tain Carrao, who commanded a Sicilian brig, and was then about twenty miles off Cape St. Mark, observed the water, at the distance of a gun-shot, in a state of agitation. A portion, more than a hundred fathoms in diameter, rose up to the height of sixty feet; and discharged volumes of sulphurous smoke. The elevated mass, as there is no action of the atmosphere mentioned that could sustain a column of water to that height, must have been steam. That steam, however, from the supply of a whole sea of cold water, and the powerful action of the fire under it, may have had the colour and apparant density of a mass of water. Indeed, the external part of it must have been condensed, and descending in a thick fog, which fog would be kept from spreading on the surface of the sea, by the wind which must have set towards it in all directions, to supply the air which was constantly rarefying and ascending over it. The smoke mentioned by the Sicilian captain was, most probably, the hottest part of the steam, because if the heated strata had so broken under water as to allow volumes of real smoke to escape, the solid matters would not likely have reached the surface. It appears from the observations made by other vessels, that the immediate bottom was mud, and that the depth, after the island was formed, was one hundred and thirty fathoms, at the distance of one mile. That was nearly three hundred and thirty-eight pounds (say three hundred weight) on the inch, from the mere pressure of the water, without taking into the account the condensation, the weight of the mud, and the resistance of the strata, which there are no means of ascertaining; but they, in all probability, exceeded the simple pressure of the water.

have stated in nearly the words of the eyewitnesses, agree in establishing the same fact; namely, that by that time the volcanic matter had reached the surface, and been broken when it came in contact with the air, or even when so near the surface that the pressure upon it was much diminished. The smoke was a sure sign that the surface was reached, the hissing was the solid matter coming in contact with water at a lower temperature; and the ascent and fall of the dark solid matter was a direct confirmation of the other two.

The young island having thus attracted attention, Vice admiral Hotham directed Commander Swinburne, of the sloop Rapid, to examine it. The commander discovered the island at four, P. M., on the 18th of July. It was then about forty miles distant, and had the appearance of a column of white smoke. Advancing about thirty miles, he saw, at fifteen minutes past eight, bright light mingling with the smoke. The column then became black; but immediately" eruptions of lurid fire" shot up; and then the whiteness of the smoke returned. The same succession of appearances continued till five in the morning of the 19th, when they again steered for the island.

Whether Commander Swinburne did or did not see the very first eruption, he must have been near the time of the commencement, for early in the morning he saw, in the intervals of the eruptions, only a small hillock, a few feet above the level of the sea; but as the discharges of dust, and stones, and steam were frequent, the progress of the island could not be seen. At the distance of one mile north the depth was one hundred and thirty fathoms; and when the Now, if we suppose that the surface, acted commander took his boat and rowed towards it, under by the heat, was only a circle of about one twenty yards from the weather-side, there were hundred and twenty fathoms in diameter, we eighteen fathoms water. For two or three miles shall form a rude estimate of the power employ-round, the sea was discoloured with dust and cined. The surface is about 11,310 square fathoms, or 407,160 square feet, or 56,631,040 square inches, which at three hundred weight on the square inch, gives a pressure from the weight of the water alone of the vast amount of 8,794,656 tons. But as there were other, and probably greater resistances to overcome, the force exerted at that single spot must have been far greater than would suffice to blow all the navies in the world into the air. That spot, too, was but a mere point on the surface of the globe: so that it is utterly impossible to imagine any material weight, or material strength, which those powers could not overcome.

It is only under the pressure of a depth of water that such a phenomenon could take place, as the water both supports and consolidates the upper part, and so enables the crust to rise in a mass, which, in the air, would burst and discharge the melted matters in an eruption, as is the case in those volcanoes that are on land.

The second observation of Hotham Island was made on the 13th, two days after the first; and the account was-the appearance of columns of smoke, the hearing of a sound like that of the paddle-wheels of a steamboat; and dark matter rising up to a height, and then falling with force into the sea: all those appearances, which we

ders; but at the distance of only twelve yards, the sea was but one degree above its ordinary temperature.

The island then appeared in the form of a crater or cup, seventy or eighty yards in diameter, twenty feet high in some places, six in others, and broken on the south-west. Through the break was seen muddy water in a state of violent agitation; from which hot stones, and cinders, and immense volumes of steam were incessantly ascending.

That was but the tranquil state of the volcanic action; for, at short intervals, the crater became filled with stones, cinders, and dust, which were volleyed upwards to the height of several hundred feet with loud noise; and when they again fell down and converted the surface of the surrounding sea into steam, the noise was still louder. So powerful was that steam as it rose, that it carried the dust with it, so that the whole had a brown colour, and a solid appearance; but the steam became white as it ascended, and the mud fell down in showers. These volleyings and descents were so constant that one was often up before the other had fallen; and amid the columns, lightnings were continually flashing,and thunders roaring, as if all the sublime and the terrible in nature had been collected at that one little spot. Commander Swinburne's description

INDIAN WARS.

is so circumstantial, that we shall give part of it | in his own words:

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COUNTERS.--No. 1.

"Renewed eruptions of hot cinders and dust Under this title, our columns will hereafter be were," says he, "quickly succeeding each other, occasionally diversified, in such a manner as to while forked lightning and rattling thunder darted about in all directions within the column, convey with what little ability we possess, a now darkened with dust, and greatly increased knowledge of the prominent works which issue in volume, and distorted by sudden gusts and from the now prolific American press. After whirlwinds. The latter were most frequent on passing an opinion on these, we shall allow them the lee-side, where they often made imperfect to speak for themselves by extracts, in selecting water-spouts of curious shapes. On one occasion, some of the steam reached the boat; it which, attention will not only be paid to the smelt a little of sulphur, and the mud it left be- gratification of the reader, but such parts will came a gritty, sparkling dark brown powder be seized on, as while they convey information when dry. None of the stones or cinders thrown out appeared to be more than half a foot or amusement, will also give a general idea of the character of the work in which they appear. in diameter, and many of them much smaller. During the whole time the wind was steady at For this purpose, every facility in the way of north-west, and the weather was serene, so that time and books is at our disposal, and we shall the action, violent as it was within its range, was endeavour, without fatiguing the public with our very confined in that. Confined as it was, however, it brought all the elements into play. Its remarks, to enliven our newspaper in a new smallness is indeed an advantage to those who and original department:-one in fact to which study it, because it becomes as near to being an little attention is paid, though it be, as it unexperiment in the making of islands by the ac-doubtedly is, the most fruitful and delightful. tion of fire as it is possible for any thing in nature to come. The internal action, when deep below the water, was sensible only in the motion communicated by the quaking earth to the water over it; and as the heat was only one degree above the common temperature at twelve yards from the island, one can hardly suppose that any smoke or even steam could come to the surface, or be produced, until the solid matter had risen very nearly to that. On the 28th of June, when As a writer, Mr. Flint has acquired an enviaSir Pulteney Malcolm and his companions felt ble reputation. His glowing descriptions of the the shocks, the action had begun, but was going Valley of the Mississippi, are conceived in the on quietly under the water. It may be indeed true spirit of the poetical fervour; and his delithat there is always an action under that part of neations of the scenery, the inhabitants, the soil, the Mediterranean, as shoals are laid down near productions, and so forth, of the truly great West, the place in some of the charts; and the Maltese are among those passages which even an omnivehave traditions about a former island there. But rous reader of feeling and taste refers to, as havSwinburne found no bottom with a line of eighty ing afforded him unalloyed gratification. In the fathoms, till he came within twenty yards of the present little volume, our author is no less in his island, and there as has been said, it was eigh-element;-he details with power, scenes than teen fathoms, or one hundred and eight feet. which few presented in the pages of the histoThat is an exceeding abrupt slope, and would rian, take more powerful hold of the sympathetic meet the bottom of one hundred and thirty fathoms heart. The work opens with "a Physical View deep, at little more than one-twelfth part of a of the West," full of valuable facts. Chapter mile, if we suppose the slope uniform. The ra- second, is on "the Discovery and Conquest of pidity of the slope, and the depth of the sounding Florida, and Settlement of the Mississippi," in are not very consistent with the supposition that which the history is traced with a faithful pen to a shoal in any way tended to the formation of the the discovery of these regions, and the following island, though it is true, that with the same ex-graphic page occurs; it is in Mr. Flint's best ternal action, the bottom would rise more readily style :in shallow water than in deep.

We have before us a new work, just published in Cincinnati, entitled:-" Indian Wars of the West; containing Biographical Sketches of those pioneers who headed the Western Settlers, in repelling the attacks of the Savages, together with a view of the Character, Manners, Monuments, and Antiquities of the Western Indians. By Timothy Flint."

"The honour of the efficient discovery of the The island was subsequently visited by vari- Mississippi, probably belongs to the fathers Marous persons, and the nature of its materials ex-quette and Joliette, two French missionaries amined. Ashes, a substance resembling cake, from Canada, who were detailed for that object scoria of iron, and burnt clay, were the chief by M. de Talon. They started on their journey ones; and there were not many of the substances of discovery from Quebec with three associates. that are usually discharged in the eruption of They traversed the immense lakes in a birch volcanoes. It should seem that only the common bark periogue, ascended lake Michigan to the matters at the bottom of the sea came to the sur-bay of St. Joseph; and thence, it is supposed, face, even when the walls of the crater attained an elevation of nearly two hundred feet; for the layers formed by the successive eruptions, which could easily be distinguished by the salt that was left when they evaporated the water, were friable and yielding to the action of the waves.

over the present accustomed portage from that bay to the Ouisconsin, and down that river to the Mississippi, and thence down that stream, through its forests, and passing the mouths of its tributaries, to the Arkansas. Those early French discoverers seem all to have been distin

guished by a full measure of the vivacity of their Bourbon county. As this attack may serve as national enthusiasm. That imagination must be a general sample of the undescribed detail of cold, that does not kindle in view of the gran-horrors in most cases of similar assault, and as deur of the forests, tributaries, precipices, prai- the circumstances possess a peculiar and intrinries, animals, and birds discovered in a summer sic interest, we will give them in detail. The descent of that river, even at the present time, family consisted of the mother, two sons of mawhen the visions of fancy all have yielded to the ture age, a widowed daughter with an infant in often repeated surveys of experience. We need her arms, two grown daughters, and a daughter not admire, that those explorers saw in the num- of ten years. They occupied a double cabin. berless swans and waterfowls on the undisturbed In one division were the two grown daughters bosom of the stream, in the fishes beneath its and the smaller girl. In the other the remainpellucid wave, in the tangle of grape vines on der of the family. At evening twilight, a knockits shores, in the buffaloes and other wild ani- ing was heard at the door of the latter, asking in mals of its forests and prairies, in the numerous good English, and the customary phrase of the tribes of red men along its shores, in its majestic country, Who keeps house? As the sons sweep down its dark woods, in the grand bluffs, were opening the door, the mother forbade, afthe influx of the mighty and turbid Missouri, the firming, that there were Indians there. The grand tower, and other precipices not far above young men sprang to their guns. The Indians, the mouth of the Ohio, the entrance of that ma- being refused admittance, made an effort at the jestic and placid stream, in short, of forest, prai- opposite door. They beat open the door of that rie, bird, beast, and production along such a room with a rail. They endeavoured to take prodigious length of unexplored empire of the the three girls prisoners. The little girl escapfancy, ample materials for all the exaggerations, ed, and might have evaded danger in the darkwhich we find recorded in the journal of their ness and the woods. But the forlorn child ran voyage." towards the other door and cried for help. The brothers wished to fly to her relief, but the mother forbade her door to be opened. The merci

Daniel Boone's romantic history is very pleasantly told, but it is to the anecdotical part of the book that our attention has been more par-less tomahawk soon hushed the cries of the disticularly attracted, and we make the following miscellaneous extracts, which we marked in perusal, as among the numerous scenes of deep interest which are here set forth.

"In October, 1785, Mr. M'Clure and family, in company with a number of families, was attacked and defeated on Skegg's creek. Six were killed, and Mrs. M'Clure, her child, and a number of others made prisoners. The attack was made in the night. The circumstances of the capture of Mrs. M'Clure furnishes an affecting incident, illustrating the invincible force of maternal affection. She had secreted herself with her four children among thick brush, which, together with the darkness, screened her from observation. Had she chosen to have left her infant at a distance, she might have escaped. But she held it to her bosom, aware that its shrieks would make known her covert. The Indians, directed by its cries, killed the three larger children, and took her and her infant captives. This unfortunate woman was obliged to accompany their march on an untamed and unbroken horse. Intelligence of this massacre circulated rapidly. Captain Whitley immediately collected twenty-one men from the adjoining stations, overtook, and killed two of them, and retook Mrs. M'Clure, her babe, a negro woman, and the scalps of the six persons whom the Indians had killed. Ten days afterwards, another party of imgrants, led by Mr. Moore, were attacked, and nine of their number killed. Captain Whitley pursued the perpetrators of this bloody act, with thirty men. On the sixth day of pursuit, he came up with twenty mounted Indians, clad in the dresses of those whom they had slain. They dismounted and fled. Three of them were killed. The pursuers recovered eight scalps, and all the plunder which the Indians had collected at the late massacre.

"April 11th, 1787, a party of fourteen Indians attacked a family living on Coope's run, in

tracted girl by murdering her. While a part of the Indians were murdering this child, and confining the other girl that was made prisoner, the third defended herself with a knife, which she was using at her loom, at the moment of attack. The heroism of this girl was unavailing. She killed one Indian, and was herself killed by another. The Indians in possession of one half of the house, fired it. The persons confined in the other part of the cabin, had now to choose between exposure to the flames, spreading towards them, or the tomahawks of the savages. The latter stationed themselves in the dark angles of the fence, while the bright glare of the flames would expose, as a clear mark, every person who should escape. One son took charge of his aged and infirm mother; and the other of his widowed sister and her infant. The brothers separated with their charge, endeavouring to spring over the fence at different points. The mother was shot dead in attempting to cross.The other brother was killed, gallantly defending his sister. The widowed sister, her infant, and one of the brothers escaped the massacre. These persons alarmed the settlement. Thirty men, commanded by Colonel John Edwards, arrived next day to witness the horrid spectacle presented by this scene of murder and ruin. Considerable snow had fallen, and it was easy to pursue the Indians by their trail. In the evening of that day, they came upon the expiring body of the young woman, apparently murdered but a few moments before their arrival. The Indians had been premonished of their pursuit, by the barking of a dog that followed them. They overtook and killed two of the Indians, who had apparently staid behind as victims to secure the escape of the rest."

Of the chapter on antiquities, we only quote the following remarkable passages :

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Among the second class of Indian antiquities may be classed the idols, vases, and culinary

RAMBLES TO THE BOOKSELLERS' COUNTERS.

469

utensils, of which such numbers are found in the western country, as that they are no longer regarded as curiosities. The beautiful threeheaded idol, the most remarkable specimen of Indian pottery and moulding that has yet been found, was taken from a mound in Tennessee. It consists of three heads of proportions of consi- have truly fallen on evil times; the American If the multiplicity of books be a grievance, we derable accuracy, representing countenances press is most wonderfully prolific, but it has not of different expressions and ages. The whole yet reached its acme; reading is an appetite workmanship is surprising, when viewed in re- which increases with what it feeds on, and access ference to the common notion of Indian art. We to books is now so cheap that the whole nation possessed a beautiful and perfect specimen of reads;-the expression must of course be taken Indian pottery in the shape of a drinking gourd. in a somewhat limited sense, and may be transThe aperture represented the mouth of a squaw, lated to mean-portions of every section of the which the thirsty drinker would naturally kiss union-for there are still some people who do with a degree of eager appetite. In digging a not understand the pleasure which books afford, ditch round a garden below St. Charles, in the and who find their intellectual gratification in forks between the Mississippi and Missouri, we idle tattle and senseless conversation. We wish came upon great quantities of fragments of this there were fewer such, and that all might enjoy ware. Much of it in fine preservation has been the pleasures to be found in literary pursuits. dug from the chalk banks below the mouth of An individual fond of books, no matter how busy the Ohio. It is found in fact every where be- he is, finds in the course of the week time for tween Pittsburgh,lake Superior, and New Mexi- reading. We have been led into these remarks co. The material is clay, with a considerable while perusing" Transatlantic Sketches, comintermixture of sand, sometimes flinty, some- prising visits to the most interesting scenes in times calcareous, but generally of a snowy North and South America and the West Indies, whiteness. They were all moulded by the hand, by Capt. J. E. Alexander," which has just issued without any aid from the potter's wheel. The shapes of natural objects were happily imitated, and they were hardened by the heat of the sun. Sculptured and inscribed rocks are among the most common of Indian antiquities. On the side of a mountain in Tennessee, are the marks of the footsteps of men and horses in the limestone, in great numbers, and as though they were the tracks of an army. Some of the tracks show, as if the party had slipped in miry clay. All have the appearance of being an actual impress in soft clay, which afterwards hardened to stone, retaining a perfect impression. Characters of great freshness of colouring, are marked upon many of the high bluffs, that impend over the western rivers. Inscriptions of this sort are found in Missouri, on the Illinois, and in various other places. A remarkable track of a human foot was found in a solid block of limestone, on the bank of the Mississippi, at St. Louis. The most ancient traditions of the west do not touch the origin of these mounds or characters."

The recent excavation of the Louisville and Portland canal, afforded an impressive display of ancient remains. In the alluvial stratum immediately above the compact bed of slate limestone, and from nineteen to upwards of twenty feet below the surface, brick hearths were brought to view, with the coals of the last social domestic fires still visible. The bricks, as we have heard them described, were hard and regular, differing from those of present make, in being longer in proportion to their width and thickness. Along with organic remains of animals, similar to those found at Big Bone Lick, were skeletons of men in great numbers. Among others, was that of a man standing erect in the earth, one arm raised to an angle of forty-five degrees with the shoulder, and holding in the hand a semi-globular, or rather elliptical stone, striated with gay colours, beautifully polished, and of the size of half an orange."

In conclusion, we may safely say, that the 40

from the presses of Messrs. Key & Biddle, than whom there are few more successful caterers for public taste. We would wish it to be in the hands of all who enjoy personal adventure, accurate description, good sense, and chaste style. His excursion was most extensive, and that we may not occupy unprofitably our brief space, we turn at once to the volume, which, by the way is sold at a moderate price, considering its 378 well stored pages.

Madeira was visited, and the following allusion On the voyage out to Guiana the island of to the climate occurs:

the latitude of that last resort and faint hope of "What an Elysian climate is experienced in the worn-out invalid-Madeira! How bright the sky, and how gentle and soothing blows the trade wind near that favoured shore! Fortunata Insula!' but how painful it is to reflect on the many hundred fair forms and brave spirits who have been compelled to seek its climate Death! How few with renovated constitutions to avert for a time the stroke of the fell tyranthave been permitted to revisit their father-land! Our captain had frequently taken out passengers to Madeira; young women adorned with every personal grace and highly cultivated minds, but on whose cheek was painted the fatal hectic flush; and young men, ornaments to their professions, but afflicted with a sepulchral cough, which told too plainly that their days were numbered, and that they were shortly to repose in the shade of the myrtles of the Funchal cemetery.

The genius of the isle that showers His germs of fruits, his fairest flowers, Hath cast his robes of vernal bloom In guardian fondness o'er their tomb." The account of British Guiana will he new to many. We cannot pass over the following exmerit:tracts without regretting to miss many others of

"I often wished that some of those who think that ere long the world will be overpeopled, and that we shall shoulder one another off it, or into the sea, could view the vast solitudes of Guiana, and reflect that nearly the whole of the interior of the South American continent, though capable of supporting billions of inhabitants, is as yet almost entirely in the keeping of nature. The cultivation in British Guiana is now confined to two hundred miles of the coast, and the same may be said of South America generally.

"The Dutch form of government is still pre- | of Anthropophagi, of the Carib tribe. The chief served in British Guiana, and the laws are ad- received the travellers courteously, and placed ministered by a governor and council. The before them fish with savoury sauce; on this members of council are elected by the keizers, being removed, two human hands were brought or representatives of the people, and each burgh-in, and a steak of human flesh. The travellers er possessing twenty-five slaves, or six hundred thought this might be a part of a baboon of a guilders per annum, is entitled to a vote." new species; however, they declined the invitation to partake, saying, that in travelling they were not allowed to eat animal food. The chief picked the bones of the hands with excellent appetite, and asked them how they had relished the fish and the sauce; they replied that the fish was good, and the sauce still better. On which he answered, human flesh makes the best sauce for any food; these hands and the fish were dressed together. You see these Macoushi men, our slaves, we lately captured these people in war, and their wives we eat from time to time.' The travellers were horrified, but concealed the state of their feelings as well as they could; and before they retired for the night, they observed that the Macoushi females were confined in a large logie, surrounded with a stockade of bamboo; so that daily, the fathers, husbands, and brothers of these unfortunate women saw them brought out and knocked on the head, and deGullifer, who was then 'in bad condition,' got into his hammock and slept soundly; but Mr. Smith, being 'in good case,' walked about all night, fearing that their landlord might take a fancy to a steak of white meat.

"In the West the general impression is that the climate of Guiana is unhealthy, but it is really less so than that of the neighboring islands. When the forest was first cleared on the coast, and the decayed trees and leaves exposed to the influence of the sun, when the sea unconfined by dikes was allowed to form salt marshes, then yellow fever prevailed, but for several years this fatal malady has been altogether un-voured by these inhuman cannibals; Lieutenant known here."

"I was standing in the gallery of a house belonging to a half-pay officer (now a planter), when I observed a large jar in the garden. 1 inquired what it contained, and was told, an electric eel, but,' said my friend,' I have had it a long time, it is sickly, and has entirely lost its electrifying powers.' I went to examine it, and saw a brown, flat-headed, broad-tailed eel, four or five feet long, with a look of 'noli me tangere,' moving slowly round the inside of the jar. The planter then taking up a piece of old iron hoop, said in an off-handed manner, ‘if you touch him with this you will perceive that he has lost all his power.' I did so, and was nearly knocked flat on my back: the shock was most severe, though the eel did not appear to be in the least agitated; of course my friend was highly delighted.

·

For he could drink hot blood,
And do such business as the bitter day
Would quake to look on.'

"They afterwards visited a cave in which there was an enchanted pool of water; the Indians requested them not to bathe in this pool, for if they did, they would die before the year was out. They laughed at their brown monitors, bathed, and sure enough were both clods of the valley before the twelve months had expired."

The West Indies, to which all eyes are now turned, furnish to our author a fine field to expatiate in, and we have marked the following characteristic sketches:

"Some time ago a Demerara merchant purchased a barrel of beef from a Yankee captain, who shortly afterwards sailed. On coming to the bottom of the barrel a horse's head was found in it: the merchant said nothing, but when the skipper returned to Demerara, he sold him a hogshead of sugar, which, when examined at the custom house at Boston, was found to have a head of the heavy green heartwood, six inches thick, which was forthwith hung up as a proof of British honesty; but no mention was made of the choice morsel which had been found in the beef-barrel."

"Scenes of great diversion are occasioned among the English sailors who come to Stabroek by electric eels; they are told to bring them to be cooked. Jack bares his arm and plunges his hand into the jar, and in a moment receives a shock which benumbs him; he looks round in wild amazement, and then at the eel, all the while rubbing his elbow. Try again, Jack, for a bottle of rum?' he does so, grasps the cel firmly, grins and swears at the beggar,' receives shock after shock, drops the eel in despair, and runs off as if the devil had struck him. A little dog was thrown into a jar one day in which there was an electric eel, and was so paralyzed that it sunk helpless to the bottom, and was got out alive with some difficulty; and a horse that at- "I was much amused with an elderly Barbatempted to drink out of the jar was immediately dian dame on board; she delighted in 'porter thrown back on its haunches, and gallopped off cup,' made of Barclay and Perkins' entire, with with main and tail on end snorting with terror.' the addition of water, sugar, and nutmeg. OcCanibalism, it seems, prevails among the na-casionally she would call out to young Mungo, tives. A party visited the interior, and our au- her servant, in a drawling voice," Bae, go to thor says:drip, and bring me a little waeter, please; then Among the other interesting details I found in a lower key,' when pass buffet, put a little rum in their notes, I may mention the following: in it, please.' 'Yees, Missa; want nutmeg, High up the Essequimbo they fell in with a nation | Missa.' 'Go lang, you black niggar you. What!