an elevated plain where the argentiferous mountains of Gualgayoc, the chief locality of the celebrated Silver Mines of Chota, afforded them a remarkable spectacle. The cerro of Gualgayoc, an isolated mass of silicious rock, stands like an enchanted castle, separated by a deep ravine from the limestone mountains of Cormolatsche. It is traversed by innumerable veins of silver, and terminated on the N.W. by a nearly perpendicular precipice. "Besides being perforated to its summit by many hundred galleries driven in every direction, this mountain presents also natural openings in the mass of the silicious rock, through which the intensely dark blue sky of those elevated regions is visible to a spectator standing at the foot of the mountain. These openings are popularly called windows," and "similar ones were pointed out to us in the trachytic walls of the volcano of Pinchincha."

On their way to the ancient city of Caxamarca, Humboldt and his companions had to cross a succession of Paramos at the height of about 10,000 feet above the sea, before they reached the Paramo de Yanaguanga, from which they looked down upon the fertile valley of Caxamarca, containing in its oval area about 112 English square miles. The town stands almost as high as the city of Quito, but being encircled by mountains, it enjoys a far milder climate. The fort and palace of Atahualpa exist only in a few ruins. The warm baths of Pultamarca, at which the Inca spent a part of the year, have a temperature of 156° Fahrenheit, and are seen in the distance. The town is adorned with a few churches, a state prison, and a municipal building, erected upon part of the ruins of the palace. On the porphyritic rock upon which the palace stood, a shaft has been sunk which formerly led into subterranean chambers, and to a gallery said to extend to the other porphyritic dome of Santa Polonia. The room is yet shown where Atahualpa was imprisoned for nine months from November 1532, and the mark on the wall is still pointed out to show the height to which he offered to fill the room with gold in bars, plates, and vessels, if set free. In order to avoid being burnt alive, the Inca consented to be baptized by his fanatical persecutor the Dominican monk, Vincente de Valverde. He was strangled publicly in the open air, and at the mass for the dead the brothers Pizarro were present in mourning habits.* The population of Caxamarca did not, at the time of our author's visit, exceed seven or eight thousand inhabitants.

After leaving the sea, the travellers ascended a height about 10,000 feet high, and were "struck with the sight of two gro

In

* It is with some reluctance that, in imitation of Humboldt, we throw into the obscurity of a note, a specimen of court etiquette at the palace of the Incas. conformity," says our author, "with a highly ancient court ceremonial, Atahualpa spat, not on the ground, but into the hand of one of the principal ladies present;""all," says Garcilaso, "on account of his majesty."-Vol. ii. p. 314. When

First View of the Pacific-Conclusion.

263

tesquely shaped porphyritic summits, Aroma and Cunturcaga, which consisted of five, six, or seven solid columns, some of them jointed, and from thirty-seven to forty-two feet high." Owing to the distribution of the often converging series of columns of the Cerro Aroma placed one above another, "it resembles a twostoried building, which, moreover, is surmounted by a dome or cupola of non-columnar rock."

It had been the earliest wish of our author to obtain a view of the Pacific from the crest of the Andes. He had listened as a boy to the adventurous expedition of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European who beheld the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, and he was now about to gratify this longing desire of his youth. When they had reached the highest part of the mountain by the Alto de Guangamarca, the heavens suddenly became clear, and the western declivity of the Cordilleras, covered with quartz blocks fourteen feet high, and the plains as far as the seashore near Truxillo, "lay beneath their eyes in astonishing apparent proximity. We saw for the first time the Pacific Ocean itself, and we saw it clearly. . . . . The joy it inspired was vividly shared by my companions Bonpland and Carlos Montufar," and the sight "was peculiarly impressive to one who like myself owed a part of the formation of his mind and character, and many of the directions which his wishes had assumed, to intercourse with (George Forster) one of the companions of Cook."

an

In the preceding analysis of the " Aspects of Nature,” we have found it very difficult to do justice either to the author or to ourselves as Reviewers. Owing to the great length of the " notations and additions," which extend to more than twice the length of the original chapters which form the text, we have been under the necessity of incorporating the information contained in both, partly in our own language and partly in that of the author, and have therefore found it impossible to give such copious and continuous extracts as the reader might have desired. This difficulty, too, has been greatly increased by the admixture of scientific with popular details, and by the use of technical terms which the general reader will sometimes find it difficult to interpret. Regarding the work, however, as one of great value from its science, and great interest from its subject, and as possessing that peculiar charm of language and of sentiment which we look for in vain in similar productions, we cannot withhold the expression of our anxiety that the popular mat

the possessors of a little brief authority thus degrade their office and their race, we feel that they have withdrawn themselves from the sphere of human sympathies, and we almost forget the cruelties of the Spaniards when we find them perpetrated against bipeds like Atahualpa.

ter in the "annotations and additions" should be incorporated with the original text, and the technical and parenthetic references in the text, either converted into foot-notes, or transferred to the "annotations." We should thus have a work truly popular, without losing any of its scientific accuracy.

The translation by Mrs. Sabine is like her translation of Kosmos, admirably executed. We are never offended with the harshness of a foreign idiom, and we never discover that the author and the translator are different persons.

We have thus endeavoured to give our readers some account of a work full of wisdom and knowledge, written by one of the most distinguished writers and philosophers of the present day, and well fitted to draw our attention to a subject with which every person ought to be familiar. To live upon a world so wonderfully made, without desiring to know its form, its structure, and its purpose-to eat the ambrosia of its gardens, and drink the nectar of its vineyards, without inquiring where, or how, or why they grow-to toil for its gold and its silver, and to appropriate its coal and its iron, without studying their nature and their origin-to tremble under its earthquakes, and stand aghast before its volcanoes, in ignorance of their locality, of their powers, and of their origin-to see and handle the gigantic remains of vegetable and animal life, without understanding when and why they perished-to tread the mountain range, unconscious that it is sometimes composed wholly of the indestructible flinty relics of living creatures, which it requires the most powerful microscope to perceive, to neglect such pursuits as these, would indicate a mind destitute of the intellectual faculty, and unworthy of the life and reason with which we have been endowed. It is only the irreligious man that can blindly gaze upon the loveliness of material nature, without seeking to understand its phenomena. and its laws. It is only the ignorant man that can depreciate the value of that true knowledge which is within the grasp of his divine reason; and it is only the presumptuous man who can prefer those speculative studies, before which the strongest intellect quails, and the weakest triumphs. "In wisdom hast Thou made them all," can be the language only of the wise; and it is to the wise only that the heavens can declare the glory of God, and that the firmament can show forth his handiwork. It is the geologist alone who has explored them, that can call upon the depths of the earth to praise the Lord;" and he "who breaketh the cedars of Lebanon," who "shaketh the wilderness," who "divideth the flames of fire," who "causeth the hinds to calve," and "maketh bare the forest," has imperatively required it from his worshippers, "that in his temple every one should speak of his glory."

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On Scottish University Tests.

265

ART. X.-1. Report made to His Majesty by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the State of the Universities of Scotland. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 7th October 1831. Additional Report, 1838, 1839.

2. On Subscription to Articles of Faith: a Plea for the Liberties of the Scottish Universities, &c. By JOHN STUART BLACKIE, Professor of Humanity in Marischal College, Aberdeen. 1843.

DURING the currency of the fifteenth century, the three regularly constituted Universities of Scotland were organized and endowed,-viz., St. Andrews, in the year 1411; Glasgow, in 1450; and Aberdeen, in 1494. These Institutions were Ecclesiastical in their character, and ruled by the Bishops of the districts. Circumstances, indeed, are not wanting to justify the conclusion, that the chief object contemplated in their formation, was to provide qualified priests, not only for the offices of the CHURCH, but also for those of the STATE. So far, the Church of Rome displayed great wisdom and forethought; and had not the art of printing been a discovery of the same century, Papal domination might thus have been largely extended and consolidated.

The downfal of the Church of Rome in Scotland, and the consequent establishment of the Reformed Religion, exercised a powerful influence over the character of the Universities. The Professors now became servants of the State, instead of being subjected exclusively to local influences, and, while the importance of their functions was distinctly recognised, their direct subordination to the Church was placed beyond all manner of doubt by the Act of the First Parliament of James VI. (1567), having the title, "The Teacheris of Zouth suld be tryed be the Visitoris of the Kirk." This Statute, as the commencement of Parliamentary interference with the Universities, seems to deserve our particular notice.

"Forasmeikle, as be all laws and constitutionis, it is provided, that the zouth be brocht up and instructed in the fear of God, and gude maneris; and gif it be utherwise, it is tinsel baith of their bodies and saules, gif God's word be not ruted in them. Qhuairfoire, our Soveraigne Lord, with advice of my Lord Regent and the Three Estates of the present Parliament, hes statute and ordained, that all Schulis to Burg and land, and all Universities and Colleges, be reformed: And that nane be permitted nor admitted, to have charge and care thereof in time cumming, nor to instruct the zouth privatlie or openlie, bot sik as sall be tryed by the Superintendente or visitouris of the Kirk."

It is impossible to contemplate this Statute, in reference to the period of its enactment, by which Colleges and Schools were placed under the superintendence of the Kirk, without perceiving, that by "gude maneris," sound notions of civil and religious liberty were specially in view, and that teachers of inadequate notions respecting the common weal should be removed from situations in which they might exercise a pernicious influence. The Kirk was fully alive to the importance and usefulness of the power thus bestowed, and was not slack in the exercise of the privilege. Two years after the enactment of the Statute now quoted, a Commission appointed by the General Assembly examined the condition of the University of Aberdeen, and issued the following deliverance in somewhat peremptory terms:-" I, John Areskine, Superintendent of Angus and Mearns, having Commission of the Kirk to visit the Sheriffdome of Aberdeen and Banff, by advice of council, and consent of the ministers, elders, and commissioners of the Kirk, present, decern, conclude, and for final sentence pronounce, that Mr. Alexander Anderson, sometime Principall, Mr. Alexander Galloway, sometime SubPrincipall, Mr. Andrew Anderson, Thomas Ousten, and Duncan Norrie, sometime Regents in the College of Old Aberdeen, are not to be reputed as members of the Kirk, and therefore seclude them, and every one of them, to teach publicly or privately, in time coming, in that College, or any other part within this realme, and ordain them to remove furth of the said College with all diligence, that other godly and well qualified persons may be placed therein, for bringing up the youth in the fear of God, and good letters. This our sentence pronounced, we ordain to be published, and intimated to the said persons, and to the congregation of New and Old Aberdeen, publicly the next Sunday, the 3d July 1569."

These three originally Popish Colleges, even after being thus placed under the government of the Reformed Kirk, were not deemed sufficient to accomplish all the purposes contemplated. Other interests, especially in the capital of Scotland, required an extension of Academic Institutions, and, at the same time, more in accordance with the spirit of the age than the original, somewhat monastic Universities to which we have referred. Accordingly, King James VI., in the year 1582, instituted the College of Edinburgh, with ample powers of expansion, and not trammelled as to the honours or Degrees it may think proper to bestow. The Royal Commissioners of Visitation, in 1831, thus briefly, but authoritatively indicate its peculiar character: "In as far as respects the course of study, there is a great similarity to what was prescribed to the Universities in Scotland, previously existing; the same branches being assigned to them all, although,