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The following pages are translated from the "African Cottage," of Mad. Dard.1 They contain no romance, but a well authenticated story, corroborated by the previous Narrative of MM. Corréard and Savigny. Those gentlemen have detailed their sufferings on the fatal raft, after the disastrous shipwreck of the Medusa frigate; but the account concerning those who escaped, by aid of their boats, to the shores of Sahara, deficient in their recital, is supplied by Madame Dard, who was present at all the scenes she relates. Interwoven with the Narrative, is an interesting account of the Picard Family, whose wrongs cannot fail to excite pity, and to engage those feeling hearts in her favour, to whom the fair authoress has addressed the story of her misfortunes.

1 "La Chaumière Africaine; ou, Histoire d'une Famille Française jetée sur la côté occidentale de l'Afrique, à la suite du naufrage de la Frégate la Meduse. Par Mme. Dard, née Charlotte Adelaide Picard, aînée de cette famille, et l'une des naufragés de la Meduse." Dijon. 1824, 12mo.

There is not, on the records of misery, an instance of more severe and protracted suffering; and I trust there is not, nor ever will be any, where human nature was more foully outraged and disgraced. There are, nevertheless, some pleasing traits of character in the story, and, I am proud to say, some of the brightest of them belong to our own nation. These present a beautiful relief to the selfishness and brutality which so much abound in the dark picture; and are, to our minds, the green spots of the Desert—the fountain and the fruit-tree—as they were in very truth, to the poor wretches they assisted with such genuine singleness of heart.

To the end of the Narrative I have subjoined an Appendix, translated and abridged from the work of MM. Corréard and Savigny, detailing at greater length the sufferings of those who were exposed upon the Raft. I have also added some Notes, extracted from several Authors, illustrative of various matters mentioned in the course of the Narrative.

It may be satisfactory for some readers to know, that, in 1824, Madame Dard was living with her husband in comfort at Bligny-sous-Beaune, a short distance from Dijon. I have lately seen in a French Catalogue, a Dictionary and Grammar of the Woloff and Bambara languages, by M. J. Dard, Bachelier des Sciences, Ancien Instituteur de l'Ecole du Sénégal, brought out under the auspices of the French Government.

Patrick Maxwell.

Edinburgh, July 1827.