"Dark green was that spot 'mid the brown mountain heather,
Where the pilgrim of Nature lay stretched in decay,
Like the corpse of an outcast abandoned to weather,
Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay:
Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended,
For faithful in death, his dumb favourite attended,
The much-loved .emains of her master defended,
And chased the hill-fox and the raven away.

How long did'st thou think that his silence was slumber?
When the wind waved his garments how oft did'st thou start?
How many long days and long nights did'st thou number?
Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart!
Say, oh! was it meet that no requiem read o'er him!
No mother to weep, and no friend to deplore him,
And thou, little guardian, alone stretched before him,
Unhonour'd, the pilgrim from life should depart."

Duncan's Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons.

A-cad-e-mi'cians, members of an academy, philosophers; ob-scu'ri-ty, darkness; lay'er, coating; im-pres'sion, stamp; per-cus'sion, striking; ap'er-ture, open place; al-ter'nate-ly, by turns; in-dig'en-ous, natural; ex-ude', sweat out; pen'e-trate, make way; tar-paul'ing, cloth smeared with tar; flam'beaux, torches; di-am'e-ter, the line which divides a circle into two equal parts; chem'ist, one who separates bodies by fire; fa-cil'i-ty, ease; Bra-zil', a country of South America; Quit'o, a province and city of South America.

THE substance called India-Rubber was not known in Europe until the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was then brought, as a great curiosity, from South America.

It generally appeared in this country, in the shape of bottles, birds, or other fantastically moulded forms; and nothing could be learned of its nature, or of the manner of obtaining it, except, that it was of vegetable production. Europeans continued in this ignorance of its origin, until a number of the French Academicians, undertook a voyage to South America in 1735, for the purpose of obtaining the correct admeasurement of a degree of the meridian. These philosophers did not confine their attention to the one great object of their pursuit, but likewise enriched the scientific world by ascertaining many facts connected with Natural history which had heretofore been hidden in obscurity. Among these subjects, the manner in which India-Rubber was produced became an object of inquiry. These Academicians discovered trees* in Brazil, whence flowed a milky juice, which, when dried, proved to be what is called India-Rubber, and it has since been discovered that it may likewise be obtained from another species of treet growing in South America.

If these trees are punctured, a milky juice flows out, which, on exposure to air, thickens into a substance of a pure white colour, having neither taste nor smell. The hue of the IndiaRubber which comes to this country is black, in consequence of the method employed in drying it. The usual manner of performing this operation is to spread a thin coating of the milky juice upon moulds made of clay, and fashioned into a variety of figures. These are then dried by exposure to the heat of a smoke fire; another layer is then spread over the first, and dried by the same means, and thus layer after layer is put on until the whole is of the required thickness. While yet soft it will receive and retain any impression that

*Called by the natives hevè.

† Called the jatropha elastica.

may be given to it on the outside. When perfectly dry the clay form within is broken into small fragments by percussion, and the pieces are drawn out through the aperture which is always left for the purpose. The common bottle of IndiaRubber, therefore, tonsists of numerous layers of itself in a pure state with as many layers of soot.

The natives of those parts of South America, to which these trees are indigenous, convert the juice to a variety of purposes. They collect it chiefly in the rainy season, because, though it will exude at all times, it flows then most abundantly. Boots are made of it by the Indians, through which water cannot penetrate; and the inhabitants of Quito prepare a kind of cloth with it, which they apply to the same purposes as those for which oil-cloth or tarpauling is used here. This, no doubt, is similar to the cloth now prepared with this substance in England, the use of which, promises to yield so many important advantages. The South Americans fashion it into flambeaux, which give a beautiful light, and emit an odour which is not unpleasant to those who are accustomed to use them: but Europeans are annoyed by the fetid smell which they diffuse. One of these, an inch and a half in diameter, and two feet long, will burn during twelve hours.

India-Rubber possesses some peculiar and remarkable properties, which, from the earliest period of its being known in Europe, have been subjects of the diligent investigation of some of the most eminent chemists. It is the most pliable and elastic of known substances, and so tenacious, that it cannot be broken, without considerable force. It has always been the desire of chemists to dissolve India-Rubber by some means which would allow it to re-form, and to assume different figures, with the same facility as they can be imparted, when in its original state of fluidity.

Within the last two years, two solvents, which can be abundantly and cheaply supplied, have been found for it, which, when evaporated, leave it unchanged. By these means, this substance is made to be of extensive application. A thin coating of the solution spread on any texture, renders it impervious to the air or moisture, while, at the same time, it can be folded in as portable a form, as before it had received this preparation. Hence pillows, and even beds, are formed out of bags thus made air-tight; and these being furnished with a small tube and stop-cock, may be inflated at pleasure into soft elastic cushions.-Cloaks having their lining of this material, are found to be effectually waterproof. Penny Magazine.

13.-Foreign Lands.

SPEAK but of foreign lands-we see
The child of nature wandering free:
The wild wood hunter fearless press
Throughout the flowery wilderness.

Who does not trace the lonely path
Trod by the lion in his wrath;
Or feast his soul with all that lies
Lovely and strange beneath the skies?
We think upon a foreign land—
What wild, luxurious scenes expand!
The broad, deep river, like a sea,
The untrodden wood's immensity.
The green and quiet tracks of rest
That hide within the forest's breast;
That stillness, so profound and dread,
Ne'er broke by human voice, nor tread.

We see the gorgeous flowers that lie,
In myriads, 'neath the tropic sky;
And hear the bird, with wild cry, wake
The night-hush of the forest brake.

'Tis thus―yet foreign lands and seas
Bring other, deeper thoughts than these,
For is there one who hath not lost
Some dear one on a foreign coast?