with the neighbours opposite. I observed that they took every opportunity of beckoning Demetrie over to them, and that he and they were laying their heads together about something of moment. I took no notice, thinking it merely the good fellowship of the people, little thinking that I was the object of their whisperings and consultations. Demetrie had, however, one morning cleared away my breakfast things, and a few minutes afterwards he entered with a message, that the brother of my landlady wished to pay me a visit if I was disengaged. I immediately said I would be glad to see him, and in a few minutes he made his appearance. After having seated himself he thus began

666

Myself, and my neighbours, have been for some days consulting wholly and solely about you. We hear from Demetrie, that you will shortly quit Greece for England. You have been but two months with us in this part of the town, and we are in hopes you will defer your departure and stay in Athens. You know our language, and you will be able to serve Greece by remaining in it.'"

Our author declared himself very much flattered, and concluded his speech by observing, that he should always retain the fondest recollections of a country where he had passed his time so happily.

"We wish this happiness should continue, and we wish to fix it in such a manner, that you shall become one of us. You know the simplicity of our manners-we think no one can be happy without being married. We should like to see you married to an Athenian lady. There are many of them young, beautiful, and well brought up. Make your choice, or take our choice; her name is Eucharis, though poor, she belongs to an honest family.'

"I thanked him, and observed, that in an affair so important I should like to see the lady.'

Certainly, nothing can be more reasonable.'

66 6 But when shall I see her.'

66 6

Oh, immediately; open the window and look on the next house on the left.'

"I opened the window, and there, sure enough, I saw Eucharis with two of her friends in deep consultation; upon seeing me they went in doors. They returned, however, and I perceived that the young sister was really extremely handsome, with features perfectly regular and Greek, and about sixteen years of age; nor were her personal attractions impaired by the want of a little of that naive coquetry which so prettily sets off a hand

some woman.

66

Every now and then she looked up and I looked down, and this pantomimic conversation of love-making lasted for about a quarter of an hour. All this time my neighbours were no doubt delighted, thinking that my lengthened stay evinced my intention of accepting their proposition.

"But,' said I, returning from the window, matrimony is a serious state to enter into;' indirectly hinting I should like to know the dower the young lady might bring with her.

66 6

Eucharis is not rich,' he replied, 'a few stremata of land planted with some olives will be all her fortune.'

"The idea of fasting upon olives and bread, and being married after the ceremonials usual with the Greek peasantry, caused love to fly out of the window, into which for a moment before he had made a temporary

entry, and I got out of the affair with a good grace by saying, 'I must go to England first and consult my friends about it.'

Our extracts have run to such a length, that we have only space to notice, in very brief terms, the advice to sellers, and the theory of colonization.

A foreigner, wishing to purchase lands in Greece, should not betray his intention previously, but do it as if accidentally, after residing some time, or privately through an agent. The average price is 50 drachmas the strima. He should locate a priest on his land, and engage some Greek families to become his tenants.

I would not advise any one to cultivate his own lands in Greece until he has been a year in the country, but let his tenants do everything, he merely taking part of the profits.

I should lay out a hundred pounds in building cottages and a church, another hundred pounds in building myself a house from the timber of the estate. I should then watch quietly the progress of affairs, and take advantages of circumstances as they should arise; but I would in no case farm myself in the outset, but would do it by the medium of the peasantry, who are a very honest race of people; and who, if they see you are determined to remain among them, will be faithful to you to the end of the chapter. The pay of a peasant is about a drachm a day (eightpence halfpenny).

Were my estate in the Morea, I should expect to get from my tenants butter, cheese, honey, wine, silk, tobacco, and horned cattle.

"If in Boœtia and Negropont, wheat, barley, rice, maize, hemp, and tobacco.

"If in Attica, corn, barley, oil, honey, and sheep.

'By reports, which I have now before me, the average returns of honey are about twenty per cent. The wines, of which there are a great quantity in Greece, yield the cultivator about sixty per cent., and if exported would yield an enormous profit. The average profits arising from the cultivation of the silk-worm are forty per cent.; wheat, barley, rice, and maize, twenty per cent.; tobacco thirty per cent. Cotton succeeds well, but it is coarse. For fine works, that of Egypt is required.

We have now glanced at the most important topics treated of by our author, and we have no hesitation in saying that his work will prove a most acceptable present to the public. As presenting a picture of the social, moral, and political condition of Greece, it is simple and unpretending, blending amusement with instruction. For ourselves, we entertain not the slightest doubt of the realization of the author's anticipations of a brilliant hereafter for Greece. The facilities of steam communication will divert the stream of the Tourist population from France and Italy to a country possessing so many objects of attraction. The influx of visitors of all nations must, in itself, prove a source of national wealth and social improvement, and we can easily conceive that, in a few years, the pleasures of Athenian society will be as eagerly sought after and lauded with as much enthusiasm as they were of old.

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ART. IX.

1. Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of Africa, by the River Niger, in the Steam-Vessels Quorra and Alburkah, in 1832, 1833, and 1834. By MACGREGOR LAIRD, and R. A. K. OLDFIELD, surviving Officers of the Expedition. In 2 vols. 8vo. London: Bentley. 1837. 2. Narrative of a Voyage of Observation among the Colonies of Western Africa, in the Flag Ship Thalia; and of a Campaign in KaffirLand, &c. By J. E. ALEXANDER, K. L. S. 2 vols. London: Colburn. 1837.

3. Narrative of Captain James Fawckner's Travels on the Coast of Benin, West Africa. Edited by a FRIEND of the CAPTAIN. London: Schloss.

1837.

THE first of these works contains the results of a remarkable enterprize which was undertaken with the sanction of the British Government, and the general fate of which has been long familiar to the public. The gentlemen, who here communicate what was seen, suffered, and observed by them and their companions in the course of the fruitless and tragical attempt to penetrate the interior of Africa, have acquitted themselves well as authors. Their narrative, which comprises many accounts of great importance to the mercantile world, and which also contributes very considerably to our geographical knowledge, is delivered with that spirit, and straightforward frankness which one naturally expects from men of the class to which they belong. The two or three passages which we are about to cite will sufficiently exhibit the manner and the sort of matter to be found in each of their narratives, varying as it naturally must between descriptions that are amusing and sorrowful, although even when the imagination is delighted or curiosity gratified, the reflection ever attends that the whole had a disastrous termination, that makes the reader regret the rashness which attaches to such expeditions. We are not, however, going to select any of those afflicting passages which detail the havoc which death by degrees made amongst the adventurers; the usual list of sufferings arising from an African climate, privations, and treachery is here too well preserved to require to be noted in our disjointed extracts.

We go at once to a Dutch fort at Axim, where the Governor was the only European resident, whose rule extended from Cape Apollonia to Dix Cove. One may reasonably inquire how it was that this son of Mars contrived to support his authority, and the answer will not disappoint any unfavourable presumptions formed regarding Dutch colonial tyranny.

His plan was simply as follows:-On receiving a complaint from any one within his district, he immediately sends his stick to the village i

which the offender resides. The messenger who is charged with it places it upright in the ground in the centre of the village, and remains close by it. The natives know well the meaning of this, and that the appearance of the governor's stick in this formal manner is nothing more or less than a demand of eight ackeys, or half an ounce of gold, from the offending person. The messenger remains by his charge for twenty-four hours if the offender be obdurate; at the expiration of which time the governor's hat is despatched after the stick, and is deliberately placed on it as it stands in the ground. This, however, makes the matter more serious, and the demand is increased to an ounce of gold in consequence. Should the hat and the stick be insufficient to move the offender to pay the fine, a third messenger appears with the governor's sword, and an additional ounce of gold is required; and it is a remarkable fact, that this last resource has never yet been known to fail; in fact, the stick alone is generally all-sufficient. In addition to this, there is a certain charge for putting a prisoner into irons, and another for taking him out again; another for his lodging in the castle while confined, and another to the constable for locking up.'

The following account of the ingenious way in which certain Africans mastered an alligator, makes the reader almost shake with nervous fear.

"One of these huge creatures was discovered basking on a bank in the river, a short distance ahead of our vessels. He was observed by two natives in a canoe, who immediately paddled to the opposite side of the bank, and having landed, crept cautiously towards him. As soon as they were near the animal, one of the natives stood up from his crouching position, holding a spear about six feet long, which with one blow he struck through the animal's tail into the sand. A most strenuous contest immediately ensued; the man with the spear holding it in the sand as firmly as his strength allowed him, and clinging to it as it became necessary to shift his position with the agility of a monkey; while his companion occasionally ran in as opportunity offered, and with much dexterity gave the animal a thrust with his long knife, retreating at the same moment from within reach of its capacious jaws as it whirled round upon the extraordinary pivot which his companion had so successfully placed in its tail. The battle lasted about half an hour, terminating in the slaughter of the alligator, and the triumph of his conquerors, who were not long in cutting him into pieces, and loading their canoes with his flesh, which they immediately carried to the shore and retailed to their countrymen. It is evident that the success of this plan depended on the nerve and dexterity of the man who pinned the animal's tail to the ground; and his contortions and struggles to keep his position were highly ridiculous and entertaining."

How spirit-stirring to such men as Lander must many of the scenes for the first time beheld by them, in the progress of the expedition, have been-where, indeed, no European had ever set foot! The River Tchadda, which was ascended for one hundred and five miles, afforded some of the most interesting accounts in these volumes.

"On the 2d of August, before the sun was many fathoms high, as the Mallams term it, we were on our way to the Tchadda. The morning was

beautifully clear and serene; the sun shone with uncommon splendour; and the small rocky islands in the midst of the stream near the confluence of the two great rivers, the Tchadda and Niger, gave an enlivening and cheerful character to the surrounding scenery. We were now about to enter a stream which was (comparatively speaking) totally unknown, and where no white man had penetrated. What difficulties we might encounter before our return we could not foresee; and we trusted to the protecting care of Providence for a successful result to our efforts. Our intention was, if practicable, to reach Lake Tchad from the Tchadda, which, if we succeeded in doing, we should add a grand and important discovery to the results of our voyage. The natives considered it quite practicable; and Mallam Catab inquired if we were going to the Great Sea, meaning the Lake Tchad."

At Rabbah, to which the travellers proceeded, after having returned to the Niger, and which is about four hundred and fifty miles from the sea, a large and populous city was seen.

"As we rapidly approached the town, it appeared to be situated on the slope of a rising ground; and the houses being built one above the other, impart to it the appearance of an amphitheatre. With the aid of a glass we could discern an amazing crowd of natives assembled on the banks; but, what was more in accordance with our wishes, we could distinguish horses, cows, bullocks, sheep, and goats. As we drew nearer, we found the city to be of immense extent, with villages all round the suburbs. We went inside a small island under the town, where we anchored at 6. 10 P.M. in a kind of bay, in one fathom and a half water. The king was apprised of our intention to fire a salute, and the walls of Rabbah, for the first time, reechoed with the sound of British cannon, and her people witnessed a novel sight in the arrival of a British steam-vessel constructed of iron. After our salute, our people broke out into three hearty cheers, which, perhaps, surprised still more the thousands of human beings that were assembled before the walls of Rabbah. As we had neared the city, a great number of Felatah horsemen were seen coming out to look at the vessel; one of whom was particularly conspicuous, from riding on a white horse. Having anchored our vessel late, we lay quiet till the next morning, when we prepared to visit the king. Horses having been sent to the water-side for us, Lieutenant Allen, Mr. Lander, and myself went ashore, accompanied by some Kroomen; and I enjoyed the satisfaction of being the first Christian who had ever landed at Rabbah. The horses were small, and we found considerable difficulty in mounting, from the concourse of natives being so great. We were preceded by Sullikeen Mansony (king of the messengers), after whom followed a posse of constables armed with crooks and staves. The appearance of the crooks was strange enough; indeed, they reminded me of the representations of shepherds' crooks, and were, sans cérémonie, hooked round the neck of every intruder. Our conductors were likewise furnished with whips made of the skin of the hippopotamus; and these they used with very great severity on the backs of the natives, to keep order."

One never can read any considerable portion of a work which describes the condition of the benighted Africans, without being shocked with the grossness of their belief in charms. For instance, we have