the capital of the empire. Situated on the sea of Marmora, at the mouth of the Thracian Bosphorus, between the Black Sea and the Archipelago, Constantinople speedily became the mart of extensive commerce; thither all the wealth of the empire was attracted, and thither all the nations of the earth resorted with their tribute and their trade. The new capital soon rose into successful rivalry with the old, and Rome, the ancient mistress of the world, sunk from her proud supremacy. For more than eleven hundred years, Constantinople continued the seat of empire in the East, and since 1553, when it was taken by Mohammed, it has been the capital of the Turkish dominions and the residence of the Turkish Sultans.

Constantinople is beautifully situated. It is built in the form of a triangle, upon gradually rising ground, and its whole extent may be seen at a single glance from the sea or the adjacent hills, presenting an appearance not surpassed in magnificence by that of any city in the world. From the heights of Scutari it is perhaps seen to the best advantage. Here, in one grand panorama, we have, on the sea side, the snow-white Seraglio, surrounded with its walls and flanked with towers,directly opposite upon the harbor, the suburb of Galata, the residence of the European merchants, surrounded by a wall of its own,-farther on, Tophana with its cannon founderies,—and opposite Galata and Tophana, charmingly situated on the heights, the beautiful suburb of Pera with the palaces of the European ambassadors and the open burying ground of the Franks. On the south-west side is the fortress of the Seven Towers, and in the same quarter the Arsenal, the Navy Yard, the Bagnio and the Prison of the Galleys. The city, without including the suburbs, is about 12 miles in circumference; including the suburbs, it is more than 50 miles in circuit. The suburbs are for the most part open, but some of them are surrounded by old walls built by the Greeks and Genoese. The harbor of Constantinople will hold 1,200 ships. Some idea of the number of houses may be formed from the fact that 30,000 have been destroyed by fire in a day without materially changing the aspect of the city. The number of streets has been estimated to be 4,000. The population is

about 1.000,000, of whom one half are Turks, and the remainder Greeks, Armenian Christians, and Jews.

There are in Constantinople many ancient monuments still remaining. Among these is the church of St. Sophia, the oldest and most remarkable in the city. This church, which was founded by Justinian, is now a Mosque, and no one who is not a Mussulman is allowed to enter it, without the express permission of the Sultan. The Mosques are about 500 in number, and there are 5,000 oratories. Besides the Greeks have 23 churches, and the Catholics 9, the Armenians 3, and the Russians 1. Besides its many splendid and spacious mosques, this city can boast of hospitals, alms-houses, schools, colleges, and public libraries, such as rival the rich institutions founded by the Caliphs of Bagdad and Cairo, and would not suffer by comparison with those of many European cities.

Among the establishments characteristic of the place, we may mention the coffee-houses, where persons of all classes meet together to smoke, and drink coffee-the opium booths, where the guests assemble in the evening to enjoy the intoxicating influence of that pernicious drug-the baths which, in luxurious arrangements, surpass all others in the world-the slave market, where the most beautiful girls are brought from Georgia and Circassia, Mingrelia, Greece and Candia-and lastly, the Bazaars, where the dealers in particular articles carry on their business by themselves. The Bazaars are large buildings of stone, where the wealthy Turks deposit their property, and where wholesale business is carried on. The retail Bazaars are rows of shops on each side a covered street, where almost any thing may be purchased, and where the article is often manufac tured as well as sold. Here "Sedate Turks, Saturnine Armenians, swaggering Ghaliyonjis, saucy Franks, thin bearded Arabs, Bostanjis, with their long-tailed scarlet caps, Dervishes, crowned with dirty caps that look like extinguishers, are all crowded together, each driving his own bargain, and betraying by his physiognomy the characteristic of his nation, calling, and habits."

This city has been besieged twenty-four times, but taken only six, viz. by Alcibiades, Severus, Constantine, Dandelo, Michal Palæologus, and Mohammed. NEW-YORK, September, 1832.

WE meet with various passages in the sacred writ ings, in which mention is made of the Fox, although we know from the reports of travellers that this animal is but rarely met with in Palestine. The reason of this apparent difficulty is, that the animal called in scripture SHEEAL, and rendered in our English translation, Fox, is in fact the Jackal of the East, which is found in prodigious numbers in Arabia, Palestine and Egypt, scour ing the plains in packs, or concealed by hundreds in the gardens and among the tombs and rivers.

The Jackal is about the size of a middling dog, to which it bears no slight resemblance. Indeed, though the species of the wolf and dog approach each other very nearly, the Jackal seems, in some respects, to occupy an intermediate place. It unites the fierceness of the wolf with the familiarity of the dog, and its cry is made up of the howl of the former and the bark of the latter, mingled with a cry of lamentation resembling that of human distress. In the chase it is as noisy as the dog, and in its appetite as voracious as the wolf. There are several varieties of the animal, differing from each other chiefly in size and colour, those of the warm

est climates being large and of a reddish brown colour, while those from colder regions are smaller and of a beautiful bright yellow.

The Jackal never goes alone, but always in a pack of forty and fifty together. They are not afraid of mankind, but pursue their game to the very doors without the slightest signs of apprehension. They enter instantly into the sheepfolds, the yards, and the stables, and, when they can find nothing else, devour the leather harness, boots and shoes, and run off with what they have not time to swallow. They not only attack the living but the dead. They scratch up with their feet the new-made graves, and devour the corpse, how putrid soever. In those countries, therefore, where they abound, they are obliged to beat the earth over the grave and mix it with thorns, to prevent the Jackals from scraping it away. They always assist each other in this horrid work, uniting in a mournful cry, resembling that of children under chastisement; and when they have thus dug up the body, they share it amicably between them. These animals combine together every day, not only for the purposes just mentioned, but also for mutual assistance appertaining to the chase. When thus united in packs, the largest animals are not safe from their attack. They follow armies, and keep in the rear of caravans. They prey upon every thing that has once had animal life; the most putrid matter seeming equally acceptable with the most fresh. They are, in fact, the vultures of the quadruped kind.

During the day the Jackals hide themselves in holes, and seldom appear abroad till night-fall. Then they sally forth in troops, and having scented their prey, they pursue it the whole night with unceasing assiduity and perseverance, keeping up a horrid howl until they run down the victim.

The Lion, the Tiger, and the Panther, whose appetites are superior to their swiftness, attend to the Jackal's cry, and just as it supposes itself about to enjoy the fruits of its labour, one of these animals comes in, satiates himself upon the spoil, and leaves his poor provider a scanty remnant for his pains.

Of the numerous passages in scripture in which this animal is mentioned, we will cite but one. In Judges

xv. 4, 5, we read, that "Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails; and when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, with the vineyards and olives." We have cited this passage for the purpose of remarking, that the Vulpinaria, or feast of the foxes, celebrated by the Romans, was probably derived from this event. At the feast of Ceres, the Goddess of Corn, celebrated annually at Rome, about the middle of April, there was the observance of this custom-to fix burning torches to the tails of a number of foxes, and to let them run through the circus, till they were burnt to death. This was done in revenge upon

that animal for having once burnt up the fields of corn. The respective times agree exactly. For instance, from the book of Exodus we learn, that before the passover, that is before the fourteenth day of March, barley in Egypt was in the ear. And, again, it is said that the wheat, at that time, was not grown up. Barley harvest then in Egypt, and so in the country of the Philistines which bordered on it, must have fallen about the middle of March. Wheat harvest, according to Pliny, was a month later. Therefore, wheat harvest happened about the middle of April; the very time at which the burning of foxes was observed at Rome.

It is certain that the Romans borrowed many of their rites and ceremonies from foreign nations: and Egypt and Phenicia furnished them with more perhaps than any other country. From one of these the Romans might either. receive this rite immediately, or through the hands of their neighbours, the Carthagenians, who were a colony of Phenicians; and so its origin may be safely referred to the story we have been considering.

USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING EXTRACTS.

AUTUMN.

THE season is silently stealing onward when the Goddess of Nature disrobes herself of her simple blooming livery of green, and assumes her rich, russet and variegated mantle, as if to conceal her waning charms by a display of gorgeous decoration. Crowned by her blessings of industrious toil, the heart of the husbandman