ELEPHANT HUNTING.-All the party went into the bush, the Hottentots first with their large guns, then their wives, and the gentlemen following. The first Hottentot frequently spoke to his companions in a low voice, and was heard to say, look, look;" on enquiring the cause, he pointed out to them the fresh track of an elephant. The bush became thicker, and the sun had no power to shine through the thick foliage; they passed the spot which the Hottentot marked out as the place where he had wounded the first elephant, and soon afterwards they saw the dead buffalo. The party went on resolving to see the dead elephant, and winding along through the bush till they came to a sand hill; the Hottentots pointed out one of the carcases at some distance, lying on another sand hill, but on looking at it for a second, it appeared to move, and the Hottentot discovered, that it was a young calf by the side of the cow. The whole party immediately went on, and when within musket shot, they found that they were two calves lying by their dead mother; a piteous and interesting sight. The young ones rose, and some dogs that the Hottentots had incautiously taken into the bush, barked violently. At this moment the bushes moved, and the stupendous father stalked in; he looked around him quietly, and even sorrowfully, and after viewing the party for a second, he walked on, and was soon hid behind some trees. The situation they had placed themselves in, had now become extremely critical; the bush was continuous for miles in extent, and where to fly in case of an attack was very difficult to determine. They were all warned not to run against the wind; and the direction of the house was pointed out, as well as circumstances would allow; but while they were debating the matter, the dogs ran in among the young elephants; they set up a deafening yell, and made directly towards the party, some of whom lay down by the path, with the hope of seizing the smallest calf, but they were very glad to make their escape, as they discovered it to be larger than they expected. The bull elephant, called back by the cry of his young, again appeared, but totally different in aspect, and even in form. His walk was quicker, his eye fierce, his trunk elevated, and his head appeared three times the size. My friend called to the Hottentot to look; and he immediately replied in broken English, "Yes, Mynheer, dat is de elephant will make mens dead." The alarm was extreme; but while the animal stood hesitating, the cry of the young sounded from a distant quarter, and the enraged father took the shortest cut towards them, crushing the branches as he stalked along; and the party thus most providentially escaped. It was ascertained that the elephant had made off towards the sea.

They went up to the dead elephant, merely to examine it; for the Hottentots leave the tusks till the flesh becomes softened, as it would take up too much time to separate them. One of these men took out his knife, and cut a circular piece off the head, about an inch deep; he then pointed out a dark spot, similar to what is called the kernal in beef; this he probed with his knife, and brought out a small part of a twig; but it was broken. He distributed a little piece as a great favour, then carefully wrapt the remainder up, as they have an idea, that whoever wears it, can never be killed by an elephant; and this valuable charm was transferred by my friend to me. It is remarkable that no naturalist has ever noticed this circumstance. There is no outward appearance, and it is impossible to imagine how it becomes enclosed, or of what use it is to the animal.

They set off, a party of fourteen in number, and found upwards of three score ele-phants encamped on the banks of the Kounap_river. It was late when the party arrived, therefore an attempt would have been useless and dangerous. Large fires were lighted to keep off lions as well as elephants, and the party being much fatigued, they lay down and slept.

The elephants awoke them early with breaking and pulling up trees by the roots, and rolling themselves in the water, &c. The party immediately pressed for the attack, and now commenced the sport. The elephants, upon receiving the first shot, as if by mutual consent, gave chace, though not for above six or seven hundred yards. This answered the desired effect. One of the party galloped between the elephants and the bush, which they had just left, commencing, at the same time, a very heavy fire, which harassed them to such a degree, that they fled to the plains, leaving behind them a thick cover, in which they might have been perfectly secure from the shots. On these plains great numbers of small bushes are found at no great distance from each other, so that if one party consents to drive the elephant out of one bush, the other will conceal themselves, and by this means may get some good shots.

One large bull elephant stationed himself in the middle of one of these small bushes; and at least two hundred rounds were fired without being able to bring him down, or make him move from the place in which he had stationed himself. At every shot he

received he was observed to blow a quantity of water into the wound, and then tear up a large lump of earth to endeavour to stop the blood. The Caffers do the same thing when they have been shot-that is, tear up a handful of grass and thrust it into the wounded place; and it is thought they have learnt this from seeing the elephants do it. At length the great bull dropped. The party then entered the bush, and, to their great surprise, found that the reason he would not leave this spot, was, that he had there found a pool of water, with which he had been washing his wounds. His height measured seventeen feet and three-quarters, and his teeth weighed one hundred and ninety pounds. Before the day's sport was over, they had killed thirteen.-Scenes and Occurrences in Caffer Land.

SANTA SCALA. Near this church is Santa Scala; a portico and five staircases lead to small chapels; the staircase in the centre is Santa Scala; it is said to have been sent from Pilate's house, in Jerusalem, to the Empress Helena, and that Christ walked down it as he was led out to be crucified; people are permitted to ascend it only on their knees; the steps are wide and handsome, and are of white marble; they have been cased with wood (as they were wearing out from the friction of the knees of the penitents), but so that the marble beneath may be seen and touched. Persons of all ages and ranks ascend them in great numbers, every one remembering meanwhile"To number ave marias on his beads."

Whenever I passed the place, I found them constantly covered with a continuous stream of contrite sinners, flowing slowly up hill. The ascent takes some minutes, and is probably fatiguing; they return by one of the four lateral staircases, which have no extraordinary sanctity, and may be used in the ordinary manner. Man is an imitative animal; I felt a wish to judge practically of the amount of labour and difficulty in this act of penance; but as I apprehended that there might be some hitch in it, as there is in all things to an inexperienced person, besides the great hitch, or want of faith, I did not indulge my curiosity.—Hogg's Two Hundred and Nine Days on the Continent.

SUSPENDED ANIMATION.-Bees may be immersed in water for a long time, without loss of life. Reaumur saw them recover after nine hours immersion. Dr. Evans accidentally left some eighteen hours in water; when laded out with a spoon and placed in the sunshine, the majority of them recovered. Other animals, of analogous species, exhibit still more wonderful resurrections. De Geer has observed one species of mite to live for some time in spirits of wine; and Mr. Kirby states, that being desirous of preserving a very pretty lady-bird, and not knowing how to accomplish it, he immersed it in geneva. "After leaving it," says he, "in this situation a day and a night, and seeing it without motion, I concluded it was dead, and laid it in the sun to dry. It no sooner, however, felt the warmth than it began to move, and afterwards flew away." This circumstance laid the foundation of Mr. K.'s study of entomology.-Bevan's Honey-bee.

THE VIRTUE OF SCANDAL. [We believe that the following is quite a new view of the vice of society of which it speaks.]

And all, in short, agreed, that observation of each other's characters and behaviour was the only legitimate source and topic of conversation.

"And a very interesting and fertile topic it is."

Nothing but the necessity of exaggeration to the dramatist's trade, could have made him, and after him the world, attribute malignity to the very staple material of all discourse."

"For my part, the best-natured and most truly generous and sympathetic creatures I ever knew in my life, were kind old ladies, who lived on what moralists would call scandal."-Historiettes, or Tales of Continental Life.

RICH LEGS.-Approaching Tora, the costume of the peasantry varies. Upon ask ing some women, as we entered a village, why they all wore red stockings, while at Zamora they wore blue; the answer was, "Es el stilo, senor (it is the fashion). There is something inexpressibly lively and prompt in the speech of Spanish women. Upon praising the legs of one of these village nymphs, she put her heels together, and drawing her garments tight around her, said, with a laughing air, mingled with pride, "Si Senor, es verdade; son muy ricas;" which, literally translated for your benefit, is "Yes, truly; they are rich legs."-Adventures in the Peninsula.

ST. PETER'S AT ROME.-The façade is full of faults and of beauties; the warm and agreeable temperature, as you enter, is remarkable; and the elaborate and costly beauty of the interior pleases. I wished for it, which is the best proof that I liked it; I wished that it were in London, open at all times, to be visited and admired; -a place to walk in and to talk in; a place for the meeting of friends, and, if love would have it so, of lovers! and that we had no hypocrites, or at least no hypocrites with the power to lock it up; and through the affectation of reverence, and under false pretences, to turn it into a lucrative show and a source of base profit. Foolish people have said innumerable foolish things about this building; one of the most foolish is the assertion, that the being really great but appearing small is a merit, and a proof of the excellence of its proportions; but the end of art and of proportion is not to make the great appear small, but on the contrary, to make the small seem great; it is therefore in truth a vice in the construction. That it is indeed great is to be discovered, not by comparing it with man, but it is collected by means of a middle term; the canopy of bronze, which covers the high altar in the likeness of a four-post bed, is a convenient middle term; by comparing a man with the canopy, and the canopy with the building, we are enabled to form some idea of its immense magnitude. The painted cupola and roof, the mosaics, and the inlaid pavement, the gigantic statues of marble, and the marble columns, all harmonize into one beautiful whole, one majestic tomb to cover the body of

"The pilot of the Galilæan lake,"

who, it is said, reposes in a chapel under the cupola, where one hundred and twelve lamps of massive silver are continually burning; and whither persons flock from all parts of the Christian world to offer up their prayers, in the hope of a more favourable hearing near the remains of one whom many have thought worthy of no common honours, and of such a marvellous sepulchre. I am not quite sure that I am content with the gilding of the roof, or that I would ever admit of gilding; the metallic lustre does not harmonize with every thing else, and it soon tarnishes unequally. The boxes for confession are numerous; they are decidedly an eye-sore, being exactly like a cobbler's stall, in which the cobbler of souls sits with a white wand in his hand, such as is borne in our courts of justice by a bound bailiff, when exercising the functions of door-keeper.-Hogg's Two Hundred and Nine Days on the Continent.

INTELLIGENCE IN A WASP.-Dr. Darwin in his Zoonomia, relates an anecdote of apparent ratiocination in a wasp, which had caught a fly nearly as large as itself. Kneeling down, the doctor saw the wasp dissever the head and tail from the trunk of the fly, and attempt to soar with the latter; but finding, when about two feet from the ground, that the wings of the fly carried too much sail, and caused its prize and itself to be whirled about, by a little breeze that had arisen, it dropped upon the ground with its prey, and deliberately sawed off with its manibles, first one wing and then the other: having thus removed these impediments to its progress, the wasp flew away with its booty, and experienced no further molestation from the wind.Bevan's Honey-bee.

NEW MEASURE OF SIN.-After breakfast we paid a visit to the administrator at Las Hermitas. Upon entering the hall, our attention was drawn towards an old-fashioned kind of arm-chair suspended from the end of a pair of steel-yards; and we were soon given to understand, that the offerings to the Virgin were regulated by the weight of the penitents. A lively girl informed us, that her penitence had cost her 44 arrobas of wheat; that is, she weighed about 144 lbs. avoirdupoise.-Adventures in the Peninsula.

SINGULAR DISEASE OF LAPLAND REIN-DEER.-The rein-deer are liable to many disorders, notwithstanding the hardy life they lead, and no animal is more subject to the persecution of its enemies, both in summer and winter. In the former season they are dreadfully exposed to the attacks of the gad-fly (æstrus tarandi), which not only perforates the hide, but lays its eggs in the wound it has made, where they are afterwards hatched. I had frequent opportunities of witnessing the effects of their sting; and I have still in my possession a rein-deer skin, in which they are very visible, every wound causing a small black spot in the hide, which, from the holes thus made, loses much of its value. Another species likewise adds greatly to the torments of the rein-deer, namely, the astrus nasalus, which makes small punctures within the nostrils of the poor auimal, and deposits its eggs in them.-Capell Brooks's Travels in Lapland and Finmark.

AFRICAN SPORTING.-When it was time to depart, the two sons proposed that they should accompany us in our sporting excursion, and that we should all agree to outspann at Assagai Bush, a proposal we very readily acceded to. They eagerly examined our guns; the bore is the first thing they look at, and if they can put in no more than three fingers, scarcely deem them worth further notice. His gun, or roer, as the Dutchman calls it, is his never failing accompaniment, and it furnishes them with bucks in some places in great abundance; he never shoots at small game, seldom even at partridges or pheasants.

We promised ourselves a very considerable share of sport, in this addition to our party, and were not without hopes of destroying some of the animals that had disturbed our night's rest. Our first victim was a muis-hond,* a destructive little animal of the weasel species, and very numerous; also an exceedingly curious bird, for which we could not discover a name; it is rather less than a sparrow, and we were told lives on flies; the eye, beak, and legs, are of a very beautiful cerulean blue, which fades soon after the bird dies.

While resting for a short time near a rivulet, (a blessing rarely to be met with in this country, and when found, the water is not always free from a brackish taste,) one of the boors espied a guana, and immediately chased and killed it. This animal is esteemed very good eating, but its hideous form renders it very uninviting; it feeds upon crabs and snails, and its long tongue seems formed for drawing its prey out of :he holes. Geese, but particularly ducks, dread it, and carefully survey a pond before they venture to swim.

We killed a few brace of partridges, and a peewit, or as it is called here, a keewit; in moonlight nights they are constantly crying on the wing, and they are the harbingers of sunrise.

We were now approaching our destination, and with a considerable feeling of disappointment at not having encountered any of the wild game, which our companions as well as ourselves, had eagerly anticipated; but just as we were passing a gloomy and intricate part of the thicket, one of the dogs made a steady point, we prepared, and moved forward, when up rose an immense leopard. The person in advance fired, but his musket was only loaded with slug shot, and the monster made off, and climbed with difficulty a tree. A second shot missed; he then crouched, shook his tail, and was in the act of springing, when we immediately retired; he then jumped down, and the boor instantly fired, but only wounded him. He growled tremendously; the dogs attacked him, and forced him up another tree-the boor took a favourable position, fired, and the animal fell, mortally wounded.-Scenes and Occurrcenes in Cuffer Land.

LIFE OF FRENCH MILITARY OFFICERS.-I know not, from my soul, how the officers of a French regiment contrive to kill time. They are no Martinets, and discipline hangs as loose on them as do their uniforms. Drink they do not, and few of them know half as well as our subalterns the difference between plain Medoc and firstrate Lafitte. They have neither race-horses, game-cocks, nor bull-dogs, on which to stake a month's pay; and save dominos, or in superlative quarters, billiards, they have games neither of skill nor chance. They are either such good canaille, or else taken for granted to be so, that chateaus and society around, empty as are the first, and scant as is the latter, are quite preserved against their admittance. And how, in short, they do contrive to live, would be quite beyond the conception of many of our military dandies. They are, however, a grown and good-natured race of schoolboys, brethren, and comrades, in every sense of the word, without any of the cat-o'-nine-tails austerity of our field officers, when addressing an inferior in rank. Then have they no vying in coxcombry or expence, in nought, in fact, save address at their weapon, and forwardness in the field.-Historiettes, or Tales of Continental Life.

HARDINESS OF LAPLAND WOMEN.-The Lapland women are scarcely acquainted with the assistance of a midwife, and from their hardy manner of life, do not require it; left to themselves, nature performs her office frequently without any help whatever; and in the course of two or three days they are well enough to go out, and with their new-born infants will expose themselves to the weather, and the fatigue of following the herd. If, during the time of their labour, any assistance should be necessary, it is afforded by some of the family, sometimes by the husband himself; and I have been assured, that, to ease the women in child-birth, the singular expedient is sometimes put in practice of shaking her, which they suppose will facilitate the delivery. Capell Brookes's Travels in Lapland and Finmark.

* Mouse-hound.

DYING CONSOLATION. [Addressed to the Rev. Stephen Morell.]

66

My beloved Friend,-I really know not in what manner to address you. From the intelligence of the last two days, I am distressed to gather that your illness threatens the most fatal result, and I am compelled to fear that the scenes of this world are fast closing upon you. You will know how to pardon the selfishness of your friends, who cannot but grieve deeply at the apprehension for their own loss; although they are well assured that this, their loss, ought not to be weighed against your eternal gain.

"But it is the thought of your nearness to the invisible world, which embarrasses me in writing. I feel an awe upon my mind, while I write to one who is now almost a spirit of light. It seems to me, that this is an hour of converse with heaven. And as to my attempting to address to you those consolations which are so often needed in the prospect of dissolution, it would be presumption. O my Friend, how richly will you drink those consolations which we must be content to take sparingly in a cup of bitterness! How fully will you know that unseen world, of which we can form so rude conceptions! And how will you see and adore that incarnate Saviour, whom we seeing not, love but so unworthily! This it is, I know, which cheers and animates your mind in your long affliction; and this it is which gives an attraction and a loveliness even to the dark shadow of death. I will fear no evil, because Thou art with me.' For ever blessed be his glorious name, I see in your happy mind the fruit of His redemption, the faithfulness of his promises. He has been your hope, and now your hope does not disappoint you.

"I feel deeply on account of your dear family, and the church over which God has placed you, in such peace and promised happiness. But I hope that those who see your heaven, having its present commencement, will be enabled to give up their own wills, with submission, and say, Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' I trust that He who is a very present help in trouble, will comfort their minds, and strengthen them to believe and confess that He doth all things well.' And the Church of God shall be fed by the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls. Your case has been constantly and anxiously remembered in prayer by your affectionate people.

"And now, my beloved friend, the time now draws near when we must part. I have to thank you for much of sweet society and friendship. And whatsoever be the troubled destiny of my life, I shall look back with pleasure on the short course of our earthly intercourse, and shall look forward with joy to the time when we may hope to renew our intercourse in that world of light whose frontier you are now gaining before me. Meanwhile, my friend, farewell-farewell-but not for ever! May the great God himself be with you, when you pass through the waters. May his Spirit give you joy in death; and if in the Sabbath of the blessed, you should think of a friend who once loved you as his own soul, think on him as one who does hope to be favoured again to worship God in company with you, and with a beloved Parent, now in heaven."

[Mr. Morell was dead before the letter was received.]-From the Memoirs and Remains of John Brown Jefferson, Minister of Attercliffe.

CHARACTER OF HINDOOS.-I have found a race, of gentle and temperate habits; with a natural talent and acuteness beyond the ordinary level of mankind, and with a thirst for general knowledge which even the renowned and inquisitive Athenians can hardly have surpassed or equalled. Prejudiced, indeed, they are, in favour of their ancient superstitions; nor should I think, to say the truth, more favourably of the character, or augur more happily of the eventual conversion and perseverance of any man or set of men, whom a light consideration could stir from their paternal creed, or who received the word of truth without cautious and patient inquiry. But I am yet to learn, that the idolatry which surrounds us is more enthralling in its influence on the human mind than those beautiful phantoms and honied sorceries which lurked beneath the laurels of Delos and Daphne, and floated on the clouds of Olympus. I am not yet convinced, that the miserable bondage of castes, and the consequences of breaking that bondage, are more grievous to be endured by the modern Indian than those ghastly and countless shapes of death which beset the path of the Roman convert. And who shall make me believe, that the same word of the Most High, which consigned to the moles and the bats the idols of Chaldee and Babylon, and dragged down the lying. father of Gods and men from his own Capitol, and the battlements of his Eternal City," must yet arrest its victorious wheels on the banks of the Indus or Ganges, and admit the trident of Siva to share, with the Cross, a divided empire ?-[This testimony is peculiarly valuable.]---Bishop Heber's Churge to the Clergy of Calcutta.