The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Travels in Bolivia. By L. Hugh de Bonelli. 2

vols. Hurst and Blackett.

A record of a sojourn in this comparatively un-
known district will present to the general reader
the attraction of novelty. While more remote and
more uncultivated lands have engaged the attention
of the traveller and the reader, the number is small
of those who make a tour in this part of South
America for pleasure. This arises probably from
the absence of anything of great natural or historical
interest, while the inhabitants do not occupy a suffi-
ciently important position to excite the curiosity
or interest of foreigners like their neighbours of
the North. Those who are not well acquainted
with its peculiarities will find them agreeably de-
scribed in the present volumes, and may gain the
results of the author's experience without under-
going any of his perils or fatigues in acquiring it.
One feature of the country is its silver mines, which,
owing to the want of capital and of proper methods
of working them, have been in a great measure
abandoned. They are all worked by manual labour.
The men make incisions in the rock with crowbars,
and when the aperture is large enough they explode
it. The fumes of the powder, it is said, hang about
the mine for hours. Owing to the want of venti-
lation the employment is a very fatal one—the
average rate of life being thirty years !
During the author's stay at La Paz he found
himself in the midst of the scenes which took
place in the Revolution of March, 1849. General
Belza and his battalions having been sud-
denly summoned away, the city was soon plunged
into riot and confusion. Some partisans of the
late President proclaimed him. The Choloes, who
had suffered from his rule, opposed them, and
skirmishes ensued, in which many harmless citizens
were accidentally killed. The authorities forwarded
urgent entreaties for succour to General Belza. It
being rumoured that he would immediately return,
the Bollivian party decamped. But the result was
not very satisfactory, for the Choices, finding them-
selves masters of the town, commenced plunder.
Had it not been for the exertions of the friars of the
Rece:ites the destruction would have been complete.
Matters were not much improved by the return of
General Belza, for he ordered the houses and stores
of General Ballivian to be surrendered to the
Choloes as a reward for their support of the Govern-
ment. This naturally increased their rapacity and
dissipation. They broke into many houses, in-
cluding that inhabited by the author. He also
encountered some disagreeable adventures on the
road from the city of La Paz to that of Chuqui-
sac 1, the capital of Bolivia. Along the tracts of
saltpetre in this neighbourhood, the country people
never venture without masks of reen or neutral
tinted glass, for, otherwise, the reflection from the
ground, under the influence of a mid-day sun,
seriously affects the eyes. Notwithstanding fre-
quent mishaps, and having often lost his way, the
writer gives a vivid description of the scenery.
He thinks it superior to the Alps, in the quality
of grandeur, owing to the tropical clime. He nar-
rates the chief points of the cities and the charac-
teristics of the inhabitants ; and those who are de-
sirous of forming some acquaintance with the pecu-
liarities, natural, social, and political, of this
portion of South America, will find much to afford
them information and entertainment in these
volumes.

The Star Chamber. By W. Harrison Ainsworth.
2 vols. Routledge.

The announcement of a new historical romance
from the pen of Mr. Ainsworth must be peculiarly
gratifying to all lovers of romance. The title and
subject of this will not disappoint them, for it
affords full scope for the author's powers in the
delineation of midnight meetings, secret arrests,
plots, and counterplots, forged confessions, poison,
and murder. These and many other exciting in-
cidents are to be found in this tale, at the con-
clusion of which, however, virtue is happily tri-
umphant and vice satisfactorily defeated, accord-
ing to the most approved notions of poetical jus-
tice. The writer, as usual, displays great ability
in sustaining the interest of the tale ; and to the
readers who admire this description of romance,
the perusal of " The Star Chamber" will give much
pleasure.

Walter Hurst ; or, Early Struggles at the Bar.
By Herbert Greville Pelham. 2 vols. Rout-
ledge.

This is a very interesting story of the struggles
and trials of an energetic and talented youth, who
by patience, perseverance, and courage won his
way to the highest judicial honours. From being
a poor and houseless boy, wandering in the streets,
he passed to a place of eminence among the learned
of the land. The several scenes iu which he had to
enact a part during his momentous life are very
ably described, and the family of the Siuclairs forms
an agreeable episode in the narrative. There are
many painful circumstances mentioned in the course
of the accounts before us, but it is gratifying to see
such men as Sneak and Double meet with retribu-
tion for their crimes. In the last portion of the
story the hero makes his first speech in the House
of Commons, and produces a great effect by his
splendid powers of oratory. A questio❑ was about
to be decided which woul I involve the honour of
many present if they ace lid 0 it. Ai a few nights
before they had been against what they n ).v were
going to sanction, in order to please the Minister,
Walter Hurst rose and adjured the waverers
by the memory of their noble names to refrain
from the sacrifice of principle they were
about to make for party. " And where are
these, your ancestors, my lords and gentlemen,"
he cried in a tone, at once loud, musical, and
piercing, whielr- startled every member on his
seat. "They are gone, I know, to the world of
spirits, and their mantles have dropped upon you
But think you that they no longer interest them-
selves with the affairs of this life ? From their seats
of eternal glory they regard you at this.momeut,
and await with anxious brows the results of this
debate." The consequence of his forcible appeal to
their honour and good faith, which no change of
politics or turn of fortune should affect, was a strict
adherence to the course before laid clown, and the
eloquent advocate experienced a prouder satisfac-
tion than any worldly renown, riches, or place could
have affordod, in the consciousness that his talents
had been instrumental in saving the character of
those who held so high a place in his country. On
the result of his words it rested whether future his-
torians should have to record a blot on the page of
political and Parliamentary transactions. In the
last chapter we are shown the inevitable conclusi,,n
of all earthly triumphs. The celebrated lawyer and
accomplished orator is called away, and all that is
left to be said of him is the ancient account, " He
slept with his fathers." It is very likely many will
be entertained by the perusal of this book. There
is a great deal of thought evidenced throughout,
and the general tenour of the style is attractive and
interesting.