ERRATA.

Page 18-Last line of the quotation, read "to sound what note she pleases." Page 50.-First line, read "so much for the facility of evading the spirit of the law by conforming to its letter."

Page 31.-Eighteenth line, for "possessing,” read “professing."

Page 58.-First line, for "what," read "that."

Page 60-Third line, for "who," read "which."

Page 125.-Sixteenth line, instead of "five hundred millions of dollars," read 'five millions and a half sterling."

Page 209.-Eighteenth line, " for barks well moored," read "barks_we?! manned."

TRAVELS

IN

EUROPE AND AFRICA.

PART I.

SINCE the prosecution of the war against the Tripolitans, our

relations with the Barbary states have become peculiarly interesting. It was in the Mediterranean that the naval force of the United States received a powerful impulse, and obtained a fixed character. The policy of those Regencies is imperfectly understood in this country, and we are at this day but partially acquainted with the manners and customs, soil and climate, trade and manufactures of that portion of northern Africa.

I had long expressed a desire to visit the country of Dido and Hannibal; to trace if possible the field of Zama, or seek out the ruins of Utica but travellers in those regions, now inhabited by barbarians, must be strongly protected. The simple merchant, in the eyes of Musselmen, have no right to contemplate the scite of ancient cities, or view the mouldering columns and broken shafts of antiquity. I foresaw the necessity of visiting Carthage by authority, and in 1811, applied to the government for the appointment to the consulate at one of those regencies. I had another motive for directing my steps towards that quarter of the globe; I was desirous of obtaining the most authentic information, in relation to the situation, character, resources, and numerical force of the Jews in Barbary, part of whom had been banished from their colleges at Cordova, and part were emigrants from Judea and Egypt. The only Jewish traveller in those countries, whose works are extant, is Benjamin, of Tudela in Spain, who travelled in the 13th century,

Joel Barlow, who had resided at Algiers for a length of time, advocated the appointment, and considered it expedient from his knowledge of the people and government, to make a nomination which might be acceptable to a vast portion of the commercial inhabitants of the regencies of Barbary. From some unknown cause, the vacancies at Tripoli and Tunis were not filled at that period, and I received the appointment of Consul for Riga, in Russia, an important port in the Baltic, but at that period holding forth no inducements, in consequence of the war on the continent, and the commercial obstacles which that war created, I declined visiting that part of Europe, and in April 1813, I received the appointment of Consul for the city and kingdom of Tunis. This was a salary of fice, and a trust of importance, and conferred as I conceived, after a deliberation of two years, and a perfect knowledge of character, claims and qualifications. I accepted the appointment, and made arrangements for my departure, under favourable auspices. War had been declared against us by the Algerines. Mr. Lear the Consul-general was rudely dismissed, and a vessel belonging to Salem was captured, and her crew made prisoners. I was instructed to negociate for the release of these captives, snd calculated to have charge of affairs generally in the Mediterranean.

Two vessels were bound to France, the schooner General Armstrong, captain Champlin, and the schooner Joel Barlow, captain Buchannan, both fine and fast sailing vessels, and I took my passage in the latter, and on the 28th of May, we left the harbour of Charleston. This harbour is well defended, the obstructions of the bar will ever prevent the entrance of heavy ships, and the batteries of forts Moultrie, Johnston, and Pinckney, with other small redoubts and fortifications, give a strong and efficacious appearance to the port. We weighed anchor at day break, in company with the General Armstrong, with a light and favourable breeze. The rising sun gilded the spire of St. Michael's church, which serves as a beacon to the mariners entering the harbour, and shed a soft light on the white barracks and embrazures of Fort Johnson.— On our left, on a low sandy beach, jutting towards the sea, were the summer houses of Sullivan's Island, built without order or regularity, yet affording an agreeable and healthy retreat from the heat and bustle of the city. The General Armstrong outsailed us, she was light and coppered, and after passing through the north channel, we soon lost sight of her.

The departure of the pilot is an event which produces some sensation. He is about to return to the shore, and probably in a few hours, will find himself in the bosom of his family: the voyager, like the pilgrims of old, braving the dangers of the ocean, has the world before him filled with peril and calamity, and voluntarily faces them in the pursuit of pleasure or of gain, of fame or intelligence. There is a magic in the word home, that few permit to have its due weight. Our pilot got into his little skiff and waived his hand, accompanied by the customary wishes of "a good time to ye," and directed his course to his boat, which under easy sail was plying around the vessel. The light-house gradually receded from our view, and as its white summit buried itself in the ocean, I left the deck to take a survey of our situation and the companions of our voyage.

The schooner was about 160 tons, extremely sharp and narrow, and had been originally pierced for 14 guns; being at present converted into a letter of marque, and laden with cotton, she carried but two nine pounders, and eighteen remarkably fine looking mena force which at all events afforded a show of resistance, and I trusted to the celerity of her movements in escaping from the squadrons of the enemy. Her accommodations were greatly confined. In a small trunk cabin I found an old French lady and her son, a young man of about 25 years of age; a little active French woman, which, with an American gentleman and myself, the captain and mate, constituted seven souls, cribbed in a narrow space originally intended for the accommodation of two. The captain had assured me that no other passengers should be taken for the voyage, and I took no precaution to ascertain the fact until it was too late. The old lady, who, though a resident for many years in the country, spoke not a word of English ; her son had taught the French language in Charleston, and was apparently deranged; the little French woman had been originally a Maitresse de Hotel in L'Orient, where Americans generally were accommodated; and from the glowing descriptions they had given of our country, the little woman was determined to travel and realize some happy scenes. She arrived in Charleston after running the gauntlet through the British fleet, with a small venture of silks and laces which she had bartered for three bales of Sea Island cotton, together with a quantity of sugar and coffee, deposited at the bottom of her trunk, with the patriotic resolution of smuggling the same into France. "I have seen enough of America, Monsieur Con