interesting new colony now consisted of 46 persons, mostly grown up young people, besides a number of infants. The young men, all born in the island, were very athletic, and of the finest forms, their countenances open and pleasing, indicating much benevolence and goodness of heart; and the young women were objects of particular admiration, tall, robust, and beautifully formed; their faces beaming with smiles and unruffled good humour, but wearing a degree of modesty and bashfulness, that would do honour to the most virtuous nation on earth; and all of them, both male and female, had the most marked English features.

"Their native modesty, assisted by a proper sense of religion and morality, instilled into their youthful minds by John Adams, the leader of the colony, has hitherto preserved these interesting people perfectly chaste. The greatest harmony prevails among them. But what was most gratifying to the visiters, was the simple and unaffected manner in which they returned thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings they enjoyed. Their habitations are extremely neat, and the village of Pitcairn forms a pretty square.”

In 1817, this island was visited by captain Reynolds, of the Sultan, of Boston, and the account given is as follows: "The conduct of the natives, while on board, was such as to excite the admiration of every person, and I believe I may with safety declare, that for morals, politeness of behaviour, and an open, undisguised manner of conveying their sentiments on all occasions, with a strict adherence to truth and the principles of religion, there are not their equals to be found on earth. They live together in the greatest amity and brotherly love."

AFRICA.

Africa, although it includes Egypt, the cradle of the sciences, and once more distinguished for learning than any other country in the world, is, nevertheless, by far the least known and the least civilized of the four quarters of the globe. The most of the interior remains unexplored, and our knowledge is, in a great degree, confined to the countries lying on the coast.

It is distinguished for the great heat of its climate; its. immense deserts of burning sand, devoted to perpetual desolation; for the fewness of its rivers and inland seas; for its multitude of ferocious animals; and the black colour and degraded condition of its inhabitants. principal articles of commerce, obtained from Africa, are gold, ivory, and, above all, slaves.

SAHARA OR THE GREAT DESERT.

The

This vast region of desolation lies in the northwest part of Africa, extending, in its greatest length, from the Atlantic to the Nile, about 3,000 miles; and it is about 1,000 in breadth. But the name is usually limited to the main body of it, which lies to the west of Fezzan and Cassina, and is about 2,000 miles in length. It is much the largest desert on the globe. On the northern side, the transition from the cultivated land is gradual, and often insensible. A great part of the surface consists of a dead level, stretching on every side, like the ocean, and over which the eye roves, without any object to arrest or bound its view.

In some parts it is covered with small stones sharp as flints; in some places the surface is diversified by ravines, rocks, and shrubs; other parts are composed of moving

sand, which, being piled up in hillocks, cannot be passed without the severest labour. These, when blown up by the wind, sometimes produce the most terrible effects, and whole caravans have been buried beneath them.

This vast tract of waste does not present an aspect quite uniform, but is diversified by oases, or islands, where the supply of water admits of a certain degree of verdure and cultivation, and affords support to a greater or less number of inhabitants. In some instances they afford merely springs for the refreshment of travellers. The inhabited spots are occupied by nomadic Arabs, who, after having exhausted one place, rove to another.

The only impulse, by which civilized nations are led to traverse these dreary wastes, is commerce, or the love of gain. The trade is carried on by merchants, who are inured, from their infancy, to that train of hardship and difficulty, attending these formidable journies. Efficacious means are afforded by the introduction of that most useful animal, the camel, which is emphatically called the ship of the desert.' Caravans, sometimes containing 2,000 men, proceed from different parts of northern Africa to the interior of the continent, loaded with salt, clothes, and various kinds of European goods, receiving in return gold, ivory, and slaves.

One of the principal centres, in the interior of Africa, for the caravans, is Tombuctoo, which is situated to the south of the desert, near the Niger. This celebrated emporium has a communication with Morocco, also with Tripoli, and various other places. The journey from Tripoli to Tombuctoo is performed in about 80 days, and the longest time passed without finding water, is six days.

The coast of Sahara, extending along the desert, is for the most part rocky, dangerous, and destitute of harbours. Hence a considerable number of European vessels suffer shipwreck, and are cast ashore, when their crews suffer the most dreadful fate. They are not only stripped of all their property, but reduced to a state of bondage, where they experience every outrage which can be prompted by the union of avarice and bigotry. Their only hope of relief is from being carried over the desert to be sold in Morocco, when the humanity of European merchants settled there, often affords them the means of being restored to their country.