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inch. This alarmed him, and he mentioned the fact to Lord Collingwood, who was disposed to smile at his anxiety. The doctor however urged that the fall was unusually great, and he had no doubt but before midnight they would have to encounter a gale, which, though it probably would be of no long duration, would be extremely heavy. He added, if in this case the glass deceived him, he would allow that it was a false prophet. 'Well,' said his lordship, smiling, we will put you on your trial, and you shall have the management of the fleet for once.' A signal was accordingly made to prepare for bad weather. One of the captains told Dr. Gray next day, they were quite at a loss what to make of such an order, as the afternoon was so fine, and the sky looked so settled. However, before midnight, they all acknowledged the wise foresight of the order, for it blew a hurricane for several hours.

Another occasion offered, some time after, to scatter his lordship's doubts. They had gone ashore, and in the morning it blew a heavy gale, and they were all alarmed for the safety of a little vessel, in which was the son of one of their agents. For some reason, it had been taken in tow by one of the ships, and was in danger of being drawn under wa

high as the sea was then, in an hour or two he might go aboard his son's vessel in a boat; and he actually did so.

We should mention too, that the barometer enables us also readily to ascertain the height of mountains, or of any other situation to which it can be taken, for the mercury falls when it is carried from any lower to any higher spot, and the degree of falling tells exactly how much air has been left below. Thus, if thirty inches high on the barometer mark the whole pressure at the surface of the ocean, and if the instrument be found, when carried to another place, to stand at only twenty inches, it proves that one third the atmosphere exists below the level of the new situation. Hence a rule has been discovered by which to judge of height.

In carrying a barometer from the level of the Thames to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, or of Hampstead Hill, the mercury falls about half an inch, making an ascent of about five hundred feet. On Mont Blanc it falls to half of the entire barometric height, marking an elevation of fifteen thousand feet; and in De Luc's famous balloon ascent, it fell to below twelve inches, indicating an elevation of twenty-one thousand feet, the greatest to which man has ever ascended from the surface of his earthly habitation. A person breathing on the summit of Mont Blanc, although expanding his chest as much as usual, really takes in at each inspiration only half as much air as he does below, from its extreme rarity, or thin

ness and from the same cause it is colder as we ascend. The top of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral is two degrees colder than it is at the bottom; and in the lofty ascent of a balloon, the thermometer soon falls to the freezing point, and even below it; thus marking a degree of cold almost insupportable. The valve of Mr. Sadler's balloon was frozen at a certain height, while the inhabitants of London enjoyed the warm air of a summer's day.

THE STORMY PETREL.

I have above alluded to the Stormy Petrels called by sailors Mother Carey's Chickens-and I cannot better conclude the account of the barometer, than by an extract from what is said of these Petrels by Dr. Comstock in his natural history:

This bird, among sailors, has ever been considered a mysterious and ominous bird, and even at the present day many persons believe that its appearance at sea, is the occasion of approaching evil, or at least that it is a messenger sent to warn them to prepare for a storm.

Being often seen at a great distance from the land, people who do not consider that it can fly eight or nine hundred miles in a day, do not readily conceive where it can rear its young, and hence the sailors think that they hatch their eggs under their wings as they sit on the water. It is hardly necessary to say that this poor little bird is not the occasion of any evil to the sailor; nor does he hatch his eggs under his wing, as they believe. It has however some habits peculiar to itself, and particularly in respect to its fly

ing about over the ocean at such vast distances from the land. It is also true that this bird is most frequently seen before a storm, and during its continuance. At such times, flocks of them hover around the ship, and are more active than common in picking up any thing that happens to fall overboard, such as the refuse of provisions, or any oily matter which the cook throws away. But particular activity, and even marks of distress, before a storm are shown by many birds. The instinct of the crane teaches her to prepare for a coming storm, as well as when to begin her annual flight. Snow birds are active in searching for food before a storm. Woodpeckers, curlewe, and other birds, are particularly noisy at the same time, and every housewife, when she has a flock of geese, can foretel, by their actions, the approach of falling weather.

These omens were known in ancient times, for thus says Virgil, two thousand years ago :

'Not unforeseen the storm: the aerial cranes
In the deep valley fly the uprising rains;
The heifers gaze aloft where vapors sail,
And with wide nostril drink the distant gale;
The twittering swallow skims the pool around;
Along the rushes croaking frogs resound;
Ants, from roof'd cells, bear out their eggs to day,
And wend, each following each, their narrow way;
But o'er dry sands the crow stalks on alone,
Swells her full voice, and calls the tempest down.
Nor yet unconscious of the threatening gloom
The virgin labors o'er the nightly loom,
When sputtering lamps flash forth unsteady fire,
And round the unloaded wick dull flames expire.'
Sotheby's Trans. of Virgil's Geor.

The Stormy Petrel therefore, when it foretels by its actions, that a storm is

approaching, does nothing but what is common to many other birds, and on this account ought to be looked upon by the sailors, as something which contributes to his safety by warning him of his danger, rather than a bird of omen, which has come to do him mischief.

Stormy Petrels hatch their young in great numbers on the islands of Bermuda and Cuba, and on the coasts of Florida. They defend their young by spitting oil from their mouths in the faces of their enemies. They build their nests among the caves and fissures of the rocks, and feed their young only during the night. In the day time, they wander over the ocean, and such is the rapidity of their flight, that they can be several hundred miles at sea in the middle of the day and home again at evening.

up

Mr. Wilson says, 'It is an interesting sight to observe these little birds in a gale coursing over the waves, down the declivities, the ascents of the foaming surf that threatens to burst over their heads; sweeping along the hollow troughs of the sea, as in a sheltered valley, and again mounting with the rising billow, and just above its surface, occasionally dropping its feet, which, striking the water, throws it up again with additional force; sometimes leaping, with both legs parallel, on the surface of the roughest waves, for several yards at a time.'

But the most singular peculiarity of this bird, is its faculty of standing, or even running on the surface of the water

with apparent facility. When any greasy matter is thrown overboard, these birds instantly collect around it, and facing to windward, with their long wings expanded, and their webbed feet patting the water, the lightness of their bodies, and the action of the wind on their wings enable them to do this—that is, to stand on the surface of the water, with ease. In calm weather, they perform the same manœuvre, by keeping their wings just so much in action as to prevent their feet from sinking below the surface. According to Buffon, it is from this singular habit these birds are named Petrel, the name being derived from Peter, the apostle, who, the Scripture informs us, walked upon the water.

The following pretty lines were written by Winthrop Sargent, Esq., of Boston. Thou little Wanderer, flitting round our stern, So far from land, how canst thou e'er return?

To travel here.

Thou hast no means, or none that I discern,
Few tempt the peril of the stormy deep
Till fame or fortune all their senses steep;
But you, with thankless toil, still idle sweep

Where'er we steer.
How few dare change their home and happy hours,

Where Love and Friendship weave their rival flowers, Save the pale exile from Hygeia's bowers,

For this rude place?

Yet thou, nor fortune, fame, nor want constrain
To quit the rural realm or peaceful plain,
For ocean's barren, cold, and wide domain
Without a base.

Say, canst thou slumber 'mid these billowy waves,
Torn up to mountain summits by the gales?

Where we are driven with close-contracted sails In tempests tost.

Then farewell, happiest Wanderer of the waves; Thy lesser wings the whelming storm shall brave, When our proud bark no human aid can save, And all is lost!

MOTHER, said Harry one day, after he had been for some time reading to himself, Mother, what a nice story this is!

Mother. What is it, my dear? Harry. Eyes and no Eyes, in Evenings at Home, you know, mother. But I should think there were very few boys so stupid as Robert is made to be in this story.

M. Indeed, Harry, I am afraid there are a great many people, older than Robert, who do not make much more use of their eyes and understanding than he did. I am not sure however that I should call Robert stupid; he might not be naturally a stupid boy: but he seems to have wanted observation: he was inattentive to every thing around him, and appears to have walked on, without looking to his right hand or his left, or taking any notice of the various wonders and beauties by which we are always surrounded. You know I have often told you, that observation and attention are more useful and valuable than the greatest natural talent, without these qualities.

H. Yes, mother, and William perhaps was not a cleverer boy than Robert, only he had this observation and Robert had not and you see Robert owns at the end of the story, that he did see some of the things which had so much interested William, but had not taken notice of them. But surely, mother, there are no

men who are so foolish as not to make use of their observation?

M. I am afraid, my dear Harry, there are many of us who do not make half the use of the senses we possess which we might do. How many times do we walk out without bringing home a single new idea, when if we were not totally inattentive to what passes around us, we could not fail to collect information and amusement from every object either of nature or art! A great many of those who travel into foreign countries, where you would think they could not avoid learning much that might be useful to them afterwards, seem to have wandered abroad from mere idle curiosity; and they return without having gained any thing but a little additional conceit, while others, by their observation and researches, throw new light on science, or make discoveries which serve to confirm the truth of history. I met with an instance of this difference the other day in some travels I was reading, which will I think amuse you.

H. O, do tell me, mother. Whose travels are they?

M. Belzoni's travels in Egypt. He spent some time in that country, making many researches among the great pyramids there, which you know are by some supposed to have been the tombs of the ancient kings of Egypt. Well, he procured people to open one of these pyramids for him, and, after many trials, he at

the interior.

in the inside with great attention, and brought away copies of the paintings with which the walls of these rooms were ornamented. The colors of these paintings are as bright as if they had been painted only a few days, though it is well known that they must have been done many hundred years ago. Some of the paintings represent a sort of triumphal procession, in which a king of Egypt appears to be returning from a victory, with a great number of prisoners of various nations and dresses. Among these captives, there is one group who in their general appearance, and even in their countenances, so exactly resemble the Jews of the present day, that there can be no doubt of their being intended for Jewish prisoners. Now we have an account in the Bible, (2 Chron. xxxv. 20 -24.) of Josiah, King of Judah, being defeated by Necho, King of Egypt, in a battle fought in the valley of Megiddo; and in the following chapter we have a further account of the same king of Egypt taking Jehoahaz, King of Judah, prisoner; when we may suppose many of the Jews were likewise carried captives into Egypt. Herodotus in his history also mentions the victory obtained by Necho over the Jews, though he calls the place, which in the Scripture account is named Megiddo, Magdolus. And as Herodotus gives also an account of the building of the pyramids, it seems likely that these paintings may have been made very soon

H. This is very curious indeed. But you mentioned some different sort of travellers.

M. Yes, and now you shall have the account of them in Belzoni's own words. They do not seem very unlike your friend Robert in your favorite story. They were two acquaintance who visited him while he was making researches among the ruins at Luxor in Egypt; and they had not before seen these magnificent remains of the most gigantic buildings ever known.

My attention,' says Belzoni, 'was on the alert for the first burst of their astonishment: but how was I disappointed! They dismounted without taking any more notice of these magnificent places, than of a common building. They sent immediately for the boy who had the bottle of brandy, and drank a glass each. The only observation they made was on the name of a friend they happened to know, which was scrawled on one of these sacred walls in charcoal. They expressed their wonder how he had come thither, when he had been there, &c., &c.: and although surrounded by Egyptian antiquities, hieroglyphics, figures, &c., all their occupation was to inspect the numerous scrawls on the stones, to see