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forms of the examination. To this sketch of the shadow are added some highly mystical astrological figures, which relate to various problems, by the solution of which all the steps and stages to the demonstration of the formula of this ordination are determined."

The more of solemn juggle the better, for the purpose of giving the priests that importance and complete ascendancy which it is the very object and essence of the whole system to secure for them, and which, according to our author, they do actually maintain. "The clergy," says he, "govern all minds, and whether in unity or discord they invariably guide the helm. In all joint undertakings they are very resolute, but at the same time very circumspect."

MONGOL SUPERSTITIONS IN THE BUILDING OF TEMPLES.

A very particular account is given of the superstitious prescriptions indispensable to be observed in the building of temples, which are constructed after the fashion of Tibet. So many local circumstances must meet to make an approved site for a temple, that we might almost be disposed to thank the gods for exempting ninety-nine hundredths of the surface of the earth from the hazard of being so defiled. These temples could not fail, and have not failed, to be constituted as general receiving offices for the tributes of superstition, paid during life, and by bequest after death: for even people of moderate fortune, says our author, at their death bequeath part of their property not only to the clergy, but to the possessions of the temple.

THE LAMA RELIGION.

No clear notion is afforded of the dogmas of the Lama religion; but several of the forms of devotion are translated from the Mongol language, and are sung once a month in the most solemn manner in their temples. These forms appear composed for the most part of unconnected sentences : some of them are pure nonsense, overspread with a glimmer of mysticism; and some are petitions essentially absurd, to whatever power they were addressed. Of this last description are such as these:-"May hailstorms, and stones that wound the feet of the traveller, be henceforth changed into flowers, and showers of flowers;” “ May the voice of death be no more heard," &c., &c., &c.

DOMESTIC ALTARS OF THE MONGOLS.

The sincerity of the Mongols in their superstition is attested by the extension of its apparatus and rites into all their abodes.

"Besides the public temples, and the numerous habitations of the priests in the country, which are in every respect the representatives of temples, all the nomadic tribes professing the Lama religion have in each habitation a holy place and altar, and certain sacred utensils for their domestic worship. This place is invariably on the side of their huts opposite to the entrance, and a little to the left as you go in. Wealthy people keep in their spacious houses large decorated altars and utensils for their service, which are not inferior to those of the temples in value and magnificence. Even the poorest Mongol cannot live without an altar or consecrated palace in his habitation."

THE TSCHERKESSIANS, OR CIRCASSIANS.

There

The Tscherkessians, though a race of so much less local extension than the Mongols, are next in importance. They are fierce barbarians, in a state of utter predatory wildness. They are suspicious and revengeful, and will for a mere trifle or punctilio cut a man down. At the same time they fulfil all the laws of hospitality with a proud honour, and inviolable fidelity. Within the last half-century they are become for the most part Mahometans, being previously little other than absolute heathens. Their language is affirmed to be "totally different from every other." is no writing in it. Their political state is completely feudal. There is a class called princes. Each of these is the proprietor of a number of families, by courtesy called nobles; and these nobles inherit the men-cattle beneath them. There are no regular taxes; whatever is required by the upper people is furnished by the lower. These requisitions are not seldom as oppressive as they are arbitrary. The highest value is set on the true ancient quality blood, insomuch that no man is deemed to be of noble blood whose family is ever known to have been ignoble, even though it may have given birth to several kings. A prince commits his son, when only a few days old, to the care of one or other of his

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nobles, and never sees him till the time of the young man's marriage. Hence, says our author, results the utmost indifference between the nearest relations. A prince reddens with indignation when he is asked concerning the health of his wife and children, makes no reply, and commonly turns his back on the inquirer in contempt.

It would be in vain for us to attempt to enumerate the multitude of tribes that are scattered among the villages, mountains, lakes, and steppes of the wild region of the Caucasus, or to trace the line of the Russian boundary, or to state the precise kind of relation between the frontier authorities of that empire and such tribes as may not yet be quite swallowed up. By our author's account it should seem that this great monopolist (the emperor) is very cordially hated by these innumerable hordes of wild people; at the same time that their hostility to one another enables the Russian government to maintain its power among them by means of a military force quite contemptible in point of number and fortresses.

CLARKE AND HUMBOLDT.*

DR. CLARKE's lot, in the great distribution of the business of authorship, is one of the most enviable of the age. Probably he himself, in looking round on his contemporaries, sees scarcely one with whom, if that were possible, he would exchange; certainly not one among the multitude of travellers, with the single splendid exception of M. Humboldt.

The first volume traced him across the Russian empire, from north to south, and left him at the metropolis of the Mohammedans. Thence the narration in the second volume carried him to the Troad, to Rhodes, to Egypt, to Cyprus, and to the Holy Land, and left him at Acre on his return towards Egypt.

Travels into various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa. By Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D. Part II. Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Vols. II, and III. 4to. 1816.

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THE PACHA OF ACRE.

The traveller and his companion quitted Acre for the last time, under the renewed and final benediction of the famous old Djezzar Pasha, who did not long, it seems, survive their visit. He was evidently fast declining at the time, and was sensible of it himself, but with good reason was very careful to conceal it from his subjects, well knowing the advantage that would be taken. In his last moments he felt an amiable concern to secure tranquillity to his successor in the government; and, not content with a mere idle avowal of this benevolence, he gave it practical effect by an "energetic" act, which very characteristically consummated the glory of his whole life.

"The person whom he fixed upon for his successor, was among the number of his prisoners. Having sent for this man, he made known his intentions to him; telling him at the same time, that he would never enjoy peaceful dominion while certain of the princes of the country existed. These men were then living as hostages in Djezzar's power. You will not like to begin your reign,' said he, by slaughtering them; I will do that business for you. Accordingly, ordering them to be brought before him, he had them all put to death in his presence. Soon afterwards he died, leaving, as he had predicted, the undisturbed possession of a very extensive territory to his successor, Ismael Pacha; described by English travellers, who have since visited Acre, as a very amiable man, and in everything the very reverse of this Herod of his time."

The notice of the ruins of an ecclesiastical building with pointed arches, at Acre, leads the author into a refutation of the notion, that this mode of architecture had its origin in England. He abounds with proofs to the contrary.

THE SERPENT-EATERS.

Among a variety of curious notices of Rosetta, we have a description of

"a most singular exhibition of the Serpent-eaters, or Psylli, as mentioned by Herodotus, and by many ancient authors. A tumultuous throng, passing beneath the windows of our house, attracted our attention towards the quay; here we saw a concourse of people following men apparently frantic, who, with every appearance of convulsive agony, were brandishing live serpents, and then tearing them with their teeth; snatching them from each other's mouths, with loud cries and distorted

features, and afterwards falling into the arms of the spectators, as if swooning; the women all the while rending the air with their lamentations. Pliny often mentions these jugglers; and as their tricks have been noticed by other travellers, it is only now necessary to attest the existence of this extraordinary remnant of a very ancient custom."

THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.

In his passage towards Cairo the author was struck with the prodigious fertility of the soil of the Delta, of which the best watered portions produce three crops a year, the first of clover, the second of corn, the third of rice; and then there are "never-ending plantations of melons and of all kinds of garden vegetables ; so that, from the abundance of its produce, Egypt may be deemed the richest country in the world." But never was superlative applause more completely neutralized by an account of the other parts of the character, than in this instance :

"To strangers, and particularly to inhabitants, of northern countries, where wholesome air and cleanliness are among the necessaries of life, Egypt is the most detestable region upon earth. Upon the retiring of the Nile, the country is one vast swamp. An atmosphere impregnated with every putrid and offensive exhalation, stagnates, like the filthy pools over which it broods. Then the plague regularly begins, nor ceases until the waters return again. The ravages in the French army, caused by the plague during the month of April, at one time amounted to a hundred men in a single day. Throughout the spring, intermitting fevers universally prevail. About the beginning of May certain winds cover even the sands of the desert with the most disgusting vermin. Lice and scorpions abound in all the sandy desert near Alexandria. The latest descendants of Pharaoh are not yet delivered from the evils which fell upon the land when it was smitten by the hand of Moses and Aaron: the plague of frogs,' the plague of lice,' the plague of flies,' the 'murrain, boils, and blains,' prevail, so that the whole country is corrupted,' and 'the dust of the earth becomes lice, upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. This application of the words of Scripture, affords a literal exposition of existing facts, such a one as the statistics of the country do now warrant. Sir Sydney Smith informed the author, that one night, preferring a bed upon the sand of the desert to a night's lodging in the village of Etko, as thinking to be secure from vermin, he found himself entirely covered with them."