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only part of the head shaven before the visit to Omra, and the rest completed immediately afterwards. The walk round the Kaaba may be repeated as often as the pilgrim thinks fit; and the more frequently the more meritorious. Most foreigners do it twice daily,-in the evening and before daybreak.

'When all the necessary rites have been gone through at Mecca, the whole concourse of visiters repair in a body to Mount Arafat, which is the grand day of the pilgrimage.'-Vol. 2, 241 to 343.'

We must now conclude, recommending this able and elaborate work to our readers, as the only one in the English language to which they can refer with the expectation of obtaining satisfactory information on the history and national character of the Arabs.

ART. VI.-Excursions in New South Wales, Western Australia, and Van Dieman's Land, during the Years 1830, 1831, 1832, and 1833. By Lieut. BRETON, R. N. 1 vol. large 8vo. London: R. Bentley. 1833.

THE object which Lieutenant Breton professes to have in view in sending forth the present work to the world, will be admitted to be truly useful as it is honourable to himself, namely, to open the eyes of those emigrants who may be induced, by exaggerated statements, to proceed to Australia in order to fix their final residence in that country. He says, that already too many persons, led by what they perused in books, have quitted their native country, under the delusion that the region to which they were proceeding, comprised, within its precincts, all the delights of a paradise. Unfortunately, the authors of such fascinating descriptions are mostly respectable persons whose characters cannot possibly allow them to be suspected of mis-statement; but, somehow or other, the chief portion of them have an interest either temporary or permanent in one or more of these colonies. The author's testimony, however, cannot be impugned for any such reason; and, judging of him by the evidence which the whole work affords us, we should conclude that his report and his conclusions are very fairly entitled to confidence.

The worthy lieutenant commences by administering a caution to all candidates for the voyage to the settlements in Australasia, that they should never rely on the announcement of the day for sailing. This admonition is addressed particularly to those who are to embark at a distance from their homes, for the author is acquainted with the case of a family who proceeded from Aberdeen to London, to be in time for a ship which the agent had declared would sail on a particular day. They were indeed in time; for, after having perfected their arrangements and paid the passage-money, they had to live for three good months in the cheap district of the metropolis.

The fare he states to be on the average:-Cabin, from 802, to 901.; Stern Cabin, 40l. to 50%. extra; Steerage, 20% to 30%. The freight for baggage, &c. taken in the hold, is from 21. 15s. to 37. per ton.

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The average passage to Sydney and Hobart Town is about four months, and to Swan River three weeks less.

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He recommends all emigrants to bring out seeds and plants, and birds, provided they have a taste for such euriosities. Those who have no certain place to begin cultivating after their arrival in the colony, may present their plants or cuttings to the Botanical Garden in the colony, and they will obtain them again without risk of the failure of such articles in their own soil. After these preliminary counsels, Lieutenant Breton proceeds to give an account of his voyage, which he says, lasted only sixteen weeks, during which no incidents or events of any kind worth relating occurred; and the ship arrived safely at Swan River. It is proper to state, that the remarks of the author which we are about to notice, were made in the latter part of the year 1829; since which, considerable improvements have been made in these colonies. Freemantle, for instance, he describes as a town destitute of good water, and even what it did afford, he considers as very indifferent. But it is matter of certainty that this town is now am-1 ply supplied with excellent water. It took the lieutenant three weeks to effect his journey from Freemantle near Swan River, t to Sidney, and his experience in the latter place, induces him to hint to the emigrant to take lodgings as soon as possible, for that if he remains at a hotel, he will find his cash disappearing with a celerity which it will much puzzle him to attempt to estimate. Particular care is essential also to the emigrant, as to the connec tions which he may form, and the acquaintance he may make," and he should listen with great distrust to the reports which he hears of the various districts of the settlement. No emigrant should settle, he says, before he spends at least a couple of months! in a thorough examination, of the various accessible parts of the colony. Furniture should always be purchased in London, or be carried with the emigrant from his native place. With respect to travelling in the colony, the only convenient, in the lieutenant's opinion," in the bush," at least, is on horseback. In this manner, therefore, the emigrant will proceed into the interior, putting up at the different inns so long as he journeys on the high road, and when he quits it, at the houses of the settlers,† who will al

*Bush" is the term commonly used for, country per se: "he resides in the Bush," implies that the person does not reside in or very near, a town. It also signifies a forest; and is an expression well understood, and much employed in the colonies.

+ By "Settlers," is meant the farmers only: and by "colonists," the whole of the free inhabitants.

ways give him a cordial reception. If there is no hábitation at hand, a bark hut may be constructed in a few minutes. In some parts of the colony it will be necessary to have a pack-horse to carry provisions, and, in that case, a tent may easily be taken—a tent-pole can always be procured at the spot where the traveller bivouacks. The most convenient dress is a shooting suit, and the following articles should be carried when a person sets out on one of these excursions: a gun, some matches, a compass, tomahawk, blanket, and tether-rope for his horse, with some bacon and flour, and any other necessaries that may be deemed requisite; some tea, in a cannister, must not be omitted; it is almost meat and drink to a person when on one of these expeditions, as the author says he knows from experience, and far preferable to spirits. He also recommends the traveller to take a brace of good kangaroo dogs, as they will frequently prove of great use indeed he will often be indebted to them for a dinner. It is indispensable that the valise, or saddle-bags, be made so as not to gall the horse, and that the saddle be always well dried, beaten, and brushed; without these precautions the animal will, in hot weather, be quite certain of having a sore back. Two or three persons setting off thus furnished, and having with them a servant, or a couple of natives, might enjoy themselves greatly, if at all partial to travelling. Many objects would excite their interest in a country totally dif ferent from any other they may have previously visited.

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The lieutenant next directs. the emigrant's attention to those districts of the interior, where good land may be found vacant. The details must prove valuable to emigrants, but for general readers they would be tedious. Besides, a map would be essential, in order to enable the reader to comprehend the relations of the different localities which are pointed out. We cannot however part with this portion of the work, without expressing our sense of the great importance which the geographical details contained in it must prove to emigrants, who are necessarily ignorant of the nature of the soil, and of the manner in which the most convenient portions of it may be obtained by new comers. Families who proceed to such distant settlements, in order to have that natural enjoyment of the full fruits of their industry, which unfortunately is denied them at home, are objects of sympathy with all who have it in their power to afford them assistance, and we do not hesitate to award to the author of this volume the credit of participating in that sympathy with disinterestedness, which bears the tokens of its virtuous source in the zeal, the labour and research that characterize the work before us. In passing over therefore this portion of the work, we feel that we are dismissing one of the most important features of the work; but our excuse is, that the circumstances which call upon us to do so are imperative. Before we enter into the account which the author gives us of the natives, the productions, manners, customs, &c. of the chief VOL. III. (1833) NO. III.

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scene itself, vwe shall accompany lieutenant Breton to New Zealand, which has now become an object of no inconsiderable interest to our government. With respect to the general appearance of this place, it did not present any traces of forests of conse quence near the bay, but much of the land is, the lieutenant observes, concealed by brushwood or fern, while the gullies, or ravines, are filled with a variety of trees that form an almost impenetrable wilderness. Nor is there any level land on its shoresnot even a few acres, except in one or two places, where a small patch of very trifling extent may be discerned. The soil is extremely rich, both close to the water and upon eminences of considerable height, and apparently adapted for all the purposes of husbandry, but he found no grass._bod

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The natives, he describes, as a fine race of people, being well formed, athletic, and active. One of them was afterwards brought over in the vessel in which the Lieutenant returned home, and on the voyage gave a proof of his muscular powers by lifting one of the crew by the heels, and knocking his head against the anchor. The New Zealanders are tattooed to a greater or less extent, the chiefs being amongst those who have the largest number of the discolourations. In the latter, the countenance seems to be marked in every pore. In most of the natives, however, the face and the rear had alone been tatooed; indeed, the latter was frequently far more elaborately ornamented than the former, and the effect so ludicrous as to excite mirth, in which the people themselves joined, though well aware of the cause of it. Some of them had long hair, while in others it was short and curlys they took little trouble in dressing it.

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Lieutenant Breton, however, is not altogether so gallant as to delude his imagination into the idea that ugliness is beauty; he declares wholly against the pretensions of the New Zealand ladies to the latter qualification, and he adds, that the only good-looking female whom he saw in the country, was the daughter of an Englishman, and a native woman. The New Zealanders, however, do not appear to be the brave and heroic men which the early navigators so often stated them to be; and with respect to their domestic economy, it has been represented, that they are prone to the unnatural regimen of cannibals. The mention of this latter race of monsters draws forth some observations from the author, on the nature and history of that diabolical practice, which are peculiarly worthy of attention, as they place the question in rather a consoling point of view for those who can sigh for the humiliation of human nature. We need give no recommendation of these remarks to the reader.

All voyagers unite in believing those people to be anthropophagi, but they have not been proved to be so from any absolute predilection for human flesh. It is supposed they believe, (and as many of their theological opinions are well known, the conjecture probably is a correct one,) that if

the body of an enemy be devoured, his soul will pass into everlasting fire, there to be tormented to the end of time; but if interred with all due formality, it will be received into a habitation more congenial to it. Even granting this not to be the fact, those persons who have been most among them, and who had opportunities of studying their character, assert most positively, that in eating an enemy whom they have slain, they are persuaded they will become possessed of the valour and abilities of the defunct,

Cook observes, that among other reasons which he had heard assigned for the prevalence of this horrible custom, the want of animal food was

one; but how far this is deducible from facts or circumstances, must be left for those to find out who advanced it. In every part of New Zealand where he had been, fish was in such plenty that the natives caught as much as served themselves and his crew. They had also plenty of dogs; nor was there any want of wild fowl, which they know very well how to kill! so that neither this nor the want of food of any kind can be the reason.

If such was Cook's opinion sixty years since, it is not likely that at the present time, when in saddition to fish and fern root, the natives have abundance of potatoes, maize, and pork, they would eat buman flesh from preference. "Human flesh," remarks one of our best historians," was never used as common food in any country and the various relations concerning people who reckoned it among the stated means of subsistence, flow from the credulity and mistakes of travellers."

The most strange instance of cannibalism known to exist, is that practised by the Battas, a nation of Sumatra; their anthropophagism however is judicial, for they do not eat their enemies, but only those condemned to death for some crime. In one respect the New Zealanders must be more humane than those miscreants, as they never wantonly inflict pain, putting the victim to death at once, instead of employing the revolting mode, common with the Battas, of cutting up a human being in such a manner as to avoid, as long as possible, injuring a vital part. 19975 mi sidabr

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For my own part, I must still maintain that there is no proof of any nation being naturally cannibals; although, from constantly indulging in a vindictive feeling towards their foes, they may not only have overcome the repugnance usually felt by mankind to eat human flesh, but even to have contracted a liking for it. pp. 169, 170, 171, 172, con v. Kustust

The only novel facts which Lieutenant Breton states under the head of manners and customs of the New Zealanders, are connected with their mode of burial. He informs us, that the body being put into a box, or coffin, is then secured on a stand, or on the lower branch of a tree, where it remains until quite decayed; after which the bones are buried with much ceremony. But on particular oc casions a hut is erected, in which the body is placed in a sitting posture, with the most valuable property of the deceased; the ground is then tabooed, so that no native dare approach it, nor can any foreigner do so with impunity. The captain of a vessel informed me that he once looked into a hut of this description, not being aware at the time that a tabooed spot was held so sacred. There were in it three skeletons, and, judging from the property left with them, he supposed them to be the remains of persons of some consequence. His curiosity cost him a disturbance with the

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