544 Poison Valleys in Java and Italy. POISON VALLEYS. At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, Nov. 28, considerable interest was excited by an account by Mr. Alexander Loudon of a visit to a small valley in the island of Java, called Guevo Upas, or the Poisoned Valley, which is remarkable for its power of destroying in a very short space of time the life of man, or any animal exposed to its atmosphere. It is distant only three miles from Batur, in Java; and on the 4th July, 1831, Mr. Loudon, with a party of friends, set out on a visit to it. On arriving at the mountain, the party dismounted, and scrambled up the side of a hill, a distance of a quarter of a mile, with the assistance of the branches of trees and projecting roots. When a few yards from the valley, a strong nauseous and suffocating smell was experienced, but on approaching the margin this inconvenience was no longer found. The scene that now presented itself was of the most appalling nature. The valley is about half a mile in circumference, of an oval shape, and about thirty or thirty-five feet in depth. The bottom of it appeared to be flat, without any vegetation, and a few large stones scattered here and there. Skeletons of human beings, tigers, boars, deer, and all sorts of birds and wild animals lay about in profusion. No vapour was perceived issuing from the ground, nor any opening through which it might escape, and the sides were covered with vegetation. It was now proposed to enter it, and each of the party, having lit a cigar, managed to get within twenty feet of the bottom, where a sickening nauseous smell was experienced, without any difficulty in breathing. A dog was now fastened to the end of a bamboo, and thrust to the bottom of the valley, while some of the party, with their watches in their hands, observed the effects. At the expiration of fourteen seconds the dog fell off his legs, without moving or looking round, and continued alive only eighteen minutes. A second dog now left the party and went to his companion; at the end of ten seconds he fell down, and lived only seven minutes. A fowl was now thrown in, which died in a minute and a half; and another, which was thrown after it, died in the same space of time. On the opposite side of the valley to that which was visited, lay a human skeleton, the head resting on the right arm. The effects of the weather had bleached the bones as white as ivory. Two hours were passed in this valley of death, and the party had some difficulty in getting out of it, owing to the rain that had fallen. The human skeletons are supposed to be those of rebels, who have been pursued from the main road, and taken refuge in the valley without their knowledge of the danger to which they were thus exposing themselves. The contiguous range of mountains is volcanic, and two craters are at no great dis [Dec. tance; but in the valley itself there is no smell of sulphur, nor any appearance of eruption having ever taken place. This narrative was illustrated by extracts from a letter written by W. R. Hamilton, esq. V.P. of the Society, who, when British Minister at the Court of Naples, visited the Lago di Amsancto (Amsancti valles of Virgil, Eneid, lib. vii. 1. 565, into which the fury Alectro threw herself, after having, at the command of Juno, sown the seeds of discord among the Italian cities), the phenomena of which closely resembled those of the valley in Java. "The Lago di Amsancto,” says Mr. Hamilton, "is of a rhomboidal form, about twenty paces in its shortest, and thirty in its longest dimension. The water is of a deep ash colour, almost black, and bubbles up over a large proportion of the surface, with an explosion resembling distant thunder, and to the height of two feet, more or less. On one side of the lake there is also a constant and rapid stream, of the same blackish water, running into it from under the barren rocky hill; but the fall is not more than a foot or two; and a little above are some holes, through which warm blasts of sulphuretted hydrogen gas are continually issuing, with more or less noise, according to the sizes of the openings. Some are oblong, others perfectly round. On the opposite side of the lake is another smaller pool of water, on the surface of which are continually floating, in rapid undulations, thick masses of carbonic acid gas, which are visible a hundred yards off. This pool is called the Coccaio, or cauldron; the larger lake is called Mefite; and the openings on the slope above Mefitinelle. These openings you will recoguise as the sævi spiracula Ditis, and the cauldron as the specus horrendum of Virgil. "The mephitic vapours arising from these waters are at times very fatal, particularly when the wind is strong, and they are borne in a body in one direction. When calm, as when we were there, the danger is much less, as the carbonic acid gas will not, in its natural state, rise above a couple of feet from the ground; and we were thus enabled to walk all round the lake and cauldron, and even step across some parts, taking great care, however, not to stumble so as to fall; as a very short time, with our noses and mouths too near the ground, would have fixed us to the spot asphyxiés. Many insects lay dead around us; and birds are said often to fall in like manner into the lake and on the banks. "The gaseous products of these waters are, 1. Carbonic acid gas; 2. Sulphuretted hydrogen gas; 3. Sulphurous acid gas; and 4. Carburetted hydrogen gas. When evaporated, their deposit has been found to cure the scab, or rot, among the neighbouring sheep; and an attempt has been made to establish a sulphur manufactory here, as on 1831.] Literary Intelligence.-Odes on St. Cecilia's Day. Solfaterra, but without success. The banks have thus been much changed since the days of Virgil; but the great features still remain substantially the same, though, on again reading his description, I do not think it that of a person who had visited the spot. Itis curious enough, that, although the earth is here much blackened, there is no appearance of volcanic soil in the adjoining country." The poisonous effects are identical at the Grotto del Cane, at Naples; but the mephitic air is there so heavy, that you may stand upright without inconvenience, as it rises but a few inches above the surface. ODES ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. (Chiefly extracted from Malone's "Life of Dryden," with additional remarks from a correspondent of "The Harmonicon.") THE first establishment of a Society for the celebration of St. Cecilia's day appears to have been about the year 1681 or 1682, and the first performance of which any traces have been recovered was on the 22d November (St. Cecilia's day), 1683. The author of the poetry is unknown, but the composition was from the pen of the English Orpheus, Purcell, and was printed in score by John Playford, with a dedication, by the composer, addressed to William Bridgman, esq., Nicholas Staggin, Doctor of Music, Gilbert Dolben, esq., and Mr. Francis Forcer, stewards for the year ensuing. Where the concert was held upon this occasion does not appear; but the books of the Stationers' Company show that, from 1684 to 1700, their Hall was (with the exception of the years 1686, 1688, and 1689, in which years, it seems probable, no performance at all took place) the place of assembly; the price of hiring it being, till 1694, only two pounds; afterwards raised, in consideration of the damage occasioned by fixing scaffoldings, &c., to four or five pounds, and in 1700 to six guineas. The ode of 1684 was written by Oldham, and composed by Dr. Blow; that of 1685, written by Tate, and composed by Mr., afterwards Dr. William Turner. In 1687, the muse of Dryden was first called upon to celebrate the sainted patroness of music, and his poem was originally composed by Giovanni Battista Draghi. In the two following years no performance took place in Stationers' Hall, and it seems extremely probable that the unsettled state of the country may have suspended the celebrations of St. Cecilia. Indeed, in 1688, it is hardly likely that any concert would be attended on the 22d November, little more than a fortnight after the landing of King William III. at Torbay. In the subsequent year they were resumed; Shadwell, the poet laureate, contributing the poetry, and Mr. Robert King, one of the band to King William and Queen Mary, the music. GENT. MAG. December, 1831. 545 Blow, for the second time, composer. In In 1691, D'Urfey was the poet, and Dr. the following year, Purcell again appeared in the field, and the ode was written by Nicholas Brady. A contemporary writer, speaking of this ode, says, "it was admirably set, and performed twice with universal applause, and particularly the second stanza, which was sung with incredible graces by Mr. Purcell himself." Theophilus Parsons wrote the ode for 1693, which was composed by Gottfried, or Godfrey, Finger, a German, who had been master of the chapel to King James II. Of the odes for 1694, 95, and 96, nothing is known, except that the last was composed tisement in the London Gazette for January by Nicola Matteis, as appears by an adver4, 1696-7, announcing that the music performed on St. Cecilia's day, composed by Signior Nicola, would be performed in Yorkbuildings on the 7th of that month. To the stewards of St. Cecilia's Feast for the year 1697 we are indebted for the finest specimen of ode-writing in the English language-ALEXANDER'S FEAST. The discovery of the exact period when this magnifi cent ode was written, and the name of the composer who had first the happiness of setting it to music, are due to the minute accuracy of research which so much distinguished Mr. Malone. The first period is ascertained by a letter from Dryden to his son, dated September, 1697, in which he says, "In the meantime, I am writing a song for St. Cecilia's Feast, who, you know, is the patroness of music. This is troublesome, and no way beneficial; but I could not deny the stewards, who came in a body to my house to desire that kindness, one of them being Mr. Bridgman, whose parents are your mother's friends." The name of the composer appears by an advertisement in the London Gazette of December 6, 1697, announcing that the " Song composed by Mr. Jeremiah Clarke, and sung on St. Cecilia's day," would be performed on the succeeding Thursday, for the benefit of Mr. Clarke and Mr. Le Riche, late stewards of the said feast. The writer of the ode for the year 1698 has eluded Mr. Malone's researches, though Bishop; the composer, however, was Daniel he conjectures it to have been by Thomas Purcell. For 1699 both writer and composer are unknown; in 1700 the performance was an ode of D'Urfey's, composed by been originally written in 1691: in 1701, Dr. Blow, and probably the same that had Congreve and Eccles were the poet and composer; in 1702 both are again un * Hugh Colvill, Thomas Newman, Orlando Bridgman, Theophilus Buller, Leonard Wessell, and Paris Slaughter, esqs., amateurs; Jeremiah Clarke and Francis Le Riche, professors. 546 Colony of Liberia in Africa. known; and in 1703, though Hughes is said to have been the writer of the ode, which in an edition of his works, published in 1785, is distinctly stated to have been performed in Stationers' Hall, no mention of such a performance is to be found in the books of the Company, and the composer is unknown. After 1703 the annual ode appears to have been abandoned, for though Pope wrote one in 1708, it was not set to music till 1730, when Dr. Greene composed it for his exercise on taking a doctor's degree. Concerts were occasionally given on St. Cecilia's day, and sometimes in Stationers' Hall, but they were for individual benefits, and consisted of selections. On St. Cecilia's day, 1723, an entertainment, called the "Union of the Three Sister Arts," composed by Dr. Pepusch, and sung by Mrs. Chambers, who represented St. Cecilia; Mr. Leveredge, who sang for Homer; and Mr. Le Gare, who personified Apelles, was performed at the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and Dr. Boyce, some time between 1730 and 1740, composed an ode, the words of which were written by Mr. Vidal, one of the ushers of Westminster School, and which was performed by the Academy of Music in the great room called the Apollo, in the Devil Tavern. Dr. Peyer also composed a second ode during the same interval of time, which was written by Mr. John Lockman, and performed at the same time by the same society. The ode for one of the years, which Mr. Malone has been unable to account for, was composed by a person whose name I have never been able to find in any musical publication, though to judge from the specimen his work affords, he must have been at least an average composer for the time when he lived. His name was William Morris, and at the time of writing the ode he describes himself in the MS., which I have seen, as master of the choristers in Lincoln Cathedral. In Sandford's "History of the Coronation of King James II." the name of William Norris, (no doubt the same person) occurs among the children of the Chapel Royal, in which Dr. Blow was then organist, and master of the boys. There is no date to the composition; but the words, as I remember, indicate that it was written during a year of war. I saw this ode bound up in a volume of rough MSS. of Purcell's music (and said to be in his autograph), which was once the property of Dr. Hayes of Oxford, and was purchased, I believe, at the sale of Dr. Arnold's music, by the gentleman whose property it was when I had the opportunity of looking it over. The annual celebration of St. Cecilia's day, while it lasted, was a matter of much ceremony, and even the officers of religion were called in to give solemnity and sanction to the meeting. The members of the [Dec. society first heard a sermon in St. Bride's Church, where an anthem, generally composed, as well as the ode, for the especial occasion, was sung by the united choirs of the Chapel Royal, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's. From the church they proceeded to Stationers' Hall, where, after the performance of the ode, a splendid entertainment was provided, the oboes and trumpets playing alternately during the time of repast. A contemporary publication, "The Gentleman's Journal," (the precursor o which the Gentleman's Magazine was modelled), speaking of the meeting of 1692, "This feast is one of the genteelest in the world; there are no formalities nor gatherings as at others, and the appearance there is always very splendid; six stewards are chosen for each ensuing year, four of whom are either persons of quality or gentlemen of note, and the two last either gentlemen of their Majesties' music, or some of the chief masters in town.' says, COLONY OF LIBERIA IN AFRICA. Δ. The (With a Map and Plan.) LIBERIA is the name given to a colony of free negroes, established near Cape Montserado, on the Grain Coast of Africa, a few hundred miles to the southward of Sierra Leone. The colony has been projected and formed by some philanthropists in America. object of the association is, if possible, to abolish slavery in the United States, not by merely emancipating the slaves, but by their actual removal from the country; for the parties are of opinion, that, if all the slaves in America were emancipated, they must still remain a distinct and degraded race, and never could amalgamate with the white population. In those states where slavery has been abolished, the negroes are still separated and shunned by the white population-right or wrong, the feeling they say, exists and if, by industry, morality, and education, a man is enabled to raise himself above his brethren, and deserves to be the associate of white men, he is no nearer associating with them-he is only separated by his own feelings from ignorance and brutality, to remain a solitary outcast. That some few have risen superior to the accident of their birth, there can be no doubt; but the great majority are moulded by circumstances, and, having no stimulant to excite them to virtue, they yield themselves up to vice-and seem only worthy of their bitter fortune: the emancipated negroes are found to be idle, depraved, and ignorant; driven from misery to crime; and dying in too many instances the inmates of the workhouse or the jail. This is so naturally the consequence of the existing feeling in America, that, in some of the slave states, a slave-holder is prohibited by law from emancipating a slave, 548 Literary Intelligence.-Colony of Liberia. unless he at the same time sends him out of the country. It was the knowledge of these facts that first led to the establishment of the Colonization Society by a few excellent men; but men possessed of no political power, and no pecuniary resources beyond their own, and the benevolent feelings of their countrymen. So far back as the year 1698, the Assembly of Pennsylvania, to put an end to the introduction of slaves, laid a duty of 10. per head upon their importation; but this benevolent law, together with about fifty of similar tenor, which were passed by the neighbouring colonies up to the period of their Revolution, were all refused the sanction of the mother country. The introduction of slaves was one of the great causes of complaint which led to their Declaration of Independence, dated July 4, 1776. Scarcely had that struggle ceased, when a colony on the coast of Africa, similar to that of Liberia, was proposed; but the prosecution of the slave trade, by every civilized power, defeated the benevolent views. In 1796 the plan was again revived in a series of numerous Essays by Gerard T. Hopkins, a distinguished Friend in Baltimore; and shortly afterwards the Legislature of Virginia, a State containing nearly one-third of the black population of the Union, pledged its faith to give up all its slaves, provided the United States could obtain a proper asylum for them. President Jefferson negociated in vain for a territory either in Africa or Brazil; but that great State again renewed its pledge in 1816, by a vote of 190 to 9 (most of the members being slave-holders); upon which General C. F. Mercer, the Wilberforce of the American Congress, opened a correspondence with the philanthropists of the different States, which led to the formation of the American Colonization Society, on the 1st January 1817. The great objects of that Society werethe final and entire abolition of slavery, providing for the best interests of the blacks, by establishing them in independence upon the coast of Africa; thus constituting them the protectors of the unfortunate natives against the ravages of the slaver, and seeking, through them, to spread the lights of civilization among the fifty millions who inhabit those dark regions. The Society first directed its attention to the choice of a proper situation for the intended colony, and for that purpose agents were despatched to Sierra Leone in 1818, and it was, by their advice, determined to settle on the island of Sherbro, about a hundred miles south of Sierra Leone. The first expedition sailed in February 1820, and the Society's agents took with them eightyeight colonists. The result was most unfortunate. The expedition arrived at the begining of the rainy season: the three agents and twenty of the colonists soon fell victims to the [Dec. climate, and the remainder ultimately returned to Sierra Leone. In 1821 the few remaining were joined by twenty-eight new colonists, under new agents; but they did not remove until after the arrival of Dr. Ayres, who, in conjunction with Lieut. Stockton, of the U. S. Navy, proceeded to Cape Montserado, and after some difficulties, and in consideration of three hundred dollars, got leave to "make a book," that is, received by a legal grant, a track of land from King Peter. The The first settlement and capital of the colony is Monrovia, situated in latitude 6. 21. N., and 10. 30. W. longitude, about a quarter of a mile above the mouth of the river Montserado, and about three quarters of a mile from the point of the cape bearing the same name. The river St. Paul empties into the sea a short distance from the Montserado. For the first two years the emigrants lived in small thatched houses; and about five years ago, the first dwelling constructed of timber and boards, was built on the site of the present town, in a forest of trees of towering height, and a thick underwood. Tigers, entering this then little village, have been shot from the doors. first settlers had many difficulties to encounter, as is usually the case in establishing a new settlement; but all those difficulties have been happily overcome, and the people are now enjoying the benefits of their persevering industry. Monrovia, at present, consists of above ninety dwelling-houses and stores, two houses for public worship, and a court-house. Many of the dwellings are handsome and convenient, and all of them comfortable. The plot of the town is cleared for more than a mile square, elevated about seventy feet above the level of the sea, and contains seven hundred inhabitants. The streets are generally one hundred feet wide, and, like those of Philadelphia, intersect each other at right angles. The Colonization Society have an agent and physician there. The agent is the chief magistrate of the colony, and the physician his assistant. No white people are allowed to reside in the colony for the purpose of trade, or of pursuing any mechanical business, such being intended for the exclusive benefit of coloured people. The colonial secretary, collector of customs, surveyor, and constable, are appointed by the agent; the viceagent, sheriff, treasurer, and all other civil officers, are elective; and all the offices, except that of the agent and physician, are filled by coloured people. The court holds its sessions on the first Monday in every month; juries are empanelled, and its jurisdiction extends over the whole colony. The trials are principally for larceny, and the criminals generally natives, who commit thefts in the settlements. Two native kings have put themselves and their subjects (supposed to amount to ten thousand) under the protection of the colony. |