beverage, what a tea-party Amphitryon and the Tritons must have had in their coral groves. We can imagine the mermaids of the Asiatic Archipelago-combing their tresses and preparing for a general submarine soiree, whilst innumerable syrens chant a gleeful chorus in anticipation of the coming joys. The inhabitants of the rock, the while, had not been idle: every projecting branch and jutty crag of the overhanging precipice was thronged with spectators, mowing and chattering and grinning at the novel and busy scene beneath them. The dandy little ring-tailed monkey, and the solemn and sedentary ape, with hinder parts all worn bare, thronged above, or occasionally caught at a flying ribbon that flaunted in their faces. Spectators of a more dangerous character lined the shores of Sumatra, Java, and Crockatoa, like jackalls ready to pounce upon the carcass so soon as the royal beast should retire. Every cape and bay thronged with the Malay craft, from the light and buoyant bark canoe to the warlike prower, with its hundred kreesed warriors, all thirsting for blood and plunder,many of that fierce band, that now moved in all the vigour of savage manhood, soon destined to dye their native sea with their own blood, their mangled corses a prey for the greedy shark or soaring vulture.

The Pekin was abandoned to her fate, the crew remained on board the British sloop of war, where every attention was shown to them by the gallant commander, whose name, we regret, we cannot here record. As a prelude to the subsequent event, and with a view to extenuate, if possible, the conduct of the British officer in the execution of that dreadful tragedy which to this day is remembered by the natives of those islands, it

were well to mention, that some dreadful piracies had occurred in those seas upon British and American merchantmen. In several instances vessels had been boarded in the night by Malays, and every soul on board put to torture and death and eaten. The cruelties and tortures suffered by the helpless victims, before death, are too shocking to narrate. With a view to suppress these piracies by some signal blow of vengeance, the British Government had sent a squadron into those seas, of which the Proteus was a part. As yet, no opportunity had occurred to the Admiral to carry out his instructions, but the wreck of the Pekin was about to afford him the means of striking a terrible blow. A few days after the incidents recorded, the Proteus fell in with the frigate of the Admiral, and after relating to him all the circumstances, orders were given immediately to return to the wreck, and, if possible, to get her off.

The Proteus bore away for the wreck, but upon approaching Cap Island, to the astonishment and mortification of the British captain, the Pekin had floated off the rock upon which she had apparently been impaled, and had drifted down upon the Goodwin Sands, where she lay high out of the water surrounded by at least a thousand canoes, the decks thronged with Malays, stripping the vessel of every thing portable. Upon observing the sloop of war rounding the point, advancing slowly under her topsails, against a strong current, the plunderers deserted the wreck with the greatest precipitation, and paddled off in a body for the Island of Sumatra. The motion of the man-of-war was impeded purposely by drags to deceive the flying fleet, which was now crowded together, yet rapidly skimming over the water

under the impulse of three thousand vigorous savages. The moment they had fairly gained the middle of the channel, a cloud of canvass covered the spars of the advancing cruiser, and she sprung through the water, steering directly for the centre of the fugitives, who were now uttering wild cries of terror, scattering to the right and left in doubt, dismay, and uncertainty, like a flock of birds, into whose centre a devouring hawk had made a swoop. Onward came the terrible ship-her long black hull cleaving through the water, which roared at her bows like a cataract. Suddenly her main-topsail was hove to the mast, a long line of red ports flew open, from which protruded an array of bristling cannon: a voice like that which at such a moment sounded to the Malays as of a destroying angel, clear and piercing, "trumpet toned," cried-" Port and starboard fire !—at the same moment a whole broadside of grape and cannister burst from her dark sides in sheets of flame, and with the roar of thunder, tearing the water up into a foam, and crashing amidst the canoes, which were now hid from view by dense volumes of smoke. From that sulphurous canopy arose a yell of agony and terror, which was heard even above the roar of artillery, which three times, right and left, vomited forth fire and destruction upon those miserable wretches.

From this field of carnage, slowly emerged the dark hull of the grim warrior, now sated with blood-the cross of St. George with its ensanguined field, fluttering from her peak, and from the pinnacle of her tapering masts—and was again upon her course ere the echoes of that terrible cannonade had ceased reverberating from shore to shore. Upon the dying and the dead, was

spread a thick dark canopy of smoke, as a pall upon the blood-stained sea, which was slowly lifted by the returning breeze, exposing all the horrors of the scene. A thousand wretches had been hurled into eternity, whilst almost as many more were either wounded or floundering in the water, a prey to the shark, the water lashed into a foam by these monsters of the deep, struggling for their prey. The blow had been struck, and a terrible one. It had become absolutely necessary for the protection of commerce to inflict a chastisement upon these marauders that thronged the great highway to India and Chinawhether it was too sanguinary or not, we must forbear to form any hasty decision, but there is no doubt many years passed away before any piracies occurred upon those seas.

PART IV.

"Look how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold!

There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st,
But in his motions like an angel sings,

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins."

SHAKSPEARE.

NIGHT SCENE IN THE TROPICS-SUNRISE-A VISIT FROM THE NATIVES OF JAVA-TRADING FOR PROVISIONS-DIALOGUE BETWEEN BOATSWAIN AND ORIENTAL LOAFER-A MALAY DANDY-ANTIQUITY OF THE JAVANESE-SUPERSTITIONS

SECOND SIGHT—ANCIENT TEMPLES-THE BUFFALO'S SKULL -GENERAL ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY-THE CUP TREE.

For many hours did I remain upon deck, contemplating the silent glories of that tropical night. The scene was novel, and of indescribable grandeur. I could scarcely realize the truth of my position, so sudden the transition from the common-place scenery of the West. It seemed like one of those unaccountable transformations in a dream. The tedious voyage across the desert of trackless waters is forgotten-and fresh with all the associations and habits inseparably linked in with our life, and indelibly engraved upon our minds, we tread the soil of another hemisphere, the antipode to our own in every particular. The stars above are