St. Abb's Head-Dowal-Dunbar-N. Bewick, &c. [Nov. 1,. 308 excellent regulations, the controul of the commissioners; and I have no doubt by sending them a 54 inch and 6-pounder mortar, considerable good will be derived by them. The little harbour of Ayrmouth has a most dangerous approach from reefs of rocks; and to lessen a recurrence of future fatal events, it will be proper to have a mortar lodged at the barracks. St. Abb's Head. This protruding headland has to record an infinite number of distressing cases, from vessels being driven under it, where the fate of their crews has been inevitable. The rope-ladder may here be applied with considerable success, and I was assured would have saved numbers, as vessels come close at the rock, having from eight to eleven fathoms close at its foot. A mortar will be extremely beneficial for the shore of Coldinghame, where there are many fishermen. Dowal. From the situation of this place, and its so nearly resembling the difficulties and dangers of St. Abb's Head, it will require similar apparatus. The extraordinary features of horror this iron-bound coast presented, with the various histories of melancholy events that had transpired, with the loss of the Pallas and Nymph frigates, so fresh in remembrance, suggested the infinite benefit that would result, if a harbour could be obtained; with this hope I minutely explored Skateraw Bay, in the vicinity of Black Castle Signal Station, a situation that appeared advantageously placed, and formed by nature by protruding points of land for such a design, and promising incalculable good, could it be effected, by a shelter to vessels when embayed between St. Abb's Head and North Berwick, and for the want of which so many vessels have been lost. The bay was formed by a point of land called St. Dennis Point, on which the ruins of an old chapel still remain, and Trowness Point. There was sufficient water within the bay for any vessel, and a projecting ridge of rocks extremely favourable to inclosure, sheltering from St. Dennis Point to the eastward, and from that of Trowness to the N. Ñ. E. On the closest inspection a shelter is certainly practicable, but the expense in accomplishing it, to lock it in completely, would be very considerable. The bay is perfectly free from uneven ground, and composed of slate, gradually sloping to an inclined plane into deep water; but as its surface was too hard to yield to the bill of an anchor, I lamented that my labour was in vain, as the want of secure anchorage militates so greatly against the benefit of a harbour. Dunbar.-The shore, in the vicinity of this place, is studded with dangerous rock, and the present harbour is extremely dangerous for vessels attempting it in a gale of wind. I here exhibited the manner of giving relief in cases of shipwreck, in the presence of the Earl of Lauderdale, and many persons purposely collected by his lordship, from their having particularly distinguished themselves by their activity in cases of such distress; when it was infinitely gratifying to be informed, that it would have saved every life that perished when the frigates were wrecked, and the numerous lives that have been lost for the want of such aid; it is therefore desirable that a 5 and a 6-pounder mortar should be sent thither. North Berwick.-Sunken rocks, others visible, and islands influencing currents, readily account for the dangers and the cases of distress stated to me in this neighbourhood. A 53 inch mortar must be placed here, with a similar one about four miles to the north west, which I earnestly hope and trust will prove a safeguard to the mouth of the Firth, and prevent future calamities proceeding from those winds, E. and N. E. that have been so fatal to the maritime inte rests of the country, and so distressing to humanity. Island of May.-Among the various improvements produced with a view to guard against shipwreck, and constituted to add security and advantages to navi gation, the system of LIGHTS deservedly stands first; because it warns and points out objects of danger in the hours of darkness; and by giving certain information of a vessel's situation in a trackless and stormy ocean, and aiding her to reach the destined port in safety. If, however, this admirable and well designed plan be not duly attended to; and from neglect (for to nothing else can it be attributed) the Lights are at times not visible, or present repeated obseurations, the dangers that attend the maritime interests of the country, and to which the lives of a most valuable class of men are constantly exposed, increase to a truly alarming degree. These remarks occurred to me from the observations I had made on the light upon the above-named island, which is situated at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. My attention was particularly 1814.J Island of May--Dr. Vanderkemp. directed to it, by the repeated representations I received from persons along the coast, that the loss of many vessels had been attributed to it; and it was farther said partly to involve the destruction of the two frigates lately wrecked at Dunbar. In order to make correct observations for forming an opinion, I took the aid of a good glass, and employed myself in looking at the light on several clear winter nights: sometimes (when I presume the fire was stirred) a bright flame was exhibited, but it was of short duration, and sunk again into darkness. I am confirmed in this remark by the officer commanding the signal station at Black Castle, which is on an eminence immediately opposite to the island; and by the reports of many of the officers commanding ships of war on the Leith station; but I may in particular mention Captain Pierce, of his majesty's sloop Rifleman, who declared, in the presence of Vice Admiral Otway, commanding on this station, that during the eighteen months he had been under his command, he had repeatedly run within half a mile of the island before the light was discernible. This light is maintained by coals, which is at all times, and in any situation, improper; but it is more so on this coast, because there are so many limekilns burning so near it, that unless the utmost attention be used to keep a regular blaze, and render the streams of light perceptible, it can be of no service to navigation, and may easily be mistaken, from its similitude to those lights on shore. The Island of May, and its light, are private property; and to that circumstance I cannot avoid attributing, in a great degree, its imperfection, from the want of that coutroul which is essential to so important a subject, and cannot be properly maintained, except by government authority, or a well regulated Society. Under a strong impression of the truth of this, I would earnestly recommend, that this light be purchased, and placed under the immediate controul of government, or of a society such as the Brethren of the Trinity House, or the Commissioners for Northern Lights: I need scarcely add, that the light should be illuminated with reflectors, so as to form a distinction from any other. I cannot conclude without remarking, that no study would be more beneficial to navigation than that of producing a NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 10. 309 method of determining the situation of, QUESTIONS CONCERNING DR. VANDER- To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine.. SIR, MAY I be permitted to ask the writer of an article in your valuable miscellany, published October 1, signed Vindex, four plain questions?-Did not Dr. Vanderkemp marry, late in life, a Hottentot girl?-What was the girl's and the doctor's age at the time of such marriage? How long did the doctor survive this happy event?-Was he ever parted from this Hottentot girl? as Vinder asserts that he died in the house of a christian friend. A candid reply to the above will enable me to make up my mind upon the subject of missions, and at the same time remove the foul aspersions of Vinder unjustly thrown upon the veracity of the amiable and intelligent traveller Lichtenstein. Your obedient servant, LAMBDA. REMARKABLE PREDICTIONS. IN the account of the voyage of dis- Το "This evening, Mr. Fowler, the lieute nant, told me a circumstance which I thought very extraordinary, and it afterwards proved to be more so. Whilst we were lying at Spithead, Mr. Thistle was one day waiting ashore, and having nothing else to do, went to a certain old man, named Pine, to have his fortune told. The cunning man informed him that he was going out a long voyage, and that the ship, on arriving at her destinaVOL. II. ΤΕ 310 Remarkable Predictions. tion, would be joined by another vessel. That such was intended, he might have learned privately; but he added, that Mr. Thistle would be lost before the other vessel joined. As to the manner of his loss, the magician refused to give any information. My boat's crew, hear ing what Mr. Thistle said, went also to consult the wise man; and after the prefatory information of a long voyage, were told that they would be shipwreck ed, but not in the ship they were going out in; whether they would escape, and return to England, he was not permitted to reveal. This tale Mr. Thistle often told at the mess-table; and I remarked, with some pain, in a future part of the voyage, that every time my boat's crew went to embark in the Lady Nelson, there was some degree of apprehension amongst them that the time of the predicted shipwreck was arrived. "I make no comment," says Captain Flinders, upon this story, but recommend a commander, if possible, to prevent any of his crew from consulting fortune-tellers." It should be observed, that every particular of these predictions came exactly to pass, for the master and his boat's crew were lost before the Investigator was joined by the Lady Nelson from Port Jackson; and when the former ship was condemned, the people embarked with their commander on board the Porpoise, which was wrecked on a coral reef, though none of the crew were lost. This story brings to my recollection the equally remarkable one of Sir William Wyndham, which is related in the memoirs of Bishop Newton. "In his younger years, when Sir William was abroad upon his travels, and was at Venice, there was a noted fortune-teller, to whom great numbers resorted, and he among the rest; and the fortune-teller said to him that he must beware of a white horse. After his return to England, as he was walking by Charing Cross he saw a crowd of people coming out and going in to a house, and inquiring what was the meaning of it, was informed that Duncan Campbell, the dumb fortune-teller, lived there. His curiosity also led him in; and Duncan Campbell likewise told him that he must beware of a white horse. It was somewhat extraordinary that two fortunetellers, one at Venice and the other at London, without any communication, and at some distance of time, should both happen to hit upon the same thing, and to give the very same warning, [Nov. 1, Some years afterwards, when he was taken up, in 1715, and committed to the Tower upon suspicion of treasonable practices, which never appeared, his friends said to him that his fortune was now fulfilled, the Hanover horse was the white horse whereof he was admonished to beware. But some time after this, he had a fall from a white horse, and received a blow by which he lost the sight of one of his eyes." Baron Pollnitz, in his very entertaining memoirs, has the following remarkable relation concerning the palace set apart for ambassadors at Berlin. "This hotel formerly belonged to Baron de Dankelman, prime minister to King Frederick, when he was only Elector; and being built by the said minister at a time when he was such a favourite that he did almost what he pleased, he spared no cost to render it a mansion worthy of his high station. I was assured by persons of credit then alive, that after it was built, the late king had a desire to see it, upon which occasion, M. de Dankelman made a great entertainment for him; and that while the queen and the whole court were dancing, the king retired into his minister's closet to have a private conference with him, and looking very earnestly on a certain picture there, M. de Daukelman told him that the picture and all that he saw would soon be his majesty's. The king, not knowing what he meant, desired his minister to explain himself; whereupon he made answer, "That he should very shortly incur his displeasure; that his fall would be attended by the forfeiture of all his estate; that he should be arrested and committed to prison, and that there he should be confined ten years, at the expiration of which time his innocence would be male to appear, his estate would be restored to him, and he should be taken again into his majesty's favour." The king, who was at that time very fond of his minister, and did not think he could ever do without him, ridiculed what he had said as the surmise of a visionary; and was going to swear by the New Testament, then upon a table in the room, that this prophecy would never come to pass. But the minister held his hand, and begged him not to take an oath which it would not be in his power to keep. Some time afterwards, M. de Danhelman was disgraced, and sent, first, to the prison of Spandau, whence he was removed to Pritz; but his confinement lasted fifteen years, and though he recovered his liberty, he was never restored to his place, nor did he get back his estate. ALBUMAZAR. CONVERSION of ST. PAUL. To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. AS your pages admit of biblical en- Axe is frequently used for " understanding," as well as hearing, or as Parkhurst, in his Greek Lexicon, translates it, "to hear with the ear of the mind," and in this signification it is used by St. Mathew, c. ii. v. 15, '0 ixavάтa ànús, ánvéтw; also by St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xiv. v. 2, du yg xes. In the Old Testament, also, axe hath a similar interpretation, Gen. xi. 7, ἵνα μὴ ακέσωσιν ἕκαστος την φωνὴν τε πλησίον Deut. c. xxviii. v. 43, idvoci in axéon Tu care. A similar expression is found in Jeremiah, ch. v. v. 15. Hence this seeming contradiction of the two passages in question is reconcileable, as x ay imports that those who were with Paul might hear the thunderings, but did not UNDERSTAND the voice, as an articulate sound, in the midst of the thunderings. I am, &c. Sept. 14, 1814. J. M. For the New Monthly Magazine. BY ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. From the Introduction to the Picturesque THE number of the languages which distinguish the indigenous nations from one another seems to be still greater in America than in Africa, where, according to the recent researches of Messrs. Seetzen and Vater, they exceed 140. In this respect the whole of America resembles the Caucasus, Italy before the conquest of the Romans, and Asia Minor at the time when the Cilicians, of Semitic origin, the Phrygians, of Thracian descent, the Lydians and the Celts dwelt here together within a small compass. The formation of the earth, the extreme luxuriance of the vegetable kingdom, and the dread of the intense heat of the vallies entertained by the inhabitants of the tropical regions, impede mutual intercourse and create an astonishing diversity of American dialects. This diversity is not so great in the savannahs and forests of the north, which are traversed by hunters, on the banks of the great rivers, along the coasts of the ocean, and wherever the Incas have introduced their theocracy by force of arms. When we speak of more than a hundred languages, on a continent whose total population is not equal to that of France, we term those different languages which have the same affinity to one another as, I will not say the German to the Dutch, or the Italian to the Spanish; but as the Danish to the German, the Chaldee to the Arabic, the Greek to the Latin. As a person becomes more and more familiar with the labyrinth of American languages, he perceives that many of them belong to one and the same family, while a great number of others remain insulated like the Basque among the Europeans, and the Japanese among the Asiatic languages., This insulation is perhaps only apparent, and it may be presumed that those languages which seem to defy all ethnograeither long extinct, or peculiar to naphic classification, are allied to others tions whom no travellers have hitherto visited. Most of the American languages, even those whose groups differ from one another in the same manner as the dialects of German, Celtic, and Slavonian origin, exhibit a certain resemblance in their general organization, which if 312 Humboldt on America and its Native Tribes. does not indicate one common stock, at least denotes a very close analogy in the intellectual faculties of the American nations, from Greenland to the streights of Magellan. Very minute enquiries, conducted according to a method before unknown in etymological studies, have proved, that there is a small number of words common to the languages of the Old and New World. In 83 American languages, examined by Messrs. Barton and Vater, have been found about 170 words which seemed to have the same roots; and we may easily convince ourselves that these resemblances are by no means accidental or an imitative harmony, and perhaps resulting only from the uniform structure of the organs which renders the first articulated tones of children pretty nearly the same in all parts of the world. Out of 170 words, in which this similarity is perceived, three fifths seem to claim affinity with the languages of the Mantchous, Tungusians, Mongols, and Samojedes, and the other two-fifths with Celtic and Tschoudian dialects, and with the Basque, Coptic, and Congo languages. Those words were found out on a comparison of the whole of the American languages, with the whole of the languages of the Old World: for as yet we know not of any American dialect which can be deemed more nearly allied than the rest to any of the numerous groups of Asiatic, African, or European languages. The assertions of some scholars, proceeding upon abstract theories, respecting the supposed poverty of all the American languages, as well as the extraordinary scantiness of their system of numbers, are as rash and unfounded as the statements of others who contend for the imbecility and stupidity of the human race in the New World, the diminution of organic bodies, and the degeneracy of the animals transported thither from our hemisphere. Various dialects at present spoken by barbarous nations alone, seem to be relics of copious and flexible languages, which denote a considerable progress in civilization. I shall not here enter into an examination of the question-whether the original condition of mankind was a state of rudeness and stupidity, or whether the savage hordes are descended from nations whose mental powers, as well as the language in which they are reflected, were previously both equally developed: but I shall merely observe that the little which we know of the history of the Americans seems to de [Nov. F, monstrate that those tribes which migrated from north to south, possessed in their northern abodes that variety of languages which we discover in the tropical regions. Hence we may draw the analogical inference that the ramification, or to use an expression independent of all systems the diversity of the languages is a very ancient phenomenon. Perhaps the languages which we term American originally belong no more to this quarter of the globe than the Madjarian or Hungarian, and the Tschoudian or Finnish do to Europe. It must be admitted that the comparison of the languages of the Old and New World has led as yet to no general results; but we ought not on this account to relinquish our hopes that this study will prove more productive when the sagacity of scholars shall possess a larger stock of materials. How many languages of America, as well as of the interior and eastern part of Asia may there still be, whose mechanism is as unknown to us as that of the Tyrrhenian, Oscian, and Sabine dialects! Of the nations which disappeared from the Old World, there may perhaps still exist some petty detached tribes in the vast wilds of America. If, however, the early intercourse between the two worlds can be but very imperfectly proved by the languages, it is on the other hand unequivocally demonstrated by the cosmogonics, the monuments, hieroglyphics, and institutions of the American and Asiatic nations. I think that to the evidences already adduced on this point, I have added no small number that were hitherto unknown. I have every where endeavoured to discriminate that which denotes a common origin from what must be considered as the result of analogous relations, subsisting between nations which have attained the highest degree of civilization. To determine the period of the ancient connexion, between the two worlds was previously impracticable, and it would be too presumptuous to pretend to designate the group of nations in the Old World, to which the Toltekes, Aztekes, Muyscas, or Peruvians, are nearest allied, since the relations here alluded to are founded upon such traditions, monuments, and usages, as may possibly be of higher antiquity than the present division of the Asiatics into Mongols, Hindoos, Tongouses, and Chinese. At the time of the discovery of the New World, or to speak more correctly, at the period of the first Spanish inva |