rive the body of the accused, and mark it for the grave, while his voice warned the devoted wretch of woe and death-a death which no innocence can escape, no art elude, no force resist, no antidote prevent? There was an antidote a juror's oath! But even that adamantine chain, which bound the integrity of man to the throne of eternal justice, is solved and molten in the breath which issues from the mouth of the informer. Conscience swings from her moorings; the appalled and affrighted juror speaks what his soul abhors, and consults his own safety in the surrender of the vic

tim

-et quæ sibi quisque timebat

Unius in miseri exitium conversa tulere.

Informers are worshipped in the temple of justice, even as the devil has been worshipped by Pagans and savages-even so in this wicked country, is the informer an object of judicial idolatry-even so is he soothed by the music of human groans-even so is he placated and incensed by the fumes and by the blood of human sacrifices."" pp. 377-380.

We have selected these as fair specimens of Mr Curran's eloquence, as they exemplify many of the beauties, together with many of the extravagancies that marked the style of the celebrated orator.

(To be continued.)

MR GASPARD MOLLIEN'S JOURNEY

INTO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA.

(From the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, de la Geographie, et de l'Histoire, publiées par Eyries et Malte-Brun.)

DESIRING to prevent the effect of inaccurate details which have been circulated respecting his journey, Mr Mollien has favoured us with some particulars, which the public will receive with pleasure, until the detailed narrative of the author, which is now in preparation, makes its appearance.

M. Gaspard Mollien embarked in June 1816, in the Medusa frigate, the melancholy shipwreck of which has become so famous. He had the good luck not to go on board of the fatal raft; he got into one of the small boats, which disembarked on the coast of the Sahara, along which, with his companions in misfortune, he pursued his course until their arrival at Senegal. The calamities which he had gone through, far from diverting him from the project which he had

conceived from his infancy of travelling over the unknown parts of Africa, served only to habituate him to dangers, and to incite him to brave still greater.

A variety of circumstances detained him a long time in the colony. In 1818, M. de Fleuriau was named governor of Senegal, ad interim. Zealous for every thing that could be useful to his country or to science, this enlightened officer engaged M. Mollien to undertake a journey into the interior, for the purpose of making discoveries.

Conformably to his instructions, M. Mollien set out on the 29th of January 1818, from Diedde, a village near Saint Louis, belonging to the Damel, traversed his kingdom, and passed into that of the Yoloffs. The dangers to which the chief of this nation represented that he would expose himself, if he took the road of Woolli, induced him to follow that of Foute Toro. He had foreseen the obstacles which the Poulas would oppose to his passage, and it was only by disguising the object of his journey that he obtained from the chief (or almamy) leave to proceed. Upon twenty subsequent occasions this ferocious nation demanded his head, or at least the plunder of his baggage; but the powerful protection of the king provided him with the means of reach

ing Bondou without accident. Obtaining there a guide on whom he could depend, he communicated to him the object of his mission. The negro assured him that he would never be able to succeed by going to Sego; that it was by penetrating to the southward that he would make the discoveries which were his object. This man's advice he followed, and after having traversed a desert of three days' journey, which separates Bondow from the countries beyond the Gambia, he found himself on the banks of this river, which he crossed at a place where a chain of rocks forming a ford opposes an obstacle to navigation. The information which M. Mollien has collected respecting the communication between the Senegal and the Gambia is extremely interesting, and will appear in his narrative. On the eve of the day when he crossed the Gambia, he discovered lofty mountains in the south-east. The Poulas with whom he travelled had

assured him that he could never surmount the precipices with which they were beset.

On entering into Niokolo, a mountainous country inhabited by the Poulas and Dialonnas, who lead a savage life, the traveller had a foretaste of the fatigues which he was to encounter. The rocks of Bondou, and the solitudes of Dentilia, had so worn out his horse, (a native of the sands of the Cayor country,) that for a long time he had become quite useless to him. What, however, were the fatigues he had yet undergone to those which still awaited him! On arriving at the foot of the mountain of Tangué, he began to ascend at five o'clock in the morning, and only reached the summit at two o'clock in the afternoon. From this point the country below appeared to the eye to be level, and notwithstanding it is covered with very lofty mountains. The cold which he experienced on the top of Tangué was so extreme, that he endeavoured to catch the rays of the sun for the purpose of warming his frozen limbs. It was only by laying hold of the branches of trees that he could with his guide make his way through a road almost impassable to man. Their cattle were wounded. Mr Mollien subsequently entered into the country of Bandéia; he rested several days in the village of that name for the purpose of recruiting his strength, exhausted by the privations of every sort which he had endured in the almost barren countries through which he had passed; he left his horse at Bandéia, took a new guide, and after again scaling almost inaccessible heights, he found himself in Fouta-Dyallou; he approached the sources of the Gambia and the Rio Grande. He then avowed his plans to his new guide, who hesitated long before he consented to follow him, as death surrounded them on all sides, the Poulas of those countries being equally cruel with those of Fouta Toro. Mr Mollien took his fowling-piece to pass for a hunter, and descending by winding paths from the ferruginous rocks, he traversed a plain of great fertility. He was now at the sources of the Gambia and the Rio Grande, situated at twelve hundred paces from each other; he penetrated into the ancient and sacred woods which shade them,

and, notwithstanding the repeated shots which the Poulas prepared to discharge at him, quenched his thirst at these sources. Three grains of amber satisfied his guide, who, in a few days after, led him to the source of the Falémé, which, in the country, is called Théné.

He was a long time before he could prevail upon his guide to conduct him to Timbou, the principal town of Fouta-Dyallou. Almany," said the guide to him, " will put me to death for having introduced a white man into his capital." At last he succeeded in quieting the apprehensions of this negro, and, on the 20th of April, he entered Timbou. The rainy season commenced the same day. The absence of Almany, and of a great number of the inhabitants, who had gone to Sangarary, enabled him, at the end of three days, to quit a place where, but for this circumstance, he would, in all probability, have remained prisoner for a year. One of his fowling-pieces, and twenty grains of amber, opened the gates to him, and the inhabitants presented him with a small quantity of rice to enable him to continue his journey. The extent of Timbou announces it for the most considerable town of Fouta-Dyallou. Several forts protect it from sudden attacks, but the enemies of the Poulas are not very formidable. The king's habitation is surrounded by an earthen wall, fifteen feet high, and three feet thick. The houses are built with a degree of nicety which would make one think that the Poulas are not deficient in industry; the spaces which separate them are shaded by banana and papaw trees.

Under the pretence of going to purchase salt for his provision at Sumbalako, a village at no great distance from Timbou, M. Mollien repaired to the sources of Senegal, which are close by; this river is called in the country Bale, Bafing, or Foura, botlı of which signify black river. His delight may be easily conceived at having, as some reward for his fatigue, made so important a discovery; for, although he had not the means of making astronomical observations, it appears that his views bring the three sources of the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Rio Grande, much nearer to each other than the most recent maps that have been published. We

hope that M. Mollien, when he publishes his details, which he reserves to himself, will support his assertions by an accurate analysis of his itineraries, otherwise they will still leave grounds for dispute. We have seen, notwithstanding the authority of Mungo Park, that some persons still doubt whether the Niger and Senegal have not a common source. Accord ing to M. Mollien, there is a distance of eleven days journey between the sources of these two rivers.

Our traveller's only remaining object was to see the source of the Niger; success in that appeared to him infallible; the fatigues of three months almost continual progress had not in the least discouraged him; the prospect of attaining the principal object of his mission filled him with such ardour as to make the dangers which awaited him be entirely overlooked. But the incessant rains, the swelling of the rivers, and the scarcity of provisions, appeared to accumulate obstacles to his farther progress. Notwithstanding the liberal offers which he made to various guides, as a fowling-piece to one, 100 grains of amber to another, a slave to a third, and his horse to a fourth, he could get no one to accompany him. Almany occupied with his army all the roads of Kouranko and of Soliman, where lay the sources of the Niger, (and not at Sankara, according to the English maps.) His plan, after examining these sources, was to get into Kankan (or the Kong country) in a canoe, and to remain there until the end of the rainy season. He had given orders to Boukari, his faithful marabou, to go to Bondou or Gulam, with his cattle and baggage, and there wait for him. When the rainy season was passed, he went to Bourré to visit the rich gold mines, embarked again upon the Niger, and descended as far as Sego, to obtain information respecting the mouth of that river; chance now put a period to his plans. On his return to Bandéia, he was attacked with fever and dysentery, the effect of the continued rains, and stretched upon a bed of straw for six weeks, awaited every instant a death, which seemed almost certain. An inhabitant of the village endeavoured, by the administration of poison, to hasten his exit. The news of his discoveries having reached the ears of several Poulas of

Arrived on the borders of the Rio Grande, called by the Mandingoes Kabout, he traversed a country certainly more level and richer, but where he again only saved himself from plunder and death by a precipitate flight.

On the 18th of July he reached Geba, the first Portuguese settlement, where he could neither obtain medicines, nor any European necessaries. He went on the 3d of August to Bissao, their principal factory. Nothing could exceed the kindness of the reception which he met with from the Portuguese governor; every thing was. at his service, but unfortunately Bis sao was equally destitute with Geba ot a physician or medicines, and in spite of every attention, his disorder continued to subdue him. At last, on the 1st of November, he returned to Geba; and though he could obtain no horses there, he determined to proceed to the Gambia. day he was to depart, he received intelligence of the arrival of a French schooner at Bissao. He deemed it more prudent to return to a port, than to undertake a new journey by land, the success of which appeared

On the very

very problematical. On the 7th of January 1819, he landed at Gorée, and proceeded by land to Saint Louis, when he arrived on the 15th of the same month, after a year's absence. If Mr Mollien could not reach the borders of the Niger, certainly it was neither from want of zeal nor courage, but because he got into a road much more difficult than that of Mungo Park; as he undertook to ascend on foot the heights which surround Fouta-Dyallou, and all the countries situated under the same parallels. "The negroes," said Mr Mollien to us, " employ six months to go from Timbou to Saint Louis; it requires no more to go from Sego, on the Niger, to this French establishment; this would lead us to suppose, that the distance from these two places to our factory is nearly the same." This conclusion is doubtless rather too strict; something must be deducted on account of the difficulties of the road, perhaps also for the greater windings in a mountainous country; but making all allowances, there are still reasons for thinking either that the position of Timbou upon our charts is a great deal too much to the west, or that Sego is placed too much to the east. Mr Mollien has also favoured us with some particulars of the countries he has visited.

Cayor is rich in cattle, in horses, and chiefly in honey and cotton. The inhabitants live at their ease, although under the yoke of despotism.

The Yoloffs do not possess so many eattle, but the riches derived from their gum trade, which they abandon to the Moors, from the ebony trees with which their forests are filled, and from their cotton and honey which grow in abundance, should engage Europeans to establish a more direct intercourse with this humane and hospitable people.

Of all the countries which Mr M. has gone through, Fouta Toro is indisputably the richest; two harvests yearly enable it to provision many countries, of which it is the granary. Their sheep and oxen, which the peo

ple go as far as Fouta-Dyallou to sell, form another source of their riches. Every village cultivates with care an immense quantity of indigo and cotton. The general abundance has rendered the population in umerable, and the industry of the inhabitants deserves the particular attention of travellers, for it indicates that the Poula nation only requires guides to make rapid strides towards civilization; their fanaticism and treachery, however, require the employment of vigorous measures on the part of Europeans, who would find lenient conduct misplaced in instructing a people who have the most profound contempt for them.

Bondou is only an immense forest, with occasional strips of cultivation; but how rich in cotton and indigo! The fineness of the first of these productions gives it a much higher value than that of the other African countries. The gold which the river Falémé rolls thither renders this kingdom one of the richest of the Conti

nent.

What can the inhabitants of FoutaDyallou collect in the precipices of their mountains? Indigo and cotton are found in such small quantities, that these productions are supplied from Bondou. It is to the chances of battle that the Poula of that country looks for wealth. Animated by fanaticism, and the hope of booty, he has extended his conquests from the ocean to the borders of Kankan. From the Gambia to the Rio Nunez all acknowledges his sway. Whole tribes, whom he has torn from these countries, confined within particular villages, cultivate the ungrateful soil of their masters. "I doubt much," says Mr M. "if the agriculture in our colonies is so oppressive to the Negro as it is in this country."

Mr M. heard all the Negroes, all the Marabous, speak of the Niger as identical with the Nile; but from the variety of acceptation of this last word, little stress can be laid upon this manner of expression.

C. G. I.

Bombay Literary Society.-On Monday, the 30th of November, a meeting of the Society was held, when an interesting paper from Captain Boog, of the Sir Evan Nepean, was read, descriptive of a journey up the Nile to Thebes, Dendera, &c. This account corroborates the testimony of other travellers, that the statue of Memnon is still in its ancient resting place, and that the one shipped by Belzoni for the British Museum was not the real one.

The Captain has presented to the museum of the Society an Egyptian mummy, inclosed in a wooden case, richly adorned, and in a high state of preservation. He also brought with him two other mummies of equal richness, which may be seen at the theatre.

These extraordinary remains of the science and skill of the ancient Egyptians are probably more than 2000 years old. The art of embalming was well known and practised in Egypt in the time of Joseph, 1689 before the Christian era, as appears from the last chapter of the book of Genesis, wherein mention is made of the embalming both of Jacob and Joseph. The being put into a coffin was considered as a particular mark of distinction, and hence it is expressly observed of Joseph, that he was not only embalmed, but was put into a coffin also. These antique coffins are still to be seen in Egypt, and consist of stone or sycamore wood; some are said to be made of a kind of pasteboard, formed by folding and glewing cloth together a great number of times, which are curiously plastered, and then painted with hieroglyphics. This is mentioned by Thevenot, Maillet, and most other travellers in Egypt. The coffins in which Captain Boog's mummies are inclosed are of wood, most probably of sycamore wood, and the paintings and hieroglyphics, both on the outside and inside, are richly and beautifully done, and have a very fresh appearance.

Cashmir Goats. The following information respecting the celebrated wool goats from Cashmir has been received from Marseilles, dated May 26:-" These animals, which were at one time supposed to be sheep, at another time goat-sheep, a third time goats, and a fourth time antelopes, are nothing else than real goats, nearly resembling those of our country in their general conformation, in their movements, and in their habits. Their horns are more or less large, the greater part being straight; there are some, however, turned backward. Their fleece is composed of long hair mingled with short hair, resembling down, growing near the skin. On examination it

VOL. V.

was discovered to be fine, and fit for making a beautiful stuff, when manufactured by expert artists. It cannot yet be determined whether it grows in equal quantity on each animal, at least until the animals are refreshed and accustomed to the climate. The fleece is chiefly white; there is some long black hair growing about the head and neck of some, on others it grows in different spots on the body. Their fleeces are thick, growing very long, and covering even the legs. In consequence of the long journies, the animals had suffered much; a good number have, however, been preserved by the care taken of them during their quarantine in the lazaretto of Marseilles. They are now scattered on the hills around Allanch, where they thrive much from the use of excellent pastures and good air. M. Anredée Jaubert has arrived at Toulon with the remainder of the flock, which is to be brought into France."

Northern Expedition.-The British Government have fitted out two new expeditions for the Arctic regions; the one has sailed for Baffin's Bay, and the other, by land, for Hudson's Bay, and the coasts of the Arctic Ocean. The party to be employed in the land expedition consists of Lieutenant Franklin, the commanding officer; Dr Richardson of Leith, medical officer and naturalist; two midshipmen, and two seryants;-in all, six Europeans. They sailed about the 20th of May, and expected to reach York Factory about the middle of July. The primary object is to co-operate, if necessary, with the nautical expedition, to ascertain the north-eastern boundary of the American continent, and to endeavour to trace the Copper-mine River to its termination in the ocean. There is a probability, then, by tracing this river to its termination, the expedition may reach nearly to the north-eastern point of the Continent. The expedition expect to embark in canoes eight or ten days after their arrival at York Factory, and proceed by Cumberland House, Isle à la Crosse, &c. to Fort Chepewya, or, if possible, by Slave, Lake.

The New Comet.-The new comet, which was observed on Thursday night, the 1st July, in the northern hemisphere, is thus described by Mr H. S. Christie of the Military Academy at Woolwich :—“ I first observed the comet a few minutes before eleven o'clock last night, (Saturday,) and judge that it came to the meridian about twelve. Its elevation above the horizon appeared about 10 degrees, and the sun being at the time nearly 15 degrees below,

I