every line of which is very pure. This is the book that is destined to produce a great, wonderful, and splendid moral revolution— a revolution that shall procure light for darkness-joy for woe-peace for warholiness for impiety—and fill the wide universe with songs of joy. This is the book that shall be read, revered, and loved, when the Vedas and Shastres of the Hindoo, and the Koran of Mahomet, shall have been swept into an ignominious oblivion. This book shall then be exalted among the emancipated nations of the earth, and send forth its pure, sublime, and immortal truths into every land, every house, and every heart. THE AMERICAN PANTHER, OR JAGUAR. THIS is an inhabitant of Paraguay and the Brazils, and is one of the strongest of the cat tribe next to the tiger. More thick and compact in his limbs and form than the leopard, he measures five or six feet in length, and stands nearly three feet high. His markings vary from a very deep chocolate-brown upon a rich yellow ground, to rings without spots, or to where the rings can scarcely be traced at all. He is an excellent climber, and equally expert at swimming. Sonnini says he has seen the prints left by the claws of the jaguar on the smooth bark of a tree forty or fifty feet in length, where he has ascended after monkeys; and he has been known to swim, with the body of a horse that he had killed, across a broad and deep river. He is said to seize the fish on the shallows, and to pursue the turtle into the sea; or if he surprises them sleeping on the sand, he turns a number on their backs, so that they cannot rise, and afterwards devours them at his leisure, unless when the Indians perceive his operations, and deprive him of his store. He is fierce and sanguinary, but cowardly; and if he venture to attack a man, it is always by surprise. THE VULTURE. "A rav'nous vulture in his open'à side Her crooked beak and cruel talons tried." THIS bird, though not generally the best known, or most frequently mentioned, is considerably the largest of all the birds of prey, the eagle itself not excepted. There are above thirty species of the vulture scattered, principally, over the warmer parts of the globe. The largest species is found in South America. The name of Vulture seems to have been given to birds of this genus from their peculiarly piercing sight; a faculty, indeed, which distinguishes almost all the birds of prey. The largest of the vulture tribe is the Condor, of South America; a bird which possesses all the formidable qualities of the eagle, but in a much higher degree. Though totally unknown in England, the Vulture is common in many parts of Europe; and in Egypt, Arabia, and many other kingdoms of Africa and Asia, he is found in great abundance. In Egypt, and particularly in Grand Cairo, there are great flocks of them, which render a most important service to the inhabitants, by devouring all the filth and carrion, which might otherwise render the air pestilential. The ancient Egyptians were so sensible of the utility of this bird, that they made it a capital crime to put one of them to death. In Brazil, these birds may be deemed peculiarly serviceable, from the circumstance of their checking the increase of the crocodile tribe. The female crocodile frequently lays her eggs, to the number of one or two hundred, on the side of the river, and covers them carefully with the sand, to conceal them from all other animals. In the mean time, a number of Vultures watch her motions from the branches of some neighbour ing forest; and, on her retiring, they encourage each other with loud cries, pour down upon the spot, lay the eggs bare, and devour them in a few moments. In Palestine they do infinite service, by destroying the swarms of rats and mice, which, did they not thin them, would eat up all the fruits of the ground. Vultures make their nests in the most remote and inaccessible rocks, and produce but once a year. Those of Europe, indeed, seldom come down into the plains, except when the rigours of winter have banished from their native retreats all living animals but themselves. They are capable of enduring hunger for an extraordinary length of time. FRUIT GATHERING. SPRING has it charms, and summer its glories, but autumn gives us the fruits. We love autumn; for although the days do get shorter, yet there is that splendid harvest moon, making it "light as day," when little folks, full of life and joy, sing their merry play-call : Lads and lasses come out to play, The moon is shining as bright as day; |