The vesicle continues to increase for two days, and there is considerable redness round the part. On the eleventh day the redness begins to decrease, and the surface of the vesicle acquires a brown colour. The lymph concretes and forms a brown scab, which dries, contracts, blackens, and falls off about the twenty-first day; leaving a cicatrix, or mark, which is permanent, and which ought to be about the size of a large split pea, circular, indented by five or six minute pits, and be a little depressed.

In conclusion, we would earnestly urge all parents to pay attention to the vaccination of their children; and there is no excuse for the poor, as gratuitous vaccination is extensively performed. Let the children be vaccinated between the third and fifth month, and at a time when they are in good health and free from any eruption on the skin, when their bowels are not disordered, and when they are not suffering from any irritation from teething.

The failure of vaccination in particular cases can be traced to particular causes. "To do justice to the merits of vaccination, it ought to be performed by well-instructed and skilful surgeons, who are able to discover whether there be any temporary ill prevailing in the habit of the patient to be submitted to it, in the form of a slight cutaneous eruption (for this will often render the body unsusceptible, for a time, of effectual vaccination); and it should be carefully observed whether the prevalence of any epidemic disease may interfere with the success of the process; for it has been remarked by several experienced vaccinators, that the influenza of 1837 did make it necessary to repeat vaccination, more than once or twice, before it took effect."

Parents who are careless about vaccination are very culpableneglectful of their own interests, and that of society. By neglect or over-confidence, the small-pox might once more become a scourge, and, even in the 19th century, leave a memorial of its increased virulence sufficient to stamp its visit as that of a great plague. We have had a hint of this in the recent augmentation of its influence in London, and throughout the country.

INFLUENCE OF STEAM AND RAILROADS. THE numbers that now go up and down the Thames in search of health, pleasure, or business, are certainly amazing. Upwards of 500,000 persons are conveyed annually by the steamers to the short distances of Greenwich, and about 300,000 to Woolwich and Blackwall, independent of the tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands conveyed to Gravesend, Herne-bay, Margate, Ramsgate, &c., and of considerably more than 1,000,000 who travel to and from Greenwich by the railway. It is, perhaps, still more astonishing, that the land conveyances have nevertheless increased with almost equal rapidity. Two coaches, running each twice a-day, formed the only passenger conveyance between London and Woolwich not longer than 30 years ago. The omnibuses alone now perform the journey 48 times per day, besides the numerous vans and coaches which ply between Woolwich and Greenwich to take passengers to and from the railway.

The number of omnibuses in London, which is daily augmenting, has not prevented the establishment and success of steamers continually plying between Westminster and London bridges, and daily conveying many thousands of persons, although it is a contiguous and parallel line to one of the chief directions of the omnibus traffic.

From the metropolis, the influence is felt all over the country. Only two generations back there were no means of reaching London from Horsham, in Sussex, a distance of thirty-six miles, but on foot or on horseback. Upwards of thirty coaches now pass through Horsham daily to and from London, besides post-chaises, private carriages, &c., while the traffic of goods exceeds 40,000 tons per annum. This change has been solely caused by the construction of a good road.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway was the first in England upon which locomotive steam-engines were used. On the Stockton and Darlington road, the passengers conveyed amounted only to 4000 annually, previous.to the opening of the railway; they now exceed 16,000. The average number of passengers on the Bolton railroad is now 2500 per week, although it did not previously amount to 300. The coaches running between Newcastle and Carlisle prior to the railway were only licensed to carry 343 persons per week, or both ways, 686; now 1596 are on the ave

rage conveyed the whole distance every week. On the Dundee and Newstyle line, the railway has increased the annual number of travellers from 4000 to upwards of 50,000. Between Liverpool and Manchester, the number of passengers by the coaches the railway alone. was formerly 146,000 in the year; it is now more than 500,000 by

Similar effects have been experienced in the United States, both in the increase of travelling and in the rapidity and denseness with which the vicinity of railroads and of steam navigation has become located and peopled. Hence the great stimulus which has been given to the construction of railroads in that country: in January, 1835, full 1690 miles of railway had already been completed in the United States, at a cost of about 8,130,000l. sterling. The continent of Europe is also beginning to feel the influence of rapid communication. The former traffic between Brussels and Antwerp consisted of about 75,000 passengers per annum ; the railroad has raised it to more than 1,200,000! Still the progress is comparatively slow. In Germany, however, there are a number of railroads in construction; one from Vienna to Prague, which is advancing rapidly; another between Leipsic and Dreslation. In 1835 there were only about 100 steam-vessels employed den; and a third from Mannheim to Bâle, with others in specuon the rivers and in the ports of France; and in the year 1836, the number was only slightly increased. The French government possesses about 40 steam-vessels, used as packets. About the end of the year 1836, there were 4 steamers employed in the inter27; Russia, 26; Prussia, only 3. course between the ports of Denmark. In the ports of Sweden, Hamburgh 3, Amsterdam 3. Rotterdam had 26, from 75 to 100 Rostock had 1, Lubeck 2, tons burthen; they ply on the Rhine, between Rotterdam and Cologne. Antwerp and Ghent had only 3; Spain and Portugal, 4; Sardinia, 5; Tuscany, 1; Naples, 8; and Austria, 6. Great Britain has about 1000 steam-vessels, and the United States perhaps about 600, many of which are of large capacity.

NEWSPAPERS.

By a recent parliamentary return, the number of stamps issued to periodicals in 1837, appears to be 53,496,207. The four-penny stamp was reduced in 1836; the number of stamps issued during that year being 35,576,056. The first year of the penny stamp shows thus an increase of eighteen millions of stamps. Of this number, the London press took up about ten millions; the English provincial press, six millions; and the Scotch, nearly two millions. There is no perceptible alteration on the Irish press. The number of London periodicals taking out stamps in 1836 was 71, in 1837 it was 85; the English provincial press appears, in 1836, to muster 194 periodicals; in 1837, the increased number of 237. The Scotch newspapers are set down at 54 and 65; the circulation rising from 2,654,438 to 4,123,330.

. 265

. 322

46 54 65

75

. 78

Total. 369 . 397

71

458

1837 From the last return, up to the 30th of September, 1838, there appear to be 88 London periodicals taking out stamps, and consuming upwards of thirty millions annually. One day during last summer, 175,000 newspapers were put into the London Postoffice, to be forwarded to the country. Contrast this with the statement made in the introduction to the first Number of that most venerable of periodicals, the "Gentleman's Magazine." When Cave started the "Gentleman's Magazine," his intentions were of the humblest nature-merely to collect in a focus the best results of what was then considered the amazing number of London periodicals. Thus, in the introduction to the first Number for January, 1731, it is said :

"Upon calculating the number of newspapers, 'tis found that (be. sides divers written accounts) no less than two hundred half-sheets per month are thrown from the press, only in London; and about as many printed elsewhere in the three kingdoms; a considerable part of which constantly exhibit essays on various subjects for entertainment; and all the rest occasionally oblige their readers with matters of public concern, communicated to the world by persons of capacity, through their means; so that they are become the chief channels of amusement and intelligence. But then, being only loose papers, uncertainly scattered about, it often happens that many things deserving attention contained in them are only seen by accident, and others not sufficiently published or preserved for universal benefit and information."

DIFFUSION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

From the annual report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, fast issued, it appears that 95,649 bibles, 87,496 testaments, 191,723 prayerbooks, 10,069 psalters, 145,479 bound books, 2,222,652 tracts, have been sold this year, making a total circulation of scriptural publications of 2,753,608. The income on the year amounts to only 83,1637, 14s. 5d., while the expenditure is stated at 85,1401. 3s. The number of schools in connexion with the society are.6,068 Sunday-schools, containing 438,280 scholars; 10,152 Sunday and dayschools, in which are 514,450 scholars; and 704 infant schools, containing 43,730 scholars. Total schools, 16,224; and total number of scholars, 996,460.

THE MANUFACTURE OF SHERRIES.

At Xeres the old wines are kept in huge casks, not much inferior in size to the great tun of Heidelberg, called Madre butts'; and some of these old ladies contain wine that is one hundred and twenty years of age. It must, however, be confessed that the plan adopted in keeping them up partakes somewhat of the nature of "une imposture delicate," since, whenever a gallon of wine is taken from the one hundred and twenty year old butt, it is replaced by a like quantity from the next in seuiority, and so on with the rest; so that even the very oldest wines in the store are daily undergoing a mixing process. It is thus perfectly idle, when a customer writes for a "ten year old" butt of sherry, to expect to receive a wine which was grown that number of years previously. He will get a most excellent wine, however, which will probably be prepared for him in the following manner :-Three-fourths of the butt will consist of a three or four year old wine, to which a few gallons of Pajarete or Amontillado will be added to give the particular flavour or colour required; and the remainder will be made up of various.proportions of old wines, of different vintages; a dash of brandy being added, to prevent sea-sickness during the voyage. To calculate the age of this mixture, appears, at first sight, to involve a laborious arithmetical operation. But it is very simply done, by striking an average in the following manner :--The fond, we will suppose, is a four-years' old wine, with which figure we must, therefore, commence our calculations. To flavour and give age to this foundation, the hundred and twenty years' old madre' is made to contribute a gallon, which, being about the hundredth part of the proposed butt, diffuses a year's maturity into the composition. The centigenarian stock-butt next furnishes a quantity, which in the same way adds another year to its age. The next in seniority supplies a proportion equivalent to a space of two years; and a fourth adds a similar period to its existence. So that, without going further, we have, 4+1+1+2+2=10, as clear as the sun at noon-day, or a demonstration in Euclid-Newspaper paragraph.

IVY. .

Ivy is one of the few shrubs which will bear without injury the smoke of London, and this property renders it exceedingly valuable for street houses. About London it is raised in immense quantities in pots, and trained to the height of from six to twelve feet on stakes, so that at any season of the year a hedge may be formed of it, by training it over an iron railing, or wire fence, or wooden railing, or lattice work, or a naked wall covered with it, at an incredibly short notice. One valuable use to which the ivy may be applied, in street houses in towns, is to form external framings to the windows instead of architraves. In the interminable lines of naked windows in the monotonous brick houses built about fifty years ago, which form the majority of the London streets at the west-end of the town, the ivy affords a resource which any householder of taste may turn to very good account. He has only to form projecting architraves of wire to his windows, and to place a pot of ivy on his window-sill, or in a small balcony, at the base of each jamb, taking care to fix the pots securely, and to make a provision for supplying them regularly with water. In rooms, ivy, when planted in boxes, and properly trained, may be made to form a rustic screen, either to soften the light, or to exclude a disagreeable view: and in very large drawing-rooms, plants in boxes or vases, trained on wire parasols, or other overhanging framework, will form a rustic canopy for small groups of parties, who may seat themselves under its shade, in the same manner as parties sit under orange-trees in the public rooms of Berlin, and other cities of the Continent.-Loudon's Arboretum.

WRITING INK.

The late Dr. Wollaston recommended the following mode of making ink. Eight ounces of Aleppo galls, coarsely powdered; four ounces of gum-arabic; four ounces of green vitriol; a quarter of an ounce of cloves, also coarsely powdered. Pour two quarts of boiling water on the galls, and stir frequently till cold: the next day pour off three pints and a quarter of the infusion. Dissolve the gum-arabic in hot water, to make half a pint of mucilage, and mix this thoroughly with the infusion. To this mixture then add the vitriol (previously dissolved in hot water), and the cloves. When poured off for use, care should

be taken not to disturb the sediment.

CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA IN BRITISH INDIA. One of the most important discoveries connected with our commerce in the East has recently been made. It may end in the entire liberation of this country from dependance upon China for tea, and if so, it will open new and grand fields for mercantile enterprise, and afford a fresh and inexhaustible source of wealth to this country, and prosperity to her East Indian possessions. It appears from an official memorandum, just issued from the India Board, that the project of Sir Joseph Banks, in 1788, for introducing the cultivation of tea into British India, has been suddenly and unexpectedly accomplished. It was thought by Dr. Wallick, of the Botanical garden near Calcutta, by Dr. Falconer, of the Botanical garden at Seharunpore, and other authorities, that the

tea plant might be cultivated with success in some districts of the Himalaya mountains: and while certain steps, under the auspices first of Lord William Bentinck, and afterwards of Lord Auckland, were being taken to introduce it, whole forests of it were discovered in the Assam country, growing, as it were, indigenously. The Assam country, our readers may be aware, lies to the north of the Burman empire, and forms part of our late conquests. The tea there produced has been duly prepared by persons from China, and several chests of it have been very recently received in this kingdom, and their contents have been found of a quality not at all inferior to that for which we have hitherto been indebted to "the Celestial Empire."-Morning Chronicle.

REAL BENEVOLENCE.

It is

There is an art in making a man happy which very few understand. not always by putting the hand into the pocket that we remove afflictions;there must be something more-there must be advice, and labour, and activity -we must bestir ourselves, leave our arm-chairs, throw off our slippers, and go abroad, if we would effectually serve our fellow-creatures. We must give our time, our tongue, and our presence, as well as our money; we must comfort them in their sorrows, counsel them in their affairs; stand between them and oppression; intercede, where intercession is needful; persuade, where persuasion can be of avail, and lend them the authority of our countenance. The doing of all this revives that spring of action which misfortune is apt to enfeeble; and without which no man can permanently prosper; it creates in the object of our bounty that confidence and emulation which produces the happiest consequences. When to this active and effectual benevolence the more prompt efficacy of money is added, how great and how lasting may not the good be! Few, however, possess this quality of philanthropy: for it costs less to give a guinea than to give an hour.-Five Nights at St. Albans.

THE WILL AND THe deed.

The will to the deed-the inward principle to the outward act,-is as the kernel to the shell; but yet, in the first place, the shell is necessary for the kernel, and that by which it is commonly known; and in the next place as the shell comes first and the kernel grows gradually and hardens within it, so it is with the moral principle in man. Legality precedes morality in every individual, even as the Jewish dispensation preceded the Christian in the education of the world at large.

The Will for the Deed.-When may the will be taken for the deed? Then when the will is the obedience of the whole man; when the will is in fact the deed, that is all the deed in our power. In every other case, it is bending the bow without shooting the arrow. The bird of paradise gleams on the lofty branch, main, and lo! there is never an arrow on the string.-Coleridge. and the man takes aim, and draws the tough yew into a crescent with might and

ANECDOTE OF MILTON.

Milton, who had been Latin secretary to Cromwell, and distinguished himself by writing in defence of the king's death, seems to have anticipated the fate of the regicides. When he found himself excluded from the act of indemnity, he adopted the ingenious device of feigning himself to be dead, and ordered a public funeral procession. To this, perhaps, he, in part, owed his escape; for the king, who was heartily fond of a joke, seemed to have approved of it in the present instance, and is said to have applauded the policy of Milton in eluding the punishment of death, by a seasonable show of dying.-Cunningham's Great

Britain.

[We cannot permit this, our first Number, to pass into the hands of the public without a brief observation. Such of our readers as may have perused our “Preliminary Number," are, doubtless, acquainted with the general character of the motives and principles which actuate us in starting and conducting the "LONDON SATURDAY JOURNAL." But the objects indicated in that preliminary Number are not to be accomplished in a week or a month. They are rather to be considered as the animating principle of our periodical existence. Conscious of the sincerity of our motives, we ask for a kind and sympathising audience; and desire our friends to recollect, that if we appear occasionally to deal in generalitics, it is not because our own opinions are unfixed, but because we wish to come with acceptance amongst all classes of readers.]

London: WILLIAM SMITH, 113, Fleet Street. Edinburgh: FRASER AND CO. Dublin: CURRY AND Co.-Printed by BRADBURY AND EVANS Whitefriars.

No. II.

PROGRESSIVE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. THERE is an anecdote recorded of a Frenchman, who, while he was resident in London, was told that there was a mob in the streets. He therefore ran out, and mingling with the crowd, eagerly asked every one around him, "Where is the mob, where is the mob?" Something like this is performed frequently by ourselves, when we are told that we are living in society which is in a state of revolution. We rub our eyes, and looking around us, ask our neighbours, "Where is the revolution?" We are too apt to associate revolutions exclusively with grand events, public › demonstrations, and outbreaks of physical violence, forgetting that all that is really valuable in a movement is mental in its operation, and has taken place frequently before it begins to display itself openly. It is thus that we meet, in history, with examples not only of individuals, but of whole portions of a community, who resemble those inhabitants of London who sometimes become first acquainted with events that happened in the metropolis, by meeting with the record of them in the columns of a provincial newspaper. Or, to use a more appropriate illustration, they are like the sleeping inhabitants on the banks of a river, who are made aware of the presence of a flood, by finding themselves swimming in their beds.

We apply the word revolution to physical, mental, and moral movements. The earth daily presents its scarred face to the sun; and year by year continually it runs its silent course in the heavens, returning to the place from whence it came. The mind of man, also, is ever in motion, but, unlike the earth, it runs, not in a circle, but on a straight line, which stretches out to infinity. It never returns to its starting point, but presses forward to an unseen goal. All that takes place on the earth-wars, and rumours of wars, upturning of governments, changes of language, and manners, and costume,—are but indications of the movement, marks of the restless, busy, and progressive spirit. Junius has a muchapplauded sentiment, to the effect, that in revolutions whatever is light and worthless floats on the top, while whatever is solid and valuable sinks to the bottom. This is only true locally. Were we wise beings—if we clearly saw our own and our neighbour's interest and welfare, and were disposed to act on our convictions, none of those frightful events would occur, to which the name of revolution has been almost exclusively attached. But we are not wise beings; good and evil is ever mixing in our lot; and so, under the overruling providence of God, revolutions arise and burst out, like storms in the natural world-and during the process, the good flies off, like a volatile spirit, to seek some new combination, while the worthless is shivered to pieces.

In this perpetual and progressive movement, Christianity has a most important share. Its primary and its great work is moral in its nature, and deals with individuals: but it has a secondary work, of a mental character, which is performed not on individuals as individuals, but on man as an intelligent creature. We are frequently murmuring,-Why has Christianity made so little progress during the eighteen hundred years that have passed away? why has it been so circumscribed in its operation and its influence? But we forget, poor pigmies that we are, that God's ways are not as our ways. Man himself has presented a resisting medium to the spread of Christianity: but, at the same time, during all the period that has elapsed, it has never retrograded, never stood still. We can but dimly see it, in the flickering, uncertain light of history, spreading through all the Roman empire, like that elastic

VOL. I.

[PRICE TWOPENCE.

ether which, astronomers now tell us, pervades the universe; inflicts a wound on it; then it encounters that great ocean of gradually it overthrows Paganism, and Paganism, as it dies, barbarism which overspread the Roman empire, and covered its ruins, but still, like the salt of the ocean, its pervading and preserving influence can be traced and seen; a misinterpretation of a Scripture caused that extraordinary commotion all over Europe at the end of the tenth century, by which the minds of men were shaken by the idea, that the end of the world was at hand, and meet, as they vainly thought, the descending Son of God; followmany, disposing of their lands and goods, hurried to Palestine, to ing this, and partly a result of it, was the first crusade, termed by M. Guizot, the "first event" of modern European society ;—the first circumstance, in modern history, which animated entire nations with one impulse, with one co-operating spirit. We need not here speak of the prodigious influence of the crusades, as felt throughout the entire structure of European society; of the dawn

of the Reformation; of the Reformation itself; nor of all that has resulted from it, still extending its influence, and spreading out to the future.

Now, in all these changes it is most interesting to observe, how an expansion of the intellect of man has preceded or followed an expansion of Christianity. We talk of the purity of the primitive age; and certainly the Christians who could ask counsel of those who had seen their Lord in the flesh had a far better chance of being rightly informed of the truth than we have. But we must recollect that the general intellect of man was then far lower than it is now. It is a peculiar glory of Christianity that it is adapted to the wants of the most ignorant as well as the most refined: but to appreciate it in all its excellence and purity requires a large and cultivated mind-it is another glory of Christianity that the intellect or wit of man can never outgrow it. We are therefore approaching to a period when Christianity will be seen more pure and glorious than ever it has been since the days of the apostles. Nay, we are wrong in using the word "pure;" Christianity has never been corrupted; men, in their dull, narrow, and sluggish minds, have mixed up portions of its spirit with their own fantasies and errors; they have called the mixture Christianity, and fought for it and died for it—while such portions of the truth which they held was ever struggling with the error with which it was united, and labouring to drive it out.

To illustrate this, let us refer to the different interpretations of the parables, taking the parable of Lazarus as an example. Thus, for instance, amongst other follies at Jerusalem, they show to credulous pilgrims and incredulous travellers the houses of the Rich Man and the Beggar. Major Skinner, a recent traveller, was shown the house of Dives, "at the end of a street in the Turkish quarter of the town. We stood for a while to gaze at it, many of the pilgrims shaking their heads and uttering expressions of scorn; when, turning round, some one, in a more softened tone, proclaimed, And this is the house of Lazarus himself.' The people rushed towards it, (for it is within sight of the spot where the dogs came and licked his sores,') and stood in nearly as much astonishment at it as I did. It is an exceedingly clean and neat building, of a middling size. I know not how old this tradition is : but if one of the monks had not assured me of its certainty with very great solemnity, I should have thought the whole affair had been meant as a joke."

Between the Christian who believes in the literal fact of the

C

CIVILISATION IN MADAGASCAR.* MADAGASCAR was first made known to Europeans by that most intelligent and veracious traveller, Marco Polo. He was, as the reader may be aware, for many years (from 1275 to 1292) in the service of Kublai Khan, the great conqueror of China. Being highly in favour with his employer, and acquainted with many of the languages spoken within the wide extent of the Mongol empire, he was frequently sent on distant missions, and to places so remote, as often to be six months in travelling to his destination. He kept a journal, in which he entered not only what came under his own observation worthy of record, but whatever information he received from others respecting countries which he had not visited. Of course, he was occasionally both intentionally and unintentionally deceived, and was also, as was the character of his age, a little credulous. But his book of travels opened a new world to the people of Europe, and exercised a great influence at the time of its publication.

Madagascar he did not visit; but his account of it bears evidence of having been derived from those who did; as, for instance, his mention of the strong currents which run along the coast of Africa. He confounds some of the productions of the continent with those of the island, and mentions elephants, giraffes, and tigers, which are not to be found in Madagascar. The reader will be amused by his fabulous rukh, and be reminded of the roc of the Arabian Nights. But though Marco Polo mentions only the "Saracens" or Arabians as inhabitants of Madagascar, (they form but a small section of the inhabitants,) his description of the active commerce carried on renders his account of the island, which he calls Magaster, worthy of quotation. It is as follows:

:

“Leaving the island of Soccotera, and steering a course between south and south-west for a thousand miles, you arrive at the great island of Magaster, which is one of the largest and most fertile in the world.

In circuit it is three thousand miles. The inhabitants are Saracens, or followers of the law of Mahomet. They have four sheikhs, which in our language may be expressed by " elders," who divide the govern ment amongst them. The people subsist by trade and manufacture, and sell a vast number of elephants' teeth, as those animals abound in the country, as they do also in that of Zanzibar, from whence the exportation is equally great. "The principal food eaten at all seasons of the year is the flesh of

camels. That of the other cattle serves them also for food, but the former is preferred, as being both the most wholesome and the most palatable of any to be found in this part of the world. The woods contain many trees of red sandal, and in proportion to the plenty in which it is found, the price of it is low. There is also much ambergris from the whales; and as the tide throws it on the coast, it is collected for sale. The natives catch lynxes, tigers, and a variety of other animals, such as stags, antelopes, and fallow-deer, which afford much sport; as do also the birds, which are different from those of

our climates.

"The island is visited by many ships from various parts of the world, bringing assortments of goods, consisting of brocades and silks of various patterns, which are sold to the merchants of the island, or bartered for goods in return, upon all of which they make large profits. There is no resort of ships to the other numerous islands lying further south, this and the island of Zanzibar alone being frequented. This is the consequence of the sea running with such prodigious velocity in that direction as to render their return impossible. The vessels that sail from the coast of Malabar for this island perform the voyage in twenty or twenty-five days, but in their returning voyage are obliged to struggle for three months, so strong is the current of water which constantly runs to the southward.

"The people of the island report that at a certain season of the year, an extraordinary kind of bird, which they call a rukh, makes its appearance from the southern region. In form it is said to resemble the eagle, but it is incomparably greater in size, being so large and strong as to seize an elephant with its talons, and to lift it in the air, whence it lets it fall to the ground, in order that, when dead, it may prey upon the carcase. Persons who have seen this bird assert that when the wings are spread they measure sixteen paces in extent from point to point, and that the feathers are eight paces in length, and thick in proportion. Messer Marco Polo, conceiving that these crea⚫ HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR; comprising also the Progress of the Christian Mission established in 1818; and an Authentic Account of the recent Martyrdom of Rafaravavy, and of the Persecution of the Native Christians. Compiled from chiefly Original Documents, by the Rev. William Ellis, Foreign Secretary to the London Missionary Society. In two vols. London, 1818.

tures might be griffins, such as are represented in painting, half birds and half lions, particularly questioned those who reported their having seen them as to this point, but they maintained that their shape was altogether that of birds, or, as it might be said, that of the eagle. The grand khan having heard this extraordinary relation, sent messengers to the island, on the pretext of demanding the release of one of his servants who had been detained there, but in reality to examine into the circumstances of the country, and the truth of the wonderful things told of it. When they returned to the presence of his majesty, they brought with them, as I have heard, a feather of the rukh posi tively affirmed to have measured ninety spans, and the quill part to have been two palms in circumference. This surprising exhibition afforded his majesty extreme pleasure, and upon those by whom it was presented he bestowed valuable gifts. They were also the bearers of a tusk of a wild boar, an animal that grows there to the size of a buffalo, and it was found to weigh fourteen pounds. The island contains camelopards, asses, and other wild animals, very different from those of our country."

It was not till the passage by the Cape of Good Hope was made, and Portuguese barks were ploughing the Indian ocean, that Madagascar was known by actual examination of its coasts. The Portuguese made a small settlement on the south-eastern extremity of the island, but the settlers were cut off by the natives. The island, however, lay under the eye of the early voyagers to the East Indies; and Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English vessels, touched at some of its harbours for refreshment. Great exaggeration prevailed respecting the wealth and resources of Madagascar, and about the middle of the seventeenth century, the French and English seemed to be trying a race for its possession. A Mr. Walter Hamond, who visited it in 1630, published, in 1640, a short and somewhat foolish tract, with a long and flaming title, of which the following is a copy :-" A Paradox, prooving that the inhabitants of the isle called Madagascar, or St. Lawrence [it was called St. Lawrence by the Portuguese], in temporall things are the happiest in the world: whereunto is prefixed, a briefe and true description of that island, the nature of the climate, and condition of the inhabitants, and their speciall affection to the English above other nations: with colony there, in respect of the fruitfullness of the soyle, the most probable arguments of a hopefull and fit plantation of a benignity of the ayre, and the relieving of our English ships both to and from the East Indies." The Paradox," to which the account of the island is a prefix, is a ludicrous enough affair. While the author is exhorting the English "concerning the commodities and riches of this island," and vehemently affirming that "for wealth and riches no island in the world can be preferred before it," he rings the changes on the advantages of poverty and the evils of wealth, deplores the abject servitude into which the use of clothes and money brings the man of civilisation, which he fancies the naked savage enjoys. and admires the ease, freedom, and absence of all care and anxiety,

Mr. Hamond reappeared in 1643, with another tract-"Madagascar the richest and most fruitful island in the whole world;" dedicated to the "Honourable John Bond, governor and captainentertained by the English government for a settlement on MadaThat there was a serious intention general of Madagascar." gascar, we learn from a work published in the following year (1644), by a Mr. Richard Boothby, a merchant of London, who gives it as his "humble opinion" that "whatsoever prince in Christendom fruitful, and pleasant island, by computation three times as big as is once really possessed of, and strongly settled in, that brave, England, may with ease be emperor or sole monarch of the East Indies." He did not foresee that a private company of "merchant adventurers" was about to become almost "emperor or sole monarch of the East Indies," even without the possession of Madagascar. The troubles of the reign of Charles the First prevented the execution of the scheme mentioned in Mr. Boothby's tract; a settlement however was formed by the English in St. Augustine's Bay, but the individuals composing it did not experience that "benignity of the air" of which Mr. Hamond boasted on his title-page, for almost all the settlers were cut off by the clihot, moist, and abounding with an exuberant vegetation. Hence mate. The greater portion of the coast of Madagascar is marshy, there is a mal' aria (bad air), the subtle poison of which is fatal not only to foreigners, but even to natives at certain periods of the year.

While the English government was talking, the French government was acting. In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu granted a patent, under which a French East India Company was formed. A settle