1 doing amiss, or neglecting their duty, he censures, mocks, and derides them with the greatest liberty. "Neptune, Vulcan, and Minerva contended for the mastery as the most skilful artificer; whereupon Neptune made a bull, Minerva a house, and Vulcan a man: Momus was appointed judge between them; but he chid them all three. He accused Neptune of imprudence, because he did not place the bull's horns in his forehead before his eyes: for then the bull might give a surer and a stronger blow. He blamed Minerva, because her house was immovable; so that it could not be carried away, if by chance it was placed among bad neighbours. But he said that Vulcan was the most imprudent of them all, because he did not make a window in the man's breast, that we might see what his thoughts were, whether he designed some trick, or whether he intended what he spoke. The parents of Momus were Nox and Somnus." RUSSIAN ICE MOUNTAINS. Once upon a time, an ambassador from the north, while conversing with a king of Siam, who was all curiosity and attention, told him, among other things, that for some months of the year all the rivers of his country were frozen, and were then able to bear the weight of a carriage. The Indian monarch, thinking himself imposed or, was much enraged; ordered the ambassador to hold his tongue; and declared he would never again believe a single word he might say. How much more would-this king have wondered if he had been told, that the Russians even build houses of ice and on ice. The empress Elizabeth once gave a grand feast and show on the ice. It was a kind of historical, or rather geographical masquerade. Several months previous, she sent orders to all the governors to send from each, to the noble city of St. Petersburgh, two couple of inhabitants, dressed in the costume of, and accompanied by, animals belonging to their own place. Thus, during the rejoicings of the year 1754, persons coming from above forty different nations were seen riding in procession through the streets of St. Petersburgh; the Kamtskatkadales on sledges drawn by fine rough dogs; Laplanders on sledges drawn by rein-deer; Bucharians upon Camels; the Calmucks upon oxen; the elegant Circassians mounted upon the finest and most spirited horses; and Indians seated on huge and heavy elephants. press's Jester, who, though last not least, personated winter, and was drawn along by bears! A very large gallery was built purposely for the occasion, where each nation was allowed to amuse itself with its own music and dancing, producing a curious confusion of sounds, not unlike, we should think, what is called "a Dutch concert." Each nation had a dinner prepared and served up according to its own style. The new married couple were conducted by this laughable escort to a palace of ice built on the frozen river Neva, where all the ornaments were made of ice in perfect order: not only were the furniture and chandeliers made of ice, but even the pieces of cannon, which fired a grand salute on the arrival of the procession, and did not burst. The empress spent an enormous sum on this festival; but it enabled her to see the different manners and customs of the various people whom she governed, and gave them an innocent treat, which was long remembered with pleasure. Among the sports enjoyed on the ice in Russia, are the Ice-mountains. These are inclined planes of ice formed on beams, often seventy feet high, down which the sledge is conveyed with a quickness almost like lightning; they are found not only in cities, but in villages, and even in private gardens; and the ball-room is frequently deserted, for the sake of a slide down the These formed a motley group, and must have had a Ice-mountain. A flight of steps leads to the top, from splendid effect in the marriage procession of the Em-whence the passenger, as may be seen on the right of the foregoing engraving, rapidly descends. To make this diversion more easy and agreeable, there are large chairs fixed on skates, these being guided by a man standing behind, who is also provided with skates. The amusement is much liked by the Russian ladies, as well as others. Clad in their pelisses of costly fur, they brave the cold with a heroism which surprises persons from more southern regions. At night, the Ice-mountains are illuminated with coloured lamps; and the reflection of this mass of variegated light from the snow, greatly heightens the beauty of the scene. The nobility and gentry drive about in superb sledges; and Catharine the Second was often seen on such occasions among her people. A very large rich sledge was made for the purpose, capable of containing the whole Imperial family: to this were attached by chains, fourteen or sixteen smaller sledges, following in pairs for her Majesty's suite, the whole line of sledges being drawn by twelve or fourteen horses. London Saturday Magazine. "Although this animal has been celebrated from the earliest ages, it was, notwithstanding, but imperfectly known to the ancients. It was only towards the sixteenth century that we had some precise indications on the subject. "In comparing the descriptions which we have observed in different travellers, the Hippopotamus appears to be an animal whose body is longer and thicker than that of the rhinoceros; but his fore legs are much shorter. His head is short, and thick in proportion to the body. He has no horns, either on the nose, like the rhinoceros, or on the head, like ruminating animals. His cry when hurt approaches as near to the neighing of the horse, as the bellowing of the buffalo; but his usual voice resembles the neighing of a horse, from which, however, he differs in every other respect; and this fact, we may presume, has been the sole reason for giving him the name of Hippopotamus, or River Horse, as the howling of the lynx, which resembles that of the wolf, has occasioned him to be called the stag-like wolf. The incisive teeth of the Hippopotamus, and especially the two canine teeth of the lower jaw, are very long, very strong. and of so hard a substance, that they strike fire with a piece of iron. This is probably what has given rise to the fable of the ancients, who have reported that the Hippopotamus vomited fire. These canine teeth of this animal are of white, so clear and so hard, that they are preferable to ivory for making artificial teeth. The incisive teeth of the Hippopotamus, especially those of the lower jaw, are very long, cylindrical, and furrowed. The canine teeth, which are also very long, are crooked, prismatic, and sharp, like the tusks of a boar. The molares are square, or rather longer on one side than the other, nearly like the grinders of a man, and so thick, that a single one weighs more than three pounds. The largest of the incisive or the canine teeth, are twelve, and even sixteen inches in length, and sometimes weigh twelve or thirteen pounds each. The skin is in some parts two inches thick; and the Africans cut it into whip-thongs, which, in consequence of their softness and pliability, they prefer to those procured from the rhinoceros hide. "The male Hippopotamus is about six feet nine inches long, from the extremity of the muzzle to the beginning of the tail; fifteen feet in circumference, and six feet and a half in height. His legs are about two feet ten inches long; the length of the head three feet and a half, and eight feet and a half in circumference; and the width of the mouth two feet four inches. It however sometimes acquires much greater magnitude. In the south of Africa, M. le Vaillant killed one which measured ten feet seven inches in length, and about nine feet in circumference. "Thus powerfully armed, with a prodigious strength of body, he might render himself formidable to every animal; but he is naturally gentle, and appears never to be the aggressor, except when annoyed or wounded. It has been erroneously stated, that he commonly moves slowly on the land, but, on the contrary, when THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. he has been injured, he has been known to pursue persons for several hours, who escaped with great difficulty. He swims quicker than he runs, pursues the fish, LAST VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN ROSS. and makes them his prey. Three or four of them are We have already adverted to the open charge of often seen at the bottom of a river, near some cataract, negligence which was brought against Captain Ross forming a kind of line, and seizing upon such fish as on his return from the first expedition in 1818, and to are forced down by the violence of the stream. He the doubts that were by many expressed as to the acdelights much in the water, and stays there as willing-curacy of his statements. It will not, of course, be ly as upon land; notwithstanding which, he has no supposed, that the chivalrous honour of a British seamembranes between his toes, like the beaver and otter; man could tamely brook a censure so directly impugnand it is plain, that the great ease with which he ing his personal and professional character. To vindiswims, is only owing to the great capacity of his body, cate his wounded reputation from the stain which, to which only makes bulk for bulk, and is nearly of an his jealous eye, seemed to rest upon it, became, thereequal weight with the water. Besides, he remains a fore, with this gallant officer, an object of paramount long time under water, and walks at the bottom as importance, for the attainment of which, neither the well as he does in the open air. When he quits it to sacrifice of his property, nor the venture of his life, graze upon land, he eats sugar-canes, rushes, millet, were thought too great a price. Accordingly he left rice, roots, &c. of which he consumes and destroys a England with the Victory steam-vessel, in the summer great quantity, and does much injury to cultivated of 1829, in order to discover, if possible, a passage to lands; but, as he is more timid upon earth than in the the westward, through Prince Regent's Inlet; which water, he is very easily driven away; and, as his legs he reached in August. It was on the western shore of are short, he cannot save himself well by flight, if he this opening that the Fury had been abandoned in is far from any water. His resource when he finds Captain Parry's third voyage, and when Captain Ross himself in danger, is to plunge himself into the water, reached the spot where she had been left, all remains and go a great distance before he re-appears. He com- had been drifted away by the ice. But the provisions monly retreats from his pursuers; but if he is wound- which had been deposited on shore were in good coned, he becomes irritated, and immediately facing about dition; and having availed themselves of these, Ross with great fury, rushes against the boats, seizes them and his party continued to the south and west, until in with his teeth, often tears pieces out of them, and iatitude 70°, and longitude 90° W., their progress was sometimes sinks them under water. "I have seen," arrested for the season. An excellent wintering harsays a traveller, "an Hippopotamus open his mouth, fix bour was found, in which they secured their ship, one tooth on the side of a boat, and another to the (which had already been converted into a sailing vessecond plank under the keel; that is, four feet distant sel,) and to which they gave the name of Felix Harfrom each other, pierce the side through and through, bour. and in this manner sink the boat to the bottom. I have seen another, lying by the side of the sea-shore, upon which the waves had driven a shallop heavily laden, which remained upon his back dry, and which was again washed back by another wave, without the aninial appearing to have received the least injury. When the Negroes go a fishing in their canoes. and etertained, that a narrow neck of land presented an imwith an Hippopotamus, they throw fish w him; and then he passes on, without disturbing their fishery any more. He injures most when he can rest himself against the earth; but when he floats in the water, he can only bite. Once, when our shallop was near shore, I saw one of them get underneath it, lift it above water upon his back, and overset it with six men who were in it; but fortunately they received no hurt." "We dare not," says another traveller, "i-ritate the Hippopotamus in the water, since an adveature hap pened which was near proving faral to three men. They were going in a smal! canoe, to kill one in a river where there was but eight or ten feet water. Af ter they had discovered him walking at the bottom, according to his cus.cm, they wounded him with a long lance, which :c greatly enraged him, that he rose immediatel to the surface of the water, regarded them with a terrible look, opened his mouth, and, at one bite, took a great piece out of the side of the canoe, ard had very nearly overturned it; but he re-plunged almost directly to the bottom of the water." "These animals are only numerous in some parts of the world: it even appears that the species is confined to particular climates, and seldom to be met with but in the rivers of Africa. Dutch travellers say that they bear three or four young ones; but this appears very suspicious; as the Hippopotamus is of an enormous bulk, he is in the class of the Elephant, the rhinoceros, the whale, and all other great animals, who bring forth but one; and this analogy appears more certain than all the testimonies that they have exhibited. The female brings forth her young upon land, and the calf, at the instant when it comes into the world, will fly to the water for shelter if pursued; a circumstance which Thumburg notices as a remarkable instance of pure instinct." The winter was spent in the usual manner, and here again a party of Esquimaux contributed to alleviate its gloomy dulness. The whole summer of 1830 was spent in examining the continuity of the inlet, and whether there was a channel by which a vessel might pass to the westward; and it was at length as passable barrier to all connexion between the waters of the inlet, and the sea to the east: this extraordinary isthmus was found to be fifteen miles in breadth, ten of which were occupied by a chain of fresh water lakes. It was crossed by commander James Ross, who surveyed the sea-coast to the westward as far as to longitude 99°, or to within 150 miles of the point Turnagin of Franklin, to which it appeared directly to tend. The rest of this season was employed in tracing the coast to the eastward from the bottom of the isthmus, and the results left no doubt of its joining to the land forming Repulse Bay. A second winter was now passed in Sheriff Harbour, not far from the former winter quarters; which, with that of 1831, ıs alluded to by Captain Ross as being one of uncommon severity. The summer of 1831 appears to have been occupied in sureying the coast across the isthmus to the north-west; and in the autumn, the Victory was moved fourteen miles to the northward. All hope, however, of saving the ship, was nearly at an end; and the severity of another winter put it quite beyond possibility. Accordingly, in the month of May, 1832, she was abandoned, and our adventurers entered on a perilous and fatiguing journey to Fury Beach, as the only means of saving their lives. This they reached : on the first of July following, and they immediately proceeded to repair the boats of the Fury, and to construct a temporary hut. On the first of August they again departed, and emerged into Barrow's Strait on the 1st of September. Here, however, all their hopes of escape were at once destroyed. Nothing but one impenetrable mass of ice presented itself to view over the whole channel. Accordingly, they were compelled to return to Fury Beach, where another dreary winter was passed. At length, on the 8th of July, 1833, they once more quit ted this station. Fortunately they had now the satisfaction of finding clear water, where they had the year before been stopped by ice, and therefore made the best of their way to the eastward. On the 25th they crossed Navy Board Inlet, and on the following morning descried a ship in the offing becalmed, which proved to be the Isabella of Hull, the same vessel that Captain Ross commanded in 1818. At noon they reached her, and having been taken on board, reached England on the 20th of October, 1833, after an absence of more than four years. The results of this expedition may be briefly summed thus:-The discovery of the continent and isthmus of Boothia (as the new land to the southward was named by Captain Ross,) of the Gulf of Boothia, (or the sea to the eastward,) as also of a vast number of islands, rivers, and lakes; the determining that the north-eastern point of the American continent extends to the 74th degree of north latitude; valuable observations in every branch of science, more particularly in magnetism; and the discovery of the true position of the magnetic North Pole. This celebrated mountain, near Kadesh in Galilee, where the territories of Issachar and Naphtali almost met,* stands west of Hermon, but on the other side of Jordan, and in the great plain of Jezreel. Josephus says, it is about four miles high, and on the top is a beautiful plain about three miles and a half in circumference, and inclosed with trees, except towards the south; but according to Maundrel, Thevenot, and Pocock, one may ride to the top, and it is little more than one mile and a half of ascent; and on the top is but half a mile long, and a quarter broad-It is supposed by some that since the time of Josephus, an earthquake may have sunk it and altered its form. The mountain is in the form of a sugar loaf, and from its top is one of the most delightful prospects in the world. It was once surrounded by a wall and trench. It was on this mount that Barak assembled his army, and at the foot of it defeated the host of Jabin. On the top of this mountain it was long thought our Saviour was transfigured-but, it is so far distant from Cesarea-Philippi, where he was before and after, that it is now doubted by most people of judgment.-Monthly Repository. sa) to heq By the last accounts which had reached England from Captain Ross, being dated in July 1829, from Disco Island, fears the most alarming were excited for his safety, as the close of 1832 approached, and no tidings were yet heard from him. A meeting of the Geographical Society was held, to consider what steps were fit to be taken; and it was resolved to open a subscription, and organize a committee to make the requisite preparations for despatching a party in quest of him. This was done; and, on the 17th of February, 1833, Captain Back, to whom the expedition had been intrusted, sailed from Liverpool. Two days before the announcement of Captain Ross's safety, a letter was received from Captain Back, dated June 19th, from Jack River, with intelligence of his arrival at that stage of his journey. It was accordingly determined that a messenger should be despatched after him, to carry the welcome news, and direct him now to turn his attention to what had before been a secondary object of the expedition, geographical discovery. The SERPENTS IN A PILE IN SOUTH AMERICA. efforts of this gentleman will, it is hoped, complete our In the Savannahs of Izacubo, in Guiana, I saw the knowledge of the north-eastern shores of America. most wonderful, the most terrible spectacle that can be It is probable that he will, in the ensuing summer, seen; and although it be not uncommon to the inhabreach Coronation Gulf, and, passing Franklin's ex-itants, no traveller has ever mentioned it. We were treme eastern point, continue the survey along the shore of the Arctic Sea, to the parts surveyed by commander James Ross, and thus connect the discoveries of the late expedition with those of Franklin. od and CONCLUSION. ten men on horseback, two of whom took the lead, in order to sound the passages; whilst I preferred to skirt the great forests. One of the blacks who formed the vanguard, returned full gallop, and called to me, "Here. sir, come and see serpents in a pile." He pointed out to me something elevated in the middle of the savannah or swamp, which appeared like a bundle of arms. One of my company then said, "This is certainly one of the assemblages of serpents, which heap themselves on each other after a violent tempest: I have heard of these, but have never seen any; let us proceed cautiously, and not go too near." When we were within twenty paces of it, the terror of our horses prevented our nearer approach, to which, however none of us were inclined. The results of the various expeditions which we have recorded in the preceding pages, may be said to be almost conclusive in favour of the existence of a North-West Passage; but at the same time, equally clear in establishing the impracticability of its navigation. Its accomplishment may now be regarded rather as a point of geographical science, than as an event likely to be at all productive of any immediate practical benefit. The object for which it was originally undertaken,-the discovery of a shorter commercial On a sudden, the pyramid mass became agitated; route to the Indies, has indeed been abandoned, ever horrible hissings issued from it, thousands of serpents, since the opinion of John Davis and the older mariners, rolled spirally on each other, shot forth out of the cir that the "deep sea fryseth not," was refuted by the cle their hideous heads, presenting their envenomed experience of modern navigators; but when the motive darts and fiery eyes to us. I own I was one of the first arising from the prospect of a lucrative traffic had to draw back; but when I saw this formidable phaceased to exist, another, and still more powerful incen- lanx remained at its post, and appeared to be more tive sprung up in its place, the desire of enlarging disposed to defend itself than to attack us, I rode round the bounds of human knowledge and civilization. It it, in order to view its order of battle, which faced the must be pleasing to us to observe the strenuous efforts enemy on every side. I then sought what could be of our own country in this work; alone and unsupport- the design of this numerous assemblage; and I coned, she has done nearly all that has been done towards cluded that this species of serpents dreaded some coleffecting the solution of this great question, and still los sean enemy, which might be the great serpent, or continues her unremitting exertions on its behalf, in the caynean, and that they reunite themselves, after the hope, and the well-founded hope, we trust, of suc- the hood sto se dem cess.-London Saturday Magazine. Bee Joshua fix. 12, 221 Judges vi. 6-8.01 naving seen this enemy, in order to attack or resist him | life-blood of the community: they can if they please in a mass.- Humboldt. THE HUMAN STATURE. The idea that the original progenitors of the human race were exceedingly large, and tall in stature, is still held by some European writers. Not many years since a French author published a work in which he endeavoured to prove that there has been a gradual depreciation in the size of man, from the commencement of the world downwards, and that the same lessening control will continue to exert an influence until the end of time. A corresponding decrease in the age of mankind may be observed, it is alleged, by inquiry into the longevity of the human race in the several centuries of the world. Some contend also, that the deficiency in the number of years between the various personages noticed in the ancient sacred writings and those of our day, is more than counterbalanced by the great increase of our species throughout the world, and that in the place of accumulated years, we have accumulated numbers, whose existence is brief, that the earth may not be filled to overflowing. All these are curious speculations, not without interest to the inquiring mind. A French Author, an Academian of some note, calculates that Adam was 123 feet 9 inches in height, Noah a little over 100 feet, Abraham 80, Moses 30, Hercules 10, Alexander 6, Cæsar less than 5. Progressing in this ratio, in a few years hence, the world will be filled with a race of Lilliputians. hold in their hands the destinies of our republic; they are numerous, respectable, and powerful; and they have only to be educated half as well as other professions, to make laws for the nation. POETRY. THE LOVERS OF RUM. I've mus'd on the mis'ries of life, I met with a fair one distress'd; I ask'd whence her sorrows could come; I found a poor child in the street, I went to collect a small debt, The master was absent from home; I met with a pauper in rags, Who ask'd for a trifling sum; I've seen men, from health, wealth, and ease I need not describe their disease, Ask prisons and gallowses all Whence most of their customers come- The German Journals have some tables which prove that the distance between the earth and the sun is increasing annually by one thousandth part of that distance, and they argue from it that the increasing humidity of our summer and loss of fertility by the earth, is to be attributed solely to this circumstance. In the course of 6000 years from the present time, they assume the distance will be so great that only an eighth part of the warmth we now enjoy from the sun will be communicated to the earth, and that it will then be covered with eternal ice, in the same manner as we now see the plains of the north where the elephant formerly lived, and have neither spring nor autumn. No credit has hitherto been given to a tradition of the ancient Egyptians and Chinese, according to which those people formerly saw the sun's disc almost four times as large as we now see it; for they estimated the apparent diameter of the sun at double what it is seen in our days. If, however, we pay attention to the con-ciety by Mr. A. Wilbur of Raynham. tinued diminution of the apparent diameter of the sun, according to the best observations of several centuries, we must suppose that the ancients were not mistaken in the estimates which they have transmitted to us. ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE, The failures of Calcutta since 1829 are estimated at ninetysix millions five hundred thousand dollars. two small islands of Bahrein and Arad, in the Persian Gulf The most extensive pearl fishery in the world is at the I HAVE NO TIME TO STUDY. carried on during the summer months by negro slaves trained for the purpose, who dive for the oysters ten to fifteen fathoms deep, and remain under water from two to five minutes. The produce is sometimes 150,000l. per annum. The Bahrein pearl is considered superior to that of Ceylon. The cap worn by King Philip, the celebrated Indian warrior, has been recently presented to the cabinet of the Pilgrim So A Temperance Society has been formed in Dover, N. H. among the females engaged in the Mills in that place. It consists of more than 700 members. By the constitution, the members of this Society not only pledge themselves to total abstinence, but also to avoid dealing as far as practicable with traders who are engaged in the traffic of ardent spirits. No ardent spirit is sold, either by the wholesale or retail, in the county of Liberty, Ga. ALMANACK. The idea about the want of time is a mere phantom. Franklin found time in the midst of all his labours to dive into the hidden recesses of philosophy, and to explore the untrodden path of science. The great Frederick, with an empire at his direction, in the midst of A calendar or table containing a list of the months war, on the eve of battles which were to decide the and days, with an account of the rising and setting of fate of his kingdom, found time to revel in the charms the sun and moon, and other incidental matters. The of philosophy and intellectual pleasures. Bonaparte, Nautical Almanack, or Astronomical Ephemeris, is a with all Europe at his disposal; with kings in his anti-kind of national almanack, begun in 1767, under the chamber begging for vacant thrones, with thousands direction and by the advice of the astronomer royal, the of men whose destinies were suspended on the brittle late Rev. Dr. Maskelyne. Besides most things essenthread of his arbitrary pleasures; had time to converse tial to general use, which are found in other almanacks, with books. Cæsar when he had curbed the spirits of it contains many new and important matters, particuthe Roman people, and was thronged with visiters from the remotest kingdoms, found time for intellectual cul-larly the distance of the moon from the sun and fixed tivation. Every man has time if he is careful to im-stars, computed to the meridian of Greenwich, for every prove it; and if he does improve it as well as he might, longitude at sea. three hours of time, for the purpose of computing the This almanack is generally computed he can reap a three-fold reward. Let mechanics then make use of the hours at their disposal, if they want a few years forward, for the convenience of ships going out upon long voyages. to obtain a proper influence in society. They are the |