from him, and went away; and returned again very soon with some baked yams and fish rolled up in fresh plantain-leaves, and a large cocoanut-shell full of clean fresh water, and a smaller one of salt water. These he set down, and went and fetched a mess of the same kind, and set it down by me. Poulaho then desired I would eat; but preferring salt which I had in the tent to the sea-water which they used, I called one of the guard, and had some of that brought me to eat with my fish, which was really most delightfully dressed, and of which I ate very heartily. "Their animal and vegetable food is dressed in the same manner here as at the southern and northern tropical islands throughout these seas, being all baked among hot stones laid in a hole, and covered over, first with leaves, and then with mould. Poulaho was fed by the chief who waited upon him, both with victuals and drink. After he had finished, the remains were carried away by the chief in waiting, who returned soon after with two large separate rolls of cloth and two little low wooden stools. The cloth was for a covering while asleep, and the stools to raise and rest the head on, as we do on a pillow. These were left within the house, or rather under the roof, one side being open. The floor within was composed of dry grass, leaves, and flowers, over which were spread large well-wrought mats.

On this Poulaho and I removed and sat down, while the chief unrolled and spread out the cloth, after which he retired; and in a few minutes there appeared a fine young girl about seventeen years of age, who, approaching Poulaho, stooped and kissed his great toe, and then retired, and sat down in an opposite part of the house. It was now about nine o'clock, and a bright moonshine; the sky was serene, and the wind hushed. Suddenly I heard a number of their flutes, beginning nearly at the same time, burst from every quarter of the surrounding grove; and whether this was meant as an exhilarating serenade, or a

the name will bear testimony, do honour to the heart no less than to the ability of our traveller; for many who have been no less indebted, perhaps, than he to the inexhaustible benevolence of women have repaid the obligation with satire against the whole

sex.

During the winter, Captain Billings, who had formerly been assistant-astronomer in Cook's expedition, but was now in the Russian service, arrived at Yakutsk. He was surprised to meet Ledyard in the heart of Siberia; but having a disinclination to connect himself with any person not favoured by fortune, evinced no disposition to be of the least service to him. It has even been suspected, and not altogether without probability, that Billings had some share in bringing about the unfortunate catastrophe which terminated Ledyard's travels in Siberia. However, previous to this event, he invited his old shipmate to accompany him to Irkutsk, whither they proceeded up the frozen Lena upon sledges. Here, soon after their arrival, Ledyard was arrested as a French spy, placed in a kibitka with two hussars, and hurried back with incredible speed to the frontiers of Poland, where he was dismissed, with the strictest injunctions never again to enter the dominions of Russia. It would now be idle to inquire into the motives which urged the old profligate shedespot into the commission of this act of flagrant injustice. She had no doubt been told (Dr. Clarke suspects by Billings) that his success might be some way or another detrimental to the interests of her commerce; and, without consideration or inquiry, perhaps in some furious fit of rage or drunkenness, she issued the order for his recall, which was executed with no less barbarity than it was issued.

How the poor victim found his way from Poland to London Heaven only knows. His sufferings, he says, were too great to be disclosed. However, he had scarcely reached London before a proposal was

and Cook arrested, not the offender, but the king, whom he kept in custody until the culprit came forward engaging to restore the birds. This was an absurd exercise of power, which could not fail considerably to abate the respect of the natives for the civilized portion of mankind.

In

From Tongataboo the expedition sailed to Tahiti, where they arrived on the 14th of August. Here Ledyard employed his leisure, which appears to have been considerable, in studying the character and manners of the inhabitants; and upon these points his opinions generally agree with the received notions respecting those people. In sailing northward from this group they discovered the Sandwich Islands, where they remained ten days; and then, steering still towards the north, arrived without accident in Nootka Sound, where they cast anchor in nearly five hundred fathoms of water. Ledyard was now on his native continent, and, though more than three thousand miles from the place of his birth, experienced on landing something like a feeling of home. The inhabitants he found to be of the same race with those on the shores of the Atlantic. stature they are above the middle size, athletic in their make, and of a copper colour. Their long black hair they wear tied up in a roll on the top of the head, and, by way of ornament, smear it over with oil and paint, in which they stick a quantity of the down of birds. They paint their faces red, blue, and white, but refused to reveal the nature of their cos-" metics, or the country whence they obtained them. Their clothing principally consists of skins, besides which, however, they have two other kinds of garments, of which one is manufactured from the inner bark of trees, and resembles our coarser cloths; the other made chiefly from the hair of white dogs, and wrought over with designs representing their mode of catching the whale, which our traveller considered the most ingenious piece of workmanship he any

GEORGE FORSTER.

Born about 1750.-Died 1791.

Ir is greatly to be regretted that of the life of this able and adventurous traveller little is known, excepting that portion which was spent in acquiring his reputation. He seems to have been born about the year 1750. At the usual age he entered into the civil service of the East India Company, and was appointed to fill the office of writer at the Madras presidency. Here he gradually rose in the usual manner to offices of trust and emolument until the year 1782, when he obtained permission to visit his friends in England. Instead of adopting the usual mode of returning by sea, he formed the hazardous design of proceeding through the upper provinces of India, Afghamistân, and Persia, into the Russian empire, and thence by sea to England.

Fully aware of the difficulties and dangers of the route, he made every necessary preparation which could be effected in India, obtained bills upon merchants in various cities on his road, and, still further to ensure his safety, determined to adopt the Mohammedan character as soon as he should quit the British territories. With these views he proceeded to Calcutta in the spring of 1782, and, having remained some time at that city, set out on the 23d of May on his journey up the country. His mind was naturally full of those recent and memorable events which established the British power in India; and he visited with peculiar interest several of those fields where our countrymen had won their bloody laurels, and shattered to pieces the mighty fabric of the Mogul empire.

them, by signs, that there were white strangers in the country, who had come, like them, over the great waters in a large ship.

This information excited in Cook a desire to explore the island. It was difficult, however, to determine in what manner the object was to be effected. An armed body would proceed slowly, and might, perhaps, be cut off,-an irreparable loss to the expedition. The risk of a single individual would be imminent, but his movements would be more rapid; and if he should fall, the loss to the public would not be great. Yet, as the commander did not think himself justified in ordering any person to undertake so perilous an enterprise, a volunteer was sought for; and Ledyard presented himself. The great navigator was highly pleased with this example of intrepidity, for the brave always sympathize with the brave; and after giving the traveller instructions how to proceed, "he wished me well," says Ledyard, “and desired I would not be longer absent than a week, if possible; at the expiration of which he should expect me to return. If I did not return by that time, he should wait another week for me, and no longer."

The young chief who brought Cook the rye-cake and the salmon, with two persons who attended him, were to serve as guides on the occasion. Being furnished with a small quantity of bread and some brandy in bottles, intended for presents to the Indians, our traveller departed with his Indian guides, and during the first day advanced about fifteen miles into the interior. About nightfall they arrived at a small village consisting of about thirty huts, some of which were large and spacious, though not very lofty. These huts were composed of a slight frame erected over a square hole sunk about four feet into the ground. Below the frame was covered with turf, which served as a wall, and above it was thatched with grass. Though the whole village, men, women, VOL. II.-Q