EARLY VOYAGES TO AMERICA. "An Account of Discoveries in the West until 1519, and of Voyages to and along the Atlantic Coast of North America, from 1520 to 1573. Prepared for the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society, by Conway Robinson, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Published by the Society. 8vo. pp. 491. Richmond: Printed by Shepherd & Colin. 1848." We have looked into this volume with a degree of interest which, we are free to confess, we should hardly have felt in any other of its class in all the compass of letters. It is the work, and the first work, of our Virginia Historical Society-the firstfruits, as it were, of all its more recent labors (except some small sheaves of our own which are hardly worth mentioning in the comparison,) and we have no doubt that it will prove a grateful offering to the people of our State and country. It is of course for the most part a compilation; but it is exactly, or at least very nearly all that it ought to have been. The author has evidently explored all the best sources of information that were accessible to him, from the old English collector Hakluyt, to his modern French follower Ternaux; and has diligently perused the more elegant and accomplished historians, as Washington Irving and others, who have polished the rude materials of coarser writers by their care. In making this review, he has selected the most valuable passages to be found in these various writers; condensed the less important portions of them, and combining both with some additional and very serviceable matter of his own, has given us a work composed of the best part of every book he has read, and containing all that any one would desire to know about the first voyagers to our country, and the first travellers in it-all in the compass of a single volume, which any reader of taste may easily consult and enjoy. In doing all this we think that Mr. R. has obliged the State and the whole literary world, and has very fairly entitled himself to a large share of honorable praise. We ought perhaps to add, that the work has been executed here in our own city, in good type, on handsome paper, and altogether in a most proper and becoming style. We commend it, accordingly, with great confidence, to all that favor of the public which it so amply deserves. THE ROSE. Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose. Richmond. Paradise Lost. In Adam's bower, when all was new, On Nature's vernal morn, The fairest flower of Flora grew, The rose without a thorn. 'Twas Love's own flower who fondly chose This one from all the rest, And placed it there, in sweet repose, On Beauty's balmy breast. But Sorrow came to Adam's bower, And fretted Love and Beauty's flower Yet still the rose is blooming fair, But she who wears that flower now, Or on her breast, or on her brow,- Various Intelligence. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. The following, from a pamphlet issued in Philadelphia, furnishes information respecting this young republic, which will be interesting to our readers. Extent.-Liberia extends from Digby, at the mouth of Poor River, on the north west, to Cavally River, on the south-east, between 4 deg. 20 min. and 6 deg. 40 min. north latitude, and 7 deg. 30 min. and 11 deg. west longitude from Greenwich. The length of coast between Digby and the Cavally River is about three hundred miles. The territory of Liberia extends from twenty to thirty miles inland. The right of possession and jurisdiction over all this line, (with the exception of Young Sesters,) has been purchased by the American and the Maryland Colonization Society, and further purchases have since been made. Population. The inhabitants of Liberia, emigrants from the United States and their children, number three thousand and five hundred; and seven hundred occupy the Maryland colony at Cape Palmas. To these may be added about five hundred natives civilized and admitted to the privileges of the polls and the rights of citizenship in general. The natives residing on land owned by the colony, and directly amenable to its laws, are estimated from ten thousand to fifteen thousand. The population of the allied tribes in the interior, who are bound by treaty to abstain from the slave trade and other barbarous practices, is not accurately known, but may be estimated at 150,000. Towns and Settlements.-Monrovia on the south side of Cape Mesurado, near the north-western boundary of Liberia, is the capital and chief place of trade. Population 1,000. The other ports, not counting those in the Maryland colony, are Marshall on the Sunk River, Edina, Bexley on the St. John's River, Bassa Cove, and Greenville on the Sinoe River. The more inland towns and their adjoining settlements are Caldwell, NewGeorgia, and Millsburgh. Productions of the Soil.-Coffee, sugarcane, rice, cotton, indigo, Indian corn, potatoes, yams, cassadas, bananas, arrow root, and nuts, may be produced in any quantity; fruits are various and abundant. These are all grown in Liberia. Exports.-The chief exports are camwood, palm oil, and ivory, to the amount of $123,690 in two years, ending September, 1843, according to the official returns. These are brought from the interior. Imports.-The imports for the two years, as above, amounted to $157,830. Religious Aspect.-Churches 23; Communicants 1,500; of whom 500 are natives and re-captured Africans. Education.-Schools 16; scholars 560, of whom 200 are native Africans. The Sunday schools embrace a far larger number. THEORY OF VISION. At a late meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a paper was read by Sir David Brewster, entitled "An Examination of Berkeley's Theory of Vision." Sir David endeavored to overthrow the established theory that the idea of distance is obtained merely by experience, and that all objects appear to the uneducated eye as on the same plane. He mentioned several facts connected with pinocular vission to show that there is a line of distance impressed naturally on the retina; and all the instances to the contrary, derived from the observation of those who had received sight for the first time, Sir David considered as unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the eyes of such persons were not in a natural state immediately after having undergone the operation of couching. Experience proved that children had ideas of distance, for they did not attempt to reach the sun and the moon, and as regards animals, this fact was more striking, for the duckling, on coming out of its shell, ran to the distant water, and did not try to get into it as if it were within reach. He also mentioned some curious facts in connection with vision, which he thought militated directly against the Berkleyan theory. When, for example, a person takes hold of a cane-bottomed chair, and directs the axes of his eyes through the pattern to some point on the floor, the pattern of the woven cane is seen in a position where it is not, and by no effort of the mind can it be seen where it really is. The same illusion occurs when the eyes are directed steadily to the paper of a room, when the pattern is regularly placed in vertical stripes. Dr. Whewell defended the Berkleyan theory, contending that the facts stated by Sir David confirmed instead of overthrowing the theory. With reference to the vision of animals, he said, that could not be adduced against the Berk leyan theory, as it was an exhibition merely of instinct, of the nature of which we know nothing. It might as well be said that children do not walk by experience and practice because some animals run about from the moment of their birth. Dr. Whewell maintained that experience showed that children have little or no idea of distance, for if they do not try to catch the sun or the moon, they frequently attempt to take hold of the flame of a distant candle. A NEW LITERARY UNDERTAKING. A correspondent of the Literary World says:-The greatest literary enterprise of the day is about to be commenced by Mr. Henry Stevens, the American Agent of the British Museum. He proposes to prepare a work to be entitled the "Bibliographia Americana: a Bibliographical account of the Sources of Early American history; comprising a description of books relating to America, printed prior to the year 1700, and of all books printed in America from 1543 to 1700, together with notices of the more important unpublished manuscripts." The great expense which so vast an undertaking must call for, is to be defrayed by the subscrption of the principal literary institutions in this country and in Europe; and the work is to be published under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, in the series of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. It will form one, and perhaps two volumes, similar to the edition of the Narrative of the Exploring Expedition, in quarto, and will be marked by the same elegance of mechanical execution which characterizes that. The materials will be obtained from all the principal public and private libraries of the United States, England, France, Germany, and several other European kingdoms, and the descriptions of each book will be unusually full and accurate. The name of the owner of each book, or of the library in which it may be found, will be given in connection with the description. Mr. Stevens intends to employ quite a number of persons upon the work, and hopes to have it ready for the press in the year 1850. He will sail for England in the course of the next month, to commence operations in the Library of the British Museum, which contains the largest collection of books relating to America in the world. |