our opinion, that no tree was ever so richly loaded as the one in question would be:-but we are talking about the adventures of travellers, and the employments of our garret. Till that impatience to see wonderful things, which we have described as the grand passion of our youth, shall totally subside in old ....: age, we shall hold it ca principles of prudence to 'distributeou books of travels into two classes, the animated and wonderful, and the sober and common. The former class we may hope to read in safety and advantageoin our dull and languid seasons,...: since they will be at such times sufficient to enliven our spirits, 7 without exciting us to deplore the want of wings, or balloons, which we should be likely to do if we were to take up such books at an hour when our minds are at all infected with ardourin and enthusiasm. This lattor is the proper season for perusing slow-paced narratives and tame descriptions; which may con tribute to damp the distempered, passion, that is so fierce for distant climates. Hi to letivot n on 39sjóne lite ugi d'T We are willing to acknowledge our obligations for a degree i2) is of benefit of this kind, derived from the work before us. Ex-(1 cept for such an use, too considerable a portion of it consists of a journalizing narrative of very uninteresting and insigni- 1 ficant circumstances. The party breakfasted in one bungaloe, s dined in another, and supped and slept in a third They are transferred from land to river, and from, river back again tọ... land, with a due alternation of opalanquins and barges, and ob slumbers and fiddles. They kept far enough, aloof from the territory of snakes and leeches, and took care to be fanned, o all the way, by sea breezes. At proper distances they founder forts, which appear to be better furnished with cooking utensils than with cannon; though there can be no doubt the gal lant Colonel or Captain Commandant would be, to the extent :i of his stock, as liberal of his ammunition to a French invader," as of his dinners to the retinue of the Hon, Frederic, North This honourable gentleman is carried about through every a part of the book like a show, as if he were some giant, dwarf, r or albino, and at every turn his numberless virtues are lauded s with an exemplary patience of psalmody. It is not that we.. are making the slightest difficulty of believing all the fine things predicated of the gentleman, as we know that the East is, beyond all others, the climate in which Englishmen's vir tues have ever bloomed with the richest luxuriance; but it is that Mr. Cordiner's laborious eulogy looks too much like either the gratitude or the hopes of servility; or perhaps it is that we have the same perversity of nature that was tired of continually hearing Aristides called the Just. J The minute topography of Columbo and its vicinity, and of 1 1 fie or two more towns, is excessively trifling and useless. What can it signify to any body in Europe, in what part of a town in Ceylon the inhabitants may buy their victuals; how many streets and roads go from this bazar, and in what direction; on which of these roads the Dutch church is situated, and whether on a declivity or a flat; or at which end of the town the most celebrated Mr. North lived during one given year, and at which during the following? There are pretty gentlemen's seats in the environs of the town, a circumstance altogether péculiar to Columbo in Ceylon. A carefully mimute account is given by the Reverend author (who seems much at home on the subject,) of the rooms, assemblies, amusements, and dinners, of several convivial clubs; which however it is to be presumed he frequented in no other character than that of a grave observer of human manners, though his benevolence has forbidden him any Catonic or cleric reflec tions, and has even warmed him into a language very like that of full complacency. Notwithstanding however some causes of complaint against Mr. Cordiner's book, we shall be prompt to do justice to its merits. It is written with great modesty, and excepting here and there a descriptive passage of rather too fine a cast, with much neatness and propriety of expression. It affords almost all the information respecting Ceylon; which could be gained on any terms short of hazarding life by an attempt to explore the Candian territory; it gives various details of those branches of agriculture, of which a description otherwise than minute would give us no competent idea; and it contains a number of very interesting extended sections, describing the mode of catching and taming wild elephants, the pearl-fishery, the growth and preparation of cinnamon, the natural salt-pans, and the most remarkable fruit-trees. The long narrative of the Candian campaign in 1803, is written with singular clearness and simplicity, and is in every respect highly interesting. Nor will the philosopher and the moralist be content with reading but once the ample accounts of the diversities and the manners of the native inhabitants of the island. Till the interior country shall be much more laid open than there seems at present any reason to expect, we shall be fully satisfied with the information supplied to us respecting this island by Mr. Cordiner. He describes the island as abounding with scenes of romantic and exquisite beauty, though not many of those which he visited appear to reach the character of sublimity; and, with all imaginable partiality for our own country, we may be allowed to doubt whether it will convey the richest VOL. IV. 3 B idea of the oriental luxuriance to say, as Mr. C. repeatedly does, that the enchanting scenery bore a strong resemblance to that of Great Britain. The climate on the whole appears to be insalubrious, and especially the interior country is almost as deadly to Europeans, as if the woods had all grown from slips of such a tree as the fabulous plague of Java. Columbo is not so bad, but even the vast cinnamon groves in its neighbourhood would be, to a native of our northern latitude, a very insufficient compensation for the oppressive heat, which should require the follow. ing expedient for fanning us into a patience of our exist ence. The long halls are the places where the guests are entertained at dinner. Many of them afford sufficient accommodations for parties of from fifty to eighty persons. From the roof or ceiling is suspended a punka, for the purpose of ventilation, when there is no natural breeze. It is an oblong frame of wood, covered with white muslin, and is hung by ropes along the centre of the room, the lower part of it being about six feet from the floor. The dining table is placed under it, so that the perpendicular frame, if lowered down, would bisect it lengthwise: and every person present partakes of its influence. Cords are fastened to two or more cross bars in the frame, and united to one rope in the centre, by which the punka is drawn backward and forward, with a motion like that of a pendulum. Sometimes the rope runs over a pulley fixed at the top of a door in the centre of the hall, on the outside of which stands the servant who keeps the ventilator in motion. The pulley is chiefly useful for keeping up the rope, and preventing it from touching the heads of any of the company. Either with or without it, one man moves the machine with very little exertion. A stranger on his first arrival in the country, while sitting at table, and feeling the influence of this fan, naturally imagines that a refreshing breeze is entering at the open windows. This luxury was first introduced into Ceylon in 1799, by Gen. Macdowall, on his arrival from Calcutta, and is now adopted by all ́the English inhabitants. The Portuguese and Dutch bear the heat with greater patience; and having always been solicitous to exclude the natural winds from their houses, they are not inclined to create an artificial breeze.' Vol. I. P. 32. Columbo is evidently the favourite spot with our author; we will give part of his description of its vicinity. Columbo and the surrounding country have an enchanting appearance from a ship a few miles out at sea. Thick woods of cocoa-nut trees, on gentle rising grounds, extend on each side of the fort along the shore. Chains of lofty mountains rise behind them, a few only of which are discernible from the lands On a nearer approach the scenery becomes still more interesting. A wide semicircular bay extending into the mouth of the Calany river, has a grand and pleasing effect. And the prospect is enlivened by the villas, of English inhabitants, placed in high and conspicuous situations. These delightful spots were unoccupied, and overgrown with wood, when Columbo surrendered to the British arms. Many others equally desirable are still covered with impervious thickets, which, while they obstruct the view, proclaim the genial nature of the climate, and the excessive indolence of the native inhabitants. At the same time the soils not esteemed favourable to the purposes of agriculture, being an accretion of sand and clay, in many places impregnated with iron. The Dutch inhabitants of Ceylon took particular pains to exclude the sea air from their houses; and placed them in sheltered vallies, in the midst of marshes, and often close to pools of stagnant water. It has been said that they even studied to promote unhealthiness, as a security to their possessions: and in this object they have succeeded at Batavia the capital of their indian dominions. For the pestilential air which is generated and encouraged there, has been the means of preventing the British arms from taking possession of that rich and valuable settlement. Nothing about Columbo is more apt to excite admiration than the flourishing state of the vegetable world. So much beauty and variety are in few countries equalled, and no where excelled. The thick shade of majes tic trees, the open prospects, the lively verdure, the flowering shrubs, and parasitic creepers, unite their charms to render the morning rides delightful. To describe the variegated scenery, the different appearances of the trees, the ornamental shrubs, the perpetual summer, and never-ceasing spring, is a task which language cannot adequately perform. The artist who could de justice to the scenes, would be ravished with exquisite transport whilst he exercised his art for the advantage of the public.' Vol. I. p. 59, 'The social economy of the English inhabitants appears to have been no less to his taste. • The men at the head of the civil and military department are particularly amiable; and all ranks live together in a mutual exchange of the most friend ly and familiar intercourse. The offices in the courts of law are filled by men of eminent professional attainments; and their fair partners add to the number of pleasing objects which adorn this Indian paradise. One thing, which evidently contributes to enliven the pleasure of social intercourse, is the general intermixture of military officers with the civil serThe urbanity of manners which distinguishes the soldier is universally known, and in this respect the garrison of Columbo has been singularly fortunate. vants. • The society is extensive enough to afford an agreeable variety, but not so large as to be necessarily divided into many parties. When a stranger arrives he is introduced to every lady and gentleman in the settlement in the course of a few days. If he be a bachelor, and not appointed to any high station, it is expected that he will call on every family with which he wishes to cultivate acquaintance. If he bring a wife with him, or be a person named to an office of distinction, the settlement consider it as their duty to be the first to commence the civilities. When female strangers arrive, both ladies and gentleman feel themselves called upon to honour them with their respe cts These rules how. ever are not without exceptions. man of sense is not scrupulously ceremo pious. A superior is often the first to call at te hou of a person who racks below him; and a young lady never hesitates to be the first in paying attention to the matrons of the colony. The time for making complimentary visits is in the morning and the hour of public dinners seven o'clock in the evening. There is less of Indian manners to be seen among the English inhabitants of Ceylon, than those of any other of our eastern settlements. The greater part of the former have come directly from Great Britain to this island; and although some have touched on the coast of the Peninsula, they neither find it necessary nor convenient to adopt the system of living practised there. Ladies and gentlemen of the first respectability in Columbo delight in the recreation of walking in the morning and evening. On the Indian continent no person stirs out either by night or day unless in a palanquin or carriage. Even if the climate did admit of it, the quantity of dust on the roads there would render walking disagreeable.' Vol. 1. p. 75. (To be concluded in the next number.) Art. XI. Memoirs of the Life and Character of the late Rev. Cornelius Winter; compiled and composed by William Jay. 8vo. pp. 500. Price 9s. boards. Bath, Gye; Williams and Co. Hatchard, &c. 1808. THE characters of men are, of all earthly things, the no blest objects of contemplation. The relations and agencies of the physical elements, the structure and qualities of the various forms of organised matter, the whole fabric of nature, with all that it possesses of grand or beautiful, must fade and vanish away, in the comparison of serious thought, before the beings who derive their origin from the skies, and inherit immortality. If there were an order of creatures, occupying an intermediate station between the human and the brute, intelligent as the one, and perishable as the other, we can imagine how reverently they would regard a being of this happier class, as destined to behold them successively sink out of existence, to witness the final extinction of their race, and gaze on the conflagration of the globe which should entomb it. And there is nothing in this material world to which celestial spirits can look with so much interest, as to beings who possess a nature congenial with their own, and who will shortly participate in their occupations and enjoyments. To man, however, the noblest earthly study is also the wisest. Biography enables him to extend a mental existence over every past age, to assume any depicted character, and place himself at will in every recorded situation. It enriches him with the accumulated experience of his predecessors, and with a portion of prophetic sagacity. If he would ascertain the future effect of a given event, or state of circumstances, or progressive discipline, on his mind, he may obtain at once the requisite knowledge, without the hazard or the pains of an experiment. It is not necessary now, for instance, that he should exhaust the resources of sensuality, in order to know that at the close of life he would be stung with self-reproach, |
