these, which is entirely accidental, is the circumstance of our having been already attracted to the subject by the work of Captain Rozet on Algiers; the other, perhaps the more substantial, is the fact, which we readily confess, that Semilasso in Africa is, from the subject, more easily interesting than Semilasso in Europe, that he has there more opportunity of exhibiting the few redeeming qualities which we have allowed him. As we have already observed, the prince is a passionate admirer and a successful delineator of natural scenery; he succeeded in penetrating, by the aid of native escorts, which were granted to him both in Algiers and Tunis, far into the interior of some parts of Northern Africa, and the wild and varied scenery which he traversed, so little known to Europeans, could not fail to furnish abundant materials for the exercise of his powers. These excursions, which form a tolerably large portion of Semilasso's diffuse* and often tiresome narrative, will furnish us with a few extracts wherewith to close our paper. They interest us, and we think that they will perhaps interest our readers, of whom we fancy few will have courage to wade through Semilasso's "World-Walk," as we have done, in search of them.

From Bone, Prince Pückler-Muskau left the regency and went to Biserta (Bensert), on his road to the city of Tunis. Every thing here bore a new appearance, and our traveller speaks with raptures of the scenery in its immediate neighbourhood, particularly towards the ancient Promontorium Hippos.

"The tongue of land on which we now stood, about two hours long and one hour broad, is as well cultivated land as any that could be found in Europe, associated with all the novelty of the torrid zone. The hilly ground, which afforded a perpetual variety of prospect, exhibited in the most lovely change-now light green levels, shaded with thick olivewoods, which yielded an exquisite oil; at one time, well-kept vineyards regularly intersected with fig-trees and almond-trees laden with fruit, jujubes and other fruit-trees in bloom, and inclosed with hedges of Indian figs, through which crept beautiful blooming roses; at another, meadows stored with good cattle, which are enveloped, as though in a golden cloth, by a very rich-blossomed species of broom, which predominates there. Sometimes we remarked also inclosed thickets of pomegranate trees, which

*

By the term diffuse we do not mean to say that Pückler-Muskau's account of Algiers and Tunis is too long for the subject, although it be spread over five volumes. He is diffuse in frivolities, in self-complacencies, and in idle tales which have little to do with his subject. There are parts of his book, too, which could not be presented to an English reader: we supposed that the prince had more judgment than to fill his book with obscenities, for which, we can assure him, neither the cautionary notice to the ladies, nor the circumstance of the worst passages being written in French, is au excuse. Since writing our article, we have seen an announcement of an English translation of Pückler-Muskau's Travels in Africa, which will be condensed into two volumes, post 8vo.

we only regretted not having seen in their bloom. Their fruit must be the choicest in all Tunis. In the corn-fields we found, instead of our corn-flowers, the blue garden bindweed and the red iris, and in the meadows the most beautiful lupines, several different asters, and a very striking purple-flowered sainfoin. Towards the town and the sea there is a succession of large pleasure gardens, which furnish in abundance palm, orange, lemon, mulberry, quince, peach, and apricot trees, but they are comparatively worse kept than the vineyards. In one of these gardens stands a majestic pine, which must be the only one in this region. There seems, with regard to property, to reign here a great liberality, for we not only might ride without obstruction into the possessions of strangers, but our guides gathered for us, both right and left, whole hatfuls of roses, orange-flowers, and sweet-oranges, the last of which tasted more bitter than sweet, and were far removed from the excellency of those of the Atlas. Nothing can be more agreeable than the covered way which leads between these gardens. The ever-varied shadows of so many shrubs, trees, and plants, among which, in particular, the lightgreen and silver-coloured odorous absinthus, contrasting beautifully with the dark boughs of the savin, formed so beautiful a picture, that one could not but admire the inimitable art of nature, which, always sufficient for itself, continues working in silent solitude, incessantly creative, careless if the eye of man understands and esteems it."-vol. iii. p. 12.

In this part of the kingdom of Tunis lay the ruins of two celebrated cities, Carthage and Utica, both of which, it seems, still offer pickings for the collector of antiques. The latter of these is near Biserta, and was visited by Semilasso during his stay in that town.

"The part of the ruins where we now were, the old citadel, stands on an isolated hill, which, as is easily seen, was formerly surrounded by water, being joined to the main land by a bridge. Some hundred paces thence, on the height, are visible the remains of the great amphitheatre, which, according to the opinion of antiquaries, was exclusively appropriated to naumachia, and was capable of containing 20,000 men. Under it are found spacious cisterns, which are sunk several hundred feet deep in the mountain, probably used as reservoirs for the water necessary to the representations, and which are in tolerable preservation. They are thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide, with a wonderfully flat and thin vault. The floor was covered with filth and dung, for the Bedouins, who had built a Duaz between the neighbouring walls, kept their cows in them during the winter.

"Near the palms before mentioned rises a warm spring, to which are ascribed great medicinal virtues, and in whose nearly hot water we found several tortoises, which seem always to inhabit this basin.

"After the Vandals and Arabs, the modern Moors have also ill-treated these ruins, particularly when a first minister of the last century built the great mosque in Tunis, at an expense of more than a million of Spanish piastres. Carthage and Utica furnished the marble and the columns. On this occasion were found several statues, which they half destroyed,

yet without any good in the sequel, in order to ascertain with certainty the situation of the senate-house. They were those of a Jupiter, of a Julius Cæsar in his war-dress, of a matron and three vestals, with a beautiful unknown torso, which is still preserved in the museum at Leyden. The traces of a theatre and of two temples presented to us nothing worth mentioning, and we were hindered by want of light from entering a souterrain in which stood a sarcophagus of red marble. Utica was on the whole very small, and was scarcely more than an hour in circumference. When the sea filled the present morass, and the plain on the other side up to the promontory of Apollo, now Cape Zibieb, under which lies the town of Porto Farina, was covered with many fortified Roman stations and towns, the prospect from the height of Utica must have been extremely noble."-vol. iii. p. 42.

From Tunis our traveller made an excursion to the still more interesting site of Carthage, and spent a whole day amid the ruins. We quote the following, as giving interesting information on the excavations which have been made there, and in the belief that it will hold out no little temptation to some adventurous hunters of antiquities.

"As we made the circuit of the isolated ruins, by the great mass of them, near the fort of Burdsch-Dchedid, we fell in with a party of negroes and Moors, who had been employed here some months in making excavations for the governor of Goletta. They had a short time before, at a depth of from twelve to fourteen feet, come to the level pavement of a building, where two gigantic pillars stand already freed from incumbrance. In this small space they have already found the broken fragments of eight columns of costly marble, with some grave-stones and other less important antiquities. Two of the fragments of columns and the grave-stones were carried away the preceding week by an English ship, for they here esteem such things of so little value, that whoever may be on the spot, may take what he likes and carry it away for a mere trifle. Yet, on this occasion, the overseer was in a great rage, because, as he asserted, they had left him only six bottles of English beer to refresh them for the beautiful things they had carried away. During our stay, I caused them to work hard, and they found a couple of glass vases, nearly calcined, variegated in colour, but, alas! already broken, some vessels of earthenware still perfect, and two drinking vessels to which time had given a dark yellow colour, with several pieces of black and white mosaic, and other fragments of beautiful marbles, all which I purchased for three piastres. In addition to these, I also bought several old Punic copper coins and engraved stones, though with less luck than M. Joseph Perasso, who some years before obtained here, for fourteen piastres (in value rather more than a ducat), the celebrated Neptune in his chariot, one of the most beautiful antiques in existence, for which stone he has since been offered as much as 10,000 piastres. I was in raptures with the excellency of this work. There is, in fact, something wonderful, I might even say supernatural, when we see before

us the majestic god in his quadriga; the snorting and apparently living horses; the foaming, high-booming waves, with the tritons emerg ing from them, and all lights spread thereon like the glittering of goldconjured into the small space of a ring, in a distinctness and fulness of execution which exhibits each hair of the horses' manes, each fine expression of the manly features, as clearly as in the most excellent pictures. We are here convinced, that this art also is as good as lost."-p. 212.

By far the most interesting part of Pückler Muskau's travels is that comprised in the two last volumes-his long excursion into the interior of Tunis-and it is here, with some regret, that we find ourselves compelled to pass it over very hastily. He took in his route a host of ancient cities, for Tunis presents to us a region covered with ruins, which are in the most varied state of preservation. The prince delights in finding occasions of differing from our excellent old traveller Shaw, often we suspect without very good reasons for so doing; and as, in one case, he asserts that an ancient building is round, which Shaw declares to be square, we conceive that in this instance, at least, the two travellers are describing two things altogether different. Prince Pückler Muskau is, however, by no means learned in antiquities, and his descriptions of old sites and old remains, though often spirited enough, seem to us by no means satisfactory. The ruins of Uthina, at no great distance from Tunis, and not seen by Shaw, he describes as more picturesque and extensive than those either of Carthage or Utica. Here the party passed the heat of the day in a cellar, amusing themselves by telling stories, which stories, or at least their equivalent, form a very considerable and very worthless part of the fourth volume. At Zugar (Zucchara) the clear waters of whose vicinity were once carried by an aqueduct to Carthage, and into the whole surrounding region, the ancient remains are exceedingly interesting. We join, for a moment, our traveller, who is standing by the fountain from which the water was obtained.

"As the distance appeared much clearer to-day than yesterday, I climbed a pretty considerable mountain, at whose foot the ruin lay. My labour was, however, almost in vain, for other still higher peaks ever presented themselves before me; yet I discovered towards the desert a veiled strip of Numidia, in the direction of Thala and Capsa, where Jugurtha had his strongest position, and where even Cæsar had a rather toilsome campaign. This part of the country is full of ruins, and I would willingly have undertaken an excursion thither, had it been possible for me to gain time for it, without being obliged to give up entirely more important plans. As we again reached the temple below, nature afforded us quite a pastoral picture; a cow was delivered before our eyes on the grass, and then went on quietly grazing, while the sheik of Zugar and his Arabs concerned themselves as much in the matter, as

with us scarcely do the god-parents about a christened child. The little calf was in fact extremely pretty, it immediately greeted the sun with a joyful bleating, and in ten minutes it knew how to make decent use of its four legs. How painful and grievous a proceeding is all this to the lofty king of animals, our dear self! And afterwards, how much we remain still the slaves of custom. So was it to-day, the first evening on which I, poor fellow, could sit an hour with crossed legs, without their going to sleep; a step towards the Turkomanie which gave me great con

tent.

"The unnatural number of flies in Zugar, which quite darkened my chamber, may be almost accounted one of the wonders of this place. In the morning they drank half a cup of coffee on my breakfast carpet, after they had, like Suwarow at Otschakow, first by the sacrifice of a thousand carcases, which ever crowded on each other, provided themselves with a firm footing on the fluid. After I had presented the sheik with some silks for his harem, we traversed, during the forenoon, the last mountains which separated us from the sea-like plains of Keruan. The heat was here much greater than before, and the earth was everywhere full of chinks and crevices caused thereby, as in the crater of Vesuvius. My companions were ready to faint, but I, well packed up as I described to you, felt in spite of it quite comfortable. The Sauwan, which still remained always at our side to-day, afforded a perpetual variety of its singular and picturesque forms; in general the distant prospects were extremely grand, but nearer at hand there appeared nothing but monotonous evergreen on a stony ground. About eleven o'clock we reached a marabout, where extensive ruins covered two neighbouring hills, and a charming landscape was surrounded by high mountain summits. Many ancient trees have sprung up between the heaps of stones, and in part even grown into a firm mass with them. We measured a carob and an olive, two feet above the ground, and found the first 20, the second 16 feet in circumference. Both must count many centuries, and yet they were in the most perfect vigour of vegetation. Among the ruins are seen some bold arches, vaulted, without cement, a high slender pillar, which looks as if every gust of wind would overthrow it, but above all an imposing temple, with many overthrown Corinthian columns, architraves, and friezes, which still present many interesting details; among these are the borderings of the tower of the chief entrance, both of one piece, and decorated with the most exquisite workmanship in flowers and arabesques. Their style differs strikingly from that which I have seen on other old monuments of this kind; I might say, that it is less strong, but more southernly fantastic, yet without in the least departing from the noblest forms and the most tasteful arrangement. Of the right-hand stone about one half of its elevation is broken off and thrown down; the other stands still perfect, and measures, above the ground, 24 feet,* so that, with the part buried, we may reckon the whole height of this enormous mass at 30 feet. On a fragment of the cornice which was lying near, we read in large letters,—

* It must be borne in mind that these are German feet.