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and interest him by the parental affection they display to their young offspring, in teaching them to select their food, and to exert themselves in jumping from bough to bough, -and is shaded by bats of a large size, many of them measuring upwards of six feet, from the extremity of one wing to the other. This tree affords not only shelter, but sustenance, to all its inhabitants; being covered amid its bright foliage, with small figs, of a rich scarlet, on which they all regale with as much delight as the lords of creation on their more costly fare, in their parties of plea

sure.

LESSON LXV.

Human Knowledge, scanty as it is, truly admirable.-
BURGH.

Ir is amazing and delightful to consider, what seemingly difficult things are done by means of human knowledge, scanty and confined as it is. The wonders performed by means of reading and writing are so striking, that some learned men have given it as their opinion, that the whole was communicated to mankind originally by some superior being

That by means of the various compositions of about twenty different articulations of the human voice, performed by the assistance of the lungs, the glottis, the tongue, the lips, and the teeth, ideas of all sensible and intelligible objects in nature, in art, in science, in history, in morals, in supernaturals, should be communicable from one mind to another; and again, that signs should be contrived, by which those articulations of the human voice should be expressed, so as to be communicable from one mind to another by the eye; this seems really beyond the reach of humanity left to itself.

That one man should, by uttering a set of sounds no way connected with, or naturally representative of, one set of ideas more than another, enlighten the understanding, rouse the passions, delight or terrify the imagination of another; and that he should not only be able to do this when present, but that he should produce the same effect by a set of figures no way naturally fit to represent either

the ideas he would communicate, or (less still) the articulate sounds, which are themselves but representatives of ideas; and that he should affect another person at pleasure, at the distance of five thousand miles, and with as much precision and accuracy as if he were upon the spot, nay, as if he could open to him his mind, and give him to apprehend the ideas as they lie there in their original state, is truly admirable.

The translating (so to speak) ideas into sounds, the translating those sounds into visible objects, the translating one set of those visible objects into another, or turning one language into another, as Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, into English; all this, if we were not familiar with it, would appear a sort of magic; but our being accustomed to it, does not lessen its real excellence.

Again, if we consider what strange things are commonly done by every novice in numbers, we cannot help admiring the excellence of knowledge. To tell an Indian, that a boy of twelve years of age could, by making a few scrawls upon paper, determine the number of barleycorns, which would go round the globe of the earth; would strangely startle him!

To talk to one unacquainted with the first principles of arithmetic, of adding together a set of numbers, as five thousand five hundred and fifty-five, six thousand six hundred and sixty-six, seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, and so on; to the number of twenty or thirty lines of figures, especially, if those lines consisted of a great many places of figures, going on to hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, trillions, and so on, to tell such a person, that it was not only possible, but even that nothing was more easy or trifling, than to determine the whole amount of such a set of numbers, and that without mistaking a single unit,-all this would seem to the untutored Indian utterly incredible, and impossible !

To tell a Barbarian, that nothing was more common, than for traders in this part of the world, to buy in goods to the value of many thousand pounds, to sell them out again in parcels, not exceeding the value of ten or twenty shillings each, to receive in their money only once a year, and yet they committed no considerable mistake, nor suffered any material loss in' the dealings of many years together, through error or miscalculation; he would

conclude, that either those traders had memories above the usual rate of human nature, or that they had supernatural assistance! Yet all that has been hitherto mentioned, and a thousand times more, is what we find persons of the meanest natural endowments, and the narrowest educations, capable of acquiring!

In what light then ought we to view those groveling and mean-spirited mortals, who make a pride of declaring their contempt of knowledge? Did one hear a vicious person expressing his contempt of honesty and virtue, should we think the more meanly of them, or of him? In the same manner, when a shallow fop sneers at what he does not understand, his low raillery ought to cast no reflection upon learning; but he is to be considered as sunk from the dignity of reason, and so far degenerate as to make his ignorance his pride, which ought to be his shame.

LESSON LXVI.

Savages first seeing a Watch.-Mariner.

ONE morning during Fenaw's stay at this Island, some of the natives brought Mr. Mariner's watch, which they had procured from his chest, and with looks of curiosity, inquired what it was. He took it from them, wound it

up,

and put it to the ear of one of them and returned it. Every hand was now outstretched with eagerness to take hold of it--it was applied in turns to their ears-they were astonished at the noise it made-they listened again to it -turned it on every side, and exclaimed, "it is alive." They then pinched and bit it, as if expecting it would squeak out-they looked at each other with wonder and laughed aloud, and snapped their fingers.

One brought a sharp stone for Mr. Mariner to force it open with. He opened it in the proper way, and showed them the works. Several endeavoured to seize hold of it at once, but one ran off with it, and all the rest after him. About an hour after, they returned with the watch completely broken to pieces, and giving him the fragments, made signs for him to make it do as it did before.

Upon his making them understand that they had killed it, and that it was impossible to bring it to life again, the man who considered it as his property, exclaimed "spoiled;" and making a hissing noise expressive of disappointment, accused the rest of using violence; and they in their turn accused each other. Whilst they were in high dispute, another native approached, who had seen and learned the use of a watch on board a French ship. Understanding the cause of their dispute, he called them all a pack of fools," and explained in the following manner, the use of the watch.

Making a circle in the sand, with sundry marks about its circumference, and turning a stick about the centre of the circle to represent an index, he informed them that the use of it was to tell where the sun was-that when the sun was in the east, the watch would point to such a mark, and when the sun was highest it would point low-and when in the west it would point there, and this he said the watch would do, although it was in the house, and could not see the sun; adding that in the night time, it would tell what portion of the day's length it would be before the sun would rise again. It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of their astonishment. One said it was an animal-another said it was a plant-but when he told them that it was manufactured, they all exclaimed-" what an ingenious people."

LESSON LXYII.

Science enables us to take an extensive Survey of the Empire of God.-DICK.

THE Views of some individuals are confined chiefly within the limits of their own parish, or at farthest, extend only to the blue mountains that skirt their horizon, and form the boundary of their sight. Within this narrow circle, all their ideas of God, of religion, and of the relations of intelligent beings to each other, are chiefly confined. There are others, who form an extensive class of our population, whose ideas are confined nearly to the county in which they reside, and to the adjacent districts;

and there are few, comparatively, whose views extend beyond the confines of the kingdom to which they belong.

Of the vast extent of this earthly ball, of its figure and motions, of its continents, seas, islands, and oceans; of its volcanoes and ranges of mountains, of its numerous and diversified climates and landscapes; of the various nations and tribes of mankind that people its surface, and of the moral government of God respecting them,— they are almost as completely ignorant as the untutored Greenlander, or the roving savage.

With regard to the objects which lie beyond the boundary of our world, they have no precise and definite conceptions. When the moon is "walking in brightness" through the heavens, they take the advantage of her light to prosecute their journeys; and, when the sky is overcast with clouds, and they are anxious to travel a few miles to their destined homes, they will lift up their eyes to the heavens to see if any of the stars are twinkling through the gloom, that their footsteps may be directed by their glimmering rays. Beyond this they seldom What may be the nature of the vast assemblage of shining points which adorn the canopy of their habitation, and the ends they are destined to accomplish in the plan of the Creator's operations, they consider as no part of their province to inquire.

soar.

"Their minds, fair Science never taught to stray
Far as the Solar Worlds, or Milky Way."

How very different, in point of variety, of grandeur, and of extent, are the views of the man who connects all the different departments of knowledge, and the discoveries of science, with his prospects of God's Universal Dominions and government? With his mental eye he can traverse the different regions of the earth, and penetrate into the most distant and retired recesses where human beings have their residence.

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He can contemplate and adore the conduct of Divine Sovereignty, in leaving so many nations to grope amidst the darkness of Heathen Idolatry, he can trace the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, as they gradually arise to illumine the benighted tribes of men,-he can direct his prayers, with intelligence and fervour, in behalf of par

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