des Carmes the Bureau de la Santé-the port of Mahon-the maga zine for victualling the navy-the admiral's house-the parish church -the convent-the town clock-the place to careen the ships-the governor's house-the church of St. François, &c.

Mahon Harbour is full of little coves, similar to Cale Figuiere, which afford excellent anchorage; as indeed does in general the whole harbour, which is chiefly of an equal depth from shore to shore; the bottom is mostly covered with a thick grass, owing to which a light anchor will not take hold: a good scope of cable is therefore necessary to be given before you check the ship.

Mahon Harbour, allowed to be the finest in the Mediterranean, is about 90 fathoms wide at its entrance, but within very large, and safe, stretching a league or more into the land.

I was struck with astonishment, says Mr. Armstrong, in his History of the Island of Minorca, on reading the romantic description it has pleased Cardinal de Retz to give the world of Mahon Harbour; I shall transcribe it at length, as I find it in the Amsterdam edition of his Memoirs, printed in 1718, p. 301 of the first volume:

Port Mahon, qui est le plus beau de la Mediterranée.-Son embouchure est fort étroite, et je ne crois pas que deux galeres à la fois y pussent passer en voguant; il s'elargit tout d'un coup, et fait un bassin oblong qui a une grande demi licue de long; une grande montagne qui l'environne de tous les côtez fait un théatre, qui par la multitude et la hauteur des arbres dont elle est couverte, et par les ruisseaux qu'elle jette avec une abondance prodigieuse, ouvre mille et mille scenes qui sont sans exageration plus surpre nantes que celles de l'opera; cette même montagne, ces arbres, ces rochers couvrent le port de tous les vents, et dans les plus grandes tempêtes, il est toujours aussi calme qu'un bassin de fontaine, et auffi uni qu'une glace.Minorque donne encore plus de chair et de toutes sortes de victuailles necessaires à la navigation, que Mayorque ne produit de grenades, d'oranges et de limons. Dans ce beau lieu la chasse étoit la plus belle du monde en sorte de gibier, et la peche en profusion.

A

"Port Mahon is the finest in the Mediterranean.-The entrance is very narrow, and I do not think that two galleys could row by each other there; but it widens all at once, and forms an oblong bason of a good league in length, and more than half a league over. great mountain surrounds it on every side, and forms a kind of the atre, which in the number, and great height of the trees with which it is covered, and the streams it sends forth in vast abundance, presents to the view an infinite variety of scenes, much more astonishing, without exaggeration, than those of the opera. This mountain, these trees and rocks, shelter the port on every side from the winds, so that in the most tempestuous weather it is as calm as a bason, and as smooth as a piece of ice. Minorca furnishes more fresh meat, and

all sorts of provisions for the use of ships, than Majorca does of pomegranates, oranges, and lemons. In this delightful place we found every kind of game, and a profusion of fish,”

Mr. Armstrong is of opinion that this description is very incorrect, for the harbour is not surrounded by a mountain, though the land is high in some places; there are no high trees, nay scarcely any trees near it, nor is it probable there ever were many; no stream of water falls into it, and boats are frequently overset here by sudden flurries of wind.

To sail into Port Mahon, they bring Mount Toro to bear with the middle of the harbour, and so keep it till they are got the length of Bloody Island, taking care not to come too near Philipet, where there is a sunk rock: they are then in nine or ten fathoms water, and good ground. If they would go above Bloody Island, they must leave it on the right hand, and there is water enough quite up to the key of the Town. Whenever they would approach the Cape Mola side, they must keep the lead a-going, for the water shoals every where there; whereas there is a sufficient depth on the other side, for the most part, from one end to the other.-The latitude of Mahon Harbour is 39° 40' North.

There is a good key at St. Philip's for the use of ships. Between Fort Philipet, and the Cape Mola shore, is an opening, which has been sometimes fatally mistaken for the mouth of Mahon Harbour On the elevated top of Cape Mola is the signal-house, from whence the garrison has due warning on the approach of ships and vessels from sea: a bush hung out used to denote a small vessel, a ball a ship, two or three balls the same number of ships, and a flag a fleet these signals were hoisted on the side where the ships appeared.

The town of Mahon derives its name from Mago, the Carthaginian general, who is universally allowed to have been its founder. It stands on an eminence on the west side of the harbour, the ascent pretty steep, and contains a large church, three convents, the governor's palace, and some other public edifices. It is large, but the streets are winding, narrow, and ill paved. There is a fine wharf at the foot of the hill, on which Mahon stands, the western end of which is set apart for careening, and repairing, his Majesty's ships. The depth of water is such, that ships of the largest size can come close to the A mile below Mahon is English Cove, the watering-place for the Navy; the harbour is there a mile over, almost the greatest breadth. Half a mile lower, and within a mile of St. Philip's, is Bloody Island: it lies nearly in the middle of the channel, but the deepest water is on the Mahon side. On Bloody Island is a capacious naval hospital, whose area is twelve acres. The fortress of St. Philip stands on a neck of land near the entrance of the harbour, which it coverş.

Minorca, situated between 39 and 40 degrees of N. latitude, and near four degrees of E. longitude, is one of those islands which were called by the Romans, Baleares; it is about thirty-three miles in length from north-west to south-east, in breadth from eight to twelve, but in general about ten miles; nearly the same size as the Isle of Wight. It contains 236 square miles, and 151,040 square acres: in compass it is sixty-two miles. The whole island is divided into four terminos: the termino of Mahon, bounded on three sides by the sea; the termino of Alaior; the united terminos of Mercadal and Fererias; and the termino of Ciudadella. The city of Ciudadella was once the capital of the island, and still makes a venerable and majestic figure, even in its ruins.

The whole coast of Minorca lies low. The surface of the island is rough, and unequal, and in many places divided by long narrow vales of a considerable depth, called Barancoes by the natives; they begin towards the middle of the island, and after several windings terminate in the sea. The air of this island is much more clear and pure than in Britain: in rough weather the spray of the sea is driven over the whole island. During the whole year the thermometer seldom rises much above the Soth, or falls below the 48th degree. The winds are very boisterous about the equinoxes, and sometimes during the winter; at other times they are generally moderate, and, according to the observations of seamen, they rarely blow in the same direction near the islands adjacent to the Gulph of Lyons, as in the open sea. During the summer there is commonly a perfect calm in the mornings and evenings; but the middle of the day is cooled by refreshing breezes which come from the east, and following the course of the sun, increase gradually until two or three in the afternoon, after which they insensibly die away as night approaches. Minorca first fell under the power of the Romans, afterwards of the northern barbarians; from them it was taken by the Arabs, who were subdued by the King of Majorca, who surrendered it to the King of Spain. The English subdued it in 1708, under General Stanhope *; it came under the government of the French in June 1756; was restored to this Country by the treaty of Paris in 1763; surrendered to the Duc de Crillon, Cominander in chief of the combined armies of France and Spain, on the 5th of February 1782; and again came into the possession of the English on the 15th of November 1798, when attacked by the Squadron under Commodore Duckworth, with troops commanded by the Honourable General Charles Stuart.

General Stanhope, with 2000 men, assisted by Admiral Sir John Leake, landed in Minorca September 14th, 1708, and St. Philip's capitulated on the 29th.

NAVAL LITERATURE.

Voyages to the East Indies, by the late John Splinter Stavorinus, Esq. in the Years 1768, 1771, 1774, and 1778, Rear Admiral in the Service of the States General; concluded from Page 63, of our last ; Vol. II. 512 Pages, and Vol. III. 575 Pages, considered.

THE part of this work which contains the voyage to

Samarang, Macasser, Amboyna, and Surat, commences in the second volume, and is full of interesting and valuable remarks, narrated in a style and manner superior to the preceding volume: the whole is well calculated to furnish the public at the present moment, with information respecting those valuable acquisitions of the Dutch, the greater part of which, we hope, will be annexed to the possessions of our own Country. These volumes will be found very useful to any naval officer going to the East Indies, and more particularly to commercial men.

Our author informs us it was the opinion of an intelligent planter at The Cape, that there is a safe birth for ships in Muscle Bay, where they might even be sheltered from the E. S. E. wind; to this observation the following sensible. note is added by Mr. Wilcocke the translator:

This harbour, though rather open to the easterly winds, and not resorted to by ships except in cases of necessity, might, in many respects, prove very useful were it better known. Sparrman informs us, that there is a good sandy bottom for anchorage, and a small creek or inlet to the south-west, with depth of water sufficient for a ship, and a rill of fresh water running into it. On the north side of the bay, there is a flat shore, where boats may approach with safety. In the journal of the voyage of the Dutch admiral P. Van Caerden, there is an account of the first discovery of this bay; that Commander returning in 1601, with two ships, from the Indies, cast anchor on the 8th of July here, to repair one of the vessels that was very leaky, and had lost a great part of her sheathing; they found no other refreshments than water and muscles, and hence they gave the bay the name of Muscle Bay; they left it on the 14th, after having completed the purposes for which they entered it: these vessels coasted along from this place to the Cape of Good Hope; and likewise cast anchor in, and

gave names to, Vleesch or Flesh Bay, and Visch or Fish Bay, calling them from the nature of the supplies of provisions they obtained in each. The narrow policy of the Dutch East India Company has always been directed to prevent the true situation of the whole of this coast from becoming known. Little, therefore, can with certainty be said of it; but if secure harbours be discovered along it, the benefits to be derived from them would be very important. Farther to the eastward, is Agoa, or Blettenberg's Bay, which, though it is only an open road, is spacious, and affords good anchorage for the largest ships, sheltered from the north-east, west, and south winds; there is plenty of fresh water, the bay abounds in fish, and the rocks are covered with excellent oysters. The finest timber grows in the neighbourhood of these bays; and if, instead of having it brought by land-carriage to the Cape, a navigation were established, the difference would be immense, both to the sellers and to the buyers. Among the various sorts of timber, either unknown or extremely rare in Europe, the following abound here, viz. geelhout, or yellow wood (ilex crocea), which is of a yellow colour, almost like box, and of a close texture; it is used for making of furniture; buckuhout (olea capensis); roode else, or red alder (cunonia capensis); the keureboom (sophora capensis); zwarte yzerhout, or black ironwood (gardenia rothmannia); warthast (royena villosa); and doornhout, or thorn-wood (mimosa nilotica); which are all used in the construction of waggons and their appurtenances; essenhout, the ash (ekebergia capensis), which is hard and of a close texture, and is used for making of tools and implements of various kinds; oly vehout, olive wood (olea Europea), which is a heavy, strong wood, of a brown colour, used in the construction of mills; wilde catjepiering (gardenia thunbergia), a strong kind of wood used for clubs; stinkhout, or stinkwood, which is a beautiful brown wood, like walnut-tree wood; household furniture of all kinds is made of it; it is susceptible of the finest polish, and has the valuable property of being proof against the attacks of worms; it has its name from the excrementitious odour which it exhales when cut down, but which goes away as soon as it is dried; camașsichout, which is used for veneering; it is one of the finest and heaviest kinds of wood, Some of these might, perhaps, if access to the immense forests which produce them were easy, become articles of trade, even to Europe.

Mr. Stavorinus was of opinion that the iron spindles for the vanes of ships, which are generally used at the top-mastheads, are very dangerous in storms of lightning, as they must attract the electric matter: the top-masts of his ship had knobs instead. The directions which he has given