the attempt to which they instigate him, is perhaps the best. We extract a passage from this tale, to illustrate what we have said of the author's power of description. Spiel Trosk, the hero of the tale, has just sacrificed a heifer to the spirits of darkness, and is lying at night closely bound up in her hide, on a Shetland mountain, expecting the presence of the demons.

"The simple fisherman had scarcely left his more daring partner exposed upon the wild peat bog, than, as if his departure had been a signal concerted with the demons of storm and desolation, a tempest broke forth, to which neither the experience of Spiel, nor his recollection of the reports of others, could find a parallel. It began with a glare of lightning, which exposed to his view, not only the crags and hills in his own neighbourhood, but the valleys beneath, and the sea, and the small islands which lay scattered out beyond the bay. He saw them but for a moment, but he could perceive their rocks whitened with the foam of tremendous billows, which were bursting over them; and he believed he beheld what appeared to him the vision of a large strange-built vessel, driving along, dismasted, upon the ocean. He scarcely did believe, and half doubted, that he had seen this latter object, for its figure and its crew (whose frantic gestures he had also imagined he had distinguished) were such as were to him before unknown. But if this sight were a mere phantom, what could have brought it before his eyes? The darkness that succeeded this wide gleam was of the deepest dye, and the peals of thunder that broke around him were as loud as though the heavens had burst in its discharge. A shower of fragments were scattered from the mountain tops, and poured down their sides, with a din and clatter more terrible than the noise of the elements. Spiel expected every moment to be crushed to pieces, or buried beneath a mass of rock, and his helpless state was now to him a source of the greatest anguish. Some of the pieces dashed nearly up to him, and others bounded past, and rushed headlong over the declivity into the dell beneath, where he could hear them rolling and splashing through the deep morass. It rained when Winwig had left him, but now a body of fluid fell down upon him scarcely divided into streams, for of drops there were none, and in an instant the surface of the quaking bog on which he lay became deluged. He suddenly found himself surrounded by water, which covered his lower extremities, leaving his head and shoulders free; for Petie had raised them on a tuft of moss, which, had he not done, Trosk would have been totally immersed. Still he felt the inundation rise, for the waterspout, or whatever else it was, continued to descend, and as he was unable to stir either hand or foot, he gave himself up to death. He would have called upon Heaven, but the reflection of the iniquity in which he was engaged, choked his prayer. He would have invoked the powers of darkness, but a deep-felt horror thrilled through his frame

at the idea. He endeavoured to struggle, but the hide of Luckie seemed to cling more closely to him, with an avenging embrace. He thought of Petie-where was Petie? He shouted Petie! Petie! with all his strength, but his voice was drowned in the rush and turbulence of the flood, and he strained it till its sound was only a hoarser scream. A hoarser scream replied to him, or was it echo? He screamed again, in greater agony, half hoping, half in terror; but the water filled his ears, and he knew not if he were answered. "Gracious God, I perish!' murmured Spiel, as the fluid touched his lips, and passed over them; but, in the next instant, a rush, like the hurried tumble of a cataract, faintly reached his hearing, and he felt the deluge sink from him, and leave his mouth uncovered. It subsided, however, but a little, yet enough to give him hope, and his dismay grew less. The pouring down from the clouds likewise diminished, and the pitchy blackness of the atmosphere was less intense. Gradually the fall of water became converted into a heavy shower, which continued to grow less, and glimpses of dull light broke through the mass of darkness. Spiel blessed the sight, and found his courage return; but he felt as exhausted as if he had been struggling with death, and he longed to be released from his confinement." vol. i. pp. 126-128.

The merit of the remaining tales is various. We have not room to analyse them, and can only say, that we have found pleasure in reading them, and that a little exercise in the art of composition, and a little more refinement of taste, are all that our author wants to make him a very agreeable writer.

The Odd Volume. Boston. Wells & Lilly. 1827. 12mo.

THIS is a collection of short stories, some original, others translated. None of them has much merit. Two or three are from the German of the Baron de la Motte Fouqué. Most of his tales are sufficiently flimsy; but we think better specimens might have been selected than those here presented. There are also three "Legends of Number Nip," tales of the tricks of Rubezahl, the German Robin Good-fellow, tolerably amusing child's stories, and, as illustrative of popular superstitions, they will perhaps pass muster. An adventure of King James the Fifth incognito in the family of the Miller of Donne, is rather better than its neighbours. All we can say of the remaining stories is, that they are mostly tragical. These tales, on the whole, are about equal to the average of those which one meets with in magazines. They may serve to keep a man awake a few minutes when he is going to sleep for want of something to do; but we cannot, in conscience, speak more favorably of them.

INTELLIGENCE.

Perfection of the Natural Senses in Calmucks. A happy organization of corporeal frame, and the constant exertion made by the Calmucks to discern objects across the Steppes, convert their eyes into natural telescopes. They can see at the distance of twenty versts; they hear a sound even more remote; they smell the smoke of a watch-fire before the blaze is discernible; and many among them are able, in the darkest nights, to ascertain at what part of the Steppes they are travelling by the smell of the herbs they tread upon. Almost every Calmuck has learned to read and write; and they have sennachies, or bards, to recite tales in prose and verse, like the ancient Gael. Horse-flesh is their favorite food, and they are great consumers of tea, which, like Boniface's ale, is "meat and drink" to them. It is of the coarsest sort, brought from China, in large tablets, composed of the leaves and stalks of the tea-plant. The decoction is mixed with milk and salt butter. This preparation requires time, care, and skill; so the tea-cook is an important domestic in the train of a wealthy Calmuck. Ackermann's Repos. for

Dec. 1826.

The Jesuits. The Jesuits are spreading in Switzerland. At the entrance of the city of Freiburg, a large and magnificent edifice is building for the Jesuits and their pupils, from Switzerland and other countries. When it is finished it will contain one thousand pupils, and it is said to have already cost three hundred thousand francs. This was raised by means of shares, which the Jesuits intend to pay with the profits of their establishment; there are at present eighteen Jesuits at Freiburg, who act as teachers, have the title of professors, and are paid as such. They have at present thirty private pupils among them, and endeavour as much as possible to get rich young men, or the sons of powerful families. Gent. Mag.

French Academy of Sciences. At a late sitting of the Academy of Sciences, Dr. Villermé read a memoir upon the causes of mortality in prisons, and the intensity of those causes. Prisoners (says Dr. Villermé) live or die for the most part according to the wishes of those that imprison them. He proves this by comparing the mortality in prisons, such as it was ten years ago, with what it is at present. Thanks to the remarkable meliorations which do honor to authority, and which at the same time speak loudly in favor of publicity, almost all over France the mortality has prodigiously diminished. In general, this diminution dates from the institution of the Royal Prison Society, the period at which the fate of prisoners began to attract public attention. Amongst the instances of extreme mortality, in the old prisons noticed by Dr. Villermé, there are some which cannot be contemplated without horror. Thus, in the prison of Pacé, scarcely one out of three or four survived; and in that of Villeverde, old department of the Dyle, out of two prisoners, one invariably fell a sacrifice, and frequently both. At Rouen the mortality, during the years 1812, 1813, 1814, was one in four. It is now only one in forty-six. New Month. Mag.

1

Novel and Curious Manufacture. M. Habenstreet, of Munich, an old officer, by patiently directing the labor of caterpillars within a limited space, has succeeded in producing an entirely new and very extraordinary kind of fabric. These caterpillars are the larva of a butterfly known by the name of finea punctata, or, according to other naturalists, finea padilla. Their instinct leads them to construct above themselves a covering (tente) of extreme fineness, but, nevertheless, firm enough to be impenetrable by air; which covering can be easily detached from them. The inventor has made these insects work on a suspended paper model, to which he gives exactly the form and size which he requires. He has thus obtained, at pleasure, among other articles, square shawls, of the dimension of an ell; shawls two ells in lengh, and one in width; an aerostatic balloon, four feet high by two in horizontal diameter; a lady's entire dress with sleeves, but without seam. When he wishes to give to the fabric any prescribed shape, all that he finds necessary is to touch the limits which ought not to be passed, with oil; for which the caterpillars have a natural repugnance, so strong, that they will not come in contact with it. The fabric, although perfectly consistent, surpasses the finest cambric in lightness. The balloon, which we have mentioned, weighs less than five grains. The warmth of the hand is sufficient instantly to inflate it; and the flame of a single match, held under it for a few seconds, is enough to raise it to a very considerable height, whence it will not descend for half an hour. When a shawl of the size of a square ell has been well stretched, it has been blown into the air by means of a small pair of bellows, and then resembles a light smoke, subject to the slightest agitation of the atmosphere. Ibid.

Population of France. The average population of France during the six years from 1817 to 1823, has been computed at 30,319,444 souls. The average of the annual marriages, births, deaths, and increase of population, during the same period, appears to be as follows.

Moisture in Plants. The quantity of simple moisture, or rather of pure water, which some plants raise from the earth, is uncommonly great. This is beautifully exemplified in the organization of some creeping plants, in which the moisture is frequently conveyed the distance of forty, or fifty, or a hundred yards, before it reaches the leaves or fruit, or perhaps the assimilating organs of the vegetable. I have seen a plant of this sort, that had been accidentally cut across, continue to pour out pure limpid and tasteless water, in such a quantity as to fill a wineglass in about half an hour. Finlayson's Mission to Siam.

Cherokee Alphabet. A form of alphabetical writing, invented by a Cherokee, named George Guyst, who does not speak English, and was never taught to read English books, some time since attracted considerble notice. Having become acquainted with the principle of the alphabet, namely, that marks can be made the symbol of sounds, this uninstructed man conceived the notion, that he could express the syllables in the Cherokee language by separate marks, or characters. On collecting all the syllables, which, after long study and trial, he could recall to his memory, he found the number to be eighty-two. In order to express these he took the letters of our alphabet for a part of them, and various modifications of our letters, with some characters of his own invention for the rest With these symbols he set about writing letters, and very soon a correspondence was actually maintained between the Cherokees in Will's Valley and their countrymen beyond the Mississippi, five hundred and fifty-five miles apart. This was done by individuals who could not speak English, and who had never learned any alphabet except this syllabic one, which Guyst had invented, taught others, and introduced into practice. The interest in this matter increased, till, at length, young Cherokees were willing to travel a great distance to be instructed in this easy method of writing and reading. They have but to learn their alphabet and they can read at once. In three days they are able to commence letter-writing, and return home to their native villages prepared to teach others. It is the opinion of some of the missionaries, that if the Bible were translated and printed according to the plan here described, hundreds of adult Cherokees who will never learn English, would be able to read it in a single month. Either Guyst himself or some other person has discovered four other syllables of the Cherokee language, making, in the whole, eighty-six. This is a very curious fact, especially when it is considered that the language is very copious on some subjects, a single verb undergoing some thousands of inflections. New York Observer.

Roman Boat. In making the common sewer in London street, Glasgow, from the part near the Cross down to the Molendinar Burn, there was found lately, at the depth of ten feet, the remains of a boat, lying in a bed of blue clay, which was covered and surrounded by fine sand, like that found on the shores of a navigable river or wide frith. Some of the clinker nails, used as fastenings, and found in the wood, which was fine oak, have become quite black from long immersion under the earth. The caulking appeared to have been wool dipped in tar. Some years ago, when the common sewer was cutting in the Stockwell, a boat of a similar description was found a little above Jackson street; which would indicate that these two places, where the boats have been found, were then the line of the shore of the frith, or bed of the river. These boats must have lain for many centuries in the places where they were found. The workmanship would indicate, that they were formed by a people considerably advanced in civilization. It is probable they were constructed by the Romans, about the period of Agricola's expedition into Caledonia, nearly one thousand seven hundred and forty years ago; at which period there seems little reason to doubt, that the greater part of the ground on which Glasgow now stands, and all the lower lands on both banks of the river, to a considerable distance, were covered. by the waters of the Frith of Clyde.