bark was entirely peeled, and their branches, brittle as glass, were twisted like cords. Their wood was yellowish, like the wood of liquorice, and the heart of the trees was filled with a powder very hard to the touch. Neither the wood, nor the enclosed dust, nor the calcined stones, had either taste or smell. At some distance, the mountains, which were extremely high, seemed to be piled above each other in immense ranges, from whence enormous blocks appeared to have fallen, and to have been shattered to pieces before reaching the ground. These detached masses, over which other rocks hung suspended, formed immense caverns, and covered the valleys. From another quarter, two fountains issued, one of which drew along in its course a black slimy matter of a sulphureous smell. The other, separated from the first by a small isthmus of sand, of the breadth of 12 or 15 paces, was clearer than crystal. In a valley, which appeared at first sight extremely circumscribed by the surrounding mountains, and the detached rocks which were heaped up in promiscuous confusion, Brisson discovered an astonishing variety of scenery. At the entrance of the valley, the ground was moist and furrowed, as if it had been formerly watered by winding rivulets. The borders of these furrows were covered with beds of pebbles, and crusted over with a nitrous kind of ice. The

rocks which enclosed the furrows were covered with the same, and resembled cascades. Thick reddish roots and branches, covered with leaves like those of the laurel, crept across the different crevices. As he advanced, pyramids of great stones, white as alabaster, appeared towering above each other, and seemed to mark the border of a bank. Lofty date-trees, whose trunks were warped even to the top, rose behind the pyramids, with palm-trees, the height and colour of which exhibited proofs of their high antiquity. Others of these were thrown down, and lay stripped of the bark; they crumbled to pieces upon being touched; and the filaments under the bark were covered with a saltish powder clear as crystal. The roots which hung down the rocks were glutinous, and the bark broke off at the slightest touch. Advancing nearer Marocco, they found lofty mountains covered with stones of rose, violet, citron, and green colours; and observed forests at a distance. On their approach they were astonished to see the trunks of trees descending from the centres of rocks, and apparently hanging down like fruits, while the roebucks coursed, one after another, over the hanging rocks, and the trees that hung suspended in the air. Brisson remarks, that no trees in these forests are injured by lightning except one, the leaf of which resembles that of the gum-tree, or common parsley.

Before reaching Guadnum, they arrived at the habitations of the tribe Telkoennes, who reside among mountains of sand, as if they endeavoured to hide themselves from the light of the sun. It is almost impossible to penetrate their retreats, unless a person be acquainted with the passes of the sand-hills. The plains in their neighbourhood swarm with enormous serpents. At last they reached Guadnum, the asylum of the most daring rebels of all the Arabian tribes, the mart of the inhabitants of the desert, who come there to barter their camels, peltry, gum, &c. for woollen stuffs, half white and half crimson; for wheat, barley, dates, horses, tobacco, gunpowder, combs, and mirrors. This trade is entirely carried on by the Jews. The inhabitants live in a state of mutual distrust; their houses are guarded by large dogs, and also their persons, when they walk through the city. Leaving Guadnum, they arrived at Mogadore, and were delivered up to the governor, who sent them with an escort to the emperor at Marocco, by whom Brisson was soon after set at liberty. The character of the inhabitants of Marocco differs little from that of the Arabs of the desert: They are not of so stout a make, but of a fairer complexion; more accustomed to the sight of Europeans, but equally addicted to insulting them. The earthen ruinous walls of the palace resembled the enclosure of a

church-yard; the outside of the seraglio was not unlike a barn; and the houses of the city of a very bad construction. The narrative of Brisson represents the Moors and the Arabs of the desert in the most unfavourable point of view. Inflamed with resentment at the insults to which he was exposed from the religious bigotry of the Mahometans, and soured with the hardships he endured in the desert, to which the Arabs were equally obnoxious, but which they were more able to encounter, he gives every circumstance the most malicious construction. To a Frenchman of fine feelings, that appearance of insensibility which misery produces, assumed the form of deliberate cruelty. The general outline of the picture he delineates seems to be sufficiently correct, but the minute figures are probably in the style of caricature. Like a certain painter of the Flemish school, he cannot be charged with wilful exaggeration; but the rancour of his ulcerated mind darkened the faces of his devils, and gave their features a peculiar expression of malice. As he traversed some of the districts of the desert, at a great distance from the shore, his remarks on the manners of the Arabs who inhabit the interior are extremely interesting.

CHAPTER V.

THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION.

Institution of the Association.-Ledyard.-Lucas.-Description of Fezzan, Bornou, and Cashna.-Watt and Winterbottom's Journey to Foota Jallo.-Major Houghton.

THE year 1788 formed an entirely new era in the annals of African discovery. It was no longer from motives of interest only, if not of plunder and violence, that its secrets were explored. An association was formed of men eminent for rank and wealth, and still more distinguished by their zeal in the cause of science and humanity. The object was simple ;-to promote the discovery of the inland parts of Africa, and thus to wipe off the disgrace, which a profound ignorance of those vast regions had so long thrown on the civilized nations of Europe. The plan was, to find out persons, qualified by enterprise and intelligence, to be employed in these scientific missions; and as funds were necessary for this purpose, each individual agreed to subscribe a certain annual sum. The management of the funds,-the choice of the persons to be sent on discovery,—and the requi