yet abolished. In the third degree, these functions appear to be totally suspended; but those of the spinal cord and its nerves still continue to some extent; the orbicularis palpebrarum may contract when the eyelids are touched; there may be other involuntary motions resulting from external impressions, and groans or cries may occur, but no sounds of an articulate kind. There are also sometimes, in this degree, involuntary muscular contractions as an effect of the vapour--apparently a kind of excitement of the spinal cord. In the fourth degree, no movement is obvious, except that of respiration, which is unaffected by external impressions, and goes on regularly, though often with snoring or even some degree of stertor. It would seem that the whole of the nervous centres are paralyzed by the vapour, except the medulla oblongata. In killing animals with vapours, I have observed the breathing to be difficult, or feeble, or otherwise impaired, before it finally ceased this stage I called the fifth degree. There can be no doubt that these degrees of narcotism correspond with different proportions of vapour which are dissolved in the blood at the time -proportions which I hope to be able to determine. A certain quantity of vapour disturbs the functions of the cerebral hemispheres; an additional quantity appears altogether to suspend these functions, and to impair those of the spinal cord, and probably of the cerebellum; a still larger quantity to suspend the latter functions, but to leave the medulla oblongata more or less unaffected. As the vapour escapes from the blood by the lungs, its effects go off, the patient passes from the fourth degree to the third, from that to the second, and so on, if the inhalation be not renewed." : From the result of my own experience, I would strongly advise the inhalation of chloroform whenever pain is to be avoided, and consider it as one of the most important of philanthropic discoveries which has graced this age of scientific wonders. "Now pledge me, Sir Pilgrim, now pledge me, I pray, "Fill up, I say, for better ne'er came 66 "From the grape-bearing banks of the Rhine." Alack, Lord Baron! that may not be; "By the mass, I refuse it with pain; "But a vow I have made for a year and a day "But bid thy retainers standing around "From my second water to bring, "And then, noble Baron, I'll pledge thee with joy " Long, long they sat, till the dawn of day; The Pilgrim arose to wend on his way, Windsor, June, 1855. THE BARIBOOLS AND GALLAS. Ir is with no small diffidence, both of hand and heart, considering the yearly amount of pens and paper so recklessly squandered by war-office officials and ordnance clerks, considering too those inimitable despatches contributed by our own correspondents, so ingeniously contrived, but for the tardiness of posts and telegraphs, to give the fullest and quickest information to the enemy, to say nothing of the production of those admirable works (soon to be patented by steam) on Crimean scenery, Tartar wretchedness, and Russian iniquity, which too plentifully cover the tables of every library, that I, Dean Swift, Esq. ventured to imitate the example of that renowned traveller, my maternal ancestor, Lemuel Gulliver, and hand down to posterity an account of my travels, at all times most interesting to me, as I trust it will be to my readers. My father, a country doctor of more reputation than money, had from an early age determined to make me a clerk, in a commercial house in the City, an occupation I had always looked upon as sordid and unworthy the roving and adventurous spirit, so strongly characteristic of my family, which I had imbibed, not only from the perusal of my revered ancestor's works, but also from the accounts of the travels of Mungo Park, Bruce, and other renowned travellers. Africa had always been my fairy-land; the sources of the Nile were to me a matter of romantic as well as scientific curiosity. I had always pictured to myself the tops of the mountains of the moon as presenting one immense table-land reaching far to the south of the Equator, not surpassed, either in the splendour of its climate or in its vegetable productions, by the garden of Paradise, and peopled by a race of human beings, if not superior, at least equal to most of the civilized countries of Europe. It was therefore with inward feelings of congratulation that I at length succeeded in persuading my worthy parent to allow me to accept the post of under-clerk at the Peninsular and Oriental Co.'s Coaling Station, then settled at the Island of Socotra, at the mouth of the Red Sea. Having taken a tender farewell of my family, I speedily shipped myself and my scanty wardrobe in one of the Company's steamers for Alexandria, accepting, for the sake of economy and a free passage, the office of purser's clerk. To describe my sensations on this my first sea-voyage, I feel to be quite unnecessary; I leave them to the imagination of my landsmen readers, and merely take this opportunity, though perhaps at the expense of my future prospects, of expressing my disgust at steamers in general, and my dislike of such barren rocks (British though they be) as Gibraltar and Malta, whose heat, at certain seasons of the year, is only to be surpassed by the sirocco blasts of the African continent. Alexandria was soon in sight, and, after a hurried passage through the custom-house, a scramble on donkeys, and a general lionizing for some half a dozen hours, a slow railway, a villainous Nile boat, redolent of cockroaches, sour claret, and the steam of various dishes and curries, of which tough old cocks were the essential parts; with the same scene enacted over again at Cairo, so ably and fully described by fifty smarter pens than mine; we found ourselves travelling at some eight miles an hour on the Desert road to Suez, where we arrived in about fourteen hours from Cairo -delighted with the prospect afforded us of again enjoying the tumbling and jolting of old Father Neptune, in exchange for that we had received at the hands of our Desert omnibi. A week's voyage on the Red Sea brought us in sight of Aden, then in possession of the Arabs, and forty-eight hours more to Socotra, where, after a short stay of two days to take in coal, the steamer and, as it appeared to me, old England and civilisation with all its comforts, fashions and prejudices, left me on a miserable, barren rock, to indulge in those wild schemes of discovery which I had for so long a time inwardly determined upon. With the exception of a few troops, myself, and two other clerks, and a few other white inhabitants or halfcasts from Bombay, the island was wholly inhabited by Arabs. Our time, except at the monthly arrival of each steamer, lay heavily on our hands; I, therefore, after six months' sojourn, which I spent in acquiring the native languages of the opposite coast of Ajan and Cape Guardafui, together with the various Arabic dialects, soon got sick of my situation, and determined to throw it up for the realization of my longcherished dreams. My companions endeavoured to persuade me of the madness of the enterprise, but without success; they represented the dangers of the climate, the cruelty of the natives, coupled with the fate attending all former expeditions. My answer was an inquiry for the most faithful Arab servant, the best fishing-smack, and a chart of the opposite coast of Africa. These procured, with a fortnight's provisions, and the services of six Arabs as a crew, together with the articles usually taken on such expeditions-such as guns, pistols, water-skins, saddlery, thermometers, compasses, sextants, &c. I doffed my Frank dress and assumed that of an Arab, having previously dyed my skin to the required hue. My plan was to make for the port of Massawah, about five hundred miles up the opposite coast of the Red Sea; there, from all accounts, I trusted to be able to obtain camels and continue my travels in a south westerly direction through Abyssinia. In my Arab and head attendant, whom I shall call Ali, I was particularly fortunate. Born and bred on the opposite coast of Ajan, he had been captured at an early age in one of the piratical excursions of the Sultan of Socotra, and having since served on board the steamers in almost every capacity, from cook to interpreter, he had become invaluable. The small funds I had amassed, I managed to get changed, before starting, into Egyptian silver medjids, which are current in Abyssinia; and, bidding farewell to my few friends, with a fair wind, I set sail for Massawah. sea, Our voyage was prosperous, until the eve of the second day. When nearly abreast of Cape Guardafui, a sudden squall overtook us, and, before we had time to tack, dashed our frail bark against the neighbouring rock; my first impulse was to cast myself into the and, being a good swimmer, and the distance only half a mile, Í succeeded at length, torn by the rocks and buffeted by the waves, in reaching the shore, though how I escaped the sharks I can only attribute to the fact of my being dressed at the time of my misfortune. On looking around, I was glad to find that Ali had followed me close; though, poor fellow, his trembling limbs and downcast eye bespoke the wretchedness of our situation. Our men were nowhere to be seen, and we, therefore, concluded they were drowned; and now, for the first time in my life, I began to have some idea of the hardships of a traveller. Here were we, on an unknown, inhospitable, and barren coast, totally destitute of everything, with the exception of what we had on our persons. The country all around us appeared nothing but a sandy, rocky desert, not a tree nor eatable herb; and at length, wearied with our exploring exertions, we sank down in despair and tried to resign ourselves to our situation. I conclude we must have fallen asleep, or been bewitched by some afrite or evil geni, for the next thing I remember was the application of sundry blows to a nameless part of my person, when, on looking up to find out the cause, I was not only astonished, but horrified to find myself surrounded by a crowd of grinning Blacks. To my enquiries they merely pointed to Ali and myself, motioning that we were their slaves, and, having stripped us of the best part of our clothing, tied us back to back, and, with sundry blows and epithets of derision, compelled us to mount a lean-looking camel. According to the observations I had made the day before, we were in latitude 8. 50 north, and according to the compass, which luckily I had about me, and which the Blacks regarded with superstitious awe, I was able to determine that our route was in a sou'-westerly direction. To describe the horrors of the Desert, the thirst we suffered, added to the scanty fare and the dreadful agonies of riding a camel, bare-backed, together with the taunts and the insults we received, would alone fill a volume; suffice it to say, that, after a fortnight's travelling over the most dreary desert imaginable, we found ourselves gradually getting into a more fertile country, and by degrees slightly ascending. Our conductors, who had before hardly deigned to speak to us, now condescended by signs to tell us that they were employed by merchants belonging to a great country far inland, to capture slaves on the coast or elsewhere; that this country, with some others adjoining, was situated on an enormously high chain of mountains, reaching far above the clouds, and which possibly, in another week's travelling, we might come in sight of; that the nation to which these merchants belonged was called the "Baribools," who lived in an island surrounded by a large inland sea, probably partly volcanic and partly the accumulation of the rains of ages; that they were ruled by a great Queen, whose name they pronounced Victoguelphosa; that they, as well as all the adjacent countries, were of an entirely different colour from ourselves (for I still retained the same dye on my skin), and, according to their account, were held in great veneration by all the Black nations below, who esteemed them to be the progeny of the gods. Here, then, was the realization of all my dreams. That there evidently was a great people, probably in a high state of civilization, I could no longer question; in fact, I could hardly conceal my joy when, five days afterwards, the predictions of our captors were |