where it will end? Under the auspices of Mr. Brewer,* it was ever foremost in pointing out errors in conduct, and in stirring up its readers to every benevolent or publicspirited undertaking; and much of this spirit we may hope will descend to his successor.

Among the public institutions which deserve to be pointed out for their novelty in Asia, is a public library and reading-room, established by several English and American gentlemen. It is as yet upon a small scale, but it may be the germ of a noble institution. Gratuitous access is afforded to any stranger who is introduced by a member.

It

The Cassino is an institution of a different nature. contains within its walls a large ball-room, a billiard-room, and an apartment neatly fitted up as a reading-room, although it contained only a few old files of Galignani, and the Paris Journal de Commerce. Any respectable stranger may be introduced by a member, and is presented with a cup of coffee, but all other refreshments must be paid for. It is a well-regulated institution, and requires only a library to be attached to it to render it a greater ornament to the city, and an honour to those public-spirited individuals who first projected it. Upon making this suggestion to one of the members, I was informed that the experiment had been made, and failed for the following reason. Such is the dread entertained in this country of the plague, and so frequent is its recurrence, that no one could be found hardy enough even to touch a book belonging to a public library, and if by any chance a member should have the plague

The efforts of the physicians at Smyrna during the fearful season of cholera were nobly seconded by many of the foreign missionaries. Among these I heard the labours of Mr. Brewer everywhere spoken of in terms of admiration. Furnished with the requisite remedies, he scoured every lane and alley, proclaiming his benevolent intentions, and distributing even food to the needy. Let history, when it repeats the story of the good Bishop of Marseilles,-who, after all, was merely a soldier at his post,-also record the benevolence and the proud contempt of danger and of death evinced by an American stranger within the pestilential walls of Smyrna.

after having used one of the books, the whole library would be compelled to undergo the destructive process of purification. A library thus neglected, or thus purified, would of course soon perish.

I have already alluded to the kingly authority usurped by the foreign consuls in this place, and I was desirous of learning what was the distinctive mark of the first class of their subjects. There is so much genuine good-feeling existing among all the European merchants here, and they are all so intimately connected by blood and marriage, that I thought such distinctions impossible; but a visit to the Cassino has enlightened me on this subject. By the rules of this club, no member or visiter is allowed to wear any thing but a hat, nor can a captain of a merchant vessel, or a person engaged in retail trade, or a native-born Smyrniote, unless of foreign parents, or under foreign protection, be admitted as members or visiters. The absurdity of some of these rules was pointedly reprobated by one of the members, who mentioned that a friend of his had been in Smyrna the preceding year as a supercargo, and was admitted to the privileges of the Cassino. He was now there as the commander of his own vessel, and was refused admission.

Any club or society have a right to determine with whom they are willing to associate, but they should be careful lest they excite censure or ridicule, by placing their exclusive principle upon absurd grounds. One is reminded of the fashionable standard adopted some years ago in New-York, when the merchant of Broadway was placed below him of Pearl-street, and the latter again was outranked by the money-dealer of Wall-street. If I recollect aright, it was Salmagundi who put the matter to rest, by inquiring whether true nobility of soul or high literary attainments were necessarily connected with per cent. commissions; and by gravely asking the difference between the intellectual attainments or good-breeding of him who sold tape by the piece, and him who sold it by the yard.

Notwithstanding these odd regulations, the Cassino is a noble institution, and merits from the stranger a passing tribute of praise.

The unsettled state of many of the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean renders it necessary for most of the European nations to keep up a large naval force in these seas. Smyrna is of course a convenient harbour, and almost every day witnesses the arrival and departure of some foreign man-of-war. To-day a large Austrian frigate, the Guerrero, came in, and excited much amusement by her unseamanlike and lubberly manœuvres. She is commanded by Accourti, a man who, according to the Philhellenes, has rendered himself infamous by his frequent arbitrary infractions of the laws of nations, and for the decided stand which he took against the Greeks during their last struggle for freedom. Without joining in this furious denunciation, he will not readily be forgiven by the man of taste for permitting his officers to deface the temple of Sunium.

While looking at the manœuvres of this frigate, we saw an American brig endeavouring to get out, but which went ashore on the sand spit a few miles below the city. This is not an uncommon occurrence, and it is said happens much oftener to outward-bound vessels than to those coming into the harbour. It was explained upon the principle that the master of a vessel is always more anxious and careful upon entering a harbour than upon leaving it.

The fresh inbat, or sea-breeze, tempted me with its coolness to venture forth into the bay, and I took the opportunity of visiting two men-of-war which had arrived within a few days. The Palinure is a stout French brig-of-war of twenty-two guns, and the appearance of this vessel and crew conveyed a favourable idea of her discipline. Her guns were upon slides, and on the non-recoil principle. She is far superior in tonnage to an English sloop-of-war,

the Raleigh, which lies at a short distance from her. This latter vessel is also in excellent order, and mounts twentyfour guns, and from her rate is commanded by a post-captain, although in the event of a contest with her neighbour she ought to be captured by her with ease.

The officers were extremely civil, and made some allusions to her plain appearance, contrasted with the elegance of American men-of-war. They seemed, however, to think, that for service their own craft would be quite as likely to do her duty as our more tastefully-decorated vessels. The arrangements of her ward-room and cabin were far superior in convenience to any thing similar I had ever

seen.

There are no American men-of-war here, nor have any been here for some time. In fact, smaller vessels are more required than unwieldy frigates and sloops. The Austrians effectually protect their commerce by a class of small schooners, and our merchants here state that our mercantile interests were better protected by the little Porpoise, than by all the squadrons which have been from time to time sent to the Mediterranean.

APPENDIX.

A.-Page 5.

Currents of the Straits of Gibraltar.

THESE currents have excited much speculation among the curious, and philosophers have endeavoured to explain why the Mediterranean should require such a continual and immense supply from the Atlantic. This current has a medium velocity, according to some writers, of eleven miles in twenty-four hours. It is urged by some, that evaporation goes on with so much rapidity in the Mediterranean, as to require this supply; but as a necessary consequence, the waters of this sea must be daily becoming salter and salter. According to Marcet, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1819, there was no difference in the saltness of the water at the surface, and at the depth of 1500 feet. Another eminent English philosopher, Woolaston, asserts that water taken up from a depth of 4000 feet, contained more than four times the usual quantity of saline matter. Here, then, we have two directly opposed facts from persons equally competent to judge, but something must be allowed for the sources of error in such analysis, and for the various accidents which may prevent the experiment from being unimpeachable.

The clever author of the Principles of Geology gets rid of all the superfluous salt which must be accumulated upon the principle of evaporation, by supposing that "in the enormous depths of the central parts of this sea, it is precipitated on the grandest scale in continuous masses of pure rock salt, extending perhaps hundreds of miles." It may, however, be questioned whether precipitation can take place, unless the whole mass has reached the point of saturation. The Mediterranean has been sounded at a depth of more than a mile, where there was a great probability of touching this salt "extending perhaps hundreds of miles," and yet nothing was brought up but mud, sand, and shells.

If, then, the Mediterranean be not salter than the ocean, what becomes of all the water which is continually pouring into it. It has been attempted to be proved that there is a counter-current setting out, which balances nearly or quite that pouring into the straits; and upon the assumption that it is salter beneath, it has been stated that an under current of the same depth

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