various hues blossom, seed, and die in a few months. In the province of Cutch, in Hindostan, seven thousand square miles are alternately a sandy desert and an inland sea, for in April the wind drives the waters of the ocean over this tract of land, leaving bare a few grassy elevations on which wild asses feed. In Central Arabia a plummet was sunk to the depth of three hundred and sixty feet in the sand without finding a bottom. The Sahara Desert-as large as the Mediterranean Sea-is alternately burnt with heat and pinched with cold; and at the equinoxes the roaring of wind raises such clouds of sand that it is as dark as night at mid-day. The hot air in this desert is like a red vapour, and in the northern part of it saline particles raised into the air by the winds from the salt-encrusted ground glitter like diamonds in the sunlight. In the Andes there are cities, villages, and mines, at greater heights than the summit of what we consider lofty mountains: the highest city in the world is Potosi. Near Charichana, in South America, there is a rock which is musical at sunrise; something similar occurs at Mount Sinai. Immense plains are found in different parts of the earth, often nearly as level as the sea; there is frequently no eminence one foot high in two hundred and seventy square miles in the South American plains, some of which are covered with impenetrable thistles ten feet high; others with grass mingled with brilliant flowers, where thousands of horses and cattle feed; others by swamps and bogs which are annually flooded for thousands of square miles, when multitudes of animals perish, so that in some places they give the ground the odour of musk; others by thorny bushes and dwarf trees; others by dense impassable forests, in which myriads of animals live, filling the night air with one loud inharmonious roar, not continuously, but in bursts. Millions of animals occasionally perish on some of these plains, when their arid vegetation gets on fire from any cause. In North America, there is a tract of saline ground which is often covered to the depth of two or three inches with salt. In Canada, the trees with their branches are sometimes covered with ice an inch in thickness, whilst icicles hang from the boughs. The least wind brings thein crashing down, and, should a breeze spring up, the forest at length gives way, tree after tree falls, carrying all before it, till the whole place resounds with terrific discharges like those of artillery. The highest mountain known is Kunchinjunga, in the Himalaya range, whose estimated altitude is 28,178 feet, or more than five miles and a quarter. If the Pyrenees were pulverised and spread over Europe, the ground would be raised six feet. There is a coral reef off the N.E. coast of Australia which is twelve hundred miles long, and which varies from two hundred yards to a mile in breadth for one thousand miles, during which its average distance from the shore is from twenty to thirty miles. In one part this grandest of all coral formations extends for more than three hundred and fifty miles without a single opening, and the break of the ocean swell upon it is described as majestic. Volcanos are more thickly distributed in Java than in any other place of equal size: in 1772, about ninety square miles of the surrounding country were carried down along with a huge volcano, the greater part of which was actually swallowed up; forty villages were destroyed by this catastrophe. In 1815, explosions from Sumbawa were heard nine hundred and seventy miles off, and in Java, at the distance of three hundred miles, the day was rendered as dark as midnight by ashes from this place; the ocean was found covered by them to the depth of two feet at the distance of more than one thousand miles, forming a mass, through which vessels, with difficulty, forced their way.

A traveller, who visited the crater of a volcano in the Sandwich Islands, in 1834, describes it as a deep basin of five square miles in extent, covered with masses of lava. It contained two lakes of this substance in a liquid state, in each of which there was a boiling caldron sending forth jets from twenty to seventy feet high occasionally, and streams of lava partially stayed in their fiery course by escaping gases, which threw backwards huge blocks, and actually spun them into glassy threads, borne by the wind like the refuse of a flax mill. This terrible commotion is carried on with a noise which is indescribable. A terrific eruption occurred in Iceland, in 1783, continuing for many weeks; the sun was hid for a long period by vapours, and a stream of lava, from twenty to thirty miles broad in some places, ran for nearly fifty miles, drying up some rivers and causing others to boil. In 1839, a lofty volcano was discovered in the South Polar regions covered with ice and snow from its base to its summit; from a cape not far distant, a perpendicular wall of ice, from one to two hundred feet in thickness, was traced for three hundred miles. This mass of ice was altogether about one thousand feet thick, including that part of it which was below the surface of the sea, and there was not a single fissure seen in it. Some volcanos emit only streams of boiling water, others mud, others gas and water. There are fire springs in China; they are holes of great depth from which gases issue, sending up a flame to the neight of twenty or thirty feet, with a noise like thunder, when a light is applied. The valley of death in Java is a fearful instance of the effects of the emission of gases; it is a hollow, a mile in circumference, and about thirty-five feet in depth, whose bottom is covered with the bones of men, animals, and birds— no living thing can enter it without being suffocated. The village of Fredonia, in the State of New York, is lighted with gas which exhales from the earth. In 1822, an eruption from the mud volcano of Galungung turned forty square miles into a desert, and destroyed not less than from ten to eleven thousand persons. In March, 1812, an earthquake at Caraccas destroyed ten thousand people in fifty seconds. quake of Riobamba, in 1797, from thirty to forty thousand persons perished, and many of the corpses were thrown across a river to a height of several hundred feet. It is reckoned not improbable that from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand persons perished by each of two earthquakes, one in the year 19, the other in 526.

At the earth

At Guanaxuato, in Mexico, a subterranean roaring and thundering began in 1784, and lasted above a month; it so terrified the inhabitants that almost all of them quitted the city. In 1743, Guatimala, in Mexico, with all its riches and eight thousand families, was swallowed up by an earthquake; its site is now indicated by a desert. In 1822, a space of not less than one hundred thousand square miles was raised from two to six feet by the great Chili earthquake: beds of oysters, muscles, and other shell-fish were exposed to view. Scientific observers can detect earthquake shocks; in Great Britain sixty distinct ones were observed between July, 1841, and June, 1842.

The Great Geyser, in Iceland, sends forth at regular intervals columns of hot water, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height, and twenty-eight feet in circumference, followed by great quantities of steam. In a coal-pit in Derbyshire, there is a spring of mineral oil which throws up from thirty to one hundred and fifty gallons daily; the city of Milan is lighted with oil which springs from the ground. In one of the many mines in Cornwall, and that perhaps not one of the most extensive, the depth of

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all the shafts added together is about twenty-five miles, and 2,500 people are employed in it. The greatest depth to which man has penetrated is 3,378 feet, in the now inaccessible mine of Kuttenburg, in Bohemia. At Fredericshall, in Norway, there is a cavern 11,000 feet deep. The largest diamond known is one found in Borneo, weighing 367 carats, and valued at 269,378. In 1826, a piece of gold weighing twenty-three pounds was found at the foot of the Ural Mountains; eight hundred pounds was the weight of a mass of pure silver found in America. the silver taken from the American mines, between the discovery of the It is computed that New World and the year 1803, would form a globe eighty-nine feet in diameter. Twelve hundred tons of quicksilver are extracted every year from the mines of Almaden, in Spain; those of Guancavelica, in Peru, now almost abandoned, had produced fifty-four thousand tons at the commencement of the present century.

Here we pause for the present, with the exclamation of the Psalmist, "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all."

THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE WEEK.

THE dew still glittered on the leaves of the thorn, still hung on the flowers of the woodbine, and sparkled on the harebell, when little Martha Truman tripped down the lane which led from her own cottage to a small but neat row of almshouses, belonging to the town of Wlived a very respectable woman, who had been for many years blind. It in one of which was Martha's office to lead Nurse Clark to church, and as this was some distance from the village in which she lived, she was obliged to be thus early. She filled her hands with all the flowers she could collect, and then, fearful lest she should have overstaid her time, ran almost the remainder of the way.

ment.

"How are you, Nurse?" said she, as she entered the neat little apart"I hope you are quite well this morning. Look what a beautiful nosegay I have brought you." Nurse shook her head. resumed Martha, mournfully, "I forgot you could not see; but smell," "Ah! dear, dear," added she, with her wonted cheerfulness, "smell how sweet they areyou can do that."

She held the flowers to the good woman's head as she spoke. Nurse praised their fragrance, thanked her kind little friend, begged her to put them into a broken pitcher to which she directed her, and then place them within the grate.

After resting for a short time, the pair left the cottage and proceeded across the meadows to the church. The morning was more than usually lovely. Some slight showers of rain had fallen during the night, which had refreshed the face of the country, and given an appearance of universal verdure: the air was scented with the sweetest odour, the birds sung from every thicket and tree, and the bright but tempered beams of the sun spread additional beauty over the surrounding landscape.

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"O Nurse!" cried Martha, "what would I give if you could see how pretty everything looks this morning!"

"It is very kind of you to say so, Martha," replied Nurse; "and I should be very happy indeed if I had eyes like you; but since it has pleased God to deprive me of sight, I will not complain. His will be done. He has taken away one blessing, only to bestow on me another— loss of sight has procured me a home: and besides, I have many enjoyments still; I can smell the sweet air, and hear the pretty birds, and (she raised her head, and half threw back her bonnet,) I can feel the soft pure breeze blow over my forehead. O! how pleasant it is! Let us rest a few minutes, Martha, for it is very warm, and we are yet quite early enough for church."

Martha guided the poor woman to a fallen tree, and then seated herself by her side. A light and happy heart makes words flow easily.

"Now, Nurse,' said Martha, after a very short pause, during which her bright eyes had glanced on all sides over the fine country that surrounded them," don't you think that everything is more pleasing, that the flowers smell sweeter, the birds sing more delightfully, on Sunday than on any other day of the week? I don't ask anything about the flowers, they can know nothing of the matter; but do you think the blackbirds and thrushes, and especially the larks, have any notion that it is Sunday?"

"No, certainly, they have not," replied Nurse; "God has given that happiness to human beings only. We alone know that this is the day which the Lord has made,' and that we ought to 'be glad and rejoice in it.' Don't you recollect what the good rector said last Sunday?"

"I dare say I shall remember something about it," replied Martha, "if you will repeat a few words."

"The difference you feel is in your own heart,' said he, and not in what you see and hear. It is not that the sun does shine more bright, or that the fields are indeed more fresh, or the flowers more sweet upon this than upon any other day. It is only that we are apt to think thus because our minds are attuned to order, and to piety, and to contemplation."

"But don't you wish," said Martha, "it could be Sunday all the week long? would not that be charming?"

God has

"No, Martha, no," replied Nurse, "I wish no such thing. ordered it otherwise; and whilst we are on earth we must attend to our earthly duties. The time will come when it will be always Sunday, though not in this world; and as we labour for the rest that the earthly Sabbath brings, so must we be content to labour for the rest of the heavenly Sabbath. But come, we must make the best of our way to church, or we shall be too late."

Martha instantly took the good woman's hand, and led her again into

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the path. Well, Nurse," said she, "I must not contradict you, because you must know better than I. The birds, the fields, the flowers, may be just the same one day as another; but this I must say, and will always say, Sunday is the best and the happiest day of the week."

"Nor will I contradict you," returned Nurse. "Sunday is all you say; and God grant that we, and all who feel as we do, may enjoy that Sabbath hereafter which shall know no end."

DR. JOHN HOOPER, Bishop of Gloucester, and eminent for his piety and firmness of character, was one of the noble army of martyrs. A short time before his death he said, "I am come hither to end this life, and to suffer death here, because I will not gainsay the former truth that I have heretofore taught among you in this diocese (of Gloucester) and elsewhere. True it is, that death is bitter and life is sweet; but, alas! consider that the death to come is more bitter, and the life to come is more sweet. Therefore, for the desire and love I have to the one, and the terror and fear of the other, I do not so much regard this death, nor esteem this life, but have settled myself, through the strength of God's Holy Spirit, patiently to pass through the torments and extremities of the fire now prepared for me, rather than to deny the truth of his word, desiring you and others, in the mean time, to commend me to God's mercy in your prayers."

A short time before the Bishop suffered, he was heard thus to pray : "Lord, Thou art a gracious God, and a merciful Redeemer. Have mercy therefore upon me, after thy great mercy, and according to thine inestimable goodness. Thou art ascended into heaven; receive me to be partaker of thy joys, where Thou sittest in equal glory with thy Father. Strengthen me of thy goodness, that I break not the rules of patience; or else assuage the terror of the pains, as shall seem most to thy glory." To others he observed, "I doubt not but God will give strength to abide the extremity of the fire." His last words were, "Lord Jesu, have mercy upon me. Lord Jesu, have mercy upon me: Lord Jesu, receive my spirit.' It is remarked, that notwithstanding his great sufferings, he died as quietly as a child in his bed: and we may hope that, as a blessed martyr, he now shares in the bliss prepared for the faithful in Christ before the foundation of the world: for whose constancy, all Christians are bound to praise God.

The following are some of Bishop Hooper's Reflections on death :