the island of Bongo. Here Foyne Sama, the Viceroy of King Firando, as he is called, came on board our ship with his nephew, Tone Sama. They were attended by forty galleys, some of them rowed with ten, and others with fifteen oars of a side. The King and his nephew were clothed in bule silk gowns, and each of them had on a fine linen shirt and breeches; their heads were shaved half way, the rest of their hair, which was very long, was tied up in a roll on the hinder part of the head; they had neither hat nor cap on, nothing on their heads but their hair; each of them had a kind of steward, who commanded their slaves. They saluted me by putting off their shoes, and clasping their hands together, and bowing a little, carried them as low as their knees. I entertained them in my cabin, after which they took their leave, and several of the great men of the island came on board, every one bringing a present of venison, fish, fowl, or fruit. The King came on board again and ordered sixty of his galleys to assist in bringing the slip into the harbour, there being a dangerous point to pass. I came to an anchor at length before the town of Fi-. rando, in five fathoms water, so near the shore that I could talk to the people in their houses. We saluted the town with nine pieces of cannon, but they had none to answer us, and no fort, but a barricade for small shot.

The ship was continually crowded with people, among whom were some women of quality, that I introduced into my cabin; and seeing the pictures of Venus and Cupid there, they immedietely fell down and worshipped them, taking these pictures for the Virgin Mary and her Son, having been taught to adore such pictures by the Portuguese missionaries. The King afterwards brought some of his ladies on board, who had silk gowns on, one side folded over the other, and girt with a sash, their hair long, and tied up in a roll on the crown of the head, none of it shaved off. They had good features, were very fair, but had no colour in their faces except what they had laid on. They were of a low stature, but very fat delicate limbs, their legs bare only a sort of half buskin tied on the insteps with ribbons; they they seemed something bashful till the King bid them be merry, and then they sang and played on an instrument that resembled a lute; they kept time and sung and played by books; and after I had entertained them and made them some small presents of English curiosities, the King and the ladies took their leave. I afterwards went on shore, and delivered my presents to the King, in which were plate and other things to the value of £140, and his Majesty invited me to an entertainment, drank to me out of one of the cups (part of the present) filled with rice arrack, containing a pint and half. He drank it off to the King of England's health, in which I pledged him, and he made all the company do the same. The King afterwards brought some actresses on board, who go from one island to another acting comedies in the great towns they pass through. They are all one man's slaves, who sets a certain price on their favours, which he can never advance, on pain of being capitally punished; there is no bargain made with the courtezan, but with her master, whom she is

obliged to obey. A nobleman, when he travels, is not ashamed to send for one of these keepers to his inn, and bargain with him for one or more girls to wait on him at table, and be his bedfellows, if he thinks fiti; for all men of fashion are waited on by women only in the house.

These keepers of hackney girls in their life time are admitted into the best company; but when they are dead the corpse is treated with the greatest indignity, not suffered to be buried, but dragged through the streets, and thrown into the fields to rot above ground, or be devoured by dogs. A Dutch ship coming in while I lay at Firando, it was reported that the crew were Englishmen, for the natives did not at first distinguish one of these nations from the other, and the Portuguese had represented both as pirates, and taught them a song which they called the English hofornia, acting a kind of farce also, wherein they pretend to show how the English attack the Portuguese ships at sea. While we lay in the harbour, two of the officers happening to quarrel, and a challenge to fight on shore appointed, we were in great danger of being called to account by the magistrates; for, according to their laws, whoever draws a weapon in anger is to be cut in pieces immediately, though he does no hurt; and if he wounds another, the whole family or company to which he belongs suffers with him.

The King of Goto, an island a little South of Firando, being brought on board by King Foyne to take a view of our ship, I entertained him very splendidly, and shot off several guns on his going ashore, at which he expressed great satisfaction, and invited me and my friends to his island.

I have seen some executions here, and particularly of two men and a woman for adultery; two of her lovers meeting at her house together in the absence of the husband, and wounding one another, they were apprehended, and King Foyne ordered all three to be cut in pieces, which sentence was immediately executed, and after the execution every one of the company had a stroke at the sufferers with their luttans (swords) till their flesh was all cut into little bits.

On the 3rd of August King Foyne furnished me with a galley with twenty-five oars of a side, and sixty men besides, to carry the King of England's present to the Emperor. We passed between several islands, most of them well inhabited, and several good towns upon them, particularly the island Finate, defended by a strong castle of free stone. And along the coast as far as Osaca, were people who lived with their whole families in vessels upon the water, and their women catched fish by diving for them in eight fathom water. These women may be known by their eyes, which are as blood. When I arrived at Osaca, I had nineteen horses provided for me at the Emperor's charge, to carry my people and the present; and they furnished me with a palanquin (a couch with an arched canopy) and a led horse, and one ran before me with a pike to make way. We changed horses at every stage. The road was for the most part even, and where a hill happened to be in the road, it was cut through; and the distances were marked at the end of every three miles. Villages and

country houses stood very thick, and the roads were thronged with people. Their temples were usually in groves, surrounded by the cells of their priests. When we came near the suburbs of any great town, we saw the bodies of malefactors nailed to crosses, where they hang till they are devoured, and cause an intolerable stink. We usually travelled about forty-eight miles a day; six men carried my palanquin on their shoulders, and up hill they added four more, travelling as fast as I could have done on horseback.

We arrived at Suranga, where the Emperor resided, on the 6th of September, and on the 8th I was carried in my palanquin to the Castle, which is the Emperor's Court, the merchants and people who attend me carrying the present before me on little tables of sweet-wood they had provided me. Having entered the castle, I passed over. three drawbridges, on every one of which was a court of guard; having ascended some stone steps, I was met by the Emperor's Secretary and Admiral, who introduced me into a large room, and sat down on mats cross legged. Soon after I was led between them into the Presence Chamber, where they directed me to bow to the Emperor's chair of state. The present being ranged on the floor, the Emperor came in, to whom I paid my compliments after the English manner, and delivered his Majesty's letter, which he lifted to his forehead, and directed his interpreter to tell me I was welcome, and that I should rest myself a day or two after my fatiguing journey, and his answer should be ready for the King of England. I had afterwards an audience of the King's son, at the city of Jeddo, to whom I delivered my presents. On the 19th the King sent me two suits of armour, varnished, as a present to his Majesty, with a letter, wherein he thanks the King for his present of such curious things as his country did not produce; neither had he seen the like before. His subjects were welcome to him, he applauded their skill in navigation, that they could visit a country so remote without being terrified at passing through so immense a gulf, and such storms, to promote commerce, which he should give them all manner of assistance in, desiring his Majesty to accept his present as a mark of his friendship: And adds, that he had given orders for drawing up Articles of Trade between the two nations, as his Majesty desired. By these Articles he granted that Sir Thomas Smith, the Governor, and the rest of the East India Company might resort to any of his ports to trade, without paying any duties of import or export: that they might build one house or more in any part of his empire; and if any of their goods happened to be wrecked on his coasts, they should be restored; if any of the merchants died, their effects might be disposed of by the Cape merchant; and all offences committed by the English should be tried and punished by him: neither their persons nor goods should be subject to the laws of Japan; that payment should be immediately made for all goods contracted for, without any deductions, and that they should be at liberty to make discoveries on the land of Jesso or Yedzo, and his subjects should furnish them with provisions.

LIGHTS IN LYRICS

A GLANCE AT THE CHANNEL LIGHTS AS PILOTING MARKS ON A RUN FROM SCILLY TO THE NORE.

THE PAST.-A Retrospect.

Ill fared the seaman when in days of yore,
No beacon light was seen upon his shore;
When British Monarch launched upon the wave,
The Holy Sepulchre from Turk to save;
When daring Colon sailed with holy zeal,
The Western World to find for proud Castile;
When haughty Spain, her grand Armada sent,
And threatened England with her foul intent;
When gallant Britons scattered to the wind
Those mighty ships of all the world combined,-
Ere "Rule Britannia" was the guardian strain
Of British seamen on the azure main!
Dark were those times, when England lay
In gloom of knowledge as in gloom of day!
Hard then the trial of the seaman's skill;
Full oft the wreck, full oft the peril still!
"Till Pity shuddered at the scenes she saw,
Of shattered barques in dark aerial war;
And called forth Science, with her sister Art,

To enrich fair Britain, and to take her seamen's part!

Uprose the BEACON LIGHT, afloat, on rock, on strand, On cliff,―the pride, the watch-fire of our land.

THE PRESENT.

Hail glorious emblem of good will to man!
Hail beauteous flame on scientific plan!
Hail splendid child of Nature taught by art,
To show the dangers of the seaman's path!
Shine on proud luminary, let thy brightest light
Beam radiant ever, through the realms of night!
Proclaim the honours of a Fresnel's name!
Nor let A. Stevenson's be lost to fame!
Be yours the post of danger, to reveal

The insidious rock, which leadsman must not feel!
Stand boldly forth, erect on cliff or strand,
The mark by day, by night sure sign of land!
The pride of science, guardian of our coast,
The seaman's friend, of learned art the boast!
In distant nations, scarcely known by name,
Dark are the shores, where yet thy friendly flame
Is still unseen; where yet barbarian bands,
Know not the blessings of our Christian lands!
Shine on fair beacon through long years of night,
Beam forth for ages, rays serenely bright!
Long as these islands last, the seat sublime
Of commerce, art, and science to the end of time!

THE CHANNEL LIGHTS.

I.

For England when, with fondly fav'ring gale,
From foreign climes, we joyful homeward sail;
Sweet is the barque, and sweeter still the breeze,
That wafts us on to those we love to please:
Joyous the crew, while merry dancing wave
Gambols along in gladdened haste to lave
With homage due the vessel's bending side,
As gracefully she stems the yielding tide!