were less elevated than those of Albany, and the country consisted of extensive flats, less broken and better watered; there were also forests of the finest timber rising from the plains to the very summits of the hills. The country, moreover, increased in beauty and apparent fertility the further the expedition advanced. The adaptation of the soil for agricultural pursuits was not, however, the only circumstance to be considered in selecting an eligible spot for the foundation of a British colony. It was likewise of great importance to secure, as far as possible, the best facilities for the encouragement of foreign commerce and internal navigation. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the harbours and rivers on the eastern coast of Africa to pronounce with any certainty, whether a situation could have been found, for the colonists now settled at Albany, preferable, in this particular, to their present district; but we certainly think that the expedition which has been subsequently fitted out at the Cape to survey the coast ought to have preceded so serious an event as the establishment of a colony; for unquestionably the harbours and rivers of Albany are by no means of the best description. The principal rivers are the Great Fish, the Kawie, and the Boschemans, with their various subsidiary but inconsiderable streams. The mouths of these rivers are much obstructed by bars of sand, so as to render navigation particularly dangerous and uncertain. The entrance of the Kawie river is most free from these obstructions, but is nevertheless so very shallow, as only to admit vessels of small burthen. In common with the other rivers, the navigation of the Kawie must always be inconvenient from its shifting sands, unless the infant and distressed colonists should be able to incur the expense of employing artificial means to improve the entrance. The basin, however, within the bar, when rendered accessible, Asiatic Journ.-No. 102. will be found to be excellent, and is, moreover (with the exception of the Knysua), the only sheltered port on a line of coast of upwards of 500 miles. None of these rivers are navigable, even for boats and barges, for more than twelve miles from their estuaries, for above that distance from the sea they can no longer be called streams, being nothing more than a series of large pools with subterraneous communication. The want of good rivers and harbours is not confined to our settlement at Albany, for the neighbouring district of Uitenhaagen is equally unfortunate in this respect. The Zwarlkops is the only river that is navigable in that quarter, and Algoa Bay affords a very exposed and dangerous roadstead. The shores of this bay are wild and forbidding, and are studded with numerous rocks either just emerging from the waves or treacherously hidden beneath them. Owing to this cause, and the heavy roll of the sea from the S.E., the surf is very great, though not so tremendous as ill-fame has reported it. The landing-place is on an open and sandy beach, very difficult of access for want of a pier; and the burial ground close to the beach exhibits a melancholy picture of its dangers in the numerous records it contains of those who have met with a premature death, and have been cast on shore by the surf. We shall conclude the present article with simply observing, that it is only to be considered as an introduction to more interesting details; and that in pointing out at the commencement a few of the most important of the physical difficulties to be encountered by the settlers, it has been our chief object to exhibit ultimately in a more striking manner the obstacles that have been overcome by enterprize and industry. Sacred Poetry. THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. By the Right Rev. Reginald Heber, Lord Bishop of Calcutta. WITH heat o'erlabour'd and the length of way "Mark, Israel, mark!"-On that strange sight intent, And busy faction's undistinguish'd hum, And female shrieks arose," they come, they come!" From distant Cush they troop'd, a warrior train, Deck'd in Behemoth's spoils, the tall Shaugalla strode, Old Thebes hath pour'd through all her hundred gates, Where, flush'd with power and vengeance, Pharoah rode; Osiris' ark his swarthy wizards bore; And still responsive to the trumpet's cry, The priestly sistrum murmur'd-Victory! Why swell these shouts that rend the desert's gloom? On earth's last margin throng the weeping train; Their cloudy guide moves on-" and must we swim the main?" 'Mid the light spray their snorting camels stood, Nor bath'd a fetlock in the nauseous flood- With limbs that falter, and with hearts that swell, The ancient rocks, the secrets of the world: And flowers that blush beneath the ocean green, And caves, the sea-calves' low roof'd haunt, are seen. And sheds on Edom's hills its latest ray. Yet not from Israel fled the friendly light, Or dark to them, or cheerless came the night. Still in their van, along that dreadful road, Blaz'd broad and fierce the brandish'd torch of God. Its meteor glare a tenfold lustre gave, On the long mirror of the rosy wave, While its blest beams a sunlike heat supply, To them alone, for Misraim's wizard train, Yet on they fare, by reckless vengeance led, Show'd his dread visage light'ning through the storm; And brake their chariot wheels, and marr'd their coursers flight, "Fly, Misraim, fly!"-The ravenous floods they sɛe, And, fiercer than the floods, the Deity. Fly, Misraim, fly !"-From Edom's coral strand, Oh! welcome came the morn, where Israel stood Till kindling into warmer zeal around, The virgin timbrel wak'd its silver sound, And in fierce joy, no more by doubt supprest, The struggling spirit throbb'd in Miriam's breast; The dark transparence of her lucid eye, Pour'd on the winds of heaven her wild sweet harmony, HYMN. By the same. By cool Siloam's 'shady fountain, How sweet the lily grows! .. How sweet the breath on yonder mountain, Of Sharon's dewy rose! Lo such the child whose young devotion, Whose secret soul's instinctive motion, By cool Siloam's shady fountain, The lily must decay; The rose that blooms on yonder mountain Must shortly fade away. A little while, the bitter morrow Of man's maturer age Will shake the soul with cank'ring sorrow, And passion's stormy rage. Oh Thou! whose every year, untainted Preserve the flowers thy grace has planted, Review of Books. The Wonders of Elora; or the Narrative of a Journey to the Temples and Dwellings excavated out of a Mountain of Granite, and extending upwards of a Mile and a Quarter, at Elora, in the East-Indies, by the Route of Poona, Ahmed-nuggur, and Toka, returning by Aurungabad; with some General Observations on the People and Country. By JOHN B. SEELY, Captain in the Bombay Native Infantry, and late in the Military Service of His Highness the Rajah of Nagpore. London, 1824. THE excavated temples of Elora have never yet been shewn to the public in a familiar and popular view, if we except the slight sketches that have been taken by several passing travellers. Nevertheless, they may justly be ranked amongst the wonders of the world, for they are second to the pyramids alone as monuments of human labour, and are probably not much below them in antiquity. The disorganized state of the country in which these temples are situated has doubtless been the chief cause of their having been so little visited by our countrymen; and we certainly think that it reflects credit upon the enterprizing spirit of Captain Seely, that he did not hesitate to prosecute his researches, though travelling without a military escort in a land of freebooters. The first hundred pages of the volume are occupied by a cursory journal of the author's travels into different parts of India, the better to enable him to describe the manners, customs, and various other peculia rities of the countries he had visited. The next two hundred and thirty pages are devoted to his principal object, the description of the famous temples of Elora, and some general remarks upon the Hindoo Pantheon; and the remaining two hundred and twenty pages consist of miscellaneous observations upon India in general, communicating particularly the author's views in regard to missionary exertions. Captain Seely is doubtless a man of observation and intelligence; but he has given us rather too much of himself; his egotism appears indeed even in the best passages of his volume. It is too evident, also, that his prepossessions against the missionaries have betrayed him into great inconsistencies in regard to the Hindoo character. Sometimes our poor heathen subjects are described by him as most grossly vicious, and at others as all perfection. Such is invariably the result of prejudice. We shall not dwell, however, upon these portions |