cold; while, not far distant, reside the Loo-choos, a people amiable and engaging to the last degree.

VIII.

The heat of Africa is but little relieved, in any latitude of that great continent. At Congo, the climate may be ascertained by the number of its flowers. There is scarcely a field, that does not present a richer assemblage, than the finest garden in Europe: the lilies, which grow in the woods and valleys, are exquisitely white, and of the most bewitching fragrance. Flowers, which grow single in other places, are here seen blushing upon one stalk in clusters; under the trees and hedgerows are beds of hyacinths and tuberoses, one or two hundred in a groupe: their colours are variegated profusely; and the roses and honeysuckles afford a stronger perfume, than those of Asia : while American jessamine, some white, and others of the brightest scarlet, grow, as we are informed, by dozens in a bunch. These flowers yield little scent in the day; but in the evening and morning they are truly delicious. The soil is, in fact, encumbered with luxuriance of vegetation: and Captain Tuckey1 found the natives stamped, as it were, with mildness, simplicity, and benignity.

The Cape de Verd Islands approach, in vegetation, more nearly to the temperate regions, than the tropical: owing, it is supposed, to the abundance of its vapours. Madeira has the most healthful climate of all the African islands; but Madagascar is the most Narrative, p. 350, 4to.

beautiful: Nature seeming there to have taken plea→ sure, in exhibiting herself in the richest brilliancy of youth; and in producing every species of fine landscape; from the luxuriousness of uncontrolled vegetation to the grandeur of immense forests, and the sublimity of cataracts and precipices. This is a country in which, though Nature has done every thing, man has done comparatively nothing: for its natives are wild in their habits, and barbarous in their manners to the last degree. Here, too, are found gum-lacca, benzoin, amber and ambergris; beds of rock chrystal; and not only three kinds of gold ore, but a multitude of jaspers, sapphires, topazes and emeralds. Above all, the island contains two hundred millions' of acres, equal to any in the world. It would, therefore, be pre-eminently worthy of being erected into an empire; were not its climate so noxious, and its waters so pestilential. It produces apples, pears,

peaches, guavàs and strawberries; with oranges, lemons, grapes, and other fruits, growing both without and within the tropics: bulbous-rooted flowers, too, are innumerable; and the hedges are frequently composed of myrtles, quinces, and pomegranates.

The southern Cape of Africa, displays all the splendour of the vegetable kingdom. In no quarter of the world are flowers more rich in size, in colour, or variety. At the source of the Elephant river, corn grows luxuriantly with little culture; and so abounding is it in apricots, figs, mulberries, and 1 Rochon's Voyage to Madagascar, 1792, p. 171.

almonds, that the Dutch called it the Good Hope." Aloes are in blossom all the year; and the air is so pure, along the south-eastern coast, that the new moon is frequently seen like a piece of white silk. Dividing the Atlantic from the Indian ocean, it has

A shore so flowery, and so sweet an air,

Venus might plant her dearest treasures there.

IX.

Camöens.-Mickle.

Towards the south pole, stretches a land,"discovered by Dirk Gherritz, a Dutch captain, in 1599. In 1739, two vessels discovered land in lat. 47° and 48°, but they did not land, on account of the ice. In 1820, an English captain, voyaging from Monte Video to Valparaiso, found land in 61° longitude 55°. He coasted its shores for two hundred miles; but was unable to discover whether it was an island or a continent. He called it New Sheetland. There were no inhabitants; the land, for the most part, was covered with snow; pines, and other arctic plants, were occasionally seen; and there were vast numbers of seals and whales.

66

The coast of Patagonia, southward of the American continent, is wild and horrific. "Hares, deer, wild fowl, and ostriches," says a friend, writing from Bahia de Fodos Sontes, are seen in every direction." Horned cattle abound in the vast plains, affording food to tigers and lions; though the latter are smaller in size, and less fierce than those of Africa. The Patagonians are the finest race of men in the world; having regular features, and [admirably proportioned limbs. The Spaniards having introduced

1 Paterson's Travels in Africa, 4to. p. 34, 1790.

horses into this country, the various tribes eat horseflesh, and lead a wandering life, like Tartars.'

X.

New Holland is equal, in circumference, to threefourths of Europe; and it is curious to remark, that it contains only one river of great volume. The harbours of Derwent and Port-Jackson, however, are nearly equal to those of Trincomallee in Ceylon, and Rio Janeiro in South America. These settlements are the cradles, as it were, of a mighty empire. Not many years since, the whole continent was unknown to every other part of the world. It had neither swine, cattle, sheep, nor horses; potatoes were unknown; and wheat, barley, and oats, were foreign to the soil. By the last authentic survey, however, there were found to be, in the British settlements only, fourteen thousand five hundred acres of land, planted with potatoes; one thousand two hundred and fifty acres of oats, barley, and wheat; and eleven thousand seven hundred acres of maize. There were, also, two thousand eight hundred and fifty-one horses; eleven thousand four hundred swine; sixty-six thousand six hundred and eighty-four sheep, and thirty-three thousand six hundred and thirty-seven horned cattle.3 Near these

1 The Patagonians head their arrows with flints. Some system-builder may, perhaps, hereafter arise, who will trace their origin, in consequence, to Persia: for arrows of this kind were used by the Persians in their wars with Greece. Many of them have been turned up by the plough, the spade, and the harrow, on the field of Marathon. 2 1817.

3 Since this was written, another survey has been taken: and it may afford data, by which may be calculated the progress of animal population,

tsetlements are found copper, alum, potter's clay, coal, slate, lime, and fossil salt; with white, yellow, and brillant topazes. In the sea of the same continent, embracing also Van Dieman's Land, are found vast multitudes of sea elephants, seals, herrings, pilchards, and whales'; with skaites, having heads like sharks. And as to black petrels, they are so exceedingly multitudinous, that one hundred and fifty millions have been seen flying in the air in one day. On the shores are seen kangaroos, having bags under their bellies for the security of their young. There also are seen white and mountain eagles; cassowaries seven feet in height; black swans,3 three hundred in a groupe; cockatoos, parrokeets, and parrots with legs like those of seagulls; and there. also fly the most beautiful of all the birds of paradise.*

we shall compare the amount of the several years, beginning with that of 1813, and closing with that of 1818.

In the above enumeration a very remarkable deviation from the general progress appears in respect to sheep. Surely some error must have crept into the official returns. At all events, some explanation ought to have been given, to account for the very extraordinary eccentricity they present.

Wentworth's Historical and Statistical Description of Botany Bay. 2 Captain Flinders.

3 First Discovery in New Holland, by Vlaming, in 1697.

4 Mænura Superba.

VOL. III.

M