yield to the entreaties of the agents of the Holy Alliance, and to the voice of the civilians and the clergy, who disapproved of the march of mind that had distinguished his reign, and who probably were reckless of the charge of vacillation, which naturally enough would be brought against their sovereign, or the still more serious accusation of weakness and incapacity for government.

From the facts which we have here brought together, and which, perhaps, may not be without some value to politicians in this country and elsewhere, we believe we are warranted in concluding, that Russia feels at this moment germinating in her bosom the elements of a revolution, that will require no great length of time to be fully developed. Let the recent conspiracies be palliated as they will by acts of amnesty, and by declarations asserting the mutiny of the soldiers and the disaffection of their officers, to have been the results of deluded loyalty, Nicholas has but "scotched the snake, not killed it." That minister would be the best friend the Emperor ever had, who should have the courage to tell him that the Russian officers who marched through Germany, the ancient temple of liberty, into France, its latest and most extravagant worshipper, have outgrown the despotism of an autocrat. The seeds of education have been too industriously scattered among the people during the late reign to permit them to remain neutral in the contest, which the more enlightened minds of the country are preparing to wage against the uncontrolled rule of an individual over such a world of empire.

ART. III. Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824, by Major Denham, Captain Clapperton, and the late Doctor Oudney, extending across the Great Desert to the Tenth Degree of Northern Latitude, and from Kouka, in Bornou, to Sackatoo, the Capital of the Felatalı Empire. With an Appendix, Plates, and a Map. 4to. 4l. 14s. 6d. London. Murray. 1826.

pp. 644.

THOUGH not disposed, after a full consideration of their claims upon our approbation, to magnify the merits of the two adventurous travellers who have presented the public with this ponderous and costly volume, yet we cannot deny them the praise that is always due to perseverance, enterprise, and undaunted coolness, exhibited under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty and danger. Major Denham particularly seems to be endowed with a buoyancy of spirits, which even the severe privations and sufferings inflicted by the deserts and climates of Africa appear to have had little power to affect. Of his prudence we cannot speak so highly. Indeed we shall have occasion to see that by inconsiderately attaching himself to a party of Arabs, who had set out upon an expedition of plunder against the Felatahs, he not only exposed himself and the other members of the mission to serious consequences,

but hazarded the success of any future attempt that may be made to conciliate one of the most powerful and intelligent tribes in central Africa. We admit, of course, that his motive in joining the expedition was to use the opportunity which it afforded him of penetrating a country before untrodden by Europeans, and we cannot but admire the firmness which he displayed on the occasion. But if he had consulted his colleagues, or had given the matter sufficient consideration, we presume that he would have abstained from the course which he pursued. Not only was it incumbent on him as a British soldier to avoid the ranks of a predatory band, but it was inconsistent with policy, which should have overruled every other suggestion, to take the part of one tribe against another, in a country where the different tribes are in a state of constant mutual hostility, and where it is our interest, or at least our desire, to conciliate every portion of the population.

Captain Clapperton seems to have conducted that part of the expedition which was allotted to him with singular prudence and success. He was fortunate, indeed, in being placed among nations less savage than those whom Major Denham visited, and this good fortune he improved to its utmost extent by his conciliatory manners, taking care, at the same time, to preserve, in every situation, the respect due to his uniform and his rank. Perhaps he carried this feeling, on some occasions, a little farther than he need have done, in refusing, like some of our Oriental ministers, to salute the reigning authorities according to the established custom of their country. Such pride is, of all others, the last that should be cherished by an officer who is engaged in the public service, and whose business it is to advance that object, even at the expense of little personal compliances with etiquette, that really are not in themselves worth a moment's consideration. They are the tax which savage vanity requires of superior civilisation, and it ought to be paid with readiness and good humour.

Dr. Oudney's share in the contents of this volume is, unfortu nately, very little, and that little uninteresting. Before he left Europe he was afflicted in his lungs, and the variable climates which he encountered in Africa materially accelerated his dissolution. His premature death was a severe loss to the mission, as his acquistions in geology and in literature were incomparably superior to those of his companions. In consequence of the early failure of his assistance, their journals are extremely defective in one of the most essential qualifications of a book of travels, an accurate and animated description of the face of the country, the character of its mountains, and of its mineral and vegetable productions. Neither Denham nor Clapperton has given us any intelligible sketches of the scenery which they traversed, if we except two or three of the plates; and when we arrive at the end of their labours, we are almost as ignorant of the general features of the country through which we have accompanied them as when we set out. It

is for this reason, we presume, that Mr. Barrow, who edits Clapperton's journal, characterises that officer and his colleague as "pioneers of discovery," clearing the way for others who may come after them rather than as masters of the road themselves. To this praise they are entitled, and we must add, also, that they fortunately were able to take solar and lunar observations, which have enabled them to contribute some very important additions to the geography of Africa, as well as to correct several extravagant errors which had long prevailed in it.

The real extent of their Discoveries' is so limited as to have produced in us something like a feeling of disappointment, which was not a little aggravated by the pompous appearance of the volume, and promises of the preface, as well as the reports which have for some time prevailed of the extraordinary success that attended the mission. We are not favoured with the instructions which were given to it by the noble Secretary for the Colonial Department, but we believe that its principal object, so far as geography was concerned, was to follow up the mission of Mr. Ritchie and Captain Lyon, to ascertain the course of the Niger. This important question the recent mission has, however, only involved in greater obscurity than ever. The chief political purpose of the mission was to reach Timbuctoo, and this it left wholly unaccomplished.

In order to effect both these leading points, Captain Clapperton, Dr. Oudney, and Major Denham, were directed to proceed by Tripoli to Mourzuk and Kouka, both in a line nearly due south of Tripoli. The two former officers made a short excursion from Mourzuk westwards, but their final purpose was to proceed from Kouka westwards to Timbuctoo, while Major Denham was still to penetrate as far south as he could, and occasionally to explore the countries in an eastern direction.

The mission left Tripoli in March, 1822, provided with a sufficient number of horses, camels, and servants, and contrary to the usual custom of English travellers in Africa, they wore their usual English dresses. It is satisfactory to find that on no occasion had they reason to regret their determination on this point. On their arrival at Sockna, half-way between Tripoli and Mourzuk, they were welcomed by the governor and principal inhabitants, accompanied by hundreds of the country people, who repeatedly hailed the strangers as "Inglesi! Inglesi!" They reached Mourzuk on the 7th of April, without experiencing any other inconveniences than those so usual in Africa, the want of good water, and now and then a sand-storm. Here, however, they experienced a severe disappointment. Though they had letters to the Sultan of Mourzuk, from the Bashaw of Tripoli, directing that every assistance should be given in order to forward them on their journey southward, they were told that they could not proceed to Bornou without an escort of two hundred men, and that the preparations for this pur

pose would necessarily detain them at Mourzuk until the following spring. Major Denham returned to Tripoli, to represent this unexpected state of things to the Bashaw. The result was, that, after some delay, Boo-Khaloom, a rich merchant of the interior, who happened to be at Tripoli, was appointed, with an escort, to convey the mission to Bornou.

This Boo-Khaloom was an extraordinary sort of a person,-half merchant, half bandit, — who exercised very considerable influence on the subsequent proceedings of the mission. He headed the escort, mounted on a beautiful white Tunisian horse, the peak and rear of his saddle covered with gold, and his housings of scarlet cloth, richly bordered. His dress was also very splendid, and considering himself as the representative of the Bashaw, he assumed an imposing air of authority. The escort consisted chiefly of Arabs, under the command of their own Sheikh, whose enlistment was procured upon conditions unknown at the time to Denham, but which afterwards occasioned no little trouble to all the parties. The cavalcade, or, to use the African term, the kafila, entered Mourzuk on the 30th of October, where Denham found his colleagues confined to their beds by severe illness, and both extremely reduced in their persons.

Dr. Oudney and Captain Clapperton had whiled away some of the months of the distressing interval, that had elapsed between Major Denham's journey to Tripoli and return to Mourzuk, in an excursion to Ghraat, to the westward of Mourzuk, of which we have an imperfect journal from the pen of the Doctor. He describes the greater number of the inhabitants as Tuaricks, who differ considerably from the people of Fezzan. They are of a warlike appearance; and in order to preserve their features from the influence of the sun, they muffle them up, so as to leave but a small part visible. They are fond of a nomade or wandering life, and have a sovereign contempt for those who live in villages or towns. The country is mountainous, and the Tuaricks usually prefer the most secluded parts of it for their temporary abode. Dr. Oudney found, in the course of his excursion, a Roman building, whence he supposed that this was the road taken by some of the legions into the interior. In a valley called Trona, he saw a lake, from which a considerable quantity of that substance is obtained. Trona, or carbonate of soda, is formed by crystallisation at the bottom of the lake, when the water is sufficiently saturated. The cakes vary in thickness from a fine film to two or three inches. In the winter it is thickest and best; and the lake, though small, yields 400 or 500 camel-loads of it every year. It is very much used throughout northern Africa for its medicinal qualities: a considerable portion is sent to Tripoli, whence it finds its way to foreign markets.

Every exertion was made by Boo-Khaloom to get away as soon as possible from Mourzuk, which is an extremely unhealthy place. Mr. Ritchie and Captain Lyon had suffered severely during their

stay there; and all the members of the present mission were afflicted, while they were detained in that town, with one complaint or another. From the numerous arrangements, however, which were necessary to be made for the provisioning of so many persons, during a journey through a country destitute of all resources, Boo-Khaloom was not able to complete his preparations, until the 29th of November, when the mission quitted Mourzuk for Kouka. They had a most fatiguing time of it in the early part of their route. The wells were generally surrounded by the bleached skeletons of slaves, who had been left to perish there by their savage masters. Upon arriving in the Tibboo country, they found numerous villages, and wells, and lakes, that produced great quantities of salt and trona. The inhabitants were, however, industrious and hospitable; and those in the large towns, particularly the females, were of a superior class, 'some having extremely pleasing features, while the pearly white of their regular teeth was beautifully contrasted with the glossy black of their skin.' After leaving Bilma, they had to bid adieu to every appearance of vegetable production, and to enter on a desert, which required thirteen days to cross. The road lay over loose hills of fine sand, in which the camels sunk nearly knee-deep. The only landmarks by which the traveller can steer his course in these wilds are certain points in the dark sandstone-ridges, which from time to time raise their heads in the midst of this dry ocean of sand, for the face of the desert is constantly changed by the winds, which shift the sand-hills from place to place.

Tremendously dreary are these marches: as far as the eye can reach, billows of sand bound the prospect. On seeing the solitary footpassenger of the kafila, with his water-flask in his hand, and bag of zumeeta (parched corn) on his head, sink at a distance beneath one of these (sand hills), as he plods his way alone, hoping to gain a few paces in his long day's work, by not following the track of the camels, one trembles for his safety: - the obstacle passed which concealed him from the view, the eye is strained towards the spot in order to be assured' that he has not been buried quick in the treacherous overwhelming sand.'- Denham, p. 29.

After the travellers quitted the desert, the face of the country gradually improved, until they arrived at Lari, where they had first a view of the great lake Tchad, glowing with the golden rays of the sun in its strength.'-' My heart,' says Major Denham, 'bounded within me at this prospect, for I believed this lake to be the key to the great object of our search. This belief, however, he ultimately failed to strengthen into certainty, nor indeed has he added to it any thing by way of support beyond very loose conjecture. The lake was covered with a multitude of birds; and near its borders Major Denham saw a herd of upwards of one hundred and fifty elephants feeding in grounds which are annually overflowed by its waters. Some of these huge animals he represents to be sixteen feet high— an enormous bulk, if, indeed, the Major be not mistaken. The ka