ter, but received no answer: I watched a long time, but no one returned; and my situation was no very pleasant one. I naturally returned through the passages, by which we had come; and, after some time, I succeeded in reaching the place, where, as I mentioned, were ma. ny other cavities. It was a complete Jabyrinth, as all these places bore a great resemblance to the one which we first entered. At last seeing one, which appeared to be the right, we proceeded through it a long way; but by this time our candles had diminished considerably; and I feared, that, if we did not get out soon, we should have to remain in the dark mean-time it would have been dangerous to put one out, to save the other, lest that which was left should, by some accident, be extinguished. At this time we were considerably advanced towards the outside, as we thought; but to our sorrow we found the end of that cavity, without any outlet. Convinced that we were mistaken in our conjecture, we quickly turned towards the place of the various entries, which we strove to regain. But we were then as perplexed as ever, and were both exhausted from the ascents and descents, which we had been obliged to go over. The Arab seated himself, but every moment of delay was dangerous. The only expedient was, to put a mark at the place out of which we had just come, and then examine the cavities in succession by putting also a mark at their entrance, so as to know where we had been. Unfortunately, our candles would not last through the whole; however, we began our operations.

"On the second attempt, when passing before a small aperture, I thought I heard the sound of something like the roaring of the sea at a distance. In consequence I entered this cavity; and as we advanced the noise increased, till I could distinctly hear a number of voices all at one time. At last, thank God, we

walked out; and, to my no small surprise, the first person I saw was my interpreter. How he came to be there I could not conjecture. He told me,that, in proceeding along the passage below, they came to a pit, which they did not see; that the Arab fell into it, and in falling put out both candles. It was then that he cried out, Mon Dieu ! je suis perdu!' as he thought he also should have fallen into the pit; but, on raising his head, he saw at a great distance a glimpse of day-light, towards which he advanced, and thus arrived at a small aperture. He then scraped away some loose sand and stones, to widen the place where he came out, and went to give the alarm to the Arabs, who were at the other entrance. ing all concerned for the man who fell to the bottom of the pit, it was their noise that I heard in the cave. The place by which my interpreter got out was instantly widened; and in the confusion the Arabs did not regard letting me see that they were acquainted with that entrance, and that it had lately been shut up. I was not long in detecting their scheme. The Arabs had intended to show me the sarcophagus, without letting me see the way by which it might be taken out, and then to stipulate a price for the secret. It was with this view they took me such a way round about.

Be

"I found that the sarcophagus was not in reality a hundred yards from the large entrance. The man was soon taken out of the well, but so much hurt in one of his hips, that he went lame ever after."

Waiting for a boat from Cairo to carry away the Memnon, Belzoni determined to extend his voyage in the interim, up the Nile. He accordingly set out, was at Esne on the 18th of August: on the 20th atEdfu : and on the 22d at Ombos,

WE

E have at present very little to add upon this subject in the shape of narrative; but even a few gleanings and some observations may be acceptable.

It would appear from the hardihood with which our countrymen bore the excessive cold to which they were exposed, that a good deal of exaggeration must belong to the accounts previously given of the sufferings endured in frozen regions. We never read of human beings existing at 55° below Zero, at more than 12° below the point at which mercury becomes solid; nor, indeed, at any thing like that temperature,without experiencing far greater inconveniences than seem to have attended our navigators. Captain Sabine's servant, to be sure, lost most of his fingers; and we understand, that another man also was deprived of all the end joints of one hand; ulcers on the face were the effects of incautions exposure; but we hear of no such fatal accidents as are common even in Russia. Our brave fellows stood the extremest weather with mufflers up to their noses and warm caps descending to their eyes and covering their ears; and after a little experience of the climate, they avoided casualties by very simple means. The person bitten was himself unconscious of the attack; but each "looking in his neighbour's face" as they went, warned his companion when he saw his nose grow white in consequence of the frost. Turning from the wind, and a few minutes gentle friction with the hand, (or, if very much injured, with snow,) invariably restored the circulation, and the tone of the part; and unless allowed to go too far, no pain whatever was felt. But when seriously affected, the agony of restoring the circulation was dreadful.

Beer, wine, and spirits became ice; beer was destroyed, but the wine and spirits were tolerably good when thawed.

The ship's timbers were of the temperature of the surrounding element, and

wherever the iron bolts and fastenings. ran through, they became studded with rosettes of transparent ice. The most comfortable sleep was obtained by converting the blankets into large bags drawn at the mouth. Into these the slumberer crept, and some comrade, who kept the watch, closed him in by pulling the strings.

The visit of the bear, which we have mentioned, was a grand event. He came smelling up to the Hecla, when Capt. Parry got out his gunsmen to dispatch him. Owing to some misconception of their directions they fired in platoon, and only wounded the shaggy monster, who retired growling and bloody. But the sport consisted in the general chase given by the crews of both vessels, who ran after him two or three miles, till he secured himself by crossing some ice. This chase was famous fun for our jolly tars,and enlivened their spirits when below Zero.

We omitted the notice of one very material fact in our last; a fact, which may be considered the most important of any ascertained, in so far as relates to the prosecution of future inquiries in these seas. Throughout the year, the wind blows almost constantly either from the North or from Northern points of the compass. And as soon as the sun begins to produce an effect, a radiation of heat from the land ensues, which by the height of summer, July and August, becomes very powerful and active. The result of these two operations of nature, is the loosening and release of the ice on the Northern coasts, and its consequent driving towards the South. Thus, instead of the southern sides of bays, straits, and seas, where navigators would plausibly look for channels of open water (under the supposition that they would be most likely to be found in the milder latitude), it actually happens, that the openings exist on the northern sides, where the radiation of heat, aided by the prevailing north winds, detaches the frozen mass froin

the shore, and blowing it off, leaves a passage between the ice and the land. On their return up Lancaster's Sound, the expedition reaped the benefit of this discovery, sailing on the north-side while the south was completely blocked up. Vessels hereafter sent to explore the arctic regions will, of course, be guided with reference to this principle; and thus, we doubt not, be enabled to reach more distant points, if not to achieve the famed North-West passage. It has been suggested, that as Cook could not enter Behring's Straits, no other navigators could issue thence; and therefore, that though the Polar Sea was attained from Baffin's Bay, that sea must be the limit of the utmost voyage. For the above reasons, we are inclined to question this theory, and especially as Hearne and Mackenzie both speak of open sea on the northern coast of America, to which, supposing the Prince Regent's Inlet of Parry to lead, there will then be no impediment to a passage into the Pacific except in Behring's Straits themselves; and we see no reason for thinking that these, following the same rules as Lancaster's Sound, may not be as practicable as that Sound, has been ascertained to be, tho' till now held to be impassible.

We have not many other particulars to state. Captain Parry, when out from the ships for three weeks, went entirely across Melville Island, and beheld the sea on the other side. It is evident,that the icy ocean here contains a mighty archipelago of islands, of which Greenland is probably the greatest. When travelling on land, our gallant countrymen hunted, and rested in tents like those of hucksters at a village fair. They were formed of boarding pikes, &c. and covered with sails and blankets. Sometimes they tried to eat the produce of their guns; but the foxes were very disgusting, and the musk-ox resembled the toughest beef stewed in a musk sauce. The cause of the foxes being so much more distasteful than we have been told they are about Spitzbergen is, we presume, the want of that abundance of food from the seal, morse, &c. which their species find in the latter country.

During their perhiemation, the Aurora Borealis was but once or twice slightly visible to the voyagers towards the north. Towards the south it was more vivid; but about the latitude of 60°, seems to be the seat of this phenomenon; and its appearance is not only much more brilliant from Newfoundland, but from the northern Scottish Isles, than from the Arctic Circle. Only one flash of lightning was obser ved by our sailors.

When the fine weather set in, several of the officers employed themselves in attempting to garden. Forcing under mats, as well as growing in the free air, was tried. One succeeded in getting peas to shoot up 8 or 10 inches; and these green stalks were the only green peas they devoured as vegetables. Raddishes got to the second leaf on the soil of Melville Island. Onions and leeks refused to grow. In the ships small sallad was produced for invalids; happily, the scurvy never got the ascendancy.

Other officers were engaged in erecting monuments upon the heights to commemorate the extraordinary circumstances of the expedition. Huge cairns, by these means, crown the most obvious hills, and remain the rude but proud monuments of British daring, with inscriptions to tell the date, and inclosing bottles, in which the principal events of the voyage are written and sealed up.

It was on their way home, when far down Davis's Straits, that Capt. Parry fell in with two families of Esquimaux, of whose residence he was apprised by a whaler. He accordingly visited them, and they in turn visited the ships. They betrayed none of the terror which filled the tribe seen by Captain Ross; but accepted the beads and knives presented to them with inconceivable joy. Indeed their raptures were so excessive, that it was with the utmost difficulty one of them could be made to sit still while his portrait was sketched. He was continually starting and jumping up, shouting augh! augh! and playing off the most violent contortions of joy; which were participated by his comrades, when they witnessed the picture.

Several of the officers accompanied Captain Parry to their huts, where they saw their women and children. The former, instructed by their husbands, who had learnt it from the sailors on their visit to the ships the day before, ran out and shook hands with the strangers. There was one pretty looking girl of 12 or 13 years of age. The children were horribly frightened, and roared lustily in spite of beads and toys. The whole number of natives was about twenty. They had probably seen or heard of Europeans before. No arms were ob

served among them; but one of the little boys had a miniature bow and arrow, which showed their acquaintance with this weapon. The skins of the animals they had killed seemed to be pierced with arrows as well as spears.

Taking leave of them the first week in September, the expedition steered homeward.

We hear that a vessel fit for the service has already gone into dock, to be made ready for another voyage of discovery next season.

Sir,

Ν

IN my last letter I pointed out a few of the distinguishing marks by which my followers will be able, in future, to trace in one another's features and conduct, their mutual relation to me, from their subserviency to the purposes I am supposed to have in view. This I did from no motives of vanity, (though few princes can boast of subjects so numerous as those who own my sway) as I am aware that the multitude of my disciples is best increased by the influence of silent unostentatious example. But in the present state of society, I have no fear that either reason or ridicule will materially lessen the number of those who act on my principles; and with just confidence in their leader, they may bid defiance to all that reason can urge, ridicule expose, or religion threat

by what countless millions, I am adored as a Divinity. Among the followers of Mahomet, and even in Europe, how few are there who conscientiously follow the tenets of the Koran, or the infinitely more important doctrines of the Bible! How few in comparison of those who bow their heads at my diversified shrines. Although no temples rise in your country in honour of my name, yet even there, never was Divinity so extensively worshipped; and the number of my followers in the very city of London, has proved to a certainty that the essentials of my worship may be continued, from age to age, without the formality of legal establishment, or the sanction of a bench of bishops. Wherever human habitations exist, I am venerated and adored in a thousand forms. From India to Iceland,-from America to Europe-my votaries appear in numbers which almost darken conception. My rites are so simple, the duties I exact so accommodating to all that man fancies of pleasure, that in my system there is no need for bridles upon conduct nor restraints upon character. The European worships me in his exclusive pursuit of selfish and temporary interests; and the Indian "sees me in the whirlwind," and recognises me in the storm. How many myriads daily approach me in the temples of Vanity, bow down be

fore me at the altar of Ambition, and Confess my power in the receptacles for the enjoyment of unballowed Pleasure! By millions I am figured and revered as the goddess of Fortune; sought eagerly by crowds in the shape of Fame; and in all the courts of law in the world, I am pictured with balances under the form of Justice.

It is very well known that I am the patron of all those who hold opinions which tend to represent man as an automaton, and the world as a machine; but it is not equally notorious, that I give the chief impulse to those bodies, so numerous in every country, who substitute by my means, their own morbid feelings for the simple precepts of what you call your Sacred Writings. I to them make melancholy and austerity appear the indubitable marks of devotion; animal feelings the substitute for reason; and the dreams of a distempered imagination the test of infallible truth. I prompt the spiritual delirium of those who assert that they are buffeted by me; and I dictate all those discourses which teach the doctrine (my own doctrine certainly) that faith and feeling are superior to reason and revelation. In one word, bigotry and intolerance are mine, whether they proceed from the establishment that raises the cry of "no popery," or the poor uneducated and blinded catholic, who trusts to the vicegerent of St. Peter for admission into the eternal happiness of an immortal spirit.

But to return from this digression, which may make many of my followers think I am turned monk, or methodist, I may observe that one of my chief amusements is to preside over the ever varying fashions of female attire, I taught the fairest part of your creation, when excess had tarnished the roses of their cheeks, to substitute, for the colour of health, artificial roses; for be it known, that rouge was first invented by me, to serve a few particular friends, who were anxious to retain the semblance of health and modesty, when the substance had departed from their cheeks for ever. I, in concert with a few devoted admirers, leaders of the

fashions of Paris and London, shortened the petticoat, till it had almost ceased to afford the shade of a fig-leaf; and it was I (with the best intentions in the world you may presume) who first binted, in an assembly of ladies, all my special acquaintances, that nature never meant their lovely necks and bosoms, or even any part of their bodies, to be concealed by unnecessary envelopes of silk, muslin, or lace; and I succeeded in convincing them, and the thousands who have since followed their example, that they might as well shroud their faces in handkerchiefs, as conceal a part of their form upon which nature had lavished so much beauty. So kindly were my hints taken, that, had it not been for the affected modesty of the other sex, and some ill-directed effusions of popular feeling, the ladies might, in spite of the climate, have carried their dress, or rather their undress, the length of complete nudity:

Needs not the foreign aid of ornament,
But is when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most."

In concert with a fashionable French dress maker, I invented the gown with artificial bosoms, for ladies who are deficient in these becoming prominences;

gave the hint for cushions to assist the shape, for those who required bulk in a lower direction :-and invented a pad which, had it been generally adopted, would have made all the ladies in civilized Europe look as "ladies wish to be who love their lords." In short, all those pieces of dress which make the fair seem other than they really are, and are thus intended to deceive, are the fruit of my ingenuity, and meant to forward my purposes; and I hope you do not think it illogical in me to conclude, that those who adopt the deception assist me in my views. A plume of feathers at a midnight ball has waved more than one pretty lady into my hands; and the anxiety to display a new bonnet, spencer, or pelisse, has thrown thousands of the fair into my arms.

inventor of all those delightful and I need scarcely say that I am the