ating the value of time and the value of those | upon this book. Still, some will think it more advantages which these institutions offer. The likely that a Franklin should have printed in major part of us are infinitely more delighted both Bostons, than that seven American pubwith amusement, many of us even with lishers should combine to print a book in 1719 frivolity, than we are with hard study and which it is likely they might have got cheaper laborious exertion. We read (and, understand from England. The copy of which we write me, I am judging of others as I have found has a singular answer to these last in a manumyself) much more for amusement than for script memorandum inserted in the book, — by thought. I am not disposed in the slightest which it appears that in 1796 its possessor sailed degree to undervalue that description of reading from Boston, and "Came too twice, once in which is generally known by the name of "light King Rode and once in ye Narrows." Now, literature." I am least of all, perhaps no man though the common maps do not show it, we less, disposed to undervalue our periodical are informed that King Road and the Narrows literature, especially newspapers. They give make a conspicuous figure in the chart of the us the history of our own time, and no man Massachusetts Boston. The type of this book can know where he stands in the world, unless is very straggling, and the letters very often he occasionally, nay frequently, looks into the look as if they came from different fonts: newspapers of the day. I would not under- nevertheless, the printing is such as might have value, as I said before, this light literature, but come from an English country town at a later I think it a great mistake on the part of period. - If any of our readers think that such young men from the age of fifteen to twenty- speculations as the above are a sort of literary five to consume their time to a large extent in trifling, we will assure them that such trifling such reading. Mr. Bright made some further sometimes leads to important consequences. remarks, urging the study of works of a high A theory on one or another point of the history and ennobling character by the young members of human progress has before now received its of the Athenæum. death-wound from the production of a neglected book.-Athenæum. Many a literary problem, more or less curious, starts up in the daily reading or bookcollecting of him who has an eye for such game. It is not easy in this country to decide on the date at which the American colonies began to reprint English books. It is, we believe, known that the Latin grammars were imported from London down to the period of the struggle with the mother-country-and that the stoppage of the supply, occasioned by the hostilities, gladdened the hearts of the school boys, and made them feel that the war was truly one of Independence. Nevertheless, schoolbooks must have been reprinted in America fifty years before the war broke out. There is a Boston edition of Hodder's Arithmetic, called the twenty-fifth, and bearing date 1719. It is true, this little undertaking was the speculation of seven combined publishers: and we hardly know whether to wonder most at there being seven publishers in Boston, or at its needing no less than seven capitals to bear the risk of a small octavo of 200 pages. question arises, however was this book printed at Boston in Lincolnshire? for in the absence of all reference to America except the single word Boston, this last supposition is the most probable. But then, the printer's name is J. Franklin; and we know that Benjamin Franklin was an apprentice to his brother, a Boston printer, in 1719. It is not very unlikely that the apprentice may have worked A year The waters of the Nile have risen this to an unusual and destructive height. A correspondent from Cairo, speaking of this calamity which has succeeded to the fearful pestilence by which Egypt has been ravaged - and which is said to have taken 133,000 victims, Cairo furnishing a contingent of 10,000-says"Nearly the whole crop of Dura, it is feared, will be destroyed; and you can conceive the distress which will ensue, as the felláheen subsist almost entirely upon it. The water was in the streets of Cairo a few days since, the canal having flowed through the courts of the houses; but the government has had the mouth of the canal so dammed that only a small quantity of water can flow in. Boolák and Old Cairo are almost under water. The reason of this extraordinary rise appears to be this: the Pashas and great men find cotton to be the most profitable thing they can sow in their fields; and, as the water must not flow over this cotton, Upper Egypt is full of dykes and dams which confine the Nile to a much smaller space."-Athenæum. DR. FOX'S FIRE-PROOF PATENT. - The system, says the Builder, may be thus described. Small cast-iron joists are used of the shape reversed, larger in the centre than at the ends, having six inches bearing on the | 64 2d. One hundred and fifty damsels, with from 10,000f. to 60,000f. of dowry. 3d. Four hundred young ladies and widows, with a small fortune. Apply to M. Porré, Rue Bourbon, No. 7." Another marriage broker advertises, 1st. Two young ladies of between fifteen and eighteen years of age, with between 30,000f. and 60,000f. 2d. Two others, between thirty and forty-six years, with 35,000f.; and several damsels of all ages, with between 4,300f. and 6,000f.; with lots of widows with incomes of from 1,000f." In case money was not the object, M. Porré had for disposal walls, and placed 18 inches apart for floors, and 22 inches apart for roofs. In the spaces between the joists, and resting on the bottom flange of the joists, are placed, in a contrary direction to the way in which the joists lie, strips of wood about an inch-and-a-half square and half-an-inch apart, serving at once as the ordinary ceiling laths, and to carry the floor which is formed as follows:- A coat of rough mortar, about one inch thick above the laths, is laid on the top of these, of such a consistence that it may be pressed through the interstices and form a key for the ceiling underneath, which is afterwards laid on in the ordinary" several young ladies of ancient families, manner. Upon this first coat of mortar is with little fortune, but with all the qualities laid a coat of pugging formed of road scrap- which should accompany fortune."-Liverpool ings or refuse rubbish from the building, Albion. mixed with an eighth or tenth part of lime and passed through a pug mill. This is laid in, the whole depth of the joists, as a solid foundation to receive either a facing of lime and sand in certain proportions, coated with linseed oil, or a flooring of wood or stone. It thus forms a solid mass perfectly fire-proof, and, according to the calculations of the patentees, the cost does not exceed that of the ordinary mode of construction with timber. FRENCH MATRIMONIAL BROKERS.-Formerly matrimonial advertisements constantly appeared in the French Journals; but, instead of the gentlemen advertising for wives, as they do here, in France the ladies advertised themselves and their attractions to be disposed of. In the Journal des Affiches the following matrimonial wants and attractions were pompously and prominently put forth under the heading, "Ready to Marry:-1st. Fifty widows, with from 2,000f. to 20,000f. of income. Among forth-coming novelties we observe the following announced for immediate publication: The Secret History of the French Revolutions of 1848, or Memoirs of Citizen Caussidière, whilst acting as Minister of Police to the French Republic. Including a narrative of the Revolution in February to the pres ent time. Written by Citizen Caussidière, Representative of the people. (This work will be first published in England) The Life and Remains of Theodore Hook. The Young Countess. A Novel, by Mrs. The Fountain of Arethusa. By Robert E. Landor, M.A. NORFOLK ISLAND. BY AN OFFICER ON THE SPOT. This is one of a small group in the South Pacific Ocean, distant about fourteen hundred miles from Van Dieman's Land, in a north-easterly direction. The three principal Islands are respectively known as Norfolk, Philip, and Nepean Islands; of these, the first is the chief, and only habitable one. It is of irregular form, the shores bluff and broken, its greatest length is about five miles and a half, extending from Point Blackburne to Point Howe. Its extreme breadth, measured between Point Ross and the opposite coast near Bird Island, is nearly four miles. It may have a superficies of about nine thousand The general character of the interior is uneven, being broken by steep hills, and deep and narrow gullies or ravines, the former covered with forest timber in great variety, thickly interwoven with gigantic creepers, and dense growth of underwood. Water is found in sufficient quantity by digging, and the rivulets which run through the gullies suffer but little apparent diminution in the draught of acres. summer. The geological formation of the Island is porphyry, much degraded on the surface. On the north-eastern and other parts of the coast, there are basaltic appearances. Boulders of green stone are every where found imbedded in the porphyry, all of them in a rounded form, as if from the action of water, and composed of layers like the coats of an onion. It has already been mentioned that limestone is found at the south-east extremity of the Island, and there only. Sandstone is found in company with it, in considerable quantity; the latter is much used for building purposes, being procurable in blocks or wedges of almost any size, and from its porous nature it is also valuable as dripstone. The greatest elevation on the Island is the summit of Mount Pitt, a wooded hill on the north-west side, which is estimated to rise cleven hundred feet above the sea. Opposite to the Settlement, and separated by a channel only four hundred yards wide, is Nepean Island, which, a mere rock devoid of water or soil, exhibits no trace of vegetation save half a dozen stunted pines. It is frequented by innumerable sea fowl, who lay their eggs on the sand which covers its surface. Beyond this again, at a distance of six miles, and nearly due south from the Settlement is Philip Island, rising in a rugged and precipitous outline about nine hundred feet above the sea. Its geological formation resembles that of Norfolk Island. It is uninhabited save by a few wild goats, innumerable rabbits, and some fowls originally domestic, but to whom such classification is no longer applicable; the last do not multiply rapidly, owing probably to the scarcity of food and water; the latter, if procurable at all, are in such inaccessible positions, that visitors find it necessary to carry a supply with them. The Island is about a mile and a half long, with a medium breadth of three quarters of a mile. The vast quantity of rabbits found here, added to the monotony of Norfolk Island life, rendering any change desirable, have proved an attraction to the sportsmen of the garrison, a party of whom occasionally cross over to pass a few days in this wilderness, occupying a weather-boarded hut, erected, I believe, under the direction of the late Captain Best, 50th Regiment, who lost his life when crossing the "bar,' on his return from one of these excursions. The landing place is on the north side of the Island, near a detached perpendicular rock; a creek recedes some eighty or a hundred yards; with from twelve to eighteen feet water, and a ledge of table rocks here affords good landing. The ascent now is by a fissure or chasm in the wall, the broken path being almost perpendicular, and more difficult even than it looks, owing to the crumbling footing, and the deep sand which succeeds to the rock; when it is considered that hammocks, bedding. provisions, and water, have all to be carried up this ascent, it will be admitted that gunning here has its toils as well as its pleasures. My visit was a short one, having started at daybreak in a boat destined to bring back a party who had for some days been killing time and rabbits here: having scrambled over the first difficulties of the ascent, a fresh one awaits the visitor in the shape of an almost impervious underwood, the native cotton plant, more than breast high, being interlaced with a remorseless creeper, the cat's-clad vine. We found the party of sportsmen, as to externals, counterparts of Robinson Crusoe in his worst days, not one of them having a whole pair of breeches, and their other garments equally torn in shreds by contact with the bush. The interior of the hut, however, showed no lack of creature comforts; at one end, half a dozen hammocks were slung in a double tier, at the other, were tables and forms, whilst the shelves groaned under store of bacon, bread, pickles, tea, and sugar; a hecatomb of dead rabbits occupied a corner, whilst in another, a heap of poultry spoke of previous spoils. Some gannets, whose downy skins were hanging to dry outside, and a centipede about eight inches long, were amongst the other captures; nor had the wild cocks and hens escaped the vigilance of the sportsmen. After a breakfast of devilled drumstick, rashers, and eggs, for which my trajet across the water had well prepared me, I set out, under guidance, to explore. The rabbits, young and old, of all sizes, and in every variety of color, were skurrying about in all directions: not a blade of anything that could be called grass is observable, so that leaves and the shoots of young trees and shrubs must be their food whatever it is, they multiply fast; many were shot with large wens or goitres under the neck, others had hard warts and other excrescences. We ascended, toiling through a bed of sand, to a peak, whence we commanded a view of the greater part of the Island: to the southward, and just below us, was a precipice eight or nine hundred feet sheer descent; about four hundred yards from us, in the most inaccessible part of the island, we noticed ten or a dozen goats, upon whom a fire was of course immediately opened with balls, though without any further effect than making them "get out of that." Whilst thus employed we heard a report as of the booming of a distant gun glancing down to the sea, I noticed a" black fish," a species of small whale, rise perpendicularly from the water, his head and half his body with lateral fins were discovered, then rolling over, he fell with a terrific splash, leaving only his forked tail protruding through the foam. A second or two after his disappearance, the sound occasioned by this manoeuvre reached our ears, like a distant cannon the marine monster continued the round of the coast, repeating this process, every thirty or forty yards. shot; The timber on Philip Island, though plentiful, is small and valueless. Several small birds frequent the bush, and I noticed a couple of red and blue parrots. Returning to the hut, we found awaiting us a kettle of capital rabbit soup, with a most savory stew of heterogeneous composition; having therewith fortified the inner man, all the traps were packed up, and the party commenced the descent to the boat. The poet's axiom however of "fa cilis descensus averni," was here entirely reversed; the process of reaching the bottom of the chasm with unbroken bones proved both labor et opus: with both hands disengaged, the matter is much simplified, but with a gun in one hand, and a bundle of bedding in the other, one had need to hold on by the eyelids. All being at length embarked, our whale boat under a stiff breeze brought us home in three quarters of an hour. A comparatively small tract in Norfolk Island has been cleared for agriculture, still it is to be remembered that a large portion is incapable of being rendered available or profitable for such a purpose. Almost any sort of grain might, we imagine, be grown on the Island, but the principal crop is maize; of this grain, in 1836, sixteen thousand bushels were raised on something less than four hundred acres: for four successive years there was an increase, until in 1840 it reached its maximum of 27,000 bushels on 800 acres. In 1843, the crop had dwindled to 8,000 bushels on 600 acres : and the season of 1846 produced only a similar quantity. The annual island consumption at this time was about 20,000 bushels, the deficiency being made up by importation from Sydney; this proved so serious an item of expense, that wheaten flour has temporarily been substituted as the convict ration. Wheat, barley, rye, and oats, are grown in small quantities, but are unprofitable crops, owing, perhaps, to the want of skilful agriculturists: the climate and soil are said to be adapted to the cultivation of cotton; arrow-root and coffee are raised of excellent quality; tobacco also has been grown with success, but the experiment was not persevered in, owing to the facilities thereby af forded to the prisoners of indulging in the use of this forbidden luxury. The batata, or sweet potato, is cultivated in large quantities; it is propagated by the vines or suckers, and if kept moist for the first few days, it will grow at all seasons; the root may be dug in three months, but treble that time should be allowed it to come to perfection; it ought always, and does occasionally, form part of the convict ration, in which case it is useful to mix with the maize meal when manufactured into bread. The sweet potato is highly nutritious, and seems to be palatable and wholesome for all kinds of live stock-horses, cattle, swine, fowls, dogs, and cats, will all eat it and thrive. The common potato answers well, as do peas, beans, asparagus, artichokes, and all the ordinary vegetables and garden herbs known in England. Tomatas, chilis, and capsicums have a rapid growth, and cucumbers grow luxuriantly in open beds, as also pumpkins, vegetable marrow, &c. The list of fruits comprises grapes, figs, pineapples, peaches, guavas, cape-gooseberries, loquats, loveapples, strawberries, bananas, melons in every variety, apples (indifferent), quinces, lemons, and limes. The two last grow wild all over the Island in great profusion, and of excellent quality. Oranges were equally plentiful, until they were extirpated by order of a former Superintendent (Colonel Morrisett), with a view to limiting the means of subsistence of prisoners absconding to the bush. The birds indigenous to the island are chiefly parrots, which are exceedingly numerous. There seem to be but three varieties, one is green, another red and blue a handsome bird; the third is a male: the common pigeon abounds, and a wood quest somewhat larger than this is found; it is a bird of solitary habits, and is much prized as a delicacy for the table; this latter circumstance has so thinned the numbers, that it is now rarely met with: there is also a robin, and other small birds, none of them having much note. Numerous kingfishers and sea-fowl, as the puffin, gannet, boat-swain, and mutton bird frequent the coast in great numbers. Fish may be caught in any quantity near the island, and some good species are found, but this obvious mode of furnishing some variety to the sameness of Norfolk Island fare, was totally neglected until recently, or since the arrival of the present Civil Commandant: the plea we heard advanced on our arrival, was the supposed danger of having any boats afloat, except in cases of urgent necessity; nevertheless, there was at this time a free crew to man the boat. The few boats on the island are of course the property of the government, and, except when communicating with the government vessels at their periodical visits, they are drawn up and secured in a boat shed, under charge of a guard. Latterly, a boat has been sent out to fish, twice a week, weather permitting; sometimes a ton and a half weight has been taken in a few hours. The commoner sorts are " trevally" and "trumpeters," ranging from 5lbs. to 201bs., "snapper," from 5lbs, to 50lbs., the kingfish, which attains to 70lbs. or 80lbs., with the so-called "salmon," skipjacks, and other smaller sort; rock cod are likewise found; sharks, though not of a large size, frequently carry off the hooks of the fishermen I believe they have not been known to come within the "bar." Bathers, at any rate, are under no apprehensions, being secured against these intruders by a reef of rocks which isolates the small bay whither they usually resort. Near the entrance of the boat harbor and opposite the reef is the blow-hole, a name applied to a deep cave which has been undermined or hollowed out by the sea; the waves rush in here with violence, and the cavern being perforated above, the water is forced up at intervals, and shoots through the aperture in a lofty column of spray. The effect produced is striking; curiosity led me one evening to the site of this natural jet d' eau; the opening is nearly circular, about twelve feet in diameter, and the depth of the chasm may be about fifty feet; creeping along the rock on hands and knees to the brink, I gazed down upon the angry surge, which rolled in and spent itself in buffeting the rugged sides of the cavern, once in about every two minutes; when a heavier sea than usual set in, a column of water was shot up far above me, with a concussion and deafening roar that made the rock quake under me, and on its descent deluged me with spray. This impromptu shower-bath tended to check a sort of fascination I felt creeping over me, accompanied by an unaccountable impulse to cast myself down into the troubled surges below, and urged me to a timely retreat. Although not one of the sickly sentimental school, which finds peculiar pleasure in frequenting grave-yards, we share, in common probably with many others, the prejudice in favor of securing a resting place in Christian burial ground in preference at any rate to that mode of sepulture which, we are assured by old Montaigne, was amongst some of the ancients esteemed more honorable; we allude to the practice of dutiful children making a repast of their deceased parents a practice, by the way, of which we were sometimes reminded here, by our proximity to the most refined of cannibals, the New Zealanders, whose performances in this line are not exclusively dictated by claims of consanguinity. But few days had elapsed at Norfolk Island, before my wanderings brought me to the burial ground, a secluded spot near the sea, where the roaring of the surf, as it breaks on the adjacent rocks, alone disturbs the stillness of the place. In this enclosure, protected by a rude railing from the incursions of the cattle, "storied urn or animated bust" claims attention, yet few can stand here and glance around without finding food for reflection, in the utter isolation of their position, in the vain. hopes and doubtful future of many who have found their last resting place in a spot so painfully remote from home, kith and kindred. We know that all "alike await the inevitable hour"— the rich, the poor, the young, the old, the hardened sinner, and the infant, un |