The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-07 00:00:00

LITERA7ULE.

Seasons with the sFea Horses, or iSportilly Adven-
tures in the Northern eeas. By James Lamont,
. _

Esq., F.G.S. Hurst and 11lacl,:ett.
This is a spirited account of some stirring
adventures met with by some daring voyagers.
It will be found on perusal to afford an agree-
able and entertaining narrative, and throughout
there is a vigour and vivacity that render the
descriptions very attractive. There are some good
illustrations interspersed through the work which
increase its interest, and serve to convey a better
impression of the animals encountered in those
regions. There are some lines from Longfellow
on the title-page, which refer to the exciting
errand on which they were bound, and one is re-
minded of that stanza on the subject—

" Up, up let us a voyage take,
Why sit we here at ease ?
Find us a vessel tight and snug,
Bound for the Northern Seas."
The engraving of " Walruses on the Ice" is a very
good one, and the frontispiece, representing the
Chase of the Walrus, is a most stirring picture.
Another striking ske'ch is that of a She
Bear and Cubs. Tne bear was killed,
but the sportsmen succeeded in capturing
the cubs, whom they took away with them,
and their prisoners gave them great trouble. On one
occasion they contrived to give their captors the slip,
but they were fortunately recaptured. " They had a
sort of crib made for them on deck out of some spare
spars and pieces of drift-wood, and while they were
being thrust into it, they resisted it so furiously
that we could almost imagine they knew they were
bidding • adieu for ever to the fresh breezes
and the icy waters of Spitzbergen." The four
bears they killed yielded altogether about
600 lbs of fat. " Corpo dx Bacco," exclaims
the writer, "What a thousand pities it is not
worth 3s. 6d. a-pot, as in the Burlington Arcade."
It is stated in the course of the reminiscences that
from all the information collected on the subject,
it is calculated "that about one thousand walruses
and twice that number of bearded seals are an-
nually captured in the seas about Spitzbergen,
exclusive of those which may die of their
wounds; so that some idea may he formed of the'
numbers of those curious and useful amphi-
bious monsters still existing tin that
country ; but it is quite clear that they
are undergoing a rapid diminution of numbers,
and also that they are grae.ually receding into
more and more inaccessible regions further to the
north." We learn from the voyage of Othshere,
which was performed about a thousand years ago,
that the natives then abounded on the coast of
Finmarken itself; they have, however, abandoned
that coast for some centuries, although individual
stragglers have been occasionally captured there
up to within the last 30 years. In the summer
the walruses congregate in vast herds and
go ashore, or " They all lie down in a
mass in some secluded bay, or on some rocky
island, and tfiere they remain in a semi-torpid sort
of state for weeks together, without moving or
feeding. They do not usually do this until very near
the end of August, by which time most of the ves-
sels have departed full, and, of course, it is a very
great chance whether any of those remaining will
find these trysting places in the few days which
remain before the season breaks up ; but such
chances are what every Spitzbergen walrus-hunter
prays for by day and dreams of by night, because they
know that if they are fortunate enough to find the
walruses under these circumstances they may be
enabled to kill a small fortunes' worth of them in a
few hours." The toils of the zealous voyagers were
not fruitless, and their pleasure was not profitless,
as will be seen from the following fat-simile exe-
cuted by Lord David Kennedy on one of the
cabin-beams of the " Anna Louise." Lord
David Kennedy and James • Lamont hired
this sloop Anna Louisa, not A 1, in the summer of
the year 1859, and killed in Spitzbergen 46 wal -
ruses, 88 seals, 8 polar bears, 1 white whale, 61
reindeer; total, 204 heads. On the whole we could
not desire a more entertaining account of adven-
tures in the northern seas than is afforded
by this retrospect of a " Season with the Sea-
horses," and all students of natural history
and all lovers of exciting events and stirring
scenes of sportsmanship will do well to possess
themselves of this, work which abounds with in-
terest, is replete with amusing anecdotes, and is
moreover peculiarly adapted to convey most
desirable information regarding the strange crea-
tures the monsters of the deep of which it particu
larly treats. It will most likely meet with approval
in many quarters, and the literary public are in-
debted to Mr. Lamont for publishing his remark-
able adventures.

The Tragedy of Life, being Records of Remarkable
Phases of Lunacy kept by a Physician. By
John H. Brewster. 2 vols. Smith and Elder.
The volumes before us show us human life in one
of its saddest aspects, human suffering in one of
its most hopeless forms, The loss of reason has
always been held among civilised communities as
one of the greatest calamities, and justly so, if the
accounts from time to time furnished us of the con-
dition of the insane be warranted by facts. Io
someinstances the mania developes itself in the
form of extravagant excitement and imaginary
happiness, bat too often the overthrown mind is a
prey to dark and dreadful delusions or pitiable
despondency. The work in question is evidently
the production of one who is familiar with his sub-
ject, and an acute observer of its shifting phases.
The notes and incidental observations display ex-
tensive study of the phenomena of these painful
cases and of the scientific opinions upon them. The
first volume is entirely occupied with one story,
the history of a forced marriage and its direful
consequences. The heroine M arion St. Maur is
too weak and yielding to excite so much compas-
sion as she deserves by her melancholy fate ; like
Lucy of Lammermoor, she excites more pity than
sympathy. The second volume shows us a series
of sketches, all turning on the same point
and describing the lunacy of the chief character.
Many of these possess much attraction as narratives,
independently of the melancholy interest attaching
to the misfortunes of their subjects. The story of
the lunatic engineer and poor Mary Vyner is a
mournful history of selfish cruelty, repaid by un-
questioning self-devotion. Of all the cases here
cited, only one recovers reason, and that is the
gentle heroine of "The Sonnambulist," another
victim of misplaced affection. Throughout all his
narratives the writer steadily maintains the danger
of confiding in the supposed harmlessness of persons
of unsound mind. Whether from suspicion, malice,
the love of destruction, the influence of some spectral
illusion, or still more of the uncontrollable fits of
terror to which some maniacs are subject, their acts of
violence have been so frequent and so unexpected
that the bystanders should never be off their guard.
In the case of those poor " daft" creatures, some-
times haunting country places, the caution still
holds good. The author cites an instance where
" Wandering Georgie," a half-witted creature of
this class, dashed out a negro boy's brains with a
poker, supposing him to be the Devil in mortal
shape. Another story he tells of a young girl
drowned by a crazy woman in the pool where her son
had accidentally met his death long before. He also
strongly advises that attention should immediately
be paid to symptoms of mental alienation, and pro-
per means of cure adopted, since the chances of
recovery diminish rapidly in proportion to the
length of the disease. It must always, however,
be a very difficult task to convict a person of un-
sound mind, and to decide between harmless eccen-
tricity and the first indications of tottering reason.
The recommendation of keeping lunatics away from
their friends and discouraging visits may also be
very useful; but it is not wonderful that anxious
relatives should wish to watch carefully over the
comfort and well-being of those who are no longer
able to care for themselves. The treatment of the
insane, especially in the wealthier classes, is a sub-
ject of great difficulty; the wicked machinations of
cupidity or interest have to be borne in mind by
the legislator, as well as the efforts of faithful
friend or skilful physician. Such as are attracted
by the study of this melancholy subject may avail
themselves of these interesting and well written
volumes, which aro evidently the results of study
and experience, although thrown into a form which
is more popular than scientific.

A seaman's Narrative during his Captivity among
Chinese Pirates. By Edward Brown. Charles
West erton.
It fell to the lot of the author of this narrative, to
use his own words, along with many, others, to find
himself " paid off" on the beach at Hong Kong in
October, 1856 ; commercial business in the South of
China having been brought to a stand-still by the
hostilities between the British and Chinese autho-
rities at Canton. The merchant vessels which were
waiting for cargoes for Europe were laid up, and
the crews discharged. It was under these circum-
stances that in an evil hour he embarked in a Chinese
lorcba, registered under the British flag, as flag
captain. Driven out of their course by a severe
gale, they fell in with a fleet of piratical junks in
the service of the rebel kicg, the immortal Tai-
ping-vree-wang, and were captured after a despe-
rate resistance ; but, greatly to their surprise,
instead of being instantly murdered, as all expected,
none of the crew were molested, and Brown him-
self treated with great courtesy and respect. The
admiral or commander of these piratical cruisers
made him captain of one of his vessels, an
-- appoint-
ment which he could not refuse, although it was
an honour he little coveted. He subsequently made
his escape, and after a variety of adventures he at
length gained the deck of the British brig Punch.