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hension, and also by the influence which the noxious vapours of the boiling water produced on the respiration. The heat, too, was so great as to operate in the manner of a steam, and the ground itself so hot as to make it impossible to stand any time in the same place. But soon gaining strength and resolution from the energy inspired by the grandeur and magnificence of the object, I viewed with delight and astonishment the configuration of the borders, the internal sides, the form of the immense cone, its bottom on which I stood, and its vertex to which I looked up from a depth of about three hundred feet. In the centre of this astonishing theatre the boiling water rose as if from several thousand apertures, and to a va rious height of from six to sixteen feet, tapering off in the regular and beautiful gradation of the ears of a sheaf of wheat, and forming a bason around the base, hot, undulating, and transparent. The circumference of the crater, in which this grand exhibition is displayed to so much advantage, is two hundred and fifty paces, and the vapour which ascends rises with great velocity into the external atmosphere, and forms a relucent cloud over the vertex of the cone.The upper edges of the cone or crater are indented in several places, and the internal sides are inclined at different angles in several parts, and abound with concretions of diversified colours and fantastic shapes. From what I observed, I considered that the concretions were principally composed of salt and sulphur, and the nuriate of ammonia; I also perceived that in the lapse of time the crater has undergone great changes, and that there must have been in it for merly an abyss as well as a funnel: whence it may be deduced that the crater was once infinitely higher, and that its summit or original vertex having been precipitated into the gulf by some terrible eruption or shock, di

minished the height of the crater, and blocked up the mouth of the abyss. The constant ebullition and action of boiling water at the bottom of this volcanic abyss makes a noise similar to the waves of a stormy sea, and the vapour which issues from it, when condensed by the cold of an elevated atmosphere, descends in heavy dew to the earth, and preserves it, even in the ardent heat of summer, in the most luxuriant fertility and verdure. Perhaps, too, it is not saying too much, that to the percolation of this dew, formed from this vapour, may be attributed the numerous streams which supply the adjacent region. with water. It is not easy to make a calculation of the quantity of water produced by the vapour, but from the numerous columns of water which give rise to it, and from the immense volume of the vapour, it may be conjectured that it composes water at the rate of about ten tons in a minute. I do not pledge myself for the precision of this calculation; I only mean to say, that as there is no absolute rain in this mountainous region during the burning season of summer, and as the whole region is perpetually verdant and fertile, it is reasonable to conjecture that the vapour produces those springs and powers which alone are capable of giving to verdure and fertility a prolific and permanent effect.

Animated with the vain hope of visiting a phenomenon of greater magnitude and curiosity than that I have just described, I left it, exhilarated with renovated strength, and pursued my way along the bottoms of the deepest valleys and over the summits of the highest mountains, to the final object of my research.

Having reached the high summit in which the principal curiosity of the island was said to reside, I perceived the mouth of a volcano which represented a gently-inclining plain of about half a mile in circumference,

and

and from the center of which arose a conical mass of lavatic matter incrusted with salts and sulphurs of different colours, or rather a variegated funnel rising from a verdant base, which gave vent to the terrific and unfathomable gulph beneath, and in which is heard the confused noises of boiling and running waters, and a continued hollow murmur like the roaring of the ocean during a violent storm.From this extraordinary aperture is sued innumerable columns of boiling water, and immense volumes of sulphurous vapour, which being lighter than the circumambient air, rose with great rapidity, till coming to a more dense atmosphere, it shoots off horizontally, and forms a track in the air according to the direction of the wind; sometimes forming clouds of unusual brilliance, and sometimes resembling in extent and whiteness the milky-way, or rather a pure flame shooting across the skies.

But the principal object of astonishment and instruction of this wonderful region exists in the prospect which it so minutely affords of those dreadful operations of nature, or of those violent efforts of internal fire which has made her exterior appearance so dreadful. From the vertex of the cone the original operation of the first eruption was perfectly discernible. The fire, instead of rushing from the vertex in a direct line, as is usual, must have rose to a great height, and then moved in several directions, covering the country around, and laying every thing waste within its range. This description is manifest by the character of the lava in every direction from the volcano. In some places it bears the appearance of rivers or streams issuing from the summit of the crater in different directions, and in other parts it represents an irregular surface studded with huge lavatic rocks according to the power of the explosion and the manner in which the lava was cast forth.

The horrid chasms formed by the original eruption are also to be seen, but they baffle description. They form valleys more than three hundred feet deep, and where the fiery matter gained access during the eruption, or eruptions, there exist beds of lava, or little mountains, according as the lava did or did not meet with obstruction in its course. The terrible effects of these fiery streams may, however, be imagined from their amazing extent, and from the mountains which they form in the situations just named. The whole region around is also covered with hardened lava, scoriæ, and stones; a proof that the volcano must have been burning for ages without ceasing, and that this greatest wonder of nature might have cast forth its vast torrents of liquid fire, and shot up its fiery rocks and sulphurous smoke to this day, had not an opposite element gained access to the dreadful abyss, and confined its action to the perpetual boiling of waters whose source can be no other than the sea. I make this assertion from a consciousness that the island does not possess sufficient rivers or fountains to supply the immensity of water which is wasted by the vapour issuing from this volcano, and also from an experience that, notwithstanding the perpetual noise, made up of boiling springs and raging tempests, there was an intermitting roaring which corresponded with the undulation of water advancing to and retiring from fire.

Exhausted by the fatigues of the day, by mephitic vapours, and excessive heat, we resolved to pass the night on the periphery of the crater, and return the ensuing morning to Ribeira Grande. This night was highly interesting. Several beautiful picturesque effects were produced which were not common to the day. The huge summer clouds, which are formed by the action of the sun on the surrounding ocean, collected round

the

the brim of the vertex, and blended their watery bodies with the sulphureous and mineral vapours, which were already like so many other mountains piled up on the top of the volcano., The black stormy clouds, passing swiftly over, and at times covering the whole or a part of the bright column of vapour, at other times clearing away and giving a full view of it, with the various tints produced by its reverberated light, formed such a scene as no power of art can express. When the surcharged clouds passed for any time away, the vapour rose in puffs from the vertex as clear as can possibly be imagined, and succeeding each other, hastily increase in volume and rise to the amazing height of five thousand feet in the air, or till their brightness and height are interrupted by clouds of greater density and darker hue. At this interruption, or at the very moment of union between the clouds and the vapour, a bright but pale electric fire is observed playing briskly about in zig-zag lines: a phenomenon probably occasioned by the clouds having acquired a great degree of heat in com

concerning this uncommon subject of
natural curiosity: the appearances I
have mentioned continued the 'whole
of the night: at the close of which,
the scene was entirely changed. No
sooner did the sun dispel the clouds
than the vapour arose in a conical-
form, and as the wind was westward-
ly, it directed the vapour to the eas-
tern horizon, where the sun gave it
the appearance of ignition, or clouds
of fire, more diversified and beautiful
than can possibly be conceived. But
it is not easy for those who have never
opera-
been present at those beautiful
tions of nature, to represent to their
minds, the grandeur which must at-
tend them. Knowing the vanity and
feeling the difficulty of their descrip-
tion, I shall only observe, that I left
the mountain and returned to Ribeira
Grande with a mind filled with the
impression that scarcely any thing
could be conceived at once more beau-
tiful and more dreadful than the sub-
jects presented to my attention at
every step of this excursion.

ing in contact with vapour formed by Anecdotes, &c. Historical and Liter

volcanic fire. At some intervals, when the moon was obscured, and when the clouds forced the vapour to roll down the sides of the volcano, there was a mixture of colours in the clouds over the crater, a ruddy dismal light, which augmented the horror of the region, and made a most uncommon and surprizing appearance. While at other intervals, when the electric shocks caused the clouds to disperse, or when the wind was sufficient to carry the clouds from off the summit of the crater, they would retire by degrees and form a black and extensive curtain, which makes the finest contrast imaginable with the splendid vapour which then rises without interruption to the view.

These are the most remarkable circumstances that I could collect

ary.

Racine.

THIS great tragic poet was bred

to the church, and his parents, who were persons of extreme piety, regarded with the utmost horror his love of theatrical representation. The following letter from his aunt presents a singular picture of tenderness, overcome by religious scruples seemingly well meant and sincere.

"Upon information that you designed a journey hither, I had asked our mother's leave to see you, because some persons had assured us that there was a change in you, and that you were seriously bent upon your conversion; and with what transport should I have met you, and God poured my joy unto your bosom, that

God had visited you with his sanctifying light; but most sensibly am I touched with something that has reached my ears, within these few days; I write to you in the affliction of my heart, and with weeping eyes, wishing that my incessant tears could obtain from God your salvation, which of all things lies nearest my heart. I have heard, then, that you more and more haunt a set of men, whose name is an abomination to all who have the least spark of piety, and justly excluded from the church and the communion of the faithful, even at their death, except upon a sincere repentance: judge, then, my dear Nephew, of my concern and my agony, from my known tenderness for you; you know how much I have wished to see you entirely God's, in some creditable station. I entreat you, therefore, dear Nephew, to have pity on your own soul, and to lay to heart the dreadful abysss in which you have plunged yourself. I could wish that what I have heard were not true; but if you are still wretchedly to continue a commerce, odious to God, and disgraceful among men, you are not to think of coming to see us, as you cannot but know, that I could not speak to you, knowing you to be in so deplorable and unchristian a calling. However, I will never cease to pray that God will shew mercy to you, and to me in you, your salvation being above all things

dear to me.

Jealousy of Artists.

Artists, in their busied and tranquil life, ought to nourish only mild affections; yet in the peaceful silence of their work-rooms, envy too often rends their heart, too often has it impelled them to crimes.

Michael Angelo, jealous of the reputation of da Vinci, created him so many disgusts, that he obliged him

to quit his country: he attempted to make Raphael be viewed as a plagi ary, and to raise up as a rival to him, Fra Bastiano del Piombo.

Jealousy every where pursued the mild and modest Zampieri, who is called Dominichino. When he had finished his picture of the Commu nion of St Jerome, which Poussin reckoned among the finest at Rome, Lanfrank hastened to procure an en graving at Bologne of the same sub ject painted by Augustin Caracci he dispersed this print at Rome, taking care to point out the points of resem blance between the composition of Augustin and that of Dominichino Most of their cotemporaries cried out " plagiarism," and maintained that Zampieri was incapable of doing any thing by himself: posterity has aven-. ged him.

Jealous artists spoiled the fine pictures which Le Sueur had painted in the monastery of the Chartreux. The most beautiful heads, the finest expressions, were destroyed with the knife. You see that this instrument has been emploped with art, by hands practised in drawing. Expressions that were just and precise have been rendered ridiculous by its skilful movement. It would not have been thus, that ignorant persons would have spoiled a fine work; the concealed enemies of Le Sueur betrayed themselves thus by their very ability.

Encyclopedie des beaux arti.

Female Market. Francis Sparrey, who travelled in Guiana, being left there by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595, mentions a place called Comalaha "where at certain times they sell women as at a fair. Here, I bought eight, the eldest of whom was not eighteen, for a red hafted knife, which in England cost an half penic."

PURCHAS'S PILGRIMS.

SCOT

SCOTTISH REVIEW.

1. A General Account of the HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, GLASGOW. By Captain J. LASKEY, Member of the Edinburgh Wernerian Society of Natural History, L.S.H.S., &c. &c. THE existence and general nature of this collection, the most extensive of which Scotland could ever boast, are by this time well known to our readers. There is perhaps no traveller of any curiosity, who has passed through Glasgow without see ing it. To the learned, it is an instrument of science of the highest value; to the vulgar it is a show such as they seldom have an opportunity of viewing. But considering the great variety of articles of which this collection is composed, and the short time often allotted for surveying it, a work such as that of Captain Laskey becomes of the greatest utility. It does not indeed aspire to the character of a catalogue raisonnée. Such a catalogue of a collection like this would be an undertaking of the great-' est magnitude, and would require several large volumes. The present is intended to serve as a guide, and appears very judiciously constructed for that purpose. Had the object been to exhibit a scientific view of the collection, the plan would doubtless have been to class every article according to the department of nature to which it belongs. This, however, is less convenient for the visitor, than our author's plan of arranging them according to the rooms in which they are contained.

Captain Laskey very properly begins with an account, though somewhat too concise, of the life of the founder, and of the manner in which this store was collected.

"Dr Hunter was a native of Scotland. He was born at Long Calderwood in the parish of Kilbride, Lanarkshire, the patrimonial estate of

his father, in May 1718. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the Unicuted a general line of study, being versity of Glasgow, where he proseoriginally destined for the church.

curred to set aside this determination; Circumstances, now immaterial, ocand on leaving College it was his good fortune to meet with the late eminent Dr Cullen, who then practised at Hamilton. He now turned. his attention exclusively to the study of Medicine, and in prosecution of this object, he resided three years with Dr Cullen, as a private pupil. On leaving him he resumed his medical studies in Edinburgh, and from thence proceeded to London in 1741.

There, in 1746, he commenced his public lectures on Anatomy. He was admitted a member of the Corporation of Surgeons in 1747. In 1750 he obtained from the University of Glasgow the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and was afterwards successively elected Physician to the Lying-in Hospital, London: Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies; appointed Professor of Anatomy to the Royal Academy, and Physieian Extraordinary to her Majesty ; and in 1781 he was unanimously elected President of the College of Physicians in London.

His name, and the reputation of his talents, had at this period become generally known on the continent. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Medical Society of Paris in 1780, and in 1782 he was chosen. Member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences. He had now attained the summit of his professional rank.

The well-known John Hunter, a name equally distinguished as his own, was his brother, from whose congeniality of taste and study he was greatly assisted in the admirable Anatomical department of his Museum. The Doctor had an early wish to benefit his country, by turning his attain

ments

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