James Holman, known as "the blind traveller," born in England about 1787, died in London in July, 1857. He entered the royal navy in 1798, and nine years afterward received a commission as lieutenant. In 1812 ho lost his eyesight, and the king consequently appointed him one of the six naval knights of Windsor. During the years 1819-'21 he travelled through France, Italy, Savoy, Switzerland, and along the Rhine, and published an account of his impressions, which was so well received by the public that he set out in 1822 on a journey around the world. Commencing at St. Petersburg, he took the route by Moscow, Novgorod, and Irkutsk, intending, when the season should permit, to proceed through Mongolia and China; but being suspected as a spy, he was stopped by an order from the Russian government and sent back under escort to the German frontier, whence he returned to England in 1824. He published in 1825 an account of this journey, under the title of "Travels in Russia," etc. The five years from 1827 to 1832 he passed in a voyage around the world, of which he published an account in 1834. His route was from England to Madeira, Teneriffe, and the west coast of Africa, thence to Brazil, which he passed some time in visiting, thence to Cape Colony, Caffraria, Madagascar. Mauritius, Ceylon and India, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand, returning by Cape Horn to England. He afterward, in 1843-4, made a tour in the Danubian principalities and Transylvania. His books are more curious than useful.