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22

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

could not as yet understand what danger he should
have incurred by remaining near the good fire in the
kitchen. Silence soon reigned all around, and every-
thing betokened how little annoyance the rain caused
the guests who had found shelter beneath the hospit-
able farm-house. The lights which shone through the
windows disappeared one after another, and every one
seemed to have gone to rest.

Who knows,' said Trédion to himself, but that my foolish terror may have deprived me of a comfortable bed, which doubtless would have been offered to me after supper?'

At that moment he heard a noise-the trampling of a horse: he listened, and suddenly it stopped under the shed. Peeping out stealthily, Trédion saw a young man dismount, fasten the bridle to a post, throw his dark cloak across the saddle, and putting his hand in his belt, draw forth a pistol, which he the next instant proceeded to load. Terrified at this sight, poor Trédion buried himself under the sheaves of wheat, not daring to look out again. Fortunately the horse was standing The between him and this mysterious personage. latter, believing himself alone, advanced a few steps in front of the shed. Trédion, now breathing more freely, ventured once more to raise his head: he had scarcely done so, when a gentle knock at one of the windows was immediately answered by the appearance of the figure of a woman from within, holding a light, thus proving that the robber-if he was one-had an inmate of the house as an accomplice. Trédion trembled but the more at this discovery: still, summoning up all his courage, he crawled along close under the house, and lost not one word of the following dialogue :I am come, 'It is me, Madeleine,' said the man. according to promise, to rid you of your husband, and to find you another-one not forced on you by relatives. Have you taken care that suspicion of the crime shall rest on some one else?'

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Chance has served us better than my prudence,' answered she. Some strangers arrived to-night, and have remained to sleep. We can easily accuse them, and have them convicted.'

'May I then go in and follow you?' 'Come, and leave the rest to me.'

Here they both ceased speaking; and the man having climbed in by the window, it was instantly shut after

him.

As may be imagined, Trédion's palpitations increased not a little. However, he had not as much courage as honesty, or he would have roused the house by a cry of murder.' His conscience reproached him with cowardice, still cowardice prevailed. He fancied the slightest noise would draw down on himself the vengeance of the assassin, whose figure he magnified into that of a giant.

'I shall be one victim the more,' thought he; but at least I will provide myself with undeniable proofs against the author of this crime, which I cannot prevent.' Trédion took the scissors he had bought from the pedlars as a gift for his wife, and cut out a small piece of cloth from beneath the collar of the cloak which had been left on the saddle, and then with the point of the scissors pierced three holes in the bridle, but so small, Having that it was not likely they would be noticed. taken these precautions, he was creeping away from the shed, when he heard a heavy groan, which went to his very heart; but once on the high road, he quickened his pace, and was soon out of sight and hearing.

That same morning, before sunrise, Trédion crossed the boundaries of the department of the Ille et Vilaine, not more than ten leagues from his native village. From that moment he felt renewed strength animate him, and at six o'clock that evening he beheld the smoke rising from his humble home. Oh what happiness! Jeanne Marie was standing at the door looking along the road; and instantly recognising him, she flew with the children to meet him, and all embraced with the tenderest affection.

After a while, Trédion thought it proper to explain matters; but when he announced that he returned with his pockets almost empty, the family were thunderstruck, and Jeanne Marie had the cruelty to receive the present of the scissors without one word of thanks. The good woman could scarcely believe that Trédion was telling the truth, and begged him to relate all his adventures in detail. He did not require to be asked twice; and commencing from the first day he left them, ended by repeating word for word the advice given by the farmer of Fougères in lieu of his money.

So this is all you bring back to us for your six years of labour and absence?' said Jeanne Marie, interrupting her husband. Is it possible you have returned emptyhanded?'

This reproach reminded Trédion of the second loaf of bread.

'It's quite true,' said he; but I forgot that Madame Laignelet sent you a loaf of bread made with her own hands.' His pocket was soon opened.

'Let us see,' said Jeanne Marie, if the women of Fougères bake better bread than those of Elven.'

Trédion's children leaped with joy at the sight of the white bread, so superior to the coarse oaten cakes they were in the habit of eating; but nothing could equal their surprise when, on cutting the loaf, the knife brought to light a purse containing fifty guineas, and a letter, the contents of which were spelled over by Trédion's son, and were as follows:

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'My dear Trédion-I trust this letter may reach its destination in safety, as it is intended for the messenger who carried it. Credulous and obliging as we know you to be, you would have run the risk of arriving at home as poor as you left it, if I did not force you to accept the advice given for nothing, although it really was worth the fifty guineas you were supposed to have paid me. It is not sufficient to have money, my dear Trédion; we must also know how to employ it. Make good use, therefore, of what you now possess ; LAIGNELET.' and that God may bless you, is the wish of your old master,

On finishing the perusal of this letter, Trédion and his wife fell on their knees to pray God to return a hundredfold the blessings with which it concluded. Jeanne Marie's curiosity having only been suspended by this incident, her husband was obliged to continue his story for her satisfaction, relating, not without a shudder, the history of the pedlars who had been robbed and beaten, and the mysteries of the past night, in which Trédion had so narrowly escaped being charged with such a horrible crime. How precious did Laignelet's advice now seem to Trédion's poor wife!

Prudence sometimes accompanies riches. Trédion and Jeanne Marie after again and again consulting over their gold, decided it was better to keep silent as to his adventures and his happy return, in order not to tempt the cupidity of their neighbours. It was only at the expiration of a few months that they employed the money, as Laignelet had advised, in the purchase of two fine cows, six pigs, and a pretty little cottage, with some land adjoining. Trédion felt very anxious to know what had occurred at the farm-house from which he had so narrowly escaped, and especially what had become of the two travellers he left there. The clergyman of the village alone appeared a safe confidant, and to him, after some time, he went, and gave an exact account of all he had seen and heard on his journey homewards.

"Wretched man!' cried the priest; through your fault two innocent men may be condemned to death. The trial is to come on to-morrow."

'God forfend!' exclaimed Trédion in terror. What am I to do, sir?'

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Trédion, said, 'You must set out at once for Rennes in my carriage, and not stop on any account until you reach the gate of the court-house. Then send in this note to the judge, with whom I am acquainted; he will have you instantly summoned, and confront you with the jury, the prisoners, and the real culprits. Go now, and remember that you are the bearer of a decree which may save from death two innocent men.'

The next day, about two in the afternoon, the clergyman's carriage drew up before the court-house at Rennes, and in a few minutes afterwards Trédion was standing in the presence of the judge.

In truth that very day two men were to be tried for having entered the house of a rich farmer, and having murdered and robbed him while asleep. The accusation had been borne out by the young wife of the victim, who had made her declaration with the greatest confidence. According to her statement, the two murderers had fastened her to the bed-post, gagged her mouth, and bound her eyes, in which state she had been found next morning by the servants of the house, who instantly gave the alarm in the neighbourhood. The two prisoners, on whose persons had been found a purse filled with gold belonging to the murdered man, affected utter ignorance of the whole affair; but proofs were clear against them, and the defence made by their lawyer, eloquent though it was, only tended to confirm the court in the conviction of their guilt. After an hour's deliberation, the jury had that moment returned to pronounce its verdict, when the judge (to whom a note had just been handed) with some agitation addressed them, and said, 'Gentlemen of the jury, an extraordinary circumstance has occurred: a new witness has, without any summons, this moment arrived, and he declares his readiness to make a deposition in favour of the accused. I should deem myself unworthy of the post I occupy did I not request you to suspend your decision, which might one day prove both to you

and to me a source of remorse.'

The judge then sent for Trédion, to whom the usual oath was administered, and he was desired to ascend the table. Every one present remarked the effect produced on the young widow by the entrance of this witness. She was seated near a tall young man, with whom she had frequently held counsel during the course of the trial. She now looked at Trédion, whom she at once recognised, in evident agitation; whilst he, encouraged by the prisoners' lawyer, spoke out boldly and clearly.

'My lord,' said he, before giving my testimony, I must request you will order the doors to be closed; for I am very much mistaken if the real culprits be not here present.'

At these words the young woman covered her face with her handkerchief, and the young man buttoned up his cloak. Trédion then began his narrative, and the murmurs of approbation from the audience proved that his testimony was believed: acquiring confidence, and becoming almost eloquent as he went on, he turned round towards the guilty woman, and pointing to her, said, 'There is she who came to the window to speak to the stranger: I should recognise her even better if she would say a few words in a low tone to the man who is sitting near her; for that man is the assassin himself: I know him by his figure, by his cloak, of which I kept a small pattern-here it is! Examine if this little bit of cloth be not wanting under the collar!'

This singular accusation, and this proof, of which they had not until now the remotest suspicion, filled the culprits with terror. While the jury were examining the cloak, Trédion added, 'Let this man also produce the bridle of his horse; and in it you will find three little holes made by me with the point of a pair

of scissors.'

Trédion had proved enough: the assassin did not try to deny it; his accomplice fainted; and the farmers raised their hands to heaven, to thank God for their miraculous escape from an ignominious death.

The court broke up, and new proceedings were instituted against the true culprits, who were put into prison to await their trial: it took place three months later, when they were both condemned, and executed in the market-place.

Trédion for the moment was the 'lion' of Rennes. But he soon set off for home, paying a visit on his way to the farmers whose lives he had saved. He and his wife ever after lived in happiness and comfort, and brought up their children in the love and fear of God, often repeating to them that 'Good Counsel is better than Good Pay.'

SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY.

TORPIDITY OF ANIMALS.

THE absence of the means of support for some animals in certain countries during winter leads to various expedients of nature, which cannot be contemplated without great interest. One of the most noted of these expedients is migration-the removal of the animals in a body at the approach of winter to climes where they are sure of obtaining food. Another is the falling of the animals into a state of torpidity, during which, there being nearly a total cessation of waste, nutrition can be dispensed with. The most noted sleeping animals, as they may be called, in our country are by no means low in the scale, being members of the highest vertebrate class-mammalia. The highest of these is the bat, which, while believed by the vulgar to be a kind of bird, is placed by naturalists very near our own species. The other sleeping mammals are, however, comparatively low in their class; there being of rodents, the hamster and dormouse; and of insectivora, the hedgehog and tenric. No peculiarity of organisation has been detected as leading to this state. It appears to depend wholly on the external temperature. When the animal is kept in a warm place, and duly supplied with food, it passes through its usual sleeping period in a state of sufficient liveliness.

the year, that the sleepers withdraw to places of safety, It is at the approach of cold weather, at the fall of where they may pass the winter undisturbed. The bat retires to the roof of gloomy caves, or to the old chimneys of uninhabited castles. The hedgehog wraps itself up in those leaves of which it composes its nest, and remains at the bottom of the hedge, or under the covert of the furze, which screened it during summer from the scorching sun or the passing storm. The marmot and the hamster [creatures much resembling the rat] retire to their subterranean retreats, and when they feel the first approach of the torpid state, shut the passages to their habitations in such a manner, that it is more easy to dig the earth anywhere else than in parts which they have thus fortified. The jumping mouse of Canada seems to prepare itself for its winter torpidity in a very curious manner, according to the communications of Major-General Davies, on the authority of a labourer. A specimen, which was found in digging the foundation for a summer-house in a gentleman's garden about two miles from Quebec in the latter end of May 1787, was " enclosed in a ball of clay, about the size of a cricket ball, nearly an inch in thickness, perfectly smooth within, and about twenty inches under ground. The man who discovered it, not knowing what it was, struck the ball with his spade, by which means it was broken to pieces."—(Linnæan Transactions, iv. 156.')*

* Fleming's Philosophy of Zoology, fi. 47.

In the torpid state, the temperature of the animal's body sinks to about that of the surrounding medium. For example, it has been observed to go down from 100 to 43 degrees of Fahrenheit; but the exterior of the body is colder than the interior. The breath is drawn at long intervals; digestion is entirely suspended, circulation nearly so. The irritability is so much reduced, that parts of the limbs of the animals may be cut off without their giving any signs of feeling. A shock of electricity failed to rouse a dormouse. Experiments have shown that the hybernating animals in a perfectly torpid state consume no oxygen, and can live in an air which will not support either life or combustion.*

water (284 degrees), and yet they may be restored to life by means of water.* It was once believed by naturalists that certain birds, the swallow in particular, hybernated at the bottoms of pools. This is now generally discredited, though not by all naturalists (see Fleming's Philosophy of Zoology').

Torpidity is regarded by an eminent French naturalist, M. Geoffroy St Hilaire, as a state of neutrality between life and death, into which certain animals are plunged in consequence of the stoppage of respiration, when it takes place under certain circumstances.' It seems but reasonable to infer that animals, while in this state, make no progress towards decay; the time during which it lasts appears to be no deduction from the ordiover and above. As far as observation goes, it is a state to which there is no necessary termination, apart from a change of the circumstances which have led to it. Thus if the fish caught by Sir John Franklin had been kept in ice for any number of years, we may presume that they would have been as likely to revive at one time as another, and when they did revive, would have the same prospect of life before them as if they had never been congealed at all. There is reason also to suppose, with regard to at least some of the torpid animals, that if they be entirely shut up from the external air at the time when the temperature changes, and the torpidity consequently ceases, they will remain alive so long as the air is excluded, though probably in a dormant state; and in such circumstances also, the ordinary processes of life being suspended, there is no neces-sary termination to the existence of these animals, any more than if the paralysing cold had been continued.

Reptiles, in as far as their sensibility to cold is greater than that of mammals, are more liable to fall into tor-nary or proper term of their lives, but simply something pidity when exposed to the necessary conditions. It is well known that the frog and toad in this country spend the winter in slumber. Serpents and tortoises fall under the same rule in all countries where the temperature is sufficiently low. Aquatic reptiles, when about to hybernate, sink into the mud, and there repose for the season, the alligator previously stopping up its mouth with a pine or cypress knot. Land reptiles, again, withdraw into crevices of rocks and hollows in the ground, taking care that these are so situated as to promise protection from enemies. It is not known that any fishes hybernate; the usually equable temperature of the water may make this less likely to take place; but it is known that they are capable of that entire suspension of life which occasionally takes place in reptiles under the influence of frost. The fish froze,' says Sir John Franklin in the Narrative of his Journey to the Polar Sea, as fast as they were taken out of the nets, and in a short time became a solid mass of ice, and by a blow or two of a hatchet, were easily split open, when the intestines might be removed in one lump. If in this completely frozen state they were thawed before the fire, they recovered their animation. We have seen a carp recover so far as to leap about with much vigour after it had been frozen for thirty-six hours.' Toads have been in like manner frozen, so that their limbs might be broken off like pieces of glass without a drop of blood flowing, and yet, on being thawed, they survived. Snails are amongst the most noted of the invertebrate animals which thus occasionally withdraw from the whole business of existence. Seeking some quiet crevice or nook, they retire into their shells, draw to the operculum as a sort of door, thus closing up their house, and then go to sleep. It is remarkable of them that they can become torpid at pleasure, and independently of temperature. Bees, as is well known, fall into utter insensibility under a low temperature, and readily revive when properly warmed. Spiders spend the winter sleeping in the corners of their webs. The cricket, which has been ascertained to be as liable to torpidity under cold as any other insect, is remarkable for its systematically avoiding this fate in winter by migrating -for it is a migration-to warm kitchens, bakehouses, and cottage firesides, 'where it multiplies its species, and is as merry at Christmas as in the dog-days.'t

Some of the infusory animalcules have been found liable to suspension of life when merely dried. There are certain species which usually live in the mosses and gutters of house-tops. In summer, when the moss and the dust collected in the gutters become perfectly dry, it may be for months, the animalcules are dried up too, and lose every sign of life. Let a shower come, and they revive. In like manner the so-called 'eels' of mildewed corn, after lying dry, and to all appearance dead, for a long time, will come to life again on the application of a drop of water. Moisture has revived some animalcules after a torpidity of twenty-seven years. Of late years, it has been ascertained that animalcules, after being dried in the usual way, may be subjected to a temperature far above that of boiling

*P. A. Browne of Philadelphia; Report of American Geologists and Naturalists: 1847.

Mr Gough, Nicholson's Journal, xix.

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It is difficult at least to account otherwise for the discovering of live toads and other reptiles in full-grown trees and blocks of sandstone and coal, of which there are so many instances on record; while, on the other hand, this supposition affords us an easy key to what has hitherto appeared a great mystery. Such facts are indeed disbelieved by many scientific men; but for the disbelief there is no ground whatever, except the difficulty which has been felt of accounting for the facts. M. Hubert, professor of philosophy at Caen, attests, in the volume of the French Academy for 1719, the finding of a live toad completely enclosed in the heart of an elm of the thickness of a pretty corpulent man; 'a more firm and sound elm,' he says, never grew.' In 1731, M. Leigne of Nantes laid before the Academy an account of a toad being found alive in an oak of still greater thickness, and which, from appearances, he thought must have been a prisoner for eighty or a hundred years. So familiar is this kind of fact in England, that, according to Mr Bree,† woodmen, when their axe rebounds against an unusually hard part of a tree, are accustomed to say a toad must be concealed there, the animal being always surrounded with a hard case. It is not difficult to understand how the toad gets there.' When about to commence its winter sleep, it retires into any convenient hole it can find. Many take to crevices in trees. It is ascertained that this animal can squeeze itself through a very small aperture, in order to get the desired accommodation. Suppose that this is so small as to be too much grown up before next spring to allow of the escape of the animal, there is no doubt that the toad must remain a captive. It is known to be able to survive a long time in its ordinary state without food. Suppose that the next twelvemonth closes the aperture entirely, there we have the toad consigned to a vitality for which there is no necessary end but the destruction of its prison. Mr Jesse throws some light on this subject. I remember, says he, 'some years ago getting up into a mulberrytree, and finding in the fork of the two main branches a large toad almost imbedded in the bark of the tree,

Doyer on the Revivification of Tardigrada and Rotifera. Edin. Philosophical Journal, 1843, p. 28.

† Magazine of Natural History, Nov. 1834.

which had grown over it so much, that he was quite unable to extricate himself, and would probably in time be completely covered over with the bark. Indeed there seems to be no reason why, as the tree increased in size, the toad should not, in process of time, become imbedded in it, as was the case with the end of an oaken rail that had been inserted into an elm-tree which stood close to a public footpath. This being broken off, and grown over, was, on the tree being felled and sawn in two, found nearly in the centre of it.'* The instances of toads found in blocks of stone are so numerous, that even a reasonable selection of them would be tiresome. Many have been authenticated in a manner which, for any ordinary kind of fact, would admit of no dispute. The celebrated Ambrose Pare saw a block split from which a live toad came out. In many cases, although only workmen were present at the discovery, the two pieces of the block remained, with their respective portions of the cavity, to testify the truth to all eyes. Mr John Murray says, 'I have a toad in my possession, preserved in spirit of turpentine, taken from a cavity of the solid rock upwards of 200 feet deep: the space was quite sufficient to contain the body of the animal, and the gentleman who presented the specimen to me saw it alive forty-eight hours after its detachment from the rock.'t In February 1845, a live toad was liberated from a piece of shale in the Pendarran works, Glamorganshire. It was of large size, but weak; it had no vision or feeling in its eyes, and a membrane covered its mouth, so that no food could be given to it. Its spine was also crooked, apparently in consequence of the confined space in which it had lain. Its continuing to live without a breathing aperture is no marvel in this animal, for the skin of the toad may be said to be one universal lung for the

arterialisation of the blood.

Dr Buckland some years ago made a number of experiments, in order to prove that toads could not long survive in such circumstances. They were conducted with an absence of ingenuity quite surprising in such a person. He enclosed a number of toads in compact sandstone, and a number more in porous limestone, and buried them under three feet of earth in his garden. After upwards of a year he took them up, when those immured in the sandstone were found dead and rotten, while those in the porous limestone were alive, but much emaciated; from which he inferred that it is impossible for toads to continue long alive in a state of complete abstraction from air and food. It does not seem to have occurred to the experimentalist that the alleged confinement of toads in blocks of timber and stone might have commenced while they were in a state of torpidity, and that the change of temperature taking place where no means existed for the resumption of waking and active life, the animals would probably sleep on ad infinitum. The nicety of conditions required in such experiments is shown by what M. Geoffroy St Hilaire ascertained in the course of some which he made in the freezing of toads. He found that the animals only survived when the freezing was effected slowly.

For some time there existed a geological objection to the alleged discovery of toads in stones-namely, that they were often said to be found in rocks so low as the carboniferous formation, a part of the series antecedent to the existence of reptiles. This objection, however, is now removed; for so many batrachian fossils and footsteps of batrachians have latterly been found in this formation, that the existence of toads at that epoch can no longer be doubted. We observe that Mr Lyell has lately given in his adhesion to this doctrine.

We contemplate, then, the discovery of these prisoners of the ancient world as standing in an interesting connection with that suspension of animal life usually

Gleanings in Natural History, p. 66. + Magazine of Natural History, Sept. 1833. Edin. New Philosophical Journal, April 1832.

recognised under the names of torpidity and hybernation. Apart altogether from the extraordinary consideration that here we see living animals whose age is to be numbered by millions of years, which have survived the age of ichthyosaurs and pterodactyles, and to which the birth of the mammalian tribes was but as a passing event in the midst of a mighty series, these emancipated captives might be well worthy of the attention of naturalists, and particularly that class who devote themselves to the study of the fossil species. They are almost always described as in some way pecu liar. For example, one found some years ago in the limestone of Carruber quarry in Linlithgowshire, was reported to us as having six toes. Now we know that the batrachian order have at this day a rudimental sixth toe (see Roget's Physiology'), a fact at once supporting the authenticity of the report, which came only from labouring men, and showing how much we may lose in science by continually rejecting and neglecting everything for which we cannot readily account.

VISIT TO THE CHINESE JUNK. ONE of the latest and most interesting sights of London has been the Chinese junk. The walls, omnibuses, and steamers have all concurred in placarding the Chinese junk-and as everybody has gone to see the Chinese junk, we went to see it also. A quarter of an hour by the Blackwall railway brought us to the remote extremity of the East India docks, in a recess of which, within a kind of paling, to secure privacy, lay the object of our curiosity.

Getting within the enclosure, we see before us this very odd-looking craft, as if it were run ashore on the beach; a short platform giving access to its deck. The first appearance is startling. The whole thing has the aspect of a monstrously large toy-ship; for besides being painted with divers gaudy colours, the sides are decorated with figures of dragons and other fierce creatures, designed, as may be supposed, to inspire terror in those who attempt to capture the vessel. In point of size, the junk seems to be of the dimensions of a brig of about seven hundred tons; but from the clumsiness of her build, and the heaviness of her timbers, we should doubt her capability of carrying a cargo of that weight. The stem and stern rise so high above the level of the mid part of the deck, that the shape approaches the crescent form-a half-cheese well cut down in the middle; and to complete the resemblance to the last-mentioned article, she has not, as we understood, any keel. The junk has three masts, not connected by ropes with each¦ other, as in European vessels; and each mast is furnished with a yard, to which a sail is attached. On the top of the highest is a vane in the shape of an imaginary fish, the body formed of rattan work, the head and gills made of painted matting, with two projections to serve as antennæ, and to the tail are fixed long streamers. The rudder is composed of enormously large timbers, and furnished only with a tiller or long handle it requires as many as fifteen men to move it when the helm is sunk to its extreme depth in the water. At the stem, or front part of the vessel, are hung two anchors made of iron wood, each consisting of several pieces lashed together with bamboo. With a sailing apparatus so very primitive, it is difficult to see how the vessel could perform a voyage from China to England; and from the account given, the enterprise was attended with much trouble.

The junk, which is called the Keying, is not a new vessel; it has been many years engaged in the Chinese coasting-trade, and was purchased for the purpose of being brought as a curiosity to Europe. Considerable

address was required in the negotiation, as well as getting her safely past the Bogue forts. Captain Kellett commanded her; and assisted by a crew of thirty natives and twelve English seamen, with the officers, he has the merit of navigating her to England. She left Canton on the 19th of October 1846, rounded the Cape on the 30th of March 1847, and anchored at St Helena April 17th. Here, to the amusement of the islanders, she remained till the 23d, and then put to sea. The intention was to proceed direct to England; but the mutinous state of the crew, and the shortness of provisions, compelled the commander to steer for America, and she arrived at New York on the 9th of July. After being exhibited at that city and at Boston, the Keying departed for England on the 17th of February 1848. On the 15th of March she reached Jersey, whence she was towed by a steamer, and arrived in the Thames on the 28th-the whole voyage, including the different stops, occupying nearly a year and a half. During the voyage in crossing and recrossing the Atlantic, she proved herself an admirable sea-boat-that is to say, she stood out sundry violent storms and buffetings of the waves in a very surprising way. Her sailing capacities, however, were proved to be most imperfect: when there was anything like a head wind, she went to leeward. How she survived the tumbling about in the angry waters, becomes intelligible on a slight inspection. Besides the vast quantity of wood interiorly, there are twenty huge water-tight chests which form part of the fixtures, and by these means she is always pretty secure against sinking. We may now step on board, to have a look at the deck and cabins.

On going on board, we are surprised at the little standing or walking room on deck. From a limited clear space in the middle, stairs ascend to the higher portions fore and aft, far above our head. Large beams, gaudily painted, meet the eye everywhere; and before us, on one side of the vessel, is an erection forming a galley or cooking-house, which seems a monstrous incumbrance. Within this cooking-house there are two large pans, fixed on brickwork furnaces, which open outside. Beneath the openings to the furnaces is a trough or fosse sunk in the deck, which being filled with water to receive the cinders that fall from the furnaces, the risk of fire is avoided. We now descend to the saloon, which is half sunk below the deck, and half raised to form the first storey in the elevated poop.

The saloon is thirty-two feet long, twenty-eight broad, and fifteen and a half feet in height. Detracting from this spaciousness, however, there are two beams traversing the length of the apartment, breast high, as if to bind the vessel in this direction; so that in crossing from one side to another it is necessary to stoop twice beneath these uncouth stays. With this exception, the cabin is tastefully arranged; its sides and ceiling are painted yellow, and plenteously covered with paintings of birds, flowers, monkeys, &c. On the sides there are also hung some Chinese paintings in frames and musical instruments. From the roof depend a number of lanterns of fanciful shape and variegated colours. The Chinese, as is well known, are remarkably fond of lanterns and lamps; and as a regulation of police, every person is bound to carry one after nightfall. To such an absurd length do they carry this custom,' says a printed account of the Keying, that when one of the batteries, which had fired upon the "Alceste in her passage up the Bogue, had been silenced by a broadside, and the soldiers who had manned it fled in the greatest alarm, instead of endeavouring to escape in the darkness of the night, each man seized his lantern and climbed up the steeps behind the fort. The great lighted and painted balloons which they carried formed a most excellent mark for such of our marines as might wish to fire at the retreat

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ing Chinamen, all fear of the consequences being forgotten in the practice of their daily, or rather nightly custom.' The saloon contains a round central table of beautiful inlaid wood, and a number of seats of equally of furniture is a cupboard-like shrine at the inner extasteful construction. But the most remarkable piece tremity of the apartment. This is a Joss-house, as it is called by the Chinese, from the Portuguese word deos, for god or deity, which they have ingrafted on their language. The Joss-house, which has a considerable resemblance to a Punch's show-box, contains in a sitting attitude the idol Chin-Tee, which is carved out of a solid piece of camphor-wood, and richly gilt. The odd thing about this female deity is, that she has eighteen arms, which spread out like a fan on each side, and in each hand is held an object in ordinary use, as a flag, an arrow, a bow, a flower, a bell, &c. The goddess sits so far within the Joss-house, that space is left in front for various devotional apparatus, among which is seen a censer containing gilt paper and pieces of scented wood, presented as offerings; a piece of the wood is slowly burning. Ascending to the deck, and then going between two small cabins a Joss-house for the use of the up a flight of steps to the second gallery, we find sailors, which is less ornamental than that below, but similarly provided with Joss-sticks and other votive offerings. The idol in this Joss-house is the deity of the sea, with her two attendants, each with a red scarf. Along the top of the stern are ranged a number of small flags, which add to the gaiety of the exhibition.

In this slight sketch we have omitted any notice of about the deck and galleries; likewise a number of a variety of curiosities placed in glass cases, or scattered Chinese sailors and officers, who, in proper costume, are seen lounging about the ship, as if very much at a loss what to do in the crowd of lady and gentlemen visitors. The Chinese sailors, it appears, were difficult to manage during the voyage. 'At first,' says the account already quoted, they were very particular in the performance of their idolatrous customs, burning paper, beating gongs, &c. in honour of their gods; but after a while they became negligent. It ought more correctly to be said that they voluntarily abandoned them, on the representations of Captain Kellett. One of their most common, and, to them, most highly-prized superstitions, was a belief in the efficacy of tying red rags on the rudder, cable, mast, and principal parts of the vessel, which were considered safeguards against danger. On an occasion when they were apprehensive of being attacked by a Malay proa, they tied red rags to the guns, and felt perfectly secure. One of their most revered objects was the mariner's compass: before this they would place tea, sweetcake, and pork, in order to keep it true and faithful. They gradually became accustomed to the European compass, and laid by all their own but two, which were marked, at their request, with the thirty-two points in Chinese figures, and eight divisions. During the storms and hurricanes which the Keying encountered, they were at first exceedingly terrified, but were soon restored to comparative calm by observing the steadiness and confidence of the English part of the crew. As soon as a storm was over they burned Joss paper in great abundance. A very interesting personage on board is Hesing, a mandarin of the fifth class, whose distinctive mark is a crystal button on the top of his cap. He is forty-six years old, intelligent, amiable, and gentlemanly. During the voyage he has learned a little English; but the Chinese idiomatic turn which he gives to the language, as well as the difficulty he has in pronouncing it, conspire to render him not easily understood, though he is very anxious to make himself so. Captain Kellett has also taught him to write his name in English characters, of which accomplishment he is somewhat proud. Like most of the educated Chinese, he writes his own language very beautifully.'

We left the Chinese junk very much gratified with all we had seen; and as the vessel will in all likelihood

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