naby, regardless of her entreaties, stretched himself on the mat before the fire; Grip perched upon his leg, and divided his time between dozing in the grateful warmth, and endeavouring (as it presently appeared) to recal a new accomplishment he had been studying all day.

A long and profound silence ensued, broken only by some change of position on the part of Barnaby, whose eyes were still wide open and intently fixed upon the fire.

At length he slept soundly; and the widow, scarcely venturing to breathe, rose from her seat. The man glided from the closet, and extinguished the candle.

"Stay, he whispered. You teach your son well. »

I have taught him nothing that you heard to-night. Depart instantly, or I will rouse him. »

"

You are free to do so. Shall I rouse him ? »

"You dare not do that."

I dare do anything, I have told you. He knows me well, it seems. At least I will know him. »

་་

Would you kill him in his sleep?» cried the widow, throwing herself between them.

Woman, he returned between his teeth, as he motioned her aside, I would see him nearer, and I will. If you want one of us to kill the other, wake him. »

With that he advanced, and bending down over the prostrate form, softly turned back the head and looked into the face. The light of the fire was upon it, and its every lineament was revealed distinctly. He contemplated it for a brief space, and hastily uprose.

"Observe, he whispered in the widow's ear: « In him, of whose existence I was ignorant until to-night, I have you in my power. Be careful how you use me. I am destitute

and starving, and a wanderer upon the earth. I may take a sure and slow revenge.

There is some dreadful meaning in your words. I do not fathom it. »

"

There is a meaning in them, and I see you fathom it to its very depth. You have anticipated it for years; you have

told me as much. I leave you to digest it my warning."

Do not forget

He pointed, as he left her, to the slumbering form, and stealthily withdrawing, made his way into the street. She fell on her knees beside the sleeper, and remained like one stricken into stone, until the tears which fear had frozen so long, came tenderly to her relief.

་་

Oh Thou, she cried, « who hast taught me such deep love for this one remnant of the promise of a happy life, out of whose affliction, even, perhaps the comfort springs that he is ever a relying, loving child to me-never growing old or cold at heart, but needing my care and duty in his manly strength as in his cradle-time-help him, in his darkened walk through this sad world, or he is doomed, and my poor heart is broken! »

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL

IN CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN.

BY JOHN L. STEPHENS.

6

:

In his former publication, Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia, &c.,' Mr. Stephens described himself as a young American; and there were throughout the book many indications that he was new to the world there was, also, that want of taste and steadiness of purpose which accompanies youth; vial matters were sometimes made too important; there was much uncalled-for expenditure of pathos, and many gay and humorous passages broke down, not from defect of intrinsic merit, but for want of a practised hand to do them justice. Four added years have done great things for the author. The present volumes have all the lively spirit and gay healthyminded tone of the former ones, with hardly a shade of their faults. There is more steadiness and reality in the tone of the narrative, and the style is more chastened. (1)

(') Mr. Stephens's language is correct, clear, and concise, and singularly free from American peculiarities but we regret to find that the hideous vulgarism of 'left,' used as a neuter verb, has floated over from Wapping to New York; and that he very often uses the verb to realize, where Addison or Goldsmith would say think, conceive, or understand, a neologism, probably of puritanical origin, for which Webster's Dictionary produces no authority but that of the American divine, Dr. Dwight.

He tells us in his preface that he is indebted to President Van Buren for the opportunity of presenting these volumes to the public; and that the appointment which he received procured him the protection without which he could not have accomplished the objects of his journey. What was the specific purpose of his 'special confidential mission' to the government of Central America, he leaves in diplomatic obscurity; but he tells us that it did not require a residence at the capital, and that the object of his mission being fulfilled or failing, he was at liberty to travel.'

Accompanied by Mr. Catherwood, an able draftsman and an experienced antiquarian traveller, he embarked at New York for Balize, on the 3rd of October, 1839; and he contrives before he has fairly left that town to put us in good humour with himself and his volumes. This kindly feeling grows stronger as we proceed; and long before we close the book we look upon its author not only as a very agreeable traveller, but as a familiar friend.

The description of Balize is vividly given; and the quiet easy humour with which he expatiates on his own official dignity shows a light and skilful hand :

:

'While longing for the comfort of a good hotel, we received, through Mr. Goff, the consul of the United States, an invitation from his excellency Colonel M Donald to the government-house, and information that he would send to the brig for our luggage. As this was the first appointment I had ever held from government, and I was not sure of ever holding another, I determined to make the most of it, and accepted at once his excellency's invitation. There was a steam-boat for Yzabal, the port of Guatimala, lying at Balize, and on my way to the government-house I called upon the agent, who told me that she was to go up the next day; but added, with great courtesy, that if I wished it, he would detain her a few days for my convenience Used to submitting to the despotic regulations of steamboat agents at home, this seemed a higher honour than the invitation of his excellency; but not wishing to push my fortune too far, I asked a delay of one day only.

The government-house stands at the extreme end of the town, with a lawn extending to the water, and ornamented with cocoa-nut trees. Colonel M'Donald, a veteran six feet high, and one of the most military-looking men I ever saw, received me at the gate. In an hour the dory arrived with our luggage, and at five o'clock we

sat down to dinner.... The next morning we made an excursion in the government pit-pan. This is the same fashion of boat in which the Indians navigated the rivers of America before the Spaniards discovered it. European ingenuity has not, contrived a better though it has, perhaps, beautified the Indian model. Ours was about forty feet long, and six wide in the centre, running to a point at both ends, and made of the trunk of a mahogany tree. Ten feet from the stern, and running forward, was a light wooden top, supported by fanciful stanchions, with curtains for protection against sun and rain it had large cushioned seats, and was fitted up almost as neatly as the gondolas of Venice. It was manned by eight negro soldiers, who sat two on a seat, with paddles six feet long, and two stood up behind with paddles as steersmen. A few touches of the paddles gave brisk way to the pit-pan, and we passed rapidly the whole length of the town. It was an unusual thing for his excellency's pit-pan to be upon the water: citizens stopped to gaze at us, and all the idle negroes hurried to the bridge to cheer us. This excited our Africans, who with a wild chant that reminded us of the songs of the Fubian boatmen on the Nile, swept under the bridge, and hurried us into the still expance of a majestic river. Before the cheering of the negroes died away, we were in as perfect a solitude as if removed thousands of miles from human habitations. The Balize river, coming from sources even yet but little known to civilised man, was then in its fulness. On each side was a dense, unbroken forest; the banks were overflowed; the trees seemed to grow out of the water, their branches spreading across so as almost to shut out the light of the sun, and reflected in the water as in a mirror. The sources of the river were occupied by the aboriginal owners, wild and free as Cortez found them. We had an eager desire to penetrate by it to the famous lake of Peten, where the skeleton of the conquering Spaniard's horse was erected into a god by the astonished Indians; but the toil of our boatmen reminded us that they were paddling against a rapid current. We turned the pit pan, and with the full power of the stream, a pull stronger, and a chant louder than before, amid the increased cheering of the negroes, swept under the bridge, and in a few minutes were landed at the government-house.

'In order that we might embark at the hour appointed, Colonel M'Donald had ordered dinner at two o'clock. Perhaps I am wrong, but I should do violence to my feelings did I fail to express here my sense of the Colonel's kindness. Before rising, he, like a loyal subject, proposed the health of the queen; after which he ordered the glasses to be filled to the brim, and, standing up, he gave «The health of Mr. Van Buren, Fresident of the United States,» accompanying it with a warm and generous sentiment, and the earnest hope of strong and perpetual friendship between England and America.