The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-15 00:00:00

LITERATURi:

The Wanderer in Arabia. By G. 'V. Lowtb,
Esq., with Illustrations.—Burst and Elackett.
That wonderful East—Egypt, Arabia, the Holy
Land—who has not longed to set foot on its glow-
ing shores, pluck out the heart of its mys-
teries, dream over its mighty ruins, andinhale
its balmy air, fragrant as with the . virtue of a
newly-ascFn led god That representative East,
within whose confines the most important events
in the world's history have transpired, where the
arts and sciences took their birth, where the work
of redemption was achieved, where history is illu-
minated by miracles, where ruin preaches a resur-
rection, and desolation a hereafter, where the
voice of the Eternal has been heard in thunder, and
the gates of Heaven have opened to receive its king.
That laud which to the present hour is so steeped
in the hues of imagination, that simply to describe
its appearance, with the life that is of it, is to rival
the picturings of the poet.• Who,. we repeat, does
not long to see that land, and who is there
but delights to learn all he can about it ?
If there be such a person he never read the Bible
as he ought, or the Arabian Nights; at all events he
is of no kin to the author of this book, to whom
from his youth the East has been a passion, and
whose whole being seems to have luxuriated in the
entrancement of its atmosphere. Wisely, as we
believe, eschewing rivalry with the authors of
"Either" and "The Crescent and the Cross,"
those masters of Eastern travel he appears to
have set out with the simple determi-
nation to gratify his longing and faith-
fully transcribe what he saw, heard, and expe-
rienced for the benefit of others, without incurring
the charge of pedantry, or aping the inventive
wisdom of the philosopher. The result is an ex-
cellent book, pervaded by a healthy enthusiasm,
novel and varied in its incidents, picturesque in
its descriptions, and running over with human in-
terest. A book for the comprehension of the pre-
sent. as well as the past. Beaten as the
track is, he has contrived to avoid the imprint of
others, and to leave behind him distinct, if less
marked, traces of his own. The hearty earnest-
ness and vividity of the work is its great charm,
had he been more ambitious he would have been
less successful. The journey, it appears, was made
in 1850-51, the author being •accompanied by his
wife, to whom, under the uxorial appellative of
"Sift," or spouse, lie refers with a frequency and
a consideration winch entitle him to the gratitude
of the sex. Having engaged a suitable clahabeeh,
or Nile boat, together with a dragoman and cook
his class, our wanderer started
each, the pink of
from Alexandria, towards the close of the year,
and for three mouths enjoyed the luxury of beat-
ing up and down the Nile. During this period,
the pyramids, the ruins, among others, of Sais iu
the Delta, of Thebes, of Phiko the beautiful, and
of the temple of Epsambul, unique iu its way, and
otherplaces of interest, passed in review before him,
and ample opportunity was offered him for be-
coming familiar with the romantic natural scenery
on either bank of the Nile, and the manners,
habits, customs, and condition of the much diver-
sified population in its vicinity. Of this opportu-
nity it is clear he duly availed himself, and we are
presented as the result with a useful and pic-
turesque guide-book into the interior of Nubia.
It is not until we arrive at the second volume that
" the Wanderer" leads us forth towards the arena
of those all-important events to whiCh we have
more particularly alluded. From Cairo we fol-
low him to the shores of the Rod Sea, and
woke with him in ima,ginatiou the Heaven-led
people and the horses and chariots of Pharaoh.
We pass the rock of Horeb, we pursue hs steps to
the wilderness of fin, and gaze around within-
quiring awe for the mount of thunderings
from whence issued the tables of the
Onward we follow him step by step in hi; journey-
ings and meditations in the desert and plains of
Arabia, questioning many an Arab Sheikh, and
contrasting the calm, the content, and the beauty of
pastoral life, with the bustle and laborious toil of
European cities, until at last we arrive on the
hill tops of Judea, eager and expectant and hardly
able to separate the present from the past.
Descending from these heights, we trace with a
quickened interest the various mementoes of the
greas events of which it has been the scene, and
iz due time contemplate with loving reverence the
birth-placo of our Lord, the various scenes
of his ministrations and, of his sufferings,
and the site of that Jerusalem he so
beautifully apostrophised while predicting its
ever-memorable fall. As we gaze crowds of trea-
sured memories throng upon us, and the hum, if
hum it be, of the city wafted to the Mount of Olives
seems but a preliminary to the cry of Hosannah
or the yell of execration. Here, rather than at
Alexandria, we leave him commending the reader
to a perusal of the book, assured that the picture
it presents of the present condition of the country
and its inhabitants, its graphic sketches of character
and scenery, its multifarious incident and amusing
anecdote, superadded to the recollection it so suc-
cessfully evokes of the wonderful past, will carry
him along with laardly a moment's weariness from
the beginning of the first volume to the conclusion
of the second and last.

MARKET NEWS.—( this Day).

COVENT GARDEN.

We were well supplild wi.h both fruit and vegetables
to-day. Generally speaking, the trade ruled steady, at
full prices.

Fiuir.—Pine apples, English, 4s to 7s per lb; colonial
do., Os to Os each ; hot-house grnpei, 3s Od to 63 Od per lb ;
foreign ditto, Od to Os ; na&ons, 2s 0,1 to 4s Od each;
peaches, 2s Od to 6s ' • nectarines, is Gd to 4s per dozen ;
' apples 1s 0,1 to 33 Od per half sieve ; pears, 2s Od to
5s per half sieve; plums, Os to Os per sieve ; green gages, Os
per punnet; apricots, ls 64 to 5s Od per doz.; common plums,
Os 0.1 to Os 01 per sieve ; cherries, Od to Od per pound ;
lemons, 4s to 8s 01 per 100 ; oranges 5s to 10s per 100; fil-
berts, tis to Os per doz. Ibs ; cobnuts, 10s to Os ; almonds,
Os to Os per lb. ; walnuts, Sd to 101 per 100; Sgs, Os 9d
to is Gd per doz ; strawberries, 01 to Od per pottle ; goose-
berries, Os 0,1 to Os Od per half sieve ; currants, Os Od to
Os Od per half sieve ; raspberries, Od to Od per pottle.
VEGETABLES.—Greens, Is Gd to 3s Od per doz. bunches;
Savoy cabbages, 9d to is Gd per dozen ; red ditto, 38 to
5s 0(1 per ditto ; brocoli, Gd to is 6,1 per doz. ; potatoes, 85s
to 115 s per ton ; vegetable marrow, Od to Os per doz. ; peas,
3s to 5s Od per bushel ' • broad beans, is Od to is 9(1 per half
sieve ; turnips, 2d to 41 per bunch ; carrots, 3(1 to 5d per
bunch; cucumbers, Os 24 to Os 6d each ; garlic, &I to
03 8d per pcund ; spinach, is ad to 2s Od per sieve;
old onions, 4s to 5s per bushel ; new ditto, Os Od to Os per
doz. bunches; leeks, Id to 2d per bunch ; shallots,
4d to 6(1 . horse-raddisti, 2s 01 to Is 0.1 per bundle ; parsley,
2d to 3d per bunch ; celery, Os Od to 18 .3d per
bunch ; endive, is 3d to 2s 3d per score ; beet, is Od to 2s
per doz.; parsnips, Oa 6,1 to Is Od per dozen; small
salad, 2d to 3d per punnet ; mushrooms, is 3d to 18 91 per
pottle ; artichokes, 3s to 4s per half sieve • cabbage lettuces,
9d to is Od per score ; sorrel, Gd to is per half sieve;
radishes, is to is 3d per dozen hands ' • tomatoes, 3s to 4s
per half sieve ; chillies, Is to is 6(1 per 100; Brussels
sprouts, Os Od to Os per hale sieve; eePei,FlTics/ls
cauliflowers,
xi to 2s
'm
per ; walnuts pickling, Gd to Is per 10u au
s to 66 Od per doz.
NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL.
wild ditto, is 3d to is 9d ;
Ducks, 2s 3d to 2s Pd ;eh;Pigeons, 8,1 to 10d each ;
Turkeys, 4s Gd to Si 6,1; Geese, 5s Od to 6s 6d each ;
Os Od to 080 d; middling, 2s Od to
lraaihgbeitsgurlilyto 1s Gd
Gd to 2s ad ; Capons, 3s ad
2s Gd to 3s • ;Grouse,is Ito 2s I each ;
Gi
3s Od to 3s 6d ; partridges, is 3d to is Pd each ;
Pheasants,
to3s 4(8)116d;
Fowls, 2s fxl to 3s Oil each. Ostend fresh butter, 12s
Guinea
Od to 13s Od, and English. 12s 01 to 15s Od per dozer lbs.
English Eggs, lOs Od to lls Od ; French ditto, is ad to os ad
per 120.; HchiareasFenosw,lsiso