Lena, which he was four hours in crossing in a diagonal direction. He supposed that the river was at least six miles wide. When landed he was conducted to the governor of Yakoutsk, by whom he was introduced to M. Billings.

Yakoutsk is built on the western side of the Lena, and is a tolerably pleasant and populous town. After staying five days in this place, our traveller embarked in a boat, to sail up the Lena, on the 5th of July. The boats are dragged by convicts and malefactors, and these miserable beings are only allowed a small quantity of flour for performing this painful service. At the end of nine days he reached Olekma, the first town he had seen since his departure from Yakoutsk. Continuing his voyage up the Lena until the 4th of August, when his boat lost both keel and rudder, he found it necessary to take horses and travel by land to Irkoutsk, which he reached in two days. Here he was most hospitably entertained by the governor, and received many marks of civility from the

other officers.

This town, the capital of the government of Irkoutsk and Kolivania, is situated on the border of the Angara, and near the mouth of the Irkout, from which it takes its name. Within its vast circumference many stone edifices are seen, and churches built with bricks; the wooden houses are large and commodiously distributed; its population is numerous, and its society brilliant; the multitude of officers and magistrates who reside there, have introduced the modes and customs of Petersburgh. Every person in office has an equipage; rank and quality regulate the number of horses that draw their carriages, which are similar to ours.

All the tribunals of the neighbouring provinces are under the jurisdiction of this town; it is also the see of an archbishop, a venerable prelate, who exercises the functions of that office through the whole extent of this part of the Russian empire.

But it is to commerce that this capital is chiefly indebted for its splendour. By its situation, it is the entrepôt of that which is carried on between Russia and China.

I had no preparation to make for my departure,' says Lesseps, but that of purchasing a kibitk. I no longer trou

bled myself about provisions, as I was sure of finding where with to subsist myself at every stage. The governor gave me a poradojenei, or a passport, as far as Petersburgh. It was resolved that I should be escorted by a soldier of the garrison, whose courage and fidelity were known, and that one of the couriers of the governor general, who had particularly recommended him, should accompany me to assist me by his services and experience.

'I took leave of M. Arsenieff; his son and M. Dolgopoloff insisted upon conducting me to the first stage, in spite of all my remonstrances. We were seated in the carriage, when my honest Golikoff came with tears in his eyes, conjuring me to permit him to accompany me as far as these gentlemen; it was, he said, the sweetest recompence I could bestow on him. This last instance of attachment affected me, and I felt that in complying with his request, my pleasure was not less than his.

• Having crossed in a ferry boat the river Angava, we soon arrived to the place of our separation. While I repeated my thanks, and took leave of my two friends, Golikoff, concealed behind my carriage, endeavoured to hide his tears, and recommend me to the care of the soldier who succeeded him. His despair burst forth when my horses were harnessed; he embraced my knees, and exclaimed that he would never quit me. It was to no purpose I repeated that, as he well knew, I had no right to take him; my reasonings, my caresses, nothing could prevail on him to leave his hold; it was necessary to force him from my feet, then from the carriage, which he seized on being torn from me. Never, I believe, had my sensibility experienced a more violent shock; I departed with a wounded heart. The regret of not having been able to follow the dictates of my gratitude still torments me, and I can only hope that he may be informed of it, for I cannot flatter myself that I shall ever see him again.

'I am obliged at present to discontinue my practice of making notes every day. My journey to Petersburgh was so rapid, that is, from the 10th of August to the 22d of September, that it was impossible to observe the same accuracy; for this reason also the reader will pardon the brevity of my ob

servations. The country through which I passed has beside been described by so many accurate and intelligent pens, and these travellers have given so much attraction and interest to their recitals, that I should only be accused of presumption, plagiarism, if I attempted to enlarge on a subject, which they profoundly studied, while I had scarcely time to skim the surface.'

While travelling beyond the Wolga, with great rapidity, M. Lesseps, on thrusting his head out of his kibitk, received a violent blow on the head, from part of the wheel that was broken. He fell back in his carriage, and, conceiving the skull was injured, considered himself a dead man. Thus to die at the close of a perilous journey filled him with inconceivable despair. Some strong brandy was poured into the wound, a good compress placed on it, and, shortly after, a drunken surgeon's mate probed the wound with a pin, and assured him the skull was not fractured. He then pursued his journey with pleasure.

On the 26th of September, our ingenious and indefatigable traveller left St. Petersburgh; and, on the 17th of October, arrived at Versailles. On the same day he was presented to his majesty; who, on the following day, rewarded him for his zeal and services, by appointing him consul at Cronstadt.

TRAVELS

IN

CHINA,

BY

JOHN BARROW, ESQ.

THE stability of the Chinese government, the permanence of its civil institutions, the vast extent of empire, and immense population, offer the grandest collective object that can be presented for human contemplation or research. The customs, habits, and manners; the events and resources; the language, sentiments, and religious notions of the most ancient society; and the most populous empire existing amongst men, are without doubt objects interesting to every description of

readers.

The splendid embassy sent from the British court to China, under the earl of Macartney, in 1793, was the means of discovering and illustrating many important particulars respecting this extraordinary empire. The late sir George Staunton, secretary to the embassy, published a very learned work on the subject, which was followed by a production from the pen of Mr. Barrow, private secretary to the ambassador, containing much popular and interesting information. From this curious and valuable work, we have selected those parts which seem best calculated to amuse and inform the general reader.

On the 3d of May, 1792, lord Macartney was nominated ambassador from the king of Great Britain to the emperor of

China. He was admitted, that same day, to the honours and trust of a privy-counsellor. On the 28th of the same month, he was farther graced by his sovereign by a patent advancing him to the dignity of viscount Dervock, in the county of Antrim in Ireland. He proceeded without delay on his embassy. Sir George Staunton, his friend and former secretary, was again in this embassy his secretary and companion. A suitable train of servants and followers were appointed to attend him. A ship of war, under the command of sir Erasmus Gower, was, with certain smaller vessels, assigned for his voyage. Many rich presents were sent by the ambassador from the British to the Chinese sovereign. He arrived in safety in the Indian seas. When his approach was notified at the Chinese court, the emperor and his minister agreed, though not without hesitation, to receive the ambassadors and presents of a monarch so great and so remote. To approach Pekin, the northern capital of the Chinese empire, his lordship was -obliged happily to direct his voyage round the south-east coast of China, by a tract hitherto unknown to European navigation. The advantage even alone of exploring that tract might have been enough to compensate for all the difficulties and expense of the embassy.

Having reached the Chu-san Archipelago, at the entrance of the Yellow sea, our navigators found the sea studded with a cluster of nearly 400 islands. The squadron dropped anchor near one of the largest. At the sight of our ships,' says Mr. Barrow, so different in their appearance from any of those belonging to the Chinese, a vast number of boats, issuing from every creek and cove, presently crowded together, in such a manner, and with so little management, as to render it difficult to pass through without danger of oversetting or sinking some of them; a danger, however, to which they seemed quite insensible. Vessels of a larger description, and various in the shape of their hulls and rigging, from 20 tons burden and upwards, to about 200 tons, were observed in consider, able numbers, sailing along the coast of the continent, laden generally with small timber, which was piled to such a height