III. A chart of Edinburgh Frith, from North Berwick to Limekilns, on a scale of an inch and a tenth to a mile, in which the passage south of Inchkeith is described, with good land marks for it, and for every rock, fhoal, and passage in the Frith. On the same sheet is a chart of the river Tay, up to Dundee, on a scale of an inch and a quarter to a mile, with the marks for taking Tay bar, and those ei ther for sailing or turning up the river to Dundee.

"Iv. A chart of Holy island, the Fern islands, and the Staples, with the coast from Sutherland point to Berwick, on a scale of two inches to a mile, describing all the pafsages through these rocks and islands, and the passage into Holy island harbour, with proper marks for each. In this chart are inserted four sunk rocks not known before, besides many others but imperfectly known, all of which are pointed out by conspicuous land marks.

"These charts are accompanied by a book of directions, containing, in the introduction, an account of the timeand manner in which this survey was taken; a description of the compafses commonly used by the vesfels in the coasting trade, pointing out the errors and defects they are liable to, with the most proper methods (as far as it can be done) of rectifying them, illustrated by a copperplate.

"A general view of the tide along this coast, giving an account of its rise, strength of the stream, and time of the current ending at each place.

"A description of the fishing banks, their extent, depth of water on them, and the depths between them and the fhore, with directions by these depths, how to conduct vef sels in the night or in thick weather.

Andrews bay, may, with good management, be able to be extricated from that dangerous situation without suffering damage. There is scarcely a year elapses in which some vefsels are not lost in this bay, merely because, this particular has not been hitherto known or adverted to.

"The appearance of the land, when coming in from the sea, or any part of the coast, by which it may be known.

"Then follows the piloting directions for the coasts, bays, channels, harbours, c. divided into five chapters, each containing a certain space of the coast, and is divided into three sections: The first section in each chapter treats of the tide, giving an account of its rise, velocity, course, and ending of the stream in each place: The second, is a description of all the places, rocks, sands, land marks, with every thing else necessary to be known, for the purpose of comparing with the chart, in order to be acquainted with the proper marks and objects, before the fhip proceeds And the third section contains sailing directions and anchorages, calculated for the immediate conduct of the ship, and bringing her to an anchor, in which nothing is touchupon but what is necessary for that purpose, and so arranged, that the objects appear as you sail along.

ed

"And lastly, is a tide table, a table of latitudes and longitudes, and a table of magnetic courses and distances, from place to place along the coast."

Mr Downie does not give general views of the appearance of the coast, because, as he justly observed, no view can be just unless when taken from a particular point only; such general views therefore often mislead unwary navigators. But when he points out the land marks for avoiding a sunk rock, or other dangerous object, if the land mark he has chosen be not some very remarkable object universally known, such as the castle of Edinburgh, &c. he 'takes care to give an exact delineation of the country where his land mark stands, with the precise line of direc tion and distance necefsary to be attended to, 'which cannot be mistaken by any one.

Allow me to add, that there are a great number of rocks and fhoals laid down in these charts that never before were

April 11. known, and several important errors in respect to longitude and latitude corrected; so that it cannot fail to prove a valuable addition to the nautical knowledge of the coasting seamen. I make no doubt but Mr Downie, from the extensive sale of this truly useful work will receive a reasonable compensation for the trouble and time he has employed in perfecting it. Surely if any species of exertion deserves the liberal patronage of the public, this is one of those.

Captain Brodie's chart of the German ocean.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH BRODIE, whose patriotic exertions I have had so often occasion to mention with applause in this Miscellany, has for many years past been engaged in a labour of the same kind, and very much upon the same plan with the above, for perfecting a chart of what is commonly called the German ocean; reaching between the straits of Dover and the Cattegut, and bounded on the west by the British fhore. This great work, I have the pleasure to inform the public, is now in considerable forwardness, and if that gentleman's valuable life shall be preserved, will probably be, ere long, presented to the public. Mr Brodie's chart will not only contain the bearings and distances from the principal places, and the fishing banks in the course of that chart, but very exact plans of the principal harbours, and accounts of tides, currents &c. the knowledge of which are necessary for navigating in those seas with safety.

N. B. One of captain Brodie's buoys is now finished, with its flag-staff, complete, and may be seen by such as. are curious in matters of this nature at Leith. It has been tried in the water and found to answer the purpose perfectly.

Acknowledgements to correspondents deferred till our next.

We have ranged seas unknown to navigation. We have harrassed inoffensive nations with the terrors of war; and by wretched quarrels have confounded the peace of the world.

THE stanza which I have chosen as the motto for this letter, is borrowed from an ode, written on the ravages committed by the Portuguese in Brasil, and it affords a concise, but comprehensive idea of the general conduct of Europeans in the new world. An impartial survey of some part of the transactions of Britain in the West Indies, will vindicate my present application of the verses of Buchanan.

There are but two motives, those of commerce and of conquest, for which one part of the globe maintains VOL. viii.

GG

a correspondence with another. Of our mercantile intercourse with Spanish America, we have, in my last letter, seen a sufficient specimen. Of our military progress in the same country, a very candid summary has been sketched by the late Dr Samuel Johnson, in his pamphlet respecting Falkland's Islands. This publication has been more than once recommended in my hearing by the late Dr. Adam Smith, as the best and most valuable portion of all Johnson's works. A few extracts from it will interest every reader. "Against the Spanish dominions" says Dr Johnson," we have never hitherto been able to "do much.They are defended, not by walls "mounted with cannons, which by cannons may "be battered, but by the storms of the deep, and "the vapours of the land;-by the flåmes of calen"ture, and blasts of pestilence. Here Cavendish "perished after all his hazards; and here Drake

and Hawkins, great as they were in knowledge and in fame, sunk, by desperation and misery, "in dishonourable graves.Here, and only here, "the fortune of Cromwell made a pause.

"The attack on Carthagena is, yet remembered, "where the Spaniards from the ramparts saw their in"vaders destroyed by the hostility of the elements;

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poisoned by the air, and crippled by the dews; "where every hour swept away battalions; and in "the three days that passed between the descent and "re-embarkation, half an army perished."

In this country there is no military project more popular than an invasion of Spanish America. These remarks may tend to calm the impatience of piratical