NATURE'S REPOSITORY.

ANIMALS OF AFRICA,

THE high plains and terraces of Southern Africa are remarkable for their extraordinary change of aspect in the succession of the seasons. During the summer heats they are perfect deserts, answering to the term applied to them, Karroos, from the Hottentot language, signifying dry or arid. But the sandy soil being pervaded with the roots and fibres of various plants, it is spontaneously clothed with the richest verdure after the rains, and becomes transformed for a time into a vast garden of gorgeous flowers, yielding the most fragrant odours. Adapted thus to the support of gramnivorous animals, the Karroos are the resort of antelopes, zebras, quaggas, and gnus, in countless herds, and of the carnivorous beasts that prey upon them, the lion, the hyena, the leopard, and the cheetah. These quadrupeds, however, with the elephant and the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, buffalo, and ostrich have been largely banished from their old haunts by the advanced footsteps of civilized man, and are now only to be found in the more secluded districts.

No where but in such a country as Africa, where vegetation is so rank and prolific, could such stupendous animals as the Rhinoceros find an existence, they consume such enormous quantities of food. The skin of this animal seems as if it was laid on in plates, and is in many parts impervious to a musket-ball. From its nose rises a large and strong horn; which, as a means of offence as well as an assistance in enabling it to tear up the roots of trees is almost indispensable to its existence. This instrument however, does not arrive at perfect development for some years. The recent work of Mr. Gordon Cumming, the Lion Slayer, gives us many interesting anecdotes regarding the habits and appearance of the Rhinoceros, as he found him while pursuing his adventures amid the wilds of Africa.

COURAGE OF THE HAWK.-A hawk lately chased a full-grown cat into the cottage of one of the herdsmen of R. Burdon, Esq., of Castle Eden. The hawk was most ferocious, and only after it had bitten the herdsman rather severely was it captured.

INSTINCT OF THE HORSE.-A letter recently received by a gentleman in Derby, from a relation in Australia, says: "My dog Keeper (a Scotch deerhound) died from want of water-it was a dreadful day-I had ridden on horseback a journey of 70 miles over the plains. My horse and I were nearly worn out, when suddenly he pricked his ears, neighed, and became so

restive I could hardly manage him. I gave him his head, when he sprang into a canter, and in about a mile I had the welcome sight of water."

ARCTIC HARES.-They are very beautiful, as white as swan's down, with a crescent of black marking the ear-tips. They feed on the bark and catkins of the willow, and affect the stony sides of the worn-down rocks, where they find protection from the wind and snow-drifts. They do not burrow like our hares at home, but squat in crevices or under large stones. Their average weight is about nine pounds. Parry found the hare at Melville Island in latitude 75°; but we have traced it from Littleton Island as far north as 79° 08', and its range probably extends still farther north toward the Pole. Its structure and habits enable it to penetrate the snow-crusts, and obtain food where the reindeer and the musk-ox perish in consequence of the glazed covering of their feeding-grounds.

WINTER FLOWERS.-The winter aconite blossoms about this time; it should be avoided by children, who are very apt to apply flowers to their mouths, it being a deadly poison.

Vincent Bourne's poem, on this companion of the fireside :-
THE CRICKET.-The following is Cowper's translation of

Little inmate, full of mirth,
Chirping on my kitchen-hearth,
Wheresoe'er be thine abode,
Always harbinger of good.
Thus thy praise shall be express'd,
Inoffensive welcome guest;
Though in voice and shape they be
Formed as if akin to thee,
Thou surpassest, happier far,
Happiest grasshoppers that are.
Theirs is but a summer song,
Thine endures the winter long,
Unimpair'd, and shrill, and clear,
Melody throughout the year.
Neither night nor dawn of day
Puts a period to thy play.
Sing then, and extend thy span
Far beyond the date of man.
Wretched man, whose years are spent
In repining discontent,

Lives not, aged though he be,
Half a span compared with thee.

DOMESTIC UTILITIES.

CARE OF LINEN.

One of the most important departments in the management of

a household is that which embraces the care of the linen. Accordingly when this is well dried and put away in the wardrobe, the next part of our duty is to secure it from the effects of damp and the inroads of insects. These intruders are often destructive, but they may be prevented from doing injury by a judicious mixture of aromatic shrubs and flowers, cut up and sown in silken bags, and the drawers and shelves interspersed with them. Rosemary, lavender, thyme, cedar shavings, roses, powdered sassafras, cassia, lignea, mixed with a few drops of otto of roses or other strong perfume, may be agreeably adopted for this purpose. In all cases, it will be found that the linen, as well as all other washable articles, will be economised by being examined, and where necessary, carefully repaired previous to their admission to the laundry. The articles ought also to be numbered and arranged after washing, so as to have their regular turn in domestic Another saving will be found in purchasing soap in large quantities, cutting it in pieces of about a pound weight each, and keeping it in a place of moderate temperature. As linen is sometimes scorched in the getting up, without actually being burned through, the effect may be removed by the following

use.

means.

TO REMOVE SCORCHING FROM LINEN.

Add to a quart of vinegar the juice of half a dozen large onions, about an ounce of soap rasped down, a quarter of a pound of fuller's earth, one ounce of lime, and one ounce of pearlash, or any other strong alkali. Boil the whole until it is pretty thick, and lay some of it on the scorched part, suffering it to dry. It will be found that on repeating the process for one or two washings, the mark will be completely removed without any additional damage to the linen; provided its texture is not absolutely injured as well as discoloured.

SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP.

As an article of domestic economy, fuller's earth might be employed in the cleansing and scouring of anything woollen, being an excellent substitute for soap, of which great quantities are consumed, that might be saved in house cleaning. The sawdust of fir and pine trees contains a very large proportion of resinous and saponaceous matter; so that it has been usually employed by the country people of Norway and Sweden instead of soap, in washing coarse linen.

TO PREPARE AN IMPROVED BLEACHING LIQUOR.

This is effected by a dissolution in water of the oxygenated muriates of calcareous earth, barytes, strontites, or magnesia. The earth should be prepared in the dry way, by bringing them in a solid form, in powder or in paste, in contact with the oxygenated muriatic acid gas. So prepared, dissolve them in water, and apply them to the substance as required to be bleached. By this mode, colours may be removed from linen, cotton, and vegetable and animal substances.

FOREBODINGS.-Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm the traveller upon the road; they both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find that they are far less insurmountable than we had imagined.

TIME AND TALENT. Our time is a universal talent, that every man that lives to discretion hath. Every man hath not a talent of learning, or of wealth, or of honour, of subtilty of wit, to account for; but every man that lives to the age of discretion,

hath time to account for.

EXAMPLE.-None knows how much good he may do by his own quiet and unobtruding example. By improving ourselves we should be sure and silent benefactors to all with whom we commingle and associate. No one acts rightly without acting

beneficially in so doing. He scatters the seed of a sweet flower, that will spring up again in some other bosom and be sure to multiply itself in the same way for ever.

HOW TO FIND FAULT.-Find fault, when you must find fault, in private, if possible, and sometime after the offence,

rather than at the time. The blamed are less inclined to resist when they are blamed without witnesses; both parties are calmer, and the accused party is struck with the forbearance of the accuser who has seen the fault, and watched for a private and proper time for mentioning it.

A WORLDLY YET TRUTHFUL MAXIM.-Show a man that you court his society, and it is a signal for him to treat you with neglect and contumely. Humour his passions, and he despises you as a sycophant. Pay implicit deference to his opinion, and he laughs at you for your folly. In all, he views you with contempt, as the creature of his will and the slave of his caprice. Whatever thou mayest do, solicit not friendship.

BEAUTY-I have come to the conclusion, says Professor Upham if man, or woman either wishes to realise the full power of personal beauty, it must be by cherishing noble hopes and purposes-by having something to do, and something to live for, which is worthy of humanity-and which, by expanding the capacities of the soul, gives expansion and symmetry to the body which contains it.

A WORD TO THE MARRIED.-"I compared notes with one of my friends who expects everything of the universe," says Emerson, "and is disappointed when anything is less than the best; and I found that I begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and I am always full of thanks for moderate goods." Would that all young persons could learn to enter wedlock with this philosophic spirit. But they will not. Hope is too sweet for them. They will not stoop till they stumble. Lofty expecta tions hover over the precipice of disappointment, towards which so many of our married friends have been lured, until too late to save themselves from tumbling down.

HINT TO ENGAGED YOUNG LADIES.-It is probably not generally known that, when once a woman has accepted an offer of marriage, all she has, or expects to have, becomes virtually the property of the man thus accepted as a husband; and no gift or deed executed by her between the period of acceptance and the marriage is held to be valid; for, were she permitted to give away or otherwise settle her property, he might be disappointed of the wealth he looked to in making the offer.

ADMIRATION AND ASPIRATION.-It is a good thing to believe, it is a good thing to admire. By continually looking upwards, our minds will themselves grow upwards, and, as a man, by indulging in habits of scorn and contempt for others is sure to descend to the level of what he despises, so the opposite habits of admiration and enthusiastic reverence for excellence, impart to ourselves a portion of the qualities we admire. Here, as in everything else, humanity is the surest path to exaltation.

ONE GREAT SOURCE OF VEXATION.-One great source of vexation proceeds from our indulging too sanguine hopes of enjoyment from the blessings we expect, and too much indifference for those we possess. We scorn a thousand sources of satisfaction we might have had in the interim, and permit our comfort to be disturbed and our time to pass unenjoyed, from impatience for some imagined pleasure at a distance, which we may, perhaps, never obtain, or which, when obtained, may change its nature, and be no longer pleasure.

TRUTH.-There is something so irresistible in truth, that it at once convinces the understanding, and forces a passage to the heart. In vain does the hypocrite attempt to imitate this amiable virtue, or endeavour to impose upon the credulous by the fabri cations of deceit; for he is generally caught in the intricate trammels of invention, and it is not easy to say whether he is most condemned or despised. Moreover, truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out. It is always near at hand, and fits upon our lips, and is ready to speak out before we are aware; whereas, a lie is troublesome, and sets a man's invention upon the rack; and one trick needs a great many more to make it good.

storm, his lady, who was waiting near him, and filled with SUPPORT IN DANGER.-A military officer being at sea in a alarm for the safety of the vessel, was so surprised at his compesure and serenity that she cried out, "My dear, are you not afraid? How is it possible you can be so calm in such a storm?" He rose from a chair lashed to the deck, and, supporting himself by a pillar of the bed-place, he drew his sword, and pointing it to

ditto

4s. 4d.

ditto.

Four The amount to be sent in stamps, to the Office, 9, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, London.

ANNETTE.-Brandy is of no value as a remedy for sea sickness. Dr. Landerer, a medical man at Athens, announces that he has discovered a sovereign specific against it. His remedy is to give from ten to twelve drops of chloroform in water. Should the sickness return, a fresh dose to be taken. It was tried on twenty passengers on a very rough voyage from Zea to Athens, and all but two were cured by one dose.

G. F. F. (Shoreditch).-The cultivators of figs simply gather the ripe fruit, scatter it round the trees, and allow it to dry in the sun. When dry, it is collected into large packs, and sent into The roads and principal Smyrna on camels.

streets are thronged all day with long strings of these animals. The fig market is au animated scene. Hundreds of bags of figs are arranged in a sort of square, where the arrival and unloading of camels, the tasting of buyers and the bargaining with sellers, are perpetual. When a purchase has been made, the bags are conveyed to the packers, and after being sorted into baskets are squeezed into shape by dirty women and children, and then packed into the drums or boxes by men. This process is a very disgusting one to look at, and it is said that no one who has seen it ever eats a fig again. The residents buy a yearly stock, and have them packed at home by their own servants.

R. GRAHAM.--We do not believe in dreams foreshadowing future events. But there is a singular instance in connection with the late Mr. Hugh Miller, if true. His father, shortly before Mr. Miller's birth, and when looking forward to it with deep interest, had a dream, to the effect that he should have a red-haired son, who should rise to great distinction in the world, and then die by his own hand. All these anticipations, formed in the visions of the night, have been remarkably fulfilled in the person of the late Mr. Miller-equally so in his life and in his death. It is a no less curious fact that this dream of his father's was not only well known in the family, but that more or less importance was attached to it by its members.

LADY JANE.-According to the Annales du Commerce Exterieur, Leghorn sends every year about thirty small crafts to the coral fishery. Formerly the Tuscan boats, as well as those of Naples, which are their only competitors, stationed themselves by preference on the coast of the regency of Tunis, of Algeria, and of Corsica ; but at the present time they give the preference to the coast of Sardinia, where they find the coral in great abundance. The coral is brought by the boats to Leghorn, where it is sold for working purposes, or for exportation in a rough state. There are at present at Leghorn, without speaking of secondary establishments, four large manufactories for working the coral, each of which employs from 250 to 390 work women. The coral when worked and transformed into ornaments and head-dresses, is chiefly exported to the East Indies via Marseilles. The quantity exported to European states is very trifling, if we except Russia where the article is much sought after. A great number of necklaces of common quality are also sent to Germany, where they are used as ornaments for the dead. The price of coral since 1850 has varied but little at Leghorn, and it is governed entirely by quality.

A SOLDIER.-We have heard that it is the intention of the authorities to discharge those men belonging to the corps of Royal Engineers at Chatham, who are of bad character, and with this view a return has been ordered of the names of all those men belonging to that corps whose character is of such a description, in order that they may recelve their discharge forthwith.

FAMILY

EASTIME!

39.

My 1, 2, 10, 7, is a small estate. My 12, 11, 2, 3, is to wander. My 5, 8, 5, 6, is a flower. My 1, 11, 4, 5, is to defeat. My 9, 2, 8, 5, is a fence. My 5, 2, 4, 10, is the abode of a wild beast. My 5, 8, 2, 12, is a wicked person. My 9, 11, 11, 1, is part of a house. My 9, 8, 5, is the edge of any thing, and my whole 2 words, 12 letters, is a publication of great worth which everybody ought to read. KING PIPPIN.

I'm a strange contradiction, I'm new and I'm old,

I'm often in tatters, and oft decked with gold; Though I never could read, yet lettered I'm found.

Though blind I enlighten, though loose I am bound.

I'm always in black, and I'm always in white, I'm grave and I'm gay, I am heavy and light. In form too, I differ; I'm thick and I'm thin; I've no flesh and no bone, yet I'm covered with skin.

I've more points than the compass, more stops than the flute,

I sing without voice, without speaking confute. I'm English, I'm German, I'm French, and I'm Dutch;

Some love me too fondly, some slight me too much.

I often die soon, though I sometimes live ages, And no monarch alive has so many pages.

H. MORE. Solutions to the above will be given in our next.

J. S. (Chelsea).-We cannot advise in the matter, but we do not think your neighbours will find their proximity to their dwellings very agreeable. It must be remembered that cocks are the time-keepers of the natural world. Their crowing commences at stated periods, and the sound is heard and responded to from roost to roost, and from time to time, all over the kingdom. No sooner is the crow announced, than, like an echo, it is repeated. These natural arrangements awake other birds, beasts, and millions of bipeds and quadrupeds, which live upon the earth. All is motion. Night has fallen in thei lap of daybreak. Morning is in ecstasy. The day is spread. The ancients set a proper value on cock crowing, which we moderns do not pretend to imitate.

D. BROWN (Battersea).-The clubs of London would make a curious chapter in the social history of the people of England. They are thoroughly characteristic of us. We are a proud people and have a horror of indiscriminate association; hence their exclusiveness. We are an economical people, and love to obtain the greatest possible amount of luxury at the least possible expense; hence, at our clubs we dine at prime cost, and drink the finest wines at a price which we should have to pay for slow poison at a third-rate inn. We are a domestic people, and hence our clubs afford us all the comforts of home, when we are away from home, or when we have none. Finally, we are a quarrelsome people, and the clubs are eminently adapted for the indulgence of that amiable taste. The London clubs are certainly the abodes of earthly bliss, yet the ladies wont think so.

JAMES FERGUSON (Coylton).-We regret that we cannot insert your answers to the questions of J. Bury, (Hurst) as we would not only have to get a diagram cut, but the space they would occupy in our page would leave us little room for our other numerous correspondents.

B. KIRKE (Coleshill).-At the top of this page you will see the scale of charges for The Family Mirror; but as it is to be had of all booksellers in the kingdom, we would suggest your ordering it through one in your town.

G. A. We cannot advise you how to administer your meditated punishment in such a case, but we have heard of a good minister who prayed fervently for those of his congregation who were too proud to kneel and too lazy to stand.

J. S. Give him up or you will find that there is one evil that quacks in length of time do effectually cure us of-and that is, the faith we place in their nostrums.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE Family Mirror.-Sir, Having noticed several deaths by putrid sore throat, I send for publication in your excellent miscellany, the following recipe, knowing it to be almost infallible: J. B., M.D.

Chloride of Soda (Liquor of Labarraque) one ounce; water (distilled if obtainable) twelve ounces; mix and gargle four or five times a day.

P. D. We do not know it from experiment ourselves,but M.Pepin, "Chef de Cultures" at the Jardin des Plantes of Paris,has made some curious observations on the change of colour which culture produces in plants. He has found that cultivated annuals experience a change of tint more promptly than perennial plants, for each year they are renowed through the seeds. Such a change is, however, sometimes produced in biennials and perennials, and rarely ever in ligneous species. The annual plants of Chili, Texas, and California have a strong tendency to produce varieties with white flowers, especially when their flowers produce either of the primary colours-red, yellow, or blue. The same is true of many other species introduced into France; the varieties with white colour are first produced, and afterwards the variegated.

We cannot return rejected manuscripts. All our literary arrangements are complete.

Published at the Office of the "FAMILY MIRROR," No. 9, Johnson's Court, Fleet St., where all communications are to be addressed.

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