that which too often comes under our notice. 66 Like most poets, our author is a lover of the moon, the stars, moon-light scenes, &c.; and this love, any one will perceive, is too often expressed, if they only read half a dozen pages;-in one page we believe we noticed "moonbeams," cold moon," "pale moon,' moonlight," &c. &c. The beauty of the passages where these occur is, by this repetition, in our opinion, considerably injured-another fault is, that there seems a want of music in some of the lines; our readers have probably noticed this already in the passages we have quoted. We cannot read on so smoothly as we could wish; some are too short, others too long, and we are often obliged to jump over words, and supply others, to keep a regular, smooth, unbroken chain of soft, musical, and harmonious sounds. The writer of this volume, is, if we mistake not, a regular contributor to the London Magazine; we fancy we can perceive traces of the same romantic and lively imagination in some of the Scottish Tales in that publication,-tales as pleasing as they are original. On the whole, we are highly pleased with this performance, and think it will become a favourite with the public. Of the poems which close the volume, we can say but little :--they partake of a portion of the same spirit as the dramatic poem, but are, we conceive, of inferior value. Some of the songs are very pretty, sweet productions, and will be well received, and duly estimated, by Scotchmen especially, and all those who admire the rustic simplicity of Burns. inhabitants bear a strong resemblance to one another. Both are wild and uncultivated, possessing capabilities which have never been called into action, yet bearing weeds, and nourishing reptiles, which render solitude frightful, and place human nature in its lowest state of moral degradation. The following passages will illustrate the melancholy fact, that these outcasts of society, and strangers to the blessings of civilization, are involved in a state of the most deplorable mental darkness. "Many attended our worship at eleven P.M. when they were told what great things the Son of God had done for the salvation of men, and in order to gain their love. The people gave apparent attention. There were present the tain of another Tammaha town, ten or twelve King, the chief captain, and Mooshene, capmiles distant. After the meeting was over, the king and chief men returned, and we entered into conversation with them. On being requested to tell what they knew of God? The King replied, that they knew nothing of God, but when they saw waggons, and the things in them, and the tent, &c. they thought that the men who could make such things must be a kind of gods, but now that we had told them otherwise, they knew we were men like themselves; he then added, that they knew not what to think of God. The King (who is an old man) said, that old men in former times used to speak of those things, but men now speak of nothing; that he knew he was ignorant, and had come to the tent to be instructed. On being asked if he knew that he had a soul, he said he did not, nor did he know any difference between men and beasts; but that they had always known there was a God, and that he was near them, and killed them, but they did what was bad, I asked if their hearts told never knew why he was angry. When they them it was evil which they had done;-such as when they murdered or stole? The King answered "When a man does evil he does not think of it, but if a man tells him, and reproves him for it, then he thinks of it and is them," I inquired, "did they do any thing to afraid:"-" When they thought God killed please him?" The King replied, "We never thought of it-no man ever thought what would please God." He was surrounded by the wonderful works of God, I observed, such as the sun, did he ever think how large it was? "Let the REVIEW.-Campbell's Travels in the Answer, They never thought of it. (Concluded from col. 466.) This volume is replete with information, which is both amusing and instructive, containing delineations of African character, which have a close connection with the important object for which this journey was undertaken, and the recesses of the desert were explored. The country and its King think of it now," I said, "and tell me what he thinks?" He said he could not think of it, but we must tell him. With this request I immediately complied. On being asked said he thought (speaking with seeming diffiwhere that luminary went in the night-time? he dence) it took a short turn from there, pointing to the west) and came back to the east. "Does it come back under the world, or how?" He could not tell, but he knew that sun, moon, and stars, all went one way; whedid not know. He wished to be informed ther they went through or under the earth be whether it was a new sun every morning, or the old one that came back again; he thought white men were a kind of gods compared to them; and that in their own country they must have gods greater than themselves; that when he looked at our clothes, and observed how fit they were for defending the skin from thorns, when he viewed our table, stools, and waggons, he wondered at us. him, and made him believe this. They cannot, he added, feel what she is; but should a man be permitted to touch her, which seldom happens, she breathes hard upon his arm, and this makes him shoot better. She eats nothing but bulbous roots. After Ko comes up from the ground, and dances a short time with them, she disappears, and is succeeded by her nymphs, who likewise dance a while with them. "Does the King think that God is subject to death like men?' Answer, He does not know. I took this opportunity of telling him "At this stage of the narrative, Makoon that God alone could send them rain, and that remarked, that these were old stories of the the persons among the Bootshuanas and Bar-Bushmen, about which he cared little;' adding, roolongs, called rain-makers, had no such power over the clouds. The conversation afterwards proceeded as follows. "Does the King know any thing of the devil?'-'Yes, we call him Burrimo! but we think he is a God.' Here Munameets told the King that the white people called him Satan; that he was a rogue, and, like Makkabba, was constantly trying to stir up all men against God and each other. Have they ever heard of the Ocean, or Great Water?' The King, smiling, said, Where shall I see such a Great Water?" He then inquired from whence beads came. On being asked how the fowls were upheld in the air, he said, he did not know whether by air or not. He wished to know where we got our clothes, and from what they were made. Mooshene then asked for a knife; and the King said we must shoot flesh for them; which was heartily seconded by Pelangye, who urged the King to persevere in that request, which he evidently did from the hope of coming in for a share of whatever might be thus obtained. Sedras, the Bootshuana interpreter at this time, told the King and twenty others who were sitting in the tent, that though Pelangye had travelled with us all the journey up the country, and had heard the word of God every day; yet here he had interrupted the conversation by talking about flesh: adding, that he was a man who was never happy but when he saw a potful of flesh boiling before him."-p. 5. Another instance of a similar nature occurs in the life of Makoon, a chief of some wild Bushmen. 'He said his countrymen knew nothing of God, and he knew as little. On being asked what the Bushmen thought of God, he seemed unwilling to answer, but carelessly observed, that Bushmen told lies; however, on being pressed and questioned, he said, they had a name which they gave to God who is above them, and another to God who is under them. The former is a male, the latter a female. The male God they call Goa, the female Ko; and her attendants are called Ganna. When the Bushmen dance, Ko sometimes comes and informs them where game is to be procured; and when any animals are killed, certain parts of them must only be eaten by particular persons. She is a large, white figure, and sheds such a brightness around, that they can hardly see the fire for it; all see and hear her as she dances with them. Being asked if he had actually seen her himselfwith some hesitation, he said he had seen her, and she spoke the Bushman language. Probably, when a boy, they had imposed upon 'that he wished to see and hear no more concerning them, but only to be taught the knowledge of the true God.' "On asking him whether Bushmen thought of going to another world when they died? he said he did not know what other Bushmen thought about it, but when he died he knew that he should be eaten up by a wolf, and there would be an end of him. He added, that when a Bushman died, they made a grave and buried him in it with his face towards the rising sun. Were they to put his face towards the west, it would make the sun longer in rising the next day. He could not state any difference between a man and a brute-he did not know but a buffalo might shoot with bows and arrows as well as a man, if it had them.How striking an indication of the degraded condition of these wretched outcasts! yet Makoon was one of the most intelligent I had seen among them."-p. 34. Nor is the civil state of these unhappy tribes superior to their moral condition: war, depredation, plunder, and injustice, accompanied with acts of unfeeling barbarity, form the most prominent features in their history and character. The following instances will place this statement in an awful light. " During our absence from Lattakoo, the Bushmen had stolen twenty head of cattle from Mateebe's people; a commando immediately pursued and overtook them on the plain, when they killed ten men, five women, and five children. On returning from the slaughter, a peetso, or general meeting was held, and all the circumstances attending it were related. After which, men and women dispersed themselves over the town, imitating the screams of those persons who had been killed, repeating their expressions of terror, and representing their actions when begging for their lives. The Lattakoo women discovered on this occasion a more cruel disposition than even the men. They imitated, with much apparent pleasure, the screams of the Bushmen, when put to death by the Bootshuanas. Alas! how truly do the Scriptures represent the dark places of the earth as being the habitations of cruelty."-p. 59. "While we were at dinner in the tent, at Machatchanai, a little girl, almost a skeleton from hunger, stood near the tent, gazing at us with an anxious countenance. We gave her some meat, which she devoured with the voracity of a tiger. Many of the captains' daughters sat near, evidently astonished that we should take notice of such a poor child; | characters, Mr. Campbell gives the for they think that if any thing be given away, following account. it ought to be given to the rich. It is remarkable, that the dogs in that part of Africa seem to be similarly affected, for should a poor half-starved dog happen to make his appearance, all the well-fed dogs, as if by consent, rush upon him, and are ready to tear him to pieces."-p. 136. "At the peetso, or general meeting of the captains, when it was resolved that they should go on no more plundering expeditions, to steal cattle from the neighbouring nations, Seemeeno, who opposed the motion, said, if they relinquished going upon commandoes, the young men would have no way left of distinguishing themselves by killing people, and rather than that they should not be renowned in this way, as formerly, he recommended that they should kill their mothers."p. 157. " Inquiring if he knew how men first came into the world? he said he was a child, (meaning in understanding) and knew nothing; that he never heard his father speak about any thing except game. I inquired where the sun went after it sunk behind the mountain? He could not tell; but thought it died, and a new one came up the next morning. He had heard of God since he came to live near Kars, but all his forefathers had died ignorant of this knowledge. He said the Bushmen knew something of the devil; as for himself, he believed him to be a rogue, and that his blood was like that of the Bushmen. He knew this, because the people sometimes killed him, and saw his blood. On asking how they could kill the devil more than once? he replied that he came to life again, and that he can kill people with fire, not thunder, but a peculiar kind of fire of his own. "Bushmen, said he, do not think they have souls, yet they die one after another, burying the young people, and throwing the old to the wild beasts. Here Kars, the Griqua, said that the Bushman sitting yonder (pointing to a man in the tent) had an aged mother-in-law. During the absence of the son-in-law from home, her own daughter, who is his wife, dragged the old woman into the field, and left her alive among the bushes, where she was torn to pieces by the wolves that same night. On asking the man if he did not think it cruel to drag the poor woman to the field to perish? with the utmost indifference, he answered, that it was not he but his wife who did it. The other day, when this same Bushman was chastising one of his children, an elder son took his bow, and would certainly have shot the father, had he not been prevented by a person who happened to be near. The father, however, did not punish his son for this attempt at parricide; perhaps he was afraid lest he should, if provoked, murder him while he was asleep."—p. 236. Among the superstitious customs which prevail in this region of credulity and darkness, one of the most extraordinary is, that of attributing to certain individuals, the power of procuring rain. Of these celebrated "RAIN-MAKERS, as the word expresses, are persons who pretend to possess power over the clouds, and to be able to bring rain upon a country in times of drought. They are held in high estimation by all the Bootshuana tribes; but are seldom employed by the nation to which they belong, each nation preferring to employ one who lives at a distance from them. Should it happen to rain soon after his arrival in any country, his fame is established for life, and he will not forget to boast of it wherever he goes. Upon his approach to a town, many of the inhabitants go out to meet and congratulate him on his safe arrival; and he is usually presented with a black sheep. On his reaching the place assigned for his residence, he assumes a grave countenance, and none are permitted to enter his habitation without first taking off their sandals. White oxen, cows, or sheep, are then collected and given in charge to the King, who, with his chief captains, formally present them to the rain maker. He rarely commences the usual ceremonies for procuring rain until he sees clouds arising in the N.W. from which quarter rain generally comes but of this the natives are ignorant. In those latitudes rain seldom falls except at the changes of the moon, a circumstance of which the rain-maker, from observation, is aware; and he frequently ventures to promise a supply at such times; if it do not happen to come, he assigns some reason, and promises to bring it in so many days more, a period which corresponds with the next lunar change. 66 When he is long unsuccessful in his attempts to bring rain, he must exert all his faculties to devise methods for keeping up the expectations of the people, who then begin to complain. The general reason at first assigned is, that sufficient presents have not been given him; when he has proceeded as far in this way thods; for example, on one occasion he comas he judges prudent, he devises new memanded that all should wash themselves in the Krooman River. Most of them obeyed, though it is a ceremony against which they the young men, refused, declaring, that are prejudiced; but some, especially among rain could not be obtained but on such terms, they would rather be without it. The rainmaker, therefore, desired these persons to catch a large baboon, and bring it to him alive. This is an animal extremely difficult to obtain. foolish expedition, and tried many expedients A numerous party immediately set out on this for obtaining one, but all were fruitless: however, they were successful in killing one, which they brought to the rain-maker. This he rejected with disdain, as being useless; and ordered an owl to be caught, and brought alive to him. This undertaking they found as difficult as the former, and returned without any. These fruitless expeditions, however, fully answered the design of the rain-maker, which was to gain time. They also afforded themselves. He then went to Reyner Mounhim an opportunity of throwing the blame on tain, and rolled down great stones, in order, if possible, to make the clouds turn towards Lattakoo; but the clouds, as might be expected, continued in their own courses. "Two years ago a rain-maker from the Mashow country, after using means for many weeks, and receiving various presents, was quite unsuccessful. The patience of the people being completely exhausted, he was called, at a general meeting, rogue, lion, wolf, &c. and the Missionaries were requested to pray for it. They held meetings for this purpose, and it pleased Divine Providence to answer their prayers by causing rain to come in a short time. The Mashow rain-maker, while he remained in Lattakoo, attended the preaching of the Missionaries, and from various conversations they had with him, they thought he had more understanding than any of the Matchappees, though only about twenty years of age. He seemed sincerely to believe that he possessed power to bring rain, notwithstanding his late fruitless attempts. "When the last Matchappee rain-maker died, and no one coming forward to succeed him, they chose one themselves, who refused to accept of the appointment, on the ground that be possessed no power to bring rain. This they would not believe, but asserted that he had power, and gave him the customary presents, being desirous not only of deceiving him but themselves."-p. 201. Accustomed as they are to an arid waste, we can have no conception of the value of water among these simple children of nature. The following account of their astonishment, on one occasion, at the sight of the ocean, appears quite in character. "Many of the Killiharry people accompanied them as guides on the road, and to the pools of water. They likewise assisted in plundering the natives of Mampoor. At one part of the road they were ten days without finding any water, using wild water-melons in its stead. On one occasion they came to a pool in which elephants had been standing during the night; they all drank of the water, which occasioned violent sickness. They found a pool in a large cave under a cliff, into which the oxen went and drank; and on the seventeenth day afterwards they came to the Great Water, [or ocean,] of which they were all afraid; it had stars upon it, (perhaps meaning those parts that reflected the sun's rays,) and great waves that ran after them, and then ran back again; they had never seen any such sight before. The water was like a great country that had no end. They saw swarms of locusts fall into the water, which were all drowned. The country was level near the sea, but there were hills at the distance of ten miles."-p. 118. ; among the greatest which could take place in a remote corner of the earth. When about the one half of Berend's farm was ploughed, the ploughshare broke; a loss irreparable, probably for years. They had no prospect of being able to replace it till the next Beaufort fair, which would not return for eight months and as there were only two ploughshares for sale at the last market, there might be none at the next. Besides the risk of finding any for sale, it is necessary to undertake a journey of six hundred miles; and many poor Bushmen may thus perish for want, in consequence of the breaking of one plough share.-p. 240. Their manner of conveyancing is attended with little ceremony. They neither have, nor want, attorneys; and from the following circumstance, the price of land appears to be much lower than in Lombard-street. "Mr. Hamilton having finished a mill-stone, and likewise a mill-wheel, for the grinding of corn, it was found that the most suitable spot for erecting the mill belonged to a Matchappee captain, who was willing to dispose of it. After dinner I went with Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, Jan Hendric, Cupido, and the captain, to view the ground. On reaching it, the captain walked round it, pointing out certain bushes, stones, &c. which marked its bountains of water which were upon it. The extent might be four or five acres of land. He was asked what price he demanded for it? on which he mentioned a certain quantity of beads; but Mr. Hamilton told him he had no beads. He then said he would give it for a roll of tobacco, weighing about twenty pounds. Mr. H. said he had not that quantity, but would give it when it grew. Not having patience to wait for the growing of the tobacco, he next asked a fat sheep, which he said would please his wife, whose ground it was. He was promised the choice of the sheep when they came to the kraal in the evening."--p. 149. daries. He also showed two excellent foun With instances similar in descripthese volumes tion to the above, abound; but for their variety and number we must refer to the work itself. Of the Coranna tribe, Mr. Campbell gives the following melancholy picture. "No nation in Africa has been found by the Missionaries more indifferent to all kinds of information than the Corannas. If a Missionary visits a kraal they will attend to his address; if he chooses he may remain; if he goes away they manifest no wish to detain him. They are equally indifferent to his coming, Closely connected with the value of remaining, or departing; they feel indisposed water is that of iron, especially among knew the Corannas well, from a residence to any effort of mind or body. Mr. Sass, who those who have acquired some know- amongst them, gave me a striking illustration ledge of its use. Of this we may form of the contracted state of their mental powers. some conception from the followingSuppose,' said he, that you ask a Coranna misfortune. man how many children he has? He muses for a while, looking towards the ground; then raising his hand he appears to be engaged in calculating with his fingers. Yet after all this "A great disaster happened a few days before our arrival, indeed it might be numbered he requests others to assist him in solving the difficulty. After farther calculation again upon his fingers, he will look you in the face, and tell you he has three!" This may appear a complete caricature to Europeans, yet from what I have seen, I believe there is no exaggeration in the statement. Mr. S. said that most of them do not milk their cows in the morning, because their rest would be disturbed by early rising. After a long night's sleep, they will stretch their hands to the warm ashes of the fire, to light their pipe and smoke for a few minutes; and when the heat of the sun increases, they crawl on all fours to the nearest shade, again to indulge in sleep. If this retreat be invaded by his powerful rays, they are roused from their second slumber, and will creep to some more shady part. About noon the cattle return from the field to drink; with great exertion they then bestir themselves to rise and milk them, when they drink as much of the milk as they can; after which they smoke, and compose themselves for sleep, till the cool of the evening seems to rouse them a little. This is their ordinary mode of living, except when on journeys, for which they pre pare by killing a sheep and eating as much of it as they are able to devour. They then set off, and are sometimes absent for five or six days without tasting a morsel more. Like most other savage tribes, if destitute of food, they tie a skin-cord round them, which they draw tighter and tighter as they feel the attacks of hunger. These people have a singular custom among them. The eldest son of a captain, while a lad, is hardly allowed to walk, but kept continually idling away his time in the hut, and compelled to drink milk frequently, in order to make him a strong man. He is not permitted to wait upon himself, but has the milk handed to him. When his father thinks he has arrived at manhood, he produces two kiris, (or short sticks with bullet heads ;) one of these he gives to his son, reserving the other for himself. With these the father and son often fight; if the son happens to succeed in knocking the father to the ground, immediately on rising up he commends his son, and acknowledges him to be captain of the kraal in his room."--p. 276. The sacred volume represents the unenlightened man as without natural affection. On this fact, among many others, the following circumstance furnishes an awful comment. "Two Bush girls, whom I wished to see, in consequence of what I had heard of their history, were brought to the waggons. The eldest, whom they have named Flora, was about ten years of age; the youngest, Sabina, was only two years and a half old. When their mother died, their grandmother insisted that they should be thrown into the same grave with her, and buried alive; but this was prevented by the interference of Adam Kok. Being disappointed in her cruel purpose, she afterwards threatened to murder them; when Kok told her that if she did so, she should be severely punished; which made her desert the kraal, and leave the children to be supported by any one who chose to do it. Kok having many children dependent on him, asked his son to take them under his protection. There was a third and elder girl, whom I did not see. An institution at Griqua Town, for receiving, supporting, and educating, orphan Bushmen children, might save many lives, and be of essential service to the children themselves. The expense would be comparatively trifling. A few pounds annually laid out in the purchase of beads, would procure a sufficient number of cows from the natives higher up the country to support the institution."-p. 283. From this amusing and instructive work, we had marked several other passages which we intended to insert, but our limits admonish us to desist. The specimens which we have given, will be sufficient to furnish the reader with a general idea of these volumes, which nothing will prevent from being extensively read, but their not being extensively known. From almost every page may be inferred the necessity of sending the gospel, and the arts which embellish civilized society, among these uncultivated barbarians. In many instances, formidable difficulties will no doubt present themselves, but from the efforts which have been made, and the advantages with which these exertions have been attended, Missions to the interior of South Africa will not be undertaken in vain. In several districts the fields appear white unto harvest, and both prophecy and promise conspire to ensure success. REVIEW.-Two Voyages to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, with a Description of the present condition of that interesting Colony: including Facts and Observations relative to the State and Management of Convicts of both Sexes, &c. By Thomas Reed, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. 8vo. pp. 392. No one can seriously contemplate the vast multitudes of our miserable fel low creatures that are continually being transported to the Hulks and to New South Wales, without feeling poignant regret, that while there is so much delinquency, there seems so little concern for the moral improvement and reformation of the culprit. When once the criminal is embarked, Justice appears to be satisfied; instead of which, the mere act of transportation for seven, fourteen years, or for life, should be but a subordinate consideration; while amendment in heart |