of Gibara, on the north-eastern side of the island, which
he reached by sailing from New-York to St. Jago de Cuba, and travelling
across the island forty-five leagues. The gold vein turned out a
wretched failure; and, after having been put to some disagreeable shifts
to maintain himself, Mr. Taylor resolved to settle as a planter in
Holguin--the district to which Gibara forms the port of entry. Returning
to the United States, he made the necessary arrangements; and in the
summer of 1843, was established on his _hacienda_, in partnership with
an American who had been long resident in that part of the island. In
this and the following year, however, the east of Cuba was visited by an
unprecedented drought; causing famine which, though it destroyed many
lives and ruined thousands of proprietors, attracted no more attention,
he says, in England, than was implied by "a paragraph of three lines in
an English newspaper." The west of Cuba was at the same time devastated
by a tremendous hurricane, accompanied by floods; and, all his Cuban
prospects being thus blasted, the author was glad to return to New-York
in September, 1845, whence, after a short stay, he returned to England.
He did not long, however, remain in his native country, but left it for
Ceylon, where he died suddenly in January, of the present year. His
_United States and Cuba: Eight Years of Change and Travel_, was left in
MS., and within a few weeks has been printed. It is a work of much less
value than Mr. Kimball's _Cuba and the Cubans_, published in New-York
last year. Of that very careful and judicious performance Mr. Taylor
appears to have made considerable use in the preparation of his own, and
his agreement with Mr. Kimball may be inferred from the fact that,
though pointedly protesting that he does not advocate the annexation of
Cuba to the United States, he holds that "worse things might
happen,"--and indeed hints that sooner or later the event is inevitable.
Of _Cuba and the Cubans_, we take this opportunity to state that a new
and very much improved edition will soon be issued by Mr. Putnam.

* * * * *

Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley has in the press of Bentley her _Travels in
the United States_. She passed about two years, we believe, in this
country. She has written several books, in verse and prose, but we never
heard that any body had read one of them.

* * * * *

The _Nile Notes_, by M