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the chain that connects man with the brute creation.

On their landing, their chief, named Fairry, gave them a most gracious reception, holding out one hand, in token of friendship, and with the other pointing to heaven, and repeat ing "Allah akbar," "God is great." He then led them to a sand hill, kindly offering to carry their arms, and shewed them the desert, with the purpose, no doubt, of letting them know how entirely they were in his power.

"If this was his object, he accomplished it completely; for it was impossible for me to observe without dismay this sea of sand, the horizon of which mingled itself with a sky of fire; and the calm and silent immobility of which was a thousand times more striking than the agitation of the ocean during a tempest."

The politeness of the natives was soon changed for the most capricious tyranny and contempt. By the women, in particular, they were obliged to perform the most abject officesprepare their food, of which they did not deign to give them a share, or dig in the sand for a scanty pittance of brakish water.

Our author was sent off to the ship to assist in searching for argeono, or money. It was in vain to intimate that he could not swim-prompt obedience was necessary, and he contrived, with some difficulty, to get on board.

He found the Africans engaged in a furious attack on two pigs, these unclean animals being the abhorrence of all true Musselmen. Having no provisions but what the ships afforded, and being withal but indifferent judges of salt meat, before eating any part of it they constantly called on our French men to distinguish the beef from the pork, by lowing like cows, or grunting like hogs,

When the ship beat so high that the ladies could go off, they were obliged to act as stepping-stones, to assist them in ascending the ship's sides. “They placed themselves, without ceremony, upon us, and afterwards made use of their hands to finish their clambering. If you consider that they were the most repulsive creatures in the world, and almost destitute of clothing, you will have little difficulty in believing that it was a very singular task for us to supply the place of stepping-stones to these women. It seemed, without doubt, very diverting

to them, for they appeared to take a pleasure in it, which they expressed by shouts of laughter, of the coarsest and most insulting nature that can be imagined.”

The most unreasonable of all their demands, however, was in sending them aloft to unbend the top-sails, The only expedient that occurred to them, to enable them to obey this command, was to cut away the masts.

"During more than two hours, we applied the axe with redoubled force. They gave way at last, but with such a crash, that I was struck with the effect produced by the noise of their fall, reiterated as was, for a long time, among the hillocks of sand, by echoes, of which perhaps, till then, they were unconscious. For the first time, without doubt, the silence of many ages had been disturbed. So violent and transient a commotion, rendered more dreadful still the calm by which it was succeeded, and with which this frightful desert was reinvested, perhaps for ever."

For about ten days they were em ployed in plunder. The natives shew. ed the most astonishing want of dis crimination in their selection of the booty. Money and provisions were the great objects of their aviditybuttons were more valued than dia monds-the finest laces lay neglected on the beach, or were used to tie the mouths of sacks-but, above all, to a literary man, the dispersion of so many works of merit, was most afflicting.

will be for ever deprived of readers!! "How many copies of works of merit have seen thousands of volumes, containing the most opposite sentiments, borne equal ly by the wind into the interior of the de sert."

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"L'autre rendait compte de la bellen. presentation d'Athalie, que recemment en venait de donner avec tant de pompe opera. Je me rappelai avec douleur, qu'un mois s'etait a peine ecoulé depuis que meme j'avais assisté a ce spectacle, j'avois admiré la magnificence. Que de reflexions vinrent alors m'assailir! Je jetai tristement ces feuilles a mes pieds, elles me causaient trop de regrets, par les sou venirs qu'elles me retracoient."

In the midst of these melancholy with a reflexions the captain came up face of satisfaction, announcing the apparition of two" jolies Parisiennes,

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"I had not yet been able to see the divine figures which such elegant equipments led me to ascribe to their wearers. I approached nearer, and, to my great astonishment, under those beautiful coverings, which our Parisian marchandes de modes' had, without doubt, prepared for other heads, I see the horrible Sinné, with his frightful hair, and my maser Hamet, who was no less terrible."

On the 10th of June a party of Bedouin Arabs arrived; they were distinguished from their former friends by the splendour of their dress and arms, and their noble and imposing demeanour; they were commanded by Sidi Hamet, a chief who is well known as having rescued Ryley and his companions, and also the crew of a ship belonging to Glasgow, which was wrecked on the same coast about six years ago. Sidi Hamet purchased the Frenchmen from the natives, and on the 17th set out with them on their route through the desert for Wednoon, or Ouadnoun, as it is here spelt.

A journey in the desert can never become a party of pleasure. The sufferings of the party are related in the same minute and lively manner, but do not admit of abridgment. Previous to their arrival at Wednoon, Sidi Hamet sold them to the Cheik Berouc, who resided there, and from thence they transmitted a statement of their case to Mr Wiltshire, the English Consul at Mogadore.

The French agent there forwarded their case to the consul at Tangier, and through his intervention they were ransomed by the Emperor of Morocco. After remaining three months at Wednoon, during which one of their companions died, they proceeded to Mogadore.

They were now mounted on mules, but their sufferings had not yet ended; exhausted with heat and fatigue after a journey of six days, they arrived at Tarodant, a populous town belong

ing to the Emperor of Morocco; they entered the town in the evening, but, upon the cry of "Nsara !" or "Christians!" the inhabitants pursued them with hootings and imprecations, and they were with some difficulty protected by their escort. They were lodged in a pavilion in a garden belonging to the Emperor, and committed to the charge of two renegades, a Spaniard and an Italian, who treated them with the utmost hospitality and kindness The description of this delicious gar

den recalls the stories of the "Arabian Nights."

"Perhaps none ever passed by such. a sudden transition from a situation so miserable to one so transporting. A mo. ment before we were abandoned to the most painful disquietudes, in the midst of a crowd of infuriated savages, and now, inaccessible as we were to their approach, the tranquillity which was procured us by that isolated state which was the constant

object of all our desires. This change, from one condition to another, was so rapid, that the cries and imprecations which we had heard appeared to us the effect of a dream. The most complete silence reigned around us the noise of some spouting streams of water, and the hollow murmuring of the woods, agitated by a light breeze, alone disturbed the calm of a delightful evening. We found ourselves transported into a garden of vast extent. The darkness prevented us from judging of its beauty, but the perfume of orange trees, with which the air was scented, promised us a delicious abode.

"A magnificent alley, embellished on both sides with groves of that fruit tree, led to a pavilion, situated at the end of the

garden.

"As soon as day-light appeared, I began to examine the place where I was had as yet but an imperfect idea. Advanastonished to find myself, and of which I cing to the terrace, which was contiguous to the pavilion, I beheld the vast extent of the garden, concerning which I could not form a correct judgment the evening before. This first impression which one feels, but cannot express, when the return of day unfolds to view a delightful, and, as yet, unknown situation; the freshness of morning; the perfume exhaled from a thousand orange-trees covered with blossoms; the appearance of so many overflowing fountains, so many sources of enjoyment, to which we had been as yet strangers, left a delicious impression on all our minds.

"The height of the walls which surround the garden first arrested my attention: they are as high as those of the town, and indented in the same manner.

The

How Mr Casaccia received such an embrace before their toilet was made, we are not informed.

pavilion, propped against them, is situated towards the north, opposite the governor's palace. A single inclosure of walls surrounds the palace, and the garden separates them from the town, and serves them for a

rampart. In one of the towers, raised at certain distances on the walls, was seen a piece of ordnance. It appeared to be intended, in time of war, for driving away an enemy who might be tempted to approach the town on the side of the pavilion.

"This pavilion, composed of five rooms, the largest of which is in the middle of the other four, is remarkable for its commodious arrangement, and the elegance of its decorations. It has three entrances : the principal one, facing the avenue of orange trees, is fronted by a terrace and a gallery which has three openings arched above. The two others are on the right and left of the building. Nothing can be imagined richer than the ornaments of the principal division, though it had been stript of its state, and of the furniture which embellished it during the abode of the Sultan. The ceiling of wood, painted of different colours, and in imitation of a tent, particularly attracted my notice, from the skill displayed in the work. A crown of gilded suns, fixed on the wall, and much resembling stucco, formed the elegant border which encompassed the room at the top, immediately under the ceiling, and the floor of the chamber was a sort of Mosaic, composed of an immense number of polished stones of different colours. The doors, although defaced by age, still shone with gilding, which was well preserved. An im mense orange tree, and a date tree, loaded with fruit, reached the terrace contiguous to the building, and mingled their foliage with the green tiles which covered it."

Nothing was wanting to their satisfaction here but a change of clothes and clean linen, a luxury they had not enjoyed since their shipwreck; they were consequently covered with rags and vermin. In this state they proceeded to Magadore, where they arrived on the 13th of October. Their delight on beholding the town and shipping could only be equalled by meeting a person in the European dress.

"In a moment, without asking any information, without demanding either his rank or his name, we stretched out our arms towards him, well satisfied that the first European who offered himself to our view could not but be a brother, sensible of our misfortunes. We mingled our embraces, without having, at first, the power to pronounce a single word; and the emotion of that Christian, more than his words, announced to us that we held in our em. brace M. Casaccia."

We shall not detain our readers with their succeeding adventures, nor with Mr Cochelet's remarks on the present state of Morocco, which contain little either of importance or novelty; but as every visitor to Africa is expected to clear up some of the mysteries respecting the interior of that vast continent, we cannot pass over the "Nouveaux renseign mens sur la ville de Timectou," so pompously announced in the titlepage. During their stay at Wednoon, a Moorish merchant arrived fromTombuctoo, or Timectou, as our author chooses to spell it, and he endeavoured to acquire some information from him concerning it; but it seems the Moor told so many lies, and exaggerated so much, that no reliance could be placed on his account. Hamar, a Moorish servant of his master the Cheik Berouc, observing his anxiety, told him, he was acquainted with a merchant who had visited that city, and on this hearsay account he affects to doubt of the reality of the visits made by Robert Adams or Sidi Hamet to Tombuctoo.

The account given by Hamar is, that, about seven years before, a merchant of Rabat proposed to him to accompany him to Tombuctoo, which Hamar agreed to; but on their arrival at Wednoon, the intelligence that a caravan had perished in the desert, deterred him from proceeding; but Sidi Mahommed, his companion, went on, and on his return informed him, that, after suffering great hardships, he arrived on the fortieth day after his departure from Wednoon at Taudeny, a town inhabited partly by Negroes and partly by Arabs. After staying there some time, he quitted it, and in fifteen days more, reached Tombuctoo, a city about three times the size of Fez, (which, we are told in a note, contains about 90,000 inhabitants.) At the period of their arrival they had only quitted the desert four days. The first appearance of the city, situated in an immense plain, was very striking, and its extent greatly surpassed the expectation of Sidi Mahommed. The gates were shut when the caravan armusket, a guard of about a hundred rived, but on the sentry firing off his Negroes armed with darts, daggers, and some muskets, came out from the city and pointed out a place for them

to remain without the walls. After trading with the inhabitants, chiefly in tobacco, for which they received gold dust and ornaments of the same metal, at the end of six days they were admitted within the walls, and lodged in the quarter of the Moors which is situated near the King's palace. The interior of this building was richly adorned with gold; the Sultan had only reigned two years, 1813 and 1814, having succeeded to his father, who had been assassinated. During their stay, a number of slaves were brought in from Bambarra. Sidi Mahommed estimated their numbers at three thousand. He purchased twenty-five for goods, which were only valued at five hundred franks. These slaves were sold principally to the Moors, who carried them across the desert to Morocco. The interior of the city resembled an immense camp, or rather a number of separate encampments, the houses being insulated and scattered about without regard to order or symmetry. A river named Quaddi Soudan, flowed about two leagues to the south; the road between it and the city was constantly crowded with Negroes bearing burdens on their heads, and camels loaded with merchandise. The river was covered with vessels, many of them of considerable size, which, Sidi Ma

hommed was informed, came from Djinné, and navigated a great distance towards the east.

Beyond the river, about half a day's journey to the south of Tombuctoo, is a small town called Oualadi, the environs of which are very fertile, and from which the capital draws its chief supply of provisions.

An epidemic disease, which raged at the time, determined Sidi Mahommed to hasten his departure. He experienced fresh disasters on his return, and lost several of his slaves in the desert, but, on the whole, his expedition proved a profitable one.

M. Cochelet infers, that Adams could not have visited Tombuctoo, merely because he never heard the circumstance mentioned by Hamar, his informer, who had been more than six years resident at Wednoon. If such an objection required an answer, it would be found in the account of Sidi Mahommed, which, as far as it goes, confirms that given by Adams, parti cularly in the relative position of that city and the Niger, for the Quadi, Soudan, and Niger, are evidently the same, or rather one of its branches, which issue from the lake Dibbie. We may add, that Monsieur Lapie, in his notes to the map that accompanies the work, states his conviction that Adams must have visited Tombuctoo.

NODIER'S PROMENADE.*

We are about to introduce our readers to one of the most entertaining little volumes we have lately met with, and we shall perform our duty in as few words as possible. It is the "Promenade en Ecosse," of Monsieur Charles Nodier, a very pleasant and ingenious Frenchman, not wholly unknown to the republic of letters, and who, for some real or imputed fault, had the misfortune, some years ago, to be very severely abused by the Quarterly Review. The work which gave rise to the castigation of the reviewers we never read, and are, therefore, unqualified to say any thing of its merits; but judging from the present volume, we are quite at a loss to conceive, what there could be in the

works of so sprightly and agreeable a writer to occasion any angry feelings in a reviewer. The truth is, we have always looked on the luminaries of the Quarterly as nothing better than a set of "respectable Hottentots," and in all matters of wit, spirit, and jocularity, as Sir Fletcher Norton said of the House of Commons, we care no more for their decisions than we should for those of a set of drunken porters. They are a very decent, grave, and well-meaning set of persons, no doubt, and qualified to write with much learning and decorum on Bellamy's Bible, or Butler's Eschylus, but in every thing connected with the "petites morales," life, humour, and the " scαvoir vivre," we are convinced that this

Promenade from Dieppe to the Mountains of Scotland. By Charles Nodier. Translated from the French. 12mo. Blackwood, Edinburgh; Cadell, London, 1822.

Magazine affords the only true court of appeal. It is in this work only that such an author can expect to meet a spirit congenial to his own,-it is in this alone, of all the heavy, lumbering, unread, and unreadable periodicals which issue monthly and quarterly from the groaning press, that an author of light, sportive, and excursive genius, will be tried by his peers, and find the full enjoyment of his beauties mingled with the most rigorous detection of his faults. From such an ordeal, Monsieur Charles Nodier has no reason to shrink. There is a great deal of truth and spirit in his volume, and though his shots are not sixtyfour pounders, yet they are in general pretty true to the mark. It is at all events matter of curiosity to know what a true bred and liberal minded Frenchman thinks and reports to his countrymen of our institutions and manners. We all know what the world says of our science, our philosophy, and our literature, or at least we know what the world should say, and it is the world's fault if it does not speak truth. In philosophy, we can compare our advancement with the progress of other nations, and ascertain, by minute and accurate comparison, our situation in the scale. With regard to habits, manners, and refinement, the case is very different. We have no accurate standard by which we can judge; and if we had, prejudice would prevent our adopting it. We can judge very well of the manners of other nations, and detect the sole cisms into which they habitually fall. But custom covers many defects; and barbarisms, in which we have long indulged, gradually cease to appear barbarisms in our eyes. Of our own manners, therefore,-of our own advancement in the scale of domestic refinement, we cannot judge. A Manchester manufacturer sees nothing gross in the manners of Manchester society. A Glasgow Bailie's ideas of official dignity and senatorial eloquence, are very naturally formed from the language and deportment of the Town Council, and he judges of fashionable life from what he has had an opportunity of observing at the parties of the Lady Provost or Mrs Dean of Guild. On this account, it is a matter both of curiosity and instruction, to learn the impression which our native peculiarities produce on foreigners who have

had sufficient opportunities of becoming acquainted with our domestic habits; and it is in this point of view principally, that we think the “Promenade" of Monsieur Nodier will attract public attention in this quarter of the island. We shall therefore proceed at once to give our readers an ample taste of the qualities of Monsieur Nodier, without troubling them with any further preamble. The narrative is contained in a series of letters to his wife, to whom he writes in a tone of affectionate regard, calculated, we hope, to excite some ridicule in the polite circles of Paris. Our author starts from Dieppe, and after weathering a considerable storm on his passage, is safely landed at Brighton in the month of July, last year. In the following passage he gives rather a flowery description of an English stage-coach, which is certainly calculated to excite the admiration of a Frenchman, whose limbs have been habituated to the detestable jolting of a diligence.

"I continued my journey along a road without ruts, without jolting, without any embarrassments, in a commodious elegant vehicle, adorned with taste, drawn, or rather carried away by four beautiful horses, all alike, all with the same pace, who devoured the distance, champing bits of the most splendid polish, and starting and

snorting under a harness of a rich and noble simplicity. A coachman in livery drove them, and a handsome neat postillion urged them on. Every two leagues, postillions, attentive, civil, neither impertinent nor in liquor, brought out fresh horses just like the first, which we could see striking the ground at a distance, as if eager and impatient for the career they were to go through. Though the distance to London is not great, no delicate attentions which could

embellish it were omitted by the enchanters who led me along. Half-way, an officious major-domo introduced me into a magnificent saloon, in which were served all sorts of refreshments-limpid tea, which sparkled in china; frothy porter, which foamed in silver; and, on another table, choice, copious, varied dishes, watered with Port. After this I set out again, and the eager coursers--but perhaps it is time to take breath, and to say, in more positive terms, that England is the first country in the world for its horses, public carriages, and inns. The magnificent equipage I have just mentioned was the diligence, and the caravansera of the Arabian Nights, a café on the high-road. One might easily, in the environs of London, comprehend the mistake of Don Quixote, who took inns for castles.

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