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Israelites, after their settlement in Canaan, appear to have neglected archery, for we read that, immediately after his accession, David "bade them teach the children of Israel the use of the bow." (2 Samuel i. 17.) From the brief narrative in the book of Chronicles, it seems that the Hebrews in Goshen enjoyed a qualified independence; they made wars upon their own account, and retained all their pastoral usages. In some of their expeditions they were unsuccessful, and perhaps subjected to very severe reprisals.

Manetho now becomes our sole guide; he informs us in substance, that a nomade race, settled on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt, invited the Hyksos, who had been anciently overcome and expelled, to return into Egypt, and that these barbarians obeyed the summons, subdued Lower Egypt, and reduced the inhabitants to slavery. Many circumstances recorded in Scripture, lead us to believe that the Pharaoh who tyrannized so cruelly over the Egyptians, belonged to this intrusive dynasty of the Hyksos; he is described as "a king who knew not Joseph," consequently, he must have been a stranger unacquainted with the benefits which Egypt had derived from the enlightened administration of that patriarch, for it is scarcely credible that any native Egyptian could have been ignorant of those circumstances. This Pharaoh also asserts, "the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;" which is scarcely credible if it be understood of the whole body of the Egyptian nation, but it is very possible, nay very probable, that savage race of conquerors may have been inferior in number to the smallest division of the races which inhabited Egypt. At this very hour, the Turks are the least numerous part of the Turkish population, and the jealousy with which they consequently regard all the other races subject to the Sultan, is the greatest obstacle to the regeneration of their empire. Finally, one of the tasks which this monarch imposed on the Hebrews, was the erection of treasure cities, that is, fortresses to secure the plunder which had been wrested from the native Egyptians. When Joseph, under a native Pharaoh, had received all the money of Egypt in exchange for corn, we do not find that he was compelled to erect any fortresses for its security; such a precaution was necessary only under the iron rule of a barbarous foreigner and conqueror.

the

The tyranny of Pharaoh commenced by his setting "task-masters" over the Israelites, "to afflict them with their burdens." We find many representations of these cruel task-masters on the monuments; they are armed with formidable whips.

"The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." (Exod. i. 13, 14). The manufacture of bricks was so very toilsome and painful an employment, that it was usually the work of slaves and captives. Among the monumental paintings, we find representations of different races of people employed in this degrading labour. Some of them being bearded, and otherwise pourtrayed with characteristics strikingly different from those of the Egyptians, it can hardly be doubted that the Jews are meant, and such paintings may, therefore, be taken as historical records of the state of bondage of the Jews in the land of Egypt. These representations, too, are the more worthy of note, because, we see some native Egyptians, also compelled to endure the same toil, whence the picture may fairly be regarded as the memorial of a time, when both the Israelites and the native Egyptians were forced to become the slaves of a foreign conqueror, just as both the Arabs and the Fellahs of modern times were equally subjected to the tyranny of the Turks.

The clay before being wrought was tempered with water, and broken into small particles by an instrument resembling the hand-plough, described in a former article of this series. This process was equally painful and unwholesome under the burning sun of Egypt, where the moist exhalations from humid clay have always been found very deleterious.

When the clay was properly tempered, it was moulded in a shape, as is still the practice in the modern manufacture of bricks. Indeed it is scarcely possible to avoid remarking, how very similar the processes of the necessary arts of life, represented on the Egyptian monuments, are to those which we see every day around us. It does not appear that the Egyptians burned their bricks, though, as we shall hereafter see, they were acquainted with the use of

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kilns. They preferred drying them in the sun, a custom not wholly disused in Britain, though the lower temperature of our climate renders it far less efficacious than in Egypt. The piling of the bricks, and the mode of their transport, are represented in the accompanying engravings.

A VISIT TO

THE SCHOOL FOR THE INDIGENT BLIND, IN ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS, SURREY.

Ir is an old and common remark, that places and objects of interest which we have constant opportunities of visiting, frequently remain unseen, and are, therefore, unknown to us, except from the reports of others. It is equally true, that in order to form a just estimate of many of the admirable institutions with which this country abounds, it is necessary to make a personal inspection of them. The quantity of accurate information which is thus derived from the fountain-head, cannot but be improving to the mind; nor does it fail to increase the materials for profitable and engaging conversation. But we are not ashamed to own, that a far better result is, or ought to be produced, by such scenes as we will now endeavour to describe. The heart is touched: every benevolent feeling is called into play: with pity for the distressed is mingled the joy at witnessing the mitigation of their sorrows: a sentiment of gratitude arises to the Giver of all good, for the several compensations He has granted in special cases of infirmity, as well as for our own positive blessings: and, above all, the effect on the kind and thoughtful visiter will be a desire to aid, according to his means, in the glorious work of Christian charity.

These remarks have been suggested by a survey I have just made of the School, established in 1799, for the support and instruction of the Indigent Blind. The object of this Institution is to teach the inmates a trade, by which they may be qualified to provide, either wholly or in part, for their own subsistence. Applicants who have a greater degree of sight than will enable them to distinguish light from darkness, cannot be placed on the list of candidates for admission. Of the description of persons totally blind there are now sixty males and sixty-two females in the school, some of whom were born blind; others, whose claim on the compassion of their fellow-creatures is stronger, and more affecting, from their having once possessed the precious gift of sight, and lost it by illness or accident.

After passing through the rooms of the new building, which is a very handsome fabric, calculated, when finished, to accommodate an increased number of pupils, I entered a large apartment in which the males, ranged at intervals along each side, were busily occupied in making baskets, of different degrees of texture, large hampers, cradles, &c. It was impossible not to be struck with the air of cheerfulness which pervaded the forms as well as the faces of these persons; so that seeing them active and industrious over their respective tasks, one might easily forget, for a time, their peculiar privation. The predominant expression, however, in their physiognomy is repose, or tranquillity of features, owing, probably, to their regular habits, and freedom from a variety of those disturbing causes which necessarily operate upon the many, particularly in the busy pursuits of a large and crowded city. In the basket-room I noticed only one painful instance of unfitness for even the easiest branch of work. It was that of a poor youth, whose

brain seemed to be oppressed, and whose mental ray was probably dimmed, if not extinguished, by the same cause that had produced his physical blindness.

I next proceeded to an apartment belonging to the Shoemakers, some of whom were learning their craft from superintendents appointed for the purpose; while the majority showed a readiness and execution which were perfectly astonishing. A strong well-finished shoe was placed in my hands, which I thought would have served any gentleman's foot this wet wintry day; while the smiling artist, whose name, if I remember right, is Wallenger, had the fellow to it on his lap, nearly completed.

The impression being fresh upon my mind, I now venture, at the hazard of wearying some of my readers, to mention the Mat-room, where all sorts of brown and white rope door-mats, fine bright mats, bordered with coloured worsted, worsted rugs for hearths and carriages, were being carried on in such a regular and business-like style, that if, for a moment, in admiration of the articles, I ceased to remember the condition of those who wrought them, I was instantly reminded of this truth,-"That where one sense is defective, another is generally more perfect." So delicate is the touch of these blind persons, and so strikingly do they illustrate that wonder, to which public attention has recently been called in a remarkable manner,-the wonder of the human hand!

But it is time to say a few words respecting the female part of this excellent Institution. The girls were all assembled in a large airy room, and employed in knitting stockings, in needle-work, and in preparing household linen, and linen for the scholars. A few of them were as busy as bees, in platting a singularlyconstructed patent sash-line, clock and clothes-lines, on a machine adapted to the use of the blind. I was informed, that since the first manufacture of these different kinds of line, a very material improvement has taken place, and that the sash-line, thus made, has been approved by eminent builders.

From a review of this slight sketch of the steady career of industry within these walls, the reader will learn with more gratification than surprise, that the articles made in the year 1836 by the hands of the blind persons, were sold for 1790l. 17s. 6d.

On passing through a gallery to the room in which the females were assembled, I was pleased to hear the sound of sacred music growing more and more clear; till, on entering, I distinguished the words of the 149th Psalm, beginning,—

O praise ye the Lord, Prepare your glad voice!

which was well sung by the blind girls in the midst of their work. One of them,-who was pointed out to me by my benevolent guide as a very good girl,— afterwards, on being requested, threaded her needle much more easily, as I told her, than I could have done. She smiled, and modestly answered, that she had been for some time in the school. Another young woman, whose sight had been destroyed, about three years since, by the shameful heedlessness of a fellow-servant in firing a large pistol at her, unconscious of its being loaded, assured me, that God had been very good to her; that she was entirely reconciled to her lot, and contented in the station which she now filled. This declaration from her own lips was peculiarly gratifying, because I remembered her forlorn and desponding condition at about the time the accident occurred, when she thought she never should have been happy again.

I was now shown some books, printed in embossed types, for the use of blind persons, and designed

to be read by the touch. The letters in the several specimens were of various character; but of all the different plans, the simplest struck me as the best. This was Mr. John Alston's, the Treasurer of the Glasgow Asylum for the Blind, who has recently added to that Institution a fount of types and a printing-press, and has completed the whole of the Four Gospels in relief, in two large quarto volumes, at 9s. 6d. per volume. The teaching of the blind to read has engaged the attention of the benevolent for some time past: and Mr. Alston's plan, which consists in using the common Roman capitals, sharply-formed, has proved the most successful; the children, if tolerably apt scholars, learning it in a very short time. Thus, though "knowledge is, by one entrance, quite shut out," they are instructed in the inestimable truths contained in the word of God.

Their hands can read, their fingers trace
The page of Truth and Love;
And thus they joyfully embrace
The message from above.

The most affecting part of the visit, however, yet remained. I well knew the taste for music possessed by blind persons generally; indeed it has frequently been a pleasure to me to reflect, that such a delightful resource should have been placed so completely within their reach. "The Hymn of Eve" was played and sung correctly, and with considerable feeling. After a short pause, one of the girls was desired to recite that beautiful chapter of Isaiah, beginning," Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." As soon as she had ended, one of her companions repeated with just emphasis, and in a pleasing tone of voice, the 8th chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans; and certainly two portions of Scripture more consolatory, or more abounding in passages of deep and universal concern to all, be their outward circumstances what they may, it would be difficult to select. The 18th verse sounded uncommonly affecting" For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." All, or nearly all, the female pupils, as I was informed, know the Psalms, (the prose version, used in our Liturgy,) throughout, and some can repeat any part of the Four Gospels. Listening to the inspired passages, my mind stretched onward to the period, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, and to that city which hath "no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the LAMB is the light thereof; for there shall be no night there." In that perfect day, thought I, shall not this desolate being, who walks by faith now, be gifted with a clear view of the Divine majesty; whilst many of those, who, humanly speaking, are walking by sight, and whose inward gaze of a future world is dimmed and uncertain, shall be pronounced blind? Yes; although, independently of their privations, these sad objects doubtless have their trials; yet, removed as they are from the temptations of a densely-peopled and vicious metropolis, brought up in regular habits, taught to read and to pray, they possess privileges, they enjoy advantages, the value of which it is difficult to calculate. With such reflections, I listened with pleasure to the following lines composed by one, who, if I mistake not, was formerly an inmate of the School, and addressed to the friends of the Institution. I never can forget "the deep, the low, the pleading tone," in which they were recited. And with these I shall conclude my narrative.

FROM Chaos sprang the teeming Earth,
At the Divine command;

And the untiring Sea had birth,

'Neath the Almighty hand. But darkness lowered upon the deep: Creation's first, long, silent sleep

Still hid the world in night:

Till, with a voice that pealed through space, From His most high and holy place,

God said, "Let there be light." "And there was light!" and with it grew The glory of the day

The vast, the wonderful, the new,

Were seen beneath its ray.
Not hidden was the meanest root,
The lowliest flower, the humblest fruit,
All burst upon the sight:
For unto each, as if to prove

His universal care and love,

The Lord had yielded light.

Praise be to God! another ray,
Not less divinely given,

Points, through his blessed Son, the way
To happiness and heaven.

And thus your boundless charities
Have spread before our sightless eyes,

Locked in eternal night,

That holier radiance, mild and pure,
Which makes our soul's salvation sure,-
The glorious Gospel light!

We cannot thank you as we ought,
But were our hearts laid bare,
You'd see each fond and grateful thought
Pour'd out in silent prayer.

And when we meet before the throne
Of Him to whom all deeds are known,
How shall we hail the sight

Of the pure glory, that will bind
The brows of those, who taught the blind
To seek the living light!

AMUSEMENTS IN SCIENCE. No. V.

ARITHMETIC.-Part 2.

M.

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NUMBERS which increase by what is termed arithmetical progression, for instance, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, each succeeding term increasing by 2; or 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, in which the terms increase by 3, or any other number, possess some curious properties.

In every arithmetical progression, the sum of the first and last terms is equal to that of the second and last but one, and to that of the third and last but two, &c.; or to the sum of the two middle terms, when the number of terms is even; or to double that of the middle term when the number of terms is odd. For instance, if the number of terms are even, as 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 16 and 1 are equal to 17, and the two middle terms, 7 and 10, are also equal to 17: if the series is uneven, as 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19,

19 and 1 are equal to 20, and twice 10, the middle term, produces the same amount. In the last series the

number of terms is 7, and the difference 3; the 7th term is, consequently, equal to the first with the addition of 6 times 3, or equal to 19. This property enables the scholar to obtain the amount of any term in the series, at any distance from the first, by a very simple proceeding. By this last property, we are enabled to show in what manner the sum of all the terms of an arithmetical progression can readily be found, for as the first and last terms make the same sum as the second and last but one, and as the third and last but two, &c., it thence follows, that the whole progression contains as many times the sum of the first and last as there are pairs of such terms. The number of pairs is, of course, equal to half the number of terms, and consequently, the sum of all the terms is equal to the sum of the first and last term, multiplied by half the number of terms.

Let us put the familiar instance of the man who picked up a hundred stones, one by one, placed in a straight line at one yard distance from each other, returning to a basket placed at a yard distance also from the first stone, one hundred times.

It is evident, that to pick up the first stone, and put it into the basket, the person must walk two yards, one in going, and one in returning; that for the second he must walk four yards, and so on, increasing by two as far as the hundredth, which will oblige him to walk two hundred yards, one hundred in going, and one hundred in returning.

It may easily be perceived also, that these numbers form an arithmetical progression, in which the number of terms is 100, the first term 2, and the last 200; by the rule already noticed, the number of yards he has walked is easily ascertained.

Yards.

2

200

202

50

distance walked for first stone.

distance walked for one hundredth stone.
sum of the first and last term.

half the whole number of terms, or the
number of pairs of terms.

10,100 yards.

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eighth column, seven being the number of counters, Then seek for the horizontal column of figures, whose distinguishing number is one more than the number of counters to be taken at one time, which in this instance is 3, the column, therefore, is numbered 4; by carrying the finger along these columns, until you come to their point of intersection at a, we find the number 35, the number of ways in which seven counters can be arranged by threes.

Two persons agree to choose, alternately, any number less than 11, and to add these numbers together until they shall make 100; by what means can one of them infallibly attain to that number before the other?

100

11

11

67

11

56

11

To effect this, subtract 11 from 100, the num89 ber to be reached, as many times as possible; 11 this will give the remainders,-89, 78, 67, 56, 78 45, 34, 23, 12, 1. By a knowledge of these numbers, the party who writes down the first number is certain of reaching 100 first, if he can count any one of these numbers. Let us suppose, for example, that the first person who knows the game, takes 1 for his first number; it is evident that his adversary, as he must count less than 11, can, at most, reach 11, by adding 10 to it, the first will then take 1, which will make 12; if the second takes 8, which will make 20, the first will take 3, which will make 23; and, proceeding in this manner, he will reach successively 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89; when he attains the last number, it will be impossible for the second player to prevent the first reaching 100 before himself.

45

11

34 11

23

11

12

11

It is evident that, if both parties understand the game, he who begins must inevitably win. If a piece of square pasteboard is divided into nine cells, how can the following numbers of counters be placed in the outer cells of the square, as that they all be placed, and yet there shall, in every case, be nine counters, and no more, in each outer row of three cells? The numbers of counters are

The distance walked, therefore, is equal to 10,100 18, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36. The following tables resolve

yards, or nearly five miles and three quarters.

Under the head of Combination and Permutation, in our books of arithmetic, we have rules given, by which the number of different arrangements which can occur in the order of placing a certain number of counters can be ascertained. By the use of the following table, these operations can be much shortened, provided the number does not exceed 9.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

111111
4567

this problem, and require no explanation.

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6 10 15 21 28 36 3

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1

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1 3

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9

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7 28 84 7
1 8 36 8
1 9 9
1 10

Suppose it is required to know how many ways 7 counters can be arranged 3 and 3. Look to the perpendicular band of figures in the table, the number at the head of which, is equal to one more than the number of counters to be combined; in this case, it will be the

READ not to contradict and confute, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.-LORD BACON.

He that wants good sense is unhappy in having learning, for he has thereby only more ways of exposing himself; and he that has sense knows that learning is not knowledge, but rather the art of using it.—The Tatler.

LONDON:

JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS PRICE SIXPENCE.

THE

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JANUARY, 1838.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NAVIGATION.

PART I.

ON THE NAVIGATION OF THE ANCIENTS.

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THE contemplative mind is supplied with matter for moral, and even sublime reflection, in viewing man in his more natural state, weak, savage, and untutored; clad in the skins of animals constituting his food, which are captured with toil and difficulty; inhabiting a rude hut, and confined within the narrow range of an island girt by the ocean, which to him is interminable; knowing no other land than that on which he dwells, and never daring to lose sight of that land, in the frail bark in which he moves along his native coast. Then if, by a rapid transition, we behold man civilized and highly cultivated as he now is, borne along by

The heaven-conducted prow
Of Navigation bold, that fearless braves
The burning line, or dares the wintry pole,

we feel the force of the oft-repeated truism, that man is a progressive being. Thus, it will furnish instruction to the reader, if we endeavour to fill up the long interval between these two conditions, in which we find man acting his part as a member of the human family, by tracing the progress of Navigation from the rude raft, or ill-constructed canoe, through the various stages of addition and improvement, until we reach that triumphant monument of human skill,a ship of the line. An improvement, so vast, is of course only one of the results of the advancement of nations in the scale of civilization; and this advancement is accurately tested by their collateral progress in literature, art, and science. As the first ministers to the reflecting tastes of its members, so the two latter supply their actual wants and increasing desires; and there have been found, at all times, persons ready to devote their energies to carry out those subjects, which a few fortunate and gifted individuals have invented, or improved. But the great bulk of mankind does not the less further the progress of civilization, though all do not invent nor improve: they serve as the power for carrying on the work, which is contrived and See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 36.

VOL. XII

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In the present and succeeding papers it is our purpose, therefore, to trace the progress of Navigation from its earliest principles and practice, to its present comparatively perfect condition; and in doing so, it will be found convenient to adopt the following arrangement, and treat

1st. Of the Navigation of the Ancients.

2nd. Of the Navigation of the Middle Ages. 3rd. Of Modern Navigation.

The first division will comprehend, as to time, all the period between the creation of the world and the downfall of Rome; that is, a space of about 4500 years.

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ON THE RUDIMENTS OF NAVIGATION, TO THE FORMATION OF THE BOAT.

WHEN speaking of Navigation in the earliest stages of the world, the idea of the ark, used by Noah and his family, will readily enter into the minds of our readers. But we cannot consider the formation and use of the ark, in the seventeenth century of the world, as a commencement or link in the chain of nautical invention. The entire direction and means for accomplishing this stupendous work, were afforded by God, to effect a saving purpose in the midst of the miraculous destruction of the human race; when the power and skill of man would have been, in those times at least, impotent to withstand or elude the watery havoc of Nature. In addition to this, we must notice the absence from the ark of any means, or of any necessity, for which is essentially necessary to make it belong to our its occupants navigating it from one place to another; present subject. No intention of this sort is alluded to; the ark being merely a vast shelter rendered capable of floating on the water. For these two reasons, therefore, we conclude against assigning to this event in the sacred history, a place in this treatise.

We come, then, to regard the ocean as a part of the arrangement of the Almighty power for His own wise purposes; as among the creatures, which have been committed not our province to consider here, but only as it serves the to the use of man; beneficial in various ways, which it is purpose of a great high-way for the nations of the world; pre-eminent among which, and may it ever be, is our own country. Our subject takes not in its view a supernatural state of the floods of the ocean, but that, wherein there is "set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth." We contemn, therefore, the quailing lament of the heathen poet, Horace, who thus delivers himself:

Jove has the realms of earth in vain
Divided by the unhabitable main,
If ships profane, with fearless pride,
Bound o'er the inviolable tide.

We see how ill-timed is this awe of the sea, when we remember as readers of the Inspired Volume, that it is written," They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep t:" and, when we call to mind, that, by means of ships, this Inspired Volume was brought to us, and has been carried out again to all parts of the habitable earth.

In the youthful condition of the world, and when all was new and untried, the innate love of exploring that which had not yet been seen, gradually extended the locality of the human race. Brooks, and such like streams, were soon forded, when new pastures, the impulse of hunting, and the + Psalm cvii. 23, 24. 358

Psalm civ. 9.

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