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    Sketches and Adventures in Madeira , Portugal , and the Andalusia * of Spain . By the Author of " Daniel Webster and bis Contemporaries . " ( Sampson Low . >—Madeira has become a sickly topic in England , but the author of this volume is an American , and the island has been curiously neglected by American travellers . This volume is intended to reflect , for the benefit of New World readers , the actual aspects of Madeira and Andalusia . It ¦ would have answered its purpose better nad the writer been less ambitious of displaying his personality . He starts with a pirouette , in a line that is meant to be of Rabelaisian flavour , and , after gossiping at random from the

    English to the Spanish coast , reaches a climax of absurdity at Cadiz . He was * stunned , he says ; his " thoughts were suspended" by the sight of a Spanish girl . Hair , eyes , lips , hands , nails , waist , hips , and shoulders , leave Mm , like Lord Byron , dazzled and drunk with beauty , and he raves about the Spanish girl ' s natation , undulation , propulsion , in contrast with " the heavy strut of the Englishwoman , the senseless wiggle of the French , the affected shuffle of the American lady . " And , thence diving into an eccentric dissertation on half-forbidden topics x the author of Webster and his Contemporaries succeeds in showing that , in travelling as in writing , he can make himself supremely ridiculous . John Aldrid \

    A First Trip to the Gentian Spas and Vichy . By ge , MD . ( Dublin : M'Glashan . )—It will be sufficient to indicate Dr . Aldridge ' s route , and to say that tourists following him will find this little volume a charming companion by the way . He went from Ostend to Bruges , visiting the churches and museums . Thence , by way of Ghent , he proceeded to Antwerp , Liege , Cologne , Bonn , and Coblentz , gossiping of familiar places , in a pleasant , familiar way . Of Wiesbaden , Kissingen , Homburg , Baden-Baden , and Vichy , he gives particular descriptions , adding a professional essay on the nature and uses ot * natural Spas . We are persuaded that to disseminate the praise of Spa-water is to increase the securities of health , Dr . Aldridge argues in opposition to the idea that it is necessary to suppose the presence of any artificial or recondite chemistry , any unexplored and unintelligible influence , galvanic , telluric , or spiritual , in the composition of Spas . Italian Sights and Papal Principles . By J . J . Jarves . ( Sampson Low . )

    —The last volume published by Mr . Jarves—on France—was a failure . It was impertinent , gross , and repulsive . This is better—in spirit , in plan , in substance . Its worst offence is , that it professes to be illustrated with woodcuts , which are , in the majority of cases , exaggerations of caricature . Mr . Jarves himself tells at large of Florence , Rome , Venice , and Pompeii ; enters into elaborate details with respect to the manners and ceremonies of the Papal Court , and is drawn , at length , into a discussion of the political prospects of Italy . The opinions of an American on this subject might not be uninteresting had Mr . Jarves any claims to the representative . But he has nothing very striking to say or suggest . Venice , lie thiukis , hates Milan ; Pisa hates Leghorn ; Leghorn hates Florence . The people of Lucca sigh for a grand-duke ; Venice dreams of her doges ; the Tuscans are proud of their miniature despotism ; Genoa is restless under the irritation of Piedmontese-eupremacy ; the Lombards prefer Austria to Italy . Genoa , no doubt , has not forgotten that it was once governed by better institutions

    than those of the Subalpine Kingdom ; out wnere uiu . mi-, carves attain this knowledge of Italian history—especially of the fact that the Lombardo-Venetian States have been conciliated by the deoraved rapacity of the Austrian Government ? Having disparaged his political chapters , we are bound to add that his pictures of Italian manners , whatever they want in accuracy , are redolent of life and humour . Gleanings after " Grand Tonr " -ists . ( Bosworth and Harrison . )—These are the notes and reminiscences of a tourist who began his Italian journey among the March strawberries of ] STaples , and ended it among the June strawberries of the Grisons . Like certain birds , he followed the summer , in search of flowers and beauty . But , for grace and gaiety , we counsel no readers to look in this volume . It is a mass of incongruous twaddle , forced , affected , conceited , full of prejudices that are incomprehensible , jokes that are ignominious , and criticisms worse than the prejudices or the jokes . The publication of such a book is an impertinence . The writer , who , we suspect , had been let out upon Italy from some public office , winds up with a comparison of London with Ferrara . Why was he not satisfied with the sun and the strawberries ?

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    AFRICAN HISTORY AND PROSPECTS . Western Africa : its History , Condition and Prospects . By the Itev . J . Leighton Wilaon , eighteen years a Missionary in Africa , and now one of the Secretaries of the American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Miseions . Sampson Low , Son , and Co . Westjbrn Africa is that portion of Africa lying between fort San Luis , and Cape Frio . It is divided into several kingdoms unhappily famous in the annals of the slave trade , rich and luxuriant in soil and vegetation , and possessing populations demoralized indeed , but yet differing greatly amongst themselves in the scale of civilization . It is pleasant to learn that some tribes are enterprizing whilst others know no other state of existence than that of animal repose ; that some are bold and wealthy whilst others are sluggish and indigent , that some are intelligent and promote education by the means of schools , whilst others are ignorant , and seek enjoyment in the lowest kinds of pleasure .

    It was to these shores that the Portuguese in early times , and after them the English , the French , and the Dutch were lured in the hopes of finding inexhaustible riches in gold , ivory , beea ' -wax , and spices . It was here that they established forts and factories , and endeavoured to promote their own pro # |> erUy without regarding the miserable condition of the natives . It was from these shores , too , that the Portuguese drew their first cargo of slaves , a cargo ¦ which , strange as it may appear , received the approbation of the Pope , and soon became a thriving and a fearful traffic . Our most recent account of thefie countries is from the pen of Mr . Wilson , who is in g ome degree qualified to speak of their condition , from having resided eighteen years amongftt the inhabitants . Music and poetry amongst the Jalosa of Sencgambia arc severely handled .

    The bards or musicians are not permitted to live within the walls of the town , to keep cattle , or to drink sweet milk , and are refused interment on the ground that nothing will grow where one of their caste has been buried The Mandingoes , however , are a superior race . Their children are regularl y educated , though the education they receive is exceedingly limited . They are singularly attached to their mothers . " Strike me , put dont curse my mother , " is a proverb amongst them , and illustrative of this feeling . It may perhaps be wrong to limit this prominent affection to the Mandingoes . All the native tribes of Africa partake more or less of this filial sentiment— a fact which the friends of slavery should read , mark , and inwardly diges t when they attempt to palliate the cruelty of separating the children from their parents . Amongst the Susus , who are more industrious than the Mandingoes , the great ambition is to have a colony , we might call it of domestic slaves , the possession of a thousand raising the master to the rank of a prince . These are procured by purchase and are said to be treated more in the light of dependants than slaves .

    But the veys are , perhaps , the most remarkable tribe on this part of the coast . Though not a numerous or powerful family , they haye recently invented an alphabet for writing their own language and enjoying the advantages of a written system . To this they are indebted entirely to their own ingenuity and enterprize . The characters used in this system are perfectly original , and have been invented by the people within the last twenty years . The idea of the possibility of expressing their thoughts in writing was doubtless suggested by the Mandingoes , who use the Arabic characters , or by Europeans , with whom they have partial intercourse in the way of trade . It has , however , no similarity with the Arabic or any European character . Metallic types have been cast in London with which little books have been written , so that the natives can now enjoy the fruits of their own enterprize . The specimens of the printed writing which we have seen are clear and bold , and indicate a very extensive alphabet . Of this ,

    however , it would be presumptuous to offer an opinion , knowing nothing oi the language . It is , however , very peculiar , and partakes something of the nature of hieroglyphic and something of short-hand writing . The inhabitants of the Grain Coast may be included under one denomination , and termed the Kru race . Under this general term will be found men of nobler physical form , of more muscular development , and more real energy of character than either the Fulahs and Mandingoes of Senegambia or the inhabitants of the Gold Coast . Their manly and independent carriage , their grace of inrfnners—we are compuring them with the other tribes of western Africa—their frank , open countenances , their robust and wellproportioned forms , are very prominent when contrasted with the other native races . Their colour varies from the darkest shade of the negro to that of the true mulatto . Their heads , however , are narrow and peaked , -which betokens rather a low order of intellect . Not a few of them serve an

    apprenticeship on board foreign vessels which ta-ade along the coast . A part of the wages of the apprentice is paid to the Wither in advance . When he returns home , if he has been able to save inuch of what his friends consider this world ' s goods , festivities of every kind ** ake place . Guns are iired , the fatted sheep is killed—if his success admits of it , a bullock—dances are started , and pa ? ans in celebration of his achievements are sung . For a day or two he is paraded about the streets , and taught to imagine himself the most important person of the village . In the meantime a domestic council is held , including father , brothers , uncles , and cousins , who divide the booty , and if the adventurer succeeds in securing one or two handsome cloths , a blue . cap , or * a cotton handkerchief or two for his mother or a favourite sister , he may think himself very fortunate . The next step is to provide a wife for the prosperous sailor , and negotiations for this purpose are immediately set on foot by the family .

    The houses of the Kru people are little else than circular huts , with peaked roofs varying from twelve to thirty feet in diameter , and from twelve to twenty in height . The body of the house is generally five or six feet high , over which the peaked roof is fitted on like a cap , projecting , however , over it for several feet so as to protect the house from the heat of the sun and from the rain . The lower part of the house , which is in most cases a single room , serves the threefold purpose of a parlour , kitchen , and bedroom . In some of the more genteel residences , however—the West-end of the community—a small space is partitioned off " , so as to form a sleeping apartment . The attic , or upper part of the house , is used as a granary . At Ashantee , sometimes

    where the style of building is somewhat similar , the houses are very large , and have many rooms . The walls and doors are painted with a species of chalk , and pictures of animals and grotesque figures of all kinds are drawn upon the panels and window shutters . The houses of the nobles and principal men arc bo constructed as to inclose a hollow square , into which the apartments of the different wives all open . In the houses oi the Kru population the fires are made on the floor , and the smoke escapes as beet it can . Sometimes the floors are paved with pdlin-nuts , which , when polished , acquire almost metallic lustre ; but generally they arc made oi clay beaten almost as hard as mason-work . The furniture is simple : a few

    earthen pota of native fabrication in which they keep their drinking water , a few iron pots , a few wooden bowls , half a dozen plates , and one or two wash-basins , a mat to sleep on , a block of wood for a pillow , a . pine chest to serve as a wardrobe , and n few low wooden stools constitute the hat oi articles to be found in the generality of these housea . In the middle <> l most villages or towns stands the " Palaver'Miouse , where the public business of the community is transacted by an assembly of the people and a council . _ _ ,.,, MrWilsons book is not entirelbaaed his own experiencesa '

    . ' y upon . travels and studies of Laing , Gray , Goldborry , and others have been made subservient to tho purpose and efficiency oi' the present volume . However , a residence of eighteen years amongst a people half Pagan , half Muhommedan , living pretty equally in tho same moral and civil degradation , must have familiarized Mr . VVilaou sufficiently with tho manners , customs , ui ><' condition of most of tho tribes to judgo of tho correctness of the aiilliors whose materials he occasionally usea . We regard , therefore , thia work as a valuable contribution to our stock of travel-books . Tho accounts we nave

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    716 THE LEADER . [ No . 331 , Saturday ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1856, page 716, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2151/page/20/