they who survive-the two mourners will come in their freshness of sorrow! He, the old man? Nay, to him there will be comfort. His spirit Heaven's kindness had tempered to trials; and, alas! for that son, what could father hope more than a death free from shame, and a chance yet vouchsafed for repentance? But she, the grim, iron-grey woman? The Preacher's interest, I know, will soon centre on her :-And balm may yet drop on thy wounds, thou poor, grim, iron-grey, loving woman!

Lo! that traitor, the Flute-player, over whom falls the deep grateful shade from the eaves of the roof-tree reprieved; though unconscious as yet of that happy change in the lot of the master, which, ere long, may complete (and haply for sons sprung in truth from the blood of the Darrell) yon skeleton pile, and consummate, for ends nobler far, the plan of a grand life imperfect ;- though as yet the musician nor knows nor conjectures the joy that his infamous treason to Sophy so little deserves; yet, as if by those finer perceptions of sense, impressed, ere they happen, by changes of pleasure and of pain, which Art so mysteriously gives to the minds from which music is born, his airs, of themselves, float in joy:

Like a bird at the coming of spring, it is gladness that makes him melodious.

And Alban Morley, seemingly intent upon the sketch which his amiable niece - in-law submits to his critical taste ere she ventures to show it to Vance, is looking from under his brows towards the grove, out from which, towering over all its dark brethren, soars the old trysting beech-tree, and to himself he is saying, "Ten to one that the old House of Vipont now weather the CRISIS; and a thousand to one that I find at last my arm chair at the hearth of my school-friend, Guy Darrell!"

And the lake is as smooth as glass; and the swans, hearkening the music, rest still, with white breasts against the grass of the margin; and the doe, where she stands, her fore-feet in the water, lifts her head wistfully, with nostrils distended, and wondering soft eyes that are missing the master. Now full on the beech-grove shines the westering sun; out from the gloomy beech-grove into the golden sunlight they come, they come-Man and the Helpmate, two lives rebetrothed-two souls reunited. Be it evermore! Amen.

Go forth and multiply, was a command which man's nature caught at and obeyed instinctively; Go forth and explore, is a destiny which he has adopted for himself.

With the men of all times-with the men of all races, it has been accepted and acted upon. The impulse which directs men towards the unknown, urges them onwards to the discovery of unexplored regions and strange peoples. A terra incognita, an untrodden waste, an untracked sea, an unknown or distant nation, a marvellous city, has ever been temptation enough to rouse explorers and adventurers, who have been ready to go forth, daring every danger, facing every difficulty, periling and expending their lives in the great mission of discovery.

Diverse have been the motives which have sent men forth. Some have gone as preachers and evangelists to propagate and spread truth, some to extend commerce, some to establish political relations, some to pursue science, some in the mere spirit of adventure; every man, every class, every age, every race, has had its different mission; yet whatever the mission, whatever the motive, these men have been the pioneers of progression and of commune betwixt people and people. From the savage, who shot forth his canoe from island to island, to Columbus in his caraval, and Parry and M'Clure in their war-ships; from pilgrims and merchants, the Benjamins and Marco Polos, to the organised bands who explore and investigate with all the appliances of art and science; from the Bernards and Elliots, down to the Moffats and Livingstones, the work has been carried on, advancing and progressing, and will still advance and progress, until the world has been mapped out and measured, seas and rivers tracked, strata traced, tribes and nations classified-until

the earth, his dwelling-place, and his brethren of every colour and family, become open books to the mind and heart of civilised man.

The destiny has developed now, beyond the mere effort of enterprise and adventure, to a science and a duty; and in the tracks of the old pioneers, march trained bodies of professors, philosophers, artists, geologists, ready and eager to investigate, analyse, delineate, and theorise everything which may aid our speculations and increase our knowledge in nature and humankind. There are odds and ends of the earth, sandy tracts, forests, wildernesses, savage races, still existing, which, however, afford a field and a mission to the old pioneer explorers; and there are still loiterers and saunterers, free and easy cosmopolites, who wander up and down the earth without any particular purpose or mission, noting the curious, the humorous, the picturesque, and the beautiful in the highways and byways; and the narratives which these send forth, rich in adventure and incident, graphic with strange scenes and descriptions, racy with anecdote, must ever be the popular type of travel. It is to them we turn for excitement, novelty, liveliness, and interest; but it is to their painstaking brethren, the men of investigation and minute inquiry, the men of research and detail, that we refer when any question arises as to the topography, the resources, the capabilities, the political or geographical importance the communications, the warlike character or commercial advantages, of a country or its people. Eothen claimed its thousands of readers --Ida Pfeiffer holds gentle sway in drawing-rooms and boudoirs-Livingstone issues in countless copies; but when the statesman would solve some political difficulty, or prepare some political scheme or treaty-the merchant enter on some new field of com

merce-the philosopher seek some facts and knowledge on which to establish his theories-it is a Burnes, a Humboldt, a Wilson or a Raffles, a Wilkinson or a Layard, whom he takes into consultation in the closet or bureau.

All honour to the explorers of all classes. Their names will stand for ever as landmarks, as finger-posts, at the great stages of advance-as starting-points for the missionaries of progress, civilisation, and truth; their memories will live associated with the great work of uniting men in the fellowship and commune, broken and interrupted by the original dispersion, and of linking them in the bondhood of mutual knowledge and mutual interest.

Honour to all; and honour they have, and will have, as long as the spirit of inquiry and enterprise moves the elements of man's nature. But it sometimes happens that he who labours most gets least honour; that he who scatters flowers and wreathes garlands, is more thought of, more known, than he who comes bearing the ore for which he has dug and delved; that the thought, born of pleasure and poesy and beauty, will strike and dazzle more than that which has been wrought by toil of brain and the sweat of the brow; and it is therefore fair and just ever to aid in equalising the distribution, by bringing forward the claims of the hard workers and the delvers for their due meed of honour. The work before us, A Mission to the Court of Ava, is perhaps one which may not have for general readers a great attraction, and from its size and costliness of preparation an never be much known to the un and read public; but it possesses, not withstanding, a sterling merit, and exhibits a labour of research and fulness of information which

title it to a very high appreciation. Written and compiled by one memlou of the mission, though comprehouding the observations and remarchos of all elaborate in detail, minute in scientific inquiry, splendid in illustration, it presents a complete picture of a country, with its scenic Clocks, costumes, ceremonies, and architootural remains, and a descrip

tion almost encyclopaedic of its features, its characteristics, and capabilities. It might be wished, perhaps, that there had been attached to the mission some cosmopolite philosopher, who was neither a stonebreaker," nor a photographer, nor a surveyor, but who had been used to study man in his daily life, and who would have had leisure and inclination to have gathered and sketched in their homes and their haunts those little traits which sometimes give us more knowledge of the present, more insight into the future of a people, than whole chapters of ethnography and of speculations, derived from languages, religion, and art, on the origin and classification of races. However, there was not time for all things; and the main object of the mission was doubtless to amass information which might be practically useful to the government of India in all its future dealings and negotiations with the kingdom of Burmah, leaving it to passing travellers to fill in the broad outlines of facts and statistics with the lights and shades of national life. There are times and occasions when such books are priceless; when, taken into counsel, they might avert a political disaster or prevent a military blunder. Such a book might have warded off the catastrophe of Cabul, had there been rulers who would have heeded warning, or learned from the experiences of those who knew the land and its inhabitants. This book may thus be turned to good account, enlarging and correcting, as it does, our knowledge of a people with whom we have trafficked, fought, and treated in turns, for two centuries or more; who border on our frontiers, and a part of whose native territory we have annexed and rule over. This proximity, this connection, involves, and will further involve, a responsibility which binds us to study, seriously and deeply, all circumstances which may affect or direct our intercourse and relations with a kingdom partly surrounded by our power, and placed in a position of half dependence upon us; a responsibility which late events invest with a deep and solemn sacredness. An empire which has passed

through such a dread ordeal as ours has lately done, will ponder long and well ere it charge itself directly or indirectly with the destinies of a nation. In these days of general information and diffusion of knowledge, it may seem presumptuous to describe Burmah as a locality, or to preface our review of the Mission by a sketch of its geographical and political position; but the knowledge is frequently so general that it does not condescend to local details, unless directed to them by some striking occurrence, as was evident from the confusion of places, races, and districts which existed in the public mind at the breaking out of the Indian mutiny; and, besides, it is always well-well for writer and reader to have the scene of action or narrative placed and laid ere the actors be introduced upon it.

Nature ever declines in finials. After exhausting itself in some vast effort of continent, plains, and mountains, it descends into points, gradually fining off in size and feature. Thus, from the creation of the great northern steppes and mountain ranges, from the gigantic formations of Hindostan and China, it runs down into a large peninsula, terminating in three capes or ends. Bounded by the seas, by Bengal and China, and by the great northern barrier of mountains in Thibet and Yunan, this peninsula forms a territory compact and distinct in its geographical limits, and still more marked as being the abiding-place of the division of mankind designated as the Indo-Chinese race. Though descending in grandeur and vastness of features from its great neighbours, it still exhibits the strength and lavishness of nature's hand in lofty ridges, rolling rivers, and large alluvial plains. Divided into the various districts and kingdoms of Cochin China, Siam, Burmah, with all the states dependent on or connected with it, and Malacca, it is peopled (with the exception of the Malays) "by nations which, though separable into groups, distinguished as well by their physical characters as by the affiliation of languages, and manifesting in both these respects much that is common, and at the same time much

VOL. LXXXV.-NO. DXIX.

that is peculiar to each tribe," are, according to all evidence, to be referred to the same type and stock. The great characteristics all denote the same origin, and the differences are such as may be attributed to the influences of climate, position, and association. They are classed as Indo-Chinese, according to Pritchard, "from the fact that they partake of the ethnographical characters of the two nations between whom they dwell. Their physical characters and monosyllabic languages associate them with the Chinese; but their religion, their earliest mental culture, their literature, are entirely of Indian origin, though modified by the domination of the Chinese in later ages." "The physiological character of a people lasts longer than its language," and is ever the surest test of affinity betwixt races. Both in structure of language and physical organisation they resemble the Chinese, and in the latter respect certainly belong to the Mongolian branch. The broad flat face, the large prominent cheekbones, the forms "robust and wellproportioned, but destitute of grace and flexibility," the muscular textures lax and flabby, all indicate the relationship. Their moral qualities, however, their institutions, and religion, all indicate the infusion of foreign elements; and yet all the various tribes agree sufficiently in these respects to confirm and justify the theory of a distinct and common origin.

Their religion is Buddhism in its simplest form, though amid some of the wild tribes it is mixed up with heathen rites and superstitions; and others deny all worship and religious belief, declaring "that they know little on the subject; that God once wrote His commands upon a buffalo's hide, and called all nations together to take an abstract of it, but that they had no time for the work, being occupied with tilling their land."

This great peninsula, diverging in its three sections and terminating in its three headlands, is also intersected by "longitudinal and nearly parallel chains of mountains, which run, occasionally diverging, from north to south, and contain between them wide valleys, and rivers equally long,

C

and flowing in nearly straight courses and in the same direction. These chains separate the entire territory of the peninsula into parallel bands of low and habitable country." Each of these marks the barrier line of the various nations and tribes which compose the Indo-Chinese race. It is of one of these we have to treat.

Betwixt two of the great chains which strike southwards from that "amphitheatre of snowy peaks," that great transverse mountainous barrier which crosses the back of the whole peninsula-" the one stretching, with a variety of breaks and ramifications, between the valley of the Salwen and that of the Irawadi," till one of its great spurs almost reaches the sea at Martaban-the other starting still farther westward from a "multiple mass of mountains," and spreading over Tipura, the coast of Chittagong and northern Arracan, a broad succession of unexplored and forest-covered spurs, and passing in a defined range still southward, till it sinks into the sea hard by Negrais, its last bluff crowned by the golden pagoda of Modain gleaming far to seaward-a Burmese Sunium-lie the divisions of the Burman Empire." "This tract is not to be conceived of as a plain, like the vast levels that stretch from the base of the Himalayas. It is rather a varied surface of rolling upland, interspersed with alluvial basins and sudden ridges of hill."

Through the midst of this country runs the majestic stream of the Irawadi, now squeezing through rocky defiles, now expanding into sandy shoals and encircling peopled islands, now deflecting with a grand sweep under the walls of the capital, now flowing by the ruined cities of ancient dynasties, now swelled by tributaries and sweeping on through wooded and cultivated plains, until it divides into many branches in the delta of Pegu, and there enters the sea. Here lived for centuries, little known and little heeded, and playing no conspicuous part in the great changes and revolutions of the world, many millions of men, broken up into nations and states, sometimes owning the supremacy of one, sometimes independent, scarcely shifting from their abiding

place, subject to few vicissitudes, except the conflict of power and the changes of dynasties among themselves; attaining at times a high degree of prosperity, and leaving be hind them traces of a very advanced state of civilisation. One great invasion from China had convulsed them, but they soon fell back into the old systems under the old dynasties, undisturbed from without, and unnoted by the great representatives of civilisation, save from the accounts which chance travellers brought of the wealth and state of their kings. The two principal kingdoms were the empire of Ava, possessed by the Marama or Burmah branch of the stock, and occupying the centre of the great tract along either side of the Irawadi; and Pegu, which comprehended the lower extremity of the western promontory of the peninsula, the Doab, and all the mouths of the Irawadi, and was held by the Mons or Taleins as the dominant race, intermixed, however, with the Karens, a people of simple and rustic habits, living in small villages, and following agricultural pursuits. Betwixt these two states the supreme power was changed and battled about, sometimes one obtaining the dominance, sometimes the other, according to the rise or fall of the different dynasties; sometimes the balance of independence being equally poised. Along the western side of the second promontory, separated by a mountainspur from Siam, was the Tenasserim district; and beyond the outermost longitudinal chain betwixt Burmah and the sea, a long strip of land ran along the shore: this was the state of Arracan, inhabited by the Rukhings, a people of pure and ancient race, claiming to be the stock from which the Burmese sprang, and to have done for them what we have for the Americans-given them a lineage, traditions, a language, and civilisation. Amid the mountainous tracts to the westward and north-east of the Irawadi, were scattered wild and independent tribes, Shans and Kyens, the latter half savages in their lives and superstitions, tatooing their faces and living in miserable dwellings, outliers and borderers on the great civilised nations beyond.