point of the island, two other bays, of considerable extent, penetrate some distance into the country. They are distinguished by the appellations of Fortune and Despair. No settlements have yet been made on their coasts, and they are but little frequented. Cape Ray, together with the island of Saint Paul, about fifteen leagues distant from it, forms the entrance into the gulph of St Lawrence; and vessels sailing thither, must pass, in clear weather, in sight of the one, or of the other. Besides the bays already noticed, this island contains a variety of others, particularly on the eastern coast, among which two are remarkable for their extent; those of Trinity and Conception. Near the latter is the harbour of Saint John, which is secure and well fortified.

Bordered by dark and gloomy rocks, which exhibit a barren, inhospitable appearance, the country, on a nearer view of its soil, belies not the character of its rude uninviting features, which amid their nakedness display neither grandeur nor sublimity. At a league distant from the entrance of Saint John's harbour, no opening in the coast is discernable. A white tower, raised on a precipitous eminence, seems rather intended as a mark to warn vessels of the danger of approaching the rocky shore, than as a beacon to conduct them to a place of safety. On a nearer examination of it, its strength becomes apparent, and no hostile vessel can enter, with impunity, the narrow chasm beneath. This structure, situated on a part of the precipice, on the south side of the entrance of Saint John, is named Fort Amherst. The inlet, called the Narrows, exceeds not five hundred feet in width. On each side towards the north, the rocks rise to the altitude of four hundred feet; but on the south shore, they are of less elevation.

Heath, juniper, and wild spruce, the offspring of sterility, sparingly cover the rocky surface. The appear

ance of the harbour and its environs, is, nevertheless, wild and picturesque. In proceeding farther up the inlet, a battery called South-Fort is placed on the left; and another named Chain-Rock on the right. At a considerable elevation above these, several forts are seen. A rock, in the form of a cone, is crowned with a battery, constructed under the direction of the late Sir James Wallace, who, in 1796, was vice-admiral on the station, and governor of the island; and with a fifty-gun ship, two frigates and two sloops of sixteen guns each, made a gallant and succesful defence against the attacks of Admiral Richery, whose force consisted of seven ships of the line, and three frigates.

Viewed from the summit of this eminence, the town and the scaffolds on which the fish are placed to dry, present a singular appearance. These scaffolds are generally forty feet high, and consist of several stages, on the rafters of each of which a quantity of brushwood is placed. They are sufficiently strong to support the weight of the green fish, and also, occasionally, of one or two men. These are erected in every situation, as well in the vallies, as on the margins of the perpendicular rocks.

The town of St John borders on the basin, and its situation affords no attractions, except to those whom interest or necessity induces to consult the advantage, rather than the plea sure, arising from diversity of local si tuation. It contains a church and two chapels, one for the catholic religion the others for persons of the methodis persuasion; also a court-house, and custom-house.

An officer of the customs was, unti lately, placed at the head of the lay department, and decided not only i civil, but in criminal causes. A ger tleman who has been bred to the ba at present fills the situation of judg of the island. The buildings are mean and the streets narrow and dirty. Fo

Town

Townshend is placed above the town, and contains the house allotted for the governor, with the store-houses and magazines, which form a square.From hence, the entrance, the harbour, the narrows sunk between elevated precipices, and the water, covered with small vessels, passing and re-passing, form a lively and busy scene; these, together with the town, and the adjacent country, diversified by lakes with verdant borders, exhibit, in the midst of a barren wild, a combination which may, for a short period, afford the charms of novelty. Over a place called the barns, is a road which leads from Fort Townshend to Fort William, commanding the narrows and the harbour. With the latter, Signal-hill, from whence the approach of ships is announced, communicates. Its perpendicular height from the sea is four hundred and four feet, and it contains, on its summit, two ponds, affording excellent

water.

The bay of Bulls lies about twenty-eight miles from Saint John's. The internal parts of the island have never yet been explored by the English. A very small portion of land is at present cultivated, as neither the soil nor climate are favourable to productions necessary for the support of life. The duration of summer is too short; and no kind of grain has sufficient time to arrive at maturity. The winter breaks up in May; and, until the end of September, the air is temperate, during which the progress of vegetation is sufficiently rapid. Hay and grass are here of a very indifferent quality. The land is so sparingly covered with soil, that much labour and expence are necessary to produce a crop, which but poorly recompences the industry of the husbandman. The quantity of ground used for the purposes of cultivation is therefore very small, and the prohibition of the parent state against attempts to colonize, are, by the sterile nature of the

country, rendered almost unnecessary. The fishermen are, in times of warfare, enjoined to return to England; and the merchant is authorized, to retain from the wages of each person in his employ, a certain proportion as a provision, in case of incapacity from poverty or sickness, for any individual to return to his country. By this prudent regulation, no seaman, thus engaged, can be lost to the service of. the state.

The English and French long shared between them the privilege of drying their fish on the coasts of this island; the latter occupying the southern and northern parts, and the former the eastern shores. The interior is composed of mountains, covered with woods of an indifferent quality. The animals found here, are foxes, porcupines, hares, squirrels, lynxes, otters, beavers, wolves, and bears. The chace is difficult, and unattended with profit. The land and water-fowl are, partridges, snipes, woodcocks, falcons, geese, ducks, and penguins. In the bays and rivers are found fish of various kinds, such as salmon, eels, herring, mackarel, plaice, trout, and almost every description of shell-fish.

The territory which was requisite to prepare the cod-fish, belonged, at first, to any person who took possession; and from this inconvenience a source of frequent discord arose. The property of that part of the coast, of which he made choice, was at length, by the interference of government, sccured to each fisherman. By this judicious arrangement, expeditions thither were multiplied so greatly, that in 1615, vessels from the British dominions, equal in all to fifteen thousand tons, were employed in the fishery.

The value of this island soon became apparent, not only as a source of national wealth, arising from the exchange of fish for the various productions and luxuries, which the southern parts of Europe afford, but what is

still of greater importance, as a principal nursery for the navy.

The property of this island was, by the peace of Utrecht, confirmed to Great Britain; and the subjects of France preserved only the right of fishing from Cape Bonavista northwards, and to Cape Rich on the opposite side. This line of demarcation was afterwards altered, and placed at Cape Ray, on the western side of the island.

The floating masses of ice, which pass in the vicinity of the eastern coast, and sometimes enter the straits of Belisle, in the summer months, exhibit to mariners an awful and singular spectacle. These enormous mounds, the accumulated operation of cold for a series of years, in the arctic regions, are detached from the coasts near Hudson's Bay, and Davis's Straits, by storms, and other causes. They sometimes exceed an hundred and forty feet in altitude; and their basis beneath the sea, usually doubles those dimensions. Rivulets of fresh water, produced by their gradual dissolution, distil from their summits. We had an opportunity of viewing three of these stupendous piles by the light of the moon, whose rays, reflected in various directions, from their glassy surface, produced an effect no less pleasing than novel. They become either stranded in shallow water, until they are melted down, or grow so porous, that they subside under the surface of the ocean. In fogs, and even in the gloom of night, they are discoverable at some distance, by the cold which they emit, and by their whiteness and effulgence.

Singular Exploits of the EARL of

PETERBOROUGH in SPAIN. (From Carleton's Memoirs.) WH HILE the Earl staid a few days at this place (Tortosa,) under expectation of the promised succours

from Barcelona, he received a propri (or express) from the king of Spain,! full of excuses, instead of forces.And yet the very same letter, in a pa radoxical manner, commanded him, at all events, to attempt the relief of Santo Mattheo, where Colonel Jones commanded, and which was then under siege by the Conde de los Torres, (as was the report,) with upwards of three thousand men. The Earl of

True

Peterborow could not muster above one thousand foot, and about two hundred horse; a small force to make an attempt of that nature upon such a superior power: Yet the Earl's vivacity, (as will be occasionally further observed in the course of these Memoirs,) never much regarded numbers, so there was but room, by any stratagem, to hope for success. it is, for his greater encouragement and consolation, the same letter intimated, that a great concourse of the country people being in arms, to the number of many thousands, in favour of King Charles, and wanting only officers, the enterprize would be easy, and unattended with much danger. But, upon mature enquiry, the Earl found that great body of men all in nubibus; and that the Conde, in the plain truth of the matter, was much stronger than the letter at first represented.

Santo Mattheo was a place of known importance; and that from its situation, which cut off all communication between Catalonia and Valencia; and, consequently, should it fall into the hands of the enemy, the Earl's design upon the latter must inevitably have been postponed. It must be granted, the commands for attempting the relief of it were pressing and peremptory; nevertheless, the Earl was very conscious to himself, that as the promised reinforcements were suspended, his officers would not approve of the attempt upon the foot of such vast inequalities; and their own declared sentiments soon confirmed the

dictates

dictates of the Earl's reason. He therefore addresses himself to those officers in a different manner: He told them, he only desired they would be passive, and leave it to him to work his own way. Accordingly, the Earl found out, and hired two Spanish spies, for whose fidelity, (as his great precaution always led him to do,) he took suficient security; and dispatched them with a letter to Colonel Jones, governor of the place, intimating his readiness, as well as ability, to relieve him; and, above all, exhorting him to have the Miquelets in the town ready, on sight of his troops, to issue out, pursue, and plunder; since that would be all they would have to do, and all he would expect at their hands. The spies were dispatched accordingly; and, pursuant to instructions, one betrayed and discovered the other, who had the letter in charge to deliver to Colonel Jones. The Earl, to carry on the feint, having in the mean time, by dividing his troops, and marching secretly over the mountains, drawn his men together, so as to make their appearance on the height of a neighbouring mountain, little more than cannon-shot from the enemy's camp, the tale of the spies was fully confirmed, and the Conde, (tho' an able general,) marched off with some precipitation with his army; and by that means the Earl's smaller number of twelve hundred, had liberty to march into the town without interruption. I must not let slip an action of Colonel Jones's just before the Earl's delivery of them. The Conde, for want of artillery, had set his miners to work and the Colonel, finding they had made some dangerous advances, turned the course of a rivulet, that ran through the middle of the town, in upon them, and made them quit a work they thought was brought to perfection.

Santo Mattheo being relieved, as I have said, the Earl, though he had so far gained his ends, left not the flying

enemy without a feint of pursuit; with such caution, nevertheless, that in case they should happen to be better informed of his weakness, he might have a resource either back again to Santo Mattheo, or to Vinaros on the seaside; or some other place, as occasion might require. But having just before received fresh advice, that the reinforcements he expected were anew countermanded; and that the Duke of Anjou had increased his troops to twelve thousand men; the officers, not enough elated with the last success to adventure upon new experiments, resolved, in a council of war, to advise the Earl, who had just before received a discretionary commission in lieu of troops, so to post the forces under him, as not to be cut off from being able to assist the king in person, or to march to the defence of Catalonia in case of necessity.

Pursuant to this resolution of the council of war, the Earl of Peterborow, though still intent upon his expedition into Valencia, (which had been afresh commanded, even while his supplies were countermanded,) orders his foot, in a truly bad condition, by tedious marches day and night over the mountains, to Vinaros; and with his two hundred horse, set out to prosecute his pretended design of pursuing the flying enemy; resolved, if possible, notwithstanding all seemingly desperate circumstances, to perfect the security of that capital.

To that purpose, the Earl, with his small body of patrolers, went on frightening the enemy, till they came under the walls of Nules, a town fortified with the best walls, regular towers, and in the best repair of any in that kingdom. But even here, upon the appearance of the Earl's forlorn, (if they might not properly at that time all have passed under that character,) under the same panic they left that fencible town, with only one thousand of the town's people, well armed, for the defence of it. Yet was

it scarce to be imagined, that the Earl, with his small body of two hundred horse, should be able to gain admission; or, indeed, under such circumstances, to attempt it. But, bold as the undertaking was, his good genius went along with him ; and so good a genius was it, that it rarely left him without a good effect. He had been told the day before, that the enemy, on leaving Nules, had got possession of Villa Real, where they put all to the sword. What would have furnished another with terror, inspired his lordship with a thought as fortunate as it was successful. The Earl rides up to the very gates of the town, at the head of his party, and peremptorily demands the chief,magistrate, or a priest, immediately to be sent out to him; and that under penalty of being all put to the sword, and used as the enemy had used those at Villa Real the day or two before. The troops, that had so lately left the place, had left behind them more terror than men; which, together with the peremptory demand of the Earl, soon produced some priests to wait upon the General. By their readiness to obey, the Earl very justly imagined fear to be the motive; wherefore, to improve their terror, he only allowed them six minutes time to resolve upon a surrender, telling them, that otherwise, so soon as his artillery was come up, he would lay them under the utmost extremities. The priests returned with this melancholy message into the place; and in a very short time after the gates were thrown open. Upon the Earl's entrance, he found two hundred horse, which were the original of his lordship's forming that body of horse which afterwards proved the saving of Valencia.

The news of the taking of Nules soon overtook the flying enemy: and so increased the apprehensions of their danger, that they renewed their march the same day; though what they had taken before would have satisfied them

much better without it. On the other hand, the Earl was so well pleased with his success, that, leaving the ene my to fly before their fears, he made short turn towards Castillon de la Pl na, a considerable, but open town where his lordship furnished himsel with four hundred horses more; and all this under the assurance that his troops were driving the enemy before them out of the kingdom. Hence be sent orders to Colonel Pierce's regi ment at Vinaros to meet him at Ordpesa, a place at no great distance where, when they came, they were very pleasingly surprised at their be ing well mounted, and furnished with all accoutrements necessary. After which, leaving them cantoned in walled towns, where they could not be disturbed without artillery, that indefatigable General, leaving them full orders, went on his way towards Tor

tosa.

Memoirs of the Progress of MANUFACTURES, CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE, and the FINE ARTS.

PROFESSOR DAVY has read R

paper before the Royal Society, containing an account of his various new and important electrical experiments on the decomposition of the earths, by which this distinguished philosopher has shewn, that they are all metallic oxides, and has thus verified by experiment what had been long suspected from analogy. These important discoveries complete the history of alkaline and earthy bodies, and form an era in chemical philosophy. They likewise must lead to great improvements in mineralogy and geology, the last of which sciences has hitherto wanted elements. In the same communication in which these facts are announced, a most important experiment of two Swedish chemists, Messieurs Benzelius and

Pontin,