Smith's Sound, without being able to effect a passage. They came then to the western coast of Baffin's Bay, being that towards which their inquiry was to be peculiarly directed. Jones' Sound, which they first passed, had every appearance of being completely land-locked. Soon after, the perpetual day of the Polar regions closed, and the weather became dark and foggy. On the 29th August they came to Lancaster Sound, which was supposed to exhibit greater appearance of a passage than any yet seen, and excited much interest in the crews. Captain Ross, in fact, sailed up for a certain space. We shall give the result in his

own words:

"Soon after midnight the wind began to shift, and the ship came gradually up, enabling us to stand directly up the bay: I, therefore, made all sail, and left the Alexander considerably astern. At a little before four o'clock A. M., the land was seen at the bottom of the inlet by the officers of the watch; but before I got upon deck, a space of about seven degrees of the compass was obscured by the fog. The land which I then saw was a high ridge of mountains, extending directly across the bottom of the inlet. This chain appeared extremely high in the centre, and those towards the north had, at times, the appearance of islands, being insulated by the fog at their bases. Although a passage in this direction appeared hopeless, I was determined completely to explore it, as the wind was favourable; and, therefore, continued all sail. At eight the wind fell a little, and the Alexander being far astern, I sounded, and found 674 fathoms, with a soft muddy bottom. There was, however, no current, and the temperature of the mud was 29. Soon after this the breeze freshened, and we carried all sail, leaving the Alexander, and steering directly up the bay. The weather was

now variable, being cloudy and clear at intervals. Mr Beverley, who was the most sanguine, went up to the crow's-nest; and, at twelve, reported to me, that before it came thick, he had seen the land across the bay, except for a very short space. Although all hopes were given up, even by the most sanguine, that a passage existed, and the weather continued thick, I determined to stand higher up, and put into any harbour I might discover, for the purpose of making magnetical observations. Here I felt the want of a consort, which I could employ to explore a coast, or discover a harbour; but the Alexander sailed so badly, and was so leewardly, that she could not safely be employed on such a service. During this day we shortened sail several times, to prevent our losing sight of her altogether. As we stood up the bay, two capes on the south side were discovered, one of which I named after the Earl of Liverpool; and the land was named Cape Hay, which formed the boundary on one side of Catherine's Bay before mentioned.

"About one, the Alexander being nearly out of sight to the eastward, we hove to for half an hour, to let her come up a little; and at half past one, she being within six or seven miles of us, we again made all sail. I intended to have sounded during this interval, but I found the south-east swell had so much increased, and the drift was so great, that it was impracticable.

"At half past two there were some hopes of its clearing, and I left orders to be called on the appearance of land or ice a-head. At three, the officer of the watch, who was relieved to his dinner by Mr Lewis, reported, on his coming into the cabin, that there was some appearance of its clearing at the bottom of the bay; I immediately, therefore, went on deck, and soon after it completely cleared for about ten

minutes, and I distinctly saw the land, round the bottom of the bay, form ing a connected chain of mountains with those which extended along the north and south sides. This land appeared to be at the distance of eight leagues; and Mr Lewis, the master, and James Hay, leading man, being sent for, they took its bearings, which were inserted in the log; the water on the surface was at temperature of 34 degrees. At this moment I saw also a continuity of ice, at the distance of seven miles, extending from one side of the bay to the other, between the nearest cape to the north, which I named after Sir George Warrender, and that to the south, which was named after Viscount Castlereagh. The mountains, which occupied the centre, in a north and south direction, were named Croker's Mountains, after the Secretary to the Admiralty. The south-west corner, which formed a spacious bay, completely occupied by ice, was named Barrow's Bay, and is bounded on the south by Cape Castlereagh, and on the north by Cape Rosamond, which is a head-land, that projects eastward from the high land in the centre. The north corner, which was the last I had made out, was a deep inlet; and as it answered exactly to the latitude given by Baffin of Lancaster Sound, I have no doubt that it was the same, and consider it as a most remarkable instance of the accuracy of that able navigator. At a quarter past three, the weather again became thick and unsettled; and being now perfectly satisfied that there was no passage in this direction, nor any harbour into which I could enter, for the

purpose of making magnetical observations, I tacked to join the Alexander, which was at the distance of eight miles; and having joined her a little after four, we stood to the south-eastward."

The interest of the voyage may now be said to terminate. On the 1st October Captain Ross reached Cumberland Strait, where the chance of a passage appeared to him better than in any other place; but he considered the season to be now too late for any attempt to explore it.

The decided opinion formed by Captain Ross respecting the nature of Lancaster Sound had not been shared by several of the other officers, particularly by Lieutenant Parry and Mr Sabine; and the reasons on which he founded it did not appear to the Admiralty at all conclusive. By his own statement, he was at the distance of 24 miles from the apparent head of the bay. But it is a matter of familiar observation, that any strait or passage at all winding, has the appearance, at its entrance, of being land-locked, nor is it possible to ascertain the contrary without coming a great deal nearer than Captain Ross reached. Even supposing a passage perfectly straight, and bounded by the land, how establish the non-existence of lateral passage on some part of the intervening coasts? The question, therefore, was justly considered by the Admiralty as quite undecided; and the resolution formed to fit out a new expedition for the ensuing year. The important result will appear in our next volume.

This year was not much distinguished by Asiatic discovery. Mr Morier communicated to the public the observations made in his second journey through Persia, performed in the train of the ambassador, Sir Gore Ouseley. Some curious and interesting additions were here made to the information formerly communicated by the same gentleman respecting that empire. There is something striking in his picture of the first aspect which Persia presents to a European.

"It would, perhaps, be impossible to give to an inhabitant of London a correct idea of the first impressions made upon the European stranger on his landing in Persia. Accustomed, as his eye has been, to neatness, cleanliness, and a general appearance of convenience in the exteriors of life, he feels a depression of spirits in beholding the very contrary. Instead of houses with high roofs, well glazed and painted, and in neat rows, he finds them low, flat-roofed, without windows, placed in little connexion. In vain he looks for what his idea of a street may be he makes his way through the narrowest lanes, incumbered with filth, dead animals, and mangy dogs. He hears a language totally new to him, spoken by a people whose looks and dress are equally extraordinary. Instead of our smooth chins and tight dresses, he finds rough faces, masked with beards and mus tachios, in long flapping clothes. He sees no active people walking about, with an appearance of something to do; but here and there he meets a native just crawling along in slip-shod shoes. When he seeks the markets and shops, a new and original scene

opens upon him. Little open sheds in rows, between which is a passage, serving as a street, of about eight feet in breadth, are to be seen, instead of our closely-shut shops, with windows gaily decked."

Mr Morier took a view of the ruins of Persepolis, from which he hesitated not to carry off some frag. ments as specimens. Conceiving from the symmetry of the edifice, that there must have been a row of figures on the left of the stair-case, which had not been delineated by Le Bruyn or Chardin, he hired some labourers, caused the place to be dug, and to his great delight, discovered the expected row of figures in the highest preservation; the details of whose faces, hair, dresses, arms, and general character, seemed but as the work of yesterday. The faces of all those previously above ground had been mutilated by the savage bigotry of the first Mussulmans who invaded Persia.

Near Bushire, Mr Morier saw a swarm of locusts, that plague of all the countries bordering on the desert. "On the 11th of June, whilst seated in our tents about noon, we heard a very unusual noise, that sounded like the rushing of a great wind at a distance. On looking up we perceived an immense cloud, here and there semitransparent, in other parts quite black, that spread itself all over the sky, and at intervals shadowed the sun. This we soon found to be locusts, whole swarms of them falling about us: but their passage was but momentary; for a fresh wind from the south-west, which had brought them to us, so completely drove them forwards, that not a

vestige of them was to be seen two hours after. They seemed to be impelled by one common instinct, and moved in one body, which had the appearance of being organized by a leader. As all was dry in the plain of Shiraz, the same instinct seemed to to propel them forwards to countries of more vegetation; and, with a small slant of the wind to the westward, they would get into the mountains of of Louristan, where the corn was not ripe; and where, as the prophet Joel says (xi. 3), after comparing them to a great army, they had the land of Eden before them.'"

Ispahan, at the arrival of the embassy, was found to have recovered somewhat from the state of decay into which it had fallen. This improvement it owed to the exertions of Ameen-ad-Dowlah, who had risen from the situation of green grocer to be governor of the province. He had little more of learning or information than belonged to his original vocation; yet he could recommend himself by the useful art of making copious remittances to the royal treasury, with out pressing too severely on the people. Under his administration, the public buildings had been repaired and beautified, new avenues had been planted, and cultivation increased. "The great city of Ispahan," says Mr Morier, "which Chardin had described as being twenty-four miles in circumference, were it to be weeded (if the expression may be used) of its ruins, would now dwindle to about a quarter of that circumference. One might suppose that God's curse had extended over parts of this city, as it did over Babylon. Houses, bazaars, mosques, palaces, whole streets are to be seen in total abandonment; and I have rode four miles among its ruins, without meet.

ing with any living creature, except perhaps a jackal peeping over a wall, or a fox running to his hole.

"In a large tract of ruins, where houses in different stages of decay are to be seen, now and then an inhabited house may be discovered, the owner of which may be assimilated to Job's forlorn man, dwelling in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps,' chap. xv. verse 28. Such a remark as this must have arisen from scenes similar to those which parts of Ispahan present; and, unless the particular feeling of melancholy which they inspire has been felt, no words can convey adequate ideas of it.

"But if the ruins, when examined in detail, are saddening to the sight; yet, as they are not distinguishable from the inhabited houses, when seen in masses from afar, they tend greatly to magnify the extent of the city, and to give it the appearance now of what must have been its former greatness. The view which breaks upon the tra veller, when he arrives from the southward, is in the finest style of grandeur; and one may excuse the Persian who, in his exultation at the sight, exclaims, that his Isfahan is misfeh jehan.*

"In forming his idea of this city, let not the reader bring it into comparison with any of the capitals of Eu rope. Here are no long and broad streets, no architectural beauties, and few monuments of private wealth, or public munificence. At Ispahan, indeed, (and it is nearly the same in all despotic countries) the interior of houses is much better than their exte rior would indicate. Indeed, where scarcely any thing of the house is to be seen from the street, but a dead wall, as is the case with the generality

of Persian houses, there is not much room for exterior ornament. This constant succession of walls, unenlivened by windows, gives a character of mystery to their dull streets, which is greatly heightened by now and then observing the women, through the small apertures made in the wall, stealing a look at the passengers below.

"The entrances to the houses from the street are generally mean and low. A poor man's door is scarcely three feet in height; and this is a precautionary measure to hinder the servants of the great from entering it on horseback; which, when any act of oppression is going on, they would make no scruple to do. But the habitation of a man in power is known by his gate, which is generally elevated in proportion to the vanity of its owner. A lofty gate is one of the insignia of royalty; such is the Allah Capi at Ispahan, and Bab Homayan, or the sublime Porte, at Constantinople. This must have been the same in ancient days. The gates of Jerusalem, Zion, &c. are often mentioned in the Scripture with the same motion of grandeur annexed to them. The richest manufacture of Ispahan is the zeri, or brocade. We visited a house in which three looms were at work: the brocade which they were manufacturing had a rich appearance, but did not equal the kincobs of India, or the gold stuffs of France. The rich Persians wear the zeri for their outer garment on galadays; and of this the kalaats, or dresses of honour, which the king and his sons confer, are made. A piece of brocade, three-fourth of a zer in breadth, and five zers in length, is worth, according to the quality, from five to ten tomauns. We also visited a manufactory of satin, called in Persian atlas, which appeared a very fine stuff, and which the Persians also use for their outward coat, the caba. Ispa

han possesses many manufactories of silk, a commodity which is brought for the most part from Ghilau. The spinning-wheels of the Persians are constructed like those of Europe. We visited a house where fifty skanes of silk were spun in one day, and were then conducted to seven looms belong. ing to the same manufactory, where long black silk handkerchiefs, which Persian women wear as turbans, were wove. These seven looms employed thirty men. The weavers are paid by the piece, and not by the day; and, for completing one handker. chief, which is two zers and a quarter square, they receive two piastres (about three shillings and eight-pence). "No regular bazaar for books is established at Ispahan, as at Constantinople; but we were well supplied with manuscripts by the delals, or brokers,-men who are useful, though dishonest, who generally procured for us the books we wanted, by searching for them in shops, or in private houses. Several very fine manuscripts were brought to us, besides a great variety of Persian drawings. The Persians are not so bigotted with respect to the pollution of the Koran, by the touch of infidels, as the Turks; for many copies were brought to us for sale. But they hold it in great respect; for, one day, a Mollah brought us some books for sale, which he spread upon the ground before us, one of us by chance placing his foot upon a Cuffick manuscript, containing sentences of the Koran, was repri manded by the Persian, who exclaimed, Beware, that is the word of God!""

The embassy found the king at Teheran or Tehraun, situated in the northern part of Persia, and which had for some years been the royal residence. Here they were well received, and spent the winter, in the course of which they enjoyed many