cabin, 'Oh, Mynheer, Mynheer, what shall I do? A snake has twined itself round my ancles; and, if I open the door, he will come into the house.' 'Never mind,' I replied, 'open the door, and let him come if he dare.' She obeyed, and in glided the snake, luckily without having harmed the poor girl. I stood prepared, and instantly killed him; and found him to be one of a very venomous description."

What a narrow escape!

Visiting a friend near Graham's Town, he tells us, he went one day to take a book from a shelf in the drawing-room; he found a beautiful yellow snake, about five feet long, lying asleep on the uppermost range of books. He lay so still, that at first he thought it a dead one stuffed; but, perceiving a slight movement in its tail, he gave him a hard blow with a quarto volume, and broke his back, and then readily killed him.

Are not the BOA TRIBE* the largest of the serpents?

* Boa constrictor.

They are. They are not venomous, and are met with in Africa, India, and in South America. It has been found from thirty to forty feet long. You recollect how the man at the menagerie we visited took one out of a box, and suffered it to twine round his body.

I do; and I trembled at the sight. I could not help thinking that, though it had no sting, it might crush him to death.

True; I did not like the experiment. This creature has been known to seize a buffalo, to break all its bones, and to devour it.

How could it do this?

By reducing it to a mass of jelly with its slaver, which produces this result with great rapidity. It has been confidently affirmed, that they will devour a stag at a meal, and that they have been seen with the horns, which they could not gulp down, hanging out of their mouths. When they have thus devoured an animal of any size, they fall into a state of sleep and torpor, and are easily destroyed. But it is time for

us to close our remarks; the dew is rising, and we are not far from our dear home.

And see how the moon shines in her beauty!

It does; the beautiful description of one of our own poets is here a reality; here, all the hues of evening,

"From the rich sunset, to the rising star,
Their magical variety diffuse :

And now they change; a paler shadow strews
Its mantle o'er the mountain; parting day

Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues
With a new colour as it dies away,

The last still loveliest, till-'tis gone-and all is grey !

WALK VIII.

FISH-SCALES-AIR-BLADDER-FINS-EELS-ELECTRIC EELSWORD-FISH

-COD-FISH-HADDOCK-WHITING-HAKES-LING-SUCKING FISH-THE

JOHN DOREE-TURBOT-HALIBUT-SOLES-PLAICE-PERCH-MACKEREL

-THUNNY-STICKLEBACKS-SURMULLET-GURNARD-FISHING-FROG

CARPENTERS-ALMA PERDIDA-ERUPTION OF FISH-GONAMY.

I THINK Fish come next in order under our consideration. Did you not say we were less acquainted with their history and habits than with those of other animals?

I think we are, and must remain so, on account of the element in which they live, which is, in a very great degree, inaccessible to our researches. But what we do know of them is very surprising; don't you think so, Edward?

I think all the works of God are wonderful. Who

could even have imagined such a coat as that in which a fish is clothed?

True; the horny substance of the scales is so admirably suited to the place of their abode, and these are covered with a sort of oily slime, to keep them distinct from the water, even while they live in it.

And the colour of the scales, too, sir! those you showed me with the microscope appeared like pearl, adorned with spots of purple and gold.

Paley remarks, that all the philosophers in the world could never have made a feather; much less could they have clothed the pheasant or the peacock. Should they attempt it, without having seen any of the feathered tribe, how would they be ashamed of their work, when contrasted with that of the Creator!

What a variety of covering God has given to his creatures! there are bristles, wool, hair, feathers, furs, scales, and prickles; and, as you have often remarked, they are intended for armour, as well as for garments.