having suffered most severely from ophthalmia, were cured by an application of tobacco.

During the afternoon I saw one of those almost fabulous monsters, in the shape of a snake, that one has read of but never believed in. Part of the bank of the river had given way, and a gigantic mora tree, its roots still clinging to the lofty bank, had fallen over the river, and on its trunk was basking a snake (Comudi) some thirty-five feet long, and from three to four in circumference. It was evidently gorged. Nothing would do for those in the boat with me but that they must attack it, and take its skin as a trophy; so, sorely against my inmost wishes, we backed our corial, and placed an Indian in the stern with an American axe ready for the slaughter. On our getting within reach he dealt it two downright blows just below its head, which did not appear even to raise the skin, but they disturbed its siesta; it slipped away into the water, and I, much to my great satisfaction,

saw no more of it.

We had the great blessing of a dry night, and as it had been fine all day, with a scorching sun, we managed to get our hammocks and blankets dry. No one who has not experienced having to turn into a wet hammock after a hard day's work, with nothing but an equally wet blanket to protect him from the night air, dew, &c., not to mention an occasional shower, can form any idea of the comfort this was to us.

Jan. 17th saw us in comparatively smooth water, and although it tained furiously in showers, yet, as the sun made its appearance towards evening, driving the clouds and mist before it, we hung ourselves out to dry, and before halting time were comfortable again. But the hot sun coming just after the rain began to tell on us, and raised great blisters on our hands and faces, many of us also suffering from dysentery, owing to drinking river water, which was very dirty and discoloured by the constant washing amongst the dead leaves and jungle.

Jan. 19th, we made an island called Yesicara, and landed for the night. The next day we started for an Indian town called Warapoota, which we reached about eleven A.M.; there we found some dozen or more comfortable huts, and a very good house that had been built for a missionary who was living there, and who made us most comfortable, and procured a hut or two for our men. Only fancy our delight at being safe under a roof once more. I determined to have an inspection of arms, &c., and to repack the stores, so we remained another day. I found all in much better order than could have been expected after our constant exposure to the heavy tropical rains; the arms had been kept quite dry by tarpaulins. The men were armed with sea cutlasses, which were much more useful, as they helped to clear out a space for our nightly fires, also for cutting wood, of which we required a large supply, not merely for burning under our hammocks to keep off the mosquitoes, which were innumerable, and even stung us through the canvas, but also for larger fires outside the encampment, to keep at a distance wild beasts, in the shape of South-American leopards, and the large tiger cats, whose music we heard every night.

Yet for these I had not so much dread as for the snakes, which abound in these woods, and the bite of which, especially that of the sabarri, colucouaro, and bush-master, is almost instantly fatal. I could not help fancying how easily they might glide down the hammock lashings which were fastened to the trees. Near the village there were several fields in cultivation. We procured a supply of yams, cassada bread, and other vegetables from the Indian farmers, which was most accept able. The missionary was the only European at the settlement, and he, poor man, has long since gone to his last home.

Jan. 21st.-Once again, with renewed spirits and good health, with the exception still of our doctor, we took to our boats, and after a long day's toil, we encamped on an extensive sand, on which were two re markable rocks about ten yards asunder, although until we were close on them there did not appear to be more than a few feet between them. They were well known to the Indians by the name of the jump stones, owing to a tradition of some desperate leap in past ages. At Warapoota I had purchased two small corials for hunting and fishing, and also hired four extra Indians, as yakermen or huntsmen, whom we sent out for the first time this day.

22nd. Another day of such rapids and falls, the Hoeah and Range, that it was eight P.M. before we halted, and pitch-dark. After hav ing been half the way up to our necks wading and hauling the boats, the current being so rapid even at the sides as to carry us off our feet, unless we kept the greatest caution, we found that no fires could be lit, as our camp was on the sands, and it pelted with rain all night. We made the best arrangements we could, sleep being out of the question. For a meal, we got a pipe of tobacco and a ration of rum. This weary wet night would have overcome the scruples of a teetotaller, and I feel confident made him glad to put in a claim for his share of spirits. To add to all these discomforts, we heard the roar of the fall just above us, by far the worst we had yet encountered. Anything, however, was preferable to sitting on a tin-box, with your hammock for a cushion in hopes of keeping it dry, and your head poked through a hole in your blanket, so daylight was most welcome.

On the 23rd we commenced hauling up Itanamee, but no sooner had we mastered it than we came to another range, Inasinki; there the river is much intersected with islands, as is the case all the way from Bartika, but the channels are narrower, causing a great increase to the velocity of the currents, and in some places making the fall of water very heavy We were in the water the greater part of the day, and did not reach a convenient spot for encamping until very late, when it was raining heavily.

The return of our hunting party with a good supply of saba, powis, maroodies, and other game, cheered us, and, in spite of the rain, we soon had roaring fires, and the camp kettles were quickly what an American would call in full blast. It is astonishing what effect hearty meal has on the spirits under such circumstances.

24th.-On starting this morning we found we had not quite finished with our friend of yesterday, Inasinki. We were again obliged to take to wading. This day was nearly a fatal one to myself and another of

our party. In endeavouring to jump from one rock to another, my feet were carried from under me, and I found myself going down the rapid at a fearful rate; I know not how, but most fortunately I was enabled to catch hold of a rock, otherwise I must have been dashed to pieces at the bottom. At this moment the commissariat officer was being swept past me; he, happily for himself, seized on my leg, and by means of a rope and the assistance of our Essequibo men, we were both brought safely to the boats at the head of the fall. There one of our boats got stove in, and it was only by the greatest exertions we ran it ashore. All the stores were taken out, the boat was patched up, and we lost nothing. However, after a short time we found it could go no farther without a thorough repair, so we halted at the foot of another fall. Again we passed a wet night; the rain was incessant, and our clothes and hammocks had had no opportunity of drying.

25th. This day, while passing Querwak fall, the missionary from Warapoota overtook us, having decided to avail himself of our escort to Pirara. At eleven A. M. we passed a mountain called Comuti, which is looked upon with wonder by the Indians, being exactly in the form of one of the country goglets or monkeys. Afterwards we had the comfort of six hours of smooth water, and encamped on an immense sandbank called Tandacap, where we passed a dry and comfortable night.

The first death amongst our party took place here; an Indian of the Warrou tribe was carried off by dysentery. He was buried by the Indians of the same nation with due solemnity-his bow, arrows, a piece of new cloth, and some stuff like white wax, were placed in his hands, and his body put upright in a deep hole.

(To be continued.)

MILITARY AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF LOUIS XIV., NAPOLEON I., AND NAPOLEON III.

I.-LOUIS XIV.

THERE is no instance in modern times of a sovereign having received a larger amount of flattery than Louis XIV., with whom we occupy ourselves on the present occasion, reserving for future papers a free examination of the mode in which the two Bonaparte Emperors of France have dealt with their own dominions and with Europe. But all the incense and prosperity of the earlier part of Louis XIV.'s reign were more than neutralised by the anxieties of the war that followed the English Revolution, and the cruel mortifications and overwhelming disasters of the war of succession. The bright side was indeed brilliant, but the dark side presents a depth of gloom which was still more striking.

Louis XIV. was not a man of letters or of literary erudition. His reign was associated with a remarkable constellation of literary talent, but each of these stars of wit and poesy had appeared on the horizon before Louis XIV. had taken the management of the affairs of state in hand. (We speak, of course, of Molière, Corneille, &c., and not of

Le Sage and Fontenelle, who came up at the end of his reign.) Nor was Louis XIV. a skilful general or engineer, capable of commanding in the field, and conducting large operations on the responsibility of his own judgment. What, then, did Louis XIV. possess? Kingcraft, or the power of governing judiciously and fairly all the people about him, from the first dignitaries of the court and the army to the smallest employés of the state, was what he possessed in an eminent degree. We believe it will not be easy to withhold from his memory this concession. As a contrast to the flattering view of his partisans, we have the British and Protestant view of the irreconcilable enemy of Protestant Britain in church and state. But the severest blow his memory has received has come from the "Memoirs of St. Simon."

Now, however, that the struggles of that period are ended, and are even so remote as to be matters of historical curiosity, and no longer of national, political, or religious partisanship, we are enabled to take a more impartial view of this sovereign, who possessed so large an amount of masculine common sense and political penetration, however they may have been disfigured by the prejudices of Romanism and Divine right, instilled into him from his earliest years.

St. Simon was a man of very considerable intelligence, but, as the friend of the Regent Orleans, strongly prejudiced against Louis XIV.; moreover, a sad fop, with his soul filled with his own importance, and quite as much taken up with formalities and questions of precedence as with the most important affairs of the state. Louis XIV., with the experience of mature age, added to his natural penetration, saw through him, and put him in his place. St. Simon never pardoned him, hence the posthumous revenge on his memory. But the antidote for St. Simon is to be found in the voluminous works of Louis XIV. himself, including his most secret thoughts comprised in the Memoirs for the guidance of the Dauphin, then his heir-apparent, and also his grandson the Duke of Anjou, who became King of Spain, with the title of Philip V. It is refreshing to turn from the futilities of St. Simon, interlarded here and there with an acute observation, to the writings of Louis XIV., which have an air of seriousness, true dignity, acute penetration, and solidly acquired experience, although directed to carrying out schemes with which the Protestant Briton could never by any possibility sympathise.

Notwithstanding his weaknesses-his pride, his ambition, and his scandalous incontinency-we see that the substratum of his character was a strong sense of religious veneration. Even when he shows the plenary consciousness of his exalted dignity and position, he never loses sight of his responsibility to a higher authority. "It seems to me," said he to the Dauphin, "that in this high rank in which we are placed, that the respect, abundance, and splendour with which we are surrounded are merely the recompences attached by Heaven to the heavy responsibility we are under in the management of the important political trusts confided to us."

What we know of Louis XIV.'s bigoted Romanism and ambitious schemes, connected and interlaced with that feeling, necessarily prejudices Protestants against him; nevertheless the conscientiousness

and the worldly wisdom (comprising a large amount of self-denial) evidenced in these Memoirs create in the mind of the reader involuntary feelings of respect, and procure a distinct perception of those internal personal qualities which gained such an ascendancy over all who surrounded him.

"With regard to hard work, my son, it is very likely that you will open and peruse these Memoirs at a season of life when you will be too happy to escape from the authority of directors and preceptors, and when you will have more repugnance than attachment to labour. But let me tell you that it is not only through hard work that we reign well, but for hard work that we reign at all, and that we show both ingratitude and audacity in the face of God, as well as injustice and tyranny in the face of man, if we seek the hire without the labour. But let me tell you that hard work is by no means difficult, and that I know nothing so oppressive and tiresome as indolence, for you will vainly seek the charms of leisure without hard work. On accession to power I imposed on myself the obligation to transact business twice a day with my ministers and secretaries. I cannot express the satisfaction I have felt on forming this resolution. I felt my spirits encouraged to rise, and perceived myself to have become another man. I discovered in myself resources I had never suspected, and reproached myself with having let them so long remain fallow. Above all, my son, do not suppose that the affairs of state are like the thorny and obscure paths of science. The function of kings consists principally in letting good sense have free play; for good sense acts always naturally and without trouble. The affairs that occupy us are sometimes less difficult than what we take up as an amusement. However capable a man's ministers may be, he can never put to his own hands without its being apparent, and no satisfaction is equal to that of daily remarking some progress in lofty enterprises."*

We know of no works that so completely reveal the disadvantageous side of the profession of kingcraft, and illustrate the proverb, "All is not gold that glitters." The burthen of his complaints often appears not only in the detail of daily events, but in that abstract and generalised form which forms the cream of the good philosophic historian, and in this case carrying with it the solid profit derived not merely from books but from the living page of consummate practical experience. He points out the hard and rigorous fate of kings,† who owe a public account of all their actions to all nations and ages, but who cannot do so at the time of the transactions without unveiling their secret motives, and being awanting to their most important interests. He complains of the great difficulty of getting at the truth, so many people having an interest in concealing it from the sovereign. He declares that from the first he saw through the flattery of his courtiers and his own council; how, by refinement of humour, he fooled them to the top of their bent by indulging his curiosity in seeing how

The above is not a literal translation, but a condensation of the chapter entitled "Amour du Travail." ŒŒuvres de Louis XIV., Mémoires Historiques et Politiques.

♦ La condition en cela dure et rigoreuse des rois.