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London, England, 1825-05-25 00:00:00

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LiTICROURE;
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Excursiois Sania,;ilsirinithe
Ait-
tun of 1823, Jut his Third ro,ag to Africa.
By the T. Enwi .11ewp =R. Esti. Conductor di
the Mission to Ashontee, HOlsoiari Member of the
Camkride Philosophical Society, 80- %o which is
added. by Mrs. nowatc.H-1. A Aartative of the
Continuance of Me I oyage to its Completion. '2. A
Description of the English Siettknien. ts on the River
Gambia. 3. Appendix, containing Zuo'ogical and Bo-
tanical Descriptioks, and Translatidns from the Arabic.
Illustrated by &dimes, Costumis; and Zuo'ogical
Figures. 4to. London, 1825.
Oar readers need not to be told, that Mr. Bowdich fell
a victim to African discovery, a cause in winch so m .ny
have perished. Young, ardent, and active, he distin-
guished himself in conducting the Mi)sio r to Ashantee
m a way which gave great hopes from his fortwe
tions. On that occasion, his courage aid his firmness
saved the members of the Mission, and sustained the
honour of his country. In 18.23, I.e set out on a nee
excursion, attended by Mrs. Bdwdich and his family;
after exploring Madeira, particularly its geological and
z products; he proceeded tie Africa, where he
died iii January, 18'24. His accomplished wife, who is
an admirable artist and acquainted with the Arabic and
other Oriental, as well as most of the E.sropean lan-
guages, has edittd an account Of the last labours of her
husband, and added some additional narratives.

Th? Work has a strong claim on pub is support ; for
not only is it entitled to this on account of its merits,
but her hitsband perished the unpaid and unpensioned
victim of geographical discovery, leaving a wife who
had shared in his fatigues and dangers, and three chil-
dren. Madeira has been often described, and yet Mr.
Bowdich gives many interesting particulars relating to
the Island and its inhabitants, as well as to the part of
Africa he visited. We hate, however, only room for
short extract :

•' Near the Fazenda dos Padres is a fine malmsey
plantation, created entirely by an avalanche of tufa,
which, falling from a height of upwards of twelve
hunired f-ct, has lodged and spread at the bottom Q 1
the cliff:—

" The houses and vineyards are only accessible by
water, to those who shtidder, as most persons do, at the
daring route of the labourers, who ascend and descend
the cliff by a succession of simple stakes driven into,
and projecting from it. These avalanches, which are
not unfrequent (and which have occurred from lesser
heights without much injuring the property), with one
or two sliding plantiitions, occasion curious suits in the
Courts of Madeira; the one party insisting that he must
-follow his grounds and habitations—the other, whose
less valuable grourrds have been covered or enlarged by
the accident, pleading, I presume, cidns est soigne,
ejus est cselum:
" Ascending the rocks between the Fort and Freya
Bay, we find, close on their brink, about eighty feet
above the sea, and but a few yards inland, an elliptical
funnel-shaped depression of five hundred anti twenty
feet in circumference, and about thirty-five feet deep.
The greater axis bears S. 7° W. and within (a little
northwards of the centre, and about thirty-five feet be-
low the brink) is an aperture about twenty-five feet long,
and fifteen broad, through which you see the sea, the
walls of the caverns resounding with the rush of the
waves entering below. The depth' of this vast marine
well, a term which I merely hazard for the moment,
as conveying a better idea of us position and appear-
ance than any further description could, is about forty-
five feet. This tent, apparently too considerable to be
attributed to the mere elastic force of confined va
pours, presents every evidence of having been formed
by a minor volcanic heave, which threw up vast
blocks of the rock it rent from beneath the ocean, to
forth a passage, but did not eject any lava or contents
of its own; for both the basalt rock in which it is formed,
and that of the vast masses which are scattered at the
mouth of the aperture. are highly scoriaceous. and pre-
sen: the strongest traces of fusion on the surface. The
elliptical wall which rises thirty-five feet above this
fearful aperture, and forms the greatest circumference
of the funnel, is of tufa, dipping to the south, and
which, yielding more easily, has been undermined, and
has fallen in, to a greater extent, from the same heave
which rent the stubborn ro.k beneath it; the shock hav-
ing spread as it proceeded upwards through these looser
and softer strata."
The work is enriched with numerous engraving:,
drawn and lithographed by Mrs. Bowdich, several of
which are coloured. They are illustrative of the natural

history of Madeira and Africa.
Foreign Scenes and Travelling Recreations. By JOHN
Howison, Esq. Author of Sketches of Upper Canada.
Two Vale. post Soo. Ldinaurgh and London, 18'25
Mr.Howison is an able and intelligent writer, and his
work on Canada is decidedly the best account that has
yet been published of that portion of the British domi-
nions. His present work consists of a description of
various scenes, and their impression on his mind, ac
companied by s-nsible and judicious ',ma, ks. His de•
scriptions of society and manners are extremely lively
and spirited, and every page in these volumes supplies
la due quantum of interest.
There are ten distinct ankles in these Foreign Scenes
and Travelling Recreations, under the varied and at-
tractive titles of " Life at Sea," " Boarding House
Recollections," The City of Havannah," " A Jour-
ney in the Deckan," " Two Days at the Cape of Good
Hope," " A Voyage from Havannah to New Prowl-
Ideate," " Foreign Adventure," 44 The Cantonment of
Sewn," and " The Delinquent."
They are all very well written, and display an acute-
ness of observation and felitity of description which
are rattly combined to such an extent. One extract
we subjoin; it relates to an execution at Cuba, where,
although crime abounds, yet punishment may be
averted by bribing the Priests
" Some years ago, a Spaniard, who lived in the su-
burbs of Havannah, discovered that his wife carried on a
criminal correspondence with her confessor. In his
jealous rage he hired a negro to murder the priest.
When the assassin had accomplished his purpose. be
went to the house of his employer at a late hour one
night, and told wtat he had done, and demanded the
promised compensation; but the Spaniard either would
not or could not give this, and some high words which
ensued between the parties having been overheard by
the neighbours, the whole affair was soon brought to
light. The Spaniard was apprehended, tried, found
guilty, and condemned to death. However, by
means of bribery, he succeeded in delaying his execution
for more than two le.irs. His funds be tug at last ex-
Mowed, the black cross and lanterns, the appearance
.of which announces, in Ilay.inufin, that the criminal has