dents occur, and when neither medical nor surgical aid can be procured; whatever may be likely to afford them assistance is therefore valuable. In all countries, individuals are to be found who profess to cure diseases without the aid of medical science, and in none, perhaps, are quacks so numerous or so persevering, or who exercise their calling with more audacious effrontery, or where more eager dupes are to be met with, than in Old England! Indeed, it has become the grand emporium,-the head-quarters of empiricism,-foreigners with high sounding titles, licentiates, professors, M.D's, barons, and counts! are as numerous as the curers of souls in a Catholic country, as if there were not native spurious, or "hedge " doctors enough to physic dear mister and mistress, and little misses and masters Bull out of their money, and worse,—out of their existence to boot! These worthies no doubt think and exclaim with the poet that,

""Tis undeny'd, and the assertion's common,

That modern physic is a mere old woman!"

I heard of no empirics, properly so termed in these islands; some of the natives, however, as is the case in the West Indies, employ simple remedies for those disorders which are incident to the climate, but they do not advertise the "surprising and marvellous cures" effected, as we find the case in England, nor do they, that I am aware of, vend their nostrums at all, much less at an enormous profit. Among these would be followers of Esculapius, who practice without collegiate diploma, was a noted old black man named Sawker, honoured with the gratuitous degree of doctor prefixed to his cutting patronymic!

During the course of my extended rambles in different parts of the world, and from very attentive observations in the treatment of patients of all degrees, and under a variety of distempers by professional men, and old women, I arrived at the conviction that the former frequently administer a great deal too much medicine. And upon the results which we have seen exemplified under the curative treatment of both parties, we were convinced that in most cases, Nature only requires to be assisted in her endeavours to throw off disease.

But, in thus thinking, let it not be supposed that I am insensible of the value of the practical and theoretical information of the medical practitioner, or, that I consider every person ignorant of the nature of diseases, or the remedies to be applied for their removal, is fit to administer to their own relief or to that of others. The grand secret seems to lie in the discriminating between the symptoms of one complaint and those of another, (which indeed often fails the medical man himself,) and to find out, when that is possible, what the disease really is with which any patient is afflicted. In complicated cases the practitioner is unquestionably the best judge; but, in other cases which are plain, an intelligent person who has, (as all ought to do,) given his attention to the general ills to which "humanity is heir," and has studied the remedial means, is quite competent to become the assistant of Nature. Acting upon this principle, I have, though labouring un ler a vital disease of the liver, of more than thirty years standing, "cut the medicos," and found the benefit of so doing; for had I followed up the desperate "remedies they inflicted upon me, I am

pretty certain, (as one of them acknowledged,) that I should not have been alive at this time to pen these remarks!

That simples are often efficacious in the removal of diseases, and old women sometimes, especially within the tropics, perform cures which fail to be accomplished by medical men, I have had opportunities of knowing, not only in the cases of others, but in those of my own. I know an officer who was reduced to a most deplorable state by dysentery, which baffled the skill of the hospital surgeons: by their consent he quitted Port Royal, and went up to the country house of an old lady a few miles from Kingston, where he was perfectly restored by following her advice, which was principally that of drinking about a gill or rather less of the fresh juice from the Plantain Sucker, (from the stem of the plant, tree it can scarcely be called,) for three or four mornings. An incision is made in the Sucker, and the lips applied to it,―the juice is very astringent and disagreeable to the palate, but it is as efficacious as it is simple in the country; aperient doses of ipecacuanha precede the use of the Plantain juice. Putrid sore throats are cured with Cayenne pepper. I was assured by a Mulatto woman that, she has known the use of this anticeptic create convulsions, but that they have no other remedy so effectual,-it was a long time before the medical men would use it; we have now "Cayenne Lozenges!" The impalpable powder of Mahogany bark is employed in the cure of ulcers, where Peruvian bark is not to be obtained; the former is a good substitute in this case, but I do not know whether it is given internally. Long before the principle of the substance called Iodine was discovered, the ashes of burnt sponge were used in the cure of cancer, by unprofessional persons. I have been assured that burnt silk will answer the purpose, but know not if there be any truth in it.

In the West Indies, and I believe the same may be said of the Bermudas, the heads of families are all more or less skilled in the curative art; and do not, as in England, where they are in such matters almost as helpless as babes, send for a doctor upon every occasion. I would by no means, however, whilst making these remarks, be considered as aiming to depreciate the skill and attainments of medical men,-I am sensible of their great merits, and how much society, under Providence, stands indebted to their discriminating knowledge; but, considering the enormous expense attending their visits, it becomes a matter of importance for those persons who are not affluent, and possess good sense and discretion, (particularly among half-pay officers,) to study diligently their own constitutions, and obtain all the best information they can respecting diseases and the modes of cure. the matter stands at present, there can be no sort of offence in siding with the general opinion, that the surgical art has advanced nearer to perfection than the science of physic. It is often considered that in physical cases two eminent doctors will disagree, and that in an operation, two efficient surgeons can (or ought) never to differ. But this, perhaps, is not so good a criterion, as that doctors are sometimes puzzled to determine the true nature of a disease, and to name it, whilst the surgeon as a practical anatomist can rarely err.

As

Pembroke is an agreeable and romantic part of the main land; cedar groves are everywhere predominant, with some clear spots

between them. I observed on one of these miniature downs a hare capering about; it did not appear to be very wild, and I concluded that it had been introduced into the island more as a curiosity than for sport. The groves offer fine cover for pheasants, which no doubt would thrive well on the Indian corn, and the cedar berries; the domestic poultry and swine feed with avidity on them. I made enquiry respecting the statement that there are no venemous reptiles in any of the islands, and was informed that only one snake had ever been seen,-it was destroyed. It is probable that the reptile had been accidentally introduced in one of the ships-of war from Halifax, where they abound, and often swim off and crawl into the vessels at anchor there. There are, however, plenty of the Scolopendræ or Centipedes to be found at the roots of the decayed cedars; they are here larger than any I have ever met with in the West Indies, leing nearly a foot in length, and proportionately broad, and of a purple tint intermixed with the usual chesnut yellow colour; large as they are, however, they approach only to about onethird of the length assigned to those of Carthagena in the Spanish main, by Don Ulloa!

From Spanish Point there is a reef extending towards Irelands isle, about one mile and three quarters in a north-west direction, which forms a natural breakwater to the Western or Great Sound; through this barrier there are navigable channels; that which is generally used by merchant vessels lies nearest to Spanish Point. Irelands Isle on which the new dockyard is situated is very narrow, and about two miles in length; it is principally composed of rock, with patches of mould intervening; the surface, at the time we visited it, was overgrown with small cedars, dwarf palmettos, and a variety of indigenous shrubs and herbaceous plants.

The difficulty, labour, and perseverance presented, and necessary in the formation of cambers, quays, &c., here proved much greater than could have been imagined from the situation of the place, in a remote corner of the internal water. The works have been near thirty years in progress and are not yet completed, and the effects of the hurricane of September 1839 will cause further delay; but the persevering determination to conquer all difficulties must ultimately obtain the object, and the completion of the depôt will present a monument of the skill, industry, resources, and wealth of the nation, that could devise and execute, under great obstacles, such a vast undertaking !

The insular pier on the reef will insure a smooth water inner anchorage, which is here essential to the speedy fitting of ships, and I hope that sheers will be, if not already, erected; and also that tanks on a large scale will occupy a portion of the surface of the island; as a matter of precaution, an apparatus for distilling sea water would relieve anxiety in those years when continued drought occurs. I may enquire, whilst on this subject, if a trial has ever been made, of obtaining water in the main-land, by means of those circumscribed borings called "Artesian wells." There is no knowing what success may attend such experiments;-a perennial spring of sweet water would there be invaluable.

The sea-cliffs about St. Johns Hill, are as remarkable as they are picturesque; the action of waves has hollowed out caves in some por

tions of their vertical surfaces; and the break, occasioned by the Cove, enables a person to descend to the base of those to the westward for a short distance, where one of these caverns is situated. Whilst examining the huge layers of slate I observed an immense animal of the cephalopoda tribe, as large as a good sized Pembroke table, with immense eyes, and long arms or feelers; its colour was dark browngreen, spotted; the belly was dirty white. So hideous was its appearance, that it at once arrested my steps; and I stood silently gazing on the curious object for some time. It was spread out to the full of its circular extent, apparently enjoying the bright sunshine on a shelving projection of the rock, and as I had come down leisurely, and without noise, it remained motionless at its station for some time before it perceived me; the instant it did so, it sprang off the rock, with surprising energy, and sank in the depth below. On the shores of the Mediterranean, and the West India islands, I have seen some of the smaller varieties the cuttle-fish tribe of the former; those of the latter the sailors and negroes called cat-fish; but I have no where observed one so large as that of which I am speaking: it is a sort of animal which the pearl divers have to contend with, and a most powerful and formidable creature it is, from its long flexible prehensile tentacular appendages. The horror excited from an embrace of such a monster, may easily be imagined, and the only mode of extricating himself which the diver has in his power to exercise, (and this sometimes fails when both his arms happen to be clasped,) is, by ripping open the body of the animal with a sharp knife, or severing the arms of his formidable enemy. Of these animals the Brit. Cyclo. says "They are abundantly found in the seas of all countries, and probably larger and more numerous in those of warm latitudes, where marvellous stories are related of their gigantic structure; they, however, are so much involved in ignorance and mystery, resting only on the uncorroborated testimony of incompetent judges, that though we are not in a position to contradict them positively, we are unwilling to receive them as well-established facts. Not that we absolutely reject the possibility of much we have heard respecting their being large, for every instant of our existence brings to light new discoveries in the animal kingdom, elucidating the phenomena of Nature; and we have constantly had occasion to remark, that marvellous as many of the tales of olden times at first appeared, they more or less have originated in a simple matter of fact, distorted or magnified, by subsequent narrators, and disguised at all times by ignorant credulity, which eagerly adopts that which cannot easily be disproved.

"We are, however, as we have just stated, cautious without being incredulous, never forgetting that Bruce's Abyssinian beefsteaks drove him from society, and broke his heart by slow degrees. We have also the assertion before our eyes of a recent delightful writer, who says he is really fearful that his truth would be doubted, if he were to state some of the scenes he had witnessed; and he has actually confined his information to such only as know his integrity, leaving future travellers to confirm his assertions. We can fully appreciate this feeling, and honour it; but were all mankind to be actuated by similar delicacy, no progress would be made in elucidating the phenomena of Nature,

science inust cease to advance, and ignorance become perpetuated."

The road, or rather bridle path, from St. Johns Hill to Hamilton town is extremely romantic, winding through a succession of cypress groves; the branches of these beautiful trees, in some places nearly spread across the way, and form a canopy overhead, which renders the walk cool and pleasant to the pedestrian. There is also a delightful and refreshing fragrance from the cedars, the latana or wild sage, and other odoriferous plants, that abound in these retired spots. At every opening, neat white-washed cottages appear, graced with the sturdy palmetto, and dark foliaged orange; the earth is clothed with a short running grass, and soft verdant moss; and the blue, and the red birds, contribute by the richness of their plumage to heighten the beauty of the scenery.

The remarkable tranquillity, the seclusion, the picturesque effect of the little glens, and their neat white abodes,-the birds, the bright sunshine and clear blue sky, the cooling sea breeze gently rustling the trees, and the delightful odour of the plants, all conspire to render this tract, an extent about a mile and a half, one of the most attractive in the island. I thought of the Bard of the "Green Isle," who, perhaps, had stopped here himself to admire the picture,-a miniature Arcadia, most appropriate is a couplet of one of his songs, which no doubt originated in such a scene.

"And I said if there's peace to be found in the world,

A heart which is humble might hope for it here."

And no doubt many a humble heart here enjoys that blessing to as great an extent as it is possible to obtain it, in a place which though admirably suited for its attainment, is, nevertheless, subject to the mutations of time and circumstances, as other less favoured spots. An account which we have recently seen, informs us, that even the pure air of these sea-girt isles cannot at all times indemnify the temperate inhabitants from epidemical diseases, or save their animal food from distemper. It states that, the cattle have been afflicted with distemper resembling yellow fever! and fish, chiefly what are called the blue