To those who have followed maritime Occupations, the prolific fisheries in the Gulph of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Canso hold out a fine harvest, as the reward of industry, while to the officers of the army, whose sole dependence is on their half-pay, and particularly to those in the militia regiments who have not even this scanty subsistence, a freehold property in the fertile lands in Upper Canada, the Cape of Good Hope, and the West Indies would not only afford ample employment, but that species of ultimate ease and comfort which is not accessible in the parent state.... ...... To the officers and seamen of the navy, whose habits enable them to prosecute the fisheries, a two-fold advantage attaches. While they are enabled to cultivate their freeholds for the benefit of themselves and their posterity, they have a double resource in the fisheries. They would have the monopoly of the British West India Islands to the extent of nearly a million sterling, heretofore procured in the British American Seas by the inhabitants of the United States, in consequence of the thinness of the population in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island, rendering it impossible to furnish the necessary supplies. They would also have an equal chance in the markets of Europe. To the captains, subalterns, and privates of the army, an option may be given as to the country to which they would wish to remove. Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, may possibly be the choice of some, while others. who have been accustomed to tropical climates, may prefer lands in the West Indies, at the Cape of Good Hope, or the Mauritius, in all which labour and population are much wanted, and where the produce of the soil, particularly in the West Indies and the Cape, admits of the cultivation of a great variety of valuable minor staples iu addition to grain and provisions. Our author seems to favour the plan of settling in the Northern Provinces of America: His estimate of the value of the British Colonies in those parts deserves insertion. AGGREGATE VALUE OF EACH COLONY. ployment to 328 vessels, admeasuring 42,222 tons, navigated by 3,280 men, exclusive of small craft. 20,000 quintals of fish were imported into Jamaica alone, in the latter year, the greatest part of which was ascertained to be the produce of this flshery. There are about 30 registered vessels belonging to Halifax, averaging, perhaps, 50 tons each,1,500 tons at 104. per ton Estimating 500 small vessels in the different bays, harbours, rivers, and creeks, at 100, each, the amount of which will be 15,000 50,000 £65,000 petition, has been greatly augmented; and nothing but a more extended population is required to carry this valuable brauch of trade almost to any given extent. It will be seen by a reference to the Notes in the Table annexed to this Chapter, that the inhabitants of the United States derive incalculable advantages, and employ a vast number of men and vessels in the fishery in the River St. Lawrence, and on the coast of Nova Scotia, which exclusively belong to Great Britain. The dense population of the Northern States, and their local situation in the vicinity of the most prolific fishing stations, have enabled them to acquire vast wealth by the indulgence of this country. This wealth is more accessible to His Majesty's subjects from the circumstance of their inhabiting territories bordering on the waters where the fish are most abundant. The Island of Cape Breton was consi possession of the French, particularly on account of its Coal Mines; but it has lost its importance since it became a British Colony. The Bay of Canso however, which separates it from Nova Scotia, renders it an excellent fishing station; but others are preferred in the neighbouring seas. ST. JOHN'S, OR PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND. Fisheries, This Island is of the highest importance to the United Kingdom.dered of some consequence while in the Whether the possession of it be considered with relation to the Americans, or as an acquisition of a great maritime power, it is worthy of the most particular attention of Government. Mr. Stewart has justly remarked, in his account of that island, (page 296,) that "the fishery carried on, from the American States, in the Gulph of St. Lawrence, for some years past, is very ex- St. John's, now Prince Edward's Island tensive, and is known to be one of the in the Gulph of St. Lawrence, when in greatest resources of the wealth of the possession of the French was cultivated to Eastern States, from which about 2000 a considerable extent, and produced many schooners, of from 70 to 100 tons, are an- cattle; but being abandoned by its indus nually sent into the Gulph; of these, about trious inhabitants that were slowly re1400 make their fish in the Straits of Bel- placed by British Settlers, those advanleiste, and on the Labrador shore, frontages which it possessed, particularly from whence what is intended for the European market is shipped off, without being sent to their own ports: about 600 American schooners make their fares on the north side of the island, and often make two trips in a season, returning with full cargoes to their own ports, where the fish are dried; the number of men employed in this fishery is estimated at between fifteen and twenty thousand, and the profits on it are known to be very great. To see such a source of wealth and naval power on our own coasts, and in our very harbours, abandoned to the Americans, is much to be regretted, and would be distressing were it not that the means of re-occupying the whole, with such advantages as must soon preclude all competition, is afforded in the cultivation and settlement of Prince Edward's Island." Since the trade with the United States has been so greatly obstructed, the produce of the Fisheries in the British Colonies, thus encouraged by the removal of all com the greatest abundance of fish which surround its coasts, have not been rendered beneficial from the very limited number of settlers, now estimated at about 5000, cultivating 50,000 acres of land out of more than 1,200,000, that night produce food for more than half a million; as the lands are generally fertile, but still more the seas which surround it. The Colony however is in a progressive, though a slow state of improvement, and would afford an advan togeous asylum for the superabundant maritime labourers in the parent state. Newfoundland has long been known as a most valuable fishing station. Its pro ductions and fisheries may amount at present to about one million sterling a year. The expence of protecting these colonies entities the crown to a tonnage duty on all ships licensed to carry on such fisheries; and perhaps until the British population is sufficient to compass the object of supplying all countries, this may be the proper course to pursue. If not, the national rights will be invaded to a great extent, and the general competition will retard the advance of the British Colonists to that degree of opulence and prosperity, to which the resources they possess so justly entitle them, while the state derives no benefit, but on the contrary sustains a great loss. Private fisheries are a source of great profit to the individuals, in this and other countries, who have acquired a right to such fisheries. Why therefore should not the United Kingdom derive a similar advantage from the fisheries it possesses within the range of its extensive territories in North America (perhaps the richest and most prolific in the world), by declaring every ship and vessel liable to confiscation which should presume to fish in those seas without previously paying a tonnage duty, and receiving a licence limited to a certain period when fish may be caught, with the privilege of curing such fish in the British territories?-All nations to have an equa! claim to such licences limited to certain stations, but to permit none to supply the British West Indies except His Majesty's subjects, whether resident in the colonies or in the parent state. Unquestionably a large revenue might be derived from this source; since nothing could exceed the advantages, which would result to the adventurers in the pursuit of an object, where the profit would be so certain in seas producing an abundance of fish of all kinds saleable in foreign markets. While such a system increased the revenue of the crown, to which it would be so justly entitled, it would also improve the condition of the British Colonies from the resort of vast fleets from Europe and the United States. is our true source of enjoyment, the seas of Britain are our national domain, which it behoves us to make the most of, with all our power. This is our opiniou. We close by adding Dr. C.'s judgment of the different characters of the natives of the three kingdoms, in a moral point of view. It forms a part of his estimate, which we earnestly recommend to the consideration of all well-wishers to their country, and to the human race at large. Looking generally at the state of morals in the three kingdoms, it is no less curious than interesting to mark the distinction in vulgar life, which prevails in each. In England much ignorance prevails, which tends greatly to the corruption of morals; while at the same time the mass of the people are tractable, aud possess a great share of good nature. In Scotland, a character totally different is exhibited. Strongly attached to the du ties of religion, and almost universally taught to read by means of the national parochial schools, the mass of the labouring people are moral and parsimonious, and generally industrious, although at the same time not exempted from blemishes. The duties imperative on the established clergy to attend minutely (at least in the rural parishes) to the progress of the children in a knowledge of religious and moral duties have tended much to elevate the vulgar in Scotland above those in almost every country in Europe. The effect of the system pursued, at least, proves the practicability of results equally favourable by the same means in the Sister Kingdoms. Ireland unhappily, although blessed with a land producing plenty, exhibits a state of morals in vulgar life which is truly lamentable. In spite of a numerous clergy of the church, to which a vast proportion of the people are attached, and from whom they are supposed to receive religious in The population of all, or most of the Nations of Europe with some few exceptions is in the progress of augmentation: hence an additional quantity of food will be necessary. This food can be procured in the British Seas in America to any given extent. In fact, no limit can be fixed to the extent of the food, which can be obstruction, it appears to produce little or no tained in these waters. These remarks are certainly founded on fact, and, when those parts become the seat of Empire, they will be more than justified by the then inhabitants of those countries; but, at present, Britain is the seat of empire, and we should hear with still greater pleasure, proposals for augmenting the fisheries of Yarmonth, or Berwick, or the Orkneys, &c. In short, the land of Britain moral effect. Constitutionally good tempered, although subject to paroxisms of rage and fury, which are often productive of great excesses, they are nevertheless susceptible of good impressions, and under more favourable circumstances might be rescued from the deplorable ignorance, and the influence of those ill regulated passions which render these valuable and interest ing people less useful, less comfortable, and less happy than under a better system might be attainable. The country is fruitful beyond any other proportion of the British Islands; and yet the majority of the people are miserable. Certain it is, that much remains still to be done to produce those improvements in the state of civil society in the United Kingdom of which it is susceptible. The value of such improvements, as they relate to the power and resources of the country, and the elevation of the national character, are beyond all calculation, To encourage their army the French generals promised to every soldier engaged in the conquest of this country six acres of land in Egypt. That this promise was intended to have been kept truly, none supposes who recollects the character of the Cominander in Chief, and his Subalterns: but supposing the attempt made,-what might have been the value of the land? True it is, that Travelș in various Countries of Eu-dustry derives great products in return along the sides of the Nile, human in rope, Asia, and Africa, by E. D. Clarke, LL.D. [Continued from p. 53.] for its labour; but at the same time the river gives occasion to inconvenient inmates, by which the most patient enDr. Clarke is not one of those vir- durance is discomfited, and reduced to tuosi who travel for the sake of inspect-ment. Dr. Clarke thinks an apology a condition of most deplorable abasɛing antiquities only; though it appears necessary for using plain language in a that objects of that nature, occupied a full proportion of his time and atten- plain statement; we believe that whotion, ever has travelled in Egypt at a certain time of the year, will not think his language too strong, nor be of opinion that it describes a greater proportion than one part in twenty of the sufferings to which a cleanly European is a prey. The writer shall narrate his feelings in We have seen him wrest from the French general those most valuable remains of past ages, which now rank among the proudest of our national trephies:-to his zeal, his activity, and his perseverance his country is become a debtor; what additional eulogium can be desired by any man? Nevertheless, the modern state of the countries he visited, their present population, with its dispositions and talents, obtained a due share of his regard; and furnish him with occasion for interesting and entertaining remarks. his own words; he speaks first of the Nile itself, and then of those inhabitants which swarm on its banks. stagnate. The smell of it was like that of an unwholesome pool, and its surface became partly covered with a green slime. By attentively observing it about this time, a number of little whirlpools, not more sionally noticed, suddenly becoming visible, than an inch in diameter, might be occaand as suddenly disappearing. The Arabs pointed to these as the earliest indications of the coming flood. The Reader may perhaps be curious to know what the symptoms are in the Nile when at the lowest ebb denoting the incipient flood. We were in Rosetta at the Egypt, especially, has been brought This happened upon the sixteenth of May. precise period for making the observation. forward to public notice since the formi-For several days before, the water in the dable, and for awhile, successful at-river was very shallow, and seemed to tempt of the French to fix there a power, by which it should become a part of the territory of the Great Nation! It were a curious speculation to enquire, what the result of that enterprize might have been, had not Britain possessed strength sufficient to expell those intruders.What other nation would have thought itself sufficiently interested in the consequences, to have incurred the expense, and hazarded the adventure? Certainly, the expedition was intended to ruin the British interests in the east; and therefore Britain was primarily cencerned, not to conquer the country for herself; but to deprive her enemy of possessions and establishments, which might eventually be turned to her pre judice. The Nile is here very broad, and the current was at this time prodigiously rapid; yet the force of the Etesian wind enabled us to stem it, and to proceed with very great velocity. Villages, in an almost uninterrupted succession, denoted a gined the country contained. Upon each much greater population than we had ima side of the river, as far as the eye could survey, were rich fields of corn and rice, with such beautiful groves, seeming to rise rant. In justification of this statement, it is only necessary to appeal to the testimony of all those who have resided in the country during the very opposite seasons of its prosperity and privation; during the inundation, and when the flood has retired; or before it takes place, in the beginning of the year. At the period of the overflow, persons who drink the water become subject to the disorder called " prickly heat: this often terminates in those dreadful wounds alluded to in Scripture, by the words "boils and blains." During the months of June, July, and August, many individuals are deprived of sight, by a disease of the eyes peculiar to this country, and which, having no other name for, Eu out of the watery plain, and to shade in numerable settlements in the Delta, amidst never-ending plantations of melons and all kinds of garden vegetables, that, from the abundance of its produce, Egypt may be deemed the richest country in the world. Such is the picture exhibited to the native inhabitants, who are seasoned to withstand the disorders of the country, and can bear with indifference the attacks of myriads of all sorts of noxious animals; to whom mud and mosquitoes, or dust and vermin, are alike indifferent; who, having never experienced one comfortable feeling in the midst of their highest enjoyments, uor a single antidote to sorrow in the depths of wretchedness, vegetate, like the bananas and sycamores around them. But to stran-ropeans have called Opthalmia, from the gers, and particularly to inhabitants of Northern countries, where wholesome air and cleanliness are among the necessaries of life, Egypt is the most detestable region pon earth. Upon the retiring of the Nile, the country is one vast swamp. An atmosphere, impregnated with every putrid and offensive exhalation, stagnates, like the filthy pools over which it broods. Then the plague regularly begius, nor ceases until the waters return again. Throughout the spring, intermitting fevers universally prevail. About the beginning of May certain winds cover even the sands of the desert with the most disgusting vermint. The latest descendants of Pharoah are not yet delivered from the evils which fell upon the land, when it was smitten by the hands of Moses and Aaron: the OF THE EARTH BECOMES LICE, UPON MAN LAND OF EGYPT. This application of the words of Scripture affords a literal exposition of existing facts; such an one as the statistics of the country do now war General Le Grange assured us, when on board the Braakel, that the ravages in the French army, caused by the plague during the month of April, at one time amounted to an hundred men in a single day. + Sir Sidney Smith informed the Author, that one night preferring a bed upon the sand of the desert to a night's lodging in the village of Etkoo, as thinking to be secure from vermin, he found hinself, in the morning, entirely covered by them. Lice and scorpions abound in all the sandy desert near Alexandria organs it afflicts. There was hardly an individual who did not suffer, more or less the consequences of this painful malady, it commences with a sensation as if grains of sand had been blown into the eyes, which no care can remove. At this season, also, the dysentery begins to number its victims; and although some are fortunate enough to escape the worst effects of this disorder, it proves fatal in many in stances. The buffaloes swimming about in the Nile, afford a singular sight, with their black muzzles sticking out of the water, and snorting as they cross from side to side; all the rest of their bodies being concealed. But the most remarkable animal appear ance may be noticed by merely dipping a ladle or bucket into the midst of the torrent, which is everywhere dark with mud, and observing the swarms of animalculæ it contains. Among these, tadpoles and young frogs are so numerous, that, rapid as the current flows, there is no part of the Nile where the water does not contain them. A charming country, this! where the plague of lice, fairly occupies the land, not confined to one district, but transported by the wind to all quarters; while the plague of frogs broods throughout the water, and wants but the authoritative commission under which the ancestors of these tadpoles anciently "came into the house of Pharoah, and into the houses of his servants, into the bedchamber, and upon the bed, into the ovens, and into the kneading troughs" what pestilent vermin! In short, Dr. C. seems to think that the rudiments of most of the ten plagues still |