The Supplement contains some particulars relative to the Discipline of the Methodists, and concludes with the following table:

STATEMENT OF THE NUMBERS COMPOSING THE METHODIST SOCIE TIES OVER THE WHOLE WORLD, WITH A VIEW OF THE RECENT INCREASE IN THE BRITISH DOMINIONS.

Of the increase last year, which appears by the above to have been 10,301, in the aggregate only 947 fell to the share of Ireland: a small proportion this, and one which indicates that we labour under some radical defect in our general system, which opposes the prosperity of the connexion in this part of the United Kingdom."

We have only to add that the above table contradicts the assertion that Methodism in Ireland is on the decline, though it does not increase so rapidly as elsewhere.

ART. III. An Account of a Voyage to Spitzbergen, containing a full Description of that Country, of the Zoology of the North, and of the Shetland Isles; with an Account of the Whale Fishery. By John Laing, Surgeon. With an Appendix, containing some. important Observations on the Variation of the Compass, &c. by a Gentleman of the Navy. 8vo. pp. 180. 5s. Boards. Mawman. 1815.

PROMPTED by curiosity, and by a still more powerful

motive,' the writer of this narrative solicited and obtained the appointment of surgeon on board the Resolution, of Whitby, a vessel employed in the north-sea whale-fishery, in 1806. During the following year, he seems to have acted in the same capacity; and, though his journal refers to the first voyage, he occasionally blends with it such remarks as were suggested by the second. When we reflect on the book-making spirit of the age, and on the considerable interval which

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has elapsed since these voyages were performed, we cannot reasonably impute to Mr. Laing the charge of compiling a heavy or massive volume: but neither can we very cordially compliment him on the score of originality or acuteness. general, he states in a plain and homely manner, and without much reverence for the ordinary rules of syntax, facts and appearances which were already recorded in Pennant's Arctic Zoology, Phipps's Voyage, Fabricius' Fauna Greenlandica, &c. His notices of Whitby, where he commenced his journal, and where he spent a considerable part of his time in making such remarks as were particularly interesting,' are singularly scanty and meagre. Among other important omissions, we may mention the manufacture of alum, which might have naturally attracted the notice of a traveller whom we may presume to have applied, in the course of his professional education, to the study of chemistry. A little attention to the history of extraneous fossils would also have enabled him to explain the appearance of petrified and headless snakes. His desultory observations on the Shetland isles are occasionally deficient in accuracy, and seldom possess either novelty or interest: but the following fact, if duly authenticated, deserves the observation of ornithologists. Speaking of two very high inaccessible pillars, he says that on them the large species of cormorants breed. What is very extraordinary, the rock possessed by these birds one year is deserted the next, and returned to again after being a year unpossessed. This singular practice has been carried on during the memory of man.' By the larger species of cormorant, is probably meant the real cormorant (Pelecanus carbo), as contradistinguished from the shag, (P. graculus,) which is sometimes improperly denominated the smaller

cormorant.

That the aurora borealis is the constant attendant of clear evenings, even in the most northerly latitudes, is an erroneous assertion; since, in late years, the frequency of that phænomenon has considerably diminished even in Norway and Lapland; and we can scarcely suppose that more southern districts still retain their former amount of nocturnal light. In his enumeration of the mineral productions of these islands, the author should have noticed the large garnets that occur in Unst. That the shelties, or dwarf ponies of Shetland, are indebted for their diminutive size to the influence of excessive cold appears to us to be extremely questionable; both because the cold in these regions is, generally, less intense than in the interior of Scotland, and because an equally small breed of horses occurs in Corsica and Sardinia. The author's memoranda of Shetlandic birds are in some respects very superficial,

and in others not very intelligible to the English reader; thus we find corn-craik, for land-rail,-duntur, for eider-duck, and clack, for bernacle-goose. Opah may, perhaps, be a provincial

with the import of which we are unacquainted: but, if Mr. Laing means to signify by it the opah dory, or king-fish, (zens opah,) it may be proper to remind him that this fish is neither peculiar to the northern seas nor does it by any means abound in them. The health, vigour, and longevity of the hardy Shetlanders would appear to be quite chimerical: at least. the present writer represents them as a sickly race; and, when asked to visit patients, he says, he found a private infirmary almost in every house.' Exposure to cold during fishing, the want of other occupations sufficiently laborious to afford. healthy exercise, and the prevalent use of tea, he assigns as the principal causes of their complaints.

Proceeding by Ian Mayen and Cherry Island, the ship on the 28th of April was made fast to a large iceberg; a circumstance which recalls the description of these floating and glittering hills by Pennant and Forster.

May 1st. In the morning, about twelve or one o'clock, the garland was put upon the main top-gallant stay by the last married man, as is usual among the Greenland ships. It is formed by the crossing of three small hoops in the form of a globe, and is covered with ribbons, &c. The crew on this occasion blacken their faces with a mixture of grease and soot, and dance round the decks, their chief musical instruments being frying-pans, mess-kettles, fire-irons, &c. This rough mode of festivity they continued till the Captain ordered them a plentiful allowance of grog. After regaling themselves with the very acceptable donation of their commander, they washed themselves, and began to coil away the boat-lines, and prepare for the fishing.'

In latitude 78, near the south cape of Spitzbergen, the vessel's course was greatly impeded by ice, and the author was convinced that salt water may be congealed by frost. He then prefaces his account of Spitzbergen by observing that a wretched sameness pervades every part of it; yet he dwells with complacency on the picturesque, romantic, and sublime scenery that is exhibited by its bold coasts and towering glaciers :

Spitzbergen has no settled inhabitants. It is, however, resorted to by parties of Russians, who, in turn, continue there throughout the year for the purpose of hunting, which they practise in all weathers. These hardy adventurers have erected huts neighbouring to several of the harbours and bays, and are well, provided with wood for fuel, which they bring along with them from Archangel; as also with dried fish, rye-meal, and an abundant supply of whey, similar to, if not made in the same manner as the Shetland beverage.

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last constitutes their chief drink, and is likewise used in baking their bread. Their beds are principally composed of skins of the animals which they kill, and of these they also make garments, which they Iwear with the fur side next their bodies. The walruses and seals afford them a plentiful store of their favourite delicacy train-oil, and the bears, deers, and foxes, fall frequent victims to the dexterity of these excellent marksmen. They are at liberty to return to their native country towards the latter end of September, if not relieved by a fresh party before that time. Some of these Arctic hunters came on board our ship, and when set down to meat, they preferred a mess of biscuit, and whale-oil to all the dainties placed before them. Of this coarse repast they eat with a healthful appetite, and in their own language pronounced it good. They had the complexion of Siberians, and were dressed in bear and deer skins. They had an athletic and vigorous appearance, though somewhat stiffened and cramped by the extreme cold to which they are exposed. During the time they were on board, and particularly while at meat, they behaved with a decorum and gentleness which could hardly be expected from their grotesque appearance; and the neatness of their fowling-pieces, boat-tackling, &c. manifested a taste and ingenuity of which the inhabitants of a more refined country need not be ashamed.'

Instead of A full Description of the Zoology of the North,' we are presented with a very imperfect sketch of a few mammiferous animals and birds. The account of the polar Bear, however, may amuse those who are unacquainted with the manners of that formidable quadruped. The captain of the Resolution wounded an individual of this species in the side, and immediately the animal, as if conscious of the styptic nature of snow, covered the wound with it, and made off,

Mr. Laing, who complains of the extreme confusion which characterizes the descriptions of the amphibious animals exhi bited by different voyagers and naturalists, blends the Trichechi with the Phoca, substitutes the vague and obsolete specific de signation of Vitulus marinus for Phoca vitulina, and even leads us to infer that the Phoca consist of two great varieties, of which Vitulus marinus is the one and Trichechus rosmarus the other. Such looseness of nomenclature is quite unpardonable in the present day, and must obviously contribute to increase. rather than to remove perplexity. That the common Seal feeds chiefly on the Salmon-carp strikes us as somewhat oracular, We could have wished, too, that Mr. L. had been a little more explicit, when he asserts that he has sometimes seen them (seals) throw back stones and pieces of ice on the sailors who pursued them. Was this deliberate missile warfare, or only a random tossing up of pebbles, &c. by the extraordinary efforts of the hind feet, in moving along the beach? The

proof

proof of the sensibility to musical sounds which these creatures discover is less equivocal, and deserves to be quoted, because it corroborates the suspected statements of other writers.

Captain's es

The

son, who was a good performer on the violin, never failed to have a numerous auditory, when we were in the seas frequented by these animals; and I have seen them follow the ship for miles when any person was playing on deck.'

The fish, crustaceous animals, insects, and vermes of the northern regions, the author has carelessly consigned to the most profound silence: but the capture of a whale suggests the luminous position that this animal is of that genus of fish termed cetaceous; and, almost in the same breath, we are reminded of the learned absurdity' of ranking cetaceous fish with quadrupeds as if, in strict propriety of technical language, the terms genus and cetaceous were not utterly irreconcileable; and when, according to every accurate principle of distribution, whales are neither quadrupeds nor fish, but mammiferous animals, with which they have been correctly classed.

The particulars of killing the whale, flinching the carcase, piecing and stowing the blubber, &c., are detailed in the usual style. On the 28th of May, the vessel was in lat. 81° 50', with the sea apparently open to the north:

During the flinching of the whales, there were generally a considerable number of sharks in the vicinity of the vessel. They were principally of that variety [species] termed Squalus Pristis, or Saw Fish. At this time, one more voracious than the rest approached close to the side of the whale's carcase, and seized a large piece of blubber, which was ready to be hoisted on board. Before he could make his escape, however, he was struck by a harpoon, and, his flight being thus obstructed, he was attacked with spears; a tackle was immediately fastened to his jaws, and, being hoisted on deck, his belly was ripped open, and the blubber recovered. The carpenter, too, stripped a considerable quantity of skin from his tail. Notwith standing this rude treatment, he was no sooner let down than he swam away with great agility.'

In the Appendix, our nautical readers will find some valuable hints relative to the variations of the compass being influenced by the line of the ship's course.

ART. IV. Letters and Papers on Agriculture, Planting, &c. selected from the Correspondence of the Bath and West of England Society, for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Vol. XIII. 8vo. PP. 469. Boards. Robinson. 1814.

IOS.

WE occupied some pages E occupied some pages of our Number for May, 1812, with an account of the contents of the twelfth volume of fris spirited and useful Society's Papers, and we now cheerfully

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