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deliberation at which the most horrible despair is said to have presided, it was decided to throw them overboard. 'Three sailors and a soldier undertook the execution of this cruel sentence; we turned away our eyes and shed tears of blood on the fate of these unfortunate men; but this painful sacrifice saved the fifteen who remained; and who, after this dreadful catastrophe, had six days of suffering to undergo before they were relieved from their dismal situation. At the end of this period, a small vessel was descried at a distance; she proved to be the Argus brig, which had been dispatched from Senegal to look out for them. All hearts on board were melted with pity at their deplorable condition. Let any one,' say our unfortunate narrators, figure to himself fifteen unhappy creatures almost naked, their bodies shrivelled by the rays of the sun, ten of them scarcely able to move; our limbs stripped of the skin; a total change in all our features; our eyes hollow and almost savage; our long beards, which gave us an air almost hideous we were in fact but the shadows of ourselves."

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Such is the history of these unfortunate men! Of the hundred and fifty embarked on the raft, fifteen only were received on board the brig, and of these six died shortly after their arrival at St. Louis; and the remaining nine, covered with cicatrices, and exhausted by the sufferings to which they were so long exposed, are stated to have been entirely altered in appearance and constitution. We are shocked to add, that such were the neglect and indifference of their shipmates who had arrived there in safety, that had it not been for the humane attention of Major Peddy and Captain Campbell, they would in all probability have experienced the fate of their unfortu tunate companions.

Of the boats, two only (those in which the governor and the captain of the frigate had embarked) arrived at Senegal: the other four made the shore in different places, and landed their people. They suffered extremely from hunger and thirst, and the effects of a burning sun reflected from a surface of naked sand; with the exception, however, of two or three, they all reached Senegal.

It is impossible not to be struck with the extraordinary difference of conduct in the officers and crew of the Méduse and those of His Majesty's ship Alceste. These two frigates were wrecked nearly about the same time-the distance from the nearest friendly port pretty nearly the same-in the one case all the people were kept together, in a perfect state of discipline and subordination, and brought safely home from the opposite side of the globe;-in the other, every one seems to have been left to shift for himself, and the greater part perished in the horrible way we have just seen.

The preceding narrative is perfectly well authenticated, being compiled from an account written by two of the unhappy survivors.

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THERE is nothing in the appearances of nature which strikes even the most careless observer with such pleasure and surprise, as the suddenness with which, in this month, the trees put on their green and flowery garments. The name of April is derived from a word which signifies, to open. The fickleness of its' days-its' light clouds pouring out their refreshing showers, and then passing away to give place to the invigorating sunshine-is the cause of this sudden opening of the richness of the woods and gardens, which almost justifies the common phrase, that we may now see things grow.'

A walk into the country just at the time when the influence of two or three fine days has produced these striking and beautiful effects, is amongst the greatest pleasures that can offer themselves to a well-regulated mind. The eye is delighted by the prospect which every-where presents itself. A week or two previous the trees of the forest were still brown and naked now they have almost all begun to put forth their leaves; and the very scantiness of their verdure gives them an appearance of additional beauty. Their foliage is not of that deep and uniform colour which somewhat fatigues the eye; there is a delicate brightness in the half-disclosed green; and they do not conceal, by their fullness, the objects which they surround. We see the thatched cottage peeping through the boughs which overshadow it; and our view reposes upon the village steeple, as it mingles with the elms which mark the hedge-rows of the adjoining meadows. The mind delights to image, beneath the peasant's roof, a knot of innocent and contented beings; and the white spire calls up those feelings and thoughts which give man the confidence that he shall put on life and immortality, like the plants after their winter sleep.

The orchards and gardens which encircle a town, or village, are equally beautiful at this season. The apple-trees are sprinkled all over with their white blossoms; while the cherry-trees are even gayer, with their more varied colours. In the gardens the lilac exhibits its clusters of delicate flowers; the honeysuckle twines its rich green tendrils, and its sweet-scented blossoms around the cottage-porch, or the little bower; and the laburnum drops its golden chains in graceful profusion. Every thing is bright and every thing is full of promise.

The Spring is a season of gladness; and it does not want an echo of the universal joy. The singing of birds is now general.

"Every copse

Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush

Bending with dewy moisture o'er the heads

Of the gay quiristers that lodge within,
Are prodigal of harmony.'

THOMSON.

The rambler in the fields is in this month first startled and pleased

with the voice of the solitary cuckoo. The ordinary songs of birds may pass over the ear without exciting any particular emotion ;-but the note of the cuckoo always calls up some association either of pleasure or melancholy, and carries our thoughts back to the Springs that are passed, by a chain of connecting remembrances. One of our living writers has described this sentiment, in a little poem of beautiful simplicity:

O blithe new-comer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice :
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird,
Or but a wandering voice.

While I am lying on the grass,

Thy loud note smites my ear!
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near!

The same which in my school-boy days
I listened to; that cry

Which made me look a thousand ways;
In bush, and tree, and sky.

And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.

WORDSWORTH.

In this month the swallow tribe returns to pass the summer with us. The migration of these birds is a subject which we shall touch upon in the proper season. It is sufficient for us here to observe that we are almost in complete ignorance as to the habits of these birds in the winter; and that whether going or returning they furnish a wonderful example of that unerring instinct with which the Almighty has endued every living creature. It is in man alone that reason stands in the place of this clear though circumscribed rule of action. We know the conditions upon which man holds his superiority.-We know that the possessors of reason sink below the inferior creation, as they neglect the cultivation of their faculties, or presume upon the strength of that reason alone :-On the other hand, we are assured that they attain a wisdom which is above all price,' by a prudent and industrious exercise of their own faculties, and by a humble though confident reliance upon that divine aid, which alone can guide and illumine our wandering and indistinct perceptions.

6

EDITOR-K.

ON BEES.

I AM anxious to rescue these industrious little insects from the unnecessary destruction which too frequently awaits them when their winter store has been collected. If one person should be persuaded to adopt the plan suggested in the last number, my time will not have been spent unprofitably: the following anecdotes of their surprizing instinct and sagacity, most of which are derived from personal observation, may excite a further interest in their favour →→ When Bees are attacked by wasps, or by Bees from other hives, they not only place an additional number of sentinels at the mouth of the hive, but will frequently contract the entrance, so that the approach to their treasures is more easily defended.

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Mice are great enemies to Bees, and frequently get into the hive, where they sometimes lose their lives before they can make their escape. When the mouse is killed, it is not suffered to waste away by the common process of putrefaction, lest the health and safety of the whole hive should be endangered; to provide against this they embalm the body of the mouse in a case of propolis, and the remains thus gradually decay, without emitting any offensive odour.4 When a snail with a shell gets into a hive, it costs the Bees much less trouble. As soon as it receives the first wound from a sting, the snail retires within its shell. In this case, the Bees, instead of pasting it all over with propolis, content themselves with glueing all round the margin of the shell; thus forming the shell into a tomb, and providing against all further mischief.

The walls of the cell are so extremely thin, that their mouths might be thought in danger of suffering by the frequent entering and issuing of the Bees, either to feed the young brood or to deposit the honey. To prevent this, they make a kind of rim round the margin of each cell, and this rim is three or four times thicker than the walls. This border round the top of the cell has another use; it effectually retains the honey, and thus the cell can be entirely filled with honey, even to taking a convex form, and then the pellicle of wax, with which it is covered for the winter's use, presses closely upon it, and prevents the admission of every humidity.

M. Huber asserts, that when Bees lose their queen, they will appropriate some of the common young brood to replace her. They begin by prolonging and enlarging the cells of those so selected they supply them with food of a different kind, and with a greater quantity of it; and the brood reared in this manner, instead of changing to common Bees, become real queens.

Bees may frequently be observed in hot weather at the entrance and bottom of their hives, moving their wings with great rapidity. It is conjectured this is done for the purpose of promoting a circulation of air in the hive, which not only prevents the wax from melting, but also keeps the Bees cool in the upper part of the hive. The great quantity of air which these insects produce by this mode of o d

VOL. I.

ventilation, may be ascertained by any one who has a hive with an opening at the top.

In order to prove their economy of labour, a hive of Bees was brought from a distant place to a situation where food was to be had all the year round. The Bees soon relaxed from their usual industry, and discontinued to lay up their accustomed store of honey when they found that they could so readily procure it whenever they might have occasion for it.

Before Bees swarm, scouts are sent out, who fix upon a place for the queen to repair to: as soon as these scouts return to the hive, the whole swarm leave it and repair to the situation previously chosen for them. How this intelligence is conveyed is difficult to conjecture; but the fact is undoubted. (Vide Philosophical Transactions for 1807.)

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The following anecdote is related by the Abbé della Rocca :

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One day,' he says, I was sitting on the top of a mountain, on which the wind raged with the greatest violence; I saw a number of Bees which came to gather the honey; the wind blew with such violence, that as soon as the Bees presented themselves they were repulsed, and their resistance was useless ;-fatigued with this combat, many of them fell upon an expedient which I had read of, but had never before seen. Perceiving that they were too light to resist the wind, they collected some little stones; and taking them up with their feet, they took their flight afresh, and finally succeeded in their design.'

I will conclude this paper with the words of a French author, who speaks of Bees in the following terms: In the vast creation of insects, there is not one whose history presents to us such a prodigious number of wonders as the Bee. How is it possible to refrain from transports of admiration in contemplating it! This insect, so weak, so small in appearance, is seen working without relaxation in collecting the materials of its habitation; forming them with so much art, and constructing those wonderful edifices, the architecture of which has been a subject of meditation for the most profound Geometricians.'

E. T.

THE DOG.

I AM told by some of my friends, that under pretence of doing honour to the Dog, in our last Number, I have insidiously produced an honourable memorial of my father. To this charge I must, in some degree, plead guilty'; professing however that I had no such design when I sat down to the work. No apology is necessary for being so drawn away from my subject. To repair my neglect, I will devote two or three more pages of our Miscellany to this amiable animal.

The sagacity of the Dog is better known to us than that of any other animal, from the familiarity of our domestic intercourse. He

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