surprising therefore, that at the end of that period, an offer was made to him of becoming a partner by embarking a certain part of the sum left him by bis Father in the firm. I perceive said MrAlder, that you have a great desire to travel, and you will find, in the course of our connection, sufficient opportunities of gratifying your own wishes without neglecting our interest. The person who held the station I propose you to fill, has lately written to announce his intention of settling in the West Indies. Your duty, therefore, will be to go out occasionally with a cargo to foreign places, to ship in return suck commodities as may suit the home market, to take such overland journeys, as the interest of our establishment shall require, and to strike out such plans of commerce as your observation will enable you to recommend. I have seen you anxious to improve, and to gain such information as peculiarly fits you for the situation, and I entertain no doubt, but we shall be equally satisfied with each other. One of our vessels you know, is about to sail for the coast of South America with a venture, and if you have no objection, I propose your going out as supercargo: having disposed of the cargo, you will have an opportunity of gratifying your wish to see foreign lands, and may, if your business does not prevent you, make a journey into the interior of that great continent. You know already, that this great continent was unknown to Europeans

till the year 1492, when Columbus having previously discovered the West Indian Islands.-In his third voyage. -saw land close to the very place whither our vessel is going,—and I am sure, your interest will be much increased by seeing the actual shores which he laid open to our commerce. You have about a month for making the necessary preparations, and in this time I recommend your reading such books as will inform you what is most worthy of being seen, in order that when you get there, you may not be losing time upon what is uninteresting. Iti s easier to imagine than to describe the joy with which William listened to Mr. Alder; the desire of seeing foreign countries, had begun at a very early age, and every year had added to it-at his Father's desire he had not urged it, but he had never ceased to hope, that at a future period, he might be permitted to follow the bent of his inclination; he had acted wisely, for we are ever bound to obey our parents, and his pleasure was not at all lessened as may be supposed, when he reflected, that duty did not forbid his leaving Ireland, he therefore expressed his thanks to his kind friend, in a brief but feeling manner, and hoped that he would ever be found worthy of his good opinion. At the appointed time the vessel sailed, and with a light and joyful heart,' William bad farewel To the friends and acquaintances of his early years: he felt many regrets at parting from them

but he hoped he said, when he returned, to have many stories and adventures to relate to them.—. The vessel in which he was to sail, had to touch at Cork in the South of Ireland, for a part of ber Cargo. It was, therefore, at that City, he embarked. Sailing down the River Lee, they passed the last point of land at about nine in the evening and it was long after it had ceased to be visible, that William, who never quitted the deck, but with an interest only to be understood by those who for the first time have quitted home, and trusted themselves to the sea, kept his eyes constantly directed towards the country he was leaving, spied a light in the window of a fisherman's hut. It was the last object he beheld in Ireland, and as he advanced, this feeble light mixed with the stars, until at last, he no longer could observe it. The impression it made on him was indelible--he thought of the city he had dwelt in for twenty-six years; he thought of his deceased parents, and the idea involuntarily arose that perhaps he would never return. Youth, however, is not the season for despondency: in a very short time therefore, he had recovered himself sufficiently to observe what was passing around him, and, indeed, there was enough to interest him. At first, the course lay in a southerly direction,'till they made the island of Teneriffe, and the middle parts of the Earth, and as the wind was often contrary, he was, as is usual with most per

sons on their first sea voyage, too sick to attend to any thing else; but when the vessel had reached the point above mentioned, it fell into what is called the trade wind, which carried it along almost in a due westerly direction, the sea being so calm, that the Spaniards gave this part of it the name of the Ladies' Gulph; indeed, so even was their progress, that the sailors were scarcely obliged to touch the Sails, so that the voyage might almost be made in an open boat.He also found, that there was a regular current in the sea, which flows from the coast of Africa on the East, to that of America on the West; this he was informed by the Captain, was caused by the Earth, which, turning round upon an axis (just as if you were to pass a string through an Orange from top to bottom, and give it a whirling motion,) gives an opposite direction to the waters of the Sea look at the Map, said he, and you will see the Continent of America stretching North and South, and directly standing like a wall in the way of this current, it therefore winds round that circular bason, in which the islands of the West Indies are scattered, and passing up along the Coast of North America, as far as the bank of Newfoundland, it returns towards Europe. We have already mentioned the current which carried Philips towards the West, and every seaman knows, that there is another back current, which sets from this great bank towards the East.

If you read the Voyage of Columbus, added he, you will see that he was led to believe in the existence of a new world, by various things which were cast ashore in Spain and Portugal; there were two dead bodies, and also pieces of Bamboo, which had been evidently carried along by a current, and this led him to believe that there was another continent towards the West, from which these things must have come.

The next point that excited our traveller's admiration, was the different appearance and beauty of the nights, in these Southern Latitudes. During his whole life, he had been accustomed to see those stars which appear every clear night, the plough as it is called, the constellation of Orion or the hunter, &c.-but now he was looking on that part of the sky, which was seen by those who inhabit the Southern half of the Earth, and therefore he no longer saw those with which he had been so familiar-but of all which met his eye, none appeared more beautiful than that which is called by Astronomers the Cross, from the form in which the principal Stars lie, making the appearance of a Cross; aboard the vessel there were two Spanish Seamen, who had crossed the Atlantic before, and who never saw it rising at night without its awakening in them religious sentiments: at twelve o'clock at night, the two great Stars which make the top and bottom of the Cross, stand exactly across the meridian