To turn from these facts to considerations even of a higher order, Mr. A. Bain has shown that the oldest rocks at Cape Colony (whether crystalline gneiss or clay-slate, here and there penetrated by granite), form a broken coast fringe around the colony, from the southern to its western and eastern shores, and are surmounted by sandstones, which appear, from the fossils they contain, to be the equivalents of the Silurian or oldest fossil-bearing rocks. These primeval strata, occupying the higher grounds, of which the Table Mountain is an example, and dipping inland from all sides, are overlaid by carboniferous strata, in which, if no good coal has yet been found, it is clear, as Sir Roderick Murchison has remarked, that its true place is ascertained; and as Mr. Bain has detected many species of fossil plants of that age, we may still find the mineral pabulum for the steamers which frequent these coasts. Above all these ancient strata, and occupying, therefore, a great central trough or basin, strata occur, which are remarkable from being charged with terrestrial and fresh-water remains only; and it is in a portion of this great accumulation that Mr. Bain disinterred fossil bones of most peculiar quadrupeds. One of the types of these, which Professor Owen named Dicynodon from its bidental upper jaw, is a representative, during a remote secondary period, of the lacertine associates of the hippopotami of the present lakes and waters. The consideration of these facts, and the contemplation of the general physical features of Africa, as displayed to us by recent researches, have led Sir Roderick I. Murchison to speculate upon what he justly designates as the entirely new and grand geographical phenomenon, that such as Africa is now, such have been her main features during countless past ages anterior to the creation of the human race.-(Address at the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, 24th of May, 1852.) The old rocks which form the outer fringe of the African continent, unquestionably circled round an interior marshy or lacustrine country, in which the Dicynodon flourished at a time, when not a single animal was similar to any living thing which now inhabits the surface of our globe. The present central and meridian zone of waters, whether lakes, rivers, or marshes, extending from Lake Tshad to Lake Ngami, with hippopotami on their banks, are, therefore, but the great modern, residual, geographical phenomena of those of a mesozoic age. The differences, however, between the geological past of Africa and her present state are enormous. Since that primeval time the lands have been much elevated above the sea-level-eruptive rocks piercing in parts through them; deep rents and defiles have been suddenly formed in the subtending ridges, through which some rivers escape outwards, whilst others flowing inwards are lost in the interior sands and lakes; and with those great ancient changes entirely new races have been created. Travellers will eventually ascertain whether the basin-shaped structure, which is here announced as having been the great feature of the most ancient, as it is of the actual geography of Southern Africa (i. e., from primeval times to the present day), does or does not extend into Northern Africa. Looking at that much broader portion of the continent, we have some reason to surmise, that the higher mountains also form, in a general sense, its flanks only. Thus, wherever the sources of the Nile may ultimately be fixed and defined, we are now pretty well assured that they lie in lofty mountains at no great distance from the east coast. In the absence of adequate data, we are not yet entitled to speculate too confidently on the true sources of the White Nile; but, judging from the observations of the missionaries Krapf and Rebmann, and the position of the snow-capped mountains called Kilimandjaro and Kenia (only distant from the eastern sea about 300 miles), and still more particularly the Kilima-ja-jeu, it may be said that there is no exploration in Africa to which greater value would be attached than an ascent of them from the east coast, possibly from near Mombas. The adventurous travellers who shall first lay down the true position of these equatorial snowy mountains, and who shall satisfy us that they not only throw off the waters of the White Nile to the north, but some to the east, and will further answer the query, whether they may not also shed off other streams to a great lacustrine and sandy interior of this continent, will be justly considered among the greatest benefactors of this age to geographical science! The great east and west range of the Atlas, which in a similar general sense forms the northern frontier of Africa, is, indeed, already known to be composed of primeval strata and eruptive rocks, like those which encircle the Cape Colony on the south, and is equally fissured by transverse rents. As to the hills which fringe the west coast, and through apertures of which the Niger and the Gambia escape, we have yet to learn if they are representatives of similar ancient rocks, and thus complete the analogy of Northern with Southern Africa. Still, everything, as Sir R. I. Murchison more or less satisfactorily shows, tends to establish an original basin-like arrangement of all Africa, through the existence of a grand encircling girdle of the older rocks, which, though exhibited at certain distances from her present shores, is still external, as regards her vast interior. With no region of the old world have we been till very lately so ill acquainted as Africa. But now the light is dawning quickly upon us from all sides; and in the generation which follows (says the same authority), I have no doubt that many of the links in the chain of inductive reasoning, as to the history of the successively lost races of that part of the globe, will be made known, from the earliest recog nisable zones of animal life, through the secondary and tertiary periods of geologists. Passing thence to the creation of mankind, and to the subsequent accumulations of the great delta of the Nile, we have recently been put in the way of learning what has been the amount of wear and tear of the upland or granitic rocks, and what the additions to the great alluvial plain of Lower Egypt, since man inhabited that almost holy region, and erected in it some of his earliest monuments. But how long will it be before we shall be able to calculate backwards by our finite measure of time, to those remote periods in which some of the greatest physical features of this continent were impressed upon it, when the lofty mountains from which the Nile flows were elevated, and when the centre of Africa (certainly all its southern portion) was a great lacustrine jungle, inhabited by the Dicynodon and other lost races of animals? How far, it might be added, to this able summary of recent African discovery, would the discovery of a caudate race of men in the same lands, add also to the links in the chain of inductive reasoning applied to a successive creation, and help to fill up the lost links in the gradation of the animal kingdom? THE NEW NORMAN CONQUEST; OR, HOW PAUL BRIOCHE MEANT TO HAVE PITCHED INTO US. BY DUDLEY COSTELLO ATALA AND CHACTAS. BY W. BRAILSFord SOMETHING OF BALTIMORE, WASHINGTON, THE CHESAPEAKE, AND POTOMAC. BY J. W. HENGIston, Esq. CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. To whom all Communications for the Editor are to be addressed. SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.. PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND. NOW PUBLISHING IN THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. THE FLITCH OF BACON: OR, The Custom of Dunmow. BY W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ. This Tale of English Home was commenced in the JANUARY NUMBER of the NEW MONTHLY, and will be continued regularly until completion. JANUARY. PART THE FIRST.-THE OLD INN AT DUNMOw.-Chap. I. From which it may be inferred that Perseverance in a Good Cause will meet its Reward. II. How Jonas Nettlebed counted his Chickens before they were hatched. III. Of the Strange Guest who arrived at the Flitch. IV. How Abel Roper, the Steward, obtained an insight into the Old Gentleman's breast. V. Showing that Frank Woodbine should have Looked before he Leaped. VI. The Jury of Bachelors and Maidens; and what they did. FEBRUARY. PART THE SECOND.-THE GAMEKEEPER'S COTTAGE. - Chap. I. How Dr. Plot visited the Old Priory Church of Dunmow. II. A Peep at the Gamekeeper's Wife. III. Dr. Plot gives Reasons for his Disbelief in Conjugal Felicity; and relates the Particulars of an Unfortunate Marriage. IV. The Pigeon and the Rook. MORNING POST. "MR. HARRISON AINSWORTH's new story, entitled the Flitch of Bacon; or, the Custom of Dunmow,' if conducted to its close with the same spirit that has so agreeably signalised its opening, will do more for the literary reputation of its author than any work he has yet essayed. It is dramatic in incident, highly diversified in character, and thoroughly English in sentiment. If MR. AINSWORTH will only continue as he has begun, we shall have to thank him for as pleasant a story as we have read for many a day." SUN. "We have reason now to congratulate the readers of the New Monthly, not only upon the return of MR. AINSWORTH to them in his capacity as a Story-teller,' but also upon his beginning once more for their pleasure to interlard his romance with Ballads like those which some time back imparted so much zest to 'Crichton,' and to' Rookwood,'" LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. THE FLITCH OF BACON: OR, THE CUSTOM OF DUNMOW. A TALE OF ENGLISH HOME.* BY THE EDITOR. The Bacon was not set for them I trow, That some men have in Essex at Dunmow. CHAUCER. Wife of Bath's Prologue. PART THE THIRD. The Lord of the Manor of Little Dunmow. I. IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT THERE MAY BE MORE WAYS THAN ONE OUT OF A CELLAR; AND MORE ROOMS, THAN ARE GENERALLY SUSPECTED, IN AN OLD HOUSE. FRANK WOODBINE was locked up in the cellar. Now to see what he did there. That we know. Not expecting his confinement to be of very long duration, since Nelly had promised to liberate him as soon as the coast was clear, Frank took it quietly enough at first, amusing himself by thinking how cleverly the bailiffs had been tricked; but when a long interval of time had elapsed: and it seemed much longer to him than it really was: he began to find the detention exceedingly irksome, and made several futile attempts to force open the door. Another hour of restraint increased his impatience to such a degree, that unable to rest inactive, he began to grope about the place in every direction to ascertain if, by possibility, any other mode of egress existed. Though he moved as carefully as he could in the dark, he managed to upset a good many bottles, and more than once came in contact with a mouldy old beer-cask; but at length, he contrived to hit upon the entrance to the inner vaults, and passing through it, went on, with even greater NOTICE.-The Author reserves the copyright of this Tale in France, and the right of publishing a French Translation of the work; as provided by the Treaty. March-VOL. XCVII. NO. CCCLXXXVII. T |