"It was soon evident that another water spout was beginning to form, in a critical situation for us, not being half the ship's length off. All was alarm and confusion. Captain P — was soon upon deck; but neither he nor any other on board knew from experience what was best to be done. It was nearly impossible to withdraw the eye from this object. The sea, within the circle of its influence, boiled up with increasing rage and height, whirling round with great velocity and an indescribable hissing kind of noise. At times, the water was thus raised nearly as high as the fore-yard; then sinking, as from some impediment or obstruction, and again commencing as before.

"We had all heard of firing guns at water spouts, and directions were given accordingly; yet, though we had several loaded, not one was found in condition. They only burned priming. Orders were then given to load a fresh gun: but, excepting the mate, it was difficult to get any one to move, so rivetted and fixed with gaping astonishment were all the Lascars and people on board. While the mate was busy after the carriage gun, Captain P. and I concluded it would be right to try the effect of making a slight concussion in the air, by getting all the people to exert their lungs by loud cheers. God only knows whether this did really produce any good effect, but we fancied so. I had a lighted match in readiness; and, when the mate had loaded and primed the gun, I fired it, and two or three salutes caused the whole to subside. The ship was not in the least affected the whole time, except by the undulating swell when the water fell down again; yet, from the whirlwind kind of hissing, we were in momentary expectation of seeing the yards and masts torn to atoms and whirled into the air, and doubtful whether the whole of the ship might not soon be engulphed in the

vortex."

At Acheen, a roguish adventure is related, which gave our hero a pleasant reception among the Malay chiefs. The captain had hinted at some project which might materially serve his own interests. It was to introduce Mr. Harriott at the court of Acheen as a very great man, and to obtain through his means a remission of port duties, &c.

“To this end, he had Sepoy uniforms made for some of the Lascars belonging to the ship, who were to appear as my body guard as often as required.

"On Captain P's going on shore at Acheen, he waited upon the sultan's agent for regulations of the port; acquainting him, a British officer was on board the ship, who, from a strong desire to pay his respects to the Great Sultan of Acheen, before he returned to England, had crossed the bay for such purpose, but would not land until assured of a reception suitable to the dignity of the great monarch he served. This compliment was well suited to the meridian of Acheen.

"By the sultan's orders, a boat, or rather a barge, was sent off to the ship; in which boat were the agent and several officers of his court, who invited me, in the sultan's name, to grace his palace. The ship's guns saluted them as they came on board; saluted me on leaving the ship, attended by my guard; and, on approaching the shore, we were so closely saluted by guns of an enormous calibre, that we would gladly have excused the compliment of being fired at so near our heads. On landing, I was met by an Indian Portuguese, a resident merchant, who spoke English fluently. He was to act as interpreter. Other officers of the court were with him, to receive and attend me to the palace; on entering which, the guns of the place fired another salute, which was repeated by the guns on a battery and by the ship.

"The ceremonies of introduction to princes of the east were grown familiar to me, and I plainly observed that my regimental uniform was a novel attraction to the sultan and all his court. I was most graciously received, and acknowledge I rather exceeded the truth when repeating what Captain P had advanced, respecting my desire to see so great a sultan before I left India: and I believe the little that I did say was considerably enlarged upon by the Portuguese merchant, who, I understood afterwards, was as much interested in my favourable reception as Captain P; for, without permission from the sultan, no ship was allowed to trade, and was frequently refused until considerable presents were made; all which was smothered down, and the permission obtained, through my means." Within a week Captain P

was enabled to dispose of such part of his cargo as suited the Malay market (opium and blue long cloths in exchange for gold dust) to great advantage.

The Malays, we know, are a very ferocious people. Their punishments are represented to be of the most sanguinary kind. Mr. H. says that in

his walks, particularly in the bazar, or market place, he saw many mutilated persons. These he found to be culprits, punished, according to their offences, by the chopping off of a hand or foot. Some, whose offences had been repeated, had neither hand nor foot left. The foot is taken off at a single stroke a little above the ankle; a bamboo cane is prepared ready for the occasion, adapted to the size and length of the culprits's leg, the hollow of which cane is nearly filled with heated dammer, a resinous substance something like pitch. When the punishment is inflicted, the bleeding stump is thrust into this heated resin within the bamboo, which as it is cooled becomes fixed. Thus, if the victim survives this delicate operation he is provided with an excellent bamboo jury leg to stump about on.

Mr. Harriott proceeded to Bencoolen, where he remained ten months. He did not escape the effects of this unhealthy climate, but was attacked with a raging fever which he cured by the repeated affusion of cold water during its paroxyisms (p. 217, vol, 1.) For several years he had been in the habit of having large Cudjaree-pots of water thrown over him in a morning; and during the violence of the hot land winds on the coast of Coromandel, of retiring after dinner to some shady place where a breeze of wind might be caught. There he would sit, with nothing on but a banyan shirt and long drawers, and keep a towel constantly wetted with cold water about his temples for the space of an hour or two. The consequence of this practice, says he, was, that in the evenings, while all were complaining of lassitude and weariness, I felt refreshed and strong. Observing the dreadful fatality of fevers under the care of professional men, Mr. Harriott had determined to be his own physician in case he should be attacked. Immediately on feeling himself unwell he gave his own orders to his servants, and the event justified his practice.

From Sumatra, Mr. Harriott returns to England, stopping in his passage at the Cape, and at St. Helena. He marries; but within the first year his wife dies in child-bed and her babe with her His domestick happiness being thus suddenly uprooted he becomes unsettled; he had taken a little farm in his native village, hoping to pass the remainder of his days in peace and retirement.

The fates, however, had differently ordained it. The wanderer lost all relish for a home which had been bereaved of all its attractions. He travels about his own country for a few months, when, at the invitation of a relation, he commences underwriter at Lloyd's. Here he thinks he might have done well, but mere hazard of money for money did not accord with his feelings. "Although I never feared buffeting real storms and tempests, I soon began to find my pillow was not so easy and pleasant as it had been, owing to imaginary dreams of them." Discovering, then, that he was not intended for a gambler, he quits Lloyd's, marries again, engages largely in farming and in an extensive liquor trade, This second marriage involves our hero in some of the hardest and most serious struggles of his eventful life. Of his wife he speaks in very handsome terms; but her father became a bankrupt for more than sixty thousand pounds a few months after his marriage, and committed a forgery in his name to a very large amount. To save this ungrateful man from an ignominious death, Mr. Harriott sacrifices a large portion of that property which he had laboriously and dangerously earned by the constant sweat of his brow, and at the frequent peril of his life. He quits business, and once again retires to his farm, with which he grows more and more delighted. Though one of the most quiet, this is one of the most interesting periods of Mr. Harriott's life, and it may safely be added, the most useful. We now see

him in the character of a country magistrate, performing its arduous functions with great activity, and what is more, with great humanity. In his own district we see him promoting various useful institutions, and agreeable associations of the neighbouring gentry. Among the former is to be mentioned a book society; and a weekly market, of which he planned the establishment in a place which at that time was twenty miles distant from any. Among the latter a subscription assembly for the winter season, and other convivial meetings.

Mr. Harriott's residence was on the banks of a navigable river, where he kept a little sailing boat for the amusement of fishing, &c. On these excursions he had frequently noticed a sunken island containing between two and three hundred acres of land, which was covered by the sea at half tide. It happened that when the owner of this island died, his estates were sold, and this among the rest. Mr. Harriott had conceived the possibility of wresting this island from the dominion of the sea. He accordingly purchased it at the auction for 401. and enjoying at the same time an adventurous and persevering spirit he strenuously set about an embankment. In this speculation he had to adventure the larger part of his entire property. The embankment was begun in July; in the December following, a wall of earth was raised more than two miles and a half in circumference, thirty feet thick at its base, declining at an angle of forty-five degrees, till it was six feet thick at top and eight feet high. The two ends of the wall were about 140 feet apart, separated by a deep ravine through which the tide ebbed and flowed with a current stronger than that under the great arch of London Bridge. The most hazardous part of the undertaking yet remained. The struggle must be strong against a powerful foe and decided in a few hours. Mr. Harriott had in vain persuaded his contractors to use timber in the work, although he offered to supply them with it gratuitously. On Christmas day this ravine was to be filled up with a mound of earth. The exertions of manual labour were vast. The tide rose, but found its passage stopped. The mound kept rising; but at last, for want of timber-mole ruit suâ! its own weight broke it down. On the sixth spring tide all this great body of earth was swept away, scarcely a vestige of it was to be seen, and the difficulty of another attempt was much increased from the greater distance it was necessary to go for the earth. The contractors ran away, indebted 1251. to the men to whom they had under-let the work. But all these difficulties only stimulated a courageous spirit. The work was begun again under the direction of Mr. Harriott himself, who contracted with the men on the same terms as before, and as an encouragement to steady exertion promised them the 1251. as a bonus if they succeeded in shutting out the tide.

"The season of the year was much against me. I had to fell my timber in a wood thirteen miles from my island. I cut down trees, from ten to fifteen inches in dia. meter, making piles of them from twelve to twenty-four feet in length. With an engine, I drove them in two rows, fifteen feet apart, across the ravine, or deep outlet, and as close together in the rows as we could drive them. I secured them together by girders, or beams, across, within five feet of the bottom and three feet of the top, keyed and bolted on the outside. This was my coffre-dam to hold the earth in the centre of my mound, as a strong core, or heart to the whole.

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'By the seventeenth of January, all was ready for another sharp contest with the sea, to determine, by force of arms, who should conquer and keep possession of the disputed property. I took the command myself. My troops were all stationed before day break, our enemy then retreating in order to advance again with greater force, (the neap tides being over aud the spring tides commencing.)

"The morning was cold and frosty. A dram and three cheers was the signal for attack. Knowing the obstinate perseverance of my foe, and that our contest would be long and strong, I repressed the ardour of my troops a little at the onset. Every

half hour I suspended the attack; and, from several barrels of strong porter ammunition, which I had provided ready on the spot, and elevated on a small tower made of earth, I issued out half a pint to each man; and to such of them as had not provided better for themselves, my bread, butter, and cheese, were welcome. I served it all out myself, with a cheering kind of language suited to the people; by which, I verily believe what one of my officers, a master carpenter, for the time said, viz. "That I had more work done for a few barrels of porter, with a little management and address, than many men would have obtained for as many hundred pounds.”

"The enemy advanced against us, and persevered in the attack for several hours ; when, having proved the strength of our works and failed, he retreated. At the severest part of the struggle (high water) I advanced in front, with a waller's tool in one hand and a pot of porter in the other; when repeating the words that are related of king Canute, I said, "Thus far shalt thou go, but no further:" adding, as he began to retire, that, although a conquered foe, I bore him no enmity. We then gave him three lusty cheers, drinking the king's health on such an accession to his majesty's agricultural dominions."

After this noble victory, for which Mr. Harriot most deservedly received the gold medal from the society for the encouragement of arts, &c. he built a farm house, &c. on his island, and began to cultivate the land. This, however, was injudiciously managed, and for the first six or seven years the expenses of farming this island were considerably greater than its profits.

After having been married ten years, Mr. Harriott had the misfortune to lose his second wife who died of a consumption, leaving him three children. Man, however, was not born for solitude, and having experienced much comfort in the married state, our hero determined to find another mother for his children and another wife for himself. The crops upon the island now began to repay the adventurous speculation of enclosing it, by an annual and rapid increase in their value. Every thing appeared prosperous. It was early in the spring of the year 1790 that in the dead of night Mr. Harriott was awakened by the alarm of fire. By great presence of mind, courage, and exertion he saved his wife and children from the flames; but his house, barn, out-houses, &c. were burnt to the ground, and but little of the furniture saved. When it was too late to render any service, people came flocking from the neighbouring town. "I looked around," said the philosopher, for he now deserves the name; ❝ found my family safe; dropped a tear; and thanked God it was no worse.' The only part of the premises saved, was an old brick wash-house at the bottom of a yard and part of the stable. The wash-house was now fitted up as a temporary residence; and it was determined to rebuild a cheap substantial dwelling-house as soon as possible. This was completed before the winter, and the crops on the island seemed to promise they would pay the expense. In the January following our calamity, says Mr. Harriott, I would not have Bold these expected crops for less than 6001. But adversity rarely comes unattended with a train of misfortunes. Within eleven months after this destruction of a considerable part of his property by the flames, he was destined to see the remaining all of it swallowed up by the ocean.

"While standing witn folded arms on the highest part of the embankment of my island, I looked down on the raging watery element swelling itself to a height that had never been known before, and over-topping my walls as if in search of what I had formerly wrested from its dominion, seeking to revenge itself by the destruction of that property the fire could not reach. I too assuredly saw I was a ruined man, but gave no way to despondency. Hard and unequal were my struggles against two such outrageous elements as seemed combined against me. Though beaten, I was not subdued. My spirit remained unshaken, and in those distressing moments, I resolved to endeavour at recovering the island for those to whom I was indebted, rather than abandon it, without a struggle, to the remorseless rage of the enemy."

About one-fourth of the embankment had settled down a foot. It was intended to have been raised eighteen inches during the preceding summer had not the expenses of building incurred by the fire made it necessary to defer it. This unfortunate delay occasioned the loss of the island. But the spirit of Mr. Harriott always rises against emergencies with proportionate resistance. It is this which stamps a value upon his book, and makes us forgive its want of refinement. A young man, setting out in life, may here see the advantages which a calm, courageous spirit enjoys over that pusillanimity and confusion which palsy the multitude when their efforts and exertion are most wanted. He may see also the homage which is paid to high honour and integrity.

Instead of desponding, Mr. Harriott, within a few days after the accident, had drained the water by extraordinary exertions four feet below the surface of the land: the tide had flowed over his walls, and by leaving the island full of water gave a fatal proof of their strength. To repair the mischief required a capital of which he was now bereft. He immediately called all his creditors of more than 201. together, and stated the situation of his affairs, being resolved not to borrow a capital where there was no certainty of payment. "My creditors, instead of distressing, soothed me. They were entirely satisfied with my conduct, and voluntarily proposed to accept ten shillings in the pound." Not content with their own private contributions, they advertised and solicited for subscriptions. The peculiarity of Mr. Harriott's misfortunes attracted the publick attention, and of course excited its sympathy. Above 100cl. was subscribed for the relief of an unknown individual, when that individual nobly put a stop to the subscription of his own accord. There is something a thousand times more interesting, more affecting in this patient struggle against adversity, than in all the romantick perils which Mr. Harriott encountered.

From a sense of delicacy, which, if in itself false, yet commands respect, Mr. Harriott, immediately on the destruction of his property, had declined acting as a magistrate. It was a high testimony to the rectitude with which he performed its duties, that he was induced to resume them at the pressing solicitation of his neighbours, and of the lord lieutenant of the county.

The crops upon the island were totally destroyed; and although the land was again recovered from the sea, its vegetative powers were so injured by the salt water, that great time, labour, and expense, would yet be necessary to restore its fertility. His family was too large, and his means too small, to repeat the risk. Feeling it a duty to his children to exert himself to the utmost for their advantage, he now resolved, after much deliberation, to cross the Atlantick, and rear his family in America.

In May 1793 Mr. Harriot embarks with his family for Baltimore, charters two vessels for the sake of obtaining a passage to Rhode Island, where he hires a house for them, while he himself travels through the United States, and into the back settlements, for the purpose of purchasing a tract of land. The account of this long and laborious excursion occupies a considerable portion of the second volume. It will be found of use to those who project an emigration to America. Mr. Harriott has appreciated the American character with great fairness, and estimated deliberately the advantages and disadvantages of different situations. He was disappointed in the sanguine expectations he had formed of establishing his family to advantage; but is not on that account morose and abusive, like Mr. Janson, and some other travellers, whose names we could mention. He had purchased a small farm at Rhode Island; but finding, after all his wanderings, that his projected