tive of the existence of the volcano, and therefore all the apprehension that it had formerly inspired was gradually dissipating. Consequently, its extensive and spacious brow had been converted into a highly cultivated and beauti. ful garden. In particular, the inhabitants of Camalig and Budiao had planted upon it many cocoa-trees, and every kind of fruit trees, with a variety of roots and vegetables; which, while they afforded an agreeable perspective, supplied,by their excellent productions, many industrious families with food.

"In this state was the volcano on the first day of February last. No person reflected in the slightest degree upon the damages and losses that so bad a neighbour had been in the habit of occasioning. We had become persuaded, in consequence of so long a silence, that it was now completely extinguished, and that all those subterraneous conduits were closed, through which it attracted to itself and kindled the combustible materials, which it had formerly so continually thrown out. Nor had we seen or remarked any signs which might indicate to us beforehand what was about to take place. In the former eruptions, there were heard, a considerable time previous, certain subterraneous sounds, that were sure presages of them. It also exhaled almost continually a thick smoke, by which it announced them. But upon the present occasion, we remarked nothing of all this. It is true, that on the last day of January, we perceived some slight shocks; but we scarcely noticed them, on account of their having been very frequent since the earthquake that

we experienced on the 5th of October of the year 1811. On Monday night the shocks increased. At two in the morning we felt one more violent than those we had hitherto experienced. It was repeated at four, and from that hour they were almost continual until the eruption commenced.

"Tuesdaydawned,and Iscarcely ever remarked at Camarines a more serene and pleasant morning, or a clearer sky. I observed, however, that the ridges nearest to the volcano were covered with a mist, that I supposed to be the smoke of some house thereabouts, that had been on fire in the night. At eight o'clock on that fatal morning the volcano began suddenly to emit a thick column of stones, sand, and ashes, which with the greatest velocity was elevated in a moment to the highest part of the atmosphere. At this sight we were astonished, and filled with the utmost dread, and especially when we observed, that in an instant the brow of the volcano was covered by it. We had never seen a similar eruption, and were immediately convinced that a river of fire was coming towards us, and was about to consume us.The first thing that was done in my village was to secure the holy sacrament from profanation, and betake ourselves to a precipitate flight. The swiftness with which that dreadful tide rolled towards us, did not give us much time either for reflection or conversa. tion. The frightful noise that the volcano made caused great terror, even in the stoutest hearts. We all ran terrified, and filled with the greatest dismay and consternation, endeavouring to reach the

highest and most distant places, in order to preserve ourselves from so imminent a danger. The horizon began to darken, and our anxieties redoubled. The noise of the volcano continually increased; the darkness augmented; and we continued our flight for the preservation of our lives, removing further and further from an object so terrific. But notwithstanding the swiftness with which we ran, we were overtaken in our disastrous flight by a heavy shower of huge stones; by the violence of which many unfortunate persons were in a moment deprived of life. This unforeseen and cruel circumstance obliged us to make a pause in our career, and to shelter ourselves under the houses; but flames and burnt stones fell from above, which in a short time reduced them to ashes.

"In this dreadful situation, we called upon God, in such manner as we could, from the bottom of our afflicted and almost broken hearts, beseeching him for pardon and mercy. It became completely dark, and we remained enveloped and immersed in the most thick and palpable darkness, comparable only to that which in the time of Moses was witnessed in Egypt. From this moment, reflection was at an end, advice no longer given, and no person recognized another. The father abandoned his children, the husband his wife, she remembered not her beloved spouse, and the children forgot their parents. No one thought that he could assist his fellows, because all believed that they were about to die.

"But as man, even in the most critical and destitute situations,

endeavours by all possible methods to preserve life, each one of us, for this interesting object, made use of all the means and expedients that could be resorted to, in the terrible condition to which we were reduced. Of what various and different methods did not we who have escaped with life, avail ourselves, that we might not perish at that time? In the houses we now found no shelter. It was necessary to abandon them with all haste, in order not to perish with them. Togo out uncovered, was to expose one's-self to a danger not less imminent; because the stones that fell were of an enormous size, and fell as thick as rain itself. It was necessary, that we might not die in the one or the other manner, to cover ourselves and defend ourselves as well as we could. We did so.-Some covered themselves with hides, others with tables and chairs, others with boards and tea-trays. Many took refuge in the trunks of trees, others among the canesand hedges, and some hid themselves in a cave, which the brow of the mountain offered them. Those only of us survive, who had the good fortune to protect ourselves by one or other of those methods; but those who were in the open air, with nothing at hand with which they could cover themselves, almost all perished or were wounded.

"The horrid and frightful noise of the volcano increased to its utmost; the shower of stones and thick sand augmented; the burning stones and meteors continued to fall, and in a very short time reduced to ashes the most beautiful villages of the province of Camarines. Would you have signs

more analogous to those that are to take place at the last judgment? The animals of the mountain descended precipitately to the villages to seek in them a secure asylum. The domestic animals ran terrified with the greatest disorder and affright, uttering cries that indicated their approaching end. Nothing interested us in those dreadful moments but the preservation of our own lives. But, alas! Divine justice has already marked and pointed out, with the finger of Omnipotence, a great number of victims, who were to perish in this day of wrath and fury, in every respect very similar to what we read in the holy Scriptures concerning the day of the last judgment.

"At about ten in the forenoon it ceased to rain heavy stones, and each one endeavoured to remain in the situation he then was, waiting until the rain of thick sand which succeeded it should also cease, or until some new and unforeseen calamity should terminate the existence of us all.

"We thus continued until half past one in the afternoon, at which hour the noise of the volcano began to diminish, and the horizon to clear a little, at sight of which there was revived in us the hope of life, which until then had been almost wholly extinguished. At about two in the afternoon it became entirely clear, and we began to perceive distinctly the lamentable and dreadful ravages that the darkness had hitherto concealed from us. We saw with terror the ground covered with dead bodies part of whom had been killed by the stones, and the others consumed by the fire. Two hundred VOL. LVII.

of those perished in the church of Budiao; thirty-five in a single house in that village. The joy that all felt at having preserved life through such imminent dangers was, in many, instantly converted into the extremity of sorrow at finding themselves deprived of their relations, friends, and acquaintances. There, a father finds his children dead; here a husband his wife, and a wife her husband; particularly in the village of Budiao, where there are very few who have not lost some of their nearest connexions. In another place, at every step one meets innumerable other unhappy wretches extended upon the ground, who though not deprived of life, are wounded or bruised in a thousand ways. Some with their legs broken, some without arms, some with their sculls fractured, and others with their whole bodies full of wounds. Such were the mournful objects that presented themselves to us during the remainder of that afternoon, many of whom died immediately, and others on the following days; the rest remaining abandoned to the most melancholy fate, without physicians, without medicines, and in want even of necessary food.

"The sad result of the misfor tunes of that day has been the total ruin of five villages in the province of Camarines, and the principal part of Albay; the death of more than twelve hundred unfortunate persons, and many others severely wounded; the loss of every thing that the survivors possessed in the world, being left without houses, without clothing, without animals, without the pros. 2 L

pect of a harvest, and without a morsel fit to eat; the mournful and unhappy fate of many, who have been left orphans, abandoned to Divine Providence; others widows, with the loss of four, five, and even more children; the total destruction of their churches and parochial houses, with every thing that they contained; in consequence of which the sacraments could not be administered to such as died of their wounds the succeeding days, and who were buried without any pomp or ceremony; and the many infants who have since been born, have, from necessity, been baptised with common water, because the circumstances in which we were placed did not permit it to be otherwise. "The present appearance of the volcano is most melancholy and terrific. Its side, which was formerly so cultivated, and which afforded a prospect the most pic turesque, is now nothing but an arid and barren sand. The stones, sand, and ashes, which cover it, are so astonishing in quantity, that in some places they exceed the thickness of 10 and 12 yards; and in the very spot where lately stood the village of Budiao, there are places in which the cocoa-trees are almost covered. In the ruined villages, and almost through the whole extent of the eruption, the ground remains covered with sand to the depth of half a yard, and scarcely a single tree is left alive. The crater of the volcano has low ered, as I judge, more than twenty fathoms; and on the south side discovers a spacious and horrid mouth, which it is frightful to look at. Three new ones are opened at a considerable distance

from the principal crater, through which also smoke and ashes were incessantly emitted. In short, the most beautiful villages of Camarines and the principal part of that province are converted into a barren sand."

DESCENDANTS OF THE MUTINEERS OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP BOUNTY.

(From the Quarterly Review.)

It is well known that in the year 1789, his majesty's armed vessel the Bounty, while employed in conveying the bread-fruit-tree from Otaheite to the West Indies was run away with by her men, and the Captain and some of his officers put on board a boat, which, after a passage of 1,200 leagues, providentially arrived at a Dutch settlement on the island of Timor. The mutineers, 25 in number, were supposed, from some expressions which escaped them when the launch was turned adrift, to have made sail towards Otaheite. As soon as this circumstance was known to the Admiralty, Captain Edwards was ordered to proceed in the Pandora to that Island, and endeavour to discover and bring to England the Bounty, with such of the crew as he might be able to secure. On his arrival in March, 1791, at Matavai-bay, in Otaheite, four of the mutineers came voluntarily on board the Pandora to surrender themselves; and from information given by them, ten others (the whole number alive upon the island) were, in the course of a few days, taken; and with the exception of four, who perished in the wreck of the Pandora, near Endeavour Strait, conveyed to England for trial be

fore a court-martial, which ad judged six of them to suffer death, and acquitted the other four.

From the accounts given by these men, as well as from some documents that were preserved, it appeared that as soon as Lieutenant Bligh had been driven from the ship, the 25 mutineers proceeded with her to Toobouai, where they proposed to settle; but the place being found to hold out little encouragement, they returned to Otaheite, and having there laid in a large supply of stock, they once more took their departure for Toobouai, carrying with them eight men, nine women, and seven boys, natives of Otaheite. They commenced, on their second arrival, the building of a fort, but by divisions among themselves and quarrels with the natives, the design was abandoned. Christian, the leader, also very soon discovered that his authority over his accomplices was at an end; he therefore proposed that they should return to Otaheite; that as many as chose it should be put on shore at that island, and that the rest should proceed in the ship to any other place they might think proper. Accordingly they once more put to sea, and reached Matavai on the 20th September, 1789.

Here 16 of the 25 desired to be landed, 14 of whom, as already mentioned, were taken on board the Pandora; of the other two, as reported by Coleman (the first who surrendered himself to captain Edwards), one had been made a chief, killed his companion, and was shortly afterwards murdered himself by the natives.

Christian, with the remaining eight of the mutineers, having

taken on board several of the na tives of Otaheite, the greater part women, put to sea on the night between the 21st and 22nd September, 1789; in the morning the ship was discovered from Point Venus, steering in a north-westerly direction; and here terminate the accounts given by the mutineers who were either taken or surrendered themselves at Mataivai-bay. They stated, however, that Christian, on the night of his departure, was heard to declare, that he should seek for some uninhabited island, and having established his party, break up the ship; but all endeavours of Captain Edwards to gain intelligence either of the ship or her crew at any of the numerous islands visited by the Pandora, failed.

From this period, no informa tion respecting Christian or his companions reached England for 20 years; when, about the beginning of the year 1809, Sir Sidney Smith, then Commander-inChief on the Brazil station, transmitted to the admiralty a paper, which he had received from Lieutenant Fitzmaurice, purporting to be an "Extract from the logbook of Captain Folger, of the American ship Topaz," and dated "Valparaiso, 10th Oct. 1808."

About the commencement of the present year, Rear Admiral Hotham, when cruising off New London, received a letter addressed to the Lords of the Admiralty of which the following is a copy, together with the azimuth compass, to which it refers :