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poetical talents, but an opinion not heightened by the present publication. It possesses fewer defects than its predecessor, but it also evinces less power, and displays less beauty. Indeed, we think Mr. Croly capable of much better things than he has yet done. He has shewn us all the faults of which his style is susceptible, but not all the beauties; and when he chooses to look for a subject properly adapted to his powers, (and such a one is probably to be sought, with the best chances of success, among the gorgeous imagery and romantic fictions and traditions of the East,) we think him not unlikely to construct a work that shall place his name in a distinguished and permanent rank among those of his poetical contemporaries.

SONNET I.

THERE is an hour, when all our past pursuits,
The dreams and passions of our early day,
The unripe blessedness that dropp'd away
From our young tree of life-like blasted fruits-
All rush into the soul. Some beauteous form
Of one we loved and lost, or dying tone
Haunting the heart with music that is flown,
Still lingers near us with an awful charm!
I love that hour,-for it is deeply fraught
With images of things no more to be:
Visions of hope, and pleasure, madly sought,
And sweeter dreams of love and purity:
The poesy of heart, that smiled in pain,
And all my boyhood worshipp'd-but in vain!

SONNET II.

They loved for years, with growing tenderness;
They had but one pure prayer to waft above-
One heart-one hope-one dream-and that was Love.
They loved for years, through danger and distress,
Till they were parted, and his spotless fame
Became the mark of hate and obloquy-
Till the remembering tear that dimm❜d her eye
Was dried on blushes of repentant shame.
While he-oh, God! in raptured vision sweet,

Would walk alone beneath the evening star,
Watching the light she loved, and dream of her,
And of the hour when they again should meet.
They met at last-but Love's sweet vision fled
For ever from his heart- for she had wed!

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M'QUEEN ON NORTHERN CENTRAL AFRICA

It has been the singular ill fortune of all our African expeditions, that they have failed. Some attribute this general failure to the injudicious selection of the travellers, none of whom, excepting Louis Burckhardt, were masters of the travelling language of that continent. If we read the reports of these various travellers, we shall perceive that the grand object of their several researches was, to ascertain the termination of the Niger; hence we are led to enquire, What purpose would have been answered by this discovery? None, we apprehend, unless it had been discovered that it communicated with the Nile of Egypt, thereby affording a navigable communication with the interior of Africa, by means of Alexandria. It should be recollected, that when this inquiry first excited the attention of England and of France, Bonaparte was master of Egypt, and that he then contemplated other conquests in Africa, together with the establishment of an extensive commerce with India and Africa, through Egypt. The inquiry was revived when our navy, under the immortal Nelson, changed the destiny of Egypt. Hopes were entertained, that our possession of that country would afford us a communication with Sudan, or the interior of Africa, by navigating the stream of the Nile. All reports, and all the information collected by our travellers since that period, have tended to corroborate this water-communication from Timbuctoo to Alexandria, but nothing certain has yet been established. In this state of things, the public is presented with A Geographical and Commercial View of Northern Central Africa, containing a particular Account of the Course and Termination of the great River Niger, in the Atlantic Ocean. The first who suggested this opinion was Sidi Hamed, as reported by Riley, the American sailor; and at the same time that Mr. M'Queen brings forward this new African hypothesis, it certainly has received a strong corroboration by the narrative of Alexander Scott, a sailor, who has been lately redeemed from captivity, and who belonged to the Montezuma, a Liverpool trader, that was wrecked in 1810, on the coast of the Sahara, on the Sehel, or flat coast between Cape Nune and Cape Bojador: a narrative of the interesting adventures of whom is given in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal; and an explanatory dissertation (rather than a review) of which will be found in the New Monthly Magazine for 1821.

Our author's arguments in favour of this new hypothesis appear to be very plausible, and several quotations tend to support and corroborate it.

"As these sheets were preparing for the press, a further confirmation of this important point (alluding to the discharge of the Niger into the Gulf of Guinea) was received, in the account given by a sailor named Scott, belonging to Liverpool, who was wrecked about Cape Nune, and carried into slavery by the Arabs of the Desert. While in this state, he journeyed along with a tribe across the desert into Sudan, and with it he crossed the lake Dibbie, or what he calls Bahar Tee-eb*. There he was told by some negro boatmen who rowed

See note in New Monthly Mag. No. 3. p. 356.

them over the lake, that very far to the south there lay a great saltwater sea, and that the one they were on ran into it; that there was no end to it; that there were plenty of Safina kabeer (large ships) upon it; and that they called it Bahar elkabeer, that is, the Great Sea, or Atlantic ocean." (Edinb. Philos. Journal, No. 7.)

In confirmation of this termination of the Niger in the Gulf of Guinea, Mr. M'Queen says, "Perfect accuracy in these things, at present, is impossible; nor does the want materially alter the grand features which it is my chief object to delineate." Jackson says that a lake is formed by the waters of the Neel el Abeed, of which the opposite shore is not visible. He says it is navigated by large vessels, which sometimes come to Timbuctoo, manned by a particular kind of people. On its eastern bank begins the territory of white people, denominated by the Arabs, N'sarreth (Christians). From this description it is quite evident, that the lake here mentioned is a different lake to that represented as being situated 450 miles east of Timbuctoo; it is clearly the sea on the Gold Coast, the Bight of Benin and Beafra, a lake whose opposite shore is not visible, and on the eastern bank of which is the territory of Christians! The fact of large vessels coming up from this lake to Timbuctoo, manned by a particular kind of people, is an additional proof that the navigation of the Niger is unobstructed from the ocean to Timbuctoo (p. 118.) Our author's third argument in favour of his hypothesis is as follows: "From Sego to Baedo, according to Park, is thirty days journey in a southerly direction. 'One month's travel,' says he, south of Baedo, through the kingdom of Gotto, (Moosee) will bring the traveller to the country of the Christians, who have their houses on the Ba-se-feena. This water is incomparably larger than the lake Dibbie, and the water sometimes runs one way and sometimes another. (Park, vol. ii. p. 229. 8vo edition.) The words Ba-se-feena are very properly shewn by Jackson to be a corruption of the Arabic words, Bahar sefeena, signifying literally the sea of ships, or the sea where ships are seen! The direction, the distance, and every other particular mentioned, however, clearly point out the European settlements on the coast of Guinea. The water running sometimes one way and sometimes another, obviously relates to the flux and reflux of the sea, a phenomenon which could not fail to arrest the attention of a negro from the interior." p. 119.

A fourth argument in favour of Mr. M'Queen's hypothesis is related as follows:-" Before turning our attention to the coast, it is worth while to consider the explanation which Mr. Jackson gives of the Arabic words, Bahr Kulla; the term, he says, in proper Arabic, is Bahar Kulha, which term signifies the ocean, and also an alluvial country. If this explanation be correct, and which there seems little reason to doubt, we have the clearest account of the termination of the Niger. Numerous authorities state, that in its middle course it turns to the southward, and flows till it joins the Bahr Kulha-the sea, or the alluvial country. This it certainly does do at the points we have mentioned; we therefore conclude, that after all the Gulf of Guinea will turn out to be the true sea of Sudan." p. 125.

From the following account there appears to be good reason to suppose that the salt pits, mentioned by Ibn al Vardi (or more properly Ben al Wardi), are those on the sea-shore of Bening, and at the island

of Fernando Po. Our author says, "The number of slaves annually exported from Bonny and Old Calabar rivers, were formerly, and still continue to be great. They are chiefly brought from the interior, by a water conveyance. The people are every where fond of trade, generally civil and obliging to Europeans who deal honestly, and they are anxious to cultivate commercial connexions with them. All around the Delta, the population on the sea coast is busily employed in making salt for the interior market: the land on the coast is called the salt ground; it is, perhaps, the place where Ibn al Vardi mentions the numerous salt-pits on the shore of the sea. This salt is carried in boats so large as to contain * 200 people, and having a cannon placed at each end. (Robertson's Notes on Africa, p. 308.) Boussa, on the Niger, is a great emporium for this trade, and the place where the people from the sea-coast meet the caravans from Barbary, to exchange their merchandize. (Robertson, p. 209 and 301.) The natives on these coasts also talk familiarly of their trade, intercourse, and communication with Boussa and Timbuctoo," p. 135.

Then follows some reasons for supposing the Niger and the Nile to have no connexion; which being founded on theories, and being irrelevant to our purpose-which is to state the arguments for asserting the discharge of the Niger in the Bight of Benin-we shall pass over, and proceed with our author's observations, who, speaking of Park, says, p. 149, "This celebrated traveller descended the stream in safety to Boussa, where an accident terminated his life. The trader's from the coast go up the river above this place."

"

Our author gives reasons for supposing the Niger and Congo to be different streams. In order to obtain the command of Africa, Mr. M'Queen recommends stations on the Niger, either where the stream divides or unites, as may be found most eligible; another station is recommended at the Rio Lagos, which would give us the command of the trade into the recesses of the Kong mountains. A settlement, or depôt, on the island of Fernando Po, is also urged as expedient; and this island could be easily purchased of the negro natives, as we presume the Portuguese have long since given it up. Steam boats would navigate from the coast to Timbuctoo in 10, 15, or 20 days, at the utmost, and establish a communication with Bornou, Balia, Dar Saley, &c. page 173.

Wood being very plentiful, the steam-boat could be navigated at a trifling expense. "Granting that the navigation of the Niger was interrupted at Boussa by reason of rapids and rocks rising amidst the stream, still we know that the river can be navigated in safety from Boussa upwards, and from Boussa downwards." p. 178.

This is the point to be ascertained. Mr. M'Queen has given very strong presumptive evidence that this communication exists, sufficient at least to invite the British nation to attempt the navigation, which might be done without incurring any extraordinary expense. If it failed, it would add certainly one more failure to our many African expeditions; but if, on the contrary, it succeeded, it would amply reimburse all expenses hitherto incurred, and open besides an incalculably

This is a corroboration of what Jackson and Alex. Scott say. Vide New Monthly Mag. No. iii. pages 355 and 356.

beneficial trade, and provide withal, what is so much wanted at this time, a great and new market for our various manufactures.

If the navigation of the river failed of conducting to Timbuctoo, it would conduct, most assuredly, to many countries of the interior, with which we might establish a commerce on the most advantageous terms, as a prelude to civilization. The immense bodies of waters discharged from the interior into the Bight of Benin, is an incontrovertible evidence that the waters come from remote regions of the interior, and that a navigable communication and intercourse might be established with several populous countries of the interior of Sudan, if not with Timbuctoo! Therefore our author says, "let the British standard be planted at Boussa, where no power in Africa could tear it up, a trifling land carriage would then give this nation all the advantages of an open navigation, and by such a natural barrier, place the Niger completely under her controul. Firmly planted in central Africa, the British flag would become the rallying point for all that is honourable, useful, beneficial, just, and good. Under the mighty shade thereof, the nations would seek security, comfort, and repose. Allies Great Britain would find in abundance! The resources and energies of Africa would be made (under a wise and vigorous policy) to subdue and controul Africa. Let Britain only form such a settlement, and give it that countenance, support, and protection, which the wisdom and energy of British counsels can give, and which the power and resources of the British empire can so well maintain, and central Africa will remain a grateful and obedient dependancy of this empire. The latter will become the centre of all the wealth, and the focus of all the industry of the former. Then the Niger, like the Ganges, would acknowledge Great Britain as its protector, our king as its lord," page 179.

"The extent of country and population, the improvements, labours, and wants of which would be dependant upon, and stimulated to exertion by a settlement on the Niger, is prodigious, and altogether unequalled and incalculable. Fifty millions of people would be dependant on it." p. 179.

*

"The French nation have long looked towards Africa, as a means of repairing the losses which revolution has produced in their colonies. They have established a college for the teaching of the Arabic, a travelling language of Africa, on an extensive scale, as a necessary preliminary towards the colonization of that continent. Let us not suffer that powerful, enterprising, and ambitious rival to step before us, and fix herself securely in the Lower Niger, and give Great Britain reason to repent of her supine disregard of this favourable opportunity to effect a great commercial establishment in Africa." p. 181.

The abolition of those human sacrifices, under the name of customs, at the death of any person of note; the civilization of Africa; its gradual conversion to Christianity, from the most degraded barbarism, through the medium of a regular and well-conducted commercial intercourse, are the laudable objects which the author of this Geographical and commercial View has in perspective, and for which the author really appears to have discovered an eligible and a practicable path.

* Denominated L'Ecole Royale des Langues Orientales vivantes à Paris.

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