who marries out of the tribe. They are industrious and warlike, and were it not for the constant persecution they suffer from the Mohammedans, they would be far more prosperous than the other inhabitants of these provinces. Every creed in the East has its kubleh, or sacred point, to which to turn in prayer; and that of the Yezidis is toward the north. The common people do not appear to pray at all. They leave that duty to the Priests, who occasionally meet, and perform mystic dances, at the same time chanting verses in honour of Yesdan and Sheikh Adi. The dead are buried with their faces toward the north. On the evening before the new year the Yezidi villages present a very gay appearance, as the door of every house is decorated with bunches of scarlet anemones, and on feastdays the people wear these and others twisted into their turbans. DISINTERESTED CHARITY. OUR charity, in order to be active, must be disinterested. Charity must not be bounded by the desire of others for its exercise; for in many instances those who most need it will be the last to desire its exercise towards themselves. If a man is perishing for want of knowledge, it is our duty to instruct him. If he does not desire to be instructed, the painful fact does not alter the certainty of his danger of perishing, but makes him a still more piteous object of charity. If he is not thankful for the instruction gratuitously and unsolicitedly offered, his case is still worse, and he has a still greater claim on our earnest efforts to save him. If he hates us for our love, curses us for our blessing, and persecutes and despitefully uses us for our prayers and labours, he has a still greater claim on our charity. His case is desperate, and requires the utmost effort. We must fight against opposing enmity till we overcome it, and melt the sullen ore of ingratitude by heaping upon it the fire of Christian charity.-Hunt. VOL. XIX. Second Series. Z GOING UP THE HILL. A LEAFLET FROM MY OLD NOTE-BOOK. I AM often astonished at the peculiar yet perfect language which whispers around us in every avenue of life; the echo of a footstep, the gentle zephyr, the rush of the coming storm, or the silence of eve: language seems written on every stick, stone, and tree; on suns, moons, and stars. The difficulty to ourself is only in not understanding it perfectly; but there is a voice in every sound, its meaning somewhat according to what is presented to our own mind. There are strange associations with smiles and tears; anger has its dreadful presentations, fear, disgust; prayer its solemnities; praise its reviving influence; hope its glorious anticipations; love its lasting remembrances. 0, how we are surrounded by wonders! and to see, to feel, and to write as the heart loves to present it all, what a halo of glory would surround our dark humanity! I seldom leave home without finding some beautiful idea for contemplation. Incident seems to me as common as the breath I draw: the spirit only in itself is too slothful to receive it. Our Saviour's sermons were delivered on texts borrowed from the wayside; and so simple and beautiful are they, that, of all other discourses the mind can retain them the longest. Last evening we took a stroll after supper, as is our wont. The moon was up, and the evening star, bright as hope, beamed her evening orisons over the stilly earth. The gentle zephyr played softly around us, making the languid leaflet whisper its evening prayer over again. Here and there a solitary labourer wended his way homeward; whilst Hebe, bright and beautiful as hope, crossed our path in the form of happy childhood, with long flowing locks, large hat, and smiles: we touched it gently, and the whisper spirit said, "Which road are you going? I am going up the hill." "Round the corner," we exclaimed. "Ah!" it said, "you should have been going up the hill;" and so we separated. Yes, thought we, it is a beautiful text, and a true one; for youth is always going up the hill, ever starting from the valley up toward the hill of everlasting hope,-always up, up, up! It now and then may fear, and look behind it; but still it is up, up: no matter how feeble its efforts, it is up, up still; and never does it seem to turn the corner of life, until the blast of winter begins to whiten those once beautiful dark locks of youth, until memory fails, or the feeble step requires the supporting staff of age. Yes; we should be ever going up the hill. Though the star of eve be there, we should still be going up the hill; though the moon be there, we should still be going up the hill; though grey hairs appear, we should still be going up the hill; though strength begin to fail, though hope be not so bright as heretofore, we should still be going upwards, fearing nothing; since it is said that, "Christ is our sun and shield, Our hope upon the wave, Our strength in every storm, Our night-lamp from the grave; Our morning-star Divine, Our everlasting light; That sun which never fails, That flame which owns no night, Still beaming on for aye, Whilst others far are driven; His perfect guide to heaven." Yes, we should still be going up the hill; still onward, still, though friends forsake; ay, though we may be wanderers upon this terraqueous scene, though driven round the corner of life; yet, still pursuing on, on, up, up, step by step, weary or faint, hoping on, until at the mountain's top we hear that glorious shout, "The pilgrim's welcome home." We separated. I turning the corner of life; Hebe starting on its first pilgrimage, all smiles, all hope: we just getting over the mountain's top, and wending our way towards the dark "but not the dreary vale;" for is there not hope for all? Yes: the star was there; to one the morning-star, to the other the star of eve; yet to both alike beaming, and telling, in solemn whispers, that life was made of hope, and that hope united mortality with immortality. THE WANDERER. Macclesfield. ROUND-HEADED GRAMPUS. (Delphinus Globiceps, Cuv.) Belonging to the cetacea: it has the blow-hole of that order on the top of the head, to enable it to breathe the air, without the necessity of thrusting its cumbrous body far out of the water. That it may the more easily come to the surface, its tail is transverse: hence its progressive motion consists of a series of plunges. ⚫ Its length varies, the female being from ten to eighteen feet, while the male sometimes is twenty-two feet. A specimen fifteen feet long, had eight feet as maximum girth; dorsal and pectoral fins, two feet six inches and three feet six inches in length respectively; tail, from tip to tip, three feet two inches. The teeth were twenty in each jaw, small, sharp, curved inwards, locking into each other, admirably adapted to seize their slippery prey. It has a complicated digestive apparatus, capable of performing its function with great rapidity: hence the havoc it makes among a shoal of herrings or mackerel. Its colour is nearly black, with the exception of a streak of dusky white along the belly, widening on the throat and chest into a broad patch. They are said to possess great affection for the old male, one of which seems to lead a large troop of females. Having thus given a brief sketch of the chief characteristics of this extraordinary animal, we proceed to relate that on the 26th of January, 1854, a troop of them entered the picturesque harbour of Castlehaven, on the southern coast of Ireland; and a party of boats, having got to seaward of them, succeeded, after a few hours, in driving them some two miles to the head of the creek, where they grounded on a mud-bank. They were immediately sur rounded by the boats: the men, leaping out, attacked them in every way possible; and now ensued a scene of the most remarkable description. Some threescore grampuses occupied the centre-ground, among which the number of men, (fifty or more,) some armed with knives, axes, pitchforks, &c., were cutting, hewing, and stabbing; others were endeavouring to make ropes fast to the small part of the body in front of the tail, and in so doing, were bespattered with mud from head to foot, thrown headlong, dipped under water,-in some cases so often, as to cause danger of their being drowned. To these were added the plunging and terrific throes of the animals, in their deathstruggles; their loud snorting, forcing blood and water through their blow-holes: here one lifting its head, and gaping its capacious jaws; there another slashing the mud and water in showers yards around; while at intervals was heard the sharp crack of the rifle, or the deeper-toned report of the fowling-piece from the boats; and for some distance the sea-water seemed scarlet with blood. Contemporaneous with this wholesale slaughter, many minor skirmishes took place with some who still enjoyed the deep water; one of which will serve to show the strength and tenacity of life possessed by this animal. A party had succeeded in severely wounding one; so much so, as to be able to haul it upon the bank, and to lash its tail to that of another about the same size: yet after a time it succeeded in again making its escape into deep water, dragging the other with it, and gave rise to an exciting chase, lasting nearly thirty minutes, ere it was finally captured. Thus, after about eight hours, were seventy of these "mammalia" secured by their captors. The blubber proved to be from one to two inches thick on the body; and on the head it exceeded a foot in thickness, causing the peculiar rounded shape of that portion. which gives the name "round-headed" to the species. |
