author injustice, had we not been writing for readers, who are already acquainted with the story.

In regard to the style of execution, the work has one fault which was mentioned in our notice of the Spy; it is in some instances, and more especially where the author speaks in his own person, overloaded with epithets, and the detail of particular circumstances. The author leaves too little to his readers, and from his solicitude to omit nothing of the quality, degree, and manner of everything related or described, he impairs the vivacity and force of the expression. Some few passages are perhaps a little too harsh, as, in the battle, one buries his weapon in the heart of one of the enemy so long Tom pinned the English captain to the mast with his harpoon.' We do not think that the agonies of Dillon, in drowning, are too palpably given, the reader being reconciled to the exhibition of them, by the hatred and loathing he had before conceived towards the creature. But without some good reason of this sort, a vivid display of extreme physical suffering, ghastly objects, or horrid cruelty, are more shocking than interesting. Such descriptions do not require great skill in a writer; they may, however, be introduced with great effect, where the reader is fully prepared for them.

6

This, like the preceding stories of the author, is thoroughly American; in one respect too much so; as, for one instance, where colonel Howard is said to take a little time, to remove the perspiring effects of the unusual toil from his features; a sort of writing, which is too much in use with us, and may be said, perhaps, to constitute a national characteristic of our literature, if there be such a thing. No doubt some readers have a liking for passages of this sort,-'the more 's the pity.' But this is the only national characteristic of the work, which does not add to its beauty and interest, as well as its importance. The choice of incidents and actors, and the frequent allusions to our history, manners, and habits, make the story strike deep into the feelings of American readers ; and by implicating the tale with our naval history, the author possesses himself of one of the few positions from which our national enthusiasm is accessible. We are in general a cautious, prudent people, quite as ready to calculate as to feel, and quite as much disposed to study good economy, as to be borne away, regardless whither, by a tor

rent of enthusiasm. We have a commonplace, hackneyed sort of enthusiasm, on the subject of liberty, republican principles, &c.; but this is so common a theme of declamation in all assemblies, from Congress to the bar room, that it is ordinary and tame, except now and then, when raised for the moment by some fortunate effort, or remarkable brilliancy. But on the subject of our naval skill and prowess, although we are not willing to confess it, we are, yet, real enthusiasts. This is a string to which the national feeling vibrates certainly and deeply; and this string the author has touched with effect.

ART. XIX.-1. Journal of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, during his Second Visit to New Zealand, from July to October, 1819. Contained in the Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society, London, for the Years 1821, 1822.

2. Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand. BY RICHARD A. CRUISE, Esq. Captain in the 84th Regiment of Foot. London, 1823. pp. 321.

LITTLE was known of New Zealand, till visited by captain Cook in his first voyage round the world, although it had been discovered by Tasman, a Dutch navigator, as early as 1642. Tasman traversed the eastern coast for several hundred miles, but being attacked by the natives, while at anchor in a bay, he did not go on shore. An old chief told Mr Marsden, that he remembered to have seen three vessels approach the coast before captain Cook's visit, and said that two of them were cut off, and their crews destroyed by the natives. At the time of Cook's first visit in 1770, this country was supposed to be part of a great southern continent, but he ascertained that it consisted of two islands, divided by a strait of four or five leagues in breadth. The northern island is six hundred miles long, and on an average about one hundred and fifty broad. The other is nearly as large. Numerous small islands are scattered in the bays, and along the coast, at no great distance from the main land. Cook's

Strait, which separates the two large islands, is in latitude forty one degrees south, and the western coast of New Zealand is about nine hundred miles southeast of New Holland.

Mr Marsden, author of one of the journals now under our notice, has been favorably known to the public during the last ten years, by his zealous and active missionary labors at Port Jackson. He has also superintended a seminary at Parramatta, designed for instructing the natives of the southern isles. In the year 1815 he made his first voyage to New Zealand, where he became acquainted with some of the chiefs, gained the confidence of the natives, and laid the foundation of a missionary establishment. Four years afterwards he again visited the same country, and took with him three missionaries, and three mechanics, with their families; and also two native New Zealanders, Tooi and Teeterree, who had been residing in England. He remained three months in the country, travelled over some of the interior districts, and recorded his observations in the journal to which we have alluded.

In January, 1820, his Majesty's ship Dromedary arrived in New South Wales, with three hundred and sixty nine convicts. When these were debarked, the commander, according to his instructions, proceeded to New Zealand for the purpose of obtaining a return cargo of ship timber. Captain Cook had remarked, that he thought the cowry trees, which he had seen in New Zealand, admirably fitted for masts of the larger classes of ships; and spars of this description had become so scarce, and commanded so extravagant a price in Europe, that the British government determined to make the experiment suggested by Cook. The Dromedary was assigned to this employment, and sailed from Port Jackson on the 15th of February. To facilitate the object of the Dromedary's present service,' says Captain Cruise, we were accompanied by the Rev. S. Marsden, principal chaplain to the colony of New South Wales, who established some missionaries in New Zealand, and who, from having frequently visited that Island, was considered popular among its inhabitants. He brought on board nine New Zealanders, who were all either chiefs, or the sons of people of that rank. They had been living with him at Parramatta.' The vessel had a short passage of ten days to New Zealand, and the

natives expressed great joy when they came in sight of their own country, manifesting their delight by antic gestures, running from one part of the vessel to another, and shouting the names of the headlands, and prominent objects on the coast, which successively came into their view. The first meeting of the New Zealanders on board, with their friends from the shore, is thus described by Captain Cruise.

'Before the ship was brought to, she was surrounded with canoes, full of the friends and relations of the chiefs we had on board. To salute them, as well as to exhibit the riches they had acquired by their visit to Port Jackson, our New Zealanders began firing their muskets without intermission, and, indeed, so prodigal were they of their powder, that one might presume little of it would remain, after their landing, for the destructive purposes for which they had gone so far to procure it. When their fathers, brothers, &c. were admitted into the ship, the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting, as upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and remain in this position for at least half an hour, during which time they sob and howl in a most doleful manner. If there be any friends gathered around the person, who has returned, the nearest relation takes possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner, if he may be so called, in the various expressions of his lamentations. This ended, they resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that had happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one in the ship, that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be kept to matters at that moment much more essential.

'Little Repero, who had frequently boasted during the passage, that he was too much of an Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort when his father, Shunghie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more distress than any of the others. There was something peculiarly respectable in the appearance of Shunghie; in person, he was a firm looking man, and was dressed in the uniform coat of a British officer. Though one of the most powerful chiefs in the Bay of Islands, and its bravest and most enterprising warrior, he was by far the least assuming of those, who had been permitted to come on board; and, while many others

tried to force their way into the cabin, he remained with his son on the deck; nor did he attempt to go anywhere without invitation.” p. 19-21.

After the arrival of the vessel in the Bay of Islands, the officers immediately commenced their inquiries for the cowry tree, for which they were in pursuit. They encountered many embarrassments in searching for the quality they desired, although the chiefs were ready to sell any timber that might be selected, for such articles as were offered them in exchange. The large and well formed cowry trees, which only would answer the purpose, were seldom found except in low lands, and at some distance from water communication. They were often deceived, also, by the misrepresentations of the chiefs, who were jealous lest their neighbors should gain the advantage of the trade with the ship. From various obstacles the Dromedary was detained on the coast ten months, before a full cargo could be procured. During this period Captain Cruise, who commanded a guard of soldiers, and had few duties connected with his station, spent his time chiefly in observing the manners and characteristics of the people, their modes of life, peculiar habitude, and social condition. His journal is made up of the results of these observations. It is written in a plain, unambitious style, recording events as they occur, without any parade of circumstance or show of ornament.

His general statements are fully corroborated by the cotemporary evidence of Mr Marsden, and the journals of the Missionaries, which have been published during the last year in the London Missionary Register, and in the Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society. To these combined sources we are mainly indebted for the particulars, to which we invite the attention of our readers.

We have also received considerable information from the Journal of our countryman John Ledyard, who accompanied Cook in his last voyage of discovery. When he returned to his native country, in 1783, he arranged the notes, which he had taken, and published them in a small volume at Hartford, in Connecticut. This work was written under many disadvantages; it is crude in style, and but little adorned with the graces of finished composition; but nevertheless it bears marks of a strong, original, and observing mind; it contains