be under 29°, provided that of summer is 52° or 53°. Hence barley gives good crops in Lapland, wherever the medium summer heat is not under 47° or 48°. This plant and the potatoe, are found as far north as 691°, near Lynge, in the low plains, and at 68°, near Munioniska, 600 feet above the level of the sea. The alleged celerity of the growth of the Cerealia in that country, applies to oats and barley, but not to rye or wheat.

Mr Wahlemberg has also contributed much to this new and interesting branch of botany, by the dissertations which he has published on the climate and vegetation of Lapland, of Switzerland, and the Carpathian mountains; and Mess. Engelhardt and Parrot, in their Travels on Mount

Caucasus. But Humboldt has made much greater exertions than any other to lay down principles of general application. Yet, notwithstanding his transcendent merit, it cannot be expected that all his results will prove accurate, when applied to every situation. He does not always explain the manner in which his data are procured, so that his conclusions may sometimes be just, where the reader does not find them satisfactory. It is by extending the local Floras of countries, and of districts, and then comparing them extensively with one another, that this delightful branch of Natural History will be best improved, and it offers at present a rich field for the labours of the practical and scientific botanist.

THERE is no channel by which modern Europeans have more extended both their power and their knowledge, than by the wide exploration of those distant regions of the globe, the very existence of which was unknown to antiquity. For this they are chiefly indebted to the improvement in the art of navigation, and to the maritime enterprizes, which this has enabled them to undertake. These began by disclosing new worlds, almost equal in extent to the old, and profusely covered with the most brilliant forms of wealth. Nor did they cease, till they had traced a path across the most vast oceans, and surveyed the outline of the most remote and inaccessible coasts. The circumnavigation of the globe, which formed the glory of Drake and

Magellan, forms now an easy voyage for a common trading vessel. Since the adventurous career of Cook, the general arrangement of the earth's surface, and the grand divisions of land and sea, may be considered as finally fixed. Yet are there not wanting important and extensive features, which continue still withdrawn from our observation. Although the great outlines of Asia and Africa be pretty accurately ascertained, there are vast tracks in the interior of these continents, which mountains, deserts, the violence of the climate, and the dread of its savage occupants, have hitherto barred against European approach. The north still erects her barrier of ice, whose wide circle awfully guards the circumpolar regions; and if it ever

opens to the adventurous navigator, opens perhaps only to shut him in for ever. To force these last entrench ments, within which nature has enclosed herself, is the ambition of the present age. It cannot indeed hope the discovery of unknown worlds and golden realms, such as crowned the enterprize of the early navigators. Yet the expeditions to which it prompts, derive still a deep interest from the grandeur of the objects of nature amid which they are carried on, and the formidable dangers with which they are beset. Britons displayed not higher courage when, in Egypt or Spain, they charged the invincible legions of France, than when they seek knowledge across the burning sands of Africa, and over the steeps and eternal snows of the Himalaya. Nor is the aspect of nature less terrific in that northern world,—

"Where winter holds his unrejoicing court, And in his airy hall the loud misrule Of driving tempest is for ever heard,"

and where elements are continually at work, by which the adventurer may be dashed in a moment to pieces. The exploratory expeditions which have been, and are to be made, possess thus a character of peril and adven

ture, fully equal to those of the earliest navigators, and greatly surpassing what their successors have for a long time encountered.

It is now a considerable time since, whether in the wide career of maritime enterprize, or in the bold pursuit of nature into her last recesses, Britain has taken the lead of all other nations. The names of Cook and of Park have eclipsed those of the adventurers, though eminent, sent forth from the other countries of Europe. The spirit which produced them seems still as active as ever, not only in the nation, but more particularly in the administration, some members of which seem animated with the most laudable zeal in this cause. There is, therefore, every prospect of farther accessions to the glory which Britain has already gained in this career. It appears advisable, therefore, to devote a chapter to the record of what has been done in this department, whether it be of countries newly discovered, or those already known observed with greater precision. Even in those which have been formerly the most fully explored, the narrative of the recent traveller may enable us to trace the changes which time has effected in the state of society and civilization.

AMONG the regions which, from the mysterious darkness that surrounds them, have excited curiosity and in terest, Africa has long stood pre-eminent. Rumour has conveyed impres sions, perhaps exaggerated, of kingdoms in its interior, greatly surpassing in wealth and civilization the semibarbarous regions on its coast. But the grand subject of curiosity has al

ways been the course of its interior rivers. The direction which a river,never to be navigated by us, may take through savage and unknown regions, may be represented as a matter in which we are very little concerned. But there is in the human mind a laudable desire of completed knowledge, which makes it rest uneasily in any partial or truncated view of a grand

object. The course of the Nile, that main object of ancient curiosity, is now considered as at least approximated. With the moderns, the great question has been about the Niger. Park indeed settled the long disputed question, whether it flowed east or west; but this discovery, which exhibited it pouring its immense stream into the unknown depths of interior Africa, not towards any natural or usual termination, only deepened the mystery in which its course was involved. Under these circumstances was formed the grand double expedition, one part of which was destined to ascend the Congo, and the other to descend the Niger, hopes being entertained that a meeting would take place at some point of the mighty stream of the Niger-Congo; for it was upon Park's hypothesis of these two great rivers being one, that the plan was founded. None, in modern times, has been more completely equipped, or supplied with more ample means of becoming both effectual and useful. The command was given to Captain Tuckey, an experienced naval officer, who had acquired a greater measure of information than usually falls to the lot of his profession. Along with him, for scientific purposes, were Mr Smith, an eminent botanist, not unacquainted with geology, and Mr Cranch, a self-taught but able zoologist. On the 30th June, the expedition arrived off Malemba. The natives gave them at first a most cordial reception, believing it their object to make up a cargo of slaves, of which they assured them they had a complete assortment. On being slowly and reluctantly convinced of the contrary, the chiefs burst into furious invectives against the crowned heads of Europe, calling our own most gracious sovereign "the Devil," on account of the stop put to the profits derived by them from this infamous traffic. After sailing a few

days, they found themselves in the deep channel of the Congo, where the line of 150 fathoms could not reach the bottom. The party felt much disappointment at the first view of this river, which, instead of the stupendous magnitude they had been taught to expect, scarcely presented the appearance of a river of the first class. Besides its being then at the lowest, they do not seem to have made sufficient allowance for its extraordinary depth, which being to them absolutely unfathomable, rendered it impossible to limit the mass of waters which it might bear into the ocean. It was bordered with immense swamps, overgrown with mangrove trees, which grow in the very stream; and a solemn impression was produced by the deep silence and shade of those watery forests. They now made for Embomma, the emporium of the Congo. On landing here, a striking incident occurred. A negro, who officiated as cook's mate, proved to have been a prince of the blood, formerly entrusted to a Liverpool captain, who promised to give him an European education; but, true to his calling, chose rather to convey him to St Christopher's, and sell him as a slave. A rapturous meeting took place between the father and son, and the event was celebrated as a festival by the whole village. Next day their ci-devant cook appeared in all the pomp of African loyalty, with a tarnished silk-embroidered coat, silk-sash, and a black glazed hat, with an enormous feather. Captain Tuckey was now introduced to the Chenoo, or sovereign, who presented an appearance similar to that of Punch in a puppet-show. He wore a jacket of crimson-plush, with huge gilt buttons, pink sarsenet stockings, red morocco half-boots, and an immense high crowned hat, embroidered with gold. It was found wholly impossible to convey to this august per

sonage any idea of the objects of the expedition. The terms of science and curiosity did not excite in his mind a single idea. He could put only two questions: "Are you come to trade?" and "Are you come to make war?" upon which, during several hours, he rung continual changes, without being able to conceive the possibility of a third alternative. At length, however, he became so far satisfied of their peaceable intentions, as to be willing at least to accept of a large present of brandy.

Captain Tuckey now sailed up the river, here bordered by high ridges of rocky hills, till he approached the Yellala, or great cataract. Hoping to gain information about it, and the tracts above, he visited the Chenoo of Noki, whom he found seated in savage pomp, the floor covered with lion and leopard skins, and dressed in a laced red cloak, and a high cap, ornamented with the feathers of the heron. It behoved the chiefs to approach this personage with the utmost caution, since once to tread on the skins with which the floor was strewed, incurred, even for the highest, the penalty of slavery. The party did not obtain much courtesy, but succeeded in hiring guides. They were all struck with much surprise at the view of the Great Cataract or Yellala, of the magnitude and force of which they had formed very exaggerated ideas. Captain Tuckey says, that instead of a new Niagara, they saw" only a comparative brook bubbling over its stony bed;" and Dr Smith describes it as " a pond of water only, with a fall of a few hundred yards. The river here has forced a passage between two high hills of naked granite, huge fragments of which still block up the stream, amid which the water roars furiously. It appears probable that, disappointed as to the expected appearance of the cataract, they underrated its real magnitude, for

we cannot attach great probability to the hypothesis of part of it finding its way by subterraneous channels. Such as it was, it rendered it impossible for the vessels to ascend higher; and the nature of the country, intersected by rugged precipices and deep ravines, rendered it impossible to convey the boats overland. They were thus obliged to undertake the land journey, which, through so rugged and broken a country, without a path or a guide on whom they could rely, was attended with immense labour. The villages, of which the principal were Cooloo, Inga, and Mavoonda, occurred at great intervals, which obliged them often to sleep in the open air. At length the river began to widen, and they reached a point, where all obstacles to the navigation ceased, and they were assured that it continued unobstructed for a great way. Just, however, as their voyage was beginning to assume a properous aspect, the presages began to be felt of its fatal termination. Their constitutions were sensibly sinking under the accumulation of fatigue. Mr Tudor, a scientific volunteer, was first taken ill, and obliged to return down the Congo. Mr Cranch and Mr Galwey, an intelligent friend of Captain Tuckey, were soon obliged to follow the example. The commander himself, felt the approach of disease, after struggling for some time against which, and the increasing obstacles to the journey, he determined to proceed no farther. Dr Smith, who was still well, expressed deep disappointment at this resolution, but he himself became soon so ill, that he could with difficulty be conveyed down the river. On Captain Tuckey's arrival at the Congo, he found Tudor, Cranch, and Galwey already dead. Smith soon followed, and he himself, though not affected with fever, at length sunk under a total exhaustion and depression, both of mind and body. Such was the fatal termi