toi, Taboorowa, Woakoo, Atooi, Neeheeneow, Orehowa, Morotinne, and Takoora; all inhabited except the last two. They were discovered by Captain Cook in 1777 and 1778. Goats, and European seeds, were left by the English at their departure the first time; but the possession of the goats soon gave rise to a contest between two districts, in which the breed was entirely destroyed. The inhabitants are undoubtedly of the same race as those that possess the islands south of the equator; and in their person and manner, approach nearer to the New Zealanders than to their less distant neighbours, either of the Society or Friendly Islands. Tattooing the body is practised by the whole of them. As these islands are not united under one government, wars are frequent among them. The same system of subordination prevails here as at the other islands, the same absolute authority on the part of the chiefs, and the same unresisting submission on the part of the people. The government is monarchial, and hereditary.

Owyhee, the eastermost and largest of these islands, was discovered by Captain Cook, on the 30th November, 1778, on his return from his voyage northward. Ilaving circumnavigated the island, and anchored in a bay, called Karakakooa, he found great alteration in the conduct of the natives, and a general disposition to theft. Still no hostilities were commenced, honours were paid the commander, and on going ashore, he was received with ceremonies little short of adoration. A vast quantity of hogs, and other provisions, were procured for the ships; and on the 4th of February, 1789, they left the island, not without most magnificent presents from the chiefs, such as they had never received in any part of the world. Unluckily, they encountered a storm on the 6th and 7th of the same month, during which the Resolution sprung the head of her foremast in such a manner, that they were obliged to return to Karakakooa bay to have it repaired. On the 13th, one of the natives being detected in stealing the tongs from the armourer's forge in the Discovery, was dismissed with a pretty severe flogging: in the afternoon of the same day, another having snatched up the tongs and a chisel, jumped overboard with them, and swam for the shore, and having got on board of a canoe, escaped. These tools were soon after returned, through the means of Pareah, a chief. But Captain Cook was not satisfied with the recovery of the stolen goods; he insisted upon having the thief, or the canoe which carried him, by way of reprisal. This brought on hostilities. The Indians attacked the sailors with stones, and drove them to their boats. And although the difference appeared to be presently adjusted, the jealousy of the natives subsequently broke forth in a furious assault, on an attempt to induce the King of the Islands to go on board one of the ships. On this occasion, Sunday, 14th February, 1779, Captain Cook was killed.

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ICELAND.

THIS is a large island in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, between the 63rd and 67th degrees of north latitude, and between the 16th and 23rd degrees of west longitude from London. It is of a very irregular shape, and contains about fifty-six thousand inhabitants. At what time the island was first peopled is uncertain. The Icelandic chronicles go no farther back than the arrival of the Norwegians, about the year 861, when Naddodr, a pirate, was driven on the coast. In 864, Garder Suafarson, a Swede, encouraged by the account given by Naddodr, went in search of it, sailed round it, and gave it the name of Gardersholmer, or Garder's Island. Having remained in Iceland during the winter, he returned in the

spring to Norway, where he described the new-discovered island as a pleasant, well-wooded country. This excited a desire in Floke, another Swede, reputed the best navigator of his time, to undertake a voyage thither. Floke staid the whole winter in the island, and, because he found great quantities of floating ice on the north side, he called it Iceland, which name it has ever since retained.

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In 874, Ingolfr, and his friend Liefr, established a colony, and in sixty years the whole island was inhabited. The tyranny of Harold, king of Norway, contributed not a little to the population of Iceland. Besides the Norwegians, new colonies arrived from different nations. In 928 they chose a chief; but his powers were inconsiderable, and the Icelanders began to wage war against each other. They remained, however free from a foreign yoke till 1261, when they became subject to the Norwegians. Afterwards Iceland, together with Norway, became subject to Denmark. Iceland is famous for the volcanoes with which it abounds, appearing, indeed, to owe its existence to submarine volcanic agency, and to have been upheaved at intervals from the bottom of the sea. Tracts of lava traverse the island and almost in every direction; besides which the country abounds with other mineral masses indicative of an igneous origin. The burning mountains, so dreadful in their effect, seldom begin to throw out fire without giving warning. A subterraneous noise precedes the eruption for several days, with a roaring and crackling in the place from whence the fire is about to burst forth. The immediate sign is the bursting of the mass of ice, or snow, which covers the mountain, with a dreadful noise. The flames then issue forth, and stones, ashes, &c. are thrown out to vast distances. Egbert Olassen relates, that in the eruption of Kattle-gia, in 1755, a stone weighing two hundred and ninety pounds was thrown to the distance of twenty-four English miles.

Besides more than thirty volcanic mountains, there exists an immense number of small cones and craters, from which streams of melted substances have been poured forth over the surrounding regions. Twenty-three eruptions of Hecla are recorded since the occupation of the island by Europeans; the first of which occurred in 1004. It will be sufficient to give an account of that which happened in 1783, and which, from its violence, seems to have been unparalleled in history. Its first signs were observed on the first of June, by a trembling of the earth in the western part of the province of Skapterfiall; it increased gradually till the eleventh, and became at last so great, that the inhabitants quitted their houses and lay at night in tents on the ground. A continual smoke, or steam, was perceived rising out of the earth in the northern and uninhabited parts of the country. Three fire spouts, as they were called, broke out in different places; one in Ulfarsdal, a little to the east of the river Skapta; the other two were a little to the westward of the river Ilverfisfliot. The three fire spouts, or streams of lava, united in one after having risen a considerable height in the air, arrived at last at such an amazing altitude as to be seen at the distance of upwards of two hundred miles; the whole country, for double that distance, being enveloped in the densest smoke and steam, while the atmosphere was filled with sand, brimstone, and ashes, in such a manner as to occasion continual darkness. Considerable damage was done by the pumice-stone, which fell red-hot in great quantities. Along with these, a tenacious substa ce, like pitch, fell in abundance. This shower having continued for three days, the fire became very visible, and at last arrived at the amazing height already mentioned. Sometimes it appeared in a continual stream, at others in flashes, with a perpetual noise like thunder, which lasted the whole summer. The obscurity occasioned by this extraordinary eruption, seems to have reached as far as Great Britain; for, during the whole summer of 183, a haze or dullness appeared to darken the atmosphere. The whole ex

tent of ground covered by the lava, was computed to be ninety miles long, by forty-two in breadth; the depth of the lava being from sixteen to twenty fathoms. Twelve rivers were dried up, twenty-one villages were destroyed, and two hundred and twenty-four persons lost their lives After this eruption, two new islands were thrown up in the sea; one of about three miles in circumference, and about a mile in height, at the distance of a hundred miles south-west from Iceland, in one hundred fathoms water. The other lay to the north-west, between Iceland and Greenland. Both these islands subsequently disappeared.

Iceland abounds also with hot and boiling springs, called geysers, some of which throw the water into the air to the surprising height of from two hundred to three hundred feet. These are, indeed, the most remarkable phenomena in Iceland. The great geyser, or principal fountain of this kind, rises from a tube or funnel, seventy-eight feet in perpendicular depth, and from eight to ten feet in diameter at the bottom, but gradually widening till it terminates in a capacious basin. The jets take place at intervals of about six hours; and when the water, in a violent state of ebulition, begins to rise and fill the basin, subterraneous noises, like the distant roar of cannon, may be heard, the earth is slightly shaken, and the agitation increases, till at length a column of water is suddenly thrown up, to a vast height, as already stated. After playing for a time like an immense artificial fountain, a column of steam rushes up with great violence, and a thundering noise terminates the eruption. All the hot waters have an incrusting quality; in some places they taste of sulphur, in others not, but when drank as soon as cold, they taste like common boiled water. This island is committed to a governor, who resides at Bassa-stadr; he has under him a bailiff, two laymen, a sheriff, and twenty-two sysselmen, or magistrates, who superintend small districts; and almost everything is decided according to the laws of Denmark, to whom it belongs.

At a period when most parts of continental Europe were in a state of rude ignorance, the inhabitants of this remote island were well acquainted with poetry and history. The most flourishing period of Icelandic literature appears to have been from the twelfth to the end of the thirteenth century; but even during the last three centuries, Iceland has produced several eminently learned men. At present there is no want of disposition on the part of the people to apply to literature, but they wisely attend more to solid branches of learning than to the lays and legends of their ancient sages. Domestic education is universal; there are few among them who cannot read and write, and many among the better class would be distinguished by their taste and learning in the most cultivated society.

THE HISTORY OF AMERICA.

As vast continent comprises nearly one half of the habitable globe. it is supposed by some who have given the matter a particular investigation, to have been partially known to the ancients; but, be that as it may, the glory of its discovery in modern history belongs to Christoval Colon, a native of the republic of Genoa, better known to us as Christopher Columbus. This enterprising man, after many fruitless attempts to obtain assistance to enable him to prosecute his elaborate speculations in geography, discovered the island of St. Salvador, Oct. 12th, 1492; and six years afterwards he reached the main continent at the mouth of the Qrinoco, August 1st, 1498.

The discovery of the north continent of America belongs to the family of the Cabots, Venetian by birth, but who were residing in Bristol. The father and three sons set out in the year 1497, stimulated by the fame of Columbus, and under the patronage of Henry VII. of England. They discovered several islands, and coasted the whole of the main-land of the northern continent down to the Floridas. Strange as it may appear, the honour of giving a name to these immense discoveries, was gained by Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine, who accompanied Alonzo de Ojeda, as pilot, and on returning published the first account of the several countries; from which circumstance the newly-discovered world was called America, The BRAZILIAN coast was first approached by Alvarez de Cabral, a Portuguese admiral, in 1500; and FLORIDA by Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard, in 1512. In the eastern part of the peninsula, called YUCATAN, the natives were found clothed in cotton garments, and exhibiting other marks of civilization, by Hernandez Cordova, A. D. 1517. The expedition which followed this discovery led to the conquest of MEXICO,

The spirit of discovery was now active, and all the great European courts emulated one another in affording facilities to carry into effect the enterprising efforts of numerous able and adventurous navigators, who successively prosecuted the attempt, and immortalized their names by the successes which they gained. The history of the principal colonies and states which arose from these discoveries will be given in due

course.

America is divided into NORTH and SOUTH. The principal colonies of the first were made by England and France; those of the South by Spain and Portugal. The distinguishing spirit of the respective mother countries seems to have been infused into the infant states; for while the southern division is rent by crude aspirants after liberty, the greater part of North America stands conspicuous-a mighty nation, growing in all the essentials of greatness, and already worthy to rival the leading European states. The vigour of the UNITED STATES is that of youth; while the strength of the European dynasties assimilates very closely to the condition of Age-some of them strong, it is true, in their gray hairs, but others effete, and tottering to decay.

BRITISH POSSESSIONS.

CANADA.

THIS is the most important province possessed by Great Britain in North America. Its history is closely interwoven with that of the United States, with the people of which it has been, both under its original and present masters, in almost constant collision. Founded by the French, in 1608, the colonists were for many years in danger of being overwhelmed by the native Indians, with whom at length they entered into treaties, which enabled them to annoy very materially the neighbouring states under the British jurisdiction. Twenty years after the founding of Quebec, the right of trading with Canada was granted exclusively to a company of French merchants, who, in the following years, were dispossessed of Quebec by Sir David Keith. This conquest remained in the hands of the British til it was ceded at the treaty of St. Germaine.

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In 1663 the West India Company obtained the exclusive right of com merce for forty years, and Canada for thirty years enjoyed tranquillity, and its concomitant, prosperity; which were interrupted by a bold but unsuccessful expedition of the people of New England, consisting of one thousand two hundred or one thousand three hundred men under the command of Sir William Phipps. This attempt was repeated about seventeen years afterwards (1711), on a larger scale, but shared the same result, al though four thousand veteran British troops were employed.

Little occurs in the affairs of Canada deserving notice, till the breaking out of the continental war, in 1756, when Canada became the theatre of military scenes, which ended, three years afterwards, in the conquest of it by the British. The English general, Wolfe, though defeated in his first operations by the French, at length, after an action sustained by equal gallantry on both sides, obtained possession of Quebec. In this exploit the opposing generals, Montcalm and Wolfe, are equally renowned for spirit and courage; one did not survive the mortification of defeatthe other only lived to hear the shouts of victory. This conquest was ratified to the English by the treaty of 1763. Since that period it long enjoyed comparative peace; for with the exception of one unsuccessful expedition sent against it during the revolutionary war, under General Montgomery, who was killed, Canada was exempt from military operations till the last American war, when it became the theatre of several bloody frays, but resisted, by means of the British troops, the reiterated attacks of the Americans. Canada is now rising in importance. The facility of commerce is increased, and it may be hoped that this colony will be a valuable acquisition to the British crown

Sir Charles Metcalfe, the present governor, who was appointed on the death of Sir Charles Bagot, in 1843, is a man of great experience and ability. "From the first moment of his assumption of the vice-regal of fice," says the Montreal Gazette, "Sir Charles Metcalfe, who had been used to represent the crown of England with honour and success, in other parts of the globe, found himself, and most naturally so, in a state of antagonism, as they very correctly phrase it, with those who were converting Canada into a democracy, and nullifying the royal power. He found the whole power of the provinces united and centralized by the act of Lord Sydenham, and the royal and paternal influence abdicated by that of Sir Charles Bagot. He found a democracy concentrated in one cham ber and ruled by one cabal; claiming the right despotically to introduc