were twenty Phidiases): but let him not touch and tamper with them. was awarded to him for an essay, establishing a criterion between purulent and mucaginous expectoration in pulmonary complaints, which afforded demonstrative evidence both of great industry and great genius. "There is one piece of sculpture in the collection at Petworth that struck me as being exceedingly valuable and fine. It is a group of Pan and a young Apollo; the latter with a set of pipes in his hand, as if learning to play. This group in some respects resembles Annibal Caracci's noble picture, on a similar subject, called Silenus and Apollo. The graceful awkwardness of the youthful god is very hap-slight token in remembrance of my highly esteemed young pily conceived, and executed with great truth and spirit.' "On the death of young Darwin, whose body was deposited in my burying ground, at the Chapel of St. Cuthbert's, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, as is recorded in one of his father's publications, I was anxious to retain some friend; and, for that purpose, I obtained a small portion of his hair. I applied to Mr. Gilliland, at that time an eminent jeweller in Edinburgh, to have it preserved in a A Tribute of Regard to the Memory of Sir Henry Rae- mourning ring. He told me, that one of his present apburn, R.A. Portrait Painter to the King for Scotland; prentices was a young man of great genius, and could preRead at the Forty-third Anniversary Meeting of the Har-Poth taste and art. Young Raeburn was immediately calfor me in hair, a memorial that would demonstrate veian Society of Edinburgh. By ANDREW DUNCAN, led, and proposed to execute, on a small trinket, which Sen. M.D. and P. &c. Longman and Co. might be hung at a watch, a Muse weeping over an urn, WHILST penning our line of respect for that living marked with the initials of Charles Darwin. This trinket was finished by Raeburn, in a manner which, to me, Scottish painter, whom all the world regards, we were afforded manifest proof of very superior genius, and I still thinking how joyous would have been the greeting in preserve it, as a memorial of the singular and early merit, their native country, with him and another distinguished both of Darwin and of Raeburn. artist, his esteemed compatriot, had he been spared; unconscious, that the next moment we should find upon our desk a Tribute of Regard in a printed form, to the memory of the very object of our fond imagination. This Tribute of Regard, was read by Dr. Duncan, at the Harveian Society, of which he was founder, and Sir Henry Raeburn, the subject of his oration, a member. We shall pass over the introductory discourse, which relates to the founding of the society, an institution by the way, the spirit of which reflects credit upon the projector and his associates, and proceed at once to the memoir : "Henry Raeburn was born on the 4th of March, 1756, at the village of Stockbridge, in the near neighbourhood of the city of Edinburgh. He was the son of Mr. Robert Raeburn, a respectable manufacturer. He received at the grammar school of Edinburgh the classical education in Latin and in Greek, which that seminary is well known to afford on a very excellent plan; and there he had the happiness of gaining to a very high degree, both the esteem and affection of his teachers and his schoolfellows. With some of them, afterwards highly respectable in life, and, among others, with the Right Honourable William Adam, now Lord Chief Commissioner of the Jury Court in Scotland, he formed friendships which continued uninterrupted till his death. "But after finishing his grammar-school education, in place of aiming at a learned profession, he was, by his father's advice, persuaded to make choice of a mechanical employment, and was articled as an apprentice to an eminent Goldsmith. It was in this situation that my first acquaintance with him commenced, and, that too, on a melancholy occasion. Mr. Charles Darwin, son of the justly celebrated Dr. Erasmus Darwin, author of that much esteemed Poem, The Botanic Garden, and of other works demonstrating great genius, died during the course of his medical studies at Edinburgh. At that time I had the honour, though a very young medical Lecturer, of ranking Darwin among the number of my Pupils. And I need hardly add, that he was a favourite pupil for, during his studies, he exhibited such uncommon proofs of genius and industry, as could not fail to gain the esteem and affection of every discerning Teacher. Among other grounds of attachment, I had the happiness of putting into Charles Darwin's hands the first prize given by this Society, for promoting experimental enquiry. That prize "From that period my intimacy with Raeburn had its commencement. For I derived no small gratification from cherishing the idea, that I might be able to lend my feeble, but willing aid, in fostering rising genius. "Before Raeburn's apprenticeship with Mr. Gilliland miniature pictures, in water colours, in such a style as was finished, he had drawn, at his leisure hours, many clearly to demonstrate, that nature had intended him, not for a goldsmith, but for a very excellent portrait painter. And it was amicably agreed between him and his master, that he should change his profession. Accordingly, selftaught, he became a miniature painter in Edinburgh. In this employment, however, he did not long persist: for he had sufficient ambition to think, that, as a portrait painter in oil colours, he might imitate the noble example of Sir Johua Reynolds, whose portraits were, at that time, viewed with admiration by every discerning Briton. "Having obtained proper introductions to Sir Joshua, he went to London, to have his future destiny regulated by the advice of that able and liberal-minded judge. From Sir Joshua he met with that favourable reception which might have been expected from an enlightened and sincere friend to modest merit. Sir Joshua not only bestowed high approbation on the specimens of young Raeburn's abilities, which were presented to him, but strongly recommended it to him to persist in his intended plan. For that purpose, he advised Raeburn to put himself under the tuition, not of the living, but of the dead. He persuaded him immediately to visit Italy, and there to study the paintings of the most eminent artists that have yet lived. "To Rome Raeburn according went, where he met with the same flattering reception as in London. At Rome he remained for upwards of two years, assiduously studying the great works of art with which Rome abounds. Instructed by the study of antient painters, he returned to Britain, and, with a view of following the profession of a portrait-painter, he fixed his residence at Edinburgh, in the twenty-second year of his age. "Soon after his return, he married a widow lady, of whom he had, for several years, been an admirer. By her he became the possessor of the romantic villa of St. Bernard's, on the Water of Leith, about a mile from apartments which he took for the prosecution of his profession, in one of the principal streets of New Edinburgh. In these apartments, however, he remained only for a short time. To afford more ample accommodation, both for finishing and for exhibiting his pictures, he soon purchased an area in another new street, York Place, and built upon it a large house, which he fitted up with every convenience that a portrait-painter could desire. There his operations were carried on, and there his pictures were exhibited, till his lamented death put a final close to his labours. tinction was, on his part, unexpected and unsolicited: and it was the more honourable, as, at that period, several promising artists were unsuccessful candidates. "Of his success as a painter, to those who now hear me, To enter into a detailed account of the many pictures and to whom opportunities are daily afforded, of witnessing which came from the pencil of Raeburn, would be altogether the wonderful efforts of his pencil, I need say nothing. incompatible with the nature of this discourse. It is sufPermit me, however, to observe, that our Harveian Society, ficient to say, that admirable likenesses of many of the most now assembled in this room, were in some degree instru-eminent characters in Scotland, for rank, for literature, and mental in giving him a favourable introduction to public || for military achievements, are preserved by means of his notice. For, very soon after he settled here, we employed labours. him to draw a picture of one of the original members of this "When our justly beloved Sovereign visited Scotland, Institution, the late William Inglis, Esq. the chief restorer the merit of Raeburn could not escape his notice. His of the Ludi Apollinares at Edinburgh, games annually cele- Majesty was graciously pleased to confer upon him a mark brated on the Links of Leith, at which there is an admi- of royal favour, by raising him to the dignity of Knighthood, rable combination of healthful exercise with social mirth. and thus bestowing upon him the same honourable disSoon afterwards, we employed him, also, to draw a picture tinction which had marked the talents of Sir Joshua of our second President, the late Alexander Wood, Esq., Reynolds, and a few other of the first artists that Britain who, as a successful operator in Surgery, and as a most has produced. kind-hearted and liberal practitioner in Medicine, must live in recollection of all who are now present. A third subject, on which Raeburn, at an early period, employed || his pencil, was a portrait of myself, painted for the Royal Public Dispensary, to which I had the happiness of giving a beginning at Edinburgh. On these three pictures, at the commencement of his career, I need hardly stop to say that he bestowed very peculiar attention; and I need hardly add, that, at an early period, they attracted very considerable notice in Edinburgh. They were soon followed by three others, with regard to which I may also say, Quorum pars magna fui. These were the pictures of three eminent men, to whom the University of Edinburgh is very much indebted. Dr. William Robertson, long Principal of the University of Edinburgh, and author of some of the best historical works of which the English language can boast; Dr. Adam Ferguson, who, as a Professor of Political and Moral Philosophy, has never, perhaps, been excelled at this place; and Thomas Elder, Esq. to whom, when Lord Provost of the city of Edinburgh, we are indebted, for having given a commencement to the new and magnificent building for the University, a fabric, both highly honour-Four Views of Celebrated Places, drawn from Nature, and able and highly advantageous to education at Edinburgh. on Stone. By HARRIOT GOULDSMITH. These three pictures now ornament the Senate-Hall of our Hulmandel. University, and will convey, to late posterity, exact_and favourable resemblances of eminent benefactors: for Raeburn was not more successful in taking a striking likeness, than in giving to it the most flattering aspect, with all the spirit of the original. And it has been justly said of his pictures, that they were the men themselves, starting from the canvas. "His celebrity, as a portrait painter, was by no means confined to Edinburgh. He sent many different portraits to London. There, in the annual exhibition of paintings at Somerset House, they were brought into comparison with the works of almost every eminent limner in Britain. And I am myself a living witness of the distinguished esteem, in which they were there held, by able judges in painting: For when in London, in 1815, and visiting the exhibition in Somerset House, I saw, among other portraits, that of my late valuable friend and colleague, Professor Playfair, of this University, from the pencil of Raeburn. That picture was highly esteemed by able connoisseurs. I was myself, indeed, I must allow, a very partial and inadequate judge. But I was by no means singular in opinion, in considering it as one of the best painted portraits then in the room, which, at that time, contained many excellent pictures, by the first London artists. "Of the esteem, however, in which his pictures were held at London, a still more public and incontestible evidence was afforded, in the compliments which were paid him, by the Royal Academy of Painting, in that city. For, in the year 1812, they conferred upon him the rank of an Associate of the Academy; and three years afterwards, raised him to that of an Academician. This flattering dis "To the excellent and amiable character of Sir Joshua, who may be considered as Raeburn's first patron, that of Sir Henry bore in many respects a very near resemblance. For, in both, superiority of genius was by no means confined to painting alone. Both of them lived in habits of intimacy with the most eminent literary characters in their neighbourhood, and both of them were highly acceptable guests at the social meetings of learned men. Sir Joshua enjoyed the instructive conversation of Garrick, Goldsmith, and Johnson: Sir Henry partook of that of Scott, Mackenzie, and Alison, names that will be immortal in the annals of literature and taste. Both of them were associated with many learned societies. Sir Joshua was a member of the Royal, the Antiquarian, and other eminent Societies of London, and of the Continent. Sir Henry was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of the Imperial Academy of Florence, and of the Academy of New York, in the United States of America, and of several other honourable institutions of the present period." London: C. To the superior talent of this lady, as a painter of landscape, we have more than once offered our tributary approbation. There is in all the works which we have seen of her pencil, an original feeling, which is pure from mannerism, or affectedness of style. Indeed, the same simplicity of form, light, shadow, and colour, pervades the scenes which she has chosen as the objects of her imitation, that are found to exist in nature, and which indeed constitute the most pleasing combinations in art. In the little work before us, we are afforded the opportunity of judging of this lady's taste in sketching from nature with chalk, and of appreciating her knowledge of effect, without the aid of colour. We are satisfied with this attempt in the lithographic art. There is a looseness and freedom of execution displayed in these first efforts, which evince a manual perception beyond what is usually bestowed on the sex; for there are mechanical difficulties opposed to the drawing on stone, that are insurmountable to any hand, but that of a very superior organization. It is one thing to sketch on paper, but far different to perform the same operation on stone. These four subjects are topographical, and represent rural scenes, rendered more interesting by their associations. Once, and that even years within memory, it was a crowded study for old gables, grey rafters, plaster, brick, and tile; such as old Decker used to paint; but now, these are disappearing, and ere long perchance. we may behold it, if we view it again, metamorphosed to a Cockney town. The first is a view of the well-known cottage on the border of the Serpentine River in Hyde Park. This picturesque building perhaps has been painted, drawn, or sketched, by every metropolitan landscape painter for the last hundred and fifty years :-long, indeed, Exhilarating were our morning walks along the before that fine oblong sheet of water, ycleped serper-beach, and long will Hastings be recorded in its pictine, was formed-when, indeed, it was the Deputy torial garb, by the pencils of Turner, Callcott, Cristall, Ranger's Lodge. Edridge, the portrait painter, who and others, who have studied their enchanting art upon sketched landscape with great taste, charmed with the the spot. spot, frequently occupied a part of this rural retreat, as his summer residence-certainly the least cockneyfied building within ten times its distance from town. 2. The Remains of a Palace of Thomas à Becket, at Tarring, Sussex. 3 Part of the Old Jew's Harp Tavern, lately standing in Marylebone Park. 4. The Cottage where the learned Selden was born, at Salvington, Sussex. We are glad that Mr. Moss has added his topographical record of this our favourite haunt, for although the scenes which he describes with his more humble pencil, aspire to no higher character, than that of fidelity, yet, that is a quality so indispensable in a work professing to give us views, that were the ideal substituted for the truth, we would not give a penny for the work. There are fourteen views of the coast, the town, and its immediate neighbourhood, in this volume, neatly engraved in the line manner, and six of antiquities, &c. The Arabian Nights Entertainments; consisting of One Thousand and One Stories, embellished with One Hundred and Fifty Engravings. London: J. Limbird, 1824. The views represented are chosen from the most picTHE Preface to this work informs us, that "Numer-turesque stations, and together convey a good general ous as are the editions of the Arabian Nights Entertain- mind those who have visited Hastings of its delightful idea of the place; sufficient indeed, not only to rements, and frequently as they have received the embellishments of the artists; yet an edition was still wanting, to make choice of it as a pleasant spot, for a week's scenery, but to induce those who have not been there, more easily accessible to the general reader, and which, while it combined economy, should not be deficient in lounge by the sea side. elegance and illustration. To supply this chasm in the Literature of Romance, is the object of the edition now offered to the public; and it can scarcely be necessary to observe, that although the engravings are more numerous than in any preceding edition, the vigour and spirit with which they are executed, will recommend them even to the admirers of the arts." Credite Posteri! One Thousand and One Tales, One Hundred and Fifty Engravings, and nearly six hundred closely printed pages in double columns, for less than seven shillings! "Had we not seen these marvels, with our own eyes," we should have disputed the wondrous fact, and have set it down as the Thousand and Second Story, and the last a greater fiction than the whole. Certainly we live in a wondrous age. The History and Antiquities of the Town and Port of HASTINGS of all our little sea ports, erst the most prominent among the picturesque, certainly owes its celebrity to the landscape painters of our day. We remember it a dirty town, like "Brentford smelling strong of fish." Even now, it has at times a fishy savour-but still it is so "growing smart." THE PLATES DESCRIBE No. 1. North West View of the Castle. 3. Entrance from the London Road. 4. View from the Pier Rocks. 5. St. Clement's Church. 6. Town Hall. 7. View of East-Bourne Street. 8. View of Pelham Place and Crescent. 10. Remains of the Town Wall. 12. Marine Parade. 13. View from the East Wall. 14. View from the White Rocks. Of the historical, biographical, and statistical matter contained in the volume, much of which is very interesting, we shall offer a notice in our next number. REVIEWS. Journal of a Residence in Ashantee. By JOSEPH DUPUIS, Esq. late His Britannic Majesty's Envoy and Consul for that Kingdom. London: Colburn, 4to. 1824. WE are no great politicians, and yet we cannot help lamenting the money and life which have been lavished for many years past upon a few unproductive, troublesome, and ridiculous settlements on the coast of Wes tern Africa. Motives of general humanity have been from accounts of the survivors, that neither party was premixed up with the less estimable motive of commercial pared for the rencontre. The Ashantees, however, lost no speculation, and have served to delude the public into calling the advanced guard to their assistance, while the time in sounding the alarm, rallying their forces, and rea belief of the great importance of these settlements. Fantees, even before the onset, were appalled. In this But the force of fact has at length mastered the ascen- state of eventful inactivity, it is said, the main body of the dancy of feeling, and doubts begin to arise whether Fantees remained passive spectators during a distant skirit would not be better to withdraw all the colonists, enemy. At last the Ashantees advanced with a shout, mish between their own vanguard and a detachment of the and break up the establishments on that inhospitable || which struck a decided panic in their favour; the Fantees and unhealthy shore. The late unhappy accidents at soon fled outright, and, with some loss, rejoined their comCape Coast, and the frightful ravages of disease at rades at Emperou. Notwithstanding this check, the inhaSierra Leone, are arguments against which few will bitants, as the Ashantees approached, suffered themselves to be led out to battle. The united force of the Fantees is dare to contend, and they are supported in a great stated to have greatly outnumbered their enemies, and a degree by the work now before us. Mr. Dupuis was battle of the most sanguinary complexion ensued, at the an envoy to the Court of Ashantee, and appears to be distance of a mile from the town. The first charge of the well acquainted with the character of that people, and back upon the main body with slaughter. The enemy, Ashantees was severely checked, and they were driven of our official people at Cape Coast. To his state- however, was too well disciplined to allow the Fantees to ments we would earnestly direct the attention of our improve upon their advantage, and a murderous firing sucGovernment, and of every person of influence in the ceeded the onset, in which the Ashantees, from superior celerity, had the advantage. Still, however, the Fantees Empire. maintained their ground, with a degree of intrepidity not during this war of their valour and resolution. On a sudden, vollies of musquetry announced an attack on their expected charge decided the fortune of the day, for the flank and rear, supported by the king in person. This unFantees now retreated with precipitation, while their enemies rushed on, and strewed the forest with indiscriminate carnage. Before the retreating army could regain the body of the enemy, who were at that critical period in postown, it was doomed to cut a passage through an opposing session of many of the houses; despair assisted their efforts, and their enemies were either cut to pieces or trampled under foot. The town itself, which was already in flames, of their pursuers. In this hopeless state, several of the afforded no protection against the murderous assaults of Caboceers, after destroying their property, their wives, and children, put an end to their own existence; whilst the people, endeavouring to fly from the scene of carnage, were burning houses. To sum up the horrors of this barbarous intercepted and butchered, or cast headlong amidst the Mr. Dupuis's volume commences with an introduc-undeserving of record, as it is perhaps a solitary instance tory chapter, which relates the manner and object of his appointment. After the treaty concluded by Governor Smith and Mr. Bowditch with the King of the Ashantees in 1817, Mr. Dupuis volunteered his services as Resident Consul in that country. The offer was accepted, and he proceeded to his destination. This first chapter contains a long and uninteresting account of the party politics of Cape Coast Castle, and the squabbles of the author with Mr. Smith and his retainers. Nothing can be more worthless and tiresome. After several months delay, Mr. Dupuis set out on his expedition to Coomassy, the principal town of Ashantee. He tells us that his equipage excited great admiration amongst the Negroes as being something unusually splendid. It was "a palanquin with four bearers," which was a refinement in the luxury of African travel-scene, every house was entered with fire and sword, and the ling." About four miles from Cape Coast is the town of Mouree, where the Dutch have a fort;-it was a place of great importance during the vigour of the Slave Trade, but its importance has waned with the destruction of that pernicious traffic. A little further on they came to Emperou-now consisting of a few hovels, but at the time of the first invasion of Fantee, by the King of Ashantee, a considerable place. It is thus Mr. Dupuis describes its devastation : "The order was now given to exterminate the population of every town, and raze the houses to their foundations; and in comformity with this resolution a body of troops was detached against Emperou, with orders not to spare an inhabitant of either sex. In the meantime the Fantee troops, assisted by the inhabitants and their auxiliaries, assembled to the number of many thousands, and by vigilance succeeded in cutting off some reconnoitring parties of the enemy. Too much elated by this success, they at length determined upon the plan of endeavouring to intercept the communication between the detachment and the king's head quarters. They separated their men into two bodies, one of which being left to guard the town, the other made a circuitous march to the westward, and fell unexpectedly upon the flank and rear of their adversaries. No happy consequences attended the action; it would appear, inhabitants of both sexes destroyed. It is said that, with the exception only of about one hundred people, who fled before the town was assaulted, not a soul escaped from the calamity. These particulars were narrated by my two guides who were in that conflict. action of fire which, by vitrifying the clayey composition, "The walls stood in many places erect, exhibiting the had preserved the ruins from dissolution. The surface of the earth was whitened, in particular spots, with ashes, and bleached human bones and sculls, forming a distressing portraint of African warfare. In crossing the opening, some of the Fantees, by way of diversion, pointed to the relics, saying jocosely, they were Ashantee trophies: the Ashantees retorted the jest upon their fellow travellers with equal good-humour, and all parties were indifferent at a retrospection so paralizing to humanity." Doonqua about fifteen miles further on, is a village of some size. The inhabitants amount to upwards of two thousand. Here Mr. Dupuis met with some Ashantee officers despatched to welcome him. The route lay through a country not devoid of striking scenery, and our traveller has given as full a description of it, as an observation necessarily superficial would permit. One of the vexations of the journey was the ants : Near Coomassy great preparations were made by the King to receive Mr. Dupuis and his cortege in a becoming style of magnificence. Of that reception the following passages make part of the description :— "My palanquin was on a sudden arrested in the main avenue by a deputation of Caboceers, who paid a formal congratulation on behalf of the king. It was Sai's desire, they added, that I should repair to the market-place until the court assembled. Here, therefore, I alighted under the shade of some high trees, reposing for a while from the scorching blaze of the sun, now about commencing his descent from the meridian. The atmosphere, too, was in a manner stifled by the pressure of the multitude. A pause of twenty minutes sufficed for the approaching ceremony, and we again bent forward in orderly ranks to an angle that opened into the place of audience, from whence another salute was fired. A silence, however, like that of the forest, succeeded as the echoes died away; and as the smoke dispersed, the view was suddenly animated by assembled thousands in full costume, seated upon the ground in the form of an extensive semicircle, where the chiefs were distinguished from the commonality by large floating um "The voracity with which they surprise their prey and surrounded by luxurious plantations of plantain trees, assail him at all vulnerable points, exceeds that of locusts, and maize fields. Kikiwhary is nearly twice as when they alight in a field of corn; for when once the attack is commenced, no bodily effort of the victim will large, and is reported to stand on the site of an ancient avail him. Flight is generally impotent, unless it should city, destroyed many years since by an irruption of lead him to a pool, when a natural instinct occasioned by the Dagomba tribes. At Ansab, another considerable the burning pain, induces him to plunge into the water.place, the embassy was received with great ceremony. This kind of ant, say the Ashantees, is not only the plague The people seem to have been very civil and hospitable of all other animals, but also of every class of their own species, and of the red ant in particular. If I may be in- throughout the expedition. A peculiar blessing was dulged in a whimsical comparison, I will suggest a resem- supposed to attach to every house which gave shelter blance between these diminutive freebooters and the Arabs, to a white man. who alike migratory, rove over the surface of the country, and establish a temporary residence where it meets their views, often to the terror and in defiance of neighbouring towns. Thus the black ants in myriads will trace a particular course, and pursue that track in exact and thick embodied file. over an extent, perhaps of miles, until they fix upon a spot to their liking, where they erect little conical habitations, which may be said figuratively to bear a similitude to the Arabian tent, both in colour and form. The red ants, on the contrary, raise solid mounds of clay, which are cemented with a mucilaginous substance that binds the parts together in an indissoluble encrustation, and bids defiance to any violence short of the pick axe. The intrusion of the black ants is thus effectually prevented; but whenever their entrenched prey venture abroad, or are observed in repairing and augmenting their habitations, which they frequently do, a chase ensues, and thousands become the victims of their opponents, who sometimes force an entrance even into the nest itself. I was present once when a hillock was perforated in order to obtain what is commonly termed the queen, or mother ant, which is an unwieldy insect, two inches in length and one in circumference, formed in head and shoulders like the common ant, with a white body like that of a maggot. This insect resides in a separate cell, at the very foundation of the hil-brellas or canopies, fabricated from cloth of various hues. lock, and is said to be gifted with such inexhaustible fecundity, as to bring forth its myriads in daily and unceasing repetition. The act of cutting through the surface was laborious; but that effected, the earth crumbled as it usually does. The cells resembled those of the hornet, and were generally in diagonal rows, but without order or regularity. The labour was ultimately attended with success, in the discovery of the queen mother." During the process the red ants fled in all directions, and vainly endeavoured to recover their cells, while they were assaulted by a troop of black ants, who in despite of a vigorous resistance, devoured their prey on the spot, or carried it off between their nippers. The black ant, it is said, will fearlessly attack any animal, not exempting mankind; but particularly infants, whom they frequently destroy and devour. The panther is not too strong for them to cope with, the rat is not too subtile, nor is the squirrel too active; vigilance and force are equally unavailing. They will even, as the Ashantees report, seek the abodes of serpents, and entering their holes, allow the reptile no chance of escaping. The hanging nests of small black ants were also very numerous in the trees, where, it would appear, they choose their abode as a security against attacks of the universal enemy." The rats were still more troublesome, for in their "nocturnal gambols they ran indiscriminately," says Mr. Dupuis, "over my face and body, and I was compelled to use a stick in defence of my person against hundreds of them." At length the embassy reached Prassoo, a clean town of considerable size, where Mr. D. was much perplexed in managing his tattered apparel so as not to offend the African notions of decency. It is a town of nine thousand inhabitants, These officers, only, were seated upon stools that elevated their heads just above those of their attendants. An avenue not wider than the footway in the forest, was the space allotted for walking in the line of chiefs, leading to the station where the king was seated. The etiquette was of a character corresponding with other ceremonies. "All the ostentatious trophies of negro splendour were emblazoned to view. Drums of every size, from five or six inches in length to the dimensions of as many feet, occasionally decorated with human relics, abounded in all directions; and in some (although few instances,) the skulls of vanquished foemen, and strings of human teeth. were glaringly exposed on the persons of the youthful captains. Ivory horns, similarly ornamented, reed flutes, calabash rattles, and clanking bits of flat iron, composed the various bands in front of the Caboceers. The salutation, as heretofore, was accompanied by an impulsive grasp of the hand with each Caboceer of rank, and a waving motion afterwards in compliment to his friends, retainers, and slaves. In the act of approaching these peers of the Ashantee realm, the solemn stillness was invaded at intervals by the full chorus of each band, beating in rotation the peculiar adopted air, whereby each noble is known from his compeer. A number of select young slaves, boys of fifteen or sixteen years old, stood before the war captains, and other chief officers, in the aspect of a guard of honour, waving short scimiters and knives, which they flourished in a threatening attitude. The deportment of the Caboceers illumined the asperity of their features, and the salutations was marked with gravity; not a smile nor a courtly glance were uttered in a low affecting tone of voice. The crowd, however, did not consider themselves bound to imitate the dignified deportment of their lords: they breathed a wel come in the silent language of the features. "In turn the quarters of the Moslems opened to view, where about three hundred people of that faith (including |