do good, it may save much money, time, vexation, and probably lives. Moreover, any accident befalling Captain Parry, north of the heavy ice, will be found an irreparable one. I fully coincide with the concluding paragraph of Captain Parry's work; it is such as becomes an able and zealous officer; no one can doubt his merit. But, whatever may be his theoretic, as well as his practical knowledge, and he has much more than an ordinary share of the latter, still I cannot but think, that his reasons for not undertaking a N. E., and, as he admits, a more practicable passage, are founded, as I have endeavoured to establish, in error. P. S. From what is stated in page 246 of the Quarterly, it appears to me highly inconsiderate to fit out maritime expeditions at all. The paragraph I allude to says, "The Esquimaux have no domestic animals but dogs: six of these useful creatures will draw half a ton, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, and proceed with ease fifty or sixty miles a day; yet they appear to get little food, and are only suffered to eat at the conclusion of their journey." With such a set of powerful and active dogs, has it not appeared to the Reviewer that maritime expeditions are useless, dangerous, and expensive, when we have the means of making a certain, rapid, and economical journey of it? In an article in the New Monthly last month, I proposed an expedition with the aid of dogs from Repulse Bay: I stated also their powers of action. The dogs about Akkolee Bay ought to enable Captain Lyon to proceed easily from Repulse Bay, with half a ton of provisions, and six dogs to each narte, as far as Kotzebue's Sound and back again. If the plan I proposed were acted upon, the result would stand thus:-If ten dogs with 1000 lbs. weight of provisions, can go 500 miles out and 500 home, at the rate of 20 miles per day, consuming 4lbs. of fish a day; six dogs, with 1000 lbs. weight of provisions, can go 800 miles out and 800 home, at the same rate; and at 50 miles a day, they can go 2000 miles out and 2000 home. Thus, the whole might be accomplished, out and home, in 80 days, from Repulse Bay to Icy Cape. I have travelled some thousands of miles with dogs, and have seen them perform long journeys, especially over good roads such as are found in Kamtchatka, which I had till now considered as possessing the finest dogs for the purpose. The power of these dogs is so extraordinary that it may be useful to state it. Six dogs, in harness, can draw half a ton weight seven or eight miles an hour; that is, 1863lbs. each, at seven miles an hour, equal to 220 yards a minute, or eleven feet a second. In Siberia a narte and a half is considered equal to one horse, and is paid for accordingly after that ratio. The mongrel animals which I have seen at the Admiralty, to make up for their unbeauteous half-starved appearance, which is precisely that of the dogs of Siberia, (half wolf half dog, or half fox half dog,) possess qualifications which much more than compensate for appearances. I hope Captain Lyon has been instructed to make trial of them. But if so, the expeditions of Captains Parry and Franklin are useless, as regards a knowledge of the boundaries of North America. Singular as this statement may appear, yet the truth of it no one has ground to question. The Quarterly discredits it, (vide page 250, 9th line),--"The Esquimaux, after this, in stating the distance, called it three sleeps; but their sleeps are measured by time, and not by distance, and the longest of them is generally short." The party that left Winter Island on a journey to the Northward were overtaken by the ships in one day's sailing, at a spot on the coast which had cost them forty sleeps to reach. What distance is to be understood by a sleep? I suppose a mile; because I doubt not but the Esquimaux term their sleeps, the halts which their dogs are compelled to make to gain wind; the same as the Siberians denote distance by the time that a kettle can be boiled : therefore these forty sleeps are forty miles, which, if I understand rightly, the ships did make one morning, by an extraordinary piece of good fortune. (Vide page 255.) We are told (vide page 271 note,) that Captain Franklin is going, or has offered to go, to the Pole. This, with the Reviewer, is also so easy a job, that a person can go, in an hermaphrodite boat and sledge, from Hackluyt's Head to the Pole, leave his mark, I suppose, and come back again in three months. It is true the distance is only 1200 geographical miles, or 1500 in a straight line; but I presume it cannot so easily be made, to say nothing of the labour, the peril, the chance of delays, &c. The Reviewer would hardly undertake such a journey, because he has not seen, nor does he know what the nature of the icy climes is. I refer him to the "youths of ages to come," to perform this journey in the way he lays down for it; for I doubt whether the youths of the present age are capable of undertaking, in summer too, what would be at best most perilous and uncertain if attempted in winter, which is the only time to try it. J. D. C. A DREAM, BY T. CAMPBELL. WELL may sleep present us fictions, Than was left by Phantasy In a bark, methought, lone steering, This, 'twas whisper'd in my hearing, Sad regrets from past existence Now seeming more, now less remote, But my soul revived at seeing Heaven-like-yet he look'd as human More compassionate than woman, And as some sweet clarion's breath Stirs the soldier's scorn of death So his accents bade me brook Types not this," I said, "fair Spirit! No," he said, " yon phantom's aspect, Held in clearly measured prospect:— Make not, for I overhear Thine unspoken thoughts as clear That's now revolving in thy breast. Hast thou felt, poor self-deceiver! New begun again? Could experience, ten times thine, Threads by fate together spun? Could thy flight heaven's lightning shun? - No, nor could thy foresight's glance 'Scape the myriad shafts of chance. "Would'st thou bear again Love's trouble- Toil to grasp or miss the bubble Of Ambition's prize? Say thy life's new-guided action Flow'd from Virtue's fairest springs Still would Envy and Detraction Worth itself is but a charter To be mankind's distinguish'd martyr.” -I caught the moral, and cried, Hail, Spirit! let us onward sail Envying, fearing, hating none, Guardian Spirit, steer me on!" LETTERS FROM THE EAST.-NO. V. Grand Cairo. Not far from the city, on the way to the Desert, is the burial-place of the Mamelukes, the most splendid cemetery in Egypt. Here repose the Beys, with their followers, for many generations. The forms of the tombs are various and fantastic, and often magnificent; over the sepulchres rise domes which are supported by slender marble columns, and some of these are finely carved. The tombs of the Caliphs are a mile and a half in another direction from the city, amidst the sand; they are beautiful monuments in the elegant and fantastic style of the Arabian architecture, and are in a very perfect state of preservation. They are built of fine-lime-stone, and are lofty square buildings, with domes and minarets; some of the latter are of exquisite workmanship. One day I met a marriage-procession in the streets, conducting a young Egyptian bride to her husband. A square canopy of silk was borne along, preceded by several friends and slaves, all women, and three men followed with the tambourines and pipe. Two female relatives, who walked beside the bride, held the canopy over her; she was shrouded from head to foot, so closely and ungracefully, that not the least beauty of figure was discernible, and a thick white veil concealed her features, two holes only being left for her dark eyes to look through. Beneath this coarse exterior the richest dresses are often worn; but all is sacred, both form and feature, and splendid attire, till arrived in the harem of the bridegroom, when the disguise is suddenly thrown off, and his impatient looks are bent painfully or delightfully on his dear unknown. This procession moved at a very slow pace to the sounds of the music, and the lively cries of joy of the women. Grand Cairo is encompassed by a wall, which is about ten miles in circumference, and of great antiquity. Mount Mokatam stands near the city, of which, and the whole country, it commands a most extensive prospect. This mountain is of a yellow colour, and perfectly barren. Beneath, and in a very elevated position, is the citadel, which is of great extent, and in many parts very ruinous. This fortress is now more famous for the massacre of the Mameluke Beys, than for any other event. The Mameluke force in Cairo consisted of from five to ten thousand choice troops, commanded by their various beys. It was a novel and splendid spectacle to a stranger to view the exercises, the rich accoutrements, and capital horsemanship of the Mamelukes, which were exhibited every day in the great square of the city. The chiefs and Mahmoud were constantly jealous of each other: he longed to curtail or destroy their power, and they dreaded his unprincipled ambition. After this state of affairs had lasted a good while, sometimes in open hostility, or maintaining a hollow friendship, the Pacha professed the most entire and cordial reconciliation, terms of amity were agreed on, and he invited the beys to a splendid banquet in the citadel. The infatuation of these unfortunate men was singular, in trusting to the protestations of a man whose faithless character they knew so well. It was a beautiful day, and the three hundred chiefs, on their most superb coursers and in their costliest robes, entered the long and winding pass that conducts to the citadel. This pass was so narrow, as to oblige each horseman to proceed singly, and broken and precipitous rocks rose on each side. The massy gate of entrance of the pass was closed on the last Mameluke, and the long file of chiefs, in their pride and splendour, yet broken by the windings of the defile, proceeded slowly to the gate of the citadel, which was fast shut. From behind the rocks above opened at once a fire of musketry so close and murderous, that the unhappy chiefs gazed around in despair; they drew their sabres, and as their coursers pranced wildly beneath their wounds, each bey was heard to utter a wild shriek as he sank on the ground, and in a short time all was hushed. Mahmoud heard from his apartment in the citadel the tumult and outcries; and never were sounds more welcome to his ear. This massacre completely broke the power of the Mamelukes; on the loss of their chiefs the troops fled from Cairo. A second piece of treachery of the same kind was afterwards executed by Ibrahim, the Pacha's eldest son: by the most solemn promises he prevailed on these fugitives to descend from a mountain where they had taken refuge in Upper Egypt, and meet him on the plain. One of the Mamelukes, an uncommonly handsome young man, afterwards governor of Ramla in Palestine, told us the tale, during our audience of him, of that scene of murder and treachery, when, hemmed in on all sides by Ibrahim's numerous forces, after most of his comrades had fallen, he with a few more cut his way through the Turks, and escaped. The death of the beys at Cairo, however cruelly achieved, was the only means of confirming the power of Mahmoud, which was continually disturbed by their plots and jealousies. In one of the streets of this city daily stand a large number of asses for hire immediately on entering it, you are assailed and hemmed in by the keepers on every side, each recommending his own animal. They are handsome little creatures, of a quite different breed from those of Europe, with elegant saddles and bridles; some are of a pure white or black colour, and they are used by all ranks, and go at a rapid rate. You pay so much by the hour, and the Arab master, with a long stick in his hand, runs behind or beside you. It is amusing enough to gallop in this way through the crowded streets of Cairo, at one time avoiding, by the dexterity of the Arab, a tall camel, or a soldier mounted on a fine charger, at another jostling foot-passengers, or encountering numbers alike mounted with yourselves, while the Arab attendant shews infinite dexterity in warding off obstacles, calling out loudly all the time to clear the way. In the citadel is a celebrated well, which goes by the name of Joseph's Well; it is near three hundred feet deep, and thirty or forty in circumference. The descent to it is by a long winding gallery, and you meet at every turning with men and cattle conveying the water above. The water is raised by means of large wheels, which are worked by buffaloes; it must have been a work of prodigious labour to execute, being all cut out, both gallery and well, of the solid rock. The hall of Joseph is also shewn in the citadel, but the pillars which support it are evidently of Arabian architecture; the granaries of the patriarch, where he deposited the Egyptians' corn, we could not see, as the pacha had made a storehouse of them. The consul-general gave me a letter to M. Caviglia, a Frenchman, who had resided some time at the Pyramids, where he was most ardently engaged in prosecuting discoveries. M. C. came to Cairo one day from his desert abode, and invited me warmly to return with him. We set out soon after two o'clock, the heat being intense. We crossed the Nile to the village of Gizeh : the direct route to the Pyramids is only ten miles; but the inundation made it near twenty, and obliged us to take a very circuitous course; yet it was a most agreeable one, leading at times through woods of palm and date-trees, or over barren and sandy tracts, without a vestige of population. Fatigued with heat and thirst, we came to a few cottages in a palm-wood, and stopped to drink of a fountain of delicious water. In this northern climate no idea can be formed of the exquisite luxury of drinking in Egypt: little appetite for food is felt, but when, after crossing the burning sands, you reach the rich line of woods on the brink of the Nile, and pluck the fresh limes, and, |