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honesty into question. We do not find fault with the spirit of the writer, nor blame his principles; except, indeed, that a habit of making careless statements and of exaggeration, in a traveller, is a great moral delinquency at all times.

Monsieur Paul du Chaillu is a French-American, whose father has long traded on the western coast of Africa, in the region lying under the Equator. Having become tolerably acclimatized, Mons. Paul, not unnaturally, begins to think that he should like to know a little of the interior; visit the heads or great men in their native villages, and shoot apes, elephants, and snakes in the woods. He indulges his inclination during the years 1856-1859, in which years he paid several exploring visits to his black friends. During these journeys he killed many wild animals, and formed a little museum of his own, which he has brought to England. Not unnaturally, too, he thinks that he may give the world some brief sketches of his rambles, and some account of his chase of the gorilla, the largest of the apes of Western Africa. All this is free from blame; but, unhappily, some one seems to have conceived the idea of raising him to the rank of a second Livingston; and styling him a great discoverer, both in the geographical field, and in that of natural history. This error has been so well exposed by Dr. Gray, the keeper of the Zoological collection at the British Museum, that we need do little more than reprint a paragraph or two from his published letter. Dr. Gray says:

"6 I have examined the collection of mammalia with care, and there is not a specimen among them that indicates that the collector had traversed any new region. On the contrary, all the kinds contained in it have been received long ago from the different trading stations on the west coast of Africa, and can easily be procured from them." . . . "And the whole of the twenty species which are said to be new to science dwindle into thin air. As to Mr., Mrs., and Miss Gorilla,' one would suppose that the animals were now for the first time brought to Europe; whereas we have been receiving specimens of them for the last fifteen years, until almost every museum in Europe is provided with them.

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Turning from the collection to the book, one must be struck with the improbable stories it contains, and must observe that there is the same exaggeration in the illustrations as there is in the text. These illustrations have evidently been prepared in this country from the notes of the author, and not from sketches made on the spot.

"The young gorilla, and the niare or wild bull, are described as quite untameable. Now we have reliable accounts of young gorillas having been kept in confinement, and shipped for England, and being anything but violent; and as for the niare, it

is the animal known all over West Africa as the bush-cow, and the specimen of it which was for some years in this country, was as mild and inoffensive as our own cattle. And to show how little reliance is to be placed on the illustrations, I may state that the horns of this animal, in each of the three plates in which it is figured, are turned in a wrong direction.

"Mons. du Chaillu's qualifications as a naturalist are of the lowest order; and he has made few, if any, additions to our previous knowledge."

Yet the book is brought out in the same style and at the same price as Dr. Livingston's, as if the author's achievements entitled him to rank with that really great but most unas, suming traveller.

The main attraction of the volume will be found to be in the wonderful stories of the gorilla ; whose "roar" M. du an ape Chaillu declares he has heard at a distance of three miles; and whose jaws are described as of such strength as to enable him "almost to flatten with his teeth" the barrel of a gun. Dr. Gray calls these "improbable stories and exaggerations.

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Yet the work is not without merit. It has one great merit at least wanting to Dr. Livingston's. The author tells his adventures with spirit, and carries the reader along with him. Wẹ give the story of one of his many gorilla hunting expeditions, and leave the reader to judge of the accuracy of the writer for himself:

"The next day, 7th, we went on a gorilla hunt. All the olako was busy in the evening of my arrival with preparations; and as meat was scarce, everybody had joyful anticipations of hunger satisfied and plenty in the camp. Little did we guess what frightful death was to befall one of our number before the next sunset.

"I gave powder to the whole party. Six were to go off in one direction for gazelles, and whatever luck might send them; and six others, of whom I was one, were to hunt for gorillas. We set off towards a dark valley, where Gambo, Igoumba's son, said we should find our prey. The gorilla chooses the darkest, gloomiest forests for his home, and is found on the edges of the clearings only when he is in search of plantains, or sugarcane, or pineapple. Often they choose for their peculiar haunt a wood so dark that, even at midday, one can scarce see ten yards. This makes it the more necessary to wait till the monstrous beast approaches near before shooting, in order that the first shot may be fatal. It does not often let the hunter reload.

Our little party separated, as is the custom, to stalk the wood in various directions. Gambo and I kept together. One brave fellow went off alone in a direction where he thought he could find a gorilla. The other three took another course. We had been about an hour separated, when Gambo and I heard a gun fired but a little way from us, and presently another. We were already on our way to the spot where we hoped to see a gorilla slain, when the forest began to resound with the most terrific roars. Gambo seized my arms in great agita

tion, and we hurried on, both filled with a dreadful and sickening alarm. We had not gone far when our worst fears were realized. The poor brave fellow who had gone off alone was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, and I thought at first quite dead. His bowels were protruding through the lacerated abdomen. Beside him lay his gun. The stock was broken, and the barrel was bent and flattened. It bore plainly the marks of the gorilla's teeth.

"We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds, as well as I could, with rags torn from my clothes. When I had given him a little brandy to drink, he came to himself, and was able, but with great difficulty, to speak. He said that he had met the gorilla suddenly and face to face, and that it had not attempted to escape. It was, he said, a huge male, and seemed very savage. It was in a very gloomy part of the wood, and the darkness, I suppose, made him miss. He said he took good aim, and fired when the beast was only about eight yards off. The ball merely wounded it in the side. It at once began beating its breasts and with the greatest rage advanced upon him.

"To run away was impossible. He would have been caught in the jungle before he had gone a dozen steps. He stood his ground, and as quickly as he could reloaded his gun. Just as he raised it to fire the gorilla dashed it out of his hands, the gun going off in the fall; and then in an instant, and with a terrible roar, the animal gave him a tremendous blow with its immense open paw, frightfully lacerating the abdomen, and with this single blow laying bare part of the intestines. As he sank bleeding to the ground, the monster seized the gun, and the poor hunter thought he would have his brains dashed out with it. But the gorilla seems to have looked upon this also as an enemy, and in his rage almost flattened the barrels between his strong jaws.

"When we came upon the ground the gorilla was gone. This is their mode when attacked, to strike one or two blows, and then leave the victim of their rage on the ground and go off into the woods.

"We hunted up our companions and carried our poor fellow to the camp, where all was instantly excitement and sorrow. They entreated me to give him medicine, but I had nothing to suit his case. I saw that his days were numbered; and all I could do was to make him easy by giving him a little brandy or wine at intervals. He had to tell his story over again; and the people declared at once that this was no true gorilla that had attacked him, but a man-a wicked man turned into a gorilla. Such a being no man could escape, they said; and it could not be killed, even by the bravest hunters. This principle of fatalism and of transmigration of souls is brought in by them in all such cases, I think, chiefly to keep up the courage of their hunters, on whom such a mischance exercises a very depressing influence. The hunters are the most valued men in these negro villages. A brave and fortunate one is admired by all the women; loved-almost worshipped -by his wives; and enjoys many privileges among his fellow villagers. But his proudest time is when he has killed an elephant or a gorilla, and filled the village with meat. Then he may do almost what he pleases. The next day we shot a monster gorilla, which I suppose is the same one who killed my poor hunter, for male gorillas are not very plentiful."

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Bible Inspiration Vindicated. An Essay on " Essays and Reviews," by John C. Miller, D.D., Honorary Canon of Worcester; Rector of St. Martin's, Birmingham. J. H. Parker, Oxford, 1861.-Dr. Miller tells us that it has been his object in these pages to set forth simply and in popular form the true doctrine of inspiration. Few men living are more competent to such a task. Few are capable of producing within. the same limits, on a subject so confessedly difficult to ordinary readers, a treatise at once so readable and so complete; neither content with superficial views on the one hand, nor too abstruse on the other. Dr. Miller considers the question of inspiration, what it is; and then passes on to the discussion of the inspiration claimed by the Bible for itself; shows the actual extent of Bible inspiration, both in the Old Testament and in the New, and with the utmost fairness meets the difficulties raised against it. Nothing is taken for granted here. There are plain proofs for every assertion, so made and stated as to be quite within the compass of men of ordinary education; and we have no doubt this treatise will be read with satisfaction, as, indeed, it ought to be, by thousands of the class for whom it seems more specially designed; not but that men of the highest education, who have no time for extensive research, will probably find in it all they need. We cannot regard Dr. Miller's pamphlet at the present crisis as less than a boon for which the church may well be grateful. Dr. Miller disclaims originality; "his pages," he says, "have little pretence to be more than a compilation and digest of what has been urged more fully by the great writers on the subject," still when a writer of high scholastic and theological attainments condescends to a labour of this kind, where little renown is to be gained and the object is simply the good of others, he will lose nothing in the estimation of wise and really learned men.

Night Scenes of the Bible. By the Rev. Charles D. Bell, M.A. Wertheim, 1861.-There is something touching in the thought that events bearing not alone on the fate and fortunes of individuals, but on the destinies of the world, and of the church, are related in the Bible as having taken place during the still and solemn hours of night. Mr. Bell has seized upon many of these events, and made them the subjects of many interesting chapters, in a very profitable and interesting volume. Its very title may commend it to the midnight student, the night watcher, or the sleepless invalid, and each will find in it, if his own heart be in tune with sacred things, something to profit withal. The sleepless night of Ahasuerus, Belshazzar's night of revelry, Daniel's night in the lions' den, will interest some. Then there is the night of weeping for the sorrowful in heart, and the night of the nativity, bringing eternal day in its train. These and many other subjects are treated with much feeling and good taste, and, what is better, with spiritual wisdom and discernment. And the book deserves a place among the very few which we would recommend for the bedroom of a Christian household, as well as for the study.

A Brief Memoir of George Tyrrell, B.A. By Claude S. Bird, B.A. James Nisbet and Co., Berners-street, London. 1861.This brief memoir, being written by a school-fellow and college friend of the deceased, possesses a more than ordinary interest; and is, moreover, free from that strain of unqualified praise which, too frequently, pervades writings of a similar description. It is the simple narrative of a humble Christian, whose life was devoid of striking incident, excepting his conversion from infidelity to the faith

of Jesus.

To some of our readers a rough sketch of the life of George Tyrrell may not be altogether unprofitable. His character seems to have been of unusual natural beauty--sincere, warm, and affectionate, yet extremely sensitive and gentle; he describes his infancy as being a prey to dreadful imaginations, and his boyhood as infidel and unhappy, and before he was fifteen he had induced a school-fellow to become, and remain, an infidel. While at school at Rugby he distinguished. himself for talent and ability. Having left Rugby to prepare for college, a much esteemed relative died: he then prayed, and studied the Scriptures, and says, "I was moved by the Spirit of God to wash away my sins in Christ's blood by faith, and then I felt like a little child who has returned to his father's arms. I wept over the sins

of my past life, and began to feel what it was to have peace with God. For about a fortnight after this, I had the most heavenly joy and peace, in having at last found out the true God. My emotion, however, at this joyful discovery was so great, that it became too much for me, and I was attacked with a violent brain fever."

His old school-fellow, meeting with him at Cambridge, thus describes him,-"His petulance had been exchanged for exceeding meekness and forbearance; his pride for self-renunciation; his satire had been subdued into quiet stingless humour-external faults remained, but were rarely visible, least of all in trying times, for then he prayed against them most."

He appears, from the time of his conversion, to have had but one aim in life. He died when scarcely twenty-five.

Lady Elinor Mordaunt. Edmeston and Co.-Fiction, when properly employed, may serve the highest and noblest ends; of this the Pilgrim's Progress is an admirable example. But when the purposes of fiction are abused so as to affect an air of religion under the guise of irreverent language, few productions of the pen can be more pernicious. Familiarity in sacred matters is very apt to border upon profanity. Of this evil the work before us furnishes a specimen. If religion is entitled to be treated with decency by its foes, it certainly deserves something approaching to reverence at the hands of those who volunteer to make it the vehicle of romance. These pages, though smartly written, are defaced with expressions such as, to use the mildest phrase, are exceedingly unbecoming. Familiar appeals to the name of Jesus Christ, and invocations to the Almighty, abound throughout the work. Such imprecations are ill suited to the lips of an English lady, much less should they be deliberately committed to paper by the author of a so-called religious novel. Quotations from the Holy Scriptures are introduced with a tone of flippant irreverence, as little to the credit of the taste as of the piety of the author.

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