, simply 
 in its being attended with more ceremonies, in which a greater number of 
 persons officiate. Mass is the " Lord's Supper," of which institution the 
 Catholics have different views from the Protestants. The former consider it 
 an "unbloody sacrifice, in which, by the power of God, the institutions of 
 Christ, the ministry of the priest, the body and blood of our blessed Savior are 
 produced upon the altar, under the appearance of bread and wine, and there of- 
 fered to the Almighty as a propitiation for the sins of mankind, in testimony 
 of the adoration or homage which is his due." The service is in Latin, and 
 performed with a great deal of ceremony, the priest being, usually, the only 
 person who partakes of the consecrated elements. 
 
 At the conclusion of this service, the Pope, preceded by a cross, walked in 
 procession to the sound of beautiful music, amid the smoke of burning in- 
 cense, to deposit the consecrated wafer, or host, in a splendidly adorned altar, 
 in the Pauline Chapel, which was illuminated with 600 wax candles. 
 
 As his Holiness walked along, bearing the sacred object, the multitude fell 
 upon their knees, and bowed in humble adoration. A benediction from the 
 Pope, upon the kneeling multitude in the church of St. Peter, the ringing of 
 bells, and the firing of artillery, soon after succeeded. He then retired to 
 make ready for the ceremony of washing the feet of thirteen persons, twelve 
 of whom represented those whose feet were washed by our Savior. Gorge- 
 ously attired, he descended from his throne, and to each in turn, went through 
 with the ceremony, ending by kissing the foot of the person. A purse and 
 medal, a towel and nosegay were thereupon given to each, and the exercises 
 concluded with a prayer, etc. The last grand " function" of the day was a 
 dinner, given to " the pilgrims," in the palace of the Vatican, in which Dr. 
 Fisk had the gratification of seeing " the symbolical apostles eat their sweet- 
 meats and drink their wine," while the Pope himself waited at the table. 
 
 The ceremonies on Good Friday, Saturday before Easter, and on Easter 
 Sunday, itself, are too long for description. On this last-named day, the 
 Pope himself performed high mass, and with a great deal of solemnity. As 
 he elevated, the Host for the adoration of the multitude, tears gushed into his 
 eyes, and he seemed completely melted down, and overcome by the ardor of 
 his emotions. Our Protestant divine could not but think favo; ibly of the 
 sincerity and piety of this venerable old man. He was, too, agreeably sur- 
 prised at the extreme courtesy of the Catholics, who, although perfectly 
 aware of his non-conformity in all the ceremonies of the occasion — standing 
 erect when the assembled thousands bowed — did not censure nor apparently 
 notice him 
 
572 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 One evening our traveler went to a particular church, to be present at a 
 singular ceremony — " the flagellation." None but males were allowed to 
 enter — the door was soon bolted, and the solitary light which shed a gloom 
 over everything, was then taken to a temporary platform, near a crucifix. A 
 pilgrim -like, gloomy-looking ecclesiastic ascended, and made an impassioned 
 harangue, in which he spoke of the sufferings of Christ, and the duty of all 
 to be willing to chastise themselves for their sins, because Christ was chas- 
 tised, and suffered for their transgression. The light being then taken away 
 the tragedy opened in the midst of dense darkness. First came the violent 
 cracking of whips and thongs, succeeded by the most bitter groans, and 
 wailings, as from miserable wretches writhing under torture. The sounds 
 became commingled ; the strokes fell thick as hail ; and groans and howlings 
 filled the temple. It was an awful scene ! In a few minutes, a pause en- 
 sued, and the exhortations were renewed amid the darkness, and in sharp, 
 screaming tones, that echoed maniac-like, among the invisible arches of the 
 church. Another pause, and the flagellation, the dreadful wailings and ago- 
 nizing sounds, again succeeded. 
 
 In the nunnery of the church of St. Cecilia, Dr. Fisk saw the ceremony ol 
 two young ladies taking the vail. The candidates entered attired like prin- 
 cesses, followed by little girls, with wings like angels, bearing their trains. 
 After some ceremonies, and a discourse defending perpetual virginity, and por- 
 traying the advantage of a monastic life, the usual service on such occa- 
 sions was performed, during which the officiating bishop, with a pair of golden 
 scissors, clipped off from each a lock of hair. Then they were completely 
 stripped of their ornaments, their hair turned back, and covered with a plain 
 cap, and their rich dresses taken off, leaving them "modestly blushing" in 
 the sole covering of a single white under garment. Uttering some words to 
 show they had renounced the world and all its vanities, they cast aside their 
 gay dresses, and princely ornaments ; then they each put on the plain attire 
 of the nun, received a crucifix, rosary, prayer-book, and a lighted candle, 
 and lastly, were crowned with a wreath of silver. They kissed each object 
 as they received it, also the hand of the priest who offered them. The change 
 was sudden, the contrast most striking. " It was as if a princess, by the 
 touch of a Roman wand, had been metamorphosed into a meek-eyed, mo- 
 destly-appareled sister of charity." When the ceremonies were ended, and 
 the final farewell took place between them and their friends, some of the lat- 
 ter found it difficult to conceal their emotions, and a sister of one of them 
 drew back with eyes swimming in tears. 
 
 Usually the splendid festivities of passion week, are concluded by fire- 
 works at the Castle of St. Angelos, and illuminations on the church of St. 
 Peter. This edifice is then covered by thousands of lamps and torches. 
 Large numbers of men are suspended on the outside by ropes to do the 
 lighting, who are moved by pulleys by others within. Their duties are so 
 dangerous that they all previously receive the sacrament, to be prepared for 
 sudden death. When lighted, the whole of this vast edifice, from the base 
 to the cross on the dome, is in one blaze. The illumination at first, is mild, 
 and soft as moonlight ; suddenly, as if by enchantment, it changes into an 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 573 
 
 mrivaled blaze, with an inconceivable splendor of transition and bril- 
 liancy. 
 
 Learning there was enchanting music at vespers on Sabbath evening in the 
 church Chiesa della Trinita — " Church of the Trinity," our traveler, one 
 Sunday evening while in Rome, went thither, asked permission of some priests 
 about entering, to go in with them, stating that he was a stranger. ** They 
 bowed assent with the usual frankness and courtesy of the Italians, especi- 
 ally of the priests." A nun of most angelic countenance opened the door, 
 and he was shown in. It was early, and a solitary priest only was present 
 engaged in his devotions. In him he recognized an acquaintance, who was 
 both a count and a priest, and a gentleman of soft, kind, and winning 
 manners. 
 
 At the sound of the vesper bell, the nuns began to come in. All were 
 dressed neatly, and their countenances cheerful, and of a heavenly expression, 
 evidently produced by the habitual state of their mind. " The service," says 
 Dr. Fisk, " consisted chiefly of music from the voices of the nuns, accompa- 
 nied by the organ, and such an organ ! and such voices ! The organ seemed 
 to have been constructed on purpose to symphonise with the sweet voices of 
 the sisters, and sweet were those voices, and sweet was that organ." The 
 music was a hymn of praise of a lively, cheerful nature, and its effect upon 
 our traveler was indescribable. It was not overwhelming, but seemed gradu- 
 ally to enter into the very recesses of his soul and "then to diffuse itself to 
 the extremities, through all the conductors of feeling, until his whole system 
 was exhilarated and enchanted." Ever after, when his mind reverted to this 
 church, he seemed to hear those heavenly, ravishing voices anew, " like the 
 memory of joys that are past, pleasant and mournful to the soul." Never 
 before had he felt so much devotion in a Catholic church, and he was re- 
 luctant to leave a spot that had given him such unexpected, such refined, and 
 exquisite delight. 
 
 "The street music, and that of the peasantry of Italy, is absolutely 
 horrible, scarcely less repulsive than the braying of an ass," and it is the 
 same with much of that of the churches. The popular airs do not compare 
 with those of Switzerland and Scotland, which are the very " melody of 
 nature," and the singing of whose peasantry is "absolutely enchanting." 
 It is probably occasioned by the great refinement, and the scientific character 
 of the Italian music, which only the most cultivated can perform, while its 
 effect has been to annihilate the simplicity of nature in the mass, who in 
 attempting what is beyond their reach, lose everything. 
 
 Soon after the close of the ceremonies of Passion week, Mr. Fisk hastened 
 to escape the heat and malaria of central Italy, taking a berlin drawn by mules, 
 for Florence. Passing over the level champaign country called "Campagna 
 Romana," where the deadly malaria holds its court, and a few cadaverous 
 shepherds and herdsmen, with their flocks and droves are the only inhabi- 
 tants to be met with, he reached, on the second day, among the mountains, 
 the famous Falls of Terni, the most beautiful in Europe. They comprise 
 three falls, one of which is 300, the other two over 400 feet in descent. 
 They were artifi ually formed, more than 2,000 years ago, by, cutting new 
 
574 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 channels for the Evelino. At mid-day, when the sun shines upon the spray, 
 rainbows of extraordinary brilliancy appear. The precipices forming the 
 cataract are of white marble ; hence it is called " the Marble Cascade." 
 
 A morning or two after, our traveler passed the celebrated battle-ground 
 near the lake Thrasymene, where Hannibal overthrew and almost entirely 
 annihilated the army of the Roman Consul Flaminius. The Romans were 
 artfully decoyed into a very deep and narrow valley, with only two small 
 outlets. The Carthaginians lay in ambush upon the bounding hills, and 
 when their enemies were fairly within the trap, a heavy force closed up the 
 outlets, and the concerted signal was given for the onset, when the Romans 
 found, too late, that they were surrounded. The day was propitious for the 
 Carthaginians, for while the hills were in sunshine, a dense fog filled the 
 valley, and a complete shower of weapons were hurled upon the astonished 
 and panic-stricken Romans from their unseen foes. Hannibal was now as- 
 cendant in Italy, and Rome might have been no more, had not the luxury 
 and licentiousness of the Roman Campagna been more fatal to his army than 
 Roman valor. And so it was decreed that Rome should be the eternal city, 
 and Carthage destroyed. 
 
 The next day Dr. Fisk was in Florence. The surrounding country, with 
 its green mountains and richly embowered vineyards, was in the full beauty 
 and fragrance of the Italian spring. Beyond Florence to Bologna, his route 
 was over the Apennines. The mountains bore but a few scanty trees and 
 shrubs; the snow banks scattered here and there gave them a chilling, desolate 
 aspect, where " winter still lingered in the lap of spring." 
 
 On the banks of the Reno, on the margin of the lovely valley of Lombard}', 
 at the foot of the Apennines, stands Bologna, a city older than Rome itself. 
 It contains some magnificent buildings, and, excepting Rome, the finest col- 
 lection of paintings of celebrated masters in the world. Here lived the fa- 
 mous painter Guido, and the scarcely less celebrated Dominichino, nicknamed 
 by his comrades '* the ox," from his slow, plodding disposition, but which, 
 eventually, enabled him to outstrip them all. 
 
 Our traveler's next stage beyond Bologna was to Ferrara, where lived the 
 poets Ariosto and Tasso. The former dwelt in a dwelling so humble and 
 unpretending that he was asked why he, "who had described such magnifi- 
 cent palaces, had made a house so small?" To this he replied, " words are 
 put together cheaper than stones." 
 
 Tasso was not born here, but was imprisoned here for years, a love-sick 
 poet. He fell in love with the charming Elenora, sister of the duke, his pa- 
 tron, and, in the ardor of his feelings, clasped her in his arms in the midst of 
 a crowded assembly. The proud, incensed duke declared him mad, and pe- 
 remptorily ordered him to be immured in a dreary dungeon, there to reflect 
 at leisure upon the arrogance of a poor poet in aspiring to the hand of royalty. 
 
 Both Bologna and Ferrara are within the dominions of the pope. Nowhere 
 did our traveler observe so much dissatisfaction and complaining of the go- 
 vernment as in these places. Whenever the pope was spoken of, it was gene- 
 rally with a shrug or sneer. Nothing but the presence of Austrian bayonet* 
 seemed to keep the people in subjection. 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 575 
 
 Ferrara is now a decayed city, but at one time was prominent among the 
 thirty little republics and baronies of Lombardy, when it was a seat of learn- 
 ing, and the residence of men of eminence. Bologna now contains a popula- 
 tion of seventy thousand. Its main streets are lined with arcades, and con- 
 tinued porticoes, to exclude the rays of the hot sun : their only disadvantage 
 is that they are narrow, and render the streets gloomy. 
 
 The second day after leaving Ferrara, our traveler came to the little vil- 
 lage of Arqua, among the Eugenean Hills, where stands the residence of 
 Petrarch, the " father of modern poetry." His house, furniture, study — the 
 very balcony from which he was accustomed to gaze upon the beauty of the 
 picturesque country around, remain just as he left them near five centuries 
 ago ; the walls are adorned with fresco paintings of the poet and his lovely 
 Laura. His tomb stands in front of an humble rustic church in the valley 
 just below. 
 
 Passing through Padua, where the renowned historian Livy was born, and 
 once the seat of a famous university, which, in its palmy days, numbered 
 eighteen thousand students, our traveler continued on to Venice, which he 
 reached in a gondola from the main land on the evening of the great festival 
 of St. Mark, the patron saint of the city. When the republic was in its glory 
 the day was celebrated with great pomp ; the Doge was then accustomed to 
 wed the Adriatic sea, going out for that purpose in a magnificent galley, and, 
 with various ceremonies, casting a ring into the sea, at the same time exclaim- 
 ing " We marry thee, oh, sea, in token of that true and perpetual dominion 
 which this republic has over thee !" 
 
 Venice is a historical curiosity. Some fourteen or fifteen centuries since 
 its site was a few islets rising from the waves of the Adriatic. Gradually the 
 nucleus of a city was formed, and it became the resort of the enterprising, 
 the friends of liberty, and those fond of adventure. By degrees it attained a 
 population of two hundred thousand, and for fourteen hundred years main- 
 tained its independence. 
 
 " In its early day the republic of Venice was noted for the moderation, chas- 
 tity, and virtue of its people. Riches, honor and ambition had no charms for 
 them — all lived upon a familiar equality. Property was common to all, and 
 devoted to the public benefit. Merit was the only distinction, and that alone 
 was esteemed true nobility which was acquired by virtue. Under such happy 
 auspices did this republic receive her first laws, ordinances and regulations ; 
 upon such a foundation she grew up to be a great maritime power : into her 
 treasury flowed the commerce and wealth of the East. She ruled the Medi- 
 terranean, took Constantinople, and set bounds to the Ottoman power at a 
 moment when it seemed ready to overwhelm all Europe." 
 
 The government gradually changed, and verged more and more toward 
 absolutism, until it became among the most despotic. At first the executive 
 power was vested in Tribunes, annually elected by the people. In 697 the 
 constitution was so changed as to place all the executive power in a single 
 man, entitled the Doge, who held his office for life. In 1172, the citizens 
 wisely substituted an annual legislature, elected from among themselves foi 
 the popular assemblies. In 1297, the constitution was sc altered that this 
 
576 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 legislature was formed solely from the aristocratic classes, which proved a 
 fatal change for the public welfare, for now was introduced a system of es- 
 pionage, which, in connection with official informers and secret courts, was 
 one of the most cruel and infamous engines of tyranny, perhaps, ever known. 
 'No man's life, liberty, or property, was secure. When any fell under sus- 
 picion, they were privately arrested, and in most cases were heard of no 
 more. Everything was conducted with the most profound secrecy ; the 
 accused victim knew not the secret tongue that betrayed him, or the secret 
 hand that stabbed him. Near the ducal palace, and separated only by a 
 canal, is a prison ; this prison is connected with the palace by a covered 
 bridge, called the Bridge of Sighs. This bridge has or had, for it is now 
 closed up, two passages ; one leading from the prison into the council cham- 
 bers, and another leading to other more private apartments and dungeons 
 under the palace itself. These dungeons were also accessible from the pa- 
 lace by a secret passage, unknown to the public until the arcana of these 
 apartments of death were laid open by the French. Indeed, it is said, that 
 the citizens generally did not know of the existence of these wretched cells. 
 Here the trembling victims were led to the torture and to death. " We 
 visited," says our traveler, "these gloomy prisons; they were dark as 
 night, and consisted each of one arch of heavy masonry, with a single hole 
 for purposes of respiration, etc. They had been generally lined with wood, 
 but Napoleon permitted the citizens to enter, and tear out all that was move- 
 able in these horrid cells. Here was a grated window, where the victims 
 used to be strangled. They were seated on a block within, and a rope, fas- 
 tened at one end, passed through the grate and round the neck, and out again 
 to a machine, by the turning of which the head and shoulders were drawn 
 up to the grate, and the poor wretch was strangled by the cord that passed 
 around his neck. 
 
 Another place was fitted up for decapitation, like the guillotine. The 
 heavy knife, fixed to a frame, was raised by a machine to the proper distance, 
 (the victim being fixed in the right position), when it fell and struck the head 
 from the body, and a trench in the stone, and holes made for the purpose, 
 conveyed the blood into the waters below. All this was done by night, and 
 with the utmost privacy; and here were the little arches in the wall, where 
 the executioner placed his lamp, while he performed his bloody work. The 
 whole was made so real, and brought so near, by the associations around us, 
 that the blood was almost chilled with horror, and we were glad to leave 
 those gloomy vaults where thousands had languished out years of solitary 
 confinement, or perished miserably by the hands of the executioner. 
 
 Such was the government of Venice, up to the time when the French revo- 
 lution, backed by the armies of the republic, came down upon Italy, like a 
 tremendous tornado, which hurled kings from their thrones — broke up the 
 foundations of nominal republics — unsettled the feudal aristocracies, that had 
 for fourteen centuries pressed upon the social system, and, what all must ap- 
 prove, unlocked the prison doors, and let the prisoners go free. This was lit- 
 erally true at Venice and elsewhere , we saw one cell from which a prisoner 
 was liberated, who had been confined fourteen years. Soon after his libera- 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. ' 57^ 
 
 lion he became blind, from tbe effect of tbe light upon eyes that had foi 
 fourteen years been accustomed only to the darkness of a dungeon." 
 
 Under the French, Venice became first a part of the Italian republic, and 
 later, of the kingdom of Italy. In the new distribution of Europe, made by 
 the allied powers in 1814, Venice, with the whole of Lombardy, fell to Aus- 
 tria, under whose inauspicious rule it is retrograding with accelerated rapidi- 
 ty. Trieste has become its rival, and the pet city of Austria, on the 
 Adriatic. 
 
 Venice, although reduced to less than half of its former population, is still 
 a magnificent city. The effect is greatly heightened by its situation on seventy 
 islets ; it rises from the waters, with its numberless domes, towers, spires, 
 and pinnacles, presenting the appearance of a vast city floating on the bosom 
 of the ocean. Such a thing as a horse or a carriage is unknown in this city: 
 gondolas serve for the one, and the muscular arms of oarsmen for the other. 
 One hundred and forty-nine canals winding through it, answer, in a great 
 measure, for streets, and up to the very threshold of the palaces, stand 
 posts to fasten the gondolas, as elsewhere they stand to hitch horses. 
 
 More than three hundred bridges of marble span the canals, over which 
 pass the streets, which are for foot-passengers only, and but a few feet wide; 
 they number 2,100, and everywhere intersect the city. The grand canal is a 
 prominent feature, it varys from ninety to 180 feet in width, and winds 
 through the city like an S. It has over it but a single bridge, that of the 
 grand Rialto. The row of magnificent but decaying palaces, which extend 
 along this canal, with their light arabesque balconies, and casements, their 
 marble porticoes, and peculiar chimneys, present one of the most Sriisperb and 
 singular scenes in the world. They stand in majesty of ruin, and exhibit the 
 most affecting combinations of past splendor and present decay. 
 
 The gondolas are peculiar to Venice. They are about forty feet in length, 
 and about four wide, with a cabin in the center for passengers. Formerly, 
 they were magnificently ornamented and painted, and whole fortunes often 
 spent upon them. They are propelled by one, and sometimes by two gon- 
 doliers, and with unerring skill and great rapidity. 
 
 In the era of the city's prosperity, the boatmen were in the habit of recit- 
 ing, with peculiar melody, the poems of Ariosto, Tasso, and other favorite 
 Italian authors, and the effect at a dntance, on a still evening, was indescri- 
 bably beautiful. Now 
 
 " In Venice, Tasso's echoes are no more, 
 And silent rows the songless gondolier ; 
 Her palaces are crumbling to the shore, 
 And music meets not always now the ear." 
 
 Within the city are several squares and market-places : of these, the Square 
 sf St. Mark is the most magnificent public place in Italy. Upon it is the 
 Church of St. Mark, the Imperial Palace, and the ancient palace of the Doge. 
 The Church of St. Mark is one of the most gorgeous edifices ever erected. 
 Greek, Saracenic, snd Gothic architecture, are here beautifully blended, and 
 glitter with gold, eems, and marble. The five domes which swell from its 
 37 
 
578 FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 
 
 roof, the crowded decorations which cover its porticoes, give it the appear* 
 ance of an Eastern pagoda. 
 
 The interior is enriched with spoils of Constantinople and the East, the 
 monuments of long ages of glory. On the portico facing the piazza, are four 
 bronze horses, the admiration of all strangers, for their beauty and antiquity. 
 Their origin is involved in doubt, but it is generally believed they were sculp- 
 tured by Lysippas the Greek, and that originally, they adorned the chariot 
 of the sun at Corinth. They have been great travelers. When the Romans 
 conquered Greece, they were carried to Rome ; again they were transferred 
 to Constantinople, when that city became the seat of the Roman empire ; 
 when the Venetians took Constantinople, they were carried trophies to Ve- 
 nice ; when Venice was conquered by the French in 1797, they were trans- 
 ported to Paris, and then restored to Venice by the allied powers, after the 
 fall of Napoleon. 
 
 The ancient palace of the Doge stands south of the Church of St. Mark. 
 It is a splendidly ornamented building, mainly in the Saracenic style, and con- 
 tains several hundred apartments. Its interior is adorned by many large and 
 elegant paintings, by Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and other eminent 
 artists of the Venetian school. An unusual number of them are historical 
 paintings, some of which, of enormous size, represent the great events of 
 Venetian history. The glory of Paradise, in the library room, is thirty feet 
 high, and seventy-four feet long, occupying all one side of the apartment. Il 
 took the artist seven years to paint it. 
 
 The fine arts in these countries have been, to a great extent, prostituted to 
 the gratification of the depraved tastes of mankind. Exquisite forms of 
 beauty illustrate the licentious loves of mythological characters. " The most 
 sublime efforts of these arts — the most exquisite productions of the bright ge- 
 niuses who have excelled in them, have sanctioned the exhibitions of the 
 strongest and most corrupting incentives to licentiousness and crime. In the 
 almost superhuman exhibitions of the art, we pardon the offense against 
 moral purity, and while we admire, the more triumphant the achievement, 
 the more insinuating the poison, which, unperceived, is drunk in and nour- 
 ished by the mixture of sweets that disguises it, until the moral sense is 
 blunted, and the heart is seduced by the fascinating spell." 
 
 In the Ducal palace, the stranger beholds with emotion, the halls where 
 the Senate and the dreadful Council of Ten formally sat, and the council- 
 chamber of the Inquisition. The small hole is yet there by the side of the 
 door, into which informers dropped their secret accusations. Woe unto the 
 man so unfortunate as to be thus reported to the secret tribunal of the 
 State. 
 
 Within the Square of St. Mark, are two lofty towers, one belongs to the 
 Church of St. Luke, and stands apart, as was anciently the custom ; the 
 other is the " tower of the clock," with the town clock and a bell. The hours 
 are struck with immense hammers, in the hands of a couple of large bronze 
 statues. Near the center of the tower is a noble gilt image of the Virgin 
 and the infant Jesus ; an open gallery is in front of these figures, and on each 
 side is a door. At a certain season of the year, for fourteen successive davs, 
 
FISK'S TRAVELS IN ITALY. 579 
 
 at the striking of each hour, one of the doors flies open, and out moves a pro- 
 cession of statues, directed by machinery. First appears a trumpeter, who, 
 as he comes before the Virgin, puts his trumpet to his mouth ; he is followed 
 by three other statues, dressed in the costume of eastern sages, one of them 
 a negro. They move around in front of the Virgin, bow to her, straighten 
 up and then disappear through the other door. This is designated as the 
 visit of the Magi. Every day throughout the year, when the bell rings for this 
 purpose, all the doves in Venice flock in myriads here to be fed, corn being 
 at that hour thrown regularly to them, from a high window. This custom 
 originated in the eccentric benevolence of a lady who bequeathed a perpetual 
 legacy for this object, and so habituated have the doves become to it, that as 
 the hour approaches, they gather in great numbers, on the house-tops, in the 
 vicinity, waiting for the sound of the bell that calls them to dinner. 
 
 Venice has fine churches, some of which are adorned with beautiful scrip- 
 tural paintings of the Venetian school. In some of these churches of the 
 city — which, indeed, is very common elsewhere in Italy — is a representation 
 of the Almighty, — " An attempt," says Dr. Fisk, " which I never witness with- 
 out a feeling of horror, like that which comes over me in hearing the name 
 of God blasphemed.' ' 
 
 The Venetians are devoted to their religion, and so with the Italians gene- 
 rally; with them reverence of the Madonna, or Virgin Mary, and of images of 
 her, is a striking feature. In various parts of Venice, along the sides of the streets, 
 little shrines are fitted up, " a kind of Madonna shops," where images of the 
 Virgin, relics, candles, beads, etc., are sold. In each of these is an image of 
 the Virgin, before which, night and day, a candle is ever burning, and all the 
 people, as they pass, lift their hats, cross themselves, utter a prayer, and 
 often bow in adoration. Not unfrequently, these shrines and images are 
 placed over the door of private residences, palaces, etc. From the great at- 
 tention given to the image of the Virgin, it seemed to our traveler, that it 
 was done as a kind of talisman, to ward off misfortune, and demoniacal in- 
 fluences. The Italian, on passing such, fears that if he neglects to pay his 
 adoration, bad luck will ensue. Our traveler saw a postilion, one moment 
 utter most horrid oaths, and the next, in passing the image of the Virgin, 
 to lift his hat and repeat a prayer. 
 
 Our traveler left Venice with the poetic feeling, with which he had ever re- 
 garded her, increased. His course was through Padua, Verona, and Milan, 
 noted for its cathedral, scarcely less celebrated than that of St. Peter itself, 
 of the purest marble, and adorned by more than 4,000 statues. From thence, 
 passing northwardly, by the beautiful lakes Como and Maggiore, he struck 
 the highlands, entered the Simplon pass, and was soon among the snow- clad 
 peaks of the Alps of Switzerland. 
 
A F E W DAYS 
 
 IS 
 
 POLAND 
 
 VILLAGE IN POLAND.* 
 
 Sketch of Poland — Characteristics of the Poles— Polish Jews — Passage of the Niemen by the 
 French— Invasion and Eetreat— Brutality of the Custom House Officers— Captain of the 
 Guard — his Accomplishments — Field of Grokow — Description of the Battle — Valor of the 
 Poles — Tyranny of the Grand Duke Constantine — the Polish Insurrection — Fall of War- 
 saw — Warsaw — Sobieski — Field of Viola — Oppressions of the Poles — Cracow — Tombs 
 of the Polish Monarchs — the Mound of Kosciusko. 
 
 Poland was once a large country, though now expunged from the map of 
 Europe ; but her people, in their character, language, and national feelings, 
 are still Poles. Its surface is one immense unvaried plain, which is drained 
 by large, long, and navigable rivers. 
 
 " The Poles belong to the Sclavonic race, which occupies nearly the whole 
 
 * The engraving represents the appearance of a Polish village on the Great Road leading 
 from Warsaw to St. Petersburg. The houses are constructed of wooden framework, the 
 spaces between filled with clay, and the roofs thatched. The nearest dwelling is that of 
 a lodge keeper, as is shown by the horns of an antelope over the door. On the roofs of 
 each house are forked sticks for the nests of storks — those birds of good omen. In thf 
 back ground is a windmill, an important stricture in a flat country like Poland. 
 580 
 
A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 581 
 
 extent of the vast plain of eastern Europe. They have emerged more than 
 the others from the generally rude and unimproved state which characterizes 
 this race. The feudal system, broken up in the greater part of western 
 Europe, exists here in almost undiminished operation. Society consists alto- 
 gether of two distinct and distant orders, the nobles and the peasantry, with- 
 out any intermediate degrees. The nobles, who are more numerous than in 
 any other country in Europe, have always, in the eye of the public, formed 
 the people of Poland. They are brave, prompt, frank, hospitable, and gay. 
 They have been called the French of the north, and, both from habits and 
 political connection, are attached to that nation. On the contrary, they re- 
 gard the Germans with mingled contempt and aversion, calling them Niemlc, 
 or dumb, in contrast with their own fluency and loquacity. Before their fall, 
 their neighbors called them " the proud Poles." They consider it the deep- 
 est disgrace to practice any profession, even law or medicine ; and, in case of 
 utmost necessity, even prefer the plow. The luxury of modern times, and the 
 variations in the price of grain, have very generally involved them in pecuniary 
 embarrassments, and placed many of their fortunes in the hands of Jews. 
 The Polish ladies are celebrated for their beauty, and are considered also 
 more intelligent and agreeable than those of Russia. The peasantry are not 
 absolute slaves, but they are raised little above that degrading condition ; an 
 estate being usually estimated by the number of its peasants. 
 
 The religion of Poland, contrary to that which prevails in the great body 
 of Sclavonic nations, is Roman Catholic. This is, perhaps, one main cause 
 of higher civilization ; for the Catholic religion is more favorable to intelli- 
 gence and improvement, than that of the Greek church. Preaching has 
 always formed an essential part of its worship, which gives it a decided supe- 
 riority over a system which excludes that mode -of instruction, and deak 
 merely in a round of childish ceremonies. 
 
 Knowledge has made greater progress in Poland than in any other of the 
 Sclavonic nations. In the brilliant eras of Casimir and Sobieski, she produced 
 men eminent in science, among whom we distinguish Copernicus, the disco- 
 verer of the true system of the world. A very poetical spirit animates the 
 Poles, and is diffused through all ranks. The peasant sings the beauties of 
 rural nature, while the noble bards celebrate the fortunes and glories of their 
 country. Poland, however, within the last two centuries, has not kept pace 
 with the rapid strides which other nations have taken in science and literature. 
 
 The amusements and mode of life among the higher ranks are chiefly 
 copied from the other nations of Europe, particularly the French. The Polish 
 dances, however, are strictly national, and very graceful. That, especially, 
 called the Polonaise, is marked by a slow majesty of movement, which has 
 been remarked as worthy of a nation who elected their kings. The Poles 
 have a singular manner of shaving the head, leaving only a tuft of hair on 
 the crown, and mustachios are generally worn." 
 
 The early annals of Poland are obscure and uninteresting. Just before 
 the discovery of America, Poland became one of the most powerful mon- 
 archies of Europe, and its martial character for a time was pre-eminent. The 
 exploits of Sigismund and Sobieski hold a conspicuous place in military his 
 
582 A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 
 
 tory ; and Poland, for two centuries, was the main bulwark of Christendom 
 against the alarming progress of Turkish invasion. 
 
 " The decline of PolancLniay be dated from the beginning of the last cen- 
 tury, and may be ascribed partly «to the improvement and augmented influ- 
 ence of Russia and Prussia, but in a far greater degree to the incurable 
 defects in the constitution of the state. The nobles, about 500,000 in number, 
 formed the nation ; the rest of the inhabitants being slaves, incapable of ac- 
 quiring any property in land, without any privileges, and sold, like cattle, 
 with the estates to which they belonged. After the extinction of the princes 
 of the Jagellon line, the power of the nobles became quite illimitable : each 
 of them might aspire to the throne, the sovereign being merely the first citi- 
 zen of the order. Among themselves they formed a perfect democracy, the 
 poorest being, in respect to privileges, quite on a level with the most opulent. 
 They were authorized to maintain troops and fortresses ; and were rather, 
 indeed, a sort of independent princes than the subject of a constitutional 
 monarchy. By a singular absurdity, any one noble might, by interposing his 
 veto, suspend the whole deliberations of the diet, and prevent the possibility 
 of their coming to any conclusion. Hence the country was the constant the- 
 ater of intestine commotion ; and foreign influence and corruption had un- 
 bounded scope, not only at the election of sovereigns, but in the whole pro- 
 ceedings of the diets. How much soever we may detest the means by which 
 jt was effected, no one can regret the abolition of a system of government 
 which combined all the mischiefs of anarchy without its stimulus to enterprise; 
 which made every landlord a petty despot, and every cultivator a slave. 
 
 The partition of Poland, justly regarded as one of the most iniquitous mea- 
 sures which have disgraced modern times, was begun in 1772, by Frederick 
 II, of Prussia, and the Empress Catharine II, chiefly, it is believed, at the 
 suggestion of the latter; while Austria was reluctantly dragged into the 
 league. At this time, however, each cut off only a corner, to round their 
 own territories, and Poland remained still extensive, and nearly entire. But 
 nothing was done to repair the defects in the constitution ; and the weakness 
 and disunion that prevailed left the country as open as ever to foreign aggres- 
 sion. In 1792, the three powers again joined, and made a fresh partition, 
 which reduced Poland to little more than half her original dimensions. She 
 now roused herself, and made a glorious effort for her deliverance. She saw, 
 and endeavored, though too late, to obviate those abuses in her system of gov- 
 ernment of which she had been the victim. But the partitioning powers had 
 gone too far to recede, and were not to be disappointed of their prey. The 
 Poles, under their hero Kosciusko, made the most gallant efforts to preserve 
 their independence and their newly acquired liberties. Unfortunately, how- 
 ever, their exertions were unavailing. They were overpowered by the ener- 
 gies of Suwarrow, and the valor and number of his troops. The Russian 
 general marched direct upon the capital, and, storming the fortress of Praga, 
 to which the patriots had retired as their last hold, extinguished, apparently 
 forever, the rights and glories of Poland. An entire and final partition was 
 then made, in which Russia had by far the most extensive portion ; Prussia, the 
 best situated and most commercial; Austria, on the whole, the most productive '' 
 
A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 58:) 
 
 The political existence of Poland as a great independent kingdom, was 
 finally extinguished, by this last partition. That part of Poland which was 
 not seized by the three great powers, became known as the Kingdom of 
 Poland, and though left nominally independent, was annexed to the Russian 
 crown. Its population was about four millions, and its area somewhat less 
 than that of our own Virginia. This relic of Poland enjoyed many peculiar 
 privileges. The Russian emperor was crowned at Warsaw as king of Poland; 
 the diets of the nobility were still held, in which freedom of speech was per- 
 mitted, and the viceroy was a native Pole. The present Czar, Nicholas, as 
 well as his predecessor, swore to maintain the independence and rights of 
 Poland. Since the unsuccessful revolution of 1830, Poland has been treated 
 as a conquered province, and its nationality entirely annihilated. She is now 
 but a Russian province, her situation very miserable, her inhabitants singularly 
 poor, and solely engaged in agriculture. 
 
 Late one dismal, snowy November afternoon, a few years since, an Ameri- 
 can gentleman, Mr. John S. Maxwell, at the sound of the horn, sprang into 
 a coach, in the imperial city of St. Petersburg, and on the morning of the 
 fourth day after, arrived at Kovno, a frontier town of Poland.* 
 
 The place was thronged by Jews, who comprise a quarter of the popula- 
 tion of Poland, and swarming about the villages and towns, monopolize 
 all the petty traffic. The Polish Jews are a degraded, despicable race, and 
 live most wretchedly. They are generally the keepers of the inns throughout 
 the country. " The inn is generally a miserable hovel, communicating with, 
 or a room partitioned off in one corner of a large shed, serving as a stable 
 and a yard for vehicles. The entrance is under a low porch of timber. The 
 floor is of dirt. The furniture consists of a long table, or two or three small 
 ones, and in one corner a bunch of straw, or sometimes a few raised boards 
 formed into a platform, with straw spread over it for beds. At one end a 
 narrow door leads into a sort of hole filled with dirty beds, old women, and 
 ragged, filthy children. Here, the Jew, assisted by a dirty-faced Rachel, 
 with a keen and anxious look, passes his whole day in serving out to thb 
 meanest customers beer, and hay and corn ; and in wrangling with, and ex- 
 torting money from, intoxicated peasants. Since the conquest of Poland, thb 
 Jews have suffered much from the caprice and petty tyranny of the Russian - 
 officials, and the seven decrees of the Emperor, by which their ancient privi 
 leges have been greatly curtailed." 
 
 Beyond Kovno, our traveler came to the Niemen. Here the troops of 
 Napoleon, near half a million in number, with martial music, and in all the 
 splendor of military array, crossed over the bridge into Russia, during three 
 beautiful days in June. In the succeeding December a miserable remnant of 
 this splendid army again appeared in Kovno, flying before the Cossacks. The 
 heroic Ney, " the bravest of the brave," with a few veterans, defended the 
 bridge, to allow the passage of the sick and wounded. Then, standing a 
 
 * This article is abridged from " The Czar, His Court and People," with interpolation* 
 from Stephens' Incidents of Travel. 
 
584 A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 
 
 few moments to contemplate the scene, he fired his last shot at the enemy, 
 then cast his musket into the river, and in a few moments more was lost tc 
 view in the distant forests. The Russian dead alone exceeded in number the 
 host of the invaders, and the plains through which they marched were 
 whitened by the skeletons of over six hundred thousand men who had 
 perished in battle, by cold, famine, and fatigue. To this day, the skeletons 
 of the French may be seen along the banks of the Niemen, where the storms 
 have blown away the loose sand, and exposed the blanched bones to the gaze 
 of the passing stranger. 
 
 On arriving on the Polish side of the river, Mr. Maxwell and his compa- 
 nions were examined by the officers of the customs, and a young Pole of 
 their number was subjected to most unprovoked insult. He was rigorously 
 searched, his pocket-book emptied, and the money examined, under the pre- 
 tense that it was counterfeit. He remonstrated with them, stating that he 
 had been a student at St. Petersburg for a long while, and had always be- 
 haved so well as never to be denounced as a suspicious person. Upon this, 
 the chief officer ordered him to hold his tongue, and in a tone of savage fero- 
 city exclaimed, " I do now denounce you as a most suspicious person, and I 
 place your name upon the list of those who are the most dangerous 
 subjects of his majesty." The poor fellow's heart was full, his only reply was 
 a tear which fell as he saw his name entered among those to be sacrificed at 
 the first suspicion of conspiracy in Poland. 
 
 Not any public house being here, they found it difficult to obtain a con- 
 veyance to a distant inn, when they entered the mail coach for Warsaw, 
 where they had among their fellow-passengers an old Pole who had served 
 under Napoleon, and a Russian Captain of the Imperial Guard. The latter 
 related some interesting anecdotes of the bravery of the Circassians, and «f 
 the beauty of the Georgian ladies, and in a secluded post-house, astonished 
 Mr. Maxwell by singing "Jim Crow," and going through the accompani- 
 ment, " wheel about, turn about, do just so !" This accomplishment he had 
 acquired during a sojourn in England, probably from witnessing the inimita- 
 ble performances of Dan Rice, the original Jim Crow himself. The Captain, 
 like the Russians generally, had, until a short time previously, entertained the 
 idea that the Americans were all negroes ! 
 
 Their route continued through dirty villages, inhabited by a miserable po- 
 pulation. At daybreak, on the second morning after, while the Russian 
 officer was asleep, the postilion played upon his horn a prohibited Polish 
 air. It roused the old Polish soldier, and he exchanged significant glances 
 with his young countryman, until the last strains had died away. They were 
 passing the bloody field of Grokow, where, in the last Polish attempt at revo- 
 lution, the. overwhelming forces of the Russians were defeated with great 
 slaughter. Stephens, the traveler, thus describes it : 
 
 " The battle of Grokow, the greatest in Europe since that of Waterloo, was 
 fought on the 25th of February, 1831, and the place where I stood com- 
 manded a view of the whole ground. The Russian army was under the 
 command of Diebitsch, and consisted of one hundred and forty-two thousand 
 infantry, forty thousand cavalry, and three hundred and twelve pieces of 
 
A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. <585 
 
 cannon. This enormous force was arranged in two lines of combatants, and 
 a third of reserve. Its left wing, between Wavre, and the marshes of the 
 Vistula, consisted of four divisions of infantry of forty-seven thousand men, 
 three of cavalry of ten thousand five hundred, and one hundred and eight 
 pieces of cannon ; the right consisted of three and a half divisions of infantry 
 of thirty-one thousand men, four divisions of cavalry of fifteen thousand 
 seven hundred and fifty men, and fifty-two pieces of cannon. Upon the bor- 
 ders of the great forest opposite the Forest of Elders, conspicuous from where 
 I stood, was placed the reserve, commanded by the Grand-duke Constantine. 
 Against this immense army the Poles opposed less than fifty thousand men 
 and one hundred pieces of cannon, under the command of General Skrzynecki. 
 
 At break of day the whole force of the Russian right wing, with a terrible 
 fire of fifty pieces of artillery and columns of infantry, charged the Polish left, 
 with the determination of carrying it by a single and overpowering effort. 
 The Poles, with six thousand five hundred men and twelve pieces of artillery, 
 not yielding a foot of ground, and knowing they could hope for no succour, 
 resisted this attack for several hours, until the Russians slackened their fire. 
 About ten o'clock the plain was suddenly covered with the Russian forces 
 issuing from the cover of the forest, seeming one undivided mass of troops. 
 
 Two hundred pieces of cannon, posted on a single line, commenced a fire 
 which made the earth tremble, and was more terrible than the oldest officers, 
 many of whom had fought at Marengo and Austerlitz, had ever beheld. The 
 Russians now made an attack upon the right wing ; but foiled in this as upon 
 the left, Diebitsch directed the strength of his army against the Forest of 
 Elders, hoping to divide the Poles into two parts. One hundred and twenty 
 pieces of cannon were brought to bear on this one point, and fifty battalions, 
 instantly pushed to the attack, kept up a scene of massacre unheard of in 
 the annals of war. A Polish officer, who was in the battle, told me that the 
 small streams which intersected the forest were so choked with dead that the 
 infantry marched directly over their bodies. The heroic Poles, with twelve 
 battalions, for four hours defended the forest against the tremendous attack. 
 Nine times they were driven out, and nine times, by a series of admirably 
 executed maneuvers, they repulsed the Russians with immense loss. Bat- 
 teries, now concentrated in one point, were in a moment hurried to another, 
 and the artillery advanced to the charge like cavalry, sometimes within a 
 hundred feet of the enemy's columns, and there opened a murderous fire of 
 grape. 
 
 At three o'clock, the generals, many of whom were wounded, and most of 
 whom had their horses shot under them, and fought on foot at the head of 
 their divisions, resolved upon a retrograde movement, so as to draw the Rus- 
 sians upon the open plain. Diebitsch, supposing it to be a flight, looked over 
 to the city and exclaimed, " Well, then, it appears that, after this bloody day, 
 I shall take tea in the Belvidere palace." The Russian troops debouched 
 from the forest. A cloud of Russian cavalry, with several regiments of heavy 
 cuirassiers at their head, advanced to the attack. Colonel Pientka, who had 
 kept up an unremitting fire from his battery for five hours, seated with per- 
 fect sangfroid upon a disabled piece of cannon, remained to give anothei 
 
586 A FEW DAYS 1N POLAND. 
 
 effective fire then left at full gallop a post which he had so long occupied 
 under the terrible fire of the enemy's artillery. This rapid movement of his 
 battery animated the Russian forces. The cavalry advanced on a trot upon 
 the line of a battery of rockets. A terrible discharge was poured into their 
 ranks, and the horses, galled to madness by the flakes of fire, became wholly 
 ungovernable, and broke away, spreading disorder in every direction; the 
 whole body swept helplessly along the fire of the Polish infantry, and in a 
 few minutes was so completely annihilated, that, of a regiment of cuirassiers 
 who bore inscribed on their helmets the " Invincibles," not a man escaped. 
 The wreck of the routed cavalry, pursued by the lancers, carried along in its 
 flight the columns of infantry ; a general retreat commenced, and the cry of 
 " Poland forever !" reached the walls of Warsaw to cheer the hearts of its 
 anxious inhabitants. So terrible was the fire of that day, that in the Polish 
 army there was not a single general or staff officer who had not his horse 
 killed or wounded under him ; two-thirds of the officers, and, perhaps, of the 
 soldiers, had their clothes pierced with balls, and more than a tenth part of 
 the army were wounded. Thirty thousand Russians and ten thousand Poles 
 were left on the field of battle ; rank upon rank lay prostrate on the earth, 
 and the forest of Elders was so strewed with bodies that it received from that 
 day the name of the " Forest of the Dead." The Czar heard with dismay, 
 and all Europe with astonishment, that the crosser of the Balkan had been 
 foiled under the walls of Warsaw. 
 
 All the day, my companion said, the cannonading was terrible. Crowds of 
 citizens, of both sexes and all ages, were assembled on the spot where we 
 stood, earnestly watching the progress of the battle, sharing in all its vicis- 
 situdes, in the highest state of excitement as the clearing up of the columns 
 of smoke showed when the Russians or the Poles had fled ; and he described 
 the entry of the remnant of the Polish army into Warsaw as sublime and ter- 
 rible. Their hair and faces were begrimed with powder and blood ; their 
 armor shattered and broken, and all, even dying men, were singing patriotic 
 songs ; and when the fourth regiment, among whom was a brother of my 
 companion, and who had particularly distinguished themselves in the battle, 
 crossed the bridge and filed slowly through the streets, their lances shivered 
 against the cuirasses of the guards, their helmets broken, their faces black 
 and spotted with blood, some erect, some tottering, and some barely able to 
 sustain themselves in the saddle, above the stern chorus of patriotic songs 
 rose the distracted cries of mothers, wives, daughters and lovers, seeking 
 among this broken band for forms dearer than life, many of whom were then 
 sleeping on the battle-field. My companion told me that he was then a lad 
 of seventeen, and had begged with tears to be allowed to accompany his bro- 
 ther, but his widowed mother extorted from him a promise that he would not 
 attempt it. All day he had stood with his mother on the very spot where we 
 did, his hand in hers, which she grasped convulsively, as every peal of can- 
 non seemed the knell of her son ; and when the lancers passed, she sprang 
 from his side as she recognized in the drooping figure of an officer, with his 
 spear broken in his hand, the figure of her gallant boy. He was then reeling 
 in his saddle, his eye was glazed and vacant, and he died that night in their arms 
 
A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 537 
 
 The tyranny of the Grand-duke Constantine, the imperial viceroy, added to 
 the hatred of the Russians, which is the birthright of every Pole, induced the 
 unhappy revolution of 1830. Although, on the death of Alexander, Constan- 
 tine waived in favor of his brother Nicholas his claim to the throne of Russia, 
 his rule in Poland shows it was not from any aversion to the exercise of 
 power. 
 
 When Constantine was appointed its commander-in-chief the Polish army 
 ranked with the bravest in Europe. The Polish legions under Dombrowski 
 and Poniatowski had kept alive the recollections of the military glory of their 
 fallen nation. Almost annihilated by the bloody battles in Italy, where they 
 met their old enemies under Suwarrow, the butcher of Praga, the proud rem- 
 nants reorganized, and formed the fifth corps of the " grand armee," distin- 
 guished themselves at Smolensk, Borodino, Kalouga, and the passage of the 
 Berezina, took the field with the wreck of the army in Saxony, fought at 
 Dresden and Leipsic ; and when Napoleon told them, brave as they were, 
 that they were free to go home if they pleased, they scorned to desert him in 
 his waning fortunes, and accompanied him to Paris. Alexander promised 
 an amnesty, and they marched with him to Warsaw. Within the first six 
 months many officers of this army had been grossly insulted ; an eyewitness 
 told me that he had seen, on the great square of Warsaw, the high sheriff* tear 
 off the epaulettes from the shoulders of an officer, and, in the presence of the 
 whole troops, strike him on the cheek with his hand. 
 
 It would perhaps be unjust to enumerate, as I heard them, the many 
 causes of oppression that roused to revolt the slumbering spirit of the Poles; 
 in the midst of which the French revolution threw all Poland into commo- 
 tion. The three days of July were hailed with rapture by every patriotic 
 heart ; the new revolutionary movements in Belgium cheered them on ; and 
 eighty young men, torn from the altars when praying for the souls of their mur- 
 dered countrymen, on the anniversary of the butchery at Praga, thrilled every 
 heart, and hurried the hour of retribution. The enthusiasm of youth struck 
 the first blow. A band of ardent young men of the first families, attended the 
 meetings of secret patriotic associations ; and six of them, belonging to the 
 military school, suspecting they were betrayed, early in the evening went to 
 their barracks, and proposed to their comrades a plan for liberating their 
 country. The whole corps, not excepting one sick in bed, amounting in all 
 to about a hundred and fifty, took up arms, and under a lieutenant of nine- 
 teen attacked the palace of Constantine, and almost secured his person. The 
 grand-duke was then asleep on a couch in a room opening upon a corridor 
 of the Belvidere Palace, and roused by a faithful valet, had barely time to 
 throw a robe over him and fly. The insurgents, with cries of vengeance, 
 rushed into the interior of the palace, driving before them the chief of the city 
 police, and the aid-de-camp of the grand-duke. The latter had the presence 
 of mind to close the door of the grand-duke's apartment before he was pierced 
 through with a dozen bayonets. The wife of the grand-duke, the beautiful 
 and interesting princess for whom he had sacrificed a crown, hearing the 
 struggle, was found on her knees offering up prayers to Hoaven for the safety 
 of her husband. Constantine escaped by a back window ; and the young 
 
58 g A FEW DAYS IN" POLAND. 
 
 soldiers, foiled in their attempt, marched into the city, and passing the bar« 
 racks of the Russian guards, daringly fired a volley to give notice of theii 
 coming. Entering the city, they broke open the prisons, and liberating the 
 state prisoners, burst into the theaters, crying out, " Women, home ! men, to 
 arms !" forced the arsenal, and in two hours, 40,000 men were under arms. 
 Very soon the fourth Polish regiment joined them ; and before midnight the 
 remainder of the Polish troops in Warsaw, declaring that their children were 
 too deeply implicated to be abandoned, espoused the popular cause. Some 
 excesses were committed ; and General Stanislaus Potocki, distinguished in 
 the revolution of Kosciusko, for hesitating, was killed, exclaiming with his 
 last breath that it was dreadful to die by the hands of his countrymen. 
 
 Chlopicki, the comrade of Kosciusko, was proclaimed dictator by an im- 
 mense multitude in the Champ de Mars. For some time the inhabitants of 
 Warsaw were in a delirium ; the members of the patriotic association, and 
 citizens of all classes, assembled every day, carrying arms, and with glasses 
 in their hands, in the saloon of the theater, and at a celebrated coffee-house, 
 discussing politics and singing patriotic songs. In the theaters, the least 
 allusion brought down thanders of applause, and at the end of the piece 
 heralds appeared on the stage waving the banners of the dismembered 
 provinces. In the pit they sang in chorus national hymns ; the boxes 
 answered them ; and sometimes the spectators finished by scaling the stage, 
 and dancing the Mazurka and the Cracoviak. 
 
 The fatal issue of this revolution is well known. The Polish nation exerted 
 and exhausted its utmost strength, and the whole force of the colossal empire 
 was brought against it, and in spite of the prodigies of valor, crushed it. 
 The moment, the only moment, when gallant, chivalric, and heroic Poland 
 could have been saved and restored to its rank among nations, was suffered 
 to pass by, and no one came to her aid. The minister of France threw out 
 the bold boast that 100,000 men stood ready to march to her assistance ; but 
 France and all Europe looked on and saw her fall. Her expiring diet ordered 
 a levy en mass, and made a last appeal " In the name of God; in the name of 
 liberty; in the name of kings and heroes who have fought for religion and huma- 
 nity; in the name of future generations; in the name of justice and the deliver- 
 ance of Europe;" but her dying appeal was unheard. Her last battle was 
 under the walls of Warsaw ; and then she would not have fallen, but even in 
 Poland there were traitors. The governor of Warsaw blasted the laurels won 
 in the early battles of the revolution by the blackest treason. He ordered 
 General Romarino to withdraw 8,000 soldiers, and chase the Russians beyond 
 the frontier at Brecz. While he was gone, the Russians, pressed Warsaw ; he 
 could have returned in time to save it, but was stopped with directions not to 
 advance until further orders. In the meantime Warsaw fell, with the curse 
 of every Pole upon the head of its governor. The traitor now lives inglori- 
 ously in Russia, disgraced and despised, while the young lieutenant is in 
 unhappy but not unhonored exile in Siberia." 
 
 Since the sad termination of this heroic struggle, the Poles have been sub- 
 jected to the most infamous treatment from the Russian government, her 
 soldiery and police. Even the infliction of the knout upon women, exposed 
 
A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 589 
 
 naked to the waist, is among the barbarities of every day occurrence. In a 
 few hours after passing the field of Grokow, our traveler entered Warsaw. 
 The general appearance of the city is imposing ; it stands on a hill of con- 
 siderable elevation, on the left bank of the Vistula. The houses are either 
 of stone or brick stuccoed. The churches, palaces and public buildings 
 are showy, some of them magnificent. Its present population is about 
 150,000. 
 
 In the vicinity of Warsaw, is the chateau of Villanow, the favorite resi 
 dence of Sobieski. It was erected about the year 1690, by Turks whom he 
 had taken prisoners in battle. The reign of Sobieski is the most splendid in 
 the history of Poland. 
 
 About five miles from Warsaw is the field of Viola, celebrated as the place 
 of election of the Kings of Poland. It was formerly surrounded by a ditch 
 with three gates. In the center were two large temporary buildings, which 
 were occupied on these occasions. The nobles numbering at times 200,000, 
 encamped on the plain with their principal officers in front on horseback. 
 
 "The primate, having declared the names of the candidates, kneeled down 
 and chanted a hymn ; and then, mounting on horseback, went round the 
 plain and collected the votes, the nobles not voting individually, but each 
 palatinate in a body. It was necessary that the election should be unani- 
 mous, and a single nobleman peremptorily stopped the election of Ladislaus 
 VII. Being asked what objection he had to him, he answered, V None at 
 all ; but I will not suffer him to be king." After being by some means 
 brought over, he g ; ave the king as the reason for his opposition, " I had a 
 mind to see whether our liberty was still in being or not. I am satisfied that 
 it is, and your majesty shall not have a better subject than myself." If the 
 palatinates agreed, the primate asked again, and yet a third time, if all were 
 satisfied ; and after a general approbation, three times proclaimed the king ; 
 and the grand-marshal of the crown repeated the proclamation three times 
 at the gates of the camp. It was the exercise of this high privilege of 
 electing their own king which created and sustained the lofty bearing of the 
 polish nobles, inducing the proud boast which, in a moment of extremity, an 
 intrepid band made to their king, "What hast thou to fear with 2000 
 lances? If the sky should fall, we would keep it up with their points." 
 But, unhappily, although the exercise of this privilege was confined only 
 to the nobles, the election of a king often exhibited a worse picture than all 
 the evils of universal suffrage with us. The throne was open to the whole 
 world ; the nobles were split into contending factions ; foreign gold found its 
 way among them ; and sometimes they deliberated under the bayonets of 
 foreign troops. Warsaw and its environs were a scene of violence and con- 
 fusion, and sometimes the field of Viola was stained with blood. Still no 
 man can ride over that plain without recurring to the glorious hour when 
 Sobieski, covered with laurels won in fighting the battles of his country, 
 amid the roar of cannon, and the loud acclamations of the senate, the nobles, 
 and the army, was hailed the chosen king of a free people." 
 
 Poland is now reaping the penalty of a long career of disorder, and per- 
 haps is lost forever. Springing from the same stock as the Russians, theii 
 
590 A FEW DAYS IN POLAND. 
 
 long wars for cen curies, were marked with that vindictiveness that always 
 characterizes wars between kindred races. Now crushed under the foot of 
 iier old enemy, her only alternative seems to be complete amalgamation, or 
 perpetual war. In secret her population lament their woes. The Polish 
 youth, ere they open into manhood are continually detected in conspiracy, or 
 continually denounced by secret spies, and are sent in numbers to the mines, 
 or forced into the army. Such is the fate of Poland. 
 
 From Warsaw, Mr. Maxwell proceeded to Cracow, distant about one 
 hundred miles, and famous as being the ancient capital, where, " in sullen 
 and decayed magnificence, stands the royal residence of the old kings of 
 Poland." For a thousand years, this was the cradle, the stronghold, and 
 the cemetery of the old monarchs. Its narrow, winding streets, the quaint 
 architecture of its churches and houses, evince that it is a town of the 
 middle ages, and everything around proclaims the former greatness, and the 
 present misery of Poland. 
 
 Mr. Maxwell visited the old palace, and passed into its cathedral where 
 the sacristan pointed to the burial places of the chieftains of the more 
 glorious days of Poland. Here, is the stage of solid brass, where the Polish 
 kings were crowned — the shrine of the good Stanislaus, the Patron saint of 
 Poland — the tomb of Casimir the Great — the sarcophagus of Sobieski, the 
 savior of Christendom from the Turks — the tomb of the gallant Poniatowsky, 
 the nephew of the last king of Poland, and who at the head of his heroic 
 Poles, perished in the fatal battle of Leipsic, and lastly the tomb of Kosci- 
 usko, the friend of Washington. 
 
 The morning previous to his departure from Cracow, Mr. Maxwell visited 
 the mound of Kosciusko, standing upon a hill a few miles distant from the 
 town. The citizens were employed four years in its construction. From its 
 summit is seen the whole surrounding country ; the spires of Cracow ; the 
 towers of the old palace rising upon the rock of Wawell like the castle over 
 Edinburgh ; the Vistula winding away among the valleys, and the distant 
 ranges of the Carpathians presenting a most enchanting prospect. " The 
 eye wanders," says Mr. Maxwell, " through scenes which have witnessed 
 many of the romantic and mysterious events connected with the rise and 
 progress, the decline and fall, of Poland. Could there have been a better 
 monument to her last hero, than this composed of earth, brought from all 
 the battlefields, and erected by the citizens, in the midst of so many great 
 and glorious associations ? Of all the places we had visited in our wander- 
 ings, we had not borne away a single souvenir, but from among the wild grass 
 that grew luxuriantly upon the mound of Kosciusko, we plucked a little 
 flower, the last of autumn, to take with us as a memento of the patriot of 
 Poland." 
 
LYNCH'S EXPEDITION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DEAD SEA 
 
 DESCENDING THE JORDAN. 
 
 Curiosity respecting the Dead Sea— Departure of the Expedition— St. Jean D' Acre— The 
 Escort— Overland March— Tiberias— Sea 6f Galilee— Scriptural Legends— Birthplace of 
 Mary Magdalene— Condition of the Jews in Palestine— Description of the Jordan— Descent 
 of the Eiver— the Fellahin— the Pilgrims— the Dead Sea— Salt Mountain of Sodom— Cliffs 
 of Moab— Survey of the Dead Sea— its Awful Desolation— the Sirocco— Sufferings of the 
 Party— Sad Fate of Previous Explorers— Confirmation of the Scriptural Account of the 
 Destruction of the Cities of the Plain — Eeturn of the Expedition. 
 
 For thousands of years, sacred and profane history have preserved the 
 traditions connected with the destruction of the Cities of the Plain, which in 
 all their beauty and loveliness once occupied the spot, where now, in gloom 
 and desolation, roll the waters of the Dead Sea. 
 
 The peculiar character and position of this singular body of water, have 
 attracted the attention, and excited the curiosity of learned men of both an- 
 cient and modern times, and repeated efforts have been made to ascertain in 
 what manner the judgment of the Almighty was executed upon the devoted 
 cities. By the examinations of successive travelers, much light has been 
 thrown upon the subject ; but no accurate survey of the lake was ever made 
 until the successful attempt of Lieut. Lynch, of the U. S. Navy 
 
 591 
 
592 LYNOH'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 In the spring of 1847, the project of conducting an expedition to survey 
 the Dead Sea, and explore the river Jordan, suggested itself to Lieut. Lynch. 
 He thereupon offered his services to government, and received orders to make 
 the necessary preparations. On the 26th of November following, all things 
 being in readiness, the U. S. storeship Supply, with the members of the ex- 
 pedition, sailed from New York, and on the 16th of February arrived at 
 Smyrna, from which point, Lieut. Lynch proceeded in person to Constanti- 
 nople, to obtain permission of the Sultan to pass through his dominions in 
 Syria to the Dead Sea. This was cheerfully given, and having rejoined his 
 party, the Supply weighed anchor, bound for St. Jean D'Acre, where they 
 were to disembark. This, now an insignificant place, is famous in the annals 
 of the crusades, as the scene of the chivalrous exploits of the Lion-Hearted 
 Richard, and his gallant knights. 
 
 About the last of March, the Supply anchored before the walled village of 
 Haifa, behind which rises Mt. Carmel, to the height of 1,800 feet; on the op- 
 posite side of the bay, sixteen miles distant, stands St. Jean D'Acre. Far to 
 the east, stretches the plain of Jezrael, the ancient Megiddo, so often dyed 
 with the blood of the warring hosts, who have here contended for victory ; 
 while to the south, lies the lovely valley of Sharon, inclosed between the 
 hills of Samaria and Galilee. 
 
 " The first thing in Syria," says Lieut. Lynch, " which strikes a visitor 
 from the western world, is the absence of forest-trees. Except the orchards, 
 the mountains and- the plains are unrelieved surfaces of dull brown and 
 green. No towering oaks, no symmetrical poplars, relieve the monotony of 
 the scene. The sun must surely be the monarch of this clime, for outside 
 the flat, mud-roofed, cube-like houses, there is no shelter from his fiery 
 beams. " 
 
 At Haifa, the exploring party, consisting of Lieuts. Lynch and Dale, 
 Passed Midshipman Aulick, and eleven others, petty officers and seamen, 
 landed, and encamped with their baggage and equipment ; their vessel then 
 sailed for Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, the seaport of Jerusalem. At Acre, they 
 procured as an escort, fifteen Arabian Bedouins, well armed and headed by 
 the Sheriff Hazza, and Akll Aga el Hasse, a powerful border sheikh. The 
 sheriff was a fine old Arab nobleman, small, but wiry and active, with a dark 
 complexion, and intelligent countenance. Akll was a noble specimen of the 
 Arabian Bedouin, with a form indicating great elegance, combined with 
 strength. The feminine appearance of his soft olive complexion, was re- 
 lieved by a dark flashing eye, and a swelling nostril, indicating the soul of a 
 warrior. Attired in a scarlet cloth pelisse, richly embroidered with gold — the 
 masses of his glossy black hair half concealed beneath his crimson tarbush, 
 and the long ataghan, ready to be seized at a moment's warning — he pre- 
 sented a splendid appearance. 
 
 They commenced their overland march on the morning of the 4th of 
 April, to the Lake of Tiberias, about thirty-five miles distant. They had 
 brought with them two metallic boats, one of copper, the other of galvanized 
 iron, together with a couple of trucks or drays, and sets of harness. Each 
 of the trucks was drawn by a )air of camels ; the baggage was also carried 
 
LYNCH'S EXPEDITION. 593 
 
 by camels, while the officers and men were mounted on fine Arabian horses. 
 Having crossed the beautiful plain of Acre, adorned with flowers of brilliant 
 hues, they began to ascend the green hills beyond, dotted with clumps of figs 
 and apricots, and groves of olives and pomegranates, amidst whose branches 
 innumerable birds caroled forth in sweetest song. 
 
 At the little village of Abelin, they were joined by their Arabian escort, 
 all armed with spears eighteen feet long, some of them tufted with beautiful 
 ostrich feathers. When in motion, the united party, numbering thirty-one, 
 presented an imposing appearance. The Americans, on their fine spirited 
 horses — the long line of camels — the carriages and boats, each of which bore 
 its tiny flag of mingled stripes and stars — the Arabs on their caracoling studs, 
 leading the head of the column, or darting over the distant hills, in front, in 
 flank, or in rear, as videttes — and the glistening carabines, and flashing spears 
 — all combined to produce a most attractive sight ; which excited the curi- 
 osity, and called forth the wondering gaze of the few Fellahin that were seen 
 along the line of the route. Occasionally, an Arab village was passed, when 
 many a dark eye scanned the equipments of the cavalcade, and watched its 
 movements as it wound its way along the valleys and plains, through the 
 rocky defiles, and over the hilly slopes. 
 
 Usually, the villages of the Arabian peasantry (Fellahin), as well as of 
 the more aristocratic class, to which Akll and his followers belonged, — who 
 think it beneath their dignity to cultivate the soil, and spend most of their 
 time upon horseback, and live mainly by plunder and extortion — are pictur- 
 esquely situated, near the summit of some lofty hill, in a position not easily 
 accessible to an enemy. Most of the houses are of but one story, and all of 
 a cubical shape, built of uncemented stones, with flat mud roofs, sometimes 
 surrounded with balustrades two or three feet high, of twigs, matted closely 
 together. Inside they are, most commonly, quite mean and filthy, the floors 
 of mud, and the rafters begrimed with smoke and dirt. A pot of coffee is 
 generally simmering amidst the embers in the center of the floor, but its de- 
 licious aroma is entirely lost in the fumes of tobacco proceeding from the 
 chibouque or narghill, or the odor of burning camel's dung, which constitutes 
 the only fuel used by the Arab, that impregnates everything, and taints the 
 atmosphere for miles around. Each house has a dome-roofed oven near it, 
 made of mud, in which the family bake their bread. Hovels for sheltering 
 the favorite horse or horses of the Arabs are occasionally seen ; but the same 
 roof more usually covers alike master and steed. 
 
 Soon after leaving Abelin the expediton crossed the ridge which bounds ihe 
 plain, sloping down to the Syrian coast, and entered and encamped for the 
 night in a grassy ravine. The next day, the 5th instant, they crossed several 
 ridges, in places so abrupt they were obliged to unharness their camels from 
 the drays, and let the latter down by ropes. The day succeeding their route 
 was through a rich undulating country, partially cultivated in uninclosed 
 fields of beans, wheat, barley, mullet, with patches of watermelons pumpkins 
 and cucumbers. Here and there were interspersed beautiful groves in full 
 blossom. In the course of the afternoon glimpses of the sea of Galilee were 
 obtained, and the Bashan mountains, stretching like a blue wall across its 
 38 
 
594 LUNCH'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 distant shore. Descending a number of difficult precipitous valleys, thej 
 came out upon the Jerusalem and Damascus road, and in a few hours more 
 were in the ancient city of Tiberias. 
 
 The sea of Galilee, or lake of Genesareth, is about sixteen miles long, and 
 five wide, and is but an expansion of the river Jordan. On the east it 
 is bounded by abrupt mountains, on the west the land slopes gradually up- 
 ward. Its aspect is usually cheerless and monotonous, and a sail or boat is 
 seldom or never seen to dot its surface. Occasionally squalls issue from the 
 ravines, like that which was here instantly hushed by the simple command of 
 our Savior " Peace — be still !" 
 
 " In itself the sea of Galilee is by no means a striking feature in the 
 scenery of Palestine ; but there is scarce a mountain or a rock, a town or a 
 ruin, a tree or a shrub along its shores, but is vocal with its scriptural legend. 
 In the city of Capernaum dwelt Jesus himself. On its verdant banks, fringed 
 with the scarlet anemone, the yellow marigold, and the pink oleander, he 
 called his disciples, and made them " fishers of men." Here is the Mount of 
 Beatitudes, upon whose summit he delivered that noble sermon, which con- 
 tains the whole duty of man. Here he performed the miracle of the loaves 
 and fishes — here he healed the sick and cleansed the diseased — and here he 
 preached the gospel of mercy and love. In yonder field, now covered with 
 the growing corn, the famishing disciples fed themselves on the sabbath day; 
 and on that tufted hillock stood their master after his glorious triumph over 
 death and the grave, when he bade them cast their net and they should 
 find." 
 
 A little north of Tiberias is the miserable village of Mejdel, the birthplace 
 of Mary Magdalene, which, with Tiberias, is the only place on the lake of 
 interest, not in ruins. Tiberias is surrounded by a wall, and contains about 
 2,000 inhabitants, about half of whom are Mussulmen and the remainder 
 Jews. It is a dilapidated, filthy place, and vermin are so abundant that it 
 has been called "the paradise of fleas." 
 
 The condition of the Jews in Tiberias is less miserable than in many other 
 towns of Palestine, although they are occasionally subjected to severe indig- 
 nities from the Turkish yoke. It is held in peculiar veneration by the Jews, 
 being one of their four holy cities. The advent of their expected Messiah, it 
 is believed by them, is to take place on the shores of the lake ; and, according 
 to their traditions, Jacob was a resident of Tiberias. It was anciently a seat 
 of Jewish literature, and now has a sanhedrim of seventy rabbis, who are 
 constantly studying the talmud. They are the referees to whom are sub- 
 mitted controverted points of discipline by their brethren in all parts of 
 the globe ; they are mainly supported by contributions of European Jews. 
 
 The Jordan has its source at the base of a rock at the foot of Mount Her- 
 mon, and, after pursuing a crooked and rapid course of over forty miles, ex- 
 pands into the sea of Galilee. Its valley in all this distance is covered with 
 luxuriant vegetation ; over its bottom lands spread mulberry orchards and 
 olive groves ; and on the slopes are fields of barley, wheat, millet, melon- 
 patches, with beds of wild flowers of fragrant odor and brilliant hues. After 
 leaving the sea of Galilee it turns abruptly to the right, and then bending tc 
 
LYNCH'S EXPEDITION". 595 
 
 the south, enters the narrow valley of El Ghor. Thence it pursues a very 
 crooked, winding course to the Dead Sea, which is distant in a right line 
 from the sea of Galilee about sixty miles, but, by the windings of the Jordan, 
 nearly two hundred. The average width of the Ghor valley is about three 
 quarters of a mile : it is bounded on the east by barren mountains, and on 
 the opposite side by a series of hills, worn by the rains into tent-like shapes, 
 and truncated cones. From its fountain head to its entrance into the Dead 
 Sea the river descends 1,300 feet, and its cascades and rapids are so nume- 
 rous as to seriously obstruct navigation. For the last twenty miles its whole 
 bed seems to have been sunk by some convulsion of nature, and evidences of 
 volcanic formation abound. 
 
 The boats having been launched into the sea of Galilee, on the 10th in- 
 stant the expedition left Tiberias, part going by land with the loaded camels, 
 on the right bank of the stream ; while Lieutenant Lynch, with the others, 
 went in the boats. They had purchased a light boat at Tiberias, the only 
 one on the sea of Galilee, but it was soon dashed to pieces among the cas- 
 cades, some of which were fifteen feet fall. They were frequently obliged, 
 while descending them, to lower their boats by ropes, at others, by skillful 
 management of the helm, they went over in safety, and sometimes all sprang 
 over into the water, except one or two, and clinging to its sides, steadied its 
 descent through the rapids. 
 
 Near the sea of Galilee, the high plains, elevated about five hundred feet 
 on each side of the river valley, abound in fine fields of grain ; further south- 
 ward they are wild and barren. The valley itself is marked by a line of the 
 richest verdure, where the shrubbery is so dense as to occasionally completely 
 screen the stream itself. Innumerable flowers blossom on. its borders among 
 mingled tufts o*f grass, cane and reeds, and the groves echo with the soft 
 notes of the bulbul. 
 
 In the vicinity of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, wandering tribes of Arabs 
 render the traveling unsafe, except to those protected by a strong escort, or 
 who previously gained the favor of the sheikhs of the different tribes. 
 
 The Fellahtn, or peasantry of the country, are the slaves of the Arabs and 
 Turks, and are a miserable race, dwelling in filthy cabins, and living princi- 
 pally on boiled rice, which they scoop up and eat from the hollow of joined 
 hands. 
 
 Late in the evening of the 17th of April, they arrived at the Pilgrim's Ford, 
 within a few miles of the Dead Sea, and within sight of the gloomy mountains 
 on its borders. The morrow was the anniversary of the baptism of our Sa- 
 vior. "At three o'clock in the morning," says Lieutenant Lynch, " we 
 were aroused by the intelligence that the pilgrims were coming. Rising in 
 haste, we beheld thousands of torch-lights, with a dark mass beneath, moving 
 rapidly over the hills. Striking our tents with precipitation, we hurriedly 
 removed them and all our effects, a short distance to the left. We had 
 scarce finished, when they were upon us. Men, women, and children, 
 mounted upon camels, horses, mules, and donkeys, rushed impetuously 
 toward the bank. They presented the appearance of fugitives from a routed 
 army. Our Arab friends here stood us in good stead, sticking their tufted 
 
596 LYNCH'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 spears before our tents, they mounted their steeds, and formed a military 
 cordon round us. But for them we should have been run down, and most 
 of our effects trampled upon, scattered and lost. Strange that we should 
 have been shielded from a Christian throng by wild children of the desert — 
 Moslems in name, but pagans in reality. Nothing but the spears and 
 swarthy faces of the Arabs saved us. I had, in the meantime, sent the 
 boats to the opposite shore, a little below the bathing-place, as well to be out 
 of the way as to be in readiness to render assistance, should any of the crowd 
 be swept down by the current, and in danger of drowning. While the boats 
 were taking their position, one of the earlier bathers cried out that it was a 
 sacred place ; but when the purpose was explained to him, he warmly 
 thanked us. Moored to the opposite shore, with their crews in them, they 
 presented an unusual spectacle. 
 
 " The party which had disturbed us was the advanced guard of the great 
 body of the pilgrims. At five, just at the dawn of day, the last made its ap- 
 pearance, coming over the crest of a high ridge, in one tumultuous and eagei 
 throng. In all the wild haste of a disorderly route, Copts and Russians 
 Poles and Armenians, Greeks and Syrians, from all parts of Asia, from 
 Europe, from Africa, and fiom far distant America, on they came ; men, wo- 
 men, and children, of every age and hue, and in every variety of costume; 
 talking, screaming, shouting, in almost every known language under the sun, 
 Mounted as variously as those who had preceded them, many of the women 
 and children were suspended in baskets, or confined in cages ; and with their 
 eyes strained toward the river, heedless of all intervening obstacles, they 
 hurried eagerly forward, and dismounting in haste, and disrobing with pre- 
 cipitation, rushed down the bank and threw themselves into the stream. 
 
 " They seemed to be absorbed by one impulsive feeling*, and perfectly 
 regardless of the observation of others, each plunged himself or was dipped 
 by another, three times below the surface in honor of the Trinity ; and then 
 filled a bottle, or some other utensil from the river. The bathing-dress of 
 many of the pilgrims, was a white gown with a black cross upon it. Most 
 of them, as soon as they were dressed, cut branches of willow, and bore 
 them away as memorials of their visit. In an houi they began to disappear; 
 and in less than three hours the trodden surface of the lately crowded bank 
 reflected no human shadow. The pageant disappeared as rapidly as it had 
 approached, and left to us once more the silence and solitude of the wilder- 
 ness. It was like a dream, an immense crowd of human beings, said to be 
 8000, but I thought not so many, had passed and repassed before our tents, 
 and left not a vestige behind them." 
 
 Toward the close of the same day, they reached the dreary waste of 
 waters that form the Dead Sea, and at night the party united and encamped 
 on its western shore, where they established their dep6t. On the 20th, they 
 began their task of surveying and exploring the lake ; and making sound- 
 ings from shore to shore at half-mile distances, they found, as they proceeded 
 toward the southern end, that the water grew shoaler and shoaler, until near 
 the termination their boats grounded in six inches of water, and they could 
 go no farther in that direction. 
 
LYNCH'S EXPEDITION. 597 
 
 The heat was intense, the rays of the sun pouring down into this narrow 
 chasm and reflected from the mountain sides was almost overpowering. A 
 coating of greasy salt completely covered the party, and the spray dashing 
 over them formed an incrustation that caused their hands and faces, eyes, 
 lips and nostrils, to smart most severely. About two miles from the southern 
 end of the lake, at the base of the salt mountain of Sodom, they discovered a 
 pillar of salt, about forty feet in height, supposed to be the same seen by 
 Josephus, who states it to be the very one into which Lot's wife was trans- 
 formed. "This part of the lake," says Lieut. Lynch, "was a scene of un- 
 mitigated desolation. On one side rugged and worn was the salt mountain 
 of Usdum or Sodom, with its conspicuous pillar, which reminded us at least 
 of the catastrophe of the plain ; on the other, were the lofty and barren cliffs 
 of Moab, in one of the caves of which the fugitive Lot found shelter. To 
 the south was an extensive flat, intersected by sluggish drains, with the high 
 hills of Edom semi-girdling the salt plain, where the Israelites repeatedly 
 overthrew their enemies, and to the north was the calm and motionless sea, 
 curtained with a purple mist, while many fathoms deep, in the slimy mud 
 beneath it, lay imbedded the ruins of the ill-fated cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 The glare of light was blinding to the eye, and the atmosphere difficult of 
 respiration. No bird fanned with its wing the attenuated air through which 
 the sun poured his scorching rays upon the mysterious element on which we 
 floated, and which alone of all the works of its Maker, contained no living 
 thing within it." 
 
 Their sufferings from the intense heat, while engaged in the survey, were 
 very great. One afternoon a hot blistering hurricane struck them and for 
 some moments they feared being driven out to sea. The men, closing their 
 eyes to shield them from the fiery blast, were obliged to pull with all their 
 might to stem the rising waves, and after an hour succeeded in reaching the 
 shore completely exhausted. The eyelids of Lieut. Lynch were blistered by 
 the hot rain, he being unable to protect them from the necessity of steering 
 the boat. One mounted spectacles to protect his eyes, but the metal became 
 so heated that he could not keep them on. Soon after landing the wind in- 
 creased to a tempest ; the two extremities and the western shore of the sea 
 were curtained by a mist, on one side of a purple hue, and on the other of a 
 yellow tinge ; and the red and rayless sun, in the bronzed clouds, had the ap- 
 pearance it presents when looked upon through a smoked glass. 
 
 " Thus," says Lieut. Lynch, " may the heavens have appeared just before 
 the Almighty, in his wrath, rained down fire upon the Cities of the Plain. 
 Behind were the rugged crags of the mountains of Moab, the land of incest, 
 enveloped in a cloud of dust, swept by the simoon from the great desert of 
 Arabia. 
 
 " The heat rather increased after the sun went down, it was more like the 
 blast of a furnace than living air. In the early part of the night, there was 
 scarce a moment that some one was not at the water breakers ; but the parch- 
 ing thirst could not be allayed, for although there was no perceptible perspi- 
 ration, the fluid was carried off as fast as it was received into the system. 
 At nine o'clock the water was exhausted, and our last waking thought was 
 
598 LYNCH'S EXPEDITION". 
 
 water. In our dismrbed and feverish slumbers, we fancied the cool beverage 
 pouring down our parched and burning throats. The musquitoes, as if theii 
 stings were envenomed by the heat, tormented us almost to madness, and we 
 spent a miserable night. 
 
 "We had spent the day in the glare of a Syrian sun, by the salt mountain 
 of Usdum, in the hot blast of the sirocco and were now bivouacked under 
 the calcined cliffs of Moab. When the water was exhausted we threw our- 
 selves upon the ground — eyes smarting, skin burning, lips and tongue, and 
 throat parched and dry — and wrapped the first garment we could find around 
 our heads to keep off the stifling blast ; and in our brief and broken slum- 
 bers drank from ideal fountains. Those who have never felt thirst, never 
 suffered in a simoon in the wilderness, or been far off at sea, with 
 " Water everywhere, 
 Nor any drop to drink," 
 
 can form no idea of our sensations. " 
 
 On the 28th, the expedition having finished their surveys, its members re- 
 turned to camp. Lieut. Lynch spent several subsequent days in cruising 
 along the Arabian or eastern shore, and in visiting the localities of interest. 
 On the 5th of May, they completely finished their explorations. Frequently, 
 while performing their duties, they were in danger of attack from wild Arabs, 
 but thanks to their own watchfulness, and the fidelity of Akil and his little 
 band, they escaped molestation. 
 
 By their measurements, the lake is a little over forty miles long, and averages 
 about eight and a half in breadth. The southern lake is much the smallest, 
 being only about one-third of the size of the other. It is very shallow, and 
 has a bottom of slime and mud. It is the most desolate part of the Dead 
 Sea, and is doubtless the spot upon which stood the ill-fated cities. No boats 
 had ever before penetrated its waters. Costigan, and Molyneaux, two gal- 
 lant Europeans, who lost their lives in attempting to explore the Dead Sea, 
 came no farther south than the connecting straits. 
 
 Some three weeks having thus been spent in the explorations upon and 
 around the Dead Sea, Lieut. Lynch organized a leveling party, to ascertain 
 the difference of level between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. In the 
 face of numerous difficulties, the task was accomplished, after twenty-three 
 days of incessant and hazardous labor. By their measurments, the Dead 
 Sea was ascertained to be a trifle over 1,300 feet, that is, about a quarter of 
 a mile below the level of the Mediterranean. 
 
 " Lieut. Lynch had great reason to congratulate himself on the successful 
 result of his labors ; for the work was one not only of toil, exposure, and 
 suffering, but of great danger. He was warned by the fatal results which 
 had almost invariably attended former attempts to explore these waters, that 
 if he ventured to trust himself upon them, it was wholly uncertain if he ever 
 would return. He followed in a track which had led all his predecessors to 
 destruction, and his only hope of safety and success, was in superior saga- 
 city, forethought in the formation of his plans, and in greater energy, cou- 
 rage, and endurance in their execution. The result proved he had estimated 
 correctly the resources at his command." 
 
LYNCH'S EXPEDITION. 599 
 
 The Dead Se,i is more salt, and more dense than the ocean, and the waves- 
 in striking- against a boat, give forth a dull, leaden sound. The water is sa 
 buoyant, that it is difficult for a person to dive, or to keep himself down. 
 "My friend and fellow-traveler, Mr. Erskine," says Mr. Fisk, "bathed ii\ 
 the Dead Sea, and found the water extremely buoyant. I could not make up 
 my mind to the experiment ; but I tasted the water. It is impossible to ex- 
 press the intensity of its nauseousness, when taken in sufficient quantity, and 
 retained long enough to act upon the palate. It has two distinct flavors when 
 first tasted, which soon unite and make a most loathsome compound. The 
 first is of extremely pungent saltness, and capable of excoriating the palate. 
 The other is sheer bitterness, and so bitter, that it seems to penetrate the 
 skin of the mouth. Though I took no more than about half a wine-glassful 
 in my mouth, and did not swallow any, yet my palate was saturated with it, 
 and the sensation remained during the day." 
 
 The waters of this dismal lake possess petrifying qualities, and the stunted 
 trees upon its shores, soon die from its spray. It has no outlet, and no cool 
 breezes pass over it ; but the burning simoon of the Arabian desert, occa- 
 sionally disturbs its usually silent waters, and assists the evaporation, which is 
 very rapid. A fetid odor hangs over it, which arises from the numerous hot 
 springs on its shores. The atmosphere bronzes all metallic bodies exposed to 
 it, and even the sides of the neighboring mountains are incrusted with salt. 
 Over its southern part rests a hazy cloud, like heated vapor, and generally, 
 (it the north, a thin transparent cloud, tinged with purple. 
 
 Various and idle are the attributes with which popular credulity has in- 
 vested this lake, among which are, that its waters are poisonous, and its at- 
 mosphere fatal to life. Lieut. Lynch gathered some specimens of the osher, 
 the genuine apple of Sodom, which is beautiful and tempting to the eye ; but 
 vhen bitten into, is exceedingly bitter, and fills the mouth with fiber and dust. 
 
 The Dead Sea is bounded by lofty and arid mountains. On the west, to 
 I he height of over one thousand feet, rise the sterile cliffs of Judea, appear- 
 ing in some places as if scathed with fire, at others, of a purple color, and 
 elsewhere, of a chalky aspect. Banks of impassable sand, and ashes, and 
 sun-bleached bowlders lie at the base of these barren, dreary hills, and evi- 
 dences of volcanic formation abound. 
 
 The shores of the lake are formed of mud-flats, and at the passages of the 
 ravines and gorges, sandy plains, which support a scanty vegetation, alter- 
 nate with rocky precipices, and strips of low and marshy ground ; these 
 are covered with sand, gravel, flinty particles, or pebbles of bituminous lime- 
 stone. Salt and bitumen, obtained from the Dead Sea, are important articles 
 of commerce. Sulphur also abounds, and indications are given of niter, 
 gypsum, and alum. 
 
 From the Dead Sea to the Red Sea, extends the sandy, barren, and deso- 
 late valley of Arabah, the southern continuation of the great Jordan gorge, 
 which in its northern course is occupied by the Jordan river and the Dead 
 Sea. An idea of the sense of desolation which comes over the traveler, 
 while upon the Dead Sea, is thus well given in an extract from the narrative 
 of Lieut. Lynch : "A light air from t'ie south induced me to abandon the 
 
600 LYNCH'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 awning, and set the sail, to save the men from laboring at the oars. A light 
 tapping of the ripples at the bow, and a faint line of foam, and bubbles at 
 her side, were the only indications that the boat was in motion. The other 
 boat was a mile astern, and all around partook of the stillness of death. 
 The weather was intensely hot, and even the light air that urged us almost 
 insensibly along, had something oppressive in its flaws of heat. The sky 
 was unclouded, save by a few faint cirri in the north, sweeping, plume-like, 
 as if the sun had consumed the clouds, and the light wind had drifted their 
 ashes. The glitter from the water, with its multitude of reflections — for each 
 ripple was a mirror — contributed much to our discomfort ; yet the water was 
 not transparent, but of the color of diluted absinthe, or the prevailing tint of 
 a Persian opal. The sun, we felt, was glaring upon us, but the eye dare 
 not take cognizance, for the fierce blaze would have blighted the powers of 
 vision, as Semele was consumed by the unvailed divinity of Jove. 
 
 " The black chasms and rough peaks, embossed with grimness, were 
 around and above us, vailed in a transparent mist, like visible air, that made 
 them seem unreal, — and 1300 feet below, our sounding-lead had struck upon 
 the buried plain of Siddim, shrouded in slime and salt. While busied with 
 such thoughts, my companions had yielded to the oppressive drowsiness, and 
 now lay before me in every attitude of a sleep that had more of stupor in it 
 than of repose. In the awful aspect which this sea presented, when we first 
 beheld it, I seemed to read the inscription over the gates of Dante's Inferno : 
 — ' Ye who enter here, leave hope behind. 1 Since then, habituated to mysterious 
 appearances, in a journey so replete with them, and accustomed to scenes of 
 deep and thrilling interest, at every step of our progress those feelings of 
 awe had been insensibly lessened, or hushed by deep interest in the investi- 
 gations we had pursued. But now, as I sat alone in my wakefulness, the 
 feeling of awe returned ; and as I looked upon the sleepers, I felt ' the hair 
 of my flesh stand up,* as Job's did, when * a spirit passed before his face ; ' 
 for to my disturbed imagination, there was something fearful in the expres- 
 sien of their inflamed and swollen visages. The fierce angel of disease 
 seemed hovering over them, and I read the forerunner of his presence in 
 their flushed and feverish sleep. . . . The solitude, the scene, my own 
 thoughts, were too much ; I felt, as I sat thus steering the drowsily-moving 
 boat, as if I were a Charon, ferrying not the souls, but the bodies of the de- 
 parted and the damned, over some infernal lake, and could endure it no 
 longer ; but breaking from my listlessness, ordered the sails to be furled and 
 the oars resumed — action seemed better than such unnatural stupor." 
 
 "History and tradition, both sacred and profane, dating back for thousands 
 of years, concur in the one great fact, that the Dead Sea, or the Sea of the 
 Plain, covers the spot once occupied by the guilty cities." . . Lieut. Lynch 
 remarks, that the mountains on all sides, appear much older than the sea, 
 and that the torrents, particularly those pouring into the upper lake, plunge 
 down abruptly. His inference from the facts and appearances before him wks, 
 that the entire chasm was a sunken plain, and that the depression was great- 
 est at the northern end. In summing up the conclusions at whicn he arrived, 
 he says : — "The inference from the Bible, that this entire chasm was a plain* 
 
LYNCH'S EXPEDITION. 601 
 
 sunk and ' overwhelmed' by the wrath of God, seems to be sustained by the 
 extraordinary character of our soundings. The bottom of this sea consists 
 of two submerged plains, an elevated and a depressed one ; the last aver- 
 aging thirteen, and the former about thirteen hundred feet below the surface. 
 Through the northern and largest, and deepest one, in a line corresponding 
 with the bed of the Jordan, is a ravine, which again seems to correspond 
 with the Wady-el-Jeib, or ravine within a ravine, at the south end of the sea. 
 
 Between the Jabok and this sea we unexpectedly found a sudden break- 
 down in the bed of the Jordan. If there be a similar break in the water- 
 courses to the south of the sea, accompanied with like volcanic characters, 
 there can scarce be a doubt that the whole ghor or valley has sunk from some 
 extraordinary convulsion, preceded, most probably, by an eruption of fire, 
 and a general conflagration of the bitumen which abounded in the plain." 
 
 " We entered," says Lieut. Lynch, " upon this sea, with conflicting opinions. 
 One of the party skeptical, and another, I think, a professed unbeliever of 
 the Mosaic account. After twenty-two days' close investigation, if I am not 
 mistaken, we were unanimous in the conviction of the truth of the scriptural 
 account of the destruction of the Cities of the Plain. 
 
 I received with diffidence the conclusions we have reached, simply as a pro- 
 test against the shallow deductions of would-be believers." 
 
 With regard to the manner in which the cities were destroyed, there has 
 been a great deal of conjecture, for the most part idly, or at least unprofitably, 
 hazarded. We know that the Almighty usually operates with secondary 
 causes, and it may be, that volcanic agency, as has been presumed, was 
 the physical instrument employed by him in this case ; that the Salt Sea was 
 formed by the subsidence of the plain, or from the damming up of the Jordan 
 by a current of lava, or both combined ; and that the showers of fire and 
 brimstone were occasioned by the fall of volcanic ejections. But the most 
 reasonable supposition is, that, simultaneously with the fire and brimstone 
 rained from Heaven upon the doomed cities, volcanic eruptions took place ; 
 that the slime-pits, or pits of bitumen, according to the version of the Septua- 
 gint, with which the plain was filled, were inflamed; and that the combustion of 
 the soil, or the underlying strata was followed by the subsidence of the plain. 
 
 Warned by the rapidly increasing heat, and the debilitated state of his 
 party, that the summer solstice was fast approaching, Lieutenant Lynch broke 
 up his encampment on the shores of the Dead Sea, on the morning of the 
 10th of May. The boats were taken to pieces, and placed on the backs of 
 the camels ; and the whole party commenced their return journey to the Me- 
 diterranean coast. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 IN 
 
 NORWAY AND SWEDEN 
 
 Histobioal and Descriptive Sketch. — Christiana — The Myosen Lake — Life in Norway- 
 Mountain Scenery — Norwegian Hospitality — Norwegian Liberty — Constitution — Laws— 
 The Storthing — Education — Gottenburg — Gotha Canal — Rustic Ball — A Hoosier — Rura. 
 Life in Sweden — Stockholm — Gustavus Adolphus — Swedish Politeness — Government- 
 National Customs — Upsala — Enchantments of Odin — Gustavus Vasa and the Dalecar- 
 lians — Mines of Dannemora — The Laps — Science and Literature — Distinguished Char- 
 acters. 
 
 Norway and Sweden, 
 now united into one king- 
 dom, form an extensive 
 region, stretching from the 
 utmost verge of the tempe- 
 rate zone far into the frozen 
 region of the Arctic Cir- 
 cle, and comprising the im- 
 mense area of 297,000 
 square miles, of which 
 scarcely one-half can be 
 considered as belonging to 
 the civilized world. Even 
 the Southern Districts have 
 a rugged and repulsive as- 
 pect. Forests of tall and 
 gloomy pine stretch over 
 the plains, or hang on the 
 sides of the mountains; the 
 ground for near five months 
 of the year, is buried under 
 the snow ; cultivation ap- 
 pears only in scattered 
 patches, and was long quite 
 insufficient to furnish bread 
 for the inhabitants. 
 The early history of Scandinavia, as this region was anciently termed, is 
 deeply involved in uncertainty and fable. Scandinavia has been called " the 
 storehouse of nations," and the "blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast," are 
 602 
 
 A NORWEGIAN SCENE. 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. ^03 
 
 supposed to have been among the most numerous of those, who, in ancient 
 times, spread war and desolation through Europe. 
 
 " Scandinavia, first, by a series of formidable expeditions, made a figure 
 in history at the end of the ninth century. Harold Harfager, or the Fair- 
 haired, the first of the great sea-kings of the North, having united the for- 
 merly independent districts of Norway under his sway, undertook triumphant 
 expeditions against Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides. For several cen- 
 turies the Danes and Norwegians held full possession of those islands ; gave 
 a king to England, and formed a permanent establishment in Normandy. 
 The defeat of Haco in Scotland, and of Harold III, in England, during the 
 eleventh century, put an end to this maritime dominion : and the northern 
 nations, notwithstanding their immense supply of naval stores, have never 
 since attained to more than a secondary rank among the maritime powers. 
 
 The union of the kingdoms of Scandinavia, in 1388, under Margaret, called 
 the Semiramis of the North, forms a memorable era. Immediately, however, 
 after the death of that able princess, the Swedes began to struggle for inde- 
 pendence. But their repeated attempts to establish a separate kingdom were 
 always defeated, till the cruel and tyrannical reign of Christian II, drove 
 matters to extremity, and brought on a new revolution. 
 
 Gustavus Vasa, in 1520, hoisted again the national standard in the pro- 
 vince of Dalecarlia, and, in three years subsequently, entered Stockholm in 
 triumph. After a long struggle, the Danes were compelled to recognize 
 the independence of Sweden. 
 
 The reign of Gustavus Adolphus formed a glorious era for Sweden. The 
 Protestant relioion having been established under Gustavus Vasa, Sweden 
 began to be looked to as its support when assailed by a formidable confeder- 
 acy. In 1630, Gustavus took the field at the head of only ten thousand 
 Swedes ; but around this gallant band rallied all the Protestant powers of 
 Germany. The splendid victory of Breitenfeld humbled the house of Aus- 
 tria, and re-established the civil and religious liberties of the empire. Even 
 after his fall, in the glorious field of Lutzen, his generals continued to wage 
 that desperate war of thirty years, which was necessary to compel the Cath- 
 olic league finally to renounce its pretensions. Sweden, at the peace, obtained 
 Pomerania, and other important possessions in Germany; and continued, till 
 the end of the seventeenth century, to exercise a powerful influence on the 
 affairs of Europe. 
 
 The victories and reverses of Charles XII, threw a wild and romantic 
 luster around Sweden, which terminated, however, in the loss of her station 
 and greatness. Being defeated at Pultowa, by the Czar Peter, and driven to 
 seek shelter from the Turks at Bender, he was obliged to purchase peace by 
 the sacrifice of Livonia, and others of his finest provinces. The influence of 
 Sweden was thenceforth confined within its own barren limits, and it ranked 
 with difficulty as a power of the second order. The only remarkable change 
 in the course of the century, was produced by the revolutions of 1772 and 
 1789, when Gustavus III, succeeded in converting the government into an 
 absolute monarchy, though in other respects his reign was advantageous to 
 fcweden. 
 
604 OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 
 
 The election of Bernadotte, one of Bonaparte's commanders, to fill the 
 throne left vacant through the rash conduct of the legitimate monarch, made 
 a great change in the relations of Sweden. To conciliate his new subjects, he 
 restored in full plentitude the representative constitution, which had been re- 
 duced to a mere shadow. Having joined the confederacy against his former 
 master, he received Norway in compensation for the loss of Finland, and 
 had thus a more compact and defensible territory. The Norwegians ex- 
 claimed, not without reason, against the compulsory transference ; yet Den- 
 mark had deprived them of their free constitution, which they now regained, 
 and had in so many respects depressed the country, with the view of concen- 
 trating everything at Copenhagen, that the connection now terminated had 
 been considered the bane of Norway. 
 
 The manufactures of these countries are inconsiderable, and even in the 
 common trades the work is lazily and illy performed. The mines of Sweden 
 are very rich ; its iron, widely diffused, is the finest in the world, and the 
 silver mines of Konigsberg in Norway are the richest in Europe. The com- 
 merce of Scandinavia is greater than unimproved agriculture, and total want 
 of manufactures might lead us to suppose. But nature has gifted these 
 bleak regions with an almost inexhaustible share of timber and iron, two of 
 the prime necessaries of human life." 
 
 The honesty of the people is remarkable. Highway robbery, though it 
 has been known, is exceedingly rare ; and charity boxes, though often set up 
 on the public roads, have never been plundered. They have an undaunted 
 spirit of perseverance, an honest love of freedom, and a passive courage 
 which makes of them the very best of sailors and soldiers. 
 
 At Elsinore, in Denmark, Mr. Maxwell,* the American traveler, took passage 
 in a steamer for Christiana the capital of Norway. The second morning 
 after the mountains of old Norway were revealed to his delighted vision, and 
 he was soon treading the soil of the Norsemen. 
 
 Christiana is a neat town of about 24,000 inhabitants ; but usually very 
 dull except during the sessions of the Storthing or Congress of the nation. 
 From this place he journeyed into the interior for a few days to see the 
 country, and the manners and customs of its people. He departed with his 
 comrades from the capital in carioles, a conveyance resembling our sulky, 
 " en route" for Lake Myosen, some forty miles north of that city. The sta- 
 tions where they successively changed carioles and horses, united the charac- 
 teristics of farm-houses and inns, were neat and comfortable, and provided with 
 abundant, though plain fare. The farmers are all obliged by law to furnish 
 each, in turn, at the requisition of the master of the station, horses and con- 
 veyances for travelers. It is a good arrangement for all parties, the farmers 
 being well compensated, and the traveler enabled to proceed fast or slow, 
 and stop at pleasure as if in his own vehicle. 
 
 * This article is abridged from the work of John S. Maxwell, entitled " The Czar, nis 
 court and People, including a Tour in Sweden and Norway," and Baird's Northern 
 Europe, 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 605 
 
 At the little hamlet of Minde he embarked on board of a small iron steam- 
 er, for the northern end of the lake, which although the longest in Nor- 
 way is but seventy miles in length, with a width varying from two to ten 
 miles. The country on each shore is gently sloping, and covered with beau- 
 tiful farms. 
 
 He had a fine opportunity of seeing on board, " the Bonder" or farmer 
 proprietors of Norway, of which a large proportion of the population are 
 composed and as fine a race of people as exist. Their costume was similar 
 to that of the same class among us. At Lillehammer, at the northern end 
 of the lake, they again took carioles, and passed up the beautiful valley of 
 the Guldebrands ; through it winds a clear stream of water, and on each 
 side are the houses and farms of the Bonder, exhibiting a charming picture 
 of industry and comfort. The dwellings are of logs, weather-boarded and 
 painted ; luxuriant crops of grass covered the fields. 
 
 Many of the farms are irrigated by means of water brought from the 
 mountain rills and distributed by troughs, which simple mode brings im- 
 mense returns. Usually the farms are small ; but this is compensated for by 
 ttt* abundance of the pasture enabling many of the farmers to keep thirty or 
 
 h a opting tea, coffee, sugar, and a few other foreign luxuries, the 
 farmer produces everything, dressing in homemade cloth, wearing home- 
 made leather, and drinking homemade whisky. The cottages of the farm 
 servants are neat and comfortable and stand near the residence of the pro- 
 prietor ; the servants holding a relation here similar to that of the "helps" 
 in the family of a New England farmer. 
 
 The farmers or their servants make all their furniture; the cobbler and 
 the tinker, as was customary in " olden times," in our country, tramp from 
 house to house to " do up" all the little jobs in their respective vocations, 
 generally receiving their pay in grain or butter and cheese. In the interior 
 of Norway business is mainly carried on by barter. The wealth of the 
 people is acquired within themselves, and arises from the industry of the 
 farmers and fishermen. Her principal mineral wealth is a silver mine, and 
 she exports chiefly fish, lumber, iron, and copper. The established religion 
 is Lutheran. 
 
 The Norwegians resemble the Danes and Swedes, and are essentially the 
 same people. They are strong, active, and capable of enduring severe labor; 
 yellow and reddish hair is very prevalent. In patriotism no people surpass 
 them. Everything relating to "old Norway" has charms for them, and 
 even their bleak and dreary mountains are dear to their hearts. 
 
 The Norwegians are fond of amusements ; the winter is the season foi 
 social enjoyments, and the holidays are observed with universal jollity and 
 good cheer. Parties go out to hunt the reindeer and the elk, and merry 
 sleighing parties make a regular round of visits from farm to farm. 
 
 It was on a Saturday that Mr. Maxwell returned to Lillehammer, a small 
 place consisting of only a few scattered houses, yet the largest inland town 
 in Norway. Saturday night is observed in this country, as in New England, 
 as part of the Sabbath; the old folks gossip and the young make love. The 
 
606 OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 
 
 next day he attended the little church of Lillehammer which was crowded 
 with country people. The short gown and petticoat, so general in the agri- 
 cultural districts of Europe, were worn by the women. The men were 
 clothed in gray homespun, and in some instances their heads were sur- 
 mounted by bright scarlet caps. 
 
 The next day they continued their journey along in a south-eastern direction, 
 and were everywhere, day after day, received with unbounded hospitality, 
 Every peasant they passed lifted his hat and bowed, and at every house a 
 frank welcome greeted them. The station-houses furnished abundance of 
 good fare, among which was coffee of an excellent quality. This is used in 
 immoderate quantities by the women, and by the men a sort of strong, fiery 
 but pure whisky called Finhel. It is distilled at every farm-house, from 
 potatoes, and is taken regularly the first thing every morning, and the last 
 every night, in sickness and in health ; being considered by the Norwegians 
 as a universal panacea for all human ills. The people are enormous feeders, 
 eating generally four, and sometimes five times a day, yet dyspepsia, and 
 kindred diseases are rare. 
 
 Leaving the valley of the lake in their rear, their road crossed mountain 
 after mountain, continually presenting every variety of picturesque scenery, 
 until they arrived at Jonsrud, about a dozen miles northwest of Christiana, 
 From thence they passed along on the eastern side of Christiana bay or fiord. 
 While driving leisurely along through a beautiful region, their guide stopped 
 to light his pipe at a neat vine-covered cottage charmingly nestled by the 
 road-side. 
 
 As they olrove up, the proprietor, a tall powerful man, in his shirt sleeves, 
 advanced and met them with great cordiality, stating in English that having 
 learned from their guide they were Americans, he hoped, in the name of all 
 that was great and glorious in the United States and Norway, that they 
 would not pass his door without allowing him the pleasure of their company 
 and conversation. 
 
 The reception was so cordial and warm-hearted that they could not resist ; 
 but passing through the little front garden, entered the dwelling and were 
 presented to the lady of the domicile, who was employed in sewing in com- 
 pany with several young ladies. She conducted them into an adjoining room. 
 A large map of the United States and the portraits of American presidents 
 hung on the wall. " We looked," says Mr. Maxwell, " from one to the other 
 in amazement, and at last our eyes met those of the delighted host. ' You 
 should have been here a few days since,' said he, speaking with a vehemence 
 that increased our surprise, — ' you should have been here on the fourth of 
 July ; — you should have seen the flag of the United States and the flag of 
 Norway flying from the same staff in glorious unity : — it was the birthday 
 of Oscar, our youthful king and president, and in his honor I hoisted the flag 
 of Norway : — it was the birthday of American Independence, and in honor 
 of that independence, I hoisted the flag of your renowned country. Come 
 to my garden ; come see the laurel I have from the Alleghany mountains, 
 and I am sure you will feel at home in Norway.' 
 
 " Now it is easier to imagine than to describe the sensations that resulted 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN qq-j 
 
 from this unexpected and unusual occurrence. The enthusiastic greeting, 
 and the noble allusions to our distant land, increased the ardor of our feel« 
 mgs, and gave expression to our love for this country and this people. We 
 caught the hand of the giant Norseman, whose broad bare neck, and head 
 of flaxen hair, and bright blue eyes, seemed radiant with manly beauty; and 
 cold him, as well as we were able, the sincere and heart-felt sympathy we 
 felt for the glory and the happiness of Norway. It is not unusual in Europe 
 to meet with those who admire, or pretend to admire, the United States ; nor 
 is it difficult to find those whose prejudices have been excited against both 
 its institutions and its people, by well-paid authors, whose books and papers 
 are printed and published for this very purpose by governments and inte- 
 rested parties ; but it is only in Norway — Norway, surrounded on every side 
 with despotic governments and miserable populations — Norway, free and 
 independent, and enjoying the blessings that result from freedom and inde- 
 pendence, that the political and social happiness of a republican people is 
 appreciated and understood. 
 
 "A repast, principally composed of fish of various kinds, fresh from the 
 fiord, awaited us in the room decorated with miserable engravings of the 
 presidents — from Washington, looking as if he was afflicted with mumps, to 
 Van Buren, the beau -ideal of 'a used up man.' We were attended by the 
 lady of our host. The ladies of Norway — the ladies both old and young, 
 even of the wealthiest and most influential families — superintend every 
 household matter, invariably wait at table, and supply the wants and wishes 
 of the guest. Although this results from custom, it is followed, in many 
 families, more from choice than necessity ; and although it may appear very 
 singular to those who have never witnessed it, it does not seem at all strange 
 in the country. To be a good housekeeper, and to know how to provide for 
 the comforts of a family, and to care for the entertainment of the stranger, is 
 one of the requisites in a Norwegian wife. It certainly does not detract from 
 the beauty or accomplishments of the Norwegian women, and to it we may 
 trace much of the domestic happiness of Norwegian life. In this instance, 
 at least, we were honored with the personal attention of one of the first 
 women in the kingdom; a lady whose refinement is as illustrious as her birth, 
 and we saw nothing but what increased our admiration and respect. After 
 a substantial meal, the lady retired, when Rhenish and French wines, Edin- 
 burgh ale, Scotch whisky, and a variety of liquors, were placed upon tie 
 table. There was no escape from bumpers. These people have a way of 
 finishing and replenishing their goblets in double quick time, and our hoat 
 was one of those who would 
 
 * * * ' conjure the ghost of the great Rory 0' More, 
 And bumper his horn with him, twenty times o'er/ 
 
 We talked long and much of Norway and America ; and the Norseman, 
 overflowing with wine and patriotism, broke forth in song." 
 
 After repeated solicitations to prolong their visit they bade farewell to this 
 generous Norwegian, not however without his first exacting a promise to 
 send out a hickory to plant beside his laurel, for their entertainer was a 
 
608 OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 
 
 thorough-going Jackson man, revering the memory of old Hickory with al- 
 most perfect idolatry. 
 
 From thence they proceeded to Holmenstrand ; then crossed the Christiana 
 fiord to Tronwic, on its eastern border, visited the cataract of Halfslun, one of 
 the finest in Europe, and then proceeded to Moss, on the Christiana fiord. 
 There they took a steamer, coming down from Christiana, for Gottenburg, 
 and thus left the pleasant land of Norway. 
 
 Norway has the most free government in Europe. With her, at a very 
 early date, originated trial by jury, which is a Norwegian institution. Prior 
 to the year 1814 Norway was under the mild dominion of Denmark. In 
 that year the crowns of Norway and Sweden were united in one, and the 
 executive power vested in Charles John Bernadotte, the king of Sweden. 
 At that time the people of Norway elected representatives to a convention, 
 which in the short space of six weeks adopted their present noble constitu- 
 tion, which was accepted by Bernadotte. This instrument guarantees the 
 liberty of the press ; entire freedom of discussion ; allows the people to make 
 their own laws ; gives every native the right of voting, provided he pays 
 taxes or owns a freehold worth one hundred and fifty dollars : to this how- 
 ever are excepted criminals, insane or foolish people, and office-holders! 
 
 The real government of Norway is the Storthing, or Congress, which 
 assembles once in three years ; but in extraordinary cases the king, at any 
 time, can convene it. When it assembles it elects one fourth of its members 
 to constitute an upper-house, or senate. Each of its two branches has powers 
 similar to those of the two branches of the American congress. The power 
 of the king is very slight, about equal to that of our president. If he refuses 
 to sign any bill it is returned to the Storthing ; if two successive congresses 
 again pass it, if even by the smallest majority, it becomes a law in spite of 
 the veto of his majesty. Our republican constitution requires a vote of two- 
 thirds. The Storthing passed a law providing for the abolition of all heredi- 
 tary titles of nobility. The king twice vetoed the measure ; and when it was 
 before a third Storthing, he went with a large force to Christiana to overawe 
 that body. The excitement was tremendous and civil war threatened the 
 annihilation of the constitution. But the Storthing was undismayed ; the bill 
 passed, and now not a baron treads the soil of Norway. 
 
 The Norwegians claim that their government is better and more democratic 
 than ours — because their senate is chosen for a short term, and from the 
 lower house, which is fresh from the people — because the king, being the he- 
 reditary president of Norway, possesses no influence that can be injurious to 
 the country, and that they are saved from all the immoral tendencies, the in- 
 trigue and corruption, consequent upon the election of a chief magistrate 
 from the people, as with us. They thus flatter themselves they are free from 
 all the evils, and enjoy all the blessings of democracy. 
 
 In the country the voters meet at the parish-church, and the pastor pre- 
 sides ; in the cities, the magistrates are the chairmen. In the cities two, and 
 in the country, one elector is chosen for every hundred inhabitants, which 
 electors, in turn, meet and choose deputies to the Storthing, and thus is this 
 body formed. The Storthing is a curious assemblage of pastors, lawyers, 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 609 
 
 and farmers. Some of the latter are noted for their practical intelligence; 
 and by a simple forcible style of eloquence. Their pay is about two dollars 
 per day, out of which, by close economy, some of the country members con- 
 trive to save and carry home considerable sums, with which to enrich their 
 farms. 
 
 The civil law is admirably managed and administered in Norway. The 
 people elect in each school-district, a justice, before whom every lawsuit must 
 originate. In this court, no lawyers are allowed to practice, but each of the 
 parties are required to come and state their own case. The justice notes all 
 the evidence, and then after due consideration, endeavors to reconcile the dis- 
 pute to the satisfaction alike of plaintiff and defendant. This is, therefore, 
 called the court of Reconciliation. If his judgment is accepted, as it gener- 
 ally is, it is recorded in the court above, the court of Record. If appealed, 
 the case must go up to the District court, simply on the written evidence of 
 the justice, and all the legal argument rests on the original evidence; so no 
 chance is given for judge or jury to be mystified by the sharp practice of 
 pettifogging lawyers. Not one suit in ten but is settled before reaching the 
 higher courts, which proves an immense saving to the public, in the escape 
 from unnecessary litigation. 
 
 The judges are responsible to the Superior Court for errors of judgment, 
 ignorance, delay, partiality, or prejudice, and when convicted, liable, pecu- 
 niarily, to the injured party. As a consequence, the lawyers and judges are 
 noted for their integrity and learning, and exert an excellent influence among 
 the people. Education is universally diffused in Norway, and the schools 
 supported by a poll-tax. 
 
 Mr. Maxwell arrived at Gottenburg, on the western coast of Sweden, with- 
 out the recurrence of any especial incident. It is the second commercial city 
 of the nation; and contains about 30,000 inhabitants. It is the great center 
 of the timber and iron trade of the south-western part of Sweden, and has 
 considerable trade with the United States. The town is built of brick, and 
 covered with stucco of a dark white; its environs are beautiful and picturesque. 
 
 From Gottenburg, he crossed the country to Stockholm, in steamboats, 
 through the Gotha and Trolhaetta canals, which, with the intervening lakes, 
 form a complete navigable communication across the center of Sweden. 
 While detained one evening in the interior, the passengers went ashoiv ; 
 having learned that the peasantry, in a barn near by, were having a men y 
 time, he went in to see the rustic dance of Sweden. 
 
 The men were attired in roundabouts, gray breeches, and thick heavy 
 shoes ; the women, in long gowns, and queer white caps, and all were sing- 
 ing, dancing, and capering, with childlike glee. Suddenly there entered -<\ 
 tall, fine-looking man, with a violin, amid cheers and clapping of hands. He 
 immediately discovered he was a fellow-passenger, a countryman, and a 
 Hoosier, from Indiana. Although an entire stranger to them, and their 
 language, he became a great favorite with the men and the light-haired and 
 light-complexioned damsels, entering into the spirit of the thing with his 
 whole soul. After a few trials to teach them the dance, he soon had the 
 whole of those Swedish rustics in full and successful movement, to the 
 39 
 
610 OBSERVATION'S IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 
 
 bewitching sounds of " Old Dan Tucker." The scene was inexpressibly ludi- 
 crous — the fiddler himself leading the dance, and the whole assembly follow- 
 ing after, with an ardor that threatened to shake down the rafters of the 
 building. Mr. Maxwell afterward met him at Paris, a favorite in its most 
 polished society. 
 
 The voyage between Gottenburg and Stockholm, was of four days' dura- 
 tion. The scenery along the route is varied and picturesque. Lake Wen- 
 ner, one of the lakes through which the traveler passes, is, with a single 
 exception, the largest in Europe, being one hundred miles long by fifty broad, 
 and is a beautiful sheet of water. The traveler, on this route, has a fine op- 
 portunity for observing the manners and customs of the Swedish rural popu- 
 lation. They are light-hearted, plain, frugal, hard-working folks. In the 
 summer, the women and children, as the boats arrive at the locks, come on 
 board with strawberries, cakes, butter, and milk, to sell to the passengers. 
 At harvest-time, the men and women are busy in the meadows, working to- 
 gether, making hay ; when the sun goes down, far and wide are seen the fra- 
 grant fields of mown hay, and the weary hay-makers returning to their 
 humble homes. 
 
 The houses of the peasants are log-cabins, in many cases painted red ; but 
 generally are left in the natural color of the wood, which soon assumes a 
 weather-beaten, brownish appearance ; their roofs are tiled. Wooden fences 
 are frequent, but differ from ours, the rails being laid slantingly upon one 
 another, in a straight line, just like the blocks which children have first 
 placed in a row, and then pushed over. Stakes are put on each side, firmly 
 driven into the ground, which keep the rails in proper position. 
 
 Throughout Sweden, the parish-church is the most important building in 
 every large village. These, invariably, have steeples, and are either of brick 
 or stone, and painted a bright white color/ Their appearance is very pleasant, 
 reminding the traveler he is in a Christian land. The church-going bell 
 never sounds more sweetly to the ear of one who loves the house of God, 
 than when heard in a foreign land. The American traveler will be generally 
 pleased with his fellow-passengers here, usually Germans and Swedes, and 
 extremely pleasant people. 
 
 Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, contains about 80,000 inhabitants. Its 
 situation is picturesque and beautiful ; it stands on seven islands, and the op- 
 posite banks of the main-land, just at the point where Lake Malar joins a 
 bay which puts off from the Baltic. On one of the islands, stands the mag- 
 nificent royal palace, one of the most noble structures of the kind in Europe. 
 
 In a small room in this palace, are many curious relics of the distinguished 
 men of Sweden, among which, is the hat worn by Charles XII, when he re- 
 ceived his death wound, and the shirt Gustavus Adolphus had on at the fatal 
 battle of Lutzen, in 1632. 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus has been considered the most able king of modern 
 times, and of the greatest military genius. Many of the most important im- 
 provements in the art of war, were made by him — such as arranging regi- 
 ments in ranks of three, instead of nine men deep, which was the old way ; 
 the substitution of light muskets with flint locks, instead of the old heavy 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. QH 
 
 match locks ; and attaching the bayonet to the side of the musket barrel, in- 
 stead of inserting it, when needed, in the muzzle. These, with his goodness, 
 humanity, and high moral, and religious character, have shed an endearing lus- 
 ter upon his memory. 
 
 The houses of Stockholm are generally of brick, stuccoed and painted white, 
 and from three to five stories high, and covered with tiles. In the oldest 
 parts the streets are so narrow and crooked as scarcely to allow a cart to 
 pass. Nearly all are paved with small round stones — a few only have com- 
 fortable side-walks, and some none. 
 
 The inhabitants of Stockholm are a remarkably handsome race. The men 
 are tall and manly, and wear a mustache almost white, and perfectly in keep- 
 ing with the light hair and eyes of the north. The women are surpassing 
 fair, in face and figure ; with light complexions, blue eyes, and golden 
 tresses. 
 
 Stockholm is so far north, that in the summer solstice, the nights, for two 
 >r three weeks, are sufficiently light, from the refraction of the sun's rays, — 
 owing to its being so little beneath the horizon — for the performance of almost 
 any business. Dr. Baird says, that when one-time traveling during that sea- 
 son, from Stockholm to Upsala, he read a letter at midnight, with ease, al- 
 though at the time, in a dense forest. "And the year after," he continues, 
 M at the same season, we often whiled away our leisure moments by sitting at 
 the window of the house, when we stayed on the English Quay, at St. Pe- 
 tersburg, a city only half a degree north of Stockholm, and reading until 
 midnight." During that period, scarcely a cloud was to be seen in the sky, 
 which had, both day and night, that light blue so peculiar to these northern 
 regions, in that season. Scarcely a star was visible in the heavens at night, 
 and the moon, even when full, hardly formed a shadow. At that period, the 
 appearance of things, as night sets in, is unnatural and deathlike. Business 
 comes to an end before the sun goes down, and all nature falls into repose 
 while it is yet light : and, to a stranger, as he passes the streets, either of 
 Stockholm or of St. Petersburg, he seems to be in the midst of a deserted 
 city. No living thing appears, as he passes street after street, save some so- 
 litary sentinel, with his gray coat and musket. 
 
 The Swedes are unusually polite, excelling the French in the polish of 
 their manners. The ease and gracefulness of even the peasants in their 
 movements, and the pleasant tones of their voices, strike a stranger very 
 agreeably. Many of the little expressions too they use, are very sweet ; and 
 when a Swede meets his friend he thanks him for the pleasure he had when 
 he last saw him, no matter how short a time has elapsed. 
 
 The government of Sweden is a sort of constitutional monarchy, the 
 functions of which are vested in a hereditary king and the Diet or Parlia- 
 ment, which meets once in five years. It consists of four houses : 1st the 
 House of Nobles, 2d, the House of the Clergy, 3d, the House of the Peas- 
 ants, or representatives of the farming population. This house resembles 
 what a similar assembly of our plainest farmers would be, dressing much as oui 
 farmers do on public occasions. A few, however, have the costume which 
 prevails among the peasants of their native districts. There is one remark- 
 
612 OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 
 
 able peculiarity in the organization of this house, which consists in having a 
 legal adviser under oath, who sits at the speaker's right hand, and keeps the 
 house from adopting any unconstitutional or illegal measure. A good deal 
 of talent is in the Diet; business proceeds very slow, for the members, like 
 those of our Congress, are interminable speech -makers. The Diet votes by 
 houses, each house having one vote ; in most cases a majority, that is, three 
 houses are sufficient to pass a law, but to be decisive, it must have the signa- 
 ture of the king. 
 
 Bernadotte, the late king, was a remarkable man, and under his wise ad- 
 ministration the country flourished beyond former example. He was tall 
 and erect in carriage, and looked every inch a monarch. He was born in the 
 south of France, entered the French army and had become a general before 
 Bonaparte had obtained distinction. He subsequently served under Napo- 
 leon ; but being a republican was opposed to his ambitious views. His kind 
 treatment of 2000 Swedes whom he took prisoners near Lubec in 1806, first 
 brought him to the notice of the Swedish nation ; these men, returning tc 
 Sweden, filled the country with his praise. In August 1810, the Diet chose 
 him crown prince of Sweden. Napoleon soon after endeavored to engage 
 Bernadotte to forward his ambitious views. This he not only refused, but 
 seeing that Sweden could not preserve her nationality, he joined the allies 
 and rendered most efficient aid. Denmark favored Napoleon; Bernadotte 
 marched against that country and compelled them to cede Norway to Sweden. 
 "It has fallen to our lot," says Dr. Baird, from whose work on Northern 
 Europe we derive many facts in these pages, " to have several private audi- 
 ences from his majesty. These interviews were full of interest. During one 
 of these audiences the king observed, that he had ever taken a lively interest 
 in the history of the United States, and he was astonished at their unparal- 
 leled progress. But he expressed, in the most earnest manner, the necessity 
 of the maintenance of the Union, and of guarding against everything 
 which might lead to division. Civil war will in all probability follow division 
 and in the end despotism must take the place of freedom. We wish that 
 those men among us who talk so lightly about a division of our country, 
 could have heard the just and clear views of this great man on this topic. " 
 
 The present population of Sweden is about three and a half millions ; one 
 seventh of this number are Laps and Fins. Few of the Fins are now 
 subject to Sweden, but in the northern provinces of Norway, they have ex- 
 tended themselves as colonists. They are industrious and robust, and are 
 probably of the same race as the Laplanders although differing from them 
 morally and physically. 
 
 The standing army of Sweden amounts to 33,X)00 men. It is mainly 
 composed of men furnished from the various districts. The owners of a 
 certain number of acres are obliged to furnish one soldier, and provide him with 
 a farm and his pay. During his absence they must attend to his farm and 
 family, and in case of his decease support his wife and children. 
 
 The custom introduced into the army by Gustavus Adolphus of praying 
 and singing hymns, is still maintained in some branches of the service, and it 
 is not unusual to see the soldiers, morning and evening, engaged in their 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 613 
 
 devotions. The Swedish troops are probably the best looking in Europe No 
 man is admitted into the army without a certificate of good character from 
 the clergyman of his parish. 
 
 The established church in Sweden is Lutheran, and the form of worship 
 Episcopal. It is closely connected with the state. By law the pastor can 
 compel every member of his parish to attend worship. No person can be a 
 witness in Court, or accept an important office unless he has partaken of the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper within a year. A boy is commonly required 
 to make his first communion before a master will take him as an apprentice. 
 The Swedish clergy are a well educated body of men. There is a consider- 
 able prevalence of the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg ; but no separate 
 sect, no separate church organization, for that would not be allowed. 
 
 The great mass of the agricultural population of Sweden are mere 
 laborers, and are not owners of land or houses. The owners of real pro- 
 perty are the true Bonder or Peasant class, and have a right to vote. All 
 the laboring classes, both in town and country, are obliged by law to have 
 each a patron or master who is responsible to the government for the conduct 
 of his client, and if one such cannot find a patron he is liable to be imprisoned 
 as a vagrant. It is a slavish custom and inconsistent with personal in- 
 dependence. 
 
 The Swedes have been supposed to be an unusually moral people, but this 
 is not true. Nearly one half of the children born in Stockholm are illegiti- 
 mate, and about one in nineteen in the country. Ardent spirits are used to 
 an enormous extent, and are productive of much crime ; but the temperance 
 reformation is now extending its beneficial influences over the land. The 
 ministry too of an established church is also inimical to sound morals. 
 Although there are many learned and devoted men among the Lutheran 
 clergy, yet as in the English Church, a large number regard it merely as a 
 means of livelihood, and hence a want of a thoroughly efficient presentation 
 of the Gospel to the people. 
 
 Mr. Maxwell proceeded from Stockholm to Upsala, about fifty miles north, 
 Rnd approached through a finely-cultivated country. It is the oldest town 
 in Sweden, and contains about 6,000 inhabitants. Here is the most famous 
 university in northern Europe. Near the town is supposed to have been the 
 habitation of Odin, or Wodin, as he was named in the dialect of the Anglo- 
 Saxons. Three mounds, like those seen in the valley of the Ohio, are said 
 to be the tombs of Odin, Thor, and Freya, the deities of the ancient in- 
 habitants of Scandinavia. 
 
 Odin flourished about the time of the birth of Christ. He was a great 
 warrior and legislator, famous for eloquence and power' of persuasion. He 
 introduced poetry, invented the Runic (i. e., mysterious,) characters, and 
 was also proficient in music. The poets and romancers of the north have 
 asserted he was skilled in magic. "That by his tender and melodious airs 
 he could summon up the spirits of the dead and make the hills to open and 
 expand with rapture. By his enchantments he directed the tempests, de- 
 feated his enemies, and discovered treasures. He was readily honored as a 
 hero and worshiped as a god by those then barbarous and superstitious 
 
614 OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 
 
 people." The sacred stock of Odin reigned for a thousand years, and Upsala 
 was the seat of their empire and their religion. The annals of these pontiff- 
 kings possess little that is interesting ; some of them died of drunkenness, 
 and others through the intrigues of their wives or courtiers. In consequence 
 of their connection with Odin, many of them were exalted to the rank of gods 
 or demigods, and received the honors of divine worship. At Upsala was a 
 magnificent heathen temple enriched with gold and precious stones, with 
 idols and images of the deities of War, of Thunder, and of Generation. It 
 was destroyed about the year 1000, at which time the rays of the Gospel are 
 said first to have reached Sweden. For a long time after the religion of the 
 people was a blending of Christianity and Paganism. 
 
 The accession of Gustavus Vasa to the throne, in 1523, is the era of the 
 Reformation in Sweden. He possessed great decision and firmness of charac- 
 ter and the purest patriotism. He made the Lutheran the established church 
 of the land, and exhorted the multitude to embrace the Protestant religion. 
 His bravery and heroic conduct in arousing his countrymen to drive the 
 Danes from the land, and securing its independence, have well earned him 
 the name of " the Washington of Sweden." 
 
 The Dalecarlians, the people through whose aid Vasa drove out the usurp- 
 ing Danes, reside in the mountainous province of Dalecarne, or Dalecarlia, 
 about 100 miles north-west of Upsal. They resemble the Scottish Highlanders, 
 are the most virtuous people of the kingdom, and proud of their ancestral 
 recollections. 
 
 Mr. Maxwell, while at Upsala, visited the famous Dannemora mines, thirty 
 miles north of that city. These are celebrated for producing the best iron in 
 Sweden. Large quantities of it are exported to England and converted into 
 iron. On his route thither he entered one of the peasants' cottages and found 
 the good people making bread. This is done only twice a year in the poorer 
 districts of Sweden. It is made of oatmeal flour, flavored with anise-seed, and 
 formed into little thin cakes, which, before the next semiannual baking, grow 
 as hard as a stone, and are only adapted to the strong teeth of the peasantry. 
 In seasons of scarcity in these northern countries, the inner rind of the fir 
 tree is dried, pulverized, then mixed with rye or oat flour, and made into 
 bread. The principal articles of food in the interior of Sweden are oatmeal 
 porridge, jerked meat, and salt or smoked fish. 
 
 From Dannemora he returned to Stockholm, and soon after left the coun- 
 try. Dr. Baird, when in Sweden, extended his travels much farther north, 
 and visited the Laps ; from information mainly derived from his work we 
 conclude this article. 
 
 The entire nation of Laplanders comprise about 12,000, about one-half of 
 whom dwell in the northern parts of Sweden, and are, doubtless, the original 
 race of the country. Like the Arabs, they are wanderers, and inhabit an 
 immense extent of country. While nominally Christians, they have a great 
 deal of heathenism existing among them — are extremely superstitious, con- 
 sulting omens, etc. Destitute of fixed abodes, they live in tents in summer, 
 and in winter in huts. In the warm season they wear coarse cloth, procured 
 by exchanging the skins of reindeer at the settlements ; their winter dress is 
 
OBSERVATIONS IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. ^15 
 
 formed from the reindeer skins. Their riches consist in their reindeer. The 
 food of this animal, which seems to be absolutely necessary to the existence 
 of these poor people, is the white moss, which grows abundantly on the rocks 
 of the far north. Like all the inhabitants of the Arctic regions, they are very 
 short, only about four and a half feet in height, and strongly built. They 
 travel, as is well known, in the winter, with their reindeer tackled to sledges. 
 With their snow-shoes they can go with ease sixty miles in ten hours. Their 
 moral and religious state has excited the commiseration of Christians ; but 
 the Swedish missionaries find it very difficult to instruct them, owing to their 
 wandering habits, and their extreme filth, from which is generated an odor 
 detrimental to health. 
 
 The Swedes are remarkably well educated, and it is said, scarcely one per- 
 son in a thousand but can read, and but a very few unable to write. This 
 h is not been so much the result of instruction in schools as at the fireside. 
 From generation to generation parents have taught their children. In 1684, 
 Charles XI, required the clergy to see that every individual in their parishes 
 w as taught to read. He also made it a law that no marriage should be cele- 
 brated unless the parties had partaken of the Lord's Supper ; and that none 
 should partake of this ordinance unable to read, and uninstructed in religion. 
 All this has rendered elementary teaching absolutely necessary, and operated 
 to the general diffusion of education. 
 
 The number of learned men, authors and artists in Sweden, is probably 
 greater than in any other country of equal population on the globe. Among 
 those best known to our countrymen may be mentioned Berzelius, the greatest 
 living chemist ; Jenny Lind, and Miss Frederika Bremer, whose beautiful mo- 
 ral tales have delighted thousands in our land. 
 
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