In respect to the manner, in which some other of these islands were peopled, some idea may be formed from the circumstance of two Esquimaux savages having been driven by the currents in canoes upon the coast of the Orcades; a circumstance which is attested by Wallace, in his History of the Orkney Islands. Baron de Humboldt ", who alludes to this fact, relates, also, that in the year 1770, a small vessel, laden with corn at the island of Lancerotte, and bound to Santa Cruz, was, in the absence of its crew, driven out to sea where, crossing the vast expanse of the Atlantic, it ran ashore at La Guayra, near the Caraccas.

Some have, doubtless, been peopled by men and women, who, while fishing along their native coasts, lost their oars and paddles, and were drifted by the winds and tides. A circumstance rendered the more probable, by its being ascertained, that women are employed in fishing, on some parts of the west American coasts, as well as men.

Whence New Holland derived its inhabitants, it is exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible,-to determined; but, that the natives of Van Diemen's Land were originally African is evident from their heads being covered with wool; and from

is universally acknowledged. The overflowings of the Nile, and the fertility of the country, in consequence, are evidently alluded to in their traditions; and I think the Argonautic expedition, Pan's crook, Pan's pipes, and Pan's office in making the earth fertile, are mentioned in their themes. Query :-Are not the Malays and the whole of the South Sea Islanders Egyptians? To which we may reply ;-When will the spirit of conjecture rest?

b Humboldt's Voy. to Equinoctial Regions, i. p. 57. Originally in Viera. Hist. Gen. de las Islas Canarias, iii. p. 167.

• Captain Cook found on the island Wateoo three inhabitants of Otaheite, who had been drifted thither in a canoe, although the distance between the two islands is five hundred and fifty miles. In 1696, two canoes, containing thirty persons, who had left Ancorso, were thrown by contrary winds and storms on the island of Samar, one of the Philippines, at a distance of eight hundred miles.-Willis.

d For some curious remarks on the affinity of certain words in the language of the Sandwich and Friendly Islands in the Pacific Ocean, with the Hebrew, see Archæologia, 1787. art. viii. by Dr. Glass.

their countenances exhibiting, in a very striking manner, the African physiognomy.

Many islands, on the American coasts, were, when first discovered, totally destitute of inhabitants: the Bermudas, for instance, 400 in number, lying in the form of a shepherd's crook, and situate between 200 and 300 leagues from the continent. The manner in which they have been successively peopled, it is not necessary to state; as they are well known to have derived their inhabitants from modern industry and enterprise.

In 1681, a Mosquito Indian was accidentally left on the island of Juan Fernandez by Captain Watling. For three years he lived upon fish, goats, seals, rock-fish, snappers, cabbage-tree, and a variety of herbs. He built himself a hut, and made his bed with goat-skins. Upon Captain Watling's revisiting the island, the Indian saw the ship at a distance; and, knowing it to be an English one, killed three goats; dressed them with leaves of the cabbage-tree; and brough them down to the shore. The ship anchored, and a Mosquito Indian, who was on board, with other sailors, landed. Running to his brother Indian, he threw himself upon his face at his feet. The islander lifted him up; and then fell at his feet in the same manner. He was afterwards hailed by the crew, when his joy was signified in every action.

Not long after the departure of this Indian, Alexander Selkirk was left, with his own consent, upon the same island, and passed upon it several years. His history is well known. It was he that planted the oats, which Commodore Anson saw growing, some years afterwards. The island rises high out of the water, and has a steep shore, fine woods and savannahs. The soil in the vales consists of a black and fruitful earth; and there is good water in almost every part. It has been peopled by the Spaniards; and there is a regular garrison

a Selkirk was not wrecked on the island of Juan Fernandez, as most persons suppose; but, having a great dislike to his captain, he was.left there at his own. desire.

and a governor. From this account we learn, that Juan Fernandez was peopled with goats by the discoverer; and first planted with oats by a man, who was unfortunate enough to be cast upon it.

In recurring to the fate of Alexander Selkirk, the imagination naturally reverts to the distress of Philoctetes, on the desert island of Lemnos; so powerfully painted by Euripides, As, wearied with the tossing of the waves,

They saw me sleeping on the shore, beneath
This rock's rude covering, with malignant joy

They left me, and sail'd hence.

Think from that sleep, my son, how I awoke,

When they were gone! Think on my tears, my groans.

Such ills lamenting, when I saw my ships,

With which I hither sail'd, all out at sea,

And steering hence; no mortal in the place;
Not one to succour me ;-not one to lend
His lenient hand to mitigate my wound!
On every side I roll'd my eyes, and saw
Nothing but wretchedness a

Upon a rock, twenty-nine miles north-west of Nooaheevah, in the South Seas, an American passed three years. With three companions (who died soon after their landing), he had quitted his ship for the purpose of procuring feathers. The rock, upon which they were cast, was barren and desolate; but he contrived to live upon the flesh and blood of birds, The skulls of his companions were his only drinking vessels. In 1818 the crew of the Queen Charlotte discovered a fire on the rock, made of dried sea-weeds. Knowing the rock to be barren, their curiosity was excited; and the captain sending off a boat, they discovered the forlorn seaman, and took him to Bombay. This man had a few seeds in his pocket; and he planted them; but they refused to propagate. In the year 1808 or 1809, a sailor, named Jeffery, on

a Potter.

b The island of Serrana takes its name from a Spaniard, called Serrano, who in the time of Charles V. was wrecked upon it, and remained several years. He was taken thence, all overgrown with hair, by a Spanish vessel, and carried to Spain.-Adams.

board the Recruit, having stolen a little spruce beer, his commander, Captain Lake, set him on shore on the uninhabited island of Sombrero, in the Atlantic archipelago. Two months after this, the Recruit returning to the same latitude, the captain sent a boat, with several seamen, in order to retake the man on board; but he was no where to be seen:and the crew concluded, that he had been devoured by the large birds, which frequent that barren rock in vast numbers. Jeffery, in the meantime, having been landed, with only the clothes he had on, was left, helpless and hopeless, to endure all the agony of the apprehension of being devoured by birds, or of dying of want. There was no shelter, and the heat of a tropical sun almost drove the unfortunate man to madness. The island being The island being a low rock, after searching for some time, he discovered water in some of the hollows, and a considerable quantity of birds' eggs, and a few limpets. On these he lived for nine days; during which time he observed several ships pass in the distance, to which he made signals, but without effect; until he was discovered by the master of an American schooner, who took him on board, and landed him at Marblehead, in the state of Massachusetts.

In the mean time, the conduct of Captain Lake having been reported to the commander-in-chief of the West India station, he was tried before a court-martial, and sentenced to be dismissed his Majesty's service. The Parliament of Great Britain, too, having, at the instance of Sir Francis Burdett, recommended a search for the unfortunate seaman, he was brought to England, and arrived in London in the month of October, 1809. When I first saw him, I was particularly struck with the modesty of his manners, and the grave simplicity of his conversation. Deeply impressed with gratitude to Heaven for his preservation, there was a solemnity of tone in the artlessness of his remarks, that struck me with no small degree of admiration. He was about one-and-twenty years of age.

Captain Lake's family having recompensed him for the sufferings he had experienced, Jeffery left London for Cornwall, where he was born, in order to visit his mother. He was met near Polperro by his father-in-law, who, soon after their first greeting, returned to apprise his mother of his arrival. The whole village now came forth to meet him; and nothing could exceed the joy with which he was welcomed. The meeting between him and his mother was affecting in the highest degree. She gazed upon him with bewildered anxiety, as if she could scarcely believe that she saw; but, recovering herself, they rushed into each other's arms, and, for some moments were lost in sobs and tears. Nothing but the arrival of Jeffery was talked of; while the joy of the villagers, and the tumultuous endearments of the mother and son, consecrated an evening, that will for many years be remembered in that village with the liveliest satisfaction.

The Gallipagos islands, situate about 200 leagues west of Peru, are of volcanic origin; and every hill retains evidence of being the crater of an extinguished volcano. The only one, ever inhabited, was taken possession of by a native of Ireland (Watkins), who quitted his ship; and taking up his abode there, built a hovel, planted potatoes and pumpkins, and lived a miserable life, for several years, on tortoises and other marine animals; bartering vegetables for rum, and other necessaries ".

cone.

The island of Tristan d'Acunha is an entire mass of lava. It rises 5,000 feet above the sea, in the form of a With the exception of a plain, six miles in length, and two furlongs in breadth, this island is entirely covered with copse-wood; and not a day passes without rain. The common thistle, the lichen, a species of goosefoot, and storksbill, are found there. There, too, are found two or three species of

a In the United Service Journal there is an account of a young man being left on one of the Gallipagos, where he had lived for twenty-one days. An abstract of this may be found in the Saturday Mag., July 6, 1833.