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Near seven feet high! in sooth a lofty figure!
Now look at me, and tell me, am I bigger?

Not half the size; but then I'm sadly dwindled
Three thousand years, with that embalming glue,
Have made a serious difference, and have swindled
My face of all its beauty-there were few
Egyptian youths more gay,-behold the sequel,
Nay, smile not, you and I may soon be equal!

For this lean hand did one day hurl the lance
With mortal aim-this light fantastic toe
Threaded the mystic mazes of the dance:

This heart hath throbbed at tales of love and wo,
These shreds of raven hair once set the fashion,
This withered form inspir'd the tender passion.

In vain! the skilful hand, and feelings warm,
The foot that figured in the bright quadrille,

The palm of genius and the manly form,

All bowed at once to Death's mysterious will,
Who sealed me up where Mummies sound are sleeping,
In cere-cloth, and in tolerable keeping.

Where cows and monkeys squat in rich brocade,
And well-dressed crocodiles in painted cases,

Rats, bats, and owls, and cats in masquerade,

With scarlet flounces and with varnished faces; Men, birds, brutes, reptiles, fish, all crammed together,* With ladies that might pass for well-tanned leather.

Where Rameses and Sabacon lie down,

And splendid Psammis in his hide of crust:
Princes and heroes, men of high renown,

Who in their day kicked up a mighty dust,-
Their swarthy Mummies kicked up dust in numbers,
When huge Belzoni came to scare their slumbers.t

Who'd think these rusty hams of mine were seated
At Dido'st table, when the wondrous tale
Of "Juno's hatred" was so well repeated?

And ever and anon the queen turned pale;
Mean while the brilliant gas-lights, hung above her,
Threw a wild glare upon her shipwrecked lover.

Aye, gas-lights! mock me not; we men of yore
Were versed in all the knowledge you can mention;
Who hath not heard of Egypt's peerless lore!

Her patient toil? acuteness of invention?
Survey the proofs,--our Pyramids are thriving,-
Old Memnon still looks young, and I'm surviving.

A land in arts and sciences prolific,

On blocks gigantic building up her fame! Crowded with signs, and letters hieroglyphic, Temples and obelisks her skill proclaim! Yet though her art and toil unearthly seem,

Those blocks were brought on RAIL-ROADS and by STEAM'

How, when, and why, our people came to rear
The Pyramid of Cheops, mighty pile!

This, and the other secret's thou shalt hear;
I will unfold if thou wilt stay awhile,
The hist'ry of the Sphinx, and who began it,
Our mystic marks, and monsters made of granite.

Well, then, in grievous times, when king Cephrenes-
But, ha! what's this-The shades of bards and kings
Press on my lips their fingers! What they mean is
I am not to reveal these hidden things.
Mortal, farewell! Till Science' self unbind them,
Men must e'en take these secrets as they find them.

CHATEAUBRIAND.

This celebrated Frenchman, now advanced in age, has published a preface which is to be prefixed to his own memoirs, a work not to be given to the world till

See BELZONI's Travels.

+"After the exertion of entering into a burial-place, through a passage of six hundred yards in length, nearly overcome, I sought a resting-place, found one, and contrived to sit; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed it like a band-box. I then had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight, but they found no support. So I sank among the broken mummies with a crash of bones, rags, and wooden cases, which all together raised such a dust, as kept me motionless for a quarter of an hour, waiting till it had subsided."-BELZONI.

Should the reader detect some slight anachronism in the Mummy's Answer, he will please to remember, that in point of chronology, Virgil himself was not particular about a century or two. His, as well as Ovid's poetical fiction, representing Eneas as living in the age of Dido, involves an error of this kind, of nearly 300 years.

This, the largest of the Pyramids, was reckoned one of the

Seven Wonders of the World.

after his death. From this preface we make the following extracts, describing the extraordinary vicissitudes of his eventful life.

"I have explored the seas of the old and new world; I have trodden the soil of the four quarters of the globe: after having encamped under the hut of the Iroquois, and the tent of the Arab; in the wigwams of the Hurons; amid the ruins of Athens, of Jerusalem, of Memphis, Carthage, and Grenada; among the Greeks, the Turks, and the Moors; in forests and ruins, after having worn the bear-skin coat of the savage, and the silk caftan of the Mameluke; after having endured poverty, hunger, thirst, and exile, I have sat down minister, and ambassador, covered with gold embroidery, and decorated with orders and ribands, at the tables of kings, at the fetes of princes and princesses, to fall again into indigence and to taste the hardships of a prison.

"I have been connected with a multitude of persons celebrated in arms, in the church, in politics, in the magistracy, the sciences and the arts. I am in possession of immense materials; above four thousand private letters, the diplomatic correspondence of my several embassies, those belonging to the time when I was minister for foreign affairs, among which are unique and unknown documents belonging to myself. I have carried the musket of the soldier, the staff of the traveller, the wand of the pilgrim; a navigator, my fortunes have been as inconstant as my sail; a halcyon, I have made my nest upon the waves.

"I have been engaged in peace and war; I have signed treaties and protocols; and published, by the way, numerous works. I have been initiated into party, court, and state secrets; I have seen, close at hand, the most extraordinary reverses, the most exalted fortunes, the greatest reputations. I have been present at sieges, at congresses, at conclaves, at the re-edification and demolition of thrones. I have made history, and I could write it. And my solitary, contemplative, poetical life, passed through this world of realities, of catastrophies, of tumult, of noise, with the sons of my dreams, Chactas, Rene, Eudore, Aben-Hamet; with the daughters of my chimeras, Atala, Amelie, Blanca, Villede, Cymodocee. Within and beside my age, I perhaps exercised on it, without desiring or seeking it, a threefold influence-religious, political, and literary. "The memoirs divided into books and parts, are written in different times and in different places; these sections naturally lead to a kind of prologues, which relate what has happened since the last dates, and describe the places where I resume the thread of my narrative; and the varied events and the changing forms of my life are thus blended together. It often happens that, in my moments of prosperity, I have to speak of the time of my misfortunes, and that, in my days of tribulation, I recall my days of happiness, and the diverse sentiments of the different periods of my life, my youth penetrating into my old age, the gravity of my years of experience casting a gloom over my lighter years-the rays of my sun, from its rising to its setting, crossing and mingling with each other, like the scattered lights of my existence, give a sort of undefinable unity to my work; my cradle has some affinity with my tomb, my tomb with my cradle; my sufferings become pleasures, my pleasures pains; and it cannot be discovered whether these memoirs are the work of a gray head."

A WIT.

A man that has once got his character up for a wit, is sure of a laugh, say what he may. He may utter as much nonsense as he pleases, and all will pass current. No one stops to question the coin of a rich man, but a poor man cannot pass off a joke or guinea, without its being examined on both sides. Wit and coin are always doubted with a thread-bare coat.

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SECTION XIX.

[From the Western Monthly Magazine.]

WESTERN SCENERY.

(Concluded.)

The scenery of the prairie country excites a different feeling. The novelty is striking, and never fails to cause an exclamation of surprise. The extent of the prospect is exhilarating; the verdure and the flowers are beautiful; and the absence of shade, and consequent appearance of a profusion of light, produces a gaiety which animates the beholder.

It is necessary to explain that these plains, although preserving a general level in respect to the whole country, are yet in themselves not flat, but exhibit a gracefully waving surface, swelling and sinking with an easy slope, and a full rounded outline, equally avoiding the unmeaning horizontal surface, and the interruption of abrupt or angular elevations. It is that surface which, in the expressive language of the country, is called rolling, and which has been said to resemble the long heavy swell of the ocean, when its waves are subsiding to rest after the agitation of a storm.

It is to be remarked also, that the prairie is almost always elevated in the centre, so that in advancing into it from either side, you see before you only the plain, with its curved outline marked upon the sky, and forming the horizon, but on reaching the highest point, you look around upon the whole of the vast scene.

The attraction of the prairie consists in its extent, its carpet of verdure and flowers, its undulating surface, its groves, and the fringe of timber by which it is surrounded. Of all these, the latter is the most expressive feature-it is that which gives character to the landscape, which imparts the shape and marks the boundary of the plain. If the prairie be small, its greatest beauty consists in the vicinity of the surrounding margin of woodland, which resembles the shore of a lake, indented with deep vistas like bays and inlets, and throwing out long points, like capes and headlands; while occasionally these points approach so close on either hand, that the traveller passes through a narrow avenue or strait, where the shadows of the woodland fall upon his path,-and then again emerges into another prairie. Where the plain is large, the forest outline is seen in the far perspective like the dim shore when beheld at a distance from the ocean.The eye sometimes roams over the green meadow, without discovering a tree, a shrub or any object in the immense expanse, but the wilderness of grass and flowers; while at another time, the prospect is enlivened by the groves which are seen interspersed like islands, or the solitary tree, which stands alone in the blooming desert.

thing like the cooing of the dove, but resembling still more the sound produced by passing a rough finger boldly over the surface of a tambourine. The number of these birds is astonishing. The plain is covered with them in every direction; and when they have been driven from the ground by a deep snow, I have seen thousands-or more properly tens of thousandsthickly clustered in the tops of the trees surrounding the prairie. They do not retire as the country becomes settled, but continue to lurk in the tall grass around the newly made farms; and I have sometimes seen them mingled with the domestic fowls, at a short distance from the farmer's door. They will eat and even thrive when confined in a coop, and may undoubtedly become domesticated.

When the eye roves off from the green plain to the groves or points of timber, these also are found to be at this season robed in the most attractive hues. The rich undergrowth is in full bloom. The red-bud, the dog-wood, the crab-apple, the wild plumb, the cherry, the rose, are abundant in all rich lands; and the grape vine, though its bloom is unseen, fills the air with fragrance. The variety of the wild fruit and flowering shrubs is so great, and such the profusion of the blossoms with which they are bowed down, that the eye is regaled almost to satiety.

The gaiety of the prairie, its embellishments, and the absence of the gloom and savage wildness of the forest, all contribute to dispel the feeling of lonesomeness, which usually creeps over the mind of the solitary traveller in the wilderness. Though he may not see a house nor a human being, and is conscious that he is far from the habitations of men, he can scarcely divest himself of the idea that he is travelling through scenes embellished by the hand of art. The flowers, so fragile, so delicate, and so ornamental, seem to have been tastefully disposed to adorn the scene. The groves and clumps of trees appear to have been scattered over the lawn to beautify the landscape, and it is not easy to avoid that decision of the fancy which persuades the beholder, that such scenery has been created to gratify the refined taste of civilized man.-Europeans are often reminded of the resemblance of this scenery to that of the extensive parks of noblemen which they have been accustomed to admire in the old world; the lawn, the avenue, the grove, the copse, which are there produced by art, are here prepared by nature; a splendid specimen of massy architecture, and the distant view of villages, are alone wanting to render the similitude complete.

In the summer the prairie is covered with long coarse grass, which soon assumes a golden hue, and waves in the wind like a ripe harvest.-Those who have not a If it be in the spring of the year, and the young grass personal knowledge of the subject would be deceived has just covered the ground with a carpet of delicate by the accounts which are published of the height of green, and especially if the sun is just rising from be- the grass. It is seldom so tall as travellers have reprehind a distant swell of the plain, and glittering upon sented, nor does it attain its highest growth in the richthe dew-drops, no scene can be more lovely to the eve. est soil. In the low wet prairies, where the substraThe deer is seen grazing quietly upon the plain; the tum of clay lies near the surface, the centre or main bee is on the wing; the wolf with his tail dropped is stem of this grass, which bears the seed, acquires great sneaking away to his covert with his felon tread of one thickness, and shoots up to the height of eight or nine who is conscious that he has disturbed the peace of feet, throwing out a few short coarse leaves or blades, nature; and the grouse feeding in flocks or in pairs, and the traveller often finds it higher than his head as like the domestic fowl, cover the whole surface-the he rides through it on horse-back. The plants, although males strutting and erecting their plumage like a pea- numerous, and standing close together, appear to grow cock, and uttering a long, loud, mournful note, some- I singly and unconnected, the whole force of the vege

VCL. II.

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tative power expanding itself upward. But in the rich | of the low state of the water in some of the rivers, undulating prairies, the grass is finer, with less of stalk, foreboded considerable detention to the boats; and, and a greater profusion of leaves. The roots spread other circumstances considered, it was evident to me and interweave so as to form a compact even sod, and that they could not reach the eastern end of Slave the blades expand into a close thick sward, which is Lake before the commencement of cold weather. Givseldom more than eighteen inches high, and often less, ing up all hope of seeing them again before the accomuntil late in the season when the seed-bearing stem plishment of my plans, I stimulated my crew to the shoots up. utmost, and actually worked them, until my arrival at Fort Chippewayan, which was about the end of July, for 18 hours a day. On my route I met Mr. M'Leod, an old acquaintance of mine, for whom I had a letter from the resident Gov. Mr. Simpson, intimating a wish that he should accompany the expedition, and I am sure you will be happy to learn that he immediately consented to place himself under my orders, and undertake the management of the Indians at our winter quarters.

The first coat of grass is mingled with small flowers; the violet, the bloom of the strawberry, and others of the most minute and delicate texture. As the grass increases in size these disappear, and others, taller and more gaudy, display their brilliant colours upon the green surface, and still later a larger and coarser succession rises with the rising tide of verdure. A fanciful writer asserts, that the prevalent colour of the prairie flowers is in the spring a bluish purple, in midsummer red, and in the autumn yellow. This is one of the notions On our reaching Fort Chippewayan, we made every that people get, who study nature by the fireside. The inquiry relating to the direction of the rivers that detruth is, that the whole of the surface of these beauti- bouched at or about the Fond du Lac, and though there ful plains is clad throughout the season of verdure evidently appeared to be a nearer way to the Barren with every imaginable variety of color, 'from grave to Grounds than by the circuitous one originally intended gay. It is impossible to conceive a more infinite diver- to be followed, yet the vague and unsatisfactory ansity, or a richer profusion of hues, or to detect any pre-swers of the Indians, together with their obvious igdominating tint, except the green, which forms the norance of the distance to the Great Fish River, made beautiful ground, and relieves the exquisite brilliancy of me at once decide to go by Great Slave Lake. all the others. The only changes of color observed at the different seasons arise from the circumstance that in the spring the flowers are small and the colours delicate; as the heat becomes more ardent a hardier race appears, the flowers attain a greater size, and the hue deepens; and still later a succession of coarser plants rise above the tall grass, throwing out larger and gaudier flowers. As the season advances from spring to midsummer, the individual flower becomes less beautiful when closely Inspected, but the landscape is far more variegated, rich, and glowing.

It was the 7th of August when we landed at Fort Resolution, owing to the detentions incurred by sending to the Salt Plains, (a little to the westward of the Slave River,) for a winter's stock of that invaluable article.

Many Indians had assembled at this trading post, and their principal Chief, Le Grand Jeune Homme, was waiting my arrival, under a sort of promise held out to him that he should accompany me. But as I was fully aware that his services must be purchased at a greater rate than our limited means could afford, and that he knew nothing about the country to the eastward, I was glad to compromise the affair, and reward him for his loss of time by a present of the value of 40 beaver skins.

The season was advancing too fast to admit of any more delay, and being unable to procure a guide to the Thlew-ee cho-dezeth from among the Indians, not one of whom possessed a knowledge of its locality or direction, I determined on leaving Mr. M'Leod to bring the stores, while I preceded him in a half sized canoe, with a crew of two half breeds,' a Canadian, an In

In the winter, the prairies present a gloomy and desolate scene. The fire has passed over them, and consumed every vegetable substance, leaving the soil bare, and the surface perfectly black. That gracefully waving outline which was so attractive to the eye when clad in green, is now disrobed of all its ornaments; its fragrance, its notes of joy, and the graces of its landscape have all vanished, and the bosom of the cold earth, scorched and discolored, is alone visible. The wind sighs mournfully over the black plain; but there is no object to be moved by its influence-not a tree to wave its long arms in the blast, nor a reed to bend its fragile stem-dian, and an Englishman. With this motley and most not a leaf nor even a blade of grass to tremble in the breeze. There is nothing to be seen but the cold dead earth and the bare mound, which move not-and the traveller with a singular sensation, almost of awe, feels the blast rushing over him, while not an object visible to the eye, is seen to stir. Accustomed as the mind is to associate with the action of the wind its operation upon surrounding objects, and to see nature bowing and trembling, and the fragments of matter mounting upon the wind as the storm passes, there is a novel effect produced on the mind of one who feels the current of air rolling heavily over him, while nothing moves

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rickety craft I commenced the survey towards the north east. Our course first lay in the direction of the Riviere a Jean, and along the low swampy shores of the lake, then across to numerous islands, which led us to the north side of the lake. The scenery there was composed of the most craggy and picturesque rocksmostly primitive, and consisting of flesh-coloured feldspar and quartz, with a few trees of inconsiderable size.

As we advanced, the appearance became more imposing, from the circumstances of the granite, or rather the last formation, yielding to the trap, which displayed itself in long parallel ranges of natural precipices, that not unfrequently extended to the horizon.

In two places the southern shore approaches within have never been known to freeze. a mile of the northern, and the detroits thus formed

More than one island had a columnar or basaltic

form on the precipitous or south-west side. The wa-
ter, unlike the turbid yellow we had left, was now of
during the night.
transparent blue, and so cold that ice often formed

I had now got to lat. 62 deg. 51 min. 40 sec. N., and long. 109 deg. 25 min. W. and could perceive a long blue point stretching to the S. E., which my Indian said we must round or make a portage to get to the eastern extremity of Great Slave Lake. There,' continued he, 'you will find a river which [I know not

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considered, as to size, the second lake in North America.

"I have a very compact observatory built where the needle is performing its diurnal functions with more or less regularity, according to the appearance of the aurora, or other atmospheric phenomena. The dip, magnetic force, &c. have also been ascertained; nor am I conscious of having omitted any thing that the friends and projectors of the scientific part of this expedition may have expected from me."

"This animal, the name of which is pronounced nylgaw, is a native of India. It is of a middle nature, between the cow and the deer, and carries the appearance of both in its form. In its size, it is as much smaller than the one as it is larger than the other; its body, horns, and tail, are like those of a bull; and the head, neck, and legs, are very like those of a deer. The colour, in general, is ash or gray, from a mixture of black hairs and white; all along the ridge or edge of the neck, the hair is blacker, larger, and more erect, making a short, thin, and upright mane. Its horns are seven inches long; they are six inches round at the root; growing smaller by degrees, they terminate in a blunt point. The bluntness of these, together with the form of its head and neck, might incline us to suppose it was of the deer kind; but as it never sheds its horns, it has a greater affinity to the cow.

"Their manners are harmless and gentle. Although in its native wildness it is said to be vicious, this seemed pleased with every kind of familiarity, and always licked the hand that stroked or gave it bread, and never once attempted to use its horns offensively; it seemed to have much dependence on its organs of smell, and snuffed keenly, and with noise, whenever any person came within sight; it did so likewise when any food or drink was brought to it; and was so easily offended with smells, or so cautious, that it would not taste the bread which was offered, when the hand happened to smell strong of turpentine. Its manner of fighting is very particular. It was observed, on putting two males in a little enclosure, that, while they were at a considerable distance from each other, they prepared for the attack, by falling upon their fore knees, then they shuffled towards each other, with a

quick pace, keeping still upon their fore knees; and when they were come within some yards, they made a spring, and darted against each other. The intrepidity and force with which they dart against any object, appeared by the strength with which one of them attempted to overturn a poor labourer, who unthinkingly stood on the outside of the pales of its enclosures. The Nyl-ghau, with the quickness of lightning, darted against the wood-work with such violence, that he broke it to pieces, and broke off one of his horns close to the root, which occasioned the animal's death. In the English settlements of India they are considered

as rarities, and are brought from the distant interior parts of the country. The Emperor sometimes kills them in such numbers, as to distribute quarters of them to all his omrahs; which shows that they are internally wild and in plenty, and esteemed good and delicious food. The Nyl-ghaus are quite common in Bengal; which gives room for a conjecture that they may be indigenous perhaps in the province of Guzarat, one of the most western and most considerable of the Hindostan empire, lying to the northward of Surat, and stretching away to the Indian ocean."

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"This singular creature is described by travellers as resembling in form the horse, the ox, and the stag. It is about the size of a small horse, that is about four or five feet in height, and between five and six in length. The colour of the body, which is said to be finely proportioned is a dark brown. Its limbs are slender. Its neck is longer than that of the ox, but neither so long nor so slender as that of the horse. Like the horse it is adorned with a mane, which is stiff and erect. Its horns are singularly curved, being somewhat of the shape of the Greek letter upsilon. Its head, however, resembles most that of the ox species. Besides the mane, it has also on the breast a shaggy stiff hair, which is black, while the colour of the mane and tail is gray. It is a native of the southern parts of Africa, where it exists in a gregarious state, and in very large herds. It is a lively, capricious animal.

"The Gnu is thus described by Mr. Pringle, who had abundant opportunities of studying its habits at the Cape of Good Hope, and whose talents and observant spirit particularly qualify him to investigate and to communicate the result of his investigation. 'The curious animal called Gnu by the Hottentots, and Wilde Beest (i. c. Wild Ox) by the Dutch colonists, was an inhabitant of the mountains adjoining the Scottish settlement at Bavian's river, and I had therefore opportunities of very frequently seeing it both singly and in small herds. Though usually, and perhaps correctly, by naturalists ranked among the antelope race, it appears to form evidently one of those intermediate links which connect, as it were, the various tribes of animals in a harmonious system in the beautiful arrangement of nature. As the hyena dog, or 'wilde

hond' of South Africa, connects the dog and wolf tribe with that of the hyæna, in like manner does the Gnu form a graceful link between the buffalo and the antelope. Possessing the distinct features which, according to naturalists, are peculiar to the latter tribe, the Gnu exhibits at the same time in his general aspect, figure, motions, and even the texture of his flesh, qualities which partake very strongly of the bovine character. Among other peculiarities, I observed, that, like the buffalo or the ox, he is strangely affected by the sight of scarlet; and it was one of our amusements when approaching these animals to hoist a red handkerchief on a pole, and to observe them caper about, lashing their flanks with their long tails, and tearing up the ground with their hoofs, as if they were violently excited, and ready to rush down upon us; and then all at once, when we were about to fire upon them, to see them bound away, and again go prancing round us at a safer distance. When wounded, they are reported to be sometimes rather dangerous to the huntsman; but though we shot several at different times, I never witnessed any instance of this. On one occasion, a young one, apparently only a week or two old, whose mother had been shot, followed the huntsman home, and I attempted to rear it on cow's milk. In a few days it appeared quite as tame as a common calf, and seemed to be thriving; but afterwards, from some unknown cause, it sickened and died. I heard, however, of more than one instance in that part of the colony, where the Gnu, thus caught young, had bee reared with the domestic cattle, and had become so tame as to go regularly out to pasture with the herds. without exhibiting any inclination to resume its natu

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