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She offered him three stivers, which he indignantly rejected, saying,

"I want none of your duyvel's stivers-begone, Verschvikt Huysvrouw !"

The old woman went away mumbling and grumbling as usual.

"By Saint Johannes de Dooper," quoth, Boss Boomptie, "but she's a peauty!"

That night, and all the week after, the brickbats flew about Knickerbocker Hall like hail, insomuch that Boss Boomptie marvelled where they all came from, until one morning, after a terrible shower of brickbats, he found, to his great grief and dismay, that his oven had disappeared; next went the top of his chimney and when that was gone, these diabolical sinners began at the extreme point of the gable-end, and so went on picking at the two edges downwards, until they looked just like the teeth of a saw, as may be still seen by people curious enough to look at the building.

"Gesprengkelde! Gespikkelde! on Gepleckteeve!" cried Boss Boomptie, "put it's too pad to have my prains peat out wid my own brick pats."

About the same time a sober respectable cat, that for years had done nothing but sit purring in the chimneycorner, all at once got the duyvel in her, and after scratching the poor man half to death, jumped out of the chimney and disappeared. A Whitehall boatman afterwards saw her in Butter-milk channel, with nothing but the tail left, swimming against the tide as easy as kiss your hand. Poor Mrs. Boomptie had no peace of her life, what with pinchings, stickings of needles, and talking without opening her mouth. But the climax of the malice of the demon which beset her was in at last tying up her tongue, so that she could not speak at all, but did nothing but sit crying and wringing her hands in the chimney-corner.

These carryings on brought round new-year's eve again, when Boss Boomptie thought he would have a frolic," in spite of the duyvel," as he said, which saying was, somehow or other, afterwards applied to the creek at Kingsbridge. So he commanded his wife to prepare him a swingeing mug of hot spiced rum, to keep up his courage against theassaults of brickbats. But what was the dismay of the little man when he found that every time he put the beverage to his lips he received a great box on the ear, the mug was snatched away by the invisible hand, and every single drop drunk out of it before it came to Boss Boomptie's turn. Then, as if it was an excellent joke, he heard a most diabolical laugh down in the cellar.

Saint Nicholas and Saint Johannes de Dooper!" exclaimed the little man in despair. This was atttacking him in the very entrenchments of his heart. It was worse than the brickbats.

66 Saint Nciholas! Saint Nicholas! what will become of me what sal Ich doon, mynheer?”

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Scarcely had he uttered this pathetic appeal, when there was a sound of horses' hoofs in the chimney, and presently a little wagon drawn by a little, fat, gray 'Sopus poney, came trundling into the room, loaded with all sorts of knick-knacks. It was driven by a jolly, fat, little rogue of a fellow, with a round sparkling eye, and a mouth which would certainly have been laughing had it not been for a glorious Meerschaum pipe, which would have chanced to fall out in that case. The little rascal had on a three-cornered cocked hat,

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Wonderdadige Geboote!" said Boss Boomptie, speaking for his wife, which made the good woman very angry, that he should take the words out of her mouth.

"You called on St. Nicholas. Here am I," quoth the jolly little saint. "In one word-for I am a saint of few words, and have my hands full of business tonight in one word tell me what you want."

"The

"I am pewitched," quoth Boss Boomptie. duyvel is in me, my house, my wife, my new-year cookies, and my children. What shall I do ?"

"When you count a dozen, you must count thirteen," answered the wagon-driver, at the same time cracking his whip, and clattering up the chimney, more like a little duyvel than a little saint.

"Der dapperhéed updragon!" muttered Boss Boomptie. "When you count a dozen, you must count dirteen! Twerndertigduysend destroopergender! I never heard of such counting. By Saint Johannes de

Dooper, but Saint Nicholas is a great blockhead !”

Just as he uttered this blasphemy against the excellent Saint Nicholas, he saw through the pane of glass, in the door leading from the spare room to the shop, the little ugly old woman, with the sharp eyes, sharp nose, sharp chin, sharp voice, and leather spectacles, alighting from a broomstick at the street-door.

"Dere is the duyvel's kint come again," quoth he, in one of his cross humours, which was aggravated by his getting just then a great box on the ear from the invisible hand. However, he went grumbling into the shop, for it was part of his religion never to neglect a customer, let the occasion be what it might.

“I want a dozen new-year cookies," screamed the old beauty, as usual, and as usual Boss Boomptie counted out twelve.

"I want another one," screamed she still louder.

"Ah hah!" thought Boss Boomptie, doubtless inspired by the jolly little caitiff, Saint Nicholas. "Ah hah! In opperhoofd en Bevelheffer-when you count twelf you must count dirteen.—Hah! hah! ho! ho! ho!" And he counted out the thirteenth cookie like a brave fellow.

The old woman made him a low courtesy, and laughed till she might have shown her teeth, if she had any.

"Friend Boomptie," said she, in a voice exhibiting the perfection of a nicely modulated scream- -" friend Boomptie, I love such generous little fellows as you, in my heart, I salute you," and she advanced to kiss him. Boss Boomptie did not at all like the proposition; but, doubtless, inspired by St. Nicholas, he submitted with indescribable grace.

At that moment, an explosion was heard inside the little glass pane, and the voice of Mrs. Boomptie crying out.

"You false-hearted villain! have I found out your tricks at last?"

"De Philistyner Onweetende!" cried Boss Boomptie. "She's come to her speech at last!"

"The spell is broken!" screamed the old woman with the sharp eyes, nose, chin, and voice," The spell is broken, and henceforward a dozen is thirteen, and thirteen is a dozen! There shall be thirteen new-year cookies to the dozen, as a type of the thirteen mighty states that are to arise out of the ruins of the government of Faderland!"

Thereupon she took a new-year cake bearing the effigy of the blessed St. Nicholas, and caused Boss Boomptie to swear upon it, that for ever afterwards twelve should be thirteen and thirteen should be twelve. After which she mounted her broomstick and disappeared, just as the little old Datch clock struck twelve. From that time forward, the spell that hung over Knickerbocker Hall, was broken; and ever since it has been illustrious for baking the most glorious new-year cookies in our country. Every thing became as before: the little 'prentice boys returned, mounted on the batch of bread, and their adventures, may, peradventure, be told some other time. Finally, from that day forward no baker of New-Amsterdam was ever bewitched at least by an ugly old woman, and a baker's dozen has always been counted as thirteen.

GEMS.

BY JOHN BOWRING, ESQ. LL.D.
Earth has its gems around!
Creatures through ether winging,
Flow'rets in glory springing,

Dewdrops upon the ground;
Sparks of the waterfall, insects' wings
Ay! and a million beautiful things.

Sea hath its gems below!
In grottos to man forbidden,
Marvellous treasures are hidden,

Pearls and corallines grow:

Deep and dark in the tombs of the wave,
Jewels are hung in palace and cave.

Heaven hath its gems above!
Look for its arch exalted

With planets and stars is vaulted.

O, what spirits may rove,

Gems of the soul,-through scenes like these, Learning eternal mysteries!

OBSERVATIONS ON ANTS.

THE injury done to the sugar plantations in the West Indies by the sugar-ant, whose size is little beyond that of the flea, is really astonishing. It appears, from the West Indian journals, that this species of ant first made its appearance in Grenada, about seventy-eight years ago, on a sugar plantation at Petit Havre, a bay five or six miles from the town of St. George. From thence they contrived to extend themselves on all sides for several years, destroying in succession, every plantation between St. George and St. John's, a space of about twelve miles; and at the same time colonies of them began to be observed in other parts of the island. All attempts of the planters to put a stop to the ravages of these insects having been found ineffectual, an act

was passed by the legislature, by which the discoverer of any practicable method of destroying them, so as to permit the cultivation of the sugar cane, as formerly, was entitled to twenty thousand pounds, to be paid from the public treasury of the island. Many were the candidates on this occasion, but very far were any of them from having any just claim; considerable sums of money were however granted, in consideration of the trouble and expense incurred in making the ex periments. The number of those ants were incredible. The roads have been seen covered with them for miles together; and so crowded were they in many places, that the prints of horses' feet would appear for a minute or two, until the spaces made by them were again filled up by the surrounding multitude of ants. All other species of ants, although numerous in their colonies, are nevertheless circumscribed and confined to a small spot in comparison with the vast spaces occupied by the sugar ants, we may say as a mole hill is to a mountain! Corrosive sublimate and arsenic, mixed with animal substance, were greedily devoured by them myriads were indeed thus destroyed, and the more readily, as they were, by these applications, rendered so furious as to destroy each other! Yet it was found that these poisons could not be laid in sufficient quantities even to give the hundred thousandth part of them a taste.

:

The use of fire afforded a greater probability of success. When wood was burnt to the state of charcoal, without flame, and was then immediately taken from the fire, and laid in their way, they crowded to it in such astonishing numbers as soon to extinguish it, although by the destruction of thousands of them. Holes were therefore dug at proper distances apart, and and a fire made in each of them. Prodigious quantities perished in this way; for the places of those fires, when extinguished, appeared in the shape of mole-hills from the numbers of dead bodies of the ants heaped on them; nevertheless, the ants soon appeared again as

numerous as ever.

This calamity, which resisted so long all the efforts of the planters, was at length removed by another; which, however ruinous to the other islands in the WestIndies in other respects, was, to Grenada in particular, a very great blessing; namely the hurricane in 1780. without this, it is probable that the cultivation of the sugar cane, in the most valuable parts of that island, must have in a great measure been thrown aside, at least for some time.

The devastations made by the various species of ants in this country are of great magnitude; but are nothing in comparison to the ravages made by those of warmer climates. I have seen large tracts of ground in the neighbourhood of London completely excavated by these insects, and particularly in Southgate wood; the whole of which is one vast colony of ants; their nests and subteraneous passages extending throughout the wood; the surface of the ground is so overrun with them, that you cannot stir a foot without treading on numbers.

In all the excursions the ants make, they have always some object in view; and they very seldom return to the nest either themselves bearing something, or carrying the news that something of use has been discovered, and in which joint assistance is necessary. If information is brought, for instance that a piece of sugar, or bread or any kind of fruit, has been discovered, even

in the highest story of a house, they range themselves in a line, and follow their leader to the spot; of this the following is a remarkable instance, related by Dr. Franklin. Believing that these little creatures had some means of communicating their thoughts or desires to one another, he tried several experiments with them, all of which tended to confirm his opinion; but one seemed more conclusive than the rest. He put a small earthen pot, containing some treacle, into a closet, into which a number of ants got, devoured the treacle very quietly. But, on observing this, he shook them out, and tied the pot with a thin string to a nail, which he had fastened into the ceiling; so that it hung down by it. A single ant, by chance, remained in the pot; this ant eat till it was satisfied; but when it wanted to get off it could not for some time find a way out. It ran about the bottom of the pot, but in vain; at last it found, after many attempts, the way to the ceiling, by going along the string. After it was come there, it ran to the wall, and from thence to the ground. It had scarcely been away half an hour, when a great swarm of ants came out, got up to the ceiling, and crept along the string to the pot, and began to eat again. This they continued doing till the treacle was all eaten; in the mean time, one swarm running down the string, and the other up it.

We are told that a very grateful acid (the formic acid) is to be obtained from ants by distillation; and we find instances recorded of persons being fond of eating them alive. As Mr Consett was walking with a young gentleman in a wood near Gottenburgh, in Sweden, he observed him sit down on an ant-hill, and, with a great degree of pleasure devour these insects, first nipping off their heads and wings. Their flavour, according to his account, was an acid, somewhat resembling, though much more agreeable than that of a lemon. The late Mr. Tuther, a celebrated optician in Holborn, assured that he had frequently eaten them in order to allay his thirst when in the woods. There is a highly interesting work on the habits of the ants, by Huber, in which he describes their wars, buildings or architecture, their affection towards their companions; and, in fact, the general economy of these insects, which he narrates very fully, is really wonderful, particularly those of some species in slave making, which is carried on to a great extent in the following manner. The war ants march out in large armies, and give battle to a neighbouring city, composed of the working ants; and having made a breach in the walls, rush in and carry off the egs and larva to their own nest, which they watch, nourish, and rear to maturity with the same care as they take of their own off their own offspring; and thus they become, in process of time, inmates in the same society with those who had originally kidnapped them, and towards whom, had they been brought up at home, they would have cherished an instinctive and inveterate hatred. The office of these slaves is to take care of the city when the war ants go out again on their marauding adventures, to get a fresh supply of eggs and larva for future slaves; and also to repair and fortify the city, and in times of peace to wait on their masters, who do not work, but live as gentlemen sold.ers.

We have reason to be thankful for the limited size of these insects in our own country. In the warmer climates they are of a gigantic size compared with ours ;

many species are full an inch and a half long, as may be seen in the cabinets at the British Museum. The depredations of these are dreadful; sheep and other large animals are frequenly attacked by them, and so expert are they in their operations, that in the course of a night the animals are completly dovoured, and nothing left except their skeletons. M. Malouet, in his travels through the forests of Guina, saw, on a plain, an ant's nest, from fifteen to twenty feet high, on a basis of thirty or forty feet. The person who accompanied him informed him they could not approach it without being devoured, the ants being numerous beyond calculation, more than an inch in length, and furnished with powerful jaws and stings. That when any new settlers, in clearing the country, met with these nests, they were obliged to abandon the spot, unless they could muster a sufficient force to lay regular seige to the enemy: this was done by digging a trench at a distance from the nest and all round it: this trench is filled with dry wood, to the whole of which they set fire at the same time, by lighting it at different parts; while the entrenchments are blazing, the edifice is fired at by cannon, and the ants being thus dispersed in passing through the flames perish.

It is a well known fact, that some species of these large ants will enter the dwellings of inhabitants in such numbers, as to be capable of devouring the whole of the inmates: when a circumstance of that kind takes place, the dwelling is deserted, and left to the mercy of the invaders, and the proprietors are obliged to form a temporary dwelling in a distant part. When the visitation ants have devoured every thing eatable within the house, they quit it, and the family returns. Should the ants visit them in the night, they are obliged to quit, without having time to put on any covering.

Capt. Adams, in his remarks on the coast of Guinea, mentions that a cow was attacked by these insects, and the whole carcase stripped to the bone in a single night. He also relates, that Mr Absons, the governor of the English fort at Gewhi, in Dahony, was reduced to debility by fever, so as to be incapable of calling for help, when he was attacked by the ants while in bed, and which would have devoured him before morning; but very fortunately, one of his domestics awoke, and, by great exertions, saved him from their depredations.

The

The vast size of the nests constructed by these insects in various parts of the globe is astonishing. Captain Stedman has seen ant-hils, in Surinam, six feet high, and at least one hundred feet in circumference. sting from these ants caused a whole company of his soldiers to start and jump about as if scalded with boiling water, and the pain caused by their bite was equally intolerable!

But the most surprising of these insects are the termites or white ants, whose history is given by Mr. Smeatham, in a work published by him, and read at a meeting of the Royal Society, February 15, 1781. It appears their habitations are of an amasing magnitude ; that they frequently exceed twelve feet in height, and are so firmly cemented, as to bear the pressure of several men at the same time. It often happens that, whilst a herd of wild cattle are quietly grazing below, one of their body is stationed on them as a centinel, to give timely notice of approaching danger. The termites begin constructing their habitations by raising,

at little distances from each other, several turrets of compact clay in the shape of sugar loaves, upon these they erect others,, those in the centre running up to the greatest height; they afterwards cover in the spaces between them, and then take down the sides of all the inner turrets, leaving only the upper portions to form the cupola or dome, making use of the clay they thus procure in the formation of the several chambers intended for magazines nurseries, &c. The nurseries are entirely composed of wooden materials, enclosed in chambers of clay, usually half an inch in width, ranged round, and as close as possible to the royal apartment. The royal chamber, which, with the rest, is arched over, occupies as nearly as possible the centre of the building, and is on a level with the surface of the ground; it is at first only an inch in length, but increases in size with that of the queen, until it extends to six or more inches. In this chamber the king and queen are retained close captives,; it is impossible they can ever quit it, the entrance only allowing of the passing and repassing of the soldiers and labourers. The queen, in her last stage of pregnancy, is one thousand times the weight of the king, and her abdomen is two thousand times the bulk of the rest of her body, and she is equal in bulk to twenty or thirty thousand labourers; although, on her first appearance as a winged insect she equalled only in bulk about thirty labourers; her abdomen, after impregnation, increases from half an inch to three or four inches in length, in appearance resembling a sausage; and she lays according to Smeathman, as many as eighty thousand eggs in the course of twentyfour hours; and which are instantly taken from her body by the numerous attendants, and carried away to the nurseries; hence the necessity for the numerous attendants, by whom she is continually surrounded.

In an ant-hill of such extensive size, and where there is such an infinity of chambers to accomodate its numerous inhabitants, there must be a vast number of subterraneous and winding passages. These passages,

which conduct to the upper part of the dome, are carried in a spiral manner round the building, for the labourers find it extremely difficult to ascend in a less circuitous direction. Very frequently, however, in order to shorten the distance to the upper nurseries, where they have to take the eggs, they project an arch of about ten inches in length, and half an inch in breadth, grooved or worked into steps on its upper surface, to allow of a more easy passage. When these insects quit their nest on any expedition, they construct covered galleries of clay, which sometimes run to a considerable distance, and under these they continue their extensive and highly dreaded depredations.

Yet

The destruction of trees, and of timber buildings, by some species of these insects is incredible. though the mischiefs they commit are very great, such is the economy of nature, that they are probably counterbalanced by the good produced by them, in quickly destroying dead trees and other substances, which would otherwise, by a tedious decay, serve only to encumber the face of the earth. Such is their alacrity and despatch in this office, that they will in a few weeks, destroy and carry away the trunks of large trees. The total destruction of deserted towns is accomplished in two or three years, and their space filled by a thick wood, notthe least vestige of a house remaining.

Mr. Forbes observes, in his memoirs, that at Bom

bay they are so numerous and destructive, that it is difficult to guard against their depredations; in a few hours they will demolish a large chest of books, papers, silks, or clothes, perforating them with a thousand holes; the inhabitants dare not even leave a box on the floor, but place it on glass bottles, which if kept free from dust, the ants cannot ascend; this is, however, trifling, when compared with the serious mischief they sometimes occasion, by penetrating the beams of a house, or destroying the timber of a ship; for on one occasion they attacked a British ship of the line, and, in spite of the efforts of her commander and her crew, after having boarded, they got possession of her, and handled her so roughly, that when brought into port, being no longer fit for service, she was obliged to be broken up.

The ship here alluded to was the Albion, which was in such a condition, from the attacks of insects, supposed to be the white ants that had not the ship been firmly lashed together, it was thought she would have foundered on her voyage home!

Mr. Kiloe informs me, that the drouguers or draguers, a kind of lighters, employed in the West Indies in collecting the sugar, sometimes so swarm with ants, of the common kind, that they have no other way of getting rid of these troublesome insects than by sinking the vessel in shallow water.

Humboldt informs us, that throughout all the warmer parts of equinoctial America, where these and other destructive insects abound, it is very rare to find papers which date fifty or sixty years back. In one night they will devour all the boots and shoes which are left in their way; cloth, linen, or boots are equally to their taste; in a word, scarce any thing but metal or stone, comes amiss to them. Mr.Smeathman relates, that a party of them once took a fancy to a pipe of fine old madeira, not for the sake of the wine, almost the whole of which they let out, but for the staves. He also left a compound microscope in a warehouse at Tobago for a few months; on his return, he found that a colony of a small specie of white ant had established themselves in it, and devoured most of the wood-work, leaving little besides the metal and glasses.

It was even asserted, in a paragraph in The Morning Herald, dated December 31, 1814, that the superb residence of the Govenor General at Calcutta, which had cost the East India Company such immense sums, was rapidly going to decay, in consequence of the attacks of these insects. Mr. Smeathman observes, that frequently the main timbers which support a building will be so completely excavated, as to leave scarce any thing but the shell; so that, although the supporting timbers appear whole and firm, yet the least pressure against them 'would occasion the whole building to fall to the ground!

Mr. Smeathman divides these insects into three orders. First, the working insects, or labourers. Second The fighters, or soldiers. Third, The winged or perfect insects, which are male and female, and capable of multiplying the species, these last he calls the nobility and gentry, because they neither labour nor fight. The different functions of the labourers and soldiers, or the civil and military establishments, in a community of white ants, are illustrated by Mr. Smeathman in an attempt to examine their nests or city. On making a breach in any part of this structure, with a hoe or pickaxe, a soldier immediately appears, and walks about

the breach, as if to see whether the enemy is gone, or to examine whence the attack proceeds. In a short time he is followed by two or three others, and soon afterwards by a numerous body, who rush out as fast as the breach will permit them, their numbers increasing as long as any one continues to batter the building. During this time they are in the utmost bustle and agitation, some being employed in beating with their forceps upon the building, so as to make a noise which may be heard at three or four feet distance. On ceasing to disturb them, the soldiers retire, and are succeeded by the labourers, who hasten, in various directions, towards the breach, each with a burden of mortar in his mouth, ready tempered. Though there are millions of them, they never stop or embarrass each other, and a wall gradually arises to fill up the chasm. A soldier attends every six hundred or a thousand of the labourers seemingly as a director of the works; for he never touches the mortar, either to lift or carry it. One in particular, places himself close to the wall under repair, and frequently makes the above mentioned noise, which is instantly answered by a loud hiss from all labourers within the dome; and at every such signal, they evidently redouble their pace, and work as fast again. The work being completed, a renewal of the attack constantly produces the same effects. The soldiers again rush out, and then retreat, and are followed by the labourers loaded with mortar, and as active and as diligent as before.

Thus the pleasure of seeing them come out to fight or work alternately, Mr. Smeathman observes, may be obtained as often as curiosity excites, or time permits; and it will certainly be found, that one order never attempts to fight, nor the other to work, let the emergency be ever so great. The obstinacy of the soldiers is remarkable: they fight to the very last, disputing every inch of ground so well, as often to drive away the negroes, who are without shoes, and make white people bleed plentifully through their stockings.

It is exceedingly difficult to explore the interior part of a nest or hill. The apartinents which surround the royal chamber and the nurseries, and indeed the whole fabric, have such a dependence on each other, that the breaking of one arch generally pulls down two or three. Another great obstacle is the obstinacy of the soldiers. as above stated, neither can a building be let to stand so as to get a view of the interior parts without interruption; for while the soldiers are defending the outworks, the labourers keep barricading all the way, stopping up the different galleries and passages which lead to the various apartments, particularly the royal chamber, all the entrances to which they fill up so artfully, as not to let it be distinguished while it remains moist; and, externally, it has no other appearance than that of a shapeless lump of clay. It is however easily found, from its situation with respect to the other parts of the building, and by the crowds of labourers and soldiers which surround it, who show their loyalty and fidelity by dying under its walls.

These insects, according to Mr. Smeathman, construct works which surpass those of the bees, wasps, and other insects, as much at least as those of the most polished European nations excel those of the least cultivated savages. Even with regard to man, his greatest work, the boasted pyramids, falls comparatively far short, even in size alone, to the structures raised by

these insects. The labourers among them, employed in these services, are not a quarter of an inch in length; but the structures which they erect rise, as has already been observed to the height of ten or twelve feet, and upwards, above the surface of the earth. Supposing the height of a man to be six feet, this author calculates that the buildings of these insects may be considered, relatively to their size and that of man, as being raised to nearly five times the height of the greatest Egyptian pyramids; that is, corresponding with considerably more than half a mile; and their tunnels would expand to a magnificent cylinder of more than three hundred feet in diameter. It may be added, that, with respect to the interior construction, and the various members and dispositions of the parts of the buildings, they appear greatly to exceed that, or any other work of human construction.

LOVE IN INFANCY.

Ah! I remember (and how can I

But evermore remember well!) when first
Our flame began, when scarce we knew what was
The flame we felt; when as we sat and sigh'd,
And look'd upon each other, and conceiv'd
Not what we ail'd, yet something we did ail;
And yet were well, and yet we were not well,
And what was our disease we could not tell.
Then would we kiss, then sigh, then look: and thus,
In that first garden of our simpleness,

We spent our childhood; but when years began
To reap the fruit of knowledge; ah! how then
Would she with graver looks, with sweet stern brow,
Check my presumption and my forwardness!
Yet still would give me flowers, still would me show,
What she would have me, yet not have me, know.

THE MINING CURATE.

BY JOHN CARNE, ESQ.

Its

A WIDE and a wild parish is that of Calartha. aspect is strange and unusual; for the mines with which it abounds are situated on the brink of precipices, and even carried out into the sea. The edifices attached to them are seen fixed on isolated rocks, in the midst of the wave; while the rich produce drawn from the bowels of the deep, far beneath, is conveyed, with singular ingenuity, over the lofty cliffs that tower behind. If any one is satiated with luxurious scenery, (and it will sometimes satiate); if he would exchange groves, meadows, and fertile fields, for some new aspect of the ever-varied and impressive face of nature, let him come to this territory. The miner thrives, so does the farmer who lives in the few cultivated and romantic valleys; the fisherman, also, plies his trade with great success off the coast; but the clergyman has scarcely enough to keep soul and body together. Notwithstanding the numerous population of the parish, he has only forty pounds a-year. Now, the man who, at the time of our acquaintance with the affairs of Calartha, was the appointed religious instructor of its inhebitants, was, in every respect, admirably suited to his office. His form was spare and fitted for activity; his features aquiline; and his large grey eye for ever restless. Had he doffed the cassock, and assumed the broadbrimmed hat, and the coarse woollen jacket and trowsers of the miner, and descended every day into the

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