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further than by stating what he saw, and what he by hearing of the proposed publication of did. He appears to have had a sincere zeal in rative of the Expedition, said to be by a member the enterprise, which originated in his suggesof the party. The permission asked was granted

tions, and he exhibited much energy and consid. by the Hon. J. G. Mason, Secretary of the Navy,

with the remark-" I give this assent with the more pleasure, because I do not think that you should be anticipated by any other who had not the responsibility of the enterprise."

Feeling that what may be said on the subject had better be rendered imperfectly by myself than by another, I have been necessarily hurried; and the reader will decide whether the narrative which follows was elaborately prepared, or written "currente calamo."-Pp. v. vi.

erable tact in carrying out his objects in spite of the obstacles he encountered. He also knew how to observe, at least as a sailor, and he states well and clearly the process and results of his observation; but he scarcely knew what to observe, and certainly has not turned the rare advantages committed to him to all the account of which they would have been susceptible in the hands of a more literate traveller. Oh, that Dr. Robinson or Eli Smith had been of the party! Between their It would, however, have been much better that learning and deep studies in Palestine geography, it should not have been so written. The object and Lieutenant Lynch's practical energies, we was not adequate to justify the production of a might have had something far more worthy than very crude account-which this certainly is-of the book before us of being set forth as the result an expedition to which the public funds had been of this most praiseworthy and liberal enterprise, applied, and in the results of which all Christenwhich is in every way most creditable to the United States government, and contrasts advantageously with the unutterable meanness of our own government in all things of the sort. What trated by a work which could satisfy no cultivated is there in our position which places the inevita- mind, more time might have been safely taken. ble mark of shabbiness, procrastination, and futil- Perhaps, indeed, our worthy sailor could not, with ity upon whatever our rulers do for the encour- any amount of time, have produced a much better agement (!) of literature, art, and scientific book; and we regret that he had not been advised investigation? Despotic powers act handsomely to put his materials into hands better qualified than in such matters. So, as we now see, in this and other instances, can a republican government, quite as amenable as our own to the people for the employment of public money. Whence this unhappy peculiarity, for it is no less, of our position among the nations of the earth-with wealth

more

abundant-dominions more widely spread-and advantages far greater than any other nation ever possessed? We hope to look into this matter some day; but must now keep to our text.

Before proceeding to state the results which have been promised, we may give the reader some notion of the books before us. The second and smaller of them has been procured with difficulty; and the accounts which fell under our notice in American papers might have been sufficient to prevent the desire to see it; but it occurred to us that the different position and point of view of the writer would induce him to state some particulars which might throw light on the other account, or furnish some points of comparison with, or contrast to it. We are bound to say, that in this case there has been discreditable haste even in the

authentic account by the commander of the expedition, in taking advantage of the public curiosity, without proportionate regard to the real advantage of the public and the interests of science, by the preparation of a well-digested account of the explorations. The writer actually apologizes for the manifest defects of his book on that very ground.

dom was interested. After all, the rival account was produced before the authentic statement appeared; and the object of haste being thus frus

his own to do them justice. Dr. Robinson might have made something of them. The lesser book, however, appeared before the other, and was an obvious and gross attempt to forestall the market. On its appearance it was disavowed by Lieutenant Lynch; and from the explanations which passed on both sides in the American papers, but which do not appear in either of these volumes, it seems that Mr. Montague is an Englishman, who held a petty officer's berth on board the "Supply." Не was left ill of the small-pox at Port Mahon on the outward passage, and saw nothing of the expedition from the 1st of February, 1848, two months before it landed in Syria, until it reëmbarked at Malta on the 12th September following. It is evident, therefore, that he has no responsibility save of literary execution for that part which relates to this long interval, and which, he alleges (but not in the book) was prepared from the diary of His claim to any peculiar qual

one of the men.

ification for this task is not very clear, unless it be that he performed part of the outward voyage with those who afterwards formed the exploring party-and to which very common run he devotes no less than ninety pages. Again, he was with them for several weeks on the homeward voyage, and might have picked up by questioning the men all that he here states. But we believe, from internal evidence, that he had, as he states, the diary of one of the men for his guidance. There is, indeed, in the part Montague might have furnished for his own observations, the same vile taste, the same school-boy balderdash, and the same wretched forecastle slang as in the rest; but it is only afterwards that we encounter the pecu

As soon as possible after our return I handed in my official report, and, at the same time, asked permission to publish a narrative or diary, of course embracing much, necessarily elicited by visiting such interesting scenes, that would be unfit for an official paper. To this application I was induced | liar American crow which pervades the rest of the volume, and continually starts up in such de- Dead Sea are of special and remarkable interest, licious phrases as-" We Yankee boys flinch not; and the costume figures are also striking and sugwe fear neither the wandering Arab nor the with-gestive, although with one or two exceptions very ering influence of disease; we fear neither the wretchedly engraved; and the effect of the Araheat of the sun nor the suffocating sirocco. We bian figures is spoiled by the stiff cable ropes have determined souls, enduring constitutions, plen- which are twined around the koofeyehs, or headty of provisions, lots of ammunition, swords, bowie shawls, in place of the soft twists of wool or

knife, pistols, Colt's revolvers, and a blunderbuss which is capable to scatter (sic) some fatal doses among any hostile tribe; we have officers as determined, cool, and brave as ourselves (!); and for a commander, one of the best, most humane, thoughtful, and generous men in the world, who lacks nothing in the sense of 'bravery,' and the resolute 'go-a-head' spirit of a real, true-born American." Again-"We Yankee boys can perform wonders, and are not yet out of spirits." Again-"Such an accumulation of difficulties and disappointments are sufficient to cause any other than Americans to give up to despair." Again-" However, the true-born, undaunted American never flinches from his duty," and so on, "cock-a-doodle doo!" after the manner of Captain Ralph Stackpole, throughout. From this and other signs, we have no doubt that this account of the expedition was drawn from the notes of one of the American sailors (they were all picked native-born Americans) of the expedition; and though upon the whole a worthless, trashy book, one may pick up a notion or two out of it, seeing that it is at least real, when we are enabled to view the same object through the eyes of both the commander and of one of his men.

The larger and authoritative work will considerably disappoint expectation on the grounds at which we have already hinted. Notwithstanding the gallant author's disavowal of "author craft," the work has most visible signs of book-making. The information respecting the proceedings of the expedition is not advantageously exhibited, for wants of adequate information in the writer; and taking it as it is, it might, with great advantage, have been compressed within half the space over which it is spread; for there is much in the volume on common and exhausted topics and places before we come to the Jordan and after we leave the Dead Sea. It may also be added that the book is disfigured by much of a kind of uncouth and very commonplace sentimentality, which is fearfully out of keeping in the account of a scientific expedition. Perhaps, however, the very qualities which detract from the value of the work in the eyes of serious philosophers may help it much in the circulating libraries-and it is certainly a sufficiently readable book. In our esteem the value of the work is greatly enhanced by the engravings. These are from drawings by Lieutenant Dale, the second in command of the expedition, and who appears to have well merited the designation of a "skilful draughtsman," which is given to him. The interest of these lies in their representing subjects mostly new to the eyes of those who have been wearied with the five-hundredth repetition of the same scenes and objects. The views on the

camels' hair of which this head-band is really composed. But the sketch-map of the whole course of the Jordan between the lakes of Tiberias and Asphaltites, with its rapids and innumerable bends, and that of the Dead Sea, through its whole extent and in its true shape and proportions, are both invaluable; and their production, without a word of letterpress, were well worth the whole cost and labor of the expedition.

The history of that expedition we may now state, before examining the results which it has realized.

After the surrender of Vera Cruz in May, 1847, when there was no more work for the United States' navy in these parts, Lieutenant Lynch applied to his government for leave to circumnavigate and thoroughly explore the Dead Sea. After some consideration, a favorable decision was given, and he was directed to make the requisite preparations. At the beginning of October the lieutenant was ordered to take the command of the store ship "Supply," formerly the "Crusader." This vessel was to be laden with stores for the squadron in the Mediterranean; and while preparing for this regular duty, the commander made the arrangements that appeared needful for the more special service. He had constructed, by special authority, two metallic boats, one of copper and the other of galvanized iron. These boats were so constructed as to be taken to pieces for convenience of transport across the land; but, as the taking the boats apart was a novel experiment, and might prove unsuccessful, two low trucks (or carriages without bodies) were provided, for the purpose of endeavoring to transport the boats entire from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. The trucks, when fitted, were taken apart, and compactly stowed in the hold, together with two sets of harness for horses. The boats, when complete, were hoisted in, and laid keel up on a frame prepared for them; and with arms, ammunition, instruments, tents, flags, sails, oars, preserved meats, cooking-utensils, the preparations were complete. Nothing that could conduce to the safety or success of the expedition seems to have been overlooked. Air-tight gum-elastic water-bags were even procured, to be inflated when empty, for the purpose of serving as lifepreservers to the crew, in case of the destruction of the boats. Great care was also taken in the selection of the crew intended for the special service. Ten “ young, muscular, native-born Americans, of sober habits," were chosen, and from each of them was exacted a pledge to abstain from intoxicating drinks. "To this stipulation," says the commander, "under Providence, is principally to be ascribed their final recovery from the extreme

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prostration consequent on the severe privations | Lieutenant Lynch, we saw the Supply stand and great exposure to which they were unavoida- out to sea. Shall any of us live to tread again bly subjected." Besides these few men, Lieuten- her clean familiar deck? What matters it! We

ant Dale and Midshipman Aulick were attached to the expedition; and the commander had with him his son, who took charge of the herbarium. Thus the party consisted in all of fourteen persons, to whom were subsequently added, as volunteers, Mr. Bedlow and Dr. Anderson, the former at Constantinople, and the latter at Beirut, where also an interpreter was acquired in the person of an intelligent native Syrian called Ameuny. We should like to know whether this was the person of the same name who, a few years back, studied in King's College, London. We feel almost sure that this is the same person; and, in that case, we know that he was qualified to render far greater services to the expedition than he has credit for on the face of the narrative.

are in the hands of God, and, fall early or fall late, we fall with his consent." There was certainly room for serious reflection. The fates of the unhappy Costigan, and more recently of Lieutenant Molyneux, both of whom perished of fever caught on the Dead Sea, were but too well calculated to damp the spirits of the adventurers. Even the thoughtless sailors felt its influence :

We had been told, (it is stated in the Montague book,) that there never was an expedition planned to explore the Dead Sea which had prospered, some fatality, like the unerring dart of an eagle, had always pounced upon its brave fellows; they had been sick, and lingered but a short while, and had died in this unfriendly climate; or had been attacked by the bloodthirsty Arabs, plundered, and then murdered. These things had taken place so recently, that the murderer has scarce sheathed his sword-the smoke from his pistol has scarce died away in the atmosphere the unerring spear has scarce stayed from its quivering-and the blood of the murdered has scarcely yet been dried up by the prevailing heat, or absorbed by the surrounding

The Supply sailed from New York on the 21st of November, 1847, and reached Smyrna on the 18th February, 1848. From Smyrna the officers of the expedition proceeded to Constantinople in the Austrian steamer, with the view of obtaining from the sultan, through the American minister, per- earth. But we Yankee boys, &c.

mission to pass through a part of his dominions

in Syria, for the purpose of exploring the Dead The first difficulty of a practical nature was Sea, and of tracing the Jordan to its source. The how to get the boats across to the Sea of Tiberias. account of this journey occupies too much space; The copper boat, we should have noticed. was and even the writer of the lesser account, although named Fanny Mason, and the other, Fanny avowedly remaining behind at Smyrna, treats us Skinner-two very pretty and appropriate names

to an account of Constantinople, prepared, it would seem-like the other notices of places which he is fond of thrusting in-from those invaluable authorities, the geography books for the use of schools.

The commander had the honor of an audience of the young sultan, and manifests some disposition to plume himself upon the republican freedom of his demeanor. There is, we must say, much bad taste of this sort throughout the book. We are also indulged with some rather twaddling observations upon the character of the sultan, and the impending downfall of the Turkish empire. The latter is a subject on which we are sorely tempted to have our say too; but we will not at this time allow even Lieutenant Lynch to seduce us from our proper theme. The desired authorization was granted; and the sultan even appeared to manifest some interest in the undertaking, and requested to be informed of the results.

Thus armed with all necessary powers, the officers returned to Smyrna, rejoining the Supply, which sailed the next day (March 10) for the coast of Syria, and, after touching at Beirut and other places, came to anchor in the Bay of Acre, under Mount Carmel on the 28th.

The expedition men, with the stores, the tents, and the boats, having landed, an encampment was formed on the beach, and the Supply departed to deliver to the American squadron the stores with which it was charged, with orders to be back in time for the reembarkation of the exploring party. "With conflicting emotions," writes

for the navigation of the Sea of Death. The boats, mounted on the trucks, were laden with the stores and baggage of the party, and all was arranged most conveniently-only the horses could not be persuaded to draw. The harness was also found to be much too large for the small Syrian horses; and although they manifestly gloried in the strange equipment, and they voluntarily performed sundry gay and fantastic movements, the operation of pulling was altogether averse to their habits and inclination. What was to be done? Oxen might have been tried, and we have no doubt that they would have performed the task well; but they were all engaged in the labors of the field, it being now "the height of seed-time," (which must be a mistake for harvest,) and Lieutenant Lynch generously hesitated to withdraw them from that essential labor. He was thinking of taking the boats to pieces, though most reluctant to adopt that course, when the idea of trying whether camels might not be made to draw in harness crossed his mind. The experiment was tried; and all hearts throbbed with gratitude as the huge animals, three to each, marched off with the trucks, the boats upon them, with perfect ease. It was a novel sight, witnessed by an eager crowd of the natives, to whom the successful result disclosed an unknown accomplishment in the patient and powerful animal, which they had before thought fit only to plod along with a heavy load upon his back.

This difficulty, and some others, thrown in their way by the Governor of Acre, being removed, who vouchsafed no acknowledgment of the atten- human being escaped a fall, it was a wonderful tion, his temper not being improved by the dis- exercise of skill and affection on the part of the covery that he was spreading tea-leaves upon the former, and he deserved high commendation for bread with his butter. Then, while the servant it. Ponto howled aloud; and Emily, who was and tray still waited, she was hurrying out into the garden, leaving her own meal untasted, when her brother stopped her: "Where, in the name of wonder, are you going, Clara?"

"Only to gather a nosegay, to send up with mamma's breakfast," replied she, apologetically, as she paused on the threshold.

very tender-hearted, and whose nerves were somewhat affected by the preceding scene, burst into a violent flood of tears; little Annie, as a matter of course, roaring, with all her might, for sympathy.

The Capels were universally pronounced a very happy family; nevertheless, this specimen of their domestic felicity was by no means solitary of its kind.

"A nosegay!" cried Mr. Capel, with an indescribable mixture of wrath and contempt, while Mr. Capel could scarcely be blamed for seizing George and Julia could not restrain their laughter, his hat, and rushing forth to his office in a passion; and the younger members of the family observed however, he was by no means a fundamentally illthat restrained and awkward silence natural to natured man, only a little hot-tempered and fussy; children when a disturbance is going on among so he came back again in five minutes, and made their elders. "A NOSEGAY! upon my word and his peace with Clara, kissing her, and telling her honor, Clara, you are too provoking. Just come "only to be a little more thoughtful in future, and back and sit down, will you? I hate this confused these unpleasant scenes would n't happen." He uncomfortable way of having one's breakfast-it is then patted Emily's head, and bade her not be wretched-it puts me out for the whole day. And such a little goose; neither did he omit to stroke your mother waiting all this while! She would much rather have a cup of tea, than all the nosegays in the world. It will be time enough to think of the graces of life when you have learned a little better to fulfil the commonest duties."

This closing sarcasm was quite too much for poor Clara; and as she resumed her seat and her occupation, her tears fell fast. She tried hard to restrain them, and cautiously screened them from

Ponto, as he passed out for the second time. Poor Clara, with swollen eyes and aching forehead, betook herself, work in hand, to her mother's bedside, there to reflect upon this first specimen of her powers as leader and life of a family.

I suppose it will be thought that my heroine was a very weak, inconsistent, self-indulgent young lady, whose good resolutions evaporated in soliloquies, or had just solidity enough for the construc

her father's observation behind the urn. Then tion of a castle in the air. We must, therefore, followed sundry of those small, quiet kindnesses, endeavor to give an idea of her character and which are always forthcoming when any member position, which, as generally happens, were, in the of an affectionate family is in trouble, however first instance, peculiarly unsuited to each other; deserved. George and Julia exerted themselves whether she ever succeeded in solving the great to maintain a forced conversation, and the former problem how to bring them into harmony, remains kept vigilant watch over the sugaring and cream- to be seen. She was nineteen years old, and the ing of his father's cup, in order to repair any eldest of seven children; her mother was a conoversight, without drawing attention to it; Emily firmed invalid, who never left her bed till noon, silently supplied her sister's plate with bread and and then only to be moved to a sofa; a gentle, butter; and little Annie, who understood nothing uncomplaining sufferer she was, somewhat weak except that Clara was crying about flowers, stole both in will and intellect, but full of tenderness,

round to her side with a rosebud, just gathered from her own garden, soft and fresh as her own smiling lips, and quietly slipped the offering into Clara's hand.

Mr. Capel was angry enough to feel his indignation rather increased than abated by the evident distress of the culprit; it seemed to reproach him for a severity which justice had entirely demanded, and by aggravating his discomfort, aggravated also

and beloved by all who knew her. Mr. Capel was, as we have seen, a good kind of man, hot-headed and warm-hearted, deficient in cultivation, but not in natural capacity, a rigid disciplinarian by fits and starts, and, consequently, the man, of all others, to produce utter confusion in his household. Seven children and a sickly wife taxed to the utmost the moderate income which he made as a lawyer in a country town, and the perpetual strug

his ire. He pushed his plate from him, saying, gle of a naturally liberal disposition, compelled to in a kind of finale tone of intense disgust, "A live and make live upon insufficient means, was wretched breakfast, indeed!" then sharply rebuked quite enough, when not converted by self-discipline Emily for spilling her bread and milk on the carpet, into a means of improvement, to account for the and trod hard on the toes of the family spaniel, growing irritability of his character. George, a who spent his life in an abortive attempt to commit promising youth of eighteen, and the delight of suicide by thrusting himself under the feet of each his elder sister's heart, was intended for holy ormember of the household in succession, but who, ders; he was amiable and clever, even elegant in being a favorite, was generally praised and petted mind, but somewhat irresolute; there was about for this, as though the natural place of dogs was him a feminine want of self-dependence, combined wherever human feet were about to be planted; with an occasional obstinacy of purpose, so sudden and if the dog escaped being trampled on, and the and disproportionate that it seemed to arise from its rocky bed," and unnavigable, and the Missouri | rather, the cliffs and slopes of the risen uplands,

present, for the most part, a wild and cheerless aspect. The verdure-such as it is-may only be sought on and near the lower valley or immediate channel of the Jordan. No one statement can apply to the scenery of its entire course; but the following picture, which refers to nearly the central part of the river's course, some distance below Wady Adjlun, is a good specimen of the kind of scenery which the passage of the river offers. It is also a very fair example of the style in which Lieutenant Lynch works up the passages he wishes to be most effective :

at the Great Falls, are the only ones whose rapid-
ity of descent can compare with this. "But the
Jordan, so far as known, has neither cataracts nor
rapids, and its flow, though swift, is silent. Yet,
of the 984 feet of its descent in 60 geographical
miles, there is room for three cataracts, each equal
in descent to Niagara; and there would still be left
to the river an average fall equal to the swiftest
portion of the Rhine, including the cataract of
Schaffhausen." On these grounds Dr. Robinson
hinted there might probably be some error in the
calculation, affecting the results. We must admit
there was ample ground for the doubt thus ex-
pressed, and which the great Prussian geographer
declared that he shared-but seeing that a few
weeks were destined signally to subvert the whole
reasoning, and the doubt that rested on it, there is
a striking resemblance between this and Mr. Cob-
den's famous declaration respecting the unchange-through a lens.

able peacefulness of Europe. The great secret of
this depression is solved by our explorers on the
basis of the very facts whose non-existence Dr.
Robinson too hastily assumed. First, there are
rapids. The boats plunged down no less than
twenty-seven very threatening ones, besides a great
number of lesser magnitude; and then, although

the direct distance between the two lakes does not exceed sixty miles, yet the distance actually traversed by the stream in its course-found to be exceedingly tortuous-is at least 200 miles, reducing the average fall to not more than six feet in each mile, which the numerous rapids in that distance render very comprehensible. Thus the great depression of the Dead Sea below the Lake of Tiberias is established both by scientific calculation and by actual observation-by two independent lines of proof, which support and corroborate each other.

The larger narrative traces, with great and proper minuteness, the changing aspects and circumstances of the river at the successive stages of progress. These details are so numerous and so various that it is difficult to generalize them. We are, therefore, glad that Montague's sailor, in his more general and less responsible view, supplies a few lines, which, corroborated as they are by the commander, will serve our purpose well. He says

The banks of the Jordan are beautifully studded with vegetation. The cultivation of the ground is not so extensive as it might be, and as it would be, if the crops were secured to the cultivator from the desperadoes who scour the region. The waters of the Jordan are clear and transparent, except in the immediate vicinity of the rapids and falls. It is well calculated for fertilizing the valleys of its course. There are often plenty of fish seen in its deep and shady course; but we see no trace of the lions and bears which once inhabited its thickets: now and then are to be seen footsteps of the wild boar, which sometimes visits the neighborhood.

The wide and deeply-depressed plain through which the river flows, is generally barren, treeless, and verdureless; and the mountains, or

The character of the whole scene of this dreary waste was singularly wild and impressive. Looking out upon the desert, bright with reverberated light and heat, was like beholding a conflagration from a window at twilight. Each detail of the strange and solemn scene could be examined as

The mountains towards the west rose up like islands from the sea, with the billows heaving at their bases. The rough peaks caught the slanting sunlight, while sharp black shadows marked the sides turned from the rays. Deep-rooted in the plain, the bases of the mountains heaved the garment of the earth away, and rose abruptly in naked pyramidal crags, each scar and fissure as palpably distinct as though within reach, and yet we were hours away; the laminations of their strata resembling the leaves of some gigantic volume, wherein is written, by the hand of God, the history of the changes he has wrought.

Toward the south, the ridges and higher masses of the range, as they swept away in the distance, were aerial and faint, and softened into dimness by a pale transparent mist.

The plain that sloped away from the bases of the hills was broken into ridges and multitudinous conelike mounds, resembling tumultuous water at " the meeting of two adverse tides;" and presented a wild and checkered tract of land, with spots of vegetation flourishing upon the frontiers of irreclaimable sterility.

A low, pale, and yellow ridge of conical hills marked the termination of the higher terrace, beneath which swept gently this lower plain with a similar undulating surface, half-redeemed from barrenness by sparse verdure and thistle-covered hillocks.

Still lower was the valley of the Jordan-the sacred river!-its banks fringed with perpetual verdure; winding in a thousand graceful mazes; the pathway cheered with songs of birds, and its own clear voice of gushing minstrelsy; its course a bright line in this cheerless waste. Yet beautiful as it is, it is only rendered so by contrast with the harsh, calcined earth around.-Pp. 232, 233.

Of the manner in which the rapids were passed, the following passage will afford an adequate notice:

At 10. 15 A. M., cast off and shot down the first rapid, and stopped to examine more closely a desperate looking cascade of eleven feet. In the middle of the channel was a shoot at an angle of about sixty degrees, with a bold, bluff, threatening rock at its foot, exactly in the passage. It would therefore be necessary to turn almost at a sharp angle in descending, to avoid being dashed in pieces. This

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