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Nothing could seem a matter of much less importance, than whether an individual save or expend his shilling at the close of every week; and yet in the course of a few years the difference is made most striking, by an exhibition of rags and wretchedness on one side, and comfort and independence on the A: other."

Benevolent Funds, to which there are benefit and free subscribers, are also recommended. The author states the plan and manner of distributing from the benevolent fund in his own parish, and speaks in high terms of its happy effect, in affording pecuniary relief, and useful employment. But whatever may be the means which local circumstances and active benevolence will suggest for bettering the condition of the poor,

"nothing which wisdom can devise, or charity execute, or the legislature enforce, can really benefit them, irrespective of their own habits and character. In order to insure right practices, we must instil moral principles. To neglect this, would be to build without a foundation."

by taking a view of public houses, "those hot-beds of vice, those nurseries of the rankest weeds which infest the political enclosure."

When we reflect on the multifarious causes of immorality, independent of the if we consider the fact, that there are not evil propensities of the human heart; and sufficient houses of religious instruction in our own, as well as in English cities, to accommodate the poor, and others who of worship; when we seriously attend to might be encouraged to frequent places the awful truth, that thousands, on account of obstacles which could be removed, are ignorant of religious principles, and strangers to the blessings of Christianity, living "without God in the world," we must be truly alarmed at the fearful result.

We cannot close this article more appropriately than with the remark which the author reserved for the conclusion of this valuable book, a book which cannot be perused without much instruction and deep interest:

The benevolent author, and with him every philanthropist, deplores the many artificial sources of vice, poverty, and misery; and he finishes the catalogue THEMSELVES PAUPERS.' of demoralizing causes among the poor,

"ALL EFFORTS WILL BE ABORTIVE WITHOUT MORAL CULTURE. MAKE THE POOR CHRISTIANS, AND THEY WILL NOT MAKE

K. N. R.

ART. 3. A Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemis pheres: comprising three Voyages round the World, together with a Voyage of Survey and Discovery in the Pacific Ocean and Oriental Islands. By AMASA DELANO. 8vo. pp. 598. Boston. E. G. House. 1818.

IN 1790 an expedition was fitted out from Bombay, by the East-India Com pany, consisting of two vessels, the Panther, a snow of about two hundred tons, and the Endeavour, a smaller snow, under the command of Commodore John M'Clure, the object of which was, to explore the Pelew islands, New-Holland, New-Guinea, and the adjacent islands. The Panther and Endeavour sailed from Bombay in August, 1790. In April, 1791, the author of the narrative, an American recently discharged from a United States'

ship, the Massachusetts, joined the expe dition at Canton, in China, and remained with Commodore M'Clure till July, 1703. The various observations upon the different places just mentioned, with remarks upon the state of society, the different produc-` tions, &c. form the first and most interesting part of Captain Delano's book. As he avows his purpose to be, "not only to give useful information in regard to trade, navigation, countries and their laws, but to encourage good moral sentiments, and impress the value of good examples,"

we think he has very judiciously prefixed, to the detail of their adventures, a general character of his companions. We insert it with pleasure, as a tribute to merit, and as a refutation of the prejudice, that men bred to the sea, however characterized by courage and generosity, indulge themselves in a license of manners and sentiment which disregards the ties, and abandons the duties of the domestic state; and while they are distinguished by the reciprocation of good feelings among themselves, and by fidelity to the individual, or to the country, in whose service they are engaged, they are indifferent to the morals or the welfare of those whose interest and virtue may be influenced by intercourse and transactions with them. This opinion may be just in many instances, but we hope that honourable exceptions to it are frequent, and that the instance before us is not as rare as it is exemplary and commendable. Speaking of the officers and marines employed in this expedition, the author

says:

of the wife, were such as wise and good men, in a pure state of society, would rejoice to approve and disseminate. In the variety of countries and people where they visited, and the effects of different manners and institutions upon the communities, they had an opportunity to acquire a practical liberality of mind, while their estimate of the pre-eminent value of the domestic virtues was continually exalted. Let it not be supposed, under the dominion of prejudices which are too common on shore, that this is a kind of praise but ill adapted to a sailor's life and habits. From my own obseamen than I have room to name, I am able to meet this misrepresentation, and to affirm the extensive influence which moral, dotheir hearts, their conversations, and their mestic, and religious feelings have over hopes.

servation, and the virtues of more fellow

"There is another article in the conduct tioned as equally honourable to my comof this expedition, which ought to be menpanions and worthy of imitation from others. Their treatment of the natives was uniformly impositions were practised upon their crejust, honest, generous, and friendly; no dulity; no mercenary advantages were taken of their ignorance; and no treachery was used toward their interests after making professions of higher principles and better forms of society among Christian people. The impression left upon the minds of the natives in every place, must them. It could not but have excited in have been favourable to us, and useful to their minds many reflections, and probably the means of civilization, and seeking the some resolutions, upon the subject of using blessings of such a religion as ours. It is my deliberate opinion, that most of that of conduct of the natives of different countries which we complain in the character and towards us, is owing to ourselves, to our the disregard of our own principles as we avarice and cupidity, our selfishness, and have at first announced them. If all voya ers, travellers, and missionaries had treated they were treated by Commodore M'Clure the natives as honourably and wisely as and his companions in the expedition, we should not only have enjoyed uninterrupted friendship with them, but should have gone very far toward the accomplishment of their civilization, and the introduction among them of our own forms of society and religion."

"They were all North and South Britons by birth, had been educated in good schools in England and Scotland, and entered young into the navy, or into the Bombay inarine. They had never known any but the public service. From the youngest midshipman to the commodore, not one had arrived at the age of thirty. They had not been exposed to any degradation of sentiment, or of moral feeling, by that miscellaneous intercourse with nations in the pur; suits of trade, which has too often corrupted the mind and character, through the temptations of avarice and commercial policy; especially when at a distance from home, and free from the responsibility to superior officers, as a substitute for the influence of the social relations upon conduct, in the midst of friends, whose good opinion and offices of kindness and confidence are necessary to happiness. They were, in principle and practice, honest, ingenuous, and honourable; despisers of meanness and duplicity in every form; just and generous in the common duties of life; respectful to each other in their familiarity and playfulness, and faithful in their friendships. It deserves to be particularly mentioned, that they encouraged in their conversation, and regarded in their conduct, high and honour able sentiments towards women. Their ideas of the importance and sacredness of practised upon Delano, which gives rise the marriage relation, and of the character to some valuable reflections, and may di

The vessels left Canton April 27th, 1791, held a prosperous course till the 14th of May, and then anchored at Port San Pio Quinto, one of the Babuyan Islands. IIere a harmless imposture was

vert the reader. Dr. Nicholson, the surgeon, and Lieutenant Drummond, willing to make an experiment upon the curiosity and credulity of a Yankee, after having spent a day on shore, returned to the vessel with intelligence of a discovery of golden ore, which they exhibited in some yellow earth, a piece of antimony, and some other of the contents of the medicine chest. This determined the American, whose duty the next day required him to make the trial, to follow the course which was pointed out in search of this attractive object; and thus he relates his adventure':

"Drummond, who was a Scotchman, and my friend, but still willing to enjoy a frolic, with the characteristic shrewdness of his nation, perceiving that my ardour was sufficient, slapped me on the shoulder, and said, Ods mon, if you are set upon this, there is my large canvass bag which will hold two or three bushels. Take that, and my Malabar boy with you for a guide, he knows the place where we found these curious ores, and you can return with a back load of gold.' Every time this word gold, was pronounced, my imagination became more heated, and I was soon ripe for the enterprise. After a night of South-sea dreams our party was ready for the shore. The Malabar boy could not speak English, and I could not speak any thing else. He therefore received his instructions from his master without suspicions on my part. The Commodore also gave very liberal instructions to me, as the head of the party, allowing me liberty to go all over the island if I chose, only leaving a midshipman to take charge of the companies for procuring wood and water. He observed, at the same time, that he always wished his officers to make every discovery in their power while on land duty. At the firing of the gun we mustered; and on landing at the wateringplace, I gave the midshipman his orders, took my fusee and the boy with his bag, and proceeded up the river with great exhilaration. The first mile was tolerably level and easy, and I was able to pass comfortably along the side of the river, which was about ten yards wide, and knee deep, winding its course through a most delightful landscape. After this, the land rose abruptly, the river was filled with falls, its banks were broken with rocks, and a passage in any way became exceedingly difficult. But the gold inspired me, and banished all sense of hardship. At last the Malabar boy cried out, and sunk down with fatigue. When I tried to make inquiries of him, he shook his head, and I supposed his meaning was, that he did not understand me. As we were sitting on the rocks to rest ourselves, I saw a number of VOL. y. No. 1.

33

wild cocks and hens coming from the wood,
shot five or six, and found them so like
and lighting on the trees over our heads. I

our barn-door fowls that I did not know but
the place might be inhabited by beings like
point up the river, whenever I asked for the
ourselves. The boy had been instructed to
place of the gold ore, and he was to go with
me as far as we found water. With much
and rests, we made our way more than six
difficulty however, and after repeated stops
miles, according to the channel of the river,
and found it then divided into two or three
branches near its sources. Here, after a so-
licitous examination of the boy, I discovered
that neither he nor his master had been up the
river before. The boy appeared not to have
been let into the plot, but began to be alarm-
ed and anxious. And from the very moment
that the idea of a hoax entered my mind, all
the evidence on the subject struck me in a
new light. I saw how to put the circumstances
together, and how to account for every
thing. The intrigue unfolded itself with per-
fect clearness, and I saw myself in a wilder-
ness, a fatigued, disappointed, and ridiculous
dupe. In the midst of my vexation I could
not help laughing, and almost crying at :
the same moment. The trick was a se-
vere one for me, but it had been well ma-
naged, and my ardour and credulity were
fairly chargeable to myself. After a hard
struggle with my mortification, I deter-
mined to take it in good part, and laugh
with the rest, drawing from the adventure
those lessons of wisdom and prudence,
which it was calculated to afford for future
application. To relieve my mind, and to
carry back something to check the force of
the laugh against me, I employed myself in
making observations upon the scenery, the
soil, the products, the insects, and the rep-
tiles about me. From the rock in the middle
of the stream, where I had been sitting to
think over my disappointment, and which I
had chosen in order to avoid being bitten or
stung by the numerous enemies of a dis-
coverer's peace, I rose and penetrated into
the wood ten or twelve rods; but the un-
derbrush was too thick and thorny to allow
a further passage through it. The river was
the only way to return, which now renewed
at every step the consciousness of my foolish
credulity. The banks of the stream, how-
ever, were rich, and variegated with all the
flowers and colours of spring. These formed
a striking contrast with the reptiles conceal-
ed beneath them, among which the traveller
was endangered every moment from scor-
pions, centipedes, guanas, and tarantulas.
The soil was excellent, and produced in
great abundance, the beetle nut, the cocoa
nut, various other tropical fruits, and fine
timber for ships. As we proceeded down
the river, we were able to make little ex-
cursions further from its sides, and occasion-
ally discovered pleasant lawns, some of
which had been burnt over, and were now
covered with high coarse grass. It was fine

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About four o'clock in the afternoon, I reached the shore again, completely worn down with fatigue; but in much better,spirits than I was, when at the sources of the river, in a trackless wood, revolving the rise, progress, developement, and possible consequences of the plot which had been laid and executed at my expense.

"I would now pause for a moment, to make a few remarks, showing the state of my feelings then, and my reflections afterwards. "When I was seated in perfect silence, on a rock in the river near to its sources, and could hear the echo of the waters through the awful stillness of the desert,mingled with the occasional but unintelligible expressions of anxiety, by the poor Malabar boy;

and when I remembered that I was at an almost immeasurable distance from my native country, in the service of a foreign power, the victim of an imposition which appeared to me under various aspects, and now in a savage spot where the natives might be every moment upon me, I confess I was not very far from that mixed mood of melancholy, mortification, and terror, which required but little more to overcome me for the hour. Had I been attacked, desperation might have roused me and made me brave. Vexation and pride however were my friends and supporters, till better feelings regained their elasticity and force.

"And after leaving the rock for the shore, and the ship, every step, and every new object assisted to restore my self-controul, and the consolations of hope. The feelings, which I then experienced, have taught me how to judge of the sufferings and wants of men, whose spirits fail when they are at a distance from home, and appear to themselves to be cast out from the sympathies of the human family. It is an evidence of as much folly as it is of inhumanity, to say that none but weak and dastardly minds are subject to these impressions. Good talents, a lively imagination, a temperament of ingenuousness and honesty, and those qualities of the soul which give the charm to decisive and efficient characters, serve only to add bitterness, under such circumstances, to the feeling of desolation. Whoever may have the command of men abroad, let him not, when he finds any of them oppressed with these feelings, begin to despise and reproach them as mean and pusillanimous. Let him learn human nature better; and by

kindness, by increased manifestations of sympathy, by diversifying their employ

ments, and appointing such as are adapted to their condition, let him gradually raise their hearts, invigorate their resolution, and bind them to duty, virtue, and friendship for ever. Many are the instances, in which generous and feeling minds have been ruin ed, and only relieved by death, when they were subject to the command of others, and during a period of depression were inhu manly treated without the means of redress. Sailors, and all men even of the meanest education, have the essential qualities of high minds, and are exalted and improved, at the same time that they are won, by generosity and kindness."

This generous theory of relieving the dejection, and encouraging the latent and suspended virtues of the human soul, under circumstances the most unpromising, in characters the most completely cor rupted, has lately been illustrated by an example, not exactly resembling the case before us, and yet sufficiently like it in principle, to induce the efforts of the be

nevolent in the manner which is here re commended, in favour not only of all who suffer, but of all who err.

The memorable and extraordinary suc cess of the excellent reformers of Newgate (see Edinburgh Review, No. Sept. 1818.) must from this time, confute the presumption, that there exists a human creature whom suitable motives, instruction, and example, may not persuade to abandon his vices, to exert his abilities, and yet to contribute something to general virtue and usefulness.

The delightful description of the Pelew Islands, given by George Keate, from Wilson, has been regarded by the people of the civilized world as a representation of savages, too favourable to be founded in fact. But in many particulars Wilson's account is fully corroborated by Captain Delano; and we shall have too much reason to believe, should subsequent vi sitors observe any degeneracy in this interesting race, that it will have been ef fected by the pernicious intercourse with white-men, which has unhappily as yet done more to corrupt than to improve the islanders of the Pacific ocean. The character of Abba Thulle, as a prince, a politician, a wise and moral man, is a les

son to the sovereigns of every land;

and

2

happy would it have been for mankind, if those who have lived in the full light of philosophy and gospel truth, had, like bim, pursued the true welfare of their subjects, and like him regarded the rights

of their enemies.

When Commodore M'Clure visited these islands in June, 1791, he was received with the most entire confidence and hospitality; and observed not only the most perfect cordiality among the natives, but an active sympathy with the strangers, and the most rational curiosity. Abba Thulle's subjects generally loved him, and submitted to his authority; but his gentle sway was not sufficiently power ful to prevent those who lived on islands distant from the royal residence, from making attempts at independence. Wilson found some of the people in a state of revolt, and took part with Abba Thulle in subduing them. Commodore M'Clure also arrived in a time of rebellion, and, like Wilson, joined the king. He went against the inhabitants of Artingall, one of the islands under his dominion. The history of this enterprise is truly interesting, and is thus related by Captain Defano

"The expedition for this purpose was fit ted out the 21st of June, and was quite pow erful. Some thousands of men were embarked. Two of our officers, the surgeon, a number of sailors, and a detachment of sepoys, were among them. I was assigned to the command of the launch, a large boat, with a crew of Europeans. We had a six pound brass cannon, several swivels, a chest of ammunition, and each man a musket. The king, according to his usual generosity, had sent word to the people of Artingall, that we should be there in three days for war. Although I was a Christian, and was in the habit of supposing the Christians superior to these pagans in the principles of virtue and benevolence, yet I could not refrain from remonstrating against this conduct on the part of the king. I told him that Christian nations considered it as within the acknowledged system of lawful and honourable war fare, to use stratagems against enemies, and to fall upon them whenever it was possible, and take them by surprise. He replied, that war was horrid enough when pursued in the most open and magnanimous manner; and that although he thought very highly of the English, still their principles in this respect did not obtain his approba

tion, and he believed his own mode of warfare more politic as well as more just. He said, that if he were to destroy his enemies when they were asleep, others would have good reason to retaliate the same base conduct upon his subjects, and thus multiply evils, where regular and open warfare might be the means of a speedy peace without barbarity. Should he subdue his rebellious subjects by stratagem and surprise, they would hate both him and his measures, and would never be faithful and happy, although they might fear his power, and unwillingly obey his laws. Sentiments of this elevated character excited my admiration the more for this excellent pagan, and made an impression upon my mind, which time will never efface. Christians might learn of Abba Thulle a fair comment upon the best prinples of their own religion.

Previons to our departure for Artingall, the king assembled all his force at Pelew, made all the necessary preparation of provisions and arms; we moved in the evening, pursued our course through the night, and on the morning of the 22d arrived off Artingall. The day was fair and pleasant. The canoes formed three lines, front, centre, and rear. The launch, with English colours flying, was in the centre; and the canoes pulled abreast in lines, with each a flag or banner resembling ours as much as possible. We came within a long reef, which extended several miles, and were then before the town, in smooth water, keeping in order as we approached. With our spyglass, we saw that the beach was covered with natives for a quarter of a mile near to the town, who bad arms in their hands. When we were within a mile of them, the King gave orders for our musquito fleet to come to an anchor. This being done, he requested that a gun might be fired, and a signal made for some one to come off to us. We complied with his wishes, and immediately we observed people go to a stone pier and enter a canoe, which was paddled directly to our boat, at the astonishing rate of eight or nine miles an hour. When they were within our lines, the king's canoe be ing made fast along side the launch, they drew up at about four yards distance from and then, at the clapping of hands by the steersman, they all at once backed wa ter with their paddles, and stopped as suddenly as if they had struck a rock. After this, they came along side the king's canoe, and we saw the chief, who was with them, and who sat distinguished from all the rest upon a seat in the centre. Their conduct upon this occasion attracted my attention and excited my admiration. With bold and fearless countenances, and with simple but determined manners, they looked round on all the instruments of death, which we had brought with us, and preserved a uniform air of indifference and courage. No signs of fear or doubt were betrayed by them, notwithstanding our expedition and various

us,

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