PART II.] Vitrified Forts.-Panathenaic Vases. required upon the approach of an invading fleet to instantly put to sea, more north than the sound of Papa Stronsa. This harbour, then, which lies due south of Elsness in Sanday, being divided from it by a channel a league and a half across, must, from necessity, have been selected as the ancient Portsmouth of Orkney. No other situation could have been so eligible for instant embarkation into the Northern Ocean ;-which superior advantage is even acknowledged at the present day, by its being the only harbour in the isles of Orkney which is deemed a convenient one for the prosecution of the North Sea Fishery of the Herring. The site of the ancient Portsmouth of Orkney being thus established, the next object is to shew through what medium telegraphic signals, which consisted of beaconfires, were conveyed to the fleet thus anchored in the sound of Papa Stronsa. Shetland, which yielded a more willing obedience to Norway, was frequently in league with this power against Orkney, and as hostile fleets were often reinforced in the more loyal province, the intermediate island, named Fair Isle, of difficult access except to boats, was firmly retained by the Orcadians, and couverted into their most northerly signal station. From this site, an aların fire, which would be first hailed in North Ronaldsay, would be answered by its inhabitants kindling a fresh flame in order that the intelligence might spread to Papa Westray and Westray on the west, and to Sanday on the south. Sanday would propagate the alarm to the fleet which was anchored in Papa Stronsa, with particulars of the number of hostile vessels approaching the Orcadian shores. These particulars, as we are assured by divers writers so late even as the time of Wallace, were usually signified by the number of fires which were lighted; and hence the many vitrified cairns with which the signal station of Elsness in Sanday now appears studded. In order also to complete the efficiency of this telegraphic system, every Scandinavian province had its laws whereby watchmen were placed at the various wart hills of the PANATHENAIC VASES. Dec. 7. At the meeting of the Royal Society of Literature, a paper was read, communicated by Chevalier Brönsted, on the subject of Panathenaic Vases, a collection of which are now exhibiting in London. The official inscription found on these remarkable monuments formed the chief object of attention. This inscription has never hitherto been satisfactorily explained, because the question has never been considered in its real extent and bearings, which embrace a view of the principal institutions connected with the Panathenaic laws and festivals. These festivals or games were anciently held 637 country, as the Ward or Vord Hills of Orkney were named, who were required, under the severest penalties, to be constantly on the alert to transmit a signal of alarm to a fleet, or to the chain of beacons of which it might form a link. Accordingly, to the north of the small island of Papa Stronsa, a higher cairn than common, intended as a look-out place, appears, with the evident foundations of a building near it, which, no doubt, was the residence of the watchman whose office it was, upon the fires of Elsness being kindled, to instantly warn the fleet which was anchored in the contiguous sound. Dr. Hibbert visited several of the more common wart or ward hills of Orkney, but observed the beacon cairns upon them to show little more than discoloration from fire, with the exception of one ward hill only,namely, that of Sanday, which is situated about two miles north of Elsness. Three of the cairns on this height were considerably vitrified. Such is the general history of the vitrified cairns of Orkney, which may serve to set at rest questions which have been agitated for more than half a century. The first is,To what uses or observances is the effect of vitrification attributable? While the secoud is, To what people is the effect attributable? In a tone of confidence, therefore, we are now entitled to reply, -That vitrification was merely incidental to the fires which were kindled upon beacon stations; and that the people who in every country which they occupied or colonized, organized systems of beacon stations, were of Scandinavian origin. That, from the tenth to the fourteenth century, a considerable part of Scotland was overrun by the Scandinavians, under the various names of Northmen and Danes," who reciprocally became themselves liable to invasion from other piratical tribes of the same northern origin as themselves, and were therefore induced to institute systems of beacon fires, in imitation of those with which they had been familiar in Norway. * See our Review, p. 605. in honour of Minerva, the patroness of Athens, and celebrated every three years. They were originally instituted by Erichtheus; and subsequently renewed by Theseus. The result of M. Brönsted's researches may be thus shortly summed up. 1. The common official formula inscribed on these vases ΤΟ ΝΑΘΕΝΕΘΕΝΑΘΛΟΝ) merely states, that the monument on which it appears is" (One) of the PRIZES FROM ATHENS," which is strictly conformable to the simple language of remote antiquity, and to the nature of the Panathenaic contests, to which every Greek was admitted. 638 Ruins of Palenque.-River Quorra. 2. The inscription had a particular reference to the sacred oil contained in these vases, which was the principal object of the contest, and the prominent part of the prize. This oil was always, in all Panathenaic games, the produce of the holy trees dedicated to Minerva; and, of course, was not to be obtained any where but at Athens. 3. In consequence of the universal creed of the Greeks with regard to the sacred olivetrees, and of the oil obtained from them being exclusively Panathenaic, the Athenian government, and especially the Areopagusto whom all legal power in that respect belonged-took the greatest care, by issuing severe laws, by appointing responsible farmers, under annual and monthly control of officers specially appointed, to protect and promote the proper culture of the sacred olive-groves, and to render their produce profitable to the state. 4. The writer, lastly, established the probability, that among the regulations coucerning the traffic in the holy oil (for which article there was constant and considerable demand at Athens from every country where Panathenæa were celebrated), was this in particular-that none but the victors in those games should have a right to export the Panathenaic oil to foreign countries. The existence of such a law seems to be in harmony with the public rewards granted by the state to Athenian victors in other public games at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, &c. RUINS OF PALENQUE IN SOUTH AMERICA. The ruins of this ancient city, said to be discovered by Lieut.-Col. Galindo, Governor of Poten, in Central America; but which our correspondent Mr. Clarkson had previously noticed in our pages (see p. 351) extend for more than twenty miles along the summit of the ridge which separates the country of the wild Maya Indians (included in the district of Poten) from the state of Chiapas. These, in the words of the discoverer, "must anciently have embraced a city and its suburbs. The principal buildings are erected on the most prominent heights, and to several of them, if not to all, stairs were constructed. From the hollows beneath, the steps, as well as all the vestiges which time has left, are wholly of stone and plaster." The stones of which all the edifices are built, are about eighteen inches long, nine broad, and two thick, cemented by mortar, and gradually inclining when they form a roof, but always placed horizontally; the outside eaves are supported by large stones, which project about two feet. (These are precisely similar, from the description, to the stone-roofed chapels, three or four in number, at Cashel, Glendalough, St. Doologh's, near Dublin, and we believe one other, still existing in Ireland.) [VOL.CI, i The woodwork has all disappeared: the windows are many, subject to no partictis arrangement, being merely small circa and square perforations. Human figures: alto relievo are frequent on small pillan. and filagree work, imitating boughs m feathers, is perceptible in places. Some the sculptured ornaments look very like the Corinthian foliage of the ancient architects. The ruins are buried in a thick forest, and the adjacent country, for leagues, contain remains of the ancient labours of the people -bridges, reservoirs, monumental inser tions, &c. The natives say these edifice were built by the devil." THE RIVER QUORRA IN AFRICA. Whether the river Quorra, which ha excited so much attention from the recent discoveries of Lander, was known to the an cients, is a problem of much interest, which has frequently called forth the speculations of the learned. At a late Meeting of the Royal Geogr phical Society, a paper by Col. Leake wa read on the subject, uoticed in p. 448; d which we present a brief analysis. Col. Leake commenced by remarking that the only passage in history anterior to the time of the Roman empire, from which it may be concluded that the Quorra was then known, is a description given by Herodotus of a journey of discovery undertaken in his time by some of the Nasamones, a tribe which dwelt near the Syrtes. An associa tion having been formed of the chief men of this tribe to prosecute discoveries in the Libyan Desert, five young men were chosen for the adventure; and after having passed the inhabited region (oixtoμiv), and the country of wild beasts (Ongions), which lay beyond it, they traversed during many days the great sandy desert in a westerly direction (gos Cégugor äveμov), until they arrived in a country inhabited by men of low stature, who conducted them through extensive marshes (probably a local inundation) to a river that produced crocodiles, and flowed towards the rising sun. And that this really was the Quorra seems certain, when it i considered, not only that it agrees with the description thus given, but also that it is the only river in North Africa which does agree in all points. It has been argued, indeed, that this narrative is a fable, and that the account of the river was merely picked up by these young Nasamones, or by some others, in one of the oases of the deserts. But even in this case, a knowledge of its existence is thus demonstrated. There would be great difficulty, indeed, in any way to believe that such civilised and commercial people as the Cyrenæan Greeks and Carthaginians should have remained to the last period of their independence ignorant of the Sudán, whence many most im 1 PART II.] River Quorra.-Ancient English Pottery. portant articles of their commerce were derived, especially as we now know from Denham and Clapperton that no great natural impediments to communication exist on the route between Fezzan and Bornú. And it is still more improbable that the Egyptians should have been ignorant of the existence of such a river as the Quorra, when it is incontestable, from their monuments, that they carried their arms to a considerable distance in the Sudán; and an extensive commercial intercourse between the two countries seems an inevitable consequence of this circumstance, considering the advanced state of society and of the arts in Egypt at this period. As to the Romans, besides that they inherited the learning of the Greeks, the frequent necessity of chastising the lawless tribes of the Libyan deserts inevitably led them to make frequent excursions into their territories; and existing monuments abundantly prove the extent to which these were carried. In the year 19 of the Christian era, for example, Cornelius Balbus triumphed at Rome for his conquest of the Garamantes; and among numerous places of which representative images were borne in the procession, Phenania now Fezzan, Garenna now Gherma, and Cydamus now Gerdames, are enumerated. Besides which, two several expeditions are on record of extreme interest in this investigation. Their date is uncertain, but they are cited by Ptolemy, on the authority of Marinus of Tyre, and are curiously illustrated by the discoveries of Horneman, Lyon, Denham, and Clapperton. Of the first, under the command of Septimius Flaccus, it is only related that a three months march from the country of the Garamantes into that of the Ethiopians was accomplished by it. The second, of which the particulars are given by Julius Maternus, who accompanied it, was an expedition sent by the king of the Garamantes to reduce his rebellious subjects in Ethiopia, which left Leptis Major (now Lebeda, near Tripoli), and after a march of four months arrived at Agisymba. In both instances the direction of the route is stated to have been due south, and in both the distance attained must have been very great. Most probably Agisymba was the present Bornú. From the expressions used, the road appears to have been well known and frequented. And the sovereignty of the Garamantes was familiarly recognised along its whole extent, comprehending, as there is reason to believe, the present Waday, and extending even to latitude 10° N., where a mountain was known by the name of ἡ Γαραμαντίκη Φάραγξ, οι the Garamantic Ravine. With these opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the existence of the Quorra, then, it is scarcely possible to imagine that the Romans were ignorant of it; or that, knowing the remaining portions of North 639 Africa so well as they did, their descriptions And "Hune bibit infrænis Garamas, domitorque fe rarum Girrhæus, qui vasta colit sub rupibus antra, Qui ramos ebeni, qui dentes vellit eburnos." But the better informed were aware that this was not the case; even Claudian himself, in a graver composition-his poem on the first consulship of Stilicho-rejects the idea: "Gir, notissimus amnis Ethiopum, simili mentitus gurgite Nilum." And it seems most probable that they, for the most part, thought it was absorbed in one or more great central lakes, of the existence of which they were certainly aware, having named several, and in particular Lake Libya, which appears to be the Tchad. ANCIENT ENGLISH POTTERY. Governor Pownall relates that in his time (1778), the men employed in fishing at the back of Margate Sands, in the Queen's Channel, frequently drew up in their nets some coarse and rudely-formed earthen vessels, and that it was common to find such pans in the cottages of these fishermen. It was for some time believed that a Roman trading vessel, freighted with pottery, had been wrecked here; but on more particularly examining the spot, called by the fishermen Pudding-pan Sand," some Roman bricks were also discovered, cemented together, so as to prove that they had formed part of some building. Further researches showed, that in Ptolemy's second book of Geography, an island was designated as existing in the immediate vicinity. Such pans as were recovered in a sound state, were of coarse materials and rude workmanship, many having very neatly impressed upon them the name of " Áttilia nus; but fragments of a finer and more fragile description of pottery were likewise brought to the surface; and little doubt remains that, during the time of the Roman ascendancy in England, a pottery was established here upon an island which has long since disappeared, and that the person whose name has been thus singularly preserved, was engaged in its management.-Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia, Vol. XXVI. [ 640 ] SELECT POETRY. THE EMPRESS OF THE WAVES. Written for Music, by Dr. Booker. The proud to crush—the fall'n to raise- Who blesses whom she saves. Then, Ocean! let thy billows roll, Proclaiming Her, from pole to pole, THE EMPRESS OF THE WAVES. And plunge them in despair : Mortals need not be slaves. THE EMPRESS OF THE WAVES. Written at Midnight Dec. 31, 1831. EIGHTEEN hundred thirty one, Now thy twelve- month's work is done! Eighteen hundred thirty two, Thy twelve-month's work is yet to do! God only knows what change may be, In eighteen hundred thirty three! Then let us whilst our breath shall last, Praise Him for all His bounties past: And, till His fiat calls us home, Trust Him for blessings yet to come. Exeter. E. T. PILGRIM. "OUT OF EVIL COMETH GOOD." By Mrs. CAREY. "LAY by your book, Lucinda, pray.— Here comes the paper of to-dayThe *****-Now read distinct and clear; For I have not the quickest ear." Lucinda read-"We understand, The Cholera's in Sunderland." "Preserve us, Heav'n! What, come so near? Then the next mail may bring it here. What shall we do?" Lucinda smil'd"Ah! you are but a thoughtless child. You're not afraid?"-"No, aunt, indeedBut do you wish me to proceed?" "Yes, child, go on."-She did, and read What sage physicians thought and said, • Parcerc subjectis et debellare superbos. Virg. [VOL.CI. (Men skill'd to wrestle with disease- And will, they fear, spread desolation "Thus puzzled by our men of science— "Yet, in the midst of this confusion, Lucinda paus'd, with thoughtful brow- She went-and told the fearful taleWhile many a rosy cheek turn'd palePurse-strings were drawn-subscriptions made, The neighb'ring poor, in time, to aid- From the dread pestilence defend 'em. ""Tis well, dear aunt," Lucinda said"While Want's pale victims pine for bread'Tis well the rich should interposeRelieve their wants, and soothe their woes: And give the suff'rers cause to sayPests may prove blessings, in their way." PART II.] [641] FOREIGN NEW S. Paris was the scene of some partial riots on Dec. 19, originating in an order made by the city authorities for clearing one of the bridges of some street-merchants, whose trade was deemed prejudical to the settled shop-keepers. The malcontent hucksters were joined by some of the ever-ready students. Three thousand students of the Schools of Law and Medicine had assembled at the Place du Pantheon, and were proceeding with an address to General Ramorino, on his conduct in Poland, when they were stopped on the Pont Neuf by Commissaries of Police, supported by a large force of cavalry (Carbineers and Municipal Guards), and after some difficulty dispersed. In Paris, a very extraordinary Law-cause has been going forward, in which the family of Rohan are endeavouring to set aside the will of the old Duke of Bourbon, upon the grounds that there was an understanding between his mistress and Louis Philippe, to induce him to leave his immense estates to one of the Orleans family. ITALY. In Italy, discontent continues to prevail in the Papal States. The legations of Romagna having refused to wear the Pope's cockade, and to return to their allegiance, the French government has sent instructions to their Ambassador at Rome, to urge his Holiness to comply with the demands of his subjects. UNITED STATES. On the 5th Dec. the Congress opened, and on the 6th the President transmitted his annual message. It gives a most flattering account of the prosperity of the Republic. It states that every branch of industry is in the most flourishing conditionthat the farmer prospers, the manufacturer GENT. MAG. Suppl. CI. PART II. prospers, the merchant prospers, and, though last not least, the labourer prospers: in short the universal people are in a state of prosperity perhaps unparalleled in the history of the world. The finances of the country are equally satisfactory. Since the enacting of the tariff her revenue has increased from about 17 millions of dollars to 27 millions of dollars a year, and the national debt of the United States is on the eve of extinction. The revenue of the country for the present year (says the President) will not fall short of 27,700,000 dollars; and the expenditure for all objects, other than the public debt, will not exceed 14,700,000; the payment on account of the principal and interest of the debt, during the year, will exceed sixteen millions and a half of dollars; a greater sum than has been applied to that object, out of the revenue, in any year since the enlargement of the sinking fund, except the two years following immediately thereafter. The amount which will have been applied to the public debt from the 4th of March, 1829, to the 1st of January next, which is less than three years since the administration has been placed in my hands, will exceed forty millions of dollars. From the large importations of the present year, it may be safely estimated that the revenue which will be received into the Treasury from that source during the next year, with the aid of that received from the public lands, will considerably exceed the amount of the present year; and it is believed that with the means which the Government will have at its disposal, from various sources, which will be fully stated by the proper department, the whole of the public debt may be extinguished, either by redemption or purchase, within the four years of my administration. We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great nation, abounding in all the means of happiness and security, altogether free from debt. Adverting to Great Britain, the President observes :-The amicable relations which now subsisted between the United States and Great Britain, the increasing intercourse between their citizens, and the rapid former events naturally gave rise-concurred obliteration of unfriendly prejudices to which to present this as a fit period for renewing our endeavours to provide against the recurrence of causes of irritation, which, in the event of war between Great Britain and any other power would inevitably endanger our peace. The relations of the United States with the European Powers, as well as with those of South America, are stated to be in the most favourable position. CANADA. The English Government (says the Montreal Vindicator) has given the disposal of |