his vizier, Jusef Aben Comixa, to deliver up the palace. "Go, senior," said he, to the commander of the detachment; "go, and take possession of those fortresses, which Allah has bestowed upon your powerful lord, in punishment of the sins of the Moors!" He said no more, but passed mournfully on, along the same road by which the Spanish cavaliers had come; descending to the vega, to meet the Catholic sovereigns. The troops entered the Alhambra, the gates of which were wide open, and all its splendid courts and halls silent and deserted. In the mean time, the Christian court and army poured out of the city of Santa Fé, and advanced across the vega. The king and queen, with the prince and princess, and the dignitaries and ladies of the court, took the lead; accompanied by the different orders of monks and friars, and surrounded by the royal guards, splendidly arrayed. The procession moved slowly forward, and paused at the village of Armilla, at the distance of half a league from the city. The sovereigns waited here with impatience, their eyes fixed on the lofty tower of the Alhambra, watching for the appointed signal of possession. The time that had elapsed since the departure of the detachment, seemed to them more than necessary for the purpose; and the anxious mind of Ferdinand began to entertain doubts of some commotion in the city. At length they saw the silver cross, the great standard of this crusade, elevated on the Torre de la Vela, or great watch tower, and sparkling in the sunbeams. This was done by Hermando de Talavera, bishop of Avila. Beside it was planted the pennon of the glorious apostle St James; and a great shout of Santiago! Santiago!" rose throughout the army. Lastly was reared the royal standard, by the king of arms; with the shout of "Castile! Castile! For King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ! The words were echoed by the whole army, with acclamations that resounded across the vega. At sight of these signals of possession, the sovereigns fell upon their knees, giving thanks to God for his great triumph. The whole assembled host followed their example; and the choristers of the royal chapel broke forth into the solemn anthem of Te Deum laudamus !'— pp. 375-377.

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As our readers may be interested in the fate of El Zagal, or the valiant, we copy the sequel of his fortunes.

And here let us cast our eye beyond the present period of our chronicle, and trace the remaining career of El Zagal. His short and turbulent reign, and disastrous end, would afford a wholesome lesson to unprincipled ambition, were not all ambition of the kind fated to be blind to precept and example. When he arrived in Africa, instead of meeting with kindness and sympathy, he was seized and thrown into prison by the king of Fez, as though he had been his vassal. He was accused of being the cause of the dissensions and downfal of the kingdom of Granada, and the accusation being proved to the satisfaction of the king of Fez, he condemned the unhappy El Zagal to perpetual darkness. A basin of glowing copper was passed before his eyes, which effectually destroyed his sight. His wealth, which had probably been the secret cause of these cruel measures, was confiscated and seized upon by his oppressor, and El Zagal was thrust forth, blind, helpless, and destitute, upon the world. In this wretched condition, the late Moorish Monarch groped his way through the regions of Tingitania, until he reached the city of Velez de Gomera. The king of

Velez had formerly been his ally, and felt some movement of compassion at his present altered and abject state. He gave him food and raiment, and suffered him to remain unmolested in his dominions. Death, which so often hurries off the prosperous and happy from the midst of untasted pleasures, spares, on the other hand, the miserable, to drain the last drop of his cup of bitterness. El Zagal dragged out a wretched existence of many years, in the city of Velez. He wandered about, blind and disconsolate, an object of mingled scorn and pity, and bearing above his raiment a parchment, on which was written in Arabic, "This is the unfortunate king of Andalusia."-vol. ii. 313-314.

Boabdil, also, after lingering for some time among the ruins of his former greatness, entered Africa and with the account of his fate, we conclude our notice of these interesting volumes.

A crowd of his former subjects witnessed his embarkation. As the sails were unfurled, and swelled to the breeze, and the vessel parted from the land, the spectators would fain have given him a parting cheering; but the humbled state of their once proud sovereign forced itself upon their minds, and the ominous surname of his youth rose involuntarily to their tongues.'" "Farewell, Boabdil! Allah preserve thee, El Zogoybi!" burst spontaneously from their lips. The unlucky appellation sank into the heart of the expatriated monarch; and tears dimmed his eyes, as the snowy summits of the mountains of Granada gradually faded from his view.

'He was received with welcome at the court of his relation, Muley Ahmed, king of Fez; and resided for many years in his territories. How he passed his life, whether repining or resigned, history does not mention. The last we find recorded of him is in the year 1536, thirty-four years after the surrender of Granada; when he followed the king of Fez to the field, to quell the rebellion of two brothers, named Xerifes. The armies came in sight of each other on the banks of the Guadiswed, at the ford of Bacuba. The river was deep; the banks were high and broken. For three days the armies remained firing at each other across the stream, neither party venturing to attempt the dangerous ford.

At length the king of Fez divided his army into three battalions; the first led on by his son and Boabdil el Chico. They boldly dashed across the ford, scrambled up the opposite bank, and attempted to keep the enemy employed, until the other battalions should have time to cross. The rebel army, however, attacked them with such fury, that the son of the king of Fez and several of the bravest alcaydes were slain upon the spot, and multitudes driven back into the river, which was already crowded with passing troops. A dreadful confusion took place; the horse trampled upon the foot; the enemy pressed on them with fearful slaughter; those who escaped the sword perished by the stream. The river was choked by the dead bodies of men and horses, and by the scattering baggage of the army. In this scene of horrible carnage fell Boabdil, truly called El Zogoybi, or the unlucky: "an instance," says the ancient chronicler, " of the scornful caprice of fortune; dying in defence of the kingdom of another, after wanting spirit to die in defence of his own." -pp. 396-398.

ART. X.-Three Years in Canada: an Account of the Actual State of the Country in 1826-7-8, comprehending its Resources, Productions, Improvements, and Capabilities, and including Sketches of the State of Society, Advice to Emigrants, &c. By John Mactaggart, Civil Engineer in the Service of the British Government. 2 vols. London: Colburn. 1829.

We do not know when it has been our chance to meet with a work so full of information, and yet so naïve as the present. Mr. Mactaggart is neither a man of letters, nor a traveller by profession, but he is a most ready observer of every object which meets his eye, and is endowed with the valuable quality of sterling good sense. To make him an amusing as well as sensible writer, he retains much of the genuine simplicity of natural feeling, and tells us of what pleased his eye with as much care as he details the progress of his professional efforts.

A more valuable benefit can hardly be conferred upon society, than by providing it with information relative to a country like Canada. Its present condition and future prospects, furnish an excellent illustration of the theory of colonization, and under present circumstances, and with so many fashionable opinions on the subject before us, it becomes in a measure, a duty to consider it under every point of view. That this is more especially the case in regard to the large number of persons who are at all likely to emigrate, is not necessary to show, but evident as it is, we fear fatal mistakes are every year committed, which a little information would have prevented, with all their distressing circumstances. The object of our author in traversing the woods and savannahs of Canada, was not to collect information of this express kind, but his work, even in this respect is not the less valuable. He has drawn a picture of the country he visited, as it presented itself naturally to him, and the reader may judge from the representation, without fear of being deluded by a theorist, whether he could find a home, such as he wishes, in the country described.

Mr. Mactaggart owes his visit to America to the judicious choice of Mr. Rennie, the skilful engineer. In the early part of the year 1826, that gentleman was commissioned by government to find a person to superintend one of the most important undertakings in the Colony. This was the formation of the Rideau Canal, which it was intended to cut through an expanse of country, extending a hundred and sixty miles, and presenting obstacles of a most formidable nature. By the completion of this useful project, a union would be effected between the Ottawa river and Lake Ontario, an object replete with good of the most important kind. Our author having accepted the appointment of clerk of the works, entered upon his duties with a zeal which did honour to the energy and honesty of his character, but his astonishing exertions, con

nected with the pestilential nature of the air to which he continually exposed himself, brought on an illness which threatened a fatal termination, and he was obliged to return to England to regain his strength by a short interval of rest. During his residence here, he has put in order the materials he collected in his journey, and the publication before us is the result.

We have already mentioned the object of Mr. Mactaggart's visit to America, and as it was one of great interest and importance, we shall endeavour to give our readers some idea of the nature of the design. The two immense rivers, the St. Lawrence, and the Ottawa, which form a junction at Montreal, are intercepted in their progress by several dangerous ridges of rocks, over which they fall in prodigious strength. It having been found during the late war, that it was next to impossible to navigate the St. Lawrence with the stores for our troops, several methods were proposed after the peace, for remedying the evil. It was at length determined to connect Lake Ontario and the Ottawa river, by forming a navigable course of the small rivers and lakes, which lie between them. The Rideau canal was thus determined upon, and our author made, in the autumn of 1826, a survey of the country through which it was to pass. An interesting account is given of the result of his observations, but it is too long to quote. The estimate of the cost of cutting the canal was made at 398,5607., which, with a former sum employed, made the expenses altogether 486,0601. The plan which Mr. Mactaggart drew out for conducting the works was admirably adapted to facilitate their progress; among other important heads we find it determined, that no contractor shall be allowed to contract for any work out of his line and profession;' that to a mason shall not be given a job of excavation, any more than to an excavator a piece of building, or mason work;' careful regulations were also made to preserve the health of the people engaged; buildings were ordered to be erected near the scene of labour; a subaltern's command of sixty soldiers was placed there; surgeons were also engaged, and abundance of comforts as well as necessaries, prepared in case of illness. The following concluding observations of the author, will enable the reader to understand the nature of the Rideau canal:

The Rideau Canal, when constructed, will be perfectly different from any other in the known world, since it is not ditched or cut out by the hand of man. Natural rivers and lakes are made use of for this canal, and all that science or art has to do in the matter, is in the lockage of the rapids, or waterfalls, which exist either between extensive sheets of still river water, or expansive lakes. To surmount this difficulty, dams are proposed, and in many instances, already raised, at the bottom of the rapids, or sometimes at their head, or even, as the case may be, in their middle, by which means the rapids and waterfalls are converted into still-water. These dams are of various heights, according to the lift of the rapid they have to overcome; they cross the rivers where the banks are found to be

most retentive and the space narrow; and immediately behind them, or in some instances, as the nature of the country requires, at one end, the locks are excavated out and built. The locks vary in lift, according to the lift of rapid where the rapid is sixty feet, the locks are proposed to be six in number; if eighty feet, eight, and so forth: ten feet being always considered a proper lift for a lock. The extensive utility of these dams must be obvious to any person who considers the business in an engineering point of view; they do away with lines of extended excavations through a thickwooded wilderness. In several instances, a dam not more than twentyfour feet high, and 180 feet wide, will throw the rapids and rivers into a still sheet above it for a distance of more than twenty miles. The dams also back the waters up creeks, ravines, and valleys; and, instead of making one canal, they form numerous canals of various ramifications, which will all tend greatly to the improvement of a very fertile country. As they convert the rivers into extensive reservoirs, they may be filled and emptied as often as possible, without creating either the slightest disturbance in the movements of the waters of the lakes, or sensible diminution of their contents. But, when a canal is ditched through a country, if the locks have occasion to be often opened and shut, a current is raised in the canal, and the waters are not unfrequently drained out of it, or, at least, are reduced beneath the proper navigable depth. Does it not, then, appear in the clearest manner possible, that the Rideau Canal can never be in want of water, unless a convulsion take place amongst the elements of nature? And as for evaporation, the dams will lessen more than increase it, as they deepen the rivers over beds of warm limestone-rock, and thus destroy the present influence of the hot summer sun of Canada; exhalations are trivial from the surface of lakes, compared with those from shallow rivers.

Thus is this canal formed by dam and lock, and not by locks and cuts, as in England. The land drowned by the rising of the dams is not worth mentioning, consisting chiefly of swampy wastes, the haunts of otters and beavers.

'Were Canada a country where floods and freshets are obnoxious to works placed in the beds of rivers, it would then be proper to shun the rivers with the works; but this is not the case. Floods there certainly are, but as these come periodically, they can be calculated upon with the greatest certainty; guard-gates and sluices can be fixed for their reception. Dams even destroy the effect of floods, for, as they form extensive lakes, the floods in getting through them expend their fury. Thus the Great Rideau Lake, the summit reservoir, which averages twenty-four miles long and six broad, only rises, with the greatest floods, three feet; while, in narrow places in the River Rideau, the rise is from ten to fourteen feet: were, therefore, all the dams and lakes raised, the floods would never be deeper over the waste-weirs than two feet.

It has been stated that the Rideau Canal has been estimated to cost 169,000l. this is perfectly true, and, if the works were executed in a weak and unsatisfactory manner, might, probably, be found sufficient; but if British substantiality is required-and required it always is-three times the above sum will perhaps not be found to be too much. How can it be otherwise? If any practical engineer is applied to, he will at once state, that to build a substantial, good lock, of cut stone, similar to those