very singular account of the ravages of ants known in Paraguay. He furnishes no means of ascertaining the species whose proceedings he describes. "The largest ants which I had an opportunity of seeing are formidable on account of their undermining buildings. They make burrows, with infinite labour, under churches and houses, digging deep, sinuous meanders in the earth, and exerting their utmost strength to throw out the loosened sods. Having got wings, they fly off in all directions, on the approach of heavy showers, with the same ill for tune as Icarus, but with this difference, that he perished in the sea, they on the ground, to which they fall when their wings are wetted by the rain. Moreover those holes in the earth by which the ants used first to pass admit the rain-water, which inundates the caves of the ants, and undermines the building, causing the wooden beams, that uphold the wall and, roof, first to give way, and, unless immediately supported, to fall along with the house. This is a common spectacle in Paraguay. The whole hill on which St. Joachim was built was covered with ant hills, and full of subterranean cavities. Our house and the one adjoining suffered much from these insects. The chief altar was rendered useless for many days; for, it being rainy weather, the lurking ants flew in swarms from their caves, and not being able to support a long flight, fell upon the priest, the altar, and sacred utensils, defiling everything. Ten outlets by which they broke from their caves being closed up, next day they opened twenty more. One evening there arose a violent storm, with horrible thunder and lightning. A heavy shower seemed to have converted our court-yard into a sloping lake, the wall itself withstanding the course of the waters. My companion betook himself to my apartment. Meantime, an Indian, the churchwarden, arrived, announcing that the floor of the church was beginning to gape, and the wall to open and be inclined. I snatched up a lamp and ran to the place, but had hardly quitted the threshhold of my door, when I perceived a gap in the earth; and, before I was aware of any danger, sunk up to the shoulders in a pit, in the very place of the chief altar, but scrambled out of it, by the help of the churchwarden, as quickly as I had got in, for under that altar the ants seemed to have made their metropolis: the cavern was many feet long and wide, so that it had the appearance of a wine-cellar. As often as earth was thrown in by the Indians to fill it, so often was it dug out by the ants. In this universal trepidation, all the Indians were called to prop the gaping wall of the church with rafters and planks. The greatness of the danger rendered it impossible to remain quiet, whatever arts were adopted. That same night I removed from my apartment, which was joined to the church with the same beams and rafters, in such a manner, that if one fell, the other could not avoid being involved in the ruin. I have read that in Guiana, rocks and mountains have been undermined, walls thrown down, and people turned out of their habitations by ants, which I can easily believe, having myself witnessed similar or even more incredible events. (See vol. ii. p. 28.) "In Paraguay I was made thoroughly acquainted with the powers of ants. They are weak, and compared with many other insects, diminutive, but numbers, labour, and unanimity render them formidable, and endow them with strength superior to their size. In the plains, especially those near the Paraguay, I have seen ant-hills, like stone pyramids, three or more ells high, with a broad base, and composed of a solid material as hard as stone: these are the storehouses and castles of the ants, from the summits of which they discern sudden inundations, and safely behold the floating carcasses of less industrious animals. Elsewhere I have seen an immense plain, so covered with low ant-hills, that the horse could not move a step without stumbling. In the plains you may often observe a broad path, through which it would appear the legions of Xerxes might have passed. The Spaniards hollow out these pyramidal heaps, and use them for ovens, or reduce them to a powder, which, mixed with water, serves admirably to floor houses. Pavements of this kind resemble stone in appearance and hardness, and are said to prevent the breeding of fleas and other insects. But hear what mischief ants commit within doors. They flock in a long and almost endless company to the sacks of wheat, and in a journey uninterrupted by day or night (if there be a moon), carry off by degrees some bushels. They will entirely strip fruit trees of ther leaves.-Nat. History. Malta and its Islands. These islands are three in number; namely, Malta, the largest-Gozo, the next in size--and the islet of Comino, interposed between Malta and Gozo. Altogether they scarcely exceed in superficies an island of a hundred miles in circumference; and, being of the same formation, population, and history, are commonly spoken together by the name of Malta. Small as they are, circumstances have given them in past times a celebrity, surpassed by few spots on the globe; and at the present time they possess, in the hands of England, a degree of political importance which renders them objects of interest in America as well as in Europe. The Maltese Islands are in a line between Sicily and Barbary; and, politically speaking, they have belonged sometimes to Europe and sometimes to AfriAt the present time their language. is Arabic, and their religion Roman Catholic. Their productions and physical condition, in like manner, partake of both ca. continents. Some geologists have imagined that Gozo alone had been separated from Sicily in some old convulsions of the earth's surface, and was of different origin from Malta. But this idea is negatived by the fact, not only of the close juxtaposition of Gozo and Malta; but, what is more decisive, the identity of the matter of which all the islands are composed. Malta, speaking for the three, is a rock of soft limestone, of that sort which some writers designate by the name of calcareous tufa. It is of a white color, a little inclined to buff, and is so soft that the blocks are commonly hewn into shape. with a kind of axe made for this particular purpose. It is also easily wrought into vases and other ornamental forms; but these are very fragile, and the stone is of course too soft for statuary. Besides being so soft and easily wrought, it is also very light, and therefore handled with facility. These qualities of the rock of which Malia is composed give to the Maltese a building stone of great beauty and convenience. Hence, not only did the Knights of St. John have at hand a rock easily excavated, cliffs readily cut into ramparts and redoubts, and stones for the masonry of their walls, so as to enable them to build without difficulty those vast fortifications which are the admiration of every beholder for their magnitude and strength; but they were incited by the same fact, for the construction of the massive and regular edifices, and the well-paved streets of their beautiful city of Valetta. Nay, the very huts of the peasantry in the country are made of well squared blocks of beautiful stone, which might well befit the proudest palaces. On the surface of the rock the Maltese have obtained and preserved, by time and care, a thin layer of cultivable earth of great fertility. The soil is partly composed of the broken fragments and the dust of the rock itself, mixed with vegetable matter, and in part of earth imported from Sicily; for there is no portion of the human race exceeds the Maltese in patient industry. This thin coating of soil is fertilized by the rains and by ve getable or other manure. It is preserved from being dried up under the hot sun of the south by the porous nature of the rock on which it reposes, and which absorbs and holds from the sun the moisture which falls from the sky. And it is guarded against being gullied and washed away in floods of rain by being formed into small inclosures of stone wall; and if the spot be of broken surface, by stone-wall terraces; and here again the peculiar qualities of the rock of the island come in play. Of all this the effect is that Malta is an island of extreme fertility and productiveness. In Malta, as in Holland, human industry has enabled the inhabitants to prosper apparently against great natural disadvantages. Thus the naked rock of Malta has been made to produce greater crops, and to sustain more human beings relatively than any other portion of Europe. Of course in such a soil there can be few trees, and no large ones. They are all garden trees. The oranges and figs of Malta especially are of great excellence. But the crop consists chiefly of cotton and corn. The cotton is of a quality greatly inferior to ours both in staple and in color. Much of it is of a tawny color, some specimens of which have been cultivated in the United States by way of experiment; but thus far not with such results, I believe, as to have rendered it an object of extensive cultivation. Still it finds a market in some parts of the Mediterranean. The circumstances which I have stated give to Malta a most peculiar aspect. The island has two cities, that of Valetta, which is the seaport and capital, and that of Citta Vecchia, in the centre of the island. It contains also a number of vil. lages, each of which is called a Casal; as Casal Zebug, Casal Lia, Casal Guida, and the rest. All these are built, as I have said, like the dwellings of the peasantry, of the whitest calcareous stone of the island; and Valetta as a city is very beautiful, and its harbor gives an aspect of animation and variety. But go out of Valetta into the country, while you see no trees, except in occasional gardens to enliven the picture, you find that every dwelling-house by the road side is a naked cubical little box of stone, without either chimney or (for the most part) window; for the inhabitants were so long exposed to the ravages either of Moor or Christian, according as one or the other possessed the island, that every hut is literally a little castle of massive masonry. And when I ascended to the roof of the Cathedral of Citta Vecchia, and looked down upon the island, its chequer-board surface of stone walls, and its naked soil, with the uniformity of its structures, were a spectacle of sad monotony such as I had never before beheld. And while the surface of Malta, and the condition and pursuits of its inhabitants are modified in so many particulars by the geological character of the island, from the same fact arises much that is curious in the state of things under ground. For not only do natural grottoes and caverns in the rocks abound, but also excavations either wholly artificial or enlargements of natural passages. They bear the name of catacombs, which perhaps is appropriate enough. At any rate, the extensive caverns which I visited under Citta Vecchia exhibited indubitable evidence of having been employed, probably at some period of very remote antiqnity, in the time of the Phenicians or Carthaginians, as places of sepulture; though it may be true, also, as tradition avers, that they have since served as places of refuge to the early Christians. And I believe that extensive excavations for military purposes form a part of the works constructed by the Knights of St. John.-C. Cushing. Have the courage to make a will, and a just one.-SEL. Keep your boys [and girls too] in the house evenings, if they are exposed to bad or doubtful companions.--This is a duty which many parents seem to overlook. If they can get rid of the noise of their boys, and be left to pursue their vocations in peace, they do not stop to inquire where the children are, or are easy, as they are in the next street, playing with the other boys. But oh, how often it is, that in this way is laid the foundation of vices which mar the future character, which in their progress destroy both body and soul. Here, away from parental restraint, always cominences the first oath. But I I once asked a boy who was conversant with these scenes, but who had not got so far advanced in evil as some of his companions whether there was much swearing in the streets? He replied 'some.' I asked further, is there more swearing in the day time than in the evening? Without hesitation he answered, in the evening.' This was as I suspected. I asked him why it was so! He replied he did not know. I presume it was a subject on which he had not reflected, and only spoke the fact as it was recalled to his mind by the question. could not help thinking that the darkness of evening, the greater number which collected together, and the feeling that they are then more secure from the observation of others, is the cause that these night gatherings are particularly unfavorable to the morals of our youth. How can parents, who have the least regard to the morals of their children, suffer them to be exposed to such baneful influences ? Better would it be for their own families, and the community at large, if they would devote the evenings to their children, though other things should be neglected. [Selected. POPULAR FALLACIES.-That dress makes the gentleman. That youth will never fade. That good manners are often wasted. That yellow fever crowns volunteers with glory. That trash will pass for sense. That goodness and cleverness always ally. That honor belongs to thieves. That the thunder does the damage.Irving Banner. THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. This cut is quite too small to give any? adequate idea of the aspect, or at least of the impression of this fine tree, so distinguished for its interesting associations. It is very remarkable that it is found growing naturally in only one limited region in the world, although it may be introduced, without much difficulty, into many other countries The pines, cedars and larches have their seeds contained in husky cones, of various sizes, with some of which most of us are familiar. They have very small and slender leaves, most of which are evergreen, except the larches, to which division belongs the tree above depicted. The leaves of an evergreen fall every year, like those of other trees. They do not remain unchanged, as a superficial observer might presume, from its unchanging appearance. The old leaves. remain until the young ones have grown, and then gradually fall, when their loss is perceptible to an observer. Whoever has walked in our pine woods must recollect, that the ground is covered with a coat of the brown leaves of the past sea sons. One of the most admired objects in the Garden of Plants in Paris, is a large cedar of Lebanon, growing on the side of the little hill of the Observatory. In Renfrewshire, in Scotland, this tree has been common for many years; and we have been informed that there is a tradition, that the two oldest specimens still survive, and were planted about seven hundred years ago, by soldiers returned from the Crusades. We cannot but hope, that a considerable number of these interesting trees may be at this moment growing in different parts of our own country, as we have heard of a number of seeds brought or sent to America by travellers in Syria. We were favored, some time ago, by one of our devoted and learned missionaries, (the Rev. Mr. Beadle,) with several cones, obtained by him on a visit to Mount Lebanon, and have distributed most of the seeds among our subscribers and other friends, some, from which we have information, we know have grown; and we have one now before us, about three years old, which, though small, is very vigorous, and is putting out new leaves, in the peculiar manner of the tribes, in great abundance. It is impossible for a reader of the Bible to look upon this plant without deep and peculiar interest. More use is made of it in the Scriptures as an emblem, than of any other, in the whole vegetable kingdom; and it is the subject of many of the most instructive and affecting, as well as the most beautiful figurative passages in the sacred volume. What more appropriate plant for the Christian's eye! Since they may be reared in our own yards and gardens, or at least in our own green houses, how well worth our pains will it be to multiply them around us! When we look upon their form, we see an emblem chosen by God to represent the beauty and steady development of that character, which we should daily and hourly be occupied in forming, and be admonished to "grow like the cedar of Lebanon." There are prating coxcombs in the world, who would rather talk than listen, although Shakspeare himself were the orator, and human nature the theme. There are some truths, the force and validity of which we readily admit, in all cases except our own; and there are other truths so self-evident that we dare not deny them, but so dreadful that we dare not believe them.-LACON. This gigantic, and almost colossa! work is equally admired as a specimen of art and an appropriate monument. History has not transmitted to us any other character to which a parallel can be found in all points with Peter, the father of Russian greatness. In reading his life we find almost as much to wonder about as to admire; and unhappily, too much to disapprove and lament. Taking his edu cation, and the numerous evil influences around him into account, we cannot, indeed, be surprised that he should have had great faults and even some vices; and yet, when we contemplate some of the scenes in which he most disgraced himself, we are tempted to lose sight of the circumstances which form the chief apologies for him. There are few personages, perhaps, of whom we ought to be more carefully on our guard, and continually to exercise discrimination. One of the most favourable lights in which we can contemplate the life and character of Peter, is in contrast with some of the other most distinguished and admired men; and a general resemblance between the statue depicted above, and the spirited representation of Buonaparte crossing the Alps, remind us of some of the fundamental differences between the two originals. Peter devoted his life to the improvement of his countrymen, and limited his views to his own country; while Buonaparte constantly kept his eyes fixed on other nations, and almost ruined France by endeavoring to make her queen of Europe. Napoleon spent his life in conquering foreign people by force. Peter devoted himself to training the minds, the habits and the condition of his own subjects. The former placed himself, from the first, at the head of those who destroyed life: the latter began by submitting himself to severe, long-continued and even what many call degrading labor, that he might learn the noble art of teaching and leading millions of ignorant and miserable Russians, to knowledge and habits which would elevate their minds and increase their happiness. We cannot pretend to claim for Peter such pure motives as we love to ascribe to Washington: but we may be justified in preferring him, as a disinterested patriot, to many other favorites of history. We have before given our readers some of the most important particulars respecting the history of the fine monument of art above represented, and the personage to whose honor it was erected; and may therefore refer our readers to some of our preceding numbers, (see vol. ii. p. 577, 644.) Persecuting bigots may be compared to those burning lenses which Leuhenhoeck and others composed from ice; by their chilling apathy, they freeze the suppliant; by their fiery zeal, they burn the sufferer.-LACON. |
