MAGNITUDE OF THE OCEAN.

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" (Isaiah xl. 12.)

One of the quantities which enters into the constitution of the terrestrial system of things, is the bulk of the waters of the ocean. The mean depth of the sea, according to Laplace, is four or five miles. On this supposition, the addition to the sea of one-fourth of the existing waters, would drown the whole of the globe, except a few chains of mountains. Whether this be exact or no, we can easily conceive the quantity of water which lies in the cavities of our globe to be greater or less than it at present is. With every such addition or subtraction, the form of the dry land would vary; and if this change were considerable, many of the present relations of things would be altered.

It may be sufficient to mention one effect of such a change. The sources which water the earth,- both the clouds, rains, and rivers, are mainly fed by the aqueous vapours raised from the sea; and, therefore, if the sea were much diminished, and the land increased, the mean quantity of moisture distributed upon the land must be diminished,--and the character of climates, as to wet and dry, materially affected. Similar, but opposite changes, would result from the increase of the surface of the ocean. It appears, then, that the magnitude of the ocean is one of the conditions to which the structure of all organized beings, dependent upon climate, must be adapted.

DR. MORRISON, AND THE FRENCH SEAMEN MURDERED BY CHINESE

SEAMEN.

Dr. Morrison's learned labours in China, must have left an impression on the minds of many, far beyond

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what will ever be known on this side eternity. His influence with many of the Chinese in authority, as Interpreter of the East India Company," must have been beneficial in various ways, of which we have but little information; and his invaluable translation of the Scriptures into the Chinese, with his other truly Christian writings, cannot fail to be made a saving blessing to many, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Seamen are indebted to the labours of that devoted Christian Missionary; and though his grand object in residing at Canton, would not allow him to fulfil the duties of a Sailors' Minister, yet various were the services rendered to them, by preaching, writing, an active works of benevolence.

Davis's valuable work on China,* gives the following affecting narrative, which will serve various important purposes in the PILOT, illustrating the dangerous occupation of seamen-their need of the consolations of the gospel of Christ-and the importance of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society :

"But the case of the French ship, 'Navigateur,' in 1828, was still more remarkable, and may be given nearly from the relation of M. Laplace, captain of the eighteen-gun La Favorite,' whose observations on the Chinese we have had occasion to quote in another place. The 'Navigateur,' a merchantman, was compelled, by stress of weather, to put into Touron Bay, on the coast of Cochin-China. The disabled state of the ship, the difficulty of effecting the necessary repairs, and the well-known unfriendliness of the local authorities, forced the captain and crew to the necessity of selling her to the King of Cochin-China, and embarking themselves with their most valuable effects on board a Chinese junk, which was engaged to carry them to Macao. The voyage was short, but still long enough to enable the crew of the junk to conceive and execute a dreadful conspiracy against the Frenchmen. It was in vain that one of the oldest of the Chinese endeavoured, by signs, to draw the attention of the French captain to the danger which threatened him; the latter had contented himself with making one or two of his sailors

*The Chinese,' a general description of the empire of China and its inhabitants, by John Francis, Esq., F.R.S. &c. late His Majesty's Chief Superintendent in China, 2 vols. Illustrated with wood cuts. London.

keep watch by day, as well as during the night; but this charge was the more negligently executed, inasmuch as most of the people, in consequence of their previous sufferings, had to contend with fever or dysentery.

"The junk was already within sight of the great Ladrone island, the mark by which Macao is made in the southerly monsoon; and the Chinese passengers disembarked at once into boats, with an eagerness which ought to have roused the suspicions of the Europeans. The night passed quietly, and the dawning light seemed to propose a happy landing to the Frenchmen; but it was destined to witness their massacre. The greater number of these unfortunate men, still asleep, were despatched with hatchets and knives, by the crew of the junk; and their captain, assailed by the assassins in the cabin which he occupied with his mates, after killing several of the Chinese, fell himself the last. One seaman, however, still remained, who, armed with an iron bar, continued to make a desperate resistance, though wounded in the head. Having reached the deck, almost overcome with this unequal conflict, he leaped into the sea, and thus appeared to ensure, by his certain death, impunity to the murderers.

'He swam, however, to the nearest fishing-boat, but was denied succour, with the usual selfish prudence of the Chinese; another boat, however, received him on board, and landed him by night at Macao. Sick and wounded as he was, he wandered unknown about the streets, but at length discovered the abode of the French missionaries, who at once relieved him from his immediate wants. In the mean while, the French consul had arrived from Canton, and the affair being brought by him to the notice of the Portuguese authorities at Macao, was placed in the hands of the Chinese Mandarines. By the information obtained from the French sailor, the Chinese passengers, who had quitted the junk previously to the massacre, were summoned to Canton. From them was obtained full evidence as to the criminals and their design; and a strict embargo was at once laid on all the vessels within the province of Canton, and the neighbouring province of Fokien.

"The assassins, being soon arrested in their junk, were put in iron cages, and conveyed to Canton for trial. On their arrival it was ordained by the Emperor's strict order, that the trial and punishment should take place in the presence of the Europeans. Among the English spectators was the interpreter of the East India Company, Dr. Morrison, the author of the Chinese Dictionary, whose labours have been so useful towards illustrating the literature of the country, and who was destined on this occasion to experience a very gratifying reward for his pains in acquiring the language. His attention having been attracted by the loud complaints of an old man, who, like the others, was shut up in a cage with iron bars, and who, in protesting his innocence, called for the French sailor whose life he had contributed to save, Dr. Morrison approached the old man, heard him, and

promised his assistance with the judges. Accompanied by the Frenchmen, he presented himself before the mandarines, pleaded the 'cause of his client, and called to their recollection that maxim of Chinese law and of humanity in general, that it is better to let even the guilty escape, than to punish the innocent.' He obtained the consent of the court, that the sailor should be confronted with the accused; and these, on the first sight of each other, immediately embraced and shed tears, to the great interest and sympathy of the audience. The judges themselves yielded to the general sentiment, and at once absolved the old Out of twenty-four prisoners, seventeen were condemned and decapitated at once, and their chief put to a lingering death in presence of the Europeans."

man.

66 THE VESSEL NEVER HEARD OF MORE!"

[From the Poems of John Malcolm.]

Her mighty sails the breezes swell,
And fast she leaves the lessening land,
And from the shore the last farewell
Is waved by many a snowy hand;
And weeping eyes are on the main,
Until its verge she wanders o'er;
But, from the hour of parting pain,
That bark was never heard of more!

In her was many a mother's joy,
And love of many a weeping fair;
For her was wafted, in its sigh,

The lonely heart's unceasing prayer;
And, oh! the thousand hopes untold

Of ardent youth, that vessel bore;
Say, were they quench'd in waters cold?
For she was never heard of more!

When on her wide and trackless path
Of desolation, doomed to flee,
Say, sank she 'midst the blending wrath
Of racking cloud and rolling sea?
Or, where the land but mocks the eye,
Went drifting on a fatal shore?

Vain guesses all,---her destiny

Is dark---she ne'er was heard of more!