THE

YOUTH'S MAGAZINE.

DECEMBER, 1840.

RAROTONGA.

THIS is a large and populous island of the South Pacific, lying south-west of the Society Isles, and belonging to the group called the Hervey or Cook's Islands. It is in 19 S. lat., and 159 W. long., and contains nearly 6,000 inhabit ants. "The island of Rarotonga," says the Missionary Gazetteer, of 1832, "is politically divided into nearly three equal portions, and governed by three principal chiefs. The new school house at Guatangiia is ninety feet by thirty-five. Every morning at sunrise it is filled with adults, who, though unable to read, are taught to commit to memory catechisms and passages of Scripture. Many of them can repeat the whole of the first epistle of John. After the adults have left, the house is filled by the children. Twelve of the elder boys can read and write; others are making progress. Those who are able to read and write are placed as monitors over distinct classes.

The chiefs and people are kind toward the missionaries, and have erected for them a comfortable dwelling, which is floored and plastered. The natives are generally improving. They erect more comfortable houses for themselves, improve in the cultivation of their lands, and enjoy great tranquillity. Fishing nets, mats, and bananas, are the only valuable property in the island. Their cocoa nut trees have been nearly all destroyed in former wars, and arrow root is comparatively a scarce plant, but the

people are endeavouring by various means to increase their resources."

A farther account of this island, and of the progress of Christianity there, may be seen in the first volume of "Conversations on the South Sea Missions."

THE ALLEGHANY RIDGES.

THE following is an extract of a letter from a correspondent of the Providence Journal, giving an account of a "tour across the Alleghanies, by the national road."

"From Harper's Ferry, Va., I retraced my steps to Fredericktown, and took the stage over to the old and familiar route of the national road. The road is so well known as to offer few objects of interest which are not familiar to every one. But as you have not personally crossed the Alleghanies at this point, I will endeavour to convey to you some notion of the character of the scenery and towns upon the route.

"Frederick is a very neat inland city, compactly built, mostly of brick, with paved streets and handsome sidewalks; differing from most of the interior towns of the slave states, you see no old dilapidated buildings, falling to decay, on which the tooth of time is permitted to exhibit its slow ravages till the last sill drops into the cellar. It is connected with Baltimore by rail road, contains 7,000 or 8,000 inhabitants, exhibits an air of prosperity, and affords indications of wealth and taste among its inhabitants. With the charming country around it, Frederick (as it is called by its citizens) must be a most eligible place of residence for a person of leisure and fortune.

"The country from Frederick to the base of the Blue Ridge, a distance of twelve miles, extending north and south as far as the eye can reach, is a beautiful plain, appearing like one vast field checkered with the various kinds

of grain and grass. It is one of the richest agricultural districts in the middle states, and the region from which a large portion of the Howard-street flour is derived. When we passed through it, its golden plots of wheat and rye were ready for the sickle, and the harvesters were afield gathering its abundant products. Gangs of labourers were seen in every direction over the vast area, giving life and animation to the scene. I counted twenty-six labourers in one group, making a merry harvest bee over a fifty acre wheat field; their labour seemed turned to sport, and ready hands and joyous hearts were making a short job of the task before them. Ascending the Blue Ridge, and looking back upon this vale of waving fields, you behold one of the most enchanting landscapes which nature can present to the eye.

"Crossing the Blue Ridge, you descend into the Blue Ridge Valley, lying between the latter mountain and North Mountain. This valley extends from the coal region of Pennsylvania to the borders of South Carolina, gradually widening as you progress south. It includes the best lands of Virginia and North Carolina, and forms the most populous and wealthiest portions of those states. Where it is crossed by the national road in Maryland, it is about sixteen miles in width, and is in the highest state of cultivation, and presents in the whole extent which the eye can embrace from the summit of the mountain a scene of unparalleled loveliness and splendour. It is dotted with farm houses, and diversified with the grove, the cornfield, the meadow, and the pasture; over the latter roam innumerable flocks and herds, which in the long vista up and down, the valley is reduced to a miniature panorama of rural life, and the cattle appear like insects moving over the scene. In the centre of this delightful vale stands the beautiful town of Hagerstown. It is the market town of his rich district, and is handsomely and carefully built,

containing four thousand inhabitants, with regular paved streets, neat and tasteful in its aspect; and surrounded by this magnificent landscape, which it overlooks, it is one of the most charming inland towns in the union.

"We crossed the valley at a late hour in the afternoon, with this enchanting view spread out before us, lighted by the oblique rays of the declining sun, and as we wound our way along up the weary ascent of North Mountain, five miles in length, we watched the gathering shades of evening spreading themselves over the valley beneath, gradually obscuring one object after another, till darkness covered the whole scene below; while the distant mountain top beyond, and the summit on which we rested, glit tered in the last rays of the departing sun.

The road winds along sides of the mountain,

"Taking a farewell look of this lovely prospect, just as nature veiled it from sight with her evening curtain, we were carried, during the night, over three successive ridges, known by the names of Negro Mountain, Greene Ridge, and Sidling Hill. These ridges are from 2,500 to 3,000 feet high, covered with dense forests, except upon the apex, where the growth is poor and stunted-with narrow and sterile valleys between them. in a serpentine direction up the making the distance from three to five miles in the ascent, presenting on one side the high excavated side of the mountain, and, on the other, the abrupt precipice descending, almost perpendicularly, 100 or 200 feet. Around these fearful precipices the stage runs, within a few feet of the edge, and the bold and reckless driver does not hesitate to approach within as many inches of these unguarded brinks, raising a screech of horror and fright from the female passenger, who seizes her nearest companion with an embrace of despair, and implores him, in moving and heartrending strains, to save her from instant destruction. The ascent and descent, on either side, is equally precipitous.