effect as if the basements and lower stories were encumbered with fragments and rubbish, leaving you to walk on a level with the capitals and floors once high above the pavement. It might be described as a mammoth Herculaneum, first sepulchred with over-toppling mountains, but swept and choked afterwards by the waters of the Deluge, that found their way to its dark streets in their subsiding. What scenery and machinery all this will be for the poets of the West, by and by! Their Parnassus is a house ready furnished.—A Health-Trip to the Tropics, by N. P. Willis. CHARON'S FERRY. BY MRS D. OGILVY. THE tide-streams up the inlet sweep, There is a hazy helpless moon- In vapoury wreaths and folds of shrouds, 'Charon! Charon! lift thine oar; Then from behind a jutting cape, 'Charon! Charon! spread thy sails! But, lo! the boatman stern replied: 'Charon! Charon! grant us grace; Inexorable still, he said: 'I judge you not, ye hapless dead; Your life was hard-your road was rough- The Elysian fields are not for you: Then rose a shriek of men and maids, Charon! Charon! we were poor; Lo! fables these of ancient times-- 'Charon! Charon! we were slaves, PORTRAITS FROM DAGUERREOTYPE. Happening, a few days since, to be at the studio of Mr Ransom, in the University building, on Washington Square, he shewed us a mode, invented by himself, of painting portraits from daguerreotypes, which cannot fail to produce very important results in portrait-painting. It is purely mechanical, and consists in so placing the daguerreotype as to throw an exact copy of it, magnified to any required size, upon canvas placed at the distance of a few feet from it. In this way, a most accurate likeness, the size of life, is projected upon canvas from a daguerreotype; and may be sketched with a crayon or otherwise, to be finished and coloured with oils afterwards. The utility of the invention consists in enabling the artist to get a perfect copy of the features with infinitely more accuracy and ease than in the ordinary way; while it does not interfere in the least with the subsequent finish of the portrait. We saw at his rooms some most remarkable likenesses, painted wholly from daguerreotypes in this way, without ever having seen the originals.-N. Y. Times. CHINESE FISHERIES IN CALIFORNIA. Many of our readers may not be aware that on the south side of Rincon Point, near the mouth of Mission Creek, there is a settlement of Chinese well worth a visit. It consists of about one hundred and fifty inhabitants, who are chiefly engaged in fishing. They have twenty-five boats, some of which may be seen at all hours moving over the waters-some going to, others returning from, the fishinggrounds. The houses are placed in a line on each side of the one street of the village, and look neat and comfortable. Here and there, a group is seen making fish-lines, and with their rude machines, stacking in heaps the quantities of fish which, lying on all sides around, dry in the sun, and emit an ancient and fishlike odour. The fish which they catch consist of sturgeon, rates, and shark, and large quantities of herring. The latter are dried whole, while the larger are cut into thin pieces. When they are sufficiently dry, they are packed in barrels, boxes, or sacks, and sent into town to be disposed of to those of their countrymen who are going to the mines or are bound upon long voyages. An intelligent Chinaman told us that the average yield of their fishing a day was about three thousand pounds, and that they found ready sale for them at five dollars the hundred pounds, which would amount in money to six hundred dollars, or, if my estimate of the number of inhabitants is correct, to four dollars per man.-California Journal. EDINBURGH: Printed by ROBERT CHAMBERS (residing at No. 1 Doune Terrace), No. 339 High Street, and Published by him at the same place, on SATURDAY, January 21, 1854. OF POPULAR LITERATURE Science and Arts. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. No. 4. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1854. PRICE 1d. in true mineral veins. In the gold countries known until within the last seven years, the chief supply was obtained by washing the sands which had been formed by the crumbling of the gold-bearing strata; but in California and Australia, digging or mining into the solid rock has been attended with very profitable results. Where auriferous veins are merely disseminated in a crystalline rock, such as quartz, the quantity is seldom sufficient to pay the expenses of working. The 'nuggets,' which we hear so much about, can hardly be said to form parts of real veins; they seem more like isolated fragments, the very isolation of which renders it difficult for the diggers to find them. In so far as respects our present subject, however, the most interesting ore is that which, whether quartz or any other, is spread abroad in millions of acres, and which contains only a few ounces of gold in a ton of rock. For such rock, it is necessary, first, that the mass be ground to a fine state; and then, that it be treated chemically, to separate the morsel of precious metal from the huge bulk of useless, or nearly useless rock. THERE IS GOLD IN ENGLAND. YES; and there are pitfalls in England, too. It is part of the object of the present paper to prevent the gold from dragging us into the pitfalls. We can have no kind of objection, commercial or geological, to the fact that gold exists among our mineral treasures; but there is much reason to apprehend the consequences of any exaggerated estimate of the quantity or diffusion of this gold. In former times, in England and in Wales, in Scotland and in Ireland, there have been periods of excitement, during which the thirst for gold has been eager and pernicious; a thirst which has been temporarily quenched, because the gold met with has been too small in quantity to pay for working. We think there are symptoms observable of a new gold-thirst. We think it not improbable that new joint-stock projects will start up, having a Californian aspect which results will not bear out; projects started, not because of the gold, but because of the thirst for gold. It is fully borne out by experience, that in a time of jointstock excitement, for every sound legitimate project there are two worthless bubbles, which will burst as soon as the wary birds have feathered their nests. An immense sum of money has been unprofitably sunk in Devon and Cornwall mines: those two counties being almost honey-combed by shafts, and galleries, and adits.tutes are much more general. In one of the mines of A few of the mines have returned enormous profits; many have realised small dividends; but the large majority have never returned a single sixpence to the adventurers who vested capital in them. It was the enormous profits of the select few that led to the estab-in it, to which is secured, by lashings of hide, a translishment of the unprofitable many; and it would be matter for regret if a revival of this reckless spirit should take place. A few paragraphs will enable us to state why this subject is taken up just at the present time, and why a little caution need not in any way damp legitimate enterprise. So much has been written in the Journal, as in almost all the popular periodicals, concerning gold in California and Australia, and the state in which it occurs in the diggings, that little need be said here on this point; but it bears directly on our object to consider the mode in which the pure metal is usually separated from the quartz or other rock wherewith it may be combined. The crushing of the rock has until now been generally conducted in a very clumsy manner, owing to the scarcity of machinery in most of the gold districts. Rolling-stones, rolling-cylinders, and stampers of various kinds, are the obvious means; but rude substi Chili, the crushing is effected by means of two stones; the under one about three feet in diameter, and slightly concave on the top, and the other a sphere about two feet in diameter; the sphere has two iron plugs fixed verse horizontal pole of wood, about ten feet long; two men, seated on the extremities of this pole, work it up and down alternately, so as to give to the upper stone a sort of rolling motion, sufficient to crush and grind the materials placed beneath it. Where water-power and ordinary wheel-work can be procured, the stampingmill is often used in crushing ore; such a mill consists of a number of heavy wooden pestles, each shod at the lower end with a large mass of iron; the ore is placed in a kind of trough, in which the bottoms of the pestles also work; and as the water-wheel is so adjusted as to lift and to let fall each pestle in succession, there is a succession of heavy blows which suffice to crush the ore. Sometimes the crushing-mill is used: this con kept in motion by a water-wheel, or by some other power: the ore is put into a hopper, from whence it falls into the space between the rollers; and it can only pass through this space by being previously crushed by the pressure. Gold usually occurs, disseminated in small quanti-sists of rollers placed at a short distance apart, and ties, either in quartz or in some rock which is very quartzose. It is found also, but less frequently, in clay-slate, limestone, granite, and other rocks, more or less combined with various metals and minerals. It is found sometimes among sands or gravels, caused by the disintegration of the parent rock; and sometimes The chemical treatment, for separating the gold when the ore has been crushed, is different according to the ratio of gold contained; but that which is most important is amalgamation-a process depending upon the affinity of gold for quicksilver. One mode of amalgamating adopted in the gold districts is as follows: the ore, having been pounded fine, is washed, to separate as much as possible of the light stony matter. This is done either with a machine called a sweep-washer, or more simply by placing the pounded ore in a shallow vessel with two handles; such a vessel, when immersed in a tub of water or a running stream, and made to rotate, separates the lighter from the heavier particles. The residue left from the washing is dried and mixed with a sufficient quantity of mercury to amalgamate the gold. To favour this amalgamation, a gentle but long-continued heat is applied to the mass, at the end of which time the chemical union has taken place, the quicksilver having drawn to itself all the golden particles. The fluid amalgam thus produced is pressed through a skin of leather, which separates a considerable portion of the quicksilver, leaving it ready for use a second time. One of two chemical processes, called cupellation and quartation, separates the gold from the rest of the quicksilver; and thus the precious metal is isolated from all its coarser companions. When the ore is very argentiferous, or valuable rather for the silver than the gold which it contains, a modified form of this amalgamating process is adopted. Now the sum and substance of the 'gold in England' excitement is simply this: that by an improved mode of crushing and amalgamating, English ores may probably be worth working, which by any former process would yield too little gold to pay the expense. It appears that Mr Calvert, a gentleman well acquainted with the gold-geology of Australia, has written a volume on the subject of 'gold in Britain,' just about the time when Mr Berdan, an engineer of New York, has invented a new ore-crushing machine. We are not exactly aware whether the book or the machine appeared first; but both have been instrumental in bringing about the present state of active inquiry and eager anticipation. We must say a little both of the volume and of the machine. There is something of the prophetic glance of science in these matters. When Sir Roderick Impey Murchison was in Russia, he minutely studied all the circumstances connected with the occurrence of gold in the Ural Mountains: the kind and size of grains, the state of the neighbouring rock, and the altitude at which that rock is principally found. He concluded that the auriferous sand-the earthy matter containing the golden particles-resulted chiefly from the disintegration of a slaty kind of rock. Some years afterwards, when the geology of Australia had to a small extent become known, Sir Roderick made one of those sagacious inferences, or reasonings from analogy, which seem to belong of right to the true man of science. He saw, in the direction of a mountain-chain, in the nature of the rock, and in the prevailing conformation of the country, so many analogies between the south-eastern quarter of Australia and the Ural district of Russia, that he boldly propounded the opinion, that gold would be found in Australia. This was some considerable time before Mr Hargreaves astonished Sydney, and then astonished the world, by galloping into the Australian metropolis with a nugget in his pocket from the Turon. Now, what Mr Calvert is aiming to do, is to carry Sir Roderick's analogy still further, by applying it to England as well as to Australia. He says, in effect, to the great geologist: 'You have yourself, in the Silurian system, so admirably described in your former works, an analogue to the Silurian system of the Ural: why not extend your gold-prophecy, so that it may include Britain?" Mr Calvert has laboured with great industry to collect every possible evidence of the existence of gold in the British islands; and it is really surprising how extensive such evidence has become. In more than half the counties of England, in nearly all those of Wales, and in many in Scotland and Ireland, gold is known to have been found at one period or other. There is proof that a few of these spots were known to and worked by the Romans; while others, it is equally That those spots have not lately been mined for gold, plain, were busily examined during the medieval period. is no proof that the gold is not present; for the clumsy manipulations may have been such, that all the gold actually obtained would not more than just pay the expense of working. Such was the case at the Wicklow gold-mines in Ireland. A story goes that, once upon a time,' about the year 1770, an old schoolmaster in Wicklow county was heard to talk a good deal about golden treasures, and was believed to wander about mysteriously at night: he married a young wife, and one consequence of his marriage was, that the secret got abroad-he had found a spot containing a good deal of gold. Whether the schoolmaster's story were a fact or a myth, the subject was not seriously taken up until 1796, when a man picked up nearly half an ounce of very pure gold. The effect was prodigious. Young and old, male and female, rushed to the spot (a mountain called Croghan Kinshela), and began grubbing among the earth for bits of gold. It was calculated that the country people picked up L.10,000 worth of gold before the government entered upon the consideration of the subject. A Mr Weaver was then appointed to superintend the searchings and workings, and to apply system and science to the matter; but when Mr Weaver sent in his balance-sheet, it shewed a greater expenditure than receipt, and so the Wicklow gold-mines were abandoned. Such appears to have been the case in all the four portions of the United Kingdom. The doubt has not been concerning the existence of the gold, but whether the quantity were such as to pay for the expense of working. Mr Calvert takes his readers about from county to county, shewing them, by the aid of his own Aladin's lamp, the golden treasures which lie beneath our feet; and certainly the sight is glittering and attractive. Still, the commercial question remains -the cost of procuring. If there be nuggets, the size of the nuggets must tell the story for them; but if there be only a few ounces of gold disseminated in a tonweight of quartz or other rock, will those few ounces bear the charge of mechanically and chemically treating the ton of rock, so as to separate the precious morsel from the ruder mass? This brings us at once to the subject of the orecrushing machines—the means of liberating what little gold there may be in a mass of rock. It is impossible to glance over the advertising columns of the Mining Journal, and similar works, without seeing that these machines are now busy agents in the matter. One inventor points out the excellence of his stampers; another, of his cylindrical rollers; another, of his conical rollers; and so forth-each one claiming, of course, to be better than all the others. We are placed under no sort of necessity for expressing an opinion concerning the relative merits of the various machines: it will suffice to notice briefly what is now being done, or tried, or planned, especially in relation to one particular machine, towards which the Devon and Cornwall mining companies are just at present looking with very eager eyes. It appears that Mr Berdan, connected with a large engineering firm at New York, had his attention directed to the subject of the quartz in California; the quantity of which is immense, but the profitable CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL. He The machine itself, be its efficacy what it may, is The gold. In some cases, where ore has been prepared by Professor Ansted wrote to the Times in December Cornwall and Devon companies are now speculating on these two questions: how much gold is contained in the 'gossan' and 'mundic' found in abundance in most copper and tin mines; and how small a percentage will pay for the expense of working. In other counties, there are pyrites and other minerals, instead of gossan and mundic, known to contain gold; and to those other WE daresay the reader is sufficiently familiar with the many-times-told story of the Greenland whale-fishery, but we may be permitted to doubt whether he knows much about the sperm-whale, and its capture in the far-off South Seas. We therefore invite him to accompany us on board a whaler, on its cruising station and to do this he need not quit his cushioned arm-chair by the parlour fire-and we will shew him the whole art and mystery of capturing the sperm or cachalot whale. But before stepping on board, it may be as well to say a few words about the South-sea whalers and their equipment. These vessels are not old double-sided tubs like the Greenlandmen, but smart, well-formed, thoroughly rigged ships and barques of 300 to 400 tons, manned by a crew of which at least three-fourths are prime A. Bs. These ships make voyages which frequently occupy three years, and which call into exercise the utmost degree of nautical skill, both scientific and practical. During this prolonged voyage, the mariners generally make the acquaintance of foreign people of all colours and all degrees of civilisation, in the South Sea Isles, the coast of South America, the Indian Archipelago, &c., and find abundant exercise for every manly virtue-courage, endurance, patience, and energy, all being absolutely requisite, together with no small amount of real talent on the part of the commanding-officers. The South-seaman surpasses all merchant vessels in the very romantic nature of its service. It roves round the globe; and in the vast Pacific Ocean sails to and fro, and from island to island, for years at a spell. The crew employed in such a service, if they only possess the ordinary intelligence of seamen, cannot fail to have their powers of observation sharpened, their reasoning faculties called into exercise, and their whole mental development stimulated. Accordingly, sperm-whalers are remarkably shrewd, intelligent men; close observers of the phenomena of nature so liberally exhibited in their ocean pathways; and altogether noble specimens of the British seaman. On the deck of a sperm-whaler, there is a platform to receive the portions of the whale taken on board, and at the mainmast-head are strong pulleys, called the cutting blocks and falls, which are used to hoist the blubber, &c., on board by aid of the windlass. There is also on deck a square brick erection, a little abaft the foremast, made to support a couple of great iron caldrons, called try-pots, in which the blubber is boiled. Adjoining them is a copper cooler; and every possible precaution is adopted to guard against accidents from fire. The number of casks carried by a South-seaman is very great, and the sizes vary up to nearly 350 gallons. The crew generally have abundance of fresh water till the cargo is nearly full; and besides the casks, there are four large iron tanks. Indeed, we have been informed that recently the South-seamen have been entirely fitted with iron tanks for the oil, and carry no more barrels than are requisite for the supply of fresh water, which in some instances is also kept in iron tanks. On a somewhat similar system to that adopted in the Greenland trade, the officers and crew of South-seamen are paid for their services, not in fixed wages, but in a certain percentage on the cargo-thus stimulating them to obtain as large a freight in as short a period as possible, and insuring the best exertion of their energies for mutual advantage. The lay, or share of the captain, is, on the average, about one-thirteenth of the value of the cargo; and an able seaman gets about the one hundred-and-sixtieth part for his portion. The entire crew, including master, mates, surgeon, harpooners, &c., amount to from thirty to forty men. A supply of provisions for three years and upwards is taken out from England; and the arrangements now made for the preservation of health are so judicious, that scurvy is of very rare occurrence. South-seamen are remarkably clean ships-the reverse of the popular notion concerning whalers; within a few hours after the capture of a whale, the vessel and crew exhibit no signs of the temporary disorder the cutting-up necessarily occasions. A South-seaman usually carries five swift boats, thirty feet in length, built of light materials, and shaped both ends alike, in order that they may with greater readiness be backed from the vicinity of a dangerous whale; they are steered with a long oar, which gives a much greater and more decided command over a boat than a rudder. Five long oars propel each boat, the row-locks in which they play being muffled, in order to approach the destined victim without noise. Sockets in the floor of the boat receive the oars when apeak. As these whale-boats are thin in the timbers, for the sake of buoyancy and speed, they very frequently get shattered by blows from the fins, flukes, and tail of the whale attacked; and consequently their crews would inevitably perish, were it not for a contrivance which we think cannot be too generally known to all who go a-boating either on business or pleasure. Life-lines are fixed at the gunwales of the boat; and when an accident causes her to fill, the oars are lashed athwart by aid of these lines, and although she may be quite submerged, still she will not sink, but bear up her crew until rescue arrives. We are sure that were this simple expedient known and adopted by merchant seamen and others, many hundreds of lives would be saved every year; for it is rarely that a boat is swamped so rapidly that there is not time to lash the oars athwart her gunwale. And now, reader, please to step on board the sperm-whaler. We are cruising somewhere in the great Pacific Ocean. Our ship is clean from stem to stern—from try-works to cutting-falls; our boats are hanging ready to be launched at a moment's notice; keen eyes are sweeping the horizon in every direction, and sharp ears are anxiously listening for the anticipated cry of There she spouts!'-for we are sailing along the edge of a current, and spermwhales are known to be in the vicinity. It is early morning, with a fine working-breeze; and if you will take your station with us on the cross-trees-or, if that is too lofty an elevation, on the foretop beneath them -we will point out to you the well-known indications of sperm-whales being hereabouts. First of all, you probably glance, with a sort of wondering smile, at the queer-looking machine at the cross-trees overhead. Well, that is the crow's-nest; but its tenant is not a feathered creature, but a tarry, oily, old Salt, who is the look-out man for the nonce, and whose keen gray eye, even whilst he refills his cheek with a fresh plug, is fixed with absorbing attention on yonder tract of water, where he seems to expect every instant to see a whale rise and spout. The crow's-nest, as you perceive, is composed of a framework in the shape of a cask, covered with canvas, and furnished with`a bit of seat and other little conveniences, to accommodate the look-out, and, when necessary, shelter him in some measure from the weather, as he frequently has to remain long aloft at a time. We believe, however, that South-seamen do not use, nor require, the crow's-nest so much as the Greenlandmen. Now, look around, and mark what vast fields there are of the Sally-man, and of Medusæ of all kinds, and observe the numerous fragments of cuttle-fish floating about, remnants of the recent meals of the cachalot; and, above all, see the great smooth tracts of oily |