trees and hedgerows are beds of hyacinths and tuberoses, one or two hundred in a group: their colours are variegated profusely; and the roses and honeysuckles afford a stronger perfume than those of Asia: while American jessamines, some white, and others of the brightest scarlet, grow, 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 Tuckey 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 beautiful: Nature seeming there to have taken pleasure, in exhibiting herself in the richest brilliancy of youth; and in producing every species of fine landscape; from the luxuriance of uncontrolled vegetation to the grandeur of immense forests, and the sublimity of rocks, 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 are found gumlacca, benzoin, amber, and ambergris; beds of rock crystal; 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 eminently worthy of being erected into an empire, were not its climate so noxious, and its waters so pestilential. It produces apples, pears, peaches, guavas, 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 a Rochon's Voyage to Madagascar, 1792, p. 171. a are frequently composed of myrtles, quinces, and pomegra nates. Full of unnumbered flowers, The negligence of NATURE, wide and wild, 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 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 *. Towards the south pole, stretches a land, discovered by Dirk Gherritz, a Dutch captain, in 1599. In 1739, two vessels discovered land in latitude 47 degrees and 48 degrees, 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 degrees, longitude 55 degrees. He coasted its shores for two hundred miles; but was unable to discover whether it was an island or a continent d. He called it New Shetland. 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. The coast of PATAGONIA, in the south part of the American continent, is wild and horrific. But "hares, deer, wild fowl, Thomson, Spring, 501. b Paterson's Travels in Africa, 4to. p. 34, 1790. Camöens, Lusiad-Mickle. d Since discovered to be an archipelago. 66 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 horses into this country, the various tribes eat horse flesh, and lead a wandering life, like Tartars "." NEW HOLLAND is equal, in circumference, to three-fourths of Europe; and it is curious to remark, that it contains only two rivers of great volume. The harbours of Derwent and Port-Jackson, however, are nearly equal to those of Trincomallee, and Rio Janeiro. 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. Near these settlements are found copper, alum, potter's clay, coal, slate, lime, and fossil salt; with white, yellow, and brilliant 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 skates, having heads like sharks. As to black petrels, they are so exceedingly multitudinous, that 150,000,000 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; cassowa d a 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. b A. D. 1817. c Wentworth's Historical and Statistical Description of Botany Bay. d Captain Flinders. ries seven feet in height; black swans, 300 in a group; cockatoos, parrokeets, and parrots with legs like those of seagulls; and there also fly the most beautiful of all the birds of paradise. There also are seen, one bird having a note like the tinkling of a bell; one that seems, by its voice, as if it had the power to laugh; and a quadruped d which walks in fresh water, like the hippopotamus, having at the same time the beak of a bird. There, too, grows a species of cherry, which has its stone on the outside of the fruit; and in no part of the world is there a greater variety of insects. There are, also, 4,200 species of plants; referable to 120 orders. Curious, also, is it to remark, that most of the animal and vegetable productions assimilate. All the quadrupeds are like opossums; all the fishes like sharks; and the trees and grasses bear great similitudes. The birds, however, differ very materially. The climates of the SOUTH-SEA ISLANDS bear relative resemblance to each other. The manners and language of the inhabitants, also, are analogous. That they can form as strong attachments, as Europeans, has been proved by a multitude of examples. The following is an affecting instance. A young man, named Stewart, having been guilty of mutiny at Otaheite, quitted his ship; and taking up his abode on the island, married the daughter of a chief. By this young woman he had a child. The Pandora soon after coming in search of him, he was seized, taken to the ship, and laid in irons. His wife followed him with her infant; and a scene took place so tender and heart-breaking, that she was obliged to be separated from him by force. Stewart sailed with the Pandora, and was shipwrecked. His wife soon after pined away, and died of a broken heart'. a First discovered by Vlaming, in 1697. "Ha ha ha!"-Grant's Voy. of Discov., p. 134, 4to. d Ornithorynchus paradoxus. e White. f The climate and manners of Otaheite are thus described by Captain The Island of TINIAN, situate 15 deg. 8 min. north latitude, and 114 deg. 50 min. west longitude of Acapulco, is only twelve miles long and six broad; but in that small compass is exhibited almost every species of beautiful scenery. With such advantages, we indulge but little surprise, when we learn, that when the original natives were taken from their native island to recruit the exhausted population of Guam, they languished and died of grief. Added to the extreme loveliness of its scenes, Tinian abounds in all kinds of tropical flowers and fruits in the utmost profusion. It is fortified by a difficult anchorage, occasioned by its coral rocks: is abundant in fowls of many descriptions; and its cattle are of a milky whiteness (except the ears, which are brown and black) resembling those upon the banks of the Clitumnus. What a contrast to all this are the frozen regions of the north, stretching on every side the pole; covered with perpetual snow; with lakes and seas, agitated by boisterous winds; and fretted with enormous masses of floating ice! The Isle of Tinian, which Nature has most extravagantly endowed, blooms to no human purpose a. The footstep of a casual stranger alone presses its shore: while Iceland, with fields divided by vitrified cliffs; without a tree; abounding in precipices, burning lakes, and barren mountains, produced a Thurleston, a Thordsen, and a Frode, with 240 poets, at a time when Sweden, and Denmark, and Norway cultivated no science: when the Tartars were emerging from the northern The Kotzebue :- “The people are exceedingly happy, mild, and benevolent. country, which is fertile, affords proof of their industry. The proprietor of each house cultivates yams, sweet potatoes, and bread-fruit. Their little gardens are kept neat; groves extend from one dwelling to another; and the borders of the intersecting foot-paths are studded with the richest and most fragrant flowers. The climate, too, has its effect on the disposition of the people it is warm, dry, clear, and healthy. The whole scene is a picture of rustic simplicity; and the charming combination of the means of human content producing the desire and the wisdom of enjoyment." a This island was visited in 1818 by Freycinet; and miserable is the picture which is given by Arago of its desolate condition.-P. 282, 4to. |