pearls which they neglect, one cannot imagine." On both banks of the River Sofala, and from that river northwards, the same writer says, to the southern bank of the Zambesi, the country is one mass of mineral wealth; gold, silver, copper, and, towards Tette, even iron and coal are found in abundance. Livingstone has, indeed, fully corroborated the latter fact, as we have had occasion to detail at length.

The town of Sofala, which is built at the mouth of the river of the same name, is in actual times divided into two portions, one of which contains the Moors or labourers of the small settlement, and the other the governor and his subordinates, together with their slaves, "who may, collectively, be well styled the drones, for they live by taxes and duties levied on the more industrious Moorish community." The Portuguese half of the town is, as well as the Moorish, dirty in the extreme, and the appearance of the houses by no means corresponds with the high-sounding titles of the occupants. The old fort of Don Pedro da Nhaya remains to this day "a monument of the bygone glory of the nation, and a reproach to the degeneracy of the present race." There is a church dedicated to “Our Lady of the Rozario," the walls of which are built of rough stones, while it is roofed with palm-leaves. This church was formerly rich in gold and precious stones of great value, but "the priests who sold their fellow-beings into slavery did not hesitate to rob the temple of their god." "Of labouring Moors, groaning slaves, and degenerate every bodies, there are said to be twelve hundred and twentyfive persons." The military establishment of Sofala is composed of from thirty to thirty-five soldiers, sent from Mozambique for misdemeanours, and to these are added a few Moors and Kaffirs, who are shut out of the fort at night and do double duty by day. Sofala is, however, admitted on all hands to be admirably suited for commerce; and nothing but the baneful influence of the slave-trade could have reduced it to its present state—a melancholy contrast to the flourishing settlement it must have been when adorned with Ethiopian cities, and visited by the fleets of Solomon and Hiram, or even to what it presented as an Arab settlement when first subjected by the Portuguese in 1505.

Whether from Sofala itself, up the Luenya tributary to the Zambesi, or, what is still more likely, from Natal or Ďelagoa Bay by the territory of the Transvaal Republic, which already stretches to the banks of the Limpopo, it is impossible but that more enterprising races than the Portuguese, whose claims only extend to a few points on the coast, will soon spread over the rich mineral regions of Manica, so favourable from their elevation to European constitutions, and thence to the banks of the Zambesi. There is room between the Limpopo and the latter river for a new colony, with a future before it, as the resuscitation of the Ophir of the Bible, that is unrivalled by almost any other tract of land throughout the whole continent of Africa-and that more especially from the discovery of coal and iron, as well as from the other commercial resources of the land. It would be but in strict accordance with justice, that the people who first contributed so largely towards extirpating slavery in their own colonies, should spread over the interior and enjoy the benefits of neglected and once flourishing lands, the entrance to which has been so long sealed by the slave-trading practices of a few degenerate Portuguese colonists.

SNOWED UP.

BY MRS. BUSHBY.

PART VI.

THE SPIRIT'S PROPHECY.

I.

THE WAR ON THE SPANISH MAIN, AND THE EARTHQUAKE AT CARACCAS.

THE Continental part of what was once called Spanish America, as divided by the Spanish government, comprehended the viceroyalties of New Spain, or Mexico; Santa Fè de Bogota, or New Granada; Peru, Buenos Ayres, or the province of Rio de la Plata, and the captaingeneralships of Guatemala, Venezuela, and Chili. These territories were, before 1810, governed by chiefs named by the King of Spain, who acted independently of each other. The viceroyalties, &c., were subdivided into provinces, which were again divided into departments.

The inhabitants of South America had long been dissatisfied with the arbitrary power exercised over them by the Spanish viceroys and governors, with the court of Madrid, and with the restrictions and hardships under which they laboured. They had frequently applied for redress of their grievances, but their applications had always been treated with contempt; it was not, then, to be wondered at that from time to time revolts were planned, and even attempted to be carried out.

So far back as in the middle of the last century, a Canarian, named Leon, formed a conspiracy in Caraccas, which, however, was discovered, and Leon was condemned to death.

In 1780, an insurrection broke out in Peru, at the instigation of Tupac Amaru, who after a contest with the Spaniards, which lasted for three years, was hailed Ynca of Peru. But his conduct did not conciliate the people, and the Spaniards, more feebly opposed than at first, regained their power. Tupac Amaru, and others of the principal revolutionary leaders, were put to death in a most shocking manner.

A conspiracy broke out in New Granada in 1781, and yet another in Caraccas in 1797, but both were quelled by the Spaniards.

Notwithstanding the discontent of the South Americans, they might long have continued subject to the tyranny of Spain had not the bonds which united the New and the Old World been loosened by Napoleon Bonaparte, who invaded the mother country, seized the royal family, and endeavoured to place his brother on the throne. The confusion which these events produced in Spain left the South Americans at a loss how to act. Instead, however, of taking advantage of that moment to throw off the yoke of their oppressors, they remained faithful to the cause of Spain, and contributed largely to carrying on the war with France; but though they preserved their allegiance to the imprisoned king, they wished to adopt some measures for their own security, and determined to follow the example of Spain in forming juntas, or bodies of respectable individuals, for their government.

La Paz, the capital of one of the districts in the department of Charcas, set the example of providing for its own security, and in the year 1809 formed for itself a suitable government. Quito and Santa Fè de Bogota followed the example. But these juntas were soon suppressed. The Viceroy of Peru sent a numerous body of men, commanded by Goyeneche, against La Paz; its army, under the command of Generals Lanza and Castro, were defeated, and the conqueror, Goyeneche, proceeded immediately to execute the patriots, many of whom were put to death in a barbarous manner. The junta of Quito was also destroyed by force of arms, but the patriots did not yield until the Spanish president had promised that all past events should be forgotten. Regardless, however, of this promise, numbers of the patriots were arrested, and three hundred of them were murdered in cold blood!

Spain was at that time divided under the authorities of the junta of Seville, the junta of Asturias, and the Regency, the members of which were assembled at Cadiz. Each required the South Americans to submit to its authority, and denied that of the other. Uncertain which to acknowledge, hating the despotism of the form of government then existing in South America, and fearing for their future fate, the inhabitants of many of the provinces determined to govern themselves, and to obtain by force that redress of their grievances which reasonable representations had failed to procure for them. The Spanish governors were deposed, and a supreme junta was established at Caraccas in 1810; but their acts were still published in the name of Ferdinand, and all possible aid was offered to Spain for the continuance of the war against France.

Juntas were likewise appointed in 1810 at Buenos Ayres, Santa Fè de Bogota, Chili, and Mexico. On hearing of these occurrences, war was declared against the South American governments by the Regency; this, and the cruelties practised by the Spanish governors and chiefs, entirely alienated the minds of the people, and stimulated them to a general insurrection. Thus commenced the war in Spanish America, which soon spread over an extent of sixteen hundred leagues.

The junta, or congress of Venezuela, published the act of independence on the 5th of July, 1811; and similar declarations were made in various parts of the continent.

When Joseph Bonaparte found that the South Americans continued to furnish Spain with money to carry on the war against France, he sent out emissaries, or agents, to excite them to revolution; but these agents were not well received, as the South Americans did not then much wish for rebellion-merely for redress of their wrongs. In 1810 and in 1811 the English offered their mediation between Spain and South America. But the Cortes of Spain would not listen to the conditions they proposed, alleging that England only thought of her own advantage, since freedom of trade between Great Britain and Spanish America was one among the conditions.

While this affair was under discussion by the Cortes, and the South American deputies were in vain waiting for justice, the patriots were gaining important advantages in the New World. They had acquired possession of the whole territory which comprised Buenos Ayres, Venezuela, and New Granada, with the exception of a few fortified places and

some provinces; and the Mexican patriots, who were led by a warlike priest, named Hidalgo, were successful in the interior of Mexico.

Such was the political situation of South, or Spanish America, when Ferdinand was restored to his throne. His absence had occasioned these civil contests; his return ought to have restored tranquillity, and might have done so, had he acted with prudence, and adopted conciliatory measures. But in his decree of 1814, announcing his return, he ordered the insurgents to lay down their arms, and soon after equipped, at Cadiz, an army of ten thousand men, which he sent out against them under the command of General Morillo, and they appeared on the coast of Venezuela in April, 1815.

Great alarm was now spread among those who had been fighting for their independence; all hopes of reconciliation were abandoned, and the revolt against the authority of Ferdinand VII. dated from this period.*

Morillo arrived at Casapano, proceeded to Margaritta, from thence to Caraccas, and the following August he besieged Carthagena, which capitulated in December. The royalist army invaded several provinces, and soon after the battle of Cachiri was fought, in which fell the best officers and troops who had supported the congress of New Granada. In consequence of this defeat, the congress separated, and the few remaining troops took the road to Los Llanos.†

Morillo entered Santa Fè de Bogota in June, 1816, and more than six hundred of the patriot chiefs, governors and officers, were shot, hanged, or exiled, among whom were the celebrated botanists, Caldas and Lozano.

At Caraccas, a junta had been established in 1810, among whose first acts were decrees to abolish the slave-trade and the tribute paid by the Indians, and to establish freedom of commerce and agriculture. All the provinces of Venezuela joined in the revolution except Maracaybo and Guayana, which remained faithful to the royalists. The patriots gained repeated victories under General Miranda, and all was prosperity at Venezuela until the fatal earthquake of the 26th of March, 1812, in which the towns of Caraccas, La Guayra, Mayquetie, Merida, and San Felipe, were totally destroyed; Barquisimato, Valencia, La Vittoria, and others, suffered considerably, and nearly twenty thousand lives were lost. This catastrophe happened on Holy Thursday, when the churches were crowded. Many churches, also the principal barracks at Caraccas, were demolished, and numbers of patriot soldiers perished in the ruins. The loss of private property was also great, so many houses, several of them with costly furniture, being overthrown and totally destroyed.

This tremendous earthquake gave but slight warning of its fearful approach. The oscillations of the earth were feeble, and the hollow sound seemed to come from the depths far below the surface of the earth. Yet these indications did not escape the observation of persons who were habituated to this kind of phenomenon. Reports of the coming danger

Outline of the Revolution in Spanish America. By a South American. Published in 1817.

Llanos is equivalent to the words pampas, savannahs, meadows, steppes, or plains. The country between the mountains of the coast and the left bank of the Orinoko constitutes the llanos of Cumana, Barcelona, and Caraccas.

spread like wildfire, but too late for the doomed inhabitants to save themselves, had salvation been possible.

In that fatal moment the cries of "Misericordia-tembla, tembla !”"Mercy-the earth trembles !" —v '-were everywhere heard. The most timid attentively watched the actions of dogs, goats, and swine; especially the swine, for these animals, endowed with delicate olfactory nervesthough one would not think so from the filth in which they often wallow -and accustomed to turn up the earth, gave warning of approaching danger by their restlessness and their cries. Whether their keenness in regard to detecting a coming earthquake be attributable to their being placed nearer the surface of the ground, and thus enabled to be the first to hear the subterranean noise, or whether their organs receive the impression of some gaseous emanations that issue from the earth, cannot be decided; but their appreciation of danger is a known fact.

At the end of violent earthquakes, the herbs that cover the savannahs sometimes acquire noxious properties; an epidemic disorder then takes place among the cattle, and a great number of them appear stupified, or suffocated by the deleterious vapours exhaled from the ground.

The city of Caraccas was founded in 1567 by Diego de Losada. It is situated in a high valley, and is celebrated for its coolness and the salubrity of its charming climate; near it are the lofty mountains of Avila and Silla. La Guayra, the seaport of Caraccas, a hot and confined place, lays at the foot of the Silla, and close upon the sea. The road from it ascends all the way to Caraccas. The cultivated region of the valley, and the gay fields of Chacao, Petare, and La Vega, form an agreeable contrast to the imposing aspect of the Silla. At Caraccas are to be found both the fruits of the temperate zone and the productions of equinoctial regions. The temperature is equally favourable to the orange-tree, the plantain, the sugar-cane, the coffee and the apricot, the peach, the apple, and the strawberry. In his personal narrative of "Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent," Baron Humboldt praises the hospitality of all classes of the inhabitants of Caraccas, and mentions that he found there several men distinguished alike by their taste for study and the elevation of their sentiments; and several families, the ladies of whom, as well as the gentlemen, were conversant with French and Italian, and had considerable musical talents.

The loss of troops and the ruin of the city of Caraccas were not the only evil consequences of the calamitous earthquake of 1812. The royalists, and those of the priests who were discontented with the patriot government, took advantage of the awe the earthquake had occasioned to inspire superstitious terrors into the people's mind, and to persuade them that the Almighty had denounced his wrath on the revolution. At this time, also, the royalists under Monteverde were successful, notwithstanding the efforts of Miranda; and Caraccas, Cumana, and Barcelona fell into the hands of the royalists. The republican army was disbanded, and Miranda, who was on his way to Carthagena, was seized, and thrown into prison. About a thousand patriots shared the same fate.

Such was the state of affairs when Venezuela was retaken by the patriot, General Bolivar, in 1813.

Don Simon Bolivar, one of the most distinguished characters in the revolution of South America, was a native of Caraccas, where he was