object. She leaves her nest, whether it contains eggs or young ones, and endeavors to oppose the reptile's progress. In doing this, she is actuated by the strength of her instinctive attachment to her eggs, or of affection to her young. Her cry is melancholy, her motions are tremulous. She exposes herself to the most imminent dan

The Red-winged Maize-thief and Black Snake.

ger. Sometimes she approaches so near the reptile that he seizes her as his prey. But this is far from being universally the case. Often she compels the serpent to leave the tree and then returns to her nest.

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Some years since, Mr. Rittenhouse, an accurate observer, was induced to suppose, from the peculiar melancholy cry of a red-winged maize-thief, that a snake was tno great distance from it, and that the bird was in dis

tress. He threw a stone at the place from which the cry proceeded, which had the effect of driving the bird away. The poor animal, however returned to the same spot. Mr. Rittenhouse now went to the place where the bird alighted, and to his great astonishment, he found it perched upon the back of a large black snake, which it was pecking with its beak. At this very time the serpent was in the act of swallowing a young bird, and from the enlarged size of the reptile's belly it was evident that it had already swallowed two or three other young birds. After the snake was killed the old bird flew away. Mr. R. says, that the cry and actions of this bird had been precisely similar to those of a bird which is said to be under the influence of a serpent. The maize-thief builds its nest in low bushes, the bottom of which are the usual haunts of the black snake. The reptile found no difficulty in gliding up to the nest, from which most probably, in the absence of the mother, it had taken the young ones; or it had seized the young ones after they had been forced from the nest by the mother. In either case the mother had come to prevent them from being devoured.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

CITY OF PEKIN.

THE first appearance of Pekin is not very striking. In approaching a European city, a variety of objects catch the eye and amuse the mind. The towers and spires of churches, domes, obelisks, and other conspicuous structures, tower above the rest, and burst on the sight with an air of magnificence. The distant view of a Turkish city, in like manner, presenting its lofty domes and minarets, excites ideas of grandeur, and raises expectations which, on entrance, however, are generally disappointed. But this is far from being the case with the Chinese metropolis. In Pekin, not even a chimney is seen rising above the roofs of the houses, and none of the buildings within the city overtop the walls. Nothing therefore pre

sents itself to the view, but the walls, the lofty gates, and the numerous massy towers.

This city is the capital of the province of Pe-tche-li, and of the whole empire of China Proper. Its name is said to signify the "northern court," and it is so called

by way of distinction from the city of Nan-King, denominated the "southern court." Pekin was the Cambalu, or the city of the chan, in writings of the middle ages, the capital of Cathay, as Nan-King was of Mange. It is pleasantly situated in a fertile plain, and about sixty English miles from the great wall. This capital forms an oblong square, and is divided into two cities, one called the Chinese, the other the Tartar. These two cities, exclusive of the suburbs, are nearly eighteen miles in circumference. The walls of the city are twentyeight feet high, twenty-four thick at the base, and twelve at the top; and there are spacious towers at seventy feet distant from each other. The gates are high and well arched, supporting buildings of nine stories high; they are nine in number, of which three are in the south wall, and two in each of the others. The middle gate on the south side opens into the Tartar, or imperial city, which is a space within the general enclosure, about a mile in

ength from north to south, and about three quarters of a mile in breadth from east to west, with a rivulet winding through it. A wall built of large red polished bricks, twenty feet high, covered with a roof of tiles, painted yellow and varnished, surrounds this space in which are contained the imperial palace, public gardens, lodgings for the ministers, the tribunals, or public offices of government, and generally all persons connected with the

court.

Between the two other gates in the south wall, and the corresponding and opposite ones, on the north side of the city, run two streets perfectly straight, four miles in length, and one hundred and twenty feet in breadth. One street also of the same width, extends from one of the eastern to the opposite western gate, but the other is interrupted by the imperial city, round the walls of which it is carried. The cross lanes branch from the main` streets at right angles, are extremely narrow, but the houses are of the same construction as those of the principal streets. All the streets of the Chinese capital are unpaved, and consequently must, in so crowded a city, be extremely dusty in summer, and dirty in winter. Few of the houses in Pekin exceed one story; and none but the great shops have either windows or openings, towards the streets; but most of them have a sort of terrace, with a railed balcony. The population of Pekin was supposed, by a missionary in the last century, to amount to sixteen millions. Another reduces, at least that of the Tartar city, to a million and a quarter. Ac cording to the best information however, the city con tains about three millions of souls.

The temples of Pekin have no claim to elegance, when compared to its palaces; every house having its altars and its deities. A Russian church has been established in the city, with a seminary, in which the students are permitted to reside, for the purpose of learning the Chinese language. Since this establishment, many interesting publications have appeared at St. Petersburgh, relative to the laws, history, and geography of China, translated from the originals published at Pekin. The

city has been visited by several destructive fires, and in 1713 by an earthquake, which buried more than one hundred thousand of its inhabitants in the ruins of the houses.'

ARABIAN HOSPITALITY.

The

Hajji Ben Hassuna, a chief of a party of the Bey's (of Tripoli) troops, pursued by Arabs lost his way, and was benighted near the enemy's camp. Passing the door of a tent which was open, he stopped his horse and implored assistance, being exhausted with fatigue and thirst. warlike Arab bid his enemy enter his tent with confidence, and treated him with all the respect and hospitality for which his people are so famous. The highest among them, like the patriarchs of old, wait on their guest. A man of rank when visited by a stranger, quickly fetches a lamb from his flock and kills it, and his wife superintends her women in dressing it in the best

manner.

With some of the Arabs, the primitive custom, so often spoken of in the Bible, of washing the feet, is yet adopted, and this compliment is performed by the head of the family. Their supper was the best of the fatted lamb roasted; their dessert, dates and dried fruit; and the Arab's wife, to honor more particularly her husband's guest, set before him a dish of "boseen" of her own making. This was a preparation of flour and water kneaded into a paste, which being half baked was broken into pieces and kneaded again with new milk, oil, and salt, and garnished with "kadeed," or mutton, dried and salted in the highest manner.

Though these two chiefs were opposed in war, they talked with candor and friendship to each other, recounting the achievements of themselves and their ancestors, when a sudden paleness overspread the countenance of the host. He started from his seat and retired, and in a few moments afterwards sent word to his guest that his bed was prepared, and all things ready for his repose; that he was not well himself, and could not attend to