SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY e :

TRAVELS, •

Notes and Reflections during a Ramble in the East, an Overland Journey from India, - Visit to Athens, Re. By I:. R. Baynes, Esq., atilt. Madras Cavil Service.

BIOGRAPHY, Longman end Co.'

Memoirs of the Life of the. Rev. John Williams, Missionary to Polynesia. By. Ebenezer Prout, of Calsted. (Third Thousand.) Snow. Hum owe. •

Phantasmagoria of Far:. Edited and Illustrated by Alfred Crowquill. In two

volumes Bentley.

BAYNES'S RAMBLES IN THE EAST..

•

Mu BAYNES is connected with the Madras Civil Service ; and his :n-utilt having been injured by the climate, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, which by official regulation is deemed within the Company's limits, and involves much less loss than going to England. Here he remained eighteen months, and thought himself recruited; but we suppose incorrectly, for he appears immediately afterwards at Ceylon, making an excursion to the upland station of the Nuwera Ellie, where something like an European climate may be enjoyed. This island trip also seems to have failed, for he is next discovered at Bombay, waiting for a steam-passage to England. The sea monotony of this journey he varied by proceeding via Athens, Trieste, Venice, and the Rhine ; a route which he recom- mends to all other travellers, as costing little more of either time or money than the direct passage to Falmouth in the British steamers; it is not, however, a winter route.

All the places visited by Mr. BAYNES have been described often': enough, as he himself admits; and it is with this consciousness that he • has entitled his volume Notes and Reflections, to indicate that he does not intend to give a regular narrative of his journeyings, but merely : notes of such things as made a forcible impression ; the novelty arising less from " the facts alluded to, or the scenes described, than from the writer's reflections on them." In this point of view, the work may be received as a pleasant enough addition to a library, - though by no means a necessary book. There is some novelty both of actual description and of speculative view in this unpre- tending volume of rambles. Mr. BAYNES writes with ease and taste ; he is a tnan of reading, if not a scholar; he has a touch of enthusiasm, which shows itself less in his style than his views; and he has given much consideration to the religions of the East, in order to trace a connexion between the primitive Oriental worship - and the first revelation to Adam in Paradise, which Moses was inspired to preserve. By these means, his volume has more points than the well-trodden character of the ground would lead one to' suppose. His picture of the Boers (or descendants of the Dutch Farmers) of the Cape is one which VAILLANT might have sketched, had the Boers of his time reached the zenith of Arcadian sitn- plicity that delighted Mr. BAYNES, and the Frenchman regarded them with as goodnatured an eye. His disquisitions on the sys- , tems of Budhoo and Zoroaster might have furnished hints to . Lord ELLENBORMIGH, or his official defenders, to spread the " ample veil of allegory " over every tender part of his proclama-

tion. The elaborate disquisition on the cave and sculptures of. Elephanta—interpreting the figures to represent the attributes of, the Godhead, the mystery of the Trinity, the fall of man through.

the temptation of the serpent, and the final triumph of the seed of, Adam—is clear, clever, and curious; but it has the fatal objection,

of proving too much : if the theory of Mr. BAYNES is to be received,• the Oriental religionists must have had a much clearer view ,of, Christianity, hundreds of ages before the advent of Christ, than can be deduced from the revelation given to Moses and the Jewish prophets.

Besides these larger features of the volume, there are also a good many scattered passages in which known things are put in a newer light, or some fresh information is imparted ; the last with a prac- tical bearing on current events. For steam within these few years has introduced much of novelty into the Indian and Mediterranean Seas, and promises to produce so much more that almost every year will furnish a competent observer with something new.

FRENCH STEAMERS.

The French steamers, of which I think there are about twelve plying in the Mediterranean, are exceedingly nice boats. The sleeping-berths are clean, airy, and convenient, beyond any thing I had ever seen, and the whole arrange- merits most conducive to the comfort of passengers. At a few hours' notice, these vessels could be converted into a powerful steam flotilla. They are the • property of a private company ; who receives large sum from the Government nn condition of carrying the mails, and being commanded by an officer of the French navy, who takes care that a certain armament, which is also stipulated for in the contract, is kept in a state of due efficiency : the crew alone would,. in 'case of war, require to be put on board. By thus making themselves the means of intercourse, the French have certainly increased their inflUence in'. this part of the world, while a most useful class of vessels is maintained by the Government at a comparatively small expense.

A STEAMER AT CEYLON AND NATIVE CRAYT.

We steamed into the roadstead, going scarcely four knots an hour; and from having no sail set, we appeared, as I can easily imagine, a thing of magic to the wondering natives, who were darting about in all directions in their sin- gularly-shaped canoes. One of them, as if to prove whether or not we 'wire, really progressing against the wind without any visible mover, steered his hide' bark directly across our bows, and narrowly escaped paying dearly for his rash' experiment, for we with difficulty avoided running him down. While I am on the water, I must mention the Cingalese canoe, peculiar, I believe, to'the island. It is very long and narrow ; frequently nothing but a single large tree, slightly hollowed, shaped similarly at both ends, and having a couple of boards fixed on lengthways as a sort of gunwale: from its side protrude two curved arms, or booms, at the extremities of which is a log about one-third of the size of the canoe itself, and much of the same shape, but not holleyefl,i This outrigger has the effect of steadying the frail vessel under all possible cir- cumstances, and of making it one of the safest boats that can be placed upon, the waters. They spread to the wind an immense Fail of very thin cloth, which they keep constantly wetting to make it hold the breeze. If the wind blow from the side on which is the outrigger, it is evident that it must act as a counterpoise to the leverage of the mast, which, in high winds, would other- wise speedily upset the crank vessel. Suppose this force to be so great, which it frequently is, as to lift the outrigger out of the water, one of the crew im- mediately goes out upon it, running along the boom ; if his weight be insuffi- cient to produce the desired effect, another follows, and another, and so on till ,they attain the requisite equipoise : if, again, the mind come on the side oppo- site the outrigger, its use is equally evident ; it must force the large block ,completely under water before it could upset the canoe. Thus armed against all contingencies, they fearlessly encounter the roughest weather; of which they often get good specimens off the coast of Ceylon, and an accident very rarely happens. A similar principle is also applied to seine of their larger vessels of many tons burden.

ENGLISH DETERMINATION.

Among the curiosities of Cairo, not the least was our landlady ; for we took lodgings in preference to remaining at the hotel. An Englishwoman by birth, she had, in years gone by, married a Greek ; and since the death of her hus- band, Madame Vassalachi has earned for herself a somewhat precarious sub- sistence by letting lodgings to strangers, for whom, to use the technical lan- guage of the profession, " she does" in a very comfortable manner. Though from her little green turban sort of head-dress, Madame Vassalachi might be pronounced decidedly foreign, she retains a spirit truly English : in proof of which, during the late uncertain position of affairs in Egypt, when a formal declaration of war with England was expected in Cairo, Madame Vassalachi, of importance to herself, and therefore, as she argued, to the Fuchs, anticipated an attack upon her house as the residence of an Englishwoman, and prepared for her defence by barricading her door, and heating her oven full of sand ; and thus armed, she awaited the approach of any who should be daring enough to at- tempt her castle by escalade or otherwise. I am confident they would not have effected an entrance while her sand lasted. "But would not melted lead have been better ? " I ventured to suggest. " No, Sir " replied the heroine, with a con- sciousness of superior military talent; " sand answers just as well, and is not so expensive as lead."

BRAIIMINS ON THE PYRAMIDS.

The Brahmins of India, on the pyramids being described to them, said, there would be a well going down to the level of, and thus communicating with the sacred river: that well has since been discovered. It would appear, then, that for some purpose water was required within the pyramid ; not brought from outside, lest the vulgar should perceive that it was needed.

A COSMOPOLITE ON THE POOR-LAW AND EMIGRATION.

Political necessity convinces me that I must, Christian charity teaches me that I ought to contribute, according to my means, to the support of the sick and aged poor, or to assist them under temporary pressure arising out of pass- ing circumstances : but neither on the one account nor the other do I feel bound to maintain, year after year, in idleness, those mho, if they chose, might earn their own livelihood in a country m here there is food and work for them, instead of obstinately staying in one destitute of both. This is, perhaps, felt as a grievance, more especially by those who, acting differently themselves, have left their native country, and on their return find themselves called upon to contribute a large portion of their hard-won earnings to feed those who would perhaps deliberately refuse to take the same means of acquiring inde- pendence. Why should not a parish in England hold land in the Colonies, and be allowed to say to applicants for work, " Yes, we will give it to you on our farm at the Cape of Good Hope?" No owner of an estate would allow his labourers to dictate to him in which particular field they should work, or permit them all to crowd into one, to the neglect and ruin of the rest ; and why should Great Britain not have the power of employing her labourers in whatever field of her immense estate is found most convenient to her?

TRAINING IN THE CAPE WINE-COUNTRY.

One trait in their character to which I have alluded, the absence of drunken- ness, may seem strange in a country abounding with wine. Had I not seen it practised, I should hardly have thought their mode of education in this respect likely to produce the temperate habits which it certainly does. Their plan is simply this—never to tell the children it is wrong to take wine, never to forbid them the use of it : from their infancy they see it all around them—they may help themselves. Some perhaps take a little more than would be good for a continuance. The evil is its own cure : no remark is made ; headache and the usual accompaniments of excess are experienced, and it is not repeated : the result is a temperate habit, in the midst of temptation to intemperance.

EGGS AND MINE AT MARATHON.

Wet, cold, and hungry, we were glad to procure quarters for the night in a miserable sort of farm-house, belonging, as I understood, to some proprietor who paid it an occasional visit, but which at that time was only occupied by some agricultural labourers and their families, who seemed to be in a wretched state of poverty. They allowed us to occupy the best room as our sleeping- chamber; and as it contained two couches and some blankets, we bad no cause to complain of our fortune in that respect. In a sort of kitchen they made up a tolerably good fire; sitting down on the ground by which, we soon managed to dry our clothes. We were no longer wet and cold, but we were still hungry ; and our hosts positively assured us they had nothing to give us to eat. I be- lieve they spoke truth ; for neither the lugnisitoriaPresearches of our formid- able guide, nor the extravagant price which we professed ourselves willing to pay for any thing in the shape of food, succeeded, even after much delay and a visit to several other cottages in the neighbourhood, in producing ought be- side a few eggs and a crust of exceedingly hard black bread. The eggs, and a frying-pan, the only culinary utensil in the house, were at length placed before me, with an intimation, that after all, they could not be dressed "as there was nofat." " Never mind," I replied, " I can fry them in water." Upon this announcement, they gathered round with eager curiosity, while ! proceeded with the air of a chemical lecturer to demonstrate experimentally the truth of my assertion. Of course the eggs were well poached, and speedily devoured by my companion and myself. After which I retired to my couch, with the gratifica- tion of having acquired some renown on the field of Marathon, and conferred a lasting benefit on the Greeks. I should mention, that they indicated their de- light and gratitude by producing an earthen bottle of wine ; which I applied to by mouth, thinking it could nut possibly contain any thing so unpalatable as not to be endured in the absence of better potations. Alas I I was mistaken ; it was an acid vinous solution of resin. As soon as I was sufficiently recovered from the effects of the taste to make inquiries, I discovered that the Greek pea- s tuts are in the habit of putting the resin of the fir-tree into their wine, " to keep it," or, as I would rather say, to render it not worth keeping.

Not even the consideration that my sufferings from this vile custom had fur- nished me with a practical explanation of the fact of the fir being sacred to Bacchus, and the top of his thy rsus being decorated with a fir-cone, was suffi- cient to console me for the mode in which that mythological lesson was con- veyed.

CLASSICAL ENTHUSIASM.

1 believe that, in the opinion . of my guide, my "trance" [at Marathon] endured for a longer time than his experience taught him was usual on limb occasions; and when Le beheld me gather my hatfull of the wild flowers which grew on the sides of the little mount, he looked as though, had he been conver- sant with the writings of Peter Pindar, he would have exclaimed- " Alas! pour gentleman, I'm sorry for ye, And pity much your upper story."

If such were his conclusions, they must have received complete confirmation when on our road home. Ere I could discern any part of Athens, and while we were yet at some distance from it, I beheld, standing as it were in the sky, a magnificent temple: I uttered an exclamation of surprise—The Parthenon ! The effect surpassed any thing I had ever witnessed of architectural grandeur ; and by a sort of instinctive movement I uncovered my head. The intervening country was of such a nature as exactly to hide the rock of the Acropolis, and leave the temple °nix visible. An ancient worshiper of Jove, under similar circumstances, might have been pardoned for believing that the clouds which conceal his habitation from mortal sight were for a while withdrawn, so as to afford him a glimpse of the " palace of the Gods." Advancing a little far- ther, we came in sight of the rock of the Acropolis ; and the illusive effect was dissipated.