casioned many of the complaints that proved fatal during the winter; and on this account we hardly knew whether to rejoice or not at the general success of their fishery. 160 miles still remained unexplored. In 1829 Captain, now Sir John Ross, disappointed at being outstripped by Captain Parry in the discovery of the strait leading into the Polar sea, equipped a steam-vessel, solely from private resources, and proceeded to Baffin's Bay. It was a bold but inconsiderate undertaking, and every soul who embarked on it must have perished, but for the ample supplies they received from the Fury, or rather from the provisions and stores which, by the providence of Captain Parry, had been carefully stored up on the beach; for the ship herself had entirely disappeared. He proceeded down Regent's Inlet as far as he could in his little ship, the Victory; placed her amongst her there; and in returning to the northward, by great good luck fell in with a whaling ship, which took them all on board and brought them home.' Captain James Ross, nephew of the commander, collected some geographical information in the course of this unfortunate enterprise. A third expedition was undertaken by Captain Parry, assisted by Captain Hoppner, in 1824, but it proved still more unfortunate. The broken ice in Baffin's Bay retarded his progress until the season was too far advanced for navigation in that climate. After the winter broke up, huge masses of ice drove the ships on shore, and the Fury' was so much injured, that it was deemed necessary to abandon her with all her stores. In April 1827 Captain Parry once more sailed in the Hecla,' to realise, if possible, his sanguine expectations; but on this occasion he pro-ice clinging to the shore, and after two winters, left jected reaching the North Pole by employing light boats and sledges, which might be alternately used, as compact fields of ice, or open sea, interposed in his route. On reaching Hecla Cove they left the ship to commence their journey on the ice. Vigorous efforts were made to reach the Pole, still 500 miles distant; but the various impediments they had to encounter, and particularly the drifting of the snow-fields, frustrated all their endeavours; and after two months spent on the ice, and penetrating about a degree farther than any previous expedition, the design was abandoned. These four expeditions were described by Captain Parry in separate volumes, which were read with great avidity. The whole have since been published in six small volumes, constituting one of the most interesting series of adventures and discoveries recorded in our language. Following out the plan of northern discovery, an expedition was, in 1819, despatched overland to proceed from the Hudson's Bay factory, tracing the coast of the Northern ocean. This expedition was commanded by CAPTAIN JOHN FRANKLIN, accompanied by Dr Richardson, a scientific gentleman; two midshipmen-Mr Hood and Mr Back-and two English seamen. The journey to the Coppermine River displayed the characteristic ardour and hardihood of British seamen. Great suffering was experienced. Mr Hood lost his life, and Captain Franklin and Dr Richardson were on the point of death, when timely succour was afforded by some Indians. The results of this journey, which, including the navigation along the coast, extended to 5500 miles, are obviously of the greatest importance to geography. As the coast running northward was followed to Cape Turnagain, in latitude 68 degrees, it is evident that if a north-west passage exist, it must be found beyond that limit.' The narratives of Captain Franklin, Dr Richardson, and Mr Back, form a fitting and not less interesting sequel to those of Captain Parry. The same intrepid parties undertook, in 1823, a second expedition to explore the shores of the Polar seas. The coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, 902 miles, was examined. Subsequent expeditions were undertaken by CAPTAIN LYON and CAPTAIN BEECHEY. The former failed through continued bad weather; but Captain Beechey having sent his master, Mr Elson, in a barge to prosecute the voyage to the east, that individual penetrated to a sandy point, on which the ice had grounded, the most northern part of the continent then known. Captain Franklin had, only four days previous, been within 160 miles of this point, when he commenced his return to the Mackenzie River, and it is conjectured, with much probability, that had he been aware that by persevering in his exertions for a few days he might have reached his friends, it is possible that a knowledge of the circumstance might have induced him, through all hazards, to continue his journey. The intermediate The interval of 160 miles between Point Barrow, reached by Beechey's master, and the farthest point to which Captain Franklin penetrated, was in 1837 surveyed by MR THOMAS SIMPSON and the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. The latter had with great generosity lent their valuable assistance to complete the geography of that region, and Mr Simpson was enthusiastically devoted to the same object. In the summer of 1837 he, with his senior officer, Mr Dease, started from the Great Slave Lake, following the steps of Franklin as far as the point called Franklin's Farthest, whence they traced the remainder of the coast to the westward to Point Barrow, by which they completed our knowledge of this coast the whole way west of the Coppermine River, as far as Behring's Straits. Wintering at the north-east angle of the Great Bear Lake, the party descended the Coppermine River, and followed the coast eastwards as far as the mouth of the Great Fish River, discovered by Back in 1834. The expedition comprised the navigation of a tempestuous ocean beset with ice, for a distance exceeding 1400 geographical or 1600 statute miles, in open boats, together with all the fatigues of long land journeys and the perils of the climate.' In 1839 the Geographical Society of London rewarded Mr Simpson with a medal for advancing almost to completion the solution of the great problem of the configuration of the northern shore of the North American continent.' While returning to Europe in June 1840, Mr Simpson died, it is supposed, by his own hand in a paroxysm of insanity, after shooting two of the four men who accompanied him from the Red River colony. Mr Simpson was a native of Dingwall, in Ross-shire, and at the time of his melancholy death, was only in his thirty-second year. His Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, Effected by the Officers of the Hudson's Bay Company during the years 1836-39, was published in 1843. Valuable information connected with the Arctic regions was afforded by MR WILLIAM SCORESBY, A gentleman who, while practising the whale fishing, had become the most learned observer and describer of the regions of ice. His account of the Northern Whale Fishery, 1822, is a standard work of great value, and he is author also of an Account of the Arctic Regions. EASTERN TRAVELLERS. The scenes and countries mentioned in Scripture have been frequently described since the publications of Dr Clarke. BURCKHARDT traversed Petræs (the Edom of the prophecies); MR WILLIAM RAE [View of Society in Bagdad.] [From Sir R. K. Porter's Travels.'] WILSON, in 1823, published Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land; MR CLAUDIUS JAMES RICH (the accomplished British resident at Bagdad, who died in 1821, at the early age of thirty-five) wrote an excellent memoir of the remains of Babylon; the HON. GEORGE KEPPEL performed the overland journey to India in 1824, and gave a narrative of his observations in Bassorah, Bagdad, the ruins of Babylon, &c. MR J. S. BUCKINGHAM also travelled by the overland route (taking, however, the way of the Mediterranean and the Turkish provinces in Asia Minor), and the result of his journey was given to the world in three separate works (the latest published in 1827), entitled Travels in Pales-solid bracelets of gold, in shapes resembling serpents, tine; Travels among the Arab Tribes; and Travels in Mesopotamia. DR R. R. MADDEN, a medical gentleman, who resided several years in India, in 1829 published Travels in Egypt, Turkey, Nubia, and Palestine. Letters from the East, and Recollections of Travel in the East (1830), by JOHN CARNE, Esq. of Queen's college, Cambridge, extend, the first over Syria and Egypt, and the second over Palestine and Cairo. Mr Carne is a judicious observer and picturesque describer, yet he sometimes ventures on doubtful biblical criticism. The miracle of the passage of the Red Sea, for example, he thinks should be limited to a specific change in the direction of the winds. The idea of representing the waves standing like a wall on each side must consequently be abandoned. This,' he says, 'is giving a literal interpretation to the evidently figurative language of Scripture, where it is said that "God caused the sea to go back all night by a strong east wind;" and when the morning dawned, there was probably a wide and waste expanse, from which the waters had retired to some distance; and that the " sea returning in his strength in the morning," was the rushing back of an impetuous and resistless tide, inevitable, but not instantaneous, for it is evident the Egyptians turned and fled at its approach.' In either case a miracle must have been performed, and it seems unnecessary and hypercritical to attempt reducing it to the lowest point. Mr Milman, in his history of the Jews, has fallen into this error, and explained away the miracles of the Old Testament till all that is supernatural, grand, and impressive disappears. The wives of the higher classes in Bagdad are usually selected from the most beautiful girls that can be obtained from Georgia and Circassia; and, to their natural charms, in like manner with their captive sisters all over the East, they add the fancied embellishments of painted complexions, hands and feet dyed with henna, and their hair and eyebrows stained with the rang, or prepared indigo leaf. Chains of gold, and collars of pearls, with various ornaments of precious stones, decorate the upper part of their persons, while clasp their wrists and ankles. Silver and golden tissued muslins not only form their turbans, but frequently their under garments. In summer the ample pelisse is made of the most costly shawl, and in cold weather, lined and bordered with the choicest furs. The dress is altogether very becoming; by its easy folds and glittering transparency, showing a fine shape to advantage, without the immodest exposure of the open vest of the Persian ladies. The humbler females generally move abroad with faces totally unveiled, having a handkerchief rolled round their heads, from beneath which their hair hangs down over their shoulders, while another piece of linen passes under their chin, in the fashion of the Georgians. Their garment is a gown of a shift form, reaching to their ankles, open before, and of a gray colour. Their feet are completely naked. Many of the very inferior classes stain their bosoms with the figures of circles, half-moons, stars, &c. in a bluish stamp. In this barbaric embellishment the poor damsel of Irak Arabi has one point of vanity resembling that of the ladies of Irak Ajem. The former frequently adds this frightful cadaverous hue to her lips; and, to complete her savage appearance, thrusts a ring through the right nostril, pendent with a flat button-like ornament set round with blue or red stones. whom we left in some gay saloon of Bagdad. When But to return to the ladies of the higher circles, served. The party, seated in rows, then prepare themall are assembled, the evening meal or dinner is soon selves for the entrance of the show, which, consisting of music and dancing, continues in noisy exhibition through the whole night. At twelve o'clock supper is Travels along the Mediterranean and Parts Ad- produced, when pilaus, kabobs, preserves, fruits, dried sweetmeats, and sherbets of every fabric and flavour, jacent (1822), by DR ROBERT RICHARDSON, is an engage the fair convives for some time. Between this interesting work, particularly as relates to anti-second banquet and the preceding, the perfumed narquities. The doctor travelled by way of Alexan- quilly is never absent from their rosy lips, excepting dria, Cairo, &c. to the second cataract of the Nile, when they sip coffee, or indulge in a general shout of returning by Jerusalem, Damascus, Balbec, and approbation, or a hearty peal of laughter at the freaks Tripoli. He surveyed the temple of Solomon, and of the dancers or the subject of the singers' madrigals. was the first acknowledged Christian received within But no respite is given to the entertainers; and, durits holy walls since it has been appropriated to the ing so long a stretch of merriment, should any of the religion of Mohammed. The Journal to Some Parts of happy guests feel a sudden desire for temporary reEthiopia (1822), by MESSRS WADDINGTON and HAN- pose, without the least apology she lies down to sleep BURY, gives an account of the antiquities of Ethioon the luxurious carpet that is her seat; and thus she pia and the extirpation of the Mamelukes. remains, sunk in as deep an oblivion as if the numSIR JOHN MALCOLM was author of a History of mud were spread in her own chamber. Others speedily Persia, and Sketches of Persia. MR MORIER'S Jour-follow her example, sleeping as sound; notwithstandneys through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, abound ing that the bawling of the singers, the horrid jangling in interesting descriptions of the country, people, of the guitars, the thumping on the jar-like doubleand government. SIR WILLIAM OUSELY (who had drum, the ringing and loud clangour of the metal bells been private secretary to the British embassy in and castanets of the dancers, with an eternal talking Persia) has published three large volumes of travels in all keys, abrupt laughter, and vociferous expressions in various countries of the East, particularly Persia, of gratification, making in all a full concert of disin 1810, 1811, and 1812. This work illustrates sub-tracting sounds, sufficient, one might suppose, to jects of antiquarian research, history, geography, philology, &c. and is valuable to the scholar for its citations from rare Oriental manuscripts. Another valuable work on this country is SIR ROBERT KER PORTER'S Travels in Georgia, Persia, Babylonia, &c. published in 1822. awaken the dead. But the merry tumult and joyful strains of this conviviality gradually become fainter and fainter; first one and then another of the visitors (while even the performers are not spared by the soporific god) sink down under the drowsy influence, till at length the whole carpet is covered with the sleeping beauties, mixed indiscriminately with handmaids, behind a lattice; and something of the same kind I dancers, and musicians, as fast asleep as themselves. have observed among the Christians of Mesopotamia. The business, however, is not thus quietly ended. Letters from the South, two volumes, 1837, by MR As soon as the sun begins to call forth the blushes of THOMAS CAMPBELL, the poet, give an account of a the morn, by lifting the veil that shades her slumber- voyage made by that gentleman to Algiers. The ing eyelids, the faithful slaves rub their own clear of letters are descriptive, without any political or coloany lurking drowsiness, and then tug their respective nial views, but full of entertaining gossip and poetimistresses by the toe or the shoulder, to rouse them cal sketches of striking and picturesque objects. up to perform the devotional ablutions usual at the The grandeur of the surrounding mountain scenery dawn of day. All start mechanically, as if touched seems to have astonished Mr Campbell. The by a spell; and then commences the splashing of African highlands,' he says, 'spring up to the sight water and the muttering of prayers, presenting a singular contrast to the vivacious scene of a few hours not only with a sterner boldness than our own, but before. This duty over, the fair devotees shake their they borrow colours from the sun unknown to our feathers like birds from a refreshing shower, and trip-climate, and they are marked in clouds of richer ping lightly forward with garments, and perhaps looks, a little the worse for the wear of the preceding evening, plunge at once again into all the depths of its amusements. Coffee, sweetmeats, kaliouns, as before, accompany every obstreperous repetition of the midnight song and dance; and all being followed up by a plentiful breakfast of rice, meats, fruits, &c. towards noon the party separate, after having spent between fifteen and sixteen hours in this riotous festivity. Travels in the East, by the REV. HORATIO SOUTHGATE (1840), describe the traveller's route through Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Koordistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia, and give a good account of the Mohammedan religion, and its rites and ceremonies. The following is a correction of a vulgar error : [Religious Status of Women in the Mohammedan System.] The place which the Mohammedan system assigns to woman in the other world has often been wrongfully represented. It is not true, as has sometimes been reported, that Mohammedan teachers deny her admission to the felicities of Paradise. The doctrine of the Koran is, most plainly, that her destiny is to be determined in like manner with that of every accountable being; and according to the judgment passed upon her is her reward, although nothing definite is said of the place which she is to occupy in Paradise. hammed speaks repeatedly of believing women,' commends them, and promises them the recompense which their good deeds deserve. Mo dye. The farthest-off summits appeared in their snow like the turbans of gigantic Moors, whilst the nearer masses glared in crimson and gold under the light of morning.' Six Years' Residence in Algiers, by MRS BROUGHTON, published in 1839, is an interesting domestic chronicle. The authoress was daughter to Mr Blanckley, the British consul-general at Algiers; and the work is composed of a journal kept by Mrs Blanckley, with reminiscences by her daughter, Mrs Broughton. The vivacity, minute description, and kindly feeling everywhere apparent in this book, render it highly attractive. Discoveries in the Interior of Africa, by SIR JAMES ALEXANDER, two volumes, 1838, describe a journey from Cape-Town, of about four thousand miles, and occupying above a year, towards the tracts of country inhabited by the Damaras, a nation of which very little was known, and generally the¦| country to the north of the Orange River, on the west coast. The author's personal adventures are interesting, and it appears that the aborigines are a kind and friendly tribe of people, with whom Sir James Alexander thinks that an extended intercourse may be maintained for the mutual benefit of the colonists and the natives. Minor in 1838, by CHARLES FELLOWS, is valuable The regulations of the Sunneh are in accordance with the precepts of the Koran. So far is woman from being regarded in these institutions as a creature without a soul, that special allusion is frequently made to her, and particular directions given for her religious conduct. Respecting her observance of Ramazan, her ablutions, and many other matters, her duty is taught with a minuteness that borders on indecorous precision. She repeats the creed in The bright sea suddenly burst on us, a sail in the dying, and, like other Mussulmans, says, In this distance, and the blue mountains of Africa beyond it faith I have lived, in this faith I die, and in this faith -a lovely vista. But when we had fairly issued into I hope to rise again.' She is required to do every- the plain on the sea-shore, beautiful indeed, most thing of religious obligation equally with men. The beautiful was the view-the whole African coast, command to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca extends from Gebel Ataka to Gebel Krarreb lay before us, to her. In my journeys, I often met with women on washed by the Red Sea a vast amphitheatre of their way to the Holy City. They may even under-mountains, except the space where the waters were take this journey without the consent of their husbands, whose authority in religious matters extends only to those acts of devotion which are not obligatory. Women are not, indeed, allowed to be present in the mosques at the time of public prayers; but the reason is not that they are regarded, like pagan females, as unsusceptible of religious sentiments, but because the meeting of the two sexes in a sacred place is supposed to be unfavourable to devotion. This, however, is an Oriental, not a Mohammedan prejudice. The custom is nearly the same among the Christians as among the Mussulmans. In the Greek churches the females are separated from the males, and concealed lost in distance between the Asiatic and Libyan promontories. It was the stillest hour of day; the sun shone brightly, descending to his palace in the occident; the tide was coming in with its peaceful pensive murmurs, wave after wave. It was in this plain, broad and perfectly smooth from the mountains to the sea, that the children of Israel encamped after leaving Elim. What a glorious scene it must then have presented! and how nobly those rocks, now so silent, must have re-echoed the song of Moses and its ever-returning chorus - Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea!" The French authors Chateaubriand, Laborde, and Lamartine, have minutely described the Holy Land; and in the Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia, and the Holy Land, by J. L. STEPHENS, the latest information respecting these interesting countries will be found. Various works on India have appeared, including a general political history of the empire, by SIR JOHN MALCOLM (1826), and a Memoir of Central India (1823), by the same author. Travels in the Himmalayan Provinces of Hindostan and the Punjaub, in Ladakh and Cashmere, in Peshawar, Cabul, &c. from 1819 to 1825, by W. MOORCROFT and GEORGE TREBECK, relate many new and important particulars. Mr Moorcroft crossed the great chain of the Himmala mountains near its highest part, and first drew attention to those stupendous heights, rising in some parts to above 27,000 feet. A Tour through the Snowy Range of the Himmala Mountains was made by MR JAMES BAILLIE FRASER (1820), who gives an interesting account of his perilous journey. He visited Gangootrie, an almost inaccessible haunt of superstition, the Mecca of Hindoo pilgrims, and also the spot at which the Ganges issues from its covering of perpetual snow. In 1825 Mr Fraser published a Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan, in the years 1821 and 1822, including an Account of the Countries to the north-east of Persia. The following is a brief sketch of a Persian town: dom Sketches taken during a Residence in one of the Northern Provinces of Western India. The authoress resided some years in the province of Cutch, and gives a minute account of the feudal government and customs, the religious sects and superstitions of the people. The aristocratic distinctions of caste are rigidly preserved, and the chiefs are haughty, debauched, and cruel. [Sacrifice of a Hindoo Widow.] [From Mrs Postans's Cutch, or Random Sketches,' &c.] News of the widow's intentions having spread, a great concourse of people of both sexes, the women clad in their gala costumes, assembled round the Pyre. In a short time after their arrival the fated victim appeared, accompanied by the Brahmins, her relatives, and the body of the deceased. The spectators showered chaplets of mogree on her head, and greeted her appearance with laudatory exclamations at her constancy and virtue. The women especially pressed forward to touch her garments-an act which is considered meritorious, and highly desirable for absolution and protection from the evil eye.' The widow was a remarkably handsome woman, apparently about thirty, and most superbly attired. Her her, and by a complete indifference to the preparamanner was marked by great apathy to all around tions which for the first time met her eye. From this circumstance an impression was given that she might be under the influence of opium; and in conformity with the declared intention of the European officers present to interfere should any coercive measures be officers were requested to give their opinion on the subject. They both agreed that she was quite free from any influence calculated to induce torpor or intoxication. Captain Burnes then addressed the woman, desiring to know whether the act she was about to perform were voluntary or enforced, and assuring her that, should she entertain the slightest reluctance to the fulfilment of her vow, he, on the part of the British government, would guarantee the protection of her life and property. Her answer was calm, heroic, and constant to her purpose: I die of my own free will; give me back my husband, and I will consent to live; if I die not with him, the souls of seven husbands will condemn me!' 串 Viewed from a commanding situation, the appearance of a Persian town is most uninteresting; the houses, all of mud, differ in no respect from the earth in colour, and, from the irregularity of their construc-adopted by the Brahmins or relatives, two medical tion, resemble inequalities on its surface rather than human dwellings. The houses, even of the great, seldom exceed one storey; and the lofty walls which shroud them from view, without a window to enliven them, have a most monotonous effect. There are few domes or minarets, and still fewer of those that exist are either splendid or elegant. There are no public buildings but the mosques and medressas; and these are often as mean as the rest, or perfectly excluded from view by ruins. The general coup-d'ail presents a succession of flat roofs, and long walls of mud, thickly interspersed with ruins; and the only relief to its monotony is found in the gardens, adorned with chinär, poplars, and cypress, with which the towns and villages are often surrounded and intermingled. The same author has published Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces, 1826; A Winter Journey from Constantinople to Tehran, with Travels through Various Parts of Persia, 1838, &c. Mr Fraser has now settled down on his patrimonial estate of Reelig, Inverness-shire, a quiet Highland glen. Among other Indian works may be mentioned The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, by LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JAMES TOD, 1830; and Travels into Bokhara, by LIEUTENANT, afterwards SIR ALEXANDER BURNES. The latter is a narrative of a journey from India to Cabul, Tartary, and Persia, and is a valuable work. The accomplished author was cut off in his career of usefulness and honour in 1841, being treacherously murdered at Cabul. LIEUTENANT ARTHUR CONOLLY made a journey to the north of India, overland from England, through Russia, Persia, and Affghanistan, of which he published an account in 1834. MISS EMMA ROBERTS, in the following year, gave a lively and entertaining series of Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, with Sketches of AngloIndian Society. This lady went out again to India in 1839, and was engaged to conduct a Bombay newspaper; but she died in 1840. Her Notes of an Overland Journey through France and Egypt to Bombay were published after her death. Another lady, MRS POSTANS, has published (1839) Cutch, or Ran Ere the renewal of the horrid ceremonies of death were permitted, again the voice of mercy, of expostulation, and even of intreaty was heard; but the trial was vain, and the cool and collected manner with which the woman still declared her determination unalterable, chilled and startled the most courageous. Physical pangs evidently excited no fears in her; her singular creed, the customs of her country, and her sense of conjugal duty, excluded from her mind the natural emotions of personal dread; and never did martyr to a true cause go to the stake with more constancy and firmness, than did this delicate and gentle woman prepare to become the victim of a deliberate sacrifice to the demoniacal tenets of her heathen creed. Accompanied by the officiating Brahmin, the widow walked seven times round the pyre, repeating the usual mantras, or prayers, strewing rice and coories on the ground, and sprinkling water from her hand over the bystanders, who believe this to be efficacious in preventing disease and in expiating committed sins. She then removed her jewels, and presented them to her relations, saying a few words to each with a calm soft smile of encouragement and hope. The Brahmins then presented her with a lighted torch, bearing which, 'Fresh as a flower just blown, And warm with life her youthful pulses playing,' she stepped through the fatal door, and sat within the pile. The body of her husband, wrapped in rich kinkaub, was then carried seven times round the pile, and finally laid across her knees. Thorns and grass were piled over the door; and again it was insisted that free space should be left, as it was hoped the poor victim might yet relent, and rush from her fiery prison to the protection so freely offered. The command was readily obeyed; the strength of a child would have sufficed to burst the frail barrier which confined her, and a breathless pause succeeded; but the woman's constancy was faithful to the last. Not a sigh broke the death-like silence of the crowd, until a slight smoke, curling from the summit of the pyre, and then a tongue of flame darting with bright and lightning-like rapidity into the clear blue sky, told us that the sacrifice was completed. Fearlessly had this courageous woman fired the pile, and not a groan had betrayed to us the moment when her spirit fled. At sight of the flame a fiendish shout of exultation rent the air; the tom-toms sounded, the people clapped their hands with delight as the evidence of their murderous work burst on their view, whilst the English spectators of this sad scene withdrew, bearing deep compassion in their hearts, to philosophise as best they might on a custom so fraught with horror, so incompatible with reason, and so revolting to human sympathy. The pile continued to burn for three hours; but, from its form, it is supposed that almost immediate suffocation must have terminated the sufferings of the unhappy victim. ever, proved a temptation too strong for the virtue of the viceroy, who, gradually forming for himself a party among the leading men of the country, at length communicated to the common people the intelligence that Sultan Hassan was no more, and quietly seated himself on the vacant throne. Sultan Hassan returning shortly afterwards from his pilgrimage, and, fortunately for himself, still in disguise, learned, as he approached his capital, the news of his own death and the usurpation of his minister; finding, on further inquiry, the party of the usurper to be too strong to render an immediate disclosure prudent, he preserved his incognito, and soon became known in Cairo as the wealthiest of her merchants; nor did it excite any surprise when he announced his pious intention of devoting a portion of his gains to the erection of a spacious mosque. The work proceeded rapidly under the spur of the great merchant's gold, and, on its completion, he solicited the honour of the sultan's presence at the ceremony of naming it. Anticipating the gratification of hearing his own name bestowed upon it, the usurper accepted the invitation, and at the appointed hour the building was filled by him and his most attached adherents. The ceremonies had duly proceeded to the time when it became necessary to give the name. The chief Moolah, turning to the supposed merchant, inquired what should be its name? Call it,' he replied, the mosque of Sultan Hassan." All started at the mention of this name; and the questioner, as though not believing he could have heard aright, or to afford an opportunity of correcting what might be a mistake, repeated his demand. Call First Impressions and Studies from Nature in Hin-it,' again cried he, the mosque of me, Sultan Hassan; dostan, by LIEUTENANT THOMAS BACON, two volumes, and throwing off his disguise, the legitimate sultan 1837, is a more lively but carelessly-written work, stood revealed before his traitorous servant. He had with good sketches of scenery, buildings, pageants, no time for reflection: simultaneously with the disThe HoN. MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE, in covery, numerous trap-doors, leading to extensive 1842, gave an account of the kingdom of Cabul, vaults, which had been prepared for the purpose, were and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and In-flung open, and a multitude of armed men issuing dia; and A Narrative of Various Journeys in Beloochistan, Afghanistan, and the Punjaub, by CHARLES MASSON, Esq. describes with considerable animation the author's residence in those countries, the native chiefs, and personal adventures with the various tribes from 1826 to 1838. MR C. R. BAYNES, a gentleman in the Madras civil service, published in 1843 Notes and Reflections during a Ramble in the East, an Overland Journey to India, &c. His remarks are just and spirited, and his anecdotes and descriptions lively and entertaining. &c. [Remark by an Arab Chief.] An Arab chieftain, one of the most powerful of the princes of the desert, had come to behold for the first time a steam-ship. Much attention was paid to him, and every facility afforded for his inspection of every part of the vessel. What impression the sight made on him it was impossible to judge. No indications of surprise escaped him; every muscle preserved its wonted calmness of expression; and on quitting, he merely observed, 'It is well; but you have not brought a man to life yet.' from them, terminated at once the reign and life of the usurper. His followers were mingled in the slaughter, and Sultan Hassan was once more in possession of the throne of his fathers. The recent war in Affghanistan, and the occupation of the Sinde territory by the British, have given occasion to various publications, among which are, a History of the War in Affghanistan, by MRC. NASH; Five Years in India, by H. G. FANE, Esq. late aidde-camp to the commander-in-chief; Narrative of the Campaign of the Army of the Indus in Sinde and Cabul, by MR R. H. KENNEDY; Scenes and Adventures in Affghanistan, by MR W. TAYLOR; Letters, by COLONEL DENNIE; Personal Observations on Sinde, by CAPTAIN T. POSTANS; Military Operations at Cabul, with a Journal of Imprisonment in Affghanistan, by LIEUTENANT VINCENT EYRE; A Journal of the Disasters in Affghanistan, by LADY SALE, &c. These works calamitous portion of British history. were all published in 1842 or 1843, and illustrate a bassies-the first in 1792-94, under Lord Macartney, Of China we have the history of the two emof which a copious account was given by SIR GEORGE STAUNTON, one of the commissioners. Further in [Legend of the Mosque of the Bloody Baptism at Cairo.] formation was afforded by SIR JOHN BARROW'S Sultan Hassan, wishing to see the world, and lay Travels in China, published in 1806, and long our aside for a time the anxieties and cares of royalty, most valuable work on that country. The second committed the charge of his kingdom to his favourite embassy, headed by Lord Amherst, in 1816, was reminister, and taking with him a large amount of corded by HENRY ELLIS, Esq. third commissioner, treasure in money and jewels, visited several foreign in a work in two volumes (1818), and by DR ABEL, countries in the character of a wealthy merchant. a gentleman attached to the embassy. One circumPleased with his tour, and becoming interested in the stance connected with this embassy occasioned some occupation he had assumed as a disguise, he was ab- speculation and amusement. The ambassador was sent much longer than he originally intended, and in required to perform the ko-tou, or act of prostration, the course of a few years greatly increased his already nine times repeated, with the head knocked against large stock of wealth. His protracted absence, how-the ground. Lord Amherst and Mr Ellis were in |