wrangling about whether the invention is Captain Blakely's, or due to the genius of an official, would have sufficed for an enemy to construct fifty or sixty monster guns on the disputed plan, and to try them against Portsmouth.

Have we no rivals who would spend £100,000 to try a scheme which, if successful, would give them the power of inflicting

such a blow on us as the destruction of Portsmouth?

General Peel has undertaken a most difficult task, but he may rest assured that the reform he has commenced in the so-called scientitic department under his control, is absolutely necessary; we trust, therefore, that in spite of all opposition he will persevere in the course he has had the courage to adopt.

Ir is related that a Syud sorrowfully exclaimed, as he gazed on the boat that conveyed Alexander Burnes up the Indus: "Alas! Scinde is now gone, since the English have seen the river!" The old man's wisdom was prophetic. The English were not long content with a sight of the Indus. They began by extorting a simple commercial treaty, and pledged themselves to employ no armed vessels on the river, and that no English merchants should be permitted to make a permanent settlement on its banks. After a little while a British minister was accredited to the court of Hyderabad, attended by such an escort as might appear desirable to his own Government. A few months passed away, and then the Ameers were required not only to sanction the passage of an armed force through their territory, but even to consent to the establishment of a military station, garrisoned by foreign troops, to command the navigation of their river. time rolled on, further demands were made, until, finally, the Ameers having refused to gratify the ambition or caprice of their imperious neighbour, by surrendering a portion of the lands subject to their sway, were summarily dispossessed of all, and their country declared an integral portion of the British empire.

As

A similar cycle of events appears to be now inaugurated on another river and in another continent. The spirit of enterprise, or devotion to science, in the first instance, incited adventurous travellers to explore the unknown regions of Central Africa. Gradually it transpired that not only was danger to be encountered, and strange insects and flowers to be collected, in those lands of wonder and romance, but that there was likewise an opening for cotton and cutlery, for Christianity and civilisation. A mighty river was discovered

Africa, in the years 1849-55. By HENRY Longman & Co.

;

traversing an immense district, not yet indeed flowing with milk and honey, but possessing vast capabilities for the production of all kinds of tropical fruits, vegetables, and cereals, and containing mineral and other resources. "British capital and enterprise," we are told, alone are wanting to convert the wide-spreading plains along the banks of the fabled Niger into the gardens of Alcinous while a continuous concourse of Kafilas will fill every mart with the treasures of the desert, till gold and ivory shall be nothing thought of, and ostrich feathers be as plentiful at Cremorne as at Almack's. And there is yet a higher motive to enlist the active sympathies of a Christian people. Those lands, so highly favoured of Heaven, are, alas! inhabited by pagan races, or by the fanatical followers of the Arabian impostor. Here, then, is a wide field for the exercise of the purest philanthropy; here is a glorious arena for the martyrdom of missionaries!

The first step towards a consummation so worthy of the devoutest aspirations has already been gained. To Dr. Barth is due the honour of having obtained, from the "mighty potentate" who sits "on a divan made of the light wood of the tukkurúwa,” and rules the vast domains of Sokoto, a royal letter, "composed on the whole in very handsome terms," and according according "commercial security for English merchants and travellers." Of similar purport was the excellent letter of franchise," written by certain Tawárek chiefs; though it may be a subject of partial regret that these liberalminded" shepherds of the people" do not possess sufficient power to enforce the due execution of their generous edicts. It is therefore to be apprehended, that until these sable princes and potentates are in a position to

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compel their subjects and dependents to allow Europeans to "circulate freely" through their dominions, it may be necessary to establish factories at convenient points, sufficiently strong to withstand a sudden onslaught, and to afford protection to peaceful traders. Indeed, it is evident that some sort of permanent settlement will be absolutely indispensable in order to gather together such an amount of local commodities as would meet the requirements of European traffic. The total supply of any one article at present produced between Say and Timbuktu, would scarcely create any appreciable effect upon the home market were it collected after the native fashion and offered for sale in the infinitesimal quantities which find favour in a rude state of society. Nor is it altogether clear, at least from Dr. Barth's account, that a vessel of moderate tonnage, if able to make her way to the extreme point attained by that persevering traveller, would find means to complete her cargo, though she touched at each existing emporium. minute character of commercial transactions, as at present understood by the barbarous tribes on either side of the Niger, may partly be gathered from the fact, that the sum of fifty pounds is divisible into 700,000 fractions, each denominated a shell, and forming the ordinary standard of value. A currency thus subdivided indicates a very primitive, or at least a very insignificant trade, and certainly the absence of all articles of luxury and intellectual enjoyment. Gold, as we learn from Dr. Barth, is the chief staple of the commerce of Timbúktu; and yet the whole amount of that precious metal exported from the city, does not probably exceed twenty thousand pounds sterling per annum, of which a large portion is in the form of rings. Another article of exchange, and in some respects even more valued than gold, is salt, which could only be made available by Europeans after the establishment of regular factories, that would enable them to become the general carriers and storekeepers throughout Central Africa: for the purpose of export to Europe, it would, of course, be utterly useless. The gúro or kóla nuts, the substitute for coffee throughout Negroland-though that plant also is indigenous to the soil-constitute another important article of trade, and are esteemed so highly as a luxury, that the poor can seldom partake of them, save when they receive them as alms from the rich on great festival occasions. Rice and negro corn are likewise brought to this central mart, besides the mai-kadéña, or vegetable butter, which is employed both for culinary purposes and for lighting the houses. Pepper and ginger are consumed in considerable quantities, and a little cotton is introduced from the

neighbouring provinces. neighbouring provinces. The European manufactures that are most highly prized are red cloth, coarse coverings, sashes, looking-glasses, and cutlery. Dates and tobacco are also imported to some extent when compared with other articles of traffic, but still on a mean and pitiful scale according to European notions of commerce. And yet, after enumerating these petty details, Dr. Barth confidently assures us that "thus much is certain, that an immense field is here opened to European energy, to revive the trade which, under a stable government, formerly animated this quarter of the globe, and which might again flourish to great extent." But how is this "stable government to be obtained? That is precisely the pivot on which turns the fate of all savage or semi-barbarous tribes, when brought into immediate contact with a civilized and commercial people. The instability of the local government is ever the excuse for its overthrow. The patron is unable to protect the factory; so the factory dethrones the patron, and takes his territories under its beneficent and paternal sway. It may, indeed, be objected that such a state of things could only happen when a factory belonged to some great commercial company, vested with extraordinary powers and exclusive privileges. These settlements in Central Africa, it may further be urged, would rather resemble the hunting stations in North America, in the midst of a scattered and nomadic population, than the factories originally established in the densely-peopled provinces of Bengal and the Carnatic. A little consideration, however, will possibly show that there is a distinction, rather than a difference, between the two cases. Where now are the native tribes of North America ? Each returning year has seen their numbers still further reduced-their lands still further encroached upon. In Central Africa there may be little danger of such a contingency, in as much as the deadly climate precludes the possibility of European colonization; and consequently no temptation would exist for the extermination of the natural occupants of the soil. There may also, perchance, be little likelihood of any company of British traders, at the present time, aiming at territorial acquisitions, or usurping the peculiar functions of royalty. But no such designs, in truth, were ever contemplated by the "merchant-adventurers" who first opened direct commercial communications with "the gorgeous East." In humble and lowly guise did they ask permission of the native prince to establish themselves on the seabord of his dominions. With abject reverence they bowed themselves to the ground before the haughty representatives of the Great Mogul, and with

'bated breath deprecated their displeasure. Little more than a century has since then passed into history, and the descendants of those "merchantadventurers" are compelled to transfer to their sovereign a mighty empire; while the last of the Moguls finds none so mean as to do him reverence, or cry "God bless him!" It must never be forgotten that, in addition to the ordinary grounds of dispute between greedy and imperious traders, and insolent improvident barbarians, regardless of truth and honesty, there exists the most fruitful of all sources of malice, hatred, and contempt-fanaticism, and that in its worst degree. At any moment it would be possible for a crazed or half-drunken fanatic to sow the seeds of a Jihad, or holy war against the infidels. Obedient to the sacred call, thousands of fierce warriors from the desert would gather round the green flag of their prophet, and, raising the loud war-shout of Islam, would rush upon certain death, in the sure hope of awaking in Paradise in the arms of the ever-virgin houris. That English pluck and solidité would ultimately triumph over the blind fury of these impulsive barbarians is beyond all doubt, but the repulse of the assailants would be the first step to conquest; and as the attack on the residency at Hyderabad resulted in the annexation of Scinde, so would the first demonstration against a Christian factory, on the banks of the Niger, lead to the gradual reduction of all the riverain tribes in Central Africa.

These considerations are of a nature to make one pause before giving a decisive answer as to the expediency of cultivating commercial relations with the Mahommedan tribes in that region of the earth. On the one hand, it does not appear from Dr. Barth's intolerably minute description of the scenes of his wanderings, that there is any very great temptation to attract British enterprise in that direction. The natural productions of the soil may be procured of at least equally good quality, and certainly in far greater abundance, from our eastern possessions. The expense and difficulty of transit must, under any circumstances, be enormous; and, unless the Niger be navigable to its mouth-which is something more than problematical-positively prohibitory; the idea of Europeans organizing caravans across the desert being, of course, altogether visionary. Besides all this, in order to develop the trade of those countries to such proportions as consist with the European system of commerce, the establishment of permanent factories or settlements may be regarded as quite indispensable; while history teaches us, that the certain consequence of such a step will be early and embittered hostilities between the civilized and the semi-barbarous, terminating in the subjugation or destruction

common

of the latter. On the other hand, an argument may undoubtedly be adduced for affording encouragement to British adventurers along the banks of the Niger, in the political fact that French influence is rapidly extending to the southward from the confines of Algeria. Double-barrelled guns, for instance, are now in use in the neighbourhood of Timbûktu, "owing to the trade with the French ;" and the steady advance of that martial race into the very heart of the desert, has already spread disquietude and dismay among tribes still remote from the scene of their operations. So far as Timbûktu alone is concerned, it may be of little moment to England whether it is in the hands of the French or of the Mahommedans; but the ulterior and moral effects of such a contingency may not be lightly overlooked in reference to our own position in the East. Pilgrims even now have the courage to face the many weary and perilous leagues that lie between farthest Negroland and the sacred cities of their faith. Thither, too, congregate pilgrims from all parts of Hindostan, who on their return to their distant homes in the far East would eagerly disseminate rumours to the enhancement of the power of France, and the abasement of that of England. The impulsive, unreasoning fanaticism of the Indian Muslemin would thus always be liable to furious outbreaks, in the vain hope of assistance from one race of Feringhees in opposition to another. Nor let this be deemed a fardrawn and fanciful notion. Few Asiatics know any thing of geography; and only a few years since the Rajah of Sattara was induced to purchase a merchant vessel, and consent to its proceeding to China as the most direct line of communication with Europe. It is, therefore, our interest to find a counterpoise to French influence in the interior of Africa; but this end might, in all likelihood, be sufficiently attained by securing the navigation and trade of the lower parts of the Niger as far north as Say, and from that point diffusing British manufactures, and the renown of the British name, throughout the regions around, by means of the native traders themselves. But it is time to glance at the two heavy volumes-two-fifths only of the entire workfrom which we have wandered into this desultory, and perhaps tedious, dissertation. We may console ourselves, however, with the reflection that, if more desultory, it cannot possibly be more tedious, than Dr. Barth's own narrative, written apparently through the medium of a microscope. This minuteness of detail would of itself suffice to deprive this work of any hope of attaining an extensive popularity, even if it possessed intrinsic claims

to public interest. The monotony of the incidents recorded is, however, positively oppressive, and the hapless reviewer has to struggle fiercely against the insidious approaches of sleep. Either the private life of the different tribes among whom Dr. Barth sojourned for such a lengthened period is destitute of individuality, or else he was incapable of observing it; but, on the other hand, he carefully enumerates the thunder-storms that passed over his party, as well as those which burst upon their devoted heads. He chronicles the pangs of rheumatism he endured, the emetics he swallowed, and the headaches with which he was afflicted. He tells us how often he fasted, how seldom he feasted. Occasionally he gives the botanical name of a plant, but more frequently favours us with that current among the natives. He appears to be an admirer of picturesque scenery, and oftentimes he informs the sympathetic reader how much he enjoyed the beautiful panorama that lay at his feet, or spread on all sides around him, and then refers to an engraving representing a dead level with a bush here and there, and some splashes of water at intervals. As a faithful servant of the English government he comports himself as an Englishman, and grumbles as heartily and constantly as if he were a true-born son of British parents. At times he furnishes the interesting intelligence that he did not find so-and-so altogether a bore, because he gathered from him some valuable information; but he provokingly omits to place his reader in as good a position as himself, and thus enable him to make a similar remark. Then, with regard to the previous history of the tribes he encounters, he is terribly prolix, and evidently regards the entry of the Fulbé into Timbuktu as a matter of equal interest and importance to that of the allies into Paris. Still, with all his defects and failings, our bowels at times yearn to embrace the honest German. After a separation of many months from the whole European family, he suddenly meets a countryman, Dr. Vogel, in a wild forest, and for two hours holds high converse with him over a cup of coffee. And what does the reader think was the first topic that occurred to the wayworn traveller? Naturally enough it was the subject of money, and "it was with great amazement" he heard "that there were no supplies " in the place whither he was bound.

"But the news of the want of pecuniary supplies did not cause me so much surprise as the report which I received from him, that he did not possess a single bottle of wine. For having now been for more than three years without a drop of any stimulant but coffee, and having suffered severely from (fre

quent attacks of fever and dysentery, I had an insuperable longing for the juice of the grape, of which former experience had taught me the benefit."

Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus. Such, however, was not always the case with our learned traveller. With nothing more stimulant than a dish of millet and a bowl of sour milk, he was still able to do homage to the fair sex, though he appears to have been shockingly prejudiced against those in good condition. Fat, fair, and forty, would clearly have no chance with him, unless after a long Byronic diet of biscuits and soda water. It is thus the reprobate coolly disposes of "one of the finest women" he saw in that country :—

Her decent apparel contributed not a little to increase her beauty; for over her under-gown she wore an upper-garment of red and black silk, in alternate stripes, which she occasionally drew over her head. Her features were remarkable for their soft

expression and regularity; but her person rather inclined to corpulency, which is highly esteemed by the Tawárek. Seeing that I took an interest in her, she half-jokingly (oh, doctor, doctor! only half-jokingly) proposed that I should marry her; and I declared myself ready to take her with me, if one of my rather weak camels should be found able to support her weight. As a mark of distinction I presented her with a looking-glass, which I was always accustomed to give to the most handsome women in an encampment, the rest receiving nothing but needles, She returned the next day with some of her relations, who were equally distinguished by their comeliness, and who were anxious to obtain a glimpse of me, not less than of the sheikh El Bakáy. These noble Tawárek ladies furnished a remarkable example of the extreme liberty which the females belonging to this tribe enjoy; and I was greatly astonished to see the pipe pass continually from their mouths to those of the men, and from the latter back again into the mouths of the women. In other respects, I can only hope that they surpass the female portion of the population of Tademékka, of whose virtue El Bekri speaks in rather doubtful terms.

This is really too bad; but a little farther on we find the traveller's tent converted into a picture gallery, from which he most ungallantly endeavours to exclude the choicest portion of creation, though it could hardly have been the crinoline that rendered their presence inconvenient within the limited dimensions of his exhibition. He had just succeeded in conciliating the males of the tribe of the Tinger-égedesh-who looked upon Europeans generally as tawakast, or wild beasts, in consequence of the rough treatment they had experienced from Mungo Park-by "showing them some pictures of men of various tribes."

Notwithstanding-he goes on to say the great distance which separated my tent from the encampment, none of the women remained behind, all being anxious to have a look at this curious and novel exhibition; and having been sent about their business when they came in the daytime, they again returned towards night in such numbers, that my people, being

anxious for the safety of my small tent, which became endangered by those unwieldy creatures, endeavoured to frighten them away with powder. But all was in vain; they would not stir till they had seen the pictures, which, in accordance with the disposition of each, excited their great delight or amusement. My custom, which I mentioned before, of honouring the handsomest woman in every encampment with a looking-glass, created here a great struggle for the honour; but I was so unfortunate as to hurt the feelings of a mother, by giving the prize of beauty to her daughter, who was rather a handsome person.

Matre pulchra filia pulchrior; but the affront was unkind, and we do not wonder that the mature beauty was vexed. On one occasion, however, the doctor seems to have been almost persuaded to be a polygamisthe certainly repeats his opponent's argument with considerable unction. This Mormonite gentleman was a Tawáti of the name of Abd e' Rahman, "a very amiable and sociable man," as indeed we should gather from his opinions so far as they have come down to us. "On one occasion," says Dr. Barth, "when my learned friend was endeavouring to convince me of the propriety of polygamy, he adduced as an illustration, that in matters of the table we did not confine ourselves to a single dish, but took a little fowl, a little fish, and a little roast beef; and how absurd, he argued, was it to restrict ourselves in the intercourse with the other sex to only one wife!" A very apt and convincing illustration, no doubt; but there are some wives who are neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, nor yet good red herring, and who can as little be classed among the sweets; are these to be summarily dismissed from the bill of fare, or regarded as pièces de resistance? It is pleasing, however, to learn that women are usually treated by the Arabs with becoming reverence and respect. Some have been "famed for the holiness of their life;" while others have "even" acquired repute as "authoresses of well-digested religious tracts." The qualifying adverb " seems to imply that holy women are less rare among the Arabs than "blue-stockings," which is as it should be. But we cannot help thinking that the sheikh El Bakáy was something of a wag, and had determined to "smoke" our traveller, who gravely asserts that his friend and protector went to his mother-in-law's sepulchre to pray for her soul, and then naïvely adds: "Such is the reverence which these Arabs have for the female portion of their tribe!" Now, we may all exclaim with the nice young man in the French play: Il n'y a que Dieu et ma mère !—but a mother-in-law? Tut, tut, doctor, go to!

even

Our author was frequently involved in religious discussions, but seems to have maintained his own ground with considerable skill

and success. Though addicted to the use of polemical foils, it rarely happens that Mahommedans are really cunning of fence, which is attributable to their very partial acquaintance with their own religion, and their utter ignorance of every other.

One day-writes the doctor-when I visited the sheikh, the two brothers were engaged in an animated discussion respecting the relation of Aísa (Jesus Christ) to Mohammed, and a warm dispute arose on the sophistical question, whether it would be allowed, after the return of Aísa upon earth, to eat camel's flesh. The sheikh himself was anxious to prove how difficult it would be for themselves to change any part of their creed after the return of Aísa, owing to the difference which existed between the precepts of the two prophets, and thus intended to excuse the Christians for not embracing the creed of Mohammed after having once adopted that of Aísa. The two learned men, in the heat of their dispute, had overlooked the fact that the camel was a prohibited animal to the Jews, but not to the Christians, and hence that the return of Aísa would not interfere with their favourite repast.

On another occasion our disputatious traveller extricated himself from the charge of being an "infidel" in a somewhat sophistical manner. We give his own report of the arguments he thought proper to use :

Meanwhile, Sidi Mohammed had made a serious attack upon my religion, and called me always a Káfir. But I told him that I was a real Moslim, the pure Islám, the true worship of the one God, dating from the time of Adam, and not from the time of Mohammed; and that thus, while adhering to the principle of the unity, and the most spiritual and sublime nature of the Divine Being, I was a Moslim, professing the real Islám, although not adopting the worldly statutes of Mohammed, who, in every thing that contained a general truth, only followed the principles established long before his time. I likewise added that even they themselves regarded Plato and Aristotle as Moslemin, and that thus I myself was to be regarded as a Moslim in a much stricter sense than these two pagan philosophers. I concluded by stating that the greater part of those who called themselves Moslemin did not deserve that name at all, but ought rather to be called Mohammedan, such as we named them, because they had raised their prophet above the Deity itself (sic.) Being rather irritated and exasperated by the frequent attacks of Sidi Mohammed and Alawáte, I delivered my speech with great fervour and animation; and when I had concluded, Sidi Mohammed, who could not deny that the Kurán itself states that Islám dates from the creation of mankind, was not able to say a word in his defence. As for El Bakáy, he was greatly delighted at this clear exposition of my religious principles; but his younger brother, who certainly possessed a considerable degree of knowledge in religious matters, stated, in opposition to my argument, that the caliphs El Harún and Mamún, who had the books of Plato and Aristotle translated into Arabic, were Metăzila, that is to say, heretics, and not true Moslemin; but this assertion of course I did not admit, although much might be said in favour of my opponent.

There were times, too, when our usually grave and decorous traveller condescended to indulge in a certain degree of mystification, possibly facetious, but assuredly in bad taste.

T