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    £ « rn ^ ^ SSSSS s- ^ a is ?^ ptfs Sf £ SSi £ ^ SSi S ) , that he had no time to notice the grand hF % ^ X ?^ fe £ L S s £ ? % e volume no higher character than that of ? ° ^^ mp SeTeco « i of the autWs travelling exp-enee a d h irt the notice of those persons who are bent on

    accom-^ m ay ^ ommW o SaftS'S ^ r * route as Sir John Forbes ' s in as short a space of tjme . Th «? r ? ute of which he has given an excellent man , lay from Aix-la-Chapellto Leipzig from I , eipzi # to Berlin , from Berlin to Dresden Prague , and Vienna From Vienna he went down the Danube to Pesth which was ZTexSe point ofbis route and , returning to Vienna . the g ^* £ ™* »» the Danube by steamer to Linz and Passau . Then by ( stellwagen to lifcbur ^ whencJ he proceeded by a circuit through the Tyrol to Augsburg and Munich . Next , to Nuremberg , Baireuth , ^ ankfort Worms and Soever . A magnificent tour ! And we have no doubt that m his proper person , Sir John Forbes would be the most satisfactory companion on a Iteht-seerag scamper—always in time for railway and steamer , always able toinake up his mind as well as his luggage at the right moment , always awakext is ainusiug luiogmc « ¦• ---

    ^ vigorous , always , wu »«« - " . ~~ o himself to . be taken in tow by some deliberate Germans , who have quite a different way of enjoying " die schbne Natur . " Any one who has travelled an Germany can fill up the details of the following sketch . — At the request of some German gentlemen whom I met at the village , I agreed to ioin their party on the lake , and left the arrangements to them . They chose a very Comfortable but most clumsy and heavy boat , which , though rowed by three women . and one man , allowed itself to be passed by all the smaller boata that left the shore long after us . The fare was 3 £ gulden . la returning , also , my companions thought it necessary to have a substantial dinner after their labours , and accordingly detained * he boat more than an hour at St . Bartholoma . The loss of time by these dilatory proceedings prevented me accomp lishing my original purpose of visiting Hallem , by crossing the intervening ridge of mountains , and also procrastinated my return to Salzburg by some hours . No doubt the German gentlemen were quite right m . taking . things easy ; it -was my fault , or misfortune , not to be able to do so , and

    therefore we were fll-assorted companions . A foreigner would think it characteristic of the Englishman that Sir John Forbes notes this adventure in his table of contents as " Evils of Sodality Such value as this volume possesses is , as we have intimated , not that of & book to be read or quoted , but to be consulted for quite a special purpose . It is difficult to find a passage that will warrant the emphasis of citation , hut perhaps this description of the view of Buda and Pesth from the Blocksfcerg may be read with some interest : — In -walking up this path , on the Sunday afternoon , among other companions I had 4 »< W ) UBeieiKdictine monk , and Ms brother , the former recently from Italy on his way toCraeow , and only Btopping here for a few days to see his relations . In the ^ oivewatinTl had with theae two brothers I could not help being struck with the influence their respective positions in life exerted over their tastes . and aspirations .

    TCha knowledge that I had recently come from England was the source of great interest to TwthTbut interest of a very different kind . All the curiosity of the monk was to -have tidings of Cardinal Wiseman , and to know the extent of the progress of the English nation towards Catholicism , under his influence . All the interest of the Jayman was centred in Kossuth and his fortunes in the land of the stranger . Would he ever come again to his native land to free and regenerate it ? On reaching the top of the Blocksberg , I found the vast fortress surrounding it was yet far from being completed , although a large body of men had been employed onitevw since the revolt in Hungary . It was from this eminence that the insurgents fired upon Buda , and destroyed a large part of the palace and other buildings , 3 oircuhiBtance which , no doubt , gave rise to its being fortified . The new fortress is of immense extent and of most solid construction . It is casemated in two stones all round , besides having open batteries at top . Under its guns Pesth and Buda ho for

    over helpless . „ _ . ,. , , .. As already stated , the view from this point is extremely Ene . Immediately beneath lie the twin cities spread out in all their extent . Pesth on its low level floor , Buda on its lofty ridge and in its valleys ; -while the Danube between and beyond , on either side , spread / s out its waters in a broad , bright band . Upwards or to the north , the liver can be traced to a considerable distance as it cornea along the base of the hills among its islands , while nearer at hand , in the very centre of the picture , the beautiful BucpenBton-bridge is seen uniting the cities as by a slender chain . Pesth lies so immediately'beneath that its Btreets and open places can be distinctly seen into , beautifully outlined , oa their further eido by the bright walls of the houses seen to Jheirvorybas * . .- ' _ , , , and i and

    On $ h « inland side of Buda , the country is rather wild , woody , rregular , -at no , great distance is bounded by a range of hills of moderate height . Beyond Pesth , cm the other hand , an unbroken and boundless plain stretches itaelf out in all directions , aa far as the eye can reach . Ho one , I think , who has looked from Pesth on the heig hts of Buda and the Blocksbcrg , when lying bright in the morning sun , or-who has had the good fortune to see the landscape just-noticed , as I saw it , under the bluest of skies and in all the brilliancy of a cloudless afternoon in August , will regret the long journey that led him hither , even if the tract of the Danube from Vienna were much leas interesting than it is , or the twin capitals of Hungary had loss to show in their interior than ihsyhfum .

    And here is a comparison of the banks of tlio Rhine with those of the Danube , which twill grvo the reader a fair idea of Sir John Forbes ' s most Attractive nmting ^ - ~ Of the thr ee distinctive qnaUties of landscape named above , grandeur is thut in which-the Shine 4 a tnoat tafootive . Its immediate boundaries , takon as a whole , arc lowansA ta 4 Be < oorapand with those of the Danube . Xowcr they uro in reality ; and they MM lower . than 4 hqgr ate from the much greater width of the valloy they enolmo ; -while th « ir gtmUu . dope . backwards , their bluff rounded fronts and summits , and ! tbe comparative wjtntof wood , give on impression of tamoneas and commonness . which i » strongly &U . < $ & , $ * qpdfty a * natural pictureaqueneuB , the Rhine , when compared with the Danube , la almoBt as defective as In that of-grandeur . Except in a few opota of

    small extent , as at St . Goar , Goarhausen , the Lurlei , &c , the whole tract of the river from Bonn to Coblentz , if deprived of its castellated ruins and romantic towns , would show but a very moderate sprinkling of this kind of scenery . The Danube , on the other hand , over a vastly greater extent of space , exhibits almost a constant succession of it . . . In one of the forms of picturesque landscape , indeed , that which is constituted by nature and art combined , and principally by art , the Rhine excels the Danube . What with the constant succession of ruined castles on every height and out-jutting rockand with its beautiful steeple-crowned towns and villages on every haugh by

    , the water ' s brink , the Rhine leaves little to be desired in pictorial effects of this kind . Still , I think that , even in this particular , it excels the Danube much more in the number than in the quality of such scenes . I do not think there is anything on the Rhine to compare with a good many of the views mentioned by me on the Upper Danube , as at Gottweih , Durrenstein , Aggsteiu , Miilk , Weideneek , Neuhaus , &c ., and even with Gran and Vissegrad , on the Lower Danube . In all these scenes on the Danube , there is an admixture of grandeur and majesty with what is simply picturesque , -which hardly exists , or exists only in a much smaller degree , in the landscapes of the Rhine . . Rhine is less inferior

    In the landscape element of mere beauty , the perhaps to the Danube , than in the other qualities just noticed ; although many spots on the latter river , viewed in reference to this quality only , are , in my opinion , unapproachable by anything seen on the Rhine . And yet it is , I believe , more for its benuty than for its grandeur or natural picturesqueness , that the admirers of the Rhine most contend . Indeed , next to the artificial picturesqueness of its castellated ruins , the parts I most admire , on this river are those portions of the landscape in which the grander elements have no place ; as where the boundary hills begin to recede almost immediately at the river ' s brink , leaving , first , a foreground of brilliant meadow interclothed in natnral woodNeithe

    mixed with trees , and then slope gently upwards . r will it be denied that the vineyards , so profusely covering the slopes , on their graceful terraces , and climbing up to the very summit of the hills , are , in their kind , verybeautiful objects—certainly the most beautiful species of cultivation presented by art ; yet they can hardly be compared , in this respect , with the bright green , brilliant , and living woods that cover the slopes and steeps of the Danube . No doubt the Rhine , here and there , presents the natural charm of these natural woods climbing up and crowning the hills ; but they do not exhibit that vigour and brilliant beauty which characterize the productions of nature where no trace of art

    is nigh . In comparing the two rivers for their natural qualities , and for the attractions they offer to the traveller , the extent of the field of beauty presented by each must not be overlooked . The beauties of the Rhine are confined to a very small portion of its tract , that between Mainz and Bonn ; while those of the Danube extend almost over its whole course , from Regensburg to Vienna , not to name the additional tract of some fifteen or twenty miles on the Lower Danube . d

    Untitled Article

    LAKE NGAMI . f Lake Naami ; or , Explorations in South Western Africa . By Charles John Anderssau . ^ Hurst and Blackett . Albeit no sportsmen ourselves—not even " gentlemen riders "—we can fully appreciate the services rendered to mankind by those resolute hunters who have gone forth as the pioneers of civilization , from the time of Ninirod—the Gordon Cumming of the patriarchal ages—to that of Charles Jobn Andersson . The last-named gentleman , indeed , describes himself as being as much a naturalist as a sportsman , but from his book he hardly appears to have been more than a collector of objects cf natural history . However this may be , he has certainly succeeded in furnishing much curious information respecting the habits and manners of various primitive tribes hitherto comparatively unknown , and in depicting both the romance and the reality of African adventure in an exceedingly graphic and interesting manner . his narrative is

    The lithographs and wood-engravings with which proiuseiy illustrated , are beautifully executed , and give that precise idea winch words always fail to impart . There is something almost awesome about the plate entitled " The Approach of Elephants , " which represents a troop of those huge animals looming on a distant hill on the opposite side of a large pool . In the foreground several hyenas are gnawing at a well-picked carcase . To their left stands a monstrous rhinoceros sniffing up the air . A little iuriher , a group of zebras is seen in an unquiet , unsettled state , as if under a presentiment of danger . Still further , the spectral forms of a herd of girulks are restlessly moving to and fro , while , on a jutting promontory , the gnoo and the antelope are lightly escaping from the unwelcome visitor * . Sucli scenes aa this , the author assures us , are of frequent occurrence at night . All animals , he says , appear to have an instinctive dreud of the elrphunt , and ¦* ' remain at a respectful distance until the giants have quenched their thirst

    •"—Thus , long boforo I have aeon , or oven heard , tlio elephants , I have been warned of their approach by the symptoms of uneasiness displayed by such animals ns happened to be drinking at the time . The g iraflb , for instance , begins t «> . sivay h \ s long nock to and fro ; the zebra uttora subdued pluintivc crien ; the giioo g \ u \ v * away with a noiaeleau step ; and even the ponderous ami quarrelsome black rlniuncios , when ho has time for reflection , will pull up short in his walk to listen ; then , turning nninil , be listens again and , if he feel satisfied that his suspicions are correct , ho iuvurmbly ninkeB off , usually giving vent to his fear , or ire , by onu of hia vicious and i >» .-i : tilmr

    . It is frequently alleged as an argument in favour of one universal deluge , that in no other way could the bones of so many animals , of sneli very different habits , have been mingled together in one thin stratum . Tin * argument might perhaps have some force were these fossil remains found in only one particular apot , however large . But the phenomenon is easily nrcoiiiitou for by supposing a lake or large pool to have existed on the site <> ' '; llC various bone-abounding localities . To such spots animals of every spi'dos »„ . ! __ V . a . ^ .. AH . n —_ - «» .. 4- mr \ In /¦* # ¦ s » l ¦ a-k-fti 4-na -t r \ ¥ \*» rw »*» r »* l n i \ ill rrli i . 11 \ KliLkt ! I llCJA , and character wontin hot climatesto d at nihtto k 1 uU : their

    are , , . procee g , burning thirst ; and it must bo remembered that whore man has not established his dominion the very beastw of prey wander about in funui'hibUs troops . It ia only when game has become scarce that they hunt in coupler and loso their gregarious habits . The shores of African ponds me ever strewed with the shattered skeletons of animals , eomo pulled down lor thoir carcases , others killed in strife , and others , again , that have , slowly dra ^ c * themselves hither to die . A storm arises , a flood of waters descends , a «<* when they have subsided , a deep mass of detritus lies thickly apread over

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    THE LiEADER . C ^ : _ J 1 1 ?^ EE ? 5 Zl __

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 738, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2152/page/18/