not be, for the wool did not belong to her, and therefore she must not take it. We shall soon see the real cause of her joy. Away she goes, but instead of turning into the fields where her work was, she runs right on, and presently with the lock of wool in her hand, goes into the farm house at the top of the hill. What she did there I have not time to tell you, all I can say is, that the good man gave her leave to take as much of the wool as she could collect from the hedges during one hour in every week, and promised to give her so much for every pound weight she collected. Oh, how her heart bounded with joy when she obtained this permission, and how cheerfully she worked all day in the wet field, and how her eyes lighted up with pleasure as she said the first thing when she entered the door of the little cottage that night. 'Oh, mother! I am happy now, for I have found out a way to help the poor heathen.' At the end of a month, she paid her first subscription to the Missionary society of eighteen pence, which was the whole of the money she had earned by wool gathering.

'Where there is a will, there is sure to be a way.' Do you believe this. If you do, then try what way yours will be, there are many, many things you could save up or give up, so as to get money for the poor Chinese. Set your heart to work, and think, until you do find a plan of your own. Remember little 'Becca prayed that God would show her a way; and cannot you do the same? If you love the great God who made you, you will desire above all things that every one else should love him; and if you wish this, you will not be long before you have a Missionary box, a collector's card, or some other plan to raise money to send Missionaries to China. In my next letter I shall tell you about a Missionary box, and also let you have for yourself a copy of a little China boy's letter, written in English. But do not forget the way in which you are to get some money for China. Your affectionate Friend,

'WHO LOVED CHINA WHEN HE WAS A VERY LITTLE BOY.'

London, January, 1843.

ENCOURAGEMENT.-It is stated by the Author of a memoir of the late Rev. Peter Roe, A. M., Rector of Odogh, Ireland, that before his death he was enabled to reckon up no fewer than eighteen Clergymen, all of whom had been scholars in his Sunday school, and five of whom afterwards filled the office of Curate to him; a case probably without parallel in the history of Sunday schools; but if such delightful and heart-cheering results followed in this case, how much reason have we to hope that similar results will hereafter crown the labours of God's faithful servants, engaged in the same noble cause.

Natural Theology.

No. I.

APPARATUS OF INSECTS.

There is no part of the animal creation which has generally been treated with more scornful contempt and with more wanton cruelty than the family of insects; and yet nowhere perhaps can an intelligent mind find more subjects of interest, and more striking proofs of the wisdom and benevolence of God. From among many illustrations of this truth that might be produced, two or three have been selected as the subject of our first article.

The Beetle is an insect well known to most of our readers. There is nothing in its appearance particularly calculated to excite admiration, yet when attentively examined many beauties may easily be discovered in its internal structure and conformation. The wing especially, is a remarkably interesting object; it resembles gauze, but is of much finer texture. The peculiar habits of the beetle species, the greater part of whom reside in caves or holes in the rocks, surrounded by stones and other hard substances, must necessarily expose so delicate a structure to constant injury. Nature, however, has by an astonishing contrivance effectually protected it from the varied dangers to which it is liable, by furnishing the animal with the elytron, a thick, scaly integument which entirely covers. the wings when it is at rest, and which it raises when it wishes to fly. Our admiration of this remarkable provision for the safety of the insect will be yet further heightened if we contemplate the way in which, by means of muscular tendons running along the whole surface, it has the power of unfolding or contracting this covering at its pleasure.

Can we fail here to discover manifest traces of divine wisdom and goodness?

The ovipositors or egg depositors of insects which the engraving represents, are objects no less interesting. They are short pointed instruments in the form of an awl or borer, which when in an inactive state lie concealed in the extremity of the abdomen of certain kinds of flies, and which these insects use for the purpose of penetrating various substances, as plants, the skins of animals, wood, and sometimes even stone, and thus forming places for the deposition of eggs. So striking is this adaptation of these organs to the end they are designed to accomplish, that surely no candid or unprejudiced mind can deny, that they bear evident marks of benevolent design. Not only is the organ itself well fitted to penetrate any substance suitable for the sustenance of the young, but the sheath incloses a solid stem, along which runs a groove by which the egg is conveyed to the place thus provided for its reception. The most remarkable object in the engraving is the whimble of the ostrum or gad-fly, the peculiar construction of whose ovipositor enables it to penetrate the thickest hides. This instrument draws out like the parts of a spy-glass, the last part being armed with three hooks.

The stings of insects, and of the bee in particular, would well merit a separate article, but from their resemblance in structure to the ovipositors, may here be noticed. Without dwelling on the mechanism of the bee's sting, in itself wonderful, we would point our readers to the extraordinary union of chemistry with this mechanism. The sting, astonishing as is its structure, would have been entirely useless, had not the animal been provided with means, by a chemical elaboration in its own body, to convert honey -one of the mildest of substances-into a most intense and virulent poison; nor would the poison have attained its effect had the insect been destitute of an organ by which it could discharge the venom against its enemy.

Many parts of the insect economy are involved in obscurity, but the more that the structure and habits of these wonderful little animals are investigated, the more powerful will our argument become, and the more shall we be convinced that the works of nature display, even in their humblest parts, an ingenuity which the art of man could never rival, and which, to every reflecting mind, demonstrates the existence of a wise, powerful, and benevolent God. Trinity College, Dublin.

J. G. R.

PALESTINE lies between the degrees of 31 and 34 of north latitude. It is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, usually called in Scripture 'the Great Sea,' and on the East by Arabia.—With both accuracy and minuteness, the sacred penman describes it as 'a land of hills and valleys, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.'— Deut. xi. 11, viii, 7, 9.

The principal hills of Palestine are the mountain range of Lebanon, which forms the northern boundary of the country;-Gilead, the hill country on the east of the Jordan; Mount Seir, a mountainous tract on the south of the country; Mount Carmel, on the sea-coast; Mount Tabor, in the plain of Esdraelon; the mountains of Gilboa, near Scythopolis, or Bethshan; Mount Zion, on which part of Jerusalem formerly stood; and the Mount of Olives, which lay east of this city.

Palestine contains two considerable lakes, or inland seas: —the lakes of Gennesaret, called also the sea of Tiberias or Galilee, lying in a basin of about forty miles in circuit; and the lake Asphaltites, or Dead Sea, which is about twenty-four leagues long and six or seven leagues broad. Through the former of these lakes, and into the latter, flowed the venerable Jordan.

Of the rivers of Palestine, the only one that strictly deserves to be called a river, is the Jordan. This river flows through the whole length of Palestine from north to south, dividing the country into two unequal parts. Its breadth is about twenty yards, its depth considerably greater than the height of a man, and its current very rapid.-The remaining streams of Palestine are mere brooks or mountain torrents, deriving their importance from their historical associations.

This country was the promised inheritance of the seed of Abraham, and as such, was possessed by the tribes of Israel. They had, however, to dispossess the original inhabitants of it. The wars which the Israelites thus carried

*See Sep. Magazine.

on with the Canaanites, differing as they did from all other wars in many important particulars, are with propriety called the wars of the Lord."*

At different periods of its history, Palestine was subject to various important political divisions. Under the administration of Joshua, it was divided into tribes or cantons for the several tribes; under the reign of Solomon, there existed another and greater division of it into provinces ; under the reign of Rehoboam, it was divided into two separate kingdoms; and, at the period at which the Son of God became incarnate and tabernacled in it, it was divided into provinces. This last division, under which our map exhibits it, comprehended the provinces of GALILEE, SAMARIA, JUDEA, PEREA, and IDUMEA.

GALILEE seems to have included the territories formerly assigned to the tribes of Issachar, Zebulon, Naphthali and Asher. It was divided into Upper and Lower. Upper Galilee was the more northern division of this province, and from its proximity to Tyre and Sidon, is called Galilee of the nations or gentiles; (Is. ix. 1; Matt. iv. 15;) and the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. (Mark vii. 31.) The principal city in this region was Caesarea Philippi. Lower Galilee lay between the Mediterranean and the Lake of Gennesaret, was situated in a fertile plain, and was exceedingly populous. It was the scene of the greater part of our Lord's personal ministry, and was most honoured of any with his presence. The principal cities and places of this region were Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, Caesarea of Palestine and Ptolemais.

SAMARIA comprehended the territory that had been originally assigned to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Lying between Judea and Galilee, it was necessary for persons going up out of the latter province to Jerusalem to pass through it. This sufficiently explains the remark of John on our Lord's journey from Jerusalem to Galilee, (iv. 4.) He must needs go through Samaria.' This province contained the following places-Samaria, Sichem or Sychar, and Antipatris.

JUDEA comprehended the territories originally assigned to the tribes of Juda, Benjamin, Simeon, and part of the tribe of Dan. It was nearly co-extensive with the ancient kingdom of Judah. Its capital was Jerusalem, and its other principal places Arimathea or Rama, Azotus or Ash

*For a particular account of the conquest of Canaan, wherein are vindicated the character and government of God, see Biblical Topography,' published by Ward & Co., London.