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was built by the Caliph Abdurrahman-" the third and greatest of that name," at the instigation of his favourite wife, and called after her. The occasion of it is thus related by the Arabian historians. One of the Caliph's slaves happening to die possessed of considerable property, he commanded that it should be expended in the redemption of captives; but, on inquiry, not one Moslem captive could be found in the dominions of the Franks,-at which circumstance the sovereign rejoiced and returned thanks to God. His wife, Azzahra, whom he loved excessively, then said to him, "Build a city that may take my name and be mine." In compliance with the request, Abdurrahman, who surpassed all his ancestors in a passion for building, collected together the most skilful architects and masons from Bagdad, Constantinople, and other parts; and with their assistance proceeded to raise "one of the most stupendous, most renowned, and most magnificent structures ever erected by man." The number of men employed in it daily, was ten thousand-besides 1400 beasts of burden; the time of its erection was twenty-five years, and the total cost of it between three and four millions of our money. The palace comprised 4300 columns of various sizes, including a gift of 140 from the Greek Emperor; the number of doors of every description was many thousand, and all were plated or gilt, or covered with iron or copper.

The State-room, or Hall of the Caliphate, was of surpassing splendour; the walls and the roof were of variegated marble inlaid with gold. In the middle of this saloon was a large marble bason filled with quicksilver; and on each side were eight doors, hung on arches of ivory and ebony, ornamented with gold and precious stones, and resting on pillars of variegated marble and pure crystal. On the admission of the sun's rays, say the Arabians, the splendour reflected from the roof and the walls was such as to

deprive the beholder of sight. When the Caliph wished to surprise or terrify any one in his company, he would make a sign to one of his Sclavonians, to put the quicksilver in motion, the glare from which would strike the eye of the spectator like flashes of lightning, and alarm all present with the idea that the room was in motion, as long as the agitation of the quicksilver continued.

Alkakem the Second, who succeeded his father, Abdurrahman the Third, made additions to this famous palace; and there is a story recorded in connexion with his accomplishment of the work, affording an interesting example of that regard for justice which characterized the early Mohammedan rulers. A poor woman at Azzahra possessed a small piece of ground contiguous to the royal gardens; the caliph, in his desire of enlarging the palace, made proposals to her for the land, but she rejected every offer, being unwilling to part with the heritage of her forefathers. Upon this, one of the caliph's officers took from her by force what she refused to yield to entreaty. The woman, in an agony of grief, repaired to Cordova, to implore the succour of Ibn Bechir, the cadi, or judge of the city. The case was embarrassing, to use the words of M. Cardonne, the Frenca historian of Spain under the Arabs; for, although the law was clear and precise, it was not easy to make it appear so to one who might think that, by his rank, he was placed above all law. The magistrate, however, mounted his ass, taking with him a sack of enormous size, and presented himself before Hisham, who happened to be then sitting in a pavilion on the very ground belonging to the old woman. The arrival of the cadi, still more the sack which he carried on his shoulders, surprised the caliph. Ibn Bechir having

prostrated himself, entreated the monarch to allow him to fill his sack with some of the earth upon which they then were. The request was granted, and when the sack was full the cadi desired his master to help him to lift it on his ass. This strange demand astonished Alkakem still more, and he told the cadi that the load was too heavy. “O, prince,” replied Ibn Bechir, "this sack, which you find too heavy, contains but a very small portion of the earth which you have unjustly taken from a poor woman; how then, at the day of judgment, shall you bear the weight of the whole?" Far from being incensed at this bold rebuke, the caliph generously acknowledged his fault, and restored the land, with every thing he had caused to be erected on it.

Not a vestige exists of the palace of Azzahra; its complete and intentional destruction is recorded by the historians as having taken place in the domestic troubles of the eleventh century. The supposed site of the structure is said to be still frequented by the Spaniards, who admire it greatly for the beauty of its surrounding scenery, and the salubrious qualities of its air and water.

CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IN MAN.-In man, the heart is said at every contraction to expel about two ounces of blood, and calculating that there are eighty such contractions in a minute, there must be one hundred and sixty ounces sent forth by it in that space of time; and in the course of about three minutes the whole blood in the circulation, on an average about thirty pounds, must pass through the heart; and in the space of one hour this must by consequence take place twenty times. What must be the feelings of that man who can think of these things without wonder? I envy not his feelings, I covet not his mind, who, reflecting on the tissues to be permeated, the functions to be discharged, the secretions to be formed from, and the nutritious substances to be taken into the circulating fluid; and reflecting upon how soon each particle, each atom of blood, after having been deteriorated in its constitution, and rendered unfit for the discharge of its important duties, is again driven through the lungs and again aërated; who, I repeat, reflecting on these things, can retire from the investigation of the course of the blood in our frames, without feelings ennobled, and the whole man rendered better by his researches. But, to carry this interesting investigation still further, let us suppose that two ounces of blood will occupy a cylinder eight inches in length, then it will pass through eight hundred and forty inches in a minute, and thirty-eight thousand four hundred inches, or three thousand two hundred feet in an hour.-DR. ROBERTSON.

THE PEASANT'S HOME.
SUBLIMELY seated on yon airy ridge,
High peering o'er the woods, the village church
Lifts to the clouds its venerable tower.

The peasant thence, exulting, looks on all
The boundless prospect; but his raptur❜d eye

In all the goodly picture sees no spot

So dear to him as that beloved vale,

Where his cot, straw-roof'd, borders on the stream
Of his own wand'ring Tamar. Priz'd by him
Is his abode of bliss. The morning gale
Steals through his leaf-hung lattice, breathing round
The odours of the garden; and how sweet,
How cool, how all-reviving is the breeze
To him of fragrant Evening. "Tis the hour
Of grateful, welcome rest. Relaxing then
On the oak bench before his cottage-door,
Surrounded by his children, pleas'd he looks
On the rich harvests waving round; the fields
Strew'd with the odorous hay, the orchards hung
With crops of fairest promise; or his eye
Rests on the Sun irradiating all

The glowing West with its celestial hues;
And as the twilight slowly, solemnly
Approaches, lulling nature to repose,

"And light and sound are ebbing from the earth,"
Poor were the treasures of the radiant Ind,

To purchase raptures exquisite as his.--CARRINGTON,

THE USEFUL ARTS. No. VII. CRUCIFEROUS PLANTS.-UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. SALAD HERBS.-PLANTS USED FOR SEASONING AND PICKLING.-CONDIMENTS.-SUGAR.

WE now come to the order of CRUCIFEROUS plants, which do not afford the nutritive principles starch, or sugar, or farina, but yet are very essential articles of food. We are ignorant of the wonderful organic powers of digestion and assimilation, but we know that the human constitution requires a certain quantity of herbaceous vegetable food to keep it in perfect health, and that the order of plants in question supplies this in the most efficient form. It may be added that the cruciferous plants differ from most others in containing more azote, an essential animal principle, and in being without a single exception, innocent, if not wholesome. The CABBAGE, and its endless varieties of BROCOLI, CAULIFLOWER, SPROUTS, &c.; the TURNIP, SEA CALE, RADISH, CRESS, MUSTARD, &c., belong to this order.

The CARROT, the Parsnep, and Celery, are the principal and best known vegetables belonging to an order of plants which possess the most opposite qualities. This apparent contradiction is easily explained; the Umbelliferous plants are always injurious, and often most fatally poisonous, but the peculiar vegetable principles to which they owe these formidable qualities, are only elaborated in the leaves, in consequence of the chemical changes which are effected in the sap by the agency of air and light. The proper juices, or this modified sap, are transmitted to the bark and stem; it is in the leaves or stem therefore that the noxious principles abound, while the fruit or seed is comparatively free from them.

The vegetable principles are, generally, extremely volatile, easily dissipated by heat; hence cooking by fire renders many parts of plants innocent, if not beneficial, by dispersing the dangerous juices, or oils, while the nutritive matter they may contain remains unaffected by the process. The roots of the Carrot and Parsnep abound with sugar, and contain but little, if any, of the poisonous principles which reside in the stem and leaves, and what there is, is probably removed by the heat in boiling. These roots are consequently two of the most nutritious vegetables

we possess.

which is more general than for the Alliaceous order, containing the Onion, Garlic, Shalot, Leek, &c. These plants are bulbous, and it is the bulb that is eaten. They owe their peculiar pungent and stimulating flavour to a white volatile oil, and they contain a good deal of phosphoric acid. Of the Onion there are innumerable varieties, which have been produced in consequence of the early cultivation of the plant, and of the difference of soil and climate in which it has been raised: those producing the largest bulbs are the mildest in flavour. That of the Garlic is so powerful as to admit of its being employed only as a condiment, and in small quantities; and, indeed, the strong and disgusting odour which they impart to the breath, have caused them all to be almost banished from the tables of the upper classes, although they are eminently wholesome.

SALAD HERBS AND VEGETABLES USED IN THEIR RAW STATE, OR AT LEAST UNCOOKED BY HEAT. lettuce and endive, the former being properly a spring or In this country the principal salad vegetables are the summer, and the other an autumnal or winter plant. Both belong to an extensive order called composite, of which the common Leontodon, Thistle, and Daisy may be taken as types of the three natural sections into which the order is divided. There are several varieties of the Lettuce; of the two principal one is probably an indigenous plant, (Lactuca virosa,) improved by cultivation; the other derives its name from having been brought originally from the island of Cos, and is the one most preferred for salads. These plants, the last named especially, contain a good deal of the narcotic principle, which gives to opium its peculiar properties; accordingly lettuce acts as a soporific, but does not appear to produce any deleterious effects on the constitution.

Besides these two plants, Beet-Root, Celery, Chives, Leeks, Onions, Cress, Mustard, Leontodon, Lamb's-Lettuce, Scurvy-Grass, Tarragon, Chervil, Burnet, and Sorrel, are used in salads, and many more might be added to the list. The term salad is applied to a dish of two or several mustard, &c. mingled to form a smooth liquid of the conof these plants, cut up into a dressing of olive-oil, vinegar, sistence of cream; and it is probable that the stimulating, nutritive, or antiseptic properties of this condiment, coun

mass of raw vegetable matter taken into the stomach; however this may be, it is certain that persons, in health, feel a craving for salad, and may indulge in the enjoyment of it to a great extent with perfect impunity, if not with positive benefit.

CELERY in its wild state is poisonous, but as it is culti-terbalance any injurious effects which might arise from the vated in this country, the stem and leaves are kept from the air and light, consequently the poisonous principles are not fully elaborated, and the plant is rendered as innocent as it is grateful by its coolness and juiciness. All raw vegetable matter, however, is comparatively indigestible, and celery is not exempt from this property, so that it is only when boiled in soups, &c., that it is rendered completely innoxious.

SPINACH is the principal vegetable cultivated, of an order which would supply an abundant variety of wholesome herbaceous matter; and in some counties of our own island, as well as in many places abroad, where people are less fastidious, or are compelled to avail themselves of every resource for food; several species of the Chenopodeæ are so employed. The wild Goose-Foot, Good King Harry, Orach, &c. may be cited as examples. The Beet-Root, belonging to this order, is remarkable for the quantity of sugar which it contains, and to which it owes its nutritive quality. It was extensively cultivated in France during the commencement of the present century, for the purpose of obtaining sugar from it, at the time when the war existing between that country and our own, deprived the French and their allies of the supply of sugar from the West India Islands, all of which were in our possession, either as colonies or conquests. On the restoration of peace, when a more humane and enlightened policy restored a free interchange of the natural productions of remote countries, France, like all the rest of Europe, could be more cheaply supplied with foreign sugar, and the cultivation of Beet for that purpose has gradually declined, though it is far from being given up.

In Britain, Beet is but little used, and that little only in salads, as a preserve, or for making wine. The cause of this neglect of so delicate and wholesome a root is unascountable, since, being an indigenous plant, it is perfectly hardy, and of the easiest culture.

The Mangel-Wurzel is a variety of Beet, cultivated in Britain only as food for cattle.

The Water-Cress (Nasturtium officinale) and the Radish (Raphanus sativus) are the only plants always eaten without any addition whatever, at least in this country. Both belong to the order Crucifera, which has been already mentioned as being extremely wholesome, if not nutritive. The Cucumber is a fruit, and does not fall within this division of our subject.

HERBS, OR PLANTS USED FOR Seasoning. MOST of these belong to an order of plants remarkable for abounding in a variety of volatile oils, to which they owe their aromatic perfume and flavour, which rather resides in their stalks and leaves, than in their flowers. We can here only enumerate their names, Thyme, Mint, Sage, Marjoram, Clary, Savory, and Basil. Lavender, which belongs to the same order is not used to eat in any form; Tansy, Rue, Tarragon, and Rosemary are composite plants, as is also Chamomile.

Parsley and Fennel are umbelliferous plants, and afford an exception to the usual poisonous quality of the leaves of that order. Perhaps they are only innocent when eaten young, as the former always is, before the flowers appear, it being a biennial, in the proper sense of the term; that is, it flowers the second year, ripens its seed and dies. Fennel is a perennial, and is little used.

Horse-radish (Cochlearia armoracia), an indigenous plant of the Cruciferous order, extremely prolific; the root is highly pungent, and more wholesome than most other strongly stimulating vegetable products.

There is a class of plants occasionally used for seasoning that must not be omitted: they all belong to the division of the vegetable kingdom containing those plants which do not flower, and differ as much in their appearance and Or all vegetable products there is none the taste for forms, as they do in their physiological characters. The

best that can be said of them as food is, that in small quantities they may be innocent. The Champignon, (Agaricus pratensis,) is a small species of Mushroom, (Agaricus campestris,) found on pastures and hills in the morning, especially in Autumn; but large quantities are raised artificially in frames, on old dung, or tan, in which pieces of mushroom spawn have been mingled. The spawn being nothing more than portions of a similar bed, which has produced the plants in abundance. The Morel, (Phallus esculentus,) differs from the mushroom in being a hollow, light, spherical mass, supported by a stem; they grow in damp woods and pastures, chiefly in May and June; it is but little used in Britain though indigenous here. The Truffle, (Tuber cibarium,) is a species of fungus that grows underground in woods in many countries; in France they are found by dogs, which are trained to this employment; like the Morel it is only used in a few dishes. The principal use of mushrooms is in the making of catsup. On the Continent many species are eaten which are disregarded by us.

PLANTS USED FOR PICKLES.

PICKLING is the term used to express the mode of preserving animal or vegetable substances from the putrefactive fermentation, or from decomposition, by immersion in vinegar. When the same effect is produced by impregnating the food with salt, the process is also thence called salting. The significant word preserving is, commonly, applied to the preparation of fruit with sugar, which is likewise a most powerful antiseptic.

In treating of animal food we shall recur to the process of pickling and salting.

The noun Pickles, has been appropriated to express the preparation of certain vegetable products in vinegar, the flavour of which is heightened and improved by the addition of stimulating spices. Almost any plant which is eatable might be made into a pickle, and the number that are so treated is very great. The following are the principal in use in our country.

The leaves of a red or a wnite species of cabbage, the Samphire, (Crithmum maritimum,) an umbelliferous plant, growing on cliffs on the sea-shore; the flower-buds of the Cauliflower, the leaf-buds or bulbs of the Onion, Garlic, Shalot, &c.; the fruit of the Capsicum, a genus of which there are several species thus used-in some the fruit is a green, in others a scarlet oblong or roundish capsule, containing numberless small seeds, of an intensely pungent taste; the Love-apple (Solanum lycopersicum) is of the same genus as the common potato, a tender annual, originally from South America; the Nasturtium (Tropæolum majus); the Gerkin, Cucumber, Melon, and Pumpkin, fruits of species of Cucumis, trailing tender plants of the same order as our wild briony, which is highly poisonous; the Caper (Capparis spinosa), a native of Sicily; the radish and the French bean. But the finest and most highly-prized of all fruits for pickling, is the Mango (Mangifera indica). This tree is a native of India and South America, bearing narrow leaves, small white blossoms, producing a fruit the size of a goose's egg, but variable in different species. As a fruit, in the common acceptation of the word, it ranks as the first, but as it will not keep, its merits are only known to Orientalists.

The vegetable or vegetables to be pickled should be selected free from injuries, and of course clean; they should be dried in a cloth, cut in pieces, and laid in salt and water for two days, or more, to imbibe as much of the salt as they can. The vinegar, which should be the strongest and purest to be got, is generally boiled, both to evaporate any water which may dilute it, as well as to extract the flavour from the spice, which is put into it for that object. The spice is generally bird and long-pepper, cloves, mace, allspice, and ginger in abundance. The hot vinegar, when it has been sufficiently boiled, is poured over the vegetables and left till cold: it is then strained off again by means of a sieve or colander, and boiled again, and this process is repeated even a third time. Finally, it is poured hot on the vegetables, which are put into stoneearthenware jars, and these should be filled as nearly full as is convenient, for the purpose of excluding the air as much as possible; which object is furthered, by immediately tying a piece of bladder over the mouth of the jar, the air being thus inclosed in a rarefied state, owing to the heat, a smaller volume of it occupies the empty space than would otherwise be the case.

All pickle should be kept for some months at least before

it is used, and the flavour of most improves in proportion to the time it is kept.

THE PRINCIPAL VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES SERVING FOR CONDIMENTS, &c.

SUGAR.

IT has been already mentioned that the saccharine is the most generally diffused of all vegetable principles, but the plant in which it most abounds, or from which it is chiefly extracted in its separate state, is the Sugar-cane*, the Saccharum officinarum.

This plant belongs to the order of Grasses; there are several varieties, varying in height from ten to twenty feet, and in the arrangement of the knots in the stems. It is stated to have been originally brought westward, from China; till, soon after the discovery of America, it was transported thither, and spread so rapidly, and thrives so well there, that at present that Continent, and especially the West Indian Islands, supply the greatest part of the civilized world with this necessary. The juice is expressed from the stem by crushing between large rollers in a mill, and is collected in a cistern, from which it must be immediately transferred to the boilers, for otherwise, fermentation would spoil it, this action often commencing in ten or twenty minutes, owing to the warmth of the climate, and the abundance of sugar in the fluid. A certain proportion of lime, or of lime-water, is added to the juice, in order to neutralize any acid which it may contain. The lime also appears to act as a clarifier, for it causes much feculent matter to form and float on the top of the liquid before it begins to boil, which matter is carefully skimmed off; the juice is then boiled as rapidly as possible for the purpose of evaporating the superfluous water, and thus accelerating the crystallization of the sugar, which takes place on cooling, the boiled syrup being removed to shallow pans for that purpose.

When the mass in the coolers has granulated, or imperfectly crystallized, it is put into hogsheads, which have one or more holes in the bottoms, to allow the superfluous fluid, or the molasses to drain off; after this is sufficiently effected, the sugar is ready to be exported, and is called brown, or raw, or muscovado sugar; clayed sugar is prepared by putting the boiled juice, when brought, by that process, to a proper consistence, into conical pots, the apex being downwards, and having a hole there, through which the molasses may drain. After a time, a coat of clay, mingled in water till it becomes fluid, is laid on the surface of the sugar, the water filters through the porous mass beneath, and carries with it a large proportion of the impurites contained in the sugar.

Loaf sugar, or the hard white sugar used for domestic purposes, is procured from raw sugar by refining, a process differing in no respect in point of principle from that to which the sugar has already been subjected, in order to obtain it from the juice of the cane; only that each step is repeated till all foreign matter is removed. To assist in this object, bullock's blood is mixed with the lime-water in which the raw sugar is re-dissolved; the albumen contained in this animal fluid coagulates, when heat is applied to boil the liquid, and materially assists in clarifying the mass. In some refineries, ivory-black, or animal-charcoal, is added to the boiled juice, to aid in rendering it more transparent and purer. When sufficiently clarified, the sugar is again put into conical forms and clayed, as before described. The sugar-loaves are finally dried in a stove, and packed in strong paper for sale.

The delicate part of this process consists in removing the boiled juice precisely at the right time, for the heat, if continued too long, would re-convert the mass into molasses, or would burn it, and so spoil the taste. Steam is now applied as the heating power, because it is more easily regulated than ordinary fires.

In the United States of America, a large proportion of the sugar consumed is prepared from the descending sap, or proper juices of the Sugar Maple, (Acer saccharinum and Acer nigram.) The trees are tapped at the proper season by a cut being made through the bark, and the juice runs into a vessel placed to receive it. The subsequent processes do not differ greatly from those above described.

An account of the practical cultivation of the cane, and of the mode of preparing the sugar, has appeared in the Saturday Magazine, Vol. II., p. 219. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves here to the more general principles concerning this substance.

THE HARVEST IN NASSAU*.

IN Langen-Schwalbach, in this province, the crops of oats, rye, and wheat, (principally bearded,) are much heavier than any one would expect from such light, and apparently poor land; but the heavy dews which characterize the summer climate of this high country impart a nourishment, which, in richer lands, often lies dormant from drought. In Nassau, the corn is cut principally by women, who use a sickle so very small and light, that it seems but little labour to wield it. They begin early in the morning; and, with short intervals of rest, continue till eleven o'clock, when the various village bells suddenly strike up a merry peal, which is a signal to the labourers to come home to their dinners. It is a very interesting scene to observe, over the undulating surface of the whole country, groups of peasants, brothers, sisters, parents, &c., all bending to their sickles; to see children playing round infants, lying fast asleep on blue smock-frocks, placed under the shade of the corn-sheafs. It is pleasing to remark the rapid progress which the several parties are making, how each little family, attacking its own patch or property, works its way into the standing corn, leaving the crop prostrate behind them; and then in the middle of this simple, rural, busy scene, it is delightful indeed to hear from the belfry of their much-revered churches a peal of cheerful notes, which peacefully sound "lullaby" to them all. In a very few seconds, the square fields and little oblong plots are deserted, and then the various roads and paths of the country suddenly burst in lines upon the attention, each being delineated by a string of peasants, who are straggling one behind the other, until paths in all directions, are seen converging towards the parental village churches, which seem to be attracting them all.

As soon as each field of corn is cut, it is bound into sheafs, about the size they are in England; seven of these are then made to lean towards each other, and upon them all is placed a large sheaf reversed, the ears of which hanging downwards, form a sort of thatch, which keeps this little stack dry until its owner has time to carry it home. It generally remains many days in this state, and after the harvest has been all cut, the country covered with these stacks resembles a vast encampment.

The carts and waggons used for carrying the corn are exceedingly well adapted to the country. Their particular characteristic is excessive lightness; and, indeed, were they heavy, it would be quite impossible for any cattle to draw them up and down the hills. Occasionally they are drawn by horses-often by small active oxen; but cows more generally perform this duty, and with quite as much patience as their mistresses, who, at the same moment, are labouring before them at the sickle. The yoke, or beam, by which these cows are connected, is placed immediately behind their horns; a little leather pillow is then laid upon their brow, over which passes a strap that firmly lashes their heads to the beam; and it is, therefore, against such soft cushions that the animals push to advance and thus linked together by this sort of Siamese band, it is curious to observe them eating together, then by agreement raising their heads to swallow, then again standing motionless chewing the cud, which is seen passing and repassing from the stomach to the mouth. The Nassau cows certainly do not seem to suffer while working in their light carts; as soon as their mistress advances, they

A sovereign duchy of the German empire, bordered by the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine, Hesse-Darmstadt, Frankfort, and the Rhine.

green

follow her, and if she turns and whips them, then
they seem to hurry after her more eagerly than ever.
Nothing can be better adapted to the features of
resources of its inhabitants, than the equipment of
the country, nothing can better accord with the feeble
these economical waggons and carts: the cows and
oxen can ascend any of the hills, or descend into any
of the valleys; they can, without slipping, go sideways
along the face of the hills, and in crossing the
swampy grassy ravines, I particularly remarked the
advantage of the light waggon drawn by animals with
cloven feet; for had one of our heavy teams attempted
the passage, they would soon have become unable to
extricate themselves. But in making the comparison
between the horse and the cow (as far as regards
Nassau husbandry), I may further observe, that the
former has a very expensive appetite, and wears
very expensive shoes; as soon as he becomes lame
he is useless, and as soon as he is dead he is
carrion. Now a placid, patient, Langen-Schwalbach
cow, in the bloom of her youth, costs only two or
three pounds; she requires neither corn nor shoe-
ing; the leaves of the forest, drawn by herself to the
village, form her bed, which in due time she carries
out to the field as manure: there is nothing a light
cart can carry which she is not ready to fetch, and
from her work she cheerfully returns to her home to
give milk, cream, butter, and cheese, to the establish-
ment: at her death, she is still worth eleven krutzers
a pound as beef; and when her flesh has disappeared,
her bones, after being ground at the mill, once again
and enrich them.-Bubbles from the Brunnens of
appear upon her master's fields, to cheer, manure,

Nassau.

WE cannot new model society, nor new mould or purify the public heart; but we can begin the amelioration by a firm and wise government of our own. Let us mainly study into action about us, with all the buds and bloom of a fresh this effect, and a new spirit and temper would soon warm moral spring. No one knows how much good he may do by his own quiet and unobtruding good example. Our eyes are always on each other, and if we took but half as much pains to make our dispositions and feelings pleasing to each other, as we do to make our complexions, persons, and be ever unconsciously educating and aiding others to and dress agreeable, we should be half seraphs ourselves, become such. By improving ourselves, we should be silent and secret benefactors to all with whom we intermingle and associate. We cannot well avoid more or less imitating each other. Those who see and feel in another what they like, what they perceive to be pleasing, are imperceptions to be gratifying, and what they hear to be approved tibly attracted to do what they find from their own sensaof by those who observe it. No one, therefore, acts rightly without acting beneficently in so doing. He scatters the seed of a sweet flower, that will spring up again in some other bosom, sure to multiply itself in the same way for ever.-TURNER.

trials. Reason, religion, and time, when they come to opeI GRIEVE that great virtues are exposed to such severe rate, do wonders-such wonders as the sufferer, in the first attack of sorrow, has no eonception of. Yet one cannot but lament that persons of the best sense and most piety suffer more, perhaps, from the first assaults of affliction than any others; and those who bear distress with the most dignity, am persuaded, feel it with the greatest intenseness. mitigate such distress-a deep sense of the truth and This good family possess the only consolation which can efficacy of the Christian Religion; yet I am going to say a bold thing, I never could observe that nature suffered the less, because grace triumphed the more. And hence arises (as I take it) the glory of the Christian sufferer-he feels affliction more intensely than a bad man, or grace would not have its perfect work; as it would not be difficult to subdue that which is not difficult to endure.HANNAH MORE.

CHOICE OF SEASONS.

How regularly has God determined a set season for all his creatures, both for their actions and their use? "The Stork in the heavens," saith the prophet Jeremiah, "knoweth her appointed times, and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow, observe the time of their coming." Who have seen the Stork before the Calends of August, or a Swallow in the winter? Who hath heard the Nightingale in the heat of harvest; or the Bittern bearing her base note in the coldest months? Yea, the fishes of the sea know and observe their due seasons, and present us with their shoals only when they are wholesome and useful; the Herring doth not furnish our market in the spring, nor the Salmon or Mackerel in the winter: yea, the very flies both have and keep their days appointed; the Silk-worm never looks forth of that little cell of her conception, till the Mulberry puts forth the leaves for their nourishment; and who hath ever seen a Butterfly, or a Hornet, in winter? There are flies, we know, appropriate to their own months, from which they vary not,

Lastly, how plain is this in all the several varieties of Trees, Flowers, and Herbs! the Almondtree looks out first, the Mulberry last of all; the Tulip, and the Rose, and all the other sweet ornaments of the earth are punctual in their growth and fall: but as for man, God, in his infinite wisdom has indued him with that power of reason, whereby he may make choice of the fittest seasons of all his actions, and appointed a time for every purpose under heaven, and given him wit to find and observe it. Even lawful acts unseasonably done may turn to evil; and acts indifferent, seasonably performed, may prove good and laudable. The best improvement of mo. rality, or civility, may shame us, if due time be not well regarded. Only Grace, Piety, true Virtue, can never be unseasonable.--BISHOP HALL.

THE evening proceedings and manoeuvres of the rooks are curious and amusing in the autumn. Just before dusk, they return in long strings from the foraging of the day, and rendezvous by thousands over the down, where they wheel round in the air, and sport and dive in a playful manner, all the while exerting their voices, and making a loud cawing, which, being blended and softened by the distance that we at the village are below them, becomes a confused noise or chiding; or rather a pleasing murmur, very engaging to the imagination, and not unlike the cry of a pack of hounds in hollow, echoing woods, or the rushing of the wind in tall trees, or the tumbling of the tide upon a pebbly shore. When this ceremony is over, with the last gleam of day, they retire for the night to the deep beechen woods. We remember a little girl, who, as she was going to bed, used to remark on such an occurrence, in the true spirit of physico-theology, that the rooks were saying their prayers; and yet this child was much too young to be aware that the Scriptures have said of the Deity-that, "He feedeth the ravens who call upon him." WHITE'S Selborne.

To direct a wanderer in the right way, is to light another man's candle by one's own, which loses none of its light by what the other gains.

THERE are two books from which I collect my divinitythe one, written of God; the other, of His servant Nature, that universal manuscript which he has expanded to the eyes of all. But I never so forget God as to adore the name of Nature. The effects of Nature are the works of God, whose hand and instrument only she is; and therefore, to ascribe His actions unto her, is to devolve the honour of the principal agent upon the instrument. If we may do this with reason, then let our hammers rise up and boast that they built our houses; and let our pens receive the honour of our writing.-BROWNE.

THE TIBET GOAT.

Or all the domestic goats this is the most valuable, from the material which it furnishes for the production of those elegant shawls manufactured in the valley of Cashmere and its immediate vicinity. Few goats of this species have been seen in Europe, most probably from the difficulty of preserving their lives through the various changes of climate to which they must be exposed in a journey from the bleak mountains of Tibet, to the shores of countries so far distant from their own clime. They are by no means hardy animals when taken from their native hills, but soon pine and die, if not attended to with extreme care. In the vessel in which the writer of this article returned from India, there were six of these animals, intended as a present for her Majesty Queen Charlotte of England, but they all died during the passage.

In

The Shawl-Goat is small; none of those just referred to much exceeded two feet in height. confirmation of this I give the proportions set down by M. F. Cuvier. "It is of moderate stature, being two feet high to the withers, and its length from the snout to the inosculation of the tail about two feet ten inches. Its head from the tip of the snout between the horns is nine inches, and its tail five. Like the Yak, already described *, these goats are covered with long fine hair, reaching nearly to the ground, and almost entirely concealing their legs, which gives an ungainly appearance to their movements, except when they gambol about their native mountains. They are, indeed, beautiful creatures, the long, wavy hair undulating over their bodies, or raised by their eccentric motions, gives grace to every attitude. The hair waves slightly, but is not crisped like that of the Angola Goat. Upon the head and neck the coat is generally black, but white on every other part of the body, though it is sometimes all white, and occasionally of a very pale gray.

The material from which the shawls are manufactured is a fine silky down, which grows under the long hair next to the skin, and is of the finest texture. As one goat produces but a small quantity, it is exceedingly expensive, and the shawls produced from it, consequently fetch great prices.

It is by no means an easy matter to procure a shawl made solely of the Cashmere wool; as the native manufacturers, finding it so scarce a commodity, commonly mix it with a far less expensive material, by which the value of the shawl is considerably lessened. A large shawl made entirely of the wool of the Tibet goat, might be drawn through a moderately sized finger ring. The colour of this wool is invariably of a pale gray, whatever may be that of the longer hair.

There are several traits peculiar to this goat. It is a graceful and beautifully formed creature, and in its gambols displays a natural elegance of motion, remarkably striking. What especially distinguishes it, above all other animals of the goat tribe, is, that it emits no disagreeable odour, and is, I believe, the Its habits are singularly only goat which does not. gentle. It is a common inmate of the huts of the mountaineers, and is generally treated with great kindness. Its value is fully appreciated by the Tibetans, both for its domestic uses, and for the rare material which grows upon its skin.

Though Cuvier asserts that there are several races of the Shawl-goat, which chiefly differ, according to his account, in the length of the ears, yet he says they all produce the same wool, and seems to signify that there is no distinction of quality. He ascribes the fineness of their wool to the influence of climate, which See Saturday Magazine, Vol. V., p. 143.

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