THE UNSUCCESSFUL NEGOCIATION FOR A DUKEDOM.

(An Episode from the Cruize of Her Majesty's sloop "Snake" in the Mozambique Channel for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, 1847.)

The Comoro Islands, situated between the east coast of Africa and the northern part of the Island of Madagascar, are possessed by Arab chiefs, calling themselves kings and sultans. Mayotta, however, is an exception, having been purchased by the French, who are forming an important settlement there.

Among these islands Johanna is the favourite resort of the English and other European ships passing through the Mozambique Channel, on account of the facility with which they can there obtain water, bullocks, poultry, eggs, vegetables, and certain fruits. "The Snake" anchored there in July, and again in August 1847.

Selim is the king of Johanna, and is not less cunning and knavish than the generality of his subjects. Selim's brother is called the Duke Alai, and his uncle is called the Duke Abbas. We found a single European resident there, an Englishman about thirty years of age, whom I had before seen at the Cape of Good Hope. Thinking that his having been noticed by a Man of War calling there might add to his consideration in the eyes of the natives, and even, on an occasion, add to his personal safety among them, I invited him to dine with me on board "The Snake." Among the lions of my cabin, which I was exhibiting to him, when on board, were some apparatus for conjuring tricks, which Mr. Simley (for that was the name of my guest) particularly begged to see performed. My compliance with his wish led, after a little preamble of hesitation and apology, to his expressing so great a desire that his host (the Vizeer) should have the opportunity of seeing those tricks, that I allowed him to take the apparatus on shore with him, promising to call on him the next day, when he might invite the Vizeer to witness the wonders of the West! This same Vizeer is considered the first man in the Island; he is so at any rate, if the King be excepted, but many will not admit the exception; for, whilst the King is niggardly and grasping, the old Vizeer is hospitable and generous.

When Simley first arrived in Johanna he was accommodated in some house belonging to the King, and had to pay an exorbitant price for house-room and for meals. Subsequently, on becoming acquainted with the Vizeer, he was accommodated by him with a whole house, with twice as many meals every day as he could touch, accompanied by every attention, for the whole of which the Vizeer would receive no

remuneration.

When I went to Simley's, as appointed, I found quite a crowd there, including the Vizeer, his three sons, his son-in-law, and among others, not his relatives, one Abderrachmah, the King's interpreter-as great a ruffian, by the way, I believe, as one may be likely to fall in with, in

a month's travelling. Nothing daunted by the numbers present, I shortly after my arrival commenced my tricks; and it was truly amusing to see the effect on my spectators, who had never seen, or most likely never heard of the like before.

After they had been gone through once, and while, by particular request, some of them were being repeated, the King's interpreter withdrew, but in half-an-hour returned, and, with the manner of a man who thinks he is about to make a communication of sufficient importance for everything else to give place to it, he said

to me:

"Porserr [purser] the King he wantay verry mosh for you for do him one very great favor; he wantay verry mosh."

"Well Mr. Interpreter," said I, "what does the King want?"

"He wantay verry mosh for you for shew him this thing."

I was still so taken up and amused with those around me, that, notwithstanding the importance of Abderrachmah's communication, my only desire was to get rid of him as quickly as possible; and, solely with that view, I replied to him that if the King would give me letters patent under his royal sign manual, and the great seal of Johanna, affirming me to be the greatest conjurer in the world, and appointing me to be First Conjuror to His Majesty Selim, King of Johanna, I would comply with his request, but that otherwise it would be impossible. To this he replied, "Perhaps he give," and so saying he again went away; the English part of the audience then seeming to think it was their turn to laugh.

Such were the astonishment, the admiration, and sometimes the fears, of my spectators, that a couple of hours more elapsed before I was allowed to have my apparatus put by. During that interval Abderrachmah returned several times, with more pressing importunities, for me to adjourn to the King's; but each time I put him off with a repetition of my condition as to the royal letters patent.

At last he came and told me that the King would comply, and as my joke took that turn, I promised to wait on His Majesty the following day.

It fell out, however, the next day, as I turned the corner of one of the narrow streets, I perceived an Arab leaning with the breadth of his shoulders against the wall. He had on white cotton petticoat-trousers, leaving the leg bare from the knee, down to the red leather sandal; a close white dress, with a sort of waistcoat of red cloth, trimmed with gold lace, and falling in two low points over his silk net sash; his sword was unslung, and borne in his right hand as a

walking-stick; and his head-dress was a stiff built cap of a chocolate-coloured velvet, with a large raised crown; at the top, in front, was a sort of templar's cross, or star of gold, with a large topaz set under it. This was Selim, King of Johanna. I must here state that His Majesty does not speak English, but understands it pretty well when spoken slowly. The moment he perceived me he came forward and asked me how I was, and by certain inarticulate sounds, which were accompanied by the extended right hand twisting itself about on the wrist, with the fore and middle fingers kept beating against the top of the thumb, the King meant inquiringly to say: "Purser, I believe you can perform some conjuring tricks."

To which I replied, "Yes, King Selim," "And you will do them for me?" inquired His Majesty.

To this I replied, "Suppose King Selim make royal letters patent-great seal of Johanna, King Selim's sign manual-declare Porserr greatest conjuror in the world, and first conjuror to Sultan Selim, King of Johanna, then me for do for you. Suppose King Selim no can for make, me no can for do."

Here the King gave two deep condescending nods of assent, and then one deeper and yet more condescending, at the same time saying, "Me give."

"The sovereign of England, you know," said I, "is the queen or king. England is divided into counties, such as Northumberland, Devonshire, and so forth. When one man do one very great thing for sovereign of England, sovereign make him Duke of Northumberland, Duke of Devonshire, or Duke of some place or other. Johanna," continued I, "no got counties, Johanna no divided into provinces; but Johanna got North-east Point here," said I, pointing to one of the headlands of the Island; and then pointing to another, I continued, "Johanna got South-west Point there. Me do this great thing for King Selim if King Selim will give me royal letters patent under King Selim's royal sign manual and great seal of Johanna, making and creating me Duke of the North-east Point in Johanna, or Duke of the South-west Point, me no care which."

To this the interpreter hurriedly replied, "Me go ask him;" and be started off running, notwithstanding the intense heat then prevailing.

He presently returned, and again informed me how "verry VERRY mosh" King Selim wanted me to teach him to do that great thing! My only reply was a repetition, word for word, of the condition previously proposed as above set forth. But the interpreter informed me that King Selim could not go further than to create me Duke of the North-east Point of England. Thereupon we went together to his house; a But this I objected would be of no value, messenger was sent to Simley for the traps; and as it would only be giving his sanction to my while they were coming, a numerous audience wearing a title over which he had no more power was collecting at the King's, composed, no or control than the least of his slaves. As, doubt, of the élite of Johanna; that is to say however, Abderrachmah informed me that King of the male élite, for, as in all other Mahomedan Selim could not, or would not, raise me to a countries, the females are never to be seen. Dukedom in Johanna, this important negociaThe tricks passed off splendidly all seemed tion, as I have already said, fell to the ground. much to admire, but some appeared considerably He then went away, carrying with him my request frightened. I returned to Simley's, whither my that he would inform His Royal Master how apparatus was sent after me, and an hour or so proud I should have been, when going to see later came the royal letters patent. They are Queen Victoria, if to my card, having on it written on a sheet of English gilt-edged paper," Mr. Cheeks, Paymaster and Purser in the the writing is in Arabic, and the great seal of Johanna is duly affixed, as also the royal signature. Some further negociation, however, was destined to take place; and, although it ultimately fell to the ground, you will doubtless perceive that it might have led to affairs of importance.

:

Abderrachmah came to me, looking bigger, oh much bigger than on the occasion of the commencement of the former negociation.

"King Selim," said he, "wantay verry mosh, oh! but verry VERRY mosh; that you for do one very great thing for him: he wantay for you for show him how you for do that thing."

This I gave the royal interpreter to understand was a business of immensely great importance; but I told him that there might, however, yet be conditions on which I would do that great thing for King Selim.

Royal Navy of Great Britain," I had been enabled to add "Duke of the North-east Point in the Island of Johanna."

The brave old Vizeer heartily joined in the laugh in which, notwithstanding the unfavourable issue, we all indulged at the ludicrous negociation; and without any attempt to disguise the utter contempt in which he holds the Royal person, he assured me that, to have become possessed of the secret of the tricks he had seen performed, King Selim would have conferred on me the title of any Duke of any place I thought proper to select, were it not for the fear that Queen Victoria might some day or other find it convenient to send one or two of her ships of war to establish a settlement in, and take possession of a Dukedom belonging to one of Her Majesty's subjects.

H. M.

LOOSE THOUGHTS ON CULTURE.

BY JOHN BURROUGHS.

Astronomers assure us that the amount of light and heat we receive from the stars is by no means inconsiderable. Sun helps suo, and we are indebted for light and warmth to every star that shines.

There is something analogous in our culture. To the great luminaries of Science and Learning we attribute the moulding of our minds and the enlightening of our understandings, and give little credit to the thousand subtle influences that play upon us from star, and tree, and field, and mountain, yea, from every forin and product of nature. Who are our teachers?

"More servants wait on man

Than he'll take notice of."

Silently and invisibly the elements are changing the face of the continents and the bed of the sea; so agencies are at work, unknown and unheeded, that mould and fashion our characters beyond our thought or will. How much constancy has the day taught us! How has the night revealed the stars of thought and imagination! Who will report what night has given to literature?

In like manner, who shall measure the effect of the seasons upon character? How inspiring and invigorating the fresh budding spring! Whom does it not recall to youth and hope? How tranquillizing the golden October! When will it be known how much mankind are indebted to the summer? What lessons of calmness, of moderation, of peace and good-will toward men, are here! History is coloured by the spring and the autumn.

Thanks for the twilight! It educates us in piety, cools the fevers, and lulls the passions of the day. How medicinal a walk on the calm June evening, or a row on the lake or river! All men are religious then. A perennial gladness seizes one-a gladness as of love requited, as of a lost paradise regained; and sorrow, pain, crime, disappointment seem to be removed to an immeasurable distance-seem to belong to another world than this. What a bath is to the body, such, in these halcyon days, is wood and lake to the soul. They purify, they invigorate, they renew youth and hope. No associations, no counsels or philosophies, mould character like these. All good thoughts and feelings these beneficent, these summer influences bring out. If a man has charity, then is he most charitable; if mercy, then is he most merciful; if humility, then is he most humble. If he is angry, his anger dies; if harassed, he becomes tranquil; if sorrowing, he finds comfort and consolation. Nature, in these forms, takes us by the palm, like a great mother, and soothes

and calms us, and inspires feelings of peace and harmony.

A school or a seminary diffuses knowledge, and elevates the standard of intelligence in the community where it is located; but a lake, or a river, or a mountain prospect, goes deeper-it reaches the character, and cultivates the sentiment of beauty and the feeling of reverence. The influence of Nature is uniformly in the direction of the character and the moral sense, and is, therefore, constant and inevitable. Knowledge soon makes itself felt: the understanding is readily awakened. You can put facts and ideas into a man's head almost as éasily and as palpably as you can put coppers into his pocket, or food into his stomach; but appeal to the perception of beauty or the moral principle-in short, address yourself to his soul, instead of to any power or faculty of his mind, and your progress is slower and less obvious, because the grounds are deeper and more fundamental. Not in days, but in years, is the result noticeable. What the stars and the blue sky have taught us, let the centuries answer. What our lakes, and rivers, and mountain scenery are doing for us, time will tell. In every generation these fair features of our inland scenery reappear in the character of the people, and inspire brave and beautiful lives.

"How close akin is what is fair to what is good!" Beauty, in whatever form, is a friend of virtue and a tacit encouragement to right living. Mountain and landscape reassure us. On the hill I can feel and utter what in my study was beyond my grasp. I break down my prison-walls, and partake, in some degree, of the largeness of my vision. Even a well-kept lawn may serve to remind one of the virtue of neatness and regularity. Who can walk through a flower-garden without improving his taste and cultivating his perception of form and colour? Oh! the sweet and pure ministrations of flow. ers! If their good effects upon the race were balanced against its tomes (one might say tons) of theology, how would the scale poise?

It cannot be denied that the moral influence of all lovely objects is invariably on the side of right. Vice and sin are deformities, and at war with the eternal laws of God; beauty shames and refutes them, and suggests a return to virtue and rectitude. To people living in hovels and immersed in filth, poisoned by foul air and pinched with cold and hunger, crime comes easily. It is not difficult to understand that; but stately halls, cultivated associates, spacious parks, extensive views, the accessories of wealth and position, are supporters of virtue, and stand mute but eloquent witnesses against irregularity and disorder. Crime loves dens and