monument.

from.

at

character of which wil probably receive its first developement, and raise its first the expedition of discovery présent employed in the bouth Polar seas. As the Governement of the United States has spared not expense in equipping expedition, and providing it with instruments, the officers employed

in it will have no

excuse

that

if

they fail to bring home a plan. - Fiful harvest of good observations. But though the of incumnavigation above alluded to yelded no suentific results, they were not yet altogether wittinut utility: they bad for their objects the protection of promotion of the

trade of the United States, and are a proof of the policy as well as activity with which the Americans pursue their commercial interests. The voyage of the Potomac frigate, of which Mr Reynolds has given an account, had for its immediate object the punishment of the Malays, who insulted the flag, and did serious injury to the trade of the Americans on the coast of Sumatra. The expedition of which Dr Ruschenberger is the historian had more pacific, though not less important views.

Mr Edmund Roberts, a gentleman of New Hampshire, who had visited, in a mercantile capacity, many countries eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, had the sagacity to discover in those regions several openings for the American trade, of great promise, provided that the inconveniencies of arbitrary exaction, and of the unsettled routine of foreign intercourse, were obviated by negotiation and treaty. His views being communicated to the President, met with his approbation, and it was determined that Mr Roberts should visit the East in the capacity of Special Agent of the Government,' for the purpose of obtaining all the information possible; and of negotiating treaties of amity and commerce with such Asiatic sovereigns as might be found disposed to lend a willing ear to his representations. Accordingly, in the year 1832, he sailed from the United States on board of the Peacock, a small frigate, and returned in 1834, bearing with him two treaties which he had negotiated; one with the Sultan of Muscat, the other with the King of Siam. These treaties having been ratified by the President and Senate of the United States in the course of the same year, Mr Roberts was appointed to exchange the ratifications. The Peacock was again put in commission to carry him on his distant embassy, and was joined at Rio Janeiro by the Enterprise schooner.

A mission better adapted by its nature for the collection of statistical and miscellaneous information can hardly be conceived; a great length of voyage, no onerous duties, and a friendly reception in countries but imperfectly known to the western world, were conditions comprehended in its plan. It was defective, however, in one of the requisites of an expedition having for a collateral object to collect information: it wanted (and the want was irredeemable) a few vigilant and enlightened observers to make the most of the opportunities that offered.

The vessels left Rio on the 12th July, 1835, but the Enterprise proving to be a bad sailer, they parted company soon after. Nothing worthy of a place in the journal occurred during the voyage across the Atlantic. In the Mozambique Channel, occasional calms offered Dr Ruschenberger an opportunity of observing a variety of medusæ, and of plunging out of his depth in physiolo

gical speculations, of which an adequate idea may be formed from the following short specimen :

'Two hours before sunset, not a living thing could be seen in the water; the calm continued. On this occasion, Commodore Kennedy stated he had been once for ten days in so complete a calm, that the animalculæ died, and the ocean exhaled from its bosom on all sides a most insufferable stench. Instances of this kind illustrate the utility and necessity of winds, and the agitation of the seas; absolute calms, continued for any considerable period, in the winds or waves, would prove equally fatal to all manner of animal life. The respiration of all animals, whether this function be carried on by lungs or gills, or other organs, is essential to their being. Those living on land, breathe the atmosphere, and rob it at each inspiration of a portion of oxygen, which principle is necessary to existence; those inhabiting the deep, derive the same principle from the waters, though by different means; and in both cases, the air or water thus deprived of its vital principle, must be replaced by fresh supplies, or in a very short time all the oxygen in their vicinity is exhausted, and the animals, whether of sea or land, must perish.' Vol. i. p. 17.

Certainly the process of respiration would be, in its nature, extremely defective, if the afflux of the medium required for it depended wholly on accidental disturbances. The due circulation of the respired elements, even in their calmest state, is amply provided for by means which we thought must be familiar to every member of the medical profession. The necessity of winds and waves, as propounded by Dr Ruschenberger, is absurd. Many individuals of the human species spend whole years under the shelter of their roofs in a completer calm than ever reigned for a week together on the bosom of the Atlantic. The ocean has a mean depth of eight or ten miles, and is inhabited to a depth considerably beyond the influence of ordinary winds; many parts of it are almost wholly exempted from commotion, and are rarely darkened, even by a fresh breeze. How, then, can we believe that a calm of ten days' duration is enough to destroy the inhabitants of the deep, and to convert the great ocean into a putrid pool?

Our author says, that he had a hasty glance at the Comoro islands, and extremely hasty indeed it must have been, else how could he have written the following remark? The largest of the group is about ninety miles in circumference; its surface is 'broken into gently swelling hills and valleys.' The island of Angazija, commonly called Comoro island, is a rugged volcanic mountain of great height, visible, we are informed, at the distance of forty leagues, and the fires of which are still active, its eruptions being supposed to take place every seven years. The inhabitants of this island are remarkable for their strict attention to the observances of their religion. They are, in fact, Moham