governments (Bolivia only excepted), has contracted a debt in London, having in 1826 empowered Messrs. Barclay, Herring, and Co., to contract a loan of 7,000,000 dollars. But, fortunately for the British public, Messrs. B. H. and Co. could not succeed in negotiating more than 816,500 dollars, or £.163,300 sterling, of which it appears that the Central American government, owing to the failure of their agents, did not receive quite one-half, though, of course, responsible for the whole amount. Messrs. Reid, Irving, and Co., after the stoppage of Messrs. Barclay, Herring, and Co., were appointed agents for the Republic, and paid about two years' interest of the debt; but the government neither attempted to reimburse them, nor make any provision for the future payment of the interest, either during the existence of the federal government or after its dissolution. But in 1838 the state of Costa Rica, induced by the strong representations of H. B. M. consul-general, took upon itself the liquidation of the proportion of the national debt assigned to it,namely, one-twelfth of the whole amount with interest; and for that purpose delivered 2000 bales of tobacco to Mr. Foster, the British vice-consul in Nicaragua, but the proceeds of the article, which was sold in Nicaragua, being invested in indigo for remittance to England, did not, from the state of the markets, realise the anticipated amount, netting only £.16,210 16s. 3d., instead of £.26,765 13s. 4d., the amount with interest due by Costa Rica as their share of the debt. The English creditors, glad no doubt to recover any part of what appeared entirely lost, decided in accepting the amount netted in full of their claims against Costa Rica, so that the state is entirely free from debt, a composition which, if made with other American robbing states, we doubt not would afford considerable satisfaction to many an English money lender, and make Sidney Smith even in his grave utter a glad Evöe!

Two colleges (as they are called) exist at Guatemala, which, though they are by far the first establishments of the kind in Central America, are far below the most ordinary public school in England; the only qualification required previous to entering them, being to read and write the Spanish language. The branches taught are arithmetic, dignified with the name of mathematics; the Latin, French, and English languages; philosophy of Aristotle,

and practice of medicine. No attempt is made to teach chemistry, astronomy, mechanics, or geometry; but, above all, the ignorance of geography among the best informed classes is most ridiculous.

“A young man," says our author, "about five-and-twenty, of one of the richest and proudest families of Guatemala, and of the self-called nobles, inquired of me whether I was a native of London or England; and upon my stating that I was a native of neither, though of Great Britain, he again inquired if Great Britain was not a province of London or England. Another asked me if I was English of England, or English of France; and seeing that I smiled, he added, then you may be an English North American." -p. 341.

So much for the very useful statistical details comprised in this little book, of which we have above given a brief condensation. That it will excite the attention of speculators and of the mercantile classes we do not doubt; and for more ample information we must refer them to the volume itself. We shall now bestow a few paragraphs on the author, and conclude.

Travelling in this wild country, as may be expected, is a matter of no ordinary risk. Assassination is so common, that it is little thought of, and is almost never punished by the authorities; but the relations of the murdered man, if he has any, generally revenge his death by another assassination and unless the victim be a person of importance, the assassin merely keeps out of the way for a day or two, and reappears without fear. Mr. Dunlop had himself seen a native enter a house in Realejo with his hands bloody, and when questioned as to the cause, reply with great coolness, that he had met with such and such a person on the road, and as he had long determined to kill him, had just plunged his knife into his body, and left him in the wood. On his first arrival, he naturally felt somewhat shocked at such recitals; but he afterwards heard assassination so commonly and so coolly talked of, that such stories seemed nothing strange nor out of the usual course.

In a short time he learned to handle his weapons as well as the fiercest of the natives, as the reader will see from the following:

Having lost our road, we did not reach a sugar estate belong.. ing to Don Bemardo Verereo, till noon; though we had started at day-break, and the distance did not exceed six leagues. Shortly

after leaving the estate, I was stopped by three soldiers, ruffianly looking rascals, nearly naked, and with no part of what is in Europe considered as a soldier's equipments except a musket: they wished me to go with them to their commander, which I refused, thinking that it must be a mere pretence for robbing me. After some parley, one of them presented his musket at me, telling me to follow directly; I returned the compliment by presenting a pistol, telling him that the musket would be very likely to miss, but that I would answer for the pistol. This seemed to damp their courage a little, and on my guide saying, let him pass, he is an Englishman,' they whispered to one another a little, and either convinced that I was a stranger, with whom they could have no enmity, or afraid of attempting violence, seeing that I was well-armed, they permitted us to proceed.'

A few days after he had a more serious encounter.

"At six, p. m., we reached the miserable village called the Esclavo, sixteen leagues on our journey. The Cabildo, which is the building legally appropriated to the accommodation of travellers, &c., being occupied by a priest, I had much difficulty in finding any place to pass the night; but at last was permitted to remain at a small hut, as usual, full of men, women, pigs, dogs, fowls, &c. Shortly afterwards, three very ill-looking men came up, and obtained permission to remain at the hut, and soon became very familiar with my servant, who chattered to them like a parrot, though I several times ordered him to be silent, but to no purpose. After procuring something to eat, we lay down to rest in a small shed full of maize. About midnight, one of the men came up to where I was lying, and when he had approached within about two yards, I raised one of my pistols which lay beside me, and pointing it at him, asked him what he wanted; when he immediately withdrew without replying. Being unable to sleep, I got up, and awaking my servant, ordered him to saddle the beasts; but he was so very slow in doing it, that though the three men did not awake for half an hour afterwards, they saddled their horses and started before us. I had not liked their appearance from the first, and the occurrence of the preceding night, and the manner in which they had left, made me somewhat suspicious that they intended no good: and as I had heard my servant tell them where I was bound for, and all about me, I felt pretty certain of seeing them again. Having carefully examined my pistols, I sent my servant on, fifty yards before, telling him to call out if he saw any of his friends of the preceding evening. I had so little confidence in him from what I had seen, that I preferred being without his company in any encounter which might happen. I had proceeded about a league and a half on my journey, and was going at a slow pace along the narrow mule track, with a dense forest on each side,

when I discovered by the light of a dusky morning, it being then about sun-rise, the figures of three men mounted on horseback, standing still in the path, though my servant had given no alarm. I immediately took my two pistols, one of which was double-barrelled, out of the holsters, and putting them on full cock, stuck them in my belt, and proceeded forwards. When about ten yards from the men, one of them called out, Por onde vas?' (Where are you going?) I replied, Que le importa?' (What does that matter to you?) proceeding cautiously forward. When about three yards distant, another of the men said, 'Quiero ver su pasoporte.' (I wish to see your passport.) Having taken an aim at him with my pistol, in such a manner, however, that he did not see it, I replied, Luega voy ensenarle.' (I will show it you directly.) The same man immediately added, 'Apeate.' (Dismount, and get down, on to your feet,) and as he put his hand upon a large knife in his belt, I instantly fired the two barrels of my doublebarrelled pistol, the one at him, and the other at one of his companions. The first only appeared to take effect, the speaker tumbling off his horse upon the ground. I could not well have missed, as he was only about three yards distant. My horse not being accustomed to fighting, or not liking the use of strange weapons, gave two or three violent plunges, and took me forward about twenty yards before I could rein him up; as soon as I had done so, I took the pistol which was still loaded in my hand and returned to finish the combat, but though not five minutes had elapsed, the men and their horses had disappeared in the thick forest which surrounded us."

We must close here. We wish we could extract a good deal of matter relative to volcanoes, extinct and active, which would interest geologists; but we refer them to the book itself.

ART. V.-The Early Jesuit Missions in North America. Compiled and Translated from the Letters of the French Jesuits, with Notes. By the REV. WILLIAM INGRAHAM KIP, M. A., Corresponding member of the New York Historical Society. London, Wiley, and Co. 1847.

A REMARKABLE publication, and well worthy of our attentive notice, is this translation of the Rev. Ingraham Kip, not only for the intrinsic interest and value of its contents, but for the very interest attaching to the title page. In these our times, when we have seen so

many means, political and literary, employed, and so many artifices, honourable and dishonourable, had recourse to for the purpose of bringing the Jesuits into disrepute, and eventually contributing to their destruction, it is a remarkable circumstance, and worthy of being specially recorded, that a Protestant clergyman has translated and published for the benefit of a Protestant reading public the record of some of their noblest achievements-achievements that, even beyond their services to the arts and sciences and classical literature, will cover the followers of Loyola with an imperishable renown. We speak not now of the religious value of their missionary labours, which have been the means of conducting numberless souls to the knowledge and love of God, but in the point of view-to us, indeed, the one of least importance-in which the translator has considered them, as records of stirring adventure and thrilling enterprise. In this respect the journeyings of those ardent and devoted men, who left the comforts of their quiet convents and native land to take up their home in the rude wigwam of the savage, in those then trackless solitudes where the Mississippi rolled its mighty flood, to speak to him of the Great Spirit by whose power he was created, and by whose mercy he was redeemed, will ever hold a prominent place in the noblest records of human zeal and heroic enterprise. In proportion as the passions. excited by the heat of controversy subside, and that men anxious for truth can obtain a clearer glimpse of its fair proportions, so will the services of these early missionaries be more correctly estimated and warmly appreciated. The calumnies and misstatements of the French writers will fall powerless beyond the Atlantic, and the pen of the Rev. Ingraham Kip has furnished in some degree the antidote to the poisoned draughts of Sue and Michelet.

It has been often said, and the assertion has constituted one of the leading arguments against them, that the Jesuits have been too anxious to avail themselves of every source of influence, and have even exceeded due bounds in their solicitude to gain power of the hearts and minds of men. Without entering into any examination of this charge, which has been ere now well and frequently replied to, the very fact of a publication so honourable to the Society as the one before us, and so calculated to win for it, not only the esteem, but the admiration of every generous heart, having been left by them in these countries to the