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ing and drinking in right earnest-he at least:-for my own part I could not help glancing about at the place and the people. Our hosts, indeed, looked like charcoal burners;-but the house!--you would have taken it for an arsenal. There was nothing to be seen but muskets, pistols, sabres, knives, entlasses. Every thing displeased me, and I saw that I was in no favor myself. My comrade, on the contrary, was soon one of the family. He laughed, he chatted with them; and with an imprudence which I ought to have prevented, he at once said where we came from, where we were going, that we were Frenchmen. Think of our situation. Here we were amongst our mortal enemies, alone, benighted, far from all human aid. That nothing Inight be omitted that could tend to destroy us, he must play the rich man forsooth, promising these folks to pay them well for their hospitanty; and then he must prate about his portmanteau, earnestly beseeching them to take great care of it, and put it at the head of his bed, for he wanted no other pillow. Ah, youth, youth, how you are to be pitied. Cousin, they might have thought we carried the diamonds of the crown: the treasure in his portmanteau which gave him such anxiety consisted of the letters of his mistress.

"Supper ended, they left us. Our hosts slept below; we on the story where we had been eating. In a sort of platform raised seven or eight feet, where we were to mount by a ladder, was the bed that awaited us-a nest into which we had to introduce ourselves, by jumping over barrels filled with provisions for all the year. My comrade seized upon the bed above, and was soon fast asleep, with his head upon the precious portmanteau. I was determined to keep awake, so I made a good fire, and sat myself down. The night was almost passed over tranquilly enough, and I was beginning to be comfortable, when, just at the time when it appeared to me that day was about to break, I heard our host and his wife talking and disputing below me:and putting my ear into the chimney which communicated with the lower room, I perfectly distinguished these exact words of the husband:-Well, well, let us see:-must we kill them both?' To which the wife replied, 'Yes,'-and I heard no more.

"How shall I tell you the rest? I could scarcely breathe; my whole body was as cold as marble; to have seen me, you could not have told whether I was dead or alive. Heavens! when I yet think upon it! We two were almost without arms;against us were twelve or fifteen who had plenty of weapons. And then my comrade dead of sleep and fatigue! To call him up, to make a noise, was more than I dared;-to escape alone was an impossibility. The window was not very high-but under it were two great dogs howling like wolves. Imagine if you can the distress I was in. At the end of a quarter of an hour, which seemed an age, I heard some one on the staircase, and through the chink of the door I saw the old man, with a lamp in one hand and one of his great knives in the othHe mounted, his wife after him; I was behind the door. He opened it; but before he came in he put down the lamp, which his wife took up, and coming in, with his feet naked, she being behind him said in a smothered voice, hiding the light partially with her fingers, Gently, go gently. When

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he reached the ladder he mounted, his knife between his teeth; and going to the head of the bed where that poor young man lay, with his throat uncovered, with one hand he took his knife, and with

the other ah, my cousin--he seized a ham which hung from the roof, cut a slice, and retired as he had come in. The door is re-shut, the light vanishes, and I am left alone to my reflections.

"When the day appeared, all the family with a great noise came to rouse us, as we had desired. They brought us plenty to eat-they served us a very proper breakfast, a capital breakfast, I assure you. Two capons formed part of it, of which, said the hostess, you must eat one, and carry away the other. When I saw the capons I at once comprehended the meaning of those terrible words-Must we kill them both?"

KENTUCKY SPORTS.

We have individuals in Kentucky, kind reader, that even there are considered wonderful adepts in the management of the rifle. To drive a nail is a common feat, not more thought of by the Kentuckians than to cut off a wild turkey's head, at a distance of a hundred yards. Others will bark off squirrels one after another, until satisfied with the number procured. Some, less intent on destroying game, may be seen under night snuffing a candle at the distance of fifty yards off-hand, without extinguishing it. I have been told that some have proved so expert and cool as to make choice of the eye of a foe at a wonderful distance, boasting beforehand of the sureness of their piece, which has afterwards been fully proved when the enemy's head has been examined!

Having resided some years in Kentucky, and having more than once been witness of rifle sport, I shall present you with the results of my observation, leaving you to judge how far rifle-shooting is understood in that State.

Several individuals who conceive themselves expert in the management of the gun are often seen to meet for the purpose of displaying their skill; and betting a trifling sum, put up a target, in the centre of which a common-sized nail is hammered for about two-thirds of its length. The marksmen make choice of what they consider a proper distance, which may be forty paces. Each man cleans the interior of his tube, which is called wiping it, places a ball in the palm of his hand, pouring as much powder from his horn upon it as will cover it. This quantity is supposed to be sufficient for any distance within a hundred yards. A shot which comes very close to the nail is considered as that of an indifferent marksman; the bending of the nail is, of course, somewhat better; but nothing less than hitting it right on the head is satisfactory. Well, kind reader, one out of the three shots generally hits the nail; and should the shooters amount to half a dozen, two nails are frequently needed before each can have a shot. Those who drive the nail have a further trial amongst themselves, and the two best shots out of these generally settle the affair, when all the sportsmen adjourn to some house, and spend an hour or two in friendly intercourse, appointing, before they part, a day for another trial. This is technically termed Driving the Nail.

Barking off squirrels is delightful sport, and in my opinion requires a greater degree of accuracy than any other. I first witnessed this manner of procuring squirrels, whilst near the town of Frankfort. The performer was the celebrated Daniel Boon. We walked out together, and followed the rocky margins of the Kentucky river, until we

reached a piece of flat land thickly covered with black walnuts, oaks, and hickories. As the general mast was a good one that year, squirrels were seen gamboling on every tree around us. My companion, a stout, hale, and athletic man, dressed in a homespun hunting shirt, bare-legged, and moccasined, carried a long and heavy rifle, which, as he was loading it, he said had proved efficient in all his former undertakings, and which he hoped would not fail on this occasion, as he felt proud to show me his skill. The gun was wiped, the powder measured, the ball patched with six-hundred-thread linen, and the charge sent home with a hickory rod. We moved not a step from the place, for the squirrels were so numerous that it was unnecessary to go after them. Boon pointed to one of these ani

mals which had observed us, and was crouched on a branch about fifty paces distant, and bade me mark well where the ball should hit. He raised his piece gradually until the head (that being the name given by the Kentuckians to the sight) of the barrel was brought to a line with the spot which he intended to hit. The whip-like report resounded through the woods and along the hills, in repeated echoes. Judge of my surprise when I perceived that the ball had hit the piece of the bark immediately beneath the squirrel, and shivered it into splinters, the concussion produced by which had killed the animal and sent it whirling through the air, as if it had been blown up by the explosion of a powder magazine. Boon kept up his firing, and, before many hours had elapsed, we had procured as many squirrels as we wished; for you must know, kind reader, that to load a rifle requires only a moment, and that if it is wiped once after each shot, it will do duty for hours. Since that first interview with our veteran Boon, I have seen many other individuals perform the same feat.

The snuffing of a candle with a ball, I first had an opportunity of seeing near the banks of Green River, not far from a large pigeon-roost, to which I had previously made a visit. I heard many reports of guns during the early part of a dark night, and knowing them to be those of rifles, I went towards the spot to ascertain the cause. On reaching the place, I was welcomed by a dozen of tall stout men, who told me they were exercising for the purpose of enabling them to shoot under night at the reflected light from the eyes of a deer or wolf, by torch-light. A fire was blazing near, the smoke of which rose curling among the thick foliage of the trees. At a distance which rendered it scarcely distinguishable, stood a burning candle, as if intended for an offering to the goddess of night, but which in reality was only fifty yards from the spot on which we all stood. One man was within a few yards of it, to watch the effect of the shots, as well as to light the candle should it chance to go out, or to replace it should the shot cut it across. Each marksman shot in his turn. Some never hit either the snuff or the candle, and were congratulated with a loud laugh; while others actually snuffed the candle without putting it out, and were recompensed for their dexterity with numerous hurrahs. One of them, who was particularly expert, was very fortunate, and snuffed the candle three times out of seven, whilst all the other shots either put out the candle, or cut it immediately under the light.

Of the feats performed by the Kentuckians with the rifle, I could say more than might be expedient on the present occasion. In every thinly peopled portion of the state, it is rare to meet one without a

gun of that description, as well as a tomahawk. By way of recreation, they often cut off a piece of the bark of a tree, make a target of it, using a little powder wetted with water or saliva, for the bull's eye, and shoot into the mark all the balls they have about them, picking them out of the wood again.— Audubon's Ornithological Biography.

Ten rules to be observed in Practical Life-The following rules were given by the late Mr. Jefferson, in a letter of advice to his namesake, Thomas Jefferson Smith, in 1825:1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day 2. Never trouble others for what you can do yourself." 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. 5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.

6. We never repent of having eaten too little. 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

8. How much pains have those evils cost us which never happened.

9. Take things always by their smooth handle. 10. When angry, count ten before you speak,-if very angry, a hundred."

Navigation of the Mississippi.-The first steam vessel which sailed on this mighty stream was in 1810, and the enterprise was considered extraordinary. In 1826 the steam navigation of the Mississippi had so improved in respect to facility and quickness, that fifty-one boats, of 28,916 tons, were employed. Since 1826 the amount has been prodigiously increased, and the number of flat-boats and keels is beyond calculation.

Courts of Justice among Crows.-Those extraordinary assemblies, which may be called crow-courts, are observed in the Feroe Islands, as well as in the Scotch Isles; they collect in great numbers as if they had been all summoned for the occasion. A few of the flock sit with drooping heads; others seem as grave as if they were judges, and some are exceedingly active and noisy, like lawyers and witnesses: in the course of about an hour the company generally disperse, and it is not uncommon, after they have flown away, to find one or two left dead on the spot. Dr. Edmonstone, in his view of the Shetland Islands, says that sometimes the crow-court, or meeting, does not appear to be complete before the expiration of a day or two, crows coming from all quarters to the session. As soon as they are all arrived, a very general noise ensues, the business of the court is opened, and shortly after, they all fall upon one or two individual crows (who are supposed to have been condemned by their peers) and put them to death. When the execution is over, they quietly disperse.

The corner stone of a monument to be erected in Philadelphia in honor of Washington was laid on the 22d of February with appropriate ceremonies.

The census of Missouri, as recently taken by authority of the State, presents an aggregate of 176,276 souls, of whom 32,184 are slaves. The number of white males, we observe, exceeds that of the white females, by nearly nine thousand souls.

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Travellers in Europe, even those who may have passed over the Pyrenees or Alps, can have but a faint idea of the labor and danger of crossing the Andes, that immense mountain-chain by which the continent of South America is intersected, from its southern to its most northern extremity, dividing Peru and Chile, on the western Coasts, from Colombia and Brazil, on the eastern. Many of the Passes are upwards of 18,000 feet, or nearly four miles, in perpendicular height, above the level of the sea. In some parts men, who have made it their sole occupation, carry the passenger up the most steep and dangerous paths, in a kind of chair fastened to their backs; but in general, the journey is made by travellers mounted on that patient and sure-footed animal, the mule.

The above engraving is from a print in the Travels of Colonel Hamilton, who, in 1823, visited South America, as chief commissioner from the king of Great Britain to the republic of Colombia. It represents a perilous situation common to the traveller in these terrific regions, when his safety depends wholly on the sure-footedness of his mule. In the Pass along which the traveller is proceeding, the road is separated by a chasm, several feet in width, which forms the mouth of a yawning gulf, some hundreds of feet in depth. The sagacity shown by the mules in leaping these dangerous openings, which are of common occurrence, is a subject of admiration among all travellers who have visited these regions. In some places, also,

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it is necessary to make the descent of immense heights; an undertaking of great danger, from their excessive steepness, and the slippery state of the mule-track. On these occasions, the mules," says Colonel Hamilton, "take every precaution, and seem to know the danger they incur; for they inspect the road narrowly before them, and then place their fore-legs close together, and slide down on their hams in a manner which scarcely any one but an eye-witness would credit."

Major Head, in his Rough Notes of a Journey across the Pampas, gives the following animated picture of the preparation of a train of baggagemules for a journey over thesc dangerous Passes; and of some of the casualties common to these

perilous journeys. "Anxious to be off" says he, "I ordered the mules to be saddled; as soon as this was done, the baggage-mules were ordered to be got ready. Every article of baggage was brought into the yard, and divided into six parcels (the number of the baggage-mules), quite different from each other in weight and bulk, but adapted to the strength of the different mules.

"The operation of loading then began. The peon (the driver) first caught a great brown mule with his lasso, and then put a poncho (a large shawl in which the natives dress) over his eyes, and

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*The Lasso is a long leathern thong, used by the hunters and drivers of South America in catching wild animals. An account of this singular practice will be given in a future number.

tied it under his throat, leaving the animal's nose and mouth uncovered. The mule stood still, while the captain and peon first put on the large straw pack-saddle, which they girthed to him, in such a manner that nothing could move it. The articles were then placed, one by one, on each side, and bound together, with a force and ingenuity against which it was hopeless for the mule to contend.

"I could not help pitying the poor animal, on seeing him thus prepared for carrying a heavy load, such a wearisome distance, and over such lofty mountains as the Andes; yet, it is truly amusing to watch the nose and mouth of a mule when his eyes are blinded, and his ears pressed down upon his neck in the poncho. Every movement which is made about him, either to arrange his saddle or his load, is resented by a curl of his nose and upper-lip, which, in ten thousand wrinkles, is expressive beyond description, of every thing that is vicious and spiteful: he appears to be planning all sorts of petty schemes of revenge, and as soon as the poncho is taken off, generally begins to put some of them into execution, either by running, with his load, against some other mule, or by kicking him. However, as soon as he finds that his burden is not to be got rid of, he dismisses, or perhaps conceals his resentment, and instantly assumes a look of patience and resignation."

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"As I was looking up at the region of snow, and as my mule was scrambling along the steep side of the rock, the captain overtook me, and asked me if I chose to come on, as he was going to look at a very dangerous part of the road, which we were approaching, to see if it was passable, before the mules came to it. In half an hour we arrived at the spot. It is the worst Pass in the whole road over the Cordillera Mountains. The mountain above appears almost perpendicular, and in one continued slope down to a rapid torrent that is raging underneath. The surface is covered with loose earth and stones, which have been brought down by the waters. The path goes across this slope, and is very bad for about seventy yards, being only a few inches broad; but the point of danger is a spot, where the water, which comes down from the top of the mountain, either washes the path away, or covers it over with loose stones. In some places, the rock almost touches one's shoulder, while the precipice is immediately under the opposite foot, and high above head, are a number of loose stones, which appear as if the slightest touch would send them rolling into the torrent beneath, which is foaming and running with great violence. As soon as we had crossed the Pass, which is only seventy yards long, the captain told me it was a very bad place for baggage-mules; that four hundred had been lost there; and that we should probably also lose one. He said, that he could get down to the water at a place about a hundred yards off, and wait there with his lasso, to catch any mule that might fall into the torrent; and he requested me to lead on his mule. However, I resolved to see the tumble, if there was to be one, so the captain took away my mule and his own, and while I stood on a projecting rock, at the end of the Pass, he scrambled down on foot, till he got to the level of the water.

"The drove of mules now came in sight, one following another: a few were carrying no burdens, but the rest were either mounted or heavily laden. As soon as the leading mule came to the commence

ment of the Pass, he stopped, evidently unwilling to proceed, and of course all the rest stopped also. He was the finest mule we had, and, on that account, had twice as much to carry as any of the others. With his nose to the ground, literally smelling his way, he walked gently on, often changing the position of his feet, if he found the ground would not bear, until he came to the bad part of the Pass, when he stopped; but the peons threw stones at him, and he continued his path in safety, and several others followed.

"At length, a young mule, carrying a portmanteau, with two large sacks of provisions, and many other things, in passing the bad point, struck his load against the rock, which knocked his two hindlegs over the precipice, and the loose stones immediately began to roll away from under them: however, his fore-legs were still upon the narrow path: he had no room to put his head there, but he placed his nose on the path to his left, and appeared to hold on by his mouth: his perilous fate was soon decided by a loose mule, who, in walking along after him, knocked his comrade's nose off the path, destroyed his balance, and head over heels the poor creature instantly commenced a fall, which was really quite terrific. With all his baggage firmly lashed to him, he rolled down the steep slope, until he came to the part which was perpendicular, and then he seemed to bound off, and turning round in the air, fell into the deep torrent, on his back, and upon his baggage, and instantly disappeared." To any other animal but a mule, this fall must have been fatal; he was carried down by the stream in spite of all his efforts, and, turning the corner of a rock, was given up for lost. "At length," the author continues, "I saw at a distance a solitary mule walking towards us! We instantly perceived that he was the Phaeton whose fall we had just witnessed, and in a few moments he came up to us to join his comrades. He was, of course, dripping wet, his eye looked dull, and his whole countenance was dejected, but none of his bones were broken: he was very little cut, and the bulletin of his health was altogether incredible."

PROPERTIES OF THE SUGAR-CANE. Dutrone calls sugar the most perfect alimentary substance in nature, and the testimony of many physicians establishes the fact. Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, says, in common with all who have analyzed it, that " sugar affords the greatest quantity of matter of any subject in nature." Used alone, it has fattened horses and cattle in St. Domingo for a period of several months, during the time when the exportation of sugar and the importation of grain were suspended from the want of ships. The plentiful use of sugar in diet is one of the best preventives that ever has been discovered of the diseases which are produced by worms. Nature seems to have implanted a love for this aliment in all children, as if it were on purpose to defend them from those diseases. Sir John Pringle tells us, that the plague has never been known to visit any country where sugar composes a material part of the diet of the inhabitants. Dr. Rush, Dr. Cullen, and many other physicians, are of opinion, that the frequency of malignant fevers of all kinds has been lessened by the use of sugar. Dr. Rush observes, that, in disorders of the breast, sugar is the basis of many agreeable remedies, and it is useful in weaknesses and acrid defluxions in other parts of the body. The

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celebrated Honchin recommends "Eau Sucré" for almost every malady. Dr. Fothergill was very anxious that the price of sugar should be sufficiently moderate, to render it accessible to the mass of the people. From experiments made by some eminent French surgeons, it appears to be an antiscorbutic; and this is confirmed by well known facts. A writer from India observes, "The comfort and health arising to a poor family from a small patch of sugar-cane, exclusive of what the jaggry may sell for, can only be known to such as may have observed them in the time of cutting the canes, and noted the difference of their looks before the crop begins, and a month or six weeks after."

The Cochin Chinese consume a great quantity of sugar; they eat it generally with their rice, which is the ordinary breakfast of people of all ages and stations. There is little else to be obtained in all the inns of the country but rice and sugar; it is the common nourishment of travellers. The Cochin Chinese not only preserve in sugar all their fruits, but even the greater part of their leguminous vegetables, gourds, cucumbers, radishes, artichokes, the grain of the lotus, and the thick fleshy leaves of the aloe. They fancy nothing is so nourishing as sugar. This opinion of its fattening properties has occasioned a whimsical law. The body-guard of the king, selected for the purposes of pomp and show, are allowed a sum of money with which they must buy sugar and sugar-cane, and they are compelled by law to eat a certain quantity daily. This is to preserve the embonpoint and good looks of those soldiers who are honored by approaching so near the person of the king; and they certainly do honor to their master by their handsome appearance. Domestic animals, horses, buffaloes, elephants, are all fattened with sugar-cane in Cochin China. Sugar has been found to be an antidote to the poison of verdigris, if taken speedily and in abundance; and unlike many other organic substances, its nutritious qualities are not liable to change, from the operations of time or season.

THE DRAGON-TREE OF OROTAVA.

Near the town of Orotava, in the island of Teneriffe, there is an enormous many-headed palm of the species called the Dragon-Tree (in French, Dragonnier), which has been described by the

scientific traveller Humboldt, and more recently by Maria Graham. This tree is situated in the garden of M. Franqui. There are existing documents, which show that the trunk of this tree had attained its present vast size in the fifteenth century. Its height is about 60 feet; its circumference near the root is 48 feet. At the height of ten feet above the soil, Sir George Staunton ascertained that its diameter was 12 feet. The trunk divides into a great number of branches which rise in the form of a candelabra, each of which is terminated by a bunch of leaves. It still bears flowers and fruit. Humboldt has given, in the Atlas to his large work, a plate from a drawing of this palm, taken in 1776;

the above wood-cut is copied from a sketch in Maria Graham's "Journal of a Voyage to Brazil,” made after one-half of the crown of the tree had fallen in 1819. This remarkable tree is considered by Humboldt to be one of the oldest inhabitants of this globe. The species is of very slow growth; and it is judged that a thousand years must have elapsed before this specimer. had attained maturity.

Wolves. The following narration may have before met the eyes of many of our readers: it is certainly of a nature not to be easily forgotten. We may premise that in Russia, during a severe winter, the wolves are often induced by hunger to prowl around the city of St. Petersburg in search of food. Travellers from St. Petersburg to Cronstadt, a distance of about twenty miles, have often been attacked by these animals. The circumstance related below was told to Mr. Lloyd by a gentleman of rank at St. Petersburg; it occurred in Russia not many years ago:-A woman, accompanied by three of her children, were one day in a sledge, when they were pursued by a number of wolves. On this, she put the horse into a gallop, and drove towards her home, from which she was not far distant, with all possible speed. All, however, would not avail, for the ferocious animals gained upon her, and at last were on the point of rushing on the sledge. For the preservation of her own life and that of the remaining children, the poor frantic creature now took one of her babes and cast it a prey to her blood-thirsty pursuers. This stopped their career for a moment; but, after devouring the little innocent, they renewed the pursuit, and a second time came up with the vehicle. The mother, driven to desperation, resorted to the same horrible expedient, and threw her ferocious assailants another of her offspring. To cut short this melancholy story, her third child was sacrificed in a similar manner. Soon after this, the wretched being, whose feelings may more easily be conceived than described, reached her home in safety. Here she related what had happened, and endeavored to palliate her own conduct, by describing the dreadful alternative to which she had been reduced. A peasant, however, who was among the bystanders, and heard the recital, took up an axe, and with one blow cleft her skull in two; saying, at the same time, that a mother who could thus sacrifice her children for the preservation of her own life, was no longer fit to live. This man was committed to prison, but the Emperor subsequently gave him a pardon.

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Persian account of the origin of Wine.-Jerusheed, the founder of Persepolis, is by Persian writers said to have been the first who invented wine. He was immoderately fond of grapes, and desiring to preserve some, they were placed for this purpose in a large vessel, and lodged in a vault for future use. When the vessel was opened, the grapes had fermented and their juice in this state was so acid that the king believed it must be poisonous. He had some vessels filled with it; "poison" was written upon each and they were placed in his room.

It happened that one of his favorite ladies was affected with a nervous headache, and the pain distracted her so much that she desired death. Observing a vessel with "poison" written on it, she took it and swallowed its contents. The wine, for such it had become, overpowered the lady, who fell into a sound sleep and awoke much refreshed. Delighted with the remedy, she repeated the dose so often that the monarch's poison was all drank. He soon discovered this, and forced the lady to confess what she had done. A quantity of wine was made; and Jerusheed and all his court, drank of the new beverage-which from the circumstance that led to its discovery, is this day known in Persia by the name of Jeher-eKooshon, the delightful poison!

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