was to be done for a bed? The Arabs sleep on a carpet spread on the bare ground, with nothing to protect them against odious reptiles; the princess had always been used to a bed of palm-leaves, resting on a frame of palm-wood. Fortunately, however, there were no scorpions in this district, and she contrived to make herself comfortable in her new and independent quarters. And such is the life of the Arabs in the desert, day after day, varied only by occasions of festival and rejoicing (of which we have an illustrative instance graphically detailed in these volumes), by death or hostilities, or those visitations of Providence to which their singular way of life especially exposes them. The account given by the princess of these people, of their manners, costume, and character, forms one of the most interesting episodes in the work. When these little preliminary matters were settled, her friends set about preparing "luncheon" for her, for so, we suppose, The description of the breaking up of we must designate a slight mid-day repast, the encampment for the purpose of going consisting of dates fried in butter, eggs and in quest of fresher pastures, is particularly camel's milk. Luncheon discussed-to striking. The whole tribe is in commotion which every body brought a good appetite-men and women rushing to and fro -the whole party set out for a "stroll" on shepherds collecting their flocks-cainels the banks of the Euphrates. Here they moving backwards and forwards-horses enjoyed themselves in that leisurely and saddling-tents striking in every direction. legendary spirit so characteristic of Bedouin Never was there witnessed so bustling a happiness, and at sunset returned to dinner scene. The princess says that she never to the tent of the chief. saw so many beautiful horses at one time; Every The reader may be curious to know as far as the eye could reach they could be what sort of dinner these wandering Arabs discerned prancing and neighing with joy, take delight in, and may probably be sur- as if they were conscious of the approaching prised to learn that they have some very change. Even the camels participated in excellent notions of the culinary art. On this expression of thankfulness. this occasion there were three roasted meats of different sorts-sheep, lamb, and gazelles. There was also the leg of a camel roasted, to which the Bedouins are particularly partial, but which our Babylonian princess frankly confesses she abhors. After the dinner, consisting of these substantial dishes, came fruit of divers sorts, in great abundance; and after the fruit, coffee. The Arabs do not live so ill after all; and as this is their regular daily course, it may be seen that there are modes of life in rich and crowded cities much less copious and satis-on foot, loaded with roasted meats, bread, factory. The Arabs detest tobacco, which they call the "accursed weed," but with true natural politeness, they insisted upon the princess indulging herself with her nerghilah. Dinner is now over, and the company arranging themselves in a large circle, proceed to relate anecdotes and tell stories, chiefly relating to horses of rare breed, and desperate adventures with hostile tribes. Sometimes the stories are relieved by snatches of song, brisk or melancholy, according to the fancy of the singer. These pleasant entertainments terminate at eleven o'clock, when the company separate, each retiring to his couch, and in ten minutes the whole encampment is as silent as the grave. thing being ready, tents packed, and flocks collected, the cavalcade sets out; the men mounted in front, with their long lances glittering in the sun; then the women, mounted on camels, the most considerable amongst them being seated under a canopy, with curtains round it, attended by slaves and negresses; and then the baggage camels bearing the tents, provisions, and effects of the tribe. Every two hours there is a halt to take coffee; and as the immense procession moves forward, men run along and dates, crying aloud, "He who is hungry let him approach!" Who shall say that these Bedouins are not a highly-civilized people? We should be glad to learn by what resources of art or appliances of wealth the ladies and gentlemen of Western Europe could manage to travel the desert with greater pomp or comfort? But the bird returns to its nest after all. The magnificent hospitality of these kind and honest people did not suffice to fill the void in the heart of the princess: and at the expiration of six months, her old desire to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land came so irresistibly upon her, that she bade adieu to the worthy sheikh, and returned to Bagdad to join a caravan which was then in preparation on the neighboring plains. This caravan had been accumulat was serenity and peace; but as the column across the naked desert. Above my head all approached, the gusts which had just now produced the slightest rustling in the curtains of the Mahommedan lady's tent, became more sudden and violent; now chilling the blood, and now scorching, like the blast of a furnace. ing for a term of seven or eight months, there is time to put up the tents, under the and now consisted of not less than 15,000 shelter of which the travellers, throwing camels and horses, and about 5000 travel- themselves down on the ground, await its lers. The details of the preparation and dreadful passage. This extraordinary departure of this immense living mass, and scourge was witnessed by the princess. of its whole progress, may be included Casting my eyes to windward, I beheld a amongst the most remarkable passages in vast column, which seemed to reach from a publication which abounds with singular earth to heaven, gradually approaching our and original pictures. The grave camels encampment. Round and round the huge lurid keep their file with the discipline of well-mass whirled, as it slowly but steadily kept drilled soldiers; the drivers walk by their its onward progress, casting a deep shadow sides; then there are camels for all purposes, for baggage, merchandise, and riding; with pilgrims, rich and poor, some mounted, others walking, slaves, and flocks of sheep, with their owners, who join the caravan for the purpose of selling during the journey. At the close of the day, the camels are unladen, and the tents pitched with incredible rapidity. In less than half an hour a great canvass city springs up in the desert, as if by the touch of an enchanter's wand. Streets and squares of tents stretch off in every direction, and when the city is completed, a rampart is, forthwith cast up around it, by placing the camels in a circle on the outer verge; and when due precautions are taken to guard against attack, the travellers begin to think about supper. The whole scene is marvellously picturesque. The travelling butchers were now all on the alert, and purchases were making in all directions. Sheep were slaughtered, and every body purchased according to his wants, the price paid being about five or six paras for the ratel, or five pounds for five farthings. The purchase being made, no time was lost in preparing the meat for table, the cooks fully equalling the tent-builders in expertness and rapidity. Fires were made on the ground, and immediately the air was filled with those accept able hissing sounds which, after a long fast, are sweeter music than the voice of his mistress to the sighing lover, and upon hearing which, the sternest visage puts on a momentary gleam of benignity. I felt a sensation of terror creeping over me; my strength seemed to abandon my limbs; I felt as though I were suffocated, and gasped for breath. All hopes of gaining my own tent were vain, for the samiri was now at hand. I closed the curtain in haste, and stretching myself on the ground, covered my head and face with my "mashallah." My companion did the same, and we waited the passage of the scourge in silent dread. with fearful violence. I expected every moment to see it lifted high in the air, and ourselves exposed to the destructive fury of the blast, which makes a speedy tomb for all who oppose its onward progress. The heat was become like a hot bath, and we breathed with the greatest difficulty. The sides of our tent were now shaken The storm lasted seven or eight hours, at the end of which we rose from the ground, and, after returning thanks to Almighty God for our preservation, each after her own fashion, I went forth from the tent to see what had been the fate of my own friends. As I passed along the encampment, I met crowds, looking like men arisen from the dead, issuing from their tents, and exchanging congratulations upon their recent escape; and turning leeward, I behold the deadly, dreaded column holding on its desolating course towards the horizon. The tents being now struck, and the camels Before the door of each tent, slaves were loaded, we proceeded on our way. In our seen busily engaged in spreading the large progress we beheld, with horror, the dead bo white cloths upon the bare ground; and it dies of several Arabs, who had been overtaken was not long before every cloth was surround-by the samiri, scorched to a cinder on the ed by a company evidently fully disposed to dreary waste. devote themselves seriously to the business in hand. The description of the passage of the caravan from Bagdad to Damascus is one The greatest danger to which the cara- of the most striking sketches of Eastern van is exposed, is the "samiri," the hot life we ever read. The account of Damaswind of the desert, which comes scorching cus itself is no less close and true in its deand destroying every thing in its progress. tails. Every feature of the domestic life Fortunately, the camels possess the won- of this famous city is specially depicted by derful faculty of being able to scent it two one who had the most ample opportunities hours before its actual approach, so that of investigating its peculiarities, without jealousy or suspicion. Accordingly she head-quarters, as she foolishly believed, of gives us accurate accounts of the baths all the Christian virtues! In vain Lady -the re-unions-the dances-the enter- Hester Stanhope assured her that she tainments-the in-door lives of the ladies- would find no such manifestations of Christheir love of elegant small talk and scandal tian purity in Christendom; in vain the -their coquetry, and the splendor of their Emir pointed out to her the risk and danappointments. Amongst others, she be- ger of her projected journey; her mind was came very intimate with an Aga's wife, made up, and her ancient will was as domwho had been originally a Christian, and inant as ever. She left the palace of her who was resolved to make her escape, al-kind protectors in tears-prophetic of the though she was surrounded by magnifi- miserable fate which awaited her! cence, and exercised unlimited power in the zenana. This resolution, attended by the imminent risk of the lives of both, was ultimately carried into effect with perfect security; and when the princess afterwards reached the convents of the Lebanon, she had the satisfaction of placing her friend, the Aga's wife, in one of them. In 1832 she reached Leghorn; there she was detained three months by illness.Then she went on to Rome, where she staid for years. By this time she longed to return to the primitive and peaceful Lebanon; but it was not to be. From Rome she went to Paris, misfortune after misfortune tracking her steps; and here the greatest of all befel her, in hearing of the dethronement of her friend the Emir, through the bad faith of the Turkish and English governments, and of his being reduced to a state of absolute dependence. From Paris she came to London, lured by hopes that have been one after another disappointed, and in this great human solitude this desolate princess is now living, heart-broken, and friendless, and looking forward with pleasure only to her final release from a life of sorrow and vicissitude. Having resumed her pilgrimage, after a pleasant sojourn in Damascus, the princess proceeds to Lebanon, visiting all the convents in that neighborhood, then on to Beyrout, and so to Jerusalem, giving ample accounts of the various objects of interest in that locality. Her pilgrimage is relieved by a visit to Constantinople, and other excursions; and the labor of love she had so long contemplated being now concluded, she resolves to retire for the rest of her life to one of the convents of the Lebanon. But she is dissuaded from this intention by The contrast between her European and the Emir Beschir, the Prince of the Leba- her Eastern experiences is very sudden and non, who offers her an asylum in his palace, impressive. In the East, she believed Euas lady of honor to the Amira. She gladly rope to be the metropolis of refinement and accepts this offer, and once more finds her- civilization, of piety, learning, and all Chrisself in a position of affluence and tranquilli- tian qualities, of faith, hope, and charity. ty. The prince is a Christian, and al- She longed to approach this moral and rethough adopting externally the customs of ligious El Dorado, and incurred great fathe Turk, his private household is conduct- tigue and sacrifices in the effort to accomed with all observances of the Christian plish her purpose. But from the very first worship. Our Babylonian princess is here moment she came in contact with the Euas happy as the day is long; she wants ropeans, she was destined to be plundered nothing on earth to complete her round of and deceived, and ill-used by them in every delights; the measure of her joy is full. possible way. Even on board ship, on the Here she became acquainted with that sin- voyage to Leghorn, she was robbed by the gular woman, of tall stature and masculine sailors, who, finding that she had some habits, the Lady Hester Stanhope; and casks of Cyprus wine with her, destined might have advantageously extended the for presents, contrived to drain every one circle of her friendship, if a desire to enlarge of them. This was her first practical evithe sphere of her knowledge still more am- dence of European Christianity. Arrived bitiously had not prevailed with her over all at Leghorn, it was necessary to turn some considerations of mere self-interest or con- of her ingots into money, for which purpose tentment. For several years she resided she employed a regular agent, who was in the palace of the Enir, and during that base enough to swindle her out of nearly period had amassed, in money and pres- the whole value, giving her only one-tenth ents, from six to eight thousand pounds. of the actual market price. This was her Now was the time to indulge the dream of second European experience. But better her youth, by visiting Europe, the seat and things were to be hoped for at Rome, 2. 3. 4. From the Dublin Review, Redemptore. Lovanii in Collegio Societatis Jesu. Louvain 1843. : Twelve Lectures on the Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion. Delivered in Rome, by the Right Rev. Nicholas Wiseman, D.D., Bishop of Melipotamus. London: Second Edition. 1842. Geology and Scripture. By Dr. Pye Recreations in Geology. By Rosina M. where she was introduced to the Pope, and | SCRIPTURAL DIFFICULTIES OF GEOLOGY. where she expected at least common Christian honesty. It so fell out, however, that at Rome the greatest calamity of all befel 1. Theses Theologica de Deo Creatore ac her; the box in which nearly the whole of her worldly substance was locked up, being broken open and rifled while she was one day paying a visit in the neighborhood. She was now on the sudden reduced to penury. But her amiable friend, the Emir, continued to send her an allowance, which sustained her above want, and, acting on the advice of friends, she went to Paris, where she hoped to better her fortunes. It was during her residence in Paris she heard of the Emir's downfall. She was now a beggar-literally without the means of procuring subsistence. She struggled on as well as she could. She had a pupil THE history of the world in which we live. to whom she taught Arabic. He paid her has ever been an object of interest, and for five francs a week. It was in the midst of many centuries one of incessant investigawinter, and the snow was thick in the tion. Fom age to age there have been found She tried to live on these five men to record the actions of those who francs, without fire, for she could afford went before them, or to chronicle the events none. But she deceived herself. The they saw taking place around them, and in rent alone was twenty francs a month. which they themselves not unfrequently She was starving! This noble-hearted, participated. Vanity, or a love of truth, generous woman, who had suffered so much suggested a duty which, judging from their for her faith, who had seen her friends and dear relatives die around her for that faith, was now starving in the streets of a great Christian city! streets. We will not trace this agonizing history further-how she has continued to struggle on-but we desire to draw the reader's attention to this work in which it is recorded. If the writer had no other claim upon us than the extraordinary talent displayed in these pages-extraordinary in grasp and versatility, even for the most accomplished European lady-she would be well entitled to that admiration and succor with which their perusal can hardly fail to surround her. We cannot recall any work in which so intimate a knowledge of Eastern life is 30 agreeably displayed; or in which a narrative of such strong personal interest is set in a series of such vivid descriptions. The subject is, in every point of view, attractive, not less for its novelty than for the intellectual power exhibited in its treatment. RAIN OF EELS AND PEBBLES.-The Liverpool Courier states that, during the heavy rain which fell there on Monday, various-colored pebbles and small eels descended, and were picked up in the streets! 5. The Wonders of the Earth. By Professor Silliman. 1842. own feelings, they thought would be useful and interesting to posterity. Still these records, however varied or voluminous they may be, relate but to the deeds of men. They have reference only to the waves that have agitated the surface of the stream of human existence, that is ever flowing onward to eternity. Still in these our times there are seen far other histories of the world. There have sprung men, aye, and women too,* as may be seen above, who must speak to us of other things than have been dreamt of in our philosophy; who, prying into the caverned mine and searching the recesses of the everlasting hills that lift their cloud-capped summits and snowy heads to heaven, finding there the remains of organic life and the monuments of other forms of existence, tell us of many a mighty monster that lived in the primeval waters, or that once moved upon the earth, strange and monstrous beyond what poet ever imaged to himself in his most wayward dreams. The characters in which these supposed records are written, although unknown to the men of ancient times, are inscribed, they tell us, upon the hard rock with a fidelity and enduringness beyond what man has ever * Rosina Zornlin may be an assumed name, as we suspect it is. written, and have been made to speak a tale more wondrous than the chisel of the sculptor has written upon the tombs of the Pharaohs. Need we say that we allude to the recent discoveries of geological science? Geology is eminently the science of the present day, both for the strange and important nature of its discoveries, the ardor with which they have been prosecuted, the interest which it has excited in the public mind, and, we shall add, the vast array of talent which it has enlisted in its cause. were at variance with the received opinions, as the theories to which they gave rise. For the real facts, not alone of geology, but of any science, can never be in opposition to the Scripture narrative; because truth can never be contradictory of itself. One volume of the word of God can never contradict the assertions of another. Facts, however disclosed to us, can never be opposed to revelation; but the deductions from those facts, elicited by man's imperfect vision, may. Man sees but a part, and God alone The reader need not expect in these pa- knows how small a part, of the economy of ges any very original views, not even new nature. Even that small part, in how imdevelopments of those which are already be- perfect a light is it contemplated, and how fore the world. Our design is of a less difficult to infer therefrom the nature of the ambitious character; we seek merely to whole. The theories of dreaming enthuuse the facts and views collected by oth-siasts or speculative visionaries may be, ers, especially by Dr. Wiseman, in order to and often are, at variance with God's word, supply a want which we have often had oc- but for these theories, however ingeniously casion to deplore. The popular objections constructed, or eloquently propounded, or from geology, or the facts on which they universally received, true science is not to are supposed to be founded, are constantly be held responsible, nor should religion by brought, either in reading or conversation, them be impugned. Such speculations are under the notice of young students, while opposed to the interests of true science not the solutions are not to be found except in less than of religion. For science is only works more difficult of access, and less like- a classification of facts. If we begin with ly to attract the occasional reader. We a system or a theory before we have a sufpropose, therefore, to throw together, in a ficiency of facts, we begin at the wrong end. brief summary, the leading principles-es- Instead of inferring the principles of a scipecially those supplied by the science itself ence from the harmony of judicious and acin its progress-for the solution of the diffi- curate experiments, we accommodate these culties to which it gave rise in its infancy. to our preconceivd theory; we reject them It is not very long ago since geology was or we distort them from their legitimate a word of no good repute among the friends tendency, and thus create obstacles in the and advocates of religion; and it is not sur- path of truth which can with difficulty be prising that it should have been so, when removed. The more pleasing the theory, we consider the purposes to which in its in- the greater the reputation of its author, and fancy it was applied. Voltaire and his the greater the eloquence with which it be school, in their persevering hatred of the propounded, the greater will be its tenure Christian name, hailed every auxiliary in of public opinion, and the slower will be their unholy task, whatever might be its char- the development of truth. No department acter. Whether a statement was true or of knowledge has had more serious difficulfalse, was a matter of very little consequence, ties of this nature to contend with than geolprovided it remained for the time unanswer- ogy. The first apostles of this science beed, or provoked a laugh against the doctrines gan by theories which were long maintained or the defenders of Christianity. In the in- by the weight of such names as Leibnitz, fancy of geology, as has happened in so many Burnet, Buffon, Hooke, Werner, and Hutother sciences, many particulars were seem-ton. Each of these had his own theory for ingly contradictory of the Mosaic narrative, the construction of a world, and the work and of the opinions regarding it then generally of Buffon is still read for the beauty of its received. These were laid hold of, because style, though it has long ceased to be of they seemed likely to answer their purpose. any weight in philosophy. Each of these Though some of the points that seemed the systems was the science of its day, and bemost powerful weapons in their hands, are ing sanctioned by such illustrious names, it now acknowledged to be so weak and un- was no ordinary boldness, or sense of duty, founded that no geologist could venture to that could suggest a doubt or hazard a denial. repeat them with justice to his character, it Yet each passed away and was supplanted was not so much the ascertained facts that in its turn by another, which also had its |