ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



757 



Their fashion of dressing their 

 hair was to me very disgusting, as 

 it exactly resembled the mode 

 practised by the common dancing- 

 girls in India ; that is, by divid- 

 ing the hair into ringlets, two of 

 which hung on the cheeks in an 

 affected careless manner. They 

 were also painted to an excessive 

 degree, were very forward, and 

 great talkers. The waists of their 

 gowns were so short and full-bo- 

 died, that the women appeared 

 hump-backed ; whilst the dra- 

 pery in front was so scanty as bare- 

 ly to conceal half their bosoms. 

 Although I am by nature amo- 

 rous, and easily affected at the 

 sight of beauty, and visited every 

 public place in Paris, I never met 

 with a French woman who in- 

 terested me." 



This distinction between French 

 and English women, and his pre- 

 ference of our fair country-women 

 is not more honourable to Abu 

 Taleb's taste and discrimination, 

 than to his virtue and good sense. 



We greatly regret that our li- 

 mits preclude us from giving any 

 passages from his descriptions, 

 during hisinteresting journey from 

 Constantinople, through Diarbe- 

 kir, Mousul, and Bagdad; whence 

 he proceeded toBussoraand Bom- 

 bay, and finally returned in safety 

 to Calcutta, after an absence of 

 five years. From Mr. Stewart's 

 Appendix we learn, that Abu Ta- 

 leb, after being appointed to a lu- 

 crative and honourable situation 

 at Bundlecund, died there in 1806. 



Mr. Stewart has high claims to 

 the thanks of the public, for intro- 

 ducing to their acquaintance such 

 aninterestingand well- written pro- 

 duction: and if the original Persian 

 MS. could be circulated in our 



oriental territories, through the 

 medium of the press, we conceive 

 that it would produce, in the 

 minds of the natives, impressions 

 highly favourable to the British 

 nation, and to its interests in India. 



Present State of the Spanish Colo- 

 nies ; including a ■particular Re- 

 port of Hispanola, or the Spanish 

 part (if St. Domingo ; with a 

 general Survey of the Settlements 

 of the South Co?itinent of Ame- 

 rica, asrelatesto History, Trade^ 

 Population, Customs, Manners, 

 Sfc. with a concise Statement of 

 the Sentiments of the People, on 

 their relative Situation to the 

 Mother Country, Sfc. By Wm. 

 Walton, Jun. 8vo. 2 vols. 



The extraordinary revolutions 

 which have taken place in the new 

 world, impart a peculiar interest 

 to every work that professes to 

 give correct details of the physi- 

 cal and political state of South 

 America. Mr. Walton having in 

 early life visited the people and 

 countries here described, had op- 

 portunities of collecting various 

 information not generally known ; 

 but he unfortunately lost, partly 

 by capture, and partly by ship- 

 wreck, his materials. All that 

 part, therefore, of the present 

 work, which has not been sup- 

 plied to the author by recent 

 publications, must be regarded as 

 written from memory, without the 

 aid of particular documents. Hav- 

 ing premised thus much as to Mr. 

 W.'s sources of information, we 

 proceed to give an outline of his 

 work. 



The first volume relates chiefly 

 to the former and present state of 

 Hispanola ; the topography, ani- 



