pany's ships, the "Marchioness of Ely" and "Lady Campbell," were on their outward passage to China, distant from these islands about two hundred and fifty miles, holding their steady course over the swelling sea, like two trusty friends who had consorted, on a dreary path, for the double purpose of company and protection. 66 A difference of opinion had existed for some days between the two captains, respecting the longitude, and, it being the occasional practice of seamen to sight" these islands to ascertain the correctness of their time, it was agreed between them to spend a day or two in the examination of the geological structure and other curiosities of their seldomtrodden shores. We also promised ourselves a day's sporting with the hogs, wild-fowl, seals, etc., with which they are said to abound. The breeze proved variable, and it required several days to reach them. We were no longer in those regions where the trade-winds blow their healthful breezes, scattering plenty round the earth, their steadiness becoming a proverb in the exact reverse of our own. With us, "As changeable as the wind" is a common expression, not more trite than true; while the native of those smiling climes may compare the constancy of his mistress to the wind, and convey a compliment by the comparison. At length the ships made the land, and dropped their anchors on the eastern side of the island of St. Paul's, about a mile from the shore, in a sandy substance. having much the appearance of wet gunpowder, this being the only place ships can anchor with any degree of safety. We soon hoisted out the boats, and rowed for the shore. Vlaming, the Dutch navigator, appears to have visited these islands as early as 1697, giving the name of Amsterdam to the northernmost and the southern, and largest, St. Paul's, which latter extends in a northwest and southeasterly direction eight or ten miles, and is about five miles in breadth. Opposite to the place where we had anchored the ships, on the east side of the island, we found an entrance to a large circular basin, through which the sea ebbs and flows, and across the throat of this inlet there is a bar. This lagoon, or basin, is evidently the crater of an exhausted vol cano: the bar is composed of large rounded pebbles, and has more the appearance of a work of art than a production of nature. The narrow opening is about a pistol-shot wide into the basin alluded to, and in which a great many seals were found playing. The tide rushes through this inlet with great velocity; at half-ebb there is great difficulty in getting boats over the bar, which, however, once passed, the basin, or lagoon, is entered immediately, where the water is as smooth as a lake, though the sea be raging without. A lofty bluff headland appears on each side the entrance, and a rock, eighty or ninety feet high, somewhat resembling a sugarloaf or nine-pin, stands at a small distance from the shore. The basin, or rather this crater of an extinct volcano, is between two and three miles in circuit, and has thirty fathoms of water in the middle, which depth is sustained until within fifty feet of the shore. In All round it, except at the entrance from the sea, is table-land, rising, in some places, perpendicularly from the basin to an altitude varying from six hundred to seven hundred feet. rowing round we saw smoke rising amid the stones in various places; on landing we found the water close to the basin so hot that we could not bear our hands in it. The temperature of the air was 73° by thermometer, which, on being plunged in the water, ascended to 200°, and, on repeating the experiment in various places, it rose to a similar elevation. After catching some fish, they were boiled in the springs, which are all close to the sides of the lagoon, or basin, and, in many places, mix with and heat it to a considerable degree; and, as fish abound in vast numbers in all parts of the basin, they are caught very readily; so that, as Vlaming says, you may really throw the fish fastened on the hook out of the cold water into the hot and boil them. Upon mentioning this circumstance to an incredulous but facetious friend, he replied, "Nothing is wanted to render the place perfect but melted butter growing in cocoa-nuts hard by." It was on the north side of the inlet where we landed, amongst innumerable seals, some of which we killed for their skins; we then went in search of fresh water, hogs, and vegetables-these articles being particularly acceptable after a long sea voyage-and imme diately commenced the ascent of the hill. Up a considerable part of the way, the path is good; but beyond that we found great difficulty in ascending the slippery coarse grass over which we walked causing us to slide downward almost every other step. Upon arriving at the top, we found, instead of the interior of the island being table-land, it was broken into valleys. Undulating plains and massive lumps of rocks were piled up in various places in strange confusion. Volcanic matter was visible, though not to the extent that might be expected from the evidences exhibited of the fiery origin of the place. Green patches of verdure, intermingled with coarse grass, and aquatic birds wheeling about, uttering their discordant screams, were the only signs of life, both animal and vegetable, that could be seen. It is almost impossible to imagine a solitude more impressive. The view, however, looking down towards the lagoon, is beautiful to excess; it has the appearance of an immense bowl filled with the clearest water, with a portion of its side broken off, through which fracture the sea appears to have entered and filled it. Within, all is calm and motionless and bright as the most transparent crystal-the rocks and cliffs being reflected on its smooth, unruffled surface with all the truthfulness of a mirror; while without, the sea, dashing over the bar and amongst the rocks at the entrance of the inlet, foaming, advancing, and receding, offers a marked contrast to the repose which reigns within. The spot is pregnant with melancholy interest, and seemed to mourn the desolating energy of the subterranean fires which, at some not very distant date, had spread such devastation around. As far as the eye could reach, the vision was bounded by the sea, except in the direction of the adjacent island of Amsterdam, whose faint blue outline was visible in the extreme distance. After remaining for a time admiring this singular scene, our party separated in two divisions-one taking for its route a small sandy valley, the other traversing a rocky section of the island whose frowning precipices overhung the sea. Fowling-pieces, muskets, and pistols were examined and loaded, and away we went in search of any game which would supply us with fresh provisions. The wild hogs-a few being on the island at the time of our visit, though not in a thriving_condition-were, it is presumed, turned adrift upon the shore by humane individuals, with the kind intention of affording a supply of food to the crews of vessels who, from accident or other causes, might be driven to extremities for want of it. When Vlaming visited these islands, in 1697, he made no mention of any animal, except seals, existing upon them. After a scrambling march, under a broiling sun for three hours, we arrived at a central position in the island, having had the good fortune to secure three small pigs on our route, one of which, on being wounded, ran between the legs of a seaman and knocked him down with such violence as nearly to send him over the cliffinto the sea below. He was saved by a mere accident. We halted here, and partook of some refreshments, sheltered from the scorching rays of the sun by two immense rocks, or blocks of stone, which, leaning against each other, apparently for support, formed a natural cave or archway set up in the wilderness for our convenience and accommodation. "As I sat apart at the cavern'd stone, A still small voice came through the wild, near.'" We soon dispatched our slight repast, and renewed our march to the opposite side of the island, our strength recruited by the food we had taken; everybody was full of life and animation; shouts of laughter were constantly pealing forth, as an unsuccessful shot was sent after a scampering pig, squealing at the top of his voice, and hiding in the recesses of the rocks, out of which it was impossible to rout him. We found unless we mortally wounded a hog we never bagged him : he invariably made his escape. Pursuing our career, amidst this kind of sport, we entered a narrow gorge: on either hand the rocks were piled in inextricable confusion; it seemed as though we rather passed through than between them. In places for a distance of a hundred to a hundred and fifty yards they formed a complete tunnel, emerging from which we entered a labyrinth of broken rocks, which had the appearance of being the wreck of a mountain shattered by some terrible convulsion into a thousand fragments, and scattered over the plain. After losing and finding our path at least a dozen times, we issued from this perplexing place into the open country, when one of the strangest-looking beings ever seen was the first object that arrested our attention. At a short distance from us we discovered a man, a stranger to our party, who at first appeared disposed to avoid us, but, owing to the nature of his position, that was almost an impossibility; the open country was before him it is true, but the view was unobstructed to the sea, and we were between him and the only hiding-place at hand-the narrow, rocky defile through which we had so lately passed, and from which, as we afterwards found, he had retreated on hearing our approach. He appeared to consider any further attempts at concealment unnecessary, and gradually approached us. He wore upon his head a roughly-made seal-skin cap, a jacket made of similar materials covered his body, and a ragged pair of coarse canvas seaman's trowsers enveloped his lower extremities. His face was deeply bronzed by exposure, and a long beard hung down from his chin upon his chest, which was open to view; a long gun was in his hand "The only law of a desert land”— and held in a position for instant use, should its services be required. Singlehanded he would have been a dangerous foe; but, opposed to our numerous party, resistance would be madness, and, no harm being meant or intended on our side, we were at a loss to account for the cautious and somewhat menacing attitude he assumed. We thought we had found the Robinson Crusoe of the place, and, all circumstances considered, the suggestion was excusable. The surprise of his great prototype, on discovering the impression of the footprint in the sand, could not be greater than ours in finding a human being in a situation so remote from the haunts of men as this solitary place-this speck upon the globe; the dotting of a pin's point upon the map being an exaggeration of its size, in comparison with the defined proportions of the rest of the world. Upon asking him whether he belonged to the party of our consort, he replied in the negative, and at the same time expressed his joy on finding we were his countrymen, upon which information his caution was instantly banished; and, without further reserve, told us he had seen the ships anchor in the road, and the boats approach the shore, and then he fled into the interior of the island, and gave as his reasons for such proceeding, that he had been ill used and robbed by a party who had landed on the island about six months previous to our visit. Confidence rapidly sprung up between us; and, among other things, he gave us the following brief outline of his life, and the cause that led him to adopt this strange and solitary place for his abode. His name, he said, was George Stewart, and that he came from a rural district in North Britain; in early life he emigrated, with many others, to the Canadas, hoping to better his condition in the New World; after suffering many misfortunes and hardships, his agricultural speculation ending in ruin, he joined a hunting expedition in the backwoods of America, in the service of a fur company; from some circumstance which he did not explain, he abandoned this pursuit. Having found his way to a seaport, he then embarked in an American whaler, which ship had left him on the island where we found him, as near as he could calculate, about a year; he had lost all reckoning as regards time, neither knowing the day in its monthly or weekly position. English and American whalers sometimes leave men upon the island for the purpose of catching seals, and taking their skins and oil, the ship pursuing her voyage to other seas for the grander object of killing whales, and, having completed their cargo (which sometimes occupies a period of one or two years' varying duration, according to the successful nature of their operations), they return home, picking up on their route the men they have left at different places sealing. It happens sometimes that the ship is lost, and humanity shudders at the fate of the hapless individuals thus left to their solitary fate. We dwelt upon the chance of his either being forgotten, or that his ship might be lost, and urged him to take his passage in ours, which he instantly declined. Taking a lively interest in his behalf, we expressed our surprise at his being able to sustain such a solitary existence; he acknowledged it was very irksome at first, but that was occasioned by his companion, with whom he had repeated quarrels; but since he had left him for the neighboring island (which he thought was nine months since), he had been much happier. As for solitude, he was used to it, having spent months quite alone in the wilds of America when engaged on his fur-hunting expeditions, and that he was then perfectly contented. Of course our astonishment was excited on finding in such a place, with every circumstance to bind two lonely men together, if not for the sake of society, at least for protection, that they should separate: it appeared, however, that his companion was of a quarrelsome disposition, avaricious, and overbearing;" and at night," said Stewart, "I never closed my eyes in safety, for fear of being murdered by him, knowing that all the profits accruing from their mutual labors in sealing would belong to the survivor, and there would be no evidence to prove that I had not died a natural death." Under these circumstances, existence became insupportable; and one morning, after a quarrel, ending in a desperate conflict, in which they seriously wounded each other, they agreed to separate, and casting lots which should depart, and Stewart winning the choice, remained on St. Paul's; his companion, taking the largest of the two boats, left them by their ship, sailed for the neighboring island of Amsterdam, and from that hour to the time of our meeting Stewart, they had never seen nor heard of each other. During our conversation with him, among other things he mentioned, while looking for seals, he had seen ships at various times pass the island; but, with the exception of the one which robbed him, none had sent a boat on shore; and the remembrance of his former treatment induced him to endeavor to avoid a meeting with us. 'But," said the honest-hearted fellow, "it was wrong to suppose all men were like the cowards who ill-treated and robbed a single man in my situation. Bah!" said he, with a strong Scotch accent, "they were Portuguese." 66 One day, while hunting seals in a remote part of the island, he found upon a flat shelving rock, near the sea beach, a human skeleton, which he supposed was the remains of some former inhabitant of the place, who, like himself, had been left for the purpose of taking skins, and, being overtaken by sickness, had crawled to the spot where his bones were found, in the hope of seeing a ship pass by, and, waiting there in vain, had died in a manner the heart sickens to dwell upon. This circumstance caused him great uneasiness for some time; he, however, performed the last offices upon his remains, and buried them near the spot where they were found. Some time after the above melancholy affair, while repairing his boat, he was alarmed by a rumbling noise proceeding from the circular basin, which was followed by a smart shock of an earthquake. This he stated was the only occurrence of the kind that had happened during his residence there. He had been able to exist very well, the lagoon supplying him with abundance of fish, and occasionally he killed a hog, but was indifferently supplied with vegetables. The biscuit left him by his ship was nearly expended, which he felt as an evil; but we relieved his anxiety by promising to leave him a good store for his future wants, together with some flour, ammunition, and fishing-lines and hooks. Our excursion being brought to a close, our newly-found friend conducted us to his hut, which was upon the margin of the lagoon, in a recess formed by nature in the rock: the entrance he had narrowed with stones, filling the interstices with sand and earth combined, leaving a small doorway, which was curtained with a piece of canvas. It contained a seaman's chest, a large barrel which held the skins he had dried, and in other parts, skins were undergoing the process necessary for their preservation. A seaman's hammock and bedding, with a gun, and a few other articles, completed the furniture of his cabin. It surprised our party to find his dwelling so near the place where we landed, and that we should have passed it unobserved; but the fact can be accounted for in no other way than our being overwhelmed with the novelties of the place, and unable to bestow any time upon objects which appeared insignificant. As night was fast approaching, we felt anxious to return to our vessel, Stewart accompanying us in his boat, first extracting a promise not to take him to sea. On board he was the object of considerable curiosity, and amused those who had not been on shore, with a recital of his monotonous existence; and when urged again to leave his dreary abode, and sail with us, he stoutly de clined, having a firm reliance in the word of the captain of his ship, who, he was confident, would call for him when he had completed his cargo. The breeze freshening, we became impatient to put to sea, and, having fulfilled our promise to Stewart in supplying his deficiencies, we got under way; and for some time all eyes were fixed upon his receding figure in his boat, when the extreme distance at last shut him and his solitary abode forever from our view. IF LORD BROUGHAM. the reader of our present age could be transported back into the living England of some thirty years ago, one of the names that he would oftenest hear, and hear always in connection with some earnest intellectual work, would be that of Henry Brougham. Even then he was distinguished in many, almost contradictory, ways. His knowledge was held to be but little short of encyclopædian; he had won for himself a high reputation in mathematical science; his writings were both numerous and powerful; the senate and the bar were daily ringing with his passionate eloquence; and he had become a prominent and a popular advocate of some of the very grandest causes which contribute to the progress of mankind. And, beyond all this, he had given abundant proof of an able, restless, and aspiring nature, conscious of its own capacities, and using them on all fit occasions with a ready and impetuous daringness which augured well for a triumphant issue of his aims. One of the earliest glimpses that we get of him is in St. David street, Edinburgh, running on the pavement with Francis Horner, before either of the little playfellows had fairly got through his second year. His education was begun betimes, at the High School, where Mr. Luke Fraser and Dr. Adam were in turn his masters. The anecdote which Lord Cockburn tells of Brougham's dispute with Mr. Fraser on a point of Latinity, his punishment, his renewal of the dispute the next day under the ægis of a heap of authorities which compelled the kind-hearted pre ceptor to own himself in the wrong, and his subsequent fame as "the fellow who had beat the master," is so curiously characteristic of the Henry Brougham of maturer years, that one regrets to be obliged to transfer the honor of the achievement to some other and unknown person. A more certain fact is, that he was distinguished as a quick and eager scholar, and proceeded to the university at the age of sixteen. His attention, in the first instance, was given chiefly to physical and mathematical science; and so considerable was his progress, that papers of his, on subjects belonging to these departments of knowledge, were soon afterwards published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, and were noticed in a highly flattering manner in some of the circles most competent to judge fairly of their value. Indicative as these contributions were of the early ripeness of the youth's intellect, and probably of some special faculty for the pursuits which they referred to, one cannot but rejoice that his studies swept betimes over a far wider sphere. In his twentieth year on the 21st of November, 1797 he was admitted, with Francis Horner again for a companion, into that Speculative Society in which so many of the ablest of his Scottish contemporaries prepared themselves for the realities of public life. Three years afterwards-having, in the mean time, traveled awhile on the Continent-he became a member of the Society of Advocates, of Edinburgh. Up to this point in his career, or even a little beyond it, it is probable |