to moisten its parched mouth in the dreary journey | the marble-cutter, and who was distinguished rather across the desert. for the length than the excellence of his epitaphs: :One half will never be believed, The hunch of the Camel is a beautiful provision made by nature, for the support of the persevering animal when distressed for want of food; when this occurs, the fat of which the hunch is formed gradually disappears, and contributes to maintain the strength of its possessor till it is utterly exhausted. The young camel, while living upon the milk of its mother, and consequently not liable to be in want of nourishment, is without this hunch on the back, nature, although always bountiful, never labouring to a useless end. Mounted on his well-trained camel, the Arab defies the pursuit of the swiftest horse, and retires, unmolested, to his native wastes. To avoid danger from the bands of robbers with which the desert is infested, merchants and travellers collect together in large numbers; their goods and merchandise are fastened on the backs of camels, whose number sometimes amounts to several thousands; and in this manner they perform their journey. These assemblages of men and camels are called Caravans, and are furnished with guides, who, in general, are the parties from whom the Camels have been hired. EPITAPHS. IN visiting a church, for purposes of curiosity only, the objects that usually engage attention, after examining the building itself, are the memorials of the dead. They attract us by the reputation of the person to whose memory the tomb is raised, by the beauty of the monument itself, or of the inscription it bears. In the grief that is expressed, we often partake, from having ourselves experienced a similar loss; and when our own age and circumstances correspond with those of the dead, a warning voice admonishes us of the little space that exists "between the cradle and the grave." "When I look (says ADDISON,) upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tomb-stone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them; when I consider rival wits placed side by side; or the holy men that divided the world by their contests and disputes; I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together." An epitaph should tell its story in the most simple language, and in the fewest words; and the main reason why we find so small a number that are really excellent, is that these two plain rules are seldom observed. We are also apt to forget, that, though monuments are raised as tributes to departed worth, their chief utility lies in presenting and recording good examples for the living. The character of the deceased' should be described in a few appropriate touches, and not be decked out with undistinguishable praises, which he, when living, would have blushed to hear, and which have no power to "soothe the dull cold ear of death." It would indeed be well, that we remembered the remark addressed to one who showed little mercy to The other never read. Epitaphs should, especially, be marked with a deep devotional feeling. If sorrow be expressed, it should not be the sorrow that is without hope; and, again, the hope that is cherished should be the sure and certain hope, that "anchor of the soul" which they alone possess "who seek for immortality." Gray, in his beautiful Elegy in a Country Church-yard, sanctions the practice of resorting to Scripture for epitaphs,Many a holy text around she strews, Which teach the rustic moralist to die. and where shall we find so rich a treasury? It is one from which we can draw materials, suited to every age, condition, and circumstance of life. As one example, a mother inscribed on the grave of her child the following simple passage, from the narrative in St. Luke (vii. 12), He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. What words could have described her state of desolation so forcibly? We purpose presenting to our readers, occasionally, some of the best Epitaphs in our language, and commence with the following lines, which come plainly from the heart, and must reach the hearts of all who read them. WHOE ER, like me, with trembling anguish brings The following is an Epitaph, upon persons in a very humble station of life; but who is there that may not profit by such examples? On the Grave of Dr. Franklin's Parents, at Boston, in They lived lovingly together in wedlock 55 years; And, without an Estate or any gainful Employment, By constant Labour and honest Industry, (with God's blessing,) Maintained a large Family comfortably, and brought up 13 Children and 7 Grandchildren reputably. From this instance, Reader, be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, In filial regard to their Memory, NATURAL AFFECTION OF ANIMALS. I HAVE always great pleasure in seeing the affection which animals have for their offspring, and which sometimes shows itself in an extraordinary and incongruous manner. A hen who has hatched young ducks, will follow them in her agony into the water, and will sacrifice her life to preserve the lives of her chickens. A fox, or rather a vixen, has been known to carry one of her cubs in her mouth, when she has been pursued by hounds; and whoever has seen a dog break into a covey of young partridges, will have had one of the strongest proofs I know, of the force of natural affection. ORIGIN OF THE MATERIALS THE most ancient mode of writing was on cylinders, on bricks, and on tables of stone; afterwards on plates of various materials, on ivory, and similar articles. In the book of Job, mention is made of the custom of writing on stone and on sheets of lead. It was on tables of stone that Moses received the law written by the finger of God himself. The Gauls, at the time of Cæsar, wrote on tables; but of what An instance of parental affection in a bird was rethey were composed is not known. These early incently related to me, which gave me much pleasure. A ventions led to the discovery of tables of wood; gentleman, in my neighbourhood, had directed one of his and, as cedar is least corruptible, they chose this waggons to be packed up with sundry hampers and boxes, wood for the most important writings. From this intending to send it to Worthing, where he was going him- custom arises the celebrated expression of the self. For some reason his going was delayed, and he ancients, when they meant to convey the highest therefore directed that the waggon should be placed under a shed in his yard, packed as it was, till it should be conpraise of any excellent composition, that it was venient for him to send it off. While it was in the shed, a worthy to be written on cedar; though some mainpair of robins built their nest among some straw in the tain that this phrase refers to the oil of cedar, with waggon, and had hatched their young, just before it was which valuable parchment manuscripts were anointed, sent away. One of the old birds, instead of being fright- to preserve them. Isidore of Seville says, that the ened away by the motion of the waggon, only left its nest Greeks and Tuscans were the first who used wax to from time to time, for the purpose of flying to the nearest write on. hedge for food for its young, and thus alternately affording They formed the letters with an iron warmth and nourishment to the nest till it arrived at bodkin. But the Romans substituted the stylus, made of bone. They also employed reeds cut in the form of pens. Worthing. The affection of this bird being observed by the waggoner, he took care in unloading not to disturb the robins nest; and my readers will, I am sure, be glad to hear that the robin and its young ones returned safe to Walton Heath, being the place whence they had set out. Whether it was the male or female robin which kept with the waggon I have not been able to ascertain, but most probably the latter, as what will not a mother's affection induce her to perform. The distance the waggon went in going and returning, could not have been less than one hundred miles.JESSE'S Gleanings. RUNNING WATER.-It has been proved by experiment, THE merchants of Antwerp were at one time the most wealthy body of men in Europe. As an illustration of this, a story is told of one John Daens, who lent to Charles the Fifth a million of gold, to enable him to carry on his wars in Hungary, for which he obtained the royal bond. The Emperor, on his return, dined with the merchant, who, after a most sumptuous entertainment, produced the bond, not, however, for payment, but to burn it, which he is said to have done in a fire made of chips of cinnamon.- -Tour through Holland. Naudé observes, that when he was in Italy (about 1642), he saw some of those waxen tablets called Pugillares, and others composed of the bark of trees, which the ancients used in lieu of paper; which he observes was not then in use; for paper is composed of linen, and linen was not then known. Hemp, he adds, was known, but not used. Rabelais, who wrote about 1540, mentions it as a new herb, which had only been in use about a century; and, in fact, in the reign of Charles the Seventh (1470) linen made of hemp was so scarce, that it is said none but the queen was in possession of two shifts. In the progress of time, the art of writing consisted in painting with different kinds of ink. They now chose the thin peels of certain trees and plants, and even the skins of animals. The first place, it is said, where they began to prepare these skins was Pergamos in Asia. This is the origin of the Latin name, from which we have derived that of parchment. These skins are, however, better known amongst from the membranes of animals of which they were Latin writers, under the name of membrana, so called composed. The ancients had parchment of three different colours, white, yellow, and purple. At Rome, white parchment was disliked, because it was more subject to be soiled than the others, and dazzled the eye. They frequently wrote in letters of gold and silver on purple parchment. This custom continued in the early ages of the church; and there are yet extant written copies of the evangelists of this kind. The Egyptians employed the bark of a plant or reed called papyrus. Specimens may be seen at the British Museum. Formerly there grew great quantities of it on the side of the Nile. It is this plant which has given the name to our paper, although it is made of linen rags. paper of silk. The Chinese make their Some of The use of paper is of great antiquity. the specimens of papyrus which have been found in the mummy pits of Egypt are said to be as old as the time of Moses. The honour of inventing it is given to the town of Memphis. Before the use of parchment and paper passed to the Romans, they used the thin peel found on trees, between the wood and the bark. This second skin they called liber-whence their word liber, a book; and from them, our word library, and the French livre. Anciently, instead of folding this parchment and paper, they rolled it, and the latin name which they gave these rolls is passed into our language —we say a volume, although our books are composed of pages cut and bound together. The ancients were still more curious than ourselves, in having their books richly got up. Beside the tint of purple, with which they tinted their vellum, and the liquid gold which they employed for their ink, they sometimes enriched the covers of their books with precious stones. The following information, taken from Casley's catalogue of the manuscripts in the king's library, is curious. "Varro says, that palm-leaves, or mallow-leaves, were all first used for writing on; whence the word began and continued to signify the leaf of a book, as well as of a tree or plant. That the ancients wrote or engraved on brass, is manifest. The laws of the twelve tables, and other monuments kept in the Capitol, were engraven on that metal. The Romans and Lacedæmonians wrote to the Jews in tables of brass. There is a small fragment of writing on bark, near a thousand years old, in the Cottonian library. The art of making paper of cotton was discovered in the eleventh century; the invention of making it of linen rags could not be much later." This last observation differs from Naudé.—Curiosities of Literature. The following occurs in Captain Skinner's Excursions in India. "I cannot, from my experience at Mookba, withdraw my condemnation of the mountain priests. They are as dirty and ignorant as their brothers whom I have already celebrated for eminence in those qualities; and their women 'Out Herod Herod. There is one man, however, in the village, who can write and read: he was educated at Barahal, where there was once a school; but I fear the schoolmaster found himself too little appreciated to be tempted to continue his vocation. He is a shrewd knave, and has had the advantage of travelling a little. He has been in the valley of the Dhoon-a great event. He writes on the bark of a tree-the Boii Pulla, well known throughout India as the inner covering of Hookah-snakes: and it makes a capital substitute for paper. The trees are in great quantity thereabouts; and, as the bark is peeled off in large sheets, it requires no preparation, nor is it necessary to have a peculiar pen to write with, as is the case with leaves, that are still used for that purpose in the east." "The natives of Ceylon as yet employ no paper; they write on thin leaves of the Ola, and are obliged to make use of an iron pen, which they support in a notch cut in the thumb nail allowed to grow for that purpose: a literary man is discovered by such a mark. A quill, or a reed serves my friend of Mookba, for the pen runs as quickly over the skin of the boii as it would over the surface of a glazed sheet." AN EARLY LESSON. CHILDREN are very early capable of impression. I imprinted on my daughter the idea of Faith, at a very early age. She was playing, one day, with a few beads, which seemed to delight her wonderfully. I said, My dear, you have some pretty beads there."- -“Yes, papa! "And you seem to be vastly pleased with them."- Yes, papa!" Well, now throw 'em behind the fire." She looked earnestly at me, as though she ought to have a reason for so cruel a sacrifice. "Well, my dear, do as you please; but, you know, I never Some days after, I brought her a box full of larger beads, and toys of the same kind. When I returned home, I opened it, and set it before her. She burst into tears of ecstasy. "Those, my child," said I, are yours; because you believed me when I told you it would be better for you to throw those two or three paltry beads behind the fire. Now, that has brought you this treasure. But now, my dear, remember, as long as you live, what FAITH is. I did this to teach you the meaning of Faith. You threw your beads away when I bid you, because you had faith in me that I never advised you but for your good. Put the same confidence in GOD; believe every thing that he says in his Word. Whether you understand it or not, have faith in him, that he means your good.your good. CECIL. THE JEWS.-DAVISON, in his Discourses on Prophecy, uses the following beautiful illustration, when speaking of modern Jews. Present in all countries, with a home in none; intermixed, and yet separated; and neither amalgamated nor lost, but, like those mountain-streams which are said to pass through lakes of another kind of water, and keep a native quality to repel commixture; they hold communication without union, and may be traced as rivers without banks, in the midst of the alien element which surrounds them. THE INDIA-RUBBER TREE. (Siphonia Elastica-Elastic Resin-Tree.) A LARGE straight tree, growing to the height of fifty or sixty feet; at the upper part sending off numerous branches, covered with rough bark. This tree is a native of South America, growing abundantly in the woods of Guiana, in the province of Quito, and along the borders of the river Amazon, in Mexico. This singular substance, known by the names of India-rubber, elastic gum, Cayenne resin, and by the French caoutchouc, and which is prepared from the juice of this tree, was little known in Europe till long after the commencement of the last century; and its origin and composition was first learned from M. de la Condamine, an active and enterprising member of the French Academy, who by travelling into the interior parts of South America, had an opportunity of acquiring the necessary information. The manner of obtaining this juice, is by making cuts through the bark of the lower part of the trunk of the tree, from which the fluid resin issues in great abundance, appearing of a milky whiteness, as it flows into the vessel placed to receive it, but gra.. dually, on exposure to the air, becoming a soft reddish elastic resin. To suit the different purposes for which it is employed in South America, the caoutchouc is shaped into various forms; but it is commonly brought to Europe in that of pear-shaped bottles, The India Rubber Tree. which are said to be formed by spreading the juice of the Siphonia over a proper mould of clay, and as soon as one layer is dry, another is added, till the bottle be of the thickness desired. It is then exposed to a dense smoke until it becomes dry, when by means of certain instruments of iron or wood, it is ornamented on the outside with various figures. mould is then taken out, being first softened with water. The Chinese elastic resin is said to be prepared of castor oil and lime; or according to Retzius, it is nothing but a certain expressed oil, evaporated by heat: hence its easy solubility. The The Indians make boats of the caoutchouc : also a kind of cloth, which they use for the same purposes as we use oil-cloth. Flambeaux are likewise made of this resin, which yield a beautiful light without any disagreeable smell.- -Woodville's Med. Bot. THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. The hosts of Israel flee; The angry waters at their feet, All dark and dread roll'd on And where the sky and desert meet, But still along the eastern sky The fiery pillar shone; And o'er the waves that roll'd so high, Then Moses turn'd the sea toward, The angry waters know their lord, Full soon along that vale of fear, With cymbals, horns, and drums, With many a steed and many a spear, The maddening monarch comes. A moment-far as eye could sweep, The thronging myriads tread; The next-the waste and silent deep, Was rolling o'er their head! J. J. R. ANNIVERSARIES IN FEBRUARY. 215 Death of Septimius Severus, the Roman emperor, at York, during his expedition into Britain. 1194 Richard I., King of England, released from his confinement in the Castle of Olmutz, in Moravia, where he had been imprisoned by the emperor, on his return through Germany, from his Crusade against the Saracens in the Holy Land. His ransom amounted to 160,000 marks; each mark being worth 13s. 4d. sterling. 1555 Rogers, a divine, burnt at the stake in Smithfield, London. He was the first Protestant martyr during the reign of Queen Mary. 1615 Death of Jean Baptiste Porta, a Neapolitan gentleman of great learning. He was the inventor of the Camera Obscura, and was the first person who conceived the project of an Encyclopædia. 1746 Death of the Rev. Robert Blair, author of the celebrated poem of The Grave. Agatha. TUESDAY, 5th. 5 The Emperor Augustus had conferred on him, by the Roman senate and people, the flattering title of "PATER PATRIÆ," or Father of his Country; which appellation he is said to have received with tears. 1783 The town of SCYLLA, in the south-west corner of Calabria, destroyed by an earthquake; during which, 3000 persons, who had repaired, at night, to the beach, to save themselves from the ruins of the falling houses, were in a moment swept into eternity, by a sudden inundation of the sea. Shocks continued to be felt during February and March; in which time twentynine cities, towns, and villages, were overwhelmed, in the south of Italy; as well as Messina in Sicily, which was almost destroyed. Upwards of 50,000 human beings perished during these dreadful convulsions. 1799 Luigi Galvani, the discoverer of GALVANISM, died at Bologna, in Italy. WEDNESDAY, 6th 1685 King Charles II. died at Whitehall, and was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York, under the title of James II. THURSDAY, 7th. 1689 1788 The Peers and Commons of England assembled at Whitehall, under the name of The Convention (there being then no Parliament in existence), and declared the throne vacant by the abdication of King James II. Governor Philip assumed the powers of captain-general and governor of New South Wales, on the continent of New Holland. The royal commission for executing this important trust was published at Sidney Cove, nine miles from Botany Bay. FRIDAY, 8th. 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots, in the 45th year of her age, beheaded (by order of Elizabeth, Queen of England, her cousin), at Fotheringay Castle, in Northamptonshire, after an unjust and cruel imprisonment of nineteen years. She was buried in Peterborough Cathedral; but, on the accession of her son, James VI. of Scotland, to the English throne, her remains were removed to Westminster Abbey. 1671 Died, Richard Pendrell, the preserver and faithful guide of 1555 Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, burnt before the door of his own cathedral, during the persecution of the sanguinary Queen Mary. He suffered with the greatest firmness, in confirmation of his attachment to the Protestant cause. On the same day, Dr. Rowland Taylor was burnt at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, testifying the sincerity of his faith by his undaunted behaviour at the stake. 1811 Death of Dr. Maskelyne, (who had been astronomer-royal during the long period of forty-six years,) at Flamstead House, Greenwich Park, near London. SUNDAY, 10th. SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY.--This is the second Sunday before LENT; or the next to SunOVE Tuesday. It is so called, because it is the sixtieth day before EASTER. 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