expedition by Пyan (Count Julian) the Christian, who had conceived some animosity towards Roderic, king of Andalusia. The number of troops engaged in this first expedition amounted only to one hundred horsemen and four hundred foot. They crossed the Strait in four vessels, landed on the opposite shore in the month of Ramadan of the year ninetyone, (July, A.D. 710,) overran the country, and returned loaded with spoil. "No sooner was Musa, the governor of Africa, apprised of the success of this first expedition, which, as we have already observed, took place in the month of Ramadan of the year ninety-one, than he appointed his freedman, Tarik, to command another expedition against Andalusia, and sent him over in company with Ilyan, king of Ceuta. The landing of Tarif and Tarik has been differently related; but, as it is our intention to recount in detail every one of these events, and we shall have therefore many opportunities of returning to the subject, we shall now proceed to examine the causes which are generally believed to have given rise to the conquest." *

We observe that, in the passage we have been quoting, the historian Al-Makkari alludes to a cause hinted at already in a previous paper, namely, the supposed insult offered to Count Julian's daughter by Roderic, king of the Goths. The appointment of Musa to the government of Africa is likewise regarded by our chronicler as having determined the conquest of Spain; finally, he gives as another cause a wonderful circumstance so truly in accordance with what we know of Arabic fiction that we cannot resist the temptation to insert it here.

"In times of old the Greek kings who reigned in Andalusia were terribly afraid of an invasion on the part of the Berbers. To avoid this they constructed different spells, and amongst others, one which they put inside a marble urn, and placed in a palace at Toledo: in order to insure its custody and preservation, they placed a padlock on the gate of the palace, leaving instructions for every succeeding king to do the same. This injunction having been faithfully complied with, it came to pass that after the lapse of a great many years, twenty-seven padlocks were appended to the gate of the building,—that number of kings having reigned in Andalusia, each of whom had put his padlock as ordained. Some time previous to the invasion of the Arabs, which, as is well known, was the cause of the overthrow of the Gothic dynasty, and of the entire conquest of Andalusia, a king of the Goths, Roderic by name, ascended the throne. Now this king, being young and fond of adventure, once assembled his viziers, great officers of the State, and members of his council, and spoke to them thus: 'I have been thinking for a long time about this house with its seven-and-twenty padlocks, and I am determined to have it opened, that I may see what it contains, for I am sure it is a mere jest.' 'It may be so, O King,' answered one of the viziers, 'but honesty, prudence, and policy demand that thou shouldst not do it; and that, following the example of thy father, of thy grandfather, and of thy ancestors,-none of whom ever wished to dive into this mystery, thou shouldst add a new padlock to the gate.' When the vizier had done speaking, Roderic replied: 'No, I am led by an irre

• Al-Makkari, vol. i., pp. 250, 251.

VOL. XIX.-FIFTH SERIES.

L

sistible impulse, and nothing shall make me change my resolution. I have an ardent wish to penetrate this mystery, and my curiosity must be satisfied.' 'O King,' answered the vizier, if thou doest it under a belief that treasures are concealed in it, let us hear thy estimation of them, and we will collect the sum among ourselves, and deposit it in thy royal treasure, rather than see ourselves and thee exposed to frightful calamities and misery.' But Roderic being a man of undaunted spirit, stout of heart, and strong of determination, was not easily persuaded. He remained deaf to the entreaties of his counsellors, and proceeded immediately towards the palace, and when he arrived at the gate which, as we have already observed, was furnished with several locks, each of them having its key hung to it, the gate was thrown open, and nothing else was to be seen but a large table made of gold and silver, and set with precious stones, upon which was to be read the following inscription: This is the table of Suleyman, son of Doud, (upon whom be peace!)' Another object, besides the table, was to be seen in another apartment,-provided also with a very strong padlock, which being removed allowed Roderic to look into it,—an urn, and inside it a roll of parchment, and a picture representing in the brightest colours several horsemen, looking like Arabs, dressed in skins of animals, and having, instead of turbans, locks of coarse hair; they were mounted on fleet Arabian steeds, bright scimitars hung by their sides, and their right hands were armed with spears. Roderic ordered his attendants to unroll the parchment, when, lo! what did he see but the following inscription written in large letters upon it: Whenever this asylum is violated, and the spell contained in this urn broken, the people painted on this urn shall invade Andalusia, overthrow the throne of its kings, and subdue the whole country.' They say that when Roderic read this fatal prognostic he repented of what he had done, and was impressed with a strong belief of his impending ruin." (Al-Makkari, vol. i.)

This is, we repeat, quite worthy of a place in the "Thousand and One Nights' Entertainments;" but it would be wrong to suppose that either the story of the twenty-seven padlocks or others of the same kind which we find in the ancient Spanish chronicles are to be ascribed to the fantastic minds of the Arabs. As the English translator of Al-Makkari observes, it was in the midst of populous cities like Toledo, Cordova, and Seville, and among the motley elements which formed their populations, -Jews, Mozarabs, and Moors,-that these and similar fables were forged, and thus adopted by the Arabs who, as usual, imparted to them an eastern colouring.

Before passing on in another paper to details of a more authentic character, we may notice, with reference to the designation Greeks here employed, that the author applies it to the imperial rulers in whose hands were still some of the fortresses and ports lining the northern shores of Africa. The word Rum, here translated Greeks, was first used to designate the Romans of the lower empire, and the people living in its dependencies. It became in time a synonym for Christians, owing to the Greeks generally professing Christianity.

(To be continued.)

147

II.

THE Christmas book for the season that has recently passed has unquestionably been Mr. Stanley's story, entitled, "How I found Livingstone." There are many indications of haste in the style and the matter which a second edition would probably remove. But it is impossible to withstand the cheery, enthusiastic spirit of the enterprising adventurer, who has proved himself no unworthy representative of our "go-ahead" cousins across the water. It is not the first time that he has distinguished himself in his character of "Travelling Correspondent of the New York Herald," as he styles himself on the title-page of his volume. He was the American journalist who in the Abyssinian war first succeeded in conveying intelligence to the western world of the tyrant Theodore's defeat and death; and now a second time he has fairly and honourably outstripped us in the race. Englishmen have laurels enough cheerfully to yield the palm in these instances to the stranger, whose nationality and language may really be called their own. If it is an American that found Livingstone, the romantic achievement is the highest compliment which our Transatlantic friends could pay to the indomitable tenacity of our own illustrious explorer, who still perseveres in the perilous researches of which Mr. Stanley has brought us news. The hardships which the latter suffered in order to accomplish thus much, bring out into strongest relief the more protracted toils and dangers of the former. It is a pleasant picture which spreads itself before us in this book-the English and American flags flying in amicable concord on the surface of the remote inland African lake Tanganyika, on the north-east shore of which Ujiji stands, where the travellers met. May the two nations, so intimately related to one another, know no worse rivalry than that of common adventure in the interests of science, humanity, and religion! Never was the gold medal of the British Royal Geographical Society more worthily won than by Mr. Stanley; who not unreasonably expected it, but characteristically tells us so, and expresses his pleasure at receiving it.

An unimportant controversy has, by the by, arisen out of the allegation that the discoverer of Livingstone is Welsh by birth. It may possibly interest some of our readers if we transcribe Mr. Stanley's sole allusion to the subject. He is depicting his feelings when the dreaded fever prostrates him for a week at Unyanyembe, his half-way station to Ujiji. After referring to the reminiscences which at such seasons crowd upon the over-excited brain, he says: "The loveliest feature of all to me was the form of a noble and true man, who called me son. Of my life in the great pine forests of Arkansas, and in Missouri, I retained the most vivid impressions. The dreaming days I passed under the sighing pines on the Ouachita's shores; the new clearing, the block-house, our faithful black servant, the forest deer, and the exuberant life I led, were all well remembered. And I remembered how one day, after we had come to live near the Mississippi, I floated down, down, hundreds of miles, with a wild fraternity of knurly giants, the boatmen of the Mississippi, and

how a dear old man welcomed me back, as if from the grave. I remembered also my travels on foot through sunny Spain and France, with numberless adventures in Asia Minor, among Kurdish nomads. I remembered the battle-fields of America, and the stormy scenes of rampant war. I remembered gold mines, and broad prairies, Indian councils, and much experience in the new western lands. I remembered the shock it gave me to hear, after my return from a barbarous country, of the calamity that had overtaken the fond man whom I called father, and the hot, fitful life." (P. 274.) That is all: Mr. Stanley is welcome to the reserve with which he treats what he chooses to call an idle curiosity. The service which he has rendered in discovering and relieving Livingstone has been done to humanity at large.

Mr. Stanley's book abounds with valuable information as to the countries which he has traversed, and their inhabitants. We shall, we think, best minister to the pleasure of those who have not the opportunity of reading his pages, if, in the present paper, we interweave as many of these as possible with a rapid survey of his memorable expedition. One cannot too much admire the energy, perseverance, and resource, with that mixture of the enthusiastic and the practical, which so eminently fitted him for his enterprise. The shrewd matter-of-fact audacity of the race which is now engaged in the ceaseless development of the marvellous resources of the western continent, is strikingly illustrated throughout the volume from which we quote. For example, on page 681, he says: "With a sufficient supply of money, all Africa can be explored easily; not only explored, but conquered and civilized; not only civilized, but intersected by railroads from one end to the other, through and through." So, again, on page 122, he says: "Casting a retrospective glance away from Simbamwenni to distant Bagamoyo on the coast, I know of one State in our country that might be very well compared to this tract in fertility, in physical contour, in its forests and bits of level prairie enclosed by tall woods, in its cones, in its rigid and grand undulations, verdureclad, and that is Missouri. The elevation of Simbamwenni cannot be much over one thousand feet above the level, the rise of the land having been gradual. It being the rainy season, about which so many ominous statements were doled out to us by those ignorant of the country, we naturally saw it under its worst aspect; but even in this adverse phase of it, with all its depth of black mud, its excessive dew, its dripping and chill grass, its density of rank jungle, and its crouching fevers, I look back upon the scene with pleasure, for the wealth and prosperity it promises to some civilized nation, which in some future time will come and take possession of it. A railroad from Bagamoyo to Simbamwenni might be constructed with as much ease and rapidity as, and at far less cost than, the Union Pacific Railway, whose rapid strides towards completion the world heard of and admired. A residence in this part of Africa, after a thorough system of drainage had been carried out, would not be attended with any more discomfort than generally follows upon the occupation of new land." And, once more, on page 112, he says: "By 8.30 A. M. we were ascending the southern face of the Kira Peak. When we had gained the height of two hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country, we were gratified with a magnificent view of a land whose soil knows no Sabbath, which, had Professor Malthus himself

but seen, he had never penned that foolish pamphlet of his about legislating for the prevention of early marriages, and raved like Adversity Hume' about over-crowded populations, and certain ruin to England. If there are too many English-speaking people in any one place, I have as much faith in them as the far-seeing editor of Noctes Ambrosianæ ' had in Brother Jonathan,' and know that their stout elbows will make room somewhere, let the weal or woe of those who withstand them light where it may. There are plenty of Hengists and Horsas, Captain John Smiths, and Pilgrim Fathers among the Anglo-Saxon race yet, and when America is filled up with their descendants, who shall say that Africa, and especially this glorious part of it, shall not be their next resting-place?"

Our author refers, at the outset of his journey, to the entire absence of information as to the necessities of African travel; and then, with thorough good temper, sets to work to describe in detail his own pursuit of the requisite knowledge under all the attendant difficulties, in order that, he adds, with characteristic faith in the future, "other travellers coming after me may have the benefit of my experience." How important such assistance is may be judged from two facts, mentioned by Mr. Stanley. Burton and Speke were obliged to throw away as worthless, in one part of Africa, several hundred fundo of beads, which had of course to be carried thither at great expense, and would have been of much value elsewhere. So also, on page 33, the American traveller says: "One thing amongst others my predecessors omitted to inform men bound for Africa, which is of importance, and that is, that no traveller should ever think of coming to Zanzibar with his money in any other shape than gold coin. Letters of credit, circular notes, and such civilized things I have found to be a century a-head of Zanzibar people. Twenty and twenty-five cents deducted out of every dollar I drew on paper is one of the unpleasant, if not unpleasantest, things I have committed to lasting memory." The second chapter, accordingly, of Mr. Stanley's book on the "Organization of the Expedition" is absolutely invaluable for the would-be traveller in Eastern Africa; and the same practical quality characterizes the entire volume. A carefully-tabulated horal itinerary heads each successive chapter from Bagamoyo on the coast, to Ujiji, where the weary march ended; so that, for example, all coming generations may know that from Kisokweh to Chunyo there is a walking distance of one hour and thirty minutes, and may be equally well informed as to the mutual relations of any other similarly unknown places on the route. It needs all the descriptive powers of the writer, which are of no mean order, to counteract the feeling which this exactness of statement tends to produce of something commonplace and easy in the journey; during which, nevertheless, in the course of thirteen months, he suffered the attacks of no less than twenty-three fevers. The same period was likewise fatal to sixteen natives of his company, as well as to Shaw and Farquhar, the two dissipated Europeans, who proved his greatest trouble. No account of this remarkable expedition will ever be complete without the already oft-quoted extract in which its leader says, "I must confess I owe my life, first, to the mercy of God; secondly, to the enthusiasm for my work, which animated me from the beginning to the end;