interest from its situation, the excellence of its port, and the fertility of the soil, circumstances which will one day render it a place of importance. The colonial misgovernment of the old Spaniards, and the neglect of the revolutionised government of Mexico (we really forget whether the last quotation' from that country made it a republic or a monarchy), are stale topics, and we quit them without much regret for a more interesting subject. Captain Beechey, after leaving China on his return to Beering's Straits, in the summer of 1827, intended to explore the sea to the southward of Japan; but, owing to light winds and contrary currents, his progress was so extremely slow, that, on the 15th of May, he found himself not far from the great Loo Choo Island, with a contrary wind. The temptation to visit a spot which has of late years become so familiar to our thoughts, was heightened by discovering that the water in their casks was extremely bad. Accordingly, in they went, and anchored off Napakiang, on the spot where the Alceste and Lyra lay ten years before. The reception which Captain Beechey received from the inhabitants of Loo Choo was exactly the same as that experienced by Sir Murray Maxwell and his companions. He was supplied with provisions, for which the natives would take no payment; and although, after a good deal of trouble, he was permitted to land, his excursions were limited to a few walks near the town of Napa, and neither he nor his officers succeeded in reaching what was supposed to be the capital, though in sight and close at hand. On the whole, the statements published by Captain Hall and Dr. M'Leod appear to harmonize with Beechey's observations. The only points of difference between them relate to the use of money, of arms, and of the bamboo as an instrument of punishment. The interpreters did all they could to mystify the present voyagers on the first of these points, but par hazard they met a man with a whole string of the copper coin used in China, and afterwards succeeded in obtaining a few of these pieces (p. 469). As to the stories of their severest punishment being a tap with a fan read what follows: 'A trusty little man was sent on board the Blossom, with a disproportionably long bamboo cane, to keep order, and who was in consequence named master-at-arms by the seamen. This little man took care that the importance of his office should not escape notice, and occasionally exercised his baton of authority in a manner which seemed to me too severe for the occasion.'-p. 459. As to the grand question of arms or no arms-which Buonaparte considered as such a joke, and which we confess always struck us in the same light-seeing that Loo Choo is known to be a dependent state under the imperial flag of China, and sending tribute . tribute every other year to Pekin-Captain Beechey deals with it more gingerly than we should have expected. We never saw any weapon whatever; and the supposition of their existence rests entirely upon the authority of the natives, and upon circumstantial evidence. Ching-oong-choo, and several other persons, declared there were both cannon and muskets in the island; and An-yah distinctly stated there were twenty-six of the former distributed among their junks. We were disposed to believe this statement, from seeing the fishermen, and all classes at Napa, so familiar with the use and exercise of our cannon, and particularly so from their appreciating the improvement of the flint-lock upon that of the matchlock, which I understood from the natives to be in use in Loo Choo; and unless they possessed these locks it is difficult to imagine from whence they could have derived their knowledge. The figures drawn upon the panels of the joshouse, seated upon broadswords and bows and arrows, may be adduced as further evidence of their possessing weapons; and this is materially strengthened (!) by the fact of their harbour being defended by three square stone forts, one on each side of the entrance, and the other upon a small island, so situated within the harbour, that it would present a raking fire to a vessel entering the port; and these forts having a number of loop-holes in them, and a platform and parapet formed above with stone steps leading up to it in several places. This platform would not have been wide enough for our cannon, it is true; but unless it were built for the reception of those weapons, there is apparently no other use for which it could have been designed. I presented the mandarin with a pair of pistols, which he thankfully accepted, and they were taken charge of by his domestics without exciting any unusual degree of curiosity. Upon questioning An-yah where his government procured its powder, he immediately replied from Fochien.'—p. 484. Really this hubbub of logic about such a mere chimera is unworthy of Captain Beechey's good sense. Some little distrust is here and there thrown upon the honesty of these people, but upon a careful examination of the whole account we think there is no bad case made out against them. They certainly deceived Captain Beechey, as they deceived Captain Maxwell. Very soon after their arrival, one of the natives came on board who spoke a little English, and brought a vocabulary in his pocket. He proved to be that An-yah, of whom frequent mention was made in the former accounts. I was very anxious to find out who my guest with the vocabulary was, as it at first occurred to me that it might be Mádera, of whom Captain Hall so frequently speaks in his delightful publication on Loo Choo; but then he did not seem to be so well acquainted with the English language as Mádera appears to have been, and, besides, he must have been much younger. His objection to answering our inqui ries on this head, and disclaiming all knowledge of any vessel having ever been at Loo Choo before, put it out of my power at first to inform myself on the point, and had not his own curiosity overcame his prudence, it would perhaps have long remained a secret. 'The manner in which the discovery was made is curious: after the sackee had gone round a few times, An-yah inquired if "ship got womans?" and being answered in the negative, he replied, somewhat surprised, "other ships got womans, handsome womans!" alluding to Mrs. Loy, with whom the Loo Chooans were so much captivated, that, it is thought, she had an offer from a person of high authority in the island. I then taxed him with having a knowledge of other ships, and when he found he had betrayed himself, he laughed heartily, and acknowledged that he recollected the visit of the Alceste and Lyra, which he correctly said was one hundred and forty-four moons ago. 'I was a little vexed to find that neither An-yah nor Isaacha-Sandoo, who was also of our party, and is mentioned by Captain Hall, made the slightest inquiry after any of the officers of the Alceste or Lyra, by whom they had been treated in the most friendly manner, and for whom it might have been inferred, from the tears that were shed by the Loo Chooans on the departure of those ships, that the greatest regard had been entertained. The only time they alluded to them was when Mrs. Loy recurred to their imagination.'-p. 456. If Mrs. Loy ever tries her hand in the Annuals, she owes these constant admirers a tender stanza or two; but to proceedCaptain Beechey enjoyed one material advantage over his predecessors, in having better means of interpretation, and accordingly he has brought us considerably more information respecting the state of Loo Choo. Dr. Morrison, of the British Factory, at Canton, had written a number of sentences in the Chinese character, at Beechey's request, and as these related to many interesting points of inquiry, he was enabled to ask questions without the chance of misinterpretation. Dr. Morrison was well aware that the Chinese character would be quite intelligible to the literati, although the spoken languages are very different. The Loo Choo words for the same things are very different from those of the Chinese, the one being often a monosyllable, and the other a polysyllable; as in the instance of charcoal, the Chinese word for it being tan, and the Loo Chooan chá-chee-jing, and yet the people use precisely the same character as the Chinese to express this word; and so far from its being necessary to be familiar with the language to understand the characters, many did not know the Chinese words for them. Their language throughout is very different from that of the Chinese, and much more nearly allied to the Japanese.'-p. 482. We have left ourselves no room for the concluding parts of the voyage, which, however, are not less interesting than the rest. Captain Beechey returned to his old rendezvous off Chamisso Island on the 5th of August, 1827, within five days of the time appointed. appointed. The season was not nearly so open as that of the preceding year, so that no farther advance was made along the coast. The barge unfortunately was wrecked, and several men drowned, which stopped the proceedings along shore. The Blossom, upon this occasion, was obliged to retreat from the Polar Sea so early as the 6th of October, without having heard a word of either Franklin or Parry. There is perhaps no person alive who is more competent than Captain Beechey to give an opinion upon the practicability of completing the object for which so many expeditions have been fitted out. He has entered the Polar Sea from the eastward with Parry, and penetrated as far as man has yet gone; while, in his own ship, he has sailed into the same passage from the westward, considerably farther than Captain Cook; besides which, he has made a voyage with Franklin towards the North Pole, and is therefore not only familiarly acquainted with all that is known upon the subject, but has in his own person grappled with and overcome most of the difficulties; moreover he has upon this voyage shown resources of the highest order under circumstances of considerable variety. His opinion, therefore, on the important question in what direction future efforts should be made, must command great respect in every quarter. 'The extent of land now left unexplored between Point Turnagain and Icy Cape, is comparatively so insignificant, that, as regards the question of the north-west passage, it may be considered to be known; and in this point of view both expeditions, though they did not meet, may be said to have been fully successful. From the nature and similarity of the coast at Return Reef and Point Barrow, it is very probable that the land from Franklin Extreme trends gradually to the eastward to Return Reef, leaving Point Barrow in latitude 71° 23′ 30′′ N., the northern limit of the continent of America. The determination of this great geographical question is undoubtedly important; but though it sets a boundary to the new continent, and so far diminishes the difficulties attending an attempt to effect a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, yet it leaves the practicability of the north-west passage nearly as doubtful as ever; and it is evident that it cannot be otherwise, until the obstructions set forth in Captain Parry's voyage are removed, as it would avail little to be able to reach Hecla and Fury Strait, provided that channel were always impassable. I can see no insurmountable obstacle to the exploit. In this attempt, however, it is evident that a vessel must be prepared to encounter very heavy pressure from the ice, and must expect, on the ice closing the coast to the westward of Point Barrow, which it unquestionably would with every strong westerly wind, to be driven on shore in the manner in which our boat was in 1826. 'As regards the question, whether it be advisable to attempt the passage from the Atlantic or the Pacific, the advantage of being able to to pursue the main land with certainty from Icy Cape is unquestionably great; and the recollection that in that route every foot gained to the eastward is an advance toward the point whence supplies and succour may be obtained, is a cheering prospect to those who are engaged in such an expedition. But while I so far advocate an attempt from this quarter, it must not be overlooked that the length of the voyage round Cape Horn, and the vicissitudes of climate to be endured, present material objections to prosecuting the enterprise by that course. ..... Upon the whole, I am disposed to favour the western route, and am of opinion that could steam-vessels properly fitted, and adapted to the service, arrive in good condition in Kotzebue Sound, by the beginning of one summer, they would with care and patience succeed in reaching the western shore of Melville Peninsula in the next.'— p. 564. It is proper to observe, before we bid Captain Beechey farewell, that he bestows high and generous praise on all his officers without exception. The narrative and appendix contain ample evidence that they formed a most able and accomplished society; and we trust many of them will yet act together again in services of as great importance as that which has now been so well performed, and so elegantly recorded. We may say so elegantly illustrated too-for the engravings in this book are admirable things. 1831. ART. III.-1. Two Lectures on Population, delivered before the University of Oxford. By Nassau William Senior, Professor of Political Economy. To which is added a Correspondence between the Author and the Rev. T. R. Malthus. 2. The Law of Population. A Treatise in Six Books, in disproof of the Superfecundity of Human Beings, and developing the Real Principle of their Increase. By Michael Thomas Sadler, M.P. Vols. I. and II. 1830. 3. Mr. Sadler's Reply to an Article in the Edinburgh Review, &c. 1831. 4. Letters on Systematic Colonization and the Bill now before Parliament, &c. By Charles Tennant, Esq., M.P. London, 1831. IF F there ever was a subject exceeding all others in general im→ portance, and in which a right or a wrong conclusion may most materially influence the destinies of mankind-if there ever was a question demanding for its discussion, beyond all others, the most calm and candid deliberation, the completest freedom from all party or personal feelings, and an earnest and philosophical desire to search after Truth, and truth exclusively-this is that subjectthis is that question. Has it been hitherto approached in such VOL. XLV. NO. LXXXIX. H spirit |