ferent meridians, has uniformly found the temperature both of the air and the water to become more and more mild the farther he advanced beyond the sixty-fifth degree of south latitude, and that the variation decreases in the same proportion. While north of this latitude, say between sixty and sixty-five south, he frequently had great difficulty in finding a passage for the vessel, between the immense and almost innumerable ice-islands, some of which were from one to two miles in circumference, and more than five hundred feet above the surface of the water! When it is considered that they haye always about three-fifths of their bulk under water, some idea may be be formed of their enormous magnitude. He has several times come so near to them, when the weather was so thick and hazy that he could not see twice the length of the vessel, that nothing prevented his striking, but a timely application of the sweeps to bear them off. It was always his endeavour to keep at a respectful distance; for they are sometimes so nicely balanced, that, should a very large piece become detached from below, the whole mass above water, being thus rendered top-heavy, would instantly capsize, and plunge beneath the surface, when, wo to the vessel that lies in its way. Even at the distance of one hundred yards, ships have been lost by the vast waves and whirls occasioned by these rolling mountains. But there is no evil, perhaps, which is not accompanied with some redeeming quality. The shelter which is sometimes afforded by these dangerous friends has preserved vessels from injury, if not ruin, during a gale of wind, especially as the sea is never rough where the ice-islands are sufficiently numerous to break the force of the waves.

t

Captain Morrell laments with unfeigned grief that circumstances prevented him from proceeding still further southward; but, situated as I was, he observes, without fuel and with not sufficient water to last twenty days,-destitute of the various nautical and mathematical instruments requisite for such an enterprise, and without the aid of such scientific gentlemen as discovery ships should always be supplied with; taking all these things into consideration, I felt myself compelled to abandon, for the present, the glorious attempt to make a bold advance directly to the south pole. The way was open before me, clear, and unobstructed; the temperature of the air and water mild; the weather pleasant; the wind fair. Under such tempting auspices, it was with painful reluctance that I relinquished the idea, and deferred the attempt for a subsequent voyage. The anguish of my regret, however, was much alleviated by the hope, that on my return to the United States, an appeal to the government of my country for countenance and assistance in this (if successful) magnificent enterprise would not be made in vain. To the only free nation on earth should belong the glory of exploring a spot of the globe which is the ne plus ultra of latitude, where all the degrees of longitude are merged into a single point, and where the sun appears to revolve in a horizontal circle. But this

splendid hope has since been dost in the gloom of disappointment! The vassals of some petty despot may one day place this precious jewel of discovery in the diadem of their royal master. Would to Heaven it might be set among the stars of our national banner front Another observation of Captain Morrell is, that he found every spot, which he visited beyond the sixtieth degree of south latitude entirely destitute of soil or vegetation; it rather rose in vast mountains or columns of impenetrable rocks, ice, and snow. He states it further to be his opinion, that ice-islands are never formed except in bays, or other recesses of the land, and that field-ice even is not produced in deep water at any time, or in a rough sea. If these inpressions be correct, this very important inference is devolved from them, namely, that if there be no more land to the south than that with which navigators are already acquainted, the antarctic seas must be less obstructed by ice than is generally supposed; and it follows, as a further inference, that an unobstructed sea for voyages of dis covery is open as far as the south pole. bela ) noautofi to 9ɔmBLOT JoThe ship, under the circumstances already mentioned, tacked about, and proceeded to Staten Land, an island forming the southern extremity of South America, where he intended to fish for seals. He presents us with a very excellent account of these animals, at least, the species which frequent this archipelago. They are, he observes, generally clothed in jackets of valuable fur; but there are other peculiarities connected with their history, which, we believe, have never been described by naturalists. Thus, in killing a female which happens to be with young, even in an advanced state of pregnancy, if the skull be pressed in by the sealing club in dealing the fatal blow, an exactly similar indentation will frequently be found on the skull of the foetus. This fact is a practical illustration of the wonderful power of sympathy, and worthy the investigation of naturalists. Although modern philosophers have laboured hard to refute the idea of such a sympathy in the human race, there are hundreds of credible witnesses ready to bear testimony to its existence in this particular species of marine animals. ngd 1 w Ject treod

Before quitting the position in which he fished for the seals, Captain Morrell earnestly recommends shipmasters who intend to double Cape Horn, always to pass to the westward of the Falk land Islands, which will ensure them smoother water and better weather. Experience has convinced him that the coast here, at the proper season of the year, is not more dangerous than our own coast in the fall. All navigators would be satisfied of this fact, would they discard from their imaginations the horrible romances they have heard and read about Cape Horn, and judge for themselves with unprejudiced minds most of these nautical legends being only fit to class with the fiction of the Flying Dutchman Hipnosor vist

He has wintered and summered off Cape Horn and its vicinity,

but never witnessed those extraordinary gales which we so often hear spoken ofsqHe has never encountered worse weather on this coast than is experienced every autumn and spring in a passage from New York to Liverpool. In doubling Cape Horn, avship may carry her royal-yards with as much ease as she can along/our northern coast in the seasons before mentioned, and in the early part of winter. 01 de toitriogov to fire in ob plantas A very copious account of the various seaports on the coast of South America, on its western shore, washed by the Pacific Ocean, is given by Captain Morrell. Amongst the islands called the Gallipagos, his vessel remained for two months, during which time the crew took about five thousand fur seals. The ship then proceeded ito Juan Fernandez, celebrated as the residence of Alexander Selkirk, or Robinson Crusoe, who was left there by his captain, on account of a quarrel between them. It was from his journal that De Foe filched the materials for his interesting romance of Robinson Crusoe, a book that has never been equalled in popularity since the art of printing was discovered a book that has had, and still has, more influence on the minds of youth than ever had the legends of chivalry in Spain, or the dramas of Schiller in Germany. Many persons, however, are under the impression that Selkirk was wantonly and arbitrarily sent on shore here against his will. Such was not the fact. It was his own pro position to remain on this island, in preference to continuing on board the Cinque-ports galley, under a captain who he thought had ill-treated him, though he held the office of sailing-master on board the ship. Captain Stradling consented, and furnished him with the means of procuring the necessaries of life. But, when the ship was ready to sail, Selkirk's resolution was shaken, and he eagerly made overtures of reconciliation. Stradling now thought that it was his turn to be obstinate, and refused to receive the recluse on board, but left him alone on this solitary island, far beyond the reach of the sympathies or assistance of his fellow men. As the last boat left the island for the ship, then under way, his heart sank within him, and every hope expired. But Selkirk was not left here to perish by famine; the means of subsistence were furnished him. There were left with him clothes and bedding, a gun and ammunition, a few books, with certain nautical and ma thematical instruments, and some other trifling implements. The island abounded with fruits, vegetables, animals, and all the necessaries of life, in the greatest abundance; and he was sole monarch of the little kingdom.

For some time after the departure of the ship, he found the so ditude of his situation scarcely supportable; and so depressing did his melancholy become, that he frequently determined to put a period to his existence. According to his own account, it was full eighteen months before he became completely reconciled to his singular dot; when he gradually became calm and resigned,

and, finally, happy. He now employed his time in building and decorating his huts, exploring the island, catching wild goats and taming them, with other amusements and avocations, so accurately detailed in the romance, that no one could doubt the source from whence the facts were derived. When his garments were worn out, he made others of the skins of such goats as he killed for food.

During Selkirk's residence on this island, he caught about one thousand goats, half of which he let go at large again, having first marked them with a slit in the ear. Thirty years afterward, when Commodore Anson visited this island, he, or some of his people, shot one of these very goats, which, we should suppose, must have been rather tough eating. After living in this manner four years and four months, Selkirk was at length taken off by an English privateer from Bristol, which touched at the island, with her consort, in the month of February, 1709, but did not arrive in England until October, 1711.

Having been absent eight years, and supposed by his friends to have perished, his unexpected return produced considerable sensation among them. It soon became noised abroad, that more than half the period of his absence had been passed on an uninhabited island of the Pacific Ocean; when the curiosity of the public became so much excited, that he reasonably conjectured that he might turn his adventures to some account; and, as he was much in want of pecuniary assistance, he resolved to try.ted:

He was referred to Daniel De Foe, a young man just then rising into literary celebrity, into whose hands he put his journal for examination, proposing to give him a liberal share of the profits, if he would prepare it for the press. After some time, De Foe returned the manuscript, with a discouraging answer, and Selkirk relinquished every hope from this quarter. In a few years afterwards appeared a new romance, intitled" Robinson Crusoe," which at once electrified all the juvenile portion of the British na tion. With unexampled rapidity this work ran through many editions, and was translated into almost every language of Europe, Abridgments, alterations, and bungling imitations soon succeeded; De Foe became rich in fame and wealth, while poor Selkirk, the journal of whose sufferings had furnished him with every important incident of the romance, was doomed to pine in want and obscurity The biographers of De Foe have given him much praise for having acted honourably towards his creditors, from whose demands he had been legally released by the statute of insolvency. They say, "Being afterwards in a state of affluence, he honourably paid the whole." If this affluence proceeded from the sale of Robinson Crusoe, this compliment to his integrity t might better have been omitted.

The time and place of Selkirk's death are not on record; but,, it has been asserted on undoubted authority, that, so late as the

year 1798, the chest and musket which hel had with him con the island were in the possession of a grand-nephew, Jolin Selkirk, a weaver in Largo, Northe Britain.emseums 190?

The cargo with which the captain succeeded in filling his ship proved, upon his return, to be very valuable; the skins were put up by the owners of the ship to public auction, as was customary and the produce of the sale was such as to give them entire satisfaction. Indeed, such was their gratification at the results, that they pressed the captain to undertake another voyage of two years or upwards, to the Pacific Ocean, to which he readily agreed. All this was very pleasant to Captain Morrell, and would have made him completely happy, were it not for the news which reached him on his landing, of the destruction of a good part of his family by a tornado, during his absence. The meeting between him and his father, under such circumstances, is described in the most natural manner. The captain, however, bore his fate as a true philosopher, and spent the interval before his departure in the gay society of his relations, who did every thing to make his sojourn agreeable. It chanced, that, amongst the circle, with! which he associated at the time, a pretty girl, named Abby Jane, struck his fancy. He reflected that he was just about to proceed on his voyage for upwards of two years, and that, if he married her, they should remain separate for that period. This would have been misery to him; but then, the chances were numerous that Abby would not be long disengaged after his departure; and," in that case, he must lose her for ever. His decision was made; he gained her consent to a marriage, and after the ceremony de parted, leaving her with his relations.

The captain continued his nautical observations on the South American coast with his usual perseverance, and adds very consiTM derably to the practical information which, in the former voyage, he had collected for the use of navigators in that quarter of the world; he likewise occasionally notices the habits and appearances of the sea animals, evidently impelled by a natural taste for ob-1 serving all the beautiful phenomena which living nature presents. At a particular point of the above coast, a short distance from which a crowd of islands was to be seen, the author was struck with the quantity of hair seals which resorted to them, for the puri pose of bringing forth their young, shedding their coats, &c. Here, however, he remarks, they are very wild, and not easily ta ken, except in the "pupping season;" at which time the hairlions (as the males are called) will readily sacrifice their lives in de-" fence of their "conjugal partners and helpless offspring." When attacked by the crew of a sealing vessel, the lions will not allow the females to abandon their young, even to preserve their own lives. Under such circumstances I have frequently seen the female at tempt to make her escape, sometimes with a pup in her mouth, as a cat carries off her kitten. But the male, which is twice the size