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subjected to examination . It turned out ao well , that the deluded individual was determined to embark in the enterprize . When I knew him , he had already spent 10 , 000 dollars ; and when any new demand was made upou his purse , it went accompanied with samples of the same rich specimen . * ' Finally , an inquiry was set on foot which terminated in a
discovery of the deception . The uufortunate speculator having lost 10 , 000 dollars , abandoned the enterprize , and the pretended miner went off to the south .
We have done our author great injustice in not quoting ( if it be possible that we have not already quoted ) some of his puns ; it should also have been signified , on behalf of his courage * that he ventured to cut off a ( dead ) tiger's tail . With a short specimeu of his political wisdom ,
we musthowever conclude . " A system , " says he , ' must be made for the people , aud not the people fora system . Indeed , with respect to the present government , which has hitherto answered so badly , it is a pity that the Mexicans do not change it for one better suited to their
circumstances , character , and previous habits . It is , besides , by far too expensive for the resources of the couutry , and has infinitely multiplied the number of both private and public tyrants . It has , in short , made the members of the body independent of each other , which is
contrary to reason and practical utility . To effect a reform , whether under the present system of government or any other , I am convinced that a benevolent tyrant , owe who would rule with a rod so long as it might be requisite , but who at the same time would consult the ultimate
happiness of the country and the improvement of * the inhabitants , is alisolutely necessary" !—P . 518 . The next work in our list is Travels in ChalcUea 9 including a Journey from Bii&sorah to Bagdad , Hillah , and Babylon , performed on Foot in 1827 . By Capt . Robert Mignan . What there is of personal
observation in this book is interesting , and has every appearance of being authentic ; but we can hardly help exclaiming as we go on , ' * Is that all V It is hard upon a man to travel on foot from Bussorafi to Bagdad without ever meeting a lion . What Capt . Mignan did see , however , he
tells , and the desert places he fills with quotations—not idle quotations from Byron and Moore , but from Chardin , Keppel , Miebuhr , Shaw , Morjer , Buckingham , Jlanway —Newton , Prideaux , Arrian , Strabo , Diodorus , Herodotus , and their several commentators . The
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volume , iii short , is a succinct account of the past and present state of the tract of laud through which Capt . Mignan parsued his researches ; from the Persian Gulf , that is , to Bagdad , and the site of ftabylon , on the banks of the Euphrates aud Tigris . " My aim throughout this work , " says the author in his preface ,
" has been rather to delineate the various remarkable objects that presented themselves to my attention , than to enter deeply into useless theory and vain speculation ; in short , to furnish an accurate account of the existing remains of ancient grandeur , to describe their present desolation , and to trace something like a correct outline of the ouce reuowued
metropolis of Chaldaea . " Setting out from Bussorah with six Arabs armed and equipped , and eight sturdy natives who were employed in towing a boat up the stream , Capt . Miguan proceeded along the banks of the Shutal Arab in a northerly directiou . The second day ' s journey brought him to the confluence of the Euphrates aud Tigris , after which he
continued his course " north ten degrees west , " o , n the banks of the Tigris ; having " before him the land of Eden , and behind a desolate wilderness , * ' and steering ditb tuy " ApKT&v ( Anglice , by the Pole-star ) . At Zetchiah they had a slight altercation with the inhabitants , who
insisted upon their paying tribute , notwithstanding the written warrant of Montenk Sheikh to the contrary . " The Sheikh of this village , " says Capt . Mignan in a note , " pays 50 , 000 piastres or 4500 / . yearly to the Montenks . This sum is collected from the Bagdad trading boats and the cultivation of an extensive tract
on either side of the Tigris . They also plunder all those who are so unfortunate as to fall into their power . " *« The fine , honourable , hospitable character generally attributed to the Desert Arabs ( alas !) is at present a fiction . " Dr . Shaw tells us that " the Arabs are naturally thievish and treacherous ; and it sometimes happens that those very persons are overtaken and pillaged in the morning , who were entertained the night
before with all the instances of friendship and hospitality . " Capt . Mignan himself was neither entertained nor pillaged , so > he hag little to gay on that score ; but he dislikes their cookery . ? ' Having bought a coupje of sheep , " say « he , ?• for my people , I was witness to some curious culinary operations . The entrails were ripped open ; pieces of which , with the hoofs , dipped once or twice into the water , were eateu by them raw ; the rest of the atiiinal , unnayed and unshorn ,
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S 70 Monthly Report of General Literature .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1829, page 870, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2579/page/54/
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