before I had time to receive an answer, another drew his knife, and seizing upon a metal button which remained upon my waistcoat, cut it off, and put it in his pocket. Their intentions were now obvious, and I thought that the easier they were permitted to rob me of everything, the less I had to fear. I therefore allowed them to search my pockets without resistance, and examine every part of my apparel, which they did with scrupulous exactness. But observing that I had one waistcoat under another, they insisted that I should cast them both off; and at last, to make sure work, stripped me quite naked. Even my half-boots (though the sole of one of them was tied to my foot with a broken bridle-rein) were narrowly inspected. Whilst they were examining the plunder, I begged them with great earnestness to return my pocket compass; but when I pointed it out to them, as it was lying on the ground, one of the banditti, thinking I was about to take it up, cocked his musket, and swore that he would lay me dead on the spot if I presumed to lay my hand on it. After this some of them went away with my horse, and the remainder stood considering whether they should leave me quite naked, or allow me something to shelter me from the sun. Humanity at last prevailed; they returned me the worst of the two shirts and a pair of trousers; and, as they went away, one of them threw back my hat, in the crown of which I kept my memorandums; and this was probably the reason they did not wish to keep it. After they were gone, I sat for some time looking around me with amazement and terror; whichever way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the midst of a vast wilderness in the depth of the rainy season, naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. I was five hundred miles from the

nearest European settlement. All these circumstances crowded at once on my recollection; and I confess, that my spirits began to fail me. I considered my fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to lie down and perish. The influence of religion, however, aided and supported me. I reflected, that no human prudence or foresight could possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the protecting eye of that Providence who has condescended to call himself the stranger's friend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss in fructification irresistibly caught my eye. I mention this, to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation; for though the whole plant was not larger than the tip of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and capsule without admiration. Can that Being (thought I) who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image?—surely not! Reflections like these would not allow me to despair; I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forwards, assured that relief was at hand; and I was not disappointed. In a short time I came to a small village, at the entrance of which I overtook the two shepherds who had come with me from Kooma. They were much surprised to see me, for they said they never doubted that the Foulahs, when they had robbed, had murdered me. Departing from this village, we travelled over several rocky ridges, and at sunset arrived at Sibidooloo, the frontier town of the kingdom of Manding.

A SHIPWRECK, A SEA VOYAGE, AND AN

ADVENTURE BY THE WAY.

OYAGES, for the most part, are not so entertaining as travels. They are less diversified in subject, and less conversant with flesh and blood. When they are otherwise, no reading is more attractive. Voyages among icebergs, and to newly discovered lands, combine the charms of romance with the greatest personal interest; and few things affect us more strongly than a well-told and disastrous shipwreck. Such catastrophes, however, are in general too

painful to warrant isolated extract into a book of entertainment. The compiler seems almost cruel in making it. It furnishes too great a contrast to the reader's comfort, without possessing the excuse of utility.

The almost universal defect of Voyages is, that they take little notice of the element on which they are made. Most people who journey by sea, have no wish but to get over it as fast as possible. The "wonders of the deep" are, for them, as if they did not exist; and even those who are more curious, are content to see little. Geology has not yet been accompanied by its proper amount of Hydrology. The ocean, physically and intellectually speaking, is comparatively an unploughed field even by the English; yet what it may produce, let the reader judge who is acquainted with the narratives of the Cooks, the Scoresbys, and the Humboldts.

That the perils of shipwreck, however, may not be wanting

to the pleasures of this our Book for a Corner, and that our inland habits may be refreshed by their due contrast with a sense of being "out at sea," we have selected, in the first instance, the following brief but comprehensive account of the loss of a Spanish vessel from the pages of Mr. Redding's Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea; and in the second, with due omissions, an abstract of Cook's first voyage to Otaheite, because it keeps the reader longer and more pleasantly on the water than most such narratives, besides furnishing a singular peril by the way, and calling to mind some of the most interesting reading of one's childhood.

The Spanish vessel was bound from Panama to Caldera, a port in New Spain; and both before and after the following mishap, the crew and passengers encountered much suffering; but the present is the most interesting point of the narrative. It is remarkable for answering more completely than usual to what a landsman's imagination conceives of such horrors; that is to say, the suddenness of the danger, the noise of the waters, the darkness of the night, the cutting away of masts, and the frightened awakening of guilty consciences. The loud, confessing voices, heard even above the loudness of the thunder, is particularly dreadful.

A

SHIPWRECK OF A SPANISH VESSEL.

BOUT seven, one evening, the crew of a Spanish vessel

of burden, with various goods, bound for Caldera, beheld the desired port. All was joy in the ship. The captain presented the sailors with a cask of wine, and a Genoese merchant on board gave them another.

The men were in too good a temper to postpone tasting the wine until the next day.

They attacked the cask at once, headed by the pilot,

and it was soon emptied, but not without materially affecting their heads.

The Genoese merchant, fearing the ill effects that must arise from such a state of things when so near the shore, posted himself, in his excess of caution, between the man at the helm and the pilot, from having remarked that the pilot, sitting on his seat quite drunk, worked the ship from recollection alone, as he was close to a port perfectly well known to him. The merchant placed himself in the situation already mentioned, to repeat with more precision the words of the pilot to the timoneer (man at the helm), and this act caused the loss of the ship. The pilot gave the word "north-west, to the north-west," "Al norueste;" the merchant, who stammered and spoke bad Spanish, repeated the words "Al nornorueste," to the north-northwest, which is a different point of the compass. The timoneer, thinking it was his master's orders, did as he was told-kept away from the port and yet approached the coast.

In the meanwhile night was approaching fast. The passengers and the captain were in their beds wrapped in slumber. About two in the morning, the captain was surprised by hearing the waves breaking upon the rocks. He cried out to the pilot, "What is this, pilot? are we entering the port already?" The pilot, on the question being reiterated, roused from his lethargy, and saw with astonishment and terror that the vessel was steering right upon a rock which could scarcely be seen for the obscurity. Above all a high mountain towered in shadow, covered apparently with trees. The pilot called out to come about, but there was now no time, the vessel was close on the shore, and struck with such force that one of her sides opened.