drown the clash of our weapons, and the partial obscurity will shield us from interruption.'

He then drew from the morocco case, which we have already described, a bayonet-bladed rapier in four pieces, which he screwed into each other. Having then sprung the blade from point to handle, he stood in the first position, awaiting his rival.

"I have to apologise for keeping you waiting," said Glenmore, divesting himself of his military trappings until he stood in his shirt-sleeves; -"but these accoutrements are not exactly adapted for an encounter like the one in which we are about to engage."

He then rolled up his sleeve to the shoulder, displaying, as he did so, an arm of bronze. Having produced from his case a weapon similar to the one already described, he sprang it, as Lyndon had done, and took up his position opposite to his antagonist.

Although the combatants presented a marked contrast in physical appearance, each was a true type of his class. Lyndon, the man of thought, was slender, but beautifully formed, and it was easy to perceive, from the manner in which he handled his rapier, that he had a wrist of iron, yet flexible as spring-steel. Glenmore, the man of action, on the other hand, was a perfect athlete muscular and agile as a tiger, yet evidently a perfect master of the small-sword.

:

Having saluted and measured distance, they engaged weapons, and, in a moment, passes rapid as flashes of lightning were interchanged between them. It is, however, unnecessary to describe all the details of the engagement. One side of the rapier of each was magnetised; and it may easily be imagined, that between two such masters of fence, the most exquisite science was displayed.

Furious at being foiled, Glenmore hissed through his set teeth, "All is fair in love and war, Lyndon !" At the same moment, he sprang a valve, and an acid was emitted from the tubular blade of his weapon, which, running down the magnetic side of his rival's rapier, rendered powerless its quality of adherence.

A cruel smile passed over Glenmore's features; but it was of short duration.

Lyndon was quite prepared to foil his rival, even with his own weapons. While the valve was being sprung, he had attached a wire to the handle of his rapier, thin drawn as a hair, which communicated with a small but powerful battery, concealed under his vest. With a twist of his wrist, a full shock of the electric current made the huge frame of Glenmore tremble like an aspen leaf. Almost instantaneously, the rapier of Lyndon pinned his sword-arm to his side, and he fell to the earth like a column of granite-almost as heavy, and for the moment equally insensible.

Lyndon leisurely withdrew his weapon, and wiping it, replaced it in its case. He then put on his cloak, which, in the shadow in which he was standing, seemed to bear the appearance of something between a pair of wings and an Inverness wrapper.

1

Perceiving that Glenmore was recovering from the shock he had received, and hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, he slowly raised his arms; the cloak became inflated, and, rapidly rising into the air, he melted away as it were, and at length became a mere speck, hanging between earth and sky.

In the meantime, Glenmore had managed to regain his feet; but, faint from the fatigue of the combat, the shock he had received, and loss of blood, he would have been unable to reach the hotel, had he not been discovered by some of the revellers, who assisted him to his chamber, and sent at once.for the nearest medical aid.

CHAPTER IV.

WHILE the combat we have attempted to describe was being so ruthlessly carried on in the Victoria Gardens, a gentler scene was being enacted in the home of the Rose of Cashmere. She was seated between two girls, beautiful as day, and surpassed in loveliness only by her who

"Walked in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies," all the brightness of light and darkness meeting in her eyes and aspect. The Rose of Cashmere was indeed a won

"Isabel Leonard!" interrupted Laura "You do yourself an injus

Are picture both and poetry."

Her childhood had passed—

"'Mid radiant things,

Glorious as Hope's imaginings;

Statues but known from shapes of the earth
By being too lovely for mortal birth;
Paintings whose colours of life were caught
From the fairy tints in the rainbow wrought;
Music whose sighs had a spell like those
That float on the sea at the evening's close ;
Language so silvery that every word
Was like the lute's awakening chord;
Skies half sunshine and half starlight;
Leaves whose green tints knew no withering;
Fountains bright as the skies of our spring;
And songs whose wild and passionate verse
Suited a soul of romance like her's."

We shall not, however, anticipate our story by any reference to the past. As the song says

"The present moment is our ownThe next we never saw!" "Dearest Zella," said the elder of the two girls between whom she was seated—“ You will not forget us in that far off land which the genius of Lyndon and others is said to be making the first in the world ?"

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Never, my own Laura !"-was the reply; and the girl was pressed to a bosom pure as heaven, save where a little idol of clay had been permitted to erect a shrine, which, although humble and unpretending then, as years progressed, and as the bud burst into the flower, would yet raise its spire beyond the skies, and sink its foundation deeper than the grave-"If I retain a pleasant remembrance in connection with India, it will be of yourself and your mother Mrs. Glenmore-not forgetting my own little Isabel, here, who will soon have nothing to apprehend from the presence of the Rose of Cashmere!"

A flush, rosy as morning, suffused

tice. Trust me, the time is not far distant when my high-reaching brother will kneel a suppliant at your feet; and were I in your place," she continued, with a flashing eye and a curling lip,"he should remain there until his knees were bare, before I gave him either look or token of encouragement. Brother of mine though he be, men like George Glenmore ought to be taught to stoop! If woman were only true to herself, she could bend to her will the haughtiest head in Christendom. thony yielded up a world for the sunny smiles of Egypt's Queen, and Alexander of Macedon forgot glory in the arms of love: but the Fourth James, the flower of chivalry, did more than all-he not only sacrificed a kingdom, but his life, for a smile and a ring! Who can forget the glorious lines of Aytoun in describing the hero's death :

An

'But a rampart rose before them, Which the boldest dared not scale ; Every stone a Scottish body,

Every step a corpse in mail!

And behind it lay our monarch, Clenching still his shivered sword: By his side Montrose and Athol,

At his feet a Southron lord.

All so thick they lay together,

When the stars lit up the sky, That I knew not who were stricken, Or who yet remained to die!

Few there were when Surrey halted, And his wearied host withdrew ; None but dying men around me,

When the English trumpet blew.

Then I stooped, and took the banner,
As you see it, from his breast,
And I closed our hero's eyelids,

And I left him to his rest.'

"This is, however, not a time for recollections such as these: the time has come for action. Should Lyndon

The stars of morning were already losing their lustre, and the Ghauts loomed solemn and shadow-like in that deep twilight which separates night from day-the invisible line of nature which intervenes between life and death, time and eternity, defying alike the eye of man and the light of science-the angel of the starry threshold, who introduces infancy to the cradle and age to the grave ever bearing upon her golden pinions blooming buds from heaven or withered flowers from earth!

The air was so still, that even a falling leaf would have broken the silence, and the beating of Zella's heart sounded fearfully loud and distinct. She was not, however, permitted to remain long in this fearful state of suspense. Her quick ear, in such a state of tension, easily detected an approaching rustle, like the flight of some large bird; and, peering into the distance, she beheld advancing a dark object, cleaving the air with all that ease and grace with which the swans of northern latitudes cross the sky for warmer climes. In another instant, Lyndon dropped at her feet, his wings collapsing, and falling in graceful folds over his arms, precisely in the manner of the cape of a well-made Inverness wrapper.

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Zella, my heart's beloved!" he murmured, as he folded her to his breast

"But see!" he hastily observed"the dawn is breaking, and we must be far on our way before the Ghauts lose their crowns of gold."

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Stay for a moment, while I leave a parting kiss on the lips of those I may see no more. Our farewells have been already exchanged."

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Delay not one instant. I should be glad to greet your companions were it but for a moment; but I cannot do so with the blood of Glenmore still red upon my sword."

Zella glided softly into the apartment she had previously quitted; and as she did so, Lyndon drew from under his cloak a garment similar to the one he wore.

Throwing it over his arm, he leaned against the balustrade, to watch the rosy fingers of morning sprinkle with light the eastern sky.

There are few spectacles more gorgeous than sunrise in Bombay. The first indication of the dawn is the paling of the stars; then a line, thin as a gossamer thread, reveals the horizon ; dark outlines mark the distant range of Ghauts, and nearer to the eye a forest of spars and masts rises above the mist and darkness. The harbour is covered with fog, thick as clouds on mountain tops; but far away seaward, a line of blue suggests azure waves and cloudless skies, undarkened by a shadow, and undimmed by a reflection, the water-line alone serving as the division between the concave and the convex of the starry circle.

Lyndon almost forgot the flight of time in gazing on the splendid picture. It reminded him of the land of his beloved, where

"At noon, when the magic of daylight awakes, A new wonder each minute, as slowly it breaks

Hills, cupolas, fountains called forth, every one, Out of darkness, as if but just born of the sun. When the spirit of fragrance is up with the day,

From his harem of night-flowers stealing away;

And the windfall of wantonness woos, like a lover,

The young aspen trees, till they tremble all

he drew her to him, and enveloped her in the wrapper which hung upon his

arm.

"Have you faith in me, dearest ?” he breathed in her ear, as they stood on the verge of the balcony.

"Yes, Lyndon"; she said, simply. "I love you-and in danger or death, glory or shame, the Rose of Cashmere will be by your side!"

"One kiss, then, life of my heart! and then away to a land of liberty, where cottages look out on domains palaces might envy."

With these words he took her hand, the cloaks became inflated, and with the rapidity of birds, the lovers sprang into the air, and were soon only discernible as specks between earth and sky in the southern horizon.

CULTIVATION OF COFFEE.

PART II.

OF THE CULTURE OF THE COFFEE TREE DURING THE SEVERAL PERIODS OF ITS DURATION.

THE improvement and appropriation to our use of the productions of nature is the general object of culture, with a view both to increase the quantity and ameliorate the quality. But the science of culture is like the science of medicine. In both, it is the general and particular object to assist nature, which, in such cases, will gladly conspire with our exertions; but if thwarted, at least for a length of time and with rudeness, will be found rebellious. Hence a proper study of the plant, the object of our care, demands our first attention. We ought to make ourselves familiarly acquainted with its origin, its progress, its decay, its temperament, its disposition;→I had almost said its habits and inclinations. In consequence, I beg leave to expatiate on some circumstantial particulars relative to this subject.

The original reproductive sprout of the coffee tree is in the seed. Thus the bountiful hand of the Creator has multiplied it almost to infinity. Take a seed, and open its fissure or stigma-you will hardly perceive the sprout; it is indeed exceedingly delicate. If the seed is kept long in a state of siccity, it withers into sterility, whereas, when it is green, it shoots out with wonderful ease and strength.

Let the seed, with its parchment,* be laid only upon a wet soil, you see it open itself a

* Germination also takes place from the whole cherry, as will be seen in the article of Nurseries.

little. A pedicle peeps out, an extremity of which leans towards the ground. Here two radicles are seeking, and soon grasp, their nurse. The other extremity rears itself up, loaded with the whole seed. In a short time, two follicles, almost round, and of a thin yellow colour, unfold themselves, from the very substance of the seed, and shake off the parchment. The stigma or fissure seemed to mark their separation, on the flat side of the seed; and, on the round

side, they seemed perfectly blended together; but now they part of themselves. Thus it is the seed itself which spreads out into these two follicles, which turn green by the contact of the air.

From between them a small top rises. Its point is acute, and divides itself into two leaves, of lanceolous form. The sapling rises again and again, still in the same manner, bearing its leaves two and two, or axillary, at equal distances, and every pair opposite to each other, above and below.

When the sapling has several leaves, the two original follicles fall; when it is about twelve or fifteen inches high, the boughs begin to make their appearance at the eye, close above the stem of the leaves. When these boughs, which originate from the trunk (and which may be distinguished as primary), have acquired strength, the leaves at their origin fall.

The sapling rises, always bearing leaves, and afterwards boughs above them, by pairs, or in axillary form, and opposite. These boughs lengthen themselves in the same manner and proportion; and as they grow they always end, as the trunk, in a sharp point, which divides itself into two leaves, between which another point shoots out; that is, another pair of leaves, which also spread out at a proper distance; and so on.

In their turn, secondary branches shoot out, directly above every leaf of the primary ones.' These make their growth as the former, and bear tertiary branches, if the tree is luxuriant. Where that goes further, it is always in the same order.

Here a material observation is necessary, as it is, in a great measure, the foundation of the whole system of lopping or pruning.

The vertical sapling or trunk has been shown, bearing its boughs, or primary branches, in opposite pairs; so that the inferior ones exhibit the figure of a cross with the superior, thus the four branches spreading in four different directions; and this is necessary, that the tree be garnished all round, without being embarrassed. Exactly from the same principle of avoiding encumbrance, the arrangement of the secondary and tertiary branches is different. They all are placed by pairs, on both sides of the mother branches, so that all spread out horizontally, and with direction, in some measure, towards the circumference. If any

Now I suppose the tree to be about four or five feet high. The boughs near the ground will extend wider, as they are nearer the source of vegetation, so that the shape of the tree is pyramidal. All those branches of three orders or more garnish it richly, but, as all are horizontal from below upwards, all diverging from the centre, more or less, all placed either at the four faces of the trunk (and these at distances at least eight or nine inches from each other, at the same face), or both sides of the mother branches, the profusion of nature can neither be perplexed nor intricate.

That beautiful economy of nature must be remembered, and the accidental wanderings checked and repressed into that order; for a period will arrive, when the hand of man must force nature from her common directions and arrangement. The redress of that is the business of culture, as the article of pruning will explain.

The coffee tree is classed among the shrubs. Its natural height will seldom exceed fifteen or eighteen feet. The size of the trunk is proportionable; but, being probably improved by culture, it is usually from two to five inches in diameter, in correspondence to the difference of soil. In infancy, the primary boughs shoot out near the ground; but when the tree becomes fully grown, it is probable they would fall, and that the tree, if left to itself, would have the form of all others— that is, a naked trunk and a branchy head.

Confined to the usual height, the coffee tree is one of the most elegant productions of nature. Its shape is that of a fine bush, pyramidical and luxuriant, without confusion. Its leaves are of a deep green colour, lanceolous, polished, and shining, chiefly on the superior surface; its blossoms, spreading a sweet pleasing fragrance, are absolutely like small white jessamines, supported by short stems, composed of a calix, four follicles, and a pistil, with its stamina lightly tinged with yellow, the whole upon a short stem. If they happen to be blasted, they fall immediately burnt, but if the infant fruit forms a knot, then the flower falls to the end of the pistil, and remains there suspended, the pistil still adhering to the fruit till both are dried and fall together. The little

green fruit grows on until it becomes yellow; as it approaches ripeness, it spreads itself over with red spots and streaks, which widen till the fruit is perfectly ripe,_and of a deep shining purple colour. Both the flowers and fruit spring forth in large clusters going off from every leaf or bud, and at the diverging of the branches; and, in both states, nature is nowhere more profuse and beautiful in the variety of its colours and forms.

The coffee tree is endued, in an extraordinary degree, with vegetable life; being cut, it grows again in many sprigs. Its branches, cut and placed in the ground, by any of their ends, have been seen to bear roots and leaves indifferently. I saw one fallen from a height of thirty feet with its clod; it stopped on a road, and there bore fruit for several years, and perhaps even now. The bark of the tree is grey, compact, and moderately rough; its wood is white, but hard, knotty, with very little sapwood and central pith. Under ground, it has a pivot or perpendicular root, three or four feet deep; the roots, at first large, end in an immense bulk of capillary fibres. If the pivot finds the quick stone, gravel stone, or clay, the tree will not last long; but it, as well as the roots, find their way through stony ground, and, if there is a good proportion of mould, suffer no inconvenience; nay, the tree may do better, as the stones keep the mould together.

The duration of the tree, and the period when it begins to bear, vary according to the climate and soil: the duration is above thirty years in the best situations, and not more than six or five in the worst: the

period of bearing is after the second year in warm soils, and the third in the coolest. The full crop follows next year, or even sometimes a year later in the most favourable circumstances. Culture may influence the term of duration, and chiefly, if the land be easy and the mould rich, a whole plantation may be spun out into an interminate length, new trees being planted as the old ones die away.

Trees of different kinds are met with.

One, bearing small narrow leaves, a little crisped, which has been fancifully named Mocha coffee. One, the boughs of which are stiff, and rise much above the horizontal line. But by far the best and most productive is that described above, which bears large even leaves, and the boughs of which, naturally horizontal, are gracefully inclined by their weight. This must be exclusively preferred. It would be a matter of curiosity, but perhaps of little use, and it is beyond my reach to investigate, how these varieties have been produced, as it is very likely that a single kind only has been imported into the West India settlements. A botanist might expatiate upon this subject, and, after