CHAPTER I. Embarkation at Havre—​The Voyage—​Arrival at the Island of Chiloe—​Landing—​The Gyr-Falcon—​Punta Arena—​The Island of Chiloe described—​Climate and Cultivation—​Cattle—​The Bay—​San Carlos—​The Governor's House—​Poverty and Wretchedness of the Inhabitants of the... more...

PREFACE. The following pages were written to beguile the tediousness of a long voyage from Hong Kong to England, during the spring and summer of 1844. When I state, that the whole was written with the paper on my knee, for want of a desk, amid continual interruptions from three young children lacking amusement during their long confinement on ship-board, and with a perpetual liability to be pitched to leeward, paper and all,—I shall have... more...

CHAPTER XII. THE SÁ LEONITE AT HOME AND ABROAD. In treating this part of the subject I shall do my best to avoid bitterness and harsh judging as far as the duty of a traveller—that of telling the whole truth—permits me. It is better for both writer and reader to praise than to dispraise. Most Englishmen know negroes of pure blood as well as 'coloured persons' who, at Oxford and elsewhere, have shown themselves fully equal in... more...

CHAPTER I. MR. MALARIUS' FRIEND. There is probably neither in Europe nor anywhere else a scholar whose face is more universally known than that of Dr. Schwaryencrona, of Stockholm. His portrait appears on the millions of bottles with green seals, which are sent to the confines of the globe. Truth compels us to state that these bottles only contain cod liver oil, a good and useful medicine; which is sold to the inhabitants of Norway for a... more...

I was brought up in Rome, from the age of twelve to that of seventeen, but did not return there for many years afterwards. I discovered it anew for myself, while knowing all its sites and its details; discovered, that is to say, its meaning to my thoughts and feelings. Hence, in all my impressions, a mixture of familiarity and of astonishment; a sense, perhaps answering to the reality, that Rome—it sounds a platitude—is utterly... more...

PREFACE. This Guide-book consists of Routes which follow the course of the main Railways. To adapt these Routes as far as possible to the requirements of every one the Branch Lines are also pointed out, together with the stations from which the Coaches run, in connection with the trains, to towns distant from the railway. The description of the places on these branch lines is printed either in a closer or in a smaller letter than that of the... more...

California, by Dr. Josiah Royce, in the handsome as well as handy American Commonwealths series, is commonly regarded as the best short history of California ever written, and particularly so as to the early mining era. Dr. Royce knew his state, and a more competent writer could hardly have been selected. Reviewing, in his history, almost everything accessible, worthy of consideration, in connection with mining-camps, it is noteworthy that the... more...

PREFACE. Upwards of twenty years have passed since the 'Rifle and Hound in Ceylon' was published, and I have been requested to write a preface for a new edition. Although this long interval of time has been spent in a more profitable manner than simple sport, nevertheless I have added considerably to my former experience of wild animals by nine years passed in African explorations. The great improvements that have been made in rifles have, to a... more...

The Priuiledges graunted by the Emperour of Russia to the English merchants of that company: obteined the 22. of September, Anno 1567. by M. Anthony Ienkinson. One onely strengthener of all things, and God without beginning, which was before the world, the Father, the Sonne, and the holy Ghost, our onely God in Trinitie, and maker of all things whom we worship in all things, and in all places, the doer and fulfiller of all things, which is the... more...

We now enjoyed the contrast between the light active step of first-class hygeens, and the heavy swinging action of the camels we had hitherto ridden. Travelling was for the first time a pleasure; there was a delightful movement in the elasticity of the hygeens, who ambled at about five miles and a half an hour, as their natural pace; this they can continue for nine or ten hours without fatigue. Having no care for the luggage, and the coffee-pot... more...