and diseases with our newly discovered brethren,-and brought the distant families of mankind into acquaintanceship, only to increase their dangers, their sufferings, their means of annoyance, and their knowledge of evil. There have been exceptions to this:-But they are very few; and we know of none so striking and complete as that which is recorded in the volumes before us--none in which both parties appeared to have been animated with so cordial and disinterested a feeling of good will and affection-and in which that mutual feeling was mutually so well deserved.

tents.

These two books both contain an account of the proceedings of the ships of war which accompanied our late Embassy to China; and, of course, coincide in a good part of their conThis coincidence, however, is only partial,-and by no means distressing; for Mr M Leod has aspired to give his readers an account of the whole voyage from England and back, while Captain Hall, we conceive with better judgment, has confined himself to that part of their track which had the recommendation of novelty. He could afford, therefore, to be more particular and his book, accordingly, is not only on the whole. the most interesting, but also by much the largest of the two. The most remarkable part of Mr M'Leod's, is his account of the wreck of the Alceste, and the conduct and condition of her crew and commander, till they were relieved from Batavia.

After the embassador was landed in the Yellow Sea, the two vessels that accompanied him were ordered on a cruize to the east and south, in order to ascertain the geography of the Corean coast and the adjoining islands-and it is to the results of this expedition that Captain Hall has limited his narrative. His account is given mostly in the form of a Journal-in a very easy, unassuming, and lively style-in the language and manner of a gentleman and a man of the world-and not only with much acute observation and just reflection, but with infinite good humour, modesty and candour.

They soon fell in with the coast, and landed on two or three of the adjacent islands. The inhabitants appear to be unequivocally a race of Chinese, and use the same written character, though their spoken language is entirely different. Though quite pacific in their deportment, their great desire was evidently to get rid, as soon as possible, of their curious visiters; for which purpose they used all sorts of anxious signs and intimations-and when these proved ineffectual, took them resolutely under the arms, and walked them down to the beach! They showed very little curiosity, and no admiration or sense of inferiority; but, on the contrary, maintained a proud and somewhat insolent manner, giving way now and then

to bursts of derision. They did not scem to know the value of money, and would make no presents, and scarcely receive any. They kept their women most jealously secluded from the view of their visiters. They are rather smail in stature, though robust. Some of them seemed marked with small-pox. They are well clothed in cottons of various colours, and seemed abundantly supplied with provisions. A few days after this first encounter, the voyagers came to a more thickly inhabited part of the coast, and were met on their approach by a great cavalcade of boats, crowded with people, and ornamented with flags and streamers of all colours. Under a great blue umbrella, in one of the largest, they found a fine patriarchal figure, with a huge white beard flowing below his middle, and over the folds of the vast blue silk mantle in which his person was enveloped. He wore a light hat of varnished gauze work, apparently of horse hair, with a very small sharp crown, and near three feet broad in the brim; and had a little black rod tipped with silver in his hand. He received the officers who had approached in their boat, with great civility and unembarrassed politeness, and accompanied them aboard the frigate, where, after delivering a long harangue, he dictated a billet to his secretary with great solemnity, and put it into Captain Maxwell's hands, with the most apparent confidence of its being understood-a confi.lence not very unnatural, perhaps, to those who are daily accustomed to see their written characters adopted by persons who are utter strangers to their speech. Captain Maxwell very judiciously called for paper in return, and writing a few words in English, presented it with all due solemnity to his visiter, who, after turning it in all directions, and submitting it to the consideration of his secretary, was obliged to give up all conventional means of communication, and to have recourse to the natural language of signs. On the approach of night, he ordered his boats, and was assisted into his own; when he was expected, of course, to return to the shore.

But there was still something amiss; for the old man, seated in state under his umbrella, remained alongside with his attendants ranged on the deck about him, he and his people preserving the most perfect silence, and making no signs to explain his wishes. We were greatly puzzled to discover what the old gentleman wanted; till at length it was suggested, that having paid us a visit, he expected a similar compliment in return. This idea was no sooner started, than we proceeded to pay our respects to him in his boat. He made signs for us to sit down, honouring us at the same time with a corner of his own mat. When we were seated, he looked about as if in distress at having nothing to entertain us with, upon which a bottle of wine was sent for and given to him. He ordered an attendant to pour it into

several bowls, and putting the bottle away, made signs for us to drink, but would not taste it himself till all of us had been served. He was nowise discomposed at being obliged to entertain his company at their own expense; on the contrary, he carried off the whole affair with so much cheerfulness and ease, as to make us suspect sometimes that he saw and enjoyed the oddity of the scene and circumstances, as fully as we did ourselves.' p. 20, 21.

Next day he paid another visit aboard, and drank tea and cherry brandy with great sociality; but, in retiring, he displayed his authority over his attendants in a very characteristic way.

On passing the gun-room sky-light, he heard the voices of some of his people whom the officers had taken below, and who were enjoying themselves very merrily amongst their new acquaintance. The old Chief looked down, and observing them drinking and making a noise, he called to them in a loud passionate voice, which made them leave their glasses, and run up the ladder in great terror. From thence the alarm spread along the lower deck, to the midshipmen's birth, where another party was carousing. The grog and wine with which they had been entertained was too potent for this party, as they did not seem to care much for the old Chief, who, posting himself at the hatchway, ascertained, by personal examination, who the offenders were. On this occasion, his little rod of office was of much use; he pushed the people about with it to make them speak, and used it to turn them round, in order to discover their faces. One man watching his opportunity when the Chief was punching away at somebody who had just come up, slipped past and ran off; but the quick eye of the old man was not so easily deceived, and he set off in chase of him round the quarter deck. The man had an apron full of biscuit, which had been given to him by the midshipmen; this impeded his running, so that the Chief, notwithstanding his robes, at last came up with him; but while he was stirring him up with his rod, the fellow slipped his cargo of bread into a coil of rope, and then went along with the Chief quietly enough. afterwards, and found the biscuit, which he pointed out to us, to The old man came back show that it had not been taken away. He continued for some time at the hatchway, expecting more people; but finding none come up, he went below himself, to the main deck, and rummaged under the guns and round the main-mast, to discover whether any one was concealed; but finding no person there, he came again upon deck, and shortly after went into his boat.' p. 25, 26.

We may add the following just and characteristic passage to complete the picture-and it is no doubt a very engaging one-of Corean manners.

In the mean time, Captain Maxwell had come on board; and breakfast being ready, we prevailed upon the Chief to sit down with us. He ate heartily of our hashes, and of every thing else that was put before him, using a knife, fork, and spoon, which he now

saw, probably, for the first time in his life, not only without awkwardness, but to such good purpose, that he declined exchanging them for Chinese chop-sticks, which were provided for him. In fact, he was so determined to adopt our customs in every respect, that when the tea was offered to him in the Chinese way, he looked to the right and left; and seeing ours differently prepared, held up his cup to the servant, for milk and sugar, which being given to him, the old gentle. man remained perfectly satisfied.

The politeness and case with which he accommodated himself to the habits of people so different from himself, were truly adınirable; and when it is considered, that hitherto, in all probability, he was ignorant even of our existence, his propriety of manners should seem to point, not only to high rank in society, but to imply also a degree of civilization in that society, not confirmed by other circumstances. Be this as it may, the incident is curious, as showing, that however different the state of society may be in different countries, the forms of politeness are much alike in all. This polished character was very well sustained by the old Chief; as he was pleased with our attempts to oblige him, and whatever we seemed to care about, he immediately took an interest in. He was very inquisitive, and was always highly gratified when he discovered the use of any thing which had puzzled him at first. But there was no idle surprise, no extravagant bursts of admiration; and he certainly would be considered a man of good breeding, and keen observation, in any part of the world.' p. 33, 34.

The character, however, is not quite so unexceptionable as the manners; and, even during the brief period of their acquaintance, the harshness, the imbecility and selfishness of the half savage was strikingly developed. The old chief was fond of quarrelling and chastising his attendants, and had one of them severely bastinadoed for some very slight offence; while all the rest joined in mockery of his cries and lamentations. When the officers at last insisted on returning his visits on shore, he appeared extremely distressed; and intimated, by many signs, that it would cost him his head if he were to permit it. However, though surrounded by a great submissive population, he made no resistance; and they accordingly landed along with him.

The old man was lifted out of the boat by several of his people, and we were amazed to find, when they set him down, that he was in tears, and looking altogether very unhappy. In a few minutes a crowd, consisting of more than a hundred people, assembled round us, and we began to think we should pay dearly for our curiosity. But the poor old man had no thoughts of vengeance, and was no better pleased with the crowd than we were; for, turning to his soldiers, he desired them to disperse the mob, which they did in a moment by pelting them with great stones. The Chief now began crying violently; and, turning towards the village, walked away, leaning his head on the

shoulder of one of his people. As he went along, he not only sobbed and wept, but every now and then bellowed aloud. We had been nowise prepared for such a scene, and were extremely sorry for having pushed matters to this extremity. It had never occurred to us that the old Chief's head was really in danger; and even now we could not satisfy ourselves whether he was sincere, or merely acting in order to prevail on us to retire. The perfect tranquillity, nay even cheerfulness of the Courtier, who staid with us all this time, puzzled us extremely; nor could we account for the indifference of the other attendants, who looked on with as much composure as if such scenes were every-day occurrences. But at all events, it was necessary before proceeding any further, that the old man should be pacified; and in order to effect this, we sat down on the beach, upon which he turned about and came crying back again.' p. 36, 37,

The party good-humouredly repressed their curiosity, when they saw how much distress it occasioned; and, after doing all they could to cheer the poor old man, returned to their ships. without entering the village, and sailed away. They now entered upon a scene utterly unknown to European navigators, and more invariably beautiful than ever before repaid the toils and hazards of discovery.

one moment.

We threaded our way for upwards of a hundred miles amongst islands which lie in immense clusters in every direction. At first we thought of counting them, and even attempted to note their places on the charts which we were making of this coast; but their great number completely baffled these endeavours. They vary in size, from a few hundred yards in length to five or six miles, and are of all shapes. From the mast-head other groups were perceived lying one behind the other to the east and south as far as the eye could reach. Frequently above a hundred islands were in sight from deck at The sea being quite smooth, the weather fine, and many of the islands wooded and cultivated in the valleys, the scene was at all times lively, and was rendered still more interesting by our rapid passage along the coast, by which the appearances about.us were perpetually changing, Of this coast we had no charts possessing the slightest pretensions to accuracy, none of the places at which we touched being laid down within sixty miles of their proper places. Only a few islands are noticed in any map; whereas the coast, for near two hundred miles, is completely studded with them, to the distance of fifteen or twenty leagues from the main land. These inaccuracies in the charts naturally gave a very high degree of interest to this part of the voyage; yet the navigation being at all times uncertain, and often dangerous, considerable anxiety necessarily mingled itself with the satisfaction produced by so new and splendid a scene. We always anchored during the night, or when the tides, which were very rapid, prevented our proceeding in the deliberate manner absolutely required by the nature of the circuns