Frankfort, per rail to Mayence, per boat to MainzCastel, per steamer to Neuweid-on-the Rhine. From thence to Cologne the well-known: and thence by the old, old, hackneyed route to Ostend, whence the Belgian mail steamer took the three to Dover. After Dover, what was there but the train to London, the autumn bills, and the Mill again, and a determination on the part of the three travellers-who are now faster friends than ever-never to "make their game at Hombourg on the strength of an "infallible sys

tem,

," unless indeed they have the capital of Rothschild, added to that of Jones Loyd, to back them up withal ?

THE END.

London: J. & W. RIDER, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close, E.C.

In Weekly Numbers, Threepence; Monthly Parts, One Shilling: and Half-Yearly Volumes On fine paper, splendidly illustrated. ALL ROUND THE WORLD;

An Illustrated Record of Voyages, Travels, and Adventures in all Parts of the Globe.

EDITED BY W. F. AINSWORTH, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., &c.

No. 1, price 3d., and Part 1, price 1s., ready October 15, 1860.

PROSPECTUS.

“ONCE UPON A TIME," as story tells us, there was a noble young prince, the safety of whose life and future happiness depended upon his seclusion in a remote tower, far from all human intercourse. All that could be brought together for enjoyment was placed at his command; but the Prince was always dull, and pined with weariness of soul, until the benevolent Fairy, his guardian, hit upon placing before his eyes, in airy landscapes, magic images of all that was rare, curious, and beautiful in the universe.

The object of "ALL ROUND THE WORLD" is the same as that of the good Fairy. We propose to set before the stay-at-home Traveller, pining to receive new impressions, an exact image and representation of the World wherein he lives, supplying him with that ready means of acquaintance with each country, its scenery, its vegetation, its animals, its inhabitants, and its monuments, that can only be attained by the eye, and accompanying each pictorial delight with graphic illustrations by men of celebrity in the career of travel and adventure.

We shall take our readers "ALL ROUND THE WORLD," in a long and varied traverse; opening to them, as we go on together, the great books of Geography, of Science, and of Nature.

How necessary such a work is at the present moment; how little we know of ourselves and of each other- of those even who live almost in contact with ourselves—may be judged from the fact that the interior of even our own great Colonies is as yet terra incognita. In Asia, the vast range of the Himalayas, with the health-giving breezes of a northern climate, looking down

2

upon the sun-burnt plains of India on the one side, and the smiling pastures of Tartary on the other, was, until lately, unvisited; China and Cochin China, with their swarming millions of population, unfrequented; and Japan a sealed country. In America, while of the south-east we still only know

"Those vast shores, washed by the farthest sea,”

of the centre and the west we were ignorant, except that they were inhabited by savages yet untamed. It is a fact that the whole of a country, since pronounced to be the most beautiful in the world for scenery, as well as the mildest in climate, whose valleys teem with fertility, and whose mountains abound with gold and other metals, and minerals even more precious—viz., from California upwards to Vancouver's Island, and across from the Red River to the Pacific, was left for two centuries in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, as being a region of ice and snow, fit only for the bear, the beaver, and the trapper.

In Africa, we are but just roused to the importance, not of exploring merely, but of trading with the tribes and nations of its fertile and healthful central regions, while Commerce no longer brandishes the bloody whip and clanks the iron fetters of the slave, as she sails up the Gambia, the Binue, and the Niger, or loads her polluted decks with a human cargo from barracoons on the fatal Western coast; but, with mild Religion by her side, advances up the Congo and the Zambesi, to assure and certify a conquest more enduring than arms-intercourse in connection with the precious gift of instruction in the Religion of Christian Peace.

Wonderful, indeed, has been the progress of discovery effected within the most recent times. Whilst the exploration of the Niger, the Binue, and the Zambesi, in Africa, reveals new fields of inquiry, the navigation of the Murray and the Murrumbigee, in Australia, and of the Amur, in Russia, opens up new regions to the colonist; and that of the Yang-tse-kiang, in China, and of the Parana and Paraguay, in South America, equally extensive realms to commercial enterprise. Nor are the remarkable acces. sions made of late to our knowledge of the interior of Australia

3

-more especially the discovery effected by Mr. McDougal Stuart, of a vast extent of land available for pasturage or tillage--of less import to the future. The discovery of a whole district oflakes, and of a region of snow-clad mountains, in inter-tropical Africa, reduces, with the exploration of the upper affluents of the White Nile, the solving of that great problem of all ages—the sources of the Nile-to the same narrow compass as Arctic research had done the limits within which the north-west passage, and the relics of Franklin and of his unfortunate companions, had to be sought for, previous to McClintock's last voyage. Nor ought it to be omitted, that the determination of the existence of an available pass in the Rocky Mountains is like the last link in the great line of communication, which will inevitably be established with the lapse of time, between the Atlantic and the Pacific, through British America.

With this knowledge of the universe-with this work of universal civilization-it is the object of "ALL ROUND THE WORLD" to associate the reader. It is even hoped to see the volumes of this work on every parlour table, placed under the Great Bible, as a Family Book; and it will be our earnest endeavour, as it is our sincere purpose, to render it worthy of that place.

These are not alone the advantages which "ALL ROUND THE WORLD" will supply to its possessors. It will serve as a Universal Guide and Reference Book to illustrate passing events, containing exact information of what is being done by contemporary travellers in all parts of the earth and seas-following them in their distant wanderings, constituting the reader, by engravings, an eye-witness of what they see, as well as, by graphic textual illustrations, a participator in their struggles, their sufferings, their privations, their dangers, and their final fortunate discoveries. Nor is this all. Whatever, in any nation, whether in its commerce, manufactures, material industry, or natural productions, may be of advantage to ourselves, will be herein set down, faithfully described, correctly delineated, and clearly recorded for future reference.

The task is a large one; our duties comprehensive, and our devotion to them unswerving. The mine we open is deep and

4

rich; we shall spare no pains in bringing its wealth to light We have faith in our good intentions, and that they merit a great success. It will be for the public, by an extensive and earnest support, to prove that we have not miscalculated the good sense, the desire for practical information, the capacity, and the wants of the millions of English readers.

The nature of cheap periodical publications has been hitherto, for the most part, to stimulate and excite men's attention. All this is but a repetition of the working out of an old problem. The education of all nations has commenced with a taste for fiction. In "ALL ROUND THE WORLD" we are about to take a step in advance. We still preserve the stimulating and exciting; but we add to it the useful and the true. "Truth is stranger than fiction." Travelling has more actual dangers than the imagination of the romancist can invent. Thus, insensibly, will a more positive and direct knowledge be impressed on the mind. Shall we be mistaken in hoping for the approbation and the encouragement of the judicious? of the teacher? of the parent? and, above all, of the clergy, in such a work? Our objects are known, and such as all must deem praiseworthy. The method of our carrying them out is now open for judgment.

Every care will be bestowed in making "ALL ROUND THE WORLD" a work of intrinsic value, not only as a book, but as a work of art. The designs will not be ornamental landscapes, but drawings by travellers themselves, executed by the most able artists and engravers; while we are happy to say that the stores and libraries of the Learned Societies have been placed at our service, as well as the manuscripts and personal assistance of many eminent travellers, towards the perfecting and complete accomplishment of a work, which all pronounce to be greatly wanted, and highly commendable in its plan and execution.

Each weekly Number will consist of sixteen pages, imperial octavo, with several illustrations.

No. 1, price 3d., and Part 1, price 1s., ready Oct. 15, 1860.

OFFICE:-122, FLEET STREET, LONDON.