at one of the islands after a time, though neither I nor the nigger had much to boast of as to strength or weight when we made the first kitchen we fell in with.'

"And the child?'

"Oh! he was doing well enough: for, as the doctors afterwards told us, the short allowance on which he was put did him no harm.' "You sought his friends?'

"Why, as for that matter, my lady, so far as I have been able to discover, he was with his best friends already. We had neither chart nor bearings by which we knew how to steer in search of his family. His name he called Master Harry, by which it is clear he was a gentleman born, as indeed any one may see by looking at him; but not another word could I learn of his relations or country, except that, as he spoke the English language, and was found in an English ship, there is a natural reason to believe he is of English build himself."

"Did you not learn the name of the ship!' demanded the attentive Rover, in whose countenance the traces of a lively interest were very distinctly discernible.

"Why, as to that matter, your Honour, schools were scarce in my part of the country; and in Africa, you know, there is no great matter of learning; so that, had her name been out of water, which it was not, we might have been bothered to read it. Howsomever, there was a horse-bucket kicking about her decks, and which, as luck would have it, got jammed in with the pumps in such a fashion that it did not go overboard until we took it with us. Well, this bucket had a name painted on it; and, after we had leisure for the thing, I got Guinea, who had a natural turn at tattooing, to rub it into my arm in gunpowder, as the handiest way of logging these small particulars. Your Honour shall see what the black has made of it.'

"So saying, Fid very coolly doffed his jacket, and laid bare, to the elbow, one of his brawny arms, on which the blue impression was still very plainly visible. Although the letters were rudely imitated, it was not difficult to read in the skin, the words, Ark, of Lynnhaven.'

6.

"Here, then, you had a clue at once to find the relatives of the boy,' observed the Rover, after he had deciphered the letters.

"It seems not, your Honour; for we took the child with us aboard the Proserpine, and our worthy captain carried sail hard after the people; but no one could give any tidings of such a craft as the Ark, of Lynnhaven;' and, after a twelvemonth or more, we were obliged to give up the chase."'

We cannot forbear one other extract in illustration of the characters and merits of these two worthies, and of the author too. A sail is espied, and after the officers have tried for some time to make her out, Scipio, who is at hand, is requested to try his sight. Scipio sees at a glance that it is the Dart. The following dialogue takes place :

"Did you see the sail?' demanded the Rover.

"Masser can him wid he naked eye.'

"Ay, but what make you of him by the aid of the glass?' "He'm ship, Sir.'

"True. On what course?'

"He got he starboard tacks aboard, Sir.'

"Still true. But has he signals abroad?'

"He'm got t'ree new cloths in he maintop-gallant-royal, Sir." "His vessel is all the better for the repairs. Did you see his flags ?'

"He'm shew no flag, masser.'

"I thought as much myself. Go forward, lad-stay-one often gets a true idea by seeking it where it is not thought to exist. Of what size do you take the stranger to be?'

"He'm just seven hundred and fifty tons, masser.'

"How's this! The tongue of your negro, Mr. Wilder, is as exact as a carpenter's rule. The fellow speaks of the size of a vessel that is hull down, with an air as authoritative as the runner of the king's customs could pronounce on the same, after she had been submitted to the office admeasurement.'

"You will have consideration for the ignorance of the black; men of his unfortunate state are seldom skilful in answering interrogatories.' "Ignorance!' repeated the Rover, glancing his eye uneasily, and with a rapidity peculiar to himself, from one to the other, and from both to the object rising in the horizon: Skilful! I know not: the man has no air of doubt. You think her tonnage to be precisely that which you have said?'

"The large dark eyes of Scipio rolled, in turn, from his new commander to his ancient master, while, for a moment, his faculties appeared to be lost in inextricable confusion. But the uncertainty continued only for a moment. He no sooner read the frown that was gathering deeply over the brow of the latter, than the air of confidence with which he had pronounced his former opinion vanished in a look of obstinacy so settled, that one might well have despaired of ever driving, or enticing him again to seem to think.

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"I ask you, if the stranger may not be a dozen tons larger or smaller than what you have named?' continued the Rover, when he found his former question was not likely to be soon answered. "He'm just as masser wish 'em,' returned Scipio.

"I wish him a thousand; since he will then prove the richer prize.'

"I s'pose he'm quite à t'ousand, Sir.'

"Or a snug ship of three hundred, if lined with gold, might do.' "He look berry like a t'ree hundred.'

"To me it seems a brig.'

"It'ink him brig too, masser.'

"Or possibly, after all, the stranger may prove a schooner, with many lofty and light sails.'

"A schooner often carry a royal,' returned the black, resolute to acquiesce in all the other said.

Who knows it is a sail at all! Forward there! It may be well to have more opinions than one on so weighty a matter. Forward there! send the foretopman, that is called Fid, upon the poop. Your companions are so intelligent and so faithful, Mr. Wilder, that you are not to be surprised if they shew an undue desire for their information.' "Wilder compressed his lips, and the rest of the groupe manifested a good deal of amazement; but the latter had been too long accustomed to the caprice of their commander, and the former was too wise,

to speak at a moment when his humour seemed at the highest. The topman, however, was not long in making his appearance, and then the chief saw fit again to break the silence.

"And you think it questionable whether it be a sail at all?' he continued.

"He'm sartain nothing but a fly-away,' returned the obstinate black.

"You hear what your friend the negro says, master Fid; he thinks that yonder object, which is lifting so fast to leeward, is not a sail.'

"As the topman saw no sufficient reason for concealing his astonishment at this wild opinion, it was manifested with all the embellishments with which the individual in question usually set forth any of his more visible emotions. After casting a short glance in the direction of the sail, in order to assure himself there had been no deception, he turned his eyes in great disgust on Scipio, as if he would vindicate the credit of the association at the expense of some little contempt for the igno rance of his companion.

"What the devil do you take it for, Guinea? a church?'

"I t'ink he'm church,' responded the acquiescent black.

"Lord help the dark-skinn'd fool! Your honour knows that conscience is d-mnably overlooked in Africa, and will not judge the nigger hardly for any little blunder he may make in the account of his religion. But the fellow is a thorough seaman, and should know a topgallant sail from a weathercock. Now, look you S'ip, for the credit of your friends, if you've no great pride on your own behalf, just tell his

"It is of no account,' interrupted the Rover. Take you this glass, and pass an opinion on the sail in sight yourself.'

Fid scraped his foot, and made a low bow, in acknowledgment of the compliment; and then, deposing his little tarpaulin hat on the deck of the pop, he very composedly, and, as he flattered himself, very understanding, disposed of his person to take the desired view. The gaze of the topman was far longer than had been that of his black companion; and it is to be presumed, in consequence, much more accurate. Instead, however, of venturing any sudden opinion, when his eye was wearied, he lowered the glass, and with it his head, standing long in the attitude of one whose thoughts had received some subject of deep cogitation. During the process of thinking, the weed was diligently rolled over his tongue, and one hand was stuck a-kimbo into his side, as if he would brace all his faculties to support some extraordinary mental effort.

"I wait your opinion,' resumed his attentive commander, when he thought sufficient time had been allowed to mature the opinion even of Richard Fid.

"Will your honour just tell me what day of the month this here may be, and mayhap, at the same time, the day of the week too, if it shouldn't be giving too much trouble?'

"His questions were directly answered.

"We had the wind at east-with-southing, the first day out, and then it chopp'd in the night, and blew great guns at north-west, where it held for the matter of a week. After which there was an Irishman's

hurricane, right up and down, for a day; then we got into these here trades, which have stood as steady as a ship's chaplain over a punch bowl, ever since--'

"Here the topman closed his soliloquy, in order to agitate the tobacco again, it being impossible to conduct the process of chewing and talking at one and the same time.

"What of the stranger?' demanded the Rover, a little impatiently.

"It's no church, that's certain, your honour,' said Fid, very decidedly.

"Has he signals flying?'

"He may be speaking with his flags, but it needs a better scholar than Richard Fid to know what he would say. To my eye, there are three new cloths in his main-top-gallant royal, but no bunting abroad.' "The man is happy in having so good a sail. Mr: Wilder, do you, too, see the darker cloths in question?'"

MAGAZINIANA.

ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS.

FROM GRIFFITH'S TRANSLATION OF CUVIER.

THE HARVEST MOUSE.-These mice are much smaller and more slender than the Mus domesticus medius of Ray, and have more of the squirrel or dormouse colour; their belly is white; a straight line along their sides divides the shades of their back and belly. They never enter into houses; are carried into ricks and barns with the sheaves abound in harvest, and build their nest amidst the straws of corn above ground, and sometimes in thistles. They breed as many as eight at a litter, in a little brown nest, composed of blades of grass or wheat. The nest is most artificially platted, and composed of the blades of wheat, perfectly round, and about the size of a cricket-ball, with the aperture so ingeniously closed, that there is no discovering to what part it belongs. It is so compact and well fitted, that it will roll across a table without being discomposed, though it contained eight little mice, which are naked and blind. As the nest is perfectly full, how could the dam, asks Mr. White, come at her litter respectively, so as to administer a teat to each? Perhays she opens different places for that purpose, adjusting them again when the business is over; but she could not possibly be contained herself in the ball with her young, which, moreover, would be daily increasing in bulk.

THE BURROW OF THE MARMOT.-The burrow of the marmot is generally in the elevated parts of the southern European mountains, above the limits of the forest, and in the regions of perpetual snow. It is formed of an alley or gallery five or six feet long, sufficient only in size to permit the animal to pass; at the extremity of this alley is a circular excavation, in which the marmot retires, and hybernates; sometimes the circular cave has two outlets, forming an acute angle like the letter Y. An excavation is said always to be found in one

of the alleys, which is presumed to be made by the animal, in procnring earth to stop the mouth of the burrow previous to its entering on its long winter sleep. The commencement of their lethargy seems to depend on the beginning of the cold, which varies from the middle of September to the middle of October-the newly formed families then begin their excavations, and provide dried grass to lie on. M. F. Cuvier informs us that they make a spherical bundle of this dried grass, and press it into a state of tolerable consistency, and lie upon it, with the head brought down between the legs; and he adds, that in order to close the entrance of their retreat, they at last enter it backward with a bundle of hay in the mouth, which they contrive to leave at the opening, so as effectually to close it up.

THE Aï.-Old travellers have related a pleasant passage connected with the love affairs of these interesting animals; they say, that at the approach of the female aï, the male, by way of preliminary endearment, falls fast asleep several times. This is a sort of amorous eagerness not unworthy of a being that is equally sluggish in its sensations and in its motions. The female has but two mammæ, situated on the breast. She usually produces but one young one, which is covered with hair at its birth, and which the mother drags languidly about on her back.

The aï is an inhabitant of the southern regions of the New Continent, from Brazil as far as Mexico. The application of the term sloth to these animals, and to the other species of Bradypus, is not, strictly speaking, perfectly correct; their extraordinary slowness of motion is not the effect of indolence or sloth; it is a part of the organization of the animal, an essential of its nature, and it is no more in his power to accelerate his movements, than it is permitted to the hare to creep, or the stag to crawl; it is in vain to urge, to stimulate, or to strike him; nothing in the world can quicken him. Leaning upon one side, he raises one of his fore-legs, makes it describe a long arch, and then lets it fall again with the most extreme indifference; afterwards, as if fatigued by such an amazing effort, the animal rests on the side where the leg was advanced with so much difficulty, and in a few moments puts the other in motion in a similar manner. The hinder part of the body follows with equal slowness. It has been calculated that the aï would employ an entire day to make fifty steps; from this it follows, that, supposing it to proceed without interruption, it would take nearly a month to travel a single mile. The tenacity of life in the aï approximates it to the reptile tribe: this is so great, that on one of these animals being opened and dissected, he did not die immediately, but the palpitation of the heart continued for a considerable time after the operation.

GREGARIOUS HABITS OF THE WILD HORSES OF AMERICA.-From the first period of the arrival of Europeans in the New World, many ⚫ horses were left to themselves, and propagated very rapidly. They were formerly very common at St. Domingo, and even then differed in some traits of character from the Spanish race, to which they owe their birth. The head was thicker, and the ears and neck longer; but where these animals have more particularly multiplied, is in the southern continent of America, and to the south of La Plata. There they