4J2 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



variety of costumes, mingled in this great fair. The polisher of jewels was 

 there with his glittering treasure. The pearl- driller looked to his needles 

 and pearl dust, while awaiting on his low seat the materials on which he 

 was to employ his skill. The bald, yellow-mantled priest of Budhoo passed 

 on amidst obeisances in one place, as did the Catholic pastor in another. 

 The white vested Mahomedan, the turbaned Hindoo, the swathed Malay 

 merchants exhibited their stores, or looked passively on the gay scene. The 

 quiet Dutchman from the south sent a keen glance through the market in 

 quest of precious stones in the hands of an ignorant or indolent vender- The 

 haughty Candian abated his fierceness, and stepped out of the path of the 

 European ; while the stealthy Cingalese was in no one's path, but won his 

 way like a snake in the tall grass of the jungle. The restless lessees of the 

 bank, meanwhile, were flitting near the boats, now ranged in a long row, 

 each with its platform, ropes, and pullies ; each with its shark-binder, its 

 pilot, its commander, its crew of ten, and its company of ten divers. The 

 boat-lights were being kindled, one by one, and scattering a thousand 

 sparkles over the rippling tide. It was just on the stroke of ten, and the 

 signal gun was all that was waited for. The buzz of voices fell into a deep 

 silence as the expectation became more intense. Those who were wont to 

 make the heavens their clock and the stars its hour-hand, looked up to mark 

 the precise inclination of the Southern Cross ; while those who found an 

 index in the flow of the tide, paced the sands from watermark to watermark. 

 Yet more turned their faces southward towards the dark outline of hill and 

 forest that rose on the horizon, and watched for the land breeze. It came 

 at first in light puffs which scarcely bowed the rushes around the lagoons, or 

 made a stir among the stalks in the rice-ground. Moment by moment it 

 strengthened, till the sails of the boats began to bulge, and every torch 

 and faggot of cocoa-nut leaves on the beach slanted its forks of flame 

 towards the sea, as if to indicate to the voyagers their way. Then the 

 signal-gun boomed its wreath of smoke curled lazily upward and dispersed 

 itself in the clear air, while a shout, in which every variety of voice was 

 mingled, seemed to chase the little fleet into the distance. The shouting 

 ceased amidst the anxiety of watching the clusters of receding lights, which 

 presently looked as if they had parted company with those in the sky, and 

 had become a degree less pure by their descent. Then rose the song of the 

 dancing-girls, as they stood grouped, each with a jewelled arm withdrawn 

 from beneath her mantle, and her jet-black hair bound with strings of pearl. 

 Mixed with their chaunt, came the mutterings and gabblings of the charmers 

 who remained on shore, contorting their bodies more vehemently than would 

 have been safe on any footing less stable than terra firma." 



BENSON POWLET. 2 VOLS, 8vo. LONDON : A. K. NEWMAN & Co. 1833. 



WE think it possible that, by exerting himself again, again and again, the 

 author of this hint might succeed in writing something which it would be 

 worth the while of a sedentary lady or gentleman at a watering-place to try, 

 by way of experiment. 



We are sorry we cannot say much of our author's present, and, we should 

 judge, his first production ; the tale flags most wretchedly during the first 

 volume ; and the incidents occupying the second are chiefly miserable details 

 of sticking in the mud, of creeping through dry ditches, and traversing 

 uncomfortable coasts ; circumstances which, in spite of their being very 

 unpleasant to the parties themselves, and notwithstanding that, failing in our 

 notions, which causes us to look upon such mishaps as vastly pleasant to 

 read of, are not set off by such graphic powers as recommend them to our 

 interest, or excite our curiosity. 



In spite, however, of this first failure, let our author hazard another trial. 

 We think there is something in him that may ripen into mediocrity ; the best 



