This beautiful sheet of water must be classed among our smaller lakes, being only a mile wide near its head, and rarely exceeding two miles through its length of thirty-six. But though inconsiderable in magnitude when compared with our inland oceans, Erie or Ontario, Lake George combines in an unrivalled degree all the elements of beauty. It abounds with such varieties of scenery, that the slightest change in the position of the beholder, the most trifling variation in the accompaniments of light and shadow is frequently sufficient to develope charms unseen and unimagined before, and indeed, with its crystal waters and its diamond islands, its majestic mountains and its vast old forests, its embattled ruins consecrated by the blood of our fathers and its hundred legends in which their deeds have been embalmed, it presents attractions to the traveller such as few other places in our country possess. We have seen it in every variety of circumstance and always found it beautiful. In calm or storm, by daylight or by moonlight, its beauty may vary but it is still beautiful. No where else have we seen the Sun rise with so much magnificence. The lake is so closely environed by lofty mountains that the surrounding world is arrayed in light long before the sun has acquired sufficient elevation to overtop the barrier they form, and then, the effect produced by his sudden appearance is truly superb. Immense masses of vapour are seen rising like a curtain from the water, and slowly rolling up the sides of the hills, when the Sun, like a flood of blazing gold, burst

ing over the mountain barrier and pouring a torrent of light into the obscure area below, in an instant, as by enchantment, covers with dazzling splendor every point in the unrivalled landscape.

The water of Lake George is of crystal purity, so clear and bright that the bottom may be seen at almost any depth; and anglers in pursuit of the fine spotted trout with which it abounds, can select their fish, even where the water is twenty-five feet deep, by bringing the hook near the mouth of the fish which they prefer. The French, who first visited the country, regarded this unusual transparency with superstitious reverence, and deeming so pure an element peculiarly fitted for the ceremonies of their religion, they employed it for sacramental purposes, and gave the lake the name of the "Lake of the Sacrament." The English, subsequently named it after their Patron Saint. The islands of Lake George add much to the beauty of its scenery. They are very numerous, and of every variety of size and form. Their exact number is not known, but the inhabitants say there is one for every day in the year. These islands abound with crystals which are not surpassed by any in the world for brilliancy and perfection of form. The country people who collect the crystals to sell to travellers call them diamonds, and one of the islands which has been particularly famous for affording them is generally known as the "Diamond Island.”

Lake George, peaceful and calm as its ordinary appearance is, and shut out as it seems to be by its mountain barriers from the angry passions of the world, holds a conspicuous place in the annals of American war. Where the village of Caldwell now stands, the Marquis of Montcalm's army was entrenched at the siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, and some marks of his entrenchments are still visible. The remains of the Fort may still be seen, the walls, the outworks and the ditches can be distinctly traced, and the well that supplied the garrison is in use at this day. Fort George is in better repair. Its circular massive walls of stone are still twenty feet high, and in tolerably good pre

servation.

August 1st, 1832.

CIRCLE OF THE SCIENCES, WITH SUITABLE RE

FLECTIONS.

COMETS.

Comets are distinguished from the other celestial bodies, by their ruddy appearance, and by a long train of light, called the tail, which sometimes extends over a considerable portion of the heavens, and which is so transparent, that the stars may be seen through it. The tail is always directed to that part of the heavens' which is opposite to the sun, and increases in size as it approaches him, and is again gradually diminished, as the comet flies off to the more distant regions of space. Their apparent magnitude is very different: sometimes they appear only of the bigness of the fixed stars; at other times they equal the diameter of Venus; and sometimes they have appeared nearly as large as the Moon. They traverse the heavens in all directions, and cross the orbits of the planets. When examined through a telescope, they appear to consist of a dark central nucleus, surrounded by a dense atmosphere, or mass of vapors. They have been ascertained to move in long narrow ellipses or ovals, around the sun; some of them, on their nearest approach to him, having been within a million of miles of his centre; and then fly off to a region several thousands of millions of miles distant. When near the sun, they move with amazing velocity. The velocity of the comet which appeared in 1680, according to Sir Isaac Newton's calculation, was eight hundred and eighty thousand miles an hour. They appear to be bodies of no great density, and their size seldom exceeds that of the moon. The length of the tails of some comets has been estimated at fifty millions of miles. According to Dr. Herschel's computations, the solid nucleus, or central part of the comet which appeared in 1811, was only 428 miles in diameter; but the real diameter of the head, or nebulous portion of the comet, he computed to be about 127 thousand miles. The length of its tail he computed to be above one hundred millions of miles, and its breadth nearly fifteen millions. It was nearest to the earth on

**

the 11th October, when its distance was 113 millions of miles. The number of comets which have occasionally been seen within the limits of our system since the commencement of the Christian era, is about 500, of which the paths. or orbits of 98 have been calculated.

As these bodies cross the paths of the planets in every direction, there is a possibility, that some of them might strike against the earth in their approach to the sun; and, were this to happen, the consequences would be awful beyond description. But we may rest assured that that Almighty Being who at first launched them into existence, directs all their motions, however complicated; and that the earth shall remain secure against all such concussions from celestial agents, till the purposes of his moral government in this world shall be fully accomplished. What regions these bodies visit, when they pass beyond the limits of our view; upon what errands they are sent, when they again revisit the central parts of our system; what is the difference in their physical constitution, from that of the sun and planets; and what important ends they are destined to accomplish, in the economy of the universe, are inquiries which naturally arise in the mind, but which surpass the limited powers of the human understanding at present to d: termine. Of this, however, we may rest assured, that they were not created in vain; that they subserve purposes worthy of the infinite Creator; and that wherever he has exerted his power, there also he manifests his wisdom and beneficence.

Such is a general outline of the leading facts connected with that system of which we form a part. Though the energies of Divine Power had never been exerted beyond the limits of this system, it would remain an eternal monument of the wisdom and omnipotence of its Author. Independent of the Sun, which is like a vast universe in itself, and of the numerous comets which are continually traversing its distant regions, it contains a mass of material existence, arranged in the most beautiful order, two thousand five hundred times larger than our globe. From late observations, there is the strongest reason to conclude