January 3, 1818.] Literature.-Beaufort's Voyage to Asia Minor. university of Christiana, 7,0001. sterling for the purchase of books, &c.; and a promise has been made to it of an annual sum of 1,000l. sterling. 207 of the European architecture of the middle ages, may have been their work. expedition; and the multiplied labours attendant on a survey of such magnitude, added to an excusable impatience for the final accom- The island of Kastelorizo produces absoluteplishment of the task, in order to resume the ly nothing; meat, fruit, corn, and vegetables, more natural pursuits of a cruising frigate, al-all come from the continent, which, though The celebrated work entitled Mithridates, lowed but little time for indulging in the ex-barren, and devoid of culture in its external begun by the great lexicographer, John Chris-amination of other objects. Yet the venerable appearance, contains inland, it is said, many topher Adelung, which was to comprise the remains of former opulence and grandeur, spacious and productive vallies. It, therefore, Lord's Prayer in nearly 500 different languages which every where forced themselves into no- requires some time for a ship to procure a supand dialects, is now brought to a conclusion tice, were too numerous and too interesting ply of provisions, and especially of live stock. by the publication of the fourth and last part. not to have found admission among the more A small bullock of about three cwt. cost eight Adelung having died during the progress of strictly professional remarks; and indeed they dollars and brinjoes, grapes, water-melons, the work, it was brought to a close by Dr. were often necessarily combined with the o- and pumpkins, were proportionably cheap. John Severin Vater of Konigsberg. perations of the survey. The second volume of an interesting work, by Charles L. Von Haller, has been published. It is entitled," Restoration of the Science of Politics; or Theory of the Natural State of Society." VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. From such materials the following brief sketch has been complied, slight as they must necessarily be, yet as they were acquired in the public service, and as they relate to a country of which there is so little known, it seems to be in some measure a duty to lay them before the public; not indeed with the vain expectation of satisfying curiosity, but rather in the hope of exciting further inquiry. What facts Karamania; or a Brief Description of could be collected are faithfully, however unthe South Coast of Asia Minor, and of skilfully, reported if they throw but little the Remains of Antiquity, collected light on ancient history, or add still less to modern science, they may, perhaps, rouse others during a survey of that coast, in the to visit this, hitherto, neglected country, years 1811 and 1812. By Francis whose leisure and whose talents are better Beaufort, F.R.S. Captain of his Ma-adapted to those pursuits. The professional jesty's ship Frederikssteen. duties and habits of a seaman, preclude that fulness of detail which the artist and antiquary alone can supply. : On this simple and modest statement we have only to remark, that Capt. Beaufort has fully accomplished the task he assigned to himself, and in a manner which reflects the highest credit on himself as a scholar, and as a diligent observer of the remains of classical antiquity. Water is scarce on this part of the coast : from the valley of Patara to the river of Myra, an uninterrupted range of mountains, abruptly rising from the sea, forbids the passage of any stream: the winter torrents cease with the rains; and from April to November, the inhabitants have no resource, but in the capacity of their reservoirs. In summer, therefore, ships are very reluctantly allowed to fill their water-casks. The town is principally inhabited by Greeks, but under the government of a Turkish agha, who is dependent on the bey of Rhodes. Pilots may generally be met with here, for vessels bound to any part of this coast, or to Syria, and even to Egypt; for Alexandria being supplied, in a great measure, with fuel from the woody mountains of Karamania, there is a constant intercourse between that place and this little port. THE tract of country, describing in this very unassuming but valuable work under the name Excepting several catacombs or sepulchres of Karamania, or the southern shore of Asia excavated out of the rock, and containing nuMinor, comprises the antient provinces of merous cells; this place offered but few anLycia, Pamphylia, and the two Cilicias, to cient ruins worthy of notice. Passing, theregether with parts of Caria and Phrygia. Alfore, Kakava bay, we follow our author over though, from a variety of circumstances this the plain of Myra, the Cape of Phineka, and interesting portion of classical geography has the cape and islands of Khelidonia, to Delikremained almost unexplored, there are few Our author's operations commenced at tash, a small village near the sea coast, behind parts which possess greater claims to attention. Yedy-Boorooner the Seven Capes, a knot of which a mountain of the same name rears its It was colonized by that redundant population lofty and rugged mountains, which appears to lofty summit. From an ancient inscription of ancient Greece, which had gradually over- have been the ancient Mount Cragus of Lycia, discovered by Capt. Beaufort, there can be spread the rest of Asia Minor, and which had the abode of the fabulous Chimæra. At no very little doubt but that this was the ancient every where introduced the same splendid con- great distance from these mountains, near the Olympus. In the vicinity of this far-famed ceptions, the same superiority in arts, that had sea shore, stands the ruins of Patara, once ce- mountain, he met with a very singular pheno⚫ immortalized the parent country :-it was at lebrated for the oracle of Apollo, but now un-menon, which he thus describes:once the seat of learning and riches, and the inhabited. From this place Capt. B. proceed- "We had seen from the ship the preceding theatre of some of the most celebrated events ed along a high and rugged shore; and after night a small but steady light among the hills; that history unfolds; it was signalized by the examining several barren islands, the ship anon mentioning the circumstance to the inhabitexploits of Cyrus and Alexander; and was dig-chored off the harbour and town of Kastelorizo, ants, we learned that it was a yanar, or volnified by the birth and the labours of the illus- which is chiefly inhabited by Greeks, on the canic flame, and they offered to supply us with trious apostle of the Gentiles; yet with all eastern side of a large rocky island of that horses and guides to examine it. these claims to attention, excepting a few im- name. perfect notices of some modern travellers, our knowledge of this interesting region was almost wholly derived from the accounts contained in the writings of the ancient Geographers; and of the coast, there were no charts whatever, by which the Mariner could steer his course. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty being desirous of filling up this very serious chasm in hydrography, determined to employ a frigate on a survey of the coast, and confided this service to Capt. Beaufort, who commanded the Frederikssteen, then stationed in the Archipelago. In the course of the years 1811 and 1812. Capt. Beaufort accomplished his survey, from which a set of charts has been constructed; these are now engraved by direction of their lordships for the use of the navy. To settle the hydography, and to ascertain the naval resources, was the main design of the The harbour, though small, is snug; merchant ships of any size can moor within a hundred yards of the houses; and on the other side, they may even lie so close to the shore, as to reach it on a plank. Two old castles command the town, the harbour, and the outer anchorage; but in a former war they were taken by the Russians, and almost destroyed. From the uppermost, which stands on a picturesque cliff, the muz. zles of a few small cannon still project; but the Turks, to conceal its weakness, allow no strangers to enter. On the summit of the island, which is about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea, there is another small ruined fortress, which from its situation must have been impregnable. Vertot says, that the knights of Rhodes kept possession of this island for a long time; these castles and fortifications, which appear to have the character "We rode about two miles through a fertile plain, partly cultivated; and then winding up a rocky and thickly wooded glen, we arrived at the place. In the inner corner of a ruined building the wall is undermined, so as to leave an aperture of about three feet diameter, and shaped like the mouth of an oven :-from thence the flame issues, giving out an intense heat, yet producing no smoke on the wall; and though from the neck of the opening we detached some small lumps of caked soot, the walls were hardly discoloured. Trees, brushwood, and weeds, grow close round this little crater; a small stream trickles down the hill hard by, and the ground does not appear to feel the effect of its heat at more than a few feet distance. The hill is composed of the crumbly serpentine already mentioned, which occasioned loose blocks of limestone, and we perceived no volcanic productions whatever in the neighbourhood. "At a short distance lower down the side of seamen; they knew not how or where to the hill, there is another hole, which has ap- steer: and if their hour was come, they preparently been at some time the vent of a simi-ferred dying like men, with arms in their lar flame; but our guide asserted, that, in the hands on shore, to being murdered by the canmemory of man, there had been but one, and non of the pasha's cruisers, by whom they that it had never changed its present size or must ultimately be overtaken. appearance. It was never accompanied, he said, by earthquakes or noises; and it ejected no stones, smoke, nor noxious vapours, nothing but a brilliant flame, which no quantity of water could quench. The shepherds, he added, frequently cooked their victuals there: and he affirmed, with equal composure, that it was notorious that the yanar would not roast meat which had been stolen. [January 3, 1818. traverse the chain of Mount Taurus, conducts the land wind from the cold mountains of the interior. Upon the whole, it would be difficult to select a more charming spot for a city. "The population of Adalia probably does not exceed 8000, two-thirds of which I understand to be Mohammedan, the other third Greek. These Greeks are acquainted with no other language than the Turkish; yet, though some of their prayers are translated into that tongue, the principal part of the liturgy is repeated in Greek by the papas, or priests, of whom the greater number are as ignorant of the meaning as their congregation. Chandler mentions a similar circumstance at Philadelphia; and in some of the other inland towns of Asia Minor, where the proportion of Greeks is but sinall, the language of their masters prevails as it does here. It is a singular fact, however, that at Scala Nuova, a considerable sea-port near "My decision once made, there was not a Ephesus, the contrary takes place: few Turks moment to be lost. Our boats were dispatch- there speak Turkish fluently; even the agha ed, and in a few minutes I had the satisfaction and the janissaries conversed with each other of rescuing sixty fellow creatures from imme-in Greek, and explained themselves imperfectly to our Turkish interpreter. "Things remained in this state till the next morning, when one of the pasha's armed ships was seen rounding the cape; and the party of cavalry, which had, till then, been checked by the appearance of our frigate, now crossed the river, and surrounding at some distance that part of the beach which was occupied by the fugitives, seemed only to wait the approach of the above vessel to close upon their victims. "This phenomenon appears to have existed This was the crisis of their fate. That fate here for many ages, as unquestionably this is depended upon me. Cold and calculating pruthe place to which Pliny alludes in the follow-dence forbade me to interfere; but, I could ing passage" Mount Chimæra, near Pha- not stand by, and see them butchered in cold selis, emits an unceasing flame, that burns blood! day and night." We did not, however, perceive that the adjacent mountains of Hephæstia were quite so inflamable as he describes them. The late Colonel Rooke, who lived for many years among the islands of the Archipe-diate slaughtur. lago, informed me, that high up on the west- "Since the rejection of their entreaties on the "The influence of commerce on this coast has ern mountain of Samos, he had seen a flame preceding day, they had betrayed no signs of been but little felt till lately; but the immense of the same kind, but that it was intermittent." despair or impatience; they had neither re- demand for wheat in the British garrisons of Capt. Beaufort appears to have prosecuted proached our obduracy, nor murmured at their the Mediterranean during the war, and the his hydrographic labours without interruption, fate: and when our boats landed, they were failure of a supply from that once plenteous as far as cape Avova; when his operations found sitting under the shade of the neigh- granary, Sicily, (now hardly adequate to its were suspended by a circumstance that is too bouring trees, with an air of resignation that own consumption), had given such a spur to honourable to the character of our brave sea-bordered on indifference. They now displayed the enterprizing islanders of Patara and Hymen, to be passed in silence. The neighbour- neither exultation nor joy; they came on the dra, that in search of it they ransacked the ing city of Adalia having been surprised by a quarter deck with manly composure; they whole surrounding coast of that sea. With rival bey, and recaptured by the former pasha, were perhaps grateful, but their gratitude did dollars in their hands, every creek was explorthe unsuccessful party were flying in all direc- not seem to be addressed to us; in their eyes ed; and a few quarters gleaned from each valtions, while Capt. B.'s men were taking in we were still infidels: and though the imme- ley soon completed a cargo. The exportation diate preservers of their lives, we were but of corn is prohibited throughout the Turkish tools in the hands of their protecting prophet." dominions, under penalty of confiscation and Having resisted all the wily applications of slavery; but this extreme severity only serves the successful pasha, to procure some of these to give fresh activity to the traffic: for the unhappy victims of party feuds, Capt. B. pro-aghas, being exorbitantly paid for their conceeded first to Makry, and thence to Rhodes, nivance, have a direct interest in promoting it, with the view of landing them. But finding and no agha in the empire is proof against the influence of the pasha of Adalia too pre-self-interest. In populous countries, and in dominant, to leave them with safety, he sailed to the island of Cos, where he landed them. Of this island we have a short but interesting description, which, together with some other interesting matter, want of room compels us to pass in silence. wood and water. "A large body of them came down to the beach abreast the ship, and begged of our watering party to protect them from the fury of their pursuers. This was of course refused: we had no right to interfere in their di putes; and I determined neither to involve his majesty's flag, nor to expose our operations to interruption or failure, through the resentment of a pasha, whose government extends along so large a portion of the coast. Exhausted, however, as the fugitives were by fatigue, hunger, and wounds, I could not resist their importunity for a little bread, and for surgical assistance. But the refreshments that we sent were accompanied with advice, to escape while there was yet time, into the woods, where cavalry could not pursue them; and in that case, with an offer of sufficient bread to carry them out of the province. They replied, that to escape would be impossible; there were no roads open to their retreat; a price was set upon their heads; the want of success had now rendered all the inferior aghas hostile; and that their religion taught them to rely upon God for their deliverance, or to submit without repining to their fate. Some hours after, a large sailing launch was seen drifting out to sea, without any person on board: our boats towed her along side, and as the horse-patroles of the victorious party were already descending into the plain, I proposed to these poor wretches to victual that vessel, to repair the oars and sails, and to embark them in her, ready for the land-breeze at night. This also they declined-none of them ware Of Adalia (the ancient Olbia) which had been the scene of contention between the rival pasha's, our author has given us an ample and interesting account; although, to avoid giving unnecessary umbrage, he refrained from investigating the various remains of antiquity which it still contains. "The port is inclosed by two stone piers, which once had towers on the extremities; but they are now in a ruinous state, and the inroads of the sea unite with the neglect of their present possessor to insure their destruc tion. "The gardens round the town are beautiful; the trees were loaded with fruit; every kind of vegetation seemed to be exuberant; and the inhabitants spoke of their corn grounds as more than commonly productive. The soil is deep, and every where intersected by streams loaded with calcareous matter: for the daily sea-breeze sweeps up the western side of the gulf with accumulated strength; and at night, the great northern valley, which appears to poor soils, it may be a slow and difficult process, to push the sudden culture of corn be yond its accustomed limits, or to divert the necessary capital from other pursuits; but in the rich and thinly inhabited valleys of these countries, a single year is sufficient to produce exertions which the stimulus of a free trade is alone wanting to perpetuate. The great plain of Adalia had begun to feel the effects of this impulse; and even from distant parts of the interior, camels, horses, and asses were daily bringing in their separate ventures, to load the Greek vessels which lay in the port." Five miles from Adalia stands the ruins of Laara, (in all probability the ancient Attalia), now wholly abandoned: passing these in an easterly direction, and leaving behind him the ancient Cestrus and Eurymedon, two consider able rivers, Capt. B. at length arrived at Esky (old) Adalia, the ancient Sidé; of which a su perb collection of ruins still remains. These are described at considerable length, and illustrated with two very neat plans. The most curious object is the theatre, of which the following description will convey an accurate idea to our readers. "The theatre is the most striking feature of Sidé: at the distance of a few miles from the shore, we had mistaken it for a lofty Acropolis, January 3, 1818.] Beaufort's Voyage to the Coast of Asia Minor. rising from the centre of the town. As it is by far the largest and the best preserved of any that came under our observations in Asia Minor, a short account of its form and dimensions may be acceptable to the reader, who will, it is hoped, excuse any want of perspicuity in details which are so foreign to the general pursuits of a seaman. 209 specting which we have many very interesting his person, allowed him to take deliberate aim.. "On the 20th of June, while embarking the instruments from a little cove to the westward of Ayas, we perceived a number of armed Turks advancing towards the boat; Turks always carry arms; and there was no reason to suppose that this party had any other object than curiosity, for several of their officers were at that time dispersed in the neighbourhood, and accompanied by the villagers; some of whom, about an hour before, had shewn the most good-humoured assiduity in pointing out to me the inscriptions on the tower and other places: neither had their conduct to the watering boats, the preceding evening, led to any kind of distrust. "The pinnace, which contained nineteen men, fully armed; and by the cool and steady con. duct of Lieutenant E. Lane, the rest of the of ficers and men were collected without farther mischief. It was with difficulty, indeed, that he could curb the natural fury of the boat's crew, which, if unrestrained, would speedily have taught these miscreants a dreadful lesson of retaliation." "Situated on a gentle declivity, the lower half only of this theatre has been excavated in the ground; the upper half is a great structure of masonry. It is shaped like a horse-shoe, being a segment of a circle of about 220 degrees; or, in other words, the circumference appears to be one-ninth greater than a semicircle. The exterior diameter is 409 feet, that of the area 125, and the perpendicular height from the area to the uppermost seat is 79 feet. It contains forty-nine rows of seats, in two series; twenty-six below, and twenty-three above the Diazomatos or broad platform, which forms a gallery of communication round the interior. This gallery and its parallel corridor, which is vaulted and carried round the whole extent of the building, are on a level with the surface of the ground at the back of the theatre, and with which they communicate by twenty. three arched passages or vomitories. Another but smaller corridor surrounds the thirteenth | row of the upper division of seats, and opens to it by seven doors. Seven staircases connect these two corridors together, and branches of them continue up to the top of the building. "The internal communication is formed by narrow flights of steps, each half the height of the seats. They are disposed in equidistant radii, ten of them descending from the Diazomatos to a platform, which intervenes between the lowest row of seats and the area; and twenty-one flights ascending to a platform, which encircles the summit of this magnificent fabric. The seats are of white marble, and admirably wrought; they are 164 inches high, and 324 broad; but as they project over each other 84, the breadth in the clear is only 24 inches. The front of each row, which was occupied by the spectators when seated, is raised "As they approached, however, an old dervish an inch, so as to leave a free passage to each was observed haranguing them; and his fran-ness. person' place, and also to serve as a channel tic gestures, with their reiterated shouts of for the rain water. Now supposing that the" Begone," "Infidel," and other offensive exantients sat as we do, with the legs pendent, and not crossed under them like the modern Greeks and Turks (as Dr. Chandler seems to have thought) and therefore taking eighteen inches as sufficient for each person to occupy, this theatre would contain 13,370 persons, when regularly seated: but, in crowded exhibitions, many could sit on the flights of small steps, or could stand on the upper platform, and at the back of the broad Diazomatos, without incommoding those behind them; these may be estimated at 1,870 more, and would together make the enormous aggregate of 15,240 spectators. The area of the theatre is now overgrown with bushes, and choked up with stones and earth; in digging through which to ascertain the lower level, we discovered some inscriptions and several pieces of sculpture One of the least injured of these was the statue of a clothed female figure, executed in a good style." While our author was unremittingly occupied in executing his survey, a party of his officers explored the ruins of Seleucia, Pompeiopolis, Tarsus, and other ancient towns, re Copious as our extracts have been, we had noticed various other passages of singular interest, especially to our classical readers: but for these we must refer them to the volume, every page of which is replete with information. The plates and vignettes, which are numerous, are executed with uncommon neat. Kotzebue's Voyage of Discovery. pressions, left the hostility of their intentions 210 Kotzebue's Voyage of Discovery-Bradbury's Travels into the Interior of America. [January 3, 1818, coral, that scarcely project above the surface, Oanna. On the 24th of April, Kotzebue again | scription which leaves us in the dark as to the of the ocean; these often wind about in long discovered land, consisting, like that before precise nature of the matters described. The chains in different directions, and are so much seen, of a chain of islands, connected by coral latter, in a scientific work, is the greatest dethe more perilous as the navigator, though reefs, to which he gave the name of Krusen-fect; our language is in no danger of corrupsurrounded on every side hy land, cannot find stern's islands He then steered W.N.W. in tion from such a source, and the author is geany anchorage. These parts have in conse- search of Baumann's islands, discovered by nerally comprehensible; and the inclination quence been avoided by all succeeding voy- Roggewein; but in the lattitude where Fleu- towards American sentiments is a more comagers. Lieut. Kotzebue was, therefore, in- rieu conjectured them to le, he found no land, mendable quality in a traveller who has been structed to seek the islands discovered by so that there is every reason to believe them to hospitably received in that country, than the Schouten and Roggewein; and, favoured by be the same as Bougainville's islands. Nei- ingratitude which seeks only to spy the nakedthe weather and the small size of his ship, hether could Kotzebue find the group called by ness of a land, and abuse the kindness of its so well fulfilled this commission that he has Fleurieu Roggewein's islands, which Rogge- confiding population. seen and examined more of these coral islands wein considered as Schouten's and Cook deno- Mr Bradbury accompanied an expedition of than any of his predecessors. Though he was minated Traitors' Islands, or the large islands from fifty to eighty persons up the Mississipi, not able to find again all the discoveries made of Tienhoven and Gröning. On the 30th of (i. e. the mother of waters)," and Missouri by the Dutch, still he seems to have removed April, he came in sight of the group of the rivers. He gives an account of Upper Louisi the principal doubts respecting them.-On the Penrhyn islands, whose inhabitants resemble ana, and of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and 8th March 1816, Lieut. Kotzebue quitted the in stature and personal beauty the natives of Tennessee; the Illinois and western territories. coast of Chili, and sailed for Kamtschatka, Washington's islands. They do not tatoo His propensities seem to be such as would where, according to his instructions, he was themselves, but deep red furrows were observ-constitute a good Back-woodsman; fatigues, to arrive about the 7th of July.-Krusenstern, ed cut irregularly over the body of almost all dangers, and privations go for nothing, and he a few years ago, threw out a conjecture that of them. The population of these islands thinks civilized pleasures happily exchanged the land discovered by Davis was not Easter seemed very great in proportion to their size. for the el-dorado of buffalo-shooting, associat. island, but that it was situated more to the They were discovered in 1783, by Capt. Severing with savages, and traversing deserts. eastward, between the 90th and 95th degree of of the ship Lady Penrhyn, and are not known The most important facts in a political point longitude: but in vain did Kotzebue seek it to have been since visited by any navigator. of view, which Mr. Bradbury communicates, in that direction, and Krusenstern has now re- On the 21st of May a group of low but inha- are those respecting the abundance of coal and linquished his hypothesis as erroneous. On the bited islands were descried. Kotzebue sailed iron in the Mississipi territory. These great 28th of March the Rurik anchored in Cook's completely round them, and found a channel sources of human comfort, and materials for bay, Easter island, where Lieut. Kotzebue was two miles broad, through which he then steer- national industry and strength, are found, acprevented from making any stay by the hostile ed his course: the islands to the north of this carding to our author, in prodigious quantities disposition manifested by the inhabitants. The channel he named Kutusoff's, and those to the in this quarter; but as the description of their colossal stone statues, described by Roggewein, south Suwaroff's islands. Both groups toge-site and form can afford no gratification to our were found almost entirely destroyed. From ther lie nearly north and south, in 11° 11′ 20′′ readers, we shall pass from them to the acCook's bay the Rurik steered for Dog island, S. lat. and 190° 9′ 30′′ W. longitude. Being count given of another immense natural prowhich was descried on the 16th of April, and obliged to proceed without loss of time for duction," the Grand Saline." This Saline" is proceeding thence west and south-west, the Kamtschatka, Kotzebue reluctantly quitted situated about 280 miles south-west of Fort crew discovered on the 20th a similar but much these islands, whose inhabitants are advan- Osage, between two forks of a small branch of smaller coral island, where they landed, in tageously distinguished from all the islanders the Arkansas, one of which washes it southern spite of the heavy surf. It was uninhabited, of those seas that he had previously seen; but extremity; and the other, the principal one, but the vegetation most luxuriant, and the he determined to pay them another visit on his runs nearly parallel, within a mile of its opwhole island resembled a well-cultivated gar- return from the north. In lat. 31° 49′ N. and posite side. It is a hard, level plain, of redden. The length of this island, to which Kot-long. 200° 15′ there were all possible indica-dish coloured sand, and of an irregular or mixzebue gaye the name of Romanzow's island, is three miles, and its circumferance about ten. Unlike most of the coral islands, it has no lagoon. Its latitude is 14° 57" S. and longitude 144° 28′ 30′′. Next morning they discovered an island with a lagoon, to which they gave the naine of Spirideff, but which in all probability is the island called Oura by Capt. Cook. The only doubt respecting its identity arose from the circumstance that Byron and Cook found the island inhabited, but Kotzebue perceived no inhabitants; but the latter saw only the south-west shore, and it is possible that the tions of the vicinity of land; but a dense and in the years 1809, 1810, 1811, &c. By ed figure. Its greatest length is from northwest to south-east, and its circumference full thirty miles. From the appearance of driftwood that is scattered over, it would seem that the whole plain is at times inundated by the overflowing of the streams that pass near it. This plain is entirely covered in hot, dry weather, from two to six inches deep, with a crust of beautiful clean white salt: it bears a striking resemblance to a field of brilliant snow this natural curiosity is highly picturesque : it after a rain, with a light crust upon its top. On a bright sunny morning, the appearance of establishments of the natives may be on the possesses the quality of looming or magnifying contrary side, perhaps for the sake of being This volume, though it follows very closely objects, and this in a very striking degree, nearer to the people of the contiguous islands. upon the track of Messrs. Lewis, Clarke, Pike, making the small billets of wood appear as for On the 23d of April, land was descried on ei- and others, yet contains a variety of informa-midable as trees. Numbers of buffaloes were ther side: that to the S.S.E. was recognised as tion, particularly as connected with botany, on the plain." the Paliser island, and that to the S.S.W. was mineralogy, and geology. There is an abruptconsidered as a new discovery.-Kotzebue ness in its commencement which we do not sailed through the channel which separates the understand, and allusions to some disputes and two groups, and directed his course towards wrongs of which the author complains, into the westernmost, which forms a chain of several which, if we did understand them, we would islands, overgrown with trees and connected not enter. As we proceed we learn that his by reefs of coral, to which he gave the name of object was to investigate objects of natural Rurik's Chain. Scarcely had they lost sight history presented by the interior of the new of these islands, when land was again perceiv-world. In treating this subject we have a ed in the S.W.-This was recognised as the island which bears the name of Deon, in Arrowsmith's chart, which is doubtless Schouten's Vlieghen island, and Byron's Prince of Wales's island, and is in some charts denominated good many specimens of American style, a The circumjacent country is rugged and broken; the soil generally a red clay, with huge masses of gypsum, and occasionally gravel and marshy ground. The cotton-tree and a fine species of plum abound. The level of the bed of the Mississipi is from 150 to 200 feet below that of the surrounding country, which pours many great rivers, as well as minor streams, into the immense trough of this mighty flood. Lead ore is found in parts; but it appears that the frequency of pyrites is the foundation for the belief of the existence of silver, which still maintains itself in some opinions, notwithstanding the fruit January 3, 1818.] Bradbury's Travels into the Interior of America. 66 211 agency. The great spirit is the giver of all good, and the bad spirits are little wicked beings, scarcely more malicious than our fairies. When an Indian has shot down his enemy, and is preparing to scalp him, with the tomohawk uplifted to give the fatal stroke, he will address him in words to this effect: My name is Cashegra. I am a famous warrior, and am now going to kill you. When you arrive at the land of spirits, you will see the ghost of my father; tell him it was Cashegra that sent you there.' He then gives the blow." In some lessness of every effort to procure that ore, lence. The men ran up the bank, in order to since the celebrated Mississipi scheme, which save themselves on the island, but before they shook the credit of mercantile Europe a cen- could get over the chasm, a tree fell close by tury ago. With a few exceptions of isolated them and stopped their progress. The bank sandstone, the Missouri territory is formed of appeared to me to be moving rapidly into the calcareous rock; a whitish limestone, contain-river, and I called out to the men in the boat, ing abundance of organic remains, such as en- 3 Coupez les cordes." . We now found trochii, anomiæ, &c. ourselves again on the river. The Chenal du Fossil bones have been dug up in various Diable (a run of a dangerous nature) was in parts in Upper Louisiana. At a salt lick, three sight, and appeared absolutely impassable, miles from the Merrimac river, and twelve from the quantity of trees and drift-wood that from St. Louis, several bones have been dis-had lodged during the right. covered, evidently belonging to the same species of mammoth as those found on the Ohio and in the Orange county state of New York. I have (adds our author) frequently been informed of a place on Osage river, where there are abundance of bones of great magnitude. General Clarke shewed me a tooth broughtrying with them innumerable trees, the crash from the interior: it was a grinder, and be of which falling into the river, mixed with the longed to the animal mentioned by Cuvier, terrible sound attending the shock, and the called by him Mastodonte avec dents carrees." screaming of the geese, and other wild-fowl, As it would exceed our limits to enter mi- produced an idea that all nature was in a state nutely into the natural history of this region, of dissolution." we shall merely notice that its subterranean We can scarcely suppose any situation more geography is interesting and extraordinary. appalling than that here detailed; our voyagers Vast caves in the incumbent rock swallow up were fortunately preserved, and floated down streams which never revisit the upper earth; in safety to the lower Chickasaw Indians, in many parts there are chasms called "Sink-whom they found distracted with terror from holes," from 30 to 200 yards in diameter, and having seen the solid earth riven open in many diminishing towards the bottom like an invert- places, accompanied by dreadful phenomena. ed cone; and in these trees grow and the rush-One of these persons accounted for the earth-six feet in length, highly decorated with tufts ing of waters is heard. In the caves abun-quake in a curious manner. He dance of nitre is generated; three men by "Attributed it to the comet that had apsimply lixiviating the soil, have made 100lbs.peared a few months before, which he describof saltpetre in a day. A bed of coal in the ed as having two horns, over one of which Illinois territory was so completely on the sur-the earth had rolled, and was now lodged beface, that, having accidentally caught fire, it burnt for several months in 1810; the lead mines of St. Genevieve have been successfully wrought since 1725. "We continued on the river till 11 o'clock, when there was a violent shock, which seem- Murder is punished with death, the nearest ed to affect us as sensibly as if we had been of kin to the murdered acting as executioner. on land. The trees on both sides of the river Cowardice is visited by degradation to menial were most violently agitated, and the banks labour and the work of women. fell in, in several places, within our view, car-tribes, a husband has a right to bite off the nose of his squaw, if she commits adultery! Suicide among the Sioux women, and female infanticide, are not uncommon, though it is generally held that these crimes are displeasing to the Father of Life, and will subject the perpetrators in the land of spirits to drag about the tree to which they hang themselves: for this reason they always choose the smallest tree that can sustain their weight. The ceremony of smoking the calumet is too well known to require further notice. The pipe our traveller smoked with the Sioux had a head of red stone (killas) and a stem of horse-hair dyed red. A game is mentioned among the Mandans which is new to us. A place was neatly formed, resembling a skittle alley, about nine feet in breadth, and ninety feet long: a ring of wood, about five twixt them: that the shocks were occasioned inches in diameter, was trundled along from by the attempts made by the earth to surmount one end, and when it had run some distance, the other horn. If this could be accomplished, two Indians who stood ready, threw after it, all would be well, if otherwise, inevitable de-in a sliding manner, each a piece of wood, aIn descending the river from St. Louis to struction to the world would follow." bout three feet long and four inches in breadth, New Orleans in the month of December, our We will not say that theories equally absurd made smooth on one edge, and kept from traveller experienced a succession of dreadful have not been maintained by philosophers near-turning by a cross piece passing through it, shocks from earthquake. The river was agi- er home than this Indian sage. and bended backwards so as to resemble a tated as with a storm, the noise loud and terAmong the tribes of Indians with whom Mr. cross-bow. The standers-by kept an account rific; the crash of falling trees, the screaming Bradbury came in contact, a multitude of cu- of the game; and he whose piece, in a given of wild fowl, the precipitation of the banks rious ceremonies and customs were observed. number of throws, more frequently came nearinto the stream, formed altogether a scene of Of these we shall note a few of the most re-est the ring after it had fallen, won the game. inconceivable confusion and affright. On landmarkable, without attending much to the lu- We shall not pause to select a description and water during seven days, the party sought cidus ordo, or distinguishing between Sioux, of a squaw dance, in honour of a successful alternate preservation from these tremendous Mahas, Osages, Crow-feet, Gros-Ventres, Te-expedition. Many of the squaws equipped convulsions, of the nature of which and of the tons, Ottoes, Choctaws, Mandans, Aripatoes, themselves with clothes, danced in a circle, perils they escaped, some notion may be gather- Foxes, Snakes, Flat-heads, or Aricaras. It is and alternately harangued in praise of the wared from the following. common to them all to devote their clothes to the like deeds of their lords. Our space will not "At day-light (on the first night) we had Medicine, or Great Spirit, when any cause ren-allow us to extract any of the entertaining passcounted twenty-seven shocks during our stay ders them furious, and to rush forth with their on the island, (where they had sought refuge tomohawks in their hand, destroying all they from their boat), but still found the chasm, so meet. This bears a striking resemblance to that it might be passed. The river was cover-running a muck, in the eastern world. ed with foam and drift timber, and had risen A peculiar custom of the Ariçaras is to have considerably, but our boat was safe. While "A sacred lodge in the centre of the largest we were waiting till the light became sufficient for us to embark, two canoes floated down the river, in one of which we could perceive some Indian corn and some clothes. We considered this as a melancholy proof that some of the boats we passed the preceding day had perished. Our conjectures were afterwards confirmed, as three had been overwhelmed, and all on board perished. When the day-light appeared to be sufficient for us, I gave orders to embark, and all went on board. Two men were in the act of loosening the fastening, when a shock occurred nearly equal to the first in vio village. This is called the Medicine Lodge, Their ideas of property among themselves ages relative to the hunting of the Indians, and their mode of life; nor of the wonderful habits of the beaver and of other remarkable animals, such as the fœtid shunk, the Columbo migratorious, &c. &c. We can only mention respecting the latter, that they associate in prodigious flocks, covering sometimes seve ral acres of land so closely as to hide the ground. "This phalanx moves through the woods with considerable celerity, picking up as it passes along, every thing that will serve for food. That all may have an equal chance, the instant that any rank becomes the last, they rise, and flying over the whole flock, alight exactly a-head of the foremost. succeed each other with so much rapidity, that there is a continual stream of them in the air, and a side view of them exhibits the appear They |