long, but from the middle downward, his body was all covered with scales. As for the boat, it was eight or nine feet long, and very narrow, especially at the two extremities. The ribs of it, and even the seat on which he sat, were fish-bones. It was covered, within and without, with skins of the sea-dog, (seal,) stitched to each other. This boat had in the middle an opening large enough to let the rower in, and the aperture was surrounded by a kind of sack, or purse, of the same skin, with which the man, introduced to the middle into the boat, girt himself so perfectly with bands, also made of the same skin, that the water could not enter into the boat. Before the man, were two pieces of the same skin fixed to the covering, where they formed two kinds of pouches. In one were found. lines and hooks, also made of fish bones, and in the other some fish, which appeared to have been but lately taken. At the rower's sides were two small oars, also fixed to the boat by straps of the sea-dog's skin. All these curiosities, together with the man himself dried, are still to be seen in the Town-hall of Hull, and the account itself, attested by the captain and all the crew, is to be found in the archives of that place."

Now, Sir, you would considerably oblige us by writing, if these curiosities are still in your Town-hall; and describing them or (should they not be there) if there is even any tradition among the old people of Hull concerning them.

West-felton, near Shrewsbury,
Feb. 1, 1812.

JOHN F. M. DOVASTON.

SIR,

To Mr. J. F. M. Dovaston.

You have my leave to print this letter. The Mayor (of Hull) placed your letter in my hands, and begged me to answer it. He finds no such account in their archives; but, what is more satisfactory, the following account I have transcribed for you upon an inscription painted upon the very Greenland or Eskimaux boat, which, with all its appurtenances, you so accurately and correctly describe. The only tradition of the bonny boatman's corpse (as our vulgar name him) is the following. When the large Trinity-house (whose revenue is from twenty thousand to thirty thousand a year) was rebuilt, some portions of his real and actual skeleton were found to remain in the above boat; but the fragments were dispersed and lost in the dust of a new erection, and in the removal of the building materials. An effigy of his body, made of painted VOL. I. New Series. 3 X

leather, yet remains. It is perched in the very identical boat in which the Eskimaux was forcibly conveyed to Hull by our corsairs, or slave makers, or curiosity dealers. Your description of his boat, oars, &c. and of his plunging and breaking the oar, is a true one; for one of his oars is actually broken! Diving, or plunging, is one of the usual practices of the modern Eskimaux. Captain Rose, who lately died in my parish, and who sailed many years to the Greenland seas, acquired, from the Danish settlers in Davis' straits, the easy trick. I saw a Danish sailor, once a resident with the Moravian mission, practise the same trick with this very Greenland boat (borrowed for the purpose from the Trinity-house.) It is performed by striking the water at a particular angle with both oars at the same time: it seemed to me as practicable as sculling or feathering the oar. The same Dane, intoxicated, was drowned on the river Humber, in a boat which he had made, of a form similar to the Eskimaux one. Maillet's description is correctly true in every point. The Eskimaux fleet might have been a fleet of sixty or eighty boats. Such migrations of whole tribes were seen by Hearne, in his "Tour to the North Sea," and by Mackenzie, in his voyage thither. Coxe's Russian Discoveries describe a similar boat as used in circumnavigating Siberia, and Polar America, now an easy task from the rivers Oby, Jenisei, and Kamschatka. Du Halde's China describes it in his chapter on the Tartars. Lately Phipps and Cooke, Perouse and Vancouver, give you prints and plans of boats exactly of the same form. Read your Maillet's description as you look at such prints. The Hull sailors and captains often buy Eskimaux boats. Harris's and Hacluit's older collection (in folio and 4to.) of voyages towards the North Pole, also describe, in a hundred places, similar boats. Maillet wildly and absurdly doubts the use of speech in the poor Eskimaux captive!

The Bible, now translated into their language, will answer and refute the insinuation. I have conversed with such savage converts, sailing to Hull with our fishers. The cry which he uttered would, of course, be the cry of alarm. In an Eskimaux, Moravian, Latin, and Danish (or quadrilinguist) Vocabulary, which I gave to the Bible Society, (London,) are many of their monosyllabic cries of joy and grief, &c. Like yourself, I often apply to strangers for similar and curious information; and, like yourself, I always receive polite, if not learned, answers. The nonsense concerning mermaids every anatomist will give up. The old voyagers are full of them; all Musea are full of fishes, in which the two upper side fins are so distorted as to resemble arms, and they are absurdly called by the

name of mermaid. The Icelandic sages are full of these tales. The Sanscrit poets describe "men of the sea." They have succeeded to Homer's Nereids and Tritons, and marine nymphs. Folly is eternal in our race: its forms change.

Feb. 21st, 1812.

Parsonage house, Sculoates, Hull.

R. PATRICK.

From the New-York Daily Advertiser.

THE subject stated in the subsequent affidavit, having been doubted by many on its first publication, it was thought advisable to bring it forward as it now is, authenticated under the oaths of the three respectable gentlemen whose signatures are affixed to it.

City of New-York, ss.

On this 28th day of April, 1813, before me the undersigned notary public, personally came and appeared Samuel G. Bailey, late master of the ship Amsterdam Packet, W. R. Handy, late master of the ship Lydia, and Adam Knox, late master of the schooner Augusta, all belonging to New-York; and the said appearants being duly sworn according to law, severally and solemnly deposed and declared, that they were passengers on board the ship Niagara which arrived at this port from Lisbon on Saturday last: and that on the 8th day April inst. being in lat. 43 49. long. 65. at meridian saw a large lump on the horizon, bearing N. W. distance 6 or 8 miles ahead, which we supposed the hull of a large ship bottom up. When within gun shot of it, discovered that it had motion, and on a nearer approach found it to be a fish apparently 200 feet in length, about thirty feet broad, and from seventeen to eighteen feet high in the centre, was covered with a shell formed similar to the plank of a clinker built vessel-near the head on the right side was a large hole or archway, covered occasionally with a fin which was at times 8 or 10 feet out of the water-intended to have sent the boat to make further discoveries, but was deterred from the dreadful appearance of the monster, having approached within thirty yards of it.

W. R. HANDY.

ADAM KNOX.
SAM'L G. BAILEY.

Sworn before me, W. BLEECKER, Notary Public.

THE PONTINE MARSHES.

IT is announced, from the Continent, that the French have succeeded in draining the Pontine Marshes; a pestilential nuisance which has subsisted for so many centuries, in the vicinity of Rome, in defiance of every attempt of the ancient imperial, as well as of the papal government. This district, once so healthy and so populous, and at length again reclaimed, is said to afford a disposeable quantity of 150,000 acres of excellent land. The means adopted are not, nor perhaps can be, clearly stated in a short notice. That the engineers have improved the line, regulated the falls, enlarged the water ways, secured the embankments, sluices, and other works; and no doubt employed the powers of steam to facilitate their general and particular labours-may be concluded from the science and activity of a people, too long employed in the works of destruction. To works like the present every friend to humanity must join in wishing success and duration.

COMPARATIVE STRENGTH OF THE DIFFERENT NAVAL POWERS.

[From the European Magazine.]

;

BRITISH NAVAL FORCE.-At sea, 79 ships of the line nine from 50 to 44 guns-122 frigates-77 sloops and yachts-4 bombs, &c.-161 brigs-54 cutters-52 schooners, &c.In port and fitting, 30 of the line-11 from 50 to 44 guns-29 frigates-18 sloops-4 bombs, &c.-86 brigs-6 cutters-11 schooners, &c.-Hospital ships, prison ships, &c. 28 of the line-2 from 50 to 44-2 frigates-1 yacht.Ordinary and repairing for service, 77 of the line-10 from 50 to 44 guns-70 frigates-37 sloops-3 bombs-11 brigs -1 cutter-2 schooners.Building, 29 of the line-4 from 50 to 44 guns-12 frigates-5 sloops, &c.-3 brigs.Making a grand total of 1545 vessels.

RUSSIAN NAVY.-53 sail of the line-34 frigates-59 cutters, brigs, &c.-smaller vessels, 226, carrying in all 4,428 pieces of cannon. In this estimate are included ships of every class and condition, from a first-rate to a gun-brig; those that are building, under repair, and laid up in ordinary as unserviceable, as well as those that are in commission, and fit for immediate service.

SW EDISH NAVY.-The Swedish fleet consists of 12 sail of the line, eight frigates, besides cutters, gun-boats, &c. and there are two ships of the line and three frigates building.

PORTUGUESE NAVY.-The Portuguese have eight sail of the line, three frigates, and four sloops, at the Brazils.—At Lisbon there are some ships of war, but they are chiefly unfit for service.

DANISH NAVY.-The present naval force of Denmark consists of four ships of the line, two frigates, and about 120 gun-boats. There are two ships of the line and three frigates on the stocks. Their maritime operations are chiefly carried on by flotillas of gun-brigs, which carry heavy metal, are well manned, manœuvred, and fought; and, in a calm, are formidable even to ships of war.

UNITED STATES NAVY.-The republican navy, at present, consists of the following frigates:-Constitution, 44, Captain Hull; United States, 44, Captain Decatur; President, 44, Commodore Rogers; Chesapeake, 36; New-York, 36; Constellation, 36, Captain Bainbridge; Congress, 36, Captain Smith; Boston, 32; Essex, 32, Captain Porter; Macedonian, (late British,) 38; the John Adams corvette; Hornet sloop, of 16 guns; Syren, Argus, and Oneida brigs, of 16 guns; Vixen, Enterprise, and Viper schooners, of 12 guns; 170 gun-boats, stationed at New Orleans; and the Vengeance, Etna, Vesuvius, and Spitfire bombs.

FRENCH NAVY.-In the various ports of France, Holland, and Italy, the French have 65 sail of the line, and 61 frigates, ready for sea; and 32 sail of the line, and 26 frigates, building and fitting out; so that in a short time we shall have opposed to us, under French colours, a numerical force of 97 sail of the line, and 87 frigates: but even the ships which are pretended to be ready for a start, particularly those in the Scheldt, are very badly manned; an evil for which the enemy does not possess any practicable remedy.

18th January, 1813.

DRURY-LANE, JAN. 23.-A new Tragedy, from the pen of Mr. COLERIDGE, was performed under the title of " REMORSE." The scene is laid in Spain: and the events of the play are supposed to have taken place in the reign of Philip II. shortly after the close of the civil wars against the Moors, and during the heat of the persecution which raged against them.

The language of this play is poetic and impassioned: the incidents are sufficient to keep the attention alive during the, representation; and some of the situations are strikingly calculated for dramatic effect. The characters of the two brothers are well drawn and finely contrasted. That of Teresa does not rise much above mediocrity; but the concep