f. : E i e 
 I LIBRARY 
 
 I UNIVERSITY OP 1 
 VcAllPORNIA/ 
 
 From the collection of the 
 
 Prelinger 
 
 i a 
 
 Uibrary 
 
 p 
 
 San Francisco, California 
 2006 
 

 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
Frontispiece. 
 
 THE LAPLANDERS 
 
GLIMPSES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE WONDERFUL: 
 
 A SERIES OP 
 
 INSTRUCTIVE SKETCHES 
 
 FOR THE YOUNG. 
 EDITED BY EEV. I. D. WILLIAMSON, D.D. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ELEGANT ENGRAVINGS, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY G. COLLINS, 
 
 N. W. COR. SIXTH & ARCH. 
 1858. 
 
Education 
 
 GIFT 
 
Vt/ff 
 
 EDUC.- 
 PSYCH. 
 LIBRARY 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE . . . . 7 
 
 THE PiCRILS OP THE DEEP . .,..* .19 
 
 THE CUTTLE-FISH . '- *-. . . * V ; ^0 
 
 MOUNTAINS IN THE MOON . . . .38 
 
 ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE . . . . .42 
 
 THE ROOTS OF THE BANIAN TREE . . . .51 
 
 THE DIAMOND . .. . . ... .56 
 
 THE LAPLANDERS " , . ,' . . .64 
 
 SHIP-BUILDING . . . : . . . . .72 
 
 THE STEAM-SHIP ........ 88 
 
 THE CAVE OF ELEPHANTA . . . . . .95 
 
 PEARL DIVING ^ .98 
 
 ANCIENT PUNISHMENTS ...... 104 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN Ill 
 
 THE BLOOD AND HAIR 121 
 
 ASTRONOMY 124 
 
 THE MOON . 135 
 
 ICEBERGS 141 
 
 THE EAGLE r ! . 146 
 
 CONCLUSION '*'. 154 
 
Drop of Water Magnified. 
 
GLIMPSES OF THE WONDERFUL. 
 
 PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 WHEN contemplating the magnitude and distances of 
 the heavenly bodies, we are overwhelmed with astonish- 
 ment arid awe ; and, as we turn away from the glories 
 revealed to us by the telescope, we are ready to sink into 
 dust at the comparison of our own utter insignificance. 
 " Surely," we say, " such pigmy insects as we are can 
 never occupy a moment's care from that awful Being who 
 has framed the boundless wonders of the heavens who 
 has scattered, like gold-dust, throughout the immeasurable 
 depths of space, worlds upon worlds, compared to the 
 least of which our earth, with all its inhabitants, its 
 " everlasting hills," its rivers and its seas, is but a speck 
 in creation. Surely, w T e are tempted to say, the very ex- 
 istence of such a mere atom as man must be forgotten by 
 Him whom the very heaven of heavens cannot, contain. 
 We think only of the greatness of His power : we forget 
 the greatness of His goodness we forget, perhaps, that 
 weak and insignificant as we are, there are myriads of 
 
8 PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 living creatures swarming around us, each one framed 
 with the nicest skill each endowed with capacities of 
 enjoyment each having some service to perform in 
 creation whose very existence was unknown to us, until 
 the microscope gave to the human eye some ten thousand 
 times the power of vision it possessed before. By its 
 means, we find fresh proofs of that which the Book of In- 
 spiration has already taught proofs that the same Divine 
 power, wisdom, and benevolence which bade to roll in 
 glory and brightness, through myriads of ages, suns 
 mightier far than that which illumines our sky, disdains 
 not to contrive and to provide for the pleasures of the 
 smallest insect that sports for an hour in the summer's 
 light, and then dies. 
 
 " Will He not care for you, ye faithless ? Say, 
 Is He unwise, or are we less than they ?" 
 
 Yes, every tiny leaf, every drop of water, is a world 
 in which multitudes of God's creatures are born, with 
 frames of workmanship as curious and as wondrous as 
 ours ; and there they live and sport with evident enjoyment 
 throughout their little day, fulfil the end of their tiny 
 being, and then give way to new generations. Look at 
 this cut ! it represents a single drop of water, such a 
 
PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 9 
 
 drop as may be hung trembling upon a pin's point ay, 
 one that, as it glitters in the light, seems to the naked 
 eye pure and free from any mixture of substance in its 
 clear fluid ; and yet it swarms with life in many forms. 
 Looking through a powerful microscope at that tiny drop, 
 we may see creatures of shapes like those depicted there, 
 and many more besides ; but all endowed with power of 
 motion evidently voluntary, either in frolic gambol, or in 
 search of food. As we watch their movements, fresh 
 forms appear and disappear to make way for new gener- 
 ations, which quickly perish in their turn. Even for 
 the pleasures and the needs of beings such as these, whose 
 universe is a drop of water, God provides ; and shall He 
 not care for us ? 
 
 The microscope strikingly exhibits the superiority of 
 the works of nature over those of art. Examined through 
 its magic lens, the finest, the most delicate engraving 
 looks coarse and harsh lines meant to be smooth and 
 accurate, appear rugged and distorted its most carefully 
 measured spaces are found to be grossly incorrect and 
 unequal the finest needle that man can make appears 
 as rough and pointless as the kitchen poker the most 
 delicate tissue of silk or lace presents the appearance of an 
 irregular and confused assemblage of rough hempen cables. 
 
10 
 
 PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 On the other hand, examine the leaf of a tree ; everj 
 line is true and perfect ; the net-work that forms its 
 frame shows that the intention of the Artificer is fully 
 carried out, in reality as well as in appearance ; the sting 
 of a wasp appears through the microscope, as to tht 
 naked eye, a smooth shaft, polished and pointed with the 
 nicest accuracy ; the gossamer thread that floats on the 
 breeze proves to be an assemblage of the finest lines, each 
 individual of which is as fine and smooth in the micro- 
 scope that magnifies a thousand times, as to the imper- 
 fections of our natural vision appears the cluster formed 
 by their union. 
 
 The hair of our heads 
 is found to be a tube 
 I growing from a bulbous 
 I root sunk into the skin, 
 f and deriving its nourish- 
 ment from the body, just 
 as vegetable bulbs do theirs 
 from' the earth. In fact, 
 the hair appears to have a principle of life independent, 
 in some degree, of the rest of the frame, as if it were 
 a vegetable rather than an animal substance ; for there 
 are well authenticated instances of the hair of the head 
 
PEEPS THROUGH HIE MICROSCOPE. 11 
 
 and the beard growing to considerable length after 
 death. 
 
 The whiskers of a lion, 
 as well as those of the cat 
 tribe in general, have an 
 office distinct from that of 
 ordinary hair in general. 
 Those animals creep stealth- 
 . ' whiskers of a non. ily on their prey in the dark, 
 
 frequently amid many obstructions, from the crockery- 
 crowded shelves where puss steals along after mice, 
 to the tangled jungle of an African or Asiatic forest, 
 where the lion or the tiger crouches in preparation 
 for the deadly spring. The long, stiff whiskers spring 
 outward from the muzzle, and their terminations, form- 
 ing an irregular circle at least equal to the space 
 occupied by the body of the animal, come in con- 
 tact with any object in the neighborhood, and give warn- 
 ing to the creature to avoid, by any noise, alarming 
 the prey of which it is in pursuit. They are, in fact, 
 feelers with a high degree of sensibility, being inserted 
 into the skin, not by a broad bulb, but by a stiffer and 
 sharper root, so as to press more decidedly upon the 
 nerves, and give the animals speedy and accurate Intel- 
 
12 PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 ligence of its approach to any object, and its shape and 
 direction. 
 
 The bristles of a hog have 
 their origin in a sheath rising 
 from a small papilla. This 
 papilla is full of an oily se- 
 cretion, and it is this which, 
 by keeping the skin, when 
 prepared after the animal's 
 death, soft and lissom and impervious to moisture, makes 
 a pig's skin so. well adapted for saddles. 
 
 The skin of a negro seems 
 admirably fitted for the burn- 
 ing climate he inhabits. It is 
 very smooth, and feels always 
 much cooler than that of a 
 white man under the same 
 skin of a Negro. circumstances. This appears 
 
 due to the minute vessels which pervade it, and which, by 
 the dark fluid they contain, give to the negro his distin 
 guishing color. The freckles caused in persons of verj 
 .fair complexion by exposure to the sun, and the tan or sun- 
 burn in those of a darker hue, arise from the same cause 
 as the dark color of the negro, only of course in a much 
 
PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 13 
 
 less degree. The action of the sun's heat appears to stim- 
 ulate the net-work of small vessels that pervade the skin, 
 thus causing them to discharge an increased secretion of 
 carbon. 
 
 Dr. Carpenter says, " In most parts of the human skin 
 which are liable to rub against each other, we find a con- 
 siderable number of sebaceous follicles, which secrete a 
 fatty substance, that keeps the skin soft and smooth. 
 These are abundant on the most exposed parts of the face, 
 and their secretion prevents the skin from drying up and 
 cracking, which it would be liable to do under the influ- 
 ence of sun and air. They are more numerous in the 
 skins of negroes, producing in them the oily sleekness for 
 which they are generally remarkable, and which prevents 
 their skins from suffering by exposure to a tropical sun. 
 It has been lately discovered, that even in persons of 
 cleanly habits, each of these follicles is the residence of a 
 minute insect, closely resembling the cheese-mite." 
 
 The skin of the camel and that of the porpoise, are 
 widely different in character, but each adapted for the 
 circumstances and situation of the animal which it covers. 
 
 The porpoise, like the whale, being a warm-blooded 
 animal, and frequenting the seas of different and changing 
 climates, requires complete protection from the great and 
 
PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 rapid changes of temperature to which it is exposed. It 
 is evident that a covering of fur or hair, the usual means 
 of protection from cold bestowed upon land animals, would 
 greatly impede the progress of creatures intended, like the 
 whale, the dolphin, and the porpoise, to move rapidly 
 through such a resisting medium as water. The two ob- 
 jects, protection frqm alternations of heat and cold on the 
 one hand, and on the other, a smooth unctuous surface, 
 from which the water may glide without being absorbed 
 or attracted, are both attained by the adoption of a smooth 
 skin lined with a thick coating of fat. which prevents the 
 animal heat necessary to the constitution of the creature 
 being too rapidly lowered by the conducting power of the 
 surrounding water. 
 
 Skin of the Porpoise. 
 
 Skin of the Camel. 
 
 Contrasted with this, the camel is destined to inhabit 
 the dry hot countries of Eastern and Central Asia, and to 
 traverse deserts whose light sands are frequently whirled 
 
PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 Feathers of the 
 
 and driven in a stifling cloud which penetrates every ob* 
 ject it meets. As a protection from this, the camel's skin 
 is hard and tough, covered with a few thin scattered hairs, 
 except in particular places, where it grows in tufts ; and in 
 those parts of the body and limbs which support the animal 
 when it kneels or lies down, the skin is thickened into cal- 
 losities that resist the weight that presses upon them. 
 
 These feathers are 
 represented, not as mi- 
 croscopic objects, but 
 as they appear to the 
 naked eye. They are 
 admirable examples of 
 their class, and well ex- 
 hibit the difference be- 
 tween a wing and a 
 tail-feather. The owl 
 is well known to be a 
 bird of prey which seeks 
 its food, small birds, 
 mice, rats, and reptiles, 
 by night. It skims owl. Peacock, 
 
 along the hedge-rows and by the farm buildings so noise- 
 lessly, that the timid little creatures it seeks are not aware 
 
16 PEEPS THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 of its presence till it pounces upon them. This smooth, 
 noiseless flight, so different from the loud flapping of wings 
 caused by birds of other habits and pursuits, (rooks and 
 pigeons, for instance,) is obtained by the peculiar formation 
 of its pinions. The quills are covered beneath with a fine 
 down, which prevents their rattling one upon another in 
 the motion of flying, and the plumage lining each side of 
 every quill is also edged with a smooth down, which dead- 
 ens the vibration of the air under the stroke of the owl's 
 wing. 
 
 The pinion feathers of most birds are enabled to pre- 
 serve their broad van-like form, in spite of the resistance 
 of the air during the rapid and powerful action of the bird 
 in flying, by means of an edging, both serrated (or saw- 
 like) and hooked, by which each separate filament which 
 forms the van of the feather is locked into the one on each 
 side of it. Any one may see an example of it by ex- 
 amining the feather of a common goose-quill. The tail 
 feathers of the peacock, which are not used by the bird in 
 flying do not require this serrated edging, but hang loosely 
 and gracefully from each other, until meeting at the " eye," 
 they there form the smooth, glossy assemblage of brilliant 
 colors for which the peacock is so conspicuous and so well 
 known. 
 
1 
 
PERILS OF THE DEEP. 
 
 WHEN we see a large ship of war at anchor in the 
 smooth water of a harbor, or river, and gaze upward at 
 the huge hull whose bulging sides, serried with grim can- 
 non, rise like an overhanging mountain abofc the tiny 
 boat in which we steal timidly beneath her dark shadow, 
 OUT first thought is, that it must be impossible for any waves, 
 however stormy, materially to affect the security and equi- 
 librium of so vast a mass : our second recalls to mind the 
 " ower true tale" of many a vessel as gallant and as ma- 
 jestic, utterly shipwrecked, and bids us shrink at the might 
 of those winds and waves which can toss in wild play and 
 dash to atoms the mightiest work of man, as if it were but 
 a light seaweed on the raging foam. 
 
 There she lies, as if imbedded firmly as a rock, motion- 
 less in the clear fluid which gently heaves and ripples 
 around her : her tall masts, with all their " tracery" of 
 spars and cordage, shooting erect and fair into the sky : 
 and to a landsman it requires an effort of thought to pic- 
 ture that which now appears the very image of magnifi- 
 
 19 
 
20 PERILS OF THE DEEP. 
 
 cent repose, of immoveable stability, transformed into a 
 shattered wreck, "driven by the wind and tossed," 
 plunging and heaving, with restless struggling, amidst op- 
 posing billows, the veriest toy for the sport of old ocean, 
 in his wildest freaks. 
 
 " They that go down to the sea in ships, that do busi- 
 ness in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and 
 His wonders in the deep." 
 
 Among^he many perils of the sea, one of the most- 
 remarkable and uncommon is the subject of the annexed 
 cut, which is intended to represent the Maelstroom, a 
 fearful whirlpool which exists south of the Loffoden Isles, 
 off the rocky and deeply-indented coast of Norway. 
 Various speculations have been entered into as to the 
 cause of this extraordinary whirlpool, and some have 
 gone so far as to account for it by imagining the existence 
 of a vast hollow at the bottom of this part of the ocean, 
 by which the waters of the Northern Ocean have a sub 
 terranean communication with the Baltic sea on the other 
 side of Norway. Its existence, however, appears to be 
 sufficiently accounted for without resorting to so extraoi- 
 dinary a notion as this ; and there is no doubt that the 
 extent and violence of this whirlpool, like those of Scylla 
 and Charybdis in ancient times, have been somewhat ex- 
 
PERILS OF THE DEEP. 21 
 
 aggerated : or rather, perhaps, that to the smaller vessel 
 and less skilful mariners of former ages the danger was 
 much greater than it is to modern navigators. 
 
 The force of the Maelstroom increases and diminishes 
 with the changes of the tides, and the simple fact appears 
 to be, that at this part of the ocean two tides, flowing in 
 different directions, meet twice during the twenty-four 
 hours, and by their meeting, in a part hemmed in as it 
 were by the direction and shape of the islands and main- 
 land of this part of Norway, the waters are whirled round 
 with great rapidity, and, as in all similar circumstances, 
 they are heaped up at the circumference of the whirlpool 
 and depressed into a hollow at its centre, until it really 
 has the appearance of being sucked in, and disappearing 
 through some abyss. 
 
 A somewhat similar effect, but to a much less extent, is 
 produced by the same cause off the Isle of Portland, on 
 the south coast of England. It is there called " the Race 
 of Portland" and vessels guided, by inexperienced or un- 
 watchful steersmen may get drawn in and dashed upon 
 the shore, beyond the possibility of escape, by the mere 
 force of the whirling current, caused by one tide rolling up 
 the channel from the Atlantic, meeting another tide rush- 
 ing from the North Sea through the Straits of Dover. 
 
22 PERILS OF THE DEEP. 
 
 Another and a more common peril of the deep, is that 
 arising from rocks wholly or partially covered by the wa- 
 ter. Great care is taken to lay down most accurately the 
 position of such as these in all nautical charts, and equal 
 or still greater care and watchfulness are required by the 
 mariner to ascertain the exact position of his vessel on the 
 trackless ocean, so as to avoid the spot where such rocks 
 lie hid. It has been well said, that the sailor dreads the 
 land more than the sea. When near the shore, although 
 that shore be his country, the home of all he holds dear, 
 the anxious captain paces the deck night after night, con- 
 stantly consults the barometer, takes frequent celestial ob- 
 servations, to ascertain the exact position of his vessel, and 
 dreads above all things a bewildering fog on a lee shore. 
 The same captain, when in the centre of the Atlantic, a 
 thousand miles away from land, can, if his ship be sound 
 and well appointed, sleep soundly at night, amidst the 
 roaring of the wind and the heaving of billows, trusting to 
 the ordinary care of the officers of the night-watch, who 
 pace the deck in turns during the hours of darkness, while 
 the gallant vessel holds qn her way above the ocean 
 depths. 
 
 In order to provide for the greater safety of the passen- 
 gers and crew in case of shipwreck, it is now becoming 
 
PERILS OF THE DEEP. 25 
 
 more common to divide the interior of ships into several 
 compartments, each separated by water-tight divisions, so 
 that if from a leak or other cause any one compartment 
 should be filled with water, the buoyancy of the others 
 would be sufficient to keep the ship afloat, and give those 
 who sail in her, time and opportunity to provide for their 
 escape. 
 
 The " Great Britain" iron steam-ship, which has been 
 before alluded to, is thus provided, and the material of 
 which she is built is much better adapted for such a mode 
 of construction than wood, as a degree of strength is ob- 
 tained by iron plates of very moderate thickness, superior 
 to that afforded by massy and cumbersome bulk-heads 
 formed of timber. 
 
 The Great Britain carries out with her four large life- 
 boats of iron and two boats of wood, which are suspended 
 over the sides of the ship, while one large life-boat is on 
 the deck. Four hundred persons can be accommodated 
 in the boats ; to which, however, we may hope they will 
 not have to resort, in consequence of shipwreck. 
 
 A life-boat is kept at most of the principal stations round 
 the British coast, which is in many parts very dangerous 
 to mariners, from the varied dangers of rocks, shoals, 
 tides, and currents. To these very dangers, perhaps, the 
 
2(5 PERILS OF THE DEEP. 
 
 English sailors owe their superior skill and courage, 
 which give them the pre-eminence in all parts of the 
 world. 
 
 One can hardly mention the life-boat without thinking 
 of Grace Darling, a young woman who with her aged 
 father, the keeper of the Longstone lighthouse, on the 
 coast of Northumberland, saved the surviving crew and 
 passengers of the Forfar steamer, which had struck on the 
 rocks. The sea was raging furiously, but this noble girl, 
 forgetting all fear in her desire to save the lives of her 
 fellow-creatures, braved dangers from which hardy and 
 skilful seamen shrunk, and succeeded in reaching the 
 wreck and rescuing nine of the survivors. Grace Darling's 
 name immediately became the theme of every tongue ; 
 the lone lighthouse, where the shipwrecked had been so 
 hospitably received, became the resort of the noble and 
 the fashionable, and praises, and gifts, and honors, from 
 every quarter, were showered upon the heroine. Under 
 these circumstances, Grace Darling showed a strength of 
 mind and a true greatness of soul, greater even than that 
 which had enabled her to meet the raging of the sea at 
 the call of humanity. Undazzled by the glare of fame, 
 untempted by the offers of emolument, which flowed from 
 every quarter, she lived content in her humble home, ful- 
 
CO 
 
 *5* 
 ^ 
 
 L 
 
PERILS OF THE DEEP 29 
 
 filling to the last her daily duties, as cheerfully as if she 
 had never been aught but one of those 
 
 " Of whom fame speaks not with her clarion voice," 
 
 and died in 1842, loved and regretted, as well as honored, 
 at the early age of twenty-seven, the very type of a true- 
 hearted English maiden, gentle and brave. 
 
THE CUTTLE-FISH. 
 
 THE cuttle-fish is a strange-looking creature, whose body 
 is enclosed in a covering shaped like a bag, with an opening 
 in front, from which its head projects. It has two large 
 eyes, and its mouth is somewhat like a parrot's beak, while 
 its lips are drawn out into eight long arms. When it 
 swims, it moves backwards through the water ; when on 
 shore, it walks by means of these arms, having the mouth 
 turned downwards, and the opposite part of the body in an 
 erect position. It has the power of ejecting water by means 
 of one of its tubes, and sometimes salutes those who ap- 
 proach too near its hiding-place, by squirting a jet of watei 
 upon them, and making a slight grating noise. On the 
 inner side of its long slender arms is a number of suckers 
 which enable it to hold with the greatest tenacity whatever 
 it embraces : its arms when clasping an object may as 
 easily be wrenched from its body, as be unfixed. It has an 
 organ that produces an abundance of black liquid, called 
 nk, and much like Indian ink. This liquid is employed by 
 30 
 
THE CUTTLE-FISH. 33 
 
 painters, and called sepia. Some instances have been met 
 with in which this ink has been found uninjured in fossil 
 specimens, and has been taken from the petrified fish and 
 prepared for use. In our seas none of these fishes grow to 
 a size to be formidable to man ; but that in other latitudes 
 they become perfect monsters, the following extract from the 
 " Museum of Animated Nature" will abundantly show : 
 " According to Deny de Montfort, Dens, a navigator, avowed 
 that in the African seas, while three of his men were em- 
 ployed during a calm in scraping the sides of his vessel, 
 they were attacked by a monster of this kind, which sud- 
 denly appeared, seized them in its arms, and drew two of 
 them under water in spite of every effort to save them ; and 
 that the thickness of one of the creature's arms, which was 
 cut off in the contest, was at its base equal to that of a fore- 
 yard, whilst the suckers were of the size of ladles. The 
 man, who was rescued, died delirious during the night. 
 We read of another crew who were similarly attacked off 
 the coast of Angola: a gigantic cuttle-fish threw its arms 
 across the vessel, and was on the point of dragging it down, 
 when the crew succeeded in cutting off its arms with swords 
 and hatchets. Pennant states that a friend of his, long 
 resident in the Indian seas, assured him, that the Indians 
 affirm that cuttle-fish are often seen two fathoms broad over 
 their centre, with arms nine fathoms long ; and that when 
 
34 THE CUTTLE-FISH. 
 
 they go out in boats they are afraid of them, and never sah 
 without an axe for protection. Even on the shores of Sicily, 
 Mr. Swainson saw cuttle-fishes taken, two of which would 
 , be a good load, their arms being as thick as those of a 
 man." 
 
 Mr. Beale thus describes an adventure that happened to 
 him, when searching for shells upon the rocks of the Bonin 
 Islands. He was much astonished at seeing at his feet a 
 most extraordinary looking animal crawling towards the 
 surf, which it had only just left. It was creeping on its 
 eight legs, which from their soft arid flexible nature, bent 
 considerably under the weight of its body ; so that it was 
 lifted by the efforts of its arms only a small distance from 
 the rocks. It appeared very much alarmed at seeing him, 
 and made every effort to escape. Mr. Beale endeavored to 
 stop it, by pressing on one of its legs with his foot; but 
 although he used considerable force for that purpose, ita 
 strength was so great that it several times liberated ita 
 member, in spite of all the efforts he could employ on the 
 wet and slippery rocks. He then laid hold of one of the 
 arms with his hand, and held it so firmly, that the limb 
 appeared as if it would be torn asunder between them. He 
 then gave it a powerful jerk, wishing to disengage it from 
 the rocks to which it clung so forcibly by its suckers. This 
 effort it effectually resisted ; but the moment after it lifted 
 
THE CUTTLE-FISH. 35 
 
 its head with its large projecting eyes, and, loosing its hold 
 upon the rocks suddenly sprang on his arm, which he had 
 previously bared to the shoulder for the purpose of thrust- 
 ing it into the holes of the rocks after shells, and clung 
 with its suckers to it with great power, endeavoring to get 
 its beak into a position to bite. Mr. Beale declares that 
 a sensation of horror crept over him, when he found this 
 monster had fixed itself so firmly on his arm ; its cold si my 
 grasp was absolutely sickening, and he called loudly to the 
 captain to come arid release him. The captain, who was 
 a little distance from him, speedily hastened to his help. 
 He took him down to the boat, during which time Mr. 
 Beale was keeping off with his hand the beak of the cuttle- 
 fish. Taking the boat-knife, he disengaged portions of it at 
 a time. It measured across its expanded arms as much as 
 four feet ; while its body was not bigger than a large 
 clenched hand. 
 
 Sometimes it ejects its ink as a means of annoyance to 
 troublesome visitors ; and there is an old tale of one of them 
 spirting his nasty black fluid all over the clean white trowsers 
 of a gentleman who ventured near his abode. This fluid 
 was used by the ancients as ink, and the flesh of these 
 animals regarded as delicate food : it is still eaten by the 
 Sandwich islanders ; and when fresh is not unlike a lob- 
 ster's claw. 
 
36 THE CUTTLE-FISH. 
 
 A writer in the Penny Cyclopedia thus remarks : " We 
 well remember in our youth going far out with an old fish- 
 erman of Dawlish, to visit his floating nets, which he had 
 laid for the pilchards. As we looked down into the clear 
 blue water we could see that the number of the fish entan- 
 gled was great ; but to the great discomfiture of the fisher- 
 man, who was eloquent on the occasion, almost every other 
 fish was locked in the embraces of a cuttle-fish, plying his 
 parrot-like mandibles to some purpose. The fisherman, 
 who seemed to regard these unbidden guests as an incar- 
 nation of all evil, carried a capacious landing net, but so 
 quick was the sight of these creatures, so ready were they 
 in letting go, and agile in darting back or sideways clear of 
 the net, that, though the greedy things held on to the last 
 moment, the fisherman did not secure above three out of 
 the crowds that had spoiled his haul." 
 
 They are much used as baits in the Newfoundland cod- 
 fishery; and in the stomachs of the smaller cetacea great 
 numbers of the undigested horny mandibles are frequently 
 found, indicating that at least a corresponding number of 
 cuttle-fish have been devoured by them. 
 
 It is said that .Cuvier, the great naturalist, drew his 
 figure of the cuttle-fish, with ink extracted from its own 
 body. Dr. Buckland also possesses the drawings of extinct 
 species executed in their own ink; and from the perfection 
 
THE CUTTLE-FISH. 37 
 
 fulness of the ink-bag-, he infers the sudden destruction 
 aad rapid petrifaction of these animals. 
 
 This creature is pursued by the grampus and cachalot, 
 and no sooner does it perceive their approach than, ejecting 
 from its gland a quantity of this black inky fluid, it escapes 
 under cover of the murky cloud to some place of refuge in 
 the sand or the rock, and waits in safety till its enemies have 
 retired. 
 
 The cuttle-bone is used for erasures, and manufactured 
 into the pounce of the shops. This bone serves the purpose 
 of supponing the soft parts in the common cuttle-fish; in 
 others of the species where no bone is found, a horny 01 
 gristly support exists. 
 
 How many strange creatures are to be found in the uni- 
 verse, of whose habits we know but little, and whose utility 
 we cannot perceive ! and .yet we doubt not they exist foi 
 some wise purpose which the great Artificer has fitted them 
 to accomplish. It is well for ourselves and other works of 
 God's hands that his providence is not exercised according 
 to our notions of importance or worth. 
 
 " Nought is great 
 
 Nor sraall with God for none but he can make 
 The atom indivisible, and none 
 But he can make a world. He counts the orbs, 
 He counts the atoms of the universe, 
 And makes both equal both are infinite." 
 
MOUNTAINS IN THE MOON. 
 
 AT the present day by means of telescopes, and the labors 
 of learned men, we actually know more of the character 
 and appearance of the moon's surface, though it is two 
 hundred and thirty thousand miles distant, than we do of 
 some parts of our own globe. 
 
 As we look at the new moon with the naked eye, it is 
 easy to perceive that the inner circle of it presents an 
 extremely ragged line, while the outer circle is very nearly 
 smooth. When we examine this inner edge with a strong 
 telescope, we find a great number of luminous points, 
 which grow larger as the sun bears upon their locality. 
 Behind these spots a deep shade is cast, which always 
 moves so as to be in opposition to the sun. These bright 
 spots are the summits of high mountains, on which the sun 
 shines before it reaches the lower parts; the deep shade 
 is the shadow the mountain casts, and is always found to 
 be in exact proportion as to length with the mountain, 
 when the inclination of the sun's rays is taken into account. 
 From many measurements of the length of these shadows, 
 38 
 
MOUNTAINS IN THE MOON. 89 
 
 taken under the most favorable circumstances, the height 
 of many of these mountains has been calculated. The 
 highest is found to be about one English mile and three- 
 quarters in perpendicular height, a much less height than 
 many peaks of the Himalayan mountains of India. When 
 it is full moon no shadows are seen on any part of her 
 surface, because all the light falls in our line of sight. 
 Speaking of these appearances, Sir John Herschel says: 
 " The generality of the lunar mountains present a striking 
 uniformity and singularity of aspect. They are wonderfully 
 numerous, occupying by far the larger portion of the surface, 
 and almost universally of an exactly circular or cup-shaped 
 form : the larger have for the most part flat bottoms within, 
 from which rises centrally a small steep conical hill. They 
 offer, in short, in its highest perfection, the true volcanic 
 character, as it may be seen in the crater of Vesuvius, and 
 in a map of the volcanic districts in the environs of Naples, 
 or of some parts of Auvergne. And in some of the principal 
 ones, decisive marks of volcanic layers, arising from succes- 
 sive deposits of ejected matter, may be clearly traced with 
 powerful telescopes." Of the appearance of those mountains 
 we shall not attempt an illustration. It is a question 
 still debated amongst the learned, whether these stony 
 bodies which have fallen on the earth from the air, and 
 
40 MOUNTAINS IN THE MOON. 
 
 are called aerolites, are not projected from these volcanic 
 mountains in the moon. 
 
 The existence of volcanoes being admitted, it is thought 
 possible that a stone might be shot from them with sufficient 
 force to carry it beyond the moon's attraction. Indeed, it 
 has been reckoned that no greater velocity is needed for 
 this than five and a half times that of a cannon-ball ; and 
 our volcanoes have thrown out rocks which must have 
 issued from their craters with a greater velocity than that, 
 to reach the distance at which they fell. This opinion, 
 however, is combatted by many learned men ; though M. 
 Arago says, " It is the most probable of all, and hitherto the 
 only one that satisfies all the phenomena observed." 
 
 The moon has no clouds, nor any other indications of an 
 atmosphere. Hence its climate must be very extraordinary, 
 changing at once from scorching sunshine, uninterrupted 
 for a whole fortnight, to the keenest cold of a biting frost, 
 far exceeding in intensity our Arctic winters for the same 
 space of time. Sir John Herschel says, " that owing to the 
 small density of the materials of the moon, and the com- 
 paratively feeble gravitation of bodies on her surface, mus- 
 cular force would there go six times as far in overcoming 
 the weight of materials as on the earth." That is, that a 
 man would be six times stronger if he were in the moon 
 than he is now that he stands on our globe. Some of our 
 
MOUNTAINS IN THE MOON. 4i 
 
 old ychool lessons we have had to unlearn. One was, that 
 the appearance of water could be perceived in the moon. 
 Astronomers of the first order tell us, that the dusky spots 
 which are commonly called seas, when closely examined, 
 present appearances not to be reconciled with the supposition 
 of deep water. Nothing having the character of seas can 
 be traced. 
 
 It must be evident, that from the want of air there can 
 be no form of life in the moon like those we have existing 
 around us. Telescopes must be improved before we shall 
 be able to settle the question if there be inhabitants there. 
 A statement has of late gone the round of the papers, that 
 Lord Ross has asserted, if there are any structures a hun- 
 dred yards high, by means of his monster telescope they 
 will be visible. But newspaper tales are made to be told, 
 not to be credited. Any such discovery will soon become 
 generally known when once it is made. 
 
 Meanwhile, from the study of such a subject, let our 
 minds catch something of the sentiment of one of old, 
 who says, " When I consider thy heavens, the work of 
 thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast ordained ; 
 what is man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the son 
 of man that thou visitest him?" 
 
ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 THE city of Constantinople, from the beauty of itg 
 situation, and the elegance of its structures, is said to 
 present one of the most pleasing pictures on which the 
 gaze of the traveller ever rests. At the time of its erection, 
 the chief cities of the old world were ransacked of materials 
 that could add to its grandeur; every country under the 
 government of Rome sent its contribution towards the build- 
 ing of the new capital. From Egypt were brought obelisks, 
 from Ephesus pillars of jasper, from Greece came marble, 
 and Rome itself was spoiled of its statues that they might 
 grace its rival. Successive emperors labored to finish that 
 which Constantine had so magnificently begun ; till, in its 
 surpassing beauty and impregnable strength, Constantinople 
 became the wonder as well as the capital of the world. 
 Under the influence of its present possessors, many of the 
 costly buildings of the Greeks have disappeared, and the 
 whole city has assumed an oriental costume. Like all 
 Eastern cities, it is seen most to advantage without the 
 42 
 
ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE. 43 
 
 walls, its aspect then is still imposing ; but when you enter 
 it, the narrow streets, the accumulated filth, and the mangy- 
 looking dogs, give you anything but a favorable impression 
 of it. Indeed, it was from a sight observed in this city, that 
 Lord Byron caught the idea of the lines in the Siege of 
 Corinth : 
 
 " And he saw the lean dogs beneath the wall 
 Hold o'er the dead their carnival ; 
 Gorging and growling o'er carcass and limb. 
 They were too busy to bark at him ! 
 From a Tartar's skull they had stripp'd the flesh, 
 As we peel the fig when its fruit is fresh ; 
 And their white tusks crunch'd o'er the whiter scull, 
 As it slipp'd their jaws, when their edge grew dull, 
 As they lazily mumbled the bones. of the dead, 
 They scarce could rise from the spot where they fed." 
 
 One of the most remarkable monuments of old Constan- 
 tinople consists of the vast subterranean edifices which we 
 shall here attempt to describe. They were built by the 
 Greeks as cisterns or reservoirs, and were always kept full 
 of water in case of a siege ; but, neglected by the improvi- 
 dent Turks, some have fallen into decay, and the localities 
 of others have become unknown. There is one called by 
 the Turks the palace of tbe thousand and one pillars, which 
 is readily shown to travellers. The captain of a Levant 
 
44 ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 trad ing- vessel, whom we met a few days ago, gave us the 
 following account of his visit to this particular reservoir. 
 Obtaining the assistance of a friend as guide, they reached 
 the opening that leads down to these vaulted chambers. 
 The entrance is in about the centre of the city, and consists 
 of a narrow but substantial stone staircase. After descend- 
 ing about thirty feet, our friend was somewhat surprised to 
 find, instead of an immense body of water, that it was dry, 
 and that a number of silk-twisters were plying their trade 
 there in almost total darkness. The noise of their work 
 and conversation sounded dismally through this subter- 
 ranean abode. 
 
 The roof is sustained by an immense number of columns, 
 each one being oddly formed of three separate pillars placed 
 on the top of each other. Though partially filled up by 
 earth, it is still more than thirty feet deep. The roof is 
 about six feet from the surface of the street, and the cham- 
 ber extends over more than an acre of ground. The strange 
 dresses of the workmen, their unintelligible talk, and the 
 gloomy aspect of the edifice, made it seem a most unearthly 
 place. After looking for a time at the curious pillars, (which, 
 though not so abundant as the Turkish name implies, still 
 exist in great numbers,) and walking round its extent, they 
 were glad to retrace their steps, and not sorry once more to 
 see the clear sunshine of heaven. There is another which 
 
ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE. 45 
 
 Btill exists as a cistern, though its precise locality is known 
 to but few individuals, not excepting the Turks. A few 
 persons whose houses are situated immediately above it, are 
 acquainted with it, and call it the subterranean palace. It 
 is in fact quite a lake, extending under several streets ; 
 and, like the former, has an arched roof, supported by 
 pillars, said to be three hundred and thirty-six in number, 
 and made of solid marble. We here give a glimpse of 
 this wonderful vault. A gentleman thus describes a visit to 
 it. " Having learnt that there was a Greek reservoir in the 
 city in good preservation, and still partially full of water, I 
 made many inquiries respecting it, but all in vain. At 
 length, meeting a friend whose long residence in Constanti- 
 nople had afforded him the means of knowing more than I 
 could do about it, I asked him if the reservoir was correct. 
 1 Perfectly so,' said he; 'though I never have seen iL J 
 Expressing an earnest wish to behold it, he told rtifc, that 
 with a large bribe he thought he could obtain me permis- 
 sion'; for he was acquainted with an old Turk, whose house 
 was said to cover one of the openings into it. I readily 
 agreed to give the required douceur, and he arranged to call 
 next morning, if successful. The following morning my 
 friend came with the news of his success. After passing 
 through several streets, we reached the upper part of the 
 city, and entered an old-looking house. We were received 
 
46 ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 by an aged Turk with a venerable beard, whose dress 
 betokened neither very great wealth, nor very great clean- 
 liness. After being invited to take coffee and a pipe, 
 which we accepted, my friend serving as interpreter to 
 the few words of conversation that passed between us, our 
 host informed us, he was ready to show us the way to the 
 subterranean palace. 
 
 " We proceeded to the inner court of the house, arid turn- 
 ing sharp to the right, were ushered into a small room, the 
 floor of which was a few steps below the surface of the ground. 
 Here the guide provided two torches, and, putting one into 
 my hands, and carrying the other himself, proceeded to raise 
 a sort of trap-door, and bidding us follow him began to de- 
 scend. My friend immediately stepped down after him, and 
 I brought up the rear. After descending thirty steps or 
 more of a strong stone staircase, we felt sure from the cold 
 dampness of the air that we were in the immediate vicinity 
 of water. Our surmises were soon verified, by the Turk 
 (who was a step or two lower than either of us) calling to my 
 friend to take his torch while he unmoored a light boat that 
 was fastened to the winding staircase. A step or two lower, 
 and amid innumerable columns, rising on every hand, we dis- 
 cerned the water gleaming under the light of our torches. 
 
 " We were soon seated in the boat, and the Turk, equip- 
 ping himself with a small pair of sculls, shoved us off; The 
 
ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLR 47 
 
 splash of the chain that had moored the boat, as it fell heavily 
 into the water, echoed throughout the vaulted cavern. I 
 never shall forget the feeling of bewilderment that for the 
 first few minutes crept over me. Rows of marble columns 
 seemed to rise endlessly, while their polished surfaces glist- 
 ened in the torch-light. The Eastern dress of our guide, 
 his flowing beard, the dismal silence of this strange place, 
 unbroken, save by the paddling of the boat, and the gleam- 
 ing of our unearthly lights, made me think of the poet's 
 description of the Stygian ferryman. After a time I began 
 to look round more attentively. The columns are of 
 marble ; many of them with Corinthian capitals, though we 
 saw some of the composite, and others of the Doric order. 
 Some retained all the sharpness of their exquisite finish, 
 while others seemed to be undergoing delapidation from the 
 hand of time. 
 
 " They appeared to me to be the spoils of more than one 
 temple, appropriated by imperial builders to this use. We 
 looked for an inscription, but could no where find one. The 
 roof seemed in excellent condition, and appeared to be fifteen 
 or twenty feet above the surface of the water. Unlike most 
 other guides, ours was by no means communicative, and only 
 by dint of questioning him could we learn any thing from 
 him. He said, ' the water was unfathomable, and it was as 
 iit always had been.' I am of opinion there was from twelve 
 
48 
 
 ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 to fifteen feet depth of water in the cistern. It extends un- 
 der several streets, and from the darkness and gloom which 
 envelope it, its area seems of great extent. It may well be 
 called a lake. After paddling to one extremity, which we 
 found to consist of a wall faced with blocks of marble, and 
 reaching nearly across it in the opposite direction, our guide. 
 in spite of all our entreaty, determined to ascend. We 
 could learn nothing of the mode by which the water finds 
 entrance ; most likely by some underground course, arid 
 obtains egress in a similar manner. We at length readied 
 the staircase, and, much against our will, were compelled to 
 leave this wonderful cistern, which we would gladly still 
 further have explored." 
 
ROOTS OF THE BANIAN-TREE. 
 
 OUR engraving represents the clustering roots of an 
 [ndian fig-tree, known to botanists as the ficus Indica, 
 and to people generally as the banian-tree. It is a native 
 of most parts of India, both on the islands and the main 
 land, and is said to reach the greatest perfection on the 
 skirts of the Circar mountains. The figs when ripe grow 
 in pairs, at the junction of the leaf with the branch, and 
 are about the size and color of a middle-size red cherry. 
 Every branch from the main body throws out its own roots, 
 at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground ; 
 but these continually grow thicker, until they reach the 
 ground, and then, striking into the earth, become in their 
 turn parent trunks, sending out similar branches, yet still 
 keeping their original stock preserved. The wood is light 
 and porous, white in color, and of little value ; but the 
 leaves are used as plates to eat off, and a kind of bird- 
 lime is manufactured from their thick, milky juice. They 
 cover large spaces of ground : one is mentioned as covering 
 
 51 
 
52 ROOTS OF THE BANIAN-TREE. 
 
 an area of one thousand seven hundred square yards. In 
 the writings of Pliny and Strabo mention is made of the 
 banian ; the former, indeed, gives a minute detail of its 
 appearance and growth, affording under its wide-spreading 
 branches shelter to a whole regiment of cavalry. 
 
 The appearance of this tree in the forests of Ceylon or 
 the uplands of India must be very striking. The Hindoos 
 regard it as sacred ; and, from its long duration, its out- 
 stretching arms, and overshadowing beneficence, are accus- 
 tomed to regard it as an emblem of Deity. Near these trees 
 their most esteemed temples are built ; arid under the shade 
 of its broad leaves their Brahmins or priests find a cool 
 abode. The natives of all castes and tribes are fond of 
 enjoying the grateful retreat and pleasant walks which it 
 affords : not even an Eastern sun penetrates its leafy canopy. 
 Milton has finely described it in the ninth book of his Para- 
 dise Lost : 
 
 : ' There soon they chose 
 
 The fig-tree ; not that kind for fruit renowii'd, 
 But such as at this day to Indians known 
 In Malabar or Deccan, spreads her arras, 
 Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 
 The bended trees take root, and daughters grow 
 About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade 
 High overarch'd, and echoing walks between ; 
 
FOOTS OF THE BANIAN-TREE. 53 
 
 There oft the Indian herdsmen, shunning heat, 
 Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds 
 At loop-holes cut through thickest shade." 
 
 When the seeds of the banian-tree drop in the axils* of 
 the palmyra-tree, the roots grow downwards, embracing the 
 trunk in their descent; and gradually they envelop every 
 part except the top. In very ancient trees the leaves and 
 top of the palmyra are seen standing out of the banian 
 trunks as if they grew from them. The Hindoos look upon 
 such instances with great reverence, and speak of them as 
 holy marriages appointed by Providence. The rarity of 
 these instances adds to the veneration with which they are 
 regarded. 
 
 In Ceylon, one of this kind of trees is described as 
 being more than four hundred feet in diameter; and under 
 its foliage the whole village was accustomed to assemble, 
 and great public meetings were sometimes held. In its 
 native forests the banian becomes the abode of numberless 
 monkeys, who, as they spring from branch to branch, 
 plucking its fruit, grin and chatter with unceasing delight. 
 Hanging, too, from some stretching branch, and easily mis- 
 taken for the tendril of a root finding its way to the soil, 
 
 * Axil The angle formed by the insertion of a leaf or branch into a 
 branch or trunk. 
 
54 ROOTS OF THE BANIAN TREE. 
 
 may sometimes be seen the cunning snake, lying in wait 
 for its unwary prey. Its roots when laid bare by the slip 
 of some bank on which it has grown, are found to grow 
 clusteringly together, in a way that much exhausts the soil. 
 Thus, though the widest spreading of ail the trees of the 
 forest, it never lives to be the oldest. Were it, not from this 
 exhaustion of the soil, there would seem to be neither check 
 to its progress, nor end to its duration. An Indian traveller 
 says, that he has seen them five hundred yards round the 
 circumference of the branches, and a hundred feet high, 
 the principal trunk being more than twenty-five feet to the 
 branches, and eight or nine feet in diameter. The following 
 lines from the Curse of Kehama must close our account of 
 this wonderful tree : 
 
 " 'Twas a fair scene wherein they stood, 
 
 A green and sunny glade amid the wood, 
 
 And in the midst an aged banian grew. 
 It was a goodly sight to see 
 That venerable tree. 
 
 For o'er the lawn irregularly spread, 
 
 Fifty straight columns propt its lofty head. 
 
 And many a long depending shoot, 
 
 Seeking to strike its root, 
 
 Straight like a plummet, grew towards the ground, 
 Some on the lower boughs, which cross their way 
 Fixing their bearded fibres round and round, 
 With many a ring and wild contortion wound ; 
 
ROOTS OF THE BANIAN TREE. 
 
 Some to the passing wind, at times, with sway 
 
 Of gentle motion swung; 
 
 Others, of younger growth^ unmov'd were hung 
 Like stone-drops from the cavern's fretted height. 
 Beneath was smooth and fair to sight, 
 Nor weeds nor briers deform'd the natural floor ; 
 
 And through the leafy cope which bowered it o'er 
 
 Came gleams of chequer'd light. 
 So like a temple did it seem, that there 
 A pious heart's first impulse would be prayer." 
 
 55 
 
THE DIAMOND. 
 
 IT is somewhat difficult to give a perfectly satisfactory 
 reason why mankind should attach so high a value to the 
 diamond. We may mention its brilliancy when polished, 
 its hardness, and its rarity ; but the possession of these 
 properties to any conceivable extent, seems hardly suffi- 
 cient to account for the enormous sums which have been 
 given for a stone, of which the largest known specimen in 
 existence weighs only eleven ounces. For instance, the 
 Pitt diamond was purchased by the Regent Duke of Orleans 
 for 135,000 ; the Pigott diamond was valued at 40,000 ; 
 that of the Queen of Portugal, weighing eleven ounces, 
 has been valued at 425,000 ; and the gem in the sceptre 
 of the Russian empire, about the size of a pigeon's egg. 
 was bought for nearly 150,000. 
 
 It is true, that the value of gold and silver (and indeed 
 of every thing else) is equally dependent on their compar- 
 ative rarity ; but those metals, being in constant use a? 
 universal and most convenient media of exchange, and 
 
 standards of comparative value for all other articles, the 
 56 
 
THE DIAMOND. 59 
 
 estimation in which they are held seems less capricious 
 and artificial. 
 
 And after all, what is a diamond ? Nothing but a piece 
 of crystallized carbon. And if as seems not at all im- 
 possible some fortunate chemist should succeed in thus 
 imitating the process of nature, by subjecting charcoal or 
 carbon to some process which shall cause crystallization, 
 we may have diamonds worth but little more than bits of 
 very fine glass. Till then, however, this gem will proba- 
 bly retain its place in the estimation of the royal, the 
 noble, and the wealthy will still flash around the diademed 
 brows of sovereigns, and descend, from generation to gen- 
 eration, with the other ancestral honors of the peerage 
 the deer-stocked park, the princely mansion, with its sur- 
 rounding woods, and the rent-roll of a province. 
 
 Diamonds have been principally found in India and the 
 Brazils. The mine of Golconda in India, so proverbially 
 celebrated, is now nearly exhausted, and it is by the 
 Brazils that the principal supply of this precious stone is 
 at present furnished. The most celebrated diamond- 
 mines in this last-named country are those of Serrado 
 Frio, which district is also known as the Arrayal Diaman- 
 tino, or Diamond District. It is surrounded by rocks al- 
 most inaccessible, and was formerly so strictly guarded, 
 
60 THE DIAMOND. 
 
 that even the governor of the province was not allowed 
 to enter without the special permission of the director of 
 the mines. 
 
 The diamonds are found imbedded along with flints, in a 
 ferruginous earth, called cascalhao, which is dug, and taken 
 to be searched for the precious stones, by filtering through 
 a running stream. The earth is dug during the dry 
 season, when the beds of rivers and torrents are dry, and 
 the diamond-sand can more easily be obtained. When 
 the rainy season commences, the negroes are employed in 
 washing the cascalhao. This is generally performed (as 
 shown in the cut) under sheds, for the protection of the 
 workmen from the weather. Along the sheds are placed 
 raised seats for the overseers, each of whom watches eight 
 negroes, as they search for diamonds among the sand and 
 flint of the cascalhao, as it is washed by the stream that 
 runs through the shed. Each negro works in a separate 
 box, and is entirely naked, except during extreme cold, 
 when he is allowed a waistcoat, without either lining or 
 pocket, lest he should secrete a diamond when found. 
 He is furnished with a kind of handspike, to separate the 
 sand and flint, and when he discovers a diamond, he stands 
 upright, and claps his hands as a signal to the overseer, 
 and then looks anxiously on while it is weighed and ex- 
 
THE DIAMOND. 61 
 
 amined. For if the poor fellow has been fortunate enough 
 to find a diamond weighing seventeen carats, he is freed 
 from slavery, amid much ceremony and rejoicing. He is 
 crowned with a wreath of flowers, and carried in proces- 
 sion to the administrator, who pays his owner for him, and 
 sets him at liberty. The discovery of a stone of less 
 weight is also rewarded by gifts and premiums, according 
 to the value of the gem, down even to a pinch of to- 
 bacco. 
 
 The diamond, when thus discovered, is deposited by the 
 overseer in a large wooden bowl of water, hung in the 
 middle of the shed ; and at the end of the day the whole 
 are collected, weighed, and registered, before delivering 
 them to the proprietor. 
 
 Notwithstanding every imaginable precaution to prevent 
 thefts, the negroes find means to purloin and secrete dia- 
 monds, and afterwards sell them at a low price to the 
 smugglers ; and these, in their turn, are often deceived by 
 the negroes, who, by some simple process, can give crys- 
 tals, of but little value, the appearance of rough diamonds, 
 so as completely to imitate them. 
 
 It is supposed that about 20,000 negroes are now em- 
 ployed in the diamond-mines of Brazil. But, after all, the 
 diamond is a product of far less value to this country 
 
62 THE DIAMOND. 
 
 than might be supposed. It has been estimated, from a 
 careful calculation, that the total value of the diamonds 
 discovered during eighty years, from 1740 to 1820, was 
 about 3,475,537. This amount, in only eighteen months, 
 is exported from the Brazils in sugar and coffee only. 
 One-fifth of the total value of the diamonds found belongs 
 to the crown. From the mines, the diamonds are conveyed 
 to the capital on mules, and escorted by a strong guard of 
 soldiers. 
 
 The hardness of the diamond is proverbial, and to this 
 quality it owes its chief, if not its sole utility. By no 
 other substance than a diamond can one of these gems be 
 scratched or ground. To do this is the business of the 
 lapidary, and great patience, skill, and taste, are required 
 in grinding down the natural rough and irregular surface 
 of the stone, into such a regular, geometrical shape, as 
 shall least diminish the weight and size of the gem, and 
 at the same time shall best display its lustre when 
 polished, and reflect the varied light from its brilliant 
 facets. 
 
 In some directions, of which none but a skilful and ex- 
 perienced lapidary can judge, the diamond may be split in 
 layers, or laminae, and by the judicious use of this means, 
 the tedious process of grinding is partly avoided. 
 
THE DIAMOND. 
 
 63 
 
 Great expense is sometimes incurred in thus preparing 
 these gems for the goldsmith, whose business it is to fix 
 them, or " set" them, as it is termed, in appropriate mount- 
 ings such as rings for the finger ; the locket for the 
 wrist ; the crown and sceptre of royalty ; or the sword- 
 hilt of the fortunate soldier. 
 
 The diamond once in the possession of Napoleon, and 
 which was purchased for 30,000, cost 3,000 additional 
 for grinding and polishing. 
 
THE LAPLANDERS. 
 
 THE country of Lapland, situated on the north and 
 north-eastern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, is cold 
 and mountainous : three-fourths of the year the country is 
 covered with snow ; and the frost between November and 
 March is very intense. The snow lies on the ground till 
 the middle of June ; but when the summer comes the heat 
 is very oppressive, and frequently insupportable on account 
 of the great length of the days, which in the most southern 
 districts last nineteen or twenty hours; in the northern, 
 several weeks. Indeed, in the most northern extremity of 
 this country there is daylight unintermittingly for three 
 months. Numerous lakes are scattered throughout the 
 country, and in some districts large forests of pines and 
 birch abound. Wild animals are numerous, probably from 
 the reason that there are immense tracts uninhabited : wild 
 reindeer, wolves, lynxes, foxes, hares, martens, and otters, 
 are to be met with. Among birds, the eagle, woodcock, and 
 a variety of sea-fowl have here their home. The population 
 
THE LAPLANDERS. 65 
 
 is not numerous, probably not exceeding seven thousand, 
 and they are divided into the Reindeer Laplanders and 
 the Fishing Laplanders. To the former our plate more 
 especially refers. Some of these possess as many as five 
 hundred or even a thousand reindeer, in which all their 
 wealth consists. 
 
 The following is a description of the condition of the 
 Laplander, taken from " La ing's Journal of a Residence in 
 Nonvay :" 
 
 " The condition of the wandering Laplander forms a 
 singular union of real wealth with real poverty. To support 
 a family in the Fjelde, a flock of from three to four hundred 
 reindeer is necessary. He who possesses from one to three 
 hundred must depend for subsistence partly on fishing in 
 the lakes and shooting, and must betake himself to the 
 coast, or to husbandry in a fixed situation. The value of 
 a reindeer is about one-third of that of a cow. It sells 
 for three or four dollars, and a cow for from nine to twelve ; 
 and the meat, skin, and horns of the one sell as readily as 
 those of the other. A flock of four hundred reindeer, the 
 minimum which can support a family, supposing one-fourth 
 of the number to be full grown, and the other three hundred 
 to be wo Ji only one-third of their value, must altogether 
 be equal > a capital of six hundred dollars, or about 120 
 sterling YeC the yearly produce of this capital, which is 
 
 5 
 
66 THE LAPLANDERS. 
 
 greater than the value of all the property possessed by three 
 or four families of the working class in a civilized com- 
 munity, and with which they would be far removed from 
 want, is insufficient to support a Laplander, even in the 
 state of extreme privation in which he generally lives. This 
 is a striking instance of the real expense of living in that 
 natural state, as it has been called, or rather that barbarous 
 one, in which a man consumes what he produces, and lives 
 independent of the arts of civilized life, its tastes, and enjoy- 
 ments. The Laplander uses nothing which he does not 
 make for himself, except the iron pot for dressing his 
 victuals, and the piece of coarse cloth which forms his tent. 
 He consumes nothing but what his reindeer yield him ; his 
 occasional excess in brandy and tobacco are not ordinary 
 indulgences. Yet without the tastes, habits, and gratifica- 
 tions of civilized life, or any of its expenses, the Laplander 
 with the above capital is in poverty, and destitute of an 
 assured subsistence. This shows the real expense of -that 
 half-savage life which, from the accounts of emigrants and 
 travellers in America, we are apt to suppose is the least 
 costly of any, because it has neither comforts or luxuries to 
 pay for, and produces what it consumes. The Laplander's 
 condition is the beau ideal of that sort of life. Five shillings 
 would undoubtedly purchase all that he uses in a year of 
 those articles which are not indispensably 'necessary for 
 
THE LAPLANDERS. 67 
 
 existence ; yet a capital, which with their own labor would 
 maintain three families in the enjoyments and decencies of 
 civilized life, according to their station, does not keep him 
 from positive want. The Laplander who possesses a thou- 
 sand or more reindeer, and who is consequently a man 
 of considerable property, lives in the same way as the 
 poorest, enjoys no more of the luxuries of life, and has no 
 higher tastes and habits to gratify. It is said that very 
 considerable portions of the silver-currency of the country 
 are lost, in consequence of this class of Laplanders hoarding 
 from generation to generation all the money they obtain by 
 the sale of their surplus produce, and that the spot in the 
 Fjelde where the treasure is buried often cannot be dis- 
 covered by the heirs." 
 
 Without the reindeer the Laplander would be unable to 
 live. 
 
 " Their reindeer form their riches ; these their tents, 
 Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 
 Supply ; their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups. 
 Obsequious to their call, the docile tribe 
 Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swift 
 O'er hill and dale." 
 
 A gentleman acquainted with Lapland estimates the 
 number of these animals which a Laplander requires to live 
 
68 THE LAPLANDERS. 
 
 in tolerable comfort to be about five hundred. He can then 
 in summer make a sufficient quantity of cheese to last dur- 
 ing the year, and can kill in the winter-time venison enough 
 to supply him and his family. If a man has but a small 
 family, he can manage to get on with two hundred deer. 
 If he has but one hundred, his subsistence is very precarious, 
 and he cannot rely on them alone for support. If his deer 
 amount to but fifty, he is no longer able to keep a separate 
 establishment, but generally joins his small herd to that of 
 some richer Laplander, and is considered in the light of a 
 servant, attending upon and watching the herd, bringing 
 them home to be milked, and performing other similar duties 
 in return for tbe living that he gets. 
 
 With tbe reindeer harnessed to a sledge in the manner 
 described in tbe picture, the Laplander traverses in the win- 
 ter-time hill and dale, lake and plain. This animal posses- 
 ses astonishing power of endurance, combined with great 
 speed, so that one hundred and fifty miles is often journeyed 
 in less than twenty hours. There is a portrait of a reindeer 
 in the palace of Drotningholm, in Sweden, which is said to 
 have travelled the amazing distance of eight hundred Eng- 
 lish miles in forty-eight hours. This is said to have been 
 done in the year 1609, and the deer is reported to have drop- 
 ped down dead on its arrival. 
 
 During the winter-time the Laplanders are often engaged 
 
THE LAPLANDERS. 69 
 
 in hunting the wolf, and are said to use for the purpose of 
 their capture a peculiar kind of trap, which is thus de- 
 scribed : In a circle of about six or eight feet in diameter, 
 strong stakes of such a length that the wolf cannot leap over 
 them are driven into the ground tolerably close to each other. 
 In the midst of this circle, a single stake is driven, to which 
 is tied a lamb: a second circle is then formed of similar 
 stakes at a distance that will allow of a wolf to pass conve- 
 niently, but not permit his turning round. In this outer cir- 
 cle a door is formed opening inwards, and reaching to the 
 inner circle, but so contrived that it fastens itself on shutting. 
 Through this door numbers of wolves sometimes enter at 
 once. The first one journeys round in order to find some 
 opening through which he can get at the lamb. When he 
 comes round to the door, which is now in his way, he pushes 
 it to with his muzzle, it closes and fastens, he passes by and 
 goes round again neither able to get into the inner circle nor 
 able to get from the outer one. At length he discovers that 
 he is a prisoner, and his terrible howling soon make it known 
 to the Laplanders who are on the watch. Several wolves 
 are by this means frequently caught at once. 
 
 Occasionally a severe winter starves the reindeer, and the 
 Laplanders perish by famine. If the cold sets in with great 
 rains, which the frost immediately congeals, the coating of 
 ice incrusts the earth before the snow falls, and the lichen 
 
70 THE LAPLANDERS. 
 
 on which the reindeer feed is entirely buried, so that they 
 cannot get at it. In such seasons of difficulty the only re- 
 source left is, that of felling old fir-trees, overgrown with the 
 hairy liverwort. These, however, afford but a very small 
 and inadequate supply for a large herd of deer, and the 
 greater part of them is sure to perish with hunger. 
 
 The dress of the Laplander is chiefly composed of the 
 skin of the reindeer, the fur being worn inside. Their 
 hands and feet are preserved from the effects of the frost in 
 the following curious manner: The shoes which they wear 
 are of deerskin, with the fur outwards, and lined with a kind 
 of grass known to botanists by the name Carex Acuta 
 which is cut down in the summer, dried, rubbed betwixt 
 their hands, and afterwards combed and carded. They also 
 wrap it round the lower part of their legs, and put it into 
 their gloves to preserve their hands. Thus defended they 
 never suffer from the severest cold ; and chilblains amongst 
 them are unknown. As this grass in the winter drives 
 away the cold, so in the summer it checks the perspiration 
 of the feet, and preserves them from being injured by the 
 stones, against which their untanned shoes are but a poor 
 defence. 
 
 In this country the Aurora Borealis is seen in all its glory, 
 and in the winter season in a thousand fantastic forms 
 nightly illuminates their hemisphere. The stature of the 
 
THE LAPLANDERS. 71 
 
 people is short, varying in general between four and five 
 feet. Their complexion is a dirty yellow, which is partly 
 owing to the smoky huts in which they pass the winter. 
 Their face is generally broad, their nose short, and the hair 
 is rather black. They are not strong, but very active, and 
 of a cheerful disposition. 
 
 Every country has its own peculiar illustrations of the 
 Divine power ; but the severity of an Arctic frost, and the 
 pitiless storms of driving sleet that sweep over these north- 
 ern lands seem to challenge more especially our submission 
 to the power of Deity, and make us feel our nothingness 
 when compared with God, while by them the Divine Being 
 seems to ask : 
 
 " Hast thou e'er scaled my wintry skies and seen 
 Of hail and snow my northern magazine? 
 These the dread treasures of mine anger are, 
 My fund of vengeance for the day of war." 
 
SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 C AM going to tell you of a few things that are very won- 
 doTul, though they are often passed by without a thought 
 by careless people. The world is full of wonderful 
 things; the dirty brown pebbles that lie in the dusty 
 road, the straggling brambles in the hedge, or the little 
 blades of grass that you trample on, are all wonderful. 
 Only an Almighty God could make one of them. If you 
 were to take up either of these things that I have men- 
 tioned, or any thing else of the same kind, and look at it 
 very o.arefully through a microscope, you would be aston- 
 ished to find how beautiful it is. But even many things 
 72 
 
73 
 
SHIP-BUILDING. 75 
 
 made by man are wonderful ; and I purpose to speak of a 
 few of these first, and then to go to the perfect works ot 
 God. But, as I have already said, I can only speak of a 
 few ; for if I were to mention half of the wonders that 
 even I am acquainted with, they would fill many books 
 much larger than this. 
 
 Have you ever seen a ship ? Perhaps you have lived 
 in a sea-port town, and have been on board vessels many 
 times ; but it may be that you never thought of them, 
 except as useful things to carry people over the water. 
 But a ship is a very surprising work ; it has taken many 
 hundreds of years to learn how to make them such as you 
 now see them. It is true Noah built the ark, which was 
 something like a ship without masts or sails, about four 
 thousand years ago; but it seems likely that he was 
 taught by God himself how to proceed, and for a very 
 long time afterwards the vessels that were built were very 
 awkward, clumsy things. You may sometimes see pic- 
 tures of the ships that were built in our own country only 
 two hundred and fifty years ago; great heavy 
 
76 SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 things, like castles, with their sterns high up in the air, 
 and all hung round with gaudy ornaments. But since 
 then great improvements have been made, and the ships 
 that are now built are much swifter, stronger, and safer 
 than those were. 
 
 A ship on the stocks is a very interesting sight. On 
 first entering the dockyard all seems confusion ; the busy 
 workmen swarming about like bees in a hive, and the 
 noise of a hundred axes and hammers all striking at once, 
 quite bewilder one : and even after we get a little used to 
 the bustle, it requires some knowledge of the way in 
 which a ship is built, to perceive what the different work- 
 men are about. 
 
 In rude and barbarous countries, vessels are usually 
 made with immense labor and pains, by hollowing out 
 the trunk of a large tree ; but as no trees could be found 
 large enough to make, in a single piece, even one of our 
 smallest vessels, they have to be built ; or composed of a 
 great number of pieces carefully cut and fitted together. 
 How this is done, I will try to describe to you. 
 
SHIP-BUILDING 77 
 
 In a building-yard, or dock, the ground is smoothed, so 
 as to slope evenly down to the water ; and along this are 
 placed a row of thick oak blocks, three feet high, and 
 about four feet apart. On these the whole ship rests as it 
 is built, and down these it slides, when finished, into the 
 water. A stout and straight piece of timber, hewn square, 
 is first laid along these blocks ; this is called the keel, and 
 runs through the whole length of the ship. As soon as it 
 is laid down, the timbers are set up, but these have first to 
 be prepared in a very curious manner. They give the 
 form to the sides, and much resemble the ribs of an 
 animal's body. Now it is needful that each one should 
 have its own proper shape, or the ship would have a very 
 deformed appearance, and could never be made to keep 
 out the water. A house, or shed, is prepared as long and 
 as high as the body or hull of the ship ; and on the wall 
 the shape of every single timber is chalked out in its 
 proper place, very exactly. Boards are then cut into 
 these shapes, and are taken into the woods in some coun- 
 tries, or into the timber-yards in England, in order that 
 
78 SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 suitable pieces of wood may be chosen ; that is, such as 
 have grown crooked with the proper curve. But they can- 
 not always get pieces of exactly the shape wanted, in 
 which case they must be bent. But you will say, " How 
 can a piece of timber, a foot or more thick, be bent ?" By 
 the help of steam : each piece is put into a hollow box or 
 case, and the steam of boiling water is forced in upon it, 
 until it becomes supple, and may be bent to the shape re- 
 quired ; when dry, they are hewn to fit each other, and 
 are set up, by letting in one end into the keel ; and beams 
 are placed across from one timber to another at the top. 
 Before this, however, pieces are fastened nearly upright 
 at each end of the keel ; one called the stem, and the 
 other the stern-post. The building has now got the form 
 of a ship, though it looks like the skeleton of one ; indeed 
 the timbers may very well be called the ship's bones. 
 Well, now we have to put on the flesh and skin, as we 
 may say; or, as the ship-builder calls it, the planking. 
 Plank is very thick board ; oak is generally used for this 
 purpose, because it is so strong and tough. Every sep- 
 
SHIP-BUILDING. 79 
 
 arate plank is fastened to the timbers, not by iron nails, 
 which would soon rust out and leave holes, but by long 
 thick pegs of wood, called tree-nails, which go right 
 through both the plank and the timber. When this is all 
 put on, the crevices, or seams, between the edges of the 
 planks, are stopped up by having oakum (that is, old rope 
 picked to pieces) driven in tightly, and all coated with 
 tar. But even outside this, thin sheets of copper are 
 nailed over the whole of the part that will be under wa- 
 ter, to keep sea-worms from boring holes through the 
 planks. 
 
 Now the masts have to be prepared. For small vessels 
 these are frequently made in a single piece, out of a tall 
 straight pine-tree ; but for large ships, they are composed 
 of many pieces fitted together, and firmly bound round 
 with iron hoops. They are set upright in their places, 
 and rest upon the keel ; or rather upon another long 
 piece of timber upon the keel, called the keelson. The 
 bowsprit is a sort of slanting mast, projecting from the 
 fore part of the vessel, and resting upon the stem. 
 
80 SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 Planks are now put down upon the beams that go 
 across, to form the deck, and the ship is ready for 
 launching. 
 
 The launch of a large ship, such as an East Indiaman, 
 or a man-of-war, is a very fine sight. A number of 
 people assemble round, and crowds are on board to be 
 launched in her. The stern is always nearest the water ; 
 and a lady usually takes a bottle of wine, with much 
 ceremony, and dashes it against her bow, calling the 
 vessel by the name that has been chosen for her. This 
 takes place at the moment when all is ready ; but before 
 this, the workmen have been engaged in knocking away 
 with hammers the long posts which supported the ship 
 on each side, and several of the oak blocks under her, 
 that she may slide more easily. At last the stout rope 
 that holds her stem is cut, and away she slides, slowly at 
 first, but very majestically, into the water, amidst the 
 shouts and cheers of the crowds around. The rigging, 
 that is, the various ropes, and the upper masts, are usually 
 put on after launching, but I have not room to describe 
 
SHIP-BUILDING. 83 
 
 them; indeed, you could scarcely understand any de- 
 scription, without seeing the things themselves. 
 
 Well, a few weeks have passed, and she is sailing with 
 her gallant crew out of the harbor, upon some distant 
 voyage. See how gracefully she bows before the fresh 
 breeze, how her taper spars bend like rods, and her beau- 
 tiful white sails reflect the sun brightly from their smooth, 
 plump surfaces. She dashes the foam away from her 
 bow, and cuts a path for herself through the waters she 
 grows less and less now she is but a speck ; and now 
 she is out of sight. Prosperity attend her ! 
 
 A great deal of the excellence of a ship depends upon 
 the sort of timber that is used, some being much more fit 
 for the purpose than others. Oak is generally chosen in 
 England ; but in the East Indies, ships are built of a very 
 valuable wood called teak. There are several qualities in 
 wood that render it fit for ship-building ; such as that of 
 being readily cut, being firm and tough, holding pegs or 
 nails when driven into it, and floating in water. Now these 
 properties depend on its peculiar structure. The engra- 
 
84 SHIP-BUILDING 
 
 ving on the other side represents a very thin slice of wood 
 cut across the grain, as it appears when viewed through a 
 microscope. Wood is composed of an immense number 
 of very slender tubes or pipes, set side by side, and running 
 through the length : some are larger than others, and you 
 can observe ,the ends of these in the engraving. In the 
 very centre, there is a great number of thin cells, like the 
 bubbles of froth, but solid ; this mass is called the pith. 
 The pipes nearest the pith are pressed by the growth of 
 wood around them, and are therefore more firmly set 
 together ; and the wood of this part, called hcartwood, is 
 the strongest and most valuable. It is because of these 
 hollow tubes that wood is lighter than water, though its 
 actual substance is heavier ; it is these that make it 
 tough ; and it is these that yield when a nail is driven in, 
 but close upon it by their spring, or elasticity, and hold it 
 firmly fast. 
 
 It is a great advantage that wood should last a great 
 number of years without decay : some kinds of timber 
 soon rot, and are therefore not at all fit for ship-building. 
 
SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 85 
 
 SECTION OP THE BRANCH OF A TREE, MAGNIFIED. 
 
86 SHIP-BUILDING 
 
 The celebrated cedar of Lebanon, often mentioned in the 
 Word of God, is perhaps the most durable of all timber, 
 but it is too soft and brittle for ships. The cypress also 
 resists the influence of decay for an amazing number of 
 years ; this is supposed to be the gopher-wood of which 
 the ark was built. The wood of those trees which have 
 grown very slowly is preferable to any other ; and that 
 which has grown in an open place, is better than that 
 which has grown in a close forest. 
 
 What do you think of iron for ship-building? You 
 will be ready to suspect me of quizzing you ; still it is a 
 fact, that vessels, even for long voyages, are built of iron, 
 and are found to answer very well ; in many respects they 
 are better than those built of wood. Among other 
 advantages which iron ships possess, I may mention 
 these that after having been many years in the water, 
 their bottoms are found to be perfectly clean, and free 
 from weeds and shells ; whereas wood soon becomes foul ; 
 and that in case of striking upon a rock, the damage done 
 is confined to a small part, which is soon mended ; and 
 
SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 87 
 
 as these ships are usually built with perfectly tight com- 
 partments, which are not connected with each other, even 
 if a hole be made into one of these divisions, it does not 
 affect the rest ; but a wooden ship, in such a case, would 
 fill and sink in a few hours. 
 
THE STEAM-SHIP. 
 
 WHAT a wonder is a steam-ship ! Little more than 
 fifty years ago, it would have seemed ridiculous to talk of 
 a ship pursuing her voyage against the wind, merely by 
 the aid of steam. When Fulton tried his first steam-boat 
 on the Hudson river, in North America, many of the 
 persons assembled to see her were fully expecting his 
 disappointment, and were already sneering and laughing 
 at the absurdity of the thing : but when she came rushing 
 by, like a living creature, their sneers gave place to the 
 utmost astonishment. The first steamer that visited the 
 West Indies, was seen by the crew of a little Spanish 
 vessel, near Trinidad ; who, observing that she came on 
 right against the wind, vomiting smoke and fire, and 
 
 seeing only one man on deck, fancied that it was the work 
 
 88 
 
THE STt AM-SHIP. 91 
 
 of the evil spirit, and, overcome by terror, ran their vessel 
 ashore, and escaped into the woods. 
 
 For a long time after steam-vessels had begun to sail 
 upon the rivers, both of England and America, it was 
 thought impossible by such means to cross the ocean. 
 The height of the waves, it was thought, would prevent 
 the paddles from striking the water regularly, and the 
 power of the wind when blowing on the side, was ex- 
 pected to force the vessel over, so much as to keep one 
 of the wheels out of the water. But within these few 
 years, the experiment has been tried of having large 
 steamers to go between England and America, and it was 
 found that they succeeded very well, although the wind 
 was strong and the billows high. Others, still larger, 
 were soon afterwards prepared, called the British Queen 
 and the President. These noble vessels were nearly 
 three hundred feet long, and the power of the steam- 
 engines by which they were moved, was equal to the 
 strength of five hundred horses. The British Queen is 
 still performing her voyages, but the unfortunate President 
 
92 THE STEAM-SHIP. 
 
 was unhappily lost in returning from America. Those 
 persons who expected friends to come in her, waited very 
 anxiously day after day, in hope that she would arrive at 
 last ; but time passed, and she never came ; and at length 
 it was certain that she had gone down with all her crew 
 and passengers. It is possible that her boiler blew up, 
 and tore her to atoms in a moment, or perhaps she was 
 struck by a very heavy wave in a storm, with such force 
 as to break her in two, and so sunk into the deep waters. 
 Many persons who are accustomed to see steamers, and 
 even to sail in them, have not a very clear idea of the 
 manner in which the steam gives motion to the vessel. 
 You know that when water is boiling in a kettle, the 
 steam is driven out of the spout with great force, and this 
 force is the power that moves the ship. It is thus 
 applied : a large quantity of water is put into an iron 
 boiler, and heated ; the steam is let into one end of a 
 cylinder, that is, a wide pipe, in which is a piston a 
 kind of plug that moves up and down in the cylinder, 
 quite tightly. Suppose the piston is now at that end at 
 
THE STEAM-SHIP. 93 
 
 which the steam enters, the irresistible force of the steam 
 instantly drives it to the other end; but when it arrives 
 there, a little hole is opened in the side of the cylinder, 
 through which the steam escapes. But, at the same 
 instant, steam comes in from the boiler, through another 
 pipe, into the other end of the cylinder, and drives the 
 piston back again to the end where it was at first. 
 This steam escapes by another hole, or valve, and more 
 enters again at the first end. Thus the steam coming 
 into the cylinder at each end by turns, the piston is kept 
 constantly driving backward and forward. An iron rod 
 is joined to the piston, which goes through one end of 
 the cylinder, so as to move freely, and yet to fit perfectly 
 tight ; this rod, therefore, partakes of the motion of the 
 piston, and is ever darting forward or drawing back. But 
 how is this straightforward motion to turn round the 
 paddles of the wheel ? I dare say you have often watched 
 a knife-grinder in the street ; he puts his foot upon the 
 treadle, and by the pressure makes it move evenly up and 
 down ; but it is connected by a rod with the large wheel, 
 
94 THE STEAM-SHIP. 
 
 and in a very curious manner causes it to move swiftly 
 round in one direction. Just in the same manner does 
 the piston-rod move round a large wheel, called a fly 
 wheel, and this moves the great wheel on each side that 
 bears the paddles. These are boards that are fixed to 
 the edge of the wheel, which, striking the water as they 
 are turned, force the vessel forward. Of course there are 
 many circumstances which I have not mentioned, but 
 I think these are sufficient to give you a tolerably clear 
 idea of the principle. 
 
THE CAVE OP ELEPHANTA- 
 
 We shall here attempt to give a description of this 
 temple of idolatry found in a little island near Bombay, in 
 the East Indies. The isle is named Elephanta, from the 
 figure of an elephant as large as life, which seems to have 
 been cut out of the solid rock. The temple is in fact a cave, 
 which has been, by means of great labor, hollowed in 
 the rock, leaving rows of enormous pillars to support the 
 roof, and many statues around the walls. On entering 
 the cave, the stranger is astonished at beholding a mul- 
 titude of monstrous figures, some of them three times as 
 high as a man, intended to represent the cruel and abo- 
 minable beings which these poor ignorant heathens wor- 
 shipped as gods. 
 
 " The upper wall at the end of the cave is crowded 
 
 with figures, and the attention is first arrested by a grand 
 
 95 
 
96 THE CAVE OF ELEPHANTA. 
 
 bust, representing a being with three heads ; the middle 
 face is presented full, and expresses a dignified compo- 
 sure; the head and neck splendidly covered with orna- 
 ments. The middle head depicts Brahma, or the creative 
 attribute ; the head on the left, Vishnoo, or the preserv- 
 ing ; and the right, Seva, the destroying or changing. 
 The face of Vishnoo is in profile, the head-dress rich ; in 
 one of the hands is a lotus-flower, in the other, a fruit 
 resembling a pomegranate ; a ring, like that worn by the 
 Hindoos at present, is on one of the wrists. Seva frowns 
 with a terrific countenance, with a projecting forehead, 
 and staring eyes ; snakes supply the place of hair, and 
 the representation of a human skull is conspicuous on the 
 covering of the head ; one hand grasps a monstrous 
 hooded snake, the other a smaller, the whole calculated 
 to strike terror into the beholder. The height of this bust 
 is about eighteen feet, and the breadth of the middle face 
 about four." 
 
 Many other of the figures are equally monstrous ; 
 some having four heads, others three, and many have 
 
THE CAVE OF ELEPHANTA. 97 
 
 two pairs of arms ; while one has the head of an 
 elephant upon the body of a man. At the furthest 
 end there are one or two little dark rooms, where 
 once, probably, the evil deeds of idolatry were carried on, 
 but which now are full of bats, spiders, snakes, and scor- 
 pions ; the fittest inhabitants of such places. 
 
 It is not known at what period this vast monument of 
 misspent time and talents was made ; it is now, however, 
 going fast to decay, and several of the statues and pillars 
 are broken and fallen down. Soon all the temples of idol 
 gods shall be thrown down, and the one true and living 
 God be everywhere acknowledged and worshipped. Then, 
 instead of the poor and wretched slaves of the wicked one, 
 ihis happy world shall be full of the servants of God, over 
 whom the Lord Jesus Christ shall reign in righteousness. 
 We are sure of this, for He has promised it. 
 
PEARL DIVING. 
 
 WE have seen how people will venture into dangerous 
 situations, for the purpose of procuring any thing that is 
 considered valuable. But what I am now going to 
 describe, is still more extraordinary. I dare say you have 
 seen pearls ; those beautiful glossy substances, of which 
 necklaces, ear-rings, and other ornaments, are often made. 
 But you would hardly guess, unless you were informed, 
 how these admired and elegant articles are procured, or 
 what they really are. Would you imagine that they are 
 formed in the shell of an oyster ? Some mussels that are 
 found in rivers in England produce pearls, but the great- 
 est number, and the most beautiful, are the production of 
 a sort of oyster that is found in the seas of India. 
 
 It is not every oyster that contains pearls, even there ; 
 
 it is believed that a disease in the animal causes them ; 
 98 
 
Pearl Fishery 
 99 
 
PEARL DIVING. 101 
 
 and it is said, that if a bit of sharp wire be thrust through 
 the shell of a living oyster, so as just to touch the flesh 
 without killing it, and it be then placed in the sea again, 
 in a short time there will be a pearl made, enclosing the 
 tip of the wire. 
 
 The pearl-oysters are procured by diving. A number 
 of people go off in boats, to a place where the water is 
 deep, and then some of them dive to the bottom, and 
 gather oysters up as fast as possible, putting them into a 
 bag hung round their waist. When they cannot remain 
 any longer without breath, they jerk a rope which is 
 fastened to them, and then the people in the boat pull 
 them up : they then rest a short time, while others dive, 
 and thus they take turns all through the day. It would 
 be very tedious and troublesome to open the oysters one 
 by one ; instead of which, they are all thrown together 
 into a large pit, where they soon decay. The shells then 
 open of themselves, and they are taken up and washed 
 and examined. When all are thrown out, the decayed 
 matter at the bottom of the pit is very carefully washed 
 
102 PEARL DIVING. 
 
 and searched; because many of the finest pearls drop 
 out before the shells are examined. 
 
 It is an unpleasant and dangerous business. The 
 smell that proceeds from so large a quantity of corrupting 
 matter, is not only disagreeable, but exceedingly un 
 wholesome. Large and fierce fishes, called sharks, prowl 
 about the place, and frequently seize upon the unfortu- 
 nate divers ; and even if they escape the teeth of these 
 dreadful monsters, the practice of holding the breath so 
 long is so very hurtful, that they seldom live long. It is 
 not uncommon for the blood to gush out of their nose, 
 mouth, and ears, the instant that they come out of the 
 water. When next you admire the beauty of a pearl, 
 think what dangers the poor men have gone through, who 
 procured it for you. And after all, it has nothing to 
 recommend it beyond its beauty, for it is not of the 
 smallest real use. 
 
 What is called mother-of-pearl, of which shirt-buttons, 
 handles for knives, and other little articles are made, is 
 the inner substance of the shell of the pearl-oyster, and, 
 
PEARL DIVING. 103 
 
 indeed, of many other sorts of shells. The outside, 
 which is rough and strong, is ground away, until the 
 pearly part is exposed, which is beautifully clear, and 
 reflects the light in a play of the most brilliant colors. 
 A large quantity of these shells is brought to England 
 every year ; but the Chinese are much more skilful than 
 our workmen, in the manufacture of small articles out 
 of this substance ; giving them a finish and beauty which 
 we are not able to attain. The inside of many kinds of 
 bivalve shells (that is, such as are made up of two pieces, 
 folding together with a hinge) is of a pearly appear- 
 ance ; and so is that of some other kinds. One kind in 
 particular, called ear-shells, is of exceeding lustre and 
 beauty. 
 
ANCIENT PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 SINCE I am speaking of punishments, however, I will 
 describe to you one or two very curious modes of punish- 
 ment, that are now no longer in use. The figure in the 
 middle of the opposite engraving, is represented as wearing 
 "the drunkard's cloak." When a man had abandoned 
 himself to drunkenness, and could not be reclaimed by 
 advice or warning, this singular cloak was prepared for 
 him, in hope that shame might have a more salutary in- 
 fluence. One end of a large cask was taken out, and a 
 round hole cut in the other end ; the cask was then passed 
 over him, so as to rest on his shoulders, while his head 
 came out at the hole ; two holes were also made in front, 
 through which his hands were passed. Thus the drunkard 
 
 was led through the streets, amidst shouts of laughter, the 
 104 
 
I 
 
ANCIENT PUNISHMENTS. 107 
 
 object of the ridicule and contempt of his fellow-towns- 
 men. 
 
 The strange head-dress worn by the woman in the same 
 picture, was called the branks, or sometimes " the gossip's 
 bridle :" it was in use at Newcastle-under-Lyne about two 
 hundred years ago, and though it has long been laid aside, 
 it is still shown as a curiosity to visitors at the court- 
 house of that town. Its object was to expose those 
 women who were fond of gossiping from house to house, 
 while their own homes and family duties were neglected. 
 As in the other case, an officer led the talkative lady 
 through the town, exposed to the public gaze, as a whole- 
 some example to others who were disposed to indulge their 
 tongues too freely. 
 
 Another punishment was " ducking a scold." A female 
 of this description was seized by her neighbors and 
 conveyed to the side of a river, or to a public wharf; then 
 being tied fast in a chair, she was let down into the 
 water and ducked several times, till they considered her 
 sufficiently punished. 
 
108 ANCIENT PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 The little building in the distance of the scene figured 
 is the cage ; a common mode of confinement with our 
 forefathers. One used to stand on old London Bridge, 
 into which trifling offenders were put for exposure. There 
 were several other modes in use formerly, but they are 
 now nearly forgotten. 
 
The Peter Bottle Mountain. 
 
 110 
 
THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 THE lofty and majestic mountains which rise here and 
 there from the earth, and lift their hoary heads into the 
 very clouds, are well fitted to give us grand ideas of the 
 power of the Most High God. Some of them are vol- 
 canoes; that is, mountains which are hollow in the 
 middle, where there is a vast furnace of fire, which 
 sometimes bursts out and boils over. Some are so high 
 as to be perpetually covered with snow ; for at a very 
 great height, the air becomes extremely cold. Some 
 are o' very singular shapes ; and few are more remark- 
 able in this respect than the Peter Botte, in the Island 
 of Mauritius. It is so called from a man of that name, 
 
 who, it is said, tried to climb to the top of it, but fell 
 
 111 
 
112 THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN 
 
 aown the dreadful precipice, and was dashed to pieces 
 Look at it in the picture, and you will wonder that any 
 man should be so venturous as to attempt such a thing. 
 Yet a few years ago, a party of English gentlemen 
 (Englishmen, you know, will dare any thing) determined 
 again to try to ascend the Peter Botte. Captain Lloyd, 
 accompanied by Mr. Dawkins, first attempted to climb 
 it in 1831, and reached the narrow part, called the neck, 
 where they planted a ladder, but which did not reach 
 half way up the perpendicular face of the rock beyond. 
 About a year afterwards, he resolved to attempt it again, 
 accompanied by Lieutenant Phillpotts, Lieutenant Kep- 
 pel, and Lieutenant Taylor, who has given us an account 
 of the ascent. I think you will like to have it in this gen- 
 tleman's own words. 
 
 *' All our preparations being made, we started, and a 
 more picturesque line of march I have seldom seen 
 Our van was composed of about fifteen or t\\enty 
 sepoys, in every variety of costume, together with a 
 few negroes, carrying our food, dry clothes, &c. Our 
 
THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN. 113 
 
 path lay up a very steep ravine, formed by the rains 
 in the wet season, which, having loosened all the 
 stones, made it any thing but pleasant ; those below 
 were obliged to keep a bright lookout for tumbling 
 rocks, and one of these missed Keppel and myself by a 
 mirarle. 
 
 "On rising to the shoulder, a view burst upon us, 
 which quite defies my descriptive powers. We stood 
 on a little narrow neck of land, about twenty yards in 
 length. On the side which we mounted, we looked back 
 into the deep-wooded gorge we had passed up ; while, 
 on the opposite of the neck, which was between six and 
 seven feet broad, the precipice went shear down fifteen 
 hundred feet to the plain. One extremity of the neck 
 was equally precipitous, and the other was bounded by 
 what to me was the most magnificent sight I ever saw. 
 A narrow, knife-like edge of rock, broken here and there 
 y precipitous faces, ran up in a conical form, to about 
 
 three hundred or three hundred and fifty feet above us : 
 
 8 
 
114 THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 and on the very pinnacle old * Peter Botte* frowned in 
 all his glory. 
 
 " After a short rest, we proceeded to work. The ladder 
 had been left by Lloyd and Dawkins last year. It was 
 about twelve feet high, and reached, as you may perceive 
 about half-way up a face of perpendicular rock. The 
 foot, which was spiked, rested on a ledge, not quite 
 visible in the sketch, with barely three inches on each 
 side. A negro of Lloyd's clambered from the top of the 
 ladder by the cleft in the face of the rock ; he carried a 
 small cord round his middle ; and it was fearful to see 
 the cool, steady way in which he climbed, where a single 
 loose stone or false hold must have sent him down into 
 the abyss. However, he fearlessly scrambled away, till 
 at length we heard him halloo from under the neck, 
 'All right.' These negroes use their feet exactly like 
 monkeys, grasping with them every projection almost as 
 firmly as with their hands. The line carried up, he 
 made fast above, and up it we all four shinned in 
 succession. It was, joking apart, awful work. In 
 
THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN. 115 
 
 several places the ridge ran to an edge, not a foot 
 broad ; and I could as I held on, half sitting, half kneel- 
 ing, across the ridge, have kicked my right shoe down 
 to the plain on one side, and my left into the bottom of 
 the ravine on the other The only thing that surprised 
 me was my own steadiness and freedom from all giddi- 
 ness. I had been nervous in mounting the ravine in 
 the morning ; but gradually I got so excited and deter- 
 mined to succeed, that I could look down that dizzy 
 height without the smallest sensation of swimming in the 
 head: nevertheless, I held on* uncommonly hard, and felt 
 very well satisfied when I was safe under the neck. And 
 a more extraordinary situation I never was in. The head, 
 which is an enormous mass of rock, about thirty-five feet 
 in height, overhangs its base many feet on every side. A 
 ledge of tolerably level rock runs round three sides of the 
 base, about six feet in width, bounded everywhere by the 
 abrupt edge of the precipice, except in the spot where it 
 is joined by the ridge up which we climbed. In one spot 
 the head, though overhanging its base several feet, reaches 
 
116 THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 only perpendicularly over the edge of the precipice ; and, 
 most fortunately, it was at the very spot where we 
 mounted. Here it was that we reckoned on getting up. 
 A communication being established with the shoulder by 
 a double line of ropes, we proceeded to get up the neces- 
 sary materiel, Lloyd's portable ladder, additional coils of 
 rope, crow-bars, &c. But now the question, and a puzzler 
 too, was, how to get the ladder up against the rock. Lloyd 
 had prepared some iron arrows, with thongs, to fire over ; 
 and having got up a gun, he made a line fast round his 
 body, which we all held on, and going over the edge of 
 the precipice on the opposite side, he leaned back against 
 the line, and fired over the least projecting part. Had 
 the line broken, he would have fallen eighteen hundred 
 feet. Twice this failed ; and then he had recourse to a 
 large stone with a lead-line, which swung diagonally, and 
 seemed a feasible plan : several times he made beautiful 
 
 heaves, but the provoking line would not catch, and away 
 
 
 went the stone far down below. At length the wind 
 
 shifted for about a minute, and over went the stone, and 
 
THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN 117 
 
 was eagerly seized on the opposite side. Three lengths 
 of the ladder were put together on the ledge : a large line 
 was attached to the one which was over the head, and 
 carefully drawn up ; and finally, a two-inch rope, io the 
 extremity of which we lashed the top of our ladder, then 
 lowered it gently over the precipice till it hung perpen- 
 dicularly, and was steadied by two negroes on the ridge 
 below. * All right ; now hoist away !' and up went the 
 ladder, till the foot came to the edge of our ledge, when 
 it was lashed in firmly to the neck. We then hauled 
 away on the guy to steady it, and made it fast ; a line was 
 passed over by the lead-line to hold on by, and up went 
 Lloyd, screeching and hallooing, and we all three scram- 
 bled after him. The union-jack and a boat-hook were 
 passed up, and old England's flag waved freely and gal- 
 lantly on the redoubted Peter Botte. No sooner was it 
 seen flying, than the Undaunted frigate saluted in the 
 harbor, and the guns of our saluting battery replied : for 
 though our expedition had been kept a secret till we 
 started, it was made known the morning of our ascent, and 
 
118 THE PETER BOTTE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 all hands were on the lookout, as we afterwards learned. 
 We then got a bottle of wine to the top of the rock, 
 named it King William's Peak, and drank his Majesty's 
 health with hands round the jack, and then, * Hip, hip 
 hip, hurrah ! ' " 
 
 I have not room to describe to you how the gallant 
 party descended to the shoulder to dinner ; how they 
 climbed again upon the head to sleep ; how they burnt a 
 blue light when night came on ; and how beautifully the 
 glare shone upon the wild scene around. How the wind 
 blew strong in the night ; how they drank all their brandy, 
 and kept tucking in the blankets the whole night in vain 
 attempts to keep out the cold. But I shall content myself 
 with telling you that they left their flag flying, and 
 descended in perfect safety to their admiring countrymen 
 below. 
 
Human Hair and Globules of Blood Magnified. 
 120 
 
THE BLOOD AND HAIR. 
 
 THE good King David says, " I am fearfully and won- 
 derfully made ;" and he praises God for it. You have 
 perhaps thought, that the blood of your body was all 
 one sort of substance ; and may be surprised when you 
 are told, that it consists of several very distinct sub- 
 stances, much unlike each other. Soon after a portion 
 of blood has been taken out of the body, it separates 
 into two parts, a thin transparent fluid, and a dark solid 
 substance, almost like flesh. After a short time longer 
 this solid again divides into a soft white elastic matter, 
 and an immense number of exceedingly small red globules 
 or balls. These cannot be distinguished without a 
 microscope ; but with that instrument they are seen 
 to be .ransparent in themselves, but covered with a red 
 skin. Now, all the parts of the body, the spittle, the 
 
 tears, milk, and even the hardest parts, the hair, the 
 
 121 
 
122 THE BLOOD AND HAIR. 
 
 nails, the bones, and the teeth, are made from the blood ; 
 and as all those parts are composed of a great number of 
 fibres or threads, twined together, it is believed that 
 these' threads are made by a number of globules joining 
 together in a line. You may see these fibres in flesh, 
 by taking a very small piece of lean meat that has been 
 much boiled, and pulling it apart, when it will all sepa 
 rate into threads. The upper part of the engraving 
 shows these things : at the right hand, are some fibres 
 much magnified ; at the top are some globules becoming 
 joined together to form the fibres, and below are two 
 sets of globules, one set with the red skin, and the other 
 without it. 
 
 The larger figures below, represent the structure of the 
 hair, which is not less curious. Every hair is a slender 
 tube, which has a swollen part at the bottom, like the 
 bulb of a flower, by which it is held in the skin. In 
 young people, this tube is filled with soft, dark-colored 
 matter, which gives the tint of the hair ; this is shown 
 in the right-hand figures : but when persons grow very 
 
THE BLOOD AND HAIR. 123 
 
 aged, the colored matter shrivels up into the form of a 
 dry pith, running through the middle, and then the tube 
 is seen to have no color of itself, but appears of a 
 silvery white. This is represented in the three figures 
 at the left hand. Thus we see, that our Heavenly Father 
 has displayed his wondrous wisdom, in making these 
 poor bodies of ours ; and this should teach us to love 
 and to confide in Him ; for, as the Lord Jesus says, 
 " Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." 
 
 In some animals, the hairs are so much altered in their 
 appearance, that we could hardly suppose them to be 
 such ; and, in some of these we can observe more dis- 
 tinctly, that they are tubular. The feathers of a bird 
 are only hairs in another form, and we see them quite 
 hollow in the part called the quill, as has been already 
 described, while in the hedgehog of our own country, and 
 still more, in the porcupine, we find instead of hairs, 
 stiff hollow spines. 
 
ASTRONOMY. 
 
 THIS is rather a hard word, but it means a knowledge 
 of the sun, and moon, and stars. When you look up at the 
 blue sky, it appears as if you saw a vast arched ceiling, but 
 this is only a deception of the sight : you do not in fact 
 look upon any object, but into empty space, which would 
 appear deeply black if it were not for the light reflected 
 from the particles of the air, and is blue only because the 
 air is slightly tinged with that color. Now here and 
 there in this immense and empty space, there are scattered 
 large round worlds, far larger probably than you have any 
 notion of, and this earth on which we are living is one of 
 these worlds. You are aware that if you see even a large 
 object, a house or a tree, at a great distance, it appears 
 
 very small, and smaller still if you go further off. Hence 
 124 
 
Comparative Size of Planets. 
 125 
 
ASTRONOMY. i27 
 
 these worlds appear very small because they are at an 
 immense distance, and some of them so excessively dis- 
 tant that they are seen only as little shining specks,which 
 we call stars. Some of these are so placed as to move 
 in circles round a larger one which stands still in the 
 middle, and these are called planets. This earth is a 
 planet, and is continually moving, with about twenty- 
 eight others, round the sun. The principal of these are 
 here represented, that you may see their sizes as com- 
 pared with one another; by which you will perceive, 
 that this earth, great as it appears, with all its oceans and 
 countries, its houses, and fields, and trees, and ships, is 
 but one of the very smallest. 1, Mercury; 2, Venus; 3, 
 Earth ; 4, Mars ; 5, Jupiter ; 6, Saturn : there is another 
 large one, called Uranus, nearly half as large as Saturn, 
 which there was not room to represent. There is a 
 curious double ring round Saturn, one within the other. 
 The sun, round which these great worlds roll, is believed 
 to be a solid dark body, like one of them, but surrounded, 
 at some distance, by a luminous atmosphere. I will try 
 
128 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 to explain this. If you could make a thin hollow ball 
 of soft cotton wadding, and then place in the centre of it a 
 marble, so as just not to touch the cotton, the marble 
 would represent the sun's body, and the cotton its at- 
 mosphere. Now if you imagine the outside of the 
 cotton to be shining, (I do not mean glossy, but really light 
 in itself, like the flame of a candle,) you will know what I 
 mean by a luminous atmosphere. The sun is a great deal 
 larger than all the planets put together ; and it is sup- 
 posed that almost all the stars you see by night are suns, 
 each surrounded by its own set of planets, which are not 
 large enough to be seen at this distance. 
 
 But a good many of the twenty-nine planets that roll 
 round our sun, roll round other planets as well, and are 
 called moons. There are six moons constantly whirling 
 round Uranus, seven round Saturn, and the double ring 
 is continually whirling round also; four round Jupiter, 
 and one round the Earth. When you look up at the 
 lovely moon, cheering the lonely night and casting her 
 silvery lustre over the silent earth, think that you are 
 
ASTRONOMY. 129 
 
 looking upon another world, fashioned like the one you 
 are living on. Many wise men have thought that all the 
 planets and moons, and even the sun, are inhabited by 
 men like ourselves ; or at least, by creatures capable of 
 knowing and worshipping God. It is true there is not a 
 word about this in the Holy Scriptures ; still it may be 
 true ; and if not inhabited now, it is likely that they will 
 be after the resurrection, when those who are redeemed 
 by the Lord Jesus shall put on bodies of glory and beauty 
 like His. 
 
 Some of the reasons why the planets are thought to be 
 inhabited I will mention. You have been told that they 
 all move round the sun ; they all move round in another 
 manner also, which you will understand by comparing it 
 to the spinning of an apple hanging from a thread tied to 
 its stem. If you hold the thread in your hand, and 
 while the apple is twirling round move it in a circle 
 round a candle, you will see the two motions which the 
 planets have. The twirling is called rotation on an axis. 
 Now some of the planets do not move round the sun in a 
 
130 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 * 
 
 perfectly even plane, but a sloping one, as if you should 
 hold the apple so as to be a little higher in one part of 
 the circle, and lower in the opposite. This causes the 
 difference of the seasons, without which there would be 
 neither summer nor winter, but the year would be all 
 alike. Again, the rotation on the axis is the cause of day 
 and night ; without which every part of the planet would 
 see the sun for half the time of its revolution, and would 
 be without it the other half; and one of the planets 
 makes its revolution only once in eighty years, so that if 
 it were not for the rotation, there would be a forty years' 
 day, and a forty years' night. The providing of some 
 of the planets with moons, particularly those which are 
 most distant from the sun, can only be, as far as we can 
 understand, for the purpose of supplying light by night ; 
 but if there be no inhabitants in these worlds, it would 
 appear to our poor feeble judgments useless to have 
 change of seasons, and alternate day and night, and 
 provision for cheering the dark hours with borrowed 
 light. The moon, also, which is near enough to us for 
 
ASTRONOMY. 131 
 
 us to discover, with a telescope, something of its surface, 
 and which on that account we know most about, is, as I 
 shall presently describe to you, uneven, with valleys and 
 mountains, like the world we live on; and as in many 
 other respects both the planets arid moons are like thi 
 earth, it is natural to think that they are not desert 
 wastes, but covered with beings capable of glorifying 
 God, who has made all things for his glory. Still, I 
 repeat, we cannot be certain of this, as God may have 
 many other uses for these brilliant globes, than our weak 
 reason can discover. Whether inhabited or not, we may 
 be sure that they are worthy of Him who made them. 
 
 Besides these planets and moons, there are several 
 other bodies called comets, which move round the sun 
 also, but not in a circle as the planets do, but in an 
 exceedingly long oval. These are very singular bodies, 
 and astronomers do not as yet know very much about 
 them. Their usual appearance is that of a dim star 
 sometimes, however, very large and bright, surrounded 
 with a haziness or faint cloud of light, and frequently 
 
132 ASTfcoAOMY. 
 
 attended by a long stream of dim light, which stretches 
 out behind, and is called the tail. When a comet 
 approaches the sun, it moves faster and faster, until it 
 at length whirls round that luminary with astonishing 
 rapidity, and then gradually loses its speed as it flies 
 off again, through the courses of the planets, into 
 those distant regions of empty space, where the human 
 eye cannot follow it, even though assisted by the finest 
 telescopes. Yet, at the appointed time, God brings them 
 round again, and wheels them, immense as they are, 
 towards the sun. The perfect regularity with which 
 the motions of the heavenly bodies are performed, is 
 calculated to give us higher thoughts of the greatness 
 of Him that made them. "He appointed the moon for 
 seasons; the sun knoweth his going down." "Lift up 
 your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these 
 things, that bringeth out their host by number; He call- 
 eth them all by names by the greatness of His might ; for 
 that He is strong in power ; not one faileth." 
 
The Moon, 
 
 134 
 
THE MOON. 
 
 THE moon, being by far the nearest to us of all these 
 worlds, would therefore appear much larger, only that it 
 is in reality the smallest of them all. When seen through 
 a telescope, the moon appears covered all over with 
 risings and hollows, in a very irregular manner, which, to 
 the naked eye, seem large patches of bright and dark, 
 and make what is foolishly called the face in the moon. 
 The best time to look at these through a telescope is at 
 about half-moon ; when, with a powerful instrument, you 
 can see that every dusky patch is a valley, and every 
 bright spot a hill. Like all the planets, the moon has no 
 light of its own, but appears bright merely because it is 
 
 shone upon by the sun ; at half-moon the sun's rays fall 
 
 135 
 
136 THE MOON. 
 
 slantingly upon the moon, and the ridges of hills and 
 mountains throw strong and dark shadows on the side 
 farthest from the sun. Some of the mountains are very 
 lofty, and these are the brightest spots of all. They are 
 often of curious forms : a very common scene in the 
 moon is a range of high hills set in a large circle, enclos- 
 ing a plain, in the very middle of which there is a smaller 
 hill alone. 
 
 The engraving represents the appearance of the moon 
 through a telescope, as seen at the full. The distance of 
 the moon is two hundred and forty thousand miles ; that 
 is, a distance which if you were to walk twenty miles 
 every day, would take you more than thirty years to 
 travel ; and yet this distance is trifling compared with 
 that of some of the stars. If we could travel to the moon, 
 we should see this earth in the sky, exactly as the moon 
 appears to us now, but about thirteen times larger ; and 
 it is likely that the divisions of land and water, the 
 oceans and seas, the continents and islands, would be seen 
 as they are upon a map ; and as the earth turns upon its 
 
THE MOON. 137 
 
 axis once every twenty-four hours, every side of it would 
 be visible to the moon during that time. It is probable, 
 however, that the clouds, which so often fill our atmo- 
 sphere, and prevent our seeing the heavenly bodies, would, 
 in a great measure, prevent the surface of the earth from 
 being plainly discerned there. There is this difference 
 between the appearance of the earth and the moon, that 
 whereas the latter rises and sets to us, the earth would 
 always be in the same place to the inhabitants of the 
 moon, never changing its position, but apparently fixed in 
 the sky. 
 
 The sun and the moon serve other purposes to this 
 earth, besides the merely affording light to it: without 
 them we should have no mode of measuring time, but 
 the order and exact regularity of the revolutions of these 
 bodies afford us a correct measure of time. And this 
 appears to have been the meaning of God, when he said, 
 " Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide 
 the day from the night ; and let them be for signs, and for 
 seasons, and for days, and for years." The tides depend 
 
138 THF MOON. 
 
 on the motions of the sun and moon ; and without them 
 navigation could not be safely carried on, as the position 
 of a vessel out of sight of land could not be ascertained, as 
 it now can very exactly. 
 
ICEBERGS. 
 
 IN one of the Psalms, where several of the wonderful 
 works of God are mentioned, it is said, " Who can stand 
 before His cold?" And indeed the power of the cold in 
 the countries that lie near the Poles, is so dreadful that no 
 living thing can endure it, so that they are a dreary soli- 
 tude, without inhabitants, without beasts or birds, without 
 plants or trees or pleasant fields. But ice is found there 
 in all manner of forms, some of them most strange and 
 surprising. You see before you a representation of the 
 seas as near to those regions as man can reach, though 
 this is still a long way from the Pole. These enormous 
 mountains, with rugged overhanging sides, are formed 
 entirely of ice, and are sometimes several miles long, and 
 
 twice as high as the ball of St. Paul's. They are called 
 
 141 
 
142 ICEBERGS. 
 
 Icebergs, the word berg signifying a mountain. They are 
 formed in the valleys that reach down to the sea, by the 
 snow which falls every winter gradually becoming frozen 
 into a solid mass. Vast pieces are split off from time to 
 time by different causes, and fall into the sea, where they 
 float about and form very grand and majestic objects. 
 They are very dangerous to approach ; and the ships that 
 are sent into these parts to procure whales, are often 
 destroyed by them. Sometimes an iceberg suddenly bursts 
 into several pieces, any one of which would be sufficient 
 to wreck a ship if it fell on her. At other times, they 
 turn over in the water, and make such mighty waves as 
 are very dangerous. But still more perilous is it when 
 many of these great masses of ice are together, and in 
 motion ; for they come on and frequently surround an un- 
 fortunate ship, before she can escape ; and then, pressing 
 together with a force that nothing can resist, squeeze and 
 crush her oaken timbers as you would crack a walnut ; or 
 sometimes, by pressing under her keel, lift her dry out of 
 the water. Now just imagine the situation of a crew of 
 
ICEBERGS. 148 
 
 poor sailors, many hundred miles away from home, with 
 their vessel broken to pieces, or else enclosed by impene- 
 trable ice, the winter coming on, in such a terrible region 
 as this, where they could not expect the slightest chance 
 of relief from human means, and the only prospect that of 
 being starved or frozen to death ! The good providence 
 of God may, however, interpose ; a few hours may open 
 the ice in a most unexpected manner, so as to free the ship 
 again if she has only been enclosed ; and even if wrecked, 
 may allow other ships to approach and relieve the unfor- 
 tunate men from their desolate situation. 
 
 Such accidents occasionally happen to the ships which 
 are sent out on the whale-fishery, as I described to you : 
 for the Greenland whale is found only in these cold and 
 dreary seas, and to obtain the oil and whalebone of this 
 animal, many ships go every year from England and 
 other countries into the regions of ice and snow. They 
 eave home in the spring, and endeavor to return before 
 winter, whether they have killed any whales or not. But 
 with all their caution, 'he seamen are occasionally " beset," 
 
144 ICEBERGS. 
 
 as it is called, in the ice, and instances have been known 
 in which they have been compelled to remain there. Several 
 years ago, eight sailors belonging to a Russian ship were 
 ashore on an island in these icy seas, when their vessel 
 was driven away by a sudden storm, and was unable again 
 to reach them. They were therefore compelled to remain 
 there through the terrible winter ; and not only one ; 
 another, and another, and another, even four long dismal 
 winters, they passed in that horrible place, before they 
 were accidentally discovered and relieved by the crew of 
 another ship. When first aware that they were deserted 
 by their own vessel, they were stupified with grief, and 
 resigned themselves to despair ; but at length they took 
 courage, and made themselves as comfortable as they 
 could; making a hut for themselves, with many pre- 
 cautions to keep out the cold. They killed bears, foxes, 
 and seals ; and while they ate the flesh of these animals, 
 either fresh, or else preserved by frost and buried in snow, 
 they clothed themselves with the skins, and burned the fat 
 instead of oil in lamps. They needed lamps both for the 
 
ICKBERGS. 145 
 
 heat they gave, and for light during the long nignt ; for in 
 those climates the winter is all night, and the suu never 
 rises for several months at a time. In summer, on the other 
 hand, it does not set for months, but travels round and 
 round the sky, plainly seen through every part of the 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
THE EAGLE. 
 
 I HAVE been telling you of some instances, in which the 
 skill, and power, and energy of man are very remarkable ; 
 but if these excite our wonder, how much more won- 
 derful, beyond our utmost thought, is the power and 
 wisdom of God! Man turns the substances which he 
 finds to his own use ; but God gave them the different pro- 
 perties which make them Ufeful ; man overcomes and 
 tames the wild beasts, but God made both him and them, 
 and gave to the one the strength and gentleness which 
 make them valuable servants ; and to the other, the reason 
 and thoughtfulness which enable him to subdue them. 
 
 All the works of God are perfect ; entirely, absolutely 
 perfect. The very best of human performances has some 
 
 fault or defect, something that could have been made bet- 
 116 
 
Sea-Eagle and Osprey. 
 147 
 
THE V4GLE. 149 
 
 ter ; but the objects that God has created could never be 
 improved. 
 
 Look at the flight of a bird, an eagle for instance ; how 
 boldly it leaves the lofty cliff on which it has been 
 sitting, and launches forth on the thin air ! A few 
 strokes with its powerful wings are sufficient to shoot 
 it forward a vast distance, and now it remains calmly 
 sailing about over the waves below, without an effort that 
 we can perceive. His bright eye is glancing in every 
 direction ; suddenly he catches sight of a distant object, 
 that looks like a speck on the bright sky ; like an arrow 
 he rushes to the spot, and in an instant he is there ! 
 What is it that has caught his attention, and awakened 
 all his powers so suddenly ! It is an osprey, which has 
 caught a fish, and is bearing it away in his talons to his 
 nest. The eagle attacks him in the air, while the poor 
 osprey, being a bird inferior in strength, and being en- 
 cumbered also by the heavy fish which he is carrying, is 
 compelled to drop his prey. The eagle closes his wings, 
 and rushes down upon it, seizing it before it reaches the 
 
150 THE EAGLE. 
 
 water, when he sails home to devour it at leisure a 
 hateful example of the way in which tyrannical power 
 sometimes prevails over honest industry. But I was 
 speaking of the powers of this bird, and the perfect 
 manner in which these are fitted for the work it has to 
 do ; and we must not forget, that in speaking of animals, 
 we are not to judge of their actions by the laws of right 
 and wrong, which God has given to govern ours. We 
 do not know that they are at all conscious of right and 
 wrong; and if not, the instincts which they follow are 
 given them by Him who does all things well. 
 
 Flight is, in itself, a very surprising thing. Perhaps 
 you have read of the many attempts that have been made 
 by men at various times, to fly through the air, but 
 hitherto, human skill has not been able to effect it. The 
 invention of balloons has, it is true, raised people to a 
 great height in the air, but that is a very different thing 
 from flight ; no man has yet discovered any means of 
 directing his motion through the air. We do not 
 thoroughly know yet how a bird flies, common as the 
 
THE EAGLE. 151 
 
 sight is; but we know a little about it. The body, for 
 instance, is very hollow, and can be almost filled with air ; 
 the bones are all hollow, and the feathers with which 
 it is covered are exceedingly light, and at the same time 
 strong ; those of the wings and tail especially. The 
 blood, also, is very hot, and all these things tend to make 
 a bird much lighter than any other animal; while the 
 muscles of the wings are remarkably large and strong. 
 
 The feather of a bird is a very curious object, and one 
 which it will be instructive to examine ; because you may 
 see how wisely God has contrived all his works, and how 
 perfectly he has made them. Get a feather, then, and 
 hold it in your hand, while you read the description which 
 I am going to give you. In the first place, remark how 
 very strong it is in comparison with its weight, par- 
 ticularly if it be what is called a quill-feather ; that is, one 
 from the end of the wings or tail. The shaft that runs 
 through the whole length, is composed of a sort of pith, 
 in order that it may be light ; but that it may not easily 
 break, it is enclosed in a kind of rind, which is hard, 
 
152 THE EAGLE. 
 
 and polished, and very tough. The shaft is hollowed at 
 the lower end into a pipe, or tube, called the quill, (or 
 sometimes the barrel,) of a clear horny substance ; and 
 in order that this may be strengthened, it is composed of 
 two skins ; the fibres of the inner one going lengthwise, 
 which causes a quill to split when struck with the nail 
 in making a pen ; while the fibres of the outer skin go 
 round and round, which prevent the quill from splitting 
 easily, until this skin has been first scraped off with the 
 knife. While the bird is alive, a number of blood-vessels 
 fill the tube of the feather, but these shrivel up, after death, 
 into the dry skin which we find inside a quill. 
 
 Well, this is the shaft ; but we see on each side of the 
 upper part a set of thin plates, lying very regularly and 
 closely on each other. If you pick off one of these, and 
 look attentively at it, you will observe that it has at its 
 edge another set of little branches. In the wing or tail- 
 feathers, these little branches hopk into one another, and 
 those of one plate into those of another, so that the whole 
 surface of the feather, though made of such slight materi 
 
THE EAGLE. ^53 
 
 als, will resist a good deal of force before it will open ; 
 and therefore serves to strike the air powerfully in flying. 
 It is very beautiful, also, to observe how smoothly the 
 feathers of the body lie over one another, so as to keep 
 the bird warm, and not to ris* up at the edges, when it 
 flies swiftly. 
 
 
 V 
 

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