A swarm of bees, on entering a new hive, immediately want cells to store their honey in, and to bring up their young. These cells cannot be made without wax, which is obtained, not from flowers, as is supposed, but from the body of the bees. This forms best while they are quiet; and in order to obtain it, they hang themselves in clusters, clinging to each other's legs. Having remained in this situation for twenty-four hours, they scrape it off, and form it into cells, the tongue being used as a sort of trowel. Their industry, skill and contrivance in doing this are admirable.

Bees have many enemies beside man, the honey guide and the honey ratel. Wasps and hornets attack them while in search of flowers, and moths steal into the hive, where they sometimes do great mischief. At night, sentinels are set to watch, and by moonlight you may see them pacing to and fro, turning in every direction. If an enemy approach, the sentinels utter a loud hum, and other bees rush to their aid. If the moth gets in, and escapes being stung to death, it lays its eggs, which produce grubs, that sometimes oblige the bees to quit the hive. The death's-head moth, which is very large, sometimes gets in and produces a sound, which renders the bees motionless, and then it steals their honey.

The humble bee is a clumsy looking creature, with which most people are acquainted. It builds its nest in hayfields, of moss. The way in which the bees collect this material is curious. One bee settles on a tuft of moss, with its head turned from the place where the nest is to be. It then tears off little bits with its teeth and fore legs, and passes them to the middle pair, and then to its hind legs, when it holds out the bunch

The humble bee is tormented by a kind of mite, which sometimes is found upon them in great numbers. They have recourse to a most amusing contrivance to get rid of them. A humble bee thus tormented will go to an anthill, and then kick and scratch till the ants come out to see what is the matter. Before they drive their noisy visiter away, the ants seize upon these mites and carry them off as a prize, and the bee, as soon as it is set free from its enemies, flies away contented'

HENRY IV., KING OF FRANCE.This monarch always made his children call him papa and father, and not the usual ceremonious title of "sir," or, " your majesty." He used frequently to join in their amusements; and one day, as he was going on all-four's, with the dauphin, his son, on his back, an ambassador 'entered his apartment suddenly, and surprised him in that attitude. The monarch, without moving from it, said to him, "Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, have you any children?" "Yes, sire," replied he. "Very well then," said the king, "I shall finish my race round my chamber."

WOMEN.-Fontenelle being asked by a lord in waiting, at Versailles, what difference there was between a clock and a woman, instantly replied, "A clock serves to point out the hours, and a woman to make us forget them."

15. Fox-hound, used for pursuing foxes.

16. Harrier, strong and active.

17. Beagle, used in pursuing hares. 18. Dalmatian, used as an attendant upon a coach.

19. Large water spaniel, docile and affectionate.

20. Small water spaniel, resembles the former.

21. Springer, used for hunting woodcocks.

22. Terrier, active and strong, used for destroying rats and mice.

23. Turnspit, formerly used in England for turning a spit.

24. Comforter, kept as a lap-dog.

Anecdote of the Indians.

MR. CATLIN, who is a portrait painter, has been a great deal with the Indians in the far west, in order to paint likenesses of the chiefs and others. He has met with many curious adventures, and these he has told in a book, which is just published. The following story is from this work:

"The sensation I produced amongst the Minatarees, while on the Upper Mis

souri, by taking from amongst my painting apparatus an old number of the New York Commercial Advertiser, edited by my kind and tried friend, Col. Stone, was extraordinary. The Minatarees thought that I was mad, when they saw me, for hours together, with my eyes fixed upon its pages. They had different and various conjectures about it— the most current of which was, that I was looking at it to cure my sore eyes, and they called it the medicine-cloth for sore eyes.' I, at length, put an end to this and several equally ignorant conjectures, by reading passages in it, which were interpreted to them, and the object of the paper fully explained; after which it was looked upon as a much greater mystery than before, and several liberal offers were made me for it, which I was obliged to refuse, having already received a beautifully garnished robe for it from the hands of a young son of Esculapius, who told me that if he could employ a good interpreter to explain everything in it, he could travel about amongst the Minatarees, and Mandans, and Sioux, and exhibit it after I was gone, getting rich with presents, and adding greatly to the list of his medicines, as it would make him a great medicine-man. I left with the poor fellow his painted robe and the newspaper; and just before I departed I saw him unfold it to show some of his friends, when he took from around it some eight or ten folds of birch bark and deer skins, all of which were carefully enclosed in a sack made of the skin of a pole-cat, and undoubtedly destined to become, and to be called, his mystery or medicine bag.”

NO DISPUTING ABOUT TASTES.-The hedgehog will eat Spanish flies, which will kill a dog, and a commom hog feasts upon rattlesnakes.

Indians of America.

CHAPTER XIV.

-

ners. Occupation, and exercises.- Employments of the females.-Polygamy, and its effects. Missionaries.—Intemperance of the Indians.-Number of Indians in South America. -Reflections.

I HAVE, in the preceding chapters, given a sketch of the history, manners, &c., of the chief Indian nations in South America, which have been subjected to European power. The influence of the invaders has operated on all the tribes, even on those who still retain their wild liberty and savage customs; but in the interior of that vast country, and amid its rocky fastnesses the red man is yet uncontrolled, and seems uncontrollable.

The most marked and extraordinary difference of character and customs among these wild tribes is exhibited by the Indians of the Pampas, or great plain east of the Cordillera, and the tribe of Abipones, residing in Paraguay. These Indians always appear on horseback, and their habits being influenced by this Cossack mode of life, are worth a separate description.

The Pampas* Indians are a handsome race, but wild and fierce as mountain eagles. They may be said to pass their lives on horseback. They wear no clothing, not even a covering on the head, either in the freezing winter or hot summer.

They live together in tribes, each of which is governed by a cacique, but they have no fixed place of residence. Where the pasture is good, there they are to be found, until it is consumed by their horses, and then they instantly

* See Head's Journey over the Pampas and

the Andes.

they consider the natural and most noble employment of men; and they declare that the proudest attitude of the human figure is when, bending over his horse, a man is riding at his enemy.

Their principal weapon is the spear. It is about eighteen feet long, and they use it with great dexterity. When they assemble, either to attack their enemies or to invade the country of the Christians, they collect large troops of horses and mares, and then, uttering the wild shriek of war, they start at a gallop. As soon as the horses they ride are tired, they vault upon the bare backs of fresh ones, keeping the best until they see their enemies. The whole country af fords pasture for their horses, and they kill the mares for their own provisions. The ground is their bed, and to that only have they been accustomed, so that they find no inconvenience in their long marches of thousands of miles. These Indians, with their red lances, at present are but little heeded; but, to quote Captain Head, as soon as fire-arms shall be put into the hands of these brave, naked men, they will be elevated in the political scale as suddenly as though they had fallen from the moon." may not suit the politics of the whites to calculate upon such an event as the union of the Araucanian and the Pampas Indians-but who can venture to say that the hour may not be decreed, when these men, mounted upon the descendants of the very horses which were brought over the Atlantic to oppress their forefathers, shall rush with irresistible fury on their invaders, till the descend

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ants of the Europeans are, in their turn, trampled under foot, and in agony and torture, in vain are asking mercy from the savage Indians?

It was the rude, wild and despised tribes of the old world, that, rushing from their mountains and forests, broke in pieces the mighty fabric of Roman power, and overturned and destroyed all their systems of civilized policy, and the refinements of luxurious taste.

It is only by the introduction of true Christianity, that any permanent improvement in the character of these Indians can be hoped; and the Araucanians are the nation which, if rightly instructed in the truths of the Bible, seem most likely to become the missionaries and teachers of the red race.

The Abipones,* resident in Paraguay, are also a nation of horsemen, but in many habits, are more like the Araucanians than the Pampas Indians. They wear clothing, and are very industrious in manufacturing cloth, and utensils of various kinds.

They are a very healthy race, and long-lived. They are temperate in eating, and the women never drink intoxicating liquors of any kind. They are also very modest in their behavior: the girls spend all their time with their mothers in domestic employments, and the young men, engrossed with the exercise of arms and horses, never attempt any acts of gallantry, though they are cheerful and fond of conversation.

Riding, hunting, and swimming are their daily employments. They climb trees to gather honey, make spears, bows and arrows, weave ropes of leather, dress saddles, practise everything, in short, fatiguing to the hands or feet. In the intermission of these employments, they race their horses for a sword, which *See a history of this people, by Martin Dobrizhoffer,-eighteen years a missionary in

the country.

is given to him who reaches the goal first. The women, debarred from the sports and equestrian contests of the men, are occupied day and night with the management of domestic affairs. They are however very active on horseback. They must needs be, as all their journeyings are made in this manner. They carry all their household utensils, goods and chattels packed on the horses they ride, and frequently stow their little children in bags of skins, among the pots and pans; and there they ride very easily.

never

The Abipones, like most of the American savages, practised polygamy. But here, and also among the Araucanians, it is chiefly confined to the richest men among the tribe, the others not being able to support more than one wife. But the Abipones were guilty of another horrid crime, which was practised in Araucania,-the mothers frequently_destroyed their new-born infants. This awful sin was in consequence of polygamy being allowed: the mother was fearful that, if she devoted herself to taking care of her infant, her husband would marry another wife in the meantime. Here we see how wickedness increases itself, and thus causes sin to abound more and more.

Since the instruction of the missionaries, however, there has been a great change in the conduct of the Abipones. They have been taught that there was a divine law against this cruelty, though their nation did not punish it, and they now seldom put their infants to death. And it was wonderful to see the change wrought in the course of a few years, after polygamy, divorce, and infanticide had been, by Christian discipline, abolished. The nation seemed filled with happy little children; for religion makes earth, as well as heaven, a place where innocence may live in peace. But there