mirthful or his mournful moods; but our readers shall judge for themselves.

The following morceau is a genuine picture of a shipful of middies. A finer hearted and more mischievous batch of imps never existed.

pose of exclamations and noises, with which they are accustomed to order their camels to halt, to walk, and trot, to drink, and eat, to stop, and to lie down. They do not address the girl by her name, which would be a breach of politeness, according to Bedouin manners, but style her 'camel,' affecting to suppose that she advances towards them in search of food or water. This fiction is continued "At length, the idea began to gain ground amongst us, during the whole dance. Get up, O camel;' walk fast;' that the poor beast had been put an end to by some diabothe poor camel is thirsty;' come and take your evening lical means; and our ire mounted accordingly. This susfood; these, and similar expressions, are used on the occa-picion seemed the more natural, as the officers said not a sion, added to the many guttural sounds in which camel- word about the matter, nor even asked us what we had drivers talk to their beasts. To excite the dancer still more, done with our dog. While we were in this state of excitesome of the gay young men spread before them upon the ment and distraction for our loss, one of the midshipmen, ground their own turbans, or headkerchiefs, to represent who had some drollery in his composition, gave a new turn food for the camel. If the dancing girl approach near to the expression of our thoughts. enough to snatch away any article of dress, she throws it "This gentleman, who was more than twice as old as behind her back to her companions; and when the dance most of us, say about thirty, had won the affections of the is finished, the owner must redeem it by a small fee paid to whole of our class, by the gentleness of his manners, and the girl. I once released a handkerchief by giving to the the generous part he always took on our side. He bore girl a string of pretty beads made of mother-of-pearl, ob- amongst us the pet name of Daddy; and certainly he was serving that it was meant as a halter for the camel; with like a father to those amongst us who, like myself, were this she was much pleased, and hung it round her neck. quite adrift in the ship, without any one to look after them. After the dance has continued five or ten minutes, the girl He was a man of talents and classical education, but he had sits down, and another takes her place, beginning like the entered the navy far too late in life ever to take to it corformer, and accelerating her movements according as she dially. His habits, indeed, had become so rigid, that they herself feels interested in the dance. If she seems animated, could never be made to bend to the mortifying kind of disand advances close to the men's line, the latter evince their cipline which it appears essential every officer should run approbation by stretching out their arms as if to receive through, but which only the young and light-hearted can her; this dance, which continues frequently for five or six brook. Our worthy friend, accordingly, with all his abihours, and till long after midnight, and the pathetic songs lities, taste, and acquirements, never seemed at home on which often accompany it, most powerfully work upon the board ship; and unless a man can reach this point of liking imagination and feelings of the Arabs, and they never speak for the sea, he is better on shore. At all events, old Daddy of the mesamer but with raptures. The feelings of a lover cared more about his books than about the blocks, and demust, on this occasion, be carried to the highest pitch. The lighted much more in giving us assistance in our literary veiled form of his mistress advances in the dark, or by pursuits, and trying to teach us to be useful, than in renmoonlight, like a phantom, to his embraces; her graceful, dering himself a proficient in those professional mysteries, decent steps, her increasing animation, the general applause which he never hoped to practise in earnest himself. she receives, and the words of the song, or kaszyde, which are always in praise of beauty, must create the liveliest emotions in the bosom of her lover, who has, at least, the satisfaction of being able to give full scope to his feelings by voice and gestures, without exposing himself to any blame." The cause of the Bedouin's superiority in this respect over other Mussulmans is thus explained:

"The Bedouins have more frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the daughters of their neighbours: their love is often conceived in their youthful days, and fostered during a series of years; and such is the prudery of a Bedouin girl, that whatever may be her sentiments with respect to a lover, she will seldom condescend to let him know them, and still less to suffer any personal liberties, however convinced of a reciprocal affection. The firm assurance of her honour and chastity must powerfully influence his heart; and as a Bedouin's mind and imagination are always strong and sound, not pampered into sickly sensibility, or a depraved fancy like the townsman's, it is to be supposed, that virtuous impressions being once made, take a firm hold. The custom of divorce, we must acknow ledge, does not speak much in favour of any lasting attachment; but I would rather ascribe it to the unruly temper of those wild sons of the Desert, than to any want of feeling in their character."

These fragments may serve to give the reader some idea of one of the most interesting works we have met with.

Fragments of Voyages and Travels, including Anecdotes of a Naval Life: chiefly for the Use of Young Persons. By Captain Basil Hall, R.N. In three volumes. Edinburgh: Robert Cadell. London: Whittaker and Treacher. 1831.

THIS book is worthy to rank in the juvenile library along with Sir Walter's Tales of a Grandfather, and we could not say more in its behalf if it were our own. Its tone is that of a brave, amiable, and well-principled man gossiping with his children, but never, in his attempts to amuse them, forgetting to impress upon their minds the necessity of looking this world and its affairs in the face, with a manly and practical spirit. It narrates much of the Captain's experience on shore and afloat. We do not exactly know whether we admire him most in his

"What this very interesting person's early history was, we never could find out; nor why he entered the navy; nor how it came, that a man of his powers and accomplishments should have been kept back so long. Indeed, the youngsters never enquired too closely into these matters, against the oppression of some of the other oldsters, who being quite contented to have the advantage of his protection occasionally bullied them. Upon all occasions of difficulty, we were in the habit of clustering round him, to tell our grievances, great and small, with the certainty of always finding in him that great desideratum in calamity-a patient and friendly listener.

"It will easily be supposed, that our kind Daddy took more than usual interest in this affair of Shakings, and that he was applied to by us at every stage of the transaction. He was sadly perplexed, of course, when the dog was finally missing; and, for some days, he could give us no comfort, nor suggest any mode of revenge which was not too dangerous for his young friends to put in practice. He prudently observed, that as we had no certainty to go upon, it would be foolish to get ourselves into a serious scrape for nothing at all.

"There can be no harm, however,' he continued, in his dry and slightly sarcastic way, which all who knew him will recollect as well as if they saw him now, drawing his hand slowly across his mouth and chin, 'There can be no their dear departed friend Shakings; for, whatever is come harm, my boys, in putting the other dogs in mourning for of him, he is lost to them as well as to us, and his memory ought to be duly respected.'

"This hint was no sooner given than a cry was raised for crape, and every chest and bag ransacked to procure badges of mourning. The pointers were speedily rigged up with a large bunch of crape, tied in a handsome bow, upon the left leg of each, just above the knee. The joke took immediately. The officers could not help laughing; for, though we considered them little better than fiends at that moment of excitement, they were, in fact, except in this instance, the best natured and most indulgent men I remember to have sailed with. They, of course, ordered the crape to be instantly cut off from the dogs' legs; and one of the officers remarked to us, seriously, that as we had now had our piece of fun out, there were to be no more such tricks.

be done next, as we had been positively ordered not to "Off we scampered, to consult old Daddy what was to meddle any more with the dogs.

"Put the pigs in mourning,' he said.

"All our crape was expended by this time; but thi

want was soon supplied by men whose trade it is to discover resources in difficulty. With a generous devotion to the cause of public spirit, one of these juvenile mutineers pulled off his black handkerchief, and tearing it in pieces, gave a portion to each of the circle, and away we all started to put into practice this new suggestion of our director-general of mischief.

"The row which ensued in the pig-sty was prodigiousfor in those days, hogs were allowed a place on board a man-of-war-a custom most wisely abolished of late years, since nothing can be more out of character with any ship than such nuisances. As these matters of taste and cleanliness were nothing to us, we did not intermit our noisy labour till every one of the grunters had his armlet of such crape as we had been able to muster. We then watched our opportunity, and opened the door so as to let out the whole herd of swine on the main-deck, just at a moment when a group of the officers were standing on the fore part of the quarter-deck. Of course the liberated pigs, delighted with their freedom, passed in review under the very nose of our superiors, each with his mourning knot displayed, grunting or squealing along, as if it was their express object to attract attention to their domestic sorrow for the loss of Shakings. The officers were excessively provoked, as they could not help seeing that all this was affording entertainment, at their expense, to the whole crew; for, although the men took no part in this touch of insubordination, they were ready enough, in those idle times of the weary, weary peace, to catch at any species of distraction or devilry, no matter what, to compensate for the loss of their wonted occupation of pommelling their enemies.

above words are pronounced, there are cast into the grave,
three successive portions of earth, which, falling on the
coffin, send up a hollow, mournful sound, resembling no
other that I know.
"In the burial service at sea, the part quoted above is
varied in the following very striking and solemn manner:
"Forasmuch,' &c.-' we therefore commit his body to
the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the re-
surrection of the body, when the sea shall give up her dead,
and the life of the world to come,' &c.

"At the commencement of this part of the service, one of the seamen stoops down, and disengages the flag from the remains of his late shipmate, while the others, at the words 'we commit his body to the deep,' project the grating right into the sea. The body being loaded with shot at one end, glances off the grating, plunges at once into the ocean, and➡ 'In a moment, like a drop of rain,

He sinks into its depths with bubbling groan, Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknown.' the correspondent part on land; but still there is something "This part of the ceremony is rather less impressive than solemn, as well as startling, in the sudden splash, followed by the sound of the grating, as it is towed along, under the

main-chains.

ship's company and officers are assembled, the ceremony
"In a fine day at sea, in smooth water, and when all the
just described, although a melancholy one, as it must always
be, is often so pleasing, all things considered, that it is cal-
culated to leave even cheerful impressions on the mind.
conceive, do sometimes occur for a sea funeral, sufficient to
"Occasions, however, as gloomy as any sad heart could
strike the sternest natures.
recollect, of the numbers I have witnessed, was in the flag-
The most impressive which I
ship, on the coast of North America.

"The matter, therefore, necessarily became rather serious; and the whole gang of us being sent for on the quarter-deck, we were ranged in a line, each with his toes at the edge of a plank, according to the orthodox fashion of these gregarious scoldings, technically called toe-the-line matches.' We were then given to understand that our proceedings fragile, that the sea was clearly no fit profession for him: "There was a poor little middy on board, so delicate and were impertinent, and, after the orders we had received, but he or his friends thought otherwise; and, as he had a highly offensive. It was with much difficulty that either spirit for which his frame was no match, he soon gave token party could keep their countenances during this official of decay. This boy was a great favourite with every body lecture, for, while it was going on, the sailors were endea--the sailors smiled whenever he passed, as they would have vouring, by the direction of the officers, to remove the bits done to a child-the officers petted him, and coddled him up of silk from the legs of the pigs. If, however, it be diffi- with all sorts of good things-and his messmates, in a style cult-as most difficult we found it-to put a hog into which did not altogether please him, but which he could not mourning, it is a job ten times more troublesome to take him well resist, as it was meant most kindly, nicknamed him out again. Such at least is the fair inference from these two experiments; the only ones perhaps on record-for it I forget what his particular complaint was, but he gradually Dolly. Poor fellow !-he was long remembered afterwards. cost half the morning to undo what we had effected in less sunk; and at last went out just as a taper might have done, than an hour-to say nothing of the unceasing and out- exposed to such gusts of wind as blew in that tempestuous rageous uproar which took place along the decks, especially region. He died in the morning; but it was not until the under the guns, and even under the coppers, forward in evening that he was prepared for a seaman's grave. the galley, where two or three of the youngest pigs had wedged themselves, apparently resolved to die rather than submit to the degradation of being deprived of their mourning.

"All this was very creditable to the memory of poor Shakings; but, in the course of the day, the real secret of this extraordinary difficulty of taking a pig out of mourning was discovered. Two of the mids were detected in the very fact of tying on a bit of black buntin to the leg of a sow, from which the seamen declared they had already cut off crape and silk enough to have made her a complete suit of black.

"As soon as these fresh offences were reported, the whole party of us were ordered to the mast-head as a punishment. Some were sent to sit on the topmast cross-trees, some on the top-gallant yard-arms, and one small gentleman being perched at the jib-boom end, was very properly balanced abaft by another little culprit at the extremity of the gaff. In this predicament we were hung out to dry for six or eight hours, as old Daddy remarked to us with a grin, when we were called down as the night fell."

There is genuine feeling and high descriptive talent in

the account of a midshipman's funeral.

"The land service for the burial of the dead contains the following words:

"Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, of his great mercy, to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope,' &c.

"Every one, I am sure, who has attended the funeral of a friend and who will this not include?—must recollect the solemnity of that stage of the ceremony, where, as the

of the boy's hammock, and, on laying my hand upon his "I remember, in the course of the day, going to the side breast, was astonished to find it still warm-so much so, of course, was a vain fancy; but I was much attached to that I almost imagined I could feel the heart beat. This, my little companion, being then not much taller myselfand I was soothed and gratified, in a childish way, by discovering that my friend, though many hours dead, had not yet acquired the usual revolting chillness.

dent, when reflecting on the pleasing doctrine of the Spa"In after years, I have sometimes thought of this inciangels, without any of those cold obstructions' which, they niards-that as soon as children die, they are translated into pretend, intercept and retard the souls of other mortals. which I am about to describe, and the fanciful superstitions The peculiar circumstances connected with the funeral of the sailors upon the occasion, have combined to fix the whole scene in my memory.

funeral taking place at the usual hour, and the ceremony "Something occurred during the day to prevent the was deferred till long after sunset. The evening was extremely dark, and it was blowing a treble-reefed top-sail breeze. We had just sent down the top-gallant yards, and came necessary to have lights to see what was done, several made all snug for a boisterous winter's night. As it beand others along the hammock railings on the lee gangsignal lanterns were placed on the break of the quarter-deck, way. bled, some on the booms, others in the boats; while the The whole ship's company and officers were assemmain rigging was crowded half-way up to the cat-harpings. the lamps, was bulging forwards under the gale, which was Overhead, the mainsail, illuminated as high as the yard by rising every minute, and straining so violently at the mainsheet, that there was some doubt whether it might not be

pended; but as his salary still went on, it constituted his remuneration, while the extra allowance made him was merely intended to cover his personal and travelling expenses. But the Doctor, it would seem, had early resolved to make a good thing of this extra allowance. The amount of his bills for 1814 and 1815 is not stated in the return; but it appears, by a letter from the secretary to the Ordnance, that, under the head of travelling charges merely, and exclusive of his personal expenses, the Doctor claimed L.423 in 1816, L.415 in 1817, L.546 in 1818, and L.477 in 1819.

fide disbursed. But the Doctor did not by any means view the matter in the same light. In his letter of the 10th July, intimating his readiness to obey their lordships' orders, "by immediately proceeding to Scotland," for the purpose of continuing his survey, he recurs to his ordnance allowances, and particularly to that for travelling, which, he says, was "two shillings per mile-the miles being stated as direct distances when proceeding to any object, and being stated as PER DIEM when engaged in the examination of a district," thus preparing the way for the wonderful achievements which were to follow. But, formidable as Doctor Dousterswivel undoubtedly is at the charge, there was no great scope for the exercise of his talents in 1826. He did not set out till the middle of July, when summer was nearly past and gone; and, accordingly, he only charges L.956, 18s. 6d. on account of that season, which is paid him without deduction or abatement. The particulars of this charge not being given in the return, we are precluded from making any detailed remarks upon it; but, as we have his accounts for the years 1827, 1828, and 1829, we shall now proceed to notice a few of their prominent peculiarities.

The first, and by far the most important of these, is the account of miles alleged to have been travelled in each of those years, or rather seasons. The period of operations being limited to six months, or 184 days, the Doctor states himself to have travelled 7743 miles in 1827,8713 miles in 1828, and 7568 miles in 1829, which, at 2s. a-mile, give L.774, 6s., L.871, 6s., and L.756, 16s., as the expense of travelling alone, in each of those seasons respectively. We shall take the intermediate season of 1828, and endeavour to analyse the account for that year. In six months, or 184 days, the Doctor travelled 8713 miles; a distance considerably exceeding the length of the earth's diameter. But it appears from his bill that he travelled from London to Glasgow, being 403 miles direct, which he might have accomplished in two days by travelling day and night; while, in returning to London, he seems to have started from Dumfries, distant 332 miles, which he could scarcely have performed in less than two days. This reduces the time employed on the actual business of the survey to 180 days, and the number of miles said to have been travelled on it to 7978; which, divided by 180, gives an average rate of daily travelling of from forty

The pecuniary operations of the Doctor, however, form the least extraordinary part of his conduct. He neglected, or, which comes to the same thing, he did not perform the duties assigned him. Colonel Mudge having observed that the irregularity of the earth's density more or less affected every operation for determining its diameters, the Doctor was required to point out fit places for ascertaining by experiment the amount of the deviation caused by this lateral attraction. But, up to the present hour, he has not complied with the requisition. In 1821, his detailed report was called for, as essential to the prosecution of the trigonometrical survey. The Doctor, however, replied, that he would be ready to give a detailed report of the examination of the mountains whenever the problem of the earth's density should be resumed! On this miserable subterfuge, Captain Colby, who had succeeded Colonel Mudge in the superintendence of the survey, remarks, that it will of course not be resumed till the fit place is discovered; -that, if the Doctor delays his report till its resumption, four years' labour will have been thrown away and that the report on the stations where the plumb-line might deviate ought not to be delayed. But delayed it nevertheless was, sometimes on one pretext, sometimes on another and at length, on the 20th January, 1829, that is, nine years after the Doctor's services had been dispensed with by the ordnance, and three years after he had been employed by the Treasury, we find the secretary to the former department, writing to the Treasury in the following terms:-" The Board [of Ordnance] beg leave to recommend to the Lords of the Treasury, by way of securing to the public the full benefit of the geological survey, that no further payment be made to Dr Macculloch, on account of travelling or other expenses, UNTIL HIS ENGAGEMENTS TO GOVERNMENT HAVE BEEN FULLY AND SATIS-four to forty-five miles. But, supposing that the Doctor FACTORILY COMPLETED!" By means of some species of in- was Christian enough to rest on the Sundays, the numfluence, whether ducal or not we cannot pretend to say, ber of days employed on the survey would be further the Doctor, however, contrived to have this interdict reduced to 155, and the average rate of travelling inwithdrawn a few months after; and in consequence he creased to from fifty-one to fifty-two miles a-day. Now, obtained a Treasury warrant for pocketing another fifteen one of two things must be true: Either this statement hundred pounds of the public money. So much for Dr is false, and by consequence knavish; or, if the Doctor Macculloch's connexion with the Ordnance department.really travelled the distances for which he charges in his On the 13th of January, 1826, the Doctor's appoint- bill, it is physically impossible that he could have made any ment of Ordnance chemist ceased, and on the 16th April, survey at all! But, from the nature of his employment, the Doctor made a tender of his services to the Treasury, no less than from that of the country which he was sent setting forth, among other things, that while employed out to survey, the Doctor could not in general follow the under the Ordnance, he had been promised £300 a-year, direction of roads, where such existed, nor travel along over and above his salary of £566 as chemist-of which roads, where none existed at all. His course lay through there is not a shadow of proof, nor so much as even a mountainous tracts, along the courses of rivers, in every hint in any of his communications with the Ordnance direction, in short, except that pursued by ordinary tradepartment; and that, besides 20s. a-day for personal vellers; and, accordingly, he himself says, "I never expenses, he was allowed 28. a-mile for all distances, HOW- remain more than one night at any place, and never can EVER TRAVELLED—which is directly contrary to the fact, tell in what direction I shall go, where the GEOLOGY, and Mr Byham expressly stating, that the master-general not rowNs, are my guide!" Will it be believed, then, that, 'appointed Dr Macculloch to this duty, with an allow- travelling in this manner, through the wildest and most ance of 20s. per day personal expenses, and 2s. per mile desolate tracts of the Highlands of Scotland, following CHAISE HIRE!" By a Treasury minute, dated the 4th the direction which the geology, and not towns, pointed July, it appears that the Doctor's tender was accepted, out, Dr Macculloch could have compassed at the rate of and an allowance of L.2 a-day made him as remunera- from fifty-one to fifty-two miles a-day for 155 days contion for his labour, together with a sum not exceeding secutively? There is not a man living possessed of the L.90 for an assistant; but their lordships made no physical strength requisite for the performance of such a specific allowance for travelling, personal, and other ex-task, even although he had had nothing else to do than penses; probably under the very natural impression, that to travel continuously and without intermission. But the Doctor would have the grace to charge no more, the Doctor's "duty being to examine the surface and inteunder these heads, than the sum he had actually and bona) rior of the earth, observe quarries, descend into mines, and