Tomas, whence he was scared away by the carrion hawks. On alighting in the street, a negro attempted to catch him for the purpose of bringing him home, upon which he seized the poor creature by the ear, and tore it completely off. He then attacked a child in the street (a negro boy of three years old), threw him on the ground, and knocked him on the head so severely with his beak that the child died in consequence of the injuries. I hoped to have brought this bird alive to Europe; but, after being at sea two months on our homeward voyage, he died on board the ship in the latitude of Monte Video."

We cannot say that we in any degree sympathise in the author's regret for the death of the bird on the passage, although doubtless the prestige conferred by its having killed a child would have greatly stimulated the curiosity of sight-seers. It is true the child was only a negro, and it is probably on "phre nological principles" that the traveller refers so coolly to the fate of the victim. Notwithstanding the manifest and acknowledged aid furnished by menageries for the study of natural history -though not one in ten thousand who visit them resorts thither for the pursuit of it-we cannot reconcile ourselves to the practice of condemning to the cage or the dungeon animals which God created, as he has all living things, for happiness. If "the beasts of the field multiply upon us" we are justified in destroying and even exterminating them; but we have no warrant for consigning them to the slow poison of perpetual imprisonment: we have no right, with such a purpose, to pursue them into their tangled forests and trackless sands, from which they would never emerge to annoy us. Rather let their bones whiten the margin of the fountain in the desert, whither, in the feebleness of age or the extremity of disease, they would struggle to drink and die! We well remember, though many years have passed since, meeting at dinner a high colonial functionary, who, in narrating an elephant hunt in Ceylon, described his narrow escape from the tusks of an elephant which he had wounded with a rifle ball. "Serve him right (said an unsophisticated gentleman, sotto voce, at our side); why couldn't he let the animal alone?-what had the elephant done to him?"

We conclude that the author has given us all the information he could glean of the valley of Lurin-we regret that it is so scant; still the little he has afforded is interesting in the highest degree. Before the Spanish conquest it was one of the most populous portions of the coast of Peru. The whole of the valley was then called "Pacchacamac," from the temple erected to the god of that name, the greatest of the deities of the Yuncas. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the worship of

the Yuncas must have become corrupted, and that this temple was originally dedicated to the one true God, Pacchacamac signifying "He who created the world out of nothing." It was not, it seems, until the subjugation of the Yuncas by the Incas that the former worshipped the sun, to which the temple of Pacchacamac was then dedicated by the latter, who appointed to its service a certain number of virgins of royal descent. The destruction of the temple by Pizarro, and the fate of the virgins, are matters of familiar history. The ruins of this interesting edifice are still traceable on a hill five hundred and fifty-eight feet high, which is crowned by a solid mass of brickwork about thirty feet in height. On this ridge stood the temple, enclosed by high walls rising like an amphitheatre. "All that now remains of it (says our traveller) are a few arches, the walls of which exhibit faint traces of red and yellow painting."

Referring to the poisonous reptiles of Peru, the author remarks that multitudes of venemous amphibia are hatched in the half-putrescent vegetable matter so abundant in such a climate. He tells us that "they creep between the roots of large trees under the thickly interwoven brushwood-on the open grassplats, and in the maize and sugar-cane fields of the Indiansnay, they crawl even into their huts." Of the poisonous serpents only a few kinds are known whose bite is dangerous. The Miuamaru or Jergon does not exceed three feet in length, and has a broad heart-shaped head. It is found in the higher forests, while the lower ones abound in the Flammon (Lachesis Rhombeata) which measures from six to seven feet. "These serpents (we are told) are usually seen coiled almost in a circle, the head thrust forward, and the fierce treacherous-looking eyes glaring around, watching for prey, on which they dart with the swiftness of an arrow; then, coiling themselves up again, they look tranquilly on the death-struggle of their victim." There is, however, a yet more formidable reptile than these in what is called the "brown ten inch viper": the effect of its bite is to kill a strong man in two hours.

The interesting character of this agreeable volume has betrayed us into a larger discussion of its merits than we usually devote to works of its class; but we cannot dismiss it from our hands, without a reference to the religious aspect of the country, a point of view in which it falls within our especial province to regard it.

The religion originally introduced by Pizarro is still the prevailing one in Peru; and we regret to add that the sacred, or rather profane, dramas introduced by him, with a view of rendering the Christian religion attractive in the eyes of the natives,

are still periodically enacted in the villages of the Sierra, although the exertions of the more enlightened ecclesiastics have suppressed them in the larger towns. On Palm Sunday an image of our Saviour, seated on an ass, is paraded through the streets, and the animal is thereafter regarded as almost sacred, and is never permitted to bear any other burthen. On Good Friday the awful scene of the Crucifixion is the subject of one of these dramas. In quoting the author's account of it we have a far other and, we hope, higher motive than the desire of gratifying a morbid curiosity on the part of our readers, or any pleasure we ourselves feel in dwelling on the subject :

"From the early dawn of morning the church is thronged with Indians, who spend the day in fasting and prayer. At two in the afternoon a large image of our Saviour is brought from the sacristry and laid down in front of the altar; immediately all the persons in the church rush forward with pieces of cotton to touch the wounds. This gives rise to a struggle in which angry words and blows are interchanged; in short, there ensues a disgraceful scene of uproar, which is only checked by the interposition of one of the priests. Order being restored, the sacred image is fixed on the cross by three very large silver nails, and the head is encircled by a rich silver crown on each side are the crosses of the two thieves. Having gaped at this spectacle to their heart's content the cholos retire from the church. At eight in the evening they re-assemble to witness the solemn ceremony of taking down the Saviour from the cross. The church is then brilliantly lighted up at the foot of the cross stand four white-robed priests called los santos varones (the holy men), whose office it is to take down the image. At a little distance from them, on a sort of stage or platform, stands a figure representing the Virgin Mary; this figure is dressed in black with a white cap on its head. The priest, in a long discourse, explains the scene to the assembled people; and at the close of the address, turning to the santos varones, he says-Ye holy men! ascend the ladders of the cross and bring down the body of the Redeemer.' Two of the santos varones mount with hammers in their hands, and the priest then says, Ye holy men on the right of the Saviour, strike the first blow on the nail of the hand and take it out!' The command is obeyed, and no sooner is the stroke of the hammer heard than deep groans and sounds of anguish resound through the church, whilst the cry of Misericordia, misericordia,' repeated by a thousand imploring voices, produces an indescribable sensation of awe and melancholy. The nail is handed to one of the priests standing at the foot of the altar, who transfers it to another, and this one in his turn presents it to the figure of the Virgin. To that figure the priest then turns and addresses himself, saying, Thou afflicted mother, approach and receive the nail which pierced the right hand of thy holy Son!' The priest steps forward a few paces, and the figure, by some concealed mechanism, advances to meet him, receives the nail with both hands, lays it on a silver plate, dries its eyes, and then returns to its place in the middle of the platform."

6

Now, if such blasphemous mummeries as these were confined to the Sierras of Peru, we should not feel ourselves justified in putting them prominently forward as characteristics of the religion to which they manifestly belong; but when we find farces, equal in absurdity, though perhaps differing in kind-the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius for instance-enacted in the very head-quarters of Romanism, what shall we say of the folly or criminality-for it is one or the other to an awful degree-of those who take part in, or permit the enactment of, such blasphemies? And yet, it is for this Church that we find men, who have not the excuse of the "untutored Indian," abandoning the faith in which they have been brought up, and in which, ay, and for which, their pious forefathers have died. Little, indeed, did we think, when we watched the first wellings of the impure fountain of Tractarianism that it would swell into the broad stream which is now setting, with so strong a tide, into the dead sea of Romanism. But may God, in his abundant mercy, grant that the secessions of the few may operate as warnings rather than examples to the many; and that not only, through the darkened land to which our observations especially refer, but over the whole earth, the blessed light of the pure Gospel may eventually spread, to the glory of his name, as "the waters cover the

sea.

ART. X.-The Ancient World: or, Picturesque Sketches of Creation. By D. T. ANSTED, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Professor of Geology in King's College, London. Van Voorst. 1847.

IN a book with such a title as this, perhaps, we ought not to expect anything very accurate anything which has cost the writer much time or trouble-anything by which science may be advanced, or which those who are scientific will ever look at; but that it is rather like the dashing sketches of a young lady, which, however picturesque they may be, make no pretensions to accuracy; or, like a portfolio which we once saw, humorously entitled "Fugitive Sketches," some of which were taken from the top of a mail coach when travelling at full speed. But when a man of science puts his name to a book it will inevitably be brought into comparison with his former self-it will be expected to add to the reputation which he has already acquired-and, if it fail in this, it will surely detract from even his former fame. Every eminent man should be

aware that whatever he does is noted; works worthy of his name are looked for; and he must take care that he does not disappoint these expectations: the world is envious and capricious-science is jealous over the conduct of her sons-he should not tempt men to question whether the reputation he has enjoyed be legitimately acquired, and does, in fact, rest upon a true and solid foundation.

We do not like the title of this book-" Picturesque Sketches of Creation." Creation is too sacred a word-too much associated in our minds with the Creator to stand well in such a connection; and picturesque sketches lead one to expect loose inaccurate descriptions, dashed off for effect, to please or astonish vulgar minds, without any care, or thought, or effort. It savours too much of hap-hazard and quackery to be in strict keeping with a professor of King's College, or to be in harmony with the works already published by the author. And, although it can scarcely happen that anything proceeding from Professor Ansted's pen will descend to the level of an ephemeral production and live only its single season, yet. we are convinced that this volume will not add at all to the reputation of its author, and will be more speedily forgotten than any of his former publications.

And regarded merely as a printed book, there is too much external pretension about the appearance of this volume, and too little substantial reality, to be in correct taste: its covers are splendid-solid wooden boards, got up in crimson and gold, with the inscription and the author's cypher in antique characters-leading us to expect correspondent paper and type, with elaborate, if not splendid, illustrations. We expect leaves of vellum, or thick paper of a mellow tone, and suitable pictorial decorations to pages of a full-bodied massive fount of letters of venerable appearance; but we find, on the contrary, a thin, cold, bluish paper, and the wiry hair-line type of modern times; and the illustrations are of the most paltry and meagre description possible-they are mere outlines and that without spirit-most feebly and indifferently executed. There is actually only one good engraving in the volume, and that merely the pod of a Mimosa (p. 270); the rest are poor scrawls, as may be rendered evident in the Mylodon (p. 369), compared with the skeleton of the same animal which is engraved in Ansted's "Geology" (vol. ii. p. 156).

On examining the contents of the volume we are not much better satisfied with its matter than we have been with its external appearance. There is a looseness which amounts to a desertion of the commanding station, which, from an extensive

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