sidered, excite a feeling of approbation which leads us to class them together as virtuous; certain other actions excite a feeling of moral disapprobation, which leads us to class them together as vicious. There is then, in the mind of each individual, a principle which leads him thus to divide actions into two great

classes. But if, in the minds of different individuals, this distinction were very differently formed, so that the actions which seemed virtues to one, were the very actions which seemed vices to another, it is evident, that the social happiness, and even the social union of mankind, could not be preserved in this strange mixture of love and hateof crimes and virtues, rewarded or punished, as the admirers of truth or deceit, of cruelty or benevolence, chanced to obtain a precarious superiority in numbers or power. It is necessary for general peace,even though no other relation were to be considered, that there should be some great rules of conduct, according to which all may direct their actions in one harmonious course of virtue; or according to which, at least, in any partial discord of the actions of individuals, the moral sentiment of the community may be harmoni ously directed, in checking what would be generally injurious, and furthering what would be generally beneficial. There is, therefore, we found, such an accordance of sentiment of sentiment, that is directed by the provident benevolence of God, to the happiness of all who live in the great social communion of mankind, even when the individual, acting in conformity with the sentiment, has no thought beyond the sufferer whose anguish he relieves, or the friend to whose happiness he feels it more than happiness to contribute, or the preservation of his own internal character of moral excellence, in cases in which pain is encountered or pleasure sacrificed, with no other object than that of moral excellence itself. Since the world was created, there have indeed been myriads of human beings on the earth; but there has been only one God, and there is only one God. There is, therefore, only one great voice of approbation, in all the myriads of mankind; because, He, the great approver and the great former of our moral constitution, is one. We may refrain from virtue; we may persecute virtue; but though our actions may be the actions of hatred, there is a silent reverence which no hatred can suppress. The omnipresent Judge of human actions speaks in the cause of the wicked as in the cause of the good; and has made it impossible for us, even in the wildest abuses of our power, not to revere, at least in heart, the virtue which he has honoured with his love." pp. 151-153.

What is said here of the general accordance of mankind, as to moral approbation and disapprobation, may be

said also as to all the other emotions and propensities. There are many discrepancies of opinion, arising from constitutional differences in individuals, and other causes; " but still," to use our author's own words, when speaking of the emotion of beauty, "when the race of mankind are considered as one great multitude, their native original tendencies may be considered as the same." Nothing is more precarious than human life, in regard to individuals; yet it has an average duration, which, in reference to any considerable number of individuals, may be reduced very nearly to mathematical certainty. There is, if we may so speak, a sort of average of sentiment and opinion also, which, after throwing discrepancies aside, will come to be admitted, on all questions of paramount interest, to approach to a standard.

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We cannot alter the laws of our nature, we cannot even eradicate a constitutional bias or tendency; but we can avail ourselves of the advantages given by secondary laws as to the one, and we can, by the same means, modify and restrain the other. vid feeling excludes other feelings. While under the influence of anger, or strong passion of any sort, the monitions of conscience are not heard; and if our object be to deaden or sear it altogether, we shall herd with scoffers, frequent the tavern, and keep up mischievous excitement, to the excluthe vinous, or some other strong and sion of all virtuous emotions; but if, on the other hand, we are conscious of having a dangerous propensity, and be desirous of restraining it, we shall avoid all those occasions which excite it, and cultivate all those higher feelings, which, by time and habit, may acquire a restraining authority.

"That power," says our author, in his very happiest language," which in some cases combines false and discordant ideas, so as to pervert the judgment and corrupt the heart, is not less ready to form associations of a nobler kind; and, it is consolatory to think, that as error is transient, and truth everlasting, a provision is made in this principle of our nature, for that progress in wisdom and virtue, which is the splendid destiny of our race. There is an education of man continually going forward in the whole system of things around him; and what is commonly termed education, is nothing more than the art of skilfully guiding this natural progress, so as to form the intellectual and moral com

binations in which wisdom and virtue consist. The influence of this, indeed, may seem to perish with the individual; but when the world is deprived of those who have shed on it a glory as they have journeyed along it in their path to heaven, it does not lose all with which they have adorned and blessed it. Their wisdom, as it spreads from age to age, may be continually awakening some genius that would have slumbered but for them, and thus, indirectly, opening discoveries, that, but for them, never could have been revealed to man; their virtue, by the moral influence which it has gradually propagated from breast to breast, may still continue to relieve misery, and confer happiness, when generations after generations shall, like themselves, have passed away."

But having got on what, to us at least, is fairy ground, we have filled up our limits in quotations, before our sketch is half completed. And what is most provoking is, that what is done is much less interesting than what remains to be accomplished. Dr Brown's refutation of the selfish system in morals, is one of the most complete and most gratifying specimens of philosophical argument that we have ever read. His corrections of Clarke, Wollaston, Hume, Paley, Hartley, Adam Smith, Hutchison, and other great writers, are also most able and satisfactory. So are his expositions of our duties as Sensitive, Intellectual, Moral, and Religious Beings. But we must, though reluctantly, defer an account of these to a subsequent opportunity.

as one of the best "treasures of Orkney," the common people not only finding them palateable as food, but supplying their lamps with oil extracted from their livers. The Reverend Mr Brand, in his Account of his Voyage to Orkney and Zetland, published in 1700, mentions, that in the several years of scarcity which occurred immediately previous to his visit, (1696-8,) “the poor people of the Orkneys lived upon them almost as their only food." He further tells us, that these fishes were then taken in such numbers, that "sometimes a thousand of them were sold for six or seven shillings Scots," (i. e. 6d. or 7d. Sterling,) and this, it appears, was thought extremely cheap in 1699. We have to add, that, during the past winter, sillocks have literally filled the harbours and bays of Orkney. By a letter, dated 27th February 1821, from Mr Strang at Lopness, one of the most intelligent and enterprising farmers in those islands, we learn, that" in the Bay of Kirkwall, in particular, sillocks had abounded so much, that the farmers in the neighbourhood, after extracting the oil from the livers, were using the fish as manure for the land ;" and he adds, that the "sillocks were sold at 4d. per thousand." Had they been sold in our day at 1s. 6d. or 1s. 9d. per thousand, they would, making due allowance for the fall in the value of money, have been equally cheap as at the period of Mr Brand's voyage. reality, therefore, we thus find them, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, nearly four times cheaper than they were at the end of the seventeenth!-a curious enough circumstance, to which, we suppose, there are few parallels. From the livers of 1000 sillocks about half a gallon of oil is generally procured. Considering the low price of the material, therefore, this is evidently a profitable manufacture; it is, however, tedious and troublesome, and the oil is regarded as apt speedily to become rancid. This last defect, we may remark, might easily be remedied, by adopting some of the improved processes for purifying the oil, a correct detail of which may be found in Captain Scoresby's excellent work on the Whale-fishery. The sillocks are, in general, six or seven inches in length. At Leith they are called podleys.

In

EXTRACTS FROM A PRIVATE JOUR

RA UP THE ORINOCO IN THE YEAR 1808.

(Concluded from p. 149.)

THE next morning we got to Angostura; the landing-place was covered with people, and a guard was in attendance to conduct us to the governor, to whom an express had gone forward from Baranché. He received us very graciously, and though he had partly had the intelligence from the Caraccas, yet there was some of our information that was new to him. We observed, though only half-past twelve, the cloth was laid for dinner, and in a few minutes the soup was served. We were requested to take our places, and though we had not long breakfasted, we ate like hear ty commissioners. The dinner consisted of seven removes, five dishes to each, dressed with the highest culinary art, ragouts, fricandeaux, bouillis, rotis, &c. &c. to every one of which the governor, and his secretary especially, paid due homage. They are very abstemious in their beverage, and the moment dinner is finished, coffee is placed on the table-then a glass of liquor or chasse-caffe, and the party immediately breaks up. We were somewhat surprised to find ourselves in the street before three o'clock, having dined. We were desired to consider the Government House as always open to us to dinner, &c. but the governor regretted, that, from the smallness of it, he could not offer us lodging rooms. There is a black woman who weighs near twenty stone, keeps a sort of hotel, she gave us up the front room, (a passage one,) which served us, like the cobbler's stall, for all purposes; and it was not at all unusual in the morning to see two or three Indians or Spaniards standing by my hammock to survey me before I awoke. The next morning we waited on Don Philippe de Inciante, (the governor,) on business, and remained three hours with him. As these conversations would be dry to you, I shall only say that we effected, as far as it was in the power of the governor, (who depends in matters of state on the paramount instruction of the Captain-General of the Caraccas,) the wishes and object of our mission. We dined again with the governor,

VOL. VIII.

This town was originally called St Thomas of Guyana, and was seated 30 leagues nearer to the mouth of the river; but owing to repeated attacks from adventuring corsairs, and its being at last nearly destroyed by the Dutch, it was removed to the spot where it now stands-all those being exempted from duties or taxes who would remove and build here. It is situated on a pass of the river, where the mountains on each side press forward, and has from thence acquired the name of Angostura, (in Spanish a narrow passage.) This pass, however, is two miles wide, and at the highest inundation is 72 fathom deep,—at the lowest 40 fathom. It is built along the side of a mountain, and extends from the river upwards to its summit in parallel and rectangular streets ;these are well paved, though with a sharp stone, painful to the feet; and the houses (of stone) are regular and good. The roofs, like the Spanish houses at Buenos Ayres, are flat, with a parapet and a promenade on each. The principal street forms a quay along the river, extending a quarter of a mile, in front of which there is a row of Orinoco trees, or what they call here the "bois immortel." Along this wharf lay their schooners and vessels of trade; and here, without the expence of docks, they build and float their ships. This river, as I shall explain to you presently, is low in the months of February and March;

during this time they place the keel, and construct every part of the hull; in August and September, as the river rises, they are floated off and finished at pleasure. The mountain, which is the basis of Angostura, appears an immense heap of irregular rocks, jostled together by some convulsion of nature. Through the various interstices of the stones, shrubs and plants, and, indeed, timber trees, t shoot up in the richest state of wild luxuriance, some overtopping the crags, others creeping round their uneven surfaces; here and there, for the convenience of one or two sides, the native has constructed his hut, and the thatch of the Trouly, with the tout ensemble of the view, gives a perfect picture of sylvan scenery, heightened by the goats, poultry, &c. &c. hop

D d

for I saw several, even of the first merchants' daughters, who, under a clean muslin gown, wore dirty silk stockings, with more than one hole above the shoe, and a dirty silk handkerchief about the neck. We had a general invitation to all the houses, and usually passed our evenings wherever we expected the conversation would be most brilliant; but notwithstanding the governor's prohibition, they danced waltzes or minuets to the guitar or piano-forte at every party we were at. It was an entertainment to see the arrival of the Indians almost every hour of the day, bringing with them, besides varieties of curious animals and birds, tiger skins, balsam capevi, gum copal, bark, cassava made into bread, shaped like the oat cakes in Scotland, and this is so curious, and so essential a plant to them, and is endowed with such opposite nutritious and poisonous qualities, that I must describe it to you. The cassava, or manioc, is a shrub that grows about three feet high, of a grey colour, and knotted; the leaves are large, digitated, and supported by cinnamon-coloured stalks. Of this shrub there are two species, the sweet and bitter cassava, of which the roots alone are for use, and in colour, size, and shape, resemble the European parsnips. The sweet cassava, roasted in hot ashes, (like the green plantains,) and eaten with butter, is an agreeable and healthy food, much like the chesnut. But the bitter cassava, which, when raw, is the most fatal poison both to man and beast, (however strange it may seem,) is, when prepared by fire, not only a very safe food, but the most natural bread of the Indians, as well as Europeans and negroes. It is prepared by grinding or grating the roots on the matta, or rough stone; after which, they put it in a press to separate the juice from the meal. This done, the meal is baked, on a hot stone, in thin round cakes, until it becomes brown and crisp. The water which is extracted from it is rank poison, that will instantly kill any animal, with severe convulsive tortures and swellings; yet this very liquid, if boiled, is generally made use of as the favourite soup of the colonists, when mixed with poultry, butcher meat, or fish, and is called pepper-pot. The liquid extracted is called cassareep. In exchange for these things,

the Indians take back beef, tobacco, necklaces, glass beads, fish-hooks, &c. &c.

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It is impossible to compute the number of native Indians in this part of America;-in general, they avoid the Spaniards if they can, by living so far in the interior as to be beyond the reach of them. These, of course, never approach the town. It is the policy of the Spaniards to break as much as possible the scattered tribes, and unite them, as at Saccapano, and at other posts, under the control of a sergeant and a few military; in addition to which, they mix among them 200 or 300 who have been baptized and have acknowledged the Catholic Faith; these watch the others, who, notwithstanding, are constantly plotting and attempting their escape into the woods, but are mostly recaptured. The missionaries of the Jesuits, who still, as formerly, reside among them, have great control over them, and earn considerable sums of money from their labours. Near the Caroni, that falls into the Orinoco, about twenty leagues below Angostura, is of their chief settlements, supplied with priests from Catalonia, in Old Spain. This is the paramount monastery of the district; is called St Felix; it distributes 31 missionaries, who extend in radii of 50 miles, and have each of them an Indian village of from 800 to 1800 Indians under their direction; to each of these there is a place for Divine service, which they are obliged to attend. The Spaniards endeavour to instil some industrious habits into them, and employ them as their different abilities seem to turn; some plant and clean coffee, some cultivate cotton, some hunt the tiger, some fish, some collect bark, gum, and other drugs; for this they are paid one bitt and a half (about 3d.) per day, but not in money; they receive from the Padre so much beef, so much blue cloth, so many strings of beads, a knife, &c. &c. and all these at the valuation of the Padre, against which the Indian cannot often remonstrate. The Padre sends the work of the Indian (or the money for any he may have disposed of) to the monastery of St Fclix, which is under the direction of a Prefecto and a Procurador. The first has the distribution of the missionarics. He keeps the number of