reserved for Aaron, when the offering of incense was first instituted. The rebellious princes readily accepted the test, which, from their former familiarity with Egyptian customs, they knew to be a distinguishing characteristic of the priestly office. It is, indeed, sufficiently clear, from the manner in which Moses made the proposal to these men, so obstinately bent on their own destruction, that both he and they regarded the offering of incense to Jehovah, not only as the most honourable office which they could perform, but also as one which, when performed, would at once invest them with a sacerdotal character.

He spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to-morrow the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; and put fire therein, and put incense in them before the Lord to-morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy. (Numbers xvi. 5—7.)

From this part of the narrative it is abundantly evident that the rebellion of Korah and his company was not simply an insurrection against Moses, but a direct act of treason against the Majesty of the Omnipotent. They not only insulted the vicegerent whom Jehovah had selected to lead his chosen people, but they attempted to destroy the entire constitution established amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai, by overthrowing the hereditary priesthood of the sons of Levi. Their audacious efforts were not directed against an isolated part of the system of polity which God had appointed for the Israelites, but against the key-stone of the whole, which, once removed, would precipitate the entire edifice into ruins. It is necessary to take the full view of their crime, to calculate all its bearings and extent, in order to form any accurate notion of their daring impiety. Their fearful punishment need not be related: in the words of the Psalmist,

The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. (Psalm cvi. 17, 18.)

But the importance of the function of offering incense was still further attested by the ordinance for commemorating this awful event, and perpetuating the remembrance of the dreadful punishment which had overtaken daring rebellion and audacious impiety. This commemoration is, indeed, one of the strongest attestations of the sanctity required for the performance of this act of homage.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed. The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel. And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of

the altar: to be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses. (Numbers xxvi. 36-40.)

But even the terrible visitation which they had witnessed was insufficient to quell the spirit of revolt which had spread through the rebellious congregation of Israel. The evil which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had wrought, lived after them, and brought down new punishments. It is a singular confirmation of what we have previously stated, that the offering of incense on this second occasion was invested with even greater importance than before, for it arrested

the course of the terrific pestilence which God sent to punish the sins of the congregation. This fresh attestation of Aaron's priesthood, and wondrous power granted to the incense as the distinctive cognizance of his sacerdotal office, was an act of omnipotent mercy, since it ever after prevented any attempt to usurp so sacred a function.

Imagination cannot conceive a more awful scene than the one briefly and simply portrayed by the sacred historian, in Numbers xvi. 41-48. The mutinous congregation surrounding the chosen brothers, and threatening their lives;-the pause of mingled awe and terror when the cloud which announced the visible presence of Jehovah settled in its glorious radiance on the tabernacle of the congregation,-the sudden and wasting pestilence which instantly struck down fourteen thousand seven hundred of the mutineers,-the trembling haste with which Aaron took fire from the altar and laid on incense, above all, his position when standing on the narrow line which severed the living from the dead, combine to render this one of the most fearfully impressive narratives in Scripture. Not only was the offering of incense limited to particular persons, but the kind of incense which should be used, and the proportions of the ingredients in its composition, were distinctly specified. It should only be kindled by the sacred fire from the altar; Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, were destroyed for burning strange fires in their censers. Hence when Isaiah describes the Divine indignation against the national sins of Judah, he represents Jehovah declaring "incense is an abomination to me," for he could use no stronger expression to denote how far the transgressions of the Jews had removed them from the favour of their father and their God, than the rejection of those acts of homage to which the highest importance was given under the Mosaic dispensation.

Among the heathen nations generally, the offering of incense was not restricted to the priests, but it was always regarded as the most solemn act of homage which could be offered to a divinity. Hence in the early persecutions of the Christians, the most common trial to which the martyrs were subjected, was to require them to burn a few grains of incense on the altar of an idol; and the same test appears to have been used when the Syrian kings of the family of the Seleucidæ attempted to force idolatry on the Jews in the time of the Maccabees. But on both occasions there were multitudes found who refused to abjure their true and living faith, but sealed their testimony to the truth of that which they had believed, by their blood. Thus it may be said that there was not a single altar of antiquity on which incense was ever offered, that is not a monument illustrating the truths of the Bible, attesting the Divine origin of Christianity, and proving that it is the only religion which has decisively triumphed over death and the grave.

LET your desires and aversions to the common objects and occurrences in this life be but few and feeble. Make it your daily business to moderate your aversions and desires, and to govern them by reason. This will guard you against many a ruffle of spirit, both of anger and sorrow.WATTS.

If I were to choose the people with whom I would spend my hours of conversation, they should be certainly such as laboured no further than to make themselves readily and clearly apprehended, and would have patience and curiosity To have good sense, and ability to to understand me. express it, are the most essential and necessary qualities in companions. When thoughts rise in us fit to utter among familiar friends, there needs but very little care in clothing them.-STEELE

while cultivating the fruits and flowers of his native land, the recollection of early days, and the country of his birth, are awakened by the vivid colours of the simple flower which his industry has reared, and which he knows to be a native of the soil to which he himself owes his existence.

CHOICE OF FARMS. THE WOLLOMBI.

IN a climate so dry as that of Australia, the selection of farm-land depends solely on the direction of streams, for it is only in the beds of water-courses that any ponds can be found during dry seasons. The formation of reservoirs

has not been yet resorted to, although the accidental largeness of ponds left in such channels has frequently determined settlers in their choice of a homestead, when by a little labour, a pond equally good might have been made in other parts, which few would select from the want of water. In the rocky gullies that I had passed in these mountains, there was, probably, no want of water, but then there was no land fit for the purposes of farming. In other situations, on the contrary, there might be found abundance of good soil considered unavailable for any purpose except grazing, only from the want of frontage' (as it is termed,) on a river, or chain of ponds. Selections have been frequently made of farms, which have thus excluded extensive tracts behind them from the water, and which, remaining consequently unoccupied, have continued accessible only to the

sheep or cattle of the possessor of the water-frontage.

In these valleys of the Upper Wollombi we find but little breadth of alluvial soil, but the water never fails, and this has already attracted settlers to its banks-and those small farmers who live on a field or two of maize or potatoes-and who are the only beginning of an agricultural population, as yet apparent, in New South Wales-show a disposition to nestle in any available corner there. But on the lower portion of the Wollombi, where the valley widens, and water becomes less abundant, in the sandy soil, I found it impossible to locate some veterans on small farms which I had marked out for them, because it was known that in dry seasons, although each farm had frontage in the Wollombi Brook, very few ponds remained in that part of its channel.

A SEA OF MUD (NEAR THE RIVER GWYDIR). The soil, as from experience we had reason to expect, had become very soft, and the rain pouring in torrents, softened the surface more and more. The wheels, however, did go round, and the party followed me over a plain, which scarcely supported even a tuft of grass on which I could fix my eye in steering by compass through the heavy rain. At length, I distinguished through the liquid medium, half a dozen trees, towards which we toiled for several hours, and which grow, as we found when we at length got to them, beside a pond of water; the only one to be seen on these plains. There was also some grass beside the pond, and we encamped on its bank, placing the carts in a line, at right angles to the trees, thus taking possession of all the

cover from an attack that could be found. We had travelled eight miles over the open plain in a straight line, and considering the state of the earth, I was surprised that the cattle made any progress through it. When the clouds drew up a little, I was not sorry to discover that the plain was clear of wood to a considerable distance on all sides, nor to recognise some of the hills overlooking our old route. According to the bearings of several of these, I found that the plundered camp was only seventeen miles distant, the ground was so soft that we could not move further with the carts, until fair weather had again rendered it passable, and under these circumstances I resolved to halt the party here, until after my intended excursion to Bombelli's Ponds.

Feb. 16-The rain poured from a sky that might have alarmed Noah. The ground became a sea of mud; even within our tents we sank to the knees, no one could move about with shoes-the men accordingly waded about barefooted. The water in the pond was also converted into mud. Ground-crickets of an undescribed species-which perhaps may be called Gryllotalpa Australis-came out of the earth in great numbers.

RESULTS OF THE FIRST EXPEDITION.

This journey of discovery proved that any large river flowing to the north-west, must be far to the northward of the latitude of 29°. All the rivers south of that parallel, and which had been described by the Barber as falling into such

a river as the Kindur,' have been ascertained to belong wholly to the basin of the Darling.

The country we traversed was very eligible in many parts, for the formation of grazing establishments-as a proof of which it may be mentioned that flocks of sheep soon covered the plains of Mùlluba, and that country around the Barber's stockyard has, ever since the return of the expedition, been occupied by the cattle of Sir John Jamieson. At a still greater distance from the settled districts, much valuable land will be found around the base of the Nundawar Range. The region beyond these mountains, or between them and the Gwydir, is beautiful, and in the vicinity, or within sight, of the high land, it is sufficiently well watered to become an important addition to the pastoral capabilities of New South Wales.

ON THE EARLY MODES OF MEASURING TIME.

I. DIVISIONS OF TIME.

IN the dawn of society, when man had not yet entered upon that career of activity which the developement of mind, the ties of social life, and the gradual growth of his wants and wishes, rendered

necessary, the progress of time was not an occurrence of paramount importance to him. The day was quite long enough to enable him to cultivate and gather the produce of the ground, or to hunt and appropriate for purposes of food the animals around him. From these he obtained food and clothing; and thus his wants, limited in extent, were easily supplied.

But when increase of population rendered necessary the search for new regions, and when the mental tastes of men began to multiply the number and variety of their employments, it was found necessary to mark the course of TIME; to distinguish those periods of the year when the fruits of the soil were in a fit state for food; those periods in which the rainy season occurred; and (among those nations which were further removed from the equator) those periods when cold blighted the verdure of the trees and flowers. Thus an observance of annual seasons sprang up, long before anything was known of the astronomical

causes of those seasons.

But it was moreover necessary to divide the day into smaller portions. Men perceived that night succeeded day with great regularity; and they could not have been long in observing that when the daylight was shorter in duration, the night was proportionably lengthened; and that, conversely, when in summer the day-light was prolonged, the nights were accordingly shortened-the day and night together forming a period of time (nearly) equal at every part of the year, and in every country. This statement is true with respect to the countries occupied in the early stages of society; all of which were within a few degrees of the extreme latitudes of the Mediterranean sea: but the inhabitants of those comparatively small portions of land situated at a higher latitude than 664° experience no night at all at Midsummer, and suffer a complete deprivation of daylight at Midwinter. This becomes more marked, as we approach nearer to the poles. The sun does not shine on the north pole from the twenty-first of September to the twenty-first of March, with a small exception, (due to atmospheric refraction,) at the limits of that period; but from the twenty-first of March to the twenty-first of September the sun never sets to the north pole. Clouds and fogs may obscure his rays, but he is constantly above the horizon. It follows from this that there is but one night and one day in a whole year at the north pole, each having a duration of six months. The same conditions obtain at the south pole, excepting that the times are reversed; summer, or day, (for in this case these terms are convertible

into each other,) occurring at the south pole, when it is winter, or night, at the north. The uninterrupted depression of the sun below the horizon at Midwinter occurs in latitude 664° for a period of only three or four days; while, as we have seen, this continued depression lasts for six months at the poles. It necessarily results that intermediate latitudes experience a Midwinter darkness, increasing in duration as we approach the pole. These nocturnal days, (if we may be allowed the term,) are, for five or six different latitudes, as follows: viz.

In latitude 66° North, from Dec. 20 to Dec. 23
Jan. 20
Feb. 7

70 75

Nov. 22

Nov. 3

90 (or at the pole) Sep. 21

Mar. 7 Mar. 21

We must observe, however, that at the limits of each of these periods there is a very long twilight. The sun is not above the horizon, but he is so nearly on a level with it, that for many successive hours, (and, near the pole, for many successive days,) the light yielded is equivalent to that which just precedes

sunrise in our own climate.

This continued absence of the sun is wholly due to the obliquity of the equator to the ecliptic; that is,

the earth's motion round her axis, is not in the same

plane as her motion round the sun, but is inclined to it at an angle of 230, as may be observed in the annexed figure.

At each of the four representations of the earth performing its annual journey, let N s represent its axis, and EQ the equator, o being the sun. If the earth's motion round its axis be in the plane of its orbit, E Q would coincide with the orbital line, and N s would be at right angles with it. The seasons, and days and nights, would remain constant all over the world; for the sun would always shine perpendicularly to the equator. But, as it is, we observe at one time of the year the north pole wholly enlightened, and the south pole in darkness: this is our summer. At another time of the year, the north pole is dark, and the south pole is light: this is our winter. The intermediate states are spring and autumn.

Such then is the case with reference to the regions within the arctic and antarctic circles, which surround the poles, the former the northern, and the latter the southern, at a distance of 2340. But in the times of the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, these polar regions were unknown, and consequently there was no deviation from the rule,' that the duration of an artificial day (the time that the sun is above the horizon) added to the following night, made an equal quantity at all times of the year. Subsequent observations have, however, detected a deviation, which comes properly under the subject of Equation of Time, to which we shall allude hereafter.

This period, then, the natural day, or one whole revolution of the earth with respect to the sun, the ancients wished to divide into smaller portions, to indicate the times of recurrence of similar employments or ceremonies on each successive day. The boundary of one such portion was the instant that the sun attained his greatest elevation in the heavens: that moment was exactly midway between the preceding and the following nights. The moment of greatest darkness, or when the sun has his greatest depression below the horizon, was found to be just half a natural day after his greatest height above it.. Thus midday and midnight formed two convenient boundaries, by which the day could be divided into two equal parts. Those parts were each subdivided into two portions, by noticing the times when the the latitude of Great Britain considerable difference is sun rose in the morning, and set in the evening. observed in these hours at different parts of the year; the sun rising in Midsummer before four o'clock, and in Midwinter not till after eight o'clock: the setting But in the countries which were first peopled, such as of the sun being in a corresponding manner variable. Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Syria, &c., the hour of length of daylight, therefore, although unequal sunrise is not subject to so much variation. The Thus arose four nearly equidistant points of division: throughout the year, is not so much so as with us.

midnight, sunrise, midday, and sunset.

In

These natural divisions of a day formed the groundwork of all diurnal arrangements among the early nations. The Jews reckoned their days from evening to evening; the time of sunset being considered the beginning of each day. But as sunset (as we have just observed) occurs at different times in different periods of the year, the beginning of their day necessarily varied. The time of sunset in Judæa is about five o'clock at Midwinter, and about seven o'clock at Midsummer, which makes a difference of two hours in the point from which they commenced their day.

It was not until a subsequent period that hours were introduced among the Jews; for it would appear from a passage in Nehemiah, chap. ix. v. 3, that the civil day was, about 450 B. C., divided into four parts. Again, David, in Psalm Lv., ver. 17, speaks of evening and morning and noon, as if they were stated points of division in the day.

THE caprices of the wind are the hourly and proverbial subject of remark, and, not seldom, of thoughtless complaint. Even for these, however, there are causes, though we know them not; and in every caprice or change there is a benefit for some one. Had man possessed the power which fable has sometimes assigned him, could he have regulated them so well; capricious and causeless as they may seem? But there is a peculiarity in the distribution of these apparently capricious winds, which marks a design in the midst of all this seeming disorder. In the great Trade-wind the design is obvious: it circulates round the globe where the ocean is widest, and is thus the great aid to the chief highway for the most distant communications. steadiness of its destinations from the fundamental course, It is always to be found where it is wanted; while the renders it, in those parts, not less useful. Within the range of those several winds, the navigator requires little which he cannot accomplish through their aid; while where they become evanescent, the very shores which he desires to reach or to navigate, begin to act on them and produce the variable and local winds to aid him. If this be chance the narrow seas. or contingency, to the same causes do we owe the tides of -MACCULLOCH.

CARLINGFORD is a small sea-port town, in the parish of the same name, in the barony of Lower Dundalk, in the county of Louth, and the province of Leinster. It stands at the foot of an extensive range of mountains, and on the south-eastern side of the spacious and beautiful inlet, called Carlingford Bay; it lies to the north of Dublin, at a distance of seventy-five miles. The origin of the town is commonly traced to the erection of the castle, whose ruins form so conspicuous a feature of the place at the present day; this edifice, which is called Carlingford Castle and King's Castle, is generally said to have been built by order of King John, when he was in this kingdom, about the year 1210. It was an important station during the early ages of the English dominion in Ireland; and although it was never regularly fortified, or even surrounded by a wall, it was a place of strength, from the circumstance of every house of any importance in it being a small fortress or castle, fully capable of resisting a sudden attack. Its position upon the frontiers of the English pale necessarily exposed it to frequent dangers.

The ruins of Carlingford Castle at the present day are among the finest in Ireland. Thomas Wright, in his Louthiana, thus describes its appearance in the latter part of the last century :—

Formerly it must have been a very fine pile of building, and seems, by its situation, designed to defend a VOL. XIV.

narrow pass at the foot of the mountains, close by the sea, rocks and a deep sea being below on one side, and very high where but a very few men can march abreast, dangerous mountains on the other, the least 700 yards perpendicular. The foundation of it is a solid rock, washed by the sea, and some of the walls are eleven feet thick. On one side of it there appears to have been a platform or battery, which some time or other may have been adapted for the defence of the harbour, which is one of the finest in Ireland. The old castles, which appears to have been the common kind of town of Carlingford seems to have been originally all small habitations in this country, and the manner of building in those days; Dundalk formerly having also been full of the like sort of dwellings.

On the southern side of the town, or that opposite to the side on which the castle stands, are the ruins of a Dominican monastery, of the date, as is generally supposed, of the fourteenth century; a religious house of that order was established here by Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, in the year 1305. In the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, "the prior was found seised of a church and belfry, chapter-house, dormitory, hall, kitchen, and other buildings; one acre, one park, one close, seven messuages, and a water-mill, with their appurtenances, in the vill of Carlingford, of the annual value, besides all reprises, of 41. 6s. 8d."

Before the union, Carlingford returned two members to the Irish House of Commons. The population of the town is now 1300, and that of the parish 419