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 YB 36044