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were pasted together that they might not by their nakedness betray their deformity." These wooden types and stereotype plates, if we may be allowed the term, were soon exchanged for metallic ones as being stronger and more durable, though the ever-to-be-honoured beechen rind was, and still is, used in Germany by the bookbinders instead of pasteboard for the sides of thick volumes, and some have imagined that our word book is derived from buch, the German name of this tree. The bark also, when covered with leather or paper, is made into scabbards, hat boxes, etc.

is both novel and imposing. All around he sees

"The grey smooth trunks distinctly shine

Within the twilight of their distant shades;" above his head, the thick leafy canopy supported by those intertwisting and inosculated branches from which it has been supposed that men derived the idea of grafting, exclude the glaring rays of light; below, no herbage green or woodland flower like an emerald pavement enamelled with radiant gems meets the wondering eye, save in the remote distance, or where in any open spot some verdant oasis relieves the monotony of The interesting experiments of M. the scene. But Almighty God has left Macaire have recently established an im- no blanks in his fair creation; no void portant fact in the physiology of vegeta- in nature bespeaks an exhausted imaginbles. He proves that they possess the ation, or a careless arrangement: if the power not only of absorbing by their ground beneath the beech tree seem spongioles or roots, those particles among barren and without utility, below the which they are planted, and converting surface of the soil are found two fungi, them into sap for the nutriment of the which, while they afford food to the wild plant, but that they approximate yet nearer inhabitants of the wood, are highly prized to the animal kingdom, being endowed by man "the lord of all." These are with the faculty of rejecting or exuding the morel and the truffle. The former those particles that are not suited to their in appearance resembles a mushroom, constitution, into the soil in which the the surface perforated with small circular plant is placed. These exudations he hollows. They are used to flavour made found were capable of affording nourish- dishes, and many persons gain a maintement to plants of a different species or nance, by collecting and then drying family. Thus the important fact well them, which is done by threading the known to all practical agriculturists, the stalks and suspending them in an airy necessity of a succession or rotation of situation, after which they will keep for crops to avoid the impoverishment of the years. The truffle is yet more valued by land, is satisfactorily accounted for. It the epicure, and even ancient writers would seem, however, that the exudations have mentioned them as used in cookery. of the beech tree are injurious to vegetables A turkey stuffed with truffles and left to in general. It is seldom found growing hang till the flavour is dispersed through among other trees; and Evelyn observes, the meat, is one of the greatest delicacies that every forest in which oak and beech of the French gourmand. They are also have been planted promiscuously will in eaten plain with sauce, and added to flatime become entirely beechen. "Certain your ragouts and rich pies. They are it is," says Gilpin, "this appearance of found buried in the earth, and detected decay is found in many of the woodlands by their peculiar odour, or by the unduof the New Forest, which consist chiefly lations of the surface which seems as if of beech and unthriving oak." To the ef- it had been raised by moles, and the apfect of these exudations also we may attri-pearance of numerous small flies attracted bute it, rather than, as has been generally supposed, to the density of shade afforded by the tree and the length of time which elapses before the fallen leaves beneath it decay, the total absence of vegetation which marks the spot

"Where the broad beech its ample shade displays." The holly is the only plant that will thrive in such a situation. To an inhabitant of those parts of the island where this tree is comparatively unknown, the effect of the first view of a beechen wood

by the smell, which deposit their eggs in them. In shape the truffle is not unlike a potato, though it varies in size, being sometimes no larger than a hazel nut. When the outer thick dark coloured skin is removed, the inside presents the appearance of a firm and fleshy substance of a light colour, covered with darker veins. Dogs and even pigs are trained to hunt for it, and induced to bring it to their master by the reward of a piece of bread or meat. Soacute is the smell of the former that an instance is recorded of a

dog who detected "a truffle of uncommon size which weighed twelve ounces and a half, at the distance of a hundred yards." On the continent they are sought by individuals who stir up with a peculiar sort of spud, the places where they imagine they are concealed, and soon become so experienced as rarely to be deceived in their search. An account is related by a Dutch author, of a poor crippled boy who could detect truffles with a certainty superior to the best dogs, and so earned a livelihood. They fetch a high price during the season, varying from ten to fifteen shillings a pound; many are imported from the continent, though they soon lose their flavour after being gathered. They are seldom found in England, excepting in beech woods; and it is said that they have been discovered in places where they were not previously known, after plantations of this tree have been made. They have been propagated, though at a great expense of time and trouble, by removing the earth from the places where they are usually found, into a garden, and covering it with decaying beech leaves.

Many valuable and curious fungi are found on the leaves, mast, and branches, as well as bark of the tree, among them may be named agaricus adiposus, which in fine specimens resembles a pine-apple; hydnum coralloides, which is esculent and not unlike a cauliflower; and polyporus gigantèus, which spreads in large masses over the trunk, and may be compared to a large tuberous flower with four petals.

The most ancient beech now existing in England is most probably one in the neighbourhood of Sunninghill, within the limits of Windsor forest; it is supposed to have existed before the Norman conquest. At the distance of six feet from the ground, the trunk measures thirty-six feet in circumference. The Frankley beeches, on an estate belonging to lord Lyttleton, in Worcestershire, are also of great antiquity; they are mentioned in old leases as landmarks, being in a conspicuous situation on a hill. The largest now standing is seventy feet high, and fourteen feet in girth at a foot from the ground; but one blown down in 1833, was yet larger, twenty feet in circumference. At Donnington park is a beech tree one hundred years old, which measures one hundred feet in height; the diameter of the trunk is seven feet, and that of the head one hundred feet. The Eccles beech

in Dumfriesshire is eighteen feet in circumference where it begins to throw out branches, and extends its shade over a space ninety-five feet in diameter. The Ashbridge beeches are no less remarkable. One of them, called the King beech, is one hundred and fourteen feet high, and a trunk seventy-five feet high before it divides into the limbs; the trunk at two feet from the ground is nine feet in circumference. Another, which is seventy feet high, and more than eighteen feet in girth, covers a diameter of one hundred and fourteen feet. The Knowle beech measures at three feet from the ground, twenty-four feet in circumference; the stem, as is usual with this species of tree, increases upward “till it bursts into a perfect forest of limbs." It rises to the height of one hundred and five feet, its boughs extend one hundred and twenty-three feet, and it contains four hundred and ninety-eight feet of solid timber." Nor must we omit to notice two other beechen groves, which will be consecrated as the favourite resorts of two of our most distinguished poets, the immortal Pope, and the author of the well-known elegy, Gray. The latter thus describes his favourite resort, in the neighbourhood of Stoke Pogis, Bucks:-"I have at the distance of half a mile, through a green lane, a forest (the vulgar call it a common) all my own, at least as good as so, for I spy no human thing in it but myself. Both vale and hill are covered with most venerable beeches, and other very reverend vegetables, that, like most other convenient people, are always dreaming out their old stories to the wind. At the foot of one of these, squats me, (il penseroso,) and there grow to the trunk for a whole morning. The timid hare and sportive squirrel gambol around me." Within the precincts of Windsor forest, in the neighbourhood of Binfield, the early residence of Alexander Pope, is a grove of beeches, whither he would frequently retire, and beneath one in particular, it is said, many of his early pieces were composed. Lady Gower, an admirer of the poet, to perpetuate the memory of this circumstance, caused the words, "Here Pope sang," to be cut in legible characters upon the bark of the tree. A violent storm, however, some years ago, entirely broke off the upper part of the tree, leaving only a scathed and mutilated trunk.

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NEW ZEALANDERS.

Group of New Zealanders.

We look with interest on a group of savages, whose manners and customs are very different to our own, especially if there be among them any particular traits of character, setting forth courage or cowardice, kindness or cruelty. We judge them by our own opinions; we measure them by our own standard.

But if, in addition to the interest excited by their peculiar customs and qualities, there be a prospect of their rapidly rising in the scale of civilization and intelligence we regard them with more than ordinary attention and curiosity. Rude and ignorant, superstitious and degraded as they may be, we see in them the germ of a new order of things; the elements of an infant state, and the progenitors of a race, whose knowledge, influence, and renown, may spread abroad in the earth.

The interesting group in the engraving, is intended as a representation of the natives of New Zealand, in the neighbourhood of the Straits of Cook and Cape Palliser. The Straits of Cook separate the northern islands called Eaheinomauwe from the centre one, Tavai-Poenamoo, in the same manner as Tee's Straits divide the latter from the southern island; these three islands, altogether, form the country of New Zealand. JUNE, 1840.

The colonization of this remote country will excite in us different emotions, according as we are accustomed to regard mankind. Colonies are formed is uncivilized countries with various views The statesman considers the advantage that may arise from bringing a new country under the subjection of his own. The merchant calculates on the profit that may accrue from trading with the inhabitants, and bearing away their produce to other climes. The manufacturer contemplates a new market for his goods. While the Christian looks with a single eye to the temporal and eternal welfare of the new people to whom the benefits of civilization and Christianity are about to be extended.

It is not intended, in these observations, to enter on a description of New Zealand, to set forth the progress of discoveries made in the country, or to represent the degree of civilization already partially effected. For the present purpose, it is enough to know, that the New Zealanders have been always described as ignorant, fierce, treacherous, and cruel cannibals; and that the country presents sufficient attractions for Europeans to form colonies therein.

And here, at the very threshold of our remarks, we are struck with what is calculated to produce a deep impression on the pious mind. It would astonish the

R

most imperturbable spirit to find a lamb | deceit; brutalized them with spirituous living fearlessly near the lair of a wolf, liquors; embroiled them in wars; and or a kid dwelling in safety in the den of robbed them by pretended treaties. a lion. Yet here is a circumstance little They have defeated them by force, purless surprising. Missionaries, unarmed sued them in their native woods with and unprotected, (save by his Almighty rifles, and hunted them with blood protection, who alone can "control the hounds. And can these things pass ununruly wills and affections of sinful heeded by the righteous Ruler of the men," not only living in peace with, skies? Is there no retribution in the but exercising influence over the law stretched-out arm of the Holy One less, the fierce,_the_treacherous, the against oppression! "Envy thou not man-devouring New Zealander. Truly the oppressor, and choose none of his "this is the Lord's doing; it is marvel- ways," Prov. iii. 31. lous in our eyes!" Psa. exviii. 23.

The colonizing of New Zealand is a subject full of interest to the Christian philanthropist; for hard must that heart be that can contemplate, without emotion, the barbarous usage of civilized people towards uncivilized tribes; the unchristian conduct of Christian nations towards the heathen! Very few, indeed, are the colonies of the world wherein the aborigines of the soil have not groaned beneath the iron yoke of those who first settled among them as friends. The man of colour has fallen before the white man, and the blood of unnumbered victims has cried out from the ground against the oppression and wanton cruelty of those who boast of the purity of their faith, and make large professions of humanity, mercy, justice, and peace.

There are Christian men who, believing in national as well as individual sins and punishments, think they recognize in the civil wars of Portugal and Spain a Divine retribution for the wantonly shed blood that has stained the thirsty soil of their distant colonies. These consider the division of Holland, the revolutions of France, and the unsettled position of Great Britain herself, as not unconnected with national and colonial transgression. It remains, then, to be seen, whether, profiting by the past, the colonizers of New Zealand will adopt a more merciful, upright, and Christian course than the annals of the past hand down to us; and whether the present inhabitants of that distant land will have to bless, or to look back with bitterness upon the hour when English colonists first set foot on their native soil.

The page of the past, on the subject of colonies, can hardly be read without a soul-sickening emotion of indignation and shame. White men have won over their darker-coloured brethren by pretended kindness; supplanted them by

Great Britain, stretching as she does the sceptre of her command over so large a portion of the earth, and exercising control over at least a hundred and fifty millions of human beings, in distant lands, was once like New Zealand, inhabited by a barbarous people. We have little among us now resembling the savage rites of the ancient Britons, and the superstitious and cruel ceremonies of the Druids, burning alive their fellowbeings in figures of wicker work. We regard these things with indifference; and, in like manner, the New Zealander, in years to come, may regard the relations of cannibalism as a part of history alone, setting forth practices long abolished.

Even now, the savage customs of New Zealand are giving way. As yet, the inhabitants of the place may, for the most part, dwell in chimneyless huts, with walls formed of twigs, and roofsof rushes or grass. They may tattoo their bodies, and rub themselves over with grease and red ochre. They may eat fern roots, take their meals in the open air, delight in the slaughter of their enemies, and bake the bodies of their prisoners in the earth for food; but these things must rapidly disappear.

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At present, New Zealanders, in the interior of their country, clothe themselves with mats and rushes, sticking feathers in their hair; use implements, whose handles are frequently formed of human bones; cut themselves with knives on the return of their chiefs from warlike expeditions; join noses, and weep and howl, in parting with their friends; and practise a hundred other strange customs which must give way before the influence of civilization. Every year will effect new changes, and every generation destroy, for ever, usages that now form a part of the character of the people.

In future years, the New Zealanders

the swallow, the first hum of the bee, and mark the sun yet in the chambers of the east, encurtained with roseate clouds, while the morning dew glitters on the grass like a shower of diamonds, and the fresh breeze is redolent of flowers. Hark! the mower is whetting his scythe, and the lark is soaring in the sky, pouring forth his delightful melody. Let us go forth. How beautiful is morning! morning, that opens the night-folded blossoms, bids the tuneful choir enliven the woodlands with their music, and summons man to his labour. The prowling fox has retired to his den, the polecat to his retreat; the timorous hare has sought her form; the creatures that are active only during the hours of darkness have concealed themselves; the

will hardly believe that their forefathers cut their hair with oyster shells, and greedily devoured men. Nor will their wives and daughters, without astonishment, be convinced that the wife of the Great Shungie laboured in the potato ground, digging up the earth with a pole. The New Zealander is now fierce, even to fury; and treacherous and cruel to a proverb. His tomahawk; his mery, (a short thick club;) his patoo, (battle axe;) his hennee, (halberd ;) and his spear, are his most valuable property. He is a man of blood, and to shed blood is his delight. Put a hatchet and a musket before him, and his eyes sparkle; give them to him, and great is his pleasure. May the time be hastened, when he shall cast away the weapons of war, when swords shall be beat into plough-owl is in her ivy-covered bower; and the shares, and spears into pruninghooks, and war no more be known.

bat is suspended, asleep, in the hollow tree, or the chamber of the ruined tower; It is probable that New Zealand will the creatures that rejoice in the brightgreatly rise in importance; and who ness of day have already bestirred themshall say that this country will not de- selves, and even inanimate nature seems cline? We are upheld only by the hand to assume a robe of gladness. See how of the Holy One; with him, the proudest the mist in volumes rolls up the brow of “nations are as a drop of a bucket, and yon high hill, and clears away from the are counted as the small dust of the ba- woods that stretch along its ridge, belance," Isa. xl. 15. It becometh us, then, tokening a goodly day for the mower and to take heed to the warning words of holy the shearer, who are now busy at their writ; "Let him that thinketh he stand-work; a goodly day, too, for the bee, in eth take heed lest he fall," 1 Cor. x. 12. In the mean time, leaving all useless speculations on the future position and influence of the new colonies, the Christian reader will not fail gratefully to regard every new opening for the word of God, and the glad tidings of the gospel, as an approach to the fulfilment of the Divine promise, which he expects, one day, to be fully accomplished; "I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," Psa. ii. 8. And, "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," Isa. xi. 9.

NOTES ON THE MONTH.
By a Naturalist.

JUNE.

LEAFY June, with its flowers and sunshine, the month of roses, returns welcome to all, and invites the naturalist to wander along the stream, and through the woods verdant in the fulness of their renovated foliage. Let him obey

"The breezy call of incense-breathing morn," and rise with the earliest twittering of

whose labours man is himself not uninterested. But come, we must not delay; let us imitate the bee, and endeavour, at least, to extract good from the works of our Creator, which he has pronounced to be filled with goodness.

See how the surface of that water is covered with the broad leaves of the water-lily; there are two species, one is the nymphea lutea, or yellow water-lily, with a yellow blossom; the other is the nymphea alba, or white water-lily, the large flowers of which are exceedingly elegant. Several species of duckweed (Lemna) are also spread in sheets of green over the liquid they hide, so closely are their small glossy green leaves compacted side by side together. Observe that little animal swimming in the clear water; it is the water newt or eft (Triton) one of the amphibia, an innocent little creature, though regarded by some ignorant persons as venomous. During the spring and summer, the males are furnished with a membranaceous dorsal crest running down the back and the tail, which latter is always compressed: the dorsal crest forms an elegant fin-like appendage, but it is temporary, disap

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