NEXT to the Sacred Scriptures, we have been told, and we believe with truth, that Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" and De Foe's "Robinson Crusoe," are the works of the greatest popular interest, which have been most generally read, and most frequently translated. That the latter should ever remain a standard book-the charm of youth, the solace of age, the most delightful of companions, and inculcating one of the finest moral lessons of the time-we are not surprised. Oh, for the days of our boyhood--for the happy hours spent with "Sandford and Merton"for the long summer days we lived upon that desolate island in the Carribean Sea with our man Friday, our dog, and goat, and gun-albeit, the same island was a "town garden," with a dead wall eight feet high around it, and a few sickly nevergreens, some consumptive dahlias, and a row of dingy Portugal laurels, and rusty oleanders, in old palm-oil jars, with sundry superannuated mignionette boxes, its chief interest and adornment. With what delight we rehearsed that wondrous dramawhat dreams of goats in dark caverns, and black naked cannibals, we experienced after our first perusal of that book!

Imitations of an author, his subject, or his style, are no mean proof of that author's excellence. Robin. son Crusoes, old and new, have often appeared, but fell so far short of the original, as scarcely to be readable, even by a child who had ever perused a page of De Foe's work. We have, however, now before us a charming little book, bearing the title which heads this notice, and which, while it is perfectly free from all affectation, or attempt at imitation, possesses in its narrative—in the simplicity of its style in its graphic description of scenery in the amount of information which it affords, and in the moral

lesson which it teaches, all the fascinating power of the Selkirk story.

The authoress of the "African Wanderers," although, perhaps, not well known to the novel readers and crochet-manual students of the middle of the nineteenth century, has long been known, and her works estimated as they deserve, by the learned of Europe. In the museums of natural history, in the cabinets of the Jardin des Plantes, in the bibliotheks of Germany, and in the boudoirs of Russian naturalists, the efforts of Mrs. Lee's pen and pencil are to be found. Biographies of the living, even were the materials for such available, are not always satisfactory to the persons they describe, nor of much interest to those for whose reading they are compiled. We must, however, inform our readers who this lady is, whose work we press upon their attention.

Mrs. R. Lee, formerly Mrs. Bowdich, accompanied Mr. Bowdich, the naturalist, on his mission to the Gold Coast, and afterwards in his embassy to Ashantee, where he was sent as a diplomatic agent in order to avert the war threatened by the courageous king of that country, against the English settlements in Africa. Mr. Bowdich concluded, as is well known, a treaty favourable to our interests in that country, and on his return to England, parliament voted him a small sum of money as a reward and indemnification for the loss of health and property which he had sustained in his arduous undertaking. Both travellers were

smitten with a desire to lay the unknown treasures of Africa open to the world, and longed to benefit its degraded population by making its true condition known to the British public. They, therefore, determined to qualify themselves as scientific travellers, and go out again to explore the burning regions of the tropics. As soon, there

ever

fore, as the "Mission to Ashantee," a work in which Mrs. Bowdich bore her part, was published, they proceeded to Paris, where they remained nearly three years;-Mr. Bowdich, devoting himself to the mathematical and other exact sciences, while his lady laboured at the natural sciences. She there, also, became the pupil and constant companion of the great father of mo dern zoology, the Baron Cuvier, whose memoirs she produced shortly after his death. Of the manner in which she accomplished this task, and of the merits of this production, it is enough to say, that it was immediately translated into French, and has remained the standard biography of that great man. With an enthusiasm and love of soience, with which all that moved within the sphere of Cuvier became infected-possessing great powers of artistic delineation, a knowledge of comparative anatomy and zoology, which very few ladies have acquired-endowed by nature with an ardour and perseverance in the pursuit of truth-and adding to these qualifications a noble, disinterested zeal in the welfare of our kind, and particularly in those races which have for ages lain under the ban of slavery and demoralization, she accompanied Mr. Bowdich upon his second African mission with talents both natural and acquired, which admirably fitted her for that arduous task. Sir Charles M'Carthy, then governor of Sierra Leone, made arrangements with Mr. Bowdich to join him on the African station, and the travellers immediately proceeded to Lisbon, where being detained some time, Mrs. Lee translated and compiled from unpublished records, a history of the Portuguese discoveries in Southern Africa, which was published afterwards by the African Association. From Lisbon they voyaged to Madeira, where she assisted her husband in the illustrations to his work upon that beautiful island, the gem of the ocean, the Hesperides of the invalid. While they were in the Gambia, the commandant wished for a survey of the river, and Mr. Bowdich offered to do it, but, alas! the effort proved fatal. In those pestilential regions, by the swamps and mangroves of Western Africa, where so many brave spirits have sunk for ever, her husband died, and our authoress found herself, with three infant VOL. XXXI.-NO. CLXXXII.

children, in the neighbourhood of Cape Coast Castle, far away from all society and those comforts which such a moment required.

Mrs. Lee has published a work on Taxidermy, which has run to five editions, and which should be in the hands of all young naturalists. She is also the author of the "Elements of Natural History," the only work of the kind, except that of Mr. Patterson, which has ever been adapted to the capacity of the young student in these countries. It is a familiar abridgment of the Regne Animal of Cuvier, and in familiar phraseology and popular language, together with a fund of anecdote, without which few books on natural history are acceptable to the young, presents to us the four classes of vertebrate animals, mammalia, birds, reptiles, and fishes, in a most comprehensive and attractive volume. In this we find not only the elements of natural history and zoology, but an amount of anatomical and physiological knowledge such as we believed only belonged to the teachers of those sciences. The work is also copiously embellished with wood engravings, characteristic of the different classes of animals of which it treats.

Mrs. Lee's great labour, however, is her work upon "British Fishes," which she commenced after her return from Africa. Some idea may be formed of the labour and skill necessarily devoted to this work, when we inform our readers that, independent of the letterpress descriptions, not only was every specimen originally drawn by the author, but absolutely multiplied into the number of copies required. Yes, with her own hand, during months of labour and anxiety, and while suffering almost daily from the effects of her African residence, did this lady toil till she succeeded in painting an edition of "The British Fishes"-the finest work of the kind extant. Besides the books already mentioned, Mrs. Lee has published a charming little book, called "Stories of Strange Lands," and also a multitude of papers, in the periodicals, on literary and scientific subjects.

During her sojourn in Africa, this lady not only increased her knowledge of the natural sciences, but, possessing great shrewdness of observation, she became intimately acquainted with the

8

customs, habits of life, and general natural history of the swarthy tenants of that burning region; and with this knowledge, and with those recollections, she brought to the task of the present work qualifications which few could now be found to combine.

To say that we have read the " African Wanderers" with very great pleasure, and derived from it considerable amusement, while we were carried along the course of the narrative, without experiencing the least interruption to a lively interest in all its details, would be but very inadequate praise. The object of the talented author is much higher, much nobler, than that of merely adding another item to the amount of amusement and entertainment already in the world. Her design was, by drawing attention to the condition of the aborigines of Africa, the genuine negro population, and by a fair representation of their natural qualities, their many talents and capacities for improvement, their comparative superiority in benevolent feeling over all other known savages, their ready reception of Christian and missionary instruction, to move the heart of Christian England in their behalf, and urge on the promotion of every movement for their civilization and conversion from idolatry.

We say the fair author has performed her task right nobly; she has uttered to the British public an appeal that will not and cannot pass away in vain.

In the first place, the work itself possesses such intrinsic excellence, so much to captivate and attract attention, that it is sure to meet with universal consideration. Again, it abounds with authentic information, derived from the very best sources, on the natural history of Africa; and this information, extending over almost every department of science, is communicated to the general reader in the least difficult and most pleasing manner. Finally, the representation of success which has already attended some benevolent efforts to reclaim the negro race at Koornassie, and also on the western coast, to raise those who have been from time immemorial "servants of servants to their brethren " to the happy condition of civilization and Christianity this representation, we must say, is so ably and truthfully made, that nothing more is wanted to

constitute a persuasive to pious and generous co-operation in whatever can conduce to the amelioration of the natives, by British exertion.

In the preface, the author modestly professes to attract attention to only one district of the great continent, bordering on the river Gaboon; but her acquaintance with the country has been so extensive, her personal observation so exact, and her appeal to the publications of other credible authorities so full and so faithful, that we think she has made her case good in behalf of all Western Africa.

Over and above all its intrinsic merit, we pronounce this unassuming volume an important aid to Christian benevolence; and as such we congratulate the kindly and talented author on the truly valuable work which she has performed; and most heartily wish her every gratification of those desires which have formed themselves round her heart for the relief of our poor African fellow-creatures.

The narrative is remarkably simple. An English officer picks up two deserted children upon a battle-field in Spain, whom he carries with him to England, and rears as his own children. Henry, the eldest, is of a quiet, reading disposition, while his brother, Carlos, possesses, to the fullest extent, the love of adventure, the restless energy, and the constant desire of change, which constitutes the rover. He takes to the sea, and becomes the hero of the piece. Light-hearted, generous, but hot-tempered, yet withal brave and good-natured, no better model of an English seaman could be found. His vessel is bound for Africa, where the usual mortality in such cases awaits the crew. A mutiny occurs among the seamen, and Carlos, with a companion, Antonio, are deserted upon the coast. During se veral months they wander amidst the deep-tangled forests; by the slow, sickly rivers of that land,

"Where Afric's sunny fountains

Roll down their golden sand,"

where, in imagination, we follow the track of Mungo Park, of Clapperton, the Landers and Allans-the country of lions and rhinoceroses and ourangs, of palm-oil, and king jacket-ofbrass; of fetters and fever; where the mottled snake glides through every

thicket, and monkeys, lizards, and chameleons dispute the leafy world with parrots, love birds, and the millions of feathered creatures which swarm in that sultry region; a land where the face of a white man is a wonder; the country of fetishes, slaves, and idolatry; the land which, from the days of Solomon to the present, has been a wonder to the traveller, and to the merchant the source of the greatest and most lucrative traffic; the mine of the precious stone, the treasury of gold dust, the market of "ivory, apes, and peacocks."

In their wanderings through this country, their hair-breadth escapes from the cruelty of the natives, the insidious attacks of disease, and the jaws of the ravenous beasts of the forest, as well as their various shifts and struggles to meet the numerous privations which they daily experienced, are graphically and feelingly narrated; and while we follow them in their wanderings, and listen to their observations upon the various objects of animate nature by which they are surrounded, we gradually and imperceptibly imbibe a large amount of this very useful description of information.

Having lived for several months in the woods, they at length arrive at one of the Moorish settlements, where they are laid violent hands upon, and sold as slaves, and here they reside for some time among the Moors, who carry on the traffic in human kind in this part of Africa. They at last make their escape to a missionary settlement, from whence they finally reach the coast, and proceed to England.

The following extracts and brief summary will serve to illustrate some of the foregoing opinions. To be at all understood, however, the book must be read.

The wanderings of Carlos, and his companion Antonio, are most interesting, and their adventures passing strange. Living upon fruits, which they gathered on their way as they advanced through that part of the western coast of Africa, known as Ashantee and Dahomy, the latter notorious as the head quarters of slavery, the beauty of the scenes they passed through are eloquently described, and the ac

count filled with notices of the vegetable world that surrounded them, told with a simplicity that shows Mrs. Lee mistress of the subject.

"As the travellers advanced, their admiration was changed into wonder; and both were struck with the admirable beauty of the scene on one side, and its awful grandeur on the other. To the high rocks of sand, streaked red, orange, and yellow, were attached innumerable creepers, some of which hung in festoons, and ropes, covered with blossoms, or occasionally floated into the air; and among them lizards, like sparkling gems, darted along, creating a flash of light; butterflies, of every varied hue, sported in the life-giving sun; now with long feathery fringes to their lower wings, and now with pieces like glass and silver set in them; while innumerable tiny creatures, sparkling with jewelled throats and breasts, pursued them from twig to twig. On the tops of the largest trees were grey parrots, screaming and flying at each other, or defying the numbers of monkeys which climbed the trees in pursuit of them. Sometimes the latter succeeded in snatching the red feathers from the parrots' tails, who, in their turns, pecked at the droll animals with their strong beaks; and then ensued such a squeaking, chattering, and screaming, as to deaden all other sounds. But, what a contrast was offered by the opposite side of the creek! It was a forest in a swamp; immense trees, bare of branches to a great height, stood in a thick, black, stagnant liquid: nothing else seemed to be alive in it; even the trees themselves appeared to be pillars of stone; and, as their naked trunks became gradually lost to sight from the gloom and the distance, they looked like the receding columns of an edifice too vast for human hands to have erected. And truly, so it was those glorious trees, in their silent majesty, bespoke the matchless power of the Creator, and reared their gigantic heads, as if to say, we live in splendour and beauty, where man cannot even breathe."

After being most hospitably entertained in a village at which they arrive, they have pointed out to their notice one of those curiosities of the African continent, so often alluded to by travellers a white negro. We are told that the projecting muzzle, large mouth, flat nose, and retreating forehead, the characteristics of the race, were much exaggerated in him; his crisp, woolly hair, however, was almost

yellow, his eyes were of a dark blue, and from seeing imperfectly in the day-time, they were continually blinking, and had a remarkably vacant expression. His skin was of a reddish white, and there were a number of blotches on various parts of his body. The travellers found him an excellent performer on a harp of his own construction, whose strings were made of the runners of trees, and he was also an improvisatore, as well as an imitator of the voices and notes of the wild birds of the forest.

The two travellers, after a short sojourn with their kind entertainers, are obliged to make their escape from the village, and once more enter the forest in their route towards a seaport ; here they are overtaken by one of those dreadful tornados, the precursors of the rainy reason, which, sweeping over the land, leaves the scene, before so beautiful, a chaos, a wilderness, and a desolation.

"The whole forest seemed to be alive with creatures which hid themselves by day; and Antonio, as the fire shed its gleams on all around, could not help exclaiming, This puts me in mind of the plagues which beset my patron saint.' The serpents crept for shelter under the beds of fallen leaves, or disappeared among the bushes, hissing as they went, and coiled themselves up as closely as possible; the smaller animals crept into holes; the monkeys huddled together on the neighbouring trees; the sloth, unable or unwilling to move, uttered loud cries of distress; the rhinoceros grunted loudly, as he forced his way into the thickest part of the jungle; the panthers, leopards, and hyænas, crouched down; the lion walked uneasily from place to place; and all, in the common danger, seemed to forget to be at enmity.

"As they looked down, they thought they saw, by the continuous lightning, a little old man striving to mount the tree where they were. There is some one coming after us,' said Antonio, up the tree. Shall we spear him?' No! no' hastily uttered Carlos; suppose it should be a human being; let us use the handles of our spears, and not the blades.' They pushed the intruder down, and neither saw nor heard him again, for the rain began to fall in torrents, and completely blinded them to everything. It seemed as if all round them were enveloped by one broad sheet of water. They grasped each other tightly with one arm, and with the other embraced the nearest bough; for their shelter

rocked to and fro with the wind. Giants of the forest, which had stood for ages in stately magnificence, were torn up by the roots. The travellers could not hear each other speak; they could not hear themselves; for the one mighty and rushing sound seemed to occupy the whole sense of hearing. At length, the lightning fell upon a tree not far from them, and a large portion of it was separated from the rest, carrying with it fragments of its neighbours, and scattering their and its own denizens all around. Some were crushed by the fall; others crawled or fluttered away. The poor Europeans had not a dry thread about them, notwithstanding their buffalo-skins; and, thoroughly chilled, sat shivering on their perch, but not daring to leave it till daylight came, even though the tempest gradually passed away, and all was still below.'

The poor old man they discover to be a Chimpanzee seeking shelter. They now prepare themselves to pass the wet season in the forest, by building a tent, and storing it with fruit, plantains, cassada, roots, kolla-nuts, limes, sugar-canes, custard and pine apples, roasted birds and honey; but when all is prepared, Carlos takes fever, and is attended by Antonio, until he, too, is struck down by the same disease. How long they lay insensible they never knew, but at last Carlos recovers his senses, and is enabled to assist Antonio, until both are restored to health. They now have a narrow escape from a pair of Ingenas, who had built a hut close to the back of theirs,

They continue their route to Naango. Everywhere they meet with traces of the sanguinary slave-trade, from the dead and dying negroes left behind by the bands of dealers, as unworthy further trouble, to the prisonhouses for their collection in the several villages. Every man's hand, in this unhappy country, seemed against his fellow, and all sorts of stratagems were resorted to for the continuance of the horrible traffic. Even in their battles, they have this in view, for it is their object to take as many prisoners alive as possible, that they may sell them into slavery; and not only this, but when the kings are short of the number they require, their servants and people are sacrificed to maintain the trade. Modern authors have done much to show how inadequate the efforts of the British govern