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who in the distraction of the moment, was heedless of the reiterated assurances of her son's safety and before he joined her from the deck she had fainted in my arms in an agony of tortured affection. Gloomy thoughts had began to cloud my contemplation, and though it was matter of little moment to me whether my body should afford nourishment to the fish or the worm, yet to be cut off in the midst of all my hopes, and far from every kindred tie, this was food for no consoling meditation. But the unfortunate occurrence that had just taken place, banished from my thoughts every idea of personal safety, and restored my customary presence of mind. Amidst the general confusion, it was only with considerable difficulty, and after solicitations often and vociferously repeated, that I was able to procure assistance of any description. The application of cold water and the usual stimulants at length restored the sensibility of the sufferer, and when she beheld her son by her side, a copious flood of tears assuaged, in a considerable measure, the overcharged feelings of maternal attachment. It is a curious example of the engrossing influence over the mind, of powerful and sudden emotion, that it was not till the recovery of my female friend, that I discovered the storm had so much declined from its first fury, that all idea of danger was happily over.

Our passage from land to land consumed nearly nine weeks. Of this period, I find, on consulting my journal, about two thirds were spent in storms. Five weeks nearly elapsed before we reached the Banks.* The waters, of a brilliant green in the channel, assume a deep purple dye in the ocean. The vessel was frequently surrounded by shoals of that awkward and seemingly unwieldy fish, the porpoise, whose appearance above the waves is regarded by sailors as a certain indication of stormy weather-a persuasion which, judging from our own experience, I should scarcely pronounce su perstitious. Of this denizen of the deep two species were pointed out to me, the bottle-nosed and the shovel-nosed. These names are too significant to require explanation. Occasionally our eyes were greeted with the appearance of the stately grampus, sailing with a sort of graceful grandeur through the billows, and discharging through its nostrils columns of the briny fluid. Of sharks we saw but few, and caught but one: he was young

*Of Newfoundland.

not above three feet in length-but so great was his strength, that when harpooned and hauled upon deck, though his tail was almost instantly severed from his body, the rapid but heavy flapping of his bleeding trunk made every one maintain a respectful distance from the sphere of action. He was attended in the water by four pilot-fish, whose instinctive office it is to guide him to his prey-thus performing towards the shark the same services that are rendered to the lion by the jackal. For several hours after the capture of their lord, these brilliant little servitors continued swimming round and about the ship; and it was really interesting to observe the lively agitation they betrayed for the loss of their master :their hostility against the vessel was exhibited in the fierceness with which they darted against her sides. They shot through the water with amazing velocity, and the green sparkling lustre of their scales, as they transiently emerged from the wave, contrasted with the deepened purple of the ocean, formed one of the most beautiful oppositions of colour that I had ever witnessed. Those singular marine birds, vulgarly known by the name of mother Carey's chickens, accompanied us almost the whole of the way, and when fatigued with their flight, rested and floated on the surface of the waves; their long, leathern, fin-like, featherless pinions continually vibrating, and themselves constantly on the watch for prey. This bird-like fish, or fish-like bird, seems to be an anomaly in the ornithological vocabulary :—it is seldom caught-alive, I believe, never-and, indeed, its total want of the beauty which usually belongs to almost every species of the feathered race and its lean and loathsome exterior, render it an object of disgust rather than curiosity.

On the 27th September, the dense and thickening haze that diffused itself through the whole atmosphere, and kept the rigging, masts, and decks, in a state of incessant and streaming humidity, announced our vicinity to the Banks. A singular effect is produced by this cloudlike and almost papable medium. The mist is in slow but never-ceasing action; but to the spectator, while his eye remains fixed on the revolving vapour, its motion seems transferred to the ship, which appears to rise and descend, as if it were the sport of some invisible and supernatural agent. From the 27th to the 50th, inclusive, the sun was usually veiled in thick wreaths of fog, but occasionally he looked forth in dim and sad

dened majesty, illuminating the skirts of the vapours with a dusky radiance, not dissimilar to that which imagination lends to the nether world, or with which an oriental fancy lights up the halls of Eblis, or Argenk. We seemed floating in a region of shadows and illusions, and the effect of this singular scenery was completed by the pale and numerous mist-bows, semicircle within semicircle, formed by the vapourous refraction of the faint, and almost crepuscular light-and which would sometimes appear suddenly to approach to within four or five yards of the ship, and as suddenly retire.

We cleared the Banks on the evening of the 30th, and on the 1st of October, were again in the open ocean, with fine weather, a clear brilliant sky, and a steady, favourable breeze. It was a spirit-stirring morning, and the conviction of having traversed the greater part of our way, and the probability of speedily reaching our destination, produced an universal cheerfulness and gaiètè de cœur. In the course of our voyage we had met and overtaken several vessels: among these was the Hopewell, bound from Barbadoes to London, (19th September, longitude 46°,) and the Thomas Wilson from Norfolk, (Virginia,) to Glasgow. On this day we fell in with a most elegant little American schooner, the Gertrude, on her return to New-York, from Bourdeaux. We passed close by her, and were highly pleased with the beauty of her construction, and the bird-like grace and rapidity with which she glided over the sparkling bosom of the deep. We were at this time in longitude 570. For some days past, on, and in the vicinity of, the Banks, we had observed considerable quantities of weed, rush, and gramineous vegetation floating on the water, whose colour had assumed a dingy hue, between the green tint of the channel, and the deep blue of the ocean.

From the 1st to the 8th October we made but little progress, the wind having died away on the 2d, and abandoned us to one of the profoundest and longest calms we had yet experienced. The ship lay on the unruffled and glassy surface of the waters like a log-and the motionless sails depended from the yards in long and tantalizing folds. Of our exact position, we, the passengers, were ignorant, for though the latitude was occasionally divulged-sometimes, indeed, unavoidably, as when we fell in with another vessel, and the usual questions and answers

of the captains made us acquainted both with the latitude and longitudeour distance from the English, in the commencement of the voyage, and at the conclusion, from the American coast, was generally kept a close secret. Speculation was busy upon the cause of this silence respecting a circumstance so interesting to every member of our little community; and the result seemed to be the apprehension entertained by our commodore of an attempt on the part of the Irish passengers to seize the vessel, and carry her into New-York; that city and Philadelphia being the places to which every individual had contracted with the charterers to be conveyed; and though, on discovering that the ship had been cleared for St. Johns,* NewBrunswick, they procured the captain's promise to steer for Boston, the avowed suspicions of the more intelligent and determined portion of them, might, perhaps, justify his taciturnity. If this supposition were true, I can scarcely condemn the spirit which would prompt the self-redress of persons so infamously betrayed; and when you consider the circumstances of severe and, perhaps, hopeless calamity in which the majority of these victims of avarice and treachery might have been probably placed, you will, I trust, unite with me in finding în that dreary perspective, every excuse for the apprehended insurrection. Thrown upon a dreary and inhospitable_shore, what were they to do at St. Johns? Their last dollar spent, how were themselves and families to be supported? Were they to become the miserable objects of eleemosynary aid? And were all their hopes of decent and honourable independence to be merged in the mists and vapours of a naked, frigid, and thinly peopled region, where the skill and industry for which the States opened an ample and animating field, would stagnate in obscure and mortifying inaction? And all this they were to endure in consequence of the deliberate depravity of men in whom they had reposed implicit confidence; and, pining at St. John's in hopeless misery, were to have their wretchedness embittered by the galling reflection that the authors of their misfortunes were rioting at home on the fruits of their iniquity. G. F. B.

By the last act of Parliament, respecting passage ships, it is permitted to vessels clearing for a British colony, to take a greater number of passengers in proportion to the tonnage, than ships bound to the United States.

We are not certain that our correspondent intended the following letter for publication, but we do not know how we can more effectually subserve his views than by inserting it.

To the Editors of the American Monthly Magazine.

Gentlemen,

In your number for October, page 413, I find the following assertion. "The story of Job is the first, and was long an isolated specimen of pure fiction." I am sorry to find that the Editors of a public Magazine, having a circulation as extensive as yours, and which, on many accounts, stands so deservedly high in public estimation, have ventured an assertion of this kind without the most abundant proof. I know that some learned men have taken great pains to show that the book of Job is merely an allegory: but it, certainly, cannot have escaped your observation, that men, as learned, to say the least, have thought otherwise. When we begin to allegorize without express authority, we are in great danger of carrying it so far, as if not to do it ourselves, yet to embolden others to fritter away whatever portion of scripture may happen to stand in the way of a favourite doctrine.

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When I find the prophet Ezekiel, or rather, Jehovah, speaking by the prophet, mentioning Noah, Daniel and Job, as three persons eminent for their piety; and when I find the Apostle James "illustrating the advantages of patience, by the example of Job, as he had before done his doctrine of faith and works by the examples of Abraham and Rahab,' I am constrained to believe that the history of Job, as given in holy writ, is something more than an allegory. I can hardly believe that God, speaking by the mouth of his prophet and apostle, would refer us to the example of Job, for a pattern of piety, and particularly of patience, had no such person ever existed; and had the narrative of his life and sufferings been nothing more than a well written romance. I shall not pretend, that there are no difficulties attending the literal interpretation of this book; nor shall I now attempt to obviate those difficulties. There are difficulties in other parts of the scriptures, and in those parts too, which are without any doubt purely historical. But we must not on this account pronounce those parts to be fictions. I would, by no means, gentlemen, be understood as charging you with intentional misrepresentation. But I object to the unqualified manner in which you

make the assertion. It may be the means of misleading some of your readers who are not in the habit of examining these points for themselves. If it be your opinion that the book of Job is an allegory, I think you should have stated it as your opinion; and not, as if it were a point upon which there is no doubt. Yours respectfully,

A READER. New-York, Jan. 13, 1818.

We trust that it is unnecessary for us to say, that by terming the book of Job a fiction, we did not mean to detract from its dignity, or to diminish the effects of the moral which it inculcates. The learned, it is true, are not united in regard to its character. It appears to us to be an allegory. We meant only to express our opinion. It is well known that some of the most important lessons of our faith and practice have been conveyed in this guise. The parables of our Saviour are equally admirable for their doctrine, and for their force of illustration. In respect to the reference to Job as a scripture character, we regard it as we should an allusion to Lazarus or Dives.

AGRICULTURAL.

MESSRS. EDITORS,

Within a few years our climate and seasons have been more irregular than formerly. This change has been felt more severely in Europe. In the mountainous regions of Como in Italy, the seasons have been late, and cold. The failure of crops, and the distresses of the inhabitants were inevitable. To remedy these evils, a celebrated theoretical and practical Agriculturist has suggested, and strongly recommended some prudential measures, which have been adopted, and proved highly successful.

In order to procure an early harvest, they sow barley in the spring, as soon as the apprehension of severe frosts is done away. This species of grain is generally very productive, and nourishing. It will thrive in a poor and sandy soil, and indeed, almost any soil. In fact, it prepares a a sterile soil for the culture of Buckwheat, which succeeds remarkably well, in a loamy bottom, after a crop of barley. The cultivation of Fraima, (Polygonum sagophyrum,) a species of black Buckwheat, not much known in flat countries, deserves peculiar attention. In consequence of the shortness and coldness of the seasons, the common Buckwheat cannot mature. On the contrary the black Buckwheat seems to find a cold season

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Economical History of the r'ishes, sold in the markets of the City of New-York. By Dr. S. Akerly.

The history of the fishes of NewYork, by Doctor Mitchell, contained in the first volume of the Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical So.ciety of New-York, embraces the descriptive account, together with the systematic arrangement of these animals. In the present undertaking, it is not intended to come into competition with that gentleman, but, on the contrary, to give credit to him and others for what they have written on Ichthyology, and to take other views of the subject. The economical history of fishes, as they appear in the New-York markets, will more especially engage attention, embracing those which are more particularly useful and edible. In this, it is intended to embrace their habits, the times and places of taking them, the manner in which it is done, and the bait used, the methods of exposing them for sale, fresh or salted, dead or alive, their qualities as food, and market price, their earliest appearance, and whatever else may relate to their economical application. This will be a statistical account of the useful and edible fishes, and answer in some measure the purpose of a Calendarium piscium of New-York, as many of them are migratory, and like birds of passage appear at certain times on our coast and in our rivers, to enjoy the fruits of the season, and again disappear when those provisions

fail.

Others remain with us the whole year, inhabiting our ponds, rivers, and bays, but are not well-flavoured at all seasons, and should not be eaten at all times, though they may be offered for sale.

Notice will be taken of these facts and circumstances as they occur, as it is intended that the account shall be continued monthly; by which method the same fish will be named in every month

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whether eels were oviparous or vivipaA question has long been agitated rous, or whether they arose from spontaneous vital energy. Mr. Noah Webster has supported the latter opinion; though this has generally been abandoned, of late, and given place to the facts now well ascertained, that they are oviparous. Dr. Mitchill settled this point in 1806, and found ten females in roe in the month of September. (See Medical Repository vol. 10, p. 201.) Hence we can have no difficulty in accounting for the appearance of eels in all our lakes and rivers. They seem to be more common and more generally scattered through the waters of the globe than any other fish. The common Eel of New-York appears to be the same as that of Europe, or differing from it by very light shades.

It is found in all our rivers, lakes, and ponds, whether they occupy the the heights of mountains, or collect their waters in the lowest vallies. There is no difference in the eel of our fresh water streams and that of the ocean,— or which fact we are indebted to Dr. Mitchill's particular investigation.

The eel has always been considered as a good eatable fish from the earliest antiquity. Hence Sannazarius, in his fine piscatory eclogues did not omit to mention catching cels among the sports of the fishermen, nor the place where they were taken for the markets of Naples.

"Sinusa mackrel, soles Dinarchus deals, Herculia mullets and Amalphi eels."

Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. But it is not intended to fix the taste of the present times by that of the antients, though it is well known that almost all ages and nations have eaten eels and admired them as food. They are ought to the New-York markets at all seasons of the year, though not in much repute. Their resemblance to serpents deters many from partaking of them as an article of diet, especially females, whose nervous sensibility frequently overcomes their better judgment. And perhaps too the idea of their being scaleless fish may operate upon some, as these were for

bidden by the Mosaic Law under the Old Testament dispensation.

Independently, however, of these considerations, eels are recommended as affording good and wholesome food, a rich nutritious diet, and an economical repast. They are certainly worth eating when well prepared, they set well upon the stomach, and digest easily. In the same weight of fresh cod-fish, blackfish, or sea-bass, eels have the most eatable substance, having no other waste than a very small back bone. Hence they are more economical, as the same weight may be procured at a less price and with less bone.

During the month of January, eels lie buried in the mud of our rivers and bays, and such as are brought to market are generally taken with a spear. They are deprived of the offals, head and skin, and thus exposed on the fish stalls for sale. Most of them are taken in the neigh bourhood of the city; though at this season, they are sometimes brought from Connecticut and the east end of LongIsland, split open, and partially dried, and tied up in bundles of one or two pounds. The finest eels that our State affords, are taken in the Wall-kill, in Ulster and Orange counties, but they never appear in our markets. They have sold for 8 to 10 cents per pound, cleaned and ready for cooking.

The most usual method of cooking cels, is frying them in hogs-lard, or butter; but they may be prepared for the table in a stew, or chowder, or by baking them in a pie, like chickens or birds.

At other seasons of the year eels are

taken by other methods, which will be noticed in due time. The largest eel taken on the south side of Long-Island, which has ever appeared in our market, weighed 16 and a half pounds. (MitchIl's Memoirs on New-York Fishes.)

2. JUGULAR FISHES.

Gadus morhua, Linneus, Mitchill, Cuvier. Common cod.

Gadus æglefinus. Mitchill. The Had

duck.

Gadus tomcodus. Mitchill. Frost fish. Tomcod.

The markets have had an abundant supply of these species of Cod during the month.

The common cod-fish were jumping alive on the stalls, but rather poor and sickly, and consequently not so good as at other times. They began to improve, however, as the month advanced,

and to get rid of the lumps which were found upon them in the month of December, and filled, like boils, with a purulent substance: besides which, most of them were chafed by the rolling of the Smacks and Cars, consequent upon boisterous weather.

At this season the sale of fresh cod is dull at five cents per pound, by retail. They are taken off Sandy-Hook and the Jersey shore by the hook and line, and some are brought from the shoals at the east of Long-Island.

This is the time, however, to procure the Cod, dried or pickled, at its lowest price, and having been preserved when the fish were fat and free from disease, it affords as good eating as at any season of the year, and offer to the domestic economist and the man of moderate means, the opportunity of making a little do much.

Dried Cod is an article of merchandise

in the large way, and is sold by retail in the shops, but not exposed in the fish market. Its passing price for the month has been about 6 cents per pound.

Pickled Cod has been very fine during the month, and sold by the fishermen at 4 cents per pound from the stalls, where it is exposed just taken from the pickle, or soaked in fresh water to render it fit for immediate use.

The same fish will rise in price, as the spring advances, and the demand for poultry ceases. This is the best time for pickled cod, and that will be the best for poultry, if domestic economy is consulted by the person who has to provide for a family. Poultry will be as good towards spring, when the present rage of pur chasing at the highest market price is

satiated.

The Haddock.-This species of Cod frequents the same banks, and is taken at the same time, and in the same way with the common cod. It is not, however, so frequent, and there being no perceptible difference in the taste of it from that of the common cod, they are both sold in the same parcels pickled and dried.

The Tom-Cod.-This is an excellent little pan fish, of the Cod family taken in our salt water bays from the early part of Autumn, or the commencement of frost. to the disappearance of the same in Spring Hence the appropriate name of frost-fish It is a native of our own waters, and does not emigrate, remaining the whole year with us, but is poor and sickly in the summer season, when it retires to deeper wa ters, and is not after seen or taken at those

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