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real man, created by his coming between the vapour and the sun. Perhaps, the aërial beings, that have been said to people the Highland mountains, may be traced to some such origin."

The author subsequently pursues his romantic and sentimental course over the acclivities of Cumberland and Yorkshire; but one mountain scene is so like another, that each narrative is like an ofttold tale. However, as he finds prose inadequate to the expression of his feelings, he has closed the volume with sixty pages of rhymes, better adapted than his prose to the objects of his narrative.

A Picturesque Tour along the River Ganges and Jumna, in India; with Illustrations, Historical and Descriptive. By Lieut.-Col. Forrest. Fol. pp. 50. Ackerman.

By the finished manner in which the third number of this interesting work has been brought out, it realizes a strong claim to public estimation and patronage, and does great credit to the taste of Mr. Ackerman. We are glad to see the increase of works of illustration. They form a nursery for artists, while they add to the general amount of topographical information. The more doors are open to scientific aspiration the better. The human faculties expand more effectually while in a state of exercise; and, although neither books nor pictures ought to spring up like mushrooms; because, like those delicious daughters of the dew-dropping morn, they are rarely rich in flavor or delicate in colour, when produced too rapidly, yet the mind and the hand obtain a facility of thought and execution, of which we have little idea till called upon.

The success which Mr. Ackerman's Tour of the Rhine met with (a success which its merit amply deserved) has, we doubt not, prompted him to undertake the present; and, however beautiful the former the Tour of the Ganges is by no means inferior to it. It exactly corresponds with it in the mode of getting up, and forms an admirable companion to it, well calculated to adorn the shelves of the bibliopolist, or the tables of the connoisseur. A picturesque tour of the Ganges, indeed, has been long a desideratum. Daniel's views in India have done much towards familiarizing Europeans with the general aspect of Indian scenery; and, in many of his views, some of the prominent portions of the Ganges are introduced. But a work relating solely to that celebrated river, and comprehending its most interesting features, has, we believe, been hitherto unattempted. A brief history of India accompanies the plates, and affords the reader a knowledge of the manners and customs of the country. One of the plates, (a Hindoo Ghaut on the Ganges,) possesses striking merit, as well on account of the beautiful objects it exhibits, as the chastity of the style. To the lover of romantic scenery-upland and river, lake and glen, and to the scientific admirer of an order of architecture, novel and graceful as the costume of the architects, where the shadowy depths of uncultivated nature are contrasted with the brilliant tints of picturesque temples, and the luxuriant magnificence of eternal summer, the artist has contributed a rich and variable banquet of the purest delights. The voice of antique poesy seems to breathe and shed a

hallowed glow over the picturings of the native land of mythological fable, and to sanctify, as well as confirm, the fidelity of the representation.

Tour on the Continent, in France, Switzerland, and Italy, in the Years 1817 and 1818. By Roger Hog, Esq. Author of Adelaide De Grammont, &c. &c.-8vo. 8s. pp. 859.

THE fashion of travelling, and the fashion of writing, in the present day, are both so common, that the works of our tourists form no inconsiderable portion of the productions of the press. It appears to us, that if the numerous travellers who give their observations to the public, instead of applying themselves to furnish light sofareading, or extravagant delineations of character, had directed their attention more pointedly to the moral blemishes which they might have discerned in the communities where they have visited, they would render a greater service to the countries of which they treat, as well as to mankind in general; than by giving in to superficial levities or excess, either of commendation or censure. It is not the abstract propensity to see foreign countries that is to be sometimes deplored; it is the visiting them with wrong dispositions, with unprepared minds, and the consequent imitation of the evil rather than the good they exhibit, and the expatriation of thousands better employed at home. It would be unjust, however, to deny that we have received benefits from becoming acquainted with the other nations of Europe. France, if she has furnished a bane, has often supplied an antidote; and there are many respects in which the tone of society has been improved, and the cast of our manners refined, by a free intercourse with the continent.

There is another obvious view, in which travellers might unite the utile dulci: for instance, the different effects of climate on the moral and physical construction of a people, as an important, though neglected, duty of the truly initiated traveller. The entrance of a mountain region is marked by as great a diversity in the aspect and manners of the population, as in the external objects by which they are surrounded nor is the transition from the level plain of Lombardy to the rugged precipices of the Alps greater than from the crouching appearance of the Italian peasant to the frank and martial air of the freeborn mountaineer. None of these speculations, however, nor others less physiological with which they are connected, seem to have occupied much of Mr. Hog's contemplation. He appears to have determined to travel, and to write a book, and, by dint of writing, currente calamo, (that is, with nearly, if not equal, rapidity, as he travelled over the ground, he describes ;) he has, in effect, produced a succession of peristrephic scenery, which, by variety and animation, make amends for the want of keeping, as well as for the deficiency in scientific perspective and classical scenery.

Mr. Hog begins his narrative at Calais, whence he proceeds to Paris, by way of Brussels and Waterloo; and having visited and described all the memorabilia of the capital, he proceeds from thence to Geneva, by way of Auxerre and Maun. When he arrived at the summit of Montanvert, he found there a large party of English and others, some

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of whom were at the same hotel as himself. Of the scenery from hence, our traveller says, to have any true idea of it, it must be seen. The Mer de Glace itself, with its frozen peak, just beneath the stupendous Peak de Dru, like an immense black obelisk, glazed with ice, opposite, on the other side of it and the more distant rocks and vallies, are the most remarkable objects which present themselves towards the south. On the north side the view of the valley, the Arve winding through it, and the village of Chamouny all lying like a map before you, are no less singular looking than romantic.

"The Mer de Glace in its descent to the source of the Arveron, resembles a vast river flowing down the side of the mountain, and suddenly arrested by the power of frost, with high pyramids of ice of a sea-green colour, rising out of it. There is in fact, a magnificent cascade flowing over the ice, on that side of the Mer de Glace which is next the Chemin de Chevres. After visiting Berne, where the singular headdresses of the females principally attract our traveller's notice, we accompany our traveller over the Alps to Milan, and from thence to Lucca, Florence, and Naples.” Of Pompeii, Mr. Hog says,

"The first place you see is, what was either a forum or barrack for soldiers, of a square form with doric columns of tuffstone plaistered over, the lower part of them plain and the upper part fluted: they are painted red and yellow. Adjoining this, are three theatres. Farther on you come to the temple of Isis, from whence a great. number of pictures and other things were taken, as likewise skeletons found. Near this is another temple, which has been the finest of the town, but much more dilapidated. One or two of the public buildings have been repaired so as to imitate antiquity in reticular work of tuffstone, (that is to say, of lava,) with flat architraves over the doors, which is the style of building at Pompeii; this, however, though it may give us more accurate ideas of what the buildings once were, I cannot approve of, as it may lead in time to suspicions, as to the antiquity of the others. The streets are very narrow, not broad enough for two carriages to pass, and paved with lava; on each side are shops of different descriptions. The houses built of brick or lava plaistered over, are without roofs, and have no windows to the streets. They are built round a court, with a cistern in the centre, into which the chambers, open like the cloisters of a convent. The chambers are small and without windows, being lighted by means of a door; they are paved with mosaic, and the walls painted in fresco, or coloured with red, yellow, or blue."

The "eternal city" has been so often and so well described before, that we shall restrict ourselves from following Mr. Hog through his systematic account of it. Of St. Peter's, he says,

"In approaching it, it does not appear so large as it really is. When you arrive at the magnificent circular colonnade, with the obelisk, and the two fine fountains which adorn the centre of-it, it has more the appearance of a grand palace than a church. Beautiful as the interior of the church is, in looking from the altar to the east end by which you enter it, and which in gothic churches, from the large window of painted glass generally placed there is frequently the grandest part of the church, I must confess the inferiority of the Grecian architecture compared with the gothic in this part of the edifice.

"In walking round the church, which does not stand in an elevated spot like St. Paul's; neither is there a proper drive all round it, it resembles a great gigantic castle or palace, with vast doric pilasters, and three large bows at the sides and eastern extremity. It is built of a sort of coarse brownish marble, called travestino. There is a passage, I believe, in many parts of it, in the thickness of the walls, so that they may be considered in a manner as double. It certainly is destined to last as long as the works of antiquity. In my opinion, the exterior of St. Paul's, taken altogether, is finer than that of St. Peter's, though I certainly must give the preference to the dome of the latter."

Here we take leave of Mr. Hog; which we do with thanks for a sensible and unaffected, if not scientific and profound, narrative of travels. It is, in fact, with regret that we enumerate or dwell on the relics of Italy's past greatness. The spectacle of a great nation deprived of its political existence, and oppressed by a foreign yoke, notwithstanding its extent, its genius, and the records of its past greatness,

is deeply afflicting to the philosophical observer. Reason and sentiment are alike attracted to the solution of a moral phenomena; which, while it abases human pride, disinherits the civilized world of one of its most illustrious families.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Journal of a Residence in Ashantee. By Joseph Dupuis, Esq. late his Majesty's Envoy and Consul-general for this Kingdom. Illustrated with a Map and Plates.-4to. pp. 400.

MR. Dupuis's work is deeply interesting at the present time, and will continue to obtain new interest from every fresh arrival from the country which forms the subject of his publication. It describes a powerful African nation, hitherto little known to us, but whose power we have recently experienced to our disadvantage. Barbot and

Bosman mention the Ashantees as first heard of by Europeans about the year 1700. Mr. Dupuis says, that they constituted a powerful nation as early as 1640. In 1807, an Ashantee army reached the coast for the first time; again in 1811; and a third time in 1816; in all which invasions, great miseries were inflicted on the Fantees. Famine followed these devastations, and Cape Coast Castle was much endangered by the long blockade of the last inroads. It was on this account that the mission in which the late Mr. Bowditch bore so conspicuous a part, was sent to conciliate the King of the Ashantees. By the treaty then signed, peace was established between the English Government and the Ashantees; and a British officer was to reside, in quality of ambassador, at the court of Coomassee; but the germ of future dissension remained; the speech of the king, in taking leave of the mission, was remarkable; and indicates the chief cause of the late unfortunate collision which ended in the defeat and death of Sir C. Macarthy. "I will thank you," he said, "to impress on the King of England, that I have sworn not to renew the war with the Fantees, out of respect to him.—I hope, therefore, he will, in return, consider whether he cannot renew the Slave Trade, which will be good for me."

Mr. Dupuis's journal is divided into two portions; the first contains the particulars of his journey to Coomassee, comprising a very full description of the laws, manners, and customs, of the Ashantees; the second is dedicated to the geography of Western Africa, and contains much valuable information, calculated to be of the utmost advantage to individuals who, in future, may be induced to travel in this singular country; and the clear, precise, and unpretending style in which it is conveyed, augments its value, and corroborates its credibility.

We shall not here enter into the question, Whether the Ashantees or the colonial government were to blame in the originating the late unfortunate hostilities. In Mr. Dupuis's opinion, the censure belongs to the latter; and he considers the King of the Ashantees as friendly to the British government and its colonists on the Gold Coast. It is, however, sufficiently obvious, that, if there was no want of justice on the side of the colonial authorities, there was a great deficiency of

prudence in estimating their relative strength, and calculating future consequences.

The description of Mr. Dupuis's reception at Coomassee, is less striking than that which Mr. Bowditch furnished. There is, however, sufficient of "barbaric pomp and gold," in the following narrative of King Sai's appearance :

"The royal chair was a specimen of some ingenuity; yet the workmanship was rude. Its arms and legs were carved from the solid into grotesque forms, and embossed with little ornamental casts of gold. Several Caboceers in waiting were decorated with massive gold breast-plates, chains of the same metal, and solid lumps of rock-gold, of the weight, perhaps, of a pound or more each. The royal messengers stood behind the king, shouldering by the blades large crooked sabres, the emblems of their offices, and displaying the reversed hilt, cased in thin gold sheeting. In another position, at the back of the king's chair, a select few stood erect as guards, and were armed with common English muskets in gold casing, and habited in grotesque apparel, which consisted of a large helmet, or plume of feathers of the Argus bird, sloping backward over the head, in form not very unlike those which, according to history, were worn by the inhabitants of America, and particularly in the Empire of Mexico, by the warriors of that nation. In front of the plume, was an arching pair of ram's horns, cased in gold, and attached by the centre to several chains and amulets, neatly sheathed in morocco leather. A skull-cap united the whole, and a long tyger's tail flowed down over a close-bodied jacket that concealed every part but the arms in a perfect mail of magical charms; also richly ornamented in gold and silver, or stained leather. A simple covering of cloth girded about the loins, fell half way down the thigh, and left the rest of the body bare. In addition to guns, the weapons and accoutrements of these officers were bows, and a queue of poisoned arrows suspended from the back by a belt, which, at the same time, supported the weight of a string of case-knives and a powder pouch. The most ludicrous part of the equipment consisted in a large gold and silver or iron bell suspended by a rope that girded the loins which overhung the posteriors, causing at every moment a dull tinkling sound, like the pasturing bells used in Spain. Over these bells were suspended gold and silver epaulettes of European fabrication. Some of the officers wore small turbans of silk taffety or figured cotton and muslin; and besides were decently dressed in robes of variously striped cottons folded round the loins, and gracefully turned over the left shoulder exactly as the hayk is worn by the Arabs of the western and southern deserts. The king was modestly habited in a large hayk of figured cotton, cast off from both shoulders, and resting negligently in loose folds upon the loins and thighs. From his naked shoulder was suspended a thick silk plait or cord, to which was attached a string of amulets, cased in gold, silver, and silk. A massive gold chain embraced his waist in the form of a zone below the navel, and a variety of clumsy gold rings covered his fingers, thumbs, and toes. On the left knee he wore a bandage or fillet of silk and plaited weeds interwoven with gold beads and amulets, terminating in a tasteful tissue that hung as low as the calf of the leg."

A resemblance of the Ashantee costume to the Mexican, has been before remarked. Both, in fact, resemble the Egyptian. Mr. Dupuis's parting with the king is worth quoting, as affording an example of African manners:—

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'Stop,' said the king, as I held him with a parting grasp of the hand, your are going, and I must do you good: open your hand.' I did so, and, to my astonishment, he spat in it, while I made an involuntarily start to retire it from his hold. My aversion to the royal bounty excited the most lively astonishment in all present, except Mr. Collins and Mr. Salmon.

"The military resources of the King of Ashantee, (says Mr. Dupuis,) are great indeed, without casting into the scale his preponderating influence in Sarem and Dagomba. The Bashaw, Mohammed, assured me that the armies of Ashantee that fought at Gaman amounted to upwards of 80,000 men, (without including the camp attendants, such as women and boys,) of whom, at one time, above 7000 were Moslems, who fought under his orders. Of the 80,000, the king can put muskets and blunderbusses into the hands of from 40 to 50,000. The issue of the war which restored the sovereignty of Gaman to the King of Ashantee, must unquestionably have increased his military strength to the extent of 20 or 30,000 more men; although it is true the relics of those tribes who sub

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