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taken in a curious manner. It finds a principal part of its sustenance in hollow trees, logs of wood, and in the skeletons of old ships, which from laying in mud by the water side, soon decay. These they visit for food during flood tide, but at ebb are left in the cavities of the wood, out of which the hegroes draw them by a hook fastened to he end of a stick.

A negro, in the enjoyment of social happiness, having his wife and children, a garden, his goats, pigs, and feathered stock to attend to, feels a degree of interest in the estate, which would scarcely be expected from an emigrated African. By being transported to a new soil, and a more civilized country, these people become more humanized, more enlightened; their minds undergo a new formation, and they are enabled to distinguish the good treatment they receive here, from the arbitrary and unrelenting mandates of the petty kings and princes in their own country, where they are subject to be butchered like a parcel of swine. Better, sure, are the Africans under the West India planters, protected as they are by the colonial laws, transplanted into a settlement, where their industry and talents will make them useful members of the community, than abandoned to the cruel and rude tyranny of an uncivilized master in their own country. The severe methods of coercion, formerly used by the West Indian planters, are traditional among the Africans, and resulted from employing negro task-masters: I proportion as white overscers have become numerous, has the treatment improved. During my residence in Demerary, I made it a regular question of inquiry among plantation-negroes, whom I was constantly in the habit of seeing and conversing with at remote places, as my chief occupation con sisted in travelling, whether they preferred their own country to this; and I hereby make a solemn asseveration, which will remain upon record, that of several hundreds of negroes, to whom I have put the question at different periods, they have all given the preference to their present situations. I will venture to assert, that, in case of asking all the negroes round in the colonies, there will be found ninety contents out of every hundred to whom the question should be put.

I discovered in a singular manner that one of the sailor negroes attached to our establishment, and who had been in Demerary about two years, had seen Mungo Park, in his travels in the interior of Africa. I was going 'down to Essequebo in the schooner, and, as was my custom, I had put three or four books into my portmanteau: Mungo Park's Travels was among the number. In looking over the vocabulary of the Mandingo tongue, I called Peter, a negro of that nation, and asked him a question in his own language. "Kie!

1

massa, you sabbe talk me country," was the
exclamation. I had now an opportunity of
proving Mungo Park's correctness, and desired
Peter to turn the question I had put to him
into English, which he did, with several
others, and from their agreeing with the
translation, he convinced me that the travels
in Africa deserved credit and confidence.
However, to prove further, I told Peter
what I was reading, when he replied with
"Massa, me been see that white
energy,
man in me country, in de town where me
live, he been come dere one night for sleep.
one blacksmith countryman fe: me been with
him, me been give him rice for he supper,
and soon, soon, in the morning he been go
towards the Moor's country." From the
earnest manner in which this artless tale was
delivered, I was convinced that Peter had
seen Mungo Park; the name of the village,
and the reception he met with, agreed so
exactly with what was narrated, that there
could be no doubt of it.

This recollection of our adventurous countrynan will not, we hope, be deemed misplaced in the Panorama. Had we been in the boat, this negro should have received some favour, for his kindness to Mungo Park. Could enough be done for those black women who relieved him when in the deepest distress, should they have been transported to any British settle

ment ?

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We shall next avail ourselves of Mr. B's. description of the Indians.

The Carribbees are the most numerous and warlike of the native tribes of Guyana. During peace they have no sovereigns or magis trates; but during war a chief is elected, who leads them to battle. Their weapons are bows and arrows, and large clubs made of iron wood: they, also use poisoned shafts, which are discharged through a reed by the force of the lungs. They are seldom at war with other tribes, but against the Spaniards they carry on an almost constant hostility. Their houses are situated near each other, so that the blowing of a shell, which is their usual signal, will in a very short time assemble many hundreds of the inhabitants. The

Cartibbees excel the other tribes in industry. The chief employments of the men are hunting and fishing the women perform the in-door labours; they also cultivate plantains and cassava, upon as much ground as they choose, for there is no property in land among the Indians. Their hammocks are made with great labour: the cotton is spun with the hand, and in the process of weaving, the thread analogous to our shoot is passed under every other thread of the warp separately, as in darning, raising them one by one with the finger. When the weaving is finished, the hammock is dyed with red figures. Some part of the produce of their industry they barter for European articles. For this purpose they make canoes out of trees, hollowed by fire, some of which are seventy feet in length. Beside these, they exchange wax, gourds full of the balsam capivi, cotton hammocks, different kinds of wood, and staves. For these they get in return hooks, knives, hatchets, fire arms, combs, looking glasses, beads of glass and of coral.

give orders for every thing, which may enable them to celebrate it with pomp and magnificence. The riches of the nation are exhausted on this occasion, and all their ingenuity displayed. The neighbouring people are invited to partake of the feast, and to be witnesses of the solemnity. At this time, all who have died since the last solemn feast of that kind, are taken out of their graves. Those who have been interred at the greatest distance from the villages are diligently sought for, and brought to this great rendezvous of carcases. It is not difficult to conceive the horror of this general disinterment, &c. I know not which ought to strike us most, the horror of so shocking a sight, or the tender piety and affection of these poor people towards their departed friends; for nothing deserves our adıniration more, than that eager diligence and attention with which they discharge this melancholy duty of their tenderness, &c.

This strange festival is more or less in use among all the American savages bordering on the Oronuoko, and is probably a remnant of the gulf of Mexico, on the Missisipi as on Mexican superstition. A pompous reinterment is given to the dead; and games of all kinds are celebrated on the occasion, in the spirit of those which the ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated upon similiar occasions.

On another occasion, Mr. B. mentions
The arrival of forty canoes in New Am-

This barter-trade in my opinion, could be greatly increased. By holding fairs at certain Known seasons, and offering some hospitality to the savages, they could be induced to collect from remote places of the interior. They would bring many curious productions, and gradually acquire a variety of wants. The Spaniards have instituted such fairs at Buenos Ayres with the happiest effect. It is true, they fix on the grand festivals of their religion sterdam, full of Indians; they consisted of for the assemblage, and hold showy proces upwards of four hundred, and had been sions, in which the Indians delight to take a part, drest up with crowns of feathers. But their respective chiefs, to protect the town collected in different parts of the river by games of agility and bodily exercises, shooting and assist the inhabitants to regain possession with the bow, distributing swimming-prizes, of the fort. On their landing, they were horse-races even, might be made to serve for the pretence of meeting. Fairs are the natural regularly ranged under their respective chiefmethods of distributing wares in countriestains, the canoes were disencumbered of their insufficiently peopled to maintain stationary shops.

It is an undoubted fact, that the Carribbees have, in some instances, devoured their enemies slain in battle. Of all the natives of

Guyana, this practice is peculiar to the Car

ribees.-

Cannibalism is the practice only of the most savage and ferocious nations, of those who have little sensibility of heart to render them capable of loving, and who are devoid of the amiable qualities of the mind, which are the objects of love. It should be observed also, that they only devour their enemies, and rather to satisfy their revenge, than their hunger; of all passions, revenge is the wost destructive of love.......

provisions, and hauled up above high water mark. They were then conducted in separate bodies to outhouses and other buildings, which were lent them for quarters. It is needless to say they were well received and accommodated by the inhabitants with every necessary, which to their wild uncultivated taste was luxury.

The appearance of these naked warriors was indeed singular. I have before remarked, that the Indians are low in stature, stout, well made, with long black hair, and strings of beads round their ancles and wrists, the only covering in point of dress is a piece of blue India sallampores, except the captains or heads of a clan, who ate distinguished by an European suit of clothes, and the hereditary Of all their instances of regard to their or acquired staff of office. Their bows were deceased friends, none is so striking as what slung at their backs, accompanied with a they call the feast of the dead, or the feast quiver full of poisoned arrows, and another of souls. The day for this ceremony is appointed at the end with steel like javelins; in pointed in the council of their chiefs, who their hands they carried a club about two feet

long, considerably larger at one end than the other; the edges are made so very sharp, and the wood being of the hardest kind, that a blow, aimed by a person who knows the use

of these weapons, is sufficient not only to

stun, but to kill a man on the spot.

The Indians have a sincere dislike and contempt for the blacks; considering them apparently as an inferior race, born, like cattle, to labour for the service of their betters. Of the rights of intellect to exert control, they have an instinctive conviction; and are still less scrupulous than the Euro peans, about the means of maintaining as cendancy. With them, tenderness begins where fear ends; there is in all their affections, a something of contempt; it is extended to women, to children, to the young, rarely to the adult. They are grateful to the most punctilious honour; but like people, who feel an obligation as an indignity, and who, being defied to an emulation of good offices, wish to surpass in them. A white planter, in this district, who shewed hospitality to a travelling Indian family, of which the woman happened to lie in at his house, was called on a year after by the husband, and presented with a beautiful female slave, the booty of a remote campaign.

The philosopher will find ample occasion for remark, in this description. These men are simple sons of nature; they are neither peverted by refinement, nor "sophisticated by the arts of superstition," (i. e. of religion) as a certain writer expresses himself.-But, those who infer that they need no amelioration of manners, which implies the reception of better principles, have very different notions of human happiness, as well as of human excellence, from what we entertain.

The Moravians have a negro chapel in Stabroek. They have translated the Bible and a book of hymns into the Talkee-talkee, or negro language, of which, they have composed a grammar. This is commendable: yet we are hardly satisfied with the elevation of this Talkee-talkee jargon to the dignity of a language. Is it impossible to teach the negroes a purer dialect? Might they not learn English by the same means as they now learn this mixture of tongues?

Mr. B. pays attention to the Natural History of the colony: he does not add much that is new to us; yet we think his diligence deserves praise, if he be the original observer. He is, however, no Naturalist: he describes the Aboma snake as having two claws, near the tail. They

are not claws; neither are they near the tail.

A most remarkable conflagration took

place in 1769, when the whole coast was on fire progressively from Surinam to the Demerary. The flames were supposed to have been unintentionally kindled by rebel negroes: they spread with marvellous continuity, licking up vast forests, and laying waste wide plantations.”

We should have willingly given a place to the imports and exports of the colony, had Mr. B. stated them later than Sir. W. Young. We believe these must be sought for in England.

A map of the district is prefixed by way of frontispiece.

Mrs. Leicester's School; or the History of several Young Ladies, related by themselves. pp. 178. Crown 8vo. Price 3s. Godwin, London, 1808.

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THESE tales are supposed to be related by a number of young ladies, on their ar rival at school, when it opens after the holidays. The governess proposes this, in order to bring them acquainted with the history of each other, and to introduce sociability among them.

The work is liable to the same excep. tion as others are, which attempt to describe the manners of childhood: the speakers are too old for the characters they sustain. Very few writers can combine the simplicity and energy of this early age, with a sufficient portion of amusement and vivacity. We might, nevertheless, have admitted this produc tion to a place among those intended to diversify the attention of youth, had we not detected in it a too great importance attached to theatrical enjoyments. In ourview of the conduct and company of the theatre, we cannot but recommend a total indifference to it, in younger minds. Theatrical pleasures should never be held out as rewards; nor should the gratification to be expected from them be heightened by description or anticipa tion. We should be glad to characterize most dramatic representations of our time, as no worse than blanks: but, who would recommend a blank, to youth especially, as the reward of virtue already displayed, or as an excitement to exertions of talent, or excellence of deportment ?

The Life of Thuanus, with some Account of his Writings, and a Translation of the Preface to his History: by the Rev. J. Collinson, M. A. 8vo. pp. 467. Price 99. Longman, London, 1807.

CERTAINLY the lives of illustrious men, who have been of eminent utility and importance to the world, by their stations or their talents, ought to be communicated to the public: and if, from time to time, attention be called to them, by their appearance in new forms or new editions, so much the better. Those who have lived in times of distress and difficulty, who have had access to the secret springs that moved or directed the machine of the state, or who have ex

amined the rival schemes and plans of opposing politicians, if they are at liberty to state them fairly, have the means of laying not only their contemporaries, but succeeding ages, under great obligations. "Never were such times, as those we live in!" exclaims the uninformed, to whom Knowledge

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-her ample page,

Rich with the spoils of Time, did ne'er unroll while those familiar with the events of prior ages know, that the calamities, and the intricacies, which afflict and perplex mankind, have frequently, too frequently, been the result of unprincipled ambition, and wanton pride.

by avoiding the misrepresentations to which both parties were prone, he has obtained the applause of all considerate men; and is deservedly preferred to those who, however eminent for station (Cardinals Baronius, Bellarmine, and du Perron), were too much identified with the cause they espoused, to be impartial narrators of events connected with it.

Thuanus was born Oct. 9, 1553. His

grandfather and father successively filled the office of First President of the Parlia ment of Paris, which is the highest distinction in the law; and in some sense, is not unlike our Lord Chancellor ; as it combines legal with political eminence. He was of delicate health in his childhood, and was more than once given over as past recovery, from illness. This affiction interrupted his studies; but it left him at liberty to follow the bias of his mind; and he gained more from the conversation of eminent personages, than themselves too constantly from "the can be believed by those who seclude cheerful haunts of men." He enjoyed, however, the advantages of a regular course of learning, being originally intended for the church; but, on occasion of his father's hopes being disappointed by the deaths of his elder sons, Thuanfus quitted the sacred profession, and attached himself to the law. He was appointed President in 1587, being then 34 years of age; but was restricted, by an act, from giving judgment as President, until M. Thuanus, or de Thou, was Presi- he had attained the legal age of forty. He dent of the Parliament of Paris, and a married the same year. After this we confidential minister to two kings of find him engaged in various services, France, Henry III. and Henry IV. He for the kings, his sovereigns; and more saw the massacre of St. Bartholomew, than once, during the troubles of the Aug. 24, 1572 he saw the civil wars times, obliged to have recourse to disguise which religion, or a somewhat assuming for personal safety. He saw foreign the guise of religion, kindled, in his courts, also, and the wisdom that he native land; and he wrote in Latin the learned he made his own. The freedom history of those times. That work has and integrity of his advice was little faimmortalised his name. The sincerity vourable to his interest at court. The and accuracy of its author, the personal liberal sentiments that marked his writpiety, and the honest zeal for the prospe- ings, were construed perversely, by rity of his country, that appear in it, bigots. The Jesuits calumniated, not have distinguished it, and will continue to the work only, but its author. The king distinguish it, in the judgment of all from policy wavered in his protection; who are capable of proper esteem for such and the whole performance was condemn excellent qualities. He beheld the ex-ed at Rome, while only one third part tremes of zeal, Catholic and Protestant; he was not ignorant of the evils attendant on such extremes. He does not suffer himself to be swayed by either party; but,

of it was published. Like other great men, he experienced the fickleness of court favour; and, like them, had re-course to sources of satisfaction within

himself. He never retired wholly from the duties of his station; but died in his office, after a long illness, May 7, 1617. Aged 64.

Thuanus left six children, three sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom was not more than ten years of age. The daughters, when arrived at maturity, married into respectable families.

Francis Augustus, the eldest son, applied to the study of the law, and rose to be a Counsellor of State, and Master of the Requests. Unfortunately he became privy to the conspiracy against the state, which M. de Cinq Mars, in concert with the Dukes d'Orleans and de Bouillon. princes of the blood, projected in 1642. The plot, though in reality directed againat the exorbitant and invidious power of Cardinal Richelieu, amounted to high treason; and young Thuanus, being treated as an accomplice in it, was beheaded at Lyons, September 12, 1642. He was in his 36th year, and suffered with great fortitude.

make him desert his cause in difficulty, nor was he detached from it by the inviting Yet was his service given more to his country smiles and professions of the Duke of Guise. than to the monarch. He always maintained the independence of the parliament; and, in a memorable passage of his preface, exhorts the amiable Henry IV. to remember

"that Frenchmen were all the servants of the laws, in order that they might be free."

Learned himself, he was a munificent patron of literature; and, by his lavish praises of scholars, seems to have entertained a predilection for polite learning, above any other attainment. His talents, if not of the first rate, were directed to the best purposes, with sound judgment and unwearied application.

His conduct, in private life, was most attractive. We may wish for more familiar and minute particulars and anecdotes of his manners and disposition: but it is sufficiently evident that he was without any disguise or concealment, of great simplicity, plain, sincere, and affectionate. He was a tender It has been asserted, perhaps without suf-husband and a provident father; and it is ficient grounds, that Richelieu instigated this act of severity, in revenge of an unfavourable but just character of his uncle, which had appeared in the history of Thuanus.

pleasing to observe, from his will, that he would not have his daughters forced to take the veil against their inclinations.

Those who wish to be acquainted with The contemplation of a noble charac- the shades of our Author's character will ter cannot but produce beneficial effects perhaps discover that he felt a too great conon the mind; we shall, therefore, insertsciousness of his own merit, which made the description of the more prominent parts of the character of Thuanus as given by the present writer.

It is evident that Thuanus disapproved persecution, and did not believe that those who dissented from the Church of Rome were excluded from all hope of salvation.

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the gravity of his manners appear formal and
unbending, and sometines degenerated into
expressions of vanity and pride. Though in
most respects superior to the idle prejudices of
the age in which he lived, he was a believer
in omens and
presages.

To be gratified with the incense of flattery is so general a tendency of human nature, that it can hardly be ascribed as a peculiar failing to Thuanus.

These two tenets, of the Papal infallibility, and of the final perdition of all who are not of the Romanish Communion, have, His weaknesses never amounted to vice; perhaps, never been strongly maintained by but the energy he possessed was all employed sensible and humane Romanists. They, in- on the side of virtue. So severe and nice deed, bear no relation to the Gospel of Christ; were his principles, that he seems unwilling but it must be allowed that they are powerful to allow that he regarded in any action the instruments to sway the minds of the multi-praise even of good and wise men; but endeatude, and have actually been at the root of voured to regulate his whole conduct upon the most dreadful tumults and excesses. religious motives.

If Thuanus was not a good Papist, we may be allowed to call him a good Christian; for his sincerity in religion cannot be doubted by those who attend to the language he uses. It is probable that he saw many errors in the Church of Rome, and wished that it might silently reform the abuses that had crept into it, and thus obviate schism and contention. His political principles were of the purest kind. Fortune, dignity, life itself, were never by him put in competition with his duty and the suggestions of his conscience. The imbecility of King Henry III: did not

He was uniform and consistent in the prac tice of virtue; and was one of the few '** of whom to record the truth is their best praise." The words which Tacitus applies to the expression of Agricola's countenance, may, with some propriety, be adopted in summing up the general character of Thuanus: Bonum virum facilè dixeris, magnum libenter :" have been a good man; you feel willing to You pronounce him without hesitation to rank him among the great."

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Thuanus was eighteen years of age when the massacre of St. Bartholomew

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