The Lakes and the Mississippi.-An unexpected communication between the Western waters has been made, and it is now demonstrated that a porterage of only one mile is necessary to unite the waters that connect the Mississippi with those which unite with the Lake. Last month a little steam boat ascended the Wisconsin River as high as Point Bass, which is at the lower end of the Mississippi rapids, at the Southern extremity of the great Northwestern Pinery, and about 130 miles above Fort Winnebego, and nearly that distance above where any vessel has been before. The beauty of the scenery above Fort Winnebego is said to be of unequalled grandeur. The Maid of Iowa passed the dreadful Dells, which are mentioned so often by Indian traders, and which mapmakers note so particularly. They are eight miles in length from the head to the foot, and present the most wild and picturesque view imaginable. For the distance of a mile the Wisconsin is crowded into a space of less than fifty feet in width, and the rocks on either side project in awful grandeur and sublimity. The Gulph of Niagara is said to be nothing to it. The Maid crowded herself through by steam, going up, and returning, dropped through with an oar on each end to keep her straight, such as are used by raft men in running lumber.

The scenery, as described by the Galena Gazette, will remind the traveller who has visited the islands of the Baltic and the Danube river of scenery very similar both in the grandeur of the display and the sublimity of the falls.

Boats here will run between Galena and Fort Winnebego; and on this end of the route you are brought within sight of a boat running on the Fox river, and in connection with Green Bay. The" Maid of Iowa" sails on the Wisconsin in connection with the Manchester on the Fox; and thus, excepting the little porterage of which we have spoken, and which may be cut, the waters of the great Lakes are united with those of the magnificent Mississippi.

From the Portsmouth Journal. RECOLLECTIONS OF HAYTI. But Sunday is emphatically the great market-day, when the country is deserted and the town is filled-when male negroes are most drunken, and their females most gorgeous in new attire-when marchandes are most busy and foreign merchants most speculative of the prospects of the coffee crop-when soldiers and priests, masses and reviews-the noise of drums and the chiming of bells are all intermixed in gay grotesque and ever changing confusion, such as to engage and excite all the faculties of the spectator, until his head swims with vertigo and exhaustion.

On this day occurs throughout the government a weekly review of the several regiments of the army of the republic; consist

ing of a regular army and a national guard both in many respects most irregular. Above the din and uproar of the market is heard at intervals through the morning, the music of the different regimental bands.

From the paucity of priests throughout the interior of the black republic, for the Pope for some time past misunderstanding of certain events in Haytien history, has positively refused to admit any Haytien to holy orders, the country population avail themselves of their occasional visits to the towns upon market days, to profit by the spiritual exercises of confession, and the engagement of masses for the souls of their deceased relatives. On many such occasions the priest's quarters are thronged with supplicants for masses of all degrees of devotion, from the petit priere for which is charged but a single franc to a high mass, for which the priest's fee is at the smallest $60. The infirm negro from the mountains, while in towns for the sale of his produce, upon these market days seizes upon the occasion to consult a physician, by whom, should his case happen to be pronounced incurable, he commits himself to his fate with the resig nation and much of the gravity of a Turk. He goes his way instantly to the priest, confesses and gets absolution, and then departs homewards contentedly to die; having indeed through the exorbitant charges of the priest and physician, little left him worth living for.

Every Haytien town resembles a military encampment. The government has, under all its different phases since the revolution, been always in reality a military despotism, differing only in the degrees of its stringency, though of late in order the better to correspond to the usual American models, this military organization has enshrouded itself in republican form. Patrolles of soldiers do duty as a police, and the citizens of the town are awakened at morn by the reveille, and sent to their homes at evening by the military signal of the retreat.

The epaulette or at least the button of the republic seems to be worn by almost every Haytien negro, who is able to afford himself a broadcloth coat whereupon to display them, from major-generals down to the sexton of the parish. Indeed the latter functionary shows himself the gayest and most bedizened of all, resembling upon all great occasions of church ceremony a militia colonel rather than a mere church officer; with a double height and sweep chapeaux, a double allowance of plumes and lace, and wielding a gilded truncheon of office as if he were a field marshal. Every employer of the custom-house-each judge and solicitor and representative of the people--every civil administrator and justice of the peace, with their clerks respectively, all emulously adorn themselves with the but ton and cockade, significant of their authority under the constitution. Upon occasions of high cermonial these negro generals in chief,

together with their respective staffs, seem literally plated with scales of burnished gold; the texture of their garments being scarcely discernible under the massive extent of their gorgeous facings and golden embroidery.

Electricity for Manure.-The subject of promoting agriculture by electricity is exciting much attention in England. A case is mentioned in which a gentleman near Elgin produced from a single acre, 108 bushels of chevalier barley. The London Economist gives the following as the mode in which the plot should be laid out:

"With a mariner's compass and measured lengths of common string, lay out the places for the wooden pins, to which the buried wire is attached, by passing through a small staple. Care must be taken to lay the length of the buried wire due north and south by a compass and the breadth due east by west. This wire must be placed from two to three inches deep in the soil. The lines of the buried wire are then completed. The suspended wire must be attached and in contact with the buried wires at both of its ends. A wooden pin with a staple must therefore be driven in, and the two poles (one 14 feet and the other 15 feet) being placed by the compass due north and south, the wire is placed over them, and fastened to wooden stakes, but touching likewise at this point the buried wire. The suspended wire must not be drawn too tight, otherwise the wind will break it.-Selected.

JUVENILE DEPARTMENT.

Edward's Walk in the Woods.

One pleasant morning in the summer, Edward set out in the cool of the morning, to take a walk with his father and his friend James, to a lonely place among the hills, to spend the day. Each of the boys had a little basket in his hand, with some bread and butter, a little smoked beef, shaved very thin, a piece of cold fresh meat, some pieces of cake, and a little salt, put up very nicely. The mothers of the boys had proposed to them to take a little cup to drink out of: but they had taken walks together before, and learned how to fold up a leaf so that it would hold water; and they thought it so ingenious, and liked to do it so well, that they declined taking cups with them.

It had been arranged that they should start early so that they had their breakfast, and were on the road before the sun was high enough to give them inconvenience. When they entered the wood, James ran on a little way before, and soon called out that he had discovered something curious. It was a large bee, sitting on a little bush, facing another which was flying just before him, so as to keep one place in the air,

about a foot distant. They looked to see what the flying bee would do, when they saw it dart towards the sitting one like lightning, and then take its place again. This movement was repeated several times, as if he was determined to kill him; but it could not be seen that either suffered any injury; and after looking on for some time, the party turned away. Before they left the spot, however, one of them discovered that an old rail in a fence near them, had several round holes in it, about as big as a bullet.

"What are these?" enquired one of the boys." "Ah!" replied their older companion, "now I have something to show you. You remember my description of the Carpenter Bee the other day. I told you that it looks much like the Humble Bee, or what is commonly called the Bumble Bee, but that it has mandibles, or jaws, with which it can bite wood, and that it digs long holes in fences for its habitation. Now we have found them, and in greater plenty than I ever saw before."

On examination they found, that each hole was first dug straight into a rail, and then turned at right angles, and carried a foot or more along in the direction with the grain of the wood. They had no knife proper to cut into the rails, nor time even to stop any longer; so they passed on, talking about those curious insects. Edward was sorry to find that his father had not time to tell him much more about them. He said they were rather rare, but that he had found many particulars of their habits in some of his books.

The celebrated naturalist Reaumur has paid close attention to their habits; and the Sth volume of Harpers' Family Library gives many of his discoveries. This book, the boys were told they might read at another time; and I hope that many of the readers of the Penny Magazine will procure that volume from their district libraries or elsewhere, and begin at the 87th page. They will see a picture of the hole of the Carpenter Bee, and find that it is aivided into 12 chambers, with an egg in each.

METALS. No. 3, TIN.

We see tin every day, but many persons do not know why it is so much used as it is. nor why tin pans and kettles so often rust out and are thrown away. On this subject, as on many others, we want knowl. edge; and as children have plenty of time to learn, I hope some of them will pay attention to what important things they hear, and remember them.

Tin is a white metal, not very malleable, but may be spread out very thin on other metals. It is most commonly spread on sheet-iron, which is made into kitchen utensils. It makes them almost as beautiful and valuable as if they were made plain of solid

silver. But careless people, or those who do not know how to take care of them, make tin vessels almost as perishable as if they were made of mere sheet iron. Iron rusts easily, unless kept dry. Tin will not. If every part of a vessel were covered with tin, it would not rust; but using it will take off a little, and then the iron begins to rust if wet, and a hole is soon made through.Tin ware should always be emptied, and wiped dry, when not in use, and put in a dry place. Probably galvanism helps to rust the iron, when the rusting has once begun.

Per

We have no tin mines in our country. A good one would be worth a great deal. haps some of the boys now living may discover one. It will be better than finding a gold mine. Now we have to buy all our tin in Europe, and pay for the digging and melting it, as well as for spreading it on sheetiron. All that our countrymen have to do now is to make tin vessels of it. Block tin comes in bars and thick plates, and is used for making some of our metallic tumblers.

NEW, ELEGANT AND USEFUL LONDON PUBLICATIONS.

Among the publishers of periodical works which may claim this title, Charles Knight & Co. are greatly distinguished. From their store in Ludgate street, London, they are now issuing several works in series, which may well find a demand in this country, among those who possess judgement and taste. We have barely room for a brief description of each series. Specimes of them may be seen at the office of the Am. Penny Magazine, No. 112 Broadway, New York, where they are for sale; and our friends at a distance will receive them if ordered, by mail, express or otherwise.

1. THE PICTORIAL GALLERY OF ARTS, with 3000 or 4000 engravings, to appear in 24 monthly parts, at 38 cents each. No. 1 appeared in Feb. last.

2. "OLD ENGLAND," with nearly 3000 wood cuts, and 24 original, elaborate and colored engravings, to form two splendid folio volumes of 400 pages. The cuts will exhibit edifices, weapons, antiquities, portraits, seals, coins, autographs, sports, games, costumes and various scenes, 24 parts, each 44 cents.

3. THE PICTORIAL MUSEUM of ANIMATED, NATURE, with about 4000 wood engravings in 27 monthly parts, each 38 cents, or two splendid folios. Price 38c. from 12 to 20 fine prints of animals on one page, the whole being by far the most extensive collection ever produced, executed with scientific accuracy.

1. THE PICTORIAL SUNDAY Book, with 1500 wood cuts and 13 colored maps, forming a scripture Atlas, in 13 monthly parts, 44 cents

each. The engravings are a series of illustrations of Bible History, the Prophecies, Psalms, the Life of the Savior and the Acts of the Apostles, Jewish Customs, Scripture Natural History and Antiquities, with copies from old masters of scripture history. The whole is on a plan of Sunday reading.

ALL

5. KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUMES FOR READERS, 18 complete works, in 27 volumes of 240 or 250 pages each. No. 1, William Caxton, 2, the Lowell Offering, 3 and 12, Engliswomen in Egypt, 5, British manufactures, 6, 9 and 11, the Chinese, by Gov. Davis, of Hong Kong, enlarged, 11, Bird Architecture, 15, the Elephant, 16, Literature of England to the time of Elizabeth, with specimens, 19, Lord Brougham's Dialogues on Instinct, 20, 24, and 26, Craik's History of British Commerce, 25, British Manufactures, 27, Civil Wars of Rome, and new translation of select lines of Plutarch. Price 38 cents each.

6. THE CABINET HISTORY OF ENGLAND, in 20 monthly volumes, 38 cents each, being chapters from the Pictorial history of England, by McFarlane, the only complete English history from one pen.

7. THE CELEBRATED PENNY CYCLOPAEDIA, with numerous cuts, in 27 volumes, with 14,000 pages, published at the expense of about $160,000. $40, in sheep, and $45 half Russia.

8. SUPPLEMENT TO THE PENNY CYCLOPAEDIA, in parts, by the same editor and many of the same contributors. LONDON PENNY MAGAZINE, new series, monthly parts, 18 3-4 cents. All these are on English paper.

Editors receiving this paper in exchange, reinvited to reinsert the following advertisement: THE AMERICAN PENNY MAGAZINE AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, Edited by Theodore Dwight, Jr.

Is published weekly, at the office of the New York Express, No. 112 Broadway, at 3 cents a number, (16 pages large octavo,) or, to subscribers receiving it by mail, and paying in advance, $1 a year. The postage is now Free for this city, Brooklyn, Harlem, Newark, and all other places within 30 miles; only one cent a copy for other parts of the State, and other places within 100 miles; and 1 1-2 cents for other parts of the Union. Persous forwarding the money for five copies, will receive a sixth gratis. Editors known to have published this advertisement, with an editorial notice of the work, will be supplied with it for one year. By the quantity, $2 a hundred. The work will form a volume of 832 pages annually.

Postmasters are authorized to remit money without charge.

But, if m re convenient, simply enclose a One Dollar Bil', without payment of postage, and the work will be sent for the year.

We particularly request the public to remember that no person is authorized to receive money in advance for this paper, except the Editor or Publishers and an Agent in Ohio and the five south-western coun ties of Pennsylvania, who will show an attested certificate, signed by the Editor.

All the arts of the Chinese present some features well calculated to excite our curiosity, and to lead us to make inquiries for their origin. Whatever were the sources from which that singular people derived their arts, as well as their customs, they must lie far back in antiquity; and offer many evidences of an origin different from those of Europe. Many of the tools with which the craftsmen of China perform the most common mechanical operations, are constructed on different principles from ours, and appear to have always been as unlike them as now. No doubt the increase of intercourse, now beginning, between that people and Europeans and Americans, must make important changes, as they have, in fact, many improvements to learn.

The Chinese perhaps have shown their childish ignorance and foolish conceit as much in relation to their sea vessels as in anything. Their ships are furnished with very awkward sails and rigging, and often decorated with the most clumsy and ridiculous ornaments. Their war ships are so unwieldy, ill-provided, and ill-managed, as to be mere objects of contempt to naval na

tions; and some idea may be formed of the infancy of their tactics, from a grand plan gravely proposed by one of their naval commanders to the government, for the defeat and destruction of the English fleet at the commencement of the late war. He prorosed, in a long formal document, which was printed, that all provisions and people should be withdrawn from the coast for a short time, until the enemy (whom he supFosed to have no stores of food) should have grown hungry; and then that a Chinese ship should be allowed to fall into their hands, the crew of which should lie in close concealment, until the "red imps" should get on board, when they should rise, and kill them all before they could recover their presence of mind!

But we must remember that arts and sciences are, and always must be, judged of by comparison. The Chinese ships are in some respects equal to the gallies of Phenicia, Greece and Rome, and better worthy of our regard, as more subservient to useful commerce, and less to the inhuman purposes of plunder and war. Specimens of several kinds of small vessels and boats are

given in our print; and we compile the following description of some of them, from a late and valuable little work, Vol. 10th, of Knights' Weekly Volumes for all readers." It will be perceived, that the internal navigation of China is one of the most important in the world for extent, value of transport, and the accommodation it affords to travellers. Accompanying these descriptions, are some important facts, illustrating the customs of the country, which we shall not omit, especially because the work is new, and from the pen of the English Governor of Hong-Kong, Sir John Francis Davis.

"There is no post regulated by the government for facilitating the general intercourse of its subjects. The government expresses are forwarded by land along a line of posts, at each of which a horse is always kept ready; and it is said, that when the haste is urgent, a feather is tied to the packet, and the express is called a fei-ma, or flying horse. There is printed, for general use, a very ac curate itinerary of the empire. The public porters are under the management of a headman, who is responsible for them. There is no country in which horses are so little used, either for carriage or draft. Where no rivers or canals afford the conveniences of water carriage, the roads, or rather broad pathways, are paved, in the south, for horses, chairs and foot passengers; but no wheelcarriages were met with by the embassies, except in the flat country towards Peking."

"But, putting speed out of the question, there certainly is no country in the world, in which travelling by water is so commodious as China. Indeed all the river craft of that people may be said to be unrivalled. The small draft of water, and at the same time the great burthen and stiffness of their vessels, the perfect ease with which they are worked through the most intricate passages and most crowded rivers, and the surprizing accommodation which they afford, have always attracted attention. The Arab Ibn Batuta states that they were moved by

large oars," which might be compared to great masts in size, over which five and twenty men were sometimes placed. He evidently alludes to the enormous and powerful sculls, which at the present day, are worked at the stern of their vessels, exactly as he describes. The scull takes up no room, as it is in the middle of the vessel, It is a moving power, precisely on the principle of the fish's tail, from which the fish derives almost its whole impetus, the fins doing little more than to keep the body upright. The composition of the two lateral forces, made to the right and to the left, drives the fish or the vessel forward. The sculls are sometimes 30 feet in length, and the friction is reduced to the least possible

amount, by the fulcrum being a tenon and mortice of iron, working comparatively on a point."

The track-ropes, made of narrow strips of the strong siliceous surface of the bamboo, and combining the greatest strength with lightness, are very exactly described by Marco Polo. The oars which they occasionally use towards the head of their boats, are rather short, with broad blades, suspended in a loop, on a strong peg, at the side of the boat, and when useless drawn up close to the vessel's side, without any retarding effect, friction, or noise in the rullock, or room taken up."

The travelling barges used by mandarins and opulent persons, afford a degree of comfort and accommodation quite unknown in boats of the same description elsewhere; but speed is a quality they do not possess. The 1oof is 7 or 8 feet high; and they have an ante-room at the head for servants, a sittingroom about the middle of the boat, and a sleeping apartment abaft. All the cooking goes on upon the high, overhanging stern, where the crew also are accommodated. There are gangways of boards on each side of the vessel, which serve for pulling it along the shallows, by means of very long and light bamboos, and by which the servants pass to and fro. The better boats are very well lit by side windows of glass, scraped oyster shells, or gauze covered with pictures. The partitions and bulk-heads are painted and varnished. The decks or floors are made of pieces, which can be removed to stow different articles, and replaced. What is remarkable, although Chinese houses are generally very dirty, these boats are very clean and neat. "In short," says the Governor of Hong-Kong, "their travelling barges are as much superior to the crank and rickety budgerous of India, as our European ships are to the sea-junks of the Chinese. Nothing could more strongly characterize the busy trading character of the Chinese among themselves, and the activity of their internal traffic, than the numbers of passage boats which are constantly sailing along their rivers and canals, crowded both inside and out with a host of passengers. The fare in these vessels is, quaintly enough, termed shuey-keo, (water-legs,) as it serves in lieu of limbs to transport the body. But these are used by the common people, and carry a mixed company, so that the warning is stuck on the mast; "Kin-shin-ho-paou"(Take care of your purses.)

The loadstone is said to be mentioned in a Chinese book, which was finished in the 121st year after Christ, as a stone that will

66

give iron a direction;" while its attractive powers were known long before. About a century after, it is said, the compass was described in another book; and, with its aid, their ships made voyages south, as early as A. D. 419. With the originality, frequent,