Which Nature’s works through all their parts proclaim.
Which Nature’s works through all their parts proclaim.
Which Nature’s works through all their parts proclaim.
“Well applied, Bertha. In every department of nature we find sufficient proofs of that omnipotence and goodness. The astonishing force ofan unseen agent, like the wind, comes home indeed to the feelings at this moment, and leads one to reflect on its wonderful causes and its beneficial effects; but when we view with the astronomer the countless stars and the regular movement of the planets in their orbits; or, with the chemist, trace the infinite variety of matter up to the different proportions in which a few elementary substances are combined; or if we examine the microscopic perfection of the commonest of these flowers; or the young leaves already formed and wrapped up for months in the buds; or the beautiful preparation of hard scales and downy net-work for the preservation of the young plant inclosed in the seeds,—the mind is absolutely lost in admiration!
I read His awful name emblazoned high,With golden letters on the illumined sky,Nor less the mystic characters I seeWrought in each flower, inscribed on every tree;In every leaf that trembles in the breeze,I hear the voice of God among the trees.”
I read His awful name emblazoned high,With golden letters on the illumined sky,Nor less the mystic characters I seeWrought in each flower, inscribed on every tree;In every leaf that trembles in the breeze,I hear the voice of God among the trees.”
I read His awful name emblazoned high,With golden letters on the illumined sky,Nor less the mystic characters I seeWrought in each flower, inscribed on every tree;In every leaf that trembles in the breeze,I hear the voice of God among the trees.”
20th.—For some days past, the rooks have been very busy, building their nests.—There are a few tall trees near this, which stand in a clump apart from the rest; Frederick says that the rooks have a fancy for them, and build there year after year. No creatures seem to be more attached to the place where they have lived; nor can any be more sociable, as they generally place several nests together. But their sociable dispositiondoes not imply honesty towards each other; for when a pair are constructing their nest, one always remains to guard it while the other goes in search of materials, lest it might be pillaged by the neighbouring rooks. Frederick and I observed a transaction of this nature to-day; and it caused a great uproar, for the crime is always punished by expelling the thieves from the society.
White of Selborne says, they depart on foraging excursions in the morning, and return in the evening; and that, after the young have taken wing, there is a general desertion of the nest trees; but he says the families return in October, to repair their dwellings.
Among their favourite food is the grub of the chaffer-beetle, which, if allowed to multiply, would lay waste the corn-fields and meadows;—and yet how many mistaken people accuse these poor rooks of doing mischief!
Frederick contrived to get one of them to shew me, that I might know how to distinguish them from other species of the crow family. The rook is black, tail somewhat rounded, plumage glossy, the bill is more straight and slender, and its base is encircled by a naked white skin which is scaly, and takes the place of those black projecting feathers or bristles, which, in the other species of crow, extend as far as the opening of the nostrils.
Rooks, I am told, are birds of passage inFrance, but in England they are stationary. In Siberia, they are the forerunners of summer; and in France, they announce the approach of winter.
Now that they are busy building their nests, they make a noisy, hoarse cawing, which I have not yet persuaded myself to like; but it is agreeable to Mary and Caroline—I suppose, because it is united in their minds with the idea of spring.
21st.—After sitting a little time with my aunt, who, I am delighted to tell you, is much better, I had a botanising walk with Miss Perceval. What a very agreeable companion she is!
She told me that few countries, so limited in extent, comprise such a variety of plants as the British islands. Yet few of them are peculiar to these countries: those of our southern districts may be almost all found in France and Germany; those of Scotland are nearly common with the productions of Sweden and Denmark; and our elevated hills supply a vegetation similar to that of Norway and Lapland. The climate of Ireland varies so little from that of the corresponding parts of England and Scotland, that there is scarcely any difference in their native plants. She mentioned, however, two; themenziesia polifolia, or St. Patrick’s heath, and thesaxifraga geum, with its varieties, which are found wild in Ireland only. I reminded her of the arbutus, but she seemed to doubt that it is anative of Killarney, which surprised me, as you told me that it was; and my uncle expressed the same opinion lately. On the contrary, she is inclined to believe the tradition, that the Monks of Mucross Abbey introduced it there from Spain—for, she says, trees are seldom found, in a state of nature, confined to one spot only: and it is well known that the arbutus does not grow naturally in any other part of Ireland; it grows, however, abundantly on all the shores of Spain, and from thence she thinks it may have been originally brought.
She gave me a very satisfactory reason why the native vegetable productions of Great Britain are inferior in number to those of countries on the continent; few seeds are furnished with the means of flying across the Channel so as to have naturalised themselves here. Where no sea intervenes, they are gradually but continually spreading from one place to another. On the road sides and in the corn-fields of France, Germany, and Holland, we see many plants which have been imported for our gardens; even in the Flora Danica there are many belonging to that small country, which are not possessed by us; and all the mountainous regions of Europe, though separated by a great distance, have several species in common, while we can boast of very few which are found in Great Britain only.
Miss P. told me, however, of some; for instance, the Isle of Man cabbage has not yet been observed in any other parts of the world than in that island, in the Hebrides, and on the north-western shores of England and Scotland. One of the most interesting of our British plants, she says, is pipewort; for in no part of the continent of Europe is it, or any individual of this genus, to be found; and, what is very remarkable, though all the other species of the family are inhabitants of the tropics, yet ours is found in one of the most northern of the Hebrides, and in a lake which is peculiarly cold.
It is the same among thecryptogamoustribes, such as lichens, fungi, and mosses. Though we think Britain rich in that extensive class, most of them are known in other parts of Europe, or in North America; and she says it is a singular fact, that the lower we descend in the scale of vegetation, the more universally are the individuals of those tribes dispersed over the surface of the globe. In Carolina, for example, a large proportion of thefungiare the same with those of France and Germany, while among what she calls thephenogamousplants, or those which havevisible flowers, there are scarcely any that are common to Europe.
Themossestoo, which have been received from the higher parts of North America, and from Kamtschatka, are almost all indigenous in Europe.
22nd.—I had often wished to see the contents of a set of nice little drawers under the book-cases on one side of the library; at last, to my great satisfaction, I have been allowed to examine the small geological collection which they contain. It consists of specimens of the differentseriesof rocks, accompanied by the organic remains which distinguish them.
My uncle first shewed us some bits of hornblende, primary limestone, mica-slate, and granite, as specimens of the inferior order, or ancient primitive rocks, destitute of all organic remains, and having something of a crystalline appearance.
Next he shewed us the drawers containing the transition or submedial series, including grey wackè, transition limestone, quartz, common slate, and serpentine; they contain some specimens of the lowest scale of organized beings, such as zoophytes, madrepores, and testacea, but very sparingly, and all different from those now known.
Then came the medial order, or carboniferous rocks of old red sandstone, mountain limestone, and all the parallel strata of coal, slate-clay, and freestone, which he callscoal measures. He shewed us abundant remains in them of animals, but very few of which have any resemblance to existing species. Some of the limestone or marble specimens were polished on one side, so as to shew their beautiful veins and colours. On several bits of the coal and black slate, I saw theimpression of leaves, branches, and seeds, but no shells, or any kind of animal remains: there was one perfect fern leaf, but my uncle says, of an unknown family, and a great many reeds. There was also, a flat block of greyish freestone, on which the regular scales of some seed vessel, like a very large fir cone, were deeply marked; and on another, I am sure I could distinctly trace the imbricated form and the spines of the common prickly pear of the Brazils. Indeed, my uncle thinks that all these vegetable remains seem nearly allied to the plants of tropical climates; and he says, it would be a most interesting employment for some naturalist to devote himself to the study of what might be calledsubterranean botany. These coal measures occupy several drawers; for besides the Staffordshire, Newcastle, and other coals, he has specimens of the seventeen coal beds of the forest of Dean, and a large collection of their organic remains, which he has taken great pains in arranging.
The next drawers contain the supermedial series, beginning with the magnesian limestone, new red sandstone, and red marl. There are very large districts of this formation in the central parts of England, and they include the great deposits of rock-salt, which is of so much importance, he says, to the empire. Considerable beds of gypsum are also found; but it contains no organic remains of either animals or vegetables.Above these,—for you no doubt have perceived what I forgot to mention, that my uncle began at his lowest drawer, in order to shew the lowest strata first,—above these, he showed me a collection of the lias and oolite strata, both of them impure limestones, but extremely rich in the number and variety of organic remains. These consist of ferns and flags, corals and zoophytes, shells of all kinds, univalve, bivalve, and multivalve; ammonites of all sizes, fishes of several species, and turtles and other amphibia unlike any of the species now known. To one of these amphibia has been given the name ichthyosaurus, which, my uncle says, means the fish-like lizard; it having the head of a crocodile and the back bone of a shark; he has only a small specimen, which stands over the book-case, but he says some have been found in the lias near Lyme, in Dorsetshire, three or four feet in length. And he told me that at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, the fossil remains of another extraordinary animal of the amphibious tribes was discovered, which has been called the monitor; no complete skeleton of it has yet been put together, but many of the detached parts must have belonged to an animal forty feet long, and twelve feet high!
The remainder of this numerous series consists of different strata of sands and clays, and various limestones, up to the chalk formation; and theycontain a repetition of the fossils he shewed me in the lower parts of it. He frequently made me observe, that these fossils are all not only very widely distinguished from the families found in the carboniferous and transition series, but that there are also striking peculiarities in themselves according to the bed which they occupy.
We came next to the great chalk formation, with its wonderful deposition of flints in parallel layers; and then to the last, or superior order, consisting of gravel or sand, or of clay, which is in some places four or five hundred feet thick, and resting on the chalk. Its organic remains are highly interesting; but my uncle said he would not perplex our memories at present, by a minute examination of the specimens in his collection; he wished to give us general ideas, hereafter we may study the particulars. Before he closed his drawers, he shewed us, that below this upper formation all the remains of organic bodies were in a petrified or mineralized state; that is, the general structure and external form of the body has been preserved, but the original matter of which it was composed has entirely disappeared, and has been replaced by the substance of the mineral in which it was imbedded. On the contrary, in the strata which cover the chalk, the shells are merely preserved, and in such a state, that when the clay or sand in which they lie is washed off, they might appear quite recent, ifthey had not lost their colour and become more brittle. My uncle shewed us a few specimens of these, and also of some shells, which he says are peculiar tofreshwater, but which are often found in alternate layers with themarineshells, as if they had been deposited by alternate inundations of fresh and salt water. And lastly, he shewed us some of the shells found in a horizontal stratum of gravel on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, about fifty feet above the sea, which are exactly the same with the shells at present existing in the sea on the same coast. Above all these regular strata, he says, there is in many places spread a confused covering of gravel, apparently formed by the action of a deluge, which had shattered and rounded the fragments of the rocks over which its torrents had swept.
In this gravel the remains of numerous land quadrupeds are found; many of them of species now unknown, such as the mastodon, and mammoth or fossil elephant, with varieties of the hyæna, bear, rhinoceros, and elk, but indiscriminately mingled with others, which still exist in the country.
I have taken a good deal of pains to acquire a clear idea of this order of the strata, with their vegetable and animal remains. My uncle did not shew them all at one time, we went over them by degrees, a little every day; but I have justsummed them up altogether, to give you an idea of what I have seen.
24th, Good Friday.—Before we went to church to-day, my uncle spoke to us for a short time on the solemn event we were going to commemorate; and though my notes of what he said can be of little use to you, yet I am anxious to shew my dear mamma that I take still more pains to profit by what he tells us on this most important subject, than upon Geology or any thing else.
“You are all too well acquainted with Scripture,” said he, “not to know that the lesson which it everywhere inculcates, is, that man by sin and disobedience had fallen under the displeasure of his Maker, and that there was an invincible necessity, however inexplicable to our comprehension, that our Saviour should lay down his life to redeem us from that sin, and to procure for repentant sinners forgiveness and acceptance.
“That the death of Christ was the real and efficient sacrifice, of which the various offerings under the law were but the types or shadows, is evident from a crowd of passages in Holy Writ to which I have repeatedly drawn your attention. But as if to prevent the possibility of doubt on the subject, St. Paul emphatically tells the Hebrews that the High Priest entering into the Holy ofHolies with the annual sin-offering was only ‘a figure for the time then present.’ And he distinctly adds, that Christ, not ‘by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, obtained eternal redemption for us.’
“The promise made to our first parents intimated a future deliverer, who should remove those evils which had been entailed on mankind by their misconduct. This was the assurance that became to the Israelites the grand object of their faith; and it was to perpetuate this fundamental article of their hope and belief, that a standing memorial both of the fall and of the promised deliverance was appointed. Now, what memorial could be more apposite, than that ofanimal sacrifice?—It connected in one view the two great events in the moral history of man, the Fall, and the Recovery: the death denounced against sin, and the death appointed for that Holy Intercessor whose blood was to be accepted as a final atonement.
“How true it is, that the ways and thoughts of God are not like those of men!
“Wonderful in every part of it, but chiefly in the last acts of it, was the awful scene of this stupendous expiation. That the author of life should himself be made subject to death—that his sufferings and humiliation should be the manifestation of his glory—that by stooping to deathhe should conquer death;—and that the height of human malice should but accomplish the purposes of God’s mercy!
“If you compare the whole chain of prophecies with the history of our Lord’s sufferings, you will find that it was not until they were fulfilled to the minutest point, that the patient Son of God, as if then at liberty to depart, said ‘It is finished.’—Yes, all that the wicked were destined to contribute to the general deliverance was finished.
“We cannot understand the mysteries of God; but we may easily perceive his goodness. We cannot discover his motives, but we have no difficulty in discovering his will. We cannot comprehend the actions of Providence, or the moral government of the universe; but we can have no uncertainty about the laws which should govern our own actions—they are clearly and forcibly stated in the Gospel; all that it imports a sinful being to know, to believe, or to do, all that concerns our fall and our redemption, everything that involves the greatest interests of the human race, is there unfolded. We cannot penetrate that inscrutable decree which rendered it unfit to pardon sin without vicarious atonement; but we may form some faint conception of the immense sacrifice that Christ made for us, in order to satisfy EternalJustice. From the horror with which he contemplated his approaching death, and from the agony with which he prayed that the cup of bitterness might pass from him, we may surely infer that his sufferings were of no ordinary nature—that the sacrifice was, indeed, great. Yet in the depth of his anguish, his prayer was one of perfect resignation and devout humility—‘Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.’
“Let us then learn, from his great example, how and where to seek for consolation when misfortune or misery overtakes us; let us pour forth our petitions with the same fervour as he did; and let us bow with the same submission in our hearts to the decrees of unerring wisdom.”
25th.—My excellent aunt came down stairs yesterday evening, and this bright cheering day she took a little walk with my uncle. Grace and I had the pleasure of accompanying them. Every thing seemed to sympathise with her recovery—all nature seemed to be reviving—buds opening, and young leaves bursting out; many branches of hawthorn in sheltered places quite green, and the young elms feathered with their pretty opening leaves. The glades in the forest were carpeted with primroses—the birds were building in every bush, and singing as they worked; the lambs weresporting about, and the pastures beginning to shew the little cheerful daisy—
The lambkin crops its crimson gem,The wild bee murmurs on its breast,The blue fly bends its pensile stemLight o’er the skylark’s nest.
The lambkin crops its crimson gem,The wild bee murmurs on its breast,The blue fly bends its pensile stemLight o’er the skylark’s nest.
The lambkin crops its crimson gem,The wild bee murmurs on its breast,The blue fly bends its pensile stemLight o’er the skylark’s nest.
Grace repeated that pretty stanza of Montgomery’s; and when I asked her if she knew what was meant by “its crimson gem,” she replied, “Yes, Mamma told me that the buds of trees are called gems, from the Latin wordgemma.” My uncle added that here the term is poetically applied to the flowers while yet unclosed—though it is only leaf-buds to which botanists give that name.
I begged of my uncle to shew me the difference between the oats and wheat; for though there is a great difference in their appearance when in ear, yet I had not learned to distinguish the young plants.
My uncle pulled up a plant of each, and shewed me that the oat shoots upwards, with scarcely more than two leaves, which are much rounder at the end than those of wheat; but that the plant of wheat produces three or four pointed leaves, which, instead of being directed upwards, are, at first, inclined to spread. After my aunt had returned home, we walked intosome of Farmer Moreland’s fields. He is very busy sowing late oats, and planting potatoes in drills, which are made with as much regularity, and the seeds dropped in as equally, as if the distances had been measured by compasses.
The bees have been about for some days, a sure mark, my aunt says, of the arrival of spring. They began to venture out of their hives about the middle of this month; and their coming abroad is a sign that the flowers from which they gather honey are already opening.
The gooseberry trees are growing green, and I can distinguish the flower-buds enlarging daily; so are those of the currant, which in autumn I saw closely folded up in little scaly buds. The larch trees are shewing their gay green tinge, the spurge laurel is in bloom; and every tree, and plant, and bird, are rapidly advancing toward the perfection of summer.
I said to my aunt this evening, that I thought the appearance of all nature wakening, as it were, from the torpor or death of winter, seemed to be peculiarly suitable to the hopes of that glorious change in ourselves which this period so forcibly brings to our minds. She replied, that it was one of those striking points of connexion between natural and revealed religion which must make a deep impression on every reflecting mind; and she agreed with me that nothing could afford a better subject for a hymn.
26th, Easter Day.—As soon as breakfast was over, my uncle said he was going to address a few words to us on the great Christian festival which we were going to celebrate.
“It is most satisfactory,” said he, “to know that whether we consider the number, the means of information, or the veracity of the witnesses, no testimony can surpass that which was borne by the Apostles to the fact of our Lord’s resurrection.
“That wonderful event was the accomplishment both of the ancient prophecies, and of his own predictions; it was a miraculous declaration on the part of God, that the great atonement was accepted; it was the Divine attestation to the truth of our Saviour’s doctrines; a full confirmation of the promises he had already held out to his followers, and consequently a perfect security to them for the ultimate completion of those further promises which it had been one great object of his mission to offer to mankind. We have reason, therefore, to be thankful that, in the first preaching of the Gospel, Providence ordained that a fact of such importance should be accompanied with irresistible evidence; evidence of such a nature as requires no nice examination to adjust, but such as imparts conviction to every one who can read the Bible.
“The Jews were disappointed that Jesus did not shew his power by coming down from thecross; but he shewed his power more fully, by rising from the grave. They saw him taken dead from that cross, and laid in a sepulchre, which was scooped out of the rock, which was accessible only at the entrance, and which was guarded by sixty soldiers. Yet while the soldiers watched, he burst those feeble barriers, and rose from his tomb, to shew his followers that those who die in Him shall rise, as he did, to triumph over death.
“After his resurrection,” continued my uncle, “there was a wonderful change in our Lord. Previously to this event, it was in power, and in wisdom, that he had shewed himself divine; but afterwards, every thing concerning him seems miraculous and mysterious. This first appears in the manner of his resurrection. He evidently had left the sepulchre before it was opened; the women who are named by St. Matthew, saw the angel appear, and roll away the stone; but he was already gone. ‘To Mary Magdalene,’ he said, ‘touch me not,’ as if there was that divine spirituality about his person which forbade the near approach of human frailty. And twice, when his disciples were assembled and the doors fastened, for fear of the Jews, he appeared in the midst of them; but to Him who had departed from the unopened sepulchre, it was no difficulty to enter a barricadoed house. From these, and other concurringcircumstances, it is evident that his body had undergone a change, ‘the corruptible had put on incorruption;’ it was no longer the human body in its mortal state—it was the body raised to life and immortality, and united to the Deity.
“There was something about this divinity of his person, that was probably unsuitable to a more open display of himself to the public than he vouchsafed to make. He shewed himself, however, to all the Apostles; ‘he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;’ in short, there were sufficient witnesses to attest his identity, and to publish the truth of his miraculous resurrection to all mankind. The Jewish people, in the rejection of our Lord, had filled the measure of their guilt; they had no further claim on him, and he no longer held his visible residence among them. When led to the cross, he had warned them that they would see him no more till they should be prepared to acknowledge his authority.
“The resurrection of our Saviour ensures resurrection to us also; it ensures to us a second life; but the complexion of that life depends on our faith, and our obedience in this. He ‘will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;’ but this transformation of our being requires a previous transformation of our mind.
“It is true that, as nothing has been distinctly communicated to us on the mode of existence after our resurrection, we can know but little of the precise nature of that future life; but there may be more analogy in it to our present state than we can now venture to affirm. There is some reason to believe that the employments of the good and wise, and the chief sources of their happiness in this world, have more or less relation to those which they are to enjoy in the world to come. The study of nature, the pursuit of knowledge, and the exercise of our faculties, when controlled by religion and virtue, may all, perhaps, assist in qualifying us for occupations and enjoyments in the ‘kingdom of the Father,’ infinitely more excellent and refined indeed, yet not entirely dissimilar.
“But whatever view we take of the mode of our future existence, it must revive and invigorate our minds to feel that the evidence of the resurrection of mankind is full and complete; and that we may, therefore, look forward, with perfect confidence, beyond these clouded scenes of mortality, to their final result. Let us now go, my children, and during the solemn service of this day, let us turn our eyes forward to that permanent happiness that we are taught to expect as the fruits of the discipline and vicissitudes experienced in the present life—and now, and always, let us keep our minds steadily and gratefully fixed on that glorious consummation of immortality, which our Lord has purchased for us, by his death and resurrection.”
27th.—A new world of knowledge has opened to me, dear mamma, since my uncle began to teach us a little geology. I know it is but an outline, the slightest sketch, as he says, of the science; but it is sufficient to give a general idea of the strata near the surface of the globe; and the specimens of the different series have made all he told us doubly impressive. He has no beautiful minerals and crystals, as they are very expensive, and not so instructive as his rock collection. Indeed, he considers his children in all that he does; and these drawers were, I believe, arranged purposely for their benefit.
He shewed us this morning another class of substances imbedded in the secondary strata; these are the pebbles or broken fragments of rocks which they are often found to contain, and which have evidently belonged to strata older than themselves. For instance, new red sandstone frequently contains pieces of the carboniferous limestone belonging to the order next below it, as well as of many still older rocks: it is, in fact, nothing but a mass of sand and gravel cemented together; and which sand and gravel are only the remains, ordebrisas they are called, of former rocks. My uncle says we may conclude, fromthis fact, that the rocks from which those fragments were derived must have been exposed to the action of violently agitated water, which tore off these masses, and rounded them by friction, before the newer rock, in which the fragments are now imbedded, was formed.—Another conclusion he draws from it, is this: these rocks were undoubtedly at some former period, beds of loose gravel; but loose gravel could never have been left by the water piled up in a highly inclined slope: we may therefore be sure, when new sandstone and other rocks of the same kind are found in nearly vertical strata, that this cannot have been their original situation, but that they must have been forced into their present position by some convulsionaftertheir consolidation. These consolidated gravel beds are called conglomerates, breccias, or pudding-stones, according to the materials of which they are composed.
He told us that the remains of marine animals, such as we saw the other day, are found in two-thirds of the rocks that compose the surface of the globe; and even on the highest summit of the Pyrenean mountains in Europe, and of the Andes in America. From this important fact, it is ascertained, without the possibility of doubt, that those continents have not only been covered by the ocean, but that they are formed of materialswhich once gradually collected at the bottom of that ocean.
A long conversation followed, but I cannot trust myself to write it; it principally turned on the wonderful changes that have taken place in the level of the ocean. What extraordinary causes could have lowered it to its present level, or else have raised up the land out of its bosom?—If the land has really subsided, what can have become of the enormous quantity of water which once flowed round the tops of the loftiest mountains? These questions, he said, have long engaged the attention of philosophers, and many ingenious theories and fanciful suppositions have been advanced to solve them. He slightly mentioned some of them; but merely to gratify our curiosity, strongly advising us to repress our anxiety about causes till we were in possession of facts.
28th.—Canada Extracts.
“Loghouse, April 5th.—You can scarcely conceive, when I saw your handwriting, the thrill of delight it gave me—your letter was a real feast—I could not sleep that night, from the fulness of my head and heart.
. . . . . .
“The snow, I am told, continues later this year than usual; in some places it was three feet deep, and is still deep, though it has goneoff rapidly within the last fortnight, as it thaws a little every day, while the sun is hot.
“The buds are all swelling, and I have heard one or two new birds of late—but they stay up in the high trees, and I have not been able to see them. We have numbers of dear little tomtits, and some sparrows and crows. I used to despise all these at home, but here I delight in them, they are like old acquaintances. When we first came here, I heard an eagle very often, but he has deserted us.
“I am surprised at the nice green herbage that is under the snow; by which, and the decayed leaves, it has been preserved from the frost. The children bring in plants every day; the mosses and lichens are all quite new to me.
“The deep snow has much delayed the clearing of our land; next week we are to have five men here to cut down trees,choppersas they are called; we have one at present, and it is astonishing with what dexterity and speed he fells these huge hemlock pines, nearly one hundred feet high. It is almost sublime to see them stoop their dark heads slowly, and then fall; very gradually at first, but soon increasing in rapidity—tearing off the neighbouring branches, shaking all the other trees, and coming down with a crash that makes the whole forest echo the sound. The Americans from the United States are employed tochop, as they are more expert than people fromthe old country, and can make the trees take the precise direction they choose in falling.
“We are much better off than most people are on first settling in the woods. There are some families here, who for the first six months had no food of any kind, except salt pork, for breakfast, dinner and supper, and without even bread; but we have good bread and peas, and sometimes turnips, with excellent milk. We brought barley and rice with us; and the arrow-root that you gave me is a great comfort to the children;—I never saw three more healthy creatures.
. . . . . .
“May 2nd.—Last week we were busily engaged in burning the fallen trees, which covered the surface of the ground that we had cleared.
“The branches were first piled up and burned; then the great stems, which had been cut into pieces about twelve feet long, were drawn together by the oxen, and with much labour raised into piles, and set on fire. This was a very dangerous operation, for some of them were very near our wooden house; and the whole surface of the ground is combustible, as for several inches deep it is composed of leaves and bark, and looks like a bed of peat earth. When this takes fire the flames rapidly spread, and are very difficult to extinguish; but we are now safe.
“The Indians sometimes walk into our house; but they are harmless and inoffensive, and askonly for whiskey, which they like better than any thing else. They bring baskets, and little bowls, and dishes made of the bark of the birch-tree, and are glad to sell them for spirits, flour, or pork. They come down the river in their canoes, and can paddle them across the rapids just opposite this house, where no European could venture in a boat.
. . . . . .
“June 5th.—Our first spring flowers were hepaticas, which actually carpeted the ground as daisies do at home; they were single, but very large, and blue, pink, and white. We had the pretty yellow dog-tooth violets in profusion; then white and crimson lilies; both of them handsome, but with an odious smell: there was another very elegant-looking plant, with a leaf like fumitory, the root a collection of reddish bulbs, and the flower something like a butterfly orchis.
. . . . . .
“We have now abundance of yellow, white, and purple violets, but the white only have a sweet smell. There is also a beautiful yellow lady’s slipper, and numerous other flowers, which I may describe some other time.
“Our shrubs are leatherwood, cranberry, dog-wood, Alpine honeysuckle without scent, and syringa. The trees are elm, maple, oak, beech,cedar, hemlock pine, hiccory, and lime. The oak grows tall and straight; but all the trees grow tall and straight in these forests. I spend what time I can spare in examining the trees and plants that are new to me; I wish my botanical friend Miss Perceval was here to assist me.—We have a great deal of the moss, or rather the tillandsia, about which you inquire; it hangs from almost every tree, and we saw it in quantities along the banks of the St. Lawrence, before we reached Quebec. The captain of our vessel told us it was used in the States to stuff beds; and that he had carried some home to his wife for the same purpose.
. . . . . .
“July 1st.—I must give you a sketch of the manner in which we pass our time. Mr. * * * goes out at five, and returns to breakfast at seven; he then works at his farm till twelve, when dinner is ready; after which he rests some time, and again works till eight, when I summon him to coffee. Household cares and preparations occupy me all the morning, and teaching the children, and working for them, the rest of the day. After they go to bed I have a nice hour for writing or reading.
“It is the custom for the ladies in this country to dress in the morning very plainly, and suited to the hard work in which we must alltake a part; after dinner they put on silk gowns and smart caps, and either go out to pay visits, or stay at home to receive them. But we live in such perfect solitude in these woods, that we have no neighbours to go to, or to expect here. We are going on as yet with smiling prospects, and doing something every day that tends to our comfort; but we must be contented to advance very slowly.
“In spite of every effort, my thoughts too often turn to dearhomeand to former times, or sometimes they take a far stretch forward; but these are only airy visions which I do not encourage. Yet I cannot help praying that we may be permitted to meet again in a few years. I fear setting my heart too much on this, but I trust to the support of Providence under every disappointment, and under every trial. Trials we must have in all places, still more in these dreary woods.”
29th.—I heard lately that several of those greenhouse plants which are natives of swamps, if planted in a pond, the bottom of which never freezes, would grow as well as if in their own country: I have therefore asked permission to try this experiment, and my aunt let me have a plant of the long-leavedamaryllis, and one of the Ethiopiancalla. We broke the pots they were in, that the roots might not be disturbed, and thenput them into small open baskets, with a fresh compost round them. My uncle had places made in the bottom of the pond, which is about two feet deep, and the baskets were plunged into them, and the soil at the bottom drawn close round.
The gardener thinks the salt dross has been effectual in destroying the wire-worm in my carnation beds; so last week he added a small quantity of sharp sand, and then the beds were dug, and raked nicely for planting. Yesterday and this morning I have been busy planting out my layers, and as I stirred the ground with my scoop trowel, I could perceive no traces of my old enemies.
A few weeks ago I raked off half the layer of peat earth, with which I had covered my ixia, gladiolus, and oxalis beds, to preserve them from the frosts; I have now raked off the other half, and the beds being carefully forked up, I hope in May to have some nice flowers there.
This is a most busy time in the garden, forking and dressing the borders, mending the edgeings, earthing up peas and beans—continually watching and defending the blossoms of the wall fruit, pruning trees, preparing hot-beds, and sowing cauliflower, lettuce, onion, broccoli, radishes, &c. &c., and inourgarden, planting out flowers and removing offsets; dressing and protecting the beds of spring flowers that are goingto blossom, and sowing sundry annuals. In short, everything is alive, and everybody anxious not to lose a moment while the weather is so favourable.
30th.—I have been reading all the accounts I could find of ants; and am surprised to find how many curious circumstances there are in the history of some of the species of this country, and of France.
Frederick knew where there was an ant-hill, and took me there, when they began to revive on a sunny day, a few weeks since. We observed numbers coming out of the ground, as if roused by the warmth, and assembling in crowds on the top of their nest; they were in continual motion, walking over it and even over one another, and yet without quitting the spot. This lasted for a few days, and then they began to repair the upper stories of their dwelling, which had been spoiled by rain and snow. We frequently watch them, and they appear to be incessantly engaged at this work till it is quite dark.
They certainly give us an example of perseverance; but their foresight in laying up a store of grain for winter is now considered to be an unfounded idea; for they are nearly torpid during the winter, and do not require provisions. May it not be said, however, that they shewforethought and contrivance in regard to their friends the aphides, which I mentioned sometime ago in my journal?
The yellow ant, for instance, which seldom leaves its home, and likes to have its comforts within reach, usually collects in its nest a largeherdof a kind of aphis, that derives its nutriment from the roots of grass. These are conveyed by subterranean galleries into the nest, so that, without going out, it has a constant supply of food. The ants bestow as much care on these little milch-cows as on their own offspring, and pay particular attention to their eggs, moistening them with their tongue, carrying them tenderly in their mouth, and placing them in the sun to be hatched. When Frederick opened one of the ant-hills, we observed a parcel of these little black eggs very near the surface; and the ants were so distressed at our visit, that they immediately began to carry the eggs to the inside of the nest. By hatching these eggs early, they provide future food for their own families; and I am sure that is shewing forethought. This aphis yields a great quantity of that sweet fluid of which the ants are so fond; it flows from two hair-like tubes, placed one on each side, and the ants, who watch for the moment when it is ready, suck it down immediately. It is said, that the ants can make the aphides yield this fluid at anytime by patting them with their antennæ; and when they have milked one of their little cows, they go to another.
As to all the varieties of the tropical ants, the inhabitants of South America know but too much of them already; but I must tell you of a use to which, in another country, their nests have been applied, and which you could scarcely have guessed. In the southern part of Africa, they raise solid nests of clay, in shape like a baker’s oven. The Caffres, when first permitted to settle at Gnadenthal, one of the Moravina settlements, converted these tumuli into ovens. Having expelled the inhabitants by smoke, they scooped them out hollow, leaving a crust of a few inches in thickness; and then used them for baking their loaves. The clay of which these nests are formed is so well prepared by those industrious animals, that it is used for floors of rooms by the Hottentots, and even by the Dutch farmers.
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
Abib, Hebrew month of, ii.4Abstraction, iii. 155Adjutant bird, iii. 30Agriculture, i. 85, 98Albacore, i. 7Albatross, i. 6Ancient Manuscripts, iii. 182Anglesea druids, iii. 227Antiparos grotto, iii. 42Antique remains, i. 119, 140Ants, ii.65,289Apennines, i. 199Aphis, purveyor to the ant, ii.245,290Aqueduct near Llangollen, iii. 214Arbutus, native country of, ii.262Areca palm, method of climbing, i. 289Ariel, ii.30Arithmetic, i. 24, 80, 203, 307Arno, vale of, i. 200Atonement, ii.270,276Auvergne, i. 208Australian forests, i. 155Baal-worship, ii.216—iii. 229Babylon, i. 100Balaam and Balak, ii.214,229,243Baltimore bird, i. 143Bamboo, i. 243Bangor, iii. 214Barbadoes flower fence, ii.164Bark, i. 152Basket-maker, i. 57, 73Baya, or Bengal grossbeak, i. 78Beads of the Haram, ii.211Bear, polar, or white, ii.89Bedahs of Ceylon, ii.23Bees, i. 287—ii. 204, 253Bel, Belus, Baal, Bali, Pali, i. 263—ii. 47, 218—iii. 229Bengal grossbeak, i. 78Betel-nut palm, i. 289Bettws bridge, iii. 217Bible, difficult passages in, i. 168, 191, 295—ii. 16—iii. 58... integrity of the text, iii. 39Bird-catchers of St. Kilda, i. 159Bonito, i. 7Boobies, i. 13Borrowing from the Egyptians, ii.17Brazil, i. 46, 65, 152Breakfast things, where from, ii.207Breda, mineral waters, i. 162Brunel’s tunnel imitated from the Teredo, ii.254Buds, ii.182,237—iii. 1Budding, iii. 106Butterflies, emigration of, iii. 147Cabbage family, all from one species, ii.239Cairn, iii. 229Canada Letters, ii.226,230,282—iii. 172Catechumens and Fideles, i. 91Caliban, ii.31Camels of Italy, i. 201Canova, i. 270Caoutchouc, iii. 167Capping verses, ii.44Caterpillars, cotton and silk cocoons, iii. 193... veil woven by, i. 284Cat, sagacity of, iii. 124Celts and Elf-bolts, i. 141—iii. 189Ceremonial worship, ii.132Ceylon buffaloes, i. 293Ceylonese story, ii.22Chibouque, or Turkish pipe, ii.18Children’s prayers, i. 92Christian dispensation, iii. 176... hope, iii. 197Christianity, characteristics of, i. 71Christmas customs, ii.46Cloth manufactory, iii. 81Coal, iii. 115, 140... spontaneous combustion of, iii. 175Coal-money, iii. 190Coffin, Mount, on Colombia river, iii. 112Commandments, or “The Ten Words”, ii.122Commerce, ii.209Comparative anatomy, iii. 96Corals, ii.61Cork-tree, i. 182Cormorants trained to catch fish, ii.15Cottages, English and Brazilian, i. 44Cows, i. 43Cricket, torpid occasionally, ii.91... mole, iii. 61Crows, i. 266Crystals, ii.85Cushites, or shepherd-kings, i. 262Cypress, deciduous, i. 231Dairy, i. 138—iii. 89Date-palm, i. 189, 198Davy, the musician, ii.2Deane forest, i. 45, 56—iii. 115Decalogue, ii.122Delta formed by alluvial deposit, iii. 26Deluge, ii.241—iii. 14Deuteronomy, iii. 2Dew, i. 77—iii. 207Dispensations, Christian, iii. 176... Levitical, iii. 150... Patriarchal, iii. 132Dolomieu, ii.12Dolphin, i. 9Dongola, i. 274Dormouse, ii.89,129,181Dress, neatness of, i. 122Druids, i. 119—ii. 47—-iii. 225Ducks of Asia Minor, ii.11Early rising, i. 95Easter, ii.276Egyptian plagues, i. 308Elephant, ii.119... fossil, iii. 71Elf-bolts and Celts, i. 141—iii. 189Ephod, ii.79Epistles of St. Paul, i. 191Falcon, Persian, iii. 205Fancy, iii. 156Farmer Moreland, i. 41, 69—iii. 195Fata Morgana, i. 220, 233—iii. 172Fernhurst, arrival at, i. 17Festivals of the Jews, ii.7—iii 74Fideles and Catechumens, i. 91Fieldfares, i. 260Fire-flies, i. 34, 78Fish caught by diving, ii.15... air-bladder of, ii.20Flexible iron-pipes, ii.255Flexible cups and spoons, ii.211Flying fish, i. 6Forest of Deane, i. 45, 56—iii. 115Forests of Australia, i. 155... Brazil, i. 47, 152... Europe, i. 179... submarine, iii. 34Franklin and Bessy Grimley, i. 75, 125, 235Frost, ii.77,81,94,99,120, —iii. 73Fruitieres of Switzerland, iii. 88Fruit-trees, experiments on, ii.196,202Futurity, ii.279Garden, Bertha’s, i. 129, 137, 174—ii. 287—iii. 100, 125, 192Gas-wash to destroy insects, ii.196Genius, i. 268, 270, 314—ii. 2, 12, 32Geology, classification, series, &c., ii.198... strata, dip, &c., ii.220... alluvial formation, ii.235... changes in the surface of the globe—deluge, ii.241... secondary formations—organic remains, ii.247... specimens of all the series—organic remains, ii.265... conglomerates, ii.280... trap rocks, iii. 4... vallies—diluvium, iii. 15... alluvial changes—ravages of the sea—blowing-sands, iii. 25... change of level of the sea, iii. 33... petrified sands, stalactites, iii. 41... volcanoes, iii. 49... organic remains, iii. 69, 96... coal, peat, iii. 115... vegetable remains, iii. 140Gipsies, ii.57,69Glass, plate, manufacture, iii. 43, 45, 56Gloucester cathedral, iii. 139Glow-worm, i. 34—iii. 196Goat-sucker, iii. 203Good Friday, ii.270Goshen, land of, i. 262Grampus, i. 9Grasses, i. 171—iii. 126Gravel-walk, effect of frost on, ii.83Grenier, Mont, i. 125Grossbeak, i. 78, 94Gulf-stream, i. 10Gum-lac, i. 143Guyton de Morveau, ii.13Habit, force of, in plants, ii.140,191,223Hail, formation of, ii.115Halcyon, i. 178Hamlet, ii.102Harvest-home, i. 69, 85Hawking in Persia, iii. 204Haydn, the composer, i. 314Hebrides, Hertford’s Letters from, i. 37, 58, 87, 119, 132, 140, 157Herculaneum manuscripts, iii. 182Hoar-frost, ii.77Holyhead, iii. 232Honey-bird, i. 288Hope, iii. 198Horse, courage and power of, iii. 11Hottentots, iii. 32Humming-bird, i. 164Ice, ii, 77, 85—iii. 73Iceland moss, i. 30Ichneumons, iii. 193Imagination, iii. 154Inclined plane, iii. 211Indigenous plants of Great Britain, ii.262Industrious miller of Breda, i. 162Insects, ingenuity of, ii.245,290—iii. 121, 149, 173, 191, 193Islay Island, antique remains, i. 140Israelites, i. 262—ii. 17, 34, 67, 183Japhet’s descendants, i. 227Jay, i. 246Jews, their dispersion, iii. 93Jewish festivals, ii.7—iii. 75Joseph’s character, i. 238Juan Fernandez’ Isle, ii.58Kapiolani, heroic woman of the Sandwich Islands, iii. 63Kelek, raft on the Tigris, i. 83Kilda, St., Isle, i. 157Kingfisher, i. 177Lac, gum, i. 143Lady-bird destroys the hop-aphis, ii.190Lace, machines for singeing, iii. 215Laplanders, i. 212Leaven, ii.6Leaves, fall of the, i. 298Lethargic animals, ii.89,129,181Levitical dispensation, iii. 150Leviticus, ii.131Lewis Isle, Druidical remains of, i. 119Lincolnshire, submarine forest, iii. 34Light-houses of Holyhead, iii. 233Lion, conflict with a horse, iii. 12Locusts, i. 311, 316Looking-glass silvered, iii. 57Looking-glasses (in Exod. xxxviii. 8), iii. 58Love of God, the governing principle, iii. 20Love your enemies, i. 134Luminous sea-water, i. 4, 133, 282Lumley, Mr., his history, i. 104, 194Madeleine’s history, i. 247, 306Madeira, singular deposit of sand, iii. 28Malaria of Rome, i. 200, 202Malt, ii.135Mammoth, iii. 70, 101Man-of-war bird, i. 6Manuscripts, ancient, iii. 182Marmot, ii.109Mason wasp, ii.149Maté of Paraguay, ii.212Mauritia palms, inhabited by the Indians, i. 187May-day customs, iii. 77Memory, iii. 65Mexican volcanoes, iii. 50Migration of butterflies, iii. 147... swallows, iii. 145, 158Mirage, i. 218Mirrors, iii. 57Mississippi, ii.114,125—iii. 145Mona marble, iii. 237Monsters of ancient fable, iii. 103Moses, character of, i. 275—ii. 193... prophecies of, iii. 38, 52, 90... the two songs of, in Exod. xv. and in Deut. xxxii., ii.66—iii. 110... his exhortation and death, iii. 2Mosses, i. 258Mozart, ii.32Mummers, ii.48Mummy from Egypt, i. 284Narrative of Mrs. P., ii.146New South Wales trees, i. 155Nisan, Hebrew month of, ii.4North Rona Isle, i. 59Northwich salt-mine, iii. 212Norway, i. 43—ii. 64Numbers, book of, ii.184Oats and wheat, mode of growing, ii.274Organic remains, ii.248,265—iii. 69, 96, 140Palms, i. 187, 198, 289—iii. 165Paddy, cultivation of, ii.8Palimpsest Manuscripts, iii. 186Papyrus, i. 279Parable, ii.229Parys coppermine, iii. 228Paraguay tea, ii.212Passover, ii.3—iii. 74Patriarchial dispensation, iii. 132Paul, St., how to read his Epistles, i. 191Pear-tree, transplanted, iii. 123Pearl fishery, ii.22Pen, ancient term for hill, iii. 187Penrhyn slate-quarries, iii. 218Peony, Chinese, i. 32Pepper, white and black, ii.1Petrels, i. 4, 7, 8Persian spoons, ii.210Pharaoh’s heart hardened, i. 295Phaëton, or Tropic-bird, i. 3Pin-making, iii. 138Plagiary in poetry, ii.73Plagues of Egypt, i. 308Plants, distribution of, iii. 6... migration of, ii.262... naturalize by habit, ii.140,191,223Play of capping, ii.44... questions, ii.39... stories, ii.106Polish given to glass, iii. 56Pontcysylte aqueduct, iii. 214Potatoe, i. 32, 117, 304—ii. 192Practical hints on self-government, iii. 200Prairie dog, ii.128Prickly pear hedges, i. 27Psalms, i. 148—ii. 49Question play, ii.39Questions, arithmetical, i. 204, 307Radiation of heat and cold, ii.78,102,137—iii. 209Rafflesia, enormous flower of, iii. 8Railways, iii. 222Rapid flight of birds, iii. 162Red-sea, passage of the Israelites, ii.34Rein-deer, i. 29, 214Resistance to injuries, i. 134Resurrection, ii.276Rhinoceros, ii.232Rice, ii.8,140,143Rivers that form alluvial deposits, ii.235—iii. 26Rona, North, i. 58Rooks, ii.260Roses, ii.9—iii. 106Rose-beads, ii.211Rumbdé, ii.187Sabbath, origin of, i. 51Sacrifices, ii.4,131,137,270—iii. 133, 150St. Kilda, Hebrides, i. 157St. Paul’s epistles, difficulties in reading, i. 191Salt plain and cliffs, i. 63Salt-mine, iii. 212Sandwich isles, ii.144—iii. 62Sarana lily, eaten, ii.213Scouler’s voyage, ii.58,112Sea, change of level, iii. 33... form of the bottom, iii. 286... water, simple method of ascertaining the salt it contains, i. 12... luminous, i. 4, 133, 282... weed, i. 11Seal-cutting, iii. 221Shakspeare, ii.29,102Sheep-shearing, iii. 195Shem and Japhet’s descendants, i. 227Siberian flexible cups, ii.211... fossil elephant, iii. 71Sin-offerings, ii.138Sinai, Mount, ii.68Sky, isle of, i. 88Slate-quarries of Penrhyn, iii. 218Snow, ii.115Solan-goose, i. 159Sparrow, i. 178—iii. 146Spicula of ice, ii.87,96Spider, i. 283Sponge, ii.39Spring, the advance of, ii.182,187Springs, i. 286Staffa island, i. 37Staffin, Loch, i. 89Staffordshire vallies, iii. 189Stalactites, iii. 42Starling, red-winged, i. 142Stockholm, i. 115Stories, i. 73, 105, 222—ii. 22, 107, 146Story-play, ii.106Stove for Palms, i. 187—iii. 165Strawberries irrigated, iii. 125Straw-plait for the Florence hats, i. 201Sunday, when instituted, i. 51Suspension bridges, iii. 231, 234Swallows, iii. 47, 143, 158, 203Tabasheer, i. 240Tailor-bird, i. 80Talipot-tree, i. 290Taste, iii. 250Tendrils, iii. 95Teredo, ii.254Thaw, ii.120Thy kingdom come, explained, i. 117Tigris river, boats, i. 83Tillandsia moss, i. 232—ii. 286Titmouse, ii.134,203Toad enclosed in plaster of Paris, ii.92Tobacco, ii.93Toddy-bird, i. 79Torpid animals, ii.89,130Toucan, i. 49Trallhätta cataract, ii.64Trees of North America, i. 183, 231... European, i. 179, 198... of New South Wales, i. 155... of Brazil, i. 152Tree-ferns, iii. 140, 165Tunnel, suggested by the Teredo, ii.254Turkish pipe, iii. 18Unicorn, ii.231Unleavened bread, ii.6Urim and Thummim, ii.80Valleys colder than hills, ii.101Vegetables brought from the East, i. 31Venice, iii. 85Vine-culture, South of Europe, i. 197Vinegar, made from ants, ii.65Volcanoes, iii. 49, 63Voyage to England, i. 1Walker, Dr., habits of plants, ii.141,191,223Water, viscidity of, i. 8Watering plants by a dropping syphon, iii. 123Wells, Dr., frost and dew, ii.76,137, iii. 207Welsh roads, iii. 216West the painter, i. 269Whale catching, ii.21Wheat, i. 303—ii. 274Wren, parental courage of, iii. 23Yule-clogs, ii.47Zafferonee caravanserai, i. 222