their own houses, and many destroyed by the falling of stones and rafters in their attempt to escape. The lightning killed some, while others were blown away by the gusts of wind, and either dashed with violence against the walls and trees, or else carried into the sea and drowned. Some idea may be formed of the danger occasioned by the scattered stones and fragments of wood, from the fact, that in one of the buildings belonging to his Majesty's government, a piece of timber was forced by the wind into the solid stone with so much violence, and to so great a depth, that it was found impossible to wrench it out with the hand.

The ships were all driven from their moorings, and hurried, without the least power of resistance, towards the shore. They were immediately stranded on the beach, and were raised so high that the following day a person could walk round many of them without difficulty. The violence of the wind allowed no time for their striking and gradually breaking to pieces.

On the morning of the eleventh there was a kind of wild amazement among the people, like that which attends the first awakening from a most frightful dream. It was long before they recovered their steadiness of mind, and their wonted powers of exertion. Meanwhile the wounded and mutilated were in many cases left without succour, and even without notice. I believe some were not extricated from the ruins until the third day. For several days the stench arising from the

unburied dead bodies was most offensive.

No correct returns* were made of the persons killed by the hurricane. The conjectures were for the most part vague and unsatisfactory. Some estimate the loss at three thousand; others at five thousand, or even more. Some approximation may, perhaps, be made to the truth, by our knowing that in the garrison, which contained about twelve hundred soldiers, more than fifty perished in the hurricane, or from injuries received by it. The wounded exceeded one hundred and thirty.

Most signally did the Almighty remember mercy in the midst of his judgments. Had the wind continued with unabated violence a few hours longer, and extended over the space of time usual in visitations of this kind, few persons would have been spared to relate the tale of almost universal destruction. Even another hour would have added fearfully to the loss of lives, and have perhaps completed the ruin of buildings and other property.

A striking effect of the extreme fury of the storm appeared in the great destruction of birds. On the morning of the eleventh the ground in many parts was strewed with the common field birds of the country, either dead or severely wounded. The quantity killed immediately round Codrington College was so great that, to prevent the stench arising from their decay, persons were employed to collect and bury them in trenches dug for the purpose. The horses which escaped from the ruins of the fallen stables were, in many instances,

The returns of the wounded and killed by the hurricane, although not given until after an interval of some months, were singularly and unaccountably inaccurate. It is stated of the parish of St. Michael, that there was only one free coloured person wounded. Yet it is notorious that some hundreds of this class of the inhabitants were severely injured and disabled by the storm. In the Cathedral alone there were thirty or forty under surgical care, and on many amputations were performed.

the rank in their work.

SLAVERY IN JAMAICA.

I asked one of the drivers what were the offences

for which these people had been condemned. He replied that some of them were convicts from Trelawney parish, who had been concerned in the late rebellion; others were thieves and runaways; and, pointing out three individuals (two men and a woman), he added that these had been taken up while martial law was in force-for praying. I asked if I might be permitted to speak to these three persons; and, meeting with no objection, I went forward and conversed with them. One of them, whose name was Rogers, in reply to my inquiries, informed me that he had been condemned to the workhouse gang for meeting with other negroes for prayer. The other man, whose name I have forgot, told me that this was the second time that he had been sent to work in chains solely for this offence-namely, joining with some of his friends and relatives in social prayer to his Maker and Redeemer! In order to assure myself further of the truth of this extraordinary fact, I made inquiry respecting it of some of the most intelligent negroes on New Ground estate, to whom the particulars connected with these people's condemnation were known, and received such full corroboration of their statement as left me no doubt whatever of its truth. Indeed, I soon found good reason to believe that on many estates there are few offences for which the unhappy slaves are punished with more certainty or severity than praying.

About a fortnight after my return from my last visit to the attorney, a deputation from St. Ann's Colonial Church Union waited upon me. This WE have already made some extracts from took place on one of the militia muster days. I the pamphlet of Mr. Whiteley, who was an observed that day that a number of overseers and eye-witness of the events he relates, with re-book-keepers called at New Ground estate, as spect to the unheard-of miseries entailed by they returned from muster, and I noticed a great the system of slavery on those who are the deal of whispering among them. Just at dusk subjects of it. We will now make a few more two persons, under the character of a deputation from the Colonial Church Union, made their apextracts from the same work, showing the reli-pearance, and demanded an interview with me. gious bearing of the system.

The overseer introduced them-a Mr. Dicken and a Mr. Brown. The former I had previously met with, but to my salutation he now made no re

sponse. Mr. Brown was spokesman, and com

menced by informing me that they came as a deputation from more than a hundred gentlemen at St. Ann's Bay, to state to me,-1st. That they had heard I had been leading the minds of the slaves astray, by holding forth doctrines of a tendency to make them discontented with their present condition. 2ndly. That I was a Methodist, and that my relative who had sent me to Jamaica was a dd Methodist. And, 3rdly. That they had a barrel of tar down at the Bay to tar and feather me, as I well deserved, and that they "would do so, by G-d."

In reply, I acknowledged that I was undoubtedly a Methodist; but added, mildly, that I was altogether unconscious of any act, since I arrived in the island, whereby I could have given any reasonable offence to the planters or any other class of men; and I begged them to specify my offences. Mr. Brown then stated, that in the first

Ann's work-house gang (of convict slaves) was During my residence at New Ground, the St. employed in digging cane-holes on the plantation. I had thus frequent opportunities of seeing and conversing with them. I shall never forget the impression I received from the first near view of these wretched people. The son of the captain, or superintendent of the work-house (a person named Drake), accompanied me to the field the first day I went out to see this gang; and, as we went along, he remarked that I should probably be somewhat shocked by their appearance, but ought to bear in mind that these negroes were convicted malefactors-rebels, thieves, and felons. affecting and appalling spectacle. The gang, conOn approaching the spot I witnessed indeed a most sisting of forty-five negroes, male and female, were all chained by the necks in couples; and in one instance I observed a man and a woman chained together. Two stout drivers were standing over them, each armed both with a cart-whip and a cat-o'-nine tails. Nearly the whole gang were working without any covering on the upper part place, I had written a letter to the Rev. Thomas of their bodies; and on going up to them, with a Pennock, Wesleyan Missionary. 2ndly. That in a letter I had written to Mr. the attorview to closer inspection, I found that their backs, lacerated in all directions, by the frequent appli-health and wealth long to live." 3rdly. That I ney, I had said, "The Lord reward you for the from the shoulders downwards, were scarred and kindness you have shown me, and grant you in cation of the cat and the cart-whip, which the drivers used at discretion, independently of severer floggings by order of the superintendent. I could not find a single one who did not bear on his body evident marks of this savage discipline. Some were marked with large weals, and with what in Yorkshire we should call wrethes, or ridges of flesh healed over. Others were crossed with long scars; on others, again, the gashes were raw and recent. Altogether it was the most horrid sight that ever my eyes beheld. One of them had on a coarse shirt or smock frock, which was actually dyed red with his blood. The drivers struck some of them

See also En. i. 89.

had said to a slave who had opened a gate to me at a certain place, "The Lord bless you." 4thly. That I had asked the drivers of the work house gang questions respecting the offences of the negroes of that gang. 5thly. That I had made private remarks about the way in which I had seen Mr. M'Lean, the overseer, treat the slaves. (Here Dicken, who was an overseer at Winsor, a neighbouring plantation, told me he had two negroes at that moment in the stocks, and added, with a brutal oath, if I would come over in the morning he

The planters of all ranks, with very rare exceptions, are shocking swearers; the more vulgar sort interlarding their profaneness with the most revolting obscenity.

would let me see them properly flogged.) 6thly. That I had preached to a hundred and fifty slaves at one time. To all these charges I pleaded guilty, except the last, which was without foundation-without even a shadow of truth; though, if it had been true, it would have been difficult for me to admit its criminality. Dicken then drew his hand across my throat, and swore by his Maker that he would be the first man to cut it if I should dare to talk to the slaves in the same way again. He then pulled out a pistol, which he cocked, and held out (but did not point it at my person), saying, that if he was to fire it off, there would be twenty men in the house in one minute, ready to do what everthey chose with me. Mr. M Lean, the overseer, here spoke up, and said, with considerable vehemence, that before he would see me abused he would rather have a ball through his

own breast.

I then told them that there was no occasion for violence; that I was quite willing, under the circumstances in which I found myself, to leave the island by the very first conveyance; and should be glad if they and their friends would only permit me to do so quietly. They promised to report this reply to their Society, the Colonial Church Union, and so departed.

GOETHE AND MADAME DE STAEL.

THE following amusing remarks on the conversational habits of Madame de Stael are from the pen of her great contemporary, Goethe.

To philosophize in company is to speak with liveliness about problems which are inexplicable. This was her peculiar pleasure and passion, and her philosophizing spirit was carried, in the heat of talking, into matters of thought and sentiment, which are only fitted to be discussed between God and one's own heart. Besides this, like a woman and a Frenchwoman, she adhered obstinately to her own positions, and shut her ears against the greater part of what was said by others.

All this had a tendency to rouse the evil spirit within me, so that I generally received with objections and contradictions every thing she brought forward, and sometimes, by my determined opposition, drove her to despair. In this situation, indeed, she generally appeared most amiable, and displayed in a striking light her quickness in thought and power of reply. I had several continuous têteà-tête conversations with her, in which, in her usual style, she was tiresome enough; for she never would allow a moment's reflection even on the most important suggestions, but would have had the most profound and interesting matters discussed with the same rapidity as if we had been merely employed in keeping up a racket-ball.

One anecdote of this kind may find a place here. One evening at the court, Madame de Stael advanced to me, and said, with a lively feeling, "I have important news for you; Moreau has been arrested, along with some others, and accused of treachery to the tyrant." I had, like others, for a long time taken much interest in the personal concerns and actions of that noble man; I now recalled the past to my remembrance, in order, in my own way, to examine the present, and to draw some conclusion as to the future. The lady changed the subject, directing her conversation to a thousand different matters; and when she perceived that I, wrapped up in my own meditations, was not answering her with much interest, she assailed me again with her usual reproach, that I was sulky, as usual, this evening, and no cheerful talk to be had with me. I got a little angry, and told her she was in

capable of real sympathy-that she might as the ear, and then tell me to go on with my well break into my house, give me a box on This burst was quite after her own heart; she song, as dance from one topic to another. wished to excite passion, no matter what. In order to pacify me, she described to me the whole particulars of the accident; and, in doing so, displayed her deep acquaintance with the situation of affairs as well as character. Her intercourse with society in Germany has, in its results, been of deep importance and influence. Her work on. Germany, which owes its origin to such social conversations, has by which a breach has been effected in the been like the march of a powerful expedition, Chinese wall of those antiquated prejudices which separated us from France, and been the means of extending a knowledge of us over the Rhine, and even across the channel, and of spreading our influence into the distant west.

THE PULPIT.

This day is published, price 6d., the Gennine and Authentie Edition, on superfine paper, beautifully printed in demy Svo,, in large type, with a finely engraved Portrait on Steel of the Rev. Rowland Hill, A. M., THE FUNERAL SERMON for the REV. ROWLAND HILL, delivered on the Day of Inter

Cure of Cholera Morbus.

Mr. Charlwood,

Cure of Epilepsy.

To Mr. E. Giles, Tavern-street, Ipswich,

Sir, With heartfelt thanks to the Almighty dispenser it my duty to suffering humanity to give every possible of all good, for that return of health I now enjoy from the use of Mr. Morison's Universal Medicines, I consider publicity I can to my extraordinary case and cure, in the similar cases, to reap the same benefit. hope of inducing others, who may despair of relief in

For seven years I was afflicted with fits of the most alarming description, and in the last twelve months pre

vions to my taking the Pills, they came on from twice to four times a week, and lasted from one to three hours at this state of suffering I called on your sub-agent, Mr. a time, requiring several persons to hold me. It was in Backett, of this place, who recommended me to try the "Universal Medicine," and I commenced with six of gradually up to twenty-four in a day, then reducing them No. 1 and 2 alternately, night and morning, increasing down to three or four, until I left off. When I had taken

months, I have not had the least symptom of a relapse. I took the pills six weeks.

the Pills three days, 1 had a slight attack for about half an hour; but from that time till the present, which is six

Of the correctness of this statement, I will convince any one who may please to call on me.

I am, Sir, your humble servant,

C. BROWN.

Kelsale, Oct. 1, 1832.
Cure of Ulcers in the Neck, with Blindness.
To Mr. E. Giles, Tavern-street, Ipswich.
Stradbroke, Oct. 1, 1832.
Sir, I saw a little patient of mine yesterday; his name
is George Fisher, at Laxfield, aged about four years, who
had been blind of both eyes for nearly two years, and had
three large ulcers in his neck; he is now restored to his

sight; his eyes, otherwise, nearly well, and the ulcers are
perfectly cured. All this was effected by the "Universal
Medicines."
Your obedient servant,

LOT SMITH, Agent for Stradbroke.

CAUTION TO THE PUBLIC. MORISON'S UNIVERSAL MEDICINES having superseded the use of almost all the Patent Medicines which the wholesale venders have foisted upon the credulity of the searchers after health, for so many years, the town druggists and chemists, not able to establish a fair fame on the invention of any plausible means of competition, have plunged into the mean expedient of puffing up a "Dr. Morrison" (observe the subterfuge of the double r), a being who never existed, as prescribing a "Vegetable Universal Pill, No. 1 and 2," for the express purpose (by means of this forged imposition upon the public), of deteriorating the estimation of the "UNIVERSAL MEDICINES" of the "BRITISH COLLEGE OF HEALTH."

KNOW ALL MEN, then, that this attempted delusion must fall under the fact, that (however specious the pretence), none can be held genuine by the College but those which have "Morison's Universal Medicines" impressed upon the Government Stamp attached to each box and packet, to counterfeit which is felony by the laws of the land.

The "Vegetable Universal Medicines" are to be had at the College, New Road, King's Cross, London; at the Surrey Branch, 96, Great Surrey-street; Mr. Field's, 16, Airstreet, Quadrant; Mr. Chappell's, Royal Exchange; Mr. Walker's, Lamb's-conduit-passage, Red-lion-square; Mr. J. Loft's, Mile-end-road; Mr. Bennett's, Covent-gardenmarket; Mr. Haydon's, Fleur-de-lis-court, Norton-falgate; Mr. Haslet's, 147, Ratcliffe-highway; Messrs. Norbury's, Brentford; Mrs. Stepping, Clare-market; Messrs. Salmon, Little Bell-alley: Miss Varai's, 24, Lucas-street, Commercial-road; Mrs. Beech's, 7, Sloane-square, Chelsea; Mrs. Chapple's, Royal Library, Pall-mall; Mrs. Pippen's, 18, Wingrove-place, Clerkenwell; Miss C. Atkinson, 19, New Trinity-grounds, Deptford; Mr. Taylor, Hanwell; Mr. Kirtlam, 4, Bolingbroke-row, Walworth; Mr. Payne, 64, Jermyn-street; Mr. Howard, at Mr. Wood's, hair-dresser, Richmond; Mr. Meyar, 3, May's-buildings, Blackheath; Mr. Griffiths, Wood wharf, Greenwich; Mr. Pitt, 1, Cornwall-road, Lambeth; Mr. J. Dobson, 35, Craven-street, Strand; Mr. Oliver, Bridge-street, Vauxhall; Mr. J. Monck, Bexley Heath; Mr. T. Stokes, 12, St. Ronan's, Deptford; Mr. Cowell, 22, Terrace, Pimlico; Mr. Parfitt, 96, Edgware-road; Mr. Hart, Portsmouth-place, Kennington-lane; Mr. Charlesworth, grocer, 124, Shoreditch; Mr. R. G. Bower, grocer, 22, Brick-lane, St. Luke's; Mr. S. J. Avila, pawnbroker, opposite the church, Hackney; Mr J. S. Briggs, 1, Brunswick-place, Stoke Newington; Mr. T. Gardner, 95, Wood-street, Cheapside, and 9, Nortonfalgate; Mr. J. Williamson, 15, Seabright-place, Hackneyroad; Mr. J. Osborn, Wells-street, Hackney road, and Homerton; Mr. H. Cox, grocer, 16, Union-street, Bishops gate-street: Mr. T. Walter, cheesemonger, 67, Hoxton Old Town; and at one agent's in every principal town in Great Britain, the Islands of Guernsey and Malta; and throughout the whole of the United States of America.

N. B. The College will not be answerable for the consequences of any medicines sold by any chymist or druggist, as none such are allowed to sell the "Universal Medicines."

Printed by J. HADDON and Co.; and Published by J. CRISP, at No. 27, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, where all Advertisements and Communi cations for the Editor are to be addressed.

No country is more unhappily exposed to inundation, and that of the most calamitous kind, than Holland, in consequence of its lowness and flatness. To obviate the danger arising from these local peculiarities, the inhabitants have intersected their country with dykes, constructed with prodigious labour and ingenuity. Art has thus striven to oppose the power of nature, and in most instances has done it successfully. In some cases, however, nature has, in a terrific manner, asserted her own supremacy; and the engraving prefixed to this article represents one of these dreadful occasions. The event took place on the 19th of November, 1421, and its horrors were if possible increased by its occurring in the night. The barriers formed against the

tides were on this occasion swept away by the united vehemence of winds and waves, and the whole south of Holland was flooded and devastated. Besides the mansions of the nobility, seventy-two villages were swept away, and one hundred thousand souls perished. Such an event, but attended with less loss of life, occurred in 1430. The vast expanse of water called the Zuyder Zee was formed by one of these inundations, and the Bies Bosch by the one represented above. Another occurred in 1686, and is described as follows in the London Gazette. "Groningen, Nov. 26.-On Friday, the 22nd instant, it blew the whole day a most violent storm from the south-east; towards night the wind changed to the west, then to the north-west, afterwards

to the north-east, and back again to the north-west. The weather continued thus tempestuous all night, accompanied with thunder and lightning; the chimneys and roofs of a great many houses were blown down, and much more mischief was done; but it was not comparable to that which followed; for the dykes, not being able to resist the violence of the sea, agitated by these terrible storms, the whole country between this and the Defiel, being about eighteen English mies, was the next morning overwhelmed with water, which in many places was eight feet higher than the very dykes, and many people and thousands of ttle were drowned, the water breakin en through the walls of the town of Dei, to that height that the inhabitants e forced

to betake themselves to their garrets and upper rooms for shelter. The whole village of Oterdam is in a manner swept away. At Termunderzyl, there is not one house left, above three hundred people being drowned there, and only nineteen escaping. Hereskes, Weywert, Woldendorp, and all the villages near the Eems, have suffered extremely. The western quarter has likewise had its share in this calamity, and the highest lands have not escaped. On Sunday and yesterday it reached this city; the lower parts whereof are now all under water. From the walls of this city we can see nothing but the tops of houses and steeples that remain above water. In a word, the misery and desolation is greater than can be expressed.

every morning, a certain quantity of incense, and of gold and silver paper. The sailors are muh (or head men), have charge of the andivided into two classes; a few, called Towchor, sails, &c.; and the rest, called Ho-ke (or comrades), perform the menial work, such as pulling ropes, and heaving the anchor. A cook and some barbers make up the remainder of the crew.

The several individuals of the crew form one whole, whose principal object in going to only a secondary object. Every one is a share sea is trade, the working of the junk being holder, having the liberty of putting a certain quantity of goods on board, with which he trades, wheresoever the vessel may touch, caring very little about how soon she may arrive at the port of destination.

All these personages, except the second class of sailors, have cabins; long, narrow holes, in which one may stretch himself, but cannot stand erect. If any person wishes to go as a passenger, he must apply to the Tow-muh, in order to hire one of their cabins, which they let on such conditions as they please. In fact, the sailors exercise full control over the vessel, and oppose every measure which they terest; so that even the captain and pilot are think may prove injurious to their own infrequently obliged, when wearied out with their insolent behaviour, to crave their kind "It is impossible to describe the pre-assistance, and to request them to show a betsent sad condition of this province, occa- ter temper. sioned by a most terrible inundation that happened on the 22nd instant; the like has not been known these hundred years. The whole province, except the higher parts of this city, lies under water; whole villages have been swept away, and a great many people, with abundance of cattle, drowned; and those that have escaped, sheltering themselves in garrets and upper rooms, are in great distress for want of relief; nothing but lamentations, and the jangling of bells for help, is heard through the whole country; and though all possible care is taken to assist them from hence and other places, yet, there not being boats enough to afford help to all, it is to be feared many will be lost for want of it. At Oterdam, near Delfziel, but twenty-five persons have escaped; in the village of Peterborne there are but three houses left standing; and, in general, all the houses that stood near the dyke have been swept away."

CHINESE VESSELS, OR JUNKS. CHINESE Vessels have generally a captain, who might more properly be styled a supercargo. Whether the owner or not, he has charge of the whole cargo, buys and sells as circumstances require, but has no command whatever over the sailing of the ship. This is the business of the Ho-chang, or pilot. During the whole voyage, to observe the shores and promontories are the principal objects which occupy his attention, day and night. He sits steadily on the side of the ship, and sleeps when standing, just as it suits his convenience. Though he has, nominally, the command over the sailors, yet they obey him only when they find it agreeable to their own wishes; and they scold and brave him just as if he belonged to their own company. Next to the pilot (or mate) is the To-kung (helmsman), who manages the sailing of the ship; there are a few men under his immediate command. There are, besides, two clerks: one to keep the accounts, and the other to superintend the cargo that is put on board. Also, a comprador, to purchase provisions; and a Heang-kung (or priest), who attends to the idols, and burns,

66

The most disgusting thing on board a junk is idolatry, the rites of which are performed with the greatest punctuality. The goddess of the sea is Ma-tsoo-po, called also Teen-how, queen of heaven." She is said to have been a virgin, who lived some centuries ago in Fuhkeen, near the district of Fuh-chow. On account of having, with great fortitude, and by a kind of miracle, saved her brother, who was on the point of drowning, she was deified, and loaded with titles, not dissimilar to those bestowed on the Virgin Mary. Every vessel is furnished with an image of this goddess, before which a lamp is kept burning. Some satellites, in hideous shape, stand round the portly queen, who is always represented in a sitting posture. Cups of tea are placed before her, and some tinsel adorns her shrine.

|

When a vessel is about to proceed on a voyage, she is taken in procession to a temple, The priest recites some prayers, the mate where many offerings are displayed before her. makes several prostrations, and the captain usually honours her by appearing in a full dress before her image. Then an entertainment is given, and the food presented to the idol is greedily devoured. Afterwards the good mother, who does not partake of the gross earthly substance, is carried in front of a stage, to behold the minstrels, and to admire the dexterity of the actors; thence she is brought back, with music, to the junk, where the merry peals of the gong receive the venerable old inmate, and the jolly sailors anxiously strive to seize whatever may happen to remain of her banquet.

priest, who never dares to appear before her The care of the goddess is intrusted to the with his face unwashed. Every morning he puts sticks of burning incense into the censer, and repeats his ceremonies in every part of the ship, not excepting even the cook's room. When the junk reaches any promontory, or when contrary winds prevail, the priest makes of the air. an offering to the spirits of the mountains, or

On such occasions (and only on such) pigs and fowls are killed. When the offering is duly arranged, the priest adds to it some spirits and fruits, burns gilt paper, makes several prostrations, and then cries out to the sailors, "Follow the spirits," who suddenly rise ing out of a river, offerings of paper are conand devour most of the sacrifice. When sailstantly thrown out near the rudder. But to no part of the junk are so many offerings made as to the compass. Some red cloth, which is also tied to the rudder and cable, is put over it; incense sticks in great quantities are kindled; and gilt paper, made into the shape of a junk, is burnt before it. Near the compass, some tobacco, a pipe, and a burning lamp are placed, the joint property of all; and hither they all crowd to enjoy themselves. When there is a calm, the sailors generally contribute a certain quantity of gilt paper, which, pasted into the form of a junk, is set adrift. If no wind follows, the goddess is thought to be out of humour, and recourse is had to the demons of the air. When all endeavours prove unsuccessful, the offerings cease, and the sailors wait with indifference.

Such are the idolatrous principles of the Chinese that they never spread a sail without having conciliated the favour of the demons, nor return from a voyage without showing their gratitude to their tutelar deity. Christians are the servants of the living God, who has created the heavens and the earth-at whose command the winds and the waves rise or are still-in whose mercy is salvation, and in whose wrath is destruction; how much more, then, should they endeavour to conciliate the favour of the Almighty, and to be grateful to the author of all good! If idolaters feel dependant on superior beings, if they look up to them for protection and success, if they are punctual in paying their vows, what should be the conduct of nations who acknowledge Christ to be their Saviour? Reverence before the name of the Most High-reliance on his gracious protection-submission to his just dispensations, and devout prayers, humble thanksgiving, glorious praise to the Lord of the earth and of the sea, ought to be habitual on board our vessels; and, if this is not the case, the heathen will rise up against us in the judgment, for having paid more attention to their dumb idols than we have to the worship of the living and true God.

NEGROES IN AFRICA.

Two or three years ago, his Majesty's ship Dryad was appointed to the western coast of Africa on the service for the suppression of the slave-trade. Since its return from that station, Mr. Peter Leonard has given to the public an interesting account of his observations, from which we extract the following statements respecting the character and condition of the negroes there. The first respects the state of education in Freetown.

In Freetown (says Mr. Leonard), there are two government schools, on Bell's system, for the education of black children of every race, Maroons, Settlers, and liberated Africans. In the male school, there are at present three hundred and eighty-five pupils, divided into ten classes; in the female school, two hundred and sixty-four, into eight classes. The boys are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic only; the girls, besides these, are instructed in needle-work. Every attention seems to be paid to their instruction; and, besides being remarkably clean, neatly dressed, and well-behaved, the progress they have made in these rudimental branches of education deserves the highest praise. I examined several classes in each school, and studiously compared the acquirements of the liberated African with the other children. There was no perceptible difference. The lights and shades of intellect seemed to bear much the same proportion among them as among the children of our own labouring classes at home. For the age of these children, their progress, under the system of education adopted, seemed to be very rapid.

Respecting the manumitted negroes in Sierra Leone-that is, those who have been rescued by the capture of slaveships, and located in Sierra Leone, he gives the following account :

The articles at present supplied to each male emancipated slave on his location cost about £1 10s., which, together with his six months' allowance of twopence a-day, make the whole of the mere personal expense of each male adult to his Majesty's government amount to about £3. The daily allowance is, of course, extended in the cases of persons who, from age or infirmity, are incapable of supporting themselves. Females receive twopence a-day for three months only, and as many of the children as possible above a certain age, on condemnation of the vessel, are apprenticed out, as has been already stated, to

from a short description of Murray Town, a village two or three miles west of Freetown, erected in April, 1829, and peopled with three hundred and twenty-six Africans just imported, placed here under the management of a discharged black soldier of the Royal African Corps. It comprises four wide streets, the huts ranged on each side, and separated from each other by pieces of cultivated ground.

Again, in referring to the conduct of the manumitted negroes on board ship, his accounts are equally satisfactory.

the statements so often made by the advocates of slavery, that the African, in whatever condition, is essentially inferior to the rest of the species, or that his disposition is so radically indolent as to render compulsion indispensable. We conclude with the following statement to the same effect, respecting those settlers in Canada who have escaped by flight from a state of slavery in America.

I was struck (says Fergusson, in his Notes on It has been a custom with the liberated Canada) with the conspicuous activity and inAfrican department, for a long period, to send dustry of a negro family. Numbers of these on board our ships of war a number of African poor creatures, as opportunity favours, are ever lads recently emancipated, to be employed, as watching to escape from bondage in the Slave may be deemed fit, by the officer commanding. States of the Union, and are to be met with in They receive no pay, are supplied with two- various parts of Canada. It has been alleged thirds of a rations daily, and are scantily that the negro will prove too indolent for la clothed from the store of the department at bour in a state of freedom-a remark which, Freetown. Eleven of these boys, received without stopping to prove unphilosophical, and direct from this department, we have had on at variance with every principle of human board for upwards of twelve months, and about nature, was here most signally contradicted. fifteen of them for shorter periods, received The same remark applies to several other from different ships on the station, which had farms, noticed even in my limited excursion; taken them on board, like ourselves, at Sierra and the one in question exhibited a set of as Leone, but a short time before. The youngest busy and happy dingy faces as a philanthropist of the first eleven who came on board appeared could wish to look on; while the appearance about fourteen, the eldest nineteen years old. of the farm spoke to the steady labour which They were recently manumitted, of course had been employed; and the barn (the test of unable to utter a word of English, and, being a thriving colonist) was decidedly the handnearly all of different tribes, were also incapa-somest and largest that I passed. ble of communing with each other-in fact, perfect specimens of young savages just escaped from the wild and desolated country which gave them birth. Soon after their arrival they were put to different employments on board, and certainly no extraordinary degree of care was taken concerning their instruction; but, for all this, two of them, who have assisted the rope-maker, have shown manufacture as good rope as their master, who themselves so very apt that they can already honestly acknowledges such to be the fact. Another was placed to assist the armourer, sulphate of lime, but no other calcareous salt, and is already a very passable blacksmith; a fourth with the carpenter, who assures us his that these creatures must either decompose as far as we know. Hence it would appear progress is astonishing, and that he is already highly useful to him; and a fifth with the sulphate of lime, though the quantity of that sail-maker, and his improvement is in a simi- salt contained in sea-water seems inadequate to supply their wants, or they must form carlar ratio. The rest have been placed to vari-bonate of lime from the constituents of seaous other employments, their progression in which has been only equalled by their zeal water, in a way totally above our comprehenand good humour, and by the willingness sion. Be that as it may, there is one consewith which they set about their work. Ofquence of this copious formation of coral in the the others, who have been still a shorter time tropical regions of considerable importance to on board than these, six were received from navigation, which has been clearly pointed out his Majesty's ship Medina, before she sailed by Mr. Dalrymple, and is now pretty well for England, who had been a considerable time on board of her, and had met with great

FORMATION OF CORAL ISLANDS. explain than the prodigious quantity of coral FEW things are more curious or difficult to formed in the sea, especially in the tropical regions. Coral is the produce of different species of vermes, or worm tribes, and it consists chiefly of carbonate of lime. Now, it is difficult to conceive where these animals procure such prodigious quantities of this substance. Sea-water, indeed, contains traces of

understood.

marks this accurate observer, more curious, or There is not a part of natural history, re

With the exception of these negroes recently arrived, who, from the excessive crowding, and the bad quality and scantiness of the food and water, are almost always filthy, emaciated, and covered with disease, the manumitted slaves appear in general to be clean in their persons, sleek, and well fed, and very well satisfied with their condition. After a short stay in the colony, the industrious are occasionally permitted to cultivate patches of waste land in the country, besides their own allotted piece of ground, with the understanding that their occupation of the former shall be temporary. By selling the produce of this they are enabled to obtain many of the comforts, and a few of the luxuries, enjoyed by their European neighbours. Some idea may be formed of the actual condition of these people

instruction at the hands of her experienced commander. They had been taught a seaman's duty, and were infinitely more expert and active aloft than the white boys of the ship; and, while with us, did their duty, in every respect, with so much zeal and alacrity that their behaviour called forth the most unqualified praise. While at Ascension, one of these boys became affected with a disease of the brain and spinal marrow, which produced paralysis of the lower extremities, and eventually carried him off. The attention of the duous; and, when the fatal event took place, other boys to their poor friend was most assithey exhibited every mark of deep, unfeigned

inquiry into the formation of islands. The origin of islands in general is not the point to be discussed, but of low, flat islands in the

wide ocean, such as are most of those hitherto discovered in the vast South Sea. These

islands are generally long and narrow; they

are formed by a narrow bar of land, inclosing the sea within it; generally, perhaps always, with some channel of ingress at least to the tide, commonly with an opening capable of receiving a canoe, and frequently sufficient to admit even larger vessels.

The origin of these islands will explain their nature. What led Mr. Dalrymple first to this deduction was an observation of Abdul Roobin, à Sooloo pilot, that all the islands lying We hope these extracts will be received off the north-east coast of Borneo had shoals as additional evidence to the falsehood of I to the eastward of them. These islands being

sorrow.