From the Travels of Ali Bey, a learned European, who assumed the dress manners and character of a Mussulman, travelled extensively and published a book about thirty y ars ago.

Mount Arafat is the principal object of the pilgrimage of the Mussulman; and several doctors assert, that if the house of God ceased to exist, the pilgrimage to the former would be completety meritorious, and would produce the same degree of satisfaction. This is my opinion likewise. [Mohamedan idolatry !]

It is here that the grand spectacle of the pilgrimage of the Mussulmen must be seenan innumerable crowd of men from all nations, and of all colors, coming from the extremities of the earth, through a thousand dangers, and encountering fatigues of every description, to adore together the same God, the God of nature. The native of Circassia presents his hand in a friendly manner to the Ethiopian, or the Negro of Guinea; the Indian and the Persian embrace the inhabitant of Barbary and Morocco-all looking upon each other as brothers, or individuals of the same family united by the bands of religion, and the greater part speaking or understanding more or less the same language-the language of Arabia. No, there is not any religion that presents to the senses a spectacle more simple, affecting, and majestic.

Arafat is a small mountain of granite rock, the same as those that surround it; it is about 150 feet high, and is situated at the foot of a higher mountain to the E. S. E, in a plain about three quarters of a league in diameter, surrounded by barren mountains. Near the mountain are fourteen large basins, which the Sultan Saaoud has put in repair. They furnish a great abundance of excellent water, very good to drink, and which serves also for the pilgrims to wash themselves with upon this solemn day.

It was upon Mount Arafat that the common father of all mankind (according to an absurd Mahomdan legend) met Eve, after a long separation; and it is on that account that it is called Arafat-that is to say, grati tude. It is believed that it was Adam himself who built this chapel! The ritual commands that, after having repeated the afternoon prayer, which we did in our tents, we should repair to the foot of the mountain, and wait there the setting of the sun. The Wehhabites, who were encamped at great distances, with a view to obey this precept, began to approach, having at their head the Sultan Saaoud and Abounocta, their second

chief; and in a short time I saw an array of forty-five thousand men pass before me, almost all of whom were mounted upon camels and dromedaries, with a thousand camels carrying water, tents, fire-wood, and dry grass for the camels of the chiefs. A body of two hundred men on horseback carried colors of different kinds, fixed upon lances. This cavalry, I was informed, belonged to Abounocta. There were also eight or ten colors among the camels, but without any other customary appendage. All this body of men, entirely naked, marched in the same order that I have formerly remarked.

It was impossible for me exactly to distinguish the Sultan and the second chief, for they were naked as well as the rest. However, I believe that a venerable old man, with a long white beard, who was preceded by the royal standard, was Saaoud. This standard was green, and had, as a mark of distinction, the profession of his faith, “There is no other god but God," embroidered upon it, in large white characters. We waited upon the mountain for the period of the sun's setting. The instant it occurred, what a tremendous noise! Let us imagine an assemblage of eighty thousand men, two thousand women, and a thousand little children, sixty or seventy thousand camels, asses, and horses, which at the commencement of night began to move in a quick pace along a narrow valley, according to the ritual, marching one after the other in a cloud of sand, and delayed by a forest of lances, guns, swords, &c.; in short, forcing their passage as they could. Pressed and hurried on by those behind, we only took an hour and a half to return to Mosdelifa, notwithstanding it had taken us more than two hours to arrive in the morning. The motive of this precipitation, ordered by the ritual, is, that the prayer of the setting sun, or Mozaref, ought not to be said at Arafat, but at Mosdelifa, at the same time as the night prayer, or Ascha, which ought to be said at the last moment of twilight-that is, an hour and a half after sunset. These prayers are repeated by each family privately. We hastened to say them upon our arrival, before we pitched our tents, and the day was terminated by mutual felicitations upon the happiness of our sanctification by the pilgrimage to the mount.

We set out the first day of Easter, to go to encamp at Mina. We alighted immediately after our arrival, and went precipitately to the house of the devil, which is facing the fountain. We had each seven small stones, of the size of gray peas, which we had picked up expressly the evening before, at Mosdelifa, to throw against the house of the devil. As the devil has had the malice to build his house in a very narrow place, not above thirtyfour feet broad, occupied also in part by rocks, which it was requisite to climb to make sure of our aim when we threw the stones over the wall that surrounded it, and as the pilgrims all desired to perform this ceremony

immediately upon their arrival, there was a most terrible confusion. However, I soon succeeded in accomplishing this holy duty, through the aid of my people; but I came off with two wounds in my left leg. I retired afterwards to my tent, to repose myself after these fatigues. The Wehhabites came and threw their little stones also because the Prophet used to do so.

The Changing World.

"The fashion of this world passeth away."
'Tis written on the rolling SEA,

That holds no settled form;
Its shadowy clouds, its azure dye,
Its rainbow and its storm.
"Tis written on the restless YEAR-
On spring arrayed in flowers-
On summer bright, on autumn sear—
On winter's stormy hours.

'Tis written on the changing EARTH-
Its vallies clothed with pride,
Its towering hills of ancient birth,
Its fields and forests wide.
'Tis written on the surging SEA,
Whose waters will not sleep,
And on the countless streams that flee
All restless to its deep.

'Tis written on TIME's moving show,
That never is the same-
The living dreams that come and go,
Remembered but in name.
"Tis written in THY dying form,
Sweet mistress of this page:

The heart that plays within thee warm
Steals as it gives thine age.

Selected.

"Look," said their older friend, "and try to remember some of them."

On their way home he told them that most of the words are shortened, by leaving off some of the letters. This is what is called abbreviating. "Now you must know," said he, "that medicines are very numerous, and made from a variety of things. Some are made from stones or minerals, some from plants, and some, though only a few, from animal substances. Then of those from the plants, some are from the root, some from the trunk or wood, some from the bark, leaves, flowers, fruit or seeds. Now the names given to them in old times were taken from the language of the Romans, called Latin, or from that of the Greeks.

"I will explain a few of the apothecaries' marks to you. Radix means root; so when when you see Rad. on a bottle you may know it contains some kind of root. Rad. Rhea. What do you think that means ?"

The boys thought a minute, but could not tell, except that it must be some kind of

root.

"Rhea," said he, "is rhubarb. Now Cortex means bark. What do you think is the meaning of "Cort. Cin."

"I guess I know," answered one of them: "Cinnamon."

"But cinnamon is not bark, is it?" asked the other.

Certainly, it is; and there are some other kinds of bark used in medicine. Wherever you see Cort. you may know there is bark of some kind."

After this he told the boys of other words: Folium means leaf, Semen means seed, Pulvis, dust or flour, Flavus, yellow, &c. These, when abbreviated, are written Fol. Sem. Pulv. Flav.

The boys were much pleased when they understood all this; and the next day they wrote down some of the words, and tried to puzzle each other with them. Afterwards they showed some of them to their friends at home. They spoke again on the subject to Edward's father; and he took the op

portunity to ask them a few questions, to sce whether they understood and remembered what he had told them. He then informed them that this was only the begin ning of a great deal of knowledge, which was to be had about medicines, and which they might obtain by studying well; and it would be very useful to them.

"It is unsafe," said he, to taste anything which you do not know the nature of. Chemistry teaches many things; and one is, not to judge of things only by their ap pearances. That medicine which you heard named the other day, is so poisonous that a teaspoonful would kill you in a short time."

"Kill us!" exclaimed the boys with surprise.

"Certainly, boys; and you must believe that before you know it in any other way, or you will be in danger of killing yourselves by eating it. Many a person has been killed by taking a little of some kind of white powder, instead of something else which looked like it. I have sometimes heard of arsenic, which had been got to poison rats with, laid by carlessly, and finally mixed with food, being mistaken for flour or salt, or something else, so that whole families were injured or killed by it.

"Now you can easily see why young people should be diffident of their own knowledge, and be willing to think that older. persons may know more than themselves. The truth is, that truly learned men have taken more pains to get their learning, than ignorant people commonly have any idea of. They have given a vast deal of time to it, read many books, conversed with many other persons, and, what is sometimes the most laborious and difficult part of all, have thought it all over and over again, till they could remember it well. They have tried experiments, and had long practice in heir business, and thus they have got opinions worth something to other people.

"Only think how different is the case with men who have spent their time in idleness, or have never taken the necessary pains to learn thoroughly anything important. They are never certain of anything: or, if they think they know, and boast of their knowledge, they soon show their ig norance, and are not trusted."

The boys afterwards invited Edward's father to go into the garret and see their apothecary's shop; for they had been busy on returning, in collecting vials and boxes,

and getting flour and brick dust, and other things, which they labelled as medicines. He went up and found all the things they had collected laid out in order upon a table, and in several drawers; and was then invited to step to the counter and examine the medicinces, which he did with a smiling face, and many kind words to the industrious little boys.

MINERALS. No. 4.

Talc, and its Varieties. Talc.-If you know French chalk, you may soon learn to distinguish this stone; for that is one sort of talc. It is usually whitish, but sometimes green or greenish. Sometimes it is pure white, shining and beautiful; sometimes it is transparent like mica, and splits almost as thin, but is not elastic. It is easily known from most other stones by feeling slippery, especially when the dust of it is rubbed between the fingers. It is much like soapstone, and has magnesia earth in it. All the magnesian stones are soft, slippery, and bear heat well.

This magnesian earth we use as medicine; it is white, and not slippery, with a slight taste and no smell. Several other stones and rocks are made of it, such as chlorite, serpentine and soapstone, which are of different colors and uses, but all soft, slippery, and able to bear fire. They are called, by some, the tale stones and rocks.

Chlorite is dark colored, soft and slippery, and looks as if made of shining sand. Sometimes it splits into broad and thin pieces, and is called chlorite slate.

Garnets and other crystals are sometimes found in chlorite.

Serpentine is a stone of different colors, commonly clouded, veined, striped, or spotted with light or dark green-but sometimes red, brown, &c. It was called serpentine because it often looks something like a snake-skin.

When hard, it may be polished, and is used instead of marble, for furniture and ornaments. But it is difficult to find large pieces without flaws, or cracks, or bad spots. Noble serpentine, which is the hardest and finest sort, is sometimes very beautiful indeed.

CHINESE DANDY.-His dress is composed of crapes and silks of great price, his feet are covered with high-heeled boots of the most beautiful Nankin satin, and his legs are encased in gaiters, richly embroidered and reaching to the knee. Add to this an acornshaped cap, of the latest taste; an elegant pipe, richly ornamented, in which burns the purest tobacco of the Fo Kien; an English watch; a toothpick, suspended to a button by

a string of pearls; a Nankin fan, exhaling the perfume of the tcholane [a Chinese flower]; and you will have an exact idea of fashionable Chinese. The Chinese dandy, like all other dandies, is seriously occupied with trifles. He belongs either to the Quail or the Cricket Club. Like the ancient Romans, the Chinese trade in quails, quarrelsome birds, intrepid duelists, whose combats form the subject of senseless wagers. In imitation of the rich, the poorer Chinese place at the bottom of an earthen basin two field crickets. These insects they excite and provoke, until they grow angry, attack each other, and the narrow field of battle is soon strewed with their claws, antennæ and corslets. There

is between the Chinese and the old Romans all the difference that there is between the combats of the crickets and the terrible combats of the gladiators.-Foreign paper.

MISCELLANEOUS.

We are again indebted to a friend for the following

Notice of the City and Commerce of Shang. hai, in September, 1844.

From the Hong Kong Register of Dec. 7. The vessels arriving from Singapore, Malacca, Penang, Java, Jolo, Sumatra, Borneo, &c. and which are entered at the custom house as coming from Fuh-kien or Canton, bring European goods of all kinds: opium, flints, pepper, sharks' fins, deers' horns, cochineal, hides, nails, nutmegs, liquid and dried indigo, bicho de mar, birds' nests, mother o'pearl, shells, tortoise shells, ivory, buffalos' humps, sugar, canes, betel nuts, sapan wood, ebony, iron, lead, gold thread, and all kinds of wood for spars, ornamental and fragrant, as well as materials for dying and medicine coming from the Red Sea, the Persian or Indian and the Isles of Polynesia.

The ships of the north-that is, those which return to Quantung, Shensing, and Leateng— carry away cotton, some tea, paper, silks, and cotton stuffs from Nanking and Suchau; European goods and flints, opium, and a great part of the sugar, pepper, bicho de mar, and birds' nests, &c. which the vessels passing under the name of Fuhkien and Canton bring to Shanghai. Some of them, however, return in ballast.

These last mentioned vessels return with cargoes of cotton, earthen ware and porcelain, (especially for Formosa,) salted pork, green tea, raw and manufactured silks, native cotton cloth, blankets, hemp, dried pulse of various kinds, fruits, and part of the goods brought by the vessels from the north.

There is, besides, an interchange of a vast number of articles connected with the coasting trade, such as baskets, shoes, charcoal and coal, wood, straw, pipes, tobacco, gypsum, varnish, umbrellas, mats, lanterns, sacks, sponges, fruits, vegetables, &c.

There come besides to Shanghai, by the Yangtzekiang and its branches, vessels from various ports amounting in all to 5400 annually. These never put out to sea, but convey into the interior the goods brought by vessels from the south and the norih, as well as transport from the interior the goods to be despatched by these vessels. In addition to the vessels employed in the inland navigation and those which go to sea, amounting, as has been shown, to 7000, there are at Shanghai innumerable boats and barges employed in fishing and in conveying passengers and goods.

It may be inferred, from the foregoing de scription, that Shanghai is not only a point of great trade in imports and exports, but also an emporium where there is an exchange of national and foreign commodities between the southern and nothern parts of the Empire.

It would be an object of great interest to form a complete statement of the imports and exports, but this required, among other matters, a knowledge of the language of Shanghai, and of the innumerable dialects which are spoken by the seamen and merchants who come thither. I found access, indirectly, to a kind of register or cash-book, in which was set down daily the quantities entered for duties received on goods imported. I found the result, that there are yearly imported into Shanghai 520,000 peculs of sugar, from 25,000 to 30,000 of sapan wood; an equal quantity of dye-stuffs; from 3000 to 4000 of canes; 1950 of bicho de mar; 1700 of sharks' fins; and 1500 of nests.

All the duties received at this custom house on Chinese vessels produce a little more than $100,000, of which only 80,000 enter the Imperial territory. There is, however, considerable confusion in the money, weights, and measures of Shanghai.

A CHINESE PEA.-There was presented to the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, a small assortment of Chinese seeds, consisting of peas, maize, cypress, &c.-Presented by H. Torrens, Esq. on behalf of Capt. H. Bigge. In his communication, forwarding these seeds, Capt. Bigge makes the following remarks in regard to one description of Pea :

"Of the esculents, the large white Pea is deserving of this notoriety: that it forms the staple of the trade of Shanghai, or nearly so, to the astonishing amount of 10 millions of dollars, or two and a half millions sterling. This I give on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Medhurst, of Shanghai, and Mr. Thom, H. M. Consul at Ningpo. The peas are ground in a mill and then pressed, in a somewhat complicated, though (as usual in China) a most efficient press, by means of wedges driven under the outer parts of the frame-work with malets. No description would suffice without drawing. The oil is used both for eating and

burning-more for the latter purpose, however-and the cake packed like large Gloucester cheeses, or small grindstones in circular shape. It is distributed throughout China in every direction, both as food for pigs and buffalos, as also for manure."-Bengal Hurkaru.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES. French Extract.

Description of the Bread-Fruit, in French.

[For a picture and description in English, see the first and second numbers of the Penny Magazine, pages 8th and 20th.]

L'ARBRE A PAIN D'OTAÏTI.

C'est un arbre dont le tronc, de la grosseur d'un homme, atteint une hauteur de quarante à cinquante pieds. Son bois est mou, jaunàtre et léger; son écorce, luisante. Les rameaux se réunissent à la partie supérieure du tronc, en formant une tête presque ronde. Les feuilles sont grandes, alternes, pétiolées, ovales. Les fruits sont de la grosseur de la tête; leur pulpe est blanche, farineuse, jaunàtre et succulente à leur parfaite maturité,

Lorsqu'ils ont été cuits dans un four ou sur le feu, ils ont une saveur agréable, qui rappelle à la fois le pain de froment et la pomme de terre. Ils sont ainsi un aliment aussi sain que substantiel. Les habitans de Taïti et des îles voisines s'en nourrissent pendant huit mois de l'année, et pendant les quatre autres mois, c'est-à-dire de Septembre à Décembre, époque où l'arbre fleurit et mûrit ses fruits, ils mangent une sorte de pulpe cuite, tirée de ces mêmes fruits. On dit que le produit de trois arbres suffit pour nourrir un homme pendant une année.

Ce n'est pas le seul avantage qu'on retire de l'arbre à pain; son écorce intérieure est formée de fibres extrèmement tenaces, et l'on s'en sert pour tisser des étoffes dont les habitans se font des vêtemens. L'arbre à pain est originaire de l'Inde et de la mer du Sud, où il croît en abondance. Les Européens l'ont transplanté dans d'autres parties du globe. On le cultive depuis longtemps à l'Islede-France, à Cayenne et dans la plupart des Antilles.-Secondes Lectures Francaises.

A Plan for taking the Yeas and Nays in Deliberative Bodies.-The plan for taking the yeas and nays in all deliberative bodies in the United States, for which C. Glen Peebles of Philadelphia has a patent, covers various forms. The plan he proposes to adopt at present is as follows: Two pulleys or keys are placed within the desk of each member; a board or slab is placed on the clerk's desk, on which is printed the name of each member of the house; slips or slides are placed in this slab, running parallel to and to correspond with each name. Communication is had by means of wires, or other material, between the keys in desk and slides in board. When a vote of "ayes" is called, the mem

bers simultaneously touch their key marked "aye," which throws the slide out on the board, so that it projects beyond his name and the edge of the board; and in like manner for the nays. By that arrangement, the clerk can count the vote, announce the result, and place the aggregate vote on the board, all within a space of one minute.-Selected.

MARRIAGE VOw.-The matrimonial ceremony, like many others, has undergone some variation in the progress of time. Upwards of three centuries ago, the husband, on taking his wife (as now) by the right hand, addressed her: "I, N. undersygne the N., for my wedded wife, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, yn sekness and yn helthe, tyl dethe us departe, (now do part,' as we have erroneously rendered it-the ancient meaning of 'departe,' even in Wickliffe's time, being 'separate,') as holy church hath ordeyned; and thereto I plygth the my trowthe."

The wife replies in the same form, with an additional clause, "to be buxom to the tyl dethe us departe.”—Eng. paper.

Receipts.

From Every Lady's Book," a little volume just published by a Lady of New York.

Cream Tea-Cakes.-To a pound of flour put a pint of sour cream and a cup of butter; dissolve half a teaspoonful of salæratus in a little hot water, and put it to it; mix it lightly, flouring your hands well; make it out in small cakes, each about the size of an egg; lay them close in a buttered basin, and bake in a quick oven.

Velvet Cakes.-To one quart of flour put a pint of warm milk and a gill of yeast; stir it well; then set it in a warm place to rise for two hours; then work into it two large tablespoonfuls of melted butter, or beef-drippings; flour your hands well, and make it into small cakes; rub a bit of butter over a pan, and lay them in; dip your hand in milk, and pass it over the tops of them; and bake in a quick

oven.

THE LIFE OF BROTHER SIMON, OF OLOTLate a Spanish Monk-written by himself.We are happy to learn that the interesting young Spaniard whom we have several times noticed, has prepared a narrative of his eventful life. It has been translated by a lady, and received some additions by the aid of a friend who has written further particulars from his lips, and will soon be published. Our readers may take our word for it—it is one of the most affecting little works we ever read, and the best calculated to awaken a deep interest for the victims of Romish superstition, false doctrine, and ignorance! It sheds much light on the practical tendency of Romish Seminaries, such as abound in America.-Am. Prot.

He who is master of the fittest moment to crush his enemy, and magnanimously neglects it, is born to be a conqueror.