OVERWEO, DR. ADOLF. 



OVIDIUS, PUBLIUS NASO. 



practicability of a decimal coinage, and in 1856 he warmly opposed 

 the principle of the Limited Liability Act which passed the two houses 

 of parliament, his lordship entering oil the occasion hia protest against 

 that measure in the journals of the house. His system of political 

 economy is perhaps too exclusively that which is taken from the 

 capitalist point of view. As the time for the renewal of the Bank 

 charter approached, the opinions which Mr. Jones Loyd had expresse 

 before a parliamentary committee in 1340, in favour of a single sourc 

 of issue of money, and such issue to be concurrent with a definit 

 amount of bullion in the Bank of England, were understood to be thos 

 which Sir Kobert Peel adopted, with some modifications. In 1844 th 

 Bank Charter Act was passed ; and although the principle has met wit 

 some opposition from higher authorities than those who are alwaj 

 clamouring for an expansion of the currency, it ig likely to be continue 

 in the renewal of the charter in the present year (1857). Lord Over 

 stone has ably advocated its principle in some letters in the ' Times 

 signed ' Mercator." 



OVERWEG, DR. ADOLF, was born July 24, 1822, in the city o 

 Hamburg. He was educated at the University of Bonn, and afterward 

 at the University of Berlin, where he took bis degree. Hia favourit 

 study waa geology, which he pursued for some years. lu 1849, whei 

 Mr. Richardson, at the expense of the British and Prussian govern 

 meuts, was preparing to undertake a journey to Lake Tchad, in 

 Central Africa, application was made in Berlin for a naturalist to 

 accompany him; and Dr. Overweg, who was recommended by the 

 chief scientific men of that capital, received the appointment. Dr 

 Heinrich Barth also accompanied Mr. Richardson. Dr. Barth was a 

 pupil of the celebrated geographer, Carl Ritter, and previously to hi 

 joining the expedition to Central Africa, had travelled in Northern 

 Africa, and had published an account of his journeys in German 

 under the title of ' Wanderungen,' &c. (' Wanderings along the Punic 

 and Cyrenaic Shores of the Mediterranean, by Dr. Heinrich Barth ') 

 8vo, Berlin, 1849. A boat, broad in the beam and exceedingly ligh 

 on the water, was constructed at Malta for the express purpose 

 of navigating Lake Tchad. It had to be conveyed over the 

 burning sands of Africa to Lake Tchad, during a journey which 

 occupied about twelve months. The expedition left Tripoli for the 

 interior in March 1850, and did not reach Lake Tchad till April 1851. 

 The three travellers were exposed for a considerable time to great 

 danger, and after being plundered of much valuable property, only 

 escaped with their lives by paying a large ransom. Mr. Richardson 

 died when the travellers were within a short distance of Lake Tchad. 

 When Drs. Barth and Overweg had reached Kuka, about ten miles 

 from the western shore of Lake Tchad, they were in safety, under the 

 protection of the Sultan of Bornou and his vizir, who gave them a good 

 house to live in, and supplied them amply with provisions. The boat 

 had been constructed in pieces to facilitate its conveyance, and Dr. 

 Overweg having put it together, on the 18th of June launched it on 

 Lake Tchad, which he navigated, and visited the natives who inhabit 

 various islands in it. Meantime, while Dr. Overweg was preparing 

 the boat, Dr. Barth had started on a journey to the kingdom of 

 Adatnaua, south of Lake Tchad, and on the 22ud of June reached 

 the capital, Yola, about 350 miles S.S.W. from Kuka, a distance which 

 it took him twenty days to travel. In this journey he crossed the 

 Benue and the Faro, two very large rivers the Benue, half a mile 

 wide, flowing from the east ; and the Faro, an affluent of the Benue, 

 flowing from the south. He reached Kuka, on his return, on the 22nd 

 of July. The country of Adamaua was found to be beautiful, fertile, 

 and well cultivated. Dr. Barth afterwards explored the country east 

 of Lake Tchad, and also travelled south-eastward into the kingdom of 

 Baghirmi, towards the sources of the White Nile; while Dr. Overweg 

 made a journey from Kuka in a south-westerly direction towards the 

 Kowara (Quorra), and reached to within 150 miles of Yacoba, the 

 capital town of the Fellatahs. 



The ultimate object of the expedition having been to travel from 

 Lake Tchad in a south-west direction to the shores of the Indian 

 Ocean, it was represented to the British government that it would be 

 expedient to send out another person to join Drs. Barth and Overweg 

 before they started on their final journey. The government assented, 

 and a suitable person was found in Dr. Edward Vogel, of Mr. Bishop's 

 Observatory, Regent's Park, London, who volunteered his services with 

 enthusiasm. He left London, accompanied by two volunteers from 

 the corps of Sappers and Miners, in February 1853. Dr. Vogel is 

 very young, having been born about 1832. He is by profession an 

 astronomer, and is also a scientific botanist. Ho was provided with 

 astronomical, mngnetical, and other instruments suitable for his own 

 purposes, and also to supply the place of those of the other two 

 travellers which might have been injured or lost in their journeys. 

 By a singular coincidence, on the very morning when Dr. Vogel and 

 his two companions went on board the vessel which was to take them 

 to Malta, in route for Tripoli, letters from Dr. Barth were received in 

 London announcing the death of his only companion and friend. Dr. 

 Overweg was attacked by fever at Kuka, and died seven days after- 

 ward*, September 27, 1852, at Maduari, which is ten miles east of 

 Kuka, and near the western shore of Lake Tchad. 



Dr. Vogel and his companions reached Mourzuk, in Fezzan, Aug. 8, 

 1853, and remained there till the middle of October. They accom- 

 pli 'hrd successfully their journey across the Qreat Desert, and reached 

 tI(JO. DIV. VOI. IT. 



Lake Tchad on the 6th of January 1854. A revolution had taken place 

 at x Kuka, and there was a new sultan and also a new vizir, by whom 

 however Dr. Vogel was received kindly. Dr. Vogel, by astronomical 

 observations, determined the position of Kuka to be 12 55' N. lat., 

 13 22' E. long. The height of Kuka above the sea he ascertained to 

 be only 900 feet 50 feet higher than the surface of Lake Tchad. 

 Dr. Barth was absent on an expedition to Timbuctoo. Dr. Barth left 

 Kuka on the 25th of November 1S52. On the 6th of May 1853 he was 

 at Sokatou ; on the 4th of April at Wurno, which is about seventeen 

 miles N.E. from Sokatou, and is the residence of the Emperor of the 

 Fellatahs. It is thus a more important place than Sokatou, though 

 the population is only about 13,000, while that of Sokatou is about 

 21,000. Wuruo, hitherto unknown, was only founded in 1831. Dr. 

 Barth reached Timbuctoo on the 7th of September 1853. He was 

 detained in Timbuctoo nearly twelve months, owing to the danger he 

 would have incurred if he had attempted to return to Kuka without 

 protection. Nothing waa heard of him for many months, and it was 

 reported that he was dead. He however reached Kano, on his return 

 to Kuka, on the 17th of October 1854, and on the 1st of December 

 1854 met Dr. Vogel at Bundi, which is a small town nearly 230 

 miles W. from Kuka. He arrived in safety (it Kuka, re-crossed the 

 Great Desert to Mourzuk and Tripoli, reached Marseille on the 8th 

 of Saptember 1855, and in a few days arrived in London. In the same 

 month, at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, a ' Description of the City of Timbuctoo, its Population 

 and Commerce, by Dr. Barth,' waa communicated from the Foreign 

 Oflicp, and read before the members of the Geographical Section. Dr. 

 Barth is a native of Hamburg, where his aged parents were alive to 

 welcome him on his return, after his short visit to London. 



Dr. Vogel still continues his explorations iu Central Africa. He 

 has visited Yacoba, and on the 30th of April 1855 crossed the Cbadda 

 at the same place where the Pleiad steamer, with Messrs. Baikie, May, 

 and Hutchinson, had anchored the previous year. 



OVI'DIUS, PUBLIUS NASO, was born at Sulmo in the country 

 of the Peligni, B.C. 43, the same year in which Cicei-o was murdered, 

 and on the very day iu which the consuls Hirtius and Pansa died. 

 The events of his life are chiefly known from his own writings, and 

 more particularly from the 10th elegy of the 4th book of the ' Tristia.' 

 Ovid was of an equestrian family. He had a brother exactly twelve 

 months older than himself; the two brothers Were sent to Rome for 

 their education at an early age. From hia boyhood Ovid was fond of 

 writing verses, and, as he says of himself, 



" Sponte aua numeros carmen vcniebat ad aptos, 

 Et quod tentabam scribere versus crat." 



His father discouraged his poetic aspirations on the ground that 

 poverty was th condition of poets, and the youth accordingly tried 

 a prepare himself for the career of the bar. The two brothers were 



educated under the care of some of the best tcachera then in Rome 

 Plotius Grippus, whom QuiutUian (' Inst. Or.,' ii. 4) considered one 



of the first teachers of eloquence, Arellius Fuacus, the friend of 

 Horace, Messala, and Portius Latro, the friend and companion of 



Seneca. Seneca says that he had seen Ovid practising declamation 

 >efore Fuscus. His brother Lucius died after completing his twentieth 

 rear, an event which Ovid most affectionately lamented. On attaining 

 he suitable age, Ovid discharged the office of one of the Triumviri, and 



other public duties subsequently. He also acted aa one of the court of 

 ,he Centumviri, and on several occasions as a judex. (' Trist.,' ii.) But 



neither his bodily strength nor his disposition was suited to public or 



active life; poetry was his delight, and he resolved to dedicate hi m- 

 lelf to it. He accordingly sought the society of his 'contemporary 

 >oets, whose names he has himself recorded. He was acquainted with 

 itacer, Propertius, Ponticus, Bassus, and Horace, who was about 

 wenty-two years older. He only just saw Virgil and Tibullus, both 



of whom died B.C. 18. He was married to his first wife when he was 

 F ery young. The match was not a suitable one, and the wife was 

 oon divorced. A second wife was in like manner put away, though 

 lie poet had no serious charge to make against her. Ovid's amours 



with Corinna, whom he celebrates under this fictitious name, and with 

 ither women, may have tended to interrupt hia conjugal felicity. How- 

 iver this may be, he ventured to take a third wife, with whom he 

 ived happily to the time of his exile. He had a daughter, probably 



Sy his third wife ; the daughter was twice married. His father died 

 t the advanced age of ninety, and his mother shortly after; but 

 leither of them lived to see their son's disgrace and exile. 



Ovid spent an easy life at Rome in the enjoyment of the society of 

 lis contemporary poets and friends, Atticus, Pedo Albiuovanua, Tuti- 

 anus, and others already enumerated, and in the possession of a 

 ompetent income. He visited Asia and Sicily, but it does not appear 

 t what period of his life ('Ex Pont.,' ii. Ep. 10); probably when he 

 as a young man. His residence at Rome was near the Capitol 

 Trist., EL 3), and he had some gardens near the junction of the 

 'l;uuini:m and Claudian roads; he had also a patrimony in the 

 ountry of the Peligni. Ovid was intimately acquainted with the 



amily of Augustus Cxsar; and an ' Epicedion on the deatli of Drusus ' 



B.O. 9), addressed to his mother Livia, which is still extant, is attri- 

 uted to him. Among his various poetical worka which were written 

 ud published before his exile, his three books 'Artis Amatorire,' 



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